Missing;Little Bird

Serena's POV

I awoke in a dark room, staring at the ceiling. I felt extremely dizzy. I looked around and noticed nothing familiar. When I tried to stand I found that I felt extremely weak. There was a door that didn't have a knob and only one window very high up against the wall. Suddenly the door opened and out stepped Tobias.

"Well well well the bird has finally woken up. I have to say it took you a lot longer to recover from that than I expected." He licked his lips. Something wet was on my neck and I realized it was my own blood. I also noticed a body in the corner of the room, a trail of blood on the floor. There was a rusty taste in my mouth. Blood.

"It was really hard of get you to drink it while you were nearly dying from a fever. I will admit I had a small taste," He licked his lips, "The blood on your neck was from when I cut you to try and get all that wolf blood out of you," You reeked.

"What the hell have you done?"

"I've brought you back."

"Back where?"

"To me of course."

"Thanks for the invitation but I'd rather go home."

"Entertaining as always little bird."

"Don't," I winced as my head began to pound, "call me that."

"I'm afraid you're not exactly in a position to take that tone with me," He tsked. I rose to flit to him so the fight could begin, only I couldn't run at my usual speed, I was slow...I was human. Blood on my neck...blood on my mouth. I nearly died from a fever. I suddenly realized that I never returned to my vampire or hybrid self after Seth broke up with me in the woods...and Quil, "Quil!" I hissed looking at him.

Tobias laughed. "So you finally realized it? You never switched back after you were with the mutt. Now, you have no strength," his eyes traveled to my hands, the source of my gift and I noticed that gloves were strapped on. Dammit. "Not even the wolf strength."

"Gloves Tobias? Really?"

"One can't be too careful, little bird." I shot a glare at him.

"You do realize that my brother can easily find out exactly where I am right?"

"I'm well aware of your little connection," He smiled tapping his head, "but how can he find you if you don't know where you are?" I bit back a snarl. He had caught on quickly, considering he used to be our guard and the best tracker I shouldn't have expected any less.

"So how exactly do you plan on torturing me? You can't use venom because then I'll turn."

"You always were straight forward, Bambina," he picked up a syringe filled with a clear liquid,

"This should keep you from resisting and these," He lifted his other hand and gestured to a table full of tools. "I swiped some from the hospital...and this liquid I swiped from the good Dr. Cullen and it should allow me hurt you just enough, to satisfy me." His hands were covered with gloves. There was no way for me to get back to my immortal form. He stalked toward me.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Oh, Little Bird, you know why. Now I've been pretty lenient, right? I let you save Sebastian, didn't I?" He laughed, "It's not my fault you refused to spend what little time you had left, with the mutt." My eyes widened.

He chuckled, "You always try to protect everyone except yourself. You wanted to keep Seth happy, you wanted to keep Sebastian from dying again, you wanted to keep the Cullens from fighting...Iris from bringing up your true feelings…" He sighed, "And now, just as you were about to finally be honest with yourself and tell Sebastian that, yes, he was all you ever wanted. Just as you were finally going to be selfish. Your time ran out."

"Shut up Tobias!" I knew he was right, I did waste my time. I took responsibility for that.

"I don't understand why you kept trying so hard to be human, Bambina," His gloved hand gently traveled down my cheek. "You were so much fiercer, so much more beautiful and captivating as a vampire. Let's not forget," He clutched my neck, "powerful." Tobias shoved me against the wall and I gasped as the air left my lungs. "You had everything and you threw it all away for what? For a stupid beating heart? For a worthless werewolf?"

"Shut up Tobias! You don't know a damn thing," I growled against the pain I felt in my body from being knocked against the wall and just as I was about to lunge away from him, he grabbed my shoulder.

"You wanted to live a normal human life so badly, now you'll get it," he chuckled lifting a knife and stabbing me with both it and the syringe. He squeezed my shoulder causing a loud pop to sound and I tried as hard as I could to prevent myself from screaming in pain. He pulled out the knife dragging it down my arm leaving a thin line of blood. His red eyes blazed at my scent permeated the room. His arm traveled to my leg and my I felt a lot weaker as the liquid that was injected inside me began to take effect. It was like I was losing control of my body, because slowly I couldn't move anymore. "It's a paralytic," he whispered in my ear, "To prevent any funny business, you won't be able to move." He snapped my leg causing me to scream. "But rest assured, you will be able to feel everything," he laughed, trailing his hands down to my torso and squeezed a rib until a loud snap sounded off in the room, I screamed louder. That was all I could do as he continued to torture me, breaking bones and tearing my flesh.


Edward's POV

It's been a week since Serena was taken from us, my brother and Alice were never home, they helped Oliver and Gabriel with the search.

That night, Jasper had been the one to go meet Serena in the woods. We figured he'd be able to calm her down if she was angry still. Alice couldn't see her clearly because of Seth's presence, then because of Quil.

I could tell she was frustrated, we all were.

"We're all supposed to be so talented right?" Emmett had asked in his typical blunt fashion, "Then why can't we find her, dammit!" He slammed his fist against the wall leaving a crack.

"Emmett, destroying the house won't help this situation," Esme admonished, but she couldn't hide her own pain.

"Grandpa is back!" Renesmee called in attempt to break the tension, "With Jacob!" I could tell my daughter tried to hide her excitement. Much to my disdain, her and Jacob had been inseparable since her birth.

"Edward?" Bella called from the top of the stairs. I looked up at her and smiled despite the turmoil of thoughts circulating in the living room. I walked over to her and hugged her from behind, running my hand over her smooth hair. "Are you alright?"

"Not exactly, love." She smiled softly, sighing.

"None of this is anyone's fault...we couldn't have predicted this, Edward."

"Tell that to Alice," She laughed softly.

"I've fought enough battles with her. She still hates my choice of wardrobe," I laughed and heard Rosalie chuckle.

Suddenly, Carlisle walked in and we all flitted to the doorway, "Quil is recovering nicely," he began ruffling my daughter's hair.

"Oliver called?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

Silence followed as everyone around me waited for the reply they wouldn't hear.

"No luck still, they're going to keep looking until morning." Emmett growled in frustration grabbing Rose and stomping past Ness and Jake. I tried to stop them but Carlisle placed a hand on my shoulder.

You'll only rile him up more.

I sighed heavily, knowing he was right.

We were all on edge, Esme was cooking Serena's favorite foods for Renesmee, Bella as strong as she was, kept reading Serena's favorite book. Rosalie, fixed her room every day she was gone, adding a new outfit to her wardrobe and Emmett, he kept smashing the boulders they used to arm wrestle on.

I found it amazing how she had touched our lives in the short time we had gotten to know her. This little black haired and blue eyed brat who called me a bastard every chance she got, had weaved her way into my family. Then, she was taken. I had seen enough of Oliver's thoughts to know that whatever was happening to her wasn't good. The longer it took us to find her, the greater the risk we had of losing her.

I walked over to the piano running my fingers along the keys. Bella only sat on the bench next to me leaning against my shoulder. She had a way of knowing when to speak and when to just leave me with my thoughts. She also knew that no matter what my mood was, I needed her there.

My thoughts drifted back to my memory of that night.


"Oliver, I don't think she'll be that angry anymore…" I said. He'd been pacing anxiously back and forth since Sebastian announced that she'd be coming back tomorrow morning and Alice had seen her at the treaty line later that night. Jasper was sent to go get her since Oliver was too anxious to see her just yet.

"Listen Edward, I understand you're trying to help, but you don't really get it…"

"You haven't even been keeping up your connection the same way you used to Oliver, maybe if you took a peek you'd be able to stop worrying about this."

He sighed heavily, she doesn't want that.

"And you're not trying to piss her off again," I chuckled and he glared at me. Before he could snap Alice had stormed out massaging her temples.

"Ugh! I can't see! Everytime I'm about to get a clear image a wolf gets in the way dammit!" She shot a glare at Oliver, "You're sister, needs to stop hanging out with werewolves," Oliver rolled his eyes.

"Let her stay with them," Iris huffed, pouting in the balcony. Oliver looked up at Iris clearly worried about her.

"Iris, you shouldn't say things like that," He sighed. "She's coming back isn't she? Maybe the both of you can make up," She shot a glare at him.

"I didn't do anything–"

"Yes you did," Oliver, Alice and I corrected. She laughed rolling her eyes.

"I was just–"

"Trying to help, even though I told her to stay out of it," Sebastian sighed, ruffling her hair. She frowned and Oliver rushed over and wrapped his arms around her. He looked at Oliver, "I'm sure everything will be fine. She never stays angry at you for long."

Oliver only frowned in response and Iris leaned against him, hoping to provide some comfort. They both felt bad about what had happened, Oliver was feeling guilty about coming back into Serena's life, Iris felt guilty about the argument they had. I heard a clinking coming from the balcony and noticed Sebastian had gone inside, with the intention of going in Serena's room.

I followed silently, wondering what the light clink was. He entered her room inhaling her scent. I watched a flurry of memories flash through his head. The night they met, and the last time he saw her before he was taken. Then, I saw him replaying their phone call. Before he had told her about the Denalis coming over she was about to–

"Didn't think you had to follow me to eavesdrop, Edward." I stepped into the room and sat on her bed smirking.

"What's in your pocket?"

"I'm sure you already know."

"Just take it out," He rolled his eyes taking out a necklace that had a locket and a diamond ring on it. I recognized it from his and Serena's memories.

"I found it in here when I was looking for her phone. It brought back a lot of memories," He went silent. I waited for him to speak so he could get everything off his chest. "You know, when I made that promise I was half-joking. I mean she was just a kid who showed up in my backyard. I never thought that she'd come back four years later all grown up. When she did, God, I couldn't get her out of my head. I mean not only was she gorgeous, she was just so different from the girls I had met. And believe me," he chuckled, "I knew plenty. Iris and I had grown up together and my mother considered her to be like a daughter. When I was turned, everything had changed. I realized I didn't really understand the kind of lifestyle she lived. Of course, she was a vampire but, compared to all of you or other covens we encountered, Akira did things so much differently. I hardly got a moment alone with her the first few months. I was drilled and tortured and the thirst was unbearable," He chuckled, "Akira was always much too harsh with the twins. Iris had a harder time adjusting than I did because she well, she had a lot of trouble finding her way back to herself. It strained her and Oliver's relationship for a while...she almost turned out like Tobias…" He sighed, "There wasn't that kind of strain in my relationship with Serena, because, I was glad to just be able to be with her. To be able to fully support her, and with my gift I could protect her. Yet, after I was turned, there was this...distance that was never there before. It wasn't until after about six months of immortality that I noticed why…" His voice got an octave quieter, "You know, Oliver and the others always talk about how much stronger she is than the rest of us, the only reason it's like that is because she forced the spotlight to be directed at her. The reason why Akira was always so hard on her, is because she was always distracting him from punishing us." I was taken aback by this, Serena could hide her thoughts better than the rest of her coven and I would often get pieces of her memories but never enough to actually understand more about her past. I'd rely on Oliver's thoughts for that. "I noticed it once when Akira was angry with me. She mouthed off to him and mentioned her mother. That was a taboo subject in their house. He had smacked her so hard the sound was almost deafening. When she rose from the ground she was smiling and kept talking, kept provoking him."

I watched as the memory played in his mind.

"I was so angry with her, but she only laughed and told me better her than myself or the others."

"Sounds a lot like the way she acts now…" He nodded, sighing heavily

"She always puts others before herself. She doesn't take her own happiness into account and that's what angers me the most. That's the whole reason why I tried to get her out of there that day. I wanted her to stop being so selfless," he laughed. "I had no idea things would go so wrong for all of I'd lose her like I have. That I'd go mad with venom and regain my sanity only to learn that the love of my life, has fallen for another..."

"That, that ring and that promise would be just things of the past…" Bella chimed in leaning against the door frame.

"Exactly," He sighed, defeated. She walked over to him and sat on the bed next to me. Bella was close to Seth but, I could tell that she saw what she and Serena had in common.

"You know Sebastian, once Edward left me…" I frowned urging her with my eyes to refrain from telling him the story of this painful part of our past. "And...I fell in love with Jake. I'm not saying that Serena is anything like me because I think we all know there's on only Serena in the entire universe but, despite my feelings for Jake I couldn't ever erase what Edward was to me. I couldn't fully move on."

"Thanks for trying to give me a silver lining but, Serena has moved on."

"Sebastian––"

"When we spoke on the phone, she was going to say it." Bella froze, glancing at me to confirm what he was saying. I nodded. "I interrupted her but I know her. She was going to tell me that she only wanted him. I think...she was going to send me away…" He smiled softly, interjecting before Bella could try to comfort him,"I've accepted it, but thank you." We smiled at him and he got up and flitted out of the room, leaving the necklace on Serena's vanity, his fingers lingering for a second, until he finally walked slowly down the stairs. "Care to make a wager Emmett?" My brother happily agreed and I chuckled at the consequence of said wager that Sebastian was thinking of. Bella frowned at me biting her lip.

"I feel incredibly sorry for him, Edward, "all of them, they've been through a lot."

"There's nothing we can do to change their past Bella." I kissed her head, "We can't do anything to change Serena's mind either."

"But you especially should know that she still cares for him the way he cares for her," She huffed.

"I know she does and so do Jasper and Oliver but, this is something she has to do," I smiled at her, "Besides, I don't think you want Seth to get hurt as much as I don't," She frowned.

"You're right. This whole situation is messed up," she sighed leaning into me, "I mean, we all love her and the others. Carlisle practically treats her like his daughter, for crying out loud!"

"Legally–"

"Don't be a smart ass," she whacked me on the shoulder, causing me to wince. It seemed like her newborn strength hadn't worn off since she was turned.

"Well love, Serena can make her own decisions. If she thinks it's best for herself to be with Seth, who are we to get in the way of that? She's been through so much already, had so much taken away from her. The way all their thoughts are, mixtures of distrust and anger and protectiveness, I think they don't really know how to rely on all of us. They're so used to their previous lives, and those lives revolved around Serena's happiness. Sebastian was right, she did do a lot for them. It wasn't at their requests. I can't tell because she hides her thoughts from me most of the time and I kind of have to put the pieces together from what Jasper reads off of her but, Serena...blames herself for their troubles in life. I'm not exactly sure if it's because of their father or because she did something.."

"Renesmee and the twins have had such vastly different lives…" Bella said softly, I could tell that she was remembering our encounter with Nahuel. Parenthood had made us both extremely compassionate and caring. I too, like my wife, wondered if we could have somehow saved Serena and Oliver both from the anguish and pain they had to face growing up. Sadly enough no one had the glamourous loving life Renesmee had and still does have.

"Come on, let's go downstairs. We can still give them a piece of what our daughter had," She grabbed my hand pulling me along, her eyes full of hope and her teeth gleaming. I chuckled and followed as she pulled me along.

Emmett was growling outside and when Bella and I stepped out onto the front yard we saw that Sebastian was using his gift to make him act like a ballerina. Everyone was gathered around laughing at the comic display of our manliest and most competitive brother. Oliver had his arms wrapped around Iris, Gabriel was forced by Sebastian to join Emmett and everyone else could hardly contain their laughter as the two most brutish of our coven were forced to dance for us.

"Sebastian!" Emmett growled as he began to spin like a ballerina. Rosalie was doing everything she could to keep her composure.

"I have to get a picture of this," Alice laughed running out with the camera. When she came back out of the house everything seemed to happen in slow motion. One minute, Alice was giggling with the camera bounding into the yard. The next, she froze letting it fall to the ground. Then, images of Serena flashed into my head from Alice's mind. Oliver frowned and turned toward the forest letting go of Iris. Everyone else watched confused. Suddenly, it was like time restarted and just as Alice opened her mouth to speak, Oliver bolted into the forest quicker than any vampire I'd ever seen (except Serena). Alice followed along with Carlisle who knew from decades of being with us that whenever Alice and I had that kind of silent interaction it usually meant that something was wrong. I followed them with Bella and everyone else behind me.

"Edward, explain," Emmett huffed, worry lining his features and thoughts.

"Something's wrong…" I said. Just then, a painful howl sounded off in the distance and Jacob ran ahead of my daughter phasing into his huge wolf form. Gabriel, Iris and Sebastian zoomed passed us all.

"He found my sister!" Oliver roared in the distance. He had nearly caught up to Jasper and Iris and the others split off into the forest.

"Dammit!" Iris hissed.

We all ran faster trying to beat out Tobias and prevent Serena from getting hurt. Jacob whined next to me and Carlisle gave me a questioning look, worry coated his features.

"Quil is with her, and he's losing," Jacob growled picking up his pace. We managed to catch up to Jasper and another howl sounded off, this one was Seth's.

"Shit!" Oliver zoomed past, passing Jasper who was running as fast as our immortal speed would take him. "Serena!" He roared, frustrated at his lack of speed. We all followed trying to make it to her. We were almost there I could feel Oliver and her connection and see that he knew where to find her.

"Iris and Gabriel try to get around them before he––" Sebastian began, suddenly a thick honey sweet aroma coated the air and we all froze. This scent was Serena's blood. And it seemed to coat the entire forest like a thick fog. Emmett growled and Jasper clutched Alice trying to control his thirst. It had been a while since we had smelled Serena's blood like that. We had all forgotten how overwhelming the scent was.

"Oliver!" Iris cried as we finally caught up to him glued to a spot in the forest. The scene before us was terrifying.

Blood coated the ground and was brushed onto some trees. Quil lay in an odd position on the ground, his features twisting in pain. Jacob and Seth rushed to him with Carlisle.

"His spine…" Carlisle said gravely. Seth and Jacob whined at Quil screaming and Carlisle rebroke a few of his bones. "The healing process has already started," He looked to Oliver then the scene around him, and back at Quil.

"Go Carlisle." He looked at Esme who nodded encouragingly. Jacob and Seth had phased back and Embry, who had zoomed in moments later helped Jake lift him and carried him carefully toward La Push. Carlisle followed behind him and Renesmee looked torn and Bella nodded for her to go with Jacob. She gave one last look at the horrifying scene before us and flitted off to follow the wolves.

Numerous thoughts flowed into my head. All worried and hopeless. Each of my family members could agree that we had failed our newest members. We wanted so badly to change the way they had to live, and now it's like they're right back to where they were.

The thoughts that were hardest to filter out, were Oliver's. Maybe I was subconsciously focusing on him but, the anguish and guilt he was feeling was unbearable. He kept yelling in his head, calling out to a dark void, calling for Serena.

"Oliver," Iris said softly reaching for him. He was as still as a statue and remained that way even at her touch. She turned around and immediately decided to take point.

"Gabriel, Sebastian," Iris barked and both men nodded and quickly flitted off in different directions Emmett, and Rosalie following as best they could. She walked slowly over to Oliver, wary. "Oliver…" He stayed rooted to the ground staring at the scene. "Oliver we'll find her...he hasn't been gone long. I mean, despite all of the blood, his scent is lingering here." There was a long silence. Everyone who remained waiting for Oliver's response. Seth had shifted back to his human form and waited for the person who was most familiar to this kind of situation. Suddenly Oliver laughed and I could hear Seth's violent thoughts in response.

"The blood," He chuckled. "All of my sister's blood is on these trees and the grass. Do you know why?" His voice grew bitter and hostile. "Because, Tobias is the best tracker out of all of us. Think about it, my sister's blood is the most potent and sweet smelling that we've known, and it's everywhere Irisviel! He purposely spread her scent to throw us off. He'll keep doing that so that every trail we follow every breath of her we catch, will lead to a dead end," Iris remained calm during all of this.

"Can you find her?"

"He knocked her out. If she doesn't know where she is, I can't find her."

Oliver began pacing and everyone either knew better than to say something or was too hurt about what had happened.

"How did this happen?" He hissed. "We've been fine all this time. He hasn't made a move so why now?" He smacked a tree a loud crack booming through the forest. I listened as everything that had happened up until this point was replayed in his head. The twins had remained close to each other throughout this period and the only times they were separate was when—

"She was with you!" He turned glaring at Seth, suddenly he froze. "Yet...you weren't injured. In fact…" he paused, "you arrived after us." In a motion quicker than, we could all so much as blink, Oliver had shoved Seth against a tree.

"Oliver!" Esme cried. A scuffle ensued as Seth tried to shove against Oliver but he wouldn't let go. She moved to stop him but Iris moved in front of her. When Esme gave her a mom look, the brown haired girl only shook her head, refusing to budge.

Crack! We all looked up to find Oliver throw Seth into a tree. "You left her! Say it!"

"Oliver…" Seth had never really spoken to Oliver directly before. In that moment he sounded more hurt than ever. I heard that he blamed himself just as much as Oliver did.

"You left her!" He kicked him in the gut, "She came to be with you! She was-" The boy became hysterical as he stepped away from Seth. "She–god Seth," He sunk to knees in anguish his anger quickly dissipating.

"We ended things. I-I didn't think this would happen. If I knew-–Q-Quil was with her––how did I let this happen…"

"She ended things?" Oliver spat, "Or did you?"

"She didn't want me and I was just––it hurt okay?"

"Did she tell you that? Did she say that she wanted you two to be over?" Oliver's anger started to boil again. Alice rubbed her temples next to me trying to find Tobias.

"No but Seb––"

"God, she was gonna make us leave! She was going to tell us all to go because she wanted things to work. And you––" His eye narrowed, "You left her!"

"Oliver he feels bad enough," I was angry at Seth too but I knew this wasn't easy for him.

"You're the one that left her in the ocean!" Seth roared, "I'm so sick of being the bad guy! You left her too! Why weren't you with her? How about her life at La Push? Why weren't you there?"

"Watch your fucking mouth, you stupid mutt," Oliver growled as Seth phased, "Yeah I left her. So that she could get away from all the chaos and I thought I could trust the strangers here to fucking protect her! Her life at La Push? Don't be fucking ridiculous! As I recall, the whole reason why she ended up with the Cullens is because you stupid pack of no good dogs didn't care enough about her!" Seth growled baring his teeth just as Oliver hissed. "Jacob slapped her across the face and called her a monster! Then, the whole pack stopped associating with her!"

Just as they were about to lunge for each other, they froze.

"Enough!" Sebastian growled. "She doesn't want this!"

"Sebastian…" Esme began worry lining her features. "Did you—"

"He didn't pick up anything," I said out loud. Oliver and Seth were released from Sebastian's control.

"There was blood on some of the trees…"

"More?" Iris asked, anguish lining her features.

Will there be a body next? She thought I tried my best to ignore that.

"Shit, with all the blood trials left–––" Oliver stopped again, thinking. He looked at the grass. "All the blood…Seth broke up with her...and Tobias found her...Quil was hurt but, my sister clearly has the advantage in a fight...so why did Tobias choose now?" He froze, finally putting the pieces together… He dashed off into the woods, Sebastian told Iris to stay and followed him. She looked just as horrified as I felt.

"Iris?" Alice cried her voice rising a few octaves.

Iris just looked at the scene again, "Oh my God," She whispered fear finally sinking in.

"Iris? What just happened?" Jasper asked, desperate.

"She was human," She said softly, "That's why he made his move...She was human."

"But he's a vampire couldn't she just touch him and turn back?" Emmett asked, desperate for a solution.

"Yes, that's how her gift works doesn't it?" Esme pointed out, equally hopeful. She's okay, she's just hunting him.

"Tobias is smart," Iris whispered, "He knows how to find loopholes."

"Loopholes like what Iris?" Emmett barked, growing more and more frustrated.

"I-–" She bit her lip, for once the most vocal and outspoken of the small Italian coven didn't want to say anything at all. We'll find her. We have to find her. This was her mantra, she kept trying to piece together some sort of sugar coated explanation. I can't say the wrong thing...if they find out they won't bother looking and we need all the help we can get. They have no reason to care for us.

"That's not true Irisviel, watch it," I growled. She glanced at me. How can I trust you all? How can any of us? "You're just going to have to try. We aren't going to abandon her. You're family whether you want to admit it or not. Serena especially, we've been involved in her life as much as you have," She raised her eyebrows, shocked at my bold assumption and took a deep breath humming softly to keep herself from panicking too much and shutting us out.

"Tobias is the best tracker out of all of us. Tracker and hunter. He knows how to find things which also implies that he knows how to hide things. He stuck with Akira the most so it's no wonder why he's so good at it but, he's been hunting the Princess for a while, he made his move tonight because he had a set plan that he knew would work," She looked at the bloodstained grass again. He's trying to bait us. "It's true that Serena is strong...as a hybrid. As a human? Not too much. Her gift is the very essence of her offense and defense. Since she was human she could only resist as a human. She wasn't around any vampires so she couldn't copy them and fight back. Tobias must have been very careful not to let her touch him which means he was wearing gloves…"

"And he can still be wearing gloves," Jasper finished.

"So, she can't defend herself," Iris sighed.

"And the blood?" Esme asked.

"Well it's definitely hers. He used to mess with the twins like this, he's scatter the blood so that the scent of their prey would be everywhere. With Serena's it's extremely potent so it's easy to get lost when you try to track her," Iris looked at us, her worry reflecting ours. "She doesn't have a lot of time."

"Before he kills her?" Bella asked in disbelief. Iris lowered her eyes to the ground.

"Our story isn't pretty. Tobias is thirsty for revenge for Akira and knows how central she is to us. How important she is," Alice rubbed her temples harder and I saw a flash of images in her head, most were of Serena suffering through some form of torture. "There's no doubt he'll kill her if we don't find her in time." Seth growled and Emmett hit a tree in frustration.

"Nothing has be decided yet," Alice reassured us but I had seen what she had and knew that although nothing was decided, it would be soon.

Everyone who had gone off to track Tobias came back a few seconds later looks of anguish and frustration lining their features.

Oliver looked horrible, not being able to find his sister took a huge toll on him emotionally.

"We can go back home and figure something out," Gabriel suggested.

"I'll keep looking," Sebastian said and Seth, who had been leaning against a tree in devastation the entire time this was going on, suddenly sprang to life and before I or anyone in my family could stop him, he shifted and lunged for Sebastian. The sandy haired boy, was unfazed by the action and Oliver was too focused on Serena to try and interfere. The wolf tried to rip his head off as Sebastian held his muzzle away from him.

"Seth that's enough!" Bella cried. Sebastian only made sure that Seth didn't hurt him while he was pinned to the ground by the wolf's huge body. Seth only growled louder trying as hard as he could to hurt Sebastian. The vampire finally reacted when Esme made a move to help. Claire. She had reminded him so much of his mother, based on the memories he had that I had seen they were pretty alike. Esme had brought back feelings of guilt that Sebastian had about his family.

In a quick motion Sebastian smacked Seth right in his jaw and shoved him off.

"It's not my fault," He said coldly, "It's not anybody's fault," He shot a look at each of us lingering on Seth who was bearing his teeth, "Killing me wouldn't do anything to help bring her back. Quit acting like a spoiled brat and focus!"

We were all taken aback by this. We figured that with that first hit Sebastian would have gone mad and tried to kill Seth, blaming him for her being taken. Instead, that hit was the only move he made on Seth. He remained calm. There were no thoughts of ill will in his mind. Only thoughts of Serena.

Have to find Serena. Have to find Serena. Have to find—

I pushed his thoughts away, trying to give him as much privacy as possible, given I could still hear them.

"Listen to me," He said, mainly to Oliver, "We're most definitely not going to find her tonight," He sighed rolling his eyes at Seth's growl. "I'm going to keep following any trails I find to try and at least rule out all of them. Oliver opened his mouth to interject but Sebastian quickly shut it with his gift. "No, in the state you're in, following all of these trails will only make you go mad. I don't need any help doing this," I'll shoulder the horror. Sebastian truly cared about Oliver and the rest of us. Despite knowing that he could possibly find her dead in the forest somewhere, he still wanted to try because at least he would be able to protect us from facing the reality.

"Sebastian…" Iris started softly, starting to comfort him, she walked toward him but he stopped her.

"I'll follow the trails," He paused trying to hold himself together, "While you all try to figure out a way to locate her," before anyone could say anything else he had dashed off into the woods.

There was a long beat of silence. Seth broke it by dashing off into the woods in the same direction Sebastian did.

I won't stop looking either. He growled.

"How did this happen…" Esme whispered.

"We got to comfortable," Oliver said, "We got too comfortable and forgot that we have a past." I knew Oliver was saying this mainly to himself but the rest of my family and I all felt guilty for interfering with the way they lived their lives. "I should of been there.I should have made her come home, I should have been here with her from the start…" He groaned, falling to his knees and pounding his fist into the bloodstained ground. "Dammit!"

"Oliv–" Esme began, embracing her motherly instincts. It was Gabriel who placed a hand calmly on her shoulder giving her a quick head shake to prevent her from interfering. Everyone had been surprised with how much both Esme and Carlisle truly cared about the twins. Based on his thoughts over the past few months, I knew that Carlisle felt some sort of unspoken connection with them both, something neither he nor myself could figure out the reason for.

"Oliver," Iris said. He didn't respond lost in his own guilt. "Oliver," She hedged hoping to get some sort of reaction out of him, this had never happened before, there was never a moment when Oliver and the others had to truly be concerned about the return of a member of their family, until tonight. C'mon Irisviel get it together. Remember you promised the Princess that you could take care of him. She grabbed him and made him face her. His blue eyes bore into hers, swirling the saddest shades of blue they'd ever been. She felt sadness begin to overcome her. No. No. Oliver needs you. "Listen to me dammit! Serena is stronger than him, so what if she's human? You and I know that after living with Akira she knows how to handle herself. Whatever he has planned she'll be able to stay strong. So quit it with the self-pity and the guilt. None of that is going to help her!" Oliver's eyes brightened. She's right.

"Alright," He said, his voice sounding stronger. "Let's go back to the house," He looked over at Gabe, "Go meet Carlisle on the reservation and let him know what's going on. Try to get the story from Quil, I want to know exactly what happened," Gabriel nodded obediently.

"I'll go with him," I volunteered giving Bella a quick kiss, "See you soon, love."

She smiled tightly, I could tell she had been trying to hold her breath in attempt to block out Serena's scent. Everyone had. Jasper was gripping Alice's hand so hard I thought for a second that he might break her.

"Thank you Edward," Oliver said his expression softening. I nodded and lead Gabriel back to the reservation.

She'll be alright. He thought, right before we parted ways.

I hoped that he was right…


It had been a week since then, so far, we hadn't found a single trace of her. Sebastian hadn't been back, he spent all day and all night looking for her. Seth, alternating between bits of solitary anguish and scouring the whole state for her. The physical pain he was feeling from being apart from her for so long was starting to affect him.

A couple of blood trails had been left over this period of time. We followed each of them and they all led to dead ends. Serena was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Alice was having a hard time making out Tobias's moves. She was always one step behind him.

The one who had it the worst was Oliver. The twins' telepathic connection had been on overdrive since Serena was taken. From what I understood she had a hard time keeping up the barrier that filtered their connection and as a result, Oliver had bouts of pain that she was experiencing. He refused to break it off. In a way, it was like he was punishing himself by refusing to filter out her pain. In the past few days he'd gotten glimpses of Tobias approaching Serena with scalpels, knives and syringes filled with a paralytic. Occasionally she'd speak to him letting him know that she was for the most part fine. Both he and I knew that she was less than fine, but she insisted. Suddenly the phone rang, Carlisle picked up.

"Oliver?"

"Have the wolves found anything?"

"Not since I've gotten off the phone with you son."

"He's on the move, can you try to let them know somehow?"

"How did you—"

"She's alone right now," He paused his voice getting a little quieter. "He doesn't want to end things just yet…"

"Is she still healing?" Carlisle asked, his voice full of concern and worry.

"Yes. But, we don't know how much longer it'll last…"

"Alright, Jacob is with me. I'll get him to send out word to look for him,"

"Thank you."

"No problem, son. We'll find her," He promised. Carlisle had been worried about the twins since Serena disappeared. Oliver hadn't exactly been taking care of himself, refusing to hunt or eat anything since she disappeared.

Click.

"Jacob, will you—"

"On it Doc." He dashed off into the woods phasing effortlessly and conveying the message. The house was silent.

"At least she's healing," Esme said softly. We had learned from Quil that Serena mentioned she had accidentally copied too much from Seth and copied his wolf attributes, meaning she could heal rapidly like they could. Oliver told us that she had managed to hold onto the wolves' rapid healing ability. So, for now, we had some time left to find her. But, how long can she hold on before Tobias finally decides to exact his revenge and take her away for good?


Serena's POV

I woke up sore and alone darkness. I got up slowly trying not to agitate my wounds, only to find that I had healed. How did I? I tried to figure out how exactly I managed to do this despite copying Seth— I copied Seth's wolf. The Pack had the ability to rapidly heal and since my gift was on overdrive defensive mode, I subconsciously managed to hold on to that aspect despite being fed the human blood. I looked down at my hands.

"Still covered, dammit," I tried to bite off the zip ties that had been wrapped around them but failed.

Oliver? I reached out to my brother, trying to re-establish our connection. I still felt really dizzy.

Bambina! Are you alright?

You sound like hell.

Where are you?

No idea, it's pitch black in here.

What has he done to you?

Nothing I just—

I felt it. I bit my lip. I should have know better than to try and lie about that.

He found some toys.

Bambina…

C'mon. I'll be okay. Looks like I can heal like the rest of Jake's pack.

I could feel the relief flooding my brother's heart right now. I laughed feeling along the wall as I weakly tried to find a door. Suddenly I felt a handle. Unlike the one on an wall this one a

I found a door. Looks like Tobias wasn't that smart.

Show me whatever you see outside.

"Time to get the hell out of—" Suddenly, something shiny came out of the darkness and stabbed my hand. I winced biting back the pain. Tobias flipped on the light.

"Such horrid language Bambina. You really should work on that," He smirked as I pulled the knife out of my hand. blood began to drip out.

"Bastard," Suddenly he was a breath away from me and before I could react he punched me right in the ribs so hard that I was flung back into the wall. A loud crack sounded as my head smacked against it. I crumpled to the ground.

Bambina!

I blinked trying to push myself back up but I was kicked in the ribs again and there was a loud crack.

"Motherfucker," I groaned, spitting out blood. I could feel the rapid healing happening, I smirked. "That...all you got?" He laughed.

"Play the strong one all you want, I know that you're scared," He laughed flitting to me and stabbing me with the knife in the stomach. "Poor Little Bird, stuck in your cage. Wounded and alone. All alone."

"Scared of what?" I coughed up some blood and laughed, "The poor little boy who my father didn't care for?"

"You know, I always admired you Bambina," He chuckled dragging me by my hair across the ground. "I loved that no matter how much Akira hated you, you always stuck around,"

"He kept me around himself, you know that," I smirked, "You think he trusted you? He loathed you. You weren't grounded and your gift wasn't as potent as Gabriel's. You're bloodlust risked our lifestyle. You were just a puppet he had to keep in line. You were created to protect Oliver and I. Becaue Oliver and I, were his most prized posessions, not you." He stepped on my ribes putting more and more weight on his foot until three loud cracks sounded in the room accompanied by my scream.

"Watch your tongue!" He growled. I smirked.

"I remember how easy it felt when I tore him apart, the man you idolized," I laughed louder despite the pain all over my body. "His head was just as empty as I thought it was," I smiled and before I could say anymore he slapped me so hard, I blacked out.

SERENA!