After school the next day, Bella was going to Port Angeles with some of her friends. They were planning to look at dresses for the spring ball, and even though Bella wasn't going to the dance herself, she had agreed to help Jessica and Angela with picking out something for them. As this obviously was a girl's only trip, I didn't ask if I could join them. I had been forced to go shopping with Alice enough times to know that this wasn't something I would think of as fun, though I suspected the fact that Bella was involved in the whole proceeding would greatly increase my enjoyment of it. Everything involving Bella was of interest to me.

I thought briefly about staying home, waiting for my family's return, but then decided to drive to Port Angeles as well. Even though I didn't want to get in the way of the shopping experience, I thought I could 'accidently' arrange to bump into them after they were done. Maybe go to dinner with them and then convince Bella to take a ride home with me.

I arrived around four o'clock and parked my car in a public garage. I didn't want to sit there and wait until there was a good time to go in search of the girls, so I got out and walked down to the pier.

Port Angeles was the largest city on the Olympic Peninsular, and also held the headquarters of the Olympic National Park. This meant it saw much more tourism than Forks and the city planners had reacted by building a picturesque boardwalk by the bay. Small shops with all kinds of souvenirs lined the walk, with plenty of t-shirts, knickknacks, jewelry and food on display. It was still off season, so the place was pretty empty and I just browsed a little bit, not really looking for anything special.

I didn't see Bella or the others, but then I hadn't really expected it. My guess was they had gone to the only department store in town, which was a couple of blocks off the bay.

By five I thought about starting to go looking for them, but then decided to give them a little bit more time. I knew buying a dress could be a lengthy endeavor as all advantages and disadvantages of any single garment in the store needed to be considered and discussed carefully. At least that was the way Alice and Rosalie went shopping. That was, unless they knew exactly what they wanted. In that case, it was a matter of seconds to discover if or if not what they were looking for could be found in the store. It was a puzzle to me how women did that, but it was a fact that they did.

Eventually I had enough of looking through the shops. It wouldn't be long before the sun would set and I was anxious to find Bella. I turned away from the bay heading South.

"Edward?"

It was a female voice that called my name, but not the voice I had been hoping for.

"Hi Jessica, hi Angela," I greeted the two friends who were walking towards me, loaded with several shopping bags each. There was no sight of Bella.

"What are you doing here?" Jessica asked bluntly.

I pondered if I should tell them some lie why I was here, but then decided against it. The fact that Bella wasn't with them worried me and I needed to know where she had gone.

"I'm actually looking for Bella. She said she would be coming with you two today."

"She did," Jessica confirmed. "But then she said she wanted to go and look at that book store in Foster Street. If you want you can wait with us. We're going to meet her again at that Italian place on the boardwalk in an hour."

She sounded hopeful that I would say yes, but I shook my head. For some reason I had a bad feeling about this. Bella had a talent to get into trouble and her being alone in her strange town didn't sound good to me.

"I'll go and see if I can catch her at the book store. Maybe later then."

"Okay," she said with a speculative gleam in her eyes. I knew she was wondering if Bella and I were an item, and my behavior only enforced her suspicion. I didn't care, though. I was far too worried by now.

I moved past the two girls and walked quickly toward the little esoteric book store Jessica had mentioned. Arriving there, I saw through the store window that the place was empty except for an elderly woman who hadn't realized yet that being a hippie was a little bit out of style.

I stood in front of the place, wondering what to do next. I looked around in hope I might be able to catch a glimpse of Bella, when suddenly my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that it was Alice.

"Alice?" I asked breathlessly, a cold lump suddenly forming in my stomach. Alice had said she would call me if she saw something in Bella's future change.

Alice didn't waste any time with greetings. "Edward, you need to find Bella now. She's in serious danger."

Damn!

"Where is she? How much time do I have?"

"Not much time. She in some industrial area, warehouses maybe, South of you. There are four men."

I didn't wait for any more information. I started to run.

I didn't know Port Angeles that well, but remembered that as I had been driving downtown I had passed several warehouses on the way. This was where I was heading now.

As I ran I wondered what Bella was doing in the warehouse area. Had she somehow lost her way? Had she been brought there by somebody else? Who were the four men Alice had mentioned? What were their intentions?

Well, I could guess on the last one. Bella was a beautiful girl and alone - sometimes that was all it took.

Anger rose in me, lending strength to my legs. At each intersection I paused for a short moment, checking left and right if I could see her, before running on.

Eventually, I found myself at a T-intersection. In front of me was a chain-linked fence with barbed wire on top, to both sides a street with several warehouses with loading docks. It was getting dark.

Left of right? Left or right?

I knew I had only one chance.

I turned right, running along as fast as my burning lungs allowed. The street seemed to be empty. No car, no pedestrian as far as I could see.

Had I made the wrong turn?

God, I hoped not.

The street ended at the next corner, where there was a stop sign. As I reached it, I heard a strangled cry.

On my right, leading in a southerly direction was a narrow street, lined on both sides with blank, windowless walls. Halfway down the street, was a group of four men. And in their middle ...

"Bella!" I cried at the top of my lungs.

The men froze for a second, three of them turning to look at me. The last man was pressing Bella against the wall, kissing her brutally. Her blouse was halfway off her shoulders and the man's hands roamed over her exposed skin.

I roared in fury.

The light in the street wasn't the best and in the falling dusk I couldn't see Bella clearly, but it was obvious in the sagging of her shoulders that she had recognized my voice. She tried to push her assailant away from her, but he wouldn't budge.

"Let her go!" I commanded, as I stepped closer, catching my breath.

For a moment, I thought they would. People like this were usually cowards. Face them with opposition and they ran. But then they seemed to realize that I was only one person and they were four, and their stance changed.

"And you're going to stop us?" a heavyset man sneered at me.

"Yes!" was all I said.

I had no idea how I could fight four men at the same time. Other than a small pocket knife that I always carried with me, I had no other weapons, and the knife was pretty useless in this situation anyway. I knew a little bit of self defense, though I never followed any particular style. Jasper and Emmett had both trained with me when I had grown up. It had been more for fun than anything else, as I had no chance anyway against their vampire strength, but I did pick up a few tricks. I thought my chances were pretty good in a normal one-on-one fight, but four against one, that was a totally different matter.

Ultimately, it didn't make a difference. I had no choice. I had to help Bella, that was all that counted.

One of the men laughed out loud. "This will be fun," he said, detaching himself from the group and coming towards me. He had blond, curly hair and didn't look much older than myself. I had stopped maybe ten feet away from them, my feet planted firmly on the ground, my hands at my sides. They were shaking, but I tried not to show it.

"Bella, are you okay?" I called, watching the blond guy through slitted eyes as he came closer.

"I'm fine," she replied, a quiver in her voice.

Bella, why do you have to lie in a situation like this?

The blond guy was now within my reach and he didn't loose any time to take a swing at me. I evaded him with ease, ducking sideways and coming up on his right. With both my fists I hit him on the back, causing him to stumble forward.

"Hey," he cried as he whirled around to face me again.

This time I blocked his arm with my left and served him an uppercut to this stomach. He umpfed as the air left his lungs in one violent rush.

The others now realized I wasn't the easy target they had believed me to be and two more made to move over to me. The one holding Bella to the wall moved away from her a little, but maintained a firm grip on her arm.

I took a few steps away, hoping for some more room to maneuver. If they managed to surround me, my chances to get out of there in one piece would be greatly diminished. Not that it mattered. All that mattered was that Bella got away.

"Bella, run!" I cried, hoping she would get a chance to.

The first of the two newcomers, a burly, dark haired guy, tried to rush me, but I stepped aside, and he ended up stumbling past me, aided by my punch to his back. This however put me into the path of the third guy, who lost no time to aim a fist at my face. I ducked and he missed me by less than an inch.

The first guy had recovered a little from the hit I had managed to get in and now tried to get to me, but, luckily, the last guy got in his way. I took two steps backward and managed to get a little bit more room to maneuver in.

For a moment, we watched each other with wary eyes. The three men stood in a loose semi-circle with me at its center. We were a couple of yards away from the last man and Bella, and between two of the attackers I got another glance at her. Number four had let her go for now, and I screamed in my mind for her to run, but she seemed to be frozen to the spot, incapable to move.

With odds of three – probably soon four - against one the smartest move would have been to run like hell, but I wouldn't, no couldn't do so. Not as long as Bella was here as well. My best chance was to work them against each other. They were obviously not used to work - or fight - in a team, so I would need to arrange it that they would get into each other's way. All I needed to do was to buy Bella some time, so she could get a grip and get away.

I moved slowly to the left, trying to keep an eye on all of them.

Blond guy rushed me, fury evident in his eyes. This time my block didn't work and he hit me on the shoulder painfully. I stumbled, trying to regain my balance, when the next guy jumped me and pushed me to the ground. He tried to pin me down, but I rolled and managed to get out from under him. Before he could try again, I jumped back on my feet and with one fluid move I kicked the feet out from underneath him. He landed on his ass hard.

I laced my hands together and hit him on the head as hard as I could. Blood gushed out of his nose and he rolled on the ground, holding his face.

"Fuck, the bastard broke my fucking nose."

One down, three more to go.

The others hadn't been idle while I finished off the dark haired man. One bowled into me sideways and I landed on the ground with a jolt. Somebody got a kick in, then a second, and my side exploded in pain.

"Edward," I heard Bella call desperately.

'Run, Bella!' was my only thought. I was incapable of speech.

I curled into a small ball, my hands over my head, hoping to offer as little surface for them to hit as possible. While they had their fun with me, I hoped Bella would get away, get some help.

If she did, everything would be worth it.