From the Files of Dr. D.

The Case of Edward C., Week 2:

Blood lust...

Edward thirsts for Bella's blood. What suppressed desire does this blood lust represent? A forbidden sexual attraction? Edward speaks of Bella with a longing that suggests to me that he is deeply attracted to her, both physically and mentally, and yet he has insisted that their relationship must remain unconsummated. Why?

Because he is immortal and she is mortal... In his hallucinations, they are no longer equals, a boy and a girl in love, but two beings separated by a chasm of difference. In his mind, their relationship is fraught with taboo, with mortal danger... Why? Why does he see her as forbidden?

Edward fears that he will harm Bella if he gives in to his desires, that he will put her very life in danger. Is there something about the sexual act itself that is associated with terror in his mind? With death? Love and death are curiously intertwined in his hallucinations.

I decided to question Edward further about this feelings for Bella.

"Edward," I began gently. "You love Bella a great deal, don't you?"

A shadow fell over his beautiful face as he answered softly: "More than life itself."

"And yet your relationship has never progressed past a kiss?" I phrased the question as tactfully as I could. "Why would that be, Edward?"

He flushed. "I – of course I have been tempted… But you must understand, doctor, that I am dangerous. If I were to… to make love to Bella, I could kill her. Inadvertently."

The act of love as an act of murder? This is curious. Very curious indeed. What on earth lies behind Edward's notion that love kills?

"It is far better for her to live a normal life," he said softly. "She needs to forget about me and live an ordinary life."

"A normal life with someone else?"

I could tell by his face that he did not like this suggestion one bit. He sighed. "Well… I suppose it would be inevitable. It will be difficult for me to see her with someone else, but she would be better off without me… Without me, she will be safe. Of course there are others who are attracted to her. I can read their minds, you know. I can tell when someone wants her. Take Jacob Black, for example. He is very much in love with her."

"Jacob?" I rifled through my notes. No, no mention of anyone called Jacob Black in the letter from Dr. Cullen. He must be a part of Edward's imaginary world. "Who is he?"

"A kid from the Indian reservation. Totally smitten with Bella. They are old enemies of ours, the Quileute Indians. They know who we are, know that we are vampires, know what we can do to people… They call us The Cold Ones."

"The Cold Ones? And why is that?"

Edward looked at me with pity and exasperation, as if I was a little slow. "Because of our cold skin, of course. Surely, you must have noticed that when we shook hands with you at our first meeting."

"Ah, yes, of course. Cold skin." I nodded in agreement, recalling that neither Edward's hand nor any of the others' had been particularly chilly in any way.

How very odd. Why does he believe that vampires have cold skin?

He went on, a faraway look in his golden eyes. "The Quileute Indians, on the other hand… They are as hot-blooded as we are cold… They are among the few creatures who understand what we are, and among the few who can destroy us…"

"Creatures?"

"Yes." Edward nodded. "They are wolves, you see. According to their legends, they are descended from wolves, and when enraged or threatened, they can still turn into wolves, assume their true forms."

Vampires and werewolves… The cold and the hot… Opposites, and yet, perhaps, two sides of the same coin? For vampires and werewolves are both hunters; they both transform others with their deadly bite…

Is Jacob Black Edward's alter ego, I wonder? Edward is cold, reserved, measured. He keeps his emotions under control. Does Jacob Black represent the side of Edward that lets all the emotions out? Black… The dark side of Edward? Jacob- a reference to the biblical Jacob, perhaps? The one who stole his twin brother's birthright? I wonder what did happen to Edward's own brother, the one who died...

Werewolves and vampires... In Edward's mind, Bella is in constant danger, it seems.

But whatever the werewolves represent, they are apparently far less dangerous to Bella than vampires. For Edward tells me that not only is he drawn to Bella's blood, but that there are other vampires after her as well. He and his family, he tells me, have promised to abstain from human blood, satisfying their thirst by drinking animal blood instead. But another group of vampires, more dangerous ones that drink human blood, have found Bella as well.

Edward spoke of these other vampires with extreme trepidation. "There were three of them," he explained. "Laurent, James, and Victoria. When James understood that I had feelings for Bella, he became obsessed with hunting her… Laurent warned us, but James tracked Bella, and tried to kill her… We were able to kill him in the end, so Bella is safe for now. But I am still very worried about Victoria…"

Laurent – the name of a saint, I believe? St. Laurent? Perhaps he represent the side of Edward who is anxious to protect Bella. But James, who is he? The more dangerous side of Edward, the part of Edward who wishes to destroy what he loves? But why?

James, Victoria, and Edward... The names, I noticed, all have something in common: They are all British royal names. King James, Queen Victoria, King Edward... Wasn't Queen Victoria the mother of King Edward? Does this signify, perhaps, that the figures of the vampires James and Victoria are closely related to Edward as well, or even that they are symbolic representations of Edward himself? Perhaps Edward fears his own murderous impulses, symbolized by the sadistic James and the cruel Victoria? Or is there a deeper significance to these figures that eludes me?

The murderous impulse... I asked my efficient secretary, Miss M., to see if there was any further information available about the death of Edward's brother fifteen years ago. But even Miss M. was able to uncover very little. She found a few more newspaper articles, brief notices indicating that the mystery was still unsolved, and she managed to track down one person from the local sheriff's office who had been associated with the case at the time.

"A very strange case indeed," he wrote in his email to her. "Even the FBI could not make heads or tails of it. There were reports of a foreign woman traveling in that area at the time, and we put a lot of effort into tracking her down, since she was the only stranger anyone had seen near Forks at the time. We thought she may have been the mother of the two little boys. But when we finally found her, it turned out that she was mentally ill, and even an interpreter could not make any sense of anything she was saying. I am afraid I do not remember her nationality any more; perhaps she was Russian or Romanian. We did not have access to DNA testing at the time, so we never knew if she was related to the boys or not. Nor did we ever discover how the older of the two boys met with his death. But the coroner's report included one detail that was not made public at the time, since we did not want to cause any kind of superstitious panic among the locals. It is true that the boy only had a slight mark on his neck, and no other injuries. But the coroner's office nevertheless concluded that the direct cause of death was massive blood loss. In fact, it seemed as if all the blood had been sucked out of his body..."

I read the final sentence of the printout Miss M. had given me with - oh, I hate to admit it - a sense of superstitious dread. I had to remind myself, yet again, that Edward is not a vampire. He is merely a teenage boy suffering from strange delusions. Some traumatic event in his past has caused his flight into madness, and I will uncover it.

After Miss M. had given me whatever scant information she had been able to find, she turned to leave. But as she reached the door, she paused for a moment.

"There is one more thing, doctor..."

"Yes, Miss M.?"

She hesitated. "I - I feel silly for even mentioning this, but..."

"Miss M., I need to know anything you could possibly tell me that has any bearing on this case. No matter how silly. Anything."

"Well..." She swallowed audibly. "As I said, it's the silliest thing... It's just that I've had this feeling, ever since the poor boy first walked into the office, that - that I've seen him before..."

"Seen him before? Edward, you mean?"

She nodded. "Yes. Well, not him, perhaps, but someone who looks just like him. I can't remember where, though. Perhaps I saw his picture in a book or a newspaper..."

I looked at her with interest. How very odd! "Did you see any reports of the mystery in Forks fifteen years ago, perhaps? Back when it happened?"

She shook her head slowly. "Oh, no. It was long before that. I think it was back when I was a little girl..."

"What?" I blinked in surprise. "But that's impossible! When you were a little girl, Edward wasn't born yet..."

"I know." Her voice trembled a little. "Strange, isn't it?"

Very strange indeed...