WHO IN THE HELL WROTE THIS STORY

Disclaimer: The Cullens, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's Saga beloved Twilight, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass in them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

This chapter has been beta'd by dowlingnana and her work is making the story flow more smoothly.

Finally, Charlie realized the time and that he needed to take his leave of Det. Richards so he could return to the hotel in enough time for the family to get to the airport on time. He was determined to get his girls back home in Forks so he could keep them safe while solving this mystery.

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Alice, Rosalie and Bella returned just moments before Charlie's arrival. They quickly got the rest of their things packed and was opening the door to leave when they were stopped in their tracks for there in the hallway facing their door was …..

CHAPTER 21: WHAT DID YOU SAY?

Standing firmly in front of the door as it was opened all the occupants that were about to leave the room saw the vision of young Elizabeth. She is standing there with her hands stretching forth as if imploringly for all to hear her. The four individuals that had been about to step through the doorway out into the hall stood motionless from the stunning shock of encountering the apparition; especially, Charlie since this was the first time he had ever seen the vision of the young woman.

"You must stop and consider your choices. Leave, yes, if you must, but, not in the chosen manner." She whispers and then begins to fade away as some final words were barely heard from her saying, "Beware. Be careful. Danger always near."

With her fading away the four are released from their stunned state only to see rushing towards them was a total stranger that seemed to know who they were and was hell bent on reaching them. It wasn't until that the man stopped directly in front of them that it was evident that he was coming to see them as if he knew who they were. This causes the four in the doorway to question silently, but, mentally, if they had somehow traversed into another realm such as the Twilight Zone, or, some place like it.

"Excuse me for charging at you as what must seem as if a crazy person is approaching you, but, I have to speak with you and needed to contact you before you leave as it appears that that is your immediate intention."

"Okay, but, we have already checked out and were leaving to reach the airport in time to catch our flight." Charlie spoke to the stranger, but, the last part of his statement about leaving for the airport seemed to aggravate the man.

"No, no, I can't let you leave just yet. I must talk with you now. Now, before anything else happens as it is set to do."

"Young man, you aren't making much sense, but, you are causing us to consider calling the police to have you removed from blocking our path." Charlie replied with the quiet force of authority ringing through each word he spoke. "We have no idea who you are, how you know who we are, what it is you think you know about what we're doing, or, what business it is of yours. In fact, you haven't offered any sort of explanation as to why you are detaining us, so, I do suggest that you get the hell out of our way and we'll all forget about this even happening." With that said Charlie made as if to take a step forward, but, the stranger raised a hand to forestall any forward movement by any of the four people he was facing.

"I know a lot more than you think and I do know who I'm facing at this moment. I know that you're gathering information concerning what has and is happening to the Brandon bloodline. But, I can tell you right now that a lot of the puzzle is missing unless you take the time to talk with me.

"Now, you can continue on with what you think you might know and find, but, none of it will make any sense without the knowledge that I have." As he said that he moved to one side to allow enough passageway for the four to move pass him. All four people, the three young women and the older man, looked at him and then at each other then seemed to come to the same decision all at one time.

"Whatever it is that you think you know about us and think you contribute to what we are investigating had better be worth our delaying our departure. And, I'm going to warn you right now, that I'm not going to allow any attempts to harm my family in the least. Is that understood?" Charlie told the man in a harsher tone than he had been using. "I'm not comfortable with any of us going off with someone that has not even introduced himself."

The stranger moved to turn around towards the elevators, but, paused enough to look back over his shoulder as if to make sure that the four were going to follow him. He hesitated long enough to make one final statement before turning back towards the elevators, "Chief Swan, I'll introduce myself once we are safely away from here and I know for sure that I'm not in any danger from you. Also, I want to prove to you that can trust me; however, I'm aware that by handling things in the present manner that what I'm wanting isn't being accomplished at the moment."

Charlie, along with Bella, Alice and Rosalie, paused for a short period as if to evaluate the man and his words; to weigh the trust or falsehood of what he's saying; wanting to find a comfort level to be able to go with him to see what he has to reveal about the current mystery. Then as if by mutual consent they all moved to follow the stranger to the elevators and by chance, one of the elevators were already waiting on their floor and the doors opened immediately as they pushed the down button. Everyone entered; the doors slid close and began its descent to the ground floor. What they didn't see was the Cullen family stepping off of the elevator next to the one they had taken and head towards the room that Charlie and his girls had previously occupied.

Carlisle knocked on the door as they all waited for an answer and hoped that the family wasn't out some place at the moment. After a couple of minutes and no one answered he knocked once more and they waited once again. About that time a member of housekeeping came along the hallway from the direction of the elevators. She noticed the family waiting outside the door in the hallway and told them that the occupants had already checked out and was on their way to the airport. "I've been sent to clean up the room so it can be rented to another."

With that bit of news Carlisle quickly thanked the lady and they all turned back to the elevators; next stop, the airport. No one spoke a word as they headed back out to the airport; hoping against hope that they would be able to reach them in time to stop them from taking their scheduled flight, whichever that might be.

"Dad, we've got to get to them before they take off. Ever since I've heard about this threat and then Mom telling us that they left during the night, I've had this feeling of pending doom, a sense of urgency that something terrible is about to happen; that something is in motion that is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to stop.

"We have to be on time to stop them; we just have to be!" Edward finished. No one said a word as they had all turned to look at him rather strangely while wondering what was going on with him and his reaction to this situation. Why was it suddenly so important?

They got to the airport and separated to try to locate the four individuals they were looking for, or, to get the information as to which flight they would be taking. The one thing that would make that last part difficult was the lack of knowledge as to where they all might be going.

"Why aren't they here? Why can't we find them? Isn't there any information that we can get concerning them?" Edward seemed to keep demanding time and time again. His family would just look at him, but, would with hold any comment. His unexpected response was a bit shocking to all of them considering the way he had acted around Bella and some of the other guests, but, mainly, it was Bella that he reacted towards. He acted as if she was nothing, but, a nuisance anytime he had to interact with her personally, or, something to do with her.

Edward was even a bit shocked by his words and reaction. He knew that Bella stirred deep feelings within him, but, he hadn't really taken the time to examine the reasons as to why, or, to even acknowledge naming the feelings. So, how he was acting now towards everyone around him including his family was causing him to stop and realize just how deeply Isabella Swan had gotten to him.

The trigger that had started this reaction of the chain reaction of emotions was the news that they all had left in the middle of the night. Add to that what his mom had said about seeing the vision of Elizabeth, but, he didn't really consider that to be much of an event until… until they were all together, heading into town and Elizabeth appeared in their path with her final message. That had caused chills along his skin, but, froze his heart momentarily.

But, the more they tried to locate Bella, Alice, Rosalie and Charlie the more frustrated they became because nothing to be found or learned.

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Charlie along with Bella, Alice and Rosalie followed the stranger over to a late model van which he unlocked as they approached it and stood back to one side for his four passengers to enter. Once they were seated he walked around to get into the driver's seat as they closed the doors on the passenger side of the van. During all of this time no one had uttered one word; not even to ask one question as to where they were going. The silence in the vehicle did stretch to an uncomfortable level before the stranger spoke in an effort to relieve some of the tension that had been building. "I'm taking you all to a private place that we will be able to talk undisturbed, but, will still be public enough for you to call for help if you feel the least be threatened by me or the situation." With that reassurance the other four occupants of the vehicle began to release somewhat and then even more so as they saw that the stranger was taking them to another hotel that was still near the airport, itself.

After parking the van in the underground garage everyone exited and followed the stranger into the hotel, passing the check in desk over to a line of elevators. Entering one elevator and then pushing the button for the fourth floor all five persons rose to that floor and exited to go to room 402. Once everyone was in the room they observed that papers were scattered around covering almost every available surface of the room, including the extra bed.

Taking time to make room for everyone to sit the stranger ordered room service for everyone before turning back to them and began to speak for the first time since trying to reassure them in the van. "I know that you're all very curious as to what this is all about and what I have to say. Please, be patient long enough for room service to arrive and leave then I'll be more than happy to inform you of things that you need to know to help solve our current problem." That reference to 'our current problem' caught the attention of the other four individuals which created a lot of questions. However, they remained silent as he had requested until room service had come and gone.

With the clearing of a voice all eyes turned to the stranger, but, before he could say anything Charlie decided it was time to know who was standing before them with several pieces of pages in his hand. "Before we start don't you think we should know who you are?"

"Chief Swan, I'll be more than happy to give you that information once I've had the necessary of facts with you. To tell you before then would destroy any chance I might have for a fair hearing from all four of you." Was his response to Charlie.

"Very well, we'll hear you out and then judge from there won't we, Dad." Bella turned to level an eye with raised brow at her father.

"Thank you. That is all I can ask.

"First, I know you're puzzled as to how I might know who you are and what you've been doing. So, I'll answer that question first; I work at the library and have been present in the background, but, close enough to overhear the conversation concerning the mystery of Elizabeth Cullen. The next time I overheard the conversation concerning the Brandon bloodline and why everyone of that side of the family seemed to be a target for death.

"I can tell you now that you can do all of the research you want, but, won't even come close to the answers you're seeking. But, I do have the answers to the why, but, not the how to avoid the possible coming tragedy." Here the young man paused for a moment as if to catch a breath before continuing.

"If you can truly do what you say, then we are most interested in hearing you out." Was the only comment made.

So, with a nod of his head the stranger began, "On the night Elizabeth Cullen disappeared, the male slave was hung for attacking the female servant of the Cullen household Blakley Brandon was heard to issue a curse upon the bloodline of the male slave by those that participated in the hanging.

"The curse was 'MAY ALL OF YOUR BLOODLINE KNOW NOTHING BUT VIOLENCE AND PAIN BECAUSE OF THE ACTIONS YOU HAVE DONE AGAINST YOUR MASTER.' Now that might not seem to be so important if it was for further information that Brandon wasn't aware of at the time; if he had known he might have reconsidered his chose of words.

"The reason I say that is that Brandon's mistress was the male slave's sister and she was given away to another as a gift a few days after the slave's hanging without knowing that the woman was pregnant with his child." It was at this period the man quit speaking as he observed the surprised looks upon the faces of his audience.

"So, all through history it is that branch of the bloodline that has been the attackers of the other branch of Brandon's. It has been passed down generation to generation and the hatred has been encouraged at the same time. The attacks will continue until there is no longer anyone left alive on either side of the bloodline unless someone is willing to try to put an end to the self destruction. And that is what I'm trying to do by approaching you with what I know."

A/N: Some answers, but, how will this information be of any help at this point? Who is the stranger that is giving them this information? Is he really trying to put a stop to the needless killing of family members, or, does he have a different agenda for giving away this information?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to hearing from you.