Thank you everyone for your reviews I really appreciate every one of them.

Once again thank you Sherry for all the help. I couldn't do this without you.

Chapter 10

I've never been the overly sentimental type. So it's not like photographs mean that much to me. But maybe Aro is. Maybe he has albums filled with photos of his brother and himself throughout the years. I snap a few pictures of Marcus's bloody body with my cell and smile.

Maybe Aro would like a few more pictures to add to those albums.

I have never liked having my photo taken. Esme's family albums are filled with pictures of me throughout the years, but you can see it wasn't something I wanted. The pictures of me growing up show a sullen little boy who grew into an awkward teen.

I remember when I was eight Carlisle's mother had made a comment while taking Thanksgiving photos, 'A picture can capture the soul' she said. If that were true, then I imagine Esme's family albums would show nothing but darkness in my place.

When most people look at family pictures they see memories and enjoy remembering how they felt at that moment in time. Good. Bad. It doesn't matter. When I look at my family pictures I feel nothing. Sometimes I wish I did. Sometimes I wish I could look at a picture and remember feeling anything remotely close to what other people feel. I never do and I don't think I ever will.

I wonder what feelings these photographs will invoke in Aro.

Unhooking the remaining ties and wrap from Marcus's body I push it off of the table and smile at the sound of it hitting the floor. My eyes drift over to Tyler slumped against his restraints.

He lasted longer than I had thought he would.

Looking at Tyler made me think of Isabella and before I knew it, I had my plastic covered phone out and was dialing her number. It rings and rings but she doesn't answer.

I've lost her, I know it.

Carlisle has caused me to lose the one good thing in my life.

The monster inside me roars in rage. Marcus had managed to satisfy him, his blood had been just what I had needed, but now I can feel him. Below the surface clawing his way out. I imagine if I looked into a mirror my outside appearance would match the inside. My monster was well and truly unleashed. No doubt my eyes would have that crazed look that had always managed to unsettle the ever calm Carlisle. My face covered in blood would truly show me as the monster I clearly am.

No wonder I had lost Isabella. Why would she want to be around someone like me? She was pure. Innocent. She didn't deserve the way Tyler had been treating her. She didn't deserve to lose her father, leaving her all alone in the world and she definitely didn't deserve to have a monster like me befriend her.

The phone hits the wall and I find myself in front of Tyler.

I unstrap his body and drag it over to the table. My hands make quick work strapping him down and I sneer as Marcus's blood starts to soak through his vomit covered t-shirt. I hate that I wasn't able to clean before dealing with Tyler.

I walk around the table and remove his shoes and socks. "Wake up." I grab his big toe and wiggle it. "Wake up, Tyler." I sigh. I guess I will have to wake him up.

My eyes land on just the thing I needed.

It doesn't take long before Tyler's muffled shrieks of pain reach my ears and he awakes. The smell of burning flesh fills my nostrils almost making me gag, but I continue to hold the small kitchen blowtorch to the sole of his foot relishing in his cries of pain. Once I'm satisfied with my work I move to stand by Tyler's head.

His tear-filled eyes follow the torch and fill with panic as I hold it beside his face and remove the vomit covered tape. "Now tell me, Tyler. Why Isabella?"

"Wwhhyy… What?" He stammers in fear.

I hold the torch closer to his cheek. "Why did you hit her? Why did you cheat on her? Why did you not help her? Love her?" I throw the torch behind me. "Do you know how special she is? She deserves the world, but no one seems to want her to have it."

He cries harder. "I did love her. I helped her. I promise."

"Don't promise." I pick up my next tool. "You did not treat her like the angel she is." His chest heaves as I place the electrodes near his collarbone smiling at the puzzlement that shows in his eyes. "Now Tyler this is called a portable defibrillator." I turn it on. "These are made to save people's lives." I smile and press the analyze button and take note that his heart rate is a little fast. No doubt due to fear. "I had to tamper with the device obviously. Otherwise, it wouldn't work due to the pesky problem of your heart beating perfectly." The machine lets me know that it was ready to deliver the shock and then I press the 'Shock' button.

Tyler's body tries to arch in pain, but the restraints prevented him from getting too far off the table. I stop the machine. "Oops… I bet that hurt." I had placed the electrodes so they would deliver a shock but not stop his heart. "I wonder… " My voice trails off and I grab a bottle of water and pour some over his chest. I press the button again to deliver a second shock. "Oh… Water and electricity. That's a big no-no." I wipe the tears from his face with my hand. "Don't worry Tyler. I'm just playing."

I stop the machine and move the pads into the correct place. One pad on the right center of his chest above the nipple and the other pad slightly below the other nipple and to the left of the rib cage. "If the pads are placed correctly, which yours are now and you were unlucky enough to be shocked during a T wave, you could potentially go into VF, which is fatal." I smile.

Tyler's voice grows louder in panic. "No please… Don't."

"Having said that, the cure for VF is more defibrillation so it would be easily fixable, although you would have passed out by then." I frown. "I'm not going to lie. I have no idea what to do to you." I shrug. "I've never been in this predicament before." I lean my elbows on the table beside his chest and rest my face in my hands. "You know. I never felt lonely until I met Isabella… Suddenly, I want to share all of this with her. All of me. She's the only person I feel any kind of connection with." I look at his face. "Do you?" I trail off.

"Do I what?" His voice trembles and he bites his bottom lip, presumably to prevent it from shaking.

"Do you think she could accept me? You've known her for years." It's amazing how vulnerable I feel as I say this. "She has this hold over me and she doesn't even know it. I don't fully understand it myself." I sigh. "I'd do anything for her." I'm not sure I like this new me. "This friendship thing is getting more complicated than I anticipated."

Tyler's voice rises in panic. "You love her. I didn't know." He shakes his head. "I'm sorry. Don't kill me. I won't touch her again."

I suddenly feel angry again. "I love no one." I grab my next tool. "I am incapable of love," I whisper.

Cracking my neck I feel the need to explain what my next instrument was. "This." I hold the metal instrument in front of his face. "Is a Heretic's Fork." Tyler's eyes take in the tool. "One end of the device is pushed under the chin, the other to the sternum, and the strap is used to secure your neck to the tool. Now, normally this would be used while you were hung from the wall so that you could not sleep, or faint in your case. If your head dropped, the prongs on either end would pierce your throat and chest."

I watch as a tear falls from his eye. "I was a little preoccupied yesterday and completely forgot to give you your new accessory." I place the strap around his neck and fix the fork into place. "I apologize for my inattentiveness."

I stand back and press the 'Shock' button on the portable defibrillator machine again. Just a quick jolt. Nothing too lasting and I watch as Tyler arches his head back briefly before straightening back a little too far making the fork digs into his skin. I watch the blood trickle down his neck and chest and shiver with anticipation. "Can I ask you something, Tyler?" His eyes are wide, scared, but he tries to nod anyway. "Why were you medicating Isabella? What were you giving her?"

He arches his head right back as he speaks. "She needed them." His voice is low.

My hand hovers over the button again. "What was she taking?"

His eyes stay fixed on my hand. "Different things. Whatever I could get."

"Like?" I speak between clenched teeth. He could have killed her.

"Antidepressants, anxiety medication, sleeping tablets. Sometimes I didn't know what I was given." He stammers through his list. "Sometimes I couldn't get anything so I just filled a bottle with over the counter medication." He's scared and rightly so.

The monster in me is out for vengeance, "and how often did you hit her?"

More tears fall. "Just that one time." I can tell he's lying.

I press the button again. "Don't lie to me, Tyler." He cries out in pain and once again pushes the fork deep into his neck and chest as he recovers.

His voice is nothing but a whisper. "I don't know. A lot." His eyes are pleading now, for what I don't know. "We fought a lot. Couples fight. You have to understand."

I don't understand. I would never understand.

I can feel the rage building within me, it coils inside me like a beast ready to spring. I'm so angry that I don't even realize I have pressed the button again. This time I keep my finger on it, Tyler arches and starts to spasm before going completely limp. The machine registers no heartbeat and I pause, my chest heaving. It was too easy. He needed to suffer. I press the button again, keeping my eyes on the small monitor looking for any kind of output.

None. "Come on Tyler."

I watch his limp body jerk as I shock him. Once. Twice. Three times before his heart starts to beat again.

I remove the electrodes and gently tap his face. "Come on Tyler. Wake up." His eyes open slowly and stare at me unseeingly for a moment before widening. I smile. "That was a close one." I start to laugh, adrenaline courses through my body making me feel jittery. "Welcome back."

I can't seem to pick an emotion with Tyler and it makes me feel tired. Maybe I should have waited until I had resolved my issues with Isabella before I dealt with him.

I remove the Heretics Fork and run my finger through the blood on his neck. "I've always been alone in this world Tyler. No connections to anyone or anything. Connections mean letting people in. Allowing them to get close. It was something I didn't want or need until Isabella." I watch his tears fall, feeling completely unmoved. How many tears did Isabella spill during their 'fights'? "Unfortunately for you, that means in order for me to explore whatever these new feelings are. I need you gone."

My hands are unsteady and I find my thoughts drifting to Isabella once again. I needed to know if our friendship was over. It had been over twenty-four hours since I last saw her and while normally this would not be an issue for me, today it was.

It was foolish of me to start dealing with Tyler while I had all these mixed emotions running through me. For the first time in my life, I stood to lose something and that scared me. I knew what fear looked like. I had been the cause of it, my entire life. Carlisle's fear of what I would grow to be. Esme and Alice's fear of me being alone for the rest of my life. The fear my victims showed to me when they knew it was the end.

I had never felt fear in my life until now. I never thought it was possible to be afraid of anything. Suddenly, I felt like anything was possible if it involved her. My friend. Isabella. She brought out new feelings that I didn't recognize.

I needed to see her. Now.

"Sorry, Tyler but we will have to resume our activities later. I need to deal with something first." I fill a syringe with my concoction and quickly inject it into his neck. "Get some sleep." I watch him try to fight the sleepiness before finally losing his battle.

Not wanting to waste any time. I quickly strip out of my coveralls and wash up before jumping into my car. It doesn't take long before I'm outside her apartment building.

Now what? I have no idea what her apartment number is. I watch as an elderly lady approaches the building, arms filled with bags and struggles to open the front door. I quickly move into action. "Excuse me." She looks at me warily as I hold open the door for her. "May I help?"

It takes a moment before she answers and I have to wonder what I looked like. Could she see my desperation? "Yes, thank you." She looks around as she passes a couple of bags over to me, leaving herself with just her handbag. "I just need help getting them to the elevator. I can manage the rest of the way."

I smile what I hope is a friendly smile. "No problem. My name's Edward. I've just finished my shift at the hospital." We walk towards the elevator. "I am visiting my friend Isabella. Her boyfriend Tyler has left her recently and she needs some cheering up." She smiles at me her eyes alight. That's right. I can be trusted.

"Isabella in 12B? I never liked that Tyler. Always so rude." I smile. Just what I needed, thank you. "Is she okay?" Her eyes are worried now.

"Nothing that can't be easily fixed." I place the bags on the floor of the elevator and step inside watching as she presses two buttons.

The ride is short. When the doors open on the second floor, she turns to me. "Go on, don't keep her waiting. I can manage with these."

I smile. I guess this is the floor I need. I wait for the doors to close before making my way down the corridor. I find Isabella's door and knock. Hoping that there wasn't two Isabella's in the building.

The door opens slowly and I am met by beautiful brown eyes. "Edward? What are you doing here?"

"I needed to see you." I didn't know what to say now that I was here. I am totally unprepared and I didn't like it.

"What? Why?" She looks puzzled.

My hand reaches up to my hair and I pull at it in frustration. What was I supposed to say? Hi. I couldn't concentrate on killing your boyfriend until I knew if you were still my friend? That would scare her.

"I called," I say this like a question.

"You called." Her flat voice repeating my words makes me flinch. I'm pathetic.

"I need... I don't..." I panic and without even thinking, without considering for one moment what a monumental mistake I was making. My hands cradle her face and my lips were on hers.

She didn't react. What was I doing? This was wrong. I was forcing myself on her.

I realize I should stop, but Isabella's hands quickly dive into my hair and she starts to respond.

There was a new feeling that run through me and I didn't understand what it was. Why did I kiss her? Why did this kiss feel different from anything I had ever felt before?

I pull back and look into her eyes. There was a new emotion in them now. They look different, happy? Tyler's words run through my head. "Do I love you, Isabella?" My words are nothing but a whisper. I didn't mean to say them out loud and I certainly didn't expect a response.

She answers me anyway. "I don't know."

Have a killer day everyone.