Chapter 19: Searching

Bella's POV

It felt like I was literally getting eaten up by both anxiety and guilt at the same time. I was sure that I was having the vampire equivalent of a panic attack right now. My daughter had been missing for a week now. We had been searching day and night for her but could find no trace of her.

I closed my eyes and thought back to my last few minutes with her. I should have gone with her when she said she had to use the bathroom. She was so adamant going to the bathroom by herself that it had set off alarm bells in me. It had put my maternal instinct into overdrive. So why did I choose to ignore that maternal instinct that something was wrong? Why hadn't I at least followed my daughter to see what she was really up to?

I was the worst mother in the world. What kind of mother loses her child twice? I was a vampire for godsakes and I still could not keep track of my half human child! Edward tried to tell me that it was not my fault. But I knew better. If I would have listened to my instincts my daughter would still be here right now.

My grandchildren kept me occupied when I was not out searching for my daughter. Oh how I loved those two. Having to explain to your two year old grandson why his mother is no longer around wasn't an easy task though. Especially when we had no idea where she really was.

Oh Nessie. The kind of trouble that girl landed herself in scared me. At least she had one good friend. Brittany. Rosalie managed to locate the girl the day before Nessie disappeared. Rose was determined to find out where the sex trafficking ring that Brittany was apart of was located. Unfortunately the girl didn't reveal anything. So Rose decided to befriend her and gain her trust firsr before digging for more information.

I took a deep breath and tried to get a handle on my nerves. It's just that the last time Nessie vanished without a single trace I didn't see her again for 13 years. Fate couldn't be that cruel though could it? Could fate be cruel enough to take my daughter and give her back to me 13 years later only to yank her away again?

Venom pooled into my eyes instead of tears. The closest a vampire could ever get to actual crying. When I looked in the mirror I saw that my eyes were pitch black. I hadn't hunted in weeks. I was long overdue but how could I even think about hunting when my baby girl was missing again?

It wouldn't be long though before Edward or Carlisle or one of these others forced me to go hunt. When Nessie went missing the first time I went four months without hunting as all I ever did was search for my baby. Unfortunately my thirst got so bad that I nearly went after a hiker that had gotten hurt in the woods. If it wasn't for Edward and Emmett holding me back I probably would have killed the poor man. So of course the family would to prevent another near accident like that from happening again.

But not tonight. I'd hunt tomorrow morning but right now I had to try looking for my daughter again. I had to bring her home. That was my main priority. Not my thirst. My thirst could wait a few more hours.

As soon as I heard Edward return from searching I jumped out the back window. Not even bothering to use the front door. I started up my car as fast as I could and sped down the street. I went back to the mall where she had gone missing. Several times I have retraced the erratic route her scent had taken that day. I went into the store and retraced her scent again. Instead of taking me to the restroom she had insisted she needed to use it lead me out of the mall. Even now that her scent was fading I traced it to the Walmart across the street and into that store's bathroom. Then I traced it back outside where her scent took an extremely crazy, erratic route that made no sense. It lead me to the same dead end it led me to every time before. Then it vanished completely.

"Oh Nessie," I cried. "Baby girl. What happened to you? Where did you go? Why did you leave us?" So many questions raced through my mind. Worry and guilt continue to eat at me. What if I didn't see her again for another 13 years? Oh God no! My heart couldn't handle that.

My cellphone startled me when it rang. It was Jacob. Oh Jacob. He'd been going crazy trying to find her as well. He hadn't slept much in the last week. He couldn't bare to lose her again either.

"Bella. I found her. I just found her," he sounded more worried then relieved which scared me.

"Where is she? Is she with you? Are you bringing her home right now? Can I speak to her?" Poor Jake. I didn't even give him a chance to answer my questions.

"She's in state prison,"

"She's-wait she is where?!"

"She's in state prison right now. I don't know how she got there. I didn't speak to her since I was in wolf form. But Bella I-"

"Which prison is she in?! Give me the address and I will go bail her out right now,"

I didn't need to write down the address he gave me. I had no problem memorizing these things.

"But Bella there is something else I have to-"

I ended the phone call while Jacob was still talking. I sped as fast as I could legally do so. I would have sped faster and ran red lights if I didn't want to deal with a cop pulling me over. A few hundred on speeding ticket wasn't a lot of money for a Cullen. A few hundred dollars was chump change to us. Documents wouldn't be an issue either. My driver's license would pass the most intense scrutiny thanks to J. Jenks. It was the amount of time such a stop would take that would annoy me the most right now. When all I wanted was to get my daughter out of prison.

My daughter in state prison. I shuddered. Don't worry baby. I'm coming for you. I pulled into the parking lot and parked in the first empty space I saw. I had to take extra care not to run at vampire speed when walking toward the door.

I sucked in a deep breath when I saw a familiar head of bronze colored hair exit the building. But wasn't Edward at home? Unless it hadn't been him that got home. I never did see who entered the house. If that was tbe case what was my husband doing here? Did Jake call him too?

"Edward!" I shouted as I started walking up to him "Edward what-"

I stopped dead in my tracks was a pair of green eyes instead of golden ones that met my gaze. That's when I noticed that his scent was different and that his skin was not at all pale. This man was one hundred percent human. But apart from that fact he looked just like my husband. Maybe a few years older. Physically anyway.

The man's face broke into a smile. "I'm sorry ma'am I'm afraid that you have me at a disadvantage. Do I know you from somewhere?"

"No. I'm sorry. I thought you were someone that I knew,"

"Well you did get one thing right. My name is Edward. Edward Masen V that is," he smiled. Masen. My Edward's last name had been Masen in his human life. This Edward Masen looks exactly like my Edward. What the hell was going on here?

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Isabella Cullen. Erm just Bella," I could barely get the words out of my mouth.

"Bella," he smiled. "It's nice to meet you," we shook hands. "Bella means beautiful in Italian, right? The name fits you perfectly,"

"Thanks,"

"So Edward. If you don't mind my asking where are you from?"

"Chicago, Illinois"

Just like my Edward.

"Well Bella I would love to get to know you. You're very beautiful. I mean what I'm trying to say is. Do you want to have dinner Friday night? I can give you my number if you'd like,"

I still couldn't wrap my mind around what was happening. But this would be the perfect opportunity to get more information off of him and if he had any relation at all to my husband. My Edward Masen.

"Yes," I said with genuine enthusiasm.

"Nice here's my number. My professional number is on the front. You can text my personal which is written on the back,"

It was a business card he handed me. He was a defense lawyer. So that explained why he was here in the first place. As soon as he left my thoughts returned to my daughter. I had to get her out of here.

The officer up front was surprised when she heard who I was here for. Then she called someone in the back to get Nessie while I filled out the necessary paperwork. It was a lot of paperwork.

"Bella?" Came my daughter's shocked voice a few minutes later.

I immediately looked up from the papers I was signing and was shocked at what I saw. It was definitely Nessie. But she was in extremely bad shape. She had lost a lot of weight. I could hear that she was struggling to breathe. Then I detected something else. A second heartbeat. Her stomach size told me she was four or five months along. Which was impossible. She reminded me of the way I looked when I was pregnant with her. I needed to get her to Carlisle immediately!

"Oh Bella it is you!" she yelled happily. The biggest smile on her ghastly face. She ran up to me and threw her arms around me. I hugged her as tightly as I could safely do so. I felt the baby kick and she yelled in pain.

Please Review