Author Note- Thanks to everyone who has been following this story. It is my first so I love that people are enjoying it. Just keep on reviewing and giving me your thoughts and ideas. If I like them, I will find a way to shove them in here somewhere.

For All my fellow autophiles, a good portion of my character's car collection can be seen via the link in my profile. More will be added when I find the right pictures for them. I have to admit, the girl has good taste... =P

Thanks to Content1 for everything. You, my dear, rock. [/discussion]

Thanks to Bella C'ella Luna for all of her help too. You also rock

Chapter 16

Stalkers and Seattle

Stop, stop, staring at my window
Nobody's home
I think you're scaring me to death
Knock, knock, knocking on my bedroom wall and I'm gone
You're such a beautiful stalker, beautiful stalker

Sugarcult - Beautiful Stalker

We abandoned the car after about five minutes. It wasn't fast enough for us. We parked about about ten minutes away from Bella's house and ran for the woods. Once we were under the jade canopy, we began to sprint. I followed behind Jasper and Emmett at our top and quite formidable speed. We didn't talk, we barely even thought as we ran to Bella and Edward. Skidding to a halt at the edge of the trees behind Bella's house, her ridiculously appealing scent hit me like a brick wall and I instinctively forced my lungs to freeze and covered my mouth until I got myself under control.

"You alright, Kali?" Jasper asked through clenched teeth. That one I didn't understand. He was around Bella constantly so her scent should be less effective on him. That being said, I had just spent forty-eight hours in her presence and I still got smacked with her scent like it was a speeding car. It took me a couple of seconds to drag myself back to civility. Once I was sure I was back under control, I allowed myself to take a small, experimental sniff at the air. Wolf, Bella, Edward, Charlie and a fifth unfamiliar scent. Definitely vampire but I didn't recognise it.

"Do you know that scent?" Emmett asked. Myself and Jasper just shook our heads and made for Bella's house. As we entered, Edward was seated in a wooden chair next to the shabby kitchen table in Charlie Swan's kitchen. Bella was seated in his lap and looking, quite rightfully, nauseous.

"Thanks for coming," Edward said softly, rubbing small circles into his mate's back.

"Like that was even a question," i quipped, rolling my eyes. "Where is the scent strongest?"

"Bella's bedroom." My teeth gritted. I did NOT like that one bit. My eyes narrowed as I nodded to Edward and pulled Jasper towards Bella's room.
I opened the door of Bella's bedroom and got hit with a wall of her scent. Venom surged in my mouth and I swallowed hard to clear it. Her scent was overpowering in this room. It lingered on every surface and in every fibre of fabric.

"Edward," I thought once I was able to focus. "How the fuck do you do this?"

"With difficulty, remember?" he replied silently.

"I'm going to buy you a medal the size of a dinner plate, man. You earned it."

"Hardly,"

"Kali, why are you grinning like an idiot?" Jasper asked, picking up on my amused mood.

"Our brother is funny," I informed him. "Well, back to the matter at hand... Do you recognise this scent?"

I scanned the room quickly, memorising every detail. To see the fantastic human's inner sanctum was a treat for me. It gave me more of an incite into who she was as a person. Her disorganized bed with the huge pile of classical books next to it on the floor. I noted that several of the titles present were also some of my favourites. I would have to talk to her about them. The row of 'Non-Alice- Approved' shoes along the foot of her bed made me smile. I was sure that my pixie of a sister had tried to convince her to get rid of them on more than one occasion. Her computer desk was placed against the far wall and held what could only be described as a dinosaur of a PC. The wall behind it was covered with pictures of her family and friends. I noted that Charlie and her school friends were all here. A human woman with a warm, kind face and light brown hair was here, hugging Bella around the shoulders and I assumed it was her mother, Renee. I also noted that she had pictures of Jacob and the La Push wolf-pack on her wall, as well. She looked like she did in Jacob's memories in these ones. Not quite whole and a little heartbroken. My heart clenched a little when I scanned those photographs.

It immediately unclenched when I saw the mass of pictures that held the Cullens. Every member of the family had a representation here and I was more than shocked that I was present on the wall, my arms slung around Bella and Carlisle's shoulders as Alice forced us to pose for 'picture time'. I felt a little surge of love for Bella as I took in her family picture wall. She truly was magnificent. Jasper and I scanned the room one more time before we left, closing the door behind us.

"I'm sorry, man. I don't recognise it," I said to Edward. Jasper was displaying the disappointment on his face for both of us. Edward looked more pissed off than he did when we arrived. I knew he was hoping we would have some idea as to who it was, but we came up with nothing.

"I suggest that we follow the scent," Jasper said "It will be old now, be we will at least have an idea of where they were headed."

"Let's go hunt the little shit then!" Emmett crowed from the chair opposite Edward and Bella. The boy was so ready for a fight... I felt like hitting him in the face.

"If you enjoy having your arms attached to your body, Emmett, you better not let Esme hear you talk like that" Bella said, speaking for the first time since we had arrived.

"Edward, take Bella to the house," I said, grabbing Emmett by the wrist and pulling him towards the door. "The family will keep her safe and we will go and see if we can find whoever was here. We might get a lead." Edward nodded, pulling himself and Bella vertical and was out the door and in her truck a lot quicker than I would have expected. I think he just kept Bella off the ground so he could move them faster.

"Well, Kali, let's hunt the bastards!" Emmett boomed as we exited the house. Myself and Jasper nodded our agreement and took off like a bullet into the woods, following the scent of Bella's intruder.

"Edward ain't gonna be happy." Emmett said dully as we ran back towards the house.

"I know," I agreed glumly. We were just outside the house now. Rosalie was waiting by the glass wall for our return. As soon as she spotted Emmett, she beamed a smile that would have made cherubs look like grotesques. She bolted out the back door and for the lack of a better word, 'assaulted' Emmett with kisses. Jasper and I quickly sidestepped them and headed inside, pushing a joint wave of calm until it filled every inch of the house. Arriving in the living room, we were met with a room full of statues. The room was silent except for the breathing and heartbeat issuing from the terrified human on the sofa next to Edward.

"I'm sorry, Edward," I began "The trail went cold. We chased them east and then south until we hit the dirt road just off the highway and it vanished at the side of the road. They must have had a car waiting on them." Edward's eyes dulled with disappointment.

"Long gone, hours ago," Emmett said in earnest. You could always trust Emmett to get to the bones of a situation. "None of us recognised the scent."

I could tell that Emmett being unable to recognise the scent wasn't a problem for Edward. Emmett had rarely been in contact with others of our kind that Carlisle or he didn't know and like. Jasper not knowing was a problem due to the sheer number of vampires he had come across during his lifetime. The fact that I didn't know, flat-out, terrified him. I knew a great number of vampires, old and new and I was able to discern a single scent from thousands of others... but I was coming up blank. It meant that we had no idea who this person was or what they wanted.

"She has encountered hundreds, thousands of our kind. If she doesn't know, how do I keep my Bella safe?" Edward thoughts were slightly panicked.

"Stop it!" I thought loudly, causing Edward's head to snap to my general area, "We will find out who did this and we will make them understand what they did and then I will personally turn them into a fucking jigsaw. I promise." I told him silently.I passed Carlisle the broken fern frond that was carrying the stranger's scent.

"Do you recognise it?" Jasper asked. Carlisle sniffed the fern once and looked at the floor in disappointment, shaking his head. Well, shit. None of us knew them and none of us saw them coming or leaving. A thought then occurred to me... one of us should have seen them coming.

"Alice," I began, rounding on the tiny form that was standing defiantly in the middle of the room. "What the hell? Why didn't you see this? He was in her room! He could have been there waiting for her. Charlie was in the house," I ignored Bella's muffled yelp as Alice's eyes flashed angrily.

"There was nothing to see! Nothing happened, no-one was hurt and nothing was ever going to happen or I would know and I would appreciate it if everyone would just back off!" Her verbal volley had my complete attention and I felt guilty as all hell when she had finished. It never occurred to me that the rest of the family would have already went with this line of questioning and I had been the biggest arsehole in the planet for revisiting it with as much gentility as a drunken frat boy.

"I'm sorry, Alice," I said, moving to hold her hand. "I should have been a little more tactful." She gave my hand a squeeze.

"It's alright, I'm not happy about it either."She let go of my hand and began to rub small, slow circles into her temples, willing something, anything to come to her.

"Well, if Jazz, Carlisle and I don't know the scent, I think it is safe to say that they are new. What are the possibilities?" I asked, sitting on the chair next to the sofa. "Victoria?"

"Wasn't her scent," Jasper stated simply. "The Volturi?" I shivered at the mere thought.

"If it was, it wasn't a scent that I recognised from them." Carlisle confirmed, pinching the bridge of his nose in concentration. I recognised that posture from his son and had to suppress a giggle. It was not the right time for giggle-fits.

"I didn't recognise it either." I muttered. This was disappointing. Alice just shook her little head in disagreement.

Her head was still shaking as she spoke. "Aro hasn't sent anyone to look for her yet. I'm still waiting for that one and I WILL see it."

Edward's eyes snapped to his sister. "You are waiting on an official command?"
"You think someone's acting on their own?"

"Caius' idea." Edward's eyes tightened at the sound of the name and I could feel mines doing the same. In the short time I was in Volterra, I never found myself taking such a dislike to an immortal than the one I took with Caius, the Volturi Elder. I hated his guts for no good reason. he just seemed like one right royal nasty bastard to me. And by the sounds of it, I wasn't too far off the mark.

"Or Jane's..." Alice said "Both have the resources to send an unfamiliar face."

"It doesn't make sense though," Esme said quietly. "If whoever was meant to wait for Bella, Alice would have seen that. He- or she- had no intention of hurting Bella. Or Charlie for that matter."

"What was the point then?" Carlisle asked.

"Hold on," I said, holding up a hand to stop the flow of conversation. "Maybe I am being a bit slow here, but why would anyone in Volterra be coming here for Bella?"

"To check if I am still human." Bella said, speaking for the first time. I remembered Alice's rundown of all the happenings since Bella came to Forks. It made sense, considering the edict that was placed upon her.

"It's too bad we didn't catch them," Emmett said. "We could have taken care of them." As much as I agreed with the sentiment, I felt the most incredible urge to hit him again. I had to lock my muscles in place to stop me smacking him upside the back of the head. He had no idea what he was asking for. He had no clue what it took to kill another of our kind. The toll it took on one's mind was excruciating and the emotions attached to such an act are painful. Very painful. I vocalised my frustration with him with a simple "Shut the hell up."

"Perhaps we are looking at this the wrong way. Maybe it's just a coincidence..." I now felt like hitting Esme. I shot her a very obvious 'Are you fucking kidding me?' look. I had noticed several other similar glances aimed in her direction. "I don't mean a coincidence that the stranger happened to pick Bella's house to visit at random," she added quickly in her own defense. "I meant that maybe someone was just curious. Our scents are all around her. Was he wondering what draws us there?"

"Why wouldn't he just come here, then? If he was just curious?" Emmett demanded.

"This is a big family, Emmett," She said, trying to make him understand "They might be frightened. Charlie wasn't harmed though. There is no reason to believe that this is an enemy."

Bella's face blanched at the sound of her fathers name. I moved to sit next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder for support. She was shaking with fright, or my body temperature, it wasn't clear. The whole room fell silent as they pondered Esme's theory. I didn't like it. Well, I liked it, but I knew there was no hope in hell of it being right. We just weren't that luck. Out of all of us, it was Alice that voiced her apprehension first.

"I don't think so, Esme. The timing was too perfect. The visitor knew that i would see..."

Bella finally snapped. "Does it really matter who it was?" She demanded, her tiny hands balling into harmless fists. "Just the chance that someone was looking for me... isn't that reason enough? We shouldn't wait for graduation!"

I focused on Edward, "Why is graduation so important?" I thought.

"It is when Bella is due to be changed by Carlisle." He murmured, low enough that Bella wouldn't hear but loud enough that every vampire in the room was now looking at us. Graduation was too soon for that. I had no doubt that Bella would be, at some point, like us, but graduation was only weeks away and it wasn't enough time for her to get everything together. To say goodbye to her family and friends to begin to get physically and mentally prepared for the single most painful experience of her soon to be prolonged existence. Turning her early was not a good idea.

"Think of Charlie," Carlisle said, clearly on the same wavelength as me. "Think of how it would hurt him if you just disappeared." I assumed that comment was perfectly reasonable. I had only met the man twice, but I was very fond of him. I didn't need Edward's gift to know how much he doted on his daughter. The man said very little, but the love he held for his child seeped out of him constantly. It would destroy him if he lost her with no explanation.

"I am thinking of him!" she exclaimed "What if my little guest had been thirsty, last night? If anything happens to him, it will be my fault!" She shuddered at the thought. "You should change me now. I could protect him."

"I don't think so, Bella." I said quickly, causing the angry eyes of the human to flash to me, glaring. "If you were to be changed now, Bella, it would hurt him a lot more than anything one of our kind could do to him. You would put him in danger. You wouldn't be able to control your urges and instincts. We will protect him. I am sure you would prefer to be changed after we sort all this mess out."

"No."

"Nothing will happen to Charlie, I promise." I took her hand in mine, rubbing the back of hers with my thumb. Her gaze was trained on the floor, clearly still incensed. I hooked a finger on my free hand under her chin. "Bella, I promise you, I will not allow anything to happen to your father." I held her face until she, grudgingly nodded. Edward physically relaxed by her side, his shoulders slouching and his jaw unclenched.

"We will just have to be more careful," Esme stated, patting Bella on the back in a very motherly fashion.

"More careful?" Bella replied, shocked at the possibility.

"It's all going to be fine, Bella." Alice promised. I wasn't so sure of that. I was positive that we could protect Charlie. I would take up permanent post outside the house if I had to. The problem was, that too many bad things happened all at once and it had me a little spooked. Victoria coming after Bella, the intruder in her house and the possible vampires running rough-shot all over Seattle... it was too much and although we were a strong coven, something would eventually give. I was sure I was missing a link somewhere, but my usually fast processing power wasn't giving me the connection that I was clearly missing. It wouldn't give up the answers that I needed. That we all needed.

Edward took Bella home shortly after that. I wasn't sure that was the best place for her, all things considered, but my suggestion to keep her here, under possible lock and key, was vetoed on the grounds that it would attract attention if Bella didn't arrive home when she said she would. I did, however, suggest patrolling her house every night, making sure that nothing that could hurt her even got close. Thankfully, that one was agreed upon and Alice was currently on the computer with everyone's schedules working out a shift rota.

By the looks of things, Myself and Carlisle were on first when he finished his shift at the hospital tonight, which meant that I unfortunately had some homework to do on a Saturday...I was a six hundred year old nerd. I dragged my books out of my bag and settled in at the dining room table again. It would only take about twenty minutes to do the English essay and the calculus problems. Then I had about five hours all to myself, during which I fully intended to badger Emmett into setting up my new consoles in my room, further adding to my 'nerd' status. One essay down, I was disturbed by the familiar rumbling of a semi-truck up the driveway. Good god, what had Edward done now? I turned to Alice, puzzled and she gave the a knowing look and moved towards the front door. The truck came rumbling to a stop at the front door just as I stood next to Alice who had the most ridiculous look on her face. A nondescript man, rather similar to the last delivery guy, jumped out of the truck's cab and pulled a clipboard from the seat next to him.

"I'm Eddie, I'm looking for Edward Cullen?" He said, flipping through sheets on his board.

"He isn't in at the moment, I am his sister though. Can I help you?" Alice said, drawing the man's attention. I watched with mild repulsion as the eyes of Eddie raked themselves up and down my sister's diminutive form. Theory confirmed. Human men were pigs. "I got a motorbike to deliver here for Edward Cullen. It was special ordered during the night."

"I'll sign for it," I said, ignoring the man's lecherous gazes which, unfortunately shifted towards me when I spoke.

"And who are you?"

"I'm his other sister."

"Oh." He offered me the clipboard to sign and moved to the side of the truck to start unstrapping the very impressive silver bike. A quick glance at the paperwork showed me that my darling little brother had, not last night, purchased himself a Ducati Streetfighter S in an astonishing silver colour. It was stunning. Eddie, the delivery man, lowered the bike to the ground, kicking the stand out and leaning the bike onto it before moving back to the cab of the truck.

"Crap, I need you to sign for this too..." He said, placing a rather bulky box on the ground next to the bike. I offered him his first clipboard and took the second, brushing my hand accidentally against his, causing him to shudder. I smiled to myself at his discomfort as I signed the second set of papers. I slid a couple of bank notes under the clip on the board and handed it back to him. humans liked money.

"Well, that's everything. Thank you very much, ladies." he chimed, slipping the wad of notes into his back pocket as he climbed into the truck. He had the engine started and was off down the driveway less than a minute later. I rounded on Alice, who immediately held her hands up in surrender.

"You knew about this?"

"Yeah."

"If he keeps buying vehicles, he is going to end up needing a garage all to himself." I muttered, kicking the bike-stand and shoving it towards the already slightly overstuffed garage. Alice grabbed the big square box and followed me out.

"In his defense," Alice said. "The last one was for me."

"Next time, get it delivered to my house. I have the space for it." Alice simply nodded at my suggestion, placing the box on the floor in between my Lamborghini and Emmett's Jeep. I parked the bike in front of the box and made to go back to the house. On the way back out, I saw Bella's motorcycle tucked in behind my Golf and realisation hit me.

"Oh, I get it now," I said to no-one in particular. "He wants to ride with Bella."

Alice nodded as she leaned over the back of the bike. As she opened it, the scent of Leather broke around the garage. Holding up a riding jacket and helmet, she made me confused again.

"Edward wouldn't use those. He is indestructible,so he wouldn't need... they are for Bella, aren't they?" I asked, eying the garments that would have been too small to fit across my brother's broad shoulders. Alice nodded again as she placed the offending items back into his box.

"I'll text him and let him know it is here." Alice offered.

"I have homework to finish or I would take it out for a spin. I have the standard Streetfighter. The 'S' class is supposed to be fantastic."

"Maybe he will let you borrow it," Alice muttered.

"Probably not, honey. Not if Bella insists on riding that a lot," I stated, pointing at the red, cobbled together bike that Bella owned. "He will practically live on the damn thing." I moved towards the door again. "You know what, sod it. Homework can wait, I think I will challenge Jasper to a a game on the computer." I mused once I was outside.

"Anything but Halo." Alice said cryptically.

"Thanks?" I said, confused but more than willing to take that advice. I walked into the main house and straight up to Jasper. He had been sitting reading another war story when I lowered myself to his level, moving so that I was less that six inches from his face.

"Jasper? You. Me. Xbox. Now." I threw down a gauntlet and he knew it.

"Halo?" He asked.

"Alice told me not to. Anything but Halo." I quoted his love.

"Come on..." "Not a chance empath. I know how good you are and I will not have my ass kicked because I don't know what I am doing."

"I'll show you," He offered.

"I am sure you would. Pick something else."

"Fine." He almost pouted as he stood up and headed for the living room, preparing, I assume, for me to get my ass kicked. We ended up playing the game I had got earlier in the day. The one with the guitar shaped controller. As it happens, It was actually fun. I was a guitar player myself and although the two practices were nothing alike, I could see why people would enjoy playing this game. The first two attempts on my part were just shameful. Thankfully, after a little instruction and half a dozen more attempts, we were both playing the game on it's highest level and Jasper and I were singing like a pair of drunken fools. I was particularly fond of his rendition of 'Barracuda'. I hadn't seen him smile like that for a while and the contentedness he was feeling, was seeping out of him and I was feeling it too. It was most pleasant. That being said, for this to be such an obvious change in his demeanor, he would have been uptight and uncomfortable for weeks. Something was bothering him.

I was worried about what it might be for the grand total of seven seconds before he called me on it. "Why are you worried?" He asked.

"I just realised that something has been bothering you for a while. I was worried about you,"

"About me?"

"Yes." I rolled my eyes. "I am allowed to worry about my family. What has you worried?"

"The news."

"Care to elaborate?" I asked, looking into his eyes, fighting the urge to look into his mind instead.

"The story in Seattle has me worried." He clarified. With that statement he had my full attention again.

"What about it?"

"I've seen a pattern like this before,"

"When?" I knew something had been off about the whole Seattle story for a while, but I couldn't place it. If he had some sort of idea, it would help.

"I was created during the Southern wars, Kali," he said.

"Oh, shit..." I knew what that meant. His beginnings in this life were a lot different from that of his siblings.

"I used to see this kind of thing all the time- at the height of the violence."

"You mean, when people were creating newborns..."

"Yes, it got really bad and the Volturi stepped in and eradicated all the newborns in the area for a while. Although they haven't stepped in yet, I would have sworn that what is going on now in Seattle was exactly the same thing... only the Volturi haven't taken care of it yet."

"You think that someone has created a newborn army of vampires in Seattle, thousands of miles away from the nearest vampire army." Saying it out loud set my bones to a rough chill. I shuddered at the mere thought of what that would entail. I was well aware of just how vicious and violent newborns were and if there was an army of them so close, Bella would not be safe... none of us would be.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"We have to talk to the others about it." He replied, staring out of the window.

"Let's wait until tomorrow everyone is here." I suggested, placing a hand on Jasper's shoulder. He nodded again, still staring into space.

"Don't worry, Jazz. We will figure it out and take care of it." I promised. The only snag was, I didn't have a clue just how I was going to fix it.

Author Note- Thanks for hanging in there with me. I really appreciate if you love it and review if you hate it.

Stories to check out.

Harvest Moon - Content1

Unwanted, Unloved - Content1

January - Owenic