It was late friday night and Charlie Swan was working in his office at the station. He'd turned down the invite to join the other men for a beer because he had an uneasy feeling about the recent cases. They had all been filed under "Animal Attacks" and the lacerations and wounds fit the criteria of wild cats or bears. He had decided to investigate a bit further, as the death toll had reached the shocking number of eight already...the last killing had occurred about 10 miles into the thick forest that started right behind his house. As he stared at the photographs of the deceased, a new face entered his mind, Bella. He realised that he had to warn her. He phoned her and told her to stay indoors after dark and that she must lock the doors when she got home from Angela's house tonight.
Edward leaned against the window in their lounge, his eyes were a tense shade of honey-brown. Had Carlisle not called an urgent gathering of the family, he would have gone hunting tonight. He couldn't push the argument he'd had with Effy out of his mind and felt restless while waiting. Emmett, Rosalie and Esme were sitting on the soft beige couches, each tick of the clock made it feel as though the others were taking years to get there. When Carlisle finally arrived, the atmosphere tensed even more, Edward noted that he wasn't calm and friendly as is his nature, this was serious. "Carlisle, please don't delay,tell us what you know." He pleaded.
"Edward, it is as we all feared, vampires have crossed the Forks borders. They have been behind all these 'animal killings'. They threaten our peaceful cover here and we will have to act before they feed again.".
"Where were they last seen? Do you know if they know of us yet?" Jasper.
"I don't know, we are in the dark in this situation. They were last seen in the forest, north of Chief Swan's house."
Effy walked through the forest, the path was still clear before her. She doubted Bella would ever walk here though, the poor girl would stumble and fall over every twisted root. No, this path seemed older, previous inhabitants must have created it. Effy was upset, angry, sad and soon, high. She had emptied a vial of acid from Bristol into her throat ten minutes before. She immediately regretted taking it after she started hearing strange noises from the trees.