God, I know this chapter sucks and I'm a huge meanie who didn't update when they said they would! *hides from flaming shoes* (I have no clue why you guys would be chucking flaming shoes at me; presumably they were the closest and most flammable thing you had on hand. Or, on foot. *rimshot*) Anyway, this is a crap chapter that I'm posting at a crap time and you will be mad at me because it contains no Bella/Riley and not a ton of Edward-bashing. (There is some, however; rejoice.) So anyway. There will be more soon, no guarantees when, but there will be more. Thanks so very, very much to Christina-Tears, 1dreamkeeper, twilightfan888, bells524, RangerRainbow, (er, it didn't let me properly fill in your name, with the periods and dashes and all, but: x in love with vamps x), Sheridan Malfoy Potter (love your name. :D), and millymollymanda for reviewing! You're the only reason I post more of this!
I promise next chapter will be longer and in Bella's POV.
ALICE POV:
"What do you mean, Alice?" Esme asked in a confused voice. I cringed slightly, trying hard to think of anything but what had happened at the beach.
"Spit it out Alice," Edward said coldly, mimicking my voice after a moment. "You sound like a bad teen movie- 'I can't tell anyone what happened last night at the beach!'"
"Edward, Bella broke off the engagement and told me she found a mate." I said in a rush. No one moved for almost four seconds- which, like I said, is practically forever to us vampires.
"You're lying." Edward whispered harshly, unable to choke out any more words. I put a determined look on my face and showed him my thoughts. The vision, running to the beach, finding Bella. Bella's anger at Edward, her refusal to come with me. Her desperate exclaiming that she found her mate, and then the shock of her kissing him. Her message to Edward through me. By the end of it, Edward looked as sick as I'd ever seen a vampire look.
"I'm telling the truth." I said resolutely, knowing he believed me now. You just couldn't make that kind of stuff up. "What are we going to do?"
"I'm going to get her back." Edward said after a moment, voice sure. I loved Bella like a sister, and I was glad she'd found a mate, but who could turn down such a romantic man as Edw- "She belongs to me, she can't just go off and declare she's found a mate! I'm her mate!"
Okay. So Edward was kind of a chauvinistic dick.
"Hey!"
Shut up, Edward, you know it's true.
"It is not, and anyway that's why Bella loves me. I protect her." Edward sniffed, turning and heading for the door. Yeah, right. Like Bells needed protecting anymore; she was a vampire for god's sake! Edward huffed as he put his hand on the doorknob. "SHE STILL DOES, SHE ALWAYS WILL!"
"Does not." I muttered as Edward ran out of the house. The rest of the family had on that irritated look they wore when Edward and I had those silent conversations.
"What?" I asked, giving them an incredulous look. "Isn't it obvious Edward's being a belittling idiot about this whole thing?"
"Hallelujah, she's seen the light." Rosalie muttered, throwing her hands up and scoffing. "It's about time. Now give us the dirt."
Uh, okay.
"So-basically-I-like-went-to-the-beach-and-Bella-was-like-standing-there-with-her-mate-and-she-was-all-" I began, before being cut off by a hand over my mouth.
"Really, Alice dear, we love you but we can hardly understand you when you talk so fast." Esme said, not unkindly, as she took her palm away from my face. I gave everyone a sheepish look.
"Okay, well basically," I took a deep breath, noting the warning look from Esme. "I had a vision about Bella, so I went up the beach to find her. And I did find her, with a man. Or a guy, really. He can't have been any more than nineteen or twenty. Well, she pretty much freaked out when she saw me, telling me that she wasn't going to come with me and she was mad at us. I explained why we weren't there when she woke up, and she seemed a little happier, but then she got, like, really pissed off at Edward. I hoped she would come with me, to smooth things out back here, and she told me the guy she was with was her mate. At first, I didn't believe her. But…she kissed him, pretty much made out with him, and from what I could tell, it wasn't a shock to him or anything. I mean, he kissed back. And she looked really…just really in love. Like, I've never seen her look that way, even around Edward. So. It's probably true."
"Bella found a mate?" Emmett clarified, raising an eyebrow. "Well, who was it?"
"I, um." I stuttered. I can't believe I forgot to ask. He looked so familiar, though…my eyes widened when I put two and two together. "She didn't introduce me, but I've just connected the dots. He was so familiar looking! It's the kid from the missing posters, Riley Biers."
"Riley Biers?" Emmett asked, frowning slightly. "Wasn't he in college in Seattle when he went missing? He's only been gone like a year or so. He's…he's still technically a newborn."
"My Bella is with a newborn?" Esme asked, hysteria on the edge of her voice. If vampires could faint, she'd be out cold.
"Bella is a newborn," Rosalie snorted, causing Esme to eye-shoot poison daggers at her. "I'm pretty sure she's fine."
"Alice, what's wrong?" Jasper asked, looking at me with concern. Aw, his southern accent was coming out. I'd be pleased with that if I wasn't busy trying to fight the dread slowly pooling in my stomach.
"It's just…Bella's been gone for a week, right?" I hedged. The others nodded. "If she was hunting animals, her eyes would already be a little dull, or at least not crimson after she'd fed. And Riley's been a vampire for at least seven months, plenty of time for his eyes to turn topaz, right?"
"Alice, were Bella's eyes bright red?" Carlisle asked, just now coming into the conversation.
"Absolutely scarlet. And so were his." I proclaimed, my heart melting into a puddle somewhere in the vicinity of my lower abdomen. My voice came out as nothing but a whisper when I spoke again. "She's…she's been feeding on humans."
