Chapter 49 – Life Source
"Bella!" Edward shouted at me abruptly, making me jump.
"What?" I said a little dazed as I sat up and looked at him.
He sighed. "Thank god. Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to wake you up?"
"Wake me up?" I asked confused. "How long has it been?"
"Fourteen hours," he said, shocking the hell out of me.
"I've been asleep that long…I don't even remember falling asleep."
"Come here, let me look at you," he said while helping me stand up and then pulling me to the beam of light shining through the porthole. He looked intently into my eyes, and felt my pulse, and then proceeded to check my reflexes.
"Edward, I'm fine…I must have just been tired. I haven't slept well since before the battle…You know, it is time for another dose of you," I said seductively as I ran my fingers under his shirt to trace his perfect abdomen.
But he wasn't convinced. "No, this is different." Without warning, he grabbed my hand out of his shirt and shoved his thumbnail into my index finger making it bleed.
"Ouch," I said, stunned by the unexpected pinch.
"Sorry," he replied mechanically before lifting my hand to his mouth and sucking on my bloody finger.
"What are you doing?" I asked baffled.
"Tasting," he told me, and then he scrunched his face in disgust- or was it anger? "Bella, you're anemic. Like really anemic. When was the last time you ate anything?"
"Um..." I looked down at the rotting food scattered around the small room. "I had a bite of something when they first put me in here. I'm not sure how long it's been though."
He huffed. "I thought you loved this baby?"
"I do."
"Then why the hell didn't you eat this shit before it went bad?" he asked angrily, but before I could answer him he was already trying to find a solution. "What's in this basket?" he asked as he rummaged through the contents. "Here, eat this," he insisted, handing me a squishy banana. "It's better than nothing but you really need some protein…something with more iron in it. All this is shit will just turn into sugar in your system."
Edward then rushed to the door and banged on it. "Give us something real to eat, you fucking pieces of shit!" he shouted, but regardless of how deafeningly loud he was, nobody came. "This is fucking ridiculous. How the hell do they think this baby will even survive without proper nourishment?"
"Proper nourishment hasn't been a luxury people have had since before vampires took over the world," I told him robotically. "Every time a baby was born healthy in my village, the people would have these huge celebrations. Birthdays were always big deals for us as well; one more year of life meant one more hope for the continuation of our species…I bet things in Austin weren't much different…at least when it came to the nutrition part; they probably don't even know about iron and all that."
"Bella…it's going to be okay," he told me assuredly. He then stepped closer and reached for me as if he was going to hold me again, but then he said something I certainly wasn't expecting. "Bite me."
"Huh?" I asked, thinking I had heard him wrong.
"You know what I said. I want you to bite me. Blood has iron in it, and that's exactly what you need, so bite me."
"I'm not going to bite you," I said with a dismissive laugh. I knew he wasn't kidding, but I chose to take it that way regardless. "You bite me, not the other way around."
"You have bitten me before," he argued.
"But it was playful, not to drink your blood. I don't think I broke your skin."
"Damn it Bella, you're anemic, if you don't get some iron you could die."
"I already have your cells in me from sex, so I'll be fine."
He huffed. "Obviously it's not helping your iron depletion. You need something of sustenance in your stomach. Now bite me!"
"So your cells can cure the flu and cancer, but it can't save me from anemia?" I asked with a laugh.
"This isn't funny, and I'm not fucking joking. If you don't bite me, I'm going to slice my wrist open and shove it in your mouth the way I did with your father when he was sick," he warned me.
"No you won't."
"Fucking dare me."
I stared at him for a moment, searching for any kind of bluff in his eyes, but I didn't find any. He was serious, and as much as I thought it was pointless, I certainly didn't want him to hold me down and force feed me the way he did with Charlie.
I reached up to the nape of his neck, and momentarily stalled by playing with the back of his hair. Strangely I was scared shitless by the thought of it, and as I considered why I only freaked myself out even more. I have had all of his fluids in me one way or another, but biting him, and drinking his blood in that way, seemed so…wrong, as if there was something innately immoral about it. It was different than a vampire drinking blood or a love bite during sex; he was asking me to consume him - a human, feeding off of a human. It was almost cannibalistic in a way, and it gave me a nauseating pain deep in my gut.
"Bella, you need it. The baby needs it," Edward said sternly. When I still didn't move, he brought his hand up to the back of my head and gently but firmly pulled me into him so my mouth was flush against his neck. "Do it, now."
As much as I didn't want to, I couldn't deny the heavenly scent of his skin, and without even fully allowing it, I felt my lips part and then my teeth clamped down on his flesh…but nothing happened.
"You're not biting hard enough!" he growled at me. "Stop being a coward. You're stronger than this."
His words were like an electric shock to my system. I wanted to be stronger. I wanted to be that person who was capable of doing anything, so somehow I found that strength. The muscles in my jaw constricted, and suddenly a rush of warmth invaded my mouth.
The flavor was shocking, sharp and metallic, but it only took a moment for the foreign taste to somehow resonate through all my senses and become something entirely natural and pure. The more I drank, the better he taste, and I lost all my inhibitions as if there never were any. But it was more than just the nourishment; it was as if he was truly running through every part of me, and it actually only made me feel that much closer to him. I finally understood him completely - this was the exact way he felt when he always drank me before. It was never hunger or bloodlust; it was intense, unyielding, passion from the very beginning.
I pulled my teeth out of his flesh but kept my lips against his wound as his blood continued to flow out all over us. "Edward, I want you to bite me too," I mumbled before using my tongue to catch the stream of liquid rolling down his collarbone."
I could feel him smile into my hair as he let out the smallest noiseless laugh. "Not this time," he whispered.
"After I'm feeling better?" I assumed, knowing he still very much wanted to bite me.
"Definitely."
"But I am already feeling better," I murmured seductively into his ear.
"The last thing you need right now is a loss of blood. Your body can't handle it."
"Then don't drink…just bite."
He kissed my lips, and then his mouth trailed to my neck where he sucked and nipped at my skin, making me squirm with aching anticipation.
"Edward, please," I whimpered.
He kissed me tenderly again, and just when I was about to give up hope that he'd actually do it, suddenly his teeth sunk slowly into my skin.
It was almost a sense of relief; blood was basically the source of life, and I needed mine to flow out of me and into him, just as his was flowing out of him and into me. It was fervidness and calming serenity at the same time, and it didn't take long before we became absolutely covered in blood; his, mine, both mixed and combined – we were drenched in each other, inside and out.
Somehow we ended up rolling around naked on the floor, making love and becoming even closer than ever before. There was no separation, no end to one or a beginning of the other. We were just a singular being, completely and irrevocably combined.
I had no idea how long it went on for; time never seemed to make any sense when we were together in that way, but eventually the blood flow slowed, and our bodies shut down in a tranquil numbing haze. "We're going to have to do this again soon," I mumbled lazily against his chest.
He laughed once. "That's going to be tough to top."
"It is hard to imagine anything getting better than that," I agreed. "But we can try."
He turned to look at me, and the faint glow from the rising sun outside the porthole glistened in his eyes. "How did I find you?" he asked unexpectedly. "I mean, I'm completely baffled."
I smiled widely and then tried to suppress it by biting my lower lip. "You followed your nose, remember? I smelled too yummy for you to resist."
"You do realize how fucking weird this whole thing is, don't you? I mean, we shouldn't be into this. Humans aren't usually so…gruesome. If we found each other last century we probably would have ended up being serial killers."
"We're not hurting anyone."
"Anyone except each other," he pointed out.
"Mmm, I do love hurting you…And I love it even more when you hurt me."
He smiled and shook his head with incredulousness. "I've made you insane."
"I'm only as insane as you are," I said with a playful nip at his lip.
"God, I love you," he growled before kissing me roughly.
We had sex again, because that's what we did, and then we both seemed to drift off for a little nap, before waking up and re-opening our bite wounds while starting a new gory love session. When we finally calmed back down, Edward's mood was strangely different.
"Let's get up and get dressed," he said absently as his mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely.
"Why?" I asked confused.
"We're getting out of here….Now."
"What? Why? How do you know?"
"I don't know anything…but we're not going to get any stronger than we are right now. The longer we're in here without proper nourishment, the weaker we'll get...My blood isn't helping you much anymore, you need something else so it's time to get moving," he said determinedly.
Our clothes were cold and damp, and still smelled strongly of blood, but we got dressed anyway, and Edward immediately began looking around for some kind of inspiration. "There's got to be something that we can use to get out of here," he grumbled. When he didn't find anything he began banging on the door…
"You can't bust it open, it's reinforced with steel," I told him with a sigh.
He didn't respond, he just banged on it harder- and then he started throwing his shoulder into it with his super strength.
"Edward stop," I pleaded with him.
"No, look," he told me while backing away just enough for me to see the damage he was conflicting. The door was still shut tightly, but it was definitely denting.
"Maybe if we do it together," I suggested.
"Bella, you're pregnant, remember?"
"Then I'll use my foot," I told him before kicking the thing as hard as I could. "You shove, I'll kick."
"Don't hurt yourself," he warned me.
"Aww, I love how protective you're being of our baby," I cooed.
He grimaced at me, but surprisingly didn't deny it, which only made me melt even more.
Edward still did most of the work, but with my added super kicks the door eventually buckled into itself, and we stood there and stared at it dumbfounded. "I can't believe that worked," he mumbled.
"Oh, what happened to your confidence?" I giggled at him.
"Hey, I'm confident, but… It actually pisses me off; we should have done that a lot sooner."
"So now that it's open, what's the plan?" I asked him.
He turned and looked at me with a mix of sternness and regret. "Now I'm going kill people."
My mouth unconsciously dropped open.
"Don't look at me like that. You knew this was going to happen, and after what they did to you, they deserve it."
I swallowed roughly, and then took a deep breath. "Well, Amun deserves it, but…"
"But what?"
"But what about everyone else? You can't kill everyone. Besides, what happens after? We're in the middle of the ocean, where will we go?"
"The Cullens are on their way...They'll be here soon," he said assuredly.
"How do you know?"
"Alice had to have seen something by now. Hopefully there was something in her vision that will clue them into where we are right at this moment. Worst case scenario, if things get too messy we jump overboard and wait for them to find us. Got it?"
"Um…"
But I didn't have time to finish that thought, because that was when we heard the echo of rushed footsteps cantering towards us.
"They're coming. Stay behind me," Edward insisted while stepping in front of me. I quickly kissed his back shoulder, and then readied myself for the fight.
"Stop!" a man said when he turned the corner and saw us staring at him through the broken door.
"I don't think so," Edward said evenly while stepping out into the hall. I shadowed his movements but stayed a little further back because I knew it was about to turn ugly.
And then the man pulled out a gun. "I said stop!" he shouted. "I will shoot you."
My heart started pounding as I watched the man cock his gun, but Edward refused to back down. "Then shoot me, but I doubt it'll be enough to make me stop."
"Help! The prisoners are escaping! Someone help!" the man screamed.
Edward advanced on him, but before the man could pull the trigger Edward grabbed the gun out of his hands, and hit him over the head with the handle rendering unconscious.
"Come on, let's go," Edward told me. He grabbed my hand and we started walking at a brisk but cautious pace, but then four more guys ran onto the scene, and all of them had guns.
"Are you still bulletproof?" I asked him worriedly.
"Just stay behind me."
"Stay where you are!" the men shouted at us.
"Fat chance of that," Edward replied before charging them.
A gun went off, so I ducked, but I tried to keep my eyes on Edward. They were all attacking him, and there was another bang, but it didn't seem to hit anyone. I watched as he wrestled away two of their guns, and he kicked the third out of that guy's hand, but just when he was about to hit one of them with his elbow, the fourth guy cocked his gun right at Edward's temple and told him to "Freeze."
At some point during the scuffle one of the four guys got knocked out and was lying on the ground, but the other two recovered themselves as Edward stood there with the gun at his head, and they each grabbed one of his arms in an attempt to restrain him.
"Now, you and your bitch are going to go back inside your cell, and you'll be chained up for the remainder of the voyage," the guy with the gun said.
"I don't think so," Edward replied unconcerned. He yanked his arms out of the guys' grasp, thus causing them to fall flat on their faces, but the guy with the gun backed up and took his aim right at Edward's chest.
"Edward, look out!" I screamed.
I could actually see the guy flex his finger to fire his pistol, but then suddenly he was hit over the head from someone behind him, and he fell to the ground. Before we even had a chance to see who it was, Edward was back to fighting the other two guys. It took less than half a minute before they were all defeated, and Edward and I both stood there surprised to discover who had helped us.
"Get out of here, before more of them come," Benjamin said while kicking the guns away from the men passed out on the ground.
"Thank you," Edward said graciously before grabbing my hand and running past him.
"He's going to get in trouble for helping us," I said as we hurried away. "But thank god he came when he did."
"Please. I could have easily taken them all out alone. I was actually hoping I'd get shot; it would be nice to know what would happen."
I rolled my eyes. "If you're that curious about it, I'll shoot you in the arm when we get home," I offered sarcastically.
"Really?" he asked excitedly.
"No, not really!" I spat.
We made our way through the labyrinth of halls, occasionally coming across various people that would either get scared and cower as we passed, or they'd try to stop us and were immediately knocked out by a single shove from Edward. Finally we found a set of stairs and ran up through the bright sunlight onto the ship's deck. When my eyes adjusted to the flood of light, I gasped by the sight of the endless ocean sprawled out before us and in every direction.
"There's nothing!" I cried. "No landmarks. There's no way for Alice to know where we are."
"There's got to be something," Edward said while looking around. And of course, because things weren't bad enough already, the crew working on-deck spotted us and we were immediately charged. "Bella, go back down the stairs until I call you," Edward said to me in a rush.
"I'm not leaving you," I said stubbornly.
"Damn it Bella, you're…"
"I'm pregnant, not helpless!" I cut him off. He didn't have time to argue anymore, because the dozen or so men crashed upon us aggressively. As strong as Edward and I both were, having that many men on us at once wasn't an easy thing to overcome. None seemed to have weapons, so it didn't take long for Edward to break many of their necks, but I was being overly cautious with my stomach area and I was forced to allow a few guys to corner me.
"Stop!" someone shouted with authority, making all the men attacking us freeze. A man walked out of the captain's quarters with Amun and Kebi in tow, and even though I didn't recognize him, I knew exactly who he was.
"Wow, the elusive Alistair, I presume," I said with as much attitude as I could muster. "And here I thought you were a figment of Amun's imagination…Or are you just a coward?"
"Amun, you didn't tell me that our sweet momma-to be was such a looker," Alistair said while giving me the once over. "And quite the fighter, I see." He turned to Amun. "They're covered in blood. You better send someone to check for survivors."
I glanced over at Edward and noticed how terrifying he actually looked. It was the first time I really saw him in direct light since being on that ship, and I had to admit, he was sexy as all hell. It was wonderfully ironic that as a human covered in blood, Edward looked ten times more terrifying than he ever did as a vampire; I only hoped I looked half as freaky as he did.
"You better let us go, or you'll end up just as dead as those below deck," Edward warned Alistair.
"Hate to break it to you, but there's nowhere for you to go," Alistair replied smugly.
"Well then I guess we'll just have to kill all of you and then turn this relic around," Edward said menacingly.
"There is nothing back there for either of you," Amun tried reasoning. "I thought you understood that?" he asked me.
"Aro won," I informed them. "Benjamin was lied to so he'd be willing to bring Edward to me. It was all just one big farce. Everyone is alive, and it's only a matter of time before Aro's new rule spills into Africa and they find you."
"She's lying," Kebi said evenly.
"No, she's not," Edward assured her. "This little freedom boat of yours is nothing more than a pointless deathtrap."
"And how is it a deathtrap?" Alistair asked amused.
"Because you're all going to die. In fact, you're already dead; you just don't know it yet."
"That's nice that you have hope, but in what fairytale does a single man and a pregnant woman kill an entire ship of men?"
"Well, maybe we couldn't kill all of you alone, but it definitely pays to have friends in high places," Edward said cryptically. I looked at him confused, so he gestured for me to look behind myself, and that's when I saw it - a small chain of islands over the horizon. Alice would have been watching for clues; she would have already seen the islands in her vision and they'd be on their way to get us. I didn't have a doubt.
And as if it were some preordained prophecy that could never be escaped, the ship was suddenly surrounded by smaller but much faster boats full of - "Vampires!" Amun screamed. "Everyone take cover!"
I had no idea where they thought they could hide, but all the people on deck scattered in a chaotic panic, and I was beyond relieved. I looked over the edge of the ship and my heart jumped when I saw Emmett there, getting ready to leap onboard. "Bella?" he called to me from below.
I moved out of the way, and the next thing I knew I was being squeezed in his monster embrace. "Thank god. I was so worried about you… Bella, why the hell are you covered in Edward's blood?" he asked while sniffing me. "And your blood? What the fuck have you two been doing?"
I laughed. "It's good to see you too, Em."
Black cloaked vampires swarmed the ship from all sides, and it didn't take long for them to capture all the humans on deck and secure them in chains. When I watched Amun and Alistair being fitted with their hardware, I couldn't help but smile by the fact that they would suffer the same fate that they had tried inflicting on me…but Edward didn't share my same amusement from it.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked when I saw the fuming scowl he was wearing.
"I'm not going to let this happen," he seethed.
"Let what happen?" I asked, but then I saw Ben being locked up and I decided to step in. "Wait!" I called and rushed over to him. "He helped us. He goes free," I told the vampire who was restraining him. The vampire looked over at a different vampire who I recognized as being one of Aro's higher ranked guards, and when he nodded, the first vampire released him.
"Why are you helping me?" Ben asked me confused.
"You helped us…more than once; the least we can do is bring you back home with us and give you a chance at a life."
"But my family?"
"I'm sorry," I told him with a slight head shake.
He looked at me sadly, and then nodded. "I understand," he whispered, but then something caught his attention behind me and his face morphed into pure horror. "Father!" he shouted. I turned around just in time to see Edward attack Amun…it was over quickly…for both Amun and Alistair.
The vampires there didn't even bat an eye by Edward's merciless slayings, but my friend Benjamin was a different story. Seeing his father killed like that sent him in a blind rage and he ran towards Edward with the intent of attacking him, but it was obvious that young Ben wasn't a fighter, and Edward easily caught him by the throat.
"Sorry," Edward mouthed to me, knowing I wasn't happy about what he was about to do.
I subtly shook my head no, and silently pleaded for his life - There had been enough killing, and we weren't in any more danger, but even more than that, Ben was a good guy, he was just hurting and I didn't want to see him get killed. But Edward wasn't a very forgiving person, and I could see the resolve on his face, so I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for it to be over.
"Hey, time to go," I heard Emmett's voice say softly, so I opened my eyes and tried not to look at the body lying at Edward's feet.
"Okay…But what's going to happen to all these people?"
"Do you really want to know?" Emmett asked me.
"I don't know, do I?"
"Nope, you don't."
I sighed. "Fine."
But he wouldn't have to tell me even if I wanted him to, because the answer became painfully clear. Just as Emmett was leading me to one of the boats they brought, I saw Aro and his brothers coming off of a different one.
"Aww, yes, this vessel will do very nicely for our trip to Europe," Aro said pleased as he looked around the ship. "And there will be plenty of humans for all of us. Thank you, Carlisle, you have come through with your promise very well. Count yourself in my good graces, and if you should ever need our assistance, feel free to visit us in our new Italian home after things settle."
"Thank you, Aro," Carlisle said with a slight bow. "Good luck with the takeover in Europe."
"No luck needed," Aro replied with a sinister grin as Jane and Alec boarded the ship.
"So…all these people will be their meals, huh?" I asked Emmett quietly.
"They sealed their fates when they took you and tried running for it," Em said regretfully.
"No!" I heard a woman scream. I looked over at the chained people and saw Kebi becoming hysterical, but it wasn't due to the loss of her husband and son, it was because she realized I was leaving them there to become food. "Bella, you can't do this to us!" she called to me. "Please, please help us. Please. You can get them to spare some of us, I know you can. Please!"
I just shook my head at her and climbed onto my brother's back so he could jump us onto the smaller boat, and I didn't look back. I refused to give Kebi another thought, especially because she probably deserved to die more than any of them.
"Dad!" I shouted excitedly when I saw him there waiting for me.
"Bella, thank god," he said while wrapping me in his arms. "You have no idea how worried I was about you."
"Why did you come? This could have been really dangerous for you?" I asked him.
"You're my little girl. I'll always come from you….What in God's name did they do to you?" he asked when he noticed the state I was in.
"Oh, uh…don't worry, it's mostly Edward's blood."
"What did they do to him?" he asked, just as disturbed.
"Nothing," Edward said as he jumped onto the boat.
"That's a whole lot of blood on both of you for nothing to have happened," Charlie grumbled.
Edward ignored him. "Are you okay?" he asked me carefully.
I nodded. A part of me wanted to scold him and tell him that Ben's death was unnecessary, that he had helped us and we might not have made it without him, but instead I settled for falling into his arms and just letting him hold me. What was done was done, and I was so incredibly grateful we were saved; there was no point in harping on what should have happened because the world didn't revolve around should'ves or could'ves. The past was irrelevant, it was time to start our future…
"Ready to go home?" I asked Edward while looking up at him and then kissing chin.
"Home, huh? I thought home was where the heart is, or some bullshit like that?" he asked lightly.
"It is."
He kissed my forehead. "Well then I'm already home."
I squeezed him tightly, and then whispered "I love you."
"I love you too," he replied softly.
The rest of the Cullens jumped onboard our small boat, and Rose's former coven the Denalis jumped on another, and we all headed back to America. We knew there were still other vampires there, and we might never be completely safe, but with Aro as the new leader, we were as safe as we were going to get. Word had spread and the vampire world was now shrouded with fear, so for the first time in my life, the land belonged to people again. Our future generations would have a chance at a real fulfilled life, and there couldn't be anything more remarkable than that.
"Is it all really over?" I asked Edward as we watched Aro's ship get smaller in the distance.
"No…it's just finally beginning."
…
