The Man in the Long Black Coat, Chapter Twenty Three

Bella pulled a blanket from the closet and wrapped it around her shoulders. She shuffled back to the sofa and sat down, then pulled her feet up and shivered. Edward lost himself while he watched her breathing.

“I’m so sorry it’s not working, Bella,” Alice said. “We just never turned the heater on once Carlisle bought this place. There wasn’t really a need.”

Bella smiled. “It’s OK, Alice. It’s not that cold. I’ll be fine.”

Edward gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in and gritted his teeth. This was bound to happen, he knew. Humans don't belong with vampires.

"I'll get firewood," he said. He got up and he glanced at Charlie, who was sitting across the room. "You gonna be OK?" He looked back and forth between the newborn vampire and his human daughter.

"I'm good," Charlie said. Edward wondered, briefly, about Charlie's sense of control. It was remarkable for a newborn. Not quite up to Carlisle's ability, but intriguing nonetheless.

He went out the back door. He had spent many summers in Alaska, though not this far north. Typically, he rented a place in Anchorage. But the Cullens had a cabin in the woods on the Denali preserve, far away from civilization. It's where Alice had taken them after the mess in Forks. Even here, though, they had to be careful. Both Charlie's and Bella's faces were broadcast to the world. They would forever be known. Charlie more so because of his brutal dismembering of Jane on live television.

Whatever happened now, there was no turning back. The world knew about vampires.

Edward trudged through overgrown brush and headed into the woods, gathering fallen branches almost without paying attention. Bella's problem was deeper than the weather, he knew. In the end, she would either have to be turned or left behind. A human was incapable of living the lifestyle of a vampire. They moved too slowly. They required food, shelter and sleep. And they got cold.

"Dammit," he said aloud. His arms full, he headed back to the cabin, still unsure what to do about Bella. He knew what she wanted, especially now that her father had been turned. The only men she'd ever loved were both vampires now. What reason was there for her to remain alive?

If only it were that easy, he thought. One day you're alive and the next you're a vampire with magical abilities and super-human strength. Put that way, who wouldn't want to join up?

What a crock of shit. No one ever mentioned the insatiable desire for blood, the need that never goes away, the unbearable weight on your conscience as you learn to become the very kind of killer you'd always hated so much.

Enough, he told himself.

He wrenched open the cabin door and dropped the firewood on the floor.

Bella sat alone on the sofa, still wrapped in blankets. Charlie and Alice were gone.

"Where are they?"

"They left to get Charlie some blood," Bella said.

"Alice should know better," Edward said as he quickly loaded the fireplace. He lit a piece of scrap paper with his Zippo and held it to the kindling. He gazed into the fire, not paying attention. The paper burned down to his fingers and the flame jumped onto his sleeve.

Bella laughed as she sat down beside him. "Maybe you can hug the warmth back into me," she said.

Edward looked at her, confused for a moment as the cuff of his sleeve continued to smolder.

"Dude," Bella said. She reached out and patted the flame quickly, putting it out. "What's wrong, Edward? And don't tell me it's just this stuff with Caius and the Volturi. There's more."

She snuggled up to him and picked at the frayed ends of his sleeve.

"Come on, Edward," she said. "Is it Charlie? Because that's not something you should worry about. He loves it, and we both know you didn't have a choice. You saved him. It was the only way."

"I saved him from nothing," Edward said. He pulled away from Bella and stood.

"Don't you get it? Charlie's a killer now. Because of me. He's just another one of my victims, Bella. Worse. Because now he'll go on to kill others. I became the monster I hated, and now I've created a new one."

Charlie and Alice walked back in the door, their eyes glowing golden.

"What's this about a monster?" Charlie said.

"Nothing," Edward said.

Charlie walked up to Edward and put a hand on his shoulder. "You saved me, son," he said. "Simple as that."

"Don't be a fool," Edward said. He turned away.

"I'm not kidding," Charlie said. "Edward. Look at me. Do I look like a monster to you?"

Edward turned back around and looked Charlie in the eye.

"I'm a new man," Charlie said. He smiled wide and rolled his neck around, flexed his arms, cracked his knuckles.

"I haven't felt this good in twenty years, Edward. And I'm smart. I mean, smarter than I ever was. I see everything, possibilities. Endless possibilities. It's like the whole world is a battlefield, and I'm planning an invasion. All the time. My mind won't stop."

He sat on the sofa, leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. "When I went after Jane? Sure, I had the craving. All those humans out there. But it didn't make strategic sense for me to kill any of them. My sense of strategy overruled my hunger, Edward.

"I am in control of this like I've never been in control of anything in my life."

And there it was. Charlie's ability was apparently going to be an innate sense of logic, structure, planning. Edward thought about how he could use that. Caius was still out there. And so was the tattooed man. He wouldn't rest, none of them could, until they were both gone.

"They're coming."

It was Alice.

"What do you see?" Edward asked.

Alice put her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. "It's an army, Edward. Newborns, by the looks of them. They've gone through Forks, torn the place up. Searched our cabin there."

She paused. Bit her bottom lip. "I can't see. Wait. They’re heading toward Carlisle's place in Tahoe. But not all of them."

She gasped. "They're headed here, Edward. Half of them. At least a dozen newborns. They'll be here soon, I think."

Alice pulled her hand away from her face and whirled around, striking the kitchen counter with her fist. "God dammit!" she said. "When will it ever end? I can't do this anymore. I can't. Not without Jasper. I don't have it in me."

Edward started to say something, but Bella reached out and put a finger to his lips. She nodded at Charlie, who was approaching Alice from behind.

Charlie put a hand on Alice's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "I lost the love of my life, too," he said. Alice turned to look at him.

"Does it ever get easier?" she said.

"No," Charlie said. "But it doesn't get harder, either. Right now, Alice, is the worst it's going to get for you. These days are hard. But you have to focus. Understand? We have a job to do, and we can't do it without you."

Alice laid her head on Charlie's chest and wept, though she produced no tears. He put his hands on her back and whispered in her ear. "You're strong, Alice. You're a good soul." Alice lifted her head and Charlie reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear.

Alice smiled and looked at Bella. "No wonder you turned out so great." She smiled and looked up at Charlie. "Thank you."

Edward put his arm around Bella and pulled her close.

"We have to get out of here," he said. "We can't fight a dozen newborns. Not just three of us. And not with Bella here. It's too dangerous."

"Agreed," Charlie said.

"I'll go start the car, get it warmed up for Bella," Alice said. She ran out the door.

Charlie kicked the still burning logs from the fireplace. He picked up the largest one and tossed it into the kitchen. He kicked another on into the hallway and watched as the sparks trailed behind it while it skittered across the hardwood floor.

"Cover," he said.

Charlie grabbed Bella's hand and led her out to the car. Edward followed. He hadn't thought to set the place on fire, but he admitted that it was a good move. It would give them precious minutes should Caius's army show up soon.

Alice mashed the gas pedal to the floor as Edward slammed the back door closed. He checked to make sure Bella had her seat belt on, satisfied when he saw it fastened tightly.

"Where will we go?" Bella asked. It was a question that Edward, too, had been wondering. But a quick scan of Alice's mind showed go that she had no idea.

"I was thinking maybe Fairbanks," Alice said. "Unless someone has a better idea."

"That's a mistake," Charlie said.

"Oh, shit!" Alice screamed. She slammed on the brakes and the SUV fishtailed across the two-lane road. It came to an abrupt stop when it slammed into something hard. A newborn.

"They're here," Edward said.

The car came to rest in the middle of the road. Steam rose from its hood and the engine sputtered and died. Ticking sounds entered the cabin. It was the only thing anyone could hear, except for Bella's rapid breathing.

"We should get out of here. Run into the woods," Alice said. She reached for the door, but Charlie put a hand on her arm and stopped her.

"That's what they're expecting," he said.

"So what do we do? Just wait here for them to get us? There's a dozen of them, Charlie. We're sitting ducks."

Edward tried to scan Charlie's mind to see what he was thinking, but it was moving to fast. The thoughts were all jumbled together. It was like trying to read a book during a hurricane.

"What's going on, Charlie?" he asked.

Charlie smiled. "Follow my lead," he said. He opened the passenger door and walked around to the other side of the car and opened the back door there. He pulled Bella from the car more roughly than Edward would have liked and put his arm around her neck.

Edward quickly realized what Charlie was doing. He got out of his own door and hoped Alice would soon do the same. He was happy to see that she did. She positioned herself directly to Charlie's side, too, which meant that she understood.

"She's ours," Charlie called out, loud enough that any vampire within a quarter mile would hear him. He picked Bella up by the back of her neck and held her in the air, careful to support her weight with his other hand. "If any of you are brave enough to come take her," he said, pausing to look around, "then so be it.

"But I doubt you will. Newborns are weak. Stupid. Savages." He spat on the ground.

Alice looked at Edward, who was desperately trying to hide a smile. Charlie, he thought, you are fucking brilliant. He only hoped Bella understood what was going on.

There. To the left. He saw red eyes glowing. Edward braced himself. He moved slowly back toward the car, opening the driver's door carefully.

Charlie lowered Bella, but kept his grip right. He turned to his left, as if he were scanning the area, but quickly shifted to the right and tossed Bella into the open car door.

"Lock it," Edward said, slamming the door and charging toward the set of red eyes he'd seen. He slammed into the surprised newborn with the force of a semi truck, crushing its ribs and mashing it against a tree. Quickly, before the vamp had time to recover, Edward gripped both sides of the newborn's head and twisted. He heard a snap, then adjusted his grip so he could pull the boy's head off. When he was done, he tossed the head aside and ran back to the car.

Edward, Charlie and Alice surrounded the car. It was Bella the newborns wanted. And now, there would be a frenzy.

They fought off the attacks, one-by-one. The newborns, though powerful, weren’t very organized. Edward found that Alice could see them coming, and he could read Alice’s thoughts. It was like playing a football team whose quarterback told you what play they were going to run. It was too easy.

Which is why he wondered if he was missing something. Charlie was wondering it, too.

The last newborn attacked. Charlie dealt with it quickly, but then he paused. He held the car door closed, stopping Bella’s exit. Edward looked at her. She was confused. “Let me out, Charlie!”

Charlie didn’t answer. He stared into the woods. Everything was quiet. The sun hung low in the sky, turning it orange.

“Something’s wrong,” he said.

Edward listened closely. He heard the tick-tick of the car’s engine cooling down. He heard Bella breathing behind the closed windows. He heard the buzz of insects in the woods and the wind flowing through the wings of a hawk in the sky, but nothing else. No animals foraging. No sounds at all.

Alice moved. “What do you see?” Charlie asked.

“Someone’s here. Or almost here. But I can’t see him. Or her. Or it. But something’s coming.”

Charlie held fast at the driver’s side door, while Alice covered the passenger side. Edward jumped onto the hood of the car and stood, feet apart, arms calmly at his side. They must be ready, whatever happens.

Alice yelped. But before Edward could turn his head, she was already gone. He jumped from the hood and guarded the door, unsure what was going on.

Something hit him hard. He folded in half and collapsed. Whatever it was moved too quickly for him to see it. He was picked up from the ground and thrown into the air. He landed fifty yards away.

He jumped to his feet and ran back to the truck. The passenger door was gone. So were Bella and Charlie.

A trace of blood stained the steering wheel. Edward could smell it. Bella's blood.

He screamed, louder than he thought he was capable. He pounded his fists on the car's hood and he kept pounding until the hood collapsed and he felt the warm steel of the engine.

Unsatisfied, he put his fist into the fender and kicked the door and the rage overtook him and he began to beat the car with all his might. Glass exploded and air hissed from the tires. He embedded his fists into the hard steel and tore pieces of it away and flung them into the air, an abyss.

When he was spent, he looked at the damage he had wrought. Wherever he went, this is what happened. Lives were torn apart as surely as this SUV had been.

He smelled a fuel leak. Good, he thought. It will catch fire and it will consume me and the world will be without one more vampire. A killer will have been killed.

He closed his eyes and waited.

Tick tick went the engine.

Drip drip went the fuel.

A moment passed, and he knew. He had been a fool.

Bella was not dead; she was too valuable. Therefore, he had no choice in what to do next. He would find her and he would rescue her and he would bring a reign of terror down upon those responsible for what had happened tonight. For everything that had happened since a calm, cool afternoon on the shores of Lake Michigan one hundred and eight years ago.

Calmly, deliberately, Edward gathered the headless corpses of what had been Caius’ newborn army. He put them into the destroyed SUV and he closed the doors, such as they were.

He pulled a cigarette from the pocket of his long black coat and he pulled his Zippo from the pocket of his jeans and he let the lighter do what it was designed to do.

He pulled a lungful of smoke and he let it bleed through his nose and he decided to do what must be done. He would do what a monster like him was supposed to do.

He lit the leaking gasoline on fire and he let his boots take him toward Fairbanks, an hour away.

By his reckoning, it would take two days to get to Italy. He would need to feed before he left.

-30-

A/N Oh boy, Edward is pissed. This is gonna be fun. Thanks to Mazzy, who makes life better. <3

And thanks to all of you, especially. I'm having a blast. You might have heard that this little story won Fic of the Week over at The Lemonade Stand last week! Mazzy's Dress You Up took third. Y'all rock.

A Thousand Words in Defense of Fanfiction

Fanfic is a joke

The other day, I woke up to the morning sun streaming in through my bedroom window. I was still groggy from the Benadryl I'd taken before bedtime, but I could swear I heard someone yelling.

"Baybee Ooey Tombs!"

Mazzy, my wife, didn't stir.

I craned my neck sideways. There it was again. That yelling.

"Baby Looney Tunes!"

Up popped my 5-year-old son's head. He was staring into Mazzy's iPhone, watching YouTube videos of Baby Looney Tunes. The boy has learned how to tell the Google search app to find his favorite videos, whether it's Baby Looney Tunes or Hot Wheels cartoons or clips of people playing Super Mario Bros.

Which means my son has embraced fanfiction from the get-go.

Hold on, you're saying. In what world are children's cartoons the same thing as fanfiction?

In any world.

Let me explain.

Fanfiction is a joke out there in the real world. Many of y'all might not realize that because you've become immersed in this world, where the only debate is whether there can, in fact, be too much sex in a single chapter.

You want evidence? It's all over the damn place. Take this, from the submission guidelines for a pulp crime 'zine I like to read: "Fan fiction will never be chosen AND openly mocked on the website. You have been warned."

Most of us get this. We understand it, however much we don't like it. It's why lots of us have adopted fake names. We mark Forks High School in the Facebook about me section and we don't tell anyone in our real lives what we're doing with our spare time. No one can ever find out. Ever.

This is total hypocrisy. Not the hiding. I get that. I do that. No, I mean the mocking of fanfiction.

It is true that much of what's posted on fanfiction.net and elsewhere is terrible. It's derivative, or it's poorly written, or it's plodding or, yes, it's not a story so much as a series of sex scenes.

But that's true of all writing. Most of it's terrible. But some of it? Some of it is amazing. You guys know what I'm talking about. Every now and then, you'll run across a fic that makes you think, Well, that person knows what's up. That person should be writing real books and making real money. And, eventually, I hope that's what happens. That the best of us rise beyond our origins here in pretend-land and make it out there where the stakes are high and the paychecks come rolling in.

Maybe the next Hollywood blockbuster will come from the Gdoc of one of you folks. Why not? Sometimes, it seems like fanfic is all the Big Movie Machine is producing these days, anyway.

I got to thinking about this not too long ago when Mazzy and I were watching "Oz the Great and Powerful," the colorfully bland movie where James Franco overacts and Mila Kunis reminds us all how drop-dead gorgeous she is before she turns into a monster.

The wicked witch is 113 years old

It occurred to me, not for the first time, that this movie, like many others, is nothing but an elaborate, highly polished piece of fanfiction.

What is fanfiction, after all? It is an original story based on characters someone else created. Often, but not always, that original story is based in a world someone else created, too.

That's a pretty good definition, I think. It's "Baby Looney Tunes." It's cartoons based on toys like Hot Wheels or a video game character like Mario.

And the definition fits "Oz" perfectly, too. The first Oz book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," was published in 1900. The 1939 movie we all know and love was largely based on this book. But did you know L. Frank Baum published 13 more books in the series? Many more "official" Oz books followed after Baum's death, too.

There have been other movies, there have been stage productions. There was even "Wicked," the wildly successful book by Gregory Maguire that reimagined the origins of the famous green wicked witch. The book, of course, became the play that became a Broadway sensation.

It's fanfiction. There's no way around that. "Wicked" is fanfiction. And so is "Oz the Great and Powerful." They are original stories using characters and a world created by someone else.

Like I said, fanfiction is all over Hollywood. "The Man of Steel?" It's a Superman reboot. It's fanfiction. All reboots are fanfiction unless the original author is somehow rebooting his or her own story. Even then, it seems questionable.

Superman 1st appeared in 1933

Off the top of my head, here are some more examples of Hollywood fanfiction productions. They're movies using characters created by someone else to tell a new story. I contend that they're all fanfiction. I'm not talking about legalities and whatnot. I'm talking about the plain definition here.

Look:

• The Iron Man series
• The Spider-Man movies
• The Pirates of the Caribbean movies
• Hansel and Gretel (the recent Jeremy Renner movie)
• The Lone Ranger (a character who first appeared on the radio in 1933, and then on TV in the 1950s, now set to be a Johnny Depp blockbuster)
• Transformers (they were toys first)
• Star Trek (all of them except the original series)
• The Fugitive (the Harrison Ford movie was based on a 1960s TV series)
• James Bond (these aren't just adaptations of the books)
• The Office (the American version is based on the original British version)
• Friends (based on the British TV show "Coupling")
• The Terminator franchise (after the second movie, they've been helmed by new people)
• The Tomb Raider series (based on a video game)
• You've Got Mail (based on, not a remake of, "The Shop Around the Corner" from 1940)
• Mario Brothers cartoons and movies (based on a video game character)
• Resident Evil (again, a video game)
• Battlestar Galactica (the new one, based on the 1970s show)
• Charlie's Angels movies (again, based on a 1970s show)

I could totally go on and on, but you get it. You might disagree about a selection or two. But I think the point's been made.

It's time the mocking ends, don't ya think? The world has already embraced fanfiction, they just don't know it yet.


-30-

The Man in the Long Black Coat, Chapter Twenty-Two

Quick A/N: This little story is up for Fic of the Week at the Lemonade Stand! Turns out, so is MazzyStarla’s Dress You Up. And so are lots of others. The top five vote-getters win. So go give the list a look and vote, if you see something you like. Thanks.

***

Alice kept extra makeup in the upstairs bathroom, and she always left clothes behind, so she and Bella had climbed up there 20 minutes ago while Edward kept an eye on Charlie.

He was stirring. He'd probably be awake soon.

"You ladies should hurry," Edward called out. "I don't know how much longer he'll be out."

They came bounding down the stairs arm-in-arm. Bella wore black jeans that closely matched Edward's and a white, long-sleeved blouse.

"You'll have to do this alone," Edward said, looking Bella in the eye as they readied for the press conference. "Alice and I will be nearby. We won't let anything happen to you."

"And we'll get you out of there before the cops get their hooks in you, too," Alice said.

"That's not gonna be easy," Bella said.

"It's going to be chaotic," Edward said. "As soon as the reporters realize who's out there, it'll be like a feeding frenzy. It will get worse once you start talking.

"There's no way the FBI will drag you away on live TV. Just like the Volturi, they're afraid of revealing too much to the public. We'll use that to our advantage."

Bella took in a deep breath. "I need a cigarette," she said. She reached into Edward's coat pocket and withdrew his pack, lighting one and blowing smoke through her nose. She chewed her fingernails and smoked some more as Edward went over the plan again.

"It's OK to be nervous, Bella," Alice said, putting an arm around her.

"I know," Bella said. She flicked ash into an empty Coke can and ran a hand through her hair.

"You really think me going on TV will draw Jane out?"

"I know it will," Edward said. "She's desperate, if what she did to this town is any indication. She'll be here before the day is done. I guarantee it. And she won't be expecting me or Alice."

"What do you see, Alice?" Bella asked.

"I can't see anything," she said. "Jane doesn't know yet, so she hasn't decided to come here yet. I'll know more after you go on TV."

Bella laughed and shook her head. She put her cigarette out in the Coke can and clapped her hands together.

"I guess I should go," she said. "Wish me luck."

She kissed Edward on the lips and grabbed the keys to Carlisle's old Jeep, which he left in the garage for emergencies.

Edward and Alice headed into town through the woods.

"She's a brave woman," Alice said. "There aren't many humans like her."

The wind kicked up in the trees, and Edward looked to the sky. "There's a storm coming," he said. "Not that it matters. We won't need the cloud cover today."

A light rain began to fall, and its intensity slowly increased until it had reached a downpour as they got to the edge of town.

"I don't think there have ever been many like her, Alice. Bella is more than a human. More than a mutation. It's almost as if -- and I know this sounds ridiculous -- but I sometimes wonder if she was sent here, in some way."

They stuck to sidestreets as they made their way toward the police station.

"Vampires have spent hundreds of years under the Volturi's rule," Edward said. "And yet, just weeks after I met Bella, its leader is dead, the entire coven is in shambles, and any hope the rest of them have of ever regaining their stature rests on what happens in the next couple hours."

"True," Alice said. "But my entire family is gone, too, Edward. There's no denying that much good has happened, but so has much bad."

He bowed his head. "That seems to be the way of the world," he said. "It's a balancing act."

They took up a spot in the park across the street from the station. They had a good view of the live TV trucks lining the road.

"You sure you can handle him?" Edward asked. "Newborns are powerful, Alice. And he'll need coaching."

"I'll handle it when the time comes," she said. "Being able to see his next move should give me an advantage."

She looked up the street and saw Bella parking the Jeep.

"She's here."

Bella emerged, and to Edward, she didn't seem nervous at all. She shielded her head from the rain with her hands and walked up to the first news van she ran into. She knocked on the window and waited for the driver to roll it down.

"I'm Bella Swan," Edward heard her say. "I'd like to talk to you about my father."

"You're the police chief's daughter?" the driver said. Bella told him she was.

A blond reporter emerged from the back of the van holding an umbrella and ushered Bella to the side of the building, presumably to keep her presence a secret from the FBI and, probably, the other reporters.

But the whispers began.

Soon, another news crew showed up. And another. And another. It didn't stop until eleven cameras crowded around Bella as if she were giving a post-Superbowl news conference.

The blond reporter asked questions as Bella peered into the cameras, one-by-one.

"He's my dad, of course I'm worried," Bella said. "I'm scared shitless, if you wanna know the truth. He's all I have left."

She took the microphone out of the reporter's hand and gripped it tight. "The vampires scare the everloving fuck out of me," she said. "And they should scare you too."

A few reporters laughed, but most kept their cool. Bella didn't stop.

"I've seen what they can do," she said, her voice rising in pitch. "Talk to the people in town. They'll tell you. That was no pack of wolves that tore through here. It was a pack of vampires. I'll bet there's already video on YouTube."

Alice and Edward made their way closer. They watched the chaos through one of the miniature television monitors that was in the back of a live truck. Edward saw Bella's face, crowded by the microphone, half covered with her own wet hair.

He decided that he and Alice should move closer in case anything unexpected happened. They propped themselves against the side of a building and watched.

Edward remembered back to the night he'd met Bella, the night he'd almost killed her. He thought then that she was unconventionally beautiful, somehow apart from the world she lived in. But he was wrong, he realized now. It was the conventions of the world that were misguided. Bella was the beautiful one, and the world needed to shape itself in her image.

If his hunches were right, it soon would.

He smiled as he watched her perform her part perfectly, the distraught daughter of a missing police chief. And he suddenly realized that it was not a part she was playing at all. Her father was dead, and it was his fault.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Alice put her arm around his shoulders. "She's strong, Edward. She'll make it through this. And so will Charlie. I'll make sure of it. I'll keep him safe."

He nodded, but didn't say anything.

He lit a cigarette and kept watch on Bella, almost missing the FBI agents as they came out the police station's front door. It was just as he'd suspected. They split up, two going around to the right flank while two circled in from the left.

She would be safe, as long as the cameras remained turned on. And as long as she kept ranting about scary vampires, he knew the reporters would keep eating it up.

"Jane will be here soon,” Alice said.

"I think it depends on how far away she got," Edward said. "If she only went as far as Seattle, she'll probably be here in an hour. But if she went all the way back to Italy, it might not be until tomorrow."

“No,” Alice said. “I mean I see it, Edward. She’s almost here.”

Edward kept watch on the agents, who crept closer and closer. The bigger one on the right worried him. He was thinking this was going to be his big score, debunking a vampire rumor and saving the missing police chief's daughter from whatever mess she’d gotten herself into.

But if Alice was right, there wouldn’t be time for any of that. There wouldn’t be time to worry about the FBI.

He crept closer and squeezed in behind the pack of reporters crowding Bella.

“Sir.”

An agent stood behind him, one hand resting on his holstered gun and the other pressing down on Edward’s shoulder.

“We’d like to talk to you for a moment,” the agent said. Edward turned and smiled. “Of course, officer,” he said.

The agent’s thoughts revealed that the people in town had already told the FBI about him, the mysterious man in the long black coat who showed up right before the trouble began. He had to admit, had had blundered badly, calling attention to himself in a way he never had before.

As Edward turned, giving the impression that he was going to follow the agent, he grabbed the man’s wrist and twisted. The agent winced in pain as the bone cracked and he went to his knees. Out of the corner of his eye, Edward saw Alice head off two other agents who were hustling toward him. She grabbed each by the hand and forced them into a nearby alley.

Edward dealt with the man who was now on his knees in front of him. He didn’t want to hurt the man, so he punched him in the chest hard enough that he knew the agent wouldn’t be able to catch his breath for several minutes. The agent slumped over, and Edward moved him away from the crowd. He propped him against a wall and turned, sure the lone remaining FBI agent would be there soon.

Jane stood there instead, smiling. She wore a black and red cloak that continued into a hood shrouding her light brown hair. Edward knew her diminutive size was misleading. Jane was the most dangerous vampire on the planet.

“Hello, Edward,” she said.

She focused on his eyes and a sharp pain seized him. But before he collapsed, Alice was there. She slammed Jane into a wall, shattering the cinder blocks.

The reporters turned to see what was happening.

“Get a camera on that,” the blond one who’d been leading the interview with Bella screamed at her cameraman, ten yards away. Quickly, a dozen cameras focused on Alice, Jane and Edward.

“There’s no turning back now,” Edward said to Alice. “Go get him.”

Alice took off running while Jane climbed out of the debris. She went for Bella, knowing that despite her power, she was no match for both Edward and Alice.

She tore through the reporters as if they were made of cardboard, tossing them aside with little regard to their well being. The last remaining FBI agent drew down on her and ordered her to stop.

Jane smirked and kept moving. The agent fired, but his bullets did nothing. She reached him and took his gun from his hand, crushing it in hers. He tried to punch her, but she grabbed his fist in mid-air and broke the bones. She pulled him to her and sunk her teeth into his neck.

The crowd screamed as blood poured from the carotid artery and the agent went down.

The remaining cameras focused on Jane. Blood dripped from her mouth and her eyes glowed red.

Edward used the delay to go to Bella. He scooped her into his arms and ran into the police station. He got as far as the lobby before he was blinded by pain and collapsed to the ground.

Jane burst through the front doors, glass flying everywhere.

She spotted Bella leaning over Edward, whose hands were pressed to his temples.

Edward saw Bella standing between him and his tormenter. She balled her hands into fists and took a deep breath. He tried to speak, but another round of pain seized him.

“You’re a brave one,” Jane said. “Stupid but brave.”

Bella smiled and stepped forward. “Why aren’t you using your little tricks on me?” she said. “Afraid it won’t work?”

Jane took another step toward Bella, and another, until their faces were inches apart. Neither flinched, neither moved. Edward saw the television cameras approach from behind. He knew they were broadcasting the scene nationwide, live.

"You have a little something on your face," Bella said. She reached out and wiped a spot of blood from Jane's cheek with her thumb. "There. So much prettier."

Jane pushed Bella's hand away. “I have plans for you,” she said. She looked down at Edward and smirked. “As soon as I take care of your boyfriend, here.”

Bella looked out the window with a look of concern on her face. “Don’t worry,” Edward said through his pain. “They’ll be here.”

Jane smiled. “Are you two cooking up something for me? Oh, I can’t wait to see what it is!"

She took Bella by the hand. “Until then, let me tell you what you're about to endure. I won’t kill you, Miss Swan. Your blood is too valuable. No. You’ll be my ... slave, for lack of a better word. I’ll bleed you just short of death every week. You’ll act as my own personal supply. With the qualities inherent in your blood, I’ll be the most powerful vampire who's ever existed. Caius wouldn't dare challenge me for leadership."

Edward still couldn’t move, the pain was so severe. He couldn’t wait for the world to be rid of Jane. He would go after Caius next.

As if on cue, heads turned toward the street, where news vans were being overturned one by one.

Onlookers screamed and ran away.

A fire hydrant burst.

Windows exploded.

Whatever it was was getting closer.

Jane lost her focus just long enough for Edward to stand up and grab Bella. He picked her up and ran toward the rear of the station, where the prisoners were housed.

He put her in an empty cell and shut the door, handing her the key. "You'll be safer in here," he said. "Whatever you do, do not open this door. OK?" Bella nodded.

He turned his head as screams erupted from the front lobby.

Charlie was there, with Alice right behind him.

Edward ran toward them. He stopped when he reached the lobby, which was in chaos. Charlie had broken through the brick wall, its remains littering the ground.

He'd torn apart one television camera, and now his attention was on Jane as the rest of the cameras kept rolling.

"Charlie!" Edward called sharply.

"Isn't that the police chief?" someone asked.

The newborn vamp slowly turned his head in Edward's direction. He looked like a beast, bright red eyes and ghostly white skin. His hair had gone almost completely black, and his muscles were incredibly well-defined under the plain white T-shirt he wore. He looked twenty years younger than he was. He looked like a soldier.

"Do it," Edward said.

He caught the barest hint of a smile cross Charlie's lips as Jane darted left, trying to escape. But Charlie was too fast. He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air one-handed. She tried to focus her power on him, but it was too late.

Charlie put his other hand on her hip, gripped her tightly, and ripped her head off. Black bile burst from her corpse and covered everything in the room. He flung the body away as if it were a piece of trash.

Pandemonium erupted. Edward knew he had to calm Charlie down before he put innocent humans in danger. Alice approached to help.

"Charlie," she said, gripping his face in her hands. "You did good. Do you understand?"

He nodded that he did.

Edward ran to get Bella.

"Is he OK?" she asked.

"He did great," Edward said, making his way out the back door. "She's gone. Now let’s get the hell out of here before the National Guard shows up."

-30-

A/N Lots has changed, no? That was really fun. Thanks for reading, and thanks to MazzyStarla for the beta work and so much more. See you next time. :)