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One Bite Changes Everything by Heartbroken1

Chapter Ten - Inspector Alice

Edward Cullen

I rushed to get to Forks. I had forgotten to ask Alice how long we had before Victoria would strike. I couldn't get there fast enough. I felt as though I were going to be sick! I had done this -- all of this. I put Bella in danger.

As I entered Forks, I stayed out of sight. I did 'borrow' a newspaper off of someone's driveway. I had to make sure that Bella was okay. As I read the headlines, I was relieved to see that Bella hadn't been attacked. It seemed that a number of other people weren't quite so lucky.

Victoria was running amuck!

I met Jasper and Alice at the house. Alice hadn't seen anything new so I told them that I wanted to check on Bella by myself. I wasn't sure how she would take seeing me after all this time. I decided I would only check on her. If she seemed happy, then I would stay in the shadows and protect her until the threat was gone. Then I would leave her to the life I had hoped she would find.

I stepped out of the trees, approaching the dark house. The cruiser was not in the driveway, nor was Bella's truck. I glanced down at my watch. 3:15 in the freakin' morning. Where could she be?

I entered the house to find it barely lived in. Bella's scent was weak. She hadn't been here in a very long time. I went up to her room and found most of her stuff gone. The more I searched the more unnerved I became. Every instinct was telling me that something was wrong -- very wrong.

I took a deep breath and tried to tell myself that maybe she was with her mother. Then panic set in. If she was with her mother, then we were in the wrong place to protect her.

I checked Charlie's room, just in case there were clues in there. Nothing.

I exited the back door, heading for the cover of the trees to make my journey home. After explaining what I'd found to Alice and Jasper, they too were perplexed. Alice recounted her vision and confirmed that the attack occurred here in Forks. To add to the frustration, there was no timeline.

"I'll poke around a little tomorrow and see what I can find out," Alice suggested. "It's very important that you both..." She looked directly at me. "…stay put until we have some more information." I nodded at her reluctantly. All I really wanted to do was search high and low until I could take Bella into my arms again and protect her forever.

The next morning, Alice took off on her quest. "I'll call as soon as I know something." She promised as she left.

Alice Cullen

My first stop would be Bella's house. Maybe there was something that Edward had missed. It was truly as deserted as Edward had described. It looked like no one had been here in weeks.

I heard Charlie's cruiser approaching so I hid in hopes that seeing him would shine some light on where Bella was. He walked in, heading straight to the kitchen where he started a pot of coffee. He looked awful. It looked like he hadn't slept in a very long time. I wondered what was going on here.

Then realization struck.

I remembered what Edward had said about the newspaper articles. Charlie was the Chief of Police. Of course, he'd be losing sleep over the 'Forks Serial Killer' as they were calling Victoria in the newspaper.

Okay, so that explains Charlie looking like death warmed over. But where in Hades was Bella? I stayed hidden in the closet while he showered and fell asleep in the chair.

My next stop was Jessica's in hopes that Bella was staying there since Charlie was gone so much. There were two girls in Jessica's bedroom, but Bella was not one of them. It was Lauren. I do not like that girl.

"I am so jealous of your trip, Jess." Lauren was saying. "I wish I were going with you."

"I wish you were too. But..." She chuckled, evilly, "Someone needs to stay here and get the dirt on Bella." Lauren laughed too.

The dirt on Bella. I wanted to jump through her window and choke them both. I opted instead for listening carefully as Lauren started in, "I can't believe she's dating him, can you?"

"Well, I'll give you the good looking thing but..." Lauren conceded slightly.

"How does she do that anyway?" Jessica inquired.

"No kidding! First, Cullen and now him."

"She's not that pretty, you know."

I didn't care about getting information this way. These two gutter snipes were more than I could handle. If I didn't remove myself I was seriously going to hurt someone.

I'll try Newton's. That's where I saw the attack happening anyway. Besides, Mike Newton always made it his business to know where Bella was and who she was with. I didn't suspect that to change.

As the sporting goods store comes into view, I could hear Mike talking around back. I inconspicuously make my way to the rear of the store.

"I'm sure it's just a phase," he stated arrogantly. "She'll come back around to me eventually."

"You really think so?" squeaked another teenage boy I didn't recognize. "She seems pretty into that guy she's dating."

Does this guy have a name? I wanted to scream.

"Yeah, but he's so young." I almost laughed as he puffed out his chest and stated, "She needs a man, not a boy."

"Well, he may be younger than you, Mike, but he's pretty big. I wouldn't mess with him -- or Bella -- if I were you."

"Yeah, I wouldn't either if I were you, Kevin."

Come on, Kevin. Who is this boyfriend of hers? Give me a name.

"Say what you want, Mike, but I think Bella loves Jacob." Mike scoffed at the statement.

Jacob. Okay boys, Jacob who?

Kevin continued, "haven't you seen the way she looks at him?"

"Yeah." He sulked.

"Not to mention the way he looks at her. He would probably take on the devil, himself, to protect her," Kevin noted.

"That's just the thing, Kev. He's just a little too overprotective if you ask me." Mike's accusation troubled me a little.

"I think you need to get over yourself and admit that she's with Jacob Black now," Kevin insisted.

The rest of their chatter escaped me.

Bella was dating Jacob Black.

From the sounds of it, she was in love with Jacob Black.

I hurried back to report my findings to Edward and Jasper. I told them I would call, but I couldn't tell them this over the phone.

Was Jacob a werewolf? I hoped not.

Werewolves were even more dangerous than Victoria.