Ch 57 - Last Night On Earth

My beating heart belongs to you
I walked for miles 'til I found you
I'm here to honor you
If I lose everything in the fire
I'm sending all my love to you.

“Last Night On Earth” – Green Day

Edward POV

I laughed as Bella walked out of the door. She had been in such a good mood lately—it was truly contagious. Ever since the clock struck midnight on New Years things have been going perfectly. She agreed to marry me without very much hesitation. I had been slightly worried as to what her reaction was going to be. Alice assured me she’d say yes but I wasn’t so sure that vision wouldn’t change at the last minute, considering Bella was prone to panicking. I haven’t told her yet, but I even went so far as to ask Charlie for his permission. He was startled when I asked him, taken back by how upfront and serious I was. He lectured me a bit but eventually agreed. That was what he had been thanking me for in Bella’s old bedroom on Christmas Eve.

After she said yes, we came home and I made love to her. It wasn’t exactly effortless, I still had a few moments of nearly losing control, but it was easier than the first time since I knew I’d need to channel my strength elsewhere. And afterwards, when Bella had admitted to watching me, I was afraid she’d fear me. I thought for sure her seeing that side of me, her watching as the sheer inhumanness inside of me took over, would turn her off. I knew I was good at acting human; I’d done it so much over the past century that it was simply second nature. And Bella saw that human side of me most of the time. I didn’t often act out around her and was desperately afraid that if she watched me in that moment, the moment of primal release when I was unable to contain the animal inside of me, that she’d be reminded of my true nature. That she’d be reminded of how dangerous I was, because I was always waiting for that moment. The moment when Bella had reached her limit and was unable to take anymore of the supernatural.

But she hadn’t reached it then. She had smiled at me and told me I was beautiful. In my most inhuman moment, she was awestruck by me. She never ceases to amaze me.

And now we’re getting out of this ridiculous apartment and moving into a beautiful house in a great neighborhood. We were starting at UW tomorrow—honestly I couldn’t care less about going to college again, but I was thrilled with Bella going. I wanted to be there every step of the way, wanted to watch her flourish and grow and find her place in this world.

I finished packing up a few boxes and hauled them down to the Volvo. I hopped in and drove across town to our new house. I had no desire to unpack and decorate or any of that nonsense. Esme was coming by tomorrow and I knew she’d be willing to do all of that for us, that was her passion in life. All I cared about was getting the apartment cleaned out and getting Bella’s necessities set up there for her. Esme would purchase new furniture for us tomorrow but I was going to have the old bed set up for Bella to sleep on tonight.

I was even considering asking Bella if she wanted to christen the new house tonight. The bed frame was already disfigured from last time anyway. I was probably being ridiculous, placing Bella in danger for the sake of sexual gratification, but I knew she craved it as much as I did.

I grabbed the boxes from the car and sat them in the living room. After I had the car emptied I climbed back in and headed back over to the apartment. I stopped in the lobby and checked the mail, scanning through it quickly. Most of it was junk, besides a letter from Renee for Bella.

I climbed up the stairs, passing the man that lives two doors down from our apartment. He was a monster, a rapist and woman abuser. If I weren’t afraid of losing my humanity to the demon inside of me I’d snap his neck or drain him dry. He glanced at me and a vision of Bella popped in his head--he often thought crude things about her. I glared at him menacingly, flashed my teeth and growled. He cowered away, tripping and stumbling down the stairs. When he caught his balance he ran as fast as his legs would carry him. I chuckled and continued up the stairs.

When I reached the top and glanced down the hallway, I froze. I blinked instinctively to try to clear my vision, thinking I had to be seeing things. I felt the growl rumbling in my chest, fear and panic surging through me. It had to be a mistake. I inhaled deeply, smelling the subtle flowery sweetness but not detecting anything other than humans. I walked forward quickly, eyeing it cautiously. I reached down and grabbed the red and white carnation, ripping the piece of paper tied to it off immediately and opening it. Two words were written on it… simple words, but deep. They were menacing, a threat.

Say Goodbye.

My phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket. I glanced at the screen and felt another surge of fear: Alice.

“What’s wrong Alice?” I said frantically, answering.

“You have to save her Edward!!” She yelled. “You have to go!”

“Who? What are you talking about?” I asked, panicking.

“Bella! He’s going to kill Bella!”

Her words registered and I dropped the phone. I sprinted down the stairs and burst outside. I cursed at the fact that there were people around so I had to try to maintain human speed, but I pushed the limit anyway. I neared the library and I heard a gunshot ringing out, following by screaming. It startled the people on the streets and I overheard someone calling 911.

I paused when I hit the library and glanced in the front door. I was rocked with disbelief and shock when my eyes fell upon Tyler Crowley.

He was scum, vile. I wanted to murder him myself when I learned of what he’d done to Bella. He drugged her and then continued to feed her addiction. Bella blamed herself for Tyler’s downfall when the opposite were true in my book. Tyler threw gasoline on the fire that was Bella’s suffering.

The fact of the matter was, Tyler was already supposed to be dead. Alice saw it. Alice watched him park his car along the highway and head out into the woods. Alice watched him come to the cliff overlooking the water and saw him leap to his death. I had heard his thoughts when he came to Harborview to see Bella. He was frightened and unstable. Something in him had snapped. He thought for sure he was going to be blamed for what happened, thought for sure Bella was going to spill that he had drugged her and gotten her the GHB. He was high and suicidal, his thoughts frantically going through a million different scenarios on how to end his life. He was ashamed, afraid of disappointing his parents. He just wanted to disappear so not to shame his family.

But something had to have happened. Between him deciding to pull over and end his life and it actually happening, something or someone intervened. Because he survived, he was here. I was mentally kicking myself for not going out to the site and investigating it myself, or for not asking Alice to look into it further. But at the time it seemed so unimportant—Tyler Crowley was nothing to me, what did I care what happened to him?

Bella was standing in front of him with her hands in the air. She was trembling and I could hear her precious heartbeat above all of the rest. It was pounding frantically. Tyler was waving the gun around like a madman, scaring the rest of the humans.

This wasn’t going to be an easy situation to diffuse. I wanted nothing more than to run inside and kill him, but I knew doing so would bring about repercussions. Witnesses wouldn’t be able to survive, the Volturi would make sure of that. I could save them all in a matter of seconds, before Tyler even knew what hit him, but people would question it and they’d have to disappear themselves. I couldn’t sign the death warrant for all of those innocent people and also place my existence on the line. The Volturi wasn’t very lenient and me making a spectacle of myself to save a human woman wouldn’t bode well for me in their eyes.

Bella said something about not meaning to hurt Lauren and Tyler snapped. I could hear his frantic thoughts as he rushed at Bella. She backed up in fear and fell while he yelled at her, sticking the gun to her forehead. I opened the door quietly and slipped inside, making sure not to make any noise. A few people noticed me and wondered who I was and what I was doing, but I was otherwise pretty much undetected. I took a few steps forward. Bella was trembling, sobbing.

“You ruined my life, you destroyed everything! If it weren’t for you that red headed bitch would’ve left me alone!” he screamed. An image of Victoria flashed in his mind and my eyes widened in surprise. “She said you and Edward Cullen killed her boyfriend, is that true? Do you kill her boyfriend too?”

Bella was shaking in fear but remained silent. I took a few more steps forward, silently closing the distance between us. Neither Tyler nor Bella had noticed me but everyone else was now watching me with curiosity and confusion.

“Look at me,” Tyler yelled when Bella didn’t answer him, shoving the gun into her forward and pushing her head backwards. She looked up, her eyes wide with fear. Tears were running down her cheeks. “You did, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Bella said softly. Tyler laughed bitterly, almost manically.

“Do you know what you’ve done? Do you know what I’ve been through because of you?! She—she wasn’t human, she was the devil. She had to be. She’s a demon, evil! She was everywhere, I couldn’t escape her. She haunted my dreams. She taunted me, pushed me. She told me it was you, that it was all your fault, that you were to blame for all of it. You killed her boyfriend, you killed Lauren! She said you had to be stopped and I had to help stop you.”

Tyler’s hand was shaking harder. Images of Victoria were flashing through his mind, the mental torture she’d put him through. I had no idea why she’d done it, why she’d felt the need to involve Tyler. Maybe because he wasn’t traceable, as I wouldn’t suspect a human’s involvement. She needed someone that could do some of the work for her that wouldn’t raise red flags. She knew I knew her scent and would track her to the gates of Hell if I ever caught whiff of it. But Tyler—he could shadow us anywhere and I never would’ve given it a second look.

“I’ve been through hell and all this time you’ve been running around, free and happy. How fucking fair is that?! You’re a murderer!”

I took some more steps forward until I was a mere few feet from Tyler’s back. I could nearly reach out and grab him. The movement caught Bella’s attention and she glanced up past his shoulder. Her eyes widened when she spotted me and she gasped.

Tyler glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of me. He turned quickly, startled, and nearly dropped the gun. He raised it up and pointed it directly at me, forgetting all about Bella for a moment. I glanced down at her and nodded my head slightly, motioning for her to go. She understood and started quietly moving backwards away from Tyler.

“It’s me you really want, isn’t it?” I said flatly, raising my eyebrows. “I mean, your girlfriends dead, you’ve been through hell. Wouldn’t you want the same for Bella? Killing her would be too easy. Wouldn’t you want her to suffer like you did?”

Tyler looked at me with confusion, shocked by my words. I took another step forward and Tyler’s eyes widened with surprise at my boldness. I glanced over his shoulder and saw Bella pull herself to her feet and carefully back away, watching us cautiously.

“Come on, shoot me,” I said. Tyler started to panic, utterly baffled. I nearly smiled at how easy it was to rattle him. I needed him confused, so confused that he forgets who he’s here for.

I heard sirens approach outside and Tyler’s heart started racing. He was panicking, considering fleeing. He knew there was something off about me, Tyler had always been afraid of me but after his encounters with Victoria he was completely convinced I wasn’t normal. My appearance had him all mixed up, downright frightened.

I took another step forward and Tyler started backing up instinctively, his gun still pointed at me. The phone at the main desk rang, startling him. I saw him jump, flinched and the instant it occurred I knew he hit his breaking point. Tyler swung around in Bella’s direction, where the phone had rung, and the moment his back was turned I leapt. I knocked into him, grabbing his head with my hands. He squeezed the trigger and I twisted, trying to be gentle so I didn’t crush his skull or decapitate him but hard enough to snap his neck and severe his head internally.

Everything felt like it happened in slow motion, each second feeling like an eternity. The moment I heard the sickening crunch and Tyler’s body went limp, I heard a thump, almost a tearing sound, and a sweet aroma filtered into my lungs, clouding everything. My throat was scorching, the venom flowing like a waterfall. My body started shaking, screaming for me to find the source. The overwhelming need to taste it rocking through me, the growl already starting to vibrate my chest.

But my mind reacted just as passionately as my body. Because I knew that scent. It was the forbidden fruit, the sweetest of the sweet. It was the blood that called out to me, tempted me. It was the blood that rushed through the veins of the woman I loved, the blood that pumped the heart that meant so much to me. It was her life force, and it was being spilled.

I glanced up quickly, my eyes instantly meeting Bella’s. Her eyes were wide with fright, her lips parted. Her lips moved as if she were trying to say something, convey something to me but no sound was escaping.

Screams rang out through the library, and people started to get up to flee now that Tyler was down. My eyes were fixated on Bella and I watched as a small red circle developed in the center of her white shirt. Bella brought her hands up to clutch her stomach and gasped. I saw the fear flash through her eyes, her face twisting with pain. The expression on her face killed the bloodlust, drowned it out. Nothing else mattered to me at that moment, not even my thirst and desire for the warm red liquid. All that mattered was the pain Bella was in—all I cared about was taking that away.

Bella stumbled and her knees buckled as the bullet exited her body, lodging into the wall behind her. I sprang forward, catching her before she hit the ground. Bella screamed and her eyes welled with tears. I cradled her in my arms and tried to lay her down gently, not to hurt her anymore than she was already hurting.

Bella grabbed a hold of me, gripping my arms tightly. She was frightened, confused. I pulled her shirt up quickly, trying to assess her. I felt dread rock through me the moment I saw the wound. The bullet that had rung out as I tackled Tyler had shot right through Bella’s abdomen. I could smell acid, the scent of her blood diluting with it. It had ripped right through her stomach, spilling her digestive fluids into her system.

This was bad, very bad. I had two medical degrees but I didn’t need them to know this was one of the worst gunshots you could receive, and one of the most painful. The acid in the stomach was strong, just as strong as battery acid. Once spilled it would start to eat away at other organs and tissue.

I pulled my shirt off quickly and pressed it to Bella’s wound to try to stop the bleeding. She was losing a lot of blood, entirely too much.

Bella started shoving me, trying to push me away. I looked at her with confusion. She was panicking, screaming. Her hands were shaking and I could hear her pulse weakening slightly.

“Blood,” she gasped. “Too much blood.”

“I know Bella, I’m going to make it stop,” I said softly, trying to calm her. She was freaking out and her fighting was only making it worse. “I know it hurts baby but try not to fight, I need to put pressure on it.”

“Too much blood,” she said again, gasping. She was sobbing, hyperventilating. Her airway was clear, her lungs fine but the pain rocking her system was too much for her. I gave her a questioning look, trying to figure out what she was trying to tell me. “Your eyes… You gotta go… the blood,” she gasped.

I groaned when I realized she was fighting because she was worried about me being around her blood. That was juts like Bella, lying on the floor with her blood spilling out everywhere, her life in grave danger and she’s worried about my internal struggle.

“I’m fine, Bella,” I said. My shirt was soaking with her blood and I pressed down slightly harder. I didn’t want to hurt her with my strength but I had to do something.

Cops started filtering into the room, guns drawn. They glanced around to assess the situation quickly, spotting Bella and I. An officer approached Tyler, kicking the weapon from his reach per protocol, even though he was very visibly dead. They were efficient; it only took them a few seconds to clear the room and deem it safe for the paramedics to enter.

The rest of the witnesses from the library were outside giving statements. I tried to listen to their stories, to make sure none of them were suspicious of anything out of precaution, but I couldn’t get my mind to focus on anything but Bella. She needed me.

The paramedics approached us quickly. “One shot, .357 magnum through the abdomen, hit the stomach. She’s lost a lot of blood, needs transfused fast. Her BP’s dropping and her pulse is weak,” I spat off quickly, my voice frantic. The paramedics looked at me, surprised by my knowledge, but didn’t delay to question how I knew any of it. I released my hand from her as they went to work, securing an occlusive dressing on her wound to control the bleeding.

Bella’s eyes started drifting closed, the blood loss taking its toll. “Wake up Bella, you need to stay alert,” I said sternly. She forced her eyes open and glanced up at me. The color was gone from her face--she was sickly pale with a sheen of sweat across her forehead. Bella started shivering, her teeth chattering. I could tell she was fighting to stay alert, focusing her eyes intently on me.

They loaded Bella onto a stretcher, working fast to secure her and check her vitals. I didn’t need machines to tell me they weren’t good. An officer approached me hesitantly, his thoughts telling me he was slightly fearful. He knew from witness statements that I had killed Tyler and it didn’t help his impression of me that I was covered in blood.

“Sir, we’re going to need a statement from you,” he said cautiously. I turned in his direction and he recoiled instinctively, taking in my expression and pitch black eyes.

“You can get your statement later, but I have to go to the hospital with her,” I said firmly. He considered arguing with me, knowing he wasn’t supposed to let me leave the scene without getting my side, especially considering I’d killed even if it were self-defense.

“Look, I know you’re just doing your job but my fiancée takes priority. You can follow me to the hospital if you want, I assure you you’ll find me there.”

He nodded. I ran out of the library and hopped into the back of the ambulance as they loaded Bella in. They took off for Harborview Medical Center quickly and I focused my attention on the sound of Bella’s heart.

It was still beating but weakly. She was unresponsive now, her eyes closed. Her breathing was labored and they made sure her airway was cleared and strapped a mask over her. They secured IVs in her arm and started questioning me about Bella—her name, age, any allergies, and medical history. I answered their questions the best I could, my attention distracted. I couldn’t focus on anything but the thump-thump-thump in her chest. They radioed ahead to the hospital to inform them of our arrival.

20-year old unconscious female, single GSW to the abdomen, through-and-through. BP 90/60, pulse ox 98% on 10/L O2. C-Spine immobilized. IVs in place. ETA 4 minutes.

When we arrived at the hospital, Bella was rushed inside. I tried to follow but was stopped by a nurse. I glared at her and I knew I frightened her with my expression, but I was frantic and couldn’t help it.

I couldn’t lose her, not now. Not after we worked so hard to get here.