“Are you well? Did you get sick again?” I stood outside the door, waiting for her answer. I was already forming plans to get Bella back to Rio to find out what it was that was ailing her.
“Yes and no.” As soon as I heard her strangled answer, worry entered my mind. Something was wrong. I needed to see her.
“Bella? Can I please come in?” She had barely finished her answering okay before I opened the door, using all my strength not to rip it off its hinges. As soon as the edge of the door had opened far enough for her to appear, my mind raced, trying to look at every inch of her to see what was wrong. She was sitting on the floor next to her open suitcase, a blank look on her face. She looked paler than normal, but I had already seen that before. Her heartbeat was oddly slow. I was sitting next to her in an instant, my hand going to her forehead. “What’s wrong?” I asked, trying to understand. I began to match her symptoms with every known disease I had ever studied, starting with those originating in Africa. Of course, with the only symptom being nausea, I couldn’t conclude anything.
Whispering, she asked, “How many days has it been since the wedding?”
“Seventeen.” It was such a strange question that it caused me to stumble in my symptom analysis. “Bella, what is it?” She picked up her hand and held it out, telling me to wait. I tensed up as she started counting to herself. She slowly shook her head as she stared at the ground. She started counting again. “Bella!” I couldn’t take it. Every second not knowing what was on her mind was torture. “I’m losing my mind over here.” She couldn’t swallow. She reached over and pulled a blue box from her suitcase, holding it up. It was a box of tampons.
I stared at her, confusion taking precedence in my mind. Bella normally kept everything like that to herself. She was always embarrassed, no matter how many times I tried to assure her how much it didn’t matter. Was she trying to fool me? It made absolutely no sense.
“What? Are you trying to pass this illness off as PMS?”
“No, no, Edward. I’m trying to tell you that my period is five days late.”
Every train of thought running through my mind screeched to a halt. I froze. Of course. It made sense. Her emotional outbreaks, her appetite, her sleeping. All the things I had never even thought of to add to my mental list of symptoms. Because it was impossible.
I heard Bella listing to herself her symptoms. She included her dreams, which vaguely surprised me, as much as I could be surprised in my frozen state. What had she dreamed about that made her believe it was a symptom? Suddenly, as Bella lifted her shirt revealing the impossible bump (somehow I had missed that she removed herself from my unmoving arms), an image filled my mind. A small girl lay in Bella's arms, smiling up at her and laughing. The girl was beautiful, with Bella very evident in every feature. Hadn't I always given thought to Bella having children? My mind clouded with an invisible haze as I let myself continue to watch the familiar scene, which I had watched several times since deciding I would give in to my selfishness and stay with Bella. The situation seemed less impossible as the beautiful scene played out. Every part of my brain seemed to have shut down.
I felt Bella take the phone from my pocket. Strange, I hadn't heard it ring. I should have been worried that my senses seemed to have been turned off, but of course I didn't notice that they were off in the first place. Time seemed to last forever as I continued to sit frozen on the floor as Bella talked to someone on my cell.
"...And... I swear something moved inside me just now."
And immediately the image in my head changed. The beautiful mini Bella became a monster.
It became me.
Bright crimson eyes and bronze hair, the little monster jumped away from a bleeding Bella, blood dripping from its mouth and a grin splayed across its face.
It was then that I unfroze. All my senses came back full force, including my memory. I remembered there being legends of an incubus, but my knowledge was incomplete.
My head snapped up to Bella, and I reached my hand up for the phone. After a brief comment, she handed me the phone. I put it by my ear.
"Is it possible?" I asked, knowing it was Carlisle.
He sighed stressfully. "It must be. I never even considered the legends to be true. I never had a reason to study them." He paused, but continued, knowing I was waiting for him to go on. "You of course have heard of the legends of the incubus. I'm starting to think that this might be true, except that the myth is wrong that the male is a demon." I disagreed. I was very much a demon. "Unfortunately, I have no idea what is actually going on. The child inside Bella could very much be half-vampire, or even a full vampire. I can not venture a guess on the outcome of this child."
"And Bella?" If this thing were going to be at least part vampire, how much would it hurt her? I automatically reached out and pulled Bella closer to me, as if that alone could protect her. As if I could protect her, when I knew that it was me that would be the one hurting her.
Carlisle hesitated. "I'm not sure. But if it's already apparent that she is pregnant, it must be growing at an accelerated rate. It is most likely that the acceleration will cause it to drain Bella quickly of her energy. It could hurt her severely or even kill her before it would reach delivery." He paused again. "The only thing we can do is to abort it. If we don't, then it could cause a range of problems to Bella. And by it's growth rate, we have to do it soon. You need to bring her home at once."
"Yes. Yes, I will." I hit END and immediately dialed the number for the airport.
"What did Carlisle say?" Bella asked tentatively.
"He thinks you're pregnant." I saw a shiver run through her. I was going to get Bella home. I would not let this monster hurt her.
"Who are you calling now?"
"The airport. We're going home."
