Faith
The news trickled in from the hospital since 10 AM. Everyone in the house was shocked; Bella was beside herself. How could I have not seen this coming? This didn't make me feel better about the impending situation with Nathaniel. Mike was on a hiking expedition when he was suddenly attacked by an animal. He was transported to the hospital where Carlisle began trying to heal him. It didn't look good, in the two hours after the accident Mike's condition was stabilized but still dire. Emmett and Jasper went hunting to see if they could follow the sent of whatever it was that attacked Mike. The pack joined Emmett and Jasper in trying to find whatever it was that made the attack. If it attacked one person, then nothing was stopping it from attacking more. The pack was immediately reminded of the attacks made by Victoria and Laurent three years ago while we were exiled by Edward's fear of hurting Bella.
None of us, especially Bella, were really close to Mike now that we were graduated and were rarely seen in the city. Mike still worked for his parents at their outdoor store while attending community college in Port Angeles. He dropped out of the University of Washington after only a semester due to poor grades and lack of funds. His relationship with Jessica, which had been on again off again since Bella first moved to Forks, seemed to be on the mend once again now that both were stuck in the greater Forks area. Jessica was beside herself when she heard the news of Mike's attack and according to Carlisle never left the hospital. It was impossible for Bella to go see Mike in the hospital since he was one of the few who was under the impression Bella was dead. Instead Rosalie offered to go for her and check on Mike.
"Don't worry Alice, we'll figure out what this is." Edward read my mind so clearly. He knew I was worried about the connection this might have with Nathaniel. It was no secret that the last time there was wild animal attacks in Forks that the locals blamed it on over sized bears and wolves. Nathaniel worked with werewolves in India, which made it all the more likely he might have finally made his move by sending some of those werewolves to Forks. The only thing that made it less likely was that the attack happened during the day and the moon was waning the night before.
It was a quarter after one when Carlisle called from the hospital to report that Mike Newton died. Bella seemed a little upset, but not nearly as bad as I expected her to be. She and I agreed to go hunting.
We went to our favorite spot where moose was known to be this time of year.
"What was it that killed Mike?" She abruptly asked.
"I don't know Bella, it could have been a wild animal or it could have been something else. Jazz and Emmett are working to figure that out with the pack."
"He wasn't my closest friend by any stretch, but I want to know what did this to him so I can kill it." Bella then squatted down and pounced on an un-expecting moose. She drained it within a few minutes. I took my time and found a healthy male who was still in his early teens. I attacked and had him drained in a matter of seconds, not savoring my kill the way I normally did.
"Don't worry Bella, when we find out what did this we will all want to take it down. None of us take pleasure in seeing a human attacked and killed, especially if it was by something supernatural."
We walked back to the house slowly, almost at a human pace and said nothing at all. When we reached the house we walked in through the kitchen and I could hear that Jazz and Emmett were back; Jacob and Seth were at the house as well. They sat together comparing notes from their tracking expedition; apparently they didn't go together, but rather split up to cover more ground. The thought of Jasper out there hunting this unknown beast made me a little fearful for him, but he could handle himself. We got into the lower living room where everyone was sitting.
"We didn't recognize the sent as anything indigenous to this area." Jacob explained.
"Don't worry; we didn't recognize the sent either." Emmett seemed a little disturbed by the idea he didn't know what he was hunting.
Then Carlisle interceded into their conversation, "I think its time we contact Eleazar up in the Denali. He worked with the Volturi for so long, maybe he knows the sent of whatever this was. All we know is that Alice didn't see it coming and the wounds left on Mike leave no doubt that he was shredded by whatever attacked him."
We all sat quietly for a moment; it was all what we feared. Mike Newton had gone into the woods by himself and as he walked back to his car he was attacked by something that didn't just bite him, but shredded him with claws. He was found at his car by another hiker about three minutes after the attack. Carlisle was on duty when the hiker brought Mike into the hospital, but said the hiker didn't stick around for long when people at the hospital were able to recognize Mike. His parents were called and they called Jessica, all of whom arrived at the hospital shortly after Mike was brought in. Carlisle had enough time to examine Mike and even he didn't recognize the sent on the body. He thought it might have been a wolf or bear that attacked Mike.
Before we could settle down from these disturbing thoughts there was a knock at our door. Charlie dressed in his uniform stood at the front of our door with a grim look on his face.
"Carlisle, I was hoping to catch you here. Something has happened in Port Angeles that can't be explained. We told them to fly the victims to Forks and that you would personally over see their case." Charlie took his eyes off Carlisle for a moment and looked into the milky brown eyes of his daughter. His stern look disappeared as he stared for a moment at Bella. Within a matter of seconds tears began to swell in Charlie's eyes and he slowly opened his mouth once more.
"Bella, dear, I…I'm sorry but its Angela and Ben. They were in Port Angeles for the weekend before heading back to school. They were found mugged in the back of a warehouse this morning; they were in such terrible pain. They kept complaining of being on fire though there is no visible damage of burn marks on their bodies." He turned his eyes back to Carlisle, who was standing at the door with his black bag and white doctor's coat in hand. His eyes were fierce; he knew what the matter was. He shot a glance at Edward who immediately joined him at his side. They were going to the hospital to bring Angela and Ben home to join our family as new born vampires. The struggles we expected with Bella would come to us twice as bad with two new vampires who knew nothing of the rules or our existence. We all stood stunned and Charlie looked around at us all taking a moment to figure out what we all knew instantly.
"Come Charlie, we must get to the hospital immediately and take them out and bring them back to our home. We have no time to spare." Carlisle was stern with his address to Charlie, but Charlie knew it was urgent and didn't put up a fight. The three men left the house and went to Charlie's cruiser. Carlisle insisted on Edward driving and again Charlie put up no fight.
"Come, we need to prepare for our new family members. They will be disoriented when they wake." Jasper knew what to expect, decades of making and training new vampires gave him the knowledge we so desperately needed at this moment. Before any of us could begin to feel the effects of such a horrible day Jasper used his power to calm us all down for the challenges still ahead of us.
Bella and I began by cleaning out one of the studies to make into a safe room for Angela. I snuck into her home and gathered some of her things so that we could place them in her room; hoping we could calm her down. Meanwhile, Jasper and Emmett made another room for Ben. We put hospital beds with restraints in both rooms. Esme and Rosalie brought morphine into both rooms for use on Angela and Ben. They meanwhile cleaned up the rest of the house. The last time either of them encountered a true new born was when Emmett was made. Emmett by their accounts was a reckless danger to the family until Rosalie and Edward could calm him down. They did not want this to be the case again, not with the Volturi watching our moves ever so closely and an unknown danger lurking in the woods responsible for Mike's death. We placed as much morphine into both rooms as we could find throughout the house. Within a few hours we had two studies completely outfitted for two new born vampires to occupy while they adjusted to their new life.
All of us slowly made our way back to the living room and lounged around until Carlisle was able to secure Angela and Ben. At that point Edward and Carlisle would have time to sneak the two out of the hospital to allow the transformation to finish here. By what we knew the process was just over a day old and that gave precious little time to deliver Angela and Ben to our house.
"Why haven't they been able to get them out the hospital yet?" Bella asked impatiently; Angela had been her closest friend since arriving in Forks.
"Don't worry Bella, Carlisle has everything under control and will get them here as soon as is possible." Esme attempted to reassure Bella, but it didn't seem like it was really working. Bella's face will still construed in a way that anyone could see the hurt in her as her closest friend was undergoing the transformation against her own free will. Jasper finally used his ability to calm Bella down, but he obviously felt my anxiety for what was happening because I soon felt his affects.
"They're coming home." I let out with enthusiasm.
"Finally." Rosalie seemed impatient too, probably nervous about adding new members to our family. From what my vision showed me it would take Carlisle and Edward thirty minutes to finally get here. They were currently securing Ben and Angela, preparing to whisk them out of the hospital. Of course this was all dependent on whether the chief of staff at the hospital, the first doctor to care for Angela and Ben when they were brought in, didn't decide to move them to another area of the hospital without telling Carlisle. I had been watching Dr. Alexander since Charlie came to inform us about Angela and Ben. My fear was that Dr. Alexander would prevent us from saving Ben and Angela. At this point it was still up in the air. Dr. Alexander was still contemplating what he was going to do and whether or not to just let Carlisle handle the situation. Dr. Alexander was relieved when Carlisle came in because he knew nothing about their condition. As soon as Carlisle found where Dr. Alexander was at he told him that he had seen the case one other time when he was in Chicago. Dr. Alexander happily handed over the patients to Carlisle, but because of his close connections to Ben's parents he was contemplating taking back over Ben. Unfortunately their condition only seemed to worsen which lead him to believe Carlisle was no better able to help them than he was.
At a quarter after three in the afternoon Carlisle and Edward burst through the door raced Angela and Ben up to their respective rooms. They were sedated with morphine still from the hospital but it didn't look good. Bella and Emmett helped restrain Angela and Ben and then all four, Bella, Edward, Carlisle and Emmett came down to the living room.
"They are far enough a long that it won't be long now. We need to try and keep any humans from coming to the house for a couple of weeks until we have explained the rules and attempted to get them fixed on animal blood. While I was at the hospital I had Edward go to the local butcher and buy up all the extra pigs' blood that he had. We'll try and get them hooked on that until we let them out of their rooms. I can't say whether or not Reneesme will be in any danger. Until then, Bella, we need to let Jasper watch over her whenever she is in the house. Rosalie and Emmett will spend their time watching over Ben and Angela. Bella, Edward and Alice will be on security detail. Alice and Jasper will remain in the house and Alice will watch for any one coming over. Edward will patrol near the turn off onto the road and listen for anyone who is looking to come over. Bella, it will be your responsibility to be with Charlie as much as possible." Carlisle gave us our marching orders and we prepared ourselves for the coming of our two new family members.
In the time we waited Carlisle tried to help Emmett and Jasper continue looking for our mysterious attacker. Charlie shut down all the paths until further notice to prevent anyone else from getting hurt. It was still puzzling to us all that no one, not any of us nor could the pack identify the sent of Mike's killer. I felt helpless and lost that I couldn't figure out the connection Nathaniel had to my dreams; was it a warning or just my memory finally freeing itself? Things seemed to be falling down around my family and me ever since returning to Forks.
It took two more days for Ben and Angela to finally complete the transformation. When they awoke they struggled with their restraints demanding to know what happened. Carlisle, one at a time, explained to them what had happened and asked if they could remember anything from the night they were attacked. They took the news of their condition quite well and attempted to piece together anything that happened that night.
"We were walking in Port Angeles, down a dark street…" Ben struggled to think of the events.
"We were laughing and carrying on…That's when we first noticed someone was following us." Angela explained independently.
"I thought he just wanted my wallet and her purse. We kept walking in hopes that maybe he was just a lost drunk and really meant no harm to us. Then we turned the corner and he vanished. By the next street he reappeared, this time in front of us. We got close to the street light he was under and we could see his eyes…they were red."
"We stopped dead in our tracks, Ben tried to help us escape but the man was too fast. He cut us off and just asked to see our wrists" Angela showed us her right wrist, it had teeth marks, "He bit into me and stopped almost as quickly as he sunk his teeth in. Then he did the same to Ben. Almost immediately the fire began to burn and we both collapsed on the street. A few hours later we were found by a man walking to work; he called the ambulance. When they saw we were both from Forks they decided to rush us here." Angela completed the story; she glared out into nothing.
Carlisle brought them both packets of pig's blood and instructed them to eat. Angela still was unable to grasp that we were vampires; she asked herself repeatedly how she could have missed it. She was both shocked and happy to know that Bella wasn't dead and that it all had been a ruse to get Renée off her back. From what I could over hear, Ben had the same reaction when he finally saw Bella. He was ecstatic that she was still alive and that she would be able to spend eternity with Angela and him. Bella took on the role of the parent in this case, telling both that she could only be around them as long as they agreed to only feed on animals and never on people. Not wanting their closest friend to leave them again, both readily agreed never to feed on humans and to live by the Cullen way.
As they grew accustomed to their new life they were allowed out of their rooms and allowed to roam the house. This gave the rest of us time to continue investigating Mike's death and the problems with Nathaniel. Eleazar called Carlisle and gave him as much information about Nathaniel as he could. Of course we were told about his early life as Polycrites. What we didn't know was that Nathaniel works personally for Caius since the year 410 A.D. Last Eleazar heard, Nathaniel was stationed in India to hunt werewolves. Caius was upset that Nathaniel allowed me to slip through James' fingers and into the hands of the Cullens. This set us back a little; we were all a little worried that Nathaniel's real job was to recruit werewolves who were willing to work for vampires. Carlisle speculated that Caius, who never cared for Carlisle, wanted to destroy our family. For a while we have been the largest and most powerful coven outside of the Volturi. Caius, Carlisle hypothesized, was eager to shore up their power by destroying us.
This was a hard pill to swallow, the idea that the Volturi secretly had someone out trying to kill us. Of course if Aro ever found out about this he probably would put a stop to it immediately. I felt sick that my past was not only catching up to me but to my family as well. They had done nothing wrong; I chose them, they never stole me. I knew I would eventually have to confront Caius and his brothers about this but I didn't know how. I couldn't just sit here hoping to let the Volturi walk back into Forks to battle us.
The weight bearing down on us was incredible, not even Jasper's amazing power and love for me could comfort me. Bella could see the despair in my eyes and offered to go with me to Olympia or Seattle for a shopping trip. As tempting as the offer was, I declined her invitation. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. I was confident that it had to be a member of the pack because I didn't want to let myself think it was because I was so self- absorbed that I had failed to see.
"Hello Jacob, Leah. Please come in." Bella gestured as she moved out of the way for Leah Clearwater and Jacob Black to enter the house. Leah's little brother was already here, he practically lived here.
"Thank you Bella." Leah seemed more at ease and more hospitable to Bella than she had in ages; I was a bit skeptical.
"What brings you two over to our humble home?" Carlisle quickly raced to the door to be a proper host.
"We heard that you have two new members of the family and Sam asked if Leah and I could come over and meet them. He appreciates the care you have shown after that blood sucker did this to them." Jacob was more polite to us than ever, but at times he could still show a little hostility to our brethren. He stood firm, obviously smelling the Angela and Ben who were upstairs.
"Tell Sam that it was my pleasure to help anyone who was in need, especially for what has happened. As you might know, my children went to school here in Forks with these two; their names are Ben and Angela."
At the top of the stairs Ben and Angela appeared, they glared down at our guests. They still were attempting to grow accustomed to Seth's smell, now they had to deal with three shape shifters. They walked slowly down the stairs and Ben was the first to speak.
"Jacob Black, I should have known there was something peculiar about you as well. I surely would have thought Edward could have taken you easily in a fight, now I know it would have been much closer than I thought." Ben seemed a bit smug towards our brother in arms. Angela stood quietly beside him, when Jacob and Leah stretch out their hands to shake theirs they hesitated but Angela quickly grabbed Leah's and then Jacob's. The tension in the room was thick as butter. After they shook hands that tension left the room and house quickly and we all made our way into the living room.
"You have other news for us." Edward quickly stated as Jacob and Leah walked into the room and sat near Nessie.
"We do, and it concerns everyone." Jacob looked down at Nessie, who smiled back up at Jacob. Edward took Bella's hand; I could tell if he wanted to restrain her or comfort her but his eyes never unlocked from Jacob's. The room sat quiet for too long while the two alphas who once competed for the heart of Bella stared at each other. Edward picked the brain of Jacob and Leah while his face went from anger, to sadness, to happiness.
"Congratulations." Edward responded with a wide smile, the rest of us waited for an explanation.
