Disclaimer: I am Twilight obsessed. But I don't own it.

Chapter19

EPOV

This was what my nightmares were made of.

I haven't been able to dream in almost a century, but every part of my being knew this is what hell was like, and I wish more than anything that I could wake up.

My mind was overcrowded with other's thoughts as well as mine. Carlisle was expressing distaste at the destruction of another creature, and overwhelming concern for Esme who still hasn't moved from the rubble where she was thrown. Her thoughts were of pain and worry about Alice. Part of my mind echoed that concern. Alice's thoughts were unclear, muddled. I have never heard anything like that from her and I knew she had to have been injured in some way. Jasper's mind was purely focused on his task, ever the soldier. He had not let himself worry over Alice yet, he was determined to finish off the intruder first. He and Carlisle had dismembered the one known as Laurent, and they were tossing the mangled pieces out the window, preparing to start the fire to finish the job.

Emmett and Rosalie's thoughts were slowly filtering in as they came closer to the house. They were both angry and frustrated at losing James, but their anger swiftly turned to panic when they heard my painful roar.

I had decapitated the female, Victoria. She had been the last threat in the room and I had poured all my energy into making sure she didn't take another step closer to my Bella.

Bella. My heart, my life….my reason for existing. She was so afraid, despite the mask she wore hiding her feelings from everyone else. She couldn't hide them from me. I couldn't read her mind, much to my never-ending frustration, but my beautiful angel was an open book to me when it came to her emotions. I could tell when she was happy, sad or scared. I hadn't seen too much fear from her up until this point. The fact that everything she has been through, everything she knew about our kind hadn't scared her but these monsters had…it made a rage release inside of me that I have never felt before.

The evening was so wonderful up until this point. Bella had finally looked like she was feeling well, though still weak and tired. I could never understand why she didn't realize she was so incredibly lovely, but I enjoyed the blush that flowed across her porcelain skin when I frequently reminded her. While we were laughing and telling stories from our past she laughed with us, looking as if she had been there all my life. She just fit.

It seemed impossible that something so beautiful, so wonderful could belong anywhere near a creature like me. I had done nothing to deserve her love, but each time she kissed me, smiled at me or even just looked at me I prayed to every deity that I could think of, thanking them for bringing her to me. But in this moment, I felt like the gods were cursing me, finally showing me that the pure bliss I feel when I am with Bella is just a precursor to the ultimate punishment that I am experiencing now.

I am truly damned.

When I was sure Victoria was no longer a threat I turned to look where Bella was just a moment ago. I knew she was gone before I turned…I felt it the moment she left my presence. It was like part of me was ripped from my body. If I believed in souls, and I wasn't sure at this point, mine left with Bella when she stepped out of the room.

The blanket she had around her was hanging halfway through the broken window. My inhumanly fast movements were not nearly fast enough as I propelled out into the cold night. I quickly scanned the area, not seeing anything. I closed out everything but the physical sounds around me, listening for her heartbeat, the music of my love.

Nothing.

I resisted the urge to fall apart where I stood. I knew that she was at least unconscious if I hadn't heard her screams. But more importantly, I needed to hear her heart beating, to know she was alive and that I hadn't lost my one chance at the closest thing to heaven I will ever reach.

I closed my eyes and breathed in deep through my nose. Thousands of scents assaulted me, but only one caused my dead heart to burn. My Bella's scent was strong and I moved in that direction without a second thought. I didn't go far.

Her scent faded a few hundred feet from the house…not completely but enough to make it nearly impossible to detect. I knew if it had been anyone else the scent would have been completely gone, but my Bella's scent was unique and alluring.

Apparently, not just to me.

I stopped and hesitated, moving through the trees, my panic increasing the longer I went without a trail. I almost sobbed in relief when her scent reappeared on the breeze. I ran further into the thick forest and then groaned in frustration as it all but disappeared again. After a few more minutes of trying to track the ghostly trail, I heard Emmett's thoughts break through my focus.

Edward, we can hear you in the forest. If you can't lock onto her scent get back here and we will get a plan. We will find her.

I didn't want to give up, but moving back and forth through the woods by the house like a blind bloodhound was getting me nowhere. I punched my fist through the trunk of a large oak in frustration, the splinters of the ruined tree falling around me. Within a fraction of a second I was back outside the wrecked house.

Emmett and Rosalie were waiting for me next to the roaring fire. I almost wrinkled my nose at the scent of vampire ash, and I was very much looking forward to adding one more to that pile. Emmett's customary grin was replaced with an angry scowl. Rosalie's face was unreadable as she stared into the flames. Her appearance was shocking, a huge difference from her normally near-perfect visage. Her hair was wildly disheveled with leaves stuck in it and her skin was spotted with dirt. Her clothes were dirty and torn in places and the way she held her shoulder made it obvious she was in some pain. Emmett had his arm around her protectively and a quick glance into his mind showed me what had occurred in their pursuit.

Alice was right, they had used our mates to divide and conquer us. Rosalie had left to protect Emmett while he chased after James, but James had surprised them and attacked Rosalie. I almost winced as I saw Rosalie's arm wrenched from its socket as she was thrown across the forest. She was lucky that it was not torn from her body. Emmett did what I would have done in the same situation, go to his love. By the time they had returned to where they had last seen James, he had gone to capture Bella.

I waved off Emmett as he started to apologize and I stepped inside the house looking for Alice. I was dependent on her to tell me what this bastard's next move was. Carlisle was crouched next to a dazed looking Esme. He looked at me in calm determination. We will get Bella back, son.

I ignored him and moved to Jasper, who was cradling an unresponsive Alice. Her eyes were open, but she was mumbling incoherently and her thoughts were still unreadable. I caught flashes of memories from the mess in her mind. Victoria had thrown the only weapon that could cause such physical trauma to a vampire, Esme. It wasn't easy to cause contusions to our kind, nearly impossible with inanimate objects. But our flesh was vulnerable to other vampires. When Esme crashed into Alice, Victoria knew what she was doing. I knew why Alice didn't use her power of premonition to move out of the way…she was protecting Bella, who would have surely died if Esme had collided with her fragile body.

Jasper growled protectively when I crouched down next to them. His mind was no longer focused on the enemy, his only thoughts were revolved around protecting his mate. The agony he felt washed over us all and I felt my control slipping. "Jasper!" I snapped at him. His eyes darted from Alice to me, not wanting to lose focus of her for a second. "You need to calm down…NOW!" I knew better than to move any closer to him, but somehow my angry voice pierced into his consciousness, and I felt his emotions pull back and his control tighten. I glanced over to my adopted parents. "Carlisle, I need Alice to tell me how to find Bella." My voice broke on her name, and Esme's thoughts became flooded with guilt and pity, along with fear for Bella. I tuned everyone out but Alice and Carlisle. I was loosing my sanity more every minute.

Carlisle looked to Jasper to make sure he was under control, then crouched next to Alice, examining her quickly. She didn't respond to either him or Jasper, but her thoughts seemed a little less clouded than they did a moment ago. I clenched my hands as anxiety poured over me. I felt every second that went by as one more second that the love of my life was in danger. I had to do something immediately.

"Alice will be fine…she is already healing." Carlisle looked at Jasper as he spoke, but his thoughts were directed to me. She can't help us now, we need to find another way to help Bella.

I let a small moan escape my lips as her name rebounded through my head. I felt Esme move closer to me and place a hand on my trembling shoulder. Her thoughts assailed me, replaying the last moments that she saw Bella. I watched painfully as Bella's devastated gaze appeared before my eyes. The vampires were cunning enough not to form a specific plan before they attacked, keeping Alice from seeing anything. How did they know about Bella's father?

"Charlie?" I managed to ground out between clenched teeth. Carlisle removed a cell phone from his pocket and quickly dialed the Chief Swan's house. We all heard the deep baritone of Bella's father's voice as he answered before Carlisle shut the phone. In the back of my mind I was relieved that he was still alive.

"How did he know?" I asked. Carlisle put a hand on my other shoulder. My parents were trying their best at keeping me calm long enough to form a plan. His thoughts reminded me that mindlessly searching the forest by myself was not going to bring Bella back. Carlisle spoke his theories out-loud. "I believe he was some sort of telepath, able to read people's thoughts and possible communicating to the others that way as well. He knew about Bella's father from reading her mind and was also able to communicate last minute plans to the rest of them. That would certainly explain how Alice was not able to lock down on their plan until it was too late." I felt another wave of guilt rush over me. If I had just taken a moment to scan their minds in the field, I would have known about his power.

Alice was now able to sit up on her own, but was holding her head gingerly. Jasper spoke to her in low tones. "Alice, sweetheart…talk to me." His voice was edged in pain and it made my muscles tremble in sympathy. I didn't know such pain existed until Bella walked out that window and into the waiting clutches of a killer. The agony was unbearable. I knew if Bella was gone, this would be my last day on earth. I would not survive such torture, my strength was tied directly to her.

Alice looked to me, her thoughts coming through clearly now. "Edward…I'm sorry. I can't…I can't see what's next." I slammed my hand into the floor, a fist-sized hole joining the rest of the destruction around me. Jasper's relief at hearing Alice's voice filled my head. Now that his worry over Alice was fading his mind started turning to strategy. I turned to him, desperate for a plan, any plan. "Jasper…" My agonized whisper prompted him to formulate an idea, and then turned to the rest of the family.

"If Edward can't pick up Bella's scent, that means the tracker has done something to mask her from us. He must have covered her in something…but whatever it was he had to have on him, otherwise Alice would have seen it as part of the plan."

Emmett and Rosalie had stepped into the room at that point. "He didn't have anything with him when we were chasing him." Jasper nodded at Emmett. "Yes, but he was wearing something…a large jacket." I heard where his explanation was going. James had bundled up Bella much like I had when they appeared at the baseball game. Her scent was still lingering, but masked by the scent of the tracker.

"Their scents are mingled in the forest. I can't distinguish his from the rest. Did anyone get close enough to get James' scent?" I looked over my family, settling my gaze on Rosalie. She was the only who had physical contact with him. She saw the look on my face and didn't hesitate to step forward and hold out her injured arm, the one James had grasped just moments before. Each one of us breathed in the scent deeply, ingraining it into our minds. I now recognized it from the mingled scents from the forest and I moved to dash back outside. I heard Carlisle speak to the others, telling Esme and Rosalie to stay with Alice and call us immediately if she saw anything. The girls protested at being left behind, but we all knew that they would only be used against us again and they were still recovering from their injuries. I tuned out everything but the hunt at that point.

As I stepped into the darkened forest again, I immediately picked up the tracker's scent. It was not as easy to follow as I thought it would be, and I realized he had backtracked and maneuvered so his scent was patchy and dispersed. The smell jumped from place to place and there were instances where it appeared only high up in the trees. I growled at the thought of Bella being in such precarious areas, and I knew he would have no concern for her safety as he moved through the woods. I heard my brothers and Carlisle as they moved around me, calling out when they picked up a scent. I was frustrated at our slow pace, but at least we were making progress. I knew this was just all part of his sick, sadistic game. Bella was the bait for us, a pawn. My senses were on edge as we moved closer to wherever he took Bella, and I could only hope that Alice saw his location soon. I could not focus on what condition Bella may be in when we found her. The only think keeping me sane were the memories of our time together, and thought of seeing her smiling face again. My angel needed to be spared. I didn't deserve her, but she didn't deserve this. I knew if she survived this night, I would have to make a decision. She was in too much danger around my kind as long as she was human. She was determined to make me the one who damned her for all eternity, but she didn't know what she was asking. The lack of control I was having right now showed me that I was not ready to do what it would take to keep her with me for eternity, but there would only be one other way this was going to turn out. If Bella was to live I had to save her.

And then I would have to leave her.

Carlisle's ringing phone cut through the silent night…..

Surprise! My first EPOV. Did it suck? I am not really thrilled at how this turned out, but I wanted to get some angst in there somewhere. And we all know how Edward is good at the angst. I have no intention of doing a lot of his POV because I am not very good at it. But either way, I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know!

I tried my best to work around Alice's visions…and I know that they aren't supposed to be that vulnerable but again….MY STORY! :P

Also, I know there was no power mention about Laurent from the book, but it never said he DIDN'T have a power….right? Sneaky!