"Jasper! Alice! Get down here now." Edward yelled, the last word coming out as a snarl.
They exchanged a look and worry flooded through them.
It had to be about Bella. That was the only thing that could be making Edward this angry.
Was it something that they had done, her and Jasper?
Rose and Emmet were away again and Carlisle and Esme were hunting. So Jasper, Alice and Edward were alone in the Cullen house.
Alice, for the life of her, could not think of anything they'd done that would upset him this much.
Bella was supposed to be coming over, and now that she thought about it, she was about an hour late.
Alice ran downstairs to the living room with Jasper on her heels.
"Edward? What's wrong?" Alice asked, concern ringing in her wind chime voice.
She was sure that her husband's expression was a mirror of her own -
one of worry and confusion.
"Bella isn't here, and she isn't answering the phone I got here." He said, referring to the top of the line cell phone he'd gotten her.
Alice immediately started reassuring him that she should be here anytime and that she was probably fine, but he ignored her.
Jasper ran a hand through his blond hair and Alice watched her brother pace around the room.
"How about we go look for her?" She said, walking over to Edward and placing one delicate, pale hand on his arm.
He shrugged her off and placed his hands on the window sill, looking out.
"You stay, Alice." Jasper said gently, concern for his soul mate weaving through his soft voice.
"No, I can help. Sure, I can't just ask for a vision, but I can try to keep a little bit of a mental scan going." She insisted, turning to face Jasper, who was still standing on the stairs.
"Alice," He lowered his voice to a quiet murmur as he pulled her to him on the stairs, leaning close to her ear. "I can't let whatever got Bella get you." He said, the brutal honesty very uncharacteristic to his usual warm-and-fuzzy personality.
"'Got Bella'? You think another vampire… 'got' her?" She asked in an equally soft voice.
He only nodded.
Edward was too stressed to pay attention to their words.
"Alice, you will stay." Edward said, packing as much brotherly authority into the last word as possible.
"But Edward-"
"No Alice!" He cut her off, spinning to face her.
Slightly hurt, she only nodded.
"Good." He said, turning now to face Jasper.
The two of the had a hushed conversation that she could have listened to if she'd have wanted to, but she chose instead to tune it out and slip into the kitchen.
"Alice, we're leaving." Jasper said, coming to her in the kitchen. He put his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze.
"Please be careful." She whispered, worry tightening her throat.
"I will."
"So will I." Edward said, stepping into the kitchen to join them.
Alice gave him a tight squeeze and then brushed her lips with Jasper's before they left.
After they were out the door and Alice had counted to five (most people count to sixty - but we are talking about vampires here) and followed them out the door.
Of course, they were already gone, but she followed their scent.
She followed in silence, eventually coming to an alleyway. She saw Jasper's silhouette at the other end. He was holding a limp figure in his arms - Bella, she assumed - and another figure that wasn't Edward was facing him.
Though a few moments later, Edward appeared and took Bella.
She saw Jasper attack the vampire that had been feeding off of Bella, unleashing his fury with a powerful blow.
Alice slid behind a stack of wooden crates and crouched there has Edward came up the alleyway and walked past her.
Even though she was not an extremely religious person, she silently prayed he wouldn't smell her. To her great relief, he walked right past the stack of crates and disappeared in a blur of movement.
She then stood up and prepared to help Jasper, because she assumed the other vampire would be stronger due to his obvious diet of human blood.
What she saw shattered her heart, her world, her entire sense of being.