Chapter 9

Sam had finally put me on patrol with the others. I knew he wouldn't have, but he had no choice. Jared, Embry, Jake and Sam had gone too met with another Pack about 3 days ride from La Push, meaning they were going to be short for patrolling the area. No one wanted to double up on patrolling, and every knew I wanted a shot. The Pack finally convinced Sam and Jake into letting me patrol. Tonight is Seth and I, tomorrow is Brady and Collin and next night is Paul and Quil. I only had half an hour til it was time for Seth and I to patrol. Everyone was lying around at Sam's house, while listening to Paul whine.

"Why didn't Sam pick me? I would love adventure. Why aren't they running again?" Paul could be so forgetful sometimes.

"They took the car because its hunting season and some of the forests they would run through would be dangerous. Now stop whining like a girl." I hit Paul on the back of the head. I felt like an adult surrounded by children.

"Hey guys, listen to the news." Quil turned up the TV so everyone could hear, not that he needed to with our hearing. The news was showing photos of people in body bags.

"This is the seventh murder this week, we have no idea who is causing the murders, but if you know any information please call the police on crime stoppers." There were a few more photos of bloody bodies before it went to an ad.

The room was quiet for awhile, before Paul started jumping up and down on the couch. "I'm starting to think these next three days won't be so bad. If it means I get to rip apart some vamps."

"We don't know if its vampires." Quil argued with Paul.

"Oh yeah, seven people just turn up dead and bloody every week, totally normal." Paul said with a sarcastic voice.

"Why does something bad have to happen when Sam not here?" Collin quietly whined. Seth put in with the argument.

"Quil's right, we only know what the reporters are saying, we need to find out more before amusing the worst."

"And if it is trouble?" Collin quietly asked.

"We have Bella." Brady almost yelled, smiling at me.

"Me? I hardly know anything."

"Your practically third in command and Billy was talking about you been leader a couple of days ago." Brady said a bit shy, knowing he just dobbed himself in for ears dropping.

I never said I wanted to be leader, I actually hadn't given it much thought since Billy had talked to me. I needed to have a conversation with Jake on his thoughts of it first. But they need to me stand up now and take command, why couldn't Sam be here?

"Alright, this is what's going to happen. The next three days, we are going to research and patrol La Push and Forks. We're going to do our job, protecting people."

"What about school?" Brady sounded hopeful.

"No school, but we're to work our asses off for the three days. We can't let anyone else get hurt." Collin and Brady high five and the other boys were trying to hide their smiles off their faces but it didn't work. "Don't tell Sam or the others anything about murders. They'll want to come straight home if they know, act like everything is normal, school, patrols everything." They all nodded their heads.

"Paul and I could see Charlie tomorrow and find out what he knows about the murders." I agreed with Quil.

"Brady, Collin you could look on the internet and check for anything. Seth and I will patrol tonight and tomorrow morning. Than Paul and Quil will patrol the afternoon and Brady and Collin at night." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Oh, Emily said she'd make breakfast for us while Sam is gone." Paul licked his lips, probably thinking about Emily's cooking.

"Sounds good, Seth and I will met everyone at Paul's house in the morning." Seth and I got up, before the front door closed, we have shifted.

'Do you think its vampires, I mean Paul has a good point.' Seth's thoughts were swimming with the words the reporter, I could feel how uneasy he felt. Sometimes I forgot that Seth was only a young boy. That reminded me that Brady and Collin were even younger then Seth. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to send them to fight, but that wasn't what I was doing. I was getting them to research, that's it. 'Bella, we can look after ourselves. Come on, we need to patrol.' Seth nudged me and run off to the right. 'I'm heading for Forks, you patrol La Push.' I run off to the left to patrol.

'Thank you Seth.' He didn't answer but I knew he heard. I'm glad Seth didn't leave with Sam, I needed someone with me.

...

It was around two in the morning when Seth started yelling my name.

'Bella, vampire at Folks.'

'Watch it and wait for the rest of us.' I let out a howl, calling for the others. Soon, Paul shifted followed by Brady, Collin and Quil. They didn't ask any questions they came straight to me. I could feel the excitement flowing off Paul.

'What's wrong?' Quil was the first to ask. We took off on a run to Fork while I explained.

'Seth found one.' After I said that, everyone pushed themselves harder to reach Seth. We slowed down, not wanting our prey to knew they were been watched. 'Anything new?'

'Two vampires. A female and a male. They haven't taken anyone yet.' The vampires walked silently through the forest, well we started in the shadows, waiting. We needed them to get deeper into the forest, so no one would see. They both walked elegantly into the forest, side by side. The female had red wavy hair, while the male had blond hair.

Slowly we followed them deeper into the forest unnoticed, until the wind blew past us carrying our scent. The vampires' heads moved to our direction before running off at lightning speed in the forest. We took off a second after them, weaving through the trees and bushes. The adrenaline running through my body and pumping in my heart pushed me further to them. I was smaller and lighter than the wolves but I could run faster than them. Brady was in front of me taking the lead, while I was close behind him. He went to make the jump for the blonde male but missed, stumbling into the ground. He got up unharmed and continued running at the end of pack.

Paul run up beside me and jumped at the female, catching her leg, he slammed her into a tree. He jumped onto her before she could run away. The Blonde male I was chasing suddenly stopped when the red head female was attack, he crouched down in defence in front of me and hissed. Casting looks to the female and back at me. He went to move around me, but was blocked by Seth, who growled.

I heard a whining sound, and knew it had been Paul. He was kicked into a tree and wasn't moving. The red head vampire had run away, Collin and Brady were a bit hesitant to leave Paul, but went after the female vampire anyway. 'Are you alright?' Without looking away from the male vampire, I spoke to everyone. Paul gave a grunt to my question, but didn't get up. 'Collin and Brady don't let her get away.'

'On to her now, Bells.' Collin said, picking up their speed. Bring my thoughts back to the male vampire that was surrounded by Quil, Seth and I. In a flash, the male vampire took off the same direction as the female vampire.

Quil bit into his thigh and pulled him to the ground, while Seth ripped off his arm. He was thrusting around in the dirt snarling at us, but it was only making it worst for him. Somehow he got himself standing. He looked really run down. One arm was ripped off, the other arm with no hand; while one leg was ripped off from the knee down. Getting it over with, I jumped up and ripped his head clean off. One down, one to go. Paul was lying down on the ground, I could feel the pain he was in. He had two broken ribs, which needed to be set into place.

'Quil, take Paul to Harry Clearwater's house. Seth you're with me.' We run off leaving Quil and Paul, we still had another vamp to kill. We run to the cliff where Collin and Brady were heading. When we reached there, Collin was laying on his belly staring at the ocean while Brady sat stiff. I didn't need them to tell me what happen, but Brady did anyway.

'She jumped off the cliff.' I knew he was angry at himself for letting the red head get away, it was an order I set for them and he felt like he failed.

'You both did well, I wouldn't have been able to do anything either. Next time.' Brady gave a stiff nod.

'How's Paul?' I could hear the worry in Collins voice, he was always worried about us.

'Come on, we'll go to Harry's house now and see.' I didn't need to say it twice; they were running before I said another word.

Harry's front light was one when we arrive, we shifted back and I pulled some shorts and a top from a bush I had hidden it in a couple of days ago, in case I didn't have any clothes on me. We were about to open the door, when we heard a painful scream come from inside. We looked at each other with concerned faces, we hated having one of us in pain. No one was daring enough to open the door, but Harry realised we had arrived and invited us in.

Sitting on the couch was Leah hugging a very worried Emily. When we walked in, Emily pulled away and wiped away the tears and gave us a sad smile. We silently sat down in the lounge listening to Paul down the hall. I'm glad Emily didn't have our hearing. We could hear every little noise Paul was making and Sue's voice trying to comfort him. Leah finally broke the silence.

"You guys alright?" I think she was grateful that Jake was out of town. The boys and I nodded our heads, staying quiet. Collin came over to me for a hug. I put my arm around him and pulled him into my side, while he wrapped his arms around my stomach. The hug never ended, he stayed there leaning his head on my shoulder.

When the sun started to shine, everyone was asleep in Harry's lounge room. Emily and Leah were huddled up on the couch, my back was leaning against the couch with Collin still in the same spot. Brady had his head lying on Collins lap, Seth wasn't far from me curled up with a pillow and Quil was lying across a chair. I could hear Paul's calm breathing down the hall and Sues upstairs, while Harry was silently in the kitchen. I heard him silently walk into the lounge room and turned to look at him. He was smiling at me with two cups of coffee in his hands, he passed one to me and took the only chair left empty in the lounge room. I took a sip of coffee before speaking.

"Thanks." I whispered, trying to not wake up the others. Harry nodded his head. "Paul?"

"Sue fixed him, we had to reset his ribs. It was painful because he'd heal to fast. A couple of days in bed and he'll be back to normal. How many?" I knew he was asking how many vampires.

"Two. The female jumped off the cliff."

"She'll be back." He sounded a hundred percent positive.

"We think the killings around here are from vampires." It would be good to get someone else's point of view on the subject.

"How many died?" He said deep in thought.

"Seven in one week."

"And two vampires." He took a sip of coffee. "Possible, but there could be more of them."

"We were planning on doing some research on the kills."

"Talk to your uncle."

"Right." I was glad we were on the same lines of thinking. He was smart enough to ask the one question I didn't want to answer.

"Have you called Sam?" I could tell he knew the answer before I even spoke.

"No."

"And you're not planning on telling him. His Alpha of the Pack, he should know what his pack is doing." He didn't say anything else on the subject. He left the room and walked upstairs to Sue.

...

I had talked to Uncle Charlie and he photo copied the files about the killings, he wasn't too happy with it but knew it was for the greater good. Sam's bed had turned into my work area, there were files and notes spread out everywhere. If it hadn't been for the technology the police had these days, we wouldn't be able to known who was who. The bodies were nearly ripped to pieces, whoever killed them liked to play with their prey. Letting out a frustrated sign, I buried my head into one of Sam's pillows and breathed in his scent. It was my own way of been close to him, I really missed him. He isn't going to be back for 3 days, and he only left yesterday at noon after lunch.

Pulling my thoughts away from my beloved mate, I had 3 day to work everything out before the others come back, and I really didn't want them to come back to a mess. Paul was out of the game until the third day, he hasn't stopped whining since he was told. He would have run out of the house by now if it weren't for Emily's threats. It was funny watching the big bad Paul get threaten by Emily. Anyway Brady and Quil were out patrolling now, Brady taking Pauls spot. Quil will change with Collin, Brady and he will patrol tonight, than I'll change with Brady. Everyone has to do a double shift because Paul is on bed rest.

Needing a break from the paper work, I walked into the lounge room. Collin was at Sam's desk on the computer, while Paul ate chips and sat on the couch. I went over to see how Collin was going on the new reports. "You found anything useful?" I pulled a chair over to the desk. Collin had a book and pen next to the computer full with notes.

"I think Paul was right." He whispered to me. Brady and Collin hated Paul been right, so he tried to say it quietly so Paul wouldn't hear.

"Told you I was right, I know everything." Paul shouted from the couch in a stuck up voice. Collin and I rolled our eyes at Paul cockiness.

"What makes you think Paul is right?" Collin grabbed his noted book and started rumbling off reasons.

"All bodies darned of blood, Bite marks, no trace of attacker, killed at night- strange times, no witness. Do I need to say anything else? Trust me Bella, it's a vampire. Before you turned, the Pack had to deal with something close like this." I knew he was right. I got a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about the Pack and Sam having to do this without me. Collin reminded me that I was still the new member of the Pack. Sure, I had been a part of the Pack for four months already, but I was a newbie.

The telephone ringing pulled me out of my thoughts. Collin went to grabbed it, but I told him no. I had a feeling I knew who it would be. We waited for the phone to ring out than it went to the answering machine. After the beep, I heard Sam's voice.

"Hey guys, I know your there. I've talked to Billy and Harry, I know something has happened. I hope Paul is well and everyone else is safe. Give me call." He hung up. That was the fourth time he has called today.

"Why haven't you called him back Bella?" Paul asked, not taking his eyes off the TV. Collin seemed to be waiting for the answer to. I shrugged my shoulders, I knew Paul saw it from the corner of his eye. "His getting worried."

"I know."

"He'll come back." I knew that, a part of me wanted him to come back and another part wanted me didn't, I needed time. "Why don't you want him to come back?" Paul was looking at me instead of the TV now, the look on his face was like he was trying to solve a hard problem.

"It's none of your business." I snapped at Paul, I saw the shock look on his face before I stomped into Sam's bedroom and slammed the door shut. I buried my face into Sam's pillow. I could hear Collin and Paul talking in the lounge room.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know." Of course Collin was feeling worried, and she felt guilty for putting more stress on the young wolf.

"She's been moody lately."

"Yeah, would it be that monthly thing women get?" Collin sounded a bit embarrassed talking about it.

"Maybe, Emily isn't that bad." There was a silence before Paul spoke again. "Bring your notes over here and the other files Bella needs to look at. We'll share the load and take the stress off Bella's shoulders a bit." I heard paper moving around and the sound of the couch squeaking. It was hard to imagine Collin and Paul sitting on the couch hard at working and not fighting.

It took a deep breath and I blocked out everything and slowly fell asleep.