A/N: Alright, so here we go again. Bella will start off the Chapter, but after that we'll be spending some time with the FBI Agents. Y'all know the drill, read and review.

Chapter Four- Darkened Glow

Bella POV

I yawned and crawled out of bed. Edward had stopped to visit several times that night, but then had gone back out to scour the forest for any trace of the nomad's mind. He said that he'd been able to get mutterings once, but the nomad moved off before he could go catch him. I told him all the new information that the FBI agents had given me when I eavesdropped on them and he promised to tell his family.

It was summer holiday now, so I didn't have any school work to do, the house was clean and Charlie had food. I couldn't go hang out with Jacob- he had run away as soon as he could ditch the crutches without anyone being suspicious, and even if he was in town I doubt that he would want to talk to me. I figured I'd go out to the Cullen's house- I knew Esme always wanted help with her garden around this time of year, and she probably wouldn't be out hunting with the rest of her family.

Esme wasn't a fighter; she was sweet natured and hated hurting others, unless she had to she would normally just stay home while the others were out kicking vampire butt. I felt even worse about Victoria coming to kill me with a newborn army when I found that out- Esme had had to fight all because of me.

I went and headed downstairs to grab some food before I left, and was surprised to see Charlie sitting at the kitchen table. He normally left for work long before I managed to drag my sorry self out of bed. He looked equally surprised to see me, "You're up early Bells." He said calmly.

I paused and looked at the clock- six thirty. I had to refrain from groaning, I had thought that maybe for once I had gotten a normal amount of sleep without Edward sitting right beside me to make sure I slept. "I just felt like getting up," I said calmly, realizing I would have to wait a half an hour before I left for the Cullen house. After all, to any normal person visiting people at six thirty was slightly unacceptable.

He nodded, "Got any plans for today?"

I went over and poured myself a bowl of cereal, answering his question at the same time. "I was going to go help Esme with her garden. There's never any shortage of weeds this time of year, and I think the rest of the family was planning on going hiking."

Charlie smiled, he liked Esme more than he liked Edward, so I guess he figured that if I had to spend time with the Cullens at least I could spend time with Esme. "Have fun- I have to leave for work soon and I'd rather you weren't home alone."

Yes, because spending my time with a tiny little brown haired woman in the woods in the middle nowhere with a serial killer who just loves brown haired females is a lot safer.

"No problem Dad. Why are you going into work so early? Normally you don't leave until seven."

"I've got to have another meeting with the Feds. I've got a list of names that fit their profile."

"Oh..." I said shortly, "Have fun."

Charlie rolled his eyes and got up, heading for the door, "I'll try Bells. I'll try." I heard the door close behind him and waited for him to leave before heading upstairs to take a shower and get ready. I washed my hair slowly, trying not to rush- I'd just be bored when I got out if I did.

I frowned at the thin imprint in my skin from the rock I had pressed to my arm a few days ago in the fight with Victoria. I hadn't broken my skin with it, but I had pressed hard enough to leave a fairly nasty bruise. It had faded to all but a tiny brown spot now, but it was still a reminder of the fight. If the wolves hadn't helped then we'd be dead.

If the wolves hadn't helped...

That was it! Last night Edward had told me why he thought their family was having trouble catching the newborn. He said that it was because the killer hid in the rivers when they were on land, and hid on land when the Cullens got fed up and jumped into the rivers. There weren't enough of us to cover both the land and the water, but if we got the wolves to cover the land and the Cullens to cover the water...

I have to go call Edward.

I finished getting ready, rushing now and trying not to fall over on the slippery tile floor. I yanked my sweater and a pair of jeans on and rushed down the stairs, grabbing for the phone and calling Edward's cell phone. I tried all the other's phones, even Esme's.

No answer.

I guess it makes sense to keep you cell phone turned off when you're hunting a creature with super hearing, but it still irritated me. I ran over to the kitchen counter.

Alice had tuned her future seeing abilities to me lately, when I asked her why she said it was so that if anything bad happened she would know. I scoffed at her over protectiveness, but right now it might be useful.

Alice wouldn't see a happy Bella who figured out who the serial killer was, but she would see a desperate Bella who was trying to get a message to her. I pulled out a sheet of blank paper from a drawer, along with a thick black sharpie. I wrote in big, thick capital letters, hoping this would get her attention.

ALICE- CALL ME.

I KNOW HOW TO CATCH HIM.

-BELLA

Picking up the note I noticed that some of the sharpie had bled through the paper. "Oops." I muttered under my breath, but ceasing to worry about it when the phone started ringing. I hopped over to the phone, chanting "Please be Alice." Over and over again.

I picked up the phone, "Hello?"

"Oh... Bella?" it was Agent Nicolas, perhaps the one person in Forks who I didn't want to talk to right now. "Is your Dad still there?"

I shook my head, "No, he should have been at the station about twenty minutes ago. Why do you ask?"

Agent Nicolas replied quickly, and sounded slightly embarrassed. "We're staying in Seattle. We got a bit lost on all the back roads."

I had to refrain from breathing a sigh of relief, my nerves were definitely not the best right now, "Where abouts are you?"

"Not entirely sure. But there's a dirt road off to one side, and a cliff overlooking the ocean on the other."

How on earth did they manage to end up in La Push? They would have had to go all the way around Forks. "Okay, drive past the cliff and turn down the dirt road. That will take you into La Push. Once you're in La Push follow the highway until you hit Forks. The police station will be the very first building you come across."

"Thank you, Bella." Said Agent Nicolas calmly and I hung up the phone.

The second I hung up the phone started ringing yet again, I rolled my eyes and guess that the pixie vampire had finally decided that she could give me a call. "Alice?"

"Yes." I heard her respond, and I could practically hear her roll her eyes. "I saw you little mental post card. Tell me what your solution is then."

"You can't see it?"

"No. You haven't made a conscious decision to tell me. Besides that, it'll make you happier if you get to verbally tell me, since you seem oh-so-irritated at the fact that I tend to hold one sided conversations with you." She paused for a second, and I sat there stunned at her little rant. I heard her sigh on the other end of the phone, "Sorry Bella, vampires can have bad days too."

I shrugged, "It's okay. So I was thinking, the reason you guys are having trouble catching the killer is because there's not enough of you to cover water and land at once. I bet the wolves are having the exact same problem too, only theirs is because they can't cover water at all. What if the wolves cover land because they're faster, and you cover water because they can't swim at all."

There was a moment of dead silence on the other end of the phone. "Brilliant Bella. The idea never even occurred to us because there was only one newborn, and our collective forces aren't necessary to stop someone from dying. The wolves have a stronger sense of smell too, so they're definitely fit for tracking on land. We'll meet you at our house. Would you mind calling the mutts? I can guarantee they won't even pick up the phone for us."

I hung up on Alice and tried calling the wolves. Unsurprisingly they didn't pick up for me either. The minute I chose Edward was the minute I became a full blown bloodsucker in their minds. I debated what to do next, go to the Cullens house, or drag my butt down to La Push and get a few doors slammed in my face.

Choices, choices.

The more mature part of me was telling me to go to La Push and put up with the embarrassment, I could just go knock on Emily's door. The pack practically lived there, or at least Emily herself would be there. I could always do what Jacob did to me and leave them a note.

But they all hate me now, and I used to practically live there while Edward was gone.

That argument was weak and selfish. I know what I should do. It'll take me all of twenty minutes, and it could save dozens of brown haired girls. I braced myself and climbed into my tuck, heading to La Push. The trees seemed to crawl past my window, even though I was driving at a faster pace than I normally did.

I pulled into Emily's driveway and winced slightly, ringing the doorbell and praying that Jacob wouldn't be here. I doubted it, but if he stopped in for one of Emily's huge muffins then the situation would be ten times worse.

Emily opened the door, got one look of me and tried to slam it into my face. Frankly, if I were her I would have reacted the same way, but this wasn't about me. I stuck my foot in the door and winced as the door crushed my foot. "Emily, I know you hate my guts right now, but I need to talk to Sam. It's about the serial killer. You can slam the door in my face after we've talked."

Emily cautiously opened the door again. "What do you want Bella?"

Agent Nicolas POV

We pulled slowly through La Push, the roads were slippery and we didn't feel like hurrying. We were going to have to come back later today, so we might as well get a feel for the place today. It was a small village and most of the families seemed to have average or small incomes. We had been right, this would probably be a good place to look.

We drove past a house; just through the trees I could see Bella Swan ringing a doorbell. A woman with long parallel scars across her face opened the door and immediately attempted to close it. Bella jammed her foot in and said something, the woman promptly opened the door up. "Stop the car Sam. There's something fishy going on here." We stopped the car and crept up, hiding in the dense tree cover. The woman just finished whatever question she was asking and Bella spoke.

"The wolves have tried to find him right? And he jumps into the nearest waterway before they can get him?" the woman nodded. And Bella kept going, "he does the same thing to us, except we start in the water. I think we're going to need to work together on this one, just like we did with Victoria and her army. We can swim through the rivers and flush him out, and you can wait along the banks for when he climbs out."

The woman nodded, "It's a good plan," she said hesitantly, "Sam will probably help you and your... family." The word 'family' came from her mouth grudgingly, like she wasn't quite ready to accept it. Bella just nodded her head thankfully.

"So you'll tell him, Emily?" Bella was reluctant to leave, but also seemed to want to guarantee that this woman was going to tell 'Sam'.

Emily nodded again, "Yes." Bella turned to leave, seeming to know how unwelcome she was. Before she got to her car Emily yelled, "Bella- wait!"

Bella stopped dead and turned around, her face seeming surprised. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I slammed the door in your face," Emily babbled out, "I was just so angry you chose Edward. We all kind of figured you'd marry Jake and be a wolf girl with us." Bella still had her face turned towards me, and the look of complete and utter shock on it would be priceless if things didn't seem so serious.

Bella chuckled, it seemed kind of watery, "I never meant to marry him, Emily. He asked to kiss a lot, but I thought I made it clear I didn't like him that way. Like a brother, but not like that."

Emily laughed too, her eyes starting to fill up, "You did, the poor boy just couldn't see." She hesitated for a moment, biting her lip, "We figured it would progress. But if you don't mind my asking, why did you choose Edward? You're going to have to die for him, become a vampire." The way she said it made it clear she thought it worse than anything on the planet. The amount of emotion on her face shocked me.

Sam and I both traded shocked looks, were these girls playing a video game or something? Or was there some really bad gang activity going on in the area.

Bella shrugged, "If Sam was a vampire, and you were still imprinted to him- we call it mated- would you die to be with him?"

Emily closed her eyes for a few seconds, "Yes." She said, nodding. "The imprinting tied us together. I see your point, I know the bond is just as strong, especially after Victoria."

Bella laughed again, "That one hardly counts. Their bond was for convenience only, that's normally what happens with nomads. They don't care about anything but the hunt."

Emily shook her head and said, "She gave us enough trouble as it is. Are you sure this is what you want?"

I couldn't see Bella's facial expression, but she said something that seemed to shock Emily. "Believe me when I say this was my choice, Emily, you all look at it as the end of the world, but it isn't. I'll still be Bella, I'll just be a lot more durable. The change only heightens, it never takes away."

"How do you know they're not lying?"

"They've spent the past two weeks trying to scare me out of it to make sure it's what I really want. If there were any unknown side effects then I'd definitely know about it by now."

Emily sighed, "You know that that would break the treaty, and there would be a war? You'd be unable to help them, I heard what the boys said Bella. Newborns are strong, but completely unskilled."

Bella's posture changed entirely, becoming assertive. Her facial expression said she was both exasperated and furious, "It doesn't have to be a war, Emily. It is my choice. No innocents are being hurt and we'll move away from La Push to a completely remote area. No one will get hurt."

That made us realize that whatever this game was, it was completely real. There was something seriously wrong in the town of Forks.

Emily's voice was soft, "Except you."

"Life without Edward would hurt even more. I can't even breathe right without him. Besides that- I hate how we have to draw lines. Absolutely hate it. If you ever get a chance, tell Sam that there doesn't have to do it anymore."

Emily shrugged, "I will, but it won't help. You know that."

Bella sighed, "I do. If you ever want to ignore the lines, come over to my house- I've made it neutral territory. No snarky comments about the opposing species allowed."

Emily nodded, saying she would before continuing to make sure Bella was making the right choice."Have you thought about how you'll have to leave Charlie. You all seem so terrified about the Vol- what are they called again?"

"Volturi." Bella said softly, she seemed to be unable to find the words to describe their emotions, "And yes, we're all terrified of them. They're... they're so scary it's hard to find a way to describe them. And for good reason too. They're ruthless, completely and utterly ruthless. They'll do whatever they can to protect the secret. And I'm not kidding when I say they've murdered millions to do so. They gave us a chance because they're interested in Edward and Alice's gifts, but if they come back in two or three months and I'm human... they'll kill us, regardless of our abilities. There is only one set rule for the vampire world."

"Don't be conspicuous?" Emily guessed shrewdly.

Bella shook her head, "In a way, but that's more of a result of the rule. The rule itself is even more basic; you don't provoke the Volturi, not unless you want to die."

"And you marched into Volterra, ready to challenge them. Dear god Bella, Jake was right. You definitely are suicidal."

I looked at Sam, I was a trained psychologist, which meant that I could tell the small signs of someone lying. None of those signs were present right now. Bella was telling the absolute truth to that woman, and that woman was telling the absolute truth to Bella. I frowned, still sure I walked into this conversation and heard it out of context.

Bella huffed, "I am not. I just have my priorities."

Emily laughed and shook her head, "Do you want to come in and grab a muffin? I know you'll have to go tell the Cullens what I promised to tell Sam, but I don't want to let you leave on an empty stomach." Bella laughed and nodded eagerly, following the woman inside the house.

Sam and I stood up and snuck back to the jeep. He looked at me, breathless, "You're the psychologist. Are they telling the truth? Are they insane? They have to be insane- right?"

I shook my head, "They're telling the absolute truth. And neither of them is showing any signs of being insane. If they are insane, we should look for things that could affect the whole town. I think I got at least eight different people who are involved in it in that conversation, and we all know there's going to be more."

He sighed, "Can't we do something."

I shrugged, "We'll see, but I know what we can't do. Until we find out what's really going on, we don't say a single thing to Chief Swan- this is way over his head, and his daughter is neck deep in whatever it is."

Sam nodded sulkily, he was the kind of guy who enjoyed blurting things out, but judging by Bella Swan's absolute terror of discovery, that was the last thing they wanted to do.

I leaned back into the seat of the car as we headed down the road to the Forks police station. "So let's go over the facts partner- that conversation was so out of context for me that I want to make sure I heard everything right." This was one of the reasons we were so good at what we did, we communicated every possible fact we could to make sure we would never be kept in the dark accidently by each other.

"Fact one- Forks and La Plush are home to two separate groups that call themselves the wolves and the vampires."

Sam nodded, "Accepted."

"Fact two- Bella and Emily act as go betweens for the two groups."

"Accepted."

"Fact three- Bella has chose to become a member of the vampires- whether they're talking actual monsters or gangs is unsure."

"Accepted."

"Fact four- despite Bella choice and enmity between the two groups, they do work together on occasion, and they are hunting something right now."

"Accepted."

"Fact five- Because of Bella's choice there is going to be a war."

"Accepted."

"Fact six- Because of her choice, Bella is leaving Forks forever in an attempt to protect people and prevent a war."

"Accepted."

"Fact seven- there is an unknown third group that goes by the name of Volturi."

"Accepted."

"Fact eight- this group is insanely powerful, because they are strong enough to scare to separate groups of powerful people."

"Denied, you're just speculating with that one Nicolas."

"Fine then. Fact eight- the group is intimidating."

"Accepted."

"Fact nine- something is seriously creepy about this whole thing."

"Definitely accepted."