DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creation of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Stephen decides to try to make his dreams into reality.
Deadly Dreams – Part 1 of 4 -- Warning: Graphic Details
"Edward, have you seen my math book?" Bella asked. She was sitting on the sofa, looking through her backpack.
"It was on the edge of the bed last night," I replied.
"Probably means it's under the bed now," she giggled, as she got down on the floor to look. "Yep!" She held the book up for me to see.
"How is it that you misplace things so quickly…and so easily at that?"
"It's my real vampire power," she said, wiggling her eyebrows.
I started laughing at her, but it was cut short by Alice's panicked thoughts. 'We have a major problem! Edward, come to my room right now. It's up to you, but I think Bella should come with you.'
I would need to know what the problem was before I made that decision. I was getting better at not being so overprotective, but I wasn't ready to relax completely yet. "Bella, I have a real quick question for Alice. I'll meet you in the living room."
"Okay, honey. I'm just going to look one more time for my iPod."
I left the room quickly. Alice was standing in the hall, biting her finger. It had been a long time since I'd seen my sister so upset. She grabbed my shoulder and yanked me into her room. I opened my mouth to speak, but she quickly put her hand over it.
'Edward. Until you decide if you want Bella to know or not, I think it's best we don't risk being overheard.'
I nodded for her to continue.
'I'm not sure what to do this time. It's not like anything can really happen to Bella, but I'm not sure how to arrange the circumstances to protect what we are. The human, Stephen…He's so bent on this that every time I make a decision about how to counter him, another situation comes up. Edward, we may have to make him disappear in order for us to protect ourselves. It's that, or we pull out and move away.'
I stared at her, knowing she would understand. She sighed and closed her eyes, preparing herself to share her visions. I had found no way to discourage Stephen from his sick fantasies involving my wife. I couldn't even approach him since he'd never spoken a word to Bella.
From Alice's visions, the man had even darker dreams than I had picked up on, and he'd decided it was time to act on one of them. He'd sketched out every scene he planned to act out with my wife. My growls became deeper and more menacing with each vision.
I clenched my jaw and balled my fists, fighting for control of my temper. After a few minutes, I felt I could trust myself to speak. I leaned closer and whispered carefully to my sister. "Where ishe?"
'Edward, I can't let you just go out and kill him. Bella would be so upset! And you! As soon as you calmed down, you would feel guilty, wondering if there had been another way.'
"He is not going to harm my wife!"
'Of course he won't! First of all, no one in this family would let anyone hurt Bella. Secondly, she's a vampire, Edward. He can't physically hurt her.'
"Alice, I can't let this go."
'I don't expect you to! You just need to calm down and help me think of a solution that will work.'
"Can we plant evidence to have him arrested?"
'Without fingerprints and DNA evidence linking him to a major crime, he'll be released within months. We only postpone what seems to be inevitable. The longer we wait, the clearer the visions of Bella having to kill him become. I do not want my sister to be put in the position of having to take a life in order to save her own.'
"You know I will never allow that to happen."
'I know Edward, but we need to inform Carlisle. And we need to skip school. This human plans on following us home today.'
"I will go and talk to Carlisle."
'Will you tell Bella?'
"I'll discuss it with Carlisle and get his opinion. Would you please go and sit with Bella until I'm done speaking to Carlisle?"
"Sure, no problem. I'll pretend to help her hunt for her iPod, and then I'll find it for her. Silly girl put in her jewelry box so she wouldn't lose it and forget she did that. The location of her iPod seems to be the only thing her vampire memory is unable to retain," Alice said, shaking her head slightly. "Edward, we'll figure this out, okay?" She gave me a quick hug and then headed out of her room.
I quickly entered my father's study and closed the door. Carlisle looked up at me. He could tell something was wrong.
'Edward?'
I walked behind his desk and leaned close to his ear. "I don't want to risk being overheard. We have a serious problem."
'What's wrong?'
"I've spoken with Alice. There's a human that I've been keeping an eye on in regards to Bella. He's had some very disturbing dreams about her, but nothing that revealed just how sick he really is. I've been careful to make sure Bella hasn't heard them through me. It seems he's decided to act on his darkest fantasy concerning her. His choice has left us with only two options. We either kill him or we move."
'Edward, are you sure you aren't being dramatic? Are those really the only options?'
"Alice looked extensively. She found no threat that would work. She even checked to see if we could frame him and get him arrested. It only postpones his plans."
'Someone that demented must have harmed before.'
"Unfortunately, Alice's gift does not work on the past."
'Edward, you know how much I respect and trust Alice and you. But are you sure this can't be handled peacefully?'
"Carlisle, if you prefer to move us, I will pack this house myself. I don't care! Just as long as I get Bella away from him for good."
'I try so hard to value all human life. We are not meant to be their judge and jury, Edward. What exactly has he decided to do?'
"Every step of his demented plot requires Bella to either reveal her identity, or pretend to be human and suffer through it. There comes a point when she has no choice but to defend herself. In every vision, the only way for her to get out of the situation is to kill him."
'Edward, I need to know everything.'
I nodded my head and told him the details from the sketchbook in Alice's vision. I decided I would just say it all quickly. I would pretend I was reciting a movie plot and not talking about my wife. I hoped it would be enough to keep myself in control. At the moment, I wanted nothing more than to run all the way to the school and rip this human to shreds.
"The human keeps a sketchbook. He's quite talented, in a sick way. He has graphic depictions of each scene he plans to act out with Bella, as well as detailed notes of what he will do and how he expects her to respond. He starts off with kidnapping her. He's purchased a drug to make her unconscious and mapped out his escape route from the school. There's no mention of where he plans on taking her. This doesn't seem like it's his first attempt, but Alice and I have no way to be sure. The place he drew has a metal bed frame in the middle of a dirty room. The mattress is stained, most likely from previous victims. He has cords to tie her to the bed. There is a table full of items that he plans to torture her with. His favorite is a cattle prod. In his sketch, he has all kinds of random thoughts about how much pleasure he gets from watching the person twitch after being touched with the prod. He has pliers for ripping off her fingernails and toenails. He has a serrated knife for carving designs into her flesh. When he is done playing with her, as he wrote in the margins, he has a syringe of liquid rat poison. Once she is dead, he will dismember her, burn the pieces, and then spread the ashes into a body of water. He plans to keep her wedding band as his reminder of their time together. The drawings are very graphic and detailed."
'Edward, this is…' Carlisle shook his head, trying to get a fix on his thoughts. 'This world has grown so dark in the last decade. So many of the young ones are out of control and void of any respect for humanity. And we, who are labeled as monsters, are the ones trying to protect it.'
"Rather ironic, isn't it?" I chuckled darkly.
The study door opened and Alice slipped in. "Edward, we have a new problem. I don't know which of his decisions he's changed…but everything is clearer. I think he plans to do it as early as Monday."
