No soy dueño de Twilight (Spanish… got to love it ;)

Chapter 10

Sarah POV

The other members of this horror film that is now my life are here. It was now official; I was going into shock. I was happy that I had made it this long. It looked like the only other people that were still aware were Peters and Hawk.

The only thing that was keeping Peters going was his need for scientific answers. If this wasn't the most amazing discovery in all of humanity, he would have lost all coherent thoughts 5 minutes ago. And the only reason Hawk was so aware was due to his marine background.

A small part of my brain that wasn't detached from my body noticed that Edward was speaking again.

"Now I'm sure that you have many more questions about how I can possibly know that the rest of my family is here. However, that explanation might be better said when more of your staff is coherent." stated Edward. It might just be the fact that I was only thinking with a miniscule amount of my brain, but it sounded as if he was a little smug about his effect on everyone's mind.

For the first time, Hawk looked back to the two sided glass where we were sitting. He looked almost flabbergasted when he spoke into his hidden microphone and heard no reply except from Peters.

"Hmm… you have quite an effect on the employees here. Would you excuse me for a moment," Hawk said coolly. His hasty walk out of the room contradicted his calm, formal words as he nearly crashed into the table in his attempt to get out of the room.

I saw Bella looking at Hawk as he stumbled out of the room. "Impressive. It seems that you are dazzling more and more people every day," exclaimed Bella. She was smiling at Edward while Emmett was chuckling.

Edward beamed. "From what I remember though, you weren't in shock when I told you what we were."

Bella smiled and let loose a yawn. "I guess I'm special then."

"More special then you will ever know," said Edward in that unnaturally smooth voice. Then he gently kissed Bella and pulled her into his lap.

"Ugh enough with the lovie- dovie stuff," complained Emmett, "If I have to be in the same small room with you two, at least keep the romance to a minimum."

Edward glared at his 'brother'. "If Rosalie were here, you two would be doing way more than kissing."

I suppressed a shudder. I wondered briefly who Rosalie was, but my concentration failed me again. I wonder if this will leave any permanent damage to my brain, I mused.

Emmett's childish grin showed on his face before he continued. "Hey, you said that they were here. Are they just waiting outside the gate or something?"

"Yes. But Alice knows that it will be a while before they are let in, so they are just listening to music while Jasper is trying to calm them down." Bella nodded when he said this, and I got the impression that there were more to Edward's words than what he was saying.

How did Edward know that the others were outside? If Emmett couldn't hear them, then he shouldn't be able to either. And how did the other vampires know about this place? This military base is one of the most secretive places in the U.S. I should know… it took me 12 years of work just to be able to qualify to be here.

I was then reminded that there were millions of things we still didn't know about these creatures.

Edward sighed. "You might as well rest love. It will be a while before anything happens." Bella started to disagree with that, but then she yawned again. Then she just gave up and snuggled into Edward's chest. He started to sing a lullaby of some kind, and she was out in seconds.

After another minute, Hawk walked into the room that we were all in. It looked like he was calmer now, and he was quietly looking around at his staff.

"The leach was right, the only people here who look coherent are Peters and Anderson." muttered Hawk, "I wonder how he knew that."

I flinched when he said leech. Even though I wasn't sure if they should be trusted or not, they didn't deserve to be insulted. They hadn't done anything to us, even though they probably could have.

Hawk slammed his fist down on the table and everyone seemed to come out of a trance and focus on him. "Emergency meeting. NOW!" roared Hawk.

Everyone got up and shuffled slowly out of the room. We followed Hawk into the large meeting room on the third floor.

When we entered the room, we all sat down next to the giant hardwood table that dominated the room. Hawk sat at the head of the table and stared at all of us for a moment.

He took a deep breath before speaking. "Are we all thinking coherently again?" He waited while we all shakily nodded our heads. "Ok, good. Now first off, let's go over everything we know about these creatures," he then gestured to Peters. "Peters, you are our top scientist. Please try to explain all of this."

Peters looked nervous. He had never been comfortable having the spotlight, but Hawk always tried to get Peters over his "irrational" fear. There had been rumors lately that Hawk wanted to have Peters as his prodigy. Of course the flustered Peters denied this, but some couldn't help but wonder why Hawk was always so helpful to him.

He nervously cleared his throat before answering. "Well, the most obvious thing we know is that they are vampires. They drink blood in order to survive. And apparently, they don't want to kill humans, so they only drink animal blood."

"The second thing we know is that they have extraordinary senses. I would go out on a limb and say that there sense of smell is probably as good as a shark's, and their vision is as good as a hawk's." He paused looking amused at Hawk for a second before continuing, "They also have incredible speed and strength. And the most important factor; they have intelligence. Maybe even more than a human. All of these factors combined means that these two creatures in our midst are the greatest predators on planet Earth. They are also humanity's only natural predators…"

Peters let his speech sink in. I looked around the room and saw dread plainly on everyone's faces. After it was clear that Peters was done talking Hawk decided to put his own two-cents in.

"It is obvious that these vampires are too dangerous for their own good. I propose that we find out how to destroy them, and make sure that they never harm another human being again!" stated Hawk. He had a violent light in his eyes, and I could tell that he wanted Edward and Emmett dead as soon as possible.

I suddenly had the need to defend these creatures. They didn't deserve to die before we even knew much about them.

"Wait!" I shouted over the murmuring of the other staff. They all quieted down and looked at me. "These creatures don't deserve to die! They may not be humans, but they are still sentient creatures. And remember what Bella said in the interrogation room? The Cullens don't hunt people. You know why; because they think it's morally wrong. They have went beyond their instincts to do what they believe is right. That proves that they can control themselves, and they won't harm anyone."

When I had finished talking, I felt surprised by my feelings. I had no idea how much I really cared about these creatures that I had only known for a few hours.

It took a few moments for me to realize that Hawk was gaping at me incredulously. He kept opening and closing his mouth, trying to put together words in order to contradict my statements.

Finally he looked at me defiantly and said, "How do you know this. Just because this, this girl said that they don't kill our own kind doesn't mean that it is true. They could be lying to her right at this moment. For all we know, they could be using some kind of mind trick and forcing her to say whatever they want."

I could do nothing but stare at him. This was the first time in my entire career that I had stood up to Hawk, and it felt good. I knew that if I could convince all of the other staff members that I was right, then the Cullens would be safe from Hawk's tirade.

I thought for a few moments to find the exact words I needed to convince everyone I was right. Finally, I said, "Ok if you are right, then why does Edward care so much about Bella? You have all seen the way he looks at her and her him," I said gesturing to the others, "that kind of love and devotion cannot be faked. How would he have been able to get that close to her if he kills humans in order to live? And if we killed him, imagine the impact that would have on poor Bella; it would devastate her."

Now Hawk was mad. Really mad. I had never seen him get this furious at anyone before, and for the first time, I was scared that I would lose my job.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore. "So what! Bella is just a bratty teenager who got in over her head dating some guy she can't have! Once he's gone, she will act like any other teenager after a break up; she will stay at home and cry for a week, and then she will be over the guy for good!" exploded Hawk.

Everybody in the room was astonished. We had never witnessed Hawk explode like that before. After a minute, Hawk cooled down and attained his cool composer.

"Now, let's leave it to a vote," said Hawk. I was gritting my teeth about to say something, despite the possibility of losing my job. " All those who want the Cullens to be terminated please raise your-"

"Wait!" yelled Peters, before I could say anything. "We haven't considered the scientific gold mine we have here. Imagine all the things we could learn from these people. Their mental and physical capacity, their inhuman characteristics, and if Hollywood is right and they are immortal that brings a whole new level of knowledge. It would be a crime to destroy them without learning any knowledge at all!"

We were all confounded at Peters' outburst. He was probably the last person in the room who would interrupt Hawk, especially contradict him. And if it wasn't Peters that spoke, Hawk probably would have fired him right on the spot.

I shot Peters a grateful glance, and he returned it with a smile before looking back at our boss. "Sir, I know that you think that these creatures are harmful and cannot be trusted, but hear me out. Imagine the awards and recognition you would get for all of the amazing discoveries made here."

I knew what Peters was doing. He was playing the rich-and-famous card; and it was working. I could almost see the daydream Hawk was having about winning a Nobel Prize award, and his mind was already changed. His face was already changed from the deep red that it was, back to the pale skin color that it has always been.

"Ok Peters, you have a point. We will keep them here and learn more about them. Then we will decide their fate later. Everybody that agrees raise their hand."

I was amazed to see that everyone around the table had their hands raised. Nobody wanted to challenge Hawk.

"Then it's settled. Now let's get back down there and tell the vampires what we have decided. Meeting adjourned."

It was almost comical how many mood swings he had over this meeting. He went from serious to furious and now almost cheerful.

As we all walked out of the room I caught up with Peters. "Thank you," I said sincerely, "Without you speaking up, those vampires would have a death sentence."

He looked up at me, making sure that nobody was around to overhear the conversation. "To be honest Sarah, it was you that changed my mind. I had never thought about the reason why those creatures don't kill humans. Once I heard what you said, I realized that you were right; they don't deserve to die. I knew that if you spoke up to Hawk one more time, he would have fired you. I didn't want that, so I did the only thing I could do. And it worked," he beamed.

I smiled at him. I had never realized how much Peters wanted me here. I had always just assumed that he was a pet of Hawk; a puppet with no backbone. It turned out that I was wrong.

I was still thinking about my new revelation as I walked into the two way glass room. The first thing I noticed was Edward smiling at me.

"Thank you," he said in his velvet smooth voice.

A/N One of my longest chapters ever :D I think I did a pretty good job on this chapter if I don't say so myself. As always, please review!