I do not own Twilight

Chapter 2

A soft thumping of sneaker on packed dirt came from the dark track behind the high school. It was four in the morning and Patrick West was running laps, like he did every morning before work.

His toned arms pumped in rhythm to his steps as he ran, taking in deep controlled breaths. The older he got the harder it was to keep this up, but he pushed through the physical pain; knowing in the end it would pay off.

He planned on leading a long healthy life. Patrick was careful to only eat organic food when possible, he didn't smoke or do drugs, and in fact… he only had one real vice; girl, teenage girls to be exact.

For some reason they appealed to his nature more than a mature woman. The way they giggled over the things he said, or how they flirted shamelessly, not understanding to full consequences of what they were saying; especially when they said it to a thirty year old man like him.

Patrick was pretty good looking. He kept his dark hair short and professional; during the day he was a drafter for a design firm; most the time he only worked on parking garages, a major need in well populated areas. It wasn't exciting but it paid well and left the nights open for whatever he might want to do; or who he might want to do.

What his face lacked in looks his body made up for. All the hours in the gym and running the track left him slim and lean. His muscles defined clearly under his sweat soaked t-shirt.

The night before had cost him some energy for the morning. He'd gone to a club with some buddies; not unusual for him, he just didn't like to do it on work nights.

He'd met a few girls who had gotten in with fake ideas and spent most of his cash buying them fruity drinks loaded with alcohol; panty droppers as his buddies like to call them. One girl in particular had caught his eye.

She was taller than the other girls but skinny with a perky little butt. While the other girls wouldn't shut up she had stayed towards the back, shyly sipping a drink. It only took three drinks to get her to open up and when she did Patrick was ready and receptive.

He acted like he believed her when she said she was twenty one, and he nodded and smiled when she talked about college. As if she'd ever even stepped on a campus he thought while she talked.

By the time the club was closing she could barely remember her own last name and had accepted his offer to take her home without a second thought. While driving out of the parking lot he suggested stopping by his own place for awhile, it wasn't that far away after all.

The girl thought about it for a minute, not noticing they were already headed in that direction. In her mind she saw a pretty cute guy with a hot body and a nice car. If she played things right he might take her out again. Her friends would think she was so cool if she dated an older guy with some money.

In the end she had said yes to coming over; but to Patrick that meant yes to sex.

It had been awkward at first, she wasn't experienced and he had to show her how to do some things, but once she finally passed out he had taken what he wanted without care. While she lay sleeping he pounded into her little body so hard that the next day she would feel like someone drove a truck between her legs.

He had to practically carry her out to his car, in hurry to get her out of there before his neighbors saw anything. Patrick pulled up to the curb in front of her house and noted a minivan and a sedan in the driveway; a tricycle sitting on the porch. He wondered how old she really was.

"So maybe we can hang out again some time Peter?" The girl smiled over at him, still in a drunken daze.

"Uh, yeah. Give me a call." Patrick speed off before she could realize he'd never given her his number.

Sweat beaded down his forehead and his muscles protested against each step, but he needed this. He thought of it as a cleansing of all the alcohol from the night before. To him it had been a good night. Patrick wasn't really a bad guy in his own mine; he just had a few snags in his moral thread.

He knew someday he'd have to give up going out and seducing young girls into his bed, and that day would probably be sooner than later. Then he'd meet someone closer to his own age and settle down, forgetting about all those dark nights in his past.

All these things where running through his mind, enough so that he didn't notice the young girl watching him from beneath the bleachers.

She had dark hair hanging down passed her shoulders and pale skin. Her eyes were blood red and full of hunger.

Bella stepped out onto the grass next to the track, waiting for the next time her prey would come around to her side of the small field. She'd been watching him run for fifteen minutes, enjoying the scent that was coming off his body each time he passed her. She couldn't contain her hunger anymore though.

It was just a coincidence that she had chosen a man who enjoyed taking the innocence from young girls. She had just happened to be hiding in the trees behind the school when she saw his car pull into the parking lot.

Bella came to investigate and was pleased to see a healthy male, full of delicious blood.

As he came around the bend he noticed Bella watching him and slowed to a stop, bending to put his hands on his knees.

"Can I help you something?"

He noticed that Bella was wearing a tiny black dress, something that a normal girl wouldn't be wearing on a chilly northwestern morning. It was torn in some places and had smears of dirt others.

Patrick stood and examined her closer. Her face was deathly pale and her lips parted in a dangerous smile. In any other setting he would have mistaken it for an invitation to flirt, but here it gave him the sense that he should be running as fast he could in the opposite direction.

"Are you alright…" his voice trailed off when he finally looked into her eyes.

They were blood red with tiny black pupils staring out from the center. He'd never seen anything like it in his life.

"I'm perfect. Thanks for asking." Bella put a hand on his arm and stepped closer to him, taking a deep breath in.

Patrick tried to step back but her hold on his arm was like steel, keeping him from moving. Adrenaline pumped through his veins.

"Don't be scared. It will only hurt for a little while."

Bella put her other hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down to her. Patrick was surprised by her unimaginable strength; no matter how he struggled there was no escaping.

He screamed when her teeth sunk into the flesh on his neck. With every strain he made to pull away more blood poured out of the wound and into Bella's waiting lips.

Once she had finished she dropped the body onto the red clay track and fished his car keys out of his pocket.

"I need a shower after that." She smelled her arms where she'd touched him. His sweat clung to her skin.

Hours after she'd gone to his house to shower and hide out for awhile two students cutting across the field to class found his body. The way his skin hung slack on his bones and his eyes stared up at the morning sky with the look of complete horror would follow the both of them for the rest of their lives.

The pain Bella wanted to spread was taking root in them, people she'd never counted on hurting. If she had known it would have made her smile. She loved the way she felt when someone else felt pain because of her. For in that moment she was free.

When the cops came to his house later that day a reporter was standing just off the edge of the property and called his editor when he heard one of the rookies saying that they'd found semen on the bed sheets and a tattered black dress in the bathroom. It looked like a woman had just left.

__________________________________________________________________________________

James leaned over the front of the blue truck they had stolen, one hand braced on the hood while he heaved the contents of his stomach into the dead bushes on the side of the highway.

"What the hell are you doing?" Edward was leaning against the truck next to him.

James had told him to take a hike down the center lane of the highway but he decided he would rather watch his blond companion suffer through the dry heaves that had taken hold of him minutes before.

An amber colored liquid shot out of James lips and nose, finally relieving him of the drink he'd had the night before in the bar. Edward sniffed the air like he'd just smelled something foul.

"Is that alcohol?"

"Yes jackass, now shut up and leave me alone."

"God you're stupid. Why did you drink that?"

James spit out the rest of the liquid and wiped his mouth with the back of his hands, feeling infinitely better the bid rid of the stuff.

"I was trying to look human! I didn't want those guys to get suspicious."

"You didn't think they would figure it out when you drank their blood?"

James looked at Edward like he was the dumbest person on the planet.

"You're such a fucking moron." He smacked Edward on the back of the head as he walked around him to the driver's seat.

"I'm driving." Edward yelled, but it was too late; James was already in the truck and starting to pull away.

Edward had to scramble to get into the cab and closed the door too hard, making it sink into the body of the truck like they'd been hit by another car.

"What the hell Eddie! Can't you control that?" It seemed like Edward was always breaking something lately and it was driving James nuts.

"It's your fault for pulling out before I was in the truck!"

The boys sat fuming while they drove towards a new city. It was strange not having a destination but always having to be on the move. If they stayed anywhere too long suspicions would arise. They needed to dump the truck anyway.

"Why don't we just skip a car this time? We move faster without one." Edward was watching the trash on the side of the road as he spoke. He was still wrestling with his own ingrained beliefs about right and wrong; and breaking the law by stealing cars was definitely wrong.

"I like having a car. Get over it." James wasn't going to admit that it made him feel more human to drive. He'd always loved cars. A well tuned engine and sleek metal could keep him content for a very long time. Giving up cars was like letting go of another piece of who he used to be when his heart still beat.

A water tower up a head proclaimed 'Welcome to Hubbard', the town around it was clean and quiet.

"We can't stop here man. This place is too nice; we'll be noticed by someone."

Edward watched a few kids running down the street with a baseball bat, probably heading home for dinner.

He thought about his own mother and family and how much he missed them.

"I wonder what Emmett and Alice are doing." He had leaned his head against the glass and was expecting his breath to make a small patch of fog on the window. When nothing happened he clenched his jaw in frustration.

"Calm down Edward. I'm sure their fine." James wouldn't look at him; he hated seeing Edward look so depressed. It made him depressed.

Edward didn't want them to be fine though, he wanted them to miss him and be as sad about him being gone as he felt. He knew he shouldn't want his family to be unhappy; it just hurt to think they could move on so easily without him.

"You wouldn't understand... you didn't have a family to lose. Didn't you kill your own dad anyway?"

Edward wanted to take back to words the second he said them. He hadn't meant to hurt James; he was just angry.

James didn't say anything for a long time, he just watched out the windshield as the city around them prepared for the evening.

"You're right. I didn't have a family. I'm just a loser no one cares about."

The sudden raw emotion Edward felt coming off the boy shocked him. He's always imagined James as a tough empty shell, not caring about anyone or anything.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that-"

"No, it's ok. You're family loved you and I'm sure they all miss you a lot. My dad didn't give a shit about me and I did kill him. He deserved it though."

They reached the edge of the town and James parked on a side street next to an old junk yard. In the pale light coming off the street lamp ahead of them Edward could see the pain in James' red eyes.

"It's not true you know." He offered quietly.

"What?" James was getting tired of the conversation and wanted to just drop the subject already.

"Bella cares about you."

Just saying her name made both boys suffer; they missed her, they were worried about her… Neither of them wanted to think about how much they needed her.

"I wonder where she is."

James' voice was distant and Edward knew he was talking to himself.

"How long do you think we should wait before we look for her?"

"I don't know. I wouldn't even know where to start. She could be anywhere by now."

Edward felt like a little boy who'd lost his puppy. He still thought of Bella as the fragile, sensitive little girl he'd dated back in forks. She was all alone out in the big world with no one to look after her and it scared him. If he only knew exactly how much Bella didn't need someone to look out for her…

"It just doesn't feel right. I feel like I let her down. After all she did for us; we should be there for her."

James punched the dashboard turning into a twisted mess of plastic and wires. He hated how vulnerable he felt. And as much as he hated Edward seeing his weak spot, he had to talk to someone or he would explode.

"Hey, now who's the one breaking stuff?"

Edward raised his eyebrows in a way childish way. It was almost the same as sticking out his tongue, but he was pretty sure if he did that James would try to rip it off.

"Whatever man. Let's just go. There are larger cities not too far from here. I'm sure we can hunt there."

James got out of the truck and slipped into the shadows, where he belonged he thought bitterly. Edward followed him, trying to think of a way to comfort James without having to be too open.

They were both still struggling with their friendship. As much as they couldn't stand each other, the thought of being alone was worse. Neither James nor Edward would ever admit that though. It was much easier to act like they were doing it for Bella.

Edward caught up to James and put a light hand on his shoulder.

"We'll find her. Don't worry. We have eternity right?"

While it was meant to reassure James, it just made him feel worse. If he couldn't find her soon, that only meant she would have eternity to be alone in her pain.

________________________________________________________________________________

Detective Noelle Peterson accepted the case file from the desk sergeant with a scowl.

"Merry Christmas Detective." He winked at her before walking away.

It took every ounce of control she had to keep from hurling the stapler on her desk at the back of his head.

The merry Christmas joke had been cute the first time she'd heard it, but a year later and all it did was add to the likely hood of her having a heart attack before the age of thirty.

She rubbed her temples lightly before opening the file; it was probably something stupid and pointless. That's all they ever gave her.

In a station full of pompous men who think they knew everything they thought of Noelle as a novelty item; cute to look at but not worth much.

"DOA, thirty year old male, bruising, neck wound… completely drained of blood."

She stopped mumbling to herself and reread the last part. No blood?

Noelle flipped over to the crime scene photos. There was the man, Patrick West, lying on the ground. His eyes were looking to the heavens in sheer terror; it was odd how much emotion was still left in the corpse. Usually they just looked, blank. The last thing this man had felt was writing clearly on his face.

She tore her eyes away from his expression and studied thee area around him. There were scuffle marks in the red dirt but nothing else. No blood.

If someone is drained of all blood it has to go somewhere, and in that sort of setting it usually made a mess. The wound on his neck was a gapping hole of flesh and torn muscle. Not a neat little needle to feed blood into a container. Besides, it wasn't an easy task to remove all the blood from a body without simple chopping off the head.

Noelle closed the folder and pulled on her black sports coat. This was something she had to see for herself.

As she stepped out into the cold night air she thought about stopping for food before heading to the coroner's office. She hated the way that place smelled and it always ruined her appetite.

While getting into her old Honda something across the street caught her eye. At first she'd sworn there were men running through the shadows; a blond man and a slightly taller man with coppery hair. It had only caught her eye because of how stupid his hair cut was.

Noelle blinked a few times trying to force her eyes into adjusting to the dim light but by then there was nothing there. She shook her head before pulling out of the parking lot, noticing a dark blue truck parked next to the old junk yard. The passenger side was dented in like it had been in a side impact accident.

After thinking about it for a moment she called into the station to have an officer check it out. She wasn't exactly sure why she did it, but in her experience following your gut was usually a good thing.