(Bella's POV)
I sat down on the edge of the sofa. He killed my dad. And he was after Willow. Edward sat down beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. I swallowed hard before looking up at Carlisle.
"What are we going to do?" I asked weakly. He leaned against his desk and shrugged.
"We're just going to have to be alert." He said. "Watch Willow and make sure she doesn't leave this property without one of us with her." I nodded in agreement and clenched my hands together.
"We'll have to act normal so she doesn't get suspicious. Unless," Edward looked at me, frowning in thought. "you want to go ahead and tell her about us and what's going on." Edward added. I looked at him. I hadn't thought of that. The thought had crossed my mind earlier that I would have to tell Willow about us sooner or later. But I had decided later would be better. That way she would know that we aren't going to hurt her. I was scared of how she would react if we told her now. I shook my head.
"I would like to hold off as long as we can." I said. "I don't want to scare her away."
"Ok, we will wait and tell her later on." Carlisle agreed. "We'll take turns patrolling the area for his scent. At night we can take turns guarding her window."
"I just wonder how long it's going to take him to strike." Jasper said. I looked at him and swallowed again.
"Well he's already made his first move. I expect it won't take him long." Carlisle said. We fell into silence, each of us in our own thoughts. Fears and images of what would happen if we didn't succeed in protecting my sister flashed through my mind. What if we failed? I would never forgive myself. The seat next to me shifted and I was brought out of my thoughts when Jasper put his arm around my shoulder. In seconds I was calm and I smiled my thanks at him. He gave me a slight smile.
"We won't let anything happen to her." He said softly. I nodded and he stood up, heading for the door. "I'll take the first watch tonight." He said before disappearing out the door. Edward tightened his arm around my waist and I leaned into his comforting embrace. The sound of a car parking out front and running footsteps outside sent me to panicking again.
"It's just Esme, Emmett, and Rose." Edward assured me quickly, standing up and pulling me with him. Carlisle was already in the living room, hugging Esme tightly by the time we got there. Emmett stood looking out the window and Rose leaned against he closed door with her arms folded, Jasper stood in front of her with a frown. Emmett turned to face us with a serious expression. An expression he rarely used.
"We followed a scent from the bus station to the driveway." He said. My breath caught in my throat.
"Was it Riley's?" Edward asked. Rose sighed and shook her head.
"It wasn't him. It was probably one of his followers." She said.
"Edward…" My words faded and Edward pulled me into his arms.
"Edward, you Emmett and Jasper will patrol outside tonight. Jasper I want you…" Carlisle faded off and I froze. The floor above us creaked and I heard Willow's nervous breathing. I looked up towards the staircase. A second later she started coming down the stairs, looking down at the floor, hair covering half her face. She froze at the bottom step when she noticed all of us staring at her. So much for acting normal.
(Willow's POV)
Seven pairs of golden eyes were glued to me. I cursed myself for being thirsty. I'd been hoping they hadn't returned to the living room yet. No such luck. My throat went even dryer. Why were they staring at me? Bella cleared her throat and smiled. There was something behind her smile though.
"Hey, do you need something?" She asked.
"I-I just needed s-some water." I spoke almost in a whisper but she heard me. She nodded and motioned for me to follow her. I avoided making eye contact with the others in the room and hurried after Bella.
"Did I interrupt something?" I asked when we got to the kitchen.
"No, no we were just having a little discussion." She said tossing me a water bottle from the refrigerator. I took a long drink leaning against the counter. It was a little awkward. Something told me I had interrupted more than 'a little discussion'. Bella cleared her throat, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Do you want to finish the movie?" She asked.
"Sure." I said with a shrug. We went back to the living and found that only Esme and Rosalie were left in the living room. Esme sat with her feet propped up on the coffee stable, sketch pad on her lap.
"What are you doing?" Bella asked. Esme looked up and smiled.
"Putting some finishing touches on the Evan's cake." She said. I glanced at Bella and she smiled.
"Esme makes wedding cakes as a hobby." She explained.
"Oh that's cool." I said. Esme smiled proudly and motioned me over. On the pad she had drawn a three layer cake with roses drawn on the sides.
"Wow that's beautiful." I said in awe. She had some drawing skills.
"You think so?" She asked, wrinkling her nose. "I can't decide if I want to do roses or just simple daisies. The bride, Megan, picked out white and light pink for her colors. I was thinking of leaving the icing white and the flowers pink."
"I like that idea." Bella said as she restarted the movie. Esme nodded and flipped the page to start over on the picture. This time she drew daisies. When she finished she held both pictures and studied both of them.
"I think I like the roses better." She decided, crumpling up daisy cake picture and tossing it on the coffee table. The rest of the evening we watched movies and Esme told me about some of the cakes she'd done. I got a little hungry and, before I could ask, Bella went to the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with a sandwich on a plate. Once again neither she nor Esme ate. This whole time Rosalie sat in the recliner with her arms crossed silently. But when Bella brought the sandwich she scoffed.
"That looks disgusting." She said in disgust. It was just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My face flushed and I quickly ate as Bella glared at her. When I finished I stood up to take my tray to the kitchen.
"I'll get it." Esme said standing up and taking the plate from me. Rosalie had suddenly made me feel very unwanted in this room.
"Bella, I think I'm going to go up to my room." I spoke in whisper so Rose wouldn't hear.
"You don't have to leave on account of Rosalie being unsociable." Bella didn't speak in a whisper and Rosalie scoffed again.
"No I'm… I'm kind of tired all of a sudden." That really wasn't a lie. Actually, a hot shower and that really comfy bed upstairs sounded really great. Bella hesitated before nodding with a sad smile.
"It's around my bedtime too so I'll walk you up." She stood up and we went upstairs in silence. I didn't dare glance at Rosalie. Right before I went into my room Bella stopped me.
"Honestly Willow, don't let Rose get to you." I turned to look at her and she smiled a little. "She can be a bitch when it comes to new people. She was mean to me when I first came along." I felt a little bit better as Bella went into her room. After a long hot shower I felt even more tired. A stopped mid step when a cold breeze sent chills up my spine. My window was open. I shivered and pulled the t-shirt in my hands over my head before going to pull it shut. I had no idea how it had come open though. I didn't think I had opened it. But then again, I was so tired I might have done it without remembering. I sighed and shook my head as I leaned out to pull the window closed. That's when a hand reached up and pulled me down by the collar of my shirt. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I screamed as I fell into the darkness. Right when I should have hit the ground I stopped. It took me a second to realize what had stopped me. A pair of arms flipped me so I was upright. Only my legs would let me stand. There was a screeching noise echoing in the dark forest but I had no idea where it was coming from. Until a hard hand slapped over my mouth and a voice cursed in my ear.
"Shut up!" A velvety voice hissed. I'd been screaming. The shock was starting to wear off and I suddenly realized what was happening. I had been pulled out of my window and I was being kidnapped. The years of being trained by a policeman father to protect myself took over and I used my elbow to jab into my captors gut. That only resulted in me getting a bruised elbow and a laugh in my ear. I spun around to see my captor but all I could see was a dark outline. It was too dark me to see anything. So I settled for trying to scream for help. The hand over my mouth made that really hard though.
"Riley!" A voice yelled from behind me. Relief sunk in my stomach when I recognized that smooth southern drawl of Jasper. The guy cursed heavily again but didn't let me go.
"Willow!" Bella gasped somewhere behind me.
"I'm not Riley." My captor hissed. "But he does send a message." I had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on but at the moment I was only worried about getting away from this psycho man. I struggled and he moved his grip to my wrists, spinning me around so I was facing three other shadows. I was about to try struggling again when I was knocked to the ground with such force I slid across the wet grass. A smaller pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me up.
"I'm so sorry Willow." Bella whispered in my ear. At that moment the side lights of the house came on and I blinked at the sudden brightness.
"Who is it?" I heard Carlisle's voice and a cool hand rested on my shoulder. I jumped a little and looked back to see Esme watching me with motherly concern.
"He hasn't said anything." Edward said in a hard voice. "But I've read from his thoughts that his name is Joseph and he was scouting for Riley. The scent of Willows blood was too much for him and he went after her." I'd caught the first part of his words, but there other half sounded like a foreign language. What the hell was he talking about? I looked at Bella and was about to ask her what he was talking about when a loud growl sounded from behind me and I spun around to see that Edward, Emmet, and Jasper were holding the man down to the ground. I could see his face from between Edward's legs and I gasped in horror. His eyes were blood red, un-human. And he was looking at me with bared sharp looking teeth. Drool trickled down his chin and my heartbeat sped up. That made the man/creature let out a strangled half growl half groaning noise that made my blood go cold. Bella's arms tightened around me.
"What do we do with him?" Emmett asked as the thing struggled against him, his gaze not leaving my direction. Carlisle didn't answer for a moment.
"Kill him." When he spoke he spoke in barely a whisper and I knew all the color, what was left at least, had drained from my face. "Bella take Willow inside." Bella didn't say anything but started to pull me towards the open kitchen door. Rosalie was leaning against the doorframe scowling. Not at me but towards the creature behind me. The growling got louder and Bella started moving faster. A loud crack startled me and I looked around behind us though Bella tried to stop me. What I saw was enough to make my stomach go sour and bile started to rise in my throat. Emmett had a triumphant smile on his face. Then he saw me staring and it slowly slipped, as well as the head of the man he'd been holding by the hair in his hand.
(Ok I am so sorry about the late update. I've been really busy lately and was only able to type bits and pieces every once in a while. Things are starting to settle down now though so I should be able to update more soon. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you all so much for the great reviews. Keep them coming! Also let me know if it's moving too fast or not fast enough.)