Chapter 10
Understanding
I ravenously hunted as much as I could; but it mattered not how many animals I killed, "I cannot take it anymore!" I had to have human blood now.
My situation was critical and it drew me to find three lone humans hitchhiking in the woods, and not one drop of blood was shown mercy; as their succulent blood drizzled down my oesophagus it made the previous night almost seem like a kiss – I could feel my senses sharpen, the savagery was appeased, but then I stopped, for beyond in the distance I saw Carlisle and Jasper watching over me. And I sighed heavily because I could see the truth in Carlisle's eyes that I had failed him.
After we finally made it back to the Cullen's residence; I apologised for the second time for the shameful incident in the woods.
"Carlisle, I am so sorry; I could not help myself, my act was one of desperation."
Carlisle nodded his head but he did not smile, "It's alright, Aro; perhaps it was my fault, maybe it was a bit too much to ask of you, especially in such a short period of time. But at least you managed to court the young woman successfully, and that's the main thing." He replied.
From the house I saw running towards us were the twins, they greeted me and found relief in my safe return; I too sighed in relief for at last the hardest part was over and done with. Only there was one thing that I was still curious about – Alice's vision had taken place of the woman and I courting in a field – but we courted in her home... the vision had been wrong. So I asked dear Alice directly about this; was her uncanny gift floored?
Alice replied, "My visions aren't always certain, they're subjective; if a decision changes leading towards the event then the vision changes."
Now I fully understood her extraordinary gift; a decision I made must have changed what had happened.
But over the next week I visited dear Sonja often – only one night she had actually convinced me to court her once again, and this time it was just as challenging as the last – and as to my hope's desire a small bulge started to form just under her stomach. My concerns for the mortal had changed instantly, for my main regard was now for the child forming inside her.
It almost seemed to frighten Carlisle to watch Sonja grow and even suffer; I had to admit to myself, I felt some sympathy for her but she was the host of my child and nothing more to me now. Only half a week after Sonja's impregnation that we had to bring her to the Cullen house; setting a place for her in the lounge room, she lay whimpering on the small low bed.
"What the hell is happening to me?" she cried, clutching her hands around the bulge.
Carlisle knelt down beside her and took hold of her hand. "My name is Dr. Carlisle Cullen, and this is my family; now please you must understand, if you have any questions we will be glad to answer but I'm afraid that you won't be able to grasp things at first. But the first thing you should know is that we are-"
Carlisle flinched in pain, I then looked to my left, "Ah, ah, ah, Jane! Stop. Enough."
She looked at me and Carlisle's suffering ceased; I placed my hand on her shoulder to insure Jane that I was fine with the knowledge of Sonja knowing the existence of our kind – after all our secret would not be in the open for long.
I came down to Sonja's side. "Sonja, my dear; we are vampires…"
She looked at me, confused. "What?"
Sonja looked into my eyes, which were now a dark golden red. "I am a vampire, Sonja." I breathed, "It is why, to you, my skin is stone cold; why the tone of my eyes and my skin change dramatically... and it is why you are now carrying our child."
"What? You're lying! You're crazy! You're all insane!" she screamed.
I took hold of Sonja's free hand, though she tried her best to fight against me but my grip was too firm; quickly she stopped resisting and clutched onto my shirt as she buried her face in my chest, comforting her until she became calm.
"Sonja, you have to understand that the rapid growth of the foetus is the result of a child – one of such inside you – that is half vampire." I explained,
"But I don't understand why you chose me for this." She pleaded.
I explained to her calmly, "Because female vampires are incapable of baring children and so I needed a mortal host to carry my child."
"So what's gonna happen to me?" she asked with tears in her eyes but somehow she knew the answer.
"I'm afraid that upon giving birth to the child – you will die."
The girl wept heavily into my chest, and truly, I did deeply sympathised with her; but it was the child that was the object of my desire, and I was determined to do anything to ensure the child's survival – if not for the child, out of my pity for her, I would've had Carlisle intoxicated her blood with his venom.
Days past and I could already see the deterioration of Sonja's good health; shadows began to form under her eyes, and her skin had lost its natural glow. She had many questions to ask us, most of which I was happy to answer myself, but there were some questions that were either better left to Carlisle or better not be answered at all. I confessed, I was well surprised of how calmly she was handling the utter bizarreness that this must have been for her, but under the pressure Sonja was enduring; she must have just came to terms and accepted everything that was going on around her – though what still frightened her more than anything was the rapid growth and strength of the foetus within her.
Every time I touched her skin I could see that she despised the child; wishing that she could just somehow destroy it, and yet there was something about it that she cared for – she feared but loved the child that was killing her. Surprisingly Jane was becoming a little attached to the growing child, though not as protective as the fair Rosalie; who passionately desired to protect it from everyone else... especially me.
This was the first hybrid pregnancy I had ever witnessed for myself firsthand and I was trying to understand it, but the more I studied the more I merely concerned myself with was Sonja's failing condition; becoming so weak from the lack of nutrients in her body, but as Edward explained to me that the unborn infant was in fact killing her by absorbing the nutrients out of her body far quicker than she could produce – I began to worry for that meant that the baby was getting weaker too.
But perhaps that was Sonja's plan all along; since she could not physically kill it herself.
Carlisle then came into the room and handed Sonja a white plastic cup, I inhaled deeply and the sweet aroma was too alluring to be second guessed; I sat down beside her, but Sonja would not drink.
"No! No, I won't!"
"Sonja, this is the only way both you and the baby can get the nutrients you need." Pleaded Carlisle.
But Sonja just shook her head and refused, though as the day progressed, at times when I was not with her, I was informed that Sonja had indeed been suckling at the blood; but it was not enough to sustain both of them.
The child was now two weeks, still growing, and draining her dry. But Bella then decided to show Renesmee how she was brought into the world; Renesmee had been kept away from the spectacle a few days after it became serious, so neither Sonja nor Renesmee had met, but perhaps this was my last hope for Sonja to start feeding the baby well.
As I stood by the glass window, Bella escorted Renemsee into the living room to meet Sonja; I saw Sonja's attention was instantly caught by the immense beauty the child bestowed, as she came to Sonja's side, Renesmee smiled to her.
"This is what your child could look like, Sonja." Said Bella,
She looked at her, "You went through this?"
Sweet Bella nodded, "Well, my situation was a little more difficult; at the time we didn't know such a thing was possible – but I tried everything I could to keep myself and the baby alive, because I knew I was strong enough... and the results were more than worth it." Bella then took her daughter in her arms, "But this is what you could have, Sonja, if you try."
On the lounge beside her, I picked up the cup and offered it to Sonja; witnessing the plea was in my eyes, I think she finally understood why I choose her for this wonderful opportunity.
"This is what you wanted. To have a child like that," Sonja looked down guiltily, "I thought you were trying to breed a demon in me; but now I see that it is something good and pure."
Sonja looked at Renesmee one last time and then gently she took the blood from my hands, and then to my relief she began to un-quenchly drink.
"Thank you, Bella." I smiled.
The baby had now won its mother over; though she had come to terms that she was more than likely going to die – but began to feel a false hope knowing that Bella had survived it – Sonja had begun to feel that there was something worth fighting for... to succeed the life of our unborn child, though I knew that she was doing this for herself, and not for me.
But as I watched her drink I was so intrigued – how extraordinary it was to watch her feed upon human blood and to sustain not only herself but the child as well – it was very peculiar as I had never before observe a human drink blood almost like one of our kind.