Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight and no copyright infringement is intended.

EDWARD

"She strikes again," Emmett said, as he threw the increasingly growing file onto my desk.

"Really? What now?" I asked.

"Attempted rape, the perp now has a useless shoulder and a disfigured face. The vic says that a woman, wearing all black, a ski mask and smelling of coffee, swooped in out of nowhere, whooped his ass, told her everything would be alright, and then bolted," Emmett explained.

"Damn it! That's our girl alright. I knew I shouldn't have taken a night off," I bitched. "Was it the same M-O with the untraceable phone call to 911?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure we should keep trying to find her, though, Edward. She's doing a better job of putting the bad guys away than we are," Emmett joked, but he was half serious.

"You're probably right," I chuckled. "I just can't let this go, though. She's a non-commissioned citizen, and if she were to get hurt, it could come back on us. Whoever the Coffee Vigilante is, I need to find out. She could be a great asset to the force, if we could get her to join us properly," I reasoned.

The press had caught wind of the masked person who had been keeping the streets of Seattle safe for the last year and had dubbed them the "Coffee Vigilante," because all of the witnesses said the same thing…the vigilante smelled of coffee. The other thing that had peaked their interest was that this vigilante was a woman. All of the witnesses spoke of the slim but curvy figure she had and the mesmerizing brown eyes that peeked out from behind the holes of a black ski mask.

Over the last year, I had been obsessed with finding out who this amazing creature was. Every night I had free, I would stake out the seedy parts of town, hoping to catch a glimpse of this woman. Every night, she eluded me.

I would often be the first to the scene of a crime when she would anonymously call it in, only to be left with nothing. She would already have vanished by the time I'd get there every single time.

Being a detective for the SPD kept me pretty busy. There was always someone breaking the law, unfortunately. Being a detective had afforded me more time to work on my own agendas, which was good. Being a cop was very fulfilling, but I had my own personal vendetta to deal with.

I had been able to work my way up through the ranks pretty quickly, and I hadn't been a uniformed patrol officer for very long, thankfully. Since I'd made detective, the only case that had occupied more of my time than my sister's, was the Coffee Vigilante.

I'd like to say that I had worked my way through the ranks fair and square, but that would be a lie. I was different from other people, and I used it to my advantage. I needed the freedom and resources available to me to look for my sister. The investigators had told me years ago that it was a dead end. She had been gone too long to hold out hope that she was still alive, and they said we would just have to wait for her body to be found for some sort of closure.

After I told those insensitive pricks what I thought about their lack of tact, I swore to myself that I would find her somehow. That was why I'd joined the force, and that was why I used the fact that I was different to unfairly climb the ranks to my current position. I would find my sister, and I would figure out who this mysterious vigilante was, because she was apparently the key to finding her.

My sister, Alice, had been taken from her bedroom when she was eighteen. I had been sixteen at the time and sleeping right next door to her. I'd heard absolutely nothing that night. This was the thing that frustrated me the most. I had been right there and could have helped her, but I'd had no clue. My dad didn't handle her disappearance well and had more or less been a shut-in since then. That had been six years ago.

There had been no physical evidence left in her room. The only reason we knew she had been taken against her will was the state of disarray her room had been in. Pictures lay shattered on the floor, her dresser overturned along with her bed, not to mention a broken window…yet my father and I had heard nothing.

At the end of our driveway, they'd found Alice's headband with a huge spot of blood on it as well. DNA testing confirmed it was her blood, but they'd found nothing else. Not one single fingerprint or trace of DNA anywhere.

I hadn't had many leads to go on over the years, so I had been biding my time by picking through the minds of criminals, trying to figure out if any of them knew anything. Now I can assure you, picking through a criminal's mind was not a pleasant experience, but it had afforded me a few luxuries. There was the image of a pair of striking brown eyes that all of these criminals had in common and couldn't seem to get off their minds. I couldn't get them out of mine, either.

I often thought about the last conversation I'd had with Alice. She was trying to make me feel better about a girl I'd had a crush on in school who didn't know I existed.

"Don't worry, Eddie boy. She's not the one for you anyways. You'll know her when you see her." Alice gently punched me in the shoulder to accentuate her point. "You're going to need her more than you realize, and so will I," she stared off dreamily as she spoke.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Nothing," she shook her head, as if trying to rid it of a nasty thought. "Just be on the lookout for a pair of brown eyes that remind you of coffee," she said cryptically, as she walked to her bedroom and closed the door.

"I think we should go and question the witness, Emmett, see if she can tell us anything the others haven't," I suggested nonchalantly, while hoping he didn't notice my excitement to get another peek at our mystery girl.

"Dude, if I didn't know any better, judging by the look on your face, I'd say you have a thing for this vigilante chick," Emmett teased. He had absolutely no idea how close he was to the truth.

"Come on, Em, you know better than that. I don't do crushes. Women are superficial, vapid creatures who want nothing more than to get their claws into you and control every aspect of your life. No and thank you!"

This was my standard response when relationships or dating ever came up. Most of the guys thought I was the "hit it and quit it" type, which I let them believe. It was just easier than explaining to them the ugly thoughts that would run through a woman's mind constantly.

When I was eighteen, I figured out just how different I was. I thought I was going crazy at first; hearing voices in my head and all. The truth was that I actually was hearing voices in my head. Other people's thoughts, to be exact.

I mentioned it to my father, because I was freaked out and didn't know what else to do…but he was ready to have me committed. I quickly learned that this was a secret that needed to be kept between me, myself and I. I hadn't told a soul since, and I didn't plan to. It had been an unfortunate hindrance to my love life, though. I could never get close to anyone. The second I thought I could possibly be interested in a woman, an errant thought would flit through their mind, which would totally repulse me.

"Alright, Ed, let's go question this witness," Emmett said. Although I know what you really want is to find the vigilante and get your groove on…bow chicka wow wow! Emmett thought afterwards. I chuckled to myself. Emmett really was a good guy. His thoughts were always funny, and he genuinely cared about people and wanted to do good. He was a great partner and a great friend. I wished I could share my secret with him.

We drove downtown to the crappy apartment of Heidi Johnson, the woman who had almost been raped, but had been saved by our town hero. According to the police report, she was a bartender and was heading in for her shift, when our perp, Riley Biers, pulled her into the alley.

I knocked on the door. "SPD, Mrs. Johnson, we have a few more questions for you."

Christ! What do these assholes want to know now? I don't have any fucking donuts, so they can get on their fucking way quickly at least, Heidi thought as she approached the door.

"Holy shit! I'll give you guys a donut to eat. I'm glad I got it waxed last week! Yee-haw and come to mommy!" she thought as she peeked out the crack in the door.

Now considering the situation she had found herself in last night, you would have thought her mind wouldn't immediately go there. Unfortunately, more often than not, they did…hence why I didn't date.

"Hello, Ma'am, we just have a couple more questions, if you don't mind," Emmett gave her a cheeky smile and batted his eyelashes at her a little. She was putty in his hands.

"Of course! Come in," she opened the door for us. You can both cumin me all night long. He-he.

I shrugged off her lewd thoughts. I was quite used to them by now. By society's standards, Emmett and I were both considered good-looking guys. Almost everywhere we went, more than one indecent thought was thrown our way by both women and men. The men's thoughts grossed me out more than they should. It was one of the unfortunate side effects to my ability…I could see people's mental images as well, and let me just say that men were much more graphic in their visuals…just…ew.

"I'm not sure what else I can tell you. I told the officers everything I know last night," she spoke in a saccharine-sweet voice. Now if you want me to scream your names all night long, just let me know, stud muffins. We can have a Heidi sandwich. She started imagining herself in the middle of Emmett and I. Unfortunately, I could see her mental picture of us all naked, where I was in front, and Emmett was pulling up the rear. I shuddered a little, as I tried to focus back on our conversation and not the three-way playing out in her mind.

"We actually wanted to talk to you about the woman who came to your rescue last night," I replied while trying to hold down the bile threatening to rise out of my stomach. She now had Emmett and I doing inappropriate things to each other in her mind.

"Oh. Well, there's not much to tell, I guess. She came out of nowhere, kicked his ass and then left." She was my angel. Heidi's thoughts instantly shifted from perverted three-ways and back to the subject at hand. I concentrated hard on her mental image of the masked woman. This was why I liked questioning the witnesses. They all had the mental image of her burned into their memories perfectly. It was like a drug to me; to see those eyes staring at me through their minds' eye. I was amazed at the depth they held and couldn't wait for my next fix.

"Yes, we've read your statement. We just wanted to jog your memory and see if there were any details about this woman you might've missed," I asked nicely. It was easy to get women to bend to my will, when I turned on the charm.

"Okay…um…" Heidi continued to think about the whole ordeal, while I sifted through her thoughts, trying to figure out if there were any more clues. I saw a streak of black flash past her, her attacker on the ground, with the vigilante hunched over him, wrenching his arm torturously far behind his back. These were all things I'd seen before, unfortunately.

"Any small detail, no matter how insignificant, can help," I prodded, trying to get her to open up her memory a little more.

She was so fast and strong. She must work out. When her shirt rode up in the back, I could see her muscles straining under that tattoo…

"Yes! Now you're on the right track!" I got excited, catching a glimpse of a side of this beautiful woman that I had not yet seen.

"But I haven't said anything," Heidi replied bewildered.

"Uh, I was just trying to encourage you. Your face looked like you might've remembered something," I quickly tried to cover up my mistake. I didn't make them often, but I was pretty good at covering it up when I did.

"Oh…yeah, I was just remembering that she had a tattoo on her lower back. It looked like maybe a lizard or a dragon of some sort. She was very fast and strong, too. I couldn't believe what she did to that ass who'd jumped me. She took him down in seconds…like a wild animal or something, but she had the kindest eyes I've ever seen and smelled like a warm vanilla latte. She made me feel safe." Heidi wrapped her arms around her torso for comfort. "Please don't get her in trouble for helping. She's an angel."

"Don't worry, that's not our intention," I comforted her by placing my hand on her shoulder, just as I'd seen her "angel" do in her memories. "We just want to make sure she stays safe, too."

Oh my…you can touch me any time, Hottie McHotter-than-shit.

I flinched, pulling my hand back quickly, because I could see the naked images of Emmett and me flitting back to the surface of her minds' eye.

"Thanks, Heidi. We'll get out of your hair now." I quickly got up, signaling Emmett to follow me.

I had a quick case of the heebie-jeebies, shaking and wiggling violently, as I walked out into the hall, trying to dispel the nasty images from my brain. Don't get me wrong, I thought Em was a great guy, but there were just some things one did not need to see me doing to him or with him.

"Dude, what's up with the Wiggle's dance?" Emmett chuckled from behind me.

"Chick just gave me creepy vibes. I felt like she wanted to eat us for dinner."

"She seemed fine to me," Emmett shrugged his shoulders. "You're the one with the 99.99% accurate gut, though, so I'll just keep my mouth shut."

My ability had given me the upper hand in a lot of cases. My saving grace was to say that I'd had a hunch, so whenever I read a thought and blurted something out that I shouldn't have known like a dumbass…I had a hunch. It had worked for me so far and had garnered me quite the badass reputation as well.

"So, what now, oh psychic partner of mine?" Emmett chided.

"I think we should stop by a tattoo parlor," I replied.

"You don't even know what the tattoo looked like, Ed. What good will a tattoo parlor do?" Emmett questioned.

"I have a hunch, Em. Trust me."