Chapter 2


A man's hand moves to touch Bella's dream catcher, turns it. he moves around the room, touching her stuff. Picking things up, curious, setting them down just a little out of place. It's creepy.

Finally, his hand falls on a red blouse draped over a chair. He brings it to his nose, inhaling the scent.

Pale white, chiseled features, eyes blood red. A vampire. It's the missing guy. Riley.

He inhales Bella's scent once more then stuffs it into his jacket and exits her room.

Riley soundlessly enters to find Charlie asleep on the couch. He's in uniform, a case file spread out, some of it resting on his chest. Riley leans over him, sees a photo of himself… It's his case file, and a newspaper article– which reads 'Serial murders rise in Seattle'

Riley stares casually at Charlie's holster. Silently, uncannily smoothly, removes his gun and stares right down the barrel. Yep. There's a bullet. Riley points the gun at Charlie's head. Smiles. This could be fun. Before anymore thoughts came to his mind, he heard movement

Bella comes in the front door. The living room is empty and quiet. Eerily so. Suddenly Charlie appears-

"You know... Edward could at least respect meal times."

Bella turns startled. Charlie leans in the kitchen doorway indicating his watch.

"I was just with Jake."

"Oh... Good."

There's a knock on the door. Charlie knows who it is, heads back into the kitchen with a small, self-satisfied smile.

"I'll just give you two some privacy then. Bella opens the door to find Edward.

"Hey." she said casually.

"Do you understand how worried I've been?" he tells her.

"I was perfectly safe." she reminded Edward.

"I almost broke the treaty to make sure of it. Ellie had stop me." He said but he abruptly stops. Inhales. His face alarmed.

"I know, I smell like a dog. I'm sorry." she said as she started to take off her jacket.

"No, no. Something's wrong." he told her as he moves into the living room and darts throughout the first floor, checking it. Charlie doesn't see... he's concentrating on the photo of Riley whose face has been scratched out.

"What? What is it?" She asks him.

"Stay here." he tells her and bolts upstairs but she hurries after him.

She comes to the door when Edward is holding the dreamcatcher. "Edward, what's wrong?" she asks him.

"Someone's been in here." He tells her and they head back out of the room.


At the Cullen's house, everyone was in the living room.

Edward paces, frustrated. Alice is stressed. Bella tries to track their fast-paced conversation with Carlisle, Ellie, Emmett and Esme.

"Who was it? Someone we know?" Alice asked

"Just a stranger. I didn't recognize his scent." Edward informed her.

"A nomad passing through?" Esme suggested.

"But a passer-by wouldn't have left our Dad alive." Ellie said, concerned about the safety of her sister and father. Emmett senses this and puts an arm around Ellie.

Bella's chilled by the thought. Esme wraps an arm around her just as the door bursts open. Jasper enters, "His scent disappeared about five miles south of Bella's house." Jasper told them.

"Someone's orchestrating this." Edward said.

"Victoria?" Carlisle asked.

"I would've seen her deciding." Alice said.

"It has to be the Volturi." Edward said.

"I don't think it's the Volturi either. I've been watching Aro's decisions, too." Alice told them.

"So we keep looking." Emmett suggested.

"We also take shifts, guarding Bella at her house." Carlisle told them.

"I'll stay at the house during this. I can keep a closer eye on both Bella and our father." Ellie told them.

"Good Idea" Carlisle said to Ellie.

"Another protection detail?" Rosalie asked being snarky which made Ellie glare at her.

"Rosalie." Esme warned her.

Bella stood up, "No, she's right. You can't protect me, watch my dad... ... and search for the intruder. And for Victoria. And keep yourselves fed."

"I'm not leaving you here defenseless." Edward told her.

"Well, I'm not gonna let you starve. And I wouldn't be unprotected, I have…" she stops for a moment.. An idea occurring. She looks at him, a tiny glimmer of optimism flashing on her face.

"What?" Edward asked her.


The next day, Edward, Ellie and Bella were at the Swan's house. Ellie and Edward standing at the curb, frozen in place, waiting eyes unblinkingly watching the front door. Finally, it opens. Bella exits. Behind her was Jacob.

Edward and Ellie meets them halfway. Edward is cool, calculating; Jacob hotheaded, fractious. Ellie ready to pounce if things got heated, as she is still a newborn she was without a doubt the strongest one still.

"Whoever it was, he left his stink behind. It'll be hard to miss when we cross it again. We'll handle it from here." Jacob told the vampires.

"We don't need you to handle anything. Or anyone." Edward told him.

Jacob steps toward Edward who doesn't move. "I could care less what you need." Jacob said to him sternly as Ellie stood in the middle.

"Alright, we're done here." Edward said hoping it would stop Jacob.

"No, you're done here." Jacob warned at this stage Ellie had one hand on Jacob's chest and the other on Edward's chest and Bella went up to them so she could look both of them in the face.

"Stop. I'm tired of this. From now on I'm Switzerland, Okay?" she tells them and Ellie uses her strength to push them apart as the continued, "Stop!" she yelled.

Jacob simmers. Edward just looks at him. "I don't expect you guys to chuck a football around together. Fine. But we have a lot of problems. And this is one temporary solution. Are you willing to at least try?" she asked the boys, already knowing Ellie's answer.

A long tense moment goes by. Finally, Edward nods. Then Jacob.

"Alright, so we need to coordinate. You know, schedules and stuff." Ellie suggests and neither of the boys say anything. She sighs and turns to Jacob, "Would the pack prefer days or nights?" she asked.

"Nights." Jacob flatly answered.

"And day's are fine with us." Ellie said.

"Good. See? How hard was that?" Bella said looking between the two boys and then at her sister.


Bella and Ellie were upstairs in Bella's room. Bella walked over to the window, looking down at the dark, silent forest beyond the yard. Stillness. Suddenly, movement in the trees. Then two gleaming eyes peer out, belonging to... a wolf skulking at the edge of the tree line. It looks up at her and then she walks away from the window and back to her sister sitting on her bed.

"We will get them. They wont get past." Ellie said to settle Bella down.

"Are you going to fight?" Bella asked.

"Yes, I will. With my newborn strength, training and powers, Carlisle said I am pretty powerful."

"I can't change your mind, can I? I just don't want you getting hurt" Bella told her sister.

"Bella… I will be fine. Don't worry about me." Ellie told her to reassure her.

The next thing, there was a knock on the door and Charlie popped his head in, "Hey girls, just wondering if you needed anything before I head to bed" he asked.

The girls smiled, "We are fine Dad. But thank you" Ellie told him.

"Alright, good night" Charlie said as he closed the door.

"Night Dad" both girls said as they both looked back at the TV.

"So you can hear everything in the house?" Bella asked Ellie, interested.

"Absolutely everything. The clock ticking down stairs, clear as day and even Dad's breathing. You don't have to worry. If they get past those outside, they have to switch off their mind. I can hear those thoughts from a mile away" Ellie explained as Bella yawned, "Get some sleep sis. You have school tomorrow"

Bella nodded and curled up in bed as Ellie turned off the light before leaving the room.

Once the door was closed, she honed in on her what was going on in the house. She could hear Charlie's subtle breathing, indicating he was well and truly asleep and Bella turning in her bed. But nothing else.

She moved quickly and quietly to go outside. She spotted the wolves, knowing who one of them was, she cautiously approached.

"Sam." she said, "I know you're not totally comfortable with being in human form with me or the Cullen's, but it's ok. I can still hear you speak in your thoughts."

Sam-wolf subtly nodded, "I just wanted to see how you are doing."

"Are you sure that's all?" he asked.

Ellie smirked, "You know me too well… I just want to say that you can trust the Cullen's and me. We have no interest in harming anyone. I hope you can at least trust me. I'm still me"

Sam was silent for a moment, "I understand, it's in our blood to kill your kind. If the treaty wasn't in place, we would have already" he told her.

"That's fair enough. I just hope down the road, we can trust each other and work together." she looked back at the house, "I should get back in" she said as she moved towards the house.

"For what it's worth, I do trust you, but not the others. The rest of the pack still don't see it that way though." Sam said which made Ellie turn around and look back at him.

"Ok. Baby steps then." she said as she smiled and Sam nodded as she quickly moved back into the house and to her room where she kept herself occupied while her Father and sister slept.


Bella continued going to school like normal. Her friends had been talking about their dorm rooms in college, whinging and bragging. So a normal school day.


Edward's silver Volvo pulls over to the side of the road. Bella, Edward and Ellie emerge from the car. They see – 30 yards down the road, a shirtless Jacob leaning against his red Volkswagen. Waiting. The two guys exchange a tense look as Ellie rolled her eyes.

"Doesn't he own a shirt?" Edward asked which made Ellie snicker.

"I'm good here, you should go." Bella tells him but Edward pulls her closer.

"We're not gonna be going long."

"Don't rush. You need to hunt." she said then he surprises her with a particularly passionate kiss. Making Jacob scowl. Edward pulls away, leaving Bella a little dizzy, "Maybe you rush a little bit." she said making him smile.

"Blah! Where's a bucket?!" Ellie said pretending to be sick, which made Jacob smirk.

"You can talk. You and Emmett are worse" Edward told her.

"Yeah, but we are awesome" she said as she hugged Bella and got into the passenger seat.

Bella offers a reassuring look, then walks off towards Jacob.

As Bella reaches Jacob he smiles broadly, "Hey, beautiful." he says.

"Hi." she responds as he pulls her into a big hug. She hears Edward's car peel out. As she watches the Volvo disappear, Jacob opens the car door.

"So, whaddaya wanna do today? Bike, hike, hang? Your call. But we're going to a party tonight." He said as he got into the car.


At the Cullen's, the TV was on CNN - a female reporter with a mic does a stand-up in front of Pike Place, "Police are baffled by the escalating murders and disappearances."

Carlisle and Jasper watch with concern. Emmett is draped over the couch, Ellie close to him.

Bella and Edward enter as the reporter on the TV continues, "Theories range from a vicious new gang to a wildly active serial killer... Reporting live, Dawn Chubai. CNN."

"It's getting worse. We're going to have to do something." Carlisle states.

"It takes more than one of our kind to cause the damage they're reporting. Quite a few more. They're undisciplined, conspicuous…" Jasper comments.

"Newborns." Edward says.

"What, like new vampires? LIke Ellie?" Bella asked.

"In their first few months after the change." Edward told her.

"That's when we're at our most uncontrollable, vicious, insane with thirst." Jasper explained.

"Something to look forward to."

"But Ellie isn't like that."

"Ellie has adapted very quickly with it all. Maybe it's a trait or maybe her abilities, we don't know. But that can be something in our favour." Carlisle told Bella.

"No one has trained these newborns, but this isn't random." Jasper noted.

"Someone's creating an army." Carlisle stated as Jasper nods, Emmett rises, enthusiastic.

"Oh, now we definitely going to Seattle." Emmett said excitied.

"An Army of vampires?" Bella asked.

"And they've been created to fight someone." Jasper noted.

"We're the only clan even close to Seattle." Edward pointed out.

"Regardless, of who are they were may, if we don't put a stop to them, the Volturi will. I'm surprised they've let it go on this long." Carlisle said.

"Maybe they're behind it. In Italy, I read Aro's mind… He wants me, Alice and Ellie to join him... Our gifts would shore up his power. He knows we'd never choose him as long as our family is still alive. An army could solve that for him." Edward explained.

Bella takes this in, then, "We can't wait two weeks for graduation; you need to change me now—" Bella tried to tell him.

"You'd be a liability as a newborn. Unable to control your instincts. An easy target." Jasper tells her.

Carlisle puts an empathetic hand on Bella's shoulder, "There's also your father to consider. And your mother. How terrible would it be for them if you suddenly disappeared?" Carlisle asked her. Bella can't argue and considers.


End chapter 2