Finding Fred

Chapter 4 – The Message

A/N: This chapter took me a bit longer to complete. House guests. If I ignored them to write Twilight fanfic, I'd never hear the end of it. Technically, I'm supposed to be an adult, or so I'm told.

Anyway, please review! I would love to hear both what you like and/or don't like about my writing, story, character development, etc.

Just playing in Stephenie's world.

As we drove past the sign welcoming us to the City of Vancouver, Edward and Alice laid out the plan.

Fred would be waiting in, ironically enough, Riley Park. A light wind was blowing in from the ocean, so Edward and Jasper would enter the park from the northeast and southeast corners, respectively. We would use our phones to text so Fred wouldn't be alerted to our presence immediately.

"You don't have to do this, Bella," Edward reiterated for what seemed like the billionth time. "You really shouldn't even be here. We don't know enough about this guy for me to feel like you're safe."

"If I wasn't going to be safe, don't you think Alice would see it? Hmmmm?" I hadn't intended for that to come out so sarcastic-sounding, but it did. If he said the word 'safe' one more time, I was going to lose it.

"Alice even admitted she's having a hard time getting a read on him," Edward reminded me… again.

I turned in my seat to face him. "Listen. I'm going. End of story. I appreciate your concern and I know why you worry, but I have three very strong, very experienced vampires here to protect me. I'm probably the safest human on the planet right now and you know it."

Edward half-closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, like he was exasperated by a stubborn child. I suppose the comparison wasn't too far from the truth – I was stubborn, but then again, so was he. When we were working together, we became an unstoppable force. When working in opposition, we made each other, and everyone around us, crazy.

We were a few blocks east of Fred's location when Edward pulled over. "Well, this is it." he said while establishing eye contact with Alice in the rearview mirror, "If there is any sign that Fred might be able to hurt Bella, you grab her and run. I don't care if humans see you or if it means we'll have trouble with the Volturi later. You just get her out of there as fast as you can."

"Yes, sir," she said, saluting. He was not amused. "Yes, Edward. Of course, I'll take care of Bella. I love her, too, you know."

Alice and Jasper got out of the car, giving us a moment of privacy. "Edward, look at me," I said while guiding his face in my direction. Thankfully, he allowed me to move his head toward me. "I don't have any more desire to die today than I did yesterday. Alice said it's going to be important that I'm involved and I want to do my part. I know you'll protect me, and if you can't for some reason, Jasper and Alice will. Try not to worry, OK? I love you so much, I can't even begin to tell you."

He leaned in to kiss me, melting me into a puddle right there in the front seat. We smiled at each other, caressing one another's faces, sharing a moment that needed no words.

We were brought out of our reverie when Jasper tapped on the window, obviously becoming impatient. Reluctantly, Edward got out of the car and allowed Alice to get in. He blew me a kiss before he and Jasper crossed the street.

"Lovesick puppies," Alice said and rolled her eyes as she took the wheel. It only took us a minute to find a parking space, which I'm sure Alice had already seen. She was grinning at me as she nodded toward a street sign. I giggled when I read it: King Edward Drive. Again, ironic. It felt good to laugh a little because thinking about this meeting was making me a bit nervous. OK, really nervous.

As quickly as we could, we crossed the busy streets and made our way to the entrance of the large community center on the north side of the Riley Park. Inside was an ice skating rink where some guys were playing hockey, a game I never could fully understand. What the heck was 'icing?'

The second floor was open to the rink on one side, and the back of the building was entirely made of massive, thick windows overlooking the park.

We headed to a small sitting area on second floor and took our post near the back window. Alice had assured me that Fred would not catch my scent from there. I knew if he did, he would recognize it immediately and I had no doubt he would try to seek me out.

I liked being downwind and having a building between us, because as much as I would never admit it out loud, especially to Edward, I felt vulnerable. I knew I would feel better if he was with me, stroking my hair, telling me it was going to be alright. And I knew he could, in a split second, cover the distance from where he stood at the corner of the park to where I was, but he still seemed far away.

Alice was so tiny, it didn't seem like she was much of a bodyguard, although I had seen her in action when Jasper was teaching everyone how to fight newborns. Well, I hadn't actually SEEN her in action. She was much too fast to see, but considering that Jasper couldn't lay a finger on her if she didn't want him to, I knew she was a force to be reckoned with, despite appearances.

Again, I wasn't being rational, but it was hard to think too clearly when there was an invisible vampire out there debating whether or not to hunt you down and drink your blood.

Watching Edward, I had to smirk. He was trying to look casual and nonchalant, but even from a distance I could see he was on high alert. Always my faithful protector… As annoying as it could be at times, I loved him for it.

When we were in position, Alice texted Jasper to tell him we were ready. Edward gave us a tiny nod, indicating he'd heard the message, too. I decided to stay out of the texting, since my phone was old-school and didn't even have a keyboard. Not that it mattered, because I couldn't have kept up with their flying fingers even with the best technology money could buy.

'I hear him,' Edward texted. 'He's nearby.'

Jasper added, 'He's definitely here. I easily picked up a vampire's scent from this end of the park. It's almost like he left it there for us on purpose.'

'He left it for Bree, obviously,' Edward wrote, scorn thick in his words.

As all this was going on, I was busy pointing out people to Alice to determine who she could or couldn't see. We didn't know if I'd be able to see him or not, but I was our best chance. It felt good to be useful for once as something other than 'the one with the tasty blood everybody can't wait to drink.'

Unfortunately, there were a lot of people in the park for an overcast day. It was a little cold, but wasn't raining, so maybe that was the best people could hope for, sort of like it was in Forks.

"Guy in a black overcoat," I said, pointing. Alice nodded that she saw him. "Guy sitting on that park bench over there, reading the paper." Alice nodded again. After about 10 more descriptions, I said, "Guy in gray sweater, sitting by the fountain, reading a book."

Alice looked where I was pointing. "I don't see him," she said as she narrowed her eyes, like that would make them work better.

"He's blonde, maybe 20, face buried in a book?" I further described.

"Nope," she said as she started texting. 'Bella spotted him. Sitting at the fountain about 50 feet in front of you, E.'

'OK, here goes nothing,' Edward wrote.

Just as Edward began to speak, Alice started jumping up and down with panic. I'm sure she saw what was about to happen, but it was too late to stop it. I watched as Edward's lips moved and knew he was delivering his line: "Fred, I have a message for you from Bree."

In an instant, everyone in a half block radius doubled over. The humans were throwing up, and Edward, Jasper, and Alice were struggling unsuccessfully to stay upright. I didn't know what to do as I realized this was most definitely not at all part of the plan.

The only thing I knew for sure was that I had to keep my wits about me or I would give away our position. I was on my own now, at least until Fred let go of his hold on the others. Not wanting to stand out, I dropped down near a collapsed Alice, keeping a line of sight to Fred and Edward. I didn't know what Fred would do, but at the moment he remained by the fountain, scanning the park, crouched in an attack position.

As I quickly surveyed the scene, I noticed that the people closest to Fred were barely moving. They were just curled up into the fetal position and continuously vomiting. The ones past Edward and Jasper were writhing around a bit, and as I looked further from Fred's location, more people were rolling around and some were on their feet as they lost the contents of their stomachs.

I could see Fred was still trying to find his would-be attacker. It was clear he knew at least one vampire was in the park, but since he made no movement toward either Edward or Jasper, I got the feeling he didn't know who in the crowd had spoken, so he was being especially cautious. For the time being, he stayed by the fountain looking both terrified and terrifying.

As I became aware of the people around me, my senses were assaulted by the sights, sounds, and especially smells of people getting sick. I'd never had a strong stomach, and this was pushing the limits of my self control. 'Concentrate, Bella,' I told myself. 'Edward needs you.'

Turning my attention to Alice, I held her tiny hand, trying to comfort both her and me at the same time. As scared and nervous as I was, she looked doubly so. I was supposed to be the frail girl, but at that moment, Alice had taken my role; she was not accustomed to it, having always been the one who worried more about the latest design trend than being in danger. It was odd to see how the tables had turned so quickly.

When I peeked up again, Fred was gone. I started to panic. "Alice! Fred moved! I can't find him!" I whispered furiously.

With great difficulty, Alice quietly said, "Keep looking. He must be here or I wouldn't still be on the ground." Obviously. Why hadn't I thought of that?

"OK," I began searching again. It took a few moments, but I knew he had to be there. "OK. He's over by the lamppost, where it says No Littering." I pointed as discretely as possible.

Either Edward heard me or Alice's thoughts, because he managed to move his head to look in the direction of the lamppost. I wished he hadn't.

The next thing I knew, everyone I could see was on the ground, humans vomiting everywhere. The hockey players were mere heaps of flesh and shoulder pads writhing around on the ice, groaning in what appeared to be intense pain. Bodies littered the park.

Apparently this wave of nausea was much stronger than the first. I was thankful that I didn't experience it because it looked awful, and I was thankful that I hadn't eaten recently because I would no doubt have been joining the sick-fest, albeit for different reasons.

I laid flat on my stomach near Alice, covering my nose with my sleeve. I watched in horror as Fred purposefully strode over to Edward, grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him back to the fountain.

My panic grew immensely. 'Keep it together, Bella,' I repeated to myself like a mantra. I was the only coherent person in the vicinity and an angry vampire was holding my beloved. I wasn't sure what I could do about it, terrified that Fred might kill all of us if I screamed the way I wanted to at that moment. That would be my Plan B. If it looked like Fred was going to hurt Edward, I would yell out to him. Now I just needed a Plan A.

I carefully reached over to grab Alice's phone. 'PLS STOP' I typed as fast as humanly possible, sending the message to Edward's phone. I saw Fred retrieve it from Edward's pocket.

Alice's phone buzzed.

'Why are you yellow eyes here and what do you want with me?' I read.

That couldn't be a good sign. This was most assuredly not part of the plan either, but I decided it was time to wing it. '2 tlk 2 U. Bree snt.'

Even for text typing, mine was atrocious. I hoped Fred understood the cryptic messages I was feverishly sending.

'Why isn't she here? What happened to her?'

'Killed. She wnt 2 warn U,' I sent back.

'Warn me about what?'

'Drk clks' I wrote, using the only name he might know for the Volturi.

'Dark clocks?' he wrote back.

'Cloaks' I typed in return, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. How would a dark clock kill someone?

'Are you with them?'

'NO!' I hoped perhaps capitalizing and exclamation points might mean something extra to a newborn vampire.

'How do I know you're not working for Riley? Or her?'

I had to assume by 'her' he meant Victoria. Could he mean Bree for some reason? Would Bree and Riley be working together? I didn't think so and hoped my instincts were right. 'Her & Rly dead,' I typed.

'You're not a dark cloak, not with Riley, not with her, and you're clearly not one of us. You type too slow. Who are you?'

I didn't know how to answer that question. 'Pls tlk. Wll expln'

'You can start explaining NOW!' he wrote back. Apparently he knew about the use of caps and exclamations.

'2 mch 2 tell. Wnt 2 b frnds' I wrote. I couldn't even begin to tell the whole story over the phone like this.

'Friends? Riley said you were our enemies. My coven was supposed to kill yours.'

'Not cvn not n.m.e. Fmly.' This was getting bad. Why did I have to be the one typing to him? I could barely decipher my own abbreviations.

'And my coven?'

I froze. How would he react to the truth? He had left them, so maybe he wasn't attached, but then again, he'd just called them his coven. I cringed as I typed, 'Dead.'

I saw him nod. And Diego? he asked.

"Ded? Rly kill?" My words were getting choppier and my sentences brief as I tried to tell him as much as I could as quickly as possible. I didn't know how long he would listen to me or what he might do while he still had Edward incapacitated.

'How do I know you didn't kill Bree and now you're here to kill me, too?'

I had to think about this answer carefully. How could I prove our intentions to him? I really couldn't, especially while texting… badly. 'U dnt. Bree say U frnd. Trust'

'TRUST? How can you even suggest that?' Fred wrote as he started pacing.

'Yes trst. Pls tlk.'

Even from my vantage point, I could tell he was thinking about it. His brow was furrowed as he widened his path.

'Pacing mk me nrvs,' I wrote, hoping he would settle down. It appeared to actually have the opposite effect as he stopped pacing and moved back into his crouch.

'How can you see me?' he demanded.

'Shield,' I answered.

'But you're not one of us?'

'No,' I answered tentatively.

'Human?' he asked.

'4 now'

'No threat then.' I saw him laugh. That angered me, but of course he was right. 'Are you the yellow eyes' pet?'

'NO! Not pet.'

'Touchy subject? If not pet, then what? Snack?'

'NO!' I retorted.

'Are you the human girl with the delicious-smelling red shirt?' he asked.

'Do U wnt Bree msg or no?' I asked, a shiver running through my body as I tried to remain calm and change the subject. He was making me angry and scared now and I wasn't about to confirm his suspicions regarding my identity.

In the next second, three things happened. Edward and Jasper were holding Fred on the ground, I felt a very strong calming wave, and Alice had a lock on my wrist as she started pulling me toward the stairs

We had descended a few steps by the time my brain caught up to my body. "Hold on!" I shouted as I stopped dead in my tracks. "What just happened here?"

"I'll explain in a minute. Right now, we have to get down there," she responded, urging me to move.

"Down there?" I asked incredulously. "You mean where Fred is? Fred who can knock all of you out with a single thought? Fred who wants to eat me?"

"It's all under control now. You don't think Edward would want you to come down if it wasn't safe, do you?"

I shook my head, not in answer, but in confusion. "Are you sure?" I asked, wondering if perhaps Fred had the ability to control Alice's mind. Before I could ask, she answered.

"No, he can't. It's perfectly safe now. You'll see. Let's go," Alice ordered.

Despite my reservations, I really had no choice but to comply. We made our way down the stairs and out the back exit. Fortunately, Alice had a good hold on me because my knees were wobbling as we crossed the park to the fountain.