Chapter 7: Monster

Edward's POV

I wasn't sure how much more my nerves could take. Not even now that I was on an airplane about to arrive in Florida where I now knew Bella was. The past several days had been even more tense sense the encounter in Portland, Oregon. I was sure that we were all getting on Jasper's nerves right now.

After Jacob and I were ambushed in Oregon the pack, Seth and Leah who were in their wolf forms at the time, alerted Alice who then Called Carlisle and Esme. Only I quickly realized that I had a lot more in common with my attacker than I realized. First of all they were a peaceful coven. They'd only attacked because they'd perceived Jacob and I as threats. They'd never seen vampires with golden eyes before. They'd also never seen werewolves either. So they thought we were a danger and attacked.

Things would have escalated more if their coven leader hadn't put a stop to it all. One glance into her mind told me that despite her red eyes she was just as kind, caring, and compassionate as Carlisle. She was even a doctor just like Carlisle. She was the one who decided that we should talk first so they could find out what we were doing on their territory. There was one more thing our families had in common. Damien, the guy who attacked me, and was also looking for a human girl who was pregnant with a half human child.

One peek into his mind told me that he loved his human wife, Elizabeth a.k.a Lizzie, every bit as much as I loved Bella. It was a shock to be because I didn't think of the possibility that there were other vampires who could fall in love with humans. I supposed that it was stupid of me to think I was the only vampire in the history to love a human as fiercely as I loved Bella. Our love was rare but not impossible.

They were highly intrigued by our chosen lifestyle. They'd never heard of 'vegetarian' vampires like most others of our kind. They'd never even thought of substituting human blood with animal blood. From I could see they were seriousness considering giving our diet a try. Like us they didn't want to hurt humans. It was an aspect They'd always hated about themselves. They just never knew there was an alternative.

A few hours after our encounter we were joined by the rest of my family, including Seth and Leah. The meeting had gone well. There was some tense regarding the wolves but nothing came of it in the end. After some talking we decided to work together. We'd help them look for Lizzie and they'd help us look for Bella.

It was Damien who suggested that they may have fled town by airplane rather than foot. When I thought about it it made a lot of sense. Damien was a hacker so he'd hacked into all of the airlines that operated out of Seattle and Portland. It wasn't long before he came across Bella's and Lizzie's name. First on two separate flights and then connecting on a flight together from San Antonio, Texas to Orlando, Florida. Both of our girls had tried to cover their tracks by paying in cash but they'd forgotten one important detail. They'd used their actual names when booking a flight. Perhaps if they'd thought to use an alias name instead they would have gone undetected.

So we immediately booked the next flight out of Portland to Orlando. Damien sighed next to me. He was just as anxious to find his Lizzie as I was to find my Bella. He also wanted that thing growing within his wife gone. Like Carlisle and I he and his mother had been planning on forcing Lizzie into having an abortion. He wanted that thing that was killing his wife gone.

"We'll find them," I said.

"I hope you're right. It makes me anxious to be away from her. What was she thinking?"

"The same thing my Bella was thinking apparently. She always loved all the wrong things. The things that could kill her,"

He cracked a smile. "I used to tell Lizzie the same thing. I just hope that when we find her, when we find both of our wives, that we find them alive and well,"

"I'm sure we will," I tried to sound hopeful even though I was filled with dread. The more time that passed the more dangerous those monsters inside of our wives became.

"You know I don't even care if Lizzie hates me. If I got rid of that thing inside of her and she hated me for it I would be fine with that. As long as she's alive to hate me. That's all that matters at this point. Do you know what I mean Edward?"

"Believe me I understand you perfectly," I ignored the scowl and the mental insults that Rosalie hurled my way. If she hated me and never forgave me for killing the monster that was killing Bella than so be it.

This was going to end tonight. Then I would be left to deal with the fall out. When the plane landed at 11:30 my anxiety only increased. We didn't have any bags so went straight to the car rental area. Then we headed toward the hotel we knew the girls were staying at. The room had been booked under Lizzie's name only so I was just hoping that Bella was with her.

Luck was on my side. As soon as I parked and we got off the car I knew that she was here. I could detect her scent among the scents of all the other humans that had walked through here.

"Lizzie's here," Damien said. "I can smell her,"

"So is Bella,"

We were about to go in the hotel when I heard someone say "We need to get out of here,"

"The other guests here heard us?" a girl asked.

"That's Lizzie," Damien said anxiously.

"Worse than that," a boy said nervously "Although that certainly is a problem. No. There's other vampires here. Their scent just wafted through the open window. I don't know why they're here but we need to leave before they smell all of the blood. Lizzie can you grab EJ and Renesmee from Bella?"

Blood?! What blood?! That's when I smelled it. Bella's blood. I didn't hear the rest of what that boy said. I ran as fast as I could without attracting the attention of the other humans. The others, my family and Damien's, followed quickly. I used my strength to push the door open. There was blood all over one of the beds and the floor. It was Bella's blood. Mixed was the scent of another human girl and the scent of a creature that was neither human or vampire. But they were all gone.

I followed the scent out of the room into the hallway and out of the emergency exit. I heard a scream that was unmistakably Bella's. I saw someone loading her into the backseat of a car. Before I could get to him he was in the driver's seat taking off fast.

"What now?" Damien asked.

"We're going to get that guy. Whatever he is. We're going to catch him and save our girls," I growled.

We raced back to the car. This time we didn't even bother keeping the speed human. Damien climbed into the passenger's seat. I put my foot to the gas pedal and floored it. I could still hear the boy's thoughts so I knew he was close by. Then I spotted him a few cars ahead of us. Unfortunately he seemed just as aware of my presence as I was of his.

His car picked up speed. So did mine. He wasn't going to give up easily though. He was weaving in and out of traffic to lose us. When there was nobody else on the road he increased his speed to 60 then 70 then 80 then 90 then 100 miles per hour. Every time he increased his speed so did I.

It was when he reached 110 miles per hour that I realized I needed to take more drastic measures to stop him from getting away.

"What are you doing?"

"Can't say out loud. He might hear us,"

I'd never done a pit maneuver before but I'd seen it done many times on TV. Usually when the police were trying to end a pursuit. I pulled up alongside the car so that my car's front tires were aligned perfectly with his back tires. I gently bumped into the side of his car and then I steered sharply into his car. His tires lost traction and began to skid. But I quickly realized that I forgot one important factor when I decided to attempt a pit maneuver. Speed. His car spun out and but instead of coming to a stop facing the opposite direction the car continued to spin wildly out of control until it crashed into a tree on the side of the road.

There was a sickening thud and a loud cry.

"Oh no EJ's bleeding," a girl cried. "I lost my grip on him and-"

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least it wasn't Bella that had gotten hurt. Not anymore hurt then she was.

"Lizzie are you alright?" Liam asked.

"Yes but EJ-"

"Oh no. We're surrounded," he said.

The others had arrived. Carlisle was chastising me mentally for my dangerous stunt. My dangerous reckless stunt. Carlisle and Damien's mom, Cora, were the first to get out of their cars and approach the vehicle. There was a flurry of activity. It was the word 'babies' that caught my attention while I was removing Bella from the car.

I was barely aware of anything else as I hugged Bella to my body. I realized what was wrong with Bella. She was changing. She was in pain and that tore right through my dead heart. Baby. The thing that was killing Bella had been born. That would explain all of the blood in the hotel room.

"Babies" I heard someone say. Wait. There was two of them? I shook my head. It didn't matter how many monsters I created soon I would be the one to end their existence. All that mattered right now was Bella. I heard the boy, Liam, begging us not to kill him, Bella, and Lizzie.

Carlisle assured him that we wouldn't kill him. That we were just trying to find Bella and Lizzie. That we were no threat. Whatever he was he still clearly wasn't as strong as us and knew we could kill him if we wanted to. He explained how he has been trying to help Bella and Lizzie. That he was taking them to a nearby vacant building.

Carlisle asked him to lead us to that building so that he'd be better able to treat him for his injuries also. He and EJ, that thing that I refused to acknowledge was mine, had been injured. Good. As far as I was concerned that evil little thing could suffer.

When we got to the building I took Bella to a separate room away from the others. I listened to her cry out in pain. I stayed with her for a few hours. She was suffering and it was all my fault. No. It was the fault of what she'd carried inside of her. I needed to end their lives. Tonight. I did not care who got in my way.

Anger fuelled my actions and I stood up and walked out of that room. I heard one of the evil little things crying. Then I spotted them in Rosalie's arms. A boy and a girl. I hadn't seen them before this moment. I didn't know what I was expecting to see when I first saw them. But something inside of me made me stop and look.

I really looked at them. The girl looked slightly more like Bella then me. But the boy on the other hand looked exactly like me. He even had the same green eye color that I had as a human. His eyes were filled with tears. I could see no trace of monster in either of them. They were just babies. Innocent little babies. I couldn't hurt them. I was the cruel evil monster here not them.

EJ had a bandage across his head and I realized that was because of me. Because of my idiotic idea to attempt a pit maneuver at 110 miles per hour. He cried even louder but nobody could figure out what was wrong. One peek into his mind told me what the problem was. He wasn't hungry and he didn't need a diaper change like they thought.

"Let me have him Rose," I'd said as I approached her with my hands outstretched.

Instead of handing him over to me she she pulled him away. He contacted to cry out.

"Why? So you can kill him?" she snarled.

"I'm not going to do anything to him. Just let me have him,"

"I'm not handing him over to you. Not after you talked non stop about how much you want to-"

"Just let me have him,"

"No. Why should I?"

"Because I am his father that's why!"

EJ cried and held his arms out toward me. "He wants me,"

"I don't care what you want. I don't care that your his father. I don't care what he wants. He doesn't know how much you wanted to-ouch!" EJ had bitten her hand hard causing her to drop him. I caught him before he hit the floor. A spasm of pride filled me.

Rosalie grabbed him and tried to snatch him away from me. He cried and held onto me as I held onto him. I pushed her away from me so hard that she fell backwards into the wall. "Try that again and I swear I won't hesitate to rip your arms off," I snarled.

I took advantage of her shock to leave with him. We needed to get away from that place. EJ's cries lessened the further away we got from everybody. What he needed was peace and quiet. It was as if I'd just simply replicated myself when I helped create him. It wasn't just my physical appearance he had inherited from me. He had inherited my gift as well.

I stopped walking when I reached a park several miles away from that place and looked down at the baby boy in my arms. My son. He was my son. I wiped away his tears and kissed him for the first time. Now that we were away from everybody he was at peace. I remembered what it was like in the beginning. When I first discovered that I could read people's minds. It was horrible. Hearing what everyone around me was thinking, especially as they were talking, was pure hell. It was enough to drive anyone to insanity. It wasn't until I'd learned how to find one internal 'voice' to focus on that I could easily tune out the other 'voices' and be at peace.

For a newborn baby who was at the focus of everyone's attention it was hell. Now that I'd taken him away he was reveling in the silence. I would teach him how to handle his gift. I would teach him everything that I knew. Him and my daughter.

It was amazing the amount of love that I had for this small little baby in my arms. For the first time since it happened I was glad that Bella had left. I was glad that she protected our innocent little babies from Carlisle and I.

I looked at him and wondered how it was possible that I ever thought he was a monster. Howe I ever thought he was bad.

I a monster? I bad?

Hearing those words caught me completely off guard. EJ had started crying again. I sighed. I wasn't used to guarding my thoughts from others the way they were used to guarding their thoughts from me. I would have to change that quickly.

No baby. You are not a monster. You are not bad. Don't ever think that. I love you.

This was very surreal from me. After a century of hearing other people's thoughts I'd never imagined being able to telepathically communicate with someone. Especially not my own son. Now here I was having a mental conversation with my newborn son.

I love you daddy.

If I could cry I'd be in an ocean of tears by now. He blinked a few times and drifted off into dreamland.

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