.:Jasper's POV:.

The smell of dried blood flooded my nose as my family and I entered Forks. It was a dull scent, but there was so much of it that it burned my throat anyway. Alice had already seen it coming, but being forewarned only helped so much.

"How horrible," Esme whimpered.

We had just approached the first main road of the town. The street was stained in splotches of red, clearly outlining the very places humans once laid, their bodies drained lifeless. They yellow evidence markers were another distinct sign of a crime scene, and they covered every inch of Forks.

Esme's already heavy heart sank deeper into sorrow.

I felt a more lighthearted feeling emanate from Emmett. He opened his mouth to comment on something - something he might have found slightly amusing somehow, I guessed — then stopped himself, thinking better of it.

Dried blood wasn't the only thing that Forks was drenched in. The aroma of vampires also hung in the air.

The destruction these newborns caused was massive and very unorganized. And, of this I was certain, they were never taught about the ways of our life. Especially the rules and consequences regarding the Volturi. But it also confused me. Down South was the only place I had ever encountered, or even heard of, that had armies of newborns. It never spread from there, partly thanks for the Volturi, and partly because making one in the North was pointless; it wasn't as populous here. No claims had ever been made up North because there was never any need. Only nomads roamed these grounds. There was no reason for anyone to fight, let alone to decide to create an army here.

Yet, someone had.

As a result, it caused a mass murder coincidentally in the rainy town of Forks, Washington. What were the odds of that one?

And this newborn army — it was much different somehow. I couldn't quite place the difference, but something was definitely wrong. Some details were missing.

I glided behind the rest of my family as I contemplated the elements of this attack that didn't feel right. We were on foot because we knew it was impossible to get into Forks with a car. The little town was bordered off from the rest of the world. The police were finding no new leads in this case, and the entire state of Washington was wary of the catastrophe. Vaguely, I wondered what this event would come to be known as years from now, when nothing was ever discovered about it, when theories and rumors turned into myths and legends, when it was nothing more than a story that frightened people. Forks may become nothing more than a ghost town for the rest of eternity.

I glanced at Alice when I felt a stream of tension emit from her. Her gold eyes were distant, calculating, tense. I let off a wave of calm, directing it mainly at her. I knew she was extremely worried over Bella.

Edward was a concern too, though. Carlisle was unable to get a hold of him, since his cell phone was, for whatever reason, turned off. It wasn't like Edward to keep his phone off, to prevent us from contacting him, and that worried us. Of course, it wasn't like Edward to run off and isolate himself from his family, either. Lost love was a hard thing to live with, I would assume, so I could hardly blame him for his actions. I couldn't even imagine a life without Alice.

Alice's eyes returned to reality, and she looked at me. A small, encouraging smile broke out on her lips. I understood the meaning behind it, knowing she knew I partly blamed myself for this whole ordeal. If it wasn't for my lack of self-control... If I had been able to keep calm back then, at Bella's birthday party, then we would've still been here; Edward would have never left, and there would be no need to worry about him; Bella would have been with us, actually safe. All our pain could've been avoided, if only I had been stronger.

Of course, the reason behind creating such an army here was unknown. And, logically, it could very well have been possible that it still would have happened. But maybe we could have prevented it somehow, with Alice catching it before it occurred, or something. Anything.

It hardly mattered now, in any case. There was no going into the past.

"Where exactly are we headed?" Rosalie asked softly. The grim atmosphere had us all in a quiet sate.

"Just around the corner there," Carlisle answered, pointing to a three way intersection up ahead. It was Bella's street.

We invisibly ran past officers discussing the need for more body bags. Alice broke from the group suddenly, as if the humans' conversation gave her an idea. I slowed, my gaze following her protectively, unsure of what she was doing. Flashing quickly past the two men talking, Alice swiped one of the few body bags they had left in the ambulance. Neither men noticed.

As Alice joined us again, I stared at the black bag in her hands. She saw the confusion on my face, but only shook her head, sad. The curiosity I felt — intensified by the rest of the family's — was nudging at me to ask Alice what, or who, it was for. I knew my mate well enough, however, to not even bother. If she didn't speak out about it on her own, then we would find out soon enough.

.:Carlisle's POV:.

As we turned the corner, I caught the strong scent of Charlie, Bella's father. The distress increased around my family as we approached the Swan residence cautiously. I knew for certain that no living humans were around. Time, however, was a problem. There lacked any smell of the plastic body bags on this street. The victims had yet to be securely wrapped for the mortuaries or funeral homes, therefore the medical service teams would come around sooner or later.

"No smell of Bella here," Emmett said, scanning the house and its surrounding area. "Not a recent smell anyway."

I nodded in agreement, taking the steps up the front porch. Esme followed silently behind me, while Emmett and Rosalie went to the back of the house, and Alice and Jasper hopped through Bella's bedroom window. The front door was torn off its hinges, leaning steadily on the wall of the entry way. Esme and I followed Charlie's strong scent. He smelled very much like Bella.

The living room looked untouched from what I could see. It was the kitchen that seemed to hold the worst destruction, including Chief Swan himself.

A dry sob escaped my wife upon greeting Charlie's still form. The man's face was against the kitchen tiles, his arms distorted, and his neck bent in a peculiar way. He was still dressed in his uniform. His gun was inches away from his hand; he must have tried to defend himself.

Wrapping my arms around Esme, I rubbed her back, caressing her until she was comforted, but knowing the only way to truly make her happy was by resurrecting Charlie right here and now. I shook my head sadly.

A devoted and respectable man such as Charlie should not have died this way. His love for this town and his family was strong and undeniable. Spending his life defending the good people of the small town he loved, and doing his best to protect his only daughter from the dangers of the world, both seemed like such a waste now.

Nevertheless, if he had known the fate of Forks, he would have worked twice as hard to protect it. Charlie was truly a good man. I would miss him. We all would.

"Bella's room is destroyed," Alice said from behind me, interrupting the mourning of my and Esme's thoughts. Alice stepped passed us, knelt down next to Charlie, and soundlessly laid the body bag she had acquired next to him, making her intentions clear. I moved to help her, as Emmett and Rosalie entered from the back door. They remained respectfully silent as I helped Alice delicately turn Charlie over and place him in the bag.

His body had already thinned immensely. There was a large blow to his head; it was infected and rotting, forcing Esme to avert her gaze. Judging from the shape and size, he most likely hit it on the counter-top somehow. Esme was already moving, though. She rinsed a yellow dish towel, wrung out the excess water, and handed it to me. I cleansed Charlie's head wound as much as I could with what I was given. It looked less gruesome once I was finished. The damage was noticeably not as bad as I had thought it was.

After arranging Charlie inside the sack, cringing as I managed to twist his arms back into their place (luckily my skills enabled me to do that without completely snapping his bones apart), I carefully closed his eyelids over his gray eyes and zipped the bag closed. At least he looked at peace, which was all I could ask for at this point.

A bleak sorrow that even Jasper could not sooth circulated throughout my family. Tragedies like these were hard to accept, especially when there happened to be victims you knew personally. I thought of Bella as a true daughter of mine. Even when Edward had decided that the safety risk was too great, that the best action to take was to leave her be, I still considered her as part of the family. I was sure we all did, maybe even Rosalie, in some way or another.

And as Bella was a part of my family, so was Charlie. His death, the death of a family member, held a deep wound in me despite my species' lack of full-powered human emotions (or so they say).

"Farewell, Charlie," I said gently, resting my hand on the black sack he now rested in. "May you rest in peace."

Alice pulled out a dark marker from her pocket, and on the toe tag, which was tied to the handles of the bag, she wrote: Charlie Swan, Chief of Police, Love father. The last was not necessary for the service crew, but to us, for Bella, it was significant.

After a couple seconds more of complete silence, I sighed and stood up. "It is apparent Bella was not here during the attack." I looked at Emmett and Rosalie. "Any familiar scents out back?"

They exchanged a glance. Emmett replied, "Well, not the scents we were expecting to find, but definitely familiar." His nose wrinkled in disgust. I waited for him to elaborate on that.

"Werewolves," Rosalie explained. "A lot of them."

My eyes widened. I hesitated, lost in thought, before responding. "Familiar you said?"

Rosalie nodded. "La Push werewolves."

There was no doubt in her voice, they were definitely from the reservation. I had figured the shape-shifting gene had worn off, the last occupants being Ephraim Black and his pack. It seemed I was wrong on that account.

"How many?" I inquired.

"At least seven."

"Astonishing."

The pack had actually grown. Quite large, too. And if there were more of them, however unlikely it was, I was sure they could have been the ones to take out the newborns here. Jasper had wondered about their disappearance before. The werewolves could very much be his answer. And assuming that be the case, they might have more answers regarding the whereabouts of Bella. It was improbable that we would gain much information from our natural enemies, but I refused not to try.

"What is it, Alice?" Jasper asked. I turned to see Alice with a very frustrated expression on her thin face.

She shook her head slightly, her eyes zoned in and out of the present. "I can't see much anymore," she complained, perplexed. "The future is either shifting so face I can't make it out, or it's not there at all." She paused and added sternly, eyeing everybody, "Did any of you make a decision that put us off our previous course?"

I smiled guiltily. "That would be me, I presume. Talking to the werewolves might prove to be useful," I explained. The others were, as I expected, wary of my suggestion.

"The treaty prohibits us from stepping on their land," Esme said. "How will we find them?"

"I'm sure they will sense us once we get close enough," I answered lightly. "They will come to see what we want."

"What if they don't care what we want?" Rosalie asked. "What if they lose control of themselves just by smelling us, mistaking us for the real enemy?"

"I am sure they won't act rashly. If they were the ones who stopped the newborns, then they must not be new werewolves."

"And if they weren't the ones who took care of the newborns?"

"Their smell is all around here, correct? I am almost certain it was them. However, if it wasn't, we will find out," I said.

Rosalie seemed to disagree with me. Jasper was assessing his own thoughts and strategies, though he seemed to be headed toward my conclusion. Emmett was lost in his own thoughts. Alice was trying to find our future. And Esme looked worried, until something gleamed in her eyes and she headed toward the kitchen table. I watched her wordlessly, my gaze on her back, as she picked something up.

Alice sighed, distracting me from Esme's discovery. "As soon as we split up, the half heading to La Push disappear. I think the wolves have something to do with my blindness," she said, frustrated again.

"That is an interesting possibility," I mused.

"We're splitting up?" Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie asked simultaneously, their eyes shifting from Alice to me.

I nodded in response. "The high school also needs to be checked."

"That makes sense," Emmett said. "We can't afford to waste time. Splitting up would help us find Bella faster."

"We should leave immediately then," Jasper said, securing his hand tightly around Alice's. His expression was stating, quite obviously, that if newborns and werewolves were involved, he was not leaving his mate's side. I kept that into my calculations as I tried to organize us into two groups.

"Wait!" Alice cried. Holding her free hand out in front of her, her palm facing me, like she was stopping me from going forward.

Esme was back by my side. I saw she was holding a small, thin box. Before I could ask anything about it, Alice was talking again.

"Just wait a few moments." Alice's tone was relieved, yet still unmistakably stressed, and oddly nervous. "He will be here in approximately 30 seconds," she continued, turning her head to gaze out the window. She seemed impatient.

"Who do you mean, Alice?" Esme asked, also staring out the window, attempting to see what Alice was waiting for.

"He's not going to like us here, but we have to persuade him to join us and not run off. It shouldn't be that hard..." Alice mused, ignoring Esme's question.

I had already begun to realize who it was, for there was only one person who she'd want us so badly to wait for. And I felt the same.

"Alice, who?" Emmett asked, irritated.

Alice turned her head sharply, glaring at him like the answer was as obvious for everybody as it was for me. "Edward. Who else would we have to convince to not go running off?" she replied, peering back out the window.

My son had come back, after all. I should have known he would not need a phone call from me to head back to Forks for Bella, whether in vengeance or in hope, the latter being the one I desired from him. It troubled me, though, to wonder what state Edward would be in after all this time living without Bella so she would be safe from our world, and then finding out just how disastrously his plan had failed.