******Twilight is owned in it's entirety by the all powerful, Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing other than these original thoughts. We, the humble millions, just share in her love for the characters she created by creating our own worlds, where they exist in our stories. Thank you Stephenie for your creation.****
AN: I'm so sorry that it's taken me a while to get this chapter up. Thank you to those who have waited patiently for it. I hope you end up as happy with how it turned out as I was.
To those of you looking for a wonderful story, please check out my beta SydneyAlice. Her story "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" is wonderful!!! You won't be sorry!
Oh and if you haven't noticed already I've posted a one shot for Halloween. Just a little trick or treating fun with the Cullen family. I hope you will take a little while to read it. It's my first attempt at a one shot, and if you've read my author's notes in the past, you know I get long winded LOL. So be settled in before you read it, it was over 5,000 words LOL. But I promise it was a very touching story that I loved writing.
Love you all!
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EPOV
She looked so peaceful. Adorable even. Gently sucking her thumb, trying to curl up into a ball. She was lying on her stomach - on a bed that was so large - compared to the rest of her small frame. It was not until the light from the overhead lamp hit her face that I saw it. I couldn't help but gasp.
Bruises. Scratches. Cuts. Deep gashes marring almost every inch of her face, arms, and legs. Her eyes were swollen and I wasn't sure - if when they were opened, exactly how much she'd be able to see out of them. Every piece of skin revealed, seemed to show a new hurt to her pale, beautiful body.
Looking at her, I guess I had forgotten how to breathe. My legs and arms were aching, begging me to go to her, to hold her. The need to comfort Bella was almost overwhelming. But somehow, my mind said to wait, to figure out the big picture before freaking out.
Emmett looked like he would pass out at any moment. He was sucking in oxygen faster than most people could stand. The death grip he held on the bed railing would almost certainly hold his fingerprints once he let go.
My father had slipped past us, standing beside Bella's bed. "You need to see this. Bella isn't just here because of her injuries. She's also your latest victim."
As he was saying this, Esme had eased back the white sheet and pale blue blanket from Bella's body. She slowly opened her gown in the back to reveal what I knew would be there.
My father pealed back the bandages to show a very angry looking, jet black tattoo staring back at us. Angel wings, how appropriate.
If you were looking at the it from an appreciation of art work, then they truly were beautiful. So much attention to detail they looked as though they were almost 3-D. As if you could stand back and watch them almost start to flutter as Bella breathed in and out.
Emmett finally gave in. He rushed to the adjoining bathroom that was in the corner of Bella's room, retching into the toilet.
Me. It seemed all I could do was stand there gaping at my key witness. The girl I had loved for the vast majority of my life. I was numb to say the least. It was as though my world had been turned on its head in a matter of just a few minutes.
Bella began to whimper in her sleep. The sound was tearing at my heart. My dad covered her back up with the bandage and my mom retied her gown, gently laying the blanket back up around her body.
Her tiny hand grabbed greedily at the blanket, snuggling it under her chin as her mouth kept sucking at her thumb. Bella always took the covers at night. She jokingly said it was her secret way of making me cuddle up to her more, so that I wouldn't freeze at night. This action, once so adorable to me, was now heartbreaking for me to watch.
Now she was grabbing at the covers as though they were a safety blanket, almost as if they were hiding her, keeping her safe and protected from the evils of the outside world.
Bella had been attacked. She was victim number four - or five, if you counted Ben as we did - of the Judgment Killer. Part of me wanted to pick her up in my arms and just run away with her. I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly, grabbing at my hair. Maybe if I just focus hard enough, I'll wake up back at the office, and this will all have been a very bad dream.
I tried, I really tried. But when I opened my eyes I was still there in that damn hospital room looking at the love of my life trembling in her sleep. A huge wave of guilt rushed over me.
I didn't protect her.
Bella was in this position because I didn't do my fucking job. I didn't catch this monster before he had a chance to hurt her. But all of her judgment hadn't been carried out yet. Yes, he had tattooed her. But he hadn't carried out her punishment yet.
"The rape kit came back negative," Dad said as he came to stand beside me. I let out the breath I realized I was holding in. Thank God for small miracles.
"But the tattoo is heavily infected. We've got her pretty doped up on antibiotics to fight off the infection. Along with anything else that she might have caught from this animal."
Hepatitis, HIV, hell even Tetanus, you name it she was being treated for it. Carlisle was being very cautious.
Esme had excused herself a few minutes ago to go check on Emmett in the bathroom, who could still be heard sobbing and occasionally dry heaving into the toilet.
I tried hard to switch on my "investigator" mode. I had a job to do. And I had a living victim that I owed to do my job the best that I knew how. I had to catch this son of a bitch before he had the chance to do this to someone else again. I made a solemn vow to Bella, Angela, Ben – to all of his victims – that I was going to catch this madman if it was the last thing I ever do.
"I need all of the evidence you've collected, copies of the medical charts and notes you've made so far. And Dad," I paused wishing I had a better, easier way to say this, "I need pictures. All the bruises, cuts everything. Especially the tattoo."
Carlisle gave me a solemn nod before placing his hand on my shoulder. He knew I had a job to do. I had to be Edward Cullen, FBI detective, right now.
Later, I would be Edward Cullen, boyfriend to Bella Swan. Later, I could allow the flood of tears to flow for the pain my baby was going through.
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EmPOV
My head rested against the cold porcelain of the toilet in Bella's hospital room.
It felt like I couldn't breathe, and the constant throwing up wasn't helping any.
I had been with the FBI for almost 5 years now and nothing, nothing hit me as hard as seeing my baby sister lying in that hospital bed in that condition.
Even now, as I was trying to control my sobs, all I could see was Bella balled up on that bed, mangled up as she was. And I knew, that as our current victim, I had only seen part of the damage that was done to her. I knew I still had to look at that fucking tattoo with which this animal had branded her.
I could hear Edward in the adjoining room. He could be a machine sometimes. How he found the strength to be an agent right now, all business, I didn't know. He had loved my little sister since the first moment he had laid eyes on her.
Knowing he wasn't falling apart like I was right now made me feel very weak inside.
Edward was always a great guy. Even as a kid he was my best friend growing up. And when he finally admitted to me that he loved Bella, well, even at the age of 10, I turned on my big brother mode and gave him the "what for" when it came to my little sister.
Honestly though, I couldn't have picked a better person for Bella. He was loyal to a fault. If he could bend over backwards for you he would. Give you the very shirt off his back if you needed it. And on more than one occasion since I had met this messy haired little kid, he had saved my ass from one incident after another.
And he loved my sister with more passion and devotion than I think I have ever seen come from one person. Sometimes I'd catch him just watching her walk across the room. Some might find that kind of thing creepy, but I knew that he loved to watch Bella move. Not in an overly sexual way, just that he found beauty in everything she did.
There was no one else in this world that knew my sister as well as he, either. Not even I knew half the stuff he knew about her. Like how Reese's cups were her favorite chocolate candy. Even though she constantly made an argument that it shouldn't be considered a chocolate candy - since it did in fact have peanut butter with it as well, thus not a TRUE chocolate only candy. And how she nibbled the edges off completely before biting into it.
He knew that when she was nervous she'd bite the right side of her bottom lip. And when she was trying to tell him something he didn't necessarily want to hear she would bite the left side.
How she would rather sleep in an old cotton t-shirt of his than the fanciest of pajamas, which Alice hated might, I add.
Edward just knew my sister. And he loved every detail of her, both the good and the bad. Although my sister really didn't have any true flaws. Now don't get me wrong - she is no where near perfect, but she had no real hang ups. She didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't even curse. The one time she did curse - after banging her finger in the car door - she blushed like crazy, covered her mouth as though she said the most foul thing in the world and ran inside the house.
Having him as a partner at the bureau made holding to my promise to Bella pretty easy. It was my job to keep us both safe, so that we would come home without a scratch on us.
After another few deep breaths, I was finally able to get to my feet with a little steadying by Esme who had come into check on me. Leaning over the sink, I washed my face and mouth out to get the taste of my lunch, burritos, out of my mouth.
Note to self. Mexican is HORRIBLE the second time around.
Edward was at the doorway waiting for me. I couldn't be in that room any longer. I needed a little air. So we stepped out to the waiting room again leaving Mommy Two to stay with my sister.
Have I mentioned how much I love Esme yet? I'd definitely have to remember to do something special for her soon.
As I trudged to the waiting room with Edward close to me, I'm sure to right me if I began to stumble, I noticed that Rosalie, Alice and now Jasper were waiting.
Rosalie was biting her nails, worry written all over her face as she rushed to me as I entered the room.
I wrapped my arms around her burying my face in her hair, drinking in her smell. I needed to calm back down and collect myself, and Rose had that effect on me.
She kept muttering soothing words to me as she pulled me into a chair.
Alice was curled up into a ball on Jasper's lap. I had never seen the pixie so still or so quiet in my life. She must have been really devastated by all of this.
"She's going to be fine guys," I croaked out. "She has to be."
Alice began to sob again curling into Jasper's arms. I realized it had been the same sound I had heard from earlier when we first arrived. I had completely missed seeing her there in my frantic state to get to my dad.
Jasper. Now that was a sight and story all in itself.
At first glance he is a very ominous creature. He was the kinda guy you crossed the street to avoid. His blond curly hair fell to his jaw line, long enough he could tuck it behind his ears to get it out of the way. He had piercing blue eyes just like his sisters that I swear could make you fucking cry when he was staring you down. But that's where similarities between the two ended.
Jasper, by anyone else's definition, was a rebel. From wrist to shoulder, on both arms, he was covered in tattoos. He had two earrings in each ear and a tongue ring - saying it wouldn't look right to customers if he wasn't even willing to wear his artwork.
Jasper was an artist, a tattoo artist that is. And he was great at his craft. He currently owned three shops in Washington State and was in the process of opening a fourth. He even owned a small, very well-known, little shop here in Forks. He mostly worked out of this one to allow Alice the ability to be close to home and them both close to their family.
People would come from miles around to little Forks, Washington just to have Jasper work on them personally.
Alice and Jasper had been married for six years now. Practically marrying right out of high school. They were the loves of each others' lives, and they never failed to remind you of that.
Whereas Jasper was tattooed, Alice was pure white snow. He refused to allow anyone to mark up her delicate skin as he said her beauty needed no enhancement. The only exception he made to this rule was when they married, and they both got matching tattoo wedding bands on their ring fingers. Jasper's said "Property of Alice Hale-Cullen, if found please return." Hers just had the word "Forever and Always;" she said there really wasn't a lot more that needed to be said beyond that.
Edward pulled me from my musings by plopping down a rather large and ever growing package of files. We had been meaning for a week now to have Jasper look over the pictures we had taken of the victims. Being a tattoo artist, we hoped he could give us some insight, something to go off of about the killer.
Edward began spreading out the pictures for Jasper to look over.
He held each one, studying the details carefully, after having eased Alice into the chair next to him to be comforted by Rose.
We all three huddled together as he reviewed each case. I wasn't sure what to expect, but there had to be something, right?
He picked up the Polaroids that Carlisle had taken just a few minutes ago of Bella's back. The digitals we would take back to the office to have blown up better.
Studying this one the longest, he slammed the picture down on the small coffee table, jumping to his feet and rushed from the room, Edward and I hot on his heels.
Reaching Bella's hospital room, he quietly opened the door to enter. Esme looked up from her protective spot over my sister and greeted us with a small smile.
"Esme, I need to see Bella's tattoo," Jasper said as he neared the bedside, I noticed his voice cracked a little at the end.
Esme carefully undid her gown again removing the bandages gently so as not to hurt her.
Reaching up, Jasper grabbed the light and craned it around till it was shining brighter on her back. The heat from the lamp making Bella tense a bit in her sleep.
"Holy shit!" He whispered.
"What man, what's going on" I couldn't hold back my questions with a reaction like that. It had to mean something positive, something Jasper had just realized.
"The tattoo," he gulped looking at me square in the eye.
"It's mine."
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AN: I know. I know. That's a horrible way for me to leave the chapter. But isn't the suspense killing you to find out exactly what Jasper meant by that? (Evil giggle) I LOVE cliff hangers, but only when I know what's coming next! LOL. I should have a few more chapters posted very, very soon.
As always to my wonderful beta SydneyAlice….girl how can I say enough? Truly you make my words actually sound like English. Without you it would be one big long run-on sentence.
My English lesson for the day: Punctuation goes INSIDE the quotations! LOL I keep forgetting that for some reason.
