Blanket Disclaimer Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse are not mine; they belong solely to Stephanie Meyer and her publishing company. I don't even own the idea for this story; I am simply expanding on Stephanie's brilliant work. Nor am I profiting monetarily for the creation of this story. That being said, Edward Cullen and Jasper Whitlock are my addictions. Oh, along with James Potter, but that's in the wrong category here :)

Blanket Warning Later chapters will be rated M for obvious reasons; (self) abuse, the want/need to hurt/kill and angst. If this is inappropriate for some readers because of their age and/or mentality, you have been warned.

Flames are fine; if they're warranted, I'll take it into account and try to improve. If they're unwarranted, I will mock you… publicly if I'm in a sardonic mood. You have been warned about that, too.

Chapter One – 4.00 Hours Missing
Edward's point of view; Bella's point of view

E

"Angela?" Bella cried, trails of water streaming down her face. She peered intently through the rain, but obviously could not find her friend because she quickly muttered a "Crap!" Running to hide under a gazebo, she began to mess with her phone, oblivious of the tall, dark man behind her. He hit her first with his fist and she fell, momentarily stunned, into his arms as he pressed a cloth to her mouth and nose. She was going limp even as they hastily stuffed her in the back of the truck, her mouth forming the word '-ward'.

Muttering an explicative, I clenched my fists as I repeated the vision that Alice had received about four hours ago. We were in Seattle now, the rain having finally eased up, with Alice standing outside that accurséd Smiley's Shop of Smiles, hoping to get a scent. I doubted that would be the case because, excluding Bella's very strong trail in the shop, the rain had washed all other traces of her away. Despite my sensitive pull to her scent, it was so minor that I somehow wondered if I was only imagining it.

The moment that Alice had tensed, I knew she'd seen something, and by the horrified expression on her face, I knew something had gone wrong with Bella. As I played her vision over and over again in my mind, I could feel the icy reality set in – Bella had been taken and I didn't know who did it, or why. The hunt had obviously been cancelled, as I was in no shape or mood to even contemplate wasting all that time. The others, naturally, agreed to put it off to help, but I knew it wouldn't be much longer before we all – myself included – would have to take some time to hunt, or proceed to murder half of Forks in order to satisfy our animalistic nature.

"Edward, I can't trace her – it's like she wasn't even here." Emmett said, his voice as low as it could be. Rosalie came up behind him and put a hand on his arm to comfort him, all the while shaking her head at me, letting me know she couldn't find her either. Looking at Esme and Carlisle, Alice and Jasper, I didn't even need to hear their thoughts to figure out that none of them could smell her either.

I sighed, the unneeded breath flowing out of me even as my throat closed. "I can't give up," my own voice sounded weird to me, as though I was human and had a cold, "I will find her." This time I knew I sounded more confidant; my voice was stronger and louder – a passing man turned to stare at me briefly before continuing on down the sidewalk.

We're all here for you, Edward.

No one suggested that we stop looking.

The sound of both my adoptive parents filled my head as both Esme and Carlisle, respectively, whispered thoughts of encouragement at me. I smiled gratefully at them, knowing that we were all worried and it wasn't solely my fear I was picking up on. Looking at Jasper, I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes as he twitched from the intensity of all our combined emotions. His eyes met mine and he glared at me; I knew he'd picked up on my smugness.

Shut up.

Turning away from him, I ran a hand through my copper-coloured hair and glanced down the street. Her scent was obviously stronger in and around both the shops they'd visited in – even Angela's car, once we'd found it, barely had a trace of Bella on it with the exception of the interior; the only part untouched by the rain. Turning to Alice, I muttered, "Anything yet?"

Bella, screaming out in pain, her voice carrying through a dark room, tears splashing down her cheeks that seemed paler than normal with fright…

Bella, her lifeless eyes staring at me, glassy and stark compared to their usual vibrancy, gashes down her bare chest and bruises on every visible bit of skin…

Bella, being raped, her face tensed in anguish, her knuckles white with the force that she clenched her fists with.

Bella, her cheek spilling blood from where a knife was slashing it… too much blood on her cheeks, not enough in them.

Bella, locked alone with Angela in the dark. "Edward," She whispered, "Don't leave me; don't forget about me. Edward, please…" Her voice barren, as though she'd already given up and I was too late...

Alice shook her head as those images played in my mind, through her. "No, I'm just getting snatches. None of it looks very good, but I suppose the good thing is that they don't know what to do with her yet."

"Yet." I muttered darkly, my voice hard and my gaze steely as I scrutinized Alice's sombre expression.

It's not my fault.

Alice sounded indignant, as she should have. "I know, and I'm sorry," I sighed, running a hand through my hair again, hoping this wasn't going to become a habit.

Nor is it yours.

Everyone around us fidgeted and kept their gaze elsewhere, guessing correctly what we were talking about. "Of that, I'm not so sure." Alice reached out and gripped my forearm with her small hand. She looked at me appealingly, but I refused to even touch her mind. Pulling my arm out of her reach and stepping away, I began to walk up the road, calling out over my shoulder, "I'm going to keep trying; you can go and hunt and then I'll go once you're back. One of us has to keep looking at all times."

We aren't going to find anything…

Good luck! We'll be quick.

I'll stay, I'm not as thirsty.

We'll be fast, keep the hunting close so we don't waste any time.

We will find her, Edward. Don't lose hope.

Be strong, Edward. She won't get very far.

My family's thoughts hit me with force, and I knew that they meant what they'd said, with the exception of Rose. Rosalie's negativity, though painful, could not be discredited – if we hadn't caught a scent yet, there was hardly any chance that we would. But giving up meant Bella's death, and she was one thing I was neither ready, nor willing, to lose. Alice, having volunteered to wait and hunt with me, caught up with me and deeply inhaled the early evening air. I raised my eyebrows at her and she shook her head; the smell wasn't any stronger over here.

Letting out a strangled sob, I resigned myself to the fact that her scent wasn't going to randomly appear after hours of being dormant, and entered the first shop they'd gone to – a clothing store. Walking straight up to the cashier, I ignored all attempt at the formalities and said, in the sweetest tone I could come up with under the circumstances, "Do you remember two girls in here this afternoon?"

The cashier in question, a dark skinned girl that looked around twenty, looked up from the computer game she'd been playing, her green-tinted eyes flashing with interest as she noticed us. Wow. As often as we get that, it has a profound habit of annoying me. I repeated my question and the girl snapped her gum, irritating me further. "No," she drawled in a thick, Southern accent. I assumed she might be from Tennessee; her name tag read Lauren.

"No?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"No, as in I don't remember 'em. We get a lot of girls come in here, especially with our sales startin' and all." She leaned in and smiled secretively, obviously flirting. I forced myself to flirt back, leaning in as well and grinning. When she next spoke, Lauren's voice was husky and she looked at me under heavy-lidded eyes, "Maybe if you describe 'em to me…?"

I winked at her and leaned in, making sure I knew she'd gotten my scent – Bella always said that my smell was irresistible and could get me anything I wanted. "She was about your height-" I eyed her up and noticed she about a couple inches taller than my Bella, but a human wouldn't notice such things upfront, "-she has brown eyes, and dark brown hair that reaches just below her shoulders and really pale skin. Goes by Bella." I was tempted to add in, 'extremely beautiful' but I changed my mind. My words were quick, wanting to get them out as quickly as possible to ensure that no mistakes were made.

Alice quickly cut in, "She was also travelling with a friend; Angela – shorter than Bella, with lighter brown hair and conservative clothes. Maybe they bought something?"

He must like his girls short, Lauren thought, eyeing Alice as she spoke.

"This is my sister, Alice," I gestured to Alice with a tilt of my head, never taking my eyes off Lauren's face. It was imperative that Lauren get me any information I might want, and for that, I needed her to believe I was single and interested. It must have worked, because the icy demeanour that Lauren had taken when Alice spoke quickly melted and she flashed me another grin.

"Well, I don't remember 'em, but if they bought something with a card then I'll find 'em. What's their names again?" Lauren straightened up and exited the game she'd been playing; by the looks of it, some old Neopets game involving a lot of blocks.

I nodded my head, thanking her with that action instead of words. "Isabella Swan and Angela Weber."

It felt like forever – though the rational part of my brain told me it had only been a few minutes – before she finally said, "Ok, I didn't get any results for that Isabella girl, but I did get something on that Angela one. Angela bought a small orange tank top at exactly one-eighteen PM today. I hadn't been working register then – that was Macy's time – so I guess that's why I didn't remember 'em." She shrugged as if in apology.

We thanked her for her time, and left the store. "That didn't prove anything," I muttered to Alice, my voice low.

"No, nothing we didn't already know – they were here. But watching you shamelessly flirt was fun." Alice laughed, the sound tinkling and far too happy than it should be right now.

Snorting, I rolled my eyes and we walked back to that damn Smiley's shop. "I was not shamelessly flirting," I said, sniffing.

"You most definitely were!" Alice giggled, laughing. "Just accept it, Mr. Cullen, you sold your soul back there."

I tensed, this subject never having been an easy one for me and under the circumstances I don't think I could've handled it. Instead of answering, I just pushed open the door to the damn store and held it open for her. The moment the door was open, Bella's familiar scent, along with Angela's and a million other unfamiliar ones, hit me. I ran my tongue along my teeth and resigned myself that the time to hunt was coming too near. Under normal circumstances, I could take it, but this time too many emotions were running high with Bella's disappearance.

Smiley's Store of Smiles proved to be unhelpful – not only was the cashier an elderly man whose likelihood of smiling was about as much as Rosalie getting her hair styled in thick dreadlocks – but they didn't have an updated system like Identity did, and couldn't trace what their clients bought. If Bella and Angela had bought something here, we'd never know short of asking them personally – and I intended to do just that.

B

I struggled to move, my movements slow and sluggish, but found that I couldn't because my hands were bound together. Opening my eyes, I noticed Angela sitting across from me, eyes wide with fear, bound and gagged like I was. My mouth tasted disgusting, and that after-taste of copper was still there, along with what felt like a thick coat of grime along my teeth. I tried to sit up straighter, but my head pounded painfully in protest.

Looking around the room, I noticed that it looked filthy, like some old warehouse that Hollywood always showed the hostages being taken captive in during some old mafia movie. There were no windows, and a single lightbulb hung from the ceiling, giving the room an eerie, sinister light. The floors had a healthy coat of filth on it and there was nothing to indicate a door or any form of furniture. Just a bare, dirty room filled with two scared girls.

I heard a sound behind me and belatedly realized that the door had been behind me. Footsteps sounded and, as I looked to the now-crying form of Angela, I turned my head slightly to see my attacker. My breath caught and the cloth gagging me muffled the scream that tore my lips. A man's deep laugh was heard, and a face, scarred and pale came within inches of mine.

"Hello, doll. We're in for a little fun tonight, aren't we?"

Thanks to all my lovely reviewers! Hope this was worth the wait, guys. And sorry it took a bit of time, my laziness was put to the test. ;) Also, I recently had uploading issues. :D Shot.

Bonnie –xx–