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

Edward descended the stairs into the basement and locked the hatch behind him. He took a moment to survey the room and wished again that Alice would wake up. He'd gotten lucky, finding the basement without her help, but he needed guidance. Now that he'd carried Alice and Charlie down there, he wasn't sure what he should be doing.

He knew they couldn't go anywhere for a few days. Charlie would be dangerous, more dangerous even than Jane and her half-assed run at Forks with her private army.

A newborn vampire must be taken seriously.

"Will he be OK?" Bella asked. "Is it taking?"

Charlie was unconscious, propped up against the wall where Edward had placed him. He had bite marks on his neck and arms. Edward was going to move Charlie into the storage room soon, before he woke up. Charlie's skin had already turned pale. His cheeks were sunken, and the gray had begun to disappear from his hair.

"Honestly, I don't know, Bella. Aside from my own experience, I have very little knowledge of newborns. About all I know is it's far from a pleasant undertaking. He'll be in severe pain for a few days. And he'll be incredibly dangerous."

"Is that why we're hiding here? Because he's dangerous?"

"That and the FBI," Edward said. "I've been reading Charlie's thoughts, as jumbled as they are. Apparently, Jane showed up and went on a rampage. When she discovered that you and I weren't here, she went looking for Charlie."

Charlie stirred. His groans echoed off the walls in the tiny room.

"I have to get him away from you," Edward said. "If he comes to, he'll smell your blood and kill you before he even knows what he's done. I won’t be able to stop him."

He carried Charlie into the storage room, a ten-by-ten space with a workbench against one brick wall and the house's electrical box on another. It looked as if the Cullens had built it for exactly this purpose, holding newborns. It was like a small fortress.

Edward ducked under the chain hanging from the single lightbulb in the center of the ceiling, moved the toolbox away and laid the chief down on the bench. He secured the door behind him as he carried the tools back into the main room. There was no need to leave a cache of potential weapons within Charlie's reach. He locked the door behind him.

"Jane killed off the entire police department," Edward said, rejoining Bella. "She and her army tore through town like a drunken pack of newborns. They killed dozens of people, maybe more."

He sat down, and Bella took the seat next to him.

"So that’s why the feds showed up," Bella said.

"It's a disaster for the Volturi," Edward said. "There had to be hundreds of witnesses. They'll tell the authorities, as well as every cable news reporter with a microphone and a blow dryer. There’ll be no stopping it.”

He stopped and shook his head. "I don't know what Jane was thinking. It doesn't make any sense. I can't figure out what she was after. It can't just be one rogue vampire and a couple of humans."

Bella put her arm around Edward's shoulder and hugged him tight.

"What about Alice?" she said. “Will she be OK?”

"I don't know. She was badly wounded. I've never seen a vampire come back from that much damage. But she's tough. I didn't think she'd last this long."

Edward had laid Alice down on a blanket on the floor. She hadn't made a sound since they arrived, but her wounds did appear to be healing slowly.

“Why is she surviving when the rest of the family isn’t?” Bella said. “I thought you had to burn the bodies to kill them.”

“Not if you remove the head completely,” Edward said. “If a vampire is badly wounded, as Felix was after you shot him, you can destroy the body by burning it before it has a chance to repair itself. But without a head, the nerves linking the brain and the body are cut. There's no way that kind of injury can heal itself, of course.

“All of the Cullens were decapitated, and so were the Volturi Guard members out there. That was probably Jasper’s doing. Judging by Alice’s injuries, it looks like someone almost succeeded in decapitating her, too, but wasn’t able to complete the job.”

Bella looked over at Alice, who hadn’t moved since Edward carried her in. "She needs blood," Bella said. “She won’t be strong enough to heal without it.”

"Yes," Edward said.

"You need it too, Edward. How long has it been?"

"I'll be fine," he said. He gritted his teeth and refused to think about it, honestly uncertain if he could go on much longer. It had already been weeks.

"No, Edward. You won't be fine. You’re weak and getting weaker."

Bella crossed the room and turned on the television. She picked up the remote and sat back down next to Edward.

She began flipping channels. The Forks Monster, the networks were calling it. All of them had live trucks stationed outside the police department, where the FBI had taken over.

"This quiet town is devastated, Angie," one of the on-scene reporters was telling the news anchor. "So far, the authorities have identified seventy-three victims, including almost the entire police department.

"That department's chief, Charles Swan, is missing. No one knows what led to this tragedy, but witnesses are openly speculating that it was some kind of monster."

She clicked the television off.

"You're going to have to be strong enough to deal with that," Bella said, nodding at the TV. "Not to mention Jane and whatever else the Volturi throws at you."

She kissed his cheek and walked across the room, took a box cutter from the toolbox, and rolled up her sleeve.

"You first," she said, running the razor up her forearm, careful to stop after making a two-inch cut.

"Bella. No," Edward said. He reached to take the blade away, but he’d reacted too slowly. He unconsciously licked his lips as he watched blood trickle from the wound.

“Take it,” Bella said, moving in closer. Edward turned his head away, but she put her hand on his chin and tilted his head up, so she could look into his eyes.

“Please,” she whispered, leaning down to kiss his lips. “I need you, Edward. We all do, Alice, Charlie. You’re the only thing between us and the mob outside. Between us and the Volturi. You’re our protector, and we need you to be strong.”

She put her arm to his lips, and Edward drank. He closed his eyes and ran his tongue over the wound as he sucked, the warm fluid gliding down his throat. He moaned softly, realizing how hungry he really was.

Bella put her other hand on the back of his head and pulled him closer, until her arm was against her stomach and Edward’s head rested on her chest. She stroked his hair, gently running her fingers through it as he continued to feed.

Edward knew he should stop. He felt Bella stroking his hair, her blood running down his throat, and he lost track of where he was and what he was doing. The outside world had disappeared, and he was here only with the blood and the animal instinct inside him that ached for the blood.

He opened his lips wider and took more of Bella's flesh in his mouth. He ran his teeth over the wound and felt the skin give way. One little tug, a small bite, wouldn't hurt. He could open the vein a little and he knew that the blood would gush and he would capture it all and it would be good and feel good as it warmed him from the inside. He would be good and he would be strong and he would embrace the monster once again and all would be forgiven. He would be forgiven. He opened his mouth.

"Stop! Edward, you're killing her!"

The scream jarred him. He opened his eyes and he backed away from Bella's arm and he saw her collapse before him, a ghost.

He bent to her and scooped her into his arms, not daring to look at Alice, now awake and screaming.

He laid Bella down on the floor and propped her head up with a furniture blanket. "Bella, please be OK," he whispered. "I'm sorry. Please wake up."

He felt the strength he'd gained, as if he'd injected enough blood for an army. He was sure he hadn't taken more than a pint, though. There hadn't been enough time.

He stroked Bella's hair and he felt that her skin was warm. Color began to come back to her cheeks and she opened her eyes.

She smiled at Edward, and turned to look at Alice.

"You're awake!" Bella said.

Alice smiled back, though weakly. Her neck still showed purple scars, and the skin around it appeared raw.  "I'm not the only one, I see."

"That? I just got a little woozy is all," Bella said. "Dracula here couldn't stop himself. It's good to know I have that kind of effect on him."

She sat up and kissed him, then moved over to Alice. Bella bared her arm and put it in front of Alice's face. "Your turn," she said.

"You should wait," Edward said. He put his hands on Bella's shoulders as if to guide her away.

"Hands off, dude," Bella said. She turned back to Alice as Edward stepped away. "Here," she said, and she put the wound gently to Alice's lips.

Alice arched her neck upward and put her lips to the wound, hesitant at first. "I'll be fine," Bella said. "It's not the first time I've passed out from blood loss. It passes quickly. Don't worry about it. But maybe don't wait for me to fall on the floor before stopping." She looked at Edward and smirked. "I do need to keep some of this for myself."

Alice closed her eyes and locked her lips on Bella's skin. Edward watched, ready to intervene if he needed to.

Alice pulled away after a few seconds. She sat up, and she stood.

"Wow," she said. "I feel stronger than ever." She ran her hands down the front of her body and looked at herself.

"What have you got in there? Premium? Holy shit, Bella. I feel like a new woman. You should bottle that stuff and sell it online."

"I have a theory about that," Bella said.

Edward smiled. "She has lots of theories."

Bella ignored him. "Try to see my future, Alice."

Alice closed her eyes and appeared to be concentrating. A moment passed. "I've got nothing," she said.

Bella smiled.

"No one's powers work on me. I'm different," Bella said. "And I think my blood's different, too." She turned to Edward. "Remember the first time I fed you? After Felix almost killed you? You said you were overcome with power from a few drops. And you said the smell was different, too, when we first met."

"It's the only reason I didn't kill you," he admitted.

"Well, yeah, that and my charming personality. But what if there's something in my blood that's different? Something that gives vampires an extra boost? Maybe that's why Jane went nuts. She figured it out, and she wants me for herself."

Edward said nothing, but he thought she had a point. There was no denying that there was something different about Bella; the immunity to vampire powers, the effect of her blood, the way his powers didn't seem to fully work when she was nearby.

"I've heard such legends," Alice said. "But I didn't think they were real."

"Tell me," Edward said.

"They're called Shields," Alice said. "And they're incredibly rare. There's a mutation in the mitochondrial DNA. It's not inherited, which is why no one can predict who's going to have it."

She explained that these shields were often conscripted into serving the church in medieval times in the fight against vampires.

"Carlisle would know more," she said. She turned away, and pressed her palms to her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Alice said. "I just can't believe they're gone. I thought. I mean, I saw me and Jasper living together forever. I never saw anything like this coming. When you've spent as long as I have seeing the future, you come to depend on those visions. You believe them, even though you know they’re not real, only possibilities."

Bella put an arm around Alice and guided her to the blanket on the floor. She sat with her and let Alice cry on her shoulder.

“Jasper was an honorable man,” Edward said. “As were all the Cullens.”

He knelt down beside the two women and looked Alice in the eye.

“Understand this,” he said. “Jane will not survive her mistake, Alice, and neither will the Volturi. I know it won’t bring Jasper back, but Jane's days are numbered. I won’t rest until she’s gone.”

“What are you gonna do, Edward?” Bella said.

He looked over his shoulder at the room where he’d put Charlie.

“How do you feel,” he said, “about holding a press conference?”

-30-

A/N So there you go. A few folks had questions about how to kill a vampire ‘round these parts, and it turned out Bella was wondering the same thing. I’m trying to make this fic as canon as I can while still following the laws of physics. And the Shield thing with the blood? It just made sense to me. Anywho, thanks to MazzyStarla for rocking my world (go read her much cuter fic, Dress You Up), and thanks to all you wonderful peeps out there for clicking and reading.