-1Chapter 3

I could get out of school fast enough. I had spent the rest of my day trying to ring Edward or Alice or anyone who might know where all the Cullen's were; no one was picking up.

I didn't notice the car blocking my exit until I had almost backed into the sleek black car.

Looking in my rear view mirror, I saw a pair of steely blue eyes staring straight at me. I jumped and twisted round in my seat as Dr Bandara opened his car door and came round to my window.

Winding my window down I stared into the middle distance not wanting to meet his all too cold glare.

"In a hurry somewhere, Miss Swan?" he sneered, leaning on the frame of the door. I sunk further down into my seat as the blood rushed to my cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I …" I began, but he cut me off.

"You seem agitated today. I was talking to the other teachers in the staff room and they told me that you are quite close to the Cullen family."

"I…"

"Carlisle is an old friend, would you mind passing on a message to him?" Two long fingers extended into my truck, with a thin bit of paper clasped between the knuckles.

I grabbed the letter and stuffed it into my bag which lay on the passenger seat beside me.

He stood there for another couple of seconds, and there was no doubt now that he sniffed the air, as if he could smell my scent.

I sat there shaking, waiting for him to reverse out of my way. Dr Bandara couldn't be a vampire, he didn't have the same angelic beauty, the black eyes.

But he was smelling me, and he knew Carlisle. Maybe he had worked out another way of resisting the draw of human blood, a maths equation perhaps.

I waited until I was sure he couldn't be following me and then slowly reversed and drove towards Edward's house. I was probably being stupid but it did seem strange that the day none of the Cullen's come into school, a weirdo stalker guy smells me and then wants to talk to Carlisle.

I was so distracted I almost missed the turning into the Cullen's long winding drive, and ended up making doing a huge sweeping curve onto the road.

As the house came into view, I started to relax. I was starting to think that they had all up and left me, without a moments notice, but I could see Alice already running down from the open doorway, presumably she had been waiting me to emerge for the last half an hour. It was annoying how you could never surprise her.

She was at my side before I had opened my door, reaching over to me and grabbing the letter.

"Alice, I need to give that…"

"I know but Carlisle needs to read it now. Its important, he won't believe me until he has it in his hand." And with that she disappeared back into the house.

I sighed, and clambered out of my truck, slamming the door behind me. I could feel his presence before I could see him. I turned into the marble wall of flesh, winding my arms around his cool torso, breathing in that euphoric perfume.

I was home.

"Where have you been?" I muttered into his chest.

"Never mind that. What is he like?" Edwards voice sounded anxious. For a second I had no idea what he was talking about I was so absorbed in being in his arms again.

"What….Oh you mean Dr Bandara. He's really freaky. Is he a…"

"I think it is better that Carlisle tells you, he know it better than me. He will know how to explain it better. But no he not a vampire, not in the traditional sense anyway."

I pulled way from our embrace to look at Edwards face, he seemed worried, like what Carlisle was going to tell me was something he would rather I didn't know about.

Edward sighed, and picked me up, carrying me at superhuman speed into the grand hallway of the Cullen household, and through into the dinning room.

Carlisle was sat at the head of the table with Esme and Alice peering over his shoulders. Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett stood in a group their heads together muttering, but Jasper broke away from the group as Edward set me down.

"Well I don't like it." Jasper growled, reminding me why I had never felt close to him. He never seemed fully rid of his inner vampire. "I don't want anyone watching what I am doing."

"It wouldn't be all the time, just for the next couple of weeks." Carlisle answered, still looking down at the letter. "He says that it will only be for the next month, and then he will publish his findings without mentioning anything about our names or locations. No one even knows he is here, so they can't trace us."

"But this is breaking all the rules, and we might be exposed. I thought the whole point of not attacking people was protecting them from Vampires. He will end up exposing us all and the other vampires will think it is an excuse to stop hiding. We will end up with mass murder."

"You don't have to do it if you don't want. But I believe than any study into the behaviour of vampires is going to help us."

"Well I don't want Alice doing it either, its not safe for her."

"Er, excuse me I am in the room you know." Cried Alice coming round the table to poke Jasper in his chest. "I think it would be interesting. We spend all our time trying to behave like humans, it will give us a chance to know what makes us Vampires."

"I already know what makes me a vampire," grumbled Jasper, rubbing his chest.

"If you all finished," Edward teased, nimbly squeezing past me. "I think it would be wise to talk to the only person in the room who has actually met Dr Bandara."

All eyes on me; my face instantly reddened.

"Bella, of course." sighed Carlisle, looking up for the first time since I had entered the room. "so what do you think is he trustworthy?"

"I..I..I'm sorry I don't understand. Who is he? Is he a vampire?"

"No, sorry I forgot you hadn't talked to Edward since Alice latest vision. Dr Bandara is human, but he has a special gift. His sense of smell is greatly heightened, meaning he can smell vampires. Don't look so alarmed, it seems he is quite friendly.

"Yesterday evening Alice had a vision that someone who knew our secret would come to Forks, and would try and talk to us. It was unclear however what he wanted to do once he had contacted us, it seems he doesn't know either. How did he contact you?"

"Um well, he is my new calculus teacher" I said, "He gave me a detention for being late to his lesson, and then after school when I was getting into my car he stopped me and gave me this letter for you. He seemed to know I knew you, I suppose he could smell your scent on me. He kept on sniffing the air whenever I was around him."

Edwards tensed, his arm tightening around me waist. "But what was he like? Can we trust him? It seems the same power that means he can smell vampires also means I cannot read his mind. Whenever I try its like running into a brick wall. Worse than it is when I try to read your mind."

"He's quite mysterious, I actually thought he was a vampire. I wouldn't trust him."

"Well he hasn't given us away yet." Interrupted Emmett, "If he says that he wants to study our behaviour then I think we should meet with him and find out what that really means. If he wants to prod and poke us then we can tell him to sod off. I want to meet this guy, he seems…mysterious."

Emmett winked at me.

Edward growled at him, but Emmett just laughed.

"Well you don't have long to wait." Alice grinned back at Emmett. "He followed Bella's vampire scent here, he just can't decide whether to ring the doorbell or walk straight in."

Just then there was a knock at the door, the whole room froze.