Charlie left the Cullens' home, got in his car, and spent the whole drive back thinking about what he had just seen. She looked like Bella, and sounded like Bella, but it was all different somehow. And the baby... could it really look so old so soon? He pressed harder on the accelerator and sped home, his police instincts in overdrive.

As soon as he arrived, he raced straight to his computer, not even bothering to take his jacket off. He spent hours scouring the internet, learning about "cold people" as they were called. His jaw dropped as he saw phrases like "pale skin" and "melodious voices."

I can't ask Bella about this—she's already told me more than she wanted to. Who then? Carlisle? I see him so often on the job, I don't want to make things awkward. Rosalie is a little intimidating... what about Emmett? I always liked that boy. Charlie called the Cullens' home once more and, masking his voice, told Emmett to meet him tomorrow morning in the woods behind the school.

"Mr. Swan," Emmett said, perched nimbly atop a tree branch.

"Emmett," he replied nervously. Calm down, Charlie! You're a cop! You've handled much worse than this! Only—he hadn't.

Emmett hopped down nimbly and sidled next to Charlie. His face asked a question without saying a word.

"Emmett I... I want to ask you something" Charlie stammered.

Emmett folded his arms and raised his eyebrows.

"How ah... old are you?"

"Seventeen," said Emmett after a pause.

"And... how long have you been seventeen?" Charlie managed to ask.

"A while." The two considered that statement as it hung in the air.

"Emmett I... know what you are."

"Say it."

"No..." he trembled.

"Say the word, Charlie out loud."

"Vampire," he whispered.

Emmett picked him up and swooped atop a precipice.

"I'm the world's perfect predator!" Emmett boasted, unrooting a tree. "As if I need to be! As if anything could outrun me!"

Charlie had the feeling that the wording wasn't quite right, as if this was all coming from someone's months-old memories of a text they hadn't bothered to reread.

"Let me show you who I truly am," Emmett said as he stepped into a ray of light. His skin shone like diamonds, sparking in the sun.

Charlie felt himself flush with warmth as he awed at the spectacle. "I'm... not afraid of you," he said.

"Just wait," Emmett said as he picked Charlie up and dashed off toward a meadow. "Hang on tight, spidermonkey."

Charlie tenderly ran his fingers through Emmett's hair as he ran. "Mmmmm," he said. "Emmett."

They lay down together amidst the orchids, Emmett's skin scintillating.

"I know three things for sure," Charlie apostrophized. "One, you're a vampire." Emmett opened his mouth to say "Yeah, duh," but Charlie kept talking. "Two, there's a part of you, and I'm not sure how dominant, that thirsts for my blood. Three, I am forever and irrevocably in love with you."

Emmett rolled on top of Charlie with a smile. "Come, then," he said, and kissed Charlie passionately on the mouth.

Charlie was overcome with conflicting emotions. This had been his first romantic contact since he and Renee divorced... and it was all so sudden... but Emmett was so wonderful... he pushed his doubts aside and gave in to his basest desires, kissing Emmett back with his full passion.

He panicked as Emmett's hands began exploring too liberally. "Emmett!" he gasped. "Don't you want to wait until we're married?"

"I don't share my brother's old-fashioned sentiments," Emmett said confidently. He proceeded to thrust into Charlie with such accidental force that it ruptured his spine and killed him.

"Oh," Emmett remarked.