The ballet studio was on a half deserted street overrun with carefully manicured Yellow Dot and cactus. I parked the cruiser at the front and stared at the simple building. Everything seemed still in the deepening evening, but somehow that made the knot in my gut tighten. I checked my weapons--making sure the gun was loaded and the stake was tucked into my waistband at an angle that would make it difficult to notice.

     I crept my way up the sandy stone walkway careful not to alert the vampires of my presence and walked up to the polished glass doors and pushed. To my surprise the door was open. I didn't hesitate to enter.

     The darkness inside was murky but still. I pulled my flashlight off my belt and peered around. I stood in a very simple reception area with tile flooring and wallpapered walls. As I walked through, a walled photo collage caught my eye.

     I wondered if Bella's picture was hidden among the many smiling eyes of little boys and girls who'd come through these doors, but I didn't have time to dwell. I walked on, coming across an office, but the door was locked.

     The changing room was empty too. If this was anyone else I would have considered this a dead end and left to reassess...but it was Bella, and I was out of options, so I kept going through the darkened halls my breath getting more labored as I moved.

     What if the Cullens had already gotten to her? I'd never find them.

     I almost gave up but Bella's sudden cry of agony rang throughout the studio. I ran to her, past the reception area and the changing room until I was pushing my way through the heavy glass door of a large mirrored room with dark hardwood floors.

     There she was. Crawling on her hand knees on the floor trying to get away from the blonde man that had broken into our house. The bullet wounds I'd given him had disappeared--healed...not even bruises marred the perfectly white skin around his eye. How...

     He cornered her against a wall, taunting her with a hand-held camera. Her face was knotted in fright under a blanket of her limp dark hair. "Would you like to rethink your last request?," said the vampire.

     I ran toward them, dropping the flashlight and drawing my gun.

     "It's cruel really." The creature smiled darkly before pressing his long fingered hand on top of her leg. He pressed down, a nauseating snap could be heard as Bella cried out again in agony. "Wouldn't you rather have Edward try to find me?"

     He slammed her head back against the mirrored wall. The glass shattered around her and as it fell to the floor it reflected the sunlight from the high windows and for the briefest moment the vampire's face shined, the radiance reflecting a kaleidoscope of light in the dim room.

     I ran toward them, concern for my own safety dying as I grew closer. "Hey!"

     His head snapped up at my scream. "You!" His eyes grew darker. "You're the one that shot me."

     I fired at him. Faster than I could see he dodged the bullets and disappeared. I turned around the room seeing nothing but shadows and hearing nothing but the sound of my own frightened breathing and Bella's tormented sobbing.

     My ears picked up the sound of movement behind me just in time to turn and find the red eyes of the vampire staring at me. A lustful smile spread across his lips and I saw his white, shiny fangs clearly. "Do you taste as good as you smell?"

     He seized me in his steel-like grip and sank his fangs deep into the side of my neck. Sharp pain swallowed me, and I froze in his arms. His head jerked back and I could see my blood smeared across his face, glistening on his tongue, and dripping down his neck. "Not as good," He said as he licked my blood from the corners of his mouth. "But still fantastic!"

     His mouth found my neck again and I inhaled as sharp pain overwhelmed me, almost bringing me to my knees. I tried to resist but his strength crushed my will to fight. My grip slackened as I was lured toward the comforting pull of death. The darker part of me wanted to give in to the power of this creature and let blackness take me—but somewhere in the darkness I heard Bella. She was crying. But how could I kill something so powerful—the stake!

     I still felt it pressing into my side. I tightened my grip of the gun with whatever strength I had left and raised the barrel up toward him—any part of him, pulling the trigger with my numbed fingers.

     He stumbled back, his hand over his lower abdomen as blood seeped through his shirt and drizzled down the front of his jeans. "You son of a bitch!" He was more annoyed than hurt. He stepped toward me, his wounds already healing.

     I steadied myself but he was thrown back suddenly. Through my anemic haze I could just make out Edward Cullen's statuesque form. The two fought, their vampire strength breaking the glass of the studio's mirrored walls and ripping apart the wooden floorboards, leaving them scattered around the room. When the vampire was distracted Edward cradled Bella in his arms and tried to flee but the other vampire grabbed him and threw him back the other way.

     Bella flew from Edwards arms and fell on top of shattered glass, moaning as she pulled shards from her skin. The vampire walked over and crouched down in front of her.

     I reloaded.

     As Edward tried to stand back up, the other vampire grabbed her wrist and bit down so hard I thought he meant to snap it in half. Her skin tore when Edward ran into him. I raised my gun again, and pointed it not at Edward, but at the other vampire. I fired three times.

     One bullet struck the vampire in his neck. One struck his thigh. And the last barely grazed Edward Cullen. I didn't care. I fired again, hitting the vampire in his gut and chest at the same time. He screamed and cursed as he fell to the floor. I kept shooting. With every direct hit he screamed in agony—but he would not die.

     Edward disappeared behind me, running wildly toward Bella as she thrashed on the floor in pain. I turned to stop him from taking her but I was pulled back by the blonde vampire. He reached back and punched me. I felt my ribs crack under the force.

     The gun flew from my hand so I went for the stake tucked in my waistband. I raised it high, aiming for his heart but the creature grabbed my wrist before I could make the killing strike and squeezed until my hand numbed and the stake fell from it's limp grip. He threw me like a child would throw a toy he's grown bored with and I landed with a groan on top of the splintered floorboards.

     I managed somehow to push myself up on sore hands and tried to crawl away but he was quick to grabbed me and slam me against the ground with so much force I almost lost consciousness again.

     "I'm going to enjoy this," hatred spilled from his every word as he bared his fangs with the intention to kill.

     Time slowed as I watched him lunge fang first at my throat. Each beat of my heart counted down to my death. One beat, he lunged. The next beat, my hands instinctively flew to my sides. With another beat, they searched. My fingers gripped around a splintered piece of floorboard. I held the piece of wood up to my heart and stabbed with all my strength. The vampire impaled himself on top of me.

     His face grew paler for a moment and he looked down between us. The veins in his neck growing purple and bloated until without warning his youthful face became old and withered as he slumped over on his back next to me. I stood too quickly and nearly fell over from my injuries. His eyes found me as he gasped for air, his desperate shriveling fingers gripping around the jagged hardwood that now stuck out of his heart.

     One last painful exhale and he was nothing but an old dry corpse staring stupidly up at me in a mask of frozen shock.

     I swallowed the terror in my throat and stared. Was he truly dead?

     I kicked his foot, readying myself for another fight but he collapsed into dust. The murder weapon slid down and clattered to the floor as if he had never been there. The only evidence was the damage done to the studio and the puncture wounds on my neck.

     I turned back to find Bella passed out in Doctor Cullen's arms. Most of them were there, having materialized while I was battling the dead vampire. Doctor Cullen, Jasper, Alice, and the big one...Emmett I think. They stood there with their mouths open as they stared at me from behind wide red eyes.

     "He killed him." Alice looked baffled. "I didn't see this—I didn't anticipate."

     "We need to go." When doctor Cullen turned with Bella's limp form in his arms the rest of them turned as well.

     "What about him?"

     "Leave him."

     "But he killed James. He's dangerous!"

     "With the amount of blood he's lost he won't survive the night. We need to take care of Bella."

     "It's gonna happen Edward. I've seen it."

     Carlisle's voice cut through the others. "She can't die today. It's not time."

     I stumbled after them as they ran away, fading into the haze of darkness like smoke above the horizon.

     "Come back!" I tried to follow but my knees buckled and I fell forward landing face first on what was left of the floor.

      As I collapsed into unconsciousness, the last thing I was aware of was hearing Edward Cullen's unbridled laughter.

*****************************************************************************************

     "Mr. Swan."

     The pull to keep my eyes shut against the pain was too great for me to answer immediately, so instead I tried drifting back off into kinder dreams.

     "Mr. Swan." I felt a cool hand wrap gently around my forearm. She shook me ever so slightly.

     My eyes squinted open against the harsh fluorescent lights. I tried to speak but my throat was thick and dry.

     "Don't try to talk, Mr. Swan." The woman said. "Do you know what day it is? Nod yes or no."

     I didn't think she saw the slight shaking of my head but she responded back to me. "It's Friday. You're at St. Joseph's Hospital. You've been here three days. Do you know your name?"

     "Charles Swan." I croaked out.

     "That's good. A doctor's going to come in later to assess you further and gage the extent of the damage."

     "Damage?"

     "They found you passed out a few blocks from here by your police car."

     Police car...Bella! The Cullens--vampires!

     The memories came back in a flash of splintered information that struggled to fully form. I tried to move but found myself attached to the leads of heart and respiratory monitors, as well as an I.V. pole.

     "Mr. Swan," Said the nurse. "You need to calm down."

     "I need to get to Forks!"

     "Sir, you hit your head very hard. They had to reset four of your ribs and put a cast on your arm from where you fractured your wrist. Your car's in an impound lot and the police are real interested in finding out how you got this way. You can't go anywhere right now."

     My hands braced the rails that framed the sides of the bed and I tried to pull myself up into a sitting position but sharp pain braced chest and I groaned and let myself fall back on the bed.

     "That's your ribs. It's going to take a few weeks to heal."

     "I don't have a few weeks." I inhaled and got rewarded with more pain in my chest but swallowed it and attempted to pull myself up again.

     "Mr. Swan! Please lay back you're just going to hurt yourself."

     "I have to get home to my daughter."

     "Isabella Swan?"

     I stared at her. "Where is she?"

     "She was in the hospital yesterday."

     "And?"

      "And her care was transferred into the hands of a doctor Carlisle Cullen of Forks Hospital."

     "Goddamn it!" After the surge of adrenaline passed the pain came back and I gripped my side to ease the pain. "Who allowed her to even go back to Forks without my permission."

     Her fingers tapped quickly over the keyboard. "The discharge paperwork was signed by Renee Dwyer."

     "Her mother?"

     "Yes. At the time you were incapacitated, so her medical decisions were left in the hands of her next of kin."

     I couldn't be mad at Renee for this. She didn't know. "So she just flew in from Florida, signed Bella out, and left."

     "No sir. She's still here. She's your next of kin too."

     I'd forgotten to change my POA after the divorce and anyway with my parents dead I had no other family to give the authority to. Still...I was surprised she stayed here just for me.

     "She's staying at a hotel nearby," the nurse said as she checked my vital signs. "She told us to call her when you woke up."

     I nodded. "What about getting me discharged?"

     "That's not likely, Mr. Swan. With the extent of your injuries the doctor's probably not going to want to discharge you right away."

     "Where's the doctor. Let me talk to him."

     "His rounds aren't for another couple of hours but I'll make sure that as soon as he gets to the floor he knows you're awake and want to see him." She awkwardly rolled the electronic chart through the door. "And I'll call your wife too."

     "Ex!"

     About forty-five minutes later Renee came breezing into my room like it was natural. "Charlie! Oh, thank God." She came over, hovering over me.

     "Where's Bella?"

     "She's fine, Charlie. I sent her back to Forks."

     "By herself?"

     "She insisted. Anyway what was I supposed to do? Pack her up and move her to Jacksonville?"

     "Yes!"

     "And just pull her out of school? Move her away from her friends? I thought considering the situation it was better that her life remain as stable as possible."

     "The situation?"

     "Yeah. She fell down the stairs. I thought it might be too traumatizing to have a broken leg, a comatose father, and have her life suddenly uprooted. Plus I met that nice doctor Cullen and he assured me that he would watch her until we had word."

     Carlisle Cullen was a smart man. "Word about what?" What could be so important that she'd let our child allegedly live by herself.

     "We didn't know--" her voice broke. "Um, we didn't know if you'd wake up."

     I was shocked. Had the vampire really done so much damage? I barely remembered now.

     She continued, oblivious. "My plan was to give her a month in Forks so I could have time to transfer schools and pack and get ready for her...in case you--in case you.."

     "Died?"

     She covered her face with her hands and I heard her soft stifled cries. "What the hell happened, Charlie? She ran off with her boyfriend? Why didn't you call me?"

     "Renee--"

     "I didn't even know she was missing, Charlie! I had to find out from a goddamn Amber Alert!"

     "I am so sorry. Everything just happened so fast."

     "And what about you? They found you on the side of the road!?"

     "I can't explain everything right now." I tried to put my hand over hers for comfort but it the strain was too great so I let it flop back down to my side. "You need to get me discharged out of this place."

     "You're hurt."

     "I need to get back to Forks. Now."

     "Charlie you can't leave until you're better."

     "Over a couple broken ribs?"

     "And the head injury..."

     "They can check up on me in Forks."

     "I've never seen anyone want to get to Forks as much as you do," she almost smiled at that. "Alright. I'll talk to him."

     It took another thirty-eight minutes for the doctor to show up. Renee and I sat there watching t.v. to keep from having to chat when the door swung open and an old man strolled in.

     "Charlie Swan. I'm Doctor Harris."

     Just like Renee had said it wasn't my broken bones that the doctor was concerned about but my broken head. I tried to convince him to discharge me but he fought me.

     "Mr. Swan, your brain was swollen."

     "I want to get out of here. Transfer me to one of the doctors at Forks Hospital--not doctor Cullen!"

     "What if we watched you just for tonight? That way I can do the paperwork to get you transferred."

     "It's a deal."

     I spent the next day getting x-rays and MRIs, growing more impatient with the doctor's stalling techniques by the hour. When he was satisfied he took his sweet time signing the discharge paperwork--probably to make me angrier. I didn't apologize for being an asshole the last couple of days or see Renee off at the airport. Instead I got the police cruiser from the impound lot.

     I was on my way back to Forks.