A/N Exam season is a bitch! I repeat my declaration of adoration to all of you who have put up with me through periods of extreme inactivity, and as a show of appreciation I have another chapter for you. Enjoy, and bear in mind that Stephanie Meyer is the lucky owner of Twilight, and not my good self.

APOV

It was entirely uncomfortable after that. At the time, I'd felt perfectly within my rights to ask Bella what exactly was going on with her. Perhaps I'd gotten a little carried away. All I know is that she was almost silent during our walk to lessons, only responding to my occasional attempts at starting conversation with distracted, monosyllabic answers. This isn't how it's supposed to go at all… I groaned inwardly as I made my way to my own class. I'd just gotten Bella as my girlfriend, and already we were barely on speaking terms? However, it did confirm my fears; something big was going down. And more than likely it had something to do with the chilling vision I had received the night before.

That was what had reminded me of her obvious evasion of my questions earlier on, and put me on a higher alert. Before, I may have just forgotten. But now? My instincts were screaming at me to protect Bella, and I needed to know everything I could of what might present a danger to her. That meant I needed to know about this, too. Despite this, I didn't want to scare her. She'd already been entirely too accepting of the supernatural – I did not want to push her over the edge.

Which left me only one option really: Be vigilant, and wait.

BPOV

I knew I would need to contact Rick. He'd be getting worried by now, since I hadn't called for at least a week, and Kristie would undoubtedly have let him know that I was no longer under her roof. It was just so hard for me to even conceive beginning a conversation with him at the moment. Hiya Rick! Yeah, y'know that vamp Alice, the one you told me to stay away from? She's my girlfriend now, so it's all fine and dandy. Unfortunately, she's questioning my humanity now, and says that she needs to know the truth. So I can tell her, right? Yeah, come to think of it, that sounds suspicious, even to me. How the heck can I explain to him that Alice isn't like that?

How do you know she isn't like that? Vamps are tricky, remember? Ahh, shut up inner voice. Don't need you right now. But ya got me anyway, and I've helped you countless times in the past, so howza bout you be a bit more greatful? Fine, fine, whatever. Pay attention, your girlfriend's startin' to feel hurt.

Crap. I was through the classroom door before I could even do anything to alleviate the clear look of rejection on my pixie's face. What the heck is wrong with me? Zoning out, sleeping late? This isn't right.

Lowering myself into my seat, I dug myself out of my mental musings with only the decision that I would have to call Rick soon to show for it.

I realised that I was sitting next to Angela, so I thought I would try to make conversation. Plus I wanted to know about her boyfriend.

"Hey Angela, how's Ben?" I whispered across the aisle as the teacher took his place at the front of the room. She looked up and round, smiling as she saw me.

"Hey Bella, you're back. I dunno, he's been weird recently. He barely talks to me anymore, and I'm supposed to be his girlfriend!" I winced as I drew a parallel between how Ben was acting towards her and how I had just acted towards Alice. "I think it must have been the trauma of everything, but he's still adamant that he can't remember anything."

"Weird," I replied. "So how are you holding up?"

She looked surprised. "I've been better, I guess. Why do you ask?"

I shrugged. "Just seemed like you and he are going through a lot, is all."

"Thanks, though I know we'll get through it. Ben's a good guy," she beamed, happy that someone took the time to ask, I guess.

I grinned in return, before facing the front again. But on the inside I was worried. What if this was some aftereffect that wasn't in the records? What if he had been infected with something?

A piece of paper appeared on my desk as the teacher began his lecture of the day.

So how come you were gone for so long?

I sighed. This was gonna be a long ass day.

The first thing I did at lunch was rush to find Alice and apologise having been so spacey. But she wasn't there. In fact, none of the Cullens were. Distressed, and by no means slightly frustrated, I found myself returning to Eric's table, where I was subjected to an enjoyable re-enactment of the Spanish Inquisition.

"Yo, Bella! You're back!" Eric spouted cheerily as I set my tray down.

"Yep, seems that way," I smiled half-heartedly. "Had some family stuff to take care of." My tone invited no question, but unfortunately Lauren, who had just joined us, felt the need to poke around for gossip.

"Oh? What kind of family stuff?" Stifling my sudden urge to pull out her hair and shout at her to mind her own business, I put on my best polite expression.

"A family member died, and I had to arrange things because my mom couldn't make it home." Now please, for the love of all that is holy; Let. Me. Be.

"How come? Where is your mom?" Mike piped up. Gah!

"She's travelling with my baseball player of a stepdad."

Oh crap, now I've done it. They all looked like they were gonna wet themselves at the prospect of my having a professional sportsman for a stepdad, and were now definitely going to question me for the entire duration of the lunch period.

Ring, ring.

Oh thank GOD!

"S'cuse me, gotta go," I cut off whoever it was that was speaking, practically running to the clearing station and answering my phone as I went.

"Whassup Bells? No call? Have I lost all my allure and charm? Tell me, please, for the love of God!" At any other time, Rick's humour would have made me smile, but I was too highly strung about my girlfriend's absence to really pay attention.

"I'm sorry Rick, just been a bit busy. But there's something I need to tell you…" Might as well get it over with now, I suppose.

"Uh oh. I don't like the sound of that Bells. Are you somewhere safe?" By this time I was on the outskirts of the trees in the lot. Fuck school, doesn't need me anyways.

"Yeah. So you know Alice, right?"

"The vamp I told you to keep away from…what have you done, Bella?" His tone made me shiver.

"Well, I kinda…sorta…asked her to be my girlfriend." Never got to the actual asking bit, but y'know…

"What the hell, Bella? You go as far against my advice as possible? Are you fucking insane?" His temper gave rise to my own. I simply was not having a good day, and having Rick shouting me down was the last thing I needed.

"Look, we don't know anything about these vamps. They were supposed to be extinct. If they drink from animals, it means they've made a conscious moral choice. Don't you think that means something? Why would they be going to the school if they weren't trying to live normal lives, Rick?"

"They're dangerous, is what they are. If they catch you unawares, you're dead. It's as simple as that Bella. And I don't wanna see you dead," Rick whispered this last part. I softened my voice a bit; Rick cared about me a lot, and sometimes I forgot about that.

"Yes, but I can take the time now to get to know them better. If we know more about their intentions, maybe we can find out more things. Like for instance how they're not all dead."

"And what about your slip-ups? They'll realise you're not human soon enough. Exposing us like that risks more than we stand to gain." I sighed.

"I'm sorry about that Rick. But there's nothing to do about that now; Alice has already seen me running. The only thing I can do is limit this to me, say I'm an anomaly or something. I won't mention anything about you or anybody else, I promise."

There was a long pause, before a deep breath at Rick's end.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Bells. I'm still majorly tied up here, so I won't be able to come help if things get out of hand. Be cautious, please."

His plea damned near broke my heart, and I found myself forcing back tears. He truly did care for me. But of course he did. He was the one who found me, wounded, when everything first happened. We're partners now, and I know that I couldn't imagine what I'd do if anything happened to Rick.

"Will do Rick. I promise."

"That's all I can ask from you baby doll. Be safe."

I felt a weight lift off my shoulders as I snapped my phone shut. One conversation down, one to go. Only question now was – where was Alice?

APOV

The text came during second period, interrupting my long worryfest about everything Bella.

Everyone, come to the west of the house. Now. – Carlisle

"Ms Cullen? You have been excused from classes today due to family business."

I was out of my seat almost before the secretary had finished her sentence, and made my way out of school, not bothering to get into a car and opting instead to short cut through the forest. All the time I tried to see what was going on, but I drew a blank every single time. Too many things are messing with my vision these days…Bella, werewolves, now this…

Arriving at the clearing to the west of our house, I discovered that I was the last to be there. The others stood in a circle around something that seemed to be holding their interest.

"What's wrong?" I stopped at Carlisle's side. They were all looking down at some pile of flesh on the ground. Then the stench hit me.

"Urgh! What is that? It smells worse than the wolves!"

"I don't know," Carlisle said, scratching his forehead. "I found it in the forest just now as I was hunting. I've never encountered anything like it before, although it looks as though it was once human."

"What's the resemblance?" Emmett asked, poking the heap with a toe.

"It just seems to me to be a mutation of the human form, and that dictates that it must once have had a human form from which to mutate."

"Like us?" Rose questioned sarcastically.

"So why did you call us here?" Edward asked, frowning. He cast a quick glance at me, his frown deepening. Can he still not hear me?

"I think this may be what is attacking the townspeople. The long claws it has seem to match up to the lacerations on the victims, but I'm not entirely sure. I wanted to call everyone together so that you all know what it is we're looking for. If you see another one of these, if there is another one, try to catch it. We need to know as much about this as possible."

Everyone nodded.

"Would it not be best to do a quick sweep of the forest around town now? That way we'd be able to identify the scent, if there is another?" Esme enquired.

"Yes I think that would be best," Carlisle assented. "Alice and Emmett, can you take the east side, and Rose and Edward, you take the west. We'll sweep the north and south."

Glad not to be paired with Edward, I followed Emmett to the opposite side of the house. We were silent for a while, and I was happy to have some thinking time as we ran through the trees. Could this be the threat to Bella? If so, how dangerous are they? And how do you stop one? The thing Carlisle had brought looked pretty well done over, though one of the wolves could have done that. Still, although we're not on best terms with them, they usually warn us if anything out of the ordinary is going on. Urgh! Just more uncertainty and confusion. I shook my head, trying to pay more attention to my surroundings. But thoughts of Bella kept returning to my mind, and I worried incessantly about my earlier demand for information. Have I scared her off? What will she think when we're not in lunch? She might think I abandoned her. Oh, please no. I couldn't stand the idea of her hurting, and this thought only drove me further into the sweep.

"Hey, Alice!"

"Huh?"

Emmett grinned beside me. "You've been spaced out for ages Sprite. Whassup?"

"I'm just a bit worried about this all, Emmett. Anything supernatural that we've met in the past, Carlisle has always heard of, but now? This feels ancient to me. Real ancient."

"Ah, cheer up Sprite. We might even get a good fight outta this one! You can't say you haven't been bored recently, right? I mean, this place is dead." A smirked pulled at the corner of my mouth.

"As are we, Emmett. We need a place that's 'dead', so we don't make much of an impact if something goes awry."

"Yes, but it's booooorrrring!" Emmett whined like a kid, causing me to giggle.

"Ah, there it is, there's that smile. You've been so glum, Sprite. Bella troubles?" Guilt spiked in me. I had not yet told him, or anyone, about Bella's display of inhuman speed the day before. I knew that I should, but I felt like I was…betraying her confidence or something.

"Yeah, something like that," I replied.

As we continued our run, I found myself needing to see her again. I needed to apologise for being so pushy. I needed to tell her it doesn't matter to me. But most of all, I needed to see the girl that I was falling for so fast, because I was uncertain of how much time we had left.

A/N Review! Luv yaz!