Chapter 7

Really Bad News

"Hey Beau!" Julie's voice rang across my new smartphone, a gift from Archie that I didn't really think I needed. How did she even get my number anyway? Edythe was driving me back from the Olympic Forest after a fun night of hunting. It was rather uneventful, just a few mule deer but it was another night spent with Edythe which made it great.

"What's up Jules? Good news I hope." I really hoped she was able to convince all of the people she needed to so they could help us.

"Yeah and no. Which you want first?"

I thought for a second. Better get the bad news out of the way first. "The bad… I guess. How bad is it?"

"Really bad. Have you seen the paper this morning?"

We hadn't stopped since we left the forest, but that was an odd thing to ask. Edythe's eyes blazed a brilliant honey gold, while mine while not quite all the way to the same shade as hers yet, but they were definitely getting closer. "Not really."

"Let me know when you do."

Man if Julie wouldn't just tell me, then it had to be really bad. "And the good news?"

"It took some work, but Sam finally agreed." She sounded triumphant. "Expect about ten wolves tonight, but we need to know exactly where?"

Edythe held out her hand for my phone. Surely she had heard everything that Julie had said and for a split second I wondered if her gift worked through a phone call. I was going to resist giving her my phone for a second, but finally after a couple of impatient growls from Edythe, I relented.

"Hello Julie," Edythe said in a completely friendly tone. "I know this will be awkward; our two kinds working together but we will give it our best effort."

"Edythe," I growled at her. I didn't want her starting any trouble with Julie or her friends. They were helping us; that should be enough.

She flashed a smile followed by a 'who me?' look with so much innocence on her her face I couldn't be mad at her any more. Did she actually hear what I was thinking?

"As will we," Julie answered.

"Come to our driveway and turn east. Walk about three-quarters of a mile and you should cross our scents. Follow that into a large clearing. That's where we will be training."

"Midnight?" Julie asked. Her voice was excited.

"Maybe a little before. If some of yours wish to spar with Jessamine or Eleanor, they'd be more than willing to oblige."

"Hmm," Julie uttered. I knew that some of them might want to. From what Jules had said, Paula had wanted to start the war that first time they learned what I had become but that was why Bonnie had insisted that Paula be the one to carry Bonnie. Having the elder in her arms would necessitate Paula staying in control of herself. "Maybe," Julie said after a few seconds. "See you then bloo- I mean Edythe."

As Edythe hung up the phone, I whispered to her, "I don't like this."

"I don't really either, but we need help in dealing with the newborns. The Volturi should of stepped in a while ago." I could tell that she was thinking about that; why our police force hadn't yet stopped mass murder that was threatening to expose our kind.

"She said I should check today's paper," I said hoping that she would elaborate more but I should have known that she wouldn't; not without some prodding anyway. "Any reason why?"

We were stepping out of Edythe's Volvo's I asked my question. "Maybe because there's a sale on tuxedos," she laughed out. I scowled at her for a second but she didn't stop smiling. Was she really ready to get married? August 13th, that was still the plan but that was still five weeks away. I was sure that Archie could pull a wedding off by then. "I really don't know Beau. Earnest doesn't go out of the house at all, barring a few special occasions and to hunt. His temper can sometimes get the better of him, since he hates to see anyone abusing children. He's even attacked some for merely disciplining their child in public before. And Royal, Eleanor, and Jessamine are all out of state hunting. They're not back from their trip yet."

"Archie and Carine?" I asked even thought I knew from their scents not being fresh that they weren't in right now."

"Carine's working a double shift so she won't be back until very late. As for Archie, he's ransacking your house right now before someone else can loot it." She hung on my shoulders with a pained look in her eyes. "He's gonna bring back everything he can carry to help you remember your father."

"Oh," I gasped. "Well, I better check it out then," I said rushing for Edythe's computer. It seemed to take a really long time for it to boot up, even though I was told it was one of the fastest computers on the market still even if it was a year old now. I guess my impatience had only magnified since my transformation, no doubt a product of my mind working even faster than it did before.

I started locally, first searching the websites of the Olympic Tribune and Port Angeles Pioneer Press to the Seattle Times. There was very little new news, just more rehashing of what I already knew; that there was a mass murder spree in Seattle. I widened my search and found what I was looking for in the Tri-City Herald out of Pasco. On the very top of the website read the massive headline, but it was the accompanying pictures that worried me even more. The entire side wall of the Washington State Penitentiary had been almost blasted in. But I saw the edges and knew better. It was caved in from a massive punch that could only have come from a supernatural being, such as a vampire. I gasped at the realization as I began to read the article, not noticing that Edythe was also reading above my shoulder.

'No Leads in Prison Escape.

7 Still unaccounted for, all from the supermax wing.

Walla Walla

State Police and prison authorities are still stumped as to how a massive escape plan was hatched without any indication before hand. At approximately 2:00 this morning, a massive hole more than eight feet in diameter was blasted in the outer western wall of the prison, followed by another hole of similar size in the inner wall that held the most violent offenders that Washington State has in it prison system, including all of those who were on death row until the former governor instituted a moratorium on capital punishment. All of those who were formerly on death row have had their sentences commuted to life without parole, including more than two dozen who were convicted of more than ten homicides each.

All of those, plus another thirty initially escaped the prison, but so far all but seven have been apprehended. The recaptured prisoners' tales all differ slightly, but there is enough overlap that certainly some of what they said must be the truth. They tell of seeing three people, two men and a woman all of whom had red eyes and moved faster than anyone they had ever seen before. One of the men looked to be in his mid to late thirties with brown hair while the other was late teens to early twenties with bright orange hair. The girl was also in her late teens with reddish blond hair. Each of the three grabbed two of the prisoners and held them under each of their arms. One of the recaptured inmates described the captives as looking like a sack of cement. The prisoners screamed in fear and the sound of crunching bone could be heard from many of them when they were initially taken. Prison snipers attempted to shoot the three, but they moved incredibly fast and when they were stuck by bullets, it sounded as if the rounds had struck solid concrete. It is believed that all three of them were wearing some type of body armor. Police have no leads into the identities of the masterminds of this daring escape, as no fingerprints were left.

What is known is that among the still at large include Gary Ridgeway, also know as the Green River Killer who was sentenced to life without parole for killing at least 48 women mostly by strangulation, but is suspected in at least another 60 murders in and around King and Pierce Counties. Also still missing is Robert Lee Yates, who was convicted of 14 murders from Spokane and Pierce Counties. All of the other still missing were convicted of multiple homicides, with victim tallies ranging from 6 to 10. The other escapees are Joshua Mitchell, Michael Johnson, Jackie King, Wilson Marquez, and Javier del Toro.

All the escaped should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. The general public is asked by WASP not to pursue the escapees and if any are seen to promptly notify law enforcement.'

I blinked a few times in shock to the article. Then I saw underneath it another article from within the last hour. The previous one was more than ten hours old.

'Update. One of the 7 Fugitives Recaptured. Rest Still At Large

Wilson Marquez was apprehended just west of the Tri-Cities just after 7:00 this morning. The tale he tells investigators is so outrageous, that the authorities assume that the first thing the three orchestrators of the escape did was to administer some sort of hallucinogenic drug to those they helped escape. He claims that the three carried the other six escapees as if they were children, two under each arm at speeds he couldn't believe, as Marquez was unable to see landmarks due to the speed they traveled. A few minutes later, they were into the mountains and the seven convicts were dropped, groans and screams coming from all of them. All but Marquez's bodies, according to him, were badly deformed. But even Marquez has multiple broken bones. Then with blinding speed, each of the three non-prisoners appeared to be kissing the neck one convict each but he claims that all three of those kissed were screaming in agony. Within seconds, the ones who those three prisoners were motionless.

Marquez then claims he was abandoned there, unable to move from fear just before first light. The three ran at a speed so fast he couldn't follow them, but they still all carried the other six under their arms. All Marquez could claim is that they all headed west, but could not give any more specifics.

Prison authorities have contracted with neighboring States to take control of the supermax prisoners until the walls at Washington State Penitentiary can be repaired. Marquez has been transferred to the Washington State Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation. More updates will be published through our website as they become available.'

This was bad. Victor either was feeding on prisoners, which I have to admit wasn't all that different than what Edythe had done. But the targets they chose were way too high profile. But this time they did take the bodies with them so maybe Victor was starting to train his newborns better in how to dispose of the remains. I couldn't believe I could talk so calmly about someone committing mass murder, but then again they did target those with either life or death sentences. Wasn't Victor just fulfilling the sentence that the courts had imposed?

But there was another possibility, even more horrifying than the other. What if Victor wasn't feeding on the criminals, but using them to be a part of his army. Changing absolute sociopaths and mass murderers was a horrendous possibility. But I had to admit it sounded somewhat familiar. I definitely sounded like it was the plot to a book somewhere.

Knowing that I was somewhat insane, I went to Google and put some of that into a search. I was hoping I was wrong. The very top search result was a book titled Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. Kind of ironic, but as I read the summary of it, the plot seemed kind of familiar. I didn't think that I had read it, but I remembered Renee talking about her book club reading something similar about two years ago. That had to be it. I started reading a plot summary. In the book, a pack of werewolves were under attack from some others who refused to follow the rules of their leader. The mutts, as the outsiders were called, used convicts, especially serial killers to get their revenge by bringing heat onto the pack of wolves. The mutts changed the convicts into new werewolves and set about having them do what they would, including mass murder. In a way it was eerily similar to what Victor was doing, but using convicts, especially murderers was way too dangerous. There'd be no way that he could control them as newborns. That left one other possibility.

"It might be one of the other two that was with him," I said trying to think through what the articles said.

"I don't follow," Edythe said deep in her thoughts. She stared deeper into my eyes trying to read my thoughts. "What are you thinking?"

"It says there were three people there that helped the convicts escape. What if they were all vampires?"

The wheels in her head were definitely spinning. I hoped she was already caught up to where I was in the plan.

"I mean, Victor'd never be able to control them if he added them to his army." Something about this was eerily familiar.

"We don't know if it's Victor or not," Edythe said. "My money's still on the Volturi. With Jason's gift, he'd be able to bring anyone to their knees, even killers. And Audrey is even worse."

She had told me in the last couple of nights about the Volturi's chief weapons. Granted Sulpicia was the leader and she could read the thoughts of anyone she was touching; any thought that they'd ever had. But the most powerful was those damned twins; Audrey and Jason were the most powerful vampires in the world according to Carine, which was kind of ironic with their diminutive statures. But Denise was their tracker; the best tracker in the world. A thousand times better than Joss on her best day. And Felicia made Eleanor look like a lightweight and was even more skilled in hand to hand fighting than my sister. I was warned that they were the ones that all of the vampires in the world dreaded seeing. They were the Volturi's chief fighters; the primary dispensers of the Volturi's justice.

But Carine was absolutely certain that the Voturi was not behind this. So other than Victor, who would have a grudge against us? Especially one that required the numbers that he was creating.

Archie came back less than a half hour after we got back. Needless to say, he brought back way more than I could have ever guessed. He all but filled Eleanor's Jeep with stuff, and his first load into the house consisted of ten huge boxes of stuff. Gently, he set everything down and had his normal smile on his face.

"Good God!" I shouted from seeing all the stuff he brought back. I didn't think I'd lived with Charlie long enough to get that much junk. As I started rummaging through the boxes, I noticed that it wasn't just my stuff, but a bunch of Charlie's too. Edythe looked irritated with Archie and I wasn't sure if it was because he was hiding something from me or if it was because of how much he brought back.

"I wanted you to remember who you were before," Archie said, his gentle tenor voice almost unreal.

Edythe growled softly towards him. I didn't get it, but knew her well enough to know that she wasn't going to explain. "Did you leave anything in the house?" Edythe asked sarcastically.

"I barely scratched the surface. But I still catch glimpses of Charlie," he said, but quickly backtracked. I assumed he didn't want to get my hopes up. "I don't know why that is, but it's just flashes. Less than a second every time."

I don't know why, but I kind of knew what he meant. Even though I couldn't sleep anymore, I still had daydreams of my parents every now and then. I had been afraid to share them with anyone since I didn't know if that was normal for vampires.

We started searching through the boxes. The first one was a lot of my books, maybe fifty or so in total. Included were a bunch of my favorites: Withering Heights, Romeo and Juliet, and a very recent favorite Interview with the Vampire. I kind of laughed at the last one. I randomly started thumbing through a couple of the random titles, looking for advice on what to do now.

Someone was on Archie's mind and Edythe was doing her very best not to pry into his mind. I grabbed the item on the top of the next box which was several photo albums. I looked at my parents wedding pictures plus many random pictures from the better times they shared, both before and after splitting up. It seemed like I was always in them. It helped; seeing how much my parents adored me but I knew that I'd miss them for eternity. Edythe had explained that it was a pain that would never completely go away. She'd be able to relieve some of it and time would also heal a lot but it would never go all the way away.

"What is it Arch?" I asked after perusing through the albums. He was trying not to answer me by focusing on the search. He even brought back some of my dad's trophies. I never thought that a mounted fish would help ease the pain of losing him but it did. "Come on Archie," I said after a couple of minutes of awkward silence. "If you don't tell me I'm probably gonna assume it's worse than it really is."

Edythe glared at him, giving him an 'if you don't tell him then I will' look. Archie made his choice. "I don't know what it means, but I keep seeing flickers of Charlie."

My jaw dropped, nearly hitting the floor. I felt my body instinctively lock down for a minute before it froze out. My dad was supposed to be dead but Archie was still seeing him. "What's that mean?"

Archie shrugged. "I really don't know Beau."

I looked at Edythe and could tell from her that he was telling me the truth. I started wondering if it meant that Charlie might somehow still be alive but then I shook my head. Charlie was dead. I had to accept that and move on. If I didn't… well I didn't even want to think about it.

The three of us went through the boxes for almost two hours until the sound of Jessamine's truck could be heard coming up the driveway. I was kind of glad for their return as I needed help from the only Cullen who knew what I was going through. I needed Royal now more than I ever had before. I couldn't be sure of what it meant that Archie still had glimpses of Charlie but everyone thought he was dead. I needed to begin to grieve him that way, if he was, I could start the healing. I didn't know how long to properly mourn my dad was, but Royal would know.

AN: There's chapter 7. Please take a minute to let me know what you guys think. Comments and reviews are really appreciated. Next time will be Royal's entire story, including the revenge he gets on his former fiancée. Just to warn you guys now, it will be really dark, with elements of rape and torture.

Yes, the book I mentioned above does exist, but it contains a lot of adult themes. Even still, it's definitely worth checking out. See you guys next time.