The vampire hidden in the undergrowth chuckled under its breath. Oh, how the Master would be pleased about this. To test the theory on Bella's transformation in such a way… oh, so brilliant! To manipulate her father like a puppeteer manipulates marionettes. It was, regrettably, time to withdraw. Though human minds are so weak, and pathetically easy to corrupt, this one was regaining consciousness. May as well let the poor man plead insanity, but first... why not allow a bit of… fatherly love. A nice hug. How sweet. The words are his own, but the action was under the vampire's control. This was way too much fun. Soon, though…Soon the Cullens won't be able to resist…

Carlisle's POV: I was washing my hands from an open heart surgery when I heard the page on the PA system.

"Doctor Cullen to the front desk, please. Doctor Cullen to the front desk." our rather curvy secretary droned in her nasal tone. For a woman of that size, the pitch of her voice was quite surprising. I made my way to the front desk, swerving out of the way of wheelchairs and women in labour, stopping just in time so as not to trample a young child with a rather large cast on his arm. To be quite honest, it looked like the cast outweighed him.

"Yes Donna, what seems to be the problem?"

"We just got an emerge call from a police cruiser in La Push," she began. My thoughts instantly turned to Bella; had something happened at the funeral?

"The young lady requested you; I think you might want to hear what's going on." I took the receiver from Donna and listened to the recording. It was Bella alright.

"Dispatch, dispatch, do you copy?"

"Yes ma'am, what's going on? …Bella, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. There's been an accident here in La Push. Officer Swan needs immediate medical attention; he has severe looking burns and is in a lot of pain. Can you send an ambulance?"

"Yeah, of course. What else can we do? Clear a highway, or something?"

"I don't know; just bring an extra guy to bring back his cruiser. Oh, and could you please have Dr. Carlisle Cullen ready to take a look at him? He's good with burns."

"Yeah, sure, of course! Anything else?"

"Just hurry!" came the frantic reply before the connection was cut off.

I had a feeling that Alice may have seen something, or Edward gotten paranoid. Even still, I thought that informing them of the accident would be beneficial, both to them and to Bella. I was about to dial home when the paramedics barged through the doors with a figure on a gurney, and Bella trotting in behind.

"Carlisle!" she cried in relief, running into my outstretched arms.

"Not to worry, Bella dear. He'll be okay." I turned my attention to the interns I was busy training. I felt like Dr. House or Grey's Anatomy on television; interns with good intentions but exceeding in errors. I may be exaggerating, considering I've been in this field for a few hundred years, but even still… One of them dropped the scalpel to sever the artery we had just repaired from a deformity, sending us into a flurry of action to stop the patient from having worse issues. I asked Donna to make the call on my behalf, and guided the paramedics into the OR. Charlie was in rough shape, no doubt. Fortunately, the burns weren't as severe as I predicted. I was predicting third degree, all around. His hands and knees, no doubt where he'd been kneeling, were in worst shape, but everything else was first and second degree. Or unmarred at all. I took a peek out the small window, seeing Bella sitting on a plastic bench, slightly slumped over and resting her head in her hands, her face covered. Edward and Alice were next to her momentarily, one on each side, asking her what happened and Alice noticeably shocked at the charred parts of Bella's clothing. I got back to work on patching up Charlie.

I sat in the recovery room with Charlie a few hours later. I promised Bella that Charlie would be well-looked after, and sent her home with Edward and Alice. I wondered to myself what had possessed him to do something like this…

Charlie grunted as he began to come to. His eyes flicked open and he began to take in his surroundings. Upon catching sight of me, he sighed in relief.

"Carlisle?" his voice was weak and raspy.

"Yes, Charlie. I'm here."

"…I'm not dead?"

"Not yet, old friend. Not yet."

He chuckled dryly. "How's Bella?"

"Just fine. Only worried sick." I chuckled myself.

"Good…" he closed his eyes for a moment, then turned to me gingerly.

"I don't understand what happened, Carlisle."

"Tell me everything."

"I was… so unhappy…seeing Billy like that. And knowing he was gone…"

"Yes," I probed.

"I did have a slight urge to join him, or not let him be cremated. I don't think its appropriate…but different culture, different ways…"

"Understandable."

"But then," he began, his expression dawning a disturbed look, "I heard a voice. Cool and demanding. I thought it was my conscience or something. It was prodding at me, telling me to go. I felt that I could do it, I was right, there was no problem with rescuing Billy, but then I didn't see or hear anymore, after cracking a couple old jokes we used to share. I was floating…"

I leaned forward, looking at him with more concern than ever. "Go on," I urged. This was no conscience. Charlie was sane, I could tell. It couldn't be that someone tried to….

"I started to hear again. I didn't like this floating space, I-I… didn't feel safe there. I wanted to get back, get home, get back to my daughter. Then I heard her voice, and I came back. All I could see was her pretty face, and I was so grateful to be back. I missed her while she was away. But I didn't realize I was on fire when I hugged her. That's when I started to feel it and… Oh God, is she okay? Not burned or anything?" he asked suddenly, the heart rate monitor's beeping speeding up.

"Not a scratch on her. She's fine."

"Hey Doc?" asked Charlie after a few moments worth of silence, "Do you think I'm losing it?"

"Absolutely not," I said, shaking my head, "You just need a vacation to get your mind off things. I think Bella was your rock; that which kept you focused and centered. While she's been away, you grew to miss her and had trouble getting into a new routine. Then the added stress of Billy was just too much. Don't worry, friend. This was no fault of yours."

As I left the hospital room, I knew that something was not right. There was another vampire, or creature of the such roaming around, and it had the capability to overtake people. What was worse, it probably recognized Bella, or was trying to wreak havoc on the funeral because it had something against someone there. Yet, I knew my thoughts were too vague to be completely accurate. Whoever it was though, had been thinking. They were wise enough to plan a time when no-one would notice or heed their presence. We now had a formidable enemy on our hands, and even worse, one unidentified.

A/N: Thank-you to those who have been reading thus far. Hopefully you have been enjoying this, aside from the formatting issues in previous chapters [ sorry, I am still new to this! Please review; I openly welcome constructive criticism and hope to know your thoughts and opinions. With any luck, Chapter 6 will be up soon. Thanks in advance.