Chapter 14: The Beginning

~Edward~

By the time we got to Rio, and even before, I was aware that Alice wasn't telling me something. Our phone conversations were always brief, but there was something not right. The moment I saw her and we locked eyes at the airport, her mind was clear and that confirmed that something was wrong. Bella seemed unaware as we got the two bags we had brought with us before approaching Alice. It was difficult not to call her out on what she wasn't telling us, and I saved that until we were in the car. "Spill it," I demanded.

Bella glanced at me, surprised by my surly tone.

"We found a smaller village," Alice reported. While she talked I read her thoughts and knew what had happened before Bella got the rest.

My wife sat stiffly beside me glancing out the window. "Do you think Lily was murdered, or that she really took her own life like that?" Bella asked as she looked to Alice for that answer.

"I never saw any sort of future for them, so I'm not certain. There aren't any bite marks on her, but that doesn't mean much. I think any vampire who would have done that to her would have covered their tracks, and there is no sign of her children," answered Alice.

We were going to be here much long than I wanted, and for the rest of the trip none of us said much. Alice had rented the car while they were in town to keep up appearances, but now that Bella and I were here that sort of transportation wasn't needed. After my sister finished returning the car, we quickly left town and ran with Alice into the jungle.

It wasn't long before we met up with Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett and once we had all greeted one another it was all business as we made our way deeper into the jungle. "I want to see the village," I told no one in particular in hopes that maybe I could pick up something they had missed.

"There's not much to see," Emmett said from in front of me. The foliage was too dense to walk side by side though in spite of that we wove our way in and around the trees and vines without touching anything even at top speeds.

"I still want to look," I responded as we picked up the pace.

A few hours later we arrived at what had once been a small village with four huts. The huts weren't there anymore, but the ground was worn away where they had once stood. Bella took my hand as I sniffed the air, smelling only the things of nature. Emmett had been right there was nothing here to find. "What did you do with her body?" I asked holding Bella's hand as I faced Alice and Jasper, while Rosalie and Emmett talked a little away from us.

"We buried it not far from here," Jasper answered and I could hear the frustration in his voice. No one had to bury the body, but out of respect they had, and I was grateful. My brother led the way while Rosalie and Emmett stayed behind with Alice discussing what our next move should be.

Our jog took us twenty minutes away to a raised mound of earth covered with moss and no grave marker. There wasn't any scent in the air other than old death, nothing that might give us any clue about what to do next. As I ran my hand through my hair Bella took my other leaning in to me. "What do we do now?"

"Try and figure out where her children were taken, if they were, and go from there," I answered

After looking around where Jasper and Emmett had buried the body, we headed back for the main camp site. "I want to see where you found her body," I said to Jasper who nodded. We were all on alert and once we joined with the others we took off heading further south deeper yet into the Jungle.

~*~

By evening we were far from any city or town, immersed in the jungle. Jasper showed me where they had found Lily's body, hanging from the branch of one of the larger trees. While they scouted the area I focused on the tree, seeing how Lily could have conceivably hung herself without someone there to force her in to it.

"Why would a mother do such a thing?" Bella asked catching me off guard. I shut my eyes, taking in a deep breath.

"She may have not had a choose, if it was to save the life of her children," I said only able to theorize.

"I'm not sure I would have been able to do that, if that would have happened when," Bella looked down unable to finish. She didn't need to and I gathered her into my arms. "We wouldn't have let that happen." That time when the werewolf attacked our first home still haunted both of us.

"I'm glad it never came to that," my wife finally said.

"How are you feeling? Should we hunt?"

Bella nodded and the rest of my family agreed we needed to do that. It was already dark, so we split up. Bella led the way and I followed a few feet behind, staying on the ground as she took to the trees. Bella brought down a large cat preferring them as I did. As she began to feed I followed the scent of another going into the branches of a large tree a few feet off the ground. My cat was lounging, licking his front paws, unaware of my presence until it was too late. He gave off one strangled cry before I sank my teeth into his neck and began to drink the warm tangy blood from his veins. I hadn't realized how thirsty I had become and finished off a smaller cat before finding Bella waiting.

"Your doing better," I observed, noticing that the shirt she had on was only a little wrinkled and that there was no blood on that or the jeans she was wearing.

"It's not as hard now. Sometimes I watch you, trying to mimic the way you do things," Bella admitted.

"Am I a good teacher?"

"You must be if I'm not as messy," My wife answered as I tilted her head up. I pushed my lips against hers moving my tongue against them until she gave me access. The taste I encountered was Bella's own and mixed with the cats blood. Our tongues pushed against each other until Bella sucked mine into her mouth biting down while wrapping her arms around my neck, running her hands into my hair.

As she kissed me I was well aware that Emmett and Rosalie were on their way to find us, and didn't want this to end. Bella seemed aware of that also as our lips parted and she gazed into my eyes with her nearly amber colored eyes. "Promise me we will find a way to be alone," she whispered as she gave me one last kiss. When she pulled away only slightly I wrapped my arms around her holding her to me as my eyes shut.

"We will find some time," I promised for both our sakes.

When Emmett joined us, about to say something, Bella growled at him. Rosalie giggled and my brother looked at my wife wearily. It reminded me of a promise I had Bella make about challenging him to an arm wrestling match, and I hoped we could test my theory soon.

Alice and Jasper joined us and we went back to the tree they found Lily hanging in ready to do some tracking. "Do we need to keep going South?" Emmett asked sounding uncertain. None of us had ever really tried tracking another vampire, or in this case two half human half vampire children. The Amazon River was to the southeast of us and it made sense to scour the banks and maybe cross to see if we could find more tribes and possibly someone who might know something.

~Charlie~

The first weekend after Bella and Edward left for South America was unseasonably warm. I'd planned on going fishing with Billy, but at the last minute something came up, and I had a feeling it had something to do with the tribe. Remembering my promise to spend time with my grand-kids, I called over at the mansion and told them I would like to go there to visit. The moment the house was in view, I saw two people sitting on the porch, one of them my granddaughter. By the time the engine on my car was off, Renesmee was at my door waiting and climbed on my lap the moment the door was open.

"Someone is glad to see you," Esme said standing a few feet away.

"I think so," I answered standing up as I shifted Renesmee to my left hip while she wrapped her arms around my shoulders against my chest.

"What should we do?"

There was never enough time to prepare for her mind sharing and I took in a deep breath when I saw images of Renesmee and me at my old house. My granddaughter was still not welcome on the reservation which frustrated me only because she was just a child. "She wants to go to my house," I informed Esme.

"She's been hoping you would take her. If you would like, I'll get her things."

Truthfully it would be more comfortable having her at my house, after all there were toys there for her that rarely ever got played with. When I nodded Esme disappeared and a second later she was back in front of me. Glancing over my shoulder I saw Renesmee's seat in the back passenger seat of the truck ready for her use along with two duffels.

Esme came to us then and Renesmee went willingly into her arms as I got buckled back in to my truck, a vehicle I used more now that I was staying with Sue. Once my granddaughter was strapped into her seat, we said goodbye and I backed up turning the truck around and heading back down the long drive. "So, what should we do today?"

"Swing," Renesmee whispered hugging her stuffed elephant toy.

"We can do that. It should be dry and I just hooked it up to new ropes," I said more for myself than her. Glancing back in the rear view mirror, I frowned seeing Renesmee's lips drawn down. Hopefully we would have a fun day, and I could find a way to make her smile.

When we got to the house, Renesmee was ready to be out of her seat and once she was on the ground she took my hand pulling me around the back of the house. A few seconds later she was at her swing, one made of a piece of wood held up by two pieces of thick rope. I'd put it up when Bella was little, though my daughter never used it much. A few seconds later Renesmee was sitting on the swing laughing as I began to gently push her.

"Higher," she cried out.

I complied, "Hold on tight." There were visions of her flying off and likely she wouldn't get hurt, but I still remembered the time when she was just a few months old and rolled off my bed.

"Higher, Grandpa Charlie," she called out.

"That's as high as you can go," I told her, knowing it could go a little higher, though wanting to be a little careful with her. I'm not sure how long I stood pushing her, and eventually Renesmee was ready to go inside and get a snack. My refrigerator had all of the things she would like and once I had some fruit and cheese on a plate I sat down at the table with my granddaughter on my lap.

"Miss Momma and Daddy," Renesmee whispered after eating a bite of apple.

"I bet they miss you an awful lot," I replied, hoping to make her feel better in some way. I missed Bella too, and even my son-in-law.

"Scared," Renesmee said as she took a bite of cheese, surprising me with that one word.

"What makes you feel scared?" My granddaughter was so young and yet she was already capable of expressing when she was afraid. That still blew my mind.

"Hurt Momma. Bad one hurt Momma, me, Antony."

Turning her in my arms so I could see her, I asked, "What bad one?"

"Bad one at house. Him scare Momma, house gone."

When I was confused, Renesmee held up her apple juice covered hand, putting it against my cheek. The images were fuzzy, but I could hear just fine. There was a lot of banging going on and I felt fear. I heard Bella's voice reassuring my granddaughter before everything got bright. When I saw the kitchen again I had a slight headache and had some idea of what I'd just seen. Renesmee was gazing up at me expectantly so I kissed her nose. "Are you ready to go swing?"

"No more. I want to play kitchen."

Once she was off my lap, Renesmee trotted out of the kitchen and I heard the music playing on her stove as she began to set up for cooking.

While I cleaned up from snack time, I thought about what she showed me and wondered if there were other things she could remember. Was it possible that my granddaughter had a eidetic memory?

"Grandpa Charlie, play with me," Renesmee called from the other room. Leaving my questions for another time, I headed in to spend time with Renesmee wanting to enjoy the moment and not get worked up about anything until she was no where near me.

~Edward~

Once we crossed the Amazon River, we picked up on two distinct trails where a vampire or vampires had once been. The trails were old and as much as I didn't like it we divided up into groups. Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie went off on their own, leaving Bella and me to follow the one going to the south west.

Being so far into the jungle calling home wasn't as easy, and it had been a few days since we had been able to check in. At my side Bella was finishing off her recent kill. "Do you think we will run in to trouble?" she asked as she discarded the large cat she'd just drained.

"I hope not."

"I've been thinking about that," my wife began as she turned to face me where I stood.

"About?"

"Needing to train like you did when you were about to fight the army of newborn vampires. If we do run into any sort of trouble, I want to be able to help, and not be a hindrance."

I reached out to her cupping her left cheek with my hand, "You are hardly that, love."

My wife rolled her eyes before we managed a brief kiss. "What I mean is that I want to be able to contribute instead of watching you do all the work. I don't want you to get hurt," Bella said in all seriousness.

We needed to march on, though my wife did have a point. We were in a clearing and leaving her standing alone, I ran a wide perimeter noting that we were alone save for the wildlife in the near by trees. By the time I reached her side, Bella was tapping her left food looking rather annoyed. "I wanted to be sure," I defended as she shook her head a moment before she smiled.

"What Jasper said about a newborn attacking like Emmett showed everyone I don't think will apply to you," I told her, trying to be diplomatic about this. Looking at my wife as I would another vampire who I wanted to harm wasn't going to be easy. If we did encounter someone else it would be helpful to have Bella know some sort of defensive maneuvers so with that in mind I began showing her how to counter a few of my own attacks.

The first few attempts to get catch her off guard were relatively simple. An hour later Bella was able to see what was coming for the most part and a few times my wife caught me off guard. Now I stood a foot away from her watching as she glanced around us. Just as I lunged at her, reaching out to grasp her left arm, Bella dodged me and the next moment she was holding me with both of my arms down at my sides, her lips on my neck. As I was about to try and break free, her teeth skimmed my neck before moving up to bite the lobe of my left ear. A moment later we were facing one another and in another moment we were on the ground, my back pressed against the grassy surface before Bella's lips were moving demanding against my own.

"What happened to training," I teased barely able to focus on anything other than her touch as her hands pulled at the shirt I was wearing, lifting it above my ribs before her lips and teeth grazed over my stomach and lower. My whole body shuttered while I was aware of everything around us. I couldn't afford to lose myself in the moment and risk someone coming upon us, even if it was getting dark as the evening wore on. My focus began to slip as her hands moved within the confines of my jeans and boxers and when Bella's hand closed around my already hardened length, all I could do was think about the woman in front of me and how much I loved her. When I lifted my hips, Bella pushed my already unbuttoned jeans down along with the boxers and I groaned as she took my length into her mouth.

We were both getting better about pleasing one another and this way of loving was something I was more than happy to try out. Her teeth skimmed against the skin of my member. As Bella pulled away and I growled, bucking my hips upward in effort to keep myself in the warm wetness of her mouth. Her left arm came down against the area just below my stomach pushing me back to the ground as she drew away. Bella smiled seductively at me before she lowered her head determined to drive the sanity out of me.

~Bella~

Tasting my husband's very essence in my mouth was enough to drive all thought from my mind. Somewhere in the very back recesses of my brain I thought of our family out searching while we were here doing this. Truthfully this is what my body craved and apparently my husband didn't mind what we were doing, or rather what I was doing to him. He tried again to raise his hips up as I pulled my mouth completely away from him. Now I was strong enough to hold him still, and to be a little forceful.

"You are going to drive me mad," Edward growled shaking his head back and forth as I flicked my tongue out tracing just the tip over the head of his shaft before dipping it into his slit. Somewhere along the way I managed to lose my vantage point and we were back on our feet. Edward's hands cupped my butt as he ground his hips forward rubbing himself between my legs. His scent was now mixed with mine and I wanted nothing more than to have my husband's length inside of me. "I need these off," I growled as he held me in place licking from my lips down my neck.

"Turn about is fair play," he grumbled biting my neck at my jugular. While he did that, sucking in my skin, I felt his hands working at the button of my jeans and groaned leaning my head back as he finally slid inside of me. My walls spasmed around his length and we both moaned as he began to move within me digging his fingers against my backside while his lips moved down my neck. I used one of my free hands to pull my shirt up and wrapped my legs more tightly around him as Edward began to suck and bite down on my left breast. We could do this all night and into the next week if we wanted but I was already beginning to feel guilty for shucking our responsibilities until I felt that all consuming tension building somewhere around my center. "Edward," I moaned as he pulled me toward him before moving me away.

"I love you," he said locking eyes with mine. It didn't take long for my orgasm or his and I felt loss when he put me back down on my feet. Edward was dressed again before I could form any sort of thought and had my jeans in my hand giving me a look that said we would find more times like these very soon.

All too soon we were on our way, Edward in the lead as he began running faster. "Do you smell that?" Edward asked.

I sniffed the air smelling what I would if I were near my son or daughter. "Lily's children?" I asked not knowing if it would be them.

"Maybe, I'm not sure," Edward said as I kept close to him while he still led the way. The scent grew stronger along with the familiar smell of rusty tangy sweetness. Before I could think, Edward had his arms around me and a moment later we arrived in a small clearing, finding a small girl laying face down in a pool of blood. Her heart was still beating, but it was shallow.

Edward left my side going to her, and she moaned as he turned her over. "Marie?"

"Don't hurt me," she whispered so softly that I would never have heard her if it wouldn't have been for being a vampire.

"I won't do that."

"He came... has Micah."

After holding my breath I went to them kneeling next to my husband. Marie gasped closing her eyes and the shallow beat of her heart came to a stop. Edward held her in his arms as he would have done for one of our children. My husband sat perfectly still, unmoving like a statue until he felt my hand against his left shoulder.

"It was another vampire, maybe the one who raped their mother," he whispered

A twig snapped somewhere in the distance and Edward and I spun around once he had put Marie down. Emmett was the first one to arrive followed by Rosalie, Alice and Jasper.

"What happened?" Rosalie asked seeing the girl behind Edward and me.

"We think the one who hurt their mother killed her. She was afraid and told us he came and took her brother," I relayed longing to go home to my own children.

None of us said anything as Jasper and Emmett dug a grave and once Marie was buried we still didn't have anything to say.

"Edward," Jasper called out drawing everyone to his side. There were bare tracks, two different sets. My husband got down sniffing the earth. "One of them is half human," Edward said standing up to face me. It was going in a more northerly direction, though not in an area we had been.

"We need to stay together," Alice said as she stood next to Jasper. Once that was agreed we set off and I tried not to think about that girl or even my children wanting to help find this monster and put it all to an end.

~*~

AN: Hello everyone. Sorry for such a huge gap in between updates. I am slowly getting caught up on everything including this story. This chapter took a while to work it's way out of my mind, and I hope you liked what you found. I'm leaving more questions than answers, but there is a lot of story left to write and a lot that is going on. I liked the idea of Renesmee being able to remember things from even a small infant in the original story line so I wanted a part of that here. I'll make sure Charlie lets someone know about that in the next chapter, and so much more. Let me know what you thought. Thank you all for the adds and the reviews.

~Ella~