Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer not me.
Author/Note 1: This story is the sequel of Our Dawn 5. For the ones who don't know anything about Our Dawn Series, you can always read Our Dawn 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and Our Dawn Series Specials but if you don't want to bother I have a resume on my profile page. As it would be expected this is a next generation story and as such, it's focused on Jake and Leah's children.
A/Note 2: A huge thank you for everyone who reviewed Our Dawn Series so far.
A/Note 3: I'm not a native English speaker so I'm sorry for my grammar and spelling. Thank you for reading.
Alpha
Book III – The Challenger
William Black
44. Gone
What. The. Hell.
I was still processing Rhea's last words when my phone started ringing. I didn't want to pick up that call, especially because it could be my father. After all I had missed patrol last night and I was supposed to take Quinn to Gary's house this morning so he could meet his kid sisters. However a lecture was definitely the last thing I wanted to hear right now, so I let it ring until it stopped.
"How do you know about the imprint?" I asked Rhea who was still staring at the orange flames with a blank expression.
"So it is true." She commented.
"Who told you?"
Before she could answer my question, my cell phone started ringing again. I took it out of my pocket to turn it off but then I saw that it was Harry. He knew I was with Rhea so if he was calling me again, that meant that something had happened.
"What is it?" I answered the call, never diverting my eyes from Rhea.
"There's a situation. You better come home now."
"It's not the right time Harry. I'm in the middle of something important so if no one is dying I'm not going to…"
"Lex is gone." He cut me off.
"What do you mean?" I asked surprised. I really wasn't expecting to hear him speaking about Lex right now. I knew she had been calling my house regularly asking about me. I had intentionally ignored her text messages because I didn't know how to deal with her.
I had given my word to Josiah that we would meet again this week so he could speak to my father though I wasn't particularly thrilled about it. I knew what he wanted. He wanted to be sure his daughter was in good hands before giving us his blessing.
I shuddered a little. I didn't want Josiah's blessing. To have his blessing was almost the same as becoming engaged to his daughter and that was something I wasn't looking forward to because all I really wanted was to break up with Lex and be with Rhea instead.
"I mean she disappeared. Josiah said she left a note saying she was coming to see you but that was yesterday afternoon. She hasn't called Josiah or any of her friends ever since she left. He's worried. And she obviously didn't reach her destination."
"Has he contacted the authorities?"
"Yes but you have to wait 48 hours to report a missing person. I have a bad feeling about this, Will."
So did I. I wasn't surprised to know that Lex had suddenly left Seattle to meet me without discussing it first with her father because she had always been impulsive and Josiah would probably stop her from coming here but not picking up her phone or calling back her father back was weird.
"I'll be there in a minute." I promised hanging up. My conversation with Rhea would have to wait. "I have to go. Can you stay here until I come back?" I asked Rhea who had been gazing at the horizon the whole time I'd been on the phone with Harry.
"Maybe." She shrugged. Her voice was unsure and it trembled in the end. She wasn't crying but she was definitely upset.
"It's important we finish this talk Rhea." I pressed.
"Your secrets are more important though." She retorted.
"Apparently it's not a secret anymore." I commented. "Can you please promise you'll be here when I come back?" I insisted once more.
She nodded silently. I couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling about me right now and that was not a good sign. I also didn't know if she was going to keep her word but Lex needed help so I had to leave.
I have a bad feeling about this. I thought worriedly while I backed away from Rhea.
What if she couldn't keep our secret and told her mother? What if she decided to leave anyways now that she knew about the imprint? How would she react when I told her that the mark on her neck was a permanent bond between us? What would she do after seeing me phase?
"And try not to burn anything else." I called as I opened the door to leave. "Just be here. Please." I had no idea if she had heard my last words but at least she didn't rush to her room when I left which would've been a clear indication she wanted to get the hell out of La Push as soon as possible.
On my way home my head was travelling at the speed of light. I needed to clear things up with Rhea and find out what she knew about us and how she had learned about it but I couldn't just abandon Lex. Josiah would never forgive me if I didn't help finding his daughter.
With Caleb's help the police was able to find Lex's car on a secondary road in Fork's outskirts two hours after Harry picked up Josiah's stressed phone call. Now it was real. We really had a situation in our hands because Lex's disappearance couldn't be a coincidence with so many vampires in the area.
Caleb let us inspect the vehicle before the police arrived. The car was working and there were no signs of violence which meant the police would have a hard time trying figuring out what happened.
"They're not going to find fingerprints or even footprints in the area." Harry said. "Whoever took her knew what he was doing."
"How do you know she was taken? What if she's doing this to call your attention?" Caleb asked. The three of us were surrounding Lex's car. Our deductions were useful to Caleb since we could see, hear and smell things that not even the best police detectives could.
"She wouldn't do that besides a leech was here. His scent is weird though" I informed.
"Can it be the same vampire that was after your girl?" Caleb questioned. "I mean the other girl… The White one…"
It was hard to hide things from people in La Push. The Reservation was a small place where all the people knew each other so I wasn't surprised that Caleb Lowrey, an ex-wolf and Sam's cousin, knew the rumours about Rhea and me.
"Rhea's not my girl." I said. "Can we focus on Lex please?"
"But there was a vampire after her, right?" Caleb insisted. "He wasn't captured, was he?"
"No. But his scent was different." Harry explained.
"So, another vampire took this girl. If he didn't leave footprints that means he used the trees to escape, right?"
"Yes. There are marks up in those trees over there." Harry pointed to his left. "You know what you have to do right?"
"Sure but I don't think any of my colleagues will suspect that she was taken by a vampire." That was Caleb's primary goal: to make sure the existence of vampires, werewolves and shapeshifters remained a secret. "I have to warn you though…" He turned to me. "You'll be called in for interrogation. She was your girlfriend and her father will confirm that she was coming to see you so… you better be prepared."
"Will I be arrested?"
"The lack of substantial evidence will probably prevent the police to draw any conclusions about who took her. Besides the car's inspection will come out clean and won't give them anything to work with."
"That gives us the time to find her." Harry announced.
"Still… William is going to be the primary suspect for a while." He said. "Do you have an alibi?"
Yes, I did but telling the police that I was sleeping with another girl while my current girlfriend was missing would only make me look guiltier.
"Yes, he has an alibi." My brother informed. "Still we would appreciate if you didn't mention Rhea White in any occasion during this investigation."
"Okay. I won't. Now… you better go find the girl. I'll try to give you a couple of hours, alright?"
"Thanks, Caleb." Harry and I said at the same time.
We left to the woods where we started drawing up a plan to find Lex. We didn't want to tell the pack what was happening because they would make a storm out of it and mum and dad would probably forbid me to go search for her. They would also find out about what happened between Rhea and me last night.
"If we phase the others will know." Harry pointed out.
"But if we don't, we'll take more time finding her." I concluded.
"We have to call Isaac."
Harry was right. Isaac could phase without drawing attention because he wasn't connected to the pack's mind link.
"He can't do this alone." I said.
"Well… it's a good thing that Isaac has a pack of his own, isn't it?"
xxxxxxxxxx
EJ Lahote was the biggest fucking asshole on the face of the planet. Uncle Paul should've sent him to the Military when he had the chance.
We had met Isaac's pack plus Quinn to ask their help and to explain briefly what was going on – I skipped the part about spending the night with Rhea – so they could start looking for Lex immediately.
Isaac calculated the approximate distance they would have to cover considering the speed that a vampire could run carrying a human girl. It was nice having a super gifted brother after all. We were about to leave the Vacant House when we were suddenly surprised by EJ who demanded to be included in the plan too.
"I thought he was at home." I turned to Danny.
"He was when I left." Danny shrugged.
"So… are you going to take me along or should I have a talk with Uncle Jake?" EJ grinned.
"I thought you didn't want anything to do with the pack or our activities." I recalled. We had all heard him yesterday. "You said you wanted your life back. We're granting you that wish. You can go home or do whatever you do with your stupid friends."
"I want to go and I don't have any explanations to give you." He groaned.
"I beg to differ. You're doing this just to piss me off." I took a step forward to face him but Harry placed himself between us.
"You're not my father William! You're not even my friend!"
"And whose fault is that, you shithead?"
"This is not the time to fight guys." Harry said. "We have no time to waste in petty arguments."
"You can come." Isaac decided. "You'll stay with me the whole time. Okay?"
"I'm not your bitch, Isaac. You can't tell me what to do."
"Look asshole, my girlfriend was taken by a freaking vampire! We have to find her before he hurts her. If you want to help, fine… If you don't, just go home." I half-yelled.
EJ looked at me intensively and then he started to undress, copying the others.
"If he tries anything stupid you can always give him an alpha command." I whispered before Isaac could phase. He nodded and then five huge wolves appeared before us.
EJ was the biggest of the group and his younger brother Danny was the smallest. They also presented different fur colourings. While EJ was dark grey with a few black marks around his hind legs, Danny was silver grey and had white rings of fur in his tale and neck which made it look like he was wearing a necklace.
Jay was dark brown except for his ears and legs which were sandy-coloured. As for Quinn, he was mostly black while Isaac was almost a copy of our father's wolf form only smaller.
Taking the lead, Isaac entered the forest with the rest of his pack. He ordered Danny and Jay to go left while his group went right. That way they could cover more ground.
Let the games begin. I thought joining my brother in his car. With our super eyesight and hearing abilities we could follow Isaac and his pack by car.
"What do you think they want from Lex?" Harry asked me.
"I don't know." I answered worriedly. I had no idea what was going on. According to Rhea the vampire that had contacted her said he knew me which meant he was actually after me. But this vampire was not the same one. Their scents were different. The only thing in common they had was that they were both after my girlfriends.
"We have to think about all possibilities…" Harry directed me a sad glance. He didn't have to explain what he was thinking about. I knew well enough that vampires only captured humans with one objective: to feed.
But what were the odds of a hungry vampire turning up in La Push's area and pick my girlfriend as his prey? Besides if he was that hungry for blood he would've probably attacked her on the spot, right?
"They found a track." Harry told me. "Jay and Danny joined Isaac's group again."
"Isaac really knows what he's doing." I commented.
"I never doubted his abilities."
"Yeah, but he's just a kid and he never really fought a leech. The same goes for the others."
"That's what we're here for. If they come across with the leech, we'll step in."
I nodded. If Isaac's pack found the damn leech that had taken Lex, I wasn't going to let him get away.
"Do you want to talk about Rhea?" My brother asked after a few seconds of silence between us.
"Not really…" I admitted. "I'm really not in the mood for lectures. Besides Lex's in danger because of me… I'm not even sure if I should be thinking about Rhea right now."
"Did you sleep with her?"
I looked at my brother while he drove. Usually Harry wasn't this blunt.
"You know I did." I sighed. "But…"
"It's fine, Will. You don't have to say anything else. That was all I needed to know." He sounded a bit angry and I didn't really know why. Was he jealous? Or was he just disappointed because I had messed up again?
"She knows." I told him after a while. "About us." Now it was Harry's turn to look at me.
"You told her?"
"Of course not." I replied. "I thought it was you."
"Me? Why would I tell her?"
"I don't know." I shrugged.
"Shit…" Harry cursed. "Do you think she can keep it a secret?"
I shrugged one more time. I hoped so but I wasn't sure.
"If the Whites find out…" Harry didn't finish his sentence because in that moment we heard a distant howl.
"Can you see them?" I asked, searching the forest on my right while Harry was looking left.
"The forest is too thick but I think I know where they are."
Highway 101 was practically deserted since it was still early in the morning and it was Sunday so Harry sped up going over the speed limit. He kept driving south until we reached the sign 'Welcome to Bogachiel State Park'.
Another howl erupted. We were getting closer. Since we would have to pay fifteen dollars to enter the Park, we decided to leave the car hidden in the lush vegetation and we went the rest of the way on foot.
We passed by several camping sites where people were getting up and leaving towards the restrooms. A few RVs were leaving the Park since the heavy rains would start soon. Three hikers were returning from the middle of the forest and we heard them talking about the possibility of photographing wolves later in the day.
We took a detour from the hiking trail and went towards the Bogachiel River north bank. We spotted Isaac and the others ahead. A small tent was there and it seemed to have been left behind in a hurry.
"I believe this is Lex's cell phone." Isaac gave me the pink iPhone. It was Lex's new phone. Her old one was orange but it had been chewed by her dog Corky so she had to buy a new one.
"She was here." I mumbled. "We're close."
"She definitely spent the night inside this tent." Isaac announced.
"Where's EJ?" Harry asked when he noticed our cousin was missing.
"I'm here." EJ called behind a tree. "A guy can't take a piss in peace anymore?" He complained.
"Asshole." I whispered.
"I heard that." He spat.
"It's good to know you're not deaf."
"Guys…" Isaac and Harry said in unison.
"Just focus." Isaac suggested.
"Yeah, you better focus Will. Stop being a jerk and start preparing your speech." EJ said darkly. "You'll have to break the news to her family soon."
"What are you talking about?" I growled.
"It's quite obvious that your girlfriend is dead. She was taken by a vamp. I'm pretty sure that he didn't take her just to have a chat."
"She's not dead." Harry said holding my arm and preventing me to attack EJ. "A vampire doesn't bring a tent and makes a fire for someone he's going to kill. Whoever took her is keeping her alive."
"You're both in denial." EJ argued. "I've never seen a real-life vampire but I've seen Isaac and Jay's memories and I'm positive that vampires don't give a crap to humans unless they want to feed or if said human is somehow special. Is your girlfriend special, Will? I'm pretty sure she's good in bed but does she have other… gifts?"
I clenched my fists.
"That's what I thought." EJ grinned. "She's dead, end of story. Let's go back."
I reiterate: EJ Lahote is the biggest fucking asshole on the face of this planet.
"EJ's right. We have to go back now!" Isaac said suddenly, leaving all of us surprised.
"No! Come on… we have to keep going. We need to find Lex." I countered. "She was here only a few hours ago."
"We have to go back, Will." Isaac insisted. "Because the vamp was not after your girlfriend… he was after yours." He turned to Harry who was as stunned as I was. "This was all a misunderstanding."
Isaac was really smart and super intelligent but sometimes I couldn't understand the logic of his words.
"Speak English, Isaac!" I demanded.
"Harry's girlfriend is the one with a gift, right? She can take away vampires' special abilities. Alice said she's going to be hunted down by the Italian vampires. And they came for her but they took the wrong girl."
Harry and I exchanged a worried look as we finally understood what Isaac was saying.
Since the Italians couldn't enter our lands without permission, they had probably hired some other vamp, a vegetarian one, to go there and take Season but the damn leech had taken the wrong person.
"We have to go back." Harry announced heading back to the car. "Season's in danger."
"It's obvious that we'll never be able to locate Lex and her captor now. He took her by boat probably during the first light of dawn and they could have disembarked anywhere. It will take us hours to find their tracks again on the other side of the river." Isaac was right, of course, but I was still reluctant about abandoning the searches. It didn't feel right.
"What about Lex?" I questioned. "What will happen to her when they realise she's the wrong girl?"
No one answered my question because we all knew what would happen to Lex when the Italians discovered she wasn't the person they were looking for.
EJ's right. I thought nervously. Lex's as good as dead.
xxxxxxxxxx
The fact that I had agreed to return to La Push didn't mean I was going to forget about Lex. I was going to speak to the Cullens as soon as I had the chance. Maybe Alice could help me out locating Lex and her captor. It would be harder now that Lex had left her cell phone behind but I would go get her by myself if I had to.
Harry had sent Isaac and his pack ahead to warn whoever was on patrol duty about the need to protect Season as soon as possible. In the meantime we were going to find and talk to our father. We didn't have to search though because when we arrived home, mum and dad were arriving too.
They looked at us and I saw mum flinch which made my suspicions grow. I knew something was going on and by the look on Harry's face he was thinking the same.
We were surprised to see the house empty.
"Where's everyone?" Harry asked, visibly worried about Season.
"We just took them to Billy's house. Our backyard is a bit small for a barbeque." Mum informed. "Where have you been?"
"Out." I answered vaguely. Fortunately mum didn't press the subject.
"We need to talk." Dad said getting inside the house. We followed him. I had no idea how to start explaining the latest events but I couldn't stall anymore because in a few hours or even minutes, Josiah and the police would come around making questions.
"Something happened." Harry whispered to me when we entered the living room. I simply nodded.
"We had a visitor." Mum started. "Alice was able to have a glimpse of a vampire entering our lands and warned us in the last minute."
So they knew about the vampire who had taken Lex. It was actually a good thing. Now all of the pack could help in the searches.
"We couldn't catch him or prevent what happened." Dad concluded. "We're trying to tell you that…"
"I already know. We got a call too and we tried to follow his tracks." I said. "We went as far as Bogachiel State Park but we lost him in the river bank. Can you summon the pack so we can continue searching?"
"How did you find his tracks? We weren't even able to feel him arriving." Dad questioned with surprise.
"Isaac's a pretty good tracker. Sam finally has some competition." Harry announced and I saw dad smiling with pride.
"Could we focus on what's important, please? A vampire just took my girlfriend and they're probably on their way to Italy right now!"
"Italy?" Mum and dad asked in unison.
"It's where the Volturi live, right?"
"How do you know it's the Volturi?" Dad questioned unsure.
"It has to be. They're the ones after Harry's girl." I said impatiently.
"They got the wrong person." Harry supplied.
"Are you sure about this?" Mum inquired raising her eyebrows.
"It's just a theory but it makes sense." Harry explained.
"We need to mobilise the pack." I pressed on.
"And do what? Take our passports and book a flight to Italy?" Dad began pacing back and forth. "We can't do that. We can't start a war without knowing the Volturi are involved for sure. We'll talk to the Cullens first so they can confirm your theory and then we'll decide what to do. In the meantime we need to contain the damages and speak to her family."
"Her father is probably on his way and the police will be here soon." Harry announced.
"It's not her father that worries me." Mum stated. "It's her mother."
"Her mother lives in Russia." I looked at them confused. "And she doesn't care about Lex that much."
"Russia?"
"Yes, mum. Lex's mother lives in Russia. She moved there when Lex was just a kid."
"Lex? You mean the girl from Seattle? The one you said you broke up with?"
"Yes! Who else?" I raised my voice.
"You weren't talking about Lex?" Harry asked.
"No. We don't know anything about Lex. We were talking about Rhea." Mum confessed.
And that's when all hell broke loose.
xxxxxxxxxx
Our small trip to Bogachiel State Park took exactly forty-three minutes. During those forty-three minutes two important things happened in La Push: first Rhea decided to leave despite promising me she would wait until my return so we could speak about last night, and second a filthy bloodsucking leech had entered our lands almost undetected and had snatched Rhea from her car only a few miles down the same road where Lex's car was left abandoned.
Jared had found the empty vehicle and had brought it back to the reservation so that the police wouldn't find it. Apparently Alice's warning didn't give the pack enough time to prepare a strategy to catch the leech.
Knowing that Rhea was in the hands of the enemy triggered my telekinetic ability and if it weren't for Harry, I would've destroyed the house. Luckily my brother's talent controlling my powers had improved considerably over the years.
Still, five minutes was enough time to destroy a chair and several objects that were in the living room. When I was finally calm enough to listen to his voice, he forced me to sit down on the couch and held my head in his hands, forcing me to look at him.
"Hang in there, Will." He whispered.
"I thought you had your brother under control." Dad told Harry. "All those sessions with Edward and Jasper…"
"You knew?" Harry asked surprised breaking eye-contact with me for a second.
"Of course we knew." Dad admitted. "I know you better than you know yourselves."
Harry, who was kneeling down in front of me, got up and faced dad.
"Why didn't you tell us you knew?" He looked from dad to mum.
"You said you wanted some privacy, you didn't want the pack to know everything about your personal lives so we thought we should let you keep a few secrets from us." She confessed apologetically.
"What else do you know?" I asked when I finally felt calm enough to speak.
"We know about the boat." Mum admitted.
"Cheney's boat?" Harry asked.
"Yes."
Harry and I exchanged a look and then we all laughed.
Cheney Mullet was a drunken idiot who kept taking Granddad Billy's boat into the sea without permission because his fleet consisting on three boats were all disintegrating and he didn't have money to repair them. Actually he did have the money only he would rather spend it on booze.
Whenever he was confronted with that fact he always had an excuse. One of those excuses was that Granddad Billy had lent him the boat, which was a lie. Another one was that an old man like Granddad shouldn't have a boat since he was a handicap.
One day, five years ago, he decided to keep granddad's boat permanently. He changed the boat until it was unrecognisable so no one could ever prove that that was Granddad Billy's boat. Dad had made us promise we would not interfere in the issue but Harry and I decided we had to, especially when we heard rumours that Cheney was selling the boat to some other guy.
We had a heated argument with him near the docks, and when he finally left, I used my telekinetic power to make the boat magically disappear. The small craft flew a few meters up in the air, hit the water hard and sunk quickly. Then we bought granddad a new boat for Christmas.
"What are we going to do about Rhea?" I asked turning the atmosphere darker again.
"We'll get her back. But first we need to know about the other girl." Mum said.
"The Italian vamps are after Season. Just like Alice predicted, they came for her but they took the wrong girls." Harry concluded.
"Are you saying that Rhea and Lex were both taken by the Volturi?" Mum inquired.
Harry and I nodded.
"That's not possible. They can't enter our lands. They know what happens if they break our agreement. I'm sure Aro doesn't want a war in his hands right now." Dad commented.
"They're using vegetarian vampires to do their dirty work." I announced. "At least that's what Isaac thinks. And it makes sense. This way they won't be directly involved in the kidnaps."
"Call Alice again. Tell her about everything." Dad said turning to mum who left shortly after. "Now you…" He turned to Harry. "Gather everyone. Including the White pack. I don't care if they're in the middle of something important. I want all of them here in two hours."
Harry nodded and left too.
"We should be out there looking for them." I said.
"We have to prepare our next move very carefully because if Alice confirms your theory, we won't have a choice but to fight the Volturi until we get those girls back."
"I messed up again." I whispered. I think that for the first time in many years I was sincerely regretting my decisions. "I should've told Lex that we were over and I shouldn't have left Rhea alone this morning."
"We have to find a plausible story to justify Rhea's disappearance. Jared hid her car deep in the woods but the Whites will alert the police eventually."
"No they won't." I stated. "Rhea and her mother had an argument about her father. She didn't want to invite him for the wedding but her mother went to speak to him anyways. We can say that Rhea left after an argument."
Dad thought about it for a while and finally agreed. Ever since Verena White had returned home with her daughter years ago, Rhea had refused to visit her dad. It was no secret that she had harboured a profound hate towards her father.
"It might work." He said. "What about her fiancé? Will he believe this story?"
"I think so. Why wouldn't he?"
"He probably knows her better than anyone. He might doubt that she'd run away after a meaningless argument with her mother."
"I know her better than anyone. She's my mate!"
"You slept together twice. That's not something you can base a relationship on."
I looked down to the floor. The fact that dad knew I had slept with Rhea again was a bit embarrassing. Apparently two hundred yards were not enough distance to escape the wolves' super hearing powers.
"Wasn't that what you did too?" I retorted trying not to blush after having realised that all of the pack had heard Rhea and I having sex.
"I knew your mother all of my life. We grew up together. We knew each other inside out, we shared minds, we knew of each other's pain and regrets." Dad recalled. "I fell for her not because she was supposed to be my mate but because she is who she is. You and Rhea are a completely different case."
I didn't say anything. He was right. Our case was different. I had claimed her but was that even important? We had been apart for eight years. Eight years during which she had found a boyfriend and I had dated several girls too. There was definitely still a spark between us but it was nothing like mum and dad.
A wave of jealousy hit me when I realised that my previous relationships were almost as empty as seashells. Girls liked me because I was good looking, I was nice and because I was a car pilot. But none of them got to actually know me. It wasn't their fault, it was mine. I kept the real William hidden from them because I wasn't interested in a long-term relationship, because all I wanted from them was sex and a good time.
Now for the first time I understood that sex, parties and showing off my piloting skills and my cars was not enough. Bonding with someone was more than that. Having a girlfriend meant more than that. Going out with someone should be more than partying at a club or having sex in a fancy hotel.
I had finally realised I wanted what dad had. I wanted more than a pretty girl. I wanted a partner for life. My wolf had known that and he had tried to warn me about it but I had stubbornly denied those feelings and now Rhea was gone and an innocent girl could end up dead because of me. Because of my poor choices.
"I'll tell Quil to start the rumours about Rhea and Verena's argument. It won't sound convincing if we're the ones starting the gossips." Dad said pulling me out of my apathy. "Now you have to tell me about the other girl. I need to know everything about her and her family."
I nodded and I spent the next half an hour telling dad about my relationship with Lex and her father.
xxxxxxxxxx
I returned to the Bogachiel State Park to show dad where Lex's scent disappeared. Dad praised Isaac's ability to track down leeches. Apparently the kid really was better than Sam, who held the record of more successful tracking missions in the pack.
Caleb contacted us an hour later. Josiah was already with him at the police station in Forks. The first analysts to inspect the abandoned car would arrive soon. I was going to play the good boyfriend which meant I'd have to lie about Lex's whereabouts. If she died, guilt would eat me alive.
As expected I was called to give my statement that evening. Josiah was a wreck. I flinched when he hugged me as I arrived at the police station. Usually it didn't bother me to tell a few white lies to the police but lying to Josiah felt wrong in so many levels.
He was my friend, my coach and a good person.
"We'll find her." I told the older man when I left the interrogation room. All the police officers in Forks knew I was practically Charlie Swan's grandson so they had no reason to believe I was connected to Lex's disappearance however once the case started to cool off, Chief Clifford Bates would be forced to call higher powers to help the investigation and if the Feds came here we would be in trouble.
"I told her to wait until you called but she really wanted to show you that damn dress." Josiah told me. He had black marks under his yes, indicating he hadn't slept much.
"What dress?"
"The one for your friend's wedding. She wouldn't rest until finding the perfect dress to wear."
I had almost forgot that Rhea had invited Lex for her wedding. It was a bit ironic that both girls were now missing.
"She said that you were going to love it." Josiah let a few tears roll down his face.
"Lex's beautiful. She looks good in any dress."
"That's what I told her." He sobbed. "Where's my baby girl?"
"She's strong. She'll be fine." I lied.
"I know but what if a psycho took her? What if he's hurting her? I should be there to protect her."
The vamps were not going to hurt Lex until she met Aro. If they're intention was to kill her, they would've left her body in the car on the side of the road. However once she arrived in Italy, Aro would probably know that Lex was the wrong girl and because she would know too much, he would probably opt to kill her.
"I'll find her." I assured him. And I meant it with all my heart. I wanted to find Lex and Rhea and bring them back safely. "Do you have a place to stay?"
"Yeah. Police officer Lowrey arranged for that. I'll be staying in a small inn in town just around the block."
"Good." I searched Caleb with my eyes to thank him but he was back in his office consulting with other police officers. In a few hours this would turn into a kidnap and a man hunting case. Pictures of Lex would be all over the news. "You should go try to rest for a couple of hours. You won't help anyone if you fall from exhaustion."
Josiah nodded and left with two young officers.
"She's going to be home soon, won't she?" He questioned before getting inside the car.
"Sure. She'll be home before you notice." I tried to sound convincing. He just smiled.
"You have to find her before the media begins to arrive." Caleb warned coming up behind me. And he was right. The media would give a new dimension to the case and would also expose us all to the world.
The searches in the surrounding areas were proved to be a failure though. Dogs and men couldn't find any tracks of Lex or her captor. Known to be excellent hunters and trackers, Sam, Jared and Uncle Paul, who worked for the Forest Guard, were called in to help. Uncle Paul had to decline for he was supposed to be recovering from a broken leg, who had already healed.
I was packing a small bag with a few clothes and canned food. The police would never solve this case and time was running short. Besides the packs were still reunited at Granddad's house.
After returning from Forks Police Station, I had been ordered to stay put but that was not my nature. I wasn't going to sit on my ass waiting for the packs to decide what to do.
"Tell my brother I'll contact him soon." I told Quinn, who was looking at me with a concerned look on his face. Right now Quinn was the only one at our house. Harry had escorted his girlfriend and her family back to the Makah Reservation so they could pick up some stuff since they were going to move to La Push temporarily.
"We're supposed to wait until the meeting is over." He said. "You heard your uncle."
"I was never good taking orders plus I'm sick and tired of waiting."
"Is it true that you're dating both of them?"
"Who told you that?"
"EJ."
It figures. I thought angrily. EJ was going to get his ass kicked again if he couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"I was dating Lex. But I was breaking up with her because…"
"You claimed the other girl." Quinn finished for me. "What does it mean… to claim someone?"
"I don't have the time or patience to talk about that." I confessed. "You should ask your Uncle Sam."
He frowned. I guess he felt a bit intimidated about speaking to Sam Uley but who wouldn't? The guy wasn't the most warm or friendly member of the pack.
I was about to open the front door when the phone rang. I looked intently at Quinn but he didn't move.
"I'm not picking up." He stated. "I don't live here."
"Fine…" I let go of the bag I was holding and headed towards the small table where the phone was. "The Blacks are out. Please try again later. Beep." I said copying an answer machine.
"I believe you already noticed we took away something from you." A male voice came from the other side before I could hang up. "And I'm sure you think you can come and find her on your own."
"Who the fuck are you?" I growled. Quinn came to stand beside me.
"Don't bother looking for the girl. She's in good hands. If you behave she'll be returned to you untouched but only when all of this is over."
"Tell me who you are!" I demanded. "And bring them back now!"
He laughed slightly. "Knowing who I am won't help."
"It will. I always like to know the name of the person I'm going to kill."
"Such violence… pup." He laughed again a bit louder. "You really are your father's son."
Only a vampire would call me 'pup'. It had to be the damn Italians but I had never heard this voice before.
"You should set an example for a new and younger generation." He mocked me. "I'm sorry about messing with your fun… I mean I'm pretty sure you were already thinking about other places, besides the beach, to get laid but… we had our orders so…"
"Orders from whom?" I asked trying to ignore the fact that this leech had also seen me with Rhea at First Beach last night. But at least now I knew Rhea was with them and she was definitely alive.
"That's for me to know and you to find out." He joked.
"Let me talk to her!" I tried. "Please. I need to know she's alright."
"Trust me, she is."
"Trust you? You didn't even tell me who you are or who you're working with. Come on… if you want me to trust you, you have to let me hear her voice. That's all I need to hear… just her voice."
"Oh God… Love… it's fucking disgusting. That's why I'm over with it!" He complained. "Here! Talk to your boyfriend."
The leeche's voice was gone and it was replaced by Rhea's.
"Will! What's going on?"
I could feel the fear in her trembling voice.
"I'm coming for you. Don't worry. Tell me where you are."
"I don't know. I'm blindfolded."
"Did you go north or south?"
"I have no idea! Who are these people William? Why did they take me?"
"Don't worry. I'll find you I promise. Did they hurt you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. They didn't hurt me."
"How romantic…" The leech was back on the phone. "See? She's all fine and dandy. Now that you've spoken and all is good, I'm going to hang up."
"Wait! What about Lex? I want to talk to her too!" I ordered.
"Lex? I have no idea who Lex is pup… but let me give you some advice. One is good, two is too much. Know what I mean?"
The line went dead after that.
xxxxxxxxxx
Alice Cullen was someone you would never want to have as an enemy. She had this amazing ability to find out everything about your life in less than forty minutes.
Forty minutes ago I had interrupted the packs' meeting and announced that I had been contacted by the vampire who had Rhea hostage. Then we called the Cullens so Alice could do some investigation on her own. Now she was ready to share what she had found out.
"He's definitely a vampire but if he's a Volturi, he's one we never met. His voice isn't familiar to any of us. I even gave Eleazar the recorded conversation and he wasn't able to recognise the voice."
Eleazar was a member of the Denali coven, a family of vampires, who like the Cullens were also vegetarian. They were old acquaintances and we had a non-aggression pact with them too though they rarely travelled to our lands. Like Carlisle, Eleazar had once worked for the Volturi so he knew them better than us or the Cullens.
"He wasn't lying either." Alice continued referring to the leech that had called me. "He doesn't have the other girl with him which suggests…"
"That Lex is dead." I spoke out loud. That thought made me sick to my stomach.
"That the girls were taken by different vampires." Alice concluded. "She might still be alive, Will." She added with a comforting smile.
"Lex was forced out of the road and taken." Jasper explained. "Rhea seemed to have left her car on the side of the road and walked by herself into another car."
Before we all started making questions, Alice decided to offer her idea about the latest events.
"I agree with Isaac's theory about the vampires being after Harry's girlfriend. And it actually makes sense that both kidnappers got the wrong person. We know there was an unidentified vegetarian vampire after Rhea White…"
"Or after Will." Dad cut her off. "We couldn't be sure."
"We think he was after Rhea." Alice stated. "It happens that when they spoke the other day, she probably denied being William's girlfriend and that's why he probably didn't take her." Alice paused so we could take in what she had just said.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, let me explain why the vegetarian vamps took Lex." Rosalie announced coming inside the Cullen's living room with Emmett strolling in behind her. Alice pouted, clearly jealous of Rosalie getting the spotlight but she allowed her stepsister to continue. "As my super intelligent sister Alice suggested, Emmett and I went to check Lex's car. Officer Lowrey provided us access to the vehicle and we found out she had stopped for gas at the gas station where Hugh Walton works. We went there and asked a few questions. He told us he saw the girl and even spoke to her. When she saw Hugh was from La Push, she asked if he knew where the Blacks lived and she said she was William's girlfriend. Hugh gave her the information she asked for and when she left he noticed a woman and a man, pale and beautiful leaving after her."
"Can we trust Hugh?" Mum asked. "Let me remind you that the kid is drunk almost twenty-four seven."
"He was sober." Emmett attested.
Hugh Walton was a seventeen-year old troublemaker and school drop-out. He was also Clayton Moon's stepson. Prior to marrying our former pack mate Clayton, Jaya Walton had had a son. She was twenty-three at the time and even though she had never mentioned who Hugh's father was, we could all see that he had many resemblances with Tyler Miller, the local tattoo artist.
"And there was still the faint scent of vampires inside the establishment. We also found out why their scent is so weird." Rose announced.
"They're not really vegetarian." Emmett explained and it actually made sense. We had always noticed there was something wrong with their scent.
"So they went on an animal blood's diet to trick us?" Dad asked.
"Apparently." Emmett confirmed.
"That means they know us." Alice concluded. "They know that the La Push's pack doesn't attack vegetarian vampires."
"No offense guys but how does this help Rhea or Lex?" I questioned. "So what if different vampires took them? So what if one was taken by force and the other wasn't? They're still missing, they're still in danger. When the vamps realise they're not who they thought they were… they're both dead."
"Have a little bit of faith in us, kid." Carlisle said arriving with his wife. Esme was smiling brightly as she passed us by.
"When Rosalie and Emmett told us these vampires weren't vegetarian after all we figured they would have to be feeding on human blood somehow. Animal blood is never enough." Carlisle explained. "We would've noticed if they had attacked humans nearby. Since there were no reported attacks, we concluded they were must've used the black market so we contacted BB Ray and his supplier."
"Why?" I asked.
"BB Ray's supplier is the only blood supplier on the West Coast. And he did remember a vampire couple that ordered several units of blood in the past two weeks. He described them and gave us their names." Esme announced. "Ivan and Valerya… from Romania."
"Romania?" A choir of voices questioned.
"Are they connected to Dracula one and Dracula two?" Dad asked.
Dracula one and Dracula two were the nicknames of Vladimir and Stefan, the two sole survivors of the ancient Romanian coven that had been destroyed by the Volturi centuries ago. The last time we had heard of them, they had tried to help Joham and his werewolves' army to overpower the Italians by using Scarlett, a powerful vampire child. However, despite their efforts, Scarlett fell into the hands of Aro and his coven, and Joham got what he deserved for defying the Volturi: death.
As for the werewolves, they had escaped. A small group had entered our lands ten years ago. We weren't able to discover why they had attacked us back then but we knew there were many others who remained hidden. Those werewolves were savagely hunted by Aro and his coven ever since. The Italians believed that it was a matter of a decade or so until the Children of the Moon would be completely extinct.
"Probably." Carlisle admitted. "The Romanian ruled before the Volturi and Stefan and Vladimir always said they would take revenge. They waited centuries in the shadows and maybe now it's time for payback. After all they finally have a way to fight the Volturi on equal terms."
"How?" Mum asked.
"The Romanian coven lost against the Italians not because of the numbers but because of Aro's special guard."
"The twins…" Uncle Embry whispered, remembering Alec and Jane's amazing and horrifying gifts.
Carlisle nodded. "But now there's someone who can neutralise such powers."
Season. I thought of Harry's girlfriend. That was why everyone was after her. The Volturi wanted her dead, the Romanians wanted her alive to use her ability against their rivals.
"Is the girl being guarded?" Jasper wanted to know.
"Yes." Harry confirmed. He had arrived to La Push only a few minutes ago. "We have four wolves guarding her and her family as we speak."
"So we know that the Romanians faked being vegetarian to enter our lands undetected. We know they spoke to Rhea with the intention of probably kidnapping her but they didn't because she didn't confirm she was my girlfriend. We know they were at the gas station when Lex spoke to Hugh and that they took her." I summarised. "How can we get her back? And who took Rhea if not the Volturi?"
Alice and the other Cullens that were present looked to the clean-sparkling floor of their living room.
"I guess it's up us to save the day." Edward and Bella walked in holding hands. "We need time to investigate more about Rhea but we are almost a hundred per cent sure where the Romanians are keeping Lex."
We waited for his next words.
"Norway."
"Norway? Are you fucking kidding me? That's in a different continent." I couldn't help myself from lashing out. I didn't know the exact location of Norway but I knew it was somewhere in Europe, probably in the North.
"Norway, Maine." Edward laughed slightly.
"Oh…" Maine was still awfully distant but at least we wouldn't have to leave the country.
"Call the rest of pack, we need to discuss a trip to Maine." Dad announced turning to Quil.
"Wait a sec Jacob." Edward interrupted. "You can't go all to Maine on a whim…"
"I know that's why I'm going to leave a few wolves behind to protect the Rez and to keep an eye on Harry's girl."
"And what will you do when you get there?" Bella questioned with her hands on her hips. "Norway is not La Push."
"No offense Bella but we've been around for quite a while. We know what to do." Dad replied confidently.
"I think you should let us take care of this one." Edward said. "We know where they took her. It's an old house that belongs to Stefan since the nineteenth century."
"We don't need any address to locate the girl. William can pick up her scent. He will lead us to her. Norway can't be much bigger than Forks."
"Actually the town has 7,369 people, 5,598 households and 4,775 families." Emmett informed. Everyone in the room looked at him surprised.
"How the hell do you know that?" Mum asked voicing everyone's question.
"I googled it." Emmett waved his cell phone and grinned.
"Listen to me Jacob. We can go there discreetly. There's no need to risk exposure or to engage in battle. If we leave now, she'll be here for breakfast." Edward insisted.
"Besides, you need to focus on Rhea." Bella added. "We all know that getting Lex back is important but William won't function right without his mate."
After a few seconds, dad came to stand beside me.
"Your girl, your call." He said.
I was torn. I wanted to go and save Lex from those bastards. I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to stop feeling guilty but then there was Rhea whose whereabouts were still a mystery. And Rhea was my mate.
"Can you do it? Can you really bring Lex back safe and sound?" I asked Edward. He nodded affirmatively. "Okay… I'm going to entrust her to you." I decided. "We'll stay here protecting Season and trying to find clues about what happened to Rhea."
"I'll stay too." Alice said. "Will is going to need help finding Rhea and I have a friend who might help us out."
"Not Jean-Pierre." Jasper whined next to his wife. "Please, don't go to Jean-Pierre."
"He's not so bad, babe."
"I don't like it when you're alone with him. He's a pervert."
"You're so sexy when you're jealous." Alice teased. Jasper pouted.
"Can you please stop that?" Emmett made a face. "I mean we have kids in the house." He said looking at me. I flipped him the finger and he laughed.
"Can we send a wolf with them? At least that way we could know what's happening." I suggested. Dad nodded and before he could ask who wanted to go to Maine with the Cullens, Uncle Embry volunteered.
"We'll be in touch." Edward promised.
"You better be." I muttered under my breath.
xxxxxxxxxx
A few minutes after the Cullens and Uncle Embry left, Alice announced she was going to Portland to see Jean-Pierre, an old friend, and an expert in audio technology. She wanted him to work on the recorded conversation between me and the leech that had kidnapped Rhea. She had instructed me to wait for her return and promised she wouldn't take more than two hours. I wanted to go but she warned me that Jean-Pierre was a vampire with a very special temper.
He was rude and downright impolite. There was only a hand-full of vampires he actually tolerated and Alice was apparently one of them. She was certain that I would not be welcome in his house so I had no option but to join everyone at Granddad Billy's house. A barbeque was taking place there. Mum went to help Emily, Kim, Aunt Rachel and Aunt Becca preparing the food while the rest of us set the tables and the grills.
Lance and his pack had accepted to have lunch with us giving an opportunity to Aunt Gwen to be with her older brother without the interference of his wife, Nydia. Dominic and Nydia's marriage had once again been put to the test because a week ago, Alex Summers had phased. The White pack held an emergency meeting and they all realised that Alex was Dominic's bastard son.
"At least he didn't know he was the boy's father." Uncle Seth mentioned watching the Valens siblings whispering to one another. "He's such an asshole."
We all knew Uncle Seth didn't approve Dominic's conduct.
"Another bastard son, huh?" I commented. "You think he's the last one?"
"I doubt it." Came the immediate answer. "I think he was the first though. Since he became a wolf Dom said he would date and sleep with as much women as he could. Now this is what he gets from being an irresponsible prick."
"Well… we can't say the Valens aren't a big and happy family." I joked.
Uncle Seth snorted.
"Did you… claim Aunt Gwen?" The question was out of my mouth before I could stop myself. Uncle Seth was one of the most secretive wolves of our pack. He could hide his thoughts better than mum or dad ever could.
We all knew how he and Aunt Gwen had met and we knew that both had to fight tooth and nail to be together because Aunt Gwen was supposed to be Lance's mate. However their intimate moments were their own.
"Why do you ask?"
I shrugged. "I guess it would be nice to talk to someone in the same position as me. I mean… I know I can talk to dad but it's not the same besides I already know too much of my parents' sex life as it is."
Uncle Seth laughed and nodded.
"I didn't claim Gwen. I should've done it… but I didn't."
"Why not?"
"My wolf didn't feel compelled to do it."
"Because she was from a different pack?"
"Who knows?" He shrugged. "I had a chance and I didn't take it besides she got pregnant soon after and stopped phasing permanently due to pregnancy risks. We got married and any claim I would've made, would now be irrelevant because she's no longer a wolf."
"In that case why did I claim Rhea if she's only a human girl?"
"That's something only the wolf inside of you can answer."
I nodded. Somehow I knew that Uncle Seth was right. Maybe one day I would understand.
"We'll find her." He added touching my shoulder before heading over to my father's side. Dad was sending Uncle Paul, Denis, Brady and Collin to run patrols. Jared and Sam were still helping the police, Uncle Embry had accompanied the Cullens to Maine, and the rest of us would stay put until further orders.
I took a few minutes to watch my dad. I mean really watch him. He was standing tall surrounded by the pack. Everyone was listening to his orders. To me, dad had always been just… dad. I had rarely seen him as my leader. Maybe it was because we lived under the same roof and I was used to treat him as my father and not as my alpha. Or maybe it was because I was always challenging him and testing his patience to the limits.
I only knew that this was the first time I was actually looking at him and seeing a true alpha wolf. And he was actually a great to the pack. He was fair to everyone – even though he had punished and given me several alpha commands – and he was a brilliant strategist and warrior.
I should've listened to his advice because there was no way I could become an alpha in my current situation. I was too impulsive and sometimes even childish to be trusted. Rhea had told me I should be more serious and responsible. That was what she wanted and needed. That was why she had accepted Art's marriage proposal and that was why she didn't want to be with me.
I have to grow up. I realised. I have to be like dad. I just hope it's not too late.
Slowly I diverted my eyes to my two brothers. Harry was with Season. His arm protectively placed around her shoulders. Isaac was talking to Sarah. They were best friends again. I felt alone and displaced.
"So… what's up with the long face Will?"
I turned around to see EJ in front of me and I sighed.
"I'm not in the mood for your shit right now."
"Why not, Will? Do you have anything better to do?" He grinned.
"Anything is better than listening to you." I retorted.
"Too bad your girlfriend isn't here, right? I mean things were going really smoothly for you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well… I bet you liked having sex on the beach… what was the next step? Tell her the truth about the pack, right? How did that go?"
"It was you." I suddenly realised. "You told her!"
"I might have mentioned something about it."
"You fucking bastard!" I launched myself at my cousin. All thoughts about responsibility and controlling my temper went down the drain. I couldn't believe he had told the truth to Rhea just to get back at me.
"I did you a favour, you asshole." EJ shouted as we rolled down on the grass hitting each other with brute force. Before we could inflict serious damages on one another, I had Isaac and Harry pulling me off of EJ while my cousin was being dragged away from me by Quil and Uncle Seth.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Dad bellowed angrily putting himself between us. "We have guests!"
"I was just trying to help." EJ insisted.
"Liar! You did it on purpose!"
"Take him inside." Dad ordered Quil and Uncle Seth.
"I can walk by myself." EJ said brushing off the older wolves who were taking him towards the house.
"You make your dad look like a fucking angel." Quil said and I heard EJ laughing, pleased with himself.
"Can I kill him?" I growled when Isaac and Harry let me go.
"You need to check your temper, Will. I can't have you attacking your cousin every time you're together. Don't forget that he can lose control and phase and we have people here who don't know the truth."
"He's an ass. He told Rhea the truth about us."
"Just… try to talk instead of throwing the first blow." Dad suggested and he went to speak to EJ.
I had no idea if I'd be able to do what dad had asked me.
"You better go and apologise to EJ." Aunt Rachel said joining us. I blinked. Was she serious? In my opinion it was EJ who should apologise, not me but because I didn't want to piss off Aunt Rachel more, I just headed over to the house.
Then, all of a sudden someone approached me.
"Are you William Black?" A male voice asked. I watched the man before me attentively. He was almost as tall as I was but he had blonde hair and green eyes. I recognised him then. He was Rhea's fiancé Art.
"What if I am?" I ask challengingly.
The guy snorted and clenched his fists. Then he stepped forward, swung his right arm and finally his hand made contact with my face.
I felt absolutely nothing.
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Karisan