A warm feeling stroked my cheek and gently pulled me from my fitful slumber. I opened my eyes and instantly closed them again. The sun was back in action today, and it was not a good thing from my point of view. I didn't drink a silly amount last night, but suffice to say I drunk enough to give me the old jackhammer in the front of my skull.

I looked over at the clock. Noon had passed a half hour ago. At least I didn't have to worry about breakfast. I threw on some sweats and went downstairs, picking up a candy bar and filling a mug with the coffee that was still warm in the pot. Jess was up then.

I found her in the living room, curled up on the couch in her pjs with a mug of coffee cupped in her hands. She was transfixed by the TV.

"Look at this." She said, pointing. I took a seat by her side and watched the local news reporter who was standing outside a bar in broken sunshine. It looked very familiar.

"What am I seeing?" I asked, still trying to blink away he little guy with the mallet in my brain.

"The rumour about a murder at Blakeslee's? Looks like it's true." She said, a slight quiver in her voice.

I watched the report and was able to easily tell that the reporter was standing in the parking lot of our favourite bar. She was just about the right level of pretty for local TV news, just pretty enough to hold your attention, but not so pretty that you hated her. She was repeating the facts about the case. The body had been found on Thursday afternoon, and the owner had kept things quiet in an attempt to not lose any business. However, the police were investigating, and following comments on Saturday evening the bar had been closed until further notice.

"Yeah, well dad told us." I said, now also engrossed in the details. It seemed the man, a trucker from out of town, had been stabbed in the throat. There were no leads, and no witnesses. CSI people were on the site, and police were appealing for witnesses.

"Call your dad." Jess said, staring at me. "See what he knows."

"Yeah, ok." I agreed. It seemed like a good idea. I got up and hunted down my phone, calling up Charlie in the contacts. The phone rang several times before he answered. He sounded flustered.

"Bells, how are ya?" He asked, concern in his voice. It sounded like he was out, which wasn't unusual. But he would normally be fishing.

"Dad, is this a bad time?"

"It ain't the best. I'm working Bells, are you ok?" He definitely sounded concerned.

"Yeah dad, I'm fine. We were out at the Quillete Casino last night." I was suddenly wide awake.

"Well, ok, do me a favour, don't go to Blakeslee's until I tell you it's ok." Deep concern there.

"Ok, dad."

"And be safe, Ok? don't go anywhere on your own for a few days. Stick with Jess."

"Will do dad." I tried my best to keep the sigh out of my words.

"Gotta go sweetie, you stay safe, ok."

"Love you dad." I said as he hung up the phone.

I sat and relayed the conversation to Jess who seemed to grow paler with each word. This was a little too close to home for us. Had we not taken the trip to the casino we would have been there last night, and when we thought back we knew we had been there the night of the murder. It was all very unsettling.

After a while of blankly staring at the TV I decided I had had enough. I wasn't going to learn anything more from the reports, and I figured I should try and take my mind off the murder. I went to the kitchen and cooked up some spaghetti and sat with Jess to eat it. Still she refused to change the channel but now she was glued to her phone, cycling through twitter and chatting to our friends.

"Mike says everyone is still on for Seattle." She said, never raising her eyes.

"Ok." I sighed. Admittedly it wasn't my favourite idea before the news of this morning.

"All the others are good with it. There seems to be a big group from work going."

I just nodded, finishing my food. Then I got to my feet and took our plates into the kitchen, cleaning up. I told Jess I was going to go and send some emails to people back in Phoenix, and went upstairs to my room, firing up the laptop.

A few emails came in straight away, some from Renée, and a couple from old friends asking how I was. And the obligatory spam from a Nigerian prince. Strangely I didn't feel like it was such a great thing that he wanted me to look after his money.

Once I had fired off some replies to the people who needed replies (my mom especially) I went to the internet and brought up google. I decided on a new search including all of the new information I had gathered. Before the page came up I knew exactly what it was going to say. Come on, I had watched a lot of movies, and there were also certain TV shows that covered the subject. In the end it was fairly obvious. Entering the avoiding sunlight thing really cemented the deal. The answer on the screen was vampire.

I shook my head. There was no way that could be. I went further down the rabbit hole and started to look into the Quillete legends. There wasn't a whole lot on there, but what I could find all seemed to revolve around the wolf. I was getting tired so it wasn't making a whole lot of sense but I managed to get something about the wolf being the natural protector of man.

Frustration filled me as I closed the machine down, yelled goodnight to Jess and fell into bed, dreaming some very strange dreams. There were wolves again. And teeth. Lots of teeth.

I was quite tired when I woke. So much so that I could feel the bags under my eyes long before I even saw them in the mirror. Great. That would take some effort with the makeup brush. I wasn't exactly pleased to hear my alarm the first time, let alone the third, but eventually I dragged myself out of bed and got myself into a presentable state ready for the day.

Another morning in the office was another morning spent carrying out menial tasks. One of which was delivering some paperwork to Tyler Crowley. I was not pleased to be landed with that one, mainly because he took it as an opportunity to not only apologise to me yet again for almost killing me, but also to try and hit on me. I wasn't taking it though. I was far too tired and cranky for his shit, so I dropped the papers in his hand and stormed off.

Edward could tell something was troubling me the moment we sat down. He chanced a sly grin.

"Sleep well" He asked.

I merely raised an eyebrow in response.

"So how did your weekend go?" He asked with genuine interest.

"Well Saturday was good. Yesterday less so." I stifled a yawn.

"You hit the bottle too much?" He asked, the corners of his mouth doing that annoying twitching thing.

"No." I said irritably. "I just had a bad day yesterday."

"Anything you want to talk about?" He asked warmly.

"I was just concerned by the news." I said.

"Oh. That." His face went dark. "We've been looking into that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. He suddenly realised what he had said.

"Oh, well, I mean..." He struggled to piece anything together and fell silent. His eyes were dark again today, and I could tell his mood wasn't great. However, I had things I wanted to discuss. Things that would make him even more pissed off.

"So, I was thinking." I said casually, taking a sip of soda. He looked intrigued now.

"I hope it's something a little better than last time. Surely you're going to let Batman go?" He chuckled softly.

I smiled a deadly smile of forbidden knowledge. "You, mister, are a vampire." I had to try. I figured just throwing it out there would be the best way. He would laugh, or he would react.

He suddenly stopped chucking and looked at me with very serious eyes. Bingo.

"Really?" He said. His voice was low, gravelly. Not it's usual silky self.

"Well, I was just trying out a theory but I guess you just proved me right." I said smugly. He snorted, having managed his shock.

"Oh?" He grunted.

"All the pieces took some arranging, but we should look at the facts." I sipped more soda, slowly, to make him stew. "Let's start with your eyes. Normal people do not have eyes that change colour. It's not a human thing." He move his hand to his eye almost instinctively. "Then there is the speed and strength that you deny so much. I saw it though, Edward." His look of chagrin was tense. I held up a finger for each point. "Here's a good one. You're whole family takes the day off when the sun comes out. Your skin is pale and cold, and then there is the drink. I could have carbon dated the whole group of you by your drinks." He allowed himself a smile at that one. "But the final nail in what I hope is a proverbial coffin, I met an old friend on Saturday who mentioned something about the cold ones." I gave him my best smug face. The prosecution rests.

"And who would that be?" He asked. At the mention of the cold ones he was very serious.

"That would be an old friend of mine who shall remain nameless, but I will tell you that it's a Quillete story." His eyes were wide again. "And then there is this thing with the guy at the bar. Did you kill that guy? I heard his throat was cut. Was that you? If it was I'm not going to be happy."

He almost slapped me out of my rant when he spoke. "I don't drink human blood. None of my family does." I was stunned. He had literally just confessed.

"Oh, uh, what do you drink?" I asked, finding words a difficult commodity all of a sudden.

"Whatever I can hunt." He said slowly ad softly. "Mostly deer and mountain lions. Emmet loves bear." He had given me a mental image, and it was very difficult to think about anything other than his massive brother with the bull neck and tree trunk arms wrestling with a bear.

"So the stories are true?" I asked, trying to keep my voice down.

"Well some are, yes. I don't sleep in coffins, mainly because I don't sleep, but also because it's gross. Crosses and garlic won't burn me, and neither will the sun."

"So why do you avoid it?" I was leaning forward and so was he.

"That is something better shown than told." He said.

"One thing bothers me." I started. He cocked his head, almost as though he had heard his name from across the room. I turned to see Alex and Tess looking our way.

"They wonder what we could be discussing." He said in a far off voice.

"Oh, ok, that explains it." I replied. "You can read lips."

"He shook his head, smiling. "I can read minds." He said, touching his temple.

"So what am I thinking right now?" I asked.

"Well you're probably thinking about vampires, but that's obvious. And it doesn't work on you anyway." Now his smile was back.

"So are there many it doesn't work on?" I asked.

"Nope. Just you." He pointed at me. "And before you ask, I have no idea why."

Just then the whistle sounded and it was time to get back to work. He stood at the same time as me.

"Jess is going to ask you to go to Mike's house with her tonight." He said. "She needs you to go because she doesn't want to walk." His eyes flitted around the room. "Let her drive your car, I'll take you home."

"What? Really? That is ridiculous." I had to laugh a little.

"If she asks to borrow your truck, then it proves what I can do. If she doesn't then you can dismiss me as a fraud."

I looked at him cautiously. I had to make a move because the quad was getting empty. "Ok, Eddy Cullen. If she asks I will let her borrow my truck and give you a call."

He winked. "I look forward to your call."

And wouldn't you know it, less than a half hour after lunch I was on the phone to Edward. He sounded very smug. I had told her I would get a ride home, and she instantly put two and two together. I asked her not to tell anyone though. I could really do without the whole office talking about me and Edward.

The afternoon was one of those blurry passages of time that seem to flash by but also last forever. I was anxious. Very anxious.

He was waiting for me outside when the whistle blew, and he lead me quietly to his silver AMG. It was a low, sleek car, but the colour wasn't showy. I did get the impression that it would go very fast.

The ride home was strange. He barely spoke to me, his eyes scanning the streets, and it looked like he was scanning deeper, into the underbrush maybe. I was amazed when we pulled up outside my house. It seemed to have taken only moments.

"You should let me pick you up in the morning." He said. I nodded in agreement. Jess would be happy to have free use of my truck.

He wished me goodnight and waited on the kerbside as I walked up the path. It was strange. I got the feeling he wanted to talk but found it difficult somehow. Maybe he would open up in the morning.

I spent the evening watching chat shows and sitcoms. Anything to keep my mind off the news and the events of the day. I so did not want to think about him tonight. I had made sure that the door was securely locked and I had a constant feeling of paranoia, like someone was peeing through the windows.

Late on, as I was getting ready for bed I heard the front door slam. I went downstairs to investigate. Jess was in tears, and I finally managed to find out that Mike had said something stupid. I couldn't figure out what it was, but she was pretty upset. Oh well, I guess that was the end of that then.

She made me help her finish a bottle of white and we sat on the sofa while she ranted about all of his failings, then went into her previous failed romances. I played the good friend and smiled, nodded and said 'bastard' when appropriate.

Finally she passed out, probably due to exhaustion from all the talking. I crept up to bed and was quickly asleep.

Once again teeth were the featured attraction of my dreams, and this time there were elements of sunshine. And a dead body in a pool of blood in a bar.