Disclaimer: None of these characters really belong to me. So don't sue. Thanks!

P.S. Italics in this chapter usually tell us what Charlie is thinking. Just thought I'd give you a heads up, so nobody got confused.

Chapter Four

Confusion

Carver Cafe, Port Angeles

"She was supposed to be here an hour ago!" I was pacing back and forth in the nearly empty cafe with Sue. "I'm going to go out and look for her." I grabbed my jacket and made to leave, but Sue grabbed my arm.

"Charlie, you won't be able to find her. Its as black as pitch out there, you'll get yourself lost." She was worried, I could tell, but it didn't matter. Someone had to find Bella.

There was a flurry of tinkling bells as two teenagers, a boy and a girl, walked in and, after spotting us, walked straight towards us. I gaped in surprise as I saw it was Seth and Leah Clearwater.

"Mom, we've looked everywhere, and we can't find her. The rain has washed away the scent, we can't even smell their scent on her, even when we've phased." Leah looked more irritated than usual, which was really unnerving. Wait, who's the her that they're talking about? Were they talking about Bella?

"What about Sam and Embry? Have they had any luck?" Sue didn't look surprised to see them at all.

"None. We're all in the same boat. None of us can smell her scent," Smell her scent? "Even Seth can't and he's the one who's most accustomed to her." Leah added in a disparaging tone.

"Wait, what's going on here?" All three of them ignored me.

"Mom," Seth broke in, looking uncomfortable, "I have an idea." He took a swift glance at me before going on. "I think we should call them."

"Them? Who is them?" Again, I was ignored.

"You have got to be kidding me, Seth." Leah was incredulous. "We can handle this ourselves. She was on our watch, we'll find her."

"Yeah, she was on our watch, and look what happened! She's out there somewhere, in the pitch black rain with God-knows-what!" Leah shivered. "Who knows what could've happened to her. Didn't you see her truck? All of her bags were in there, but not her. Something is wrong here. I'm not going to wait until its too late to call them." Seth walked off to the back of the store, pulling a lime green phone out of the pocket of his jeans.

"Why do you have Bella's phone?" I made to follow Seth, but Sue stopped me by grabbing my arm.

"Charlie, you should sit down now. Everything is going to be fine." She sat me down, trying to sooth me with her voice, and rubbing circles on my back.

"What's going on here Sue? Why does Seth have Bella's phone? Who is it that they can't find? Is it Bella? Why are Seth and Leah even here? And who was the 'them' that Seth was talking about?" I had no idea what to think. Everybody was being so... mysterious!

"Seth and Leah followed us here today, to make sure that Bella didn't get into any trouble." Sue stopped, carefully, choosing her words.

"Why would Seth and Leah need to make sure Bella doesn't get into any trouble??" Sure, Bells was clumsy and stuff, but other than tripping every so often, and that once incident with the stairs in Phoenix, Bella had always been pretty safe.

"Edward asked Seth to keep an eye on Bella while he was away. Seth's been keeping tabs on her, every time he's been gone away." I mentally counted the times Edward had been away in the past two months, on family trips as Bella had told me, and was shocked.

"So you're telling me that Seth has been following Bella around, every other week for the past two months? Does Bella know this?"

Sue looked trapped.

"Well, not exactly. Let's just say that Seth, and Leah for that matter, are very good at staying hidden when they want to be."

"Are you going to tell me what's going on here, Sue, or do I have to figure it out on my own?" She sighed, and looked over to Leah, who was leaning against the wall, looking at her fingernails.

"You might as well tell him mom, he'll need to know soon enough." She scowled at her mother.

"What do you mean by that?" I still didn't get it.

Leah snorted.

"Yeah, I wonder how you two can possibly think that you can keep from all three of us," and by three I assumed she meant Bella, Seth, and herself, "that you two are engaged?"

Sue gasped, audibly demonstrating my own shock. How did she know? Sue caught my eye and shook her head. She hadn't told anyone of our plans yet.

Leah chuckled darkly, but stopped when she saw Seth walking back towards us, his expression hard.

"He's coming. Leah, you need to meet up with the others down by her truck. Tell Sam that I'll meet him a few blocks down, over by Sheridan's. He and I are the only ones that need to be here when Edward gets here."

The name sent my head spinning.

"What does Edward have to do with this? Is he the one that took Bella? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" All three of them looked at me, shocked expressions on their faces.

"Charlie, dear, I'll explain everything to you later, seeing as now is definitely not the best time. Alright?" She put her hand to my cheek, and I couldn't help but calm down. This woman was way too good to me.

"Alright. What do I do now?" I asked Seth and Leah.

"Just stay here, Charlie, and wait for one of us to come and get you. It could be me or Sam, or it could be Edward. He should be here soon." Seth started pulling off his shirt, but was interrupted.

"Hey YOU!" We all looked over to the back of the cafe, to see the manager pointing at Seth, "No shirt, no service!" Seth laughed before pulling his shirt completely off and handing it to his mother.

"Can you hold this? I don't wanna ruin it, you know its my favorite." He was just about to leave before he remembered something.

"Charlie, you should probably keep this, seeing as you don't have your own." He handed me Bella's cell.

"We'll be in touch." He gave a quick wink at his mom before he and Leah headed out into the rain, disappearing instantly. I saw a shred of what looked like the dark denim of Seth's jeans hit the window. Sue sighed.

"That's his third pair this week. I swear. Forget about those kids eating me out of house and home. If they continue like this, I'll make them go around naked."

She sat down, and I followed her lead, waiting for someone, something, to give me some hope.

Abandoned Warehouse, Just south of Port Angeles

I groaned. My head hurt like hell, and I was extremely uncomfortable. I tried to sit up, but failed, the pain in my head drawing me back toward the floor. I cautiously opened one eye, trying to take in my surroundings. It was too dark to make out anything, except shapes. I could hear the storm outside, whistling around, and the rain pounding on what sounded like a metal roof. I had no idea where I was. I heard scratching just by my head. I looked over and screamed, causing the rat that had been two inches away from my face to scramble away, underneath a shelf full of what seemed to be rather large crates.

I heard voices in the next room, and footsteps, drawing closer from in front of me. There was a tremendous rattling sound and a huge metal door scraped to the side, blinding me with sudden light from another room.

"Well well well, look who's finally awake." The footsteps were drawing closer, and soon they were just a foot away. I didn't want to open my eyes, I was too scared. The man who had spoken knelt down, gently taking my face in his hand, bringing my face closer to his own, before forcing his mouth down upon mine. I tried to wrench free from him, but he was too strong. He tried to open my mouth with his tongue, and I was too weak from being unconscious for so long I couldn't resist him. Instead, I bit down on it, and he let out a holler.

"You bitch!" He slapped me across the face, and the sheer force of it knocked my eyes open.

"Hey! Stop that!" Another voice, coming from the same direction that this man had come from called out. Maybe he would save me.

"She bit me Amos!" The wounded man's speech was impaired. His tongue sounded swollen! If I hadn't been so frightened, I would have smiled at my small victory.

"Maybe you shouldn't have been sticking your tongue in places where it don't belong!" Amos walked over to me, pulling my chin up to look at me. I shrank away. This man wasn't here to help me. He was friends with swollen-tongue-man.

"Don't shy away from me, honey." He grabbed me, harder than before to look at me, running his hands down my body, feeling me through my sodden clothes.

"Please..." my tongue could hardly form the words. "Please don't. Please stop..." I was crying now, my sobs shaking my shivering body.

"Stop?" the man chuckled. "Darlin, we haven't even started yet."

A/N: This chapter was surprisingly easy to write, and I think its the best one i've done so far. Please please PLEASE don't hate me for the end! I had to do a cliffie, otherwise this chapter would've been way too long. Next chapter is gonna be difficult, but I'll try my hardest to update as soon as I can. I want to get it as close to perfect as possible. SHOUTOUT TO Chris'girl6935 and debcripps for REVIEWING! YOU GUYS ROCK!

So, for all you other losers out there, REVIEW! Just kidding. You're all still amazing. But please review.

Ta Ta for now!

RedHeadedBelle