Chapter Twelve: Silver Bullet

"You know, it's not very often I get to say this, but I did not see that coming."

The tinkling, fairy-like voice came from somewhere to my left, far from the ongoing struggle between Paul and Emmett. I spun quickly, a smile lighting my face as I recognised who it belonged to.

"Alice!"

Edward's quirky sister stood just outside the front door, dressed in a chic black sundress that would've been at odds with her usual style if not for the bright red French beret on her head and the fingerless lace gloves on her hands. I didn't know if Alice followed a particular style exactly, or if she was just pretty enough to pull off whatever she wanted to wear. Either way, I was envious.

Alice gave me a gentle wave, keeping herself firmly out of view in case any of the others moved to look out the windows. Luckily for all of us, no one could clearly see the driveway from inside. Small blessings.

I scurried over to her, wrapping her tiny body in as tight of a hug as I could manage. Alice was the sibling I was closest to when Edward and I were dating- my closeness with Emmett came after the breakup. She'd always been a little weird, and the other students tended to avoid her at school, but everyone agreed that she was perfectly nice. Alice had always made me feel welcome amongst the Cullens and for that, I was grateful.

She hugged me back, gently but securely, before breaking away to point over my shoulder.

"I don't suppose that monster has anything to do with these missing women?" Alice guessed hopefully, pinching her nose. "I'd love to dispose of it and its stink."

"That's Paul," I clarified, shaking my head. Alice didn't truly mean any harm- but I couldn't let myself forget the guttural hatred between vampires and werewolves. "He's got a bit of a temper, but he's okay."

"Mm, seems like a safe match up," Alice rolled her eyes, "The family himbo versus the pack hothead."

I snorted a laugh, turning back to the scuffle just in time to see Jake and Embry shifting. They circled Paul and Emmett, preparing to jump in if necessary, but the need never arose. Seemingly out of nowhere, Paul was let go and promptly shifted back.

"Rematch," Paul growled, wiping spit from his mouth. "I want a rematch."

"So I can embarrass you again?" Emmett teased, brushing the dirt off of his pale pink t-shirt. "Anytime, Lil Bow Wow."

Paul snarled, his mouth already open to fire something back, but I didn't give him the chance.

"Emmett!" I exclaimed, drawing his attention away from Paul's sputtering face. His eyes finally found me, his entire face lighting up when they did.

"Bella!" Quick as a flash, Emmett was on the deck with us, sweeping me into an over the top, dramatic hug. My feet kicked out in surprise, trying desperately to get my body back on solid ground. Emmett was having none of it, jostling me like I weighed no more than a throw pillow. "Have you gotten smaller somehow?"

"Shut up," I complained, fixing my hair as he set me down. Jake appeared in my peripheral vision, looking a few shades short of furious. I gave him a subtle wink, and while that did soften the irritated line in his forehead, it didn't dispel his frown. Jake was always a bit jealous, but I guessed it would be a lot worse now that we were dating. Perhaps it had something to do with his alpha heritage. "Are you guys okay?"

"What?" Emmett laughed, a loud, booming sound that was almost as infectious as Jake's. I always thought they'd be great friends in another lifetime. "Me? Hurt by ol' Clifford over there?"

"If you hadn't ambushed me," Paul grumbled, "you wouldn't stand a chance."

"Any time, any place," Emmett boasted, slinging his arm casually over my shoulders. I suspected he'd caught my little exchange with Jake, as he turned us around to face him with just a touch too much innocence in his expression, tugging me against his torso. "To be fair to me, I thought it was Jakey Boy here coming through the door."

"Smart," Jake raised an eyebrow, sizing Emmett up. I wondered what the likelihood was of him throwing a punch. "You knew you couldn't take me without the element of surprise."

"More like I thought you'd have a fighting chance if you were afraid for your life," Emmett taunted, "but maybe I had the wrong target. From the smell of it-"

Emmett paused to bury his nose in my hair, inhaling deeply.

"-If I wanted you to have a sporting chance, I should've jumped Short Straw over here." A wicked grin split Emmett's face, resting his cheek on the top of my head. "You two have been getting a little cozy while I've been gone, hmm?"

"Careful, leech," Jake smirked, his jaw tight, "that's one button you don't want to push."

"Wanna bet?"

I rolled my eyes, already bored of the chest thumping.

"Can we focus, please?" Alice interjected suddenly, apparently as bored as I was. "We have a room full of people that still think someone's getting attacked by a bear- of all things- eighty missing women, and a murder mystery that has 'vampire' written all over it. We have work to do."

"Alright, alright," Emmett sighed, letting me go. I stifled a laugh at the way Jake's shoulders relaxed. "You said you had a body? Where is it?"

"Boathouse," I pointed, "just over the hill there. You can't miss it."

"And you're sure it was a vampire?" Alice frowned, thinking hard. I knew from experience that her gift of prediction didn't work when werewolves were involved, but that didn't make her useless. Alice was incredibly smart even without her gift. "You smelled it?"

Jake nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Not one I've met before," Jake admitted, furrowing his brows. "I don't think they're related to you either. Completely different smell."

"Why would they be related to us?" Alice repeated, bewildered.

"Jake's just thinking out loud," I supplied, "right, Jake?"

"Sure, sure," he grimaced, "not like we've had issues with your family before or anything. Don't know why I'd jump to that conclusion."

Emmett shrugged, conceding the point. Alice just looked exasperated.

"We'll start tracking the vampire," she volunteered, tilting her head toward Emmett for confirmation. He dipped his chin. "You… wolves should stay here. Bella mentioned there was a human involved as well?"

"I did?" I blinked, trying to remember if I'd said anything about Corey. I must've, to Emmett at least, and he passed the information along to Alice. "We haven't seen him in a while. He ran off after we confronted him."

"You know what he smells like," Alice directed to Jake, "we don't. You can track him and keep an eye on the house. That makes the most sense."

"I wasn't arguing," Jake bristled, but he brought up an interesting point. Why wasn't he arguing? I'd never seen Jake go along with anyone else's plan so easily before, let alone one thought up by the very being he was built to destroy. It was a little… odd.

"Then it's settled," Alice clapped her hands together suddenly, bouncing off the steps in one almost invisible motion. It was still jarring, no matter how much time I'd spent around Edward, seeing firsthand how quickly vampires could move.

"I'll try and calm everyone down," I volunteered, still suspicious as to why Jake was being so cooperative but trying not to lose sight of the issue at hand. "I'll tell them… Well, I'm not sure what I'll tell them, but I'll think of something."

"Find out what Seth told them first," Embry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "He's not the best liar. He panics and it just sort of turns into word vomit."

"Maybe I should go in there instead," Emmett joked, a wicked grin on his face, "I happen to know a thing or two about bear attacks."

Alice slapped her palm to her face.

"Great," I sighed, already planning a couple of excuses that I could use. "Maybe when Leah's back we can-"

We all seemed to realise it at the same time, the second her name left my lips.

"Where's Leah?" Quil voiced what we were all thinking, instinctively turning to Alice and Emmett. "Did you see her? Was she here?"

"You're the only wolves we've seen since we got here," Alice assured everyone, trying to take control of the situation before tempers flared again. "We have no idea where Leah is."

"Or who she is," Emmett added, less than helpfully.

"She was due back almost an hour ago," Jake furrowed his brow, staring at the lock screen on his phone. I felt my heart skip, but I did everything I could to ignore it. Leah was one of the strongest, smartest, and most capable members of this Pack. Surely nothing could have happened to her without us knowing about it, right?

"I'm sure she's fine," Alice said soothingly, her full lips set in a slight frown. "We didn't hear anything strange on our way here. I'm sure she just lost track of time."

"Change of plans," Jake announced, all but ignoring Alice's reassurances. "Two of us will split off and track Leah. Seth and Bella will stay here, and the remaining two will track Corey."

"Don't tell Seth that Leah's missing," Embry directed at me, holding my gaze firmly. "If he knows his sister might be in danger, he'll be distraught and distracted. If he asks, tell him Leah's with us."

I nodded mutely, unease slithering in my stomach.

"Everyone exchange cell numbers," Alice instructed, not arguing Jake's proposed changes. Reluctantly, they passed around their phones. "Text or call with updates. And if you're coming back to the house, make sure to tell Bella."

"You sure you can hold down the fort?" Emmett jabbed me with his elbow, probably leaving a bruise. I rubbed the spot indignantly, glaring up at him. "What? You were never the slyest fox in the henhouse."

"I can handle it," I pouted, only making him chuckle at my expense. I rolled my eyes.

"Bella is more than capable," Alice smiled, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek. Jake stiffened again, and I couldn't supress my own smile. "Alright. Let's get going. The longer we're out here, the more worried they'll be getting inside."

Then, like smoke in a mild wind, Alice and Emmett vanished.

"We'll start after Leah," Quil volunteered, nodding at Paul. Paul dipped his head in agreement. "When we find her, we'll double back and catch up to you guys."

At Jake's assent, Quil and Paul disappeared into the trees.

"Corey's scent is a bit weaker now, but we should be able to follow it well enough." Embry hopped the railing, scanning the trees with focussed eyes. "We should be able to catch up to him in an hour or two, if we're lucky."

"Be careful," I said to both of them, but my gaze lingered on Jake. He slipped his hand gingerly into mine, squeezing my fingers comfortingly.

"We'll be back before you can miss us," Embry promised, winking. "And then you and I can resume our never-ending battle for Jake's affection."

"Bring it on," I teased back, "I can think of three things I have that you don't that give me a definite advantage."

I stretched, conveniently pushing my chest out to prove my point. Embry coughed out a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. Jake was laughing too, although not as enthusiastically as I would've liked.

"Be careful, please?" He whispered against the top of my head, his arm going around me in a half-hug. I promised him that I would be, hugging him back but letting go quickly, not wanting to linger. If I acted like I was worried, then Jake would worry. Well, more than he would normally, anyway. For his sake, I had to be ok with this. I had to. "I'll text you as soon as we find anything. And call me if anything happens."

"I will," I vowed, looking back over my shoulder at the house. "Seth's here with me. I'll be fine."

"You'd better be," Jake threatened, pressing a hard kiss against my lips. I kissed him back just as fiercely, until Embry whistled from the driveway. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Jake's eyes met mine, communicating some unspoken fear that I couldn't bring myself to examine, and then he was gone.

.

When I finally got back inside, it was utter mayhem.

"Bella!" Angie launched herself from the couch, ducking under Seth's outstretched arms, and collided with me. "Are you okay? What happened with the bear? What was all that noise?"

Her hair was an absolute mess, her eyes wide and fearful. I tried to glean any information from Seth, but he looked as lost as I was. I suspected that he hadn't said anything at all after I burst through the front door.

"We're all fine," I promised, directing my attention between Mike, Eric, and Jess too. "I swear, no one got hurt."

"What happened?" Angie demanded again, her grip like a vice on my arm. My brain scrambled to make something up, something believable. I looked to Seth again for help, but he offered none.

"Leah got up to get a drink, which woke me up," I started slowly, trying to stick as close to the truth as I could, "and we heard a noise outside. It was like a banging sound, but we didn't want to go investigate with everything that's been going on."

Angie slowly began to nod along. Good sign. Believable. This was going well.

"So, we woke Paul," I continued, gaining confidence with every word. "We knew he'd go check it out. But when he opened the door, he couldn't see anything, so he stepped outside."

Seth was watching me too, eyes wide with nerves. I swallowed.

"The door opening woke up Jake and Embry," I added, "and they told me and Leah to stand back while they helped Paul, but before they could get outside we heard this awful roar and Paul yelled back that there was a bear trying to get into the bedroom window."

"Oh my God," Jess held her hand over her chest, worriedly eying the hallway with the bedrooms. "Is he okay? Did the bear see him?"

"He's okay," I reiterated, my heart pounding a million miles a minute. "But the bear did see him. It started to charge, and that's why we all ran outside. To try to scare it off."

"Are they still out there?" Angie raced to the window, but this time we didn't bother to stop her. There was nothing to see.

"No, well, yes-" I stammered, thinking hard. "The bear is gone, but the guys and Leah took the van to try and track down a wildlife office. They called, but the number wasn't in service or something."

It was weak. Very weak. But it was the closest thing to a 'good' explanation that I could come up with. Except that I couldn't explain why the van was still in the driveway if Jake and the others had taken it into town. I just had to hope that no one went outside long enough to notice.

"They told us to stay inside in case it came back," I shrugged, trying to sound genuine. I had no idea if it was working. "Jake said he'll text me when they get everything sorted."

"Missing women and bears?" Mike groaned, collapsing back onto his mattress. "This is officially the worst vacation ever. Why didn't you tell us there were bears around here, Ang?"

My heart nearly stopped. I'd almost forgotten that Angie would know if bears were an uncommon sight in these woods. I turned to her, afraid of what I'd see, but she was staring at the ground with an embarrassed blush on her cheeks.

"I didn't think I had to," she murmured, twisting her t-shirt in her hands. "I haven't seen one here since I was nine, but they've broken our garbage boxes a couple of times. I didn't think we had to worry about them."

I blinked, surprised at my own luck.

The conversation shifted then, to the others telling their own stories about bear encounters. Seth was able to sneak over to me, asking the other question I was dreading having to answer.

"What happened?"

I explained as best I could, everything from Emmett and Alice showing up, to how the groups divided themselves. I took Embry's advice though, implying that Leah had gone with them instead of Quil and Paul currently looking for her. If Seth thought I was being dishonest, he didn't show it. On the contrary, he visibly relaxed.

"As much as I don't like the Cullens," he shrugged, giving me a half-smile, "they're good at what they do. I think this is finally almost over, Bella."

Despite the apprehension forming in my gut, I agreed with him.

One way or the other, this nightmare was almost over.

Follow, Favourite, Review!