Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

As always, this chapter wouldn't be what it is without The Real Teacher's hard work. Thank you so much!

~ Chapter ten ~

Both children watched anxiously as their father's face turned almost purple, his anger and frustration finding outlet in a frantic pacing across the room, his monotone movements and mutterings only broken by the occasional glare in his daughter's direction.

"Fine, then!" he finally grumbled. "Go risk your life!" He held up his hand, halting Bella's dance for joy a few moments as he continued. "But before you do….there are a few things you need to know…….."

And just like that, the atmosphere in the room shifted as Bella watched in wonder and confusion as both men turned from agitated and concerned to tense and ….wary?

"What's going on?" Bella asked when neither her father nor her brother showed any intention of breaking the silence any time soon.

"Bella," her father finally sighed, his face seemingly having aged a million years in the short time span, "how much do you know about what lurks in the forest?"

"Not much," Bella admitted, barely able to hide both her impatience and her frustration. She wanted to get underway, not be stuck indoors listening to a story she already knew not while Edward could be dying out there. "I guess I know what everyone else knows: that there are wolves out there and that they were sent to the town as punishment for the horrible actions of a few men a long time ago…."

Charlie let out another deep sigh. "What I am going to tell you now cannot go beyond this room, do you understand?"

Bella nodded, but apparently that wasn't enough. As Charlie's piercing stare remained upon her she realized that he actually needed a vocal confirmation from her. "I understand, father," she spoke in a steady voice.

"That's not good enough," Charlie's gruff voice answered. "Promise me you'll never speak about this to anyone but me and your brother."

"What?" Bella asked as she tried to reconcile this new side to her father to the man she thought she knew.

"Bella," he insisted, his frown deepening as he held her gaze in his.

"Okay," she spoke quickly. "I promise. But what…."

"Parts of what I am about to tell you, you already know," her father interrupted her, "other parts are told to every man who has completed his stay in the woods…" He paused, his eyes never leaving hers as they gauged her reaction. "And finally, there is a part to this story that is known only to a very small group of people."

"Small?" Bella had the idea that whatever that last bit was, it was going to turn her world upside down.

"Five," her father clarified, "two of which are in this room."

He looked so nervous as he continued, his fingers fidgeting with a frayed end of the tablecloth. Bella had never seen her father like this. It was almost as if he was…scared.

It unnerved her.

In all her life Bella had never seen her father scared. How could he be? He was the chief of police, burdened with the task of keeping the people of Forks safe and protected. As had his father, his grandfather and the very first of the Swans to settle in Forks.

Swan men didn't do fear, as far as Bella knew. Swan men were to be feared.

"Dad?"

He seemed to have recomposed himself as he spoke again, his hands coming to rest upon the table next to hers. "I would have preferred to have that information remain limited to the five of us but, seeing as you are determined to go out into the woods, I think you should know what will await you there."

"Please…dad." Bella looked from her father to Emmett, who had sat down on his usual spot to her right, his face betraying the same nervous tension as her dad's. "You're scaring me."

Emmett looked up, a shaky determination in his eyes as he spoke. "Let's just get this over with."

"Okay," Charlie nodded. "I think it's best to start at the beginning here."

He waited for Bella to nod her affirmations before he continued. "Over a hundred years ago, when the first settlers came to live in these parts, things were very different. The first families who came to live in these parts – the Cullens, the Blacks the Stanleys, the Webers and the Swans – came from a big town much farther inland but felt that life there no longer appealed to them."

"They had concerns about how the loose morals and harsh manners of the city would have a negative effect on their young so they moved on. Life was hard, as you can imagine, when you have to start building a community from scratch and for the first few years they struggled to survive but, with the help from the Quileutes, a Native American tribe that had learned to survive in these parts many generations ago, they just about pulled through."

"But the Quileutes….."

"Yes," her father sighed. "As the years went by the settlers learned to bend nature to their will and as the success of the village grew, so did its appeal on others." Charlie looked out the window. The sight he saw today was probably the same as the first Charles Swan who had lived in that house – and built it too – must have seen, though the meaning of it couldn't have been more different.

To the first Charles Swan the woods had held the prospect of friendship and many opportunities, to him the tree stems were much like the steel bars on the small, hardly used prison cell underneath the town hall.

"Many of those who came were good folk, like the Masens and the Crowleys, but there were also those who were….different. Soon disagreements started to rise amongst those who wanted to cement the ties that had come to exist between the Quileutes and the town and those who wanted nothing to do with them."

He sighed, glancing out of the window to the town. "The last group saw the original inhabitants of these parts as a pest that needed to be eradicated. I think it was greed – for the land and its riches – that drove them to entertain such radical and violent ideas, although according to the old texts they cited the Bible and their God-given task to eradicate all paganism as their main motive."

"How awful that must have been to the first settlers," Bella whispered. A lot of things were now starting to make sense to her. As long ago as the events her father spoke of had taken place, there was still a very tangible undercurrent coursing through the town, dividing it into two factions: a progressive one, the one her family as well as most of the oldest families of the town belonged to, and the conservatives, lead by the Collins and the Newtons.

"I imagine it was," Charlie nodded, "though by that time most of the original settlers had already died. Their children, however, were still alive. They saw their whole dream shattered before their eyes. Especially when William Collins, the ringleader of the radicals, started to poison the minds of the townsmen with lies, one even more preposterous than the other. Many wanted nothing to do with him and his nasty rumors but in the end the powers of propaganda are strong and even some descendants of the people who had originally had their lives saved by the Quileute's started to sway…."

Charlie paused again, looking first at his son, then at his daughter before launching into the darkest part of his tale. "It was in that light that a rumor of a young woman from the town being raped in the forest could light the fuse in the powder keg. Immediately the radicals cried outrage and wanted extreme measures to be taken against the tribe, though the majority of the townsmen were smart enough to vote against such an action when it was put before the council."

"I would have loved to have seen the face of old 'sourpuss' Collins when he realized he'd been outnumbered," Emmett chuckled.

"They should have taken him and his vile offspring round the back and shot them," Charlie grumbled, "before they had the chance to bring this entire town to damnation."

His hands were balled to fists and for a moment Bella was afraid he was going to hurt himself, but as the moment passed and he calmed down again and his hands relaxed. "That night Collins' son James and a few other youngsters went into the woods and caught a young Quileute woman as she was bathing in the stream. They did unto her what they assumed had been done to one of theirs….though at least James, and maybe some of the others, knew better."

"That's awful!" Bella gasped. Of course she had known this beforehand, but to have it told in so much detail was another thing entirely.

"What they did was monstrous," Emmett sighed, "and it created a monster."

Their dad nodded, his hand reaching across the table to take one of his daughter's small hands in his as he continued, knowing that they had only just reached the hard part. "Of course the Quileute's were outraged when they found out what had been done to one of them and their retaliation was quick. They cursed the town and its inhabitants, stating that if the people of Forks were so eager to possess this place, they might as well spend eternity living there…and only there."

"Yes, they sent the wolves to us," Bella nodded.

Charlie let out a humorless chuckle. "That is the story that people have been told, yes."

"It's not the truth?" Bella knew that whatever her father was going to say now, was probably the part restricted to the five people Charlie had referred to before. If she had to hazard a guess he would say that those five consisted of her father and Emmett as representatives of the law, Billy Black as the mayor of the town, Carlisle Cullen in his capacity as the doctor and the reverend Simon Weber.

"Not the whole truth." Charlie patted her hand as he gave her a small smile. "For the six men who had raped the girl, mere imprisonment wasn't enough. They needed to be punished more severely and in the way that would make them suffer as long and great as possible. In them, and all those born from their evil blood, the Quileute's with their great powers ignited an ancient power."

"Oh my God," Bella gasped, pulling her hand from her father's to clasp it in front of her mouth.

"Yes," Charlie sighed. "In the chaos that reigned after the initial attack most people assumed that the six. Like so many others, had been killed. It was only in the days after that, when none of their bodies had been found and the wolves – six in number – kept terrorizing the town, that those leading the investigation found out the truth."

"But how is it that the wolves exist until this day?" Bella asked. "they must have died by now, haven't they?"

"The curse, Bella," Charlie answered. "Those who had been born from their blood were implicated in it as well and – as it soon turned out – some of them had a very selective approach when it came to Christian morals."

"How is it that no one knows about this?" Bella cried, her head spinning with all of the information she had just received. "Something has to be done….."

"Initially it wasn't known to the council that the male offspring of the six were included in the curse. When the town elders found out just how deep the curse ran it was already too late. As I said before, many children of their blood had already been born. Before the curse revealed itself in them, they too had created offspring. By the time it became apparent that many of the attacks that plagued the town came from within, there were already too many infected to do something about it."

"So they did nothing?"

"No," Charlie's voice sounded strained, as he answered. "They created a solution that would solve the problem without bringing the complete town in an uproar."

"The rite….."

"Getting the people of the town to commit themselves to it was a challenge but in the end some crafty lies and the horrible death of a young family brought the town around." Charlie went back to his fidgeting as he paused shortly.

"The council claimed that they had been offered a truce by the Quileute's. In return for a strict adherence to the rite, there would be no more attacks upon the town."

"They believed that?"

"Despair makes people particularly eager to accept a lie when a seemingly reasonable solution to their problem presents itself. They weren't too critical, not when they saw a way to save their loved ones."

"And so the boys of this town are thrown before the wolves….literally."

"There is no other way," Charlie sighed, "almost every family in the town is infected in some way or another, though over the years we have found that not all those who are infected fall victim to it, sometimes not even those who have a very strong connection to the original six…"

"James Collins…." Bella gasped.

"How he survived is a miracle with his connection to his godforsaken namesake," Emmett growled. "With Billy Black it was probably his disease that saved him from it, Newton's family has married wisely but Collins…."

Once again Bella's mind had trouble catching up, but when it did…nothing made sense. "Wait a minute….you said Billy…"

"Yes," he father affirmed. "The Blacks were amongst the original six wolves. The virus runs very strong through their blood."

"So that means that Jacob…." Bella's breath came in gasps as her mind put two and two together and for a moment she feared it would stop altogether. The fact that Jacob hadn't died but possibly befallen a fate much worse made her whole world turn on its axis.

"Is probably a wolf," Charlie sighed, his hand gently squeezing hers, "which is why I am telling you this in the first place. You have to know what it is you're up against – what it was that young Masen was up against – when you venture out there." His face clouded over when he looked out of the window.

"But it's Jake we're talking about!" Bella cried. "He's been my friend since before we even knew what friendship was. He's not going to hurt me!"

"Sweetheart, you have to stop thinking about him as the friend you used to know," Charlie spoke. "We do not know a whole lot about these creatures, but what we do know is that the moment they transform into their beastly shape, they stop being human and – what's even worse – they stop recognizing friend or foe."

"I….don't….dad…." Bella broke out in a cold sweat, her mind overloaded with everything that had happened over the last couple of days.

"Quick Emmett, get her a glass of water," her father shouted, catching her body just in time as it slid limply from the chair and sagged to the ground. It was the last thing Bella heard before she lost consciousness.

~ x ~

The next morning found Bella once again in much better spirits. The confusion, shock, fear and anger that resulted from her father's confession had somewhat abated after a good night's sleep. Carlisle's sleeping draught had worked wonders on her troubled mind, though there had been a quick relapse when she remembered who it was that had collected the herbs that made up the biggest portion of it.

Determination had followed and stayed with her until she found herself standing in the same spot he'd been in, six days ago; the town behind her, her loved ones beside her and the ominous green of the forest in front of her.

Her anger at her father and brother, as well as all the others who had remained silent when they should have spoken, was still gnawing at her. She could understand why the town elders would have chosen a lie over the mass panic that would have broken loose if the truth would have become common knowledge, but that – in Bella's eyes – didn't justify the sacrifice of human life that had been made over the years.

All those boys…they had been lead to believe that if they abided by the rules and kept indoors when twilight fell they would be safe when all along the danger came from within.

"I wish I had your courage, Bella," Esme sniffed as she wrapped Bella in a firm embrace. "You will have my eternal admiration for this….and my undying gratitude."

"I'm merely doing what my heart dictates," Bella muttered, the older woman's words strengthening her resolve. "I know deep down inside that he's still alive out there somewhere. And I have to find him."

"Thank you," Esme whispered, before loosening her hold so that others could take their leave.

Bella was bustling with impatience to get underway. If it had been up to her she would have set out yesterday, the moment she woke up, but her father would have none of it. He even threatened to lock her up in the holding cell overnight if she would not listen to reason.

In the end she had no other reason than to obey, even if it was with trouble. She could see that her father had a point when he spoke about plans and preparations because as far as they went, she had none.

"Do you remember what I told you?" Charlie questioned, his gruff mask back in place.

"Yes, father," she nodded, clutching the small compass in her right hand.

It had easer her mind a great deal when he had told her about the little shack in the woods because first of all, it increased the possibility of Edward being safe and alive. If he had fallen ill or wounded himself, like she hoped, there was a chance that he'd made it back to his refuge where he would be relatively safe, apart from the fact that it had no running water and hardly anything to offer in ways of food and comfort.

Secondly, because the woods were vast, they spanned an area so great that it even went beyond Bella's comprehension. Looking for Edward in that great expanse of green and brown was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Searching for Edward along the trail leading to the shack, however, was a task altogether more comprehensible and practicable.

"Remember," her father warned, "no deviations from the path and no lingering. You are to go there, remain in the cabin with the door firmly locked overnight and come back again tomorrow. If I don't have you back under my roof tomorrow night then so help me God, I'm coming after you."

It had been a point of perpetual disagreement between the two of them and even now, Bella merely rolled her eyes at him as he spoke. "I will come back when I've found him, father, and if he's too sick to be moved, I will wait for him to get better before I return."

"You will do no such thing," Charlie growled. "Your place is here, in the town. Not out there where your life is in constant danger."

"My place is with him, as you well know," she sighed. "Wherever he goes, goes my heart….and the body cannot live without the heart."

Her father growled, muttering something under his breath about the foolishness of the young as he proceeded to inspect the contents of his child's knapsack one last time, making sure nothing had been forgotten.

And then, when all goodbyes had been said and Charlie had finally given the all clear, Bella set off. Her determination and the words of encouragement from her family and Edward's strengthened her mind and spurred her movements as she sought her way through the woods, the compass held out in front of her as if it were the shining light that guided the apostle Paul safely to Damascus.

Eight hours later, all of that initial bravado was long gone.

About four hours into her walk Bella had met with an accident, a rather deep hole in the ground, concealed by layers and layers of leaves and branches had made her sprain her ankle and - even worse – ruin the only hope she had of ever finding him.

Bella's cry of frustration when the compass, that had been in her hand throughout her journey, had flown out of its resting place and collided with a nearby tree as Bella made her acquaintance with the mossy forest floor once more, had reverberated throughout the woods. It was shattered into four little pieces and her heart along with it.

She had been so close….Only two more hours would have brought her to the cabin. Two more hours before, hopefully, she would find a trace of him, a clue whether he was alive or not.

Determined not to let it crush her spirits Bella had soldiered on, wincing every time she put pressure on her sore ankle and merely guessing whether or not she was still going in the right direction.

However, as the forest grew increasingly quieter as the light started to fade and her ankle started to throb so violently that it could no longer be ignored, even Bella had to admit it: she was lost.

So yes, this chapter leaves us at the point where the prologue picks up. The next chapter will shed some light on what happened to Edward. I hope to have it up next Thursday but it still needs an awful lot of work.

For now, please review and let me know your thoughts on this chapter.