Happy Halloween! Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed so far, it means a lot to me. Keep them coming! Special thanks to my Beta Master of the Boot who finished in plenty of time for me to finish today even though I only sent it last night after I watched Supernatural.

Chapter 4: Something Wicked

Another night sitting up freezing his bits off, another paper bag full of greasy food, another twelve hours he would never get back. Another stakeout. At least this time he had Emmett for company, though they couldn't risk talking too much and Emmett kept waggling his eyebrows and giving Edward knowing smirks whenever he sighed or shifted. Mostly they crouched on the hard ground and watched the silent building ahead of them for movement.

Though he tried not to, Edward once again found his thoughts drifting to Bella. She was just so unexpected. So . . . pure. The exact opposite of a vampire. Edward had been loathing and killing vampires since he was twelve. Seven years and he had seen all kinds, old ladies, young men, boys his age, vampy vixens; virginal beauties, even a few little children, and he had never once felt even an inkling of the protective instinct that slammed bodily into him when he thought of Bella.

Beautiful Bella, with the musical voice and the shy gentle manner. He could just imagine what her soft body would look like under the shapeless clothes she had worn to hide it. Edward blushed suddenly at his uncharacteristic thoughts. Emmett gave a soft chuckle.

"Wanna talk about it?" Emmett whispered. Edward glared at him. "You'll crack eventually."

Edward was saved from answering by a sound coming from somewhere on the other side of the small square building. Emmett motioned for Edward to keep a lookout while he went to investigate. Edward tensed up a bit and began scanning the area with more alertness while Emmett disappeared behind the building.

"They're all long gone by now." Edward leapt three feet in the air and came down gasping for breath, his heart hammering so hard he was sure it would break through his chest, and pivoted around to see Bella, by the look of it she was trying very hard not to laugh at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"I wasn't . . . what are you doing here?" Bella was dressed for a sunny picnic rather than skulking around late at night. Her Capri pants and frothy white shirt would leave her freezing if she were a normal girl and she even had on a sleek pair of fashionable sunglasses.

"We left out the back the second we smelled you. I snuck away from the group and doubled back so I could see you. I was starting to think the big one would never leave, that was the fifth bucket we threw." Edward smiled at her nickname for Emmett, one he was sure "the big one" would enjoy.

"His name is Emmett, and he is going to be back any second. You should probably leave; I doubt you will hold the same fascination for him as you do for me."

Bella's smile broke free and practically split her face in two. Edward found himself smiling back. "Don't worry, I filled Alice in on everything, she is running interference. She will warn me when Emmett is headed back. Tell me more about this fascination." Edward blushed.

"Who is Alice?"

Bella bit her lip uncomfortably, she apparently hadn't meant to tell him about her friend being their at all and had slipped up. Edward found this endearing. "My friend."

"A vampire?" Edward tried to keep his voice one of uninterested curiosity but there was an undercurrent of disgust so practiced in the word that he found it hard to disguise it completely. Bella heard it and frowned.

"Yes" She was suddenly very interested in the pebble she was pushing around with the toe of her sandal. Edward suddenly felt inexplicably ashamed of his very normal and healthy prejudices against vampires. He pushed the feelings aside and pressed for more information.

"What were you meeting here about?" Bella gave him a patronizing look and kept silent "Why here? Who were you meeting?"

"Does it really matter? They didn't even show up." Bella slapped one hand over her mouth looking horrified at having said so much. Edward grinned and eventually she gave in and gave him a sheepish smile back. "I'm not safe around you. You dazzle me so the filter between my brain and mouth stops functioning." Edward's grin grew even wider.

"Why were you meeting such rude . . . people." Edward stumbled on the word, instinctively not wanting to apply it to vampires but decided it would be more persuasive than "vile soulless bloodsuckers." Bella pouted.

"Nothing exciting, all very boring actually. I'm sure we could think of other more interesting things to talk about." Bella had been slowly moving toward him and was only a few centimeters from his face as she said the last word. Without warning she closed the small distance and kissed him hard. Nothing like the peck from earlier, this kiss was all force and scraping teeth and when Edward gasped it became all tongues and hands and Edward found himself giving as enthusiastically as he was receiving. He swung Bella around, pushing her back up against a nearby tree and deliberately slid his hand down her body, lingering for a moment on her hip before continuing on to her knee which he hoisted up to hook around his waist.

"Ahem" Edward was startled out of his lust induced haze and turned to see who had interrupted them. When he saw the small spiky haired vampire he whirled around, putting a hand back to keep Bella shielded behind him. The vampire giggled.

"Can you give us a second?" Bella asked the vampire.

"Alright but hurry, the dumb one is on his way." The pixie-like vampire disappeared into the surrounding trees; Edward watched the point where she had vanished with distrust. Bella stepped into his line of sight and he saw that she was again fighting a laugh at his expense. All at once the implications of what he had just done sunk in and he knew what he had to do now.

"Don't seek me out anymore. If I see you again I will kill you." Even as he said it Edward knew it to be a lie. So apparently did Bella.

"No you won't, you can feel it too. We are meant to be together." Bella rested a hand on his chest over his still racing heart.

"It's too dangerous for both of us. I may not be able to kill you, but I won't acknowledge you either. There can never be an us." Edward spun around so his back was toward her and slowly walked forward to pick up the crossbow he had dropped before their impromptu make out session. He didn't hear her come up behind him.

"I won't give up. I'll make you change your mind." Bella's voice was soft and breathy and he lips were nearly touching the sensitive shell of his ear. Edward turned to ask what she meant by that but she was gone.

"Well the vampires are long gone, but we should still investigate." Edward was startled to hear Emmett so close behind him and using a normal speaking voice rather than the whispers they had been using all evening. He nodded and followed Emmett down to the little house.

Inside the farm house was quite as grisly as he had expected but not quite as fresh. The three corpses inside, a woman and two men all emaciated indicating extensive drug use, were not in the condition anticipated either. One of the men, the younger one possibly though it was hard to tell, was drained of blood with just a relatively small tear in the neck as most vampire victims were, but the other two had been horribly mauled which was not normal at all, vampires tended to be efficient eaters wasting as little of the precious blood as possible by making as few holes as they could. These bodies were caked in wasted congealed blood and looked like their flesh had been half eaten, another thing vampires didn't generally do. The decay of the bodies meant that they had been dead for several days at least which meant that the vampires here tonight had come for some purpose other than feeding. Maybe they had been meeting about whatever had Carlisle so worried. Edward shivered and turned to survey the rest of the room.

Other than the macabre scene in the corner the room was almost pristine under a thick layer of dust. It was drowning in chintz from the upholstery to the draperies and every surface that wasn't covered in fabric was crowded with knick knacks and figurines each on their own little doilies. A half empty food bowl labeled "Mr. Pickles" and a bowl full of stagnant water sat just inside the archway to the kitchen and for a moment Edward really hoped that the cat had escaped the carnage and had the good sense not to come home.

The tidiness of the room was odd too. Vampires liked to hunt their prey. Even if they had come across these three while they were hungry they would have sobered them up before killing them so they would put up more of a fight, these were killed hastily, there was no sign of a struggle. Not to mention the room look more like the living room of a sweet little old lady rather than a crack house. Most likely the old woman had died some weeks prior and the addicts had come to squat and surprised the vampires who were already here.

"What do you think did this? Some new kind of aggressive super vamp?" Emmett drew Edward's attention reluctantly back to the cadavers.

"Maybe, or maybe some sort of vampire dog, some of those bite marks are too big to be human." Emmett continued examining the bodies as Edward checked out the rest of the house. For the most part it wasn't much different from the living room. Dusty, neat, and gaudily decorated for the most part, no one had been there for a while. The fridge was full of rotting food and there was a small pile of junk mail under the mail slot in the door. The electricity worked so someone had been paying the bills and it unsettled Edward to think it was the vampires. He switched the light on in the bedroom and jumped back with a loud gasp that had Emmett running toward him with his weapon out. In the bed was the partially mummified badly decayed corpse of what he assumed was the old woman based on the scraps of night gown that rivaled the living room in terms of flower population. The body was so old it didn't even smell any more, at least a year or two.

Emmett gave the room a once over and shuddered before dragging Edward out with him. "I found something you should see." Emmett led him to the kitchen and showed him a door hidden behind a pair of long curtains that opened to an old wooden staircase down to what looked like an unfinished basement. Emmett took point and the two descended into the dimly lit room and were surprised to see a sturdy heavily reinforced steel door in the corner. Emmett eased it open to reveal a well stocked fallout shelter.

This room was not as disused as the rest of the house. The foodstuffs remained untouched on the shelves but the beds were rumpled as if they had been recently slept in and the chairs and table in the center of the room were dust free.

It was all getting very confusing. Why would the vampires come squat in this fallout shelter when they had a huge heavily guarded opulent coven house just a few hours away outside of Seattle? Why would they need to mess up all three beds when they can't sleep? And most importantly in his mind though he tried not to think about it, who was Bella meeting? Had she had a part in unmaking one of those beds? Edward squashed those thoughts as quickly as he had had them.

"So when are you going to tell me about your special lady friend?" Could Emmett read his mind? Edward nearly tripped over a small battery powered radio.

"What?"

"The girl you had over the other night. I know it wasn't Tanya because she would have told everyone by now, and it can't be any of the other hunters because they are either coupled up, good friends with Tanya or that cold bitch Lauren which means you snuck a Civie into the house to have your wicked way with her." Emmett moved to study the provisions on neat shelves against the wall.

Edward floundered for something to say as he picked up the radio. On closer inspection he saw it was modern and very expensive, nothing like the rest of the room which screamed Cold War Vintage.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm happy for you, a sweet innocent civilian girl is just what you need to get your panties out of that ball choking twist they're in. You've been sulking alone too much since Jasper died. Just be careful, you know Carlisle's 'hunters only in the mansion' rule."

Edward gave a nervous chuckle and turned back toward Emmett ready to suggest that they had seen enough.

"I'm just so glad you finally lost your cherry. I was starting to worry you would die a virgin." Emmett gave a cheeky grin but Edward didn't see it because he was staring with a look of horror at the radio in his hands that had just emitted a soft giggle.

It was on.

And the Vampires were listening to them. Edward dropped the radio and Emmett suddenly understanding the danger, motioned for a retreat. Edward nodded and the two hunters left the house as quickly and quietly as possible, barely breathing until they got back to Edward's Volvo.