.:CHAPTER THREE:.

~Emmett's POV~

It was clear by the looks on my siblings' faces. There was no doubt that they were expecting it - what should I call it - the blackout? - to happen again. Alice must see something, and Edward must see it thought her, and now we were all catching on to the looks they were giving us. We weren't all going to make it, were we? Would some of us never see how this ended?

Carlisle addressed Alice slowly, cautiously. "Alice, do you see who is going to be next?"

Not, Do you see if this is going to happen again? Not, Do you see who might be next? He asked who she saw was going to be next.

Great.

Alice lifted her small shoulders while shaking her head. "All I know, is that more of us are going to end up like Jasper and Bella. I can't see the faces clearly enough. It's a blur of features - light, dark, long or short hair; arms slimmer or thicker than others. Nothing clear or specific. The faces I see are unrecognizable, and they change quickly, undecided. Just a cloud of spinning heads. Like I'm playing the slot machines at a casino. Who knows what will happen?

"However, there is one thing... The people I am seeing... When I say I know more of us are going to end up unconscious, I mean more of us. More vampires."

"When?"

"Now, Carlisle. Something is happening, and it's happening now. It has already started. And it's coming."

An eerie silence followed. Something churned inside me, spreading unease throughout. Frightening me wasn't easy, but... And I'd never admit this out loud, but I think I felt it now. Felt that fear. Felt like I was trapped in a stone corridor and spiked walls were closing in on me. Though, logically, in a more literal scenario of that analogy I'd be able to easily free myself by punching through the stone, I figured maybe this was different. Maybe this was something I hadn't felt since I was human. Or that time when Edward went off to Volterra like an idiot, and I was helpless, unable to do anything for him. Yeah, that was the fear I was feeling again. No other obstacles compared.

Six years ago. Victoria's newborn army? That was exciting.

The threat of the werewolves during Bella's pregnancy? I could've handled that.

The Volturi face off? That was easy. I was ready for it, accepting, prepared.

A total blackout caused by unknown, invisible forces, that seemed - according to Alice - to be spreading across the globe, and was inevitably going to infect us all? How could I fight that? How could I protect Rose and my family from something like that? What was I supposed to do?

Something close to a whine came out of Renesmee's mouth. Her composed expression was too forced. She was scared. More than scared — she was terrified. But she was trying not to let any of us know that.

"We will stop this, Renesmee," Edward vowed.

"Not in time," she said quietly. "Not before more of us..."

"You don't have to be afraid. Maybe...whatever this is can't affect you."

Now there was a thought. If this blackout was only happening to vampires, Ness was only half, and might possibly be spared. But then, what if she was the only one spared, in the end.

"What? Can't affect me?" Nessie's voice rose, almost angrily. "How can you say that?"

"It could be the case, Renesmee. I thought—"

"You always think I'm scared, right? I wasn't worried about me. And now you're saying that if you, and Aunt Rose, and Grandma Esme, and every single one of you fall unconscious, I might be the only one left? Well, thanks a lot. Thanks for that image, Edward!"

Alice and I shared a knowing look. Then I leaned back on my heels and folded my arms over my chest, wishing I was anywhere but in this room right now.

Renesmee was almost physically fully grown, and her mind had always been exceptional. But she had her moments. She was able to learn and pick stuff up quickly and easily as a half-vampire child, yet she was still very inexperienced in life, being only six years old...technically. She wasn't in full control of her emotional range yet. Plus, she had been at that awkward teenager stage for the past couple of years, and, even though she'd been leaving the awkward part behind recently, boy, did she have a temper. Just like her dad, if you asked me. It was total payback. Most of the time I found it amusing; just not the times you could tell it really hurt Edward. I didn't know what it was like to be a father, but I could imagine no parent liked to upset their children, and although it was an inevitable part of parenting, Renesmee was always very upset when she called Edward by his first name. I mean, we had been having her practice calling Edward and Bella by their names more frequently now in order to get her used to it for when we started school (which would now be postponed, thank God), but when she said his name in that tone of hers, well, it always sounded vicious. She probably picked up that particular sass from my wife. I knew Edward hated it.

Edward closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. By the look of him, I think he was actually more upset about the possibility of Nessie being on her own, rather than by what she called him. Was it really that bad of an idea, though?

Esme broke the short silence. "Renesmee, dear, it is an alarming scenario, but it is also possible. And none of us want to see that happen. Your father, especially."

"I know that! I just..." Looking like she wanted to run, Nessie shoved herself off the bed. Her feet landed in the pile of the extra pillows. Apparently frustrated by this, Nessie huffed, stepped off them, and kicked one hard across the room. It hit my legs.

"Renesmee Cullen," Rose admonished. It was kinda funny how Rose usually left the disciplinarian duties, rightfully, to Edward and Bella, except when it came to Nessie's outbursts. Rose couldn't help herself then, because Rose hated Edward's old temper tantrums more than anybody, and she'd be damned if she had to deal with repeats from his daughter.

Nessie stared at where the pillow landed, then up at me. A slight shade of pink was visible on her alabaster cheeks. Embarrassed by her behavior, I figured. Happened to the best of us.

"I'm sorry," Nessie sighed after a moment, to no one in particular. She sat on her knees next to Edward, on the floor, and wrapped her arms around him.

Edward kissed the top of her head. "I know."

"Look," I said, "that's not even a bad thing to hope for. Say Ness does end up alone — at least she can't be affected, right? At least time won't ever run out for her. At least, no matter what happens to the rest of us, the family as a whole won't ever be taken down completely, because Ness will still be in the game."

"We don't want it to come down to that," Edward said, glaring at me.

"Of course we don't," I agreed. Hell, I didn't plan on blacking out. "But if it does come down to it, it's a good thing we have someone who can't be rendered useless."

"So...I'd be the last hope."

"You don't have to be anything," Edward told Nessie, narrowing his eyes at me again. I didn't know what his problem was.

Edward responded to my thoughts.

"Renesmee doesn't need that responsibility placed on her shoulders."

"She might have to have it anyway," Alice said. The Glare moved to her; she only raised an eyebrow at him. "Not just Nessie. Any one of us could end up in that position."

"I don't wish it on anybody's shoulders," Carlisle said, his eyes moving around the room again. "It is not something we have to dwell on now, however. When the time comes," his eyes moved to Edward specifically, though I didn't understand why, "I trust you all to know what to do. Or find out."

His gaze lingered on my brother, and I wondered what he was thinking. Probably some parental advice or something. Who knew? All I cared about, now, was figuring out what was causing this vampire unconsciousness and finding a way to stop it.

"What's the verdict on the animal blood?" I wondered. Carlisle, Esme, and Edward had arrived home pretty fast after my call. I hoped they didn't rush home before they attained all the information they needed. It was a long shot anyway, I knew, since Bella hadn't been hunting when she passed out.

"We tested it all to completion," Edward answered. "No irregularities."

I shrugged. At least it wasn't in our food source. Denying us that would have been bad in the longer scheme...of things...

My mind trailed off as I caught a small smile playing on Rosalie's face. It disappeared the moment I spotted it, and Rose turned her head. She was always playing that game - turning away when some emotion crossed her face that she didn't want me to see.

"Which means," Edward was saying, "we have no lead still, and-"

"Wait!" Alice gasped. Her left hand reached out to stop us (from doing what - who knew?), while her right hand went to her head. "Wait, wait, wait!"

"What, Alice?" Rose demanded.

"Carlisle can't give up his teaching position just yet."

"Reason being?" I prodded when she didn't go on.

"He was thinking of going to the University tomorrow to resign," Edward said suddenly, not answering my question at all. Who was he even talking to? The mindreading was damn annoying.

"I was toying with the idea of holding off until the middle of the week, though," Carlisle said. "There is something I wish to look up in their library. If I am remembering correctly, it may be in the restricted section. My status will assist me with that."

Alice nodded. "Yes. I think so. Go to the library tomorrow. I don't know how yet, but when you decided to head there, something changed."

"Please tell me it changed in a good way," I said.

"Obviously."

"He'll have to go by himself," Esme muttered.

"It will be fine," Alice promised. "We're not even sure if being alone matters."

"It is a long shot it would," Carlisle said, resting a hand on Esme's shoulder. "I am not ruling out that we are being targeted; however, if they wanted to affect us all, it would be more logical to induce the sleep while we are together. Whether or not a physical entity is behind this is also up for debate. If this phenomenon is occurring merely to others of our kind, all across the globe, perhaps its existence is a natural accident. If we think about it, it formed quietly, struck unexpectedly, and at the moment we know nothing about it other than its symptoms. If it is spreading slowly at first, soon to speed up and gain numerous victims..."

"Then it sounds exactly like a virus," Edward finished. "A disease."

Nessie's eyes widened. "Like a vampire sickness?"

"So much for being immortal," I said. Not that anybody was dying from it. Yet... I quickly threw that thought away before I accidentally spoke it out loud and freaked people out. Edward threw me a relieved look for it, too.

"It's improbable enough without necessarily being impossible." Rose eyed me and Nessie. "It stretches our realistic limitations without being ridiculous."

"Oh, it falls under the same category as sleep-paralysis, and you know it," I said, earning a hidden grin from my niece.

"Of course," Carlisle continued, finger on his chin, brain stirring with possible answers to a riddle so unknown we didn't even know what the question was. "If it is a type of evolved virus, it would need a way to travel. Not by touch, obviously, as most of us would be affected by now if that was the case, and neither Jasper nor Bella could have contracted it that way. If it's in the air, why are the rest of us still standing? It makes the virus theory less likely."

"Or the rest of us are just luckier," I said. "Not all humans catch a cold just because they come into contact with someone with a cold, right?"

"Do we have immune systems that work in a similar fashion?" Esme wondered.

"That's a good question," Carlisle said. "All the centuries I've been alive, I have never encountered anything like this. I'm certain that not even Aro, nor Stefan and Vladimir for that matter, would have any clue what this is."

"Well, we will all have to find out or blackout trying," Alice whispered.

The room was silent again, lost in the eeriness that was Alice's specialty.

"We will need to focus on the details," Carlisle declared suddenly. "There's a connection in Jasper's and Bella's cases, and we need to find out what that is. Renesmee, Alice - replay exactly what happened when you found Bella.

"Emmett and Rosalie, would you mind going back to the location of Jasper's blackout and searching for smaller details that we might not have thought about before, linking them to Bella's scene?"

Alone in the woods with Rose? Circumstances or not, I didn't see a problem with that.

Rose glanced at me and grinned. Seductive.

"We don't mind at all," I said.

OoOoOoO

The woods were dark and quiet, except for the nocturnal creatures that were scattered around. It smelled like damp pine, though there was no mist tonight. I led Rose through the forest, until we came across the spot I had found Alice screaming over an unconscious Jasper.

Rose continued walking until she stepped off the leafy floor and onto the paved street.

"He was awfully close to the road," she noted. "What street is this?"

"6th Avenue, I think." I knew what she was thinking. "Its traffic is decent. It's a main road, though not as busy in this particular area."

Rose was instantly scolding me. "What were you three doing hunting this close to a road? You could have slipped, killed someone. You could have exposed us."

"We weren't this close... I mean, I was a good three miles that direction," I said, pointing. "Jasper must've ran this far."

"A few miles isn't that much of a difference when hunting," Rose argued, still mad at me. That was all I needed.

"You still love me, right?"

I watched Rose's gold eyes lift, then roll to the side. I'd take that as an obvious Yes.

"What kind of question is that?"

"I plan to undress you in the next couple of minutes, so I had to check."

"You must be joking." Rose sashayed across the road, until she reached the tree standing farthest away from the rest of the forest. She placed her hands on the bark and spun around it, so she was facing me again, half covered. At first, she was glaring. Then she raised an eyebrow and said, "You're seriously going to make me wait a couple of minutes?"

I smiled fully, licking my teeth. She ran, and I pursued.

Fifteen seconds later, there was a trail of torn clothes behind us, and Rose was pinned against me, skin on skin.

I didn't know what was wrong with me, but my thoughts weren't usually very coherent when I was with Rose like this, and yet, this time, I couldn't stop imagining her eyes shutting and never reopening, her body collapsing and left dangling in my arms. Blacked out. Fast and unstoppable and unexpected. Like Jasper. Like Bella. I'd act like Alice and Edward had, and we'd subtract one from our numbers. Our search for answers would continue, and we'd never truly know if we'd ever get anything, if we'd ever wake Rose or the others up.

Rosalie's lips pulled off mine. "Don't be afraid," she whispered, catching me off guard. I almost wanted to stop what we were doing and tell her I wasn't afraid. Not exactly. But then she pulled me back under her spell, deeper this time. I never wanted her to let me go. So instead of saying anything, I continued kissing her. I didn't always know what to say to Rose. But I loved her, so I showed her.

OoOoOoO

It was slightly after dawn, and the forest was gray and cloudy. We could have stayed a little longer tangled up together, but Rose wasn't trusting those dark clouds up in the sky. For all the years we've spent living and visiting rainy areas all over the world, she sure hated getting her hair wet. I didn't even understand it. Her hair was gorgeous whether it was shining in sunlight or glittering with raindrops. Or like it was now, ruffled and filled with leaves.

I grinned.

Carlisle was gone when we got back to the house. Apparently, he didn't want to hear what we discovered.

"More like he didn't want to be here to see you two dressed like that," Alice remarked scornfully when I mentioned Carlisle's absence out loud. The little psychic was sitting on the porch steps, iPad in hand, scrunching her nose up at us.

"Ah, there's the Alice we all know and love," Rose said, patting Alice's head as we passed her.

Esme greeted us when we walked through the front door, though she was refusing to look at us in this state. "Carlisle wanted to get to the school's library as early as he could," she explained.

"He'll be back soon enough," Edward said dismissively. "What did you find that's so important?"

"Nothing, really," I answered.

Edward grimaced, shook his head, and walked away.

"But we could've had something. Besides, Bella's kitchen scene was completely different than Jasper's. It's not surprising nothing matches."

Esme sighed. "What could possibly be happening? I hope Carlisle has more luck than we've had so far today."

"Don't we all," I said, following Rose to our room.

As I cleaned up, my thoughts kept drifting back to my time with Rose last night. With nothing here to distract me, I had time to think about everything I didn't want to. We had checked the area better before we headed home, and the details Carlisle was hoping for were nonexistent. Nothing had changed from the last couple times I went looking there, so I hadn't set my expectations very high. It had to be a kind of virus. If it wasn't another vampire, how else was this getting around? Jasper was in the middle of drinking deer blood; Bella was in the middle of getting something out of the microwave. The two did not connect any way you looked at it.

Once dressed, I left Rose to do her thing. She was still picking out what to wear. Women.

I didn't know where I was walking to. Didn't know what I planned on doing. Something Rose said last night was bothering me, though.

Don't be afraid.

Did I look afraid to her? How did I give off that impression? I didn't say anything. I didn't do anything. Hell, her mouth was all over me and her eyes weren't exactly concentrated on my face, so how did she notice I wasn't in sync with her. Maybe it was just that — I wasn't in sync with her.

Still, I couldn't help wondering if maybe she was right.

My feet took me into Alice and Jasper's room. Jasper laid there, as unmoving and unchanged as ever. It was obvious why I had come to find him, even if it was subconscious.

The blacking out that was happening would eventually become The Blackout. An epidemic. Hundreds of vampires infected. We couldn't see it, we couldn't feel it, we couldn't stop it. It just came and wiped you out, trapping you in infinite memories. It was weird as much as it was shocking.

Rosalie was strong and amazing. I didn't worry about her too much. She could take care of herself, and I never truly forget that. But could she fight against this? Should I be worried now? I guessed I was worrying whether I wanted to or not, but...it felt stronger than that. It wasn't just for Rose, either. I didn't think I could handle watching my family, one-by-one, fall into a sleep they couldn't wake up from. Or what if they had to watch over me?

My stomach churned again, and I cursed.

Rose might not seem afraid of anything, let alone by something we couldn't exactly fight right now, but maybe she should be. There was no doubt about it anymore — the situation was kind of intimidating, even if I hated admitting that.

Jasper remained still. I knew what he would say if he was awake, though. Even if I wasn't in the same room as him, he'd come to me, and he'd say, "Scared?"

I would shrug, responding with, "No man is fearless, right?"

Then he'd smile, all southern like (if a smile could be southern), and he'd put his hands in his pockets just like he always did.

"I'm right there with you," he'd say. And I would feel comforted, knowing I wasn't alone.

"You're not alone," came another voice.

Edward.

My youngest brother stood by the doorway. I was so distracted I hadn't heard him coming. That was off.

"You're not alone," Edward repeated. "We're all feeling the same emotions right now."

"Maybe."

"Even Rosalie."

I chuckled. That was hard for me to imagine, even if I was well aware it wasn't impossible for Rose to be frightened. I'd seen her terrified beyond belief once. That had been terrible.

"It's only natural to be afraid," Edward continued.

"You're starting to sound like Carlisle."

He rolled his eyes, more like the Edward I was used to. I knew he had been getting that statement a lot recently. It wasn't our fault; it was more true than Edward realized. He couldn't see the changes the way we could. It was strange watching Edward become a father, a dad to Ness. It made him calmer, and the role suited him somehow. Like Carlisle. All the years I'd known Edward as a brother, I never would have guessed he had it in him.

"Anyway, there is nothing natural about me being...afraid. There, I said it."

"I am glad you successfully passed the denial stage," Edward said, sarcastic now.

"It took some work, too," I joked.

This was exactly the reason I preferred Jasper as company in these moments, as weird as that thought was. Jasper was a man of few words (a good thing when you didn't want to talk about it), and what he did say was usually exactly what you wanted or needed to hear. He was really good at that. At comforting, at relating. Edward wasn't.

"Sorry."

I laughed at Edward's unnecessary apology.

"There's nothing to be sorry about." And there wasn't. I wasn't hating on the kid. Edward was the brother I usually talked to. It was just a fact that Jasper was a master of emotions. He knew exactly what to say, because he knew exactly how you felt. Edward could read your mind, he could read your thoughts, your feelings, your reasoning behind those feelings, but he didn't have to feel if he didn't want to, and sometimes being able to read your reasoning would make empathizing impossible. He could see your reason and only feel confusion, because it wasn't something he could relate to, even knowing how upset it made you. He could sympathize only, and sometimes that just wasn't enough.

Jasper, on the other hand, didn't have to worry about reasoning your feelings in his head. Your emotions were his emotions, plain and simple. Unlike the rest of us, he didn't need a story. The cause for the emotions didn't need to be addressed for him to understand. Being empathetic of your problems came automatically to him, and there was absolutely no doubt he understood what you were feeling. That was why Jasper was easiest to talk to...when my feelings were involved. I wasn't good at expressing them otherwise, nor did I like to. And Edward wasn't any better than I was.

"Huh, Rosalie's been right all these years — you are more perceptive than I give you credit for."

I laughed again. "Thanks, man. I know you've known it all along, though."

He grinned crookedly.

"And don't worry. You're not all that bad. It's..." It's always nice to know you're not alone. Even for me.

"Yes. Even though it sure feels like it sometimes, doesn't it?" Edward's grin was gone. He wasn't looking at me or Jasper. His eyes were staring out the door. But there was nobody standing there.

Hey, do me a favor, okay?

Edward looked back at me.

Don't blackout.

He smiled. "Same to you." He clapped me on the back and left the room, but his smile stayed with me. A smile tainted with trepidation.

Fear is one of the worst emotions, Jazz, I thought. Fucking terrible. I refused to feel it. And I know what you'd say to that, too. You'd tell me to overcome it or some shit. Well, the only thing you could do to fight fear was to never give in. So count on that.

~Carlisle's POV~

The library was still empty as I made my way to the librarian - Julie, she always reminded me to call her - a hardworking woman with auburn hair pulled into a knot at the base of her neck. She gave me a flattering wink, giving me absolutely no trouble about checking out a restricted book. My popular status was one thing; my looks were another, and Julie was a flirtatious one, indeed. Persistent, too. How many times had I made it clear I was a happily married man with wonderful children? More times than even I could count, it would seem. She was kind, though, as well. She reminded me of a human Tanya Denali. Sweet, but eager. At least her attraction to me would assist today.

I was checking out less of a book and more of a portfolio. I remembered reading about this years ago, with no clue its contents would circulate back into my life, that it would turn into this threat. And it was all in here. Everything I had dared to imagine was between these pages. Finally, we had our first lead, of that I was absolutely sure.

At the same time, I wished it wasn't. What I held in my hands proved our situation much direr than we had previously believed.