I own nothing.

Men are good in one way, but bad in many – Aristotle

Chapter Twenty Eight – Two Faces of Evil

Edward's POV

As I walked away from them I could feel the darkness seeping in all around me until I there was nothing else.

The monster was closing in on me fast and hard. He was right outside the door breathing heavy knocking demanding to come in. I did not know how long I was going to hold him off. Honestly I was not sure how long I wanted to hold him off. He would easily take care of that motherfucker for me.

Growling to release some anger before I exploded I took out my rage on anything in my line of sight. Minutes later there was nothing left but destruction. It felt good but it was not enough.

Right now the only thing stopping me from ripping him into a million fucking pieces and dancing around a bon fire as I toasted his limps like marshmallows was Alice. She might not be able to see his future but she would see mine and then there would be no playing innocent when they questioned me where was the asshole formally known as my brother.

He and I had never been overly close. I detested his lack of control. A thousand theories and reasons could be spoken and for me it came to the simple fact that he did not care enough to rein in his thirst. It had nothing to do with weak or strong. Humans were nothing but a food bank to him so why try to control the impulse.

Case in point was the fact that he had been able to taste Bella's blood as he changed her and not lost control. Blood sweeter than any others and still he had been able to just sip from her. It proved that if he really wanted to he could restrain from wanting to drain every human he came into contact with. It just proved that he didn't want to.

That was just one of the reasons why I could not stand him.

Others included the fact that he thought that he was better than us. He had been this big bad Major not only in the human war but the vampire one too. Well guess what who gives a flying fuck. Only he could be proud of being part of the destruction of thousands of people. Comes right back to giving a shit about anyone but himself. Sure he claimed he felt guilt and remorse over that time in his life but I've read his mind and he honestly didn't. He did not care about all the lives he had taken and destroyed.

He didn't care about much including our family.

He was respectful towards Carlisle and Esme but he never called them mom and dad like we all did. That grated on me to no end. They had taken him into this family as one of their own. They did not have to do that. Lord knows they had more than enough reasons to kick him out. The amount of bodies we had to cover up and the times we had to disappear because of his little slips were too many to count.

Truth be told he never really treated any of us like we were little more than a step above strangers. He was probably the closest with Rosalie but still there was separation there too. What would you expect from someone like him? He had always been cold and uncaring. Even with his own wife.

No matter what was said about Alice she had given and given until there was nothing left to give to her husband. Living in constant fear of the next time he went off the wagon was what she had to deal with. And she held herself responsible when it did happen since it was her who had not seen it coming. Losing her power to look into his future was such a blessing. I knew she did not feel like it at the moment but she would soon. Soon she would see him for what he really was… just like I did.

Soon she would loathe him with the same fieriness that coursed through me. Soon she would see that he was nothing more than the lowest piece of garbage that did not deserve her love and protection. Then and only then would I be able to remove him from my life but more importantly from Bella's.

The only joy in anything that had happened was that my Bella was here with me.

My dead heart broke over the fact that monster had destroyed her precious soul damning her to this unholy life but selfish as I was I could not contain the tremendous amount of overwhelming joy to have her back.

Leaving her had been my preview into hell and the longer I was without her the more I came to believe that hell would be nothing compared to the suffering I was experiencing living without her. I would have easily lived through it for the next five hundred years though if it kept Bella safe.

But I had not kept her safe. I had left her unguarded and vulnerable. I was as much to blame for what had happened to her as was Jasper.

Even though I had ended things with Bella I should have stayed and watched over her from a far to ensure her continued safety and happiness. But no I could not take the pain of watching her without having her so I left her to fend off parasites that only cared about sucking the life from her.

How she could not see that was beyond me. How could she stand there and defend him as her saving grace? It sickened me in a way that nothing had before.

It made me question what he had done to her. It was like he had fucking brainwashed her to believe that he was this heroic self sacrificing demigod. In reality all he was just a sadistic self serving demon set on possession.

Well what he wanted to possess already belonged to me and I was not about to sit back and willing allow him to take her away from me. She was mine and mine alone.

I had no doubt that once Jasper was out of the picture that she would be back in my arms. Just the few moments that we had spent together earlier I had seen her warming up to me. Of course she had not totally forgiven me but it was just a matter of time. Bella never could remain mad at me. It was not in her. That was because she loved me more than I thought possible to be loved. She just had to be reminded of that. She needed to remember what it was like to be with me. How I could make her feel. The way she melted when we touched. How she begged me to go further and now there was nothing stopping that from happening.

That was it.

Once I had made love to her there would be no more thoughts of Jasper or any fucking one else for that matter.

"Edward I have been looking everywhere for you. We have to talk about this situation that you have created," Alice demanded coming up to me looking more like a demented imp than her usual hyper pixie self.

"I have not created any situation. If anyone is to blame for this mess it is your husband," I informed her crossing my arms in front of me.

"If he has it his way he won't be my husband much longer. Can you believe that he wants a divorce? Me…he wants a divorce from me. Does he know who is fucking with?" she hissed her eyes growing dark with her anger.

"Alice he does not have a fucking idea who he is fucking with. When we are finished with him he is not going to know what hit him," I explained to her. The monster inside of me was doing a happy dance right now. I thought that I was going to have to wait for this to come about. But already Alice was on the same page as me. Together we were going to make Jasper rue the day he fucked us both over.

"Slow down there Edward. Jasper is going to pay but I am going to be the one to make him suffer. This really has nothing to do with you," she informed me with a huff.

"How the hell can you say that?"

"Can you think about anyone but yourself for just one minute? We are talking about my marriage here not just some chick that was in your life for a blink of an eye."

"You know that Bella is everything to me."

"Blah blah blah that is all I hear when you talk anymore," she said with hand movements and all.

"I don't honestly care about what you think of me. My only concern is getting Bella back and I need to get rid of Jasper to do that."

"Do not touch him…do you hear me?" she growled and stepped closer to me. It was almost laughable to watch her try to intimidate me. She really was a little ball of fire when she wanted to be.

"Why do you care so much about him? We both know that you are not in love with him anymore," I asked her as she started to settle back down. She never stayed mad for long, well not so that you could see. She was more the sweet angel on the outside as she plotted and schemed on the inside like an evil little demon.

"So? That is not the point. As far as I am concerned he is mine and mine alone until I decide I don't want him anymore," she explained to me like he was nothing more than a possession she owned. She really knew nothing about how to have a healthy relationship.

"Fine with me. All I want is him out of the picture as far as Bella is concerned. After that you can do whatever you want with him. The worst the better," I told her picturing dozens of different forms of torture.

"I'm not quite sure what I have planned for him but don't worry I will come up with something fitting," she smiled and I knew she would. It might not be the physical kind that I imagined but Alice was very good at fucking with a person's mind.

"How much does he know?"

"Don't worry he does not know as much as he thinks he knows. All he has found out is that I lied about a few of my visions and also about the fact that I had stopped seeing his future and that it was my idea to leave him behind. Nothing important and nothing that he won't get over," she explained to me and I had to hand it to her she was good. She really did have a way about her. No one could stay mad at her for long and no one ever said no to her. Whatever she wanted she got. That was one of the reasons that I kept her secrets because she promised me that she would keep mine and help me get what I wanted. We had a very 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back' type of relationship.

People including our family always thought that we were very close but that was not really the case. It was much more 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Me and Alice had found out a long time ago that with our powers we could get about anything we wanted. Then we realized that if we worked together there was no stopping us.

"Good," I said knowing if her secrets were save then mine were. I did not doubt for one minute that if hers got revealed that she would have no problem airing all my dirty little secrets. Yeah I was smart enough to know don't cross her.

"So the way I see it we need each other. Bella is standing between me and Jasper and Jasper is standing between Bella and you. All we have to do is break that bond and poof we both get what we want."

"I understand that dear little sister but how do you propose we go about that since Jasper wants a divorce and Bella isn't much happier with me."

"Come on Edward…you made her fall in love with you once and you can do it again. A few crooked smiles here, a couple of sweet words there, and she will be panting all over again begging you to fuck her. And think about it, this time you can really do it," she giggled. I knew just how evil that laugh was.

"Don't be so crude Alice."

"Seriously you need to get laid."

Sexual tension might be a small part of my problem. There was never anyone before Bella that made me want to experience a physically relationship. That was due to the fact that I was never in love with anyone else. Once I found Bella it was something that I struggled with every time we were close. She had no idea the pain I went through. It was harder to sustain from taking her body than her blood.

But I had because I could not live with myself if I hurt her in anyway. My need for her was nothing compared to my need to protect her. But I did not have to worry about that now.

"Do you think that they have fucked?"

"What?" I asked knowing that I had not heard her correctly.

"I said do you think that Jasper and Bella have fucked?"

I could not speak as the monster opened the door. All I could see was black. I was going to kill him and I did not care who knew. In fact I was going to plan a party around his destruction. Invite all of them to come and watch as I tore him completely apart. Not just limp from limp but I would start by ripping each and every one of his fingers and toes off then I would move on to a part that he was never going to get to use again.

"Edward come down from the ledge," Alice yelled shaking me sounding so damn annoyed. How could she say that to me after she had put that mental image in my brain, "I did not say that they did I just got that sexual vibe coming from them well more so from Jasper if we want to be honest. Let's fact it Bella is kind of prudish. Not to mention tomboyish. Not matter how I tried I could never break her of that."

"There is nothing wrong with anything to do with Bella."

"You are talking to me here. How many times did you ask me to help her with her wardrobe? 'Alice can you take Bella shopping? Try putting her in something more classic and that does not look like it came from a thrift store. Blue is my favorite color and try something more feminine like a skirt or a dress. I would like it to look like I am dating a girl. Oh and make sure she does not know that this was my idea.' How many times did that happen?" she accused.

I could not think of anything to come back with because I knew she was right. I had asked Alice to take Bella shopping at times. Her style was a little trailer park chic. I understood that in the past that money was an issue in her family but that was before. She was going to be a Cullen then she needed to look like a Cullen. It was not that hard though she tried to make it that way.

"And not to mention that you offered me a new car of my choosing if I destroyed her truck, remember that?"

"Oh come on…that truck is crime against humanity."

"You don't need to preach to the choir. I agree with you about all Bella's faults and I could come up with a few more. I am just trying to remind you of them since you seemed to have forgotten."

"I have not forgotten."

"Good because Edward you could do so much better. You know that. You know what is waiting out there for you if…"

"No Alice I don't want to hear it. Bella is the only one I want. It does not matter what you say or think just the way that it does not matter what I say about your dear little husband. Okay?"

"Yes dear brother," she said clearly annoyed, "So what is the plan?" she asked me.

"You tell me little sister. You are the master liar and manipulator."

"I do have some great qualities, don't I?"