"Dr. Cullen to ER. Dr Cullen to ER." Carlisle sighed as he stood up from his desk and moved to the door.
Nessie had woken up during the ambulance ride to the hospital. She moved from the gurney to the bed on her own.
She could smell the blood covering her body. She could feel the hunger creeping into her throat. Lifting one hand from her lap, she stared at it in curiosity.
Her tongue crept out to lick at the blood. The male officer left the room. Nessie put her finger in her mouth and sucked the blood off it.
About the time she was cleaning off a third finger, Carlisle walked into the room. "Renesmee Carlie Cullen!" he hissed. Spinning to the others in the room, "Leave me alone with my daughter."
Everyone cleared the room. "Renesmee, stop."
Deliberately, she lifted her hand to her mouth with every intention of cleaning off another finger. Carlisle grabbed her wrists and pinned them in her lap. "Nessie, please stop. For your mother."
She was fighting him, just like a newborn. He just held her still with one hand and pulled his cell phone out with the other.
"Esme, bring some clean, comfortable clothes to the hospital for Renesmee. I'll explain when you get here. Bring Bella and Jake if you can." He hung up and lay a hand to the girl's cheek. "Nessie. Look at me, Renesmee."
At the gentle tone, Nessie stopped struggling and looked at her grandfather as if seeing him for the first time. "Carlisle?"
He sighed. "Yes. You're safe now. Your mother is on her way. I need you to focus for me. I need to examine you. Can you sit still for me? Just like when you were a baby?" She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.
After about ten minutes, Carlisle ascertained that the blood covering his granddaughter's petite frame was not her own but rather that of a dangerous man who had died trying to assault her. "Okay. I think it's safe for you to take a shower now." He led her over to the bathroom and told her where everything was. Then he pulled out a trash bag. "Put those clothes in here when you get them off. Everything. Okay?"
She nodded and pushed the door closed behind him. A couple of minutes later she handed out the trash bag of blood-soaked clothes. "Carlisle?" came the whispered voice.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry. The blood just smelled so good and I found myself getting so thirsty …"
"It's okay. It was a slip. That's all. Go ahead and take your shower. Esme and Bella will be here soon. They're bringing you some clean clothes and then they'll take you home."
"Okay." She had never sounded more like a lost child until that moment. The door clicked shut and Carlisle heard the water start.
Going to the door of the room, he opened it to find two nurses and the officers standing there. "Burn this please," he told one of the nurses as he handed the bag to her. Turning to the other one, he continued, "My daughter is taking a shower right now. Would you please go in and change the bed?"
Before the nurse with the bag left, the male officer spoke up. "You can't burn that. It's evidence."
"It is not. We all know that this blood belongs to the man that died in that alley. That isn't the question that would be raised if this goes to court. They'll want to know how it happened." He nodded to the women and both nurses left to do his bidding. He turned to the officers. "Can you tell me what happened?"
The female officer spoke first. "Officer Pelson and I were pulling our normal patrol. We always slow down while passing alleys in case we see something. Well, I noticed this book laying on the sidewalk. I figured something had to have happened there. We stopped and when the spotlight hit the young woman, we didn't know what to think. She was covered in blood, holding a head in her hands and the rest of the body was laying at her feet."
The male officer took over. "It was weird. She licked her lips as we told her to hold still. Then her eyes went wide as if she had just noticed that she was covered in blood and she passed out. We called for an ambulance and a coroner's wagon. She woke up in the ambulance and then you caught up with us here."
"Doctor, I picked up the book from the sidewalk. I have it in the car."
"Would you please bring it to me?" He was curious as to whether or not this was Nessie's book. She nodded and went out to the patrol car.
As she was walking back in, Jake, Esme and Bella came up to Carlisle. "Where's Nessie?" Jake demanded.
"Jake, relax for a moment. I want to let you know what I know. Esme, would you and Bella take the clothes in for Nessie? I think she could use your support now."
As the women disappeared into the room, Jake turned to Carlisle. "Why does Nessie need new clothes? What happened? Why are the police here?"
"Apparently, Jake, something happened to Nessie on her way to join her friends at the restaurant. She had told me she would pick up Jasper's order at the bookstore. They apparently went on without her and she was walking to the restaurant when …"
Just then Jake smelled Nessie's tears. To him, they'd always had a special scent. He didn't listen to another word that Carlisle said. He just pushed into the room.
The scent in the room hit him hard. He could smell Nessie and … a stranger. Some strange man's scent was all over his Nessie.
Standing dead still in the middle of the room with her mother on one side and her grandmother on the other was a teary-eyed Renesmee, her long hair still wet from her shower. The scent was all over her.
A deadly rage came over him and he started shaking. Bella and Esme moved in front of the young woman who was shaking and cringing away from him in terror.
Jake shouted out in rage and turned, running out of the room and out of the hospital.
Nessie crumbled to the floor, tears flowing harder now.
"He saw my eyes. He knows what I did. I disgust him now." The whispered words broke not only both women's hearts but also Carlisle's. All three would be in tears if they could.