CARLISLE HAD GOTTEN THE CALL RIGHT BEFORE THE SUN CAME UP.

The message was simple: a girl had been found along the beach. Someone so similar to Wren. No memories, no ability to figure out who had done that to her. Yet they knew this time. Carlisle believed this was why she was in a state like Wren, battered and beaten. Her nose was broken, her cheek fractured in two places. It would take her at least a year to recover fully from some of these injuries.

He'd stored her down in the makeshift clinic he'd made in his house. Carlisle knew that humans could be hurt, so he'd created it not just for study but because he was near the woods. It wouldn't be that odd for an attack or fall to lead someone into his home.

That was the only reason why this girl was alive. Otherwise she would have died trying to make it to Harborview. Even if she'd lived, to explain her injuries was to get the police involved in the case, something Aro would throw a fit over.

He wasn't on good terms with him now, it was best to allow time to heal those wounds.

Carlisle never left her side. He was hungry after a week or so, sure, but that didn't shake the fact that she needed to be cared for and monitored constantly. She'd passed out and was currently comatose. The doctor had performed plenty of tests. Mainly the toxin screenings, where he found there were a few in her system that didn't make sense.

A high dose of gabapentin, mainly. To be on that high of a dose would require some probable cause that he didn't see. He'd given her a small dose, but had to stop once her heart rate started dropping. She hadn't had a partial seizure, let alone a full one. Unless it was being used for anxiety, there was no need to be on that high of a dose.

Nevertheless, Carlisle was collecting all of this data so he could choose what to do next. Seth had expressed not wanting her to turn, wanting to keep her intact, but with the injuries sustained, she'd be in a coma for at least a week before the vampire could think about bringing her out.

There were too many mysteries to this case for Carlisle to turn down the idea that she'd been sent to give something. He had taken off her clothes to replace them, not knowing what kind of dirt and grime could have gotten into her wounds. In the worst possible place, he found a note.

It was only in the second week that he'd gotten the chance to read it. Between Esme coming into the room and begging him to come back into the normal section of their home to manage Rose and Edward and Alice having small mental breakdowns in the presence of Bella, Carlisle's basket of things he could manage was growing fuller as the days went by.

That was perhaps the most angering part of it all. Carlisle hated it, being bothered so much and so often (though not by Esme, her worries he'd always hear because they came from a selfless place and most importantly because he loved her).

The guilt panged at him as he loomed over the body of this girl who clearly had nothing left to her. Another person stolen from themselves, supposedly by the man that created him. It put his own turning in a new light. An act of anger, of selfishness? It could be that. Carlisle hadn't talked to the man, didn't even remember his face. Maybe he would have, maybe his memories were messed with.

Most of all, he empathized with River more and more. They'd both been turned violently, been wronged by the same man, albeit in different ways. She may have been across the world, but Carlisle was beginning to understand that they were in this together, despite the lack of communication. He wanted to be friends with her once more, to get her advice again.

That wouldn't be possible until this woman woke up.

When Carlisle pulled out the letter that had been left somewhere he wished he didn't have to see, he noticed the blood on it. The letter he'd received previously had not been so... sloppy. Could it be that he was finally losing?

And so, the letter read:

Carlisle,

I have told you before that I would not allow for you to disobey me, and that stays as it is. You are living near Children of the Moon and they will kill you with a single bite if they find you. I tell you this not because I care, but because that is what I will also do if I am to find you.

There is little that has ever stopped me. My goals will be fulfilled whether or not you are the good boy who follows his maker's lead. You could have been an important person, had you not been such a pushover. Yes, I do hear things about your family. I know that your little girl is about to turn against you for the idiotic human. I know that you are on your last leg. I know where you live.

The Wolves will not stop me for long, Carlisle Cullen, and thus you must pray. Pray to God that he will forgive you. God forgives all, but he won't forgive me.

Your family will be extinguished. You have been allowed to live too long. I see your use has been dampened by your inability to see sense.

I know that it was you, Carlisle, who went directly in the way of my goals. I am not a man who cares about sin. I am sin, I commit sins every day. Jesus died so that I could commit them. The sins you have committed by allowing the womb to be taken, God may never forgive you for that. You will have to face him when I find you, when your head reaches my pyre and your soul comes to be reunited with him in Heaven. He will see you, and he may yet cast you down into the darkest pits of Hell.

It is most unfortunate that you find yourself a holy, pious man. Your father ruled with an iron fist, yet he raised a man unwilling to put his own children in their place. Your children are weak, pitiful things, and I will have my fun tearing them limb from limb and seeing their eyes fill with fear as they finally come to realize that nobody will save them. Their father will be dead, dead at the hands and teeth of the man who made him.

I have sent those wolves a gift for their teeth. I know that during a full moon they often like scavenging. The dead body of the woman will be good for their stomachs. The scent of the dead follows, they will come after you in due time. And if they do not, you will leave. If you leave, you will meet my punishing hand. The hand of the father. Spare the rod, spoil the child, or so God says.

A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal, But even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.

God is right, I am cruel, and you are my animals that I will do with as I please. For I have created you like God created humanity, and that gives me the right. I have created humans in my home, I have erased humans and vampires alike. That is why you have failed, Carlisle, for you are not so godly to know that God has a plan for you. A plan for death. For he has allowed me to roam, has allowed for me to kill.

He will allow me to kill you, and that will be divine.

Andrei

---

THE WOMAN WOKE AFTER THREE WEEKS IN A COMA.

Everything had gone downhill during that period of time. The Cullens did not want to admit that, though. Rather than admitting that Bella's issues with Victoria were tearing them apart, they banded together and promised one another through half-hearted smiles that they'd get through this, if only this.

Rosalie was with Emmett, whispering against his ear sweet things about potential plans for after this was all over. They wanted to travel, perhaps be on their own for a while. Greece, Dubai, all of their old places were up for grabs once they managed to defeat Victoria and any others that came after her. The newborn army would not put a damper on their marriage.

It was a scary time for them. River being brought into her life had brought back so many old memories that Rosalie wished she could let die. Her being turned so violently by the hands of Athenodora burned her soul. She deserved the chance to make that decision for herself.

The two needed to see each other. Emmett had said the day prior that he missed Jasper. The two were truly brothers, always doing dumb things together that sometimes got the police called on them. Charlie had come over to reprimand them a few times. Carlisle had told them so many times to keep things within the law, but they never listened.

It wasn't the same without the empath, and Rosalie needed her friend back. At least for a bit.

"Maybe we can convince her to come back here to see us?" Rosalie posed it as a question, knowing that Emmett would either love it or push it aside with the little bit of logic the man possessed when it mattered.

"River? Doubt Aro would want her here after everything with Edward," Emmett was using his logical, empathetic brain this time. "Babygirl, I know you miss her."

"Every single day. I just want her back here, if just for a day," Rosalie admitted as she put her hand on Emmett's chest. They'd been laying in the bed, not knowing what else to do. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do now that Jasper isn't here to manage Alice."

"It shouldn't be his job to manage Alice."

"I know, I'm glad he doesn't have to anymore. But she's not normal without him. I don't have any friends here anymore."

Rosalie hated being alone just as much as she hated the majority of people. She didn't mesh with that many people, so losing anyone close to her hurt more than normal. River had been her shopping buddy, her gossip buddy, and her advice buddy all in one. They had so much fun together in the three months that she was in New York! Now Rosalie just wanted to get back to that place in her life. Sure, Edward was broody, but at least she had her friends.

"I know babe, I know. I really don't either. But I'm alright alone." And you aren't was what he didn't say, but Rosalie knew.

"She should be with Chrissy and the new human." Rosalie sighed and rolled onto her side, facing away from Emmett. "She's weak, but she's awake. She needs people who understand her."

There were only three people like that in supply and one was sad and in La Push. Rosalie hadn't been able to meet with Chrissy. Leah advised against it when she'd asked, since Chrissy seemed weary of vampires still and depressed.

"Carlisle still hasn't told us of her full condition. She may need more surgeries to correct bones and such." Emmett grabbed one of his comic books off of the bedside table. "Besides, we still have to train for whenever Victoria decides her Newborn Army is ready and able to fight us. We still need to contact Aro so he can send some of his guards to help."

Right, because the King himself was no longer there to help. Edward really went and threw that all away.

"They should be here within the next few days. Bella's been throwing a fit about it downstairs."

"Oh? Do you know who's coming?"

"The Elite Guard. River convinced Caius to allow them out and about, despite Alec apparently being the subject of the same attack that took Chrissy from the country."

"Well, hopefully none of these Newborns have gifts."

"Believe me, Aro would know if they did."