Disclaimer: I don't own anything, (yada, yada, yada).

25. Time

Epov:

9:00 am

"Edward what do you mean, you know who has her?" Charlie asked me as he walked over to me. I held out the piece of paper, he took it and read it out loud.

"Edward, you broke my heart. So now we are going to break yours. You have until midnight to find what we took, or get your heart back, piece by piece. Signed V, L, J."

He stared at me for a long time and before I knew what happened I was up against the wall. Charlie had grabbed me by the chest and was pinning me to the wall with so much power I could hardly breathe. "It's your fault. It's your fault they got my little girl. If they so much as touch one hair on her head, you're dead, you're dead!"

Everything began to blur in front of me from the lack of oxygen. There was a sudden uproar of people all shouting at Charlie.

"Charlie let him go, this is not his fault and arguing is not going to help Bella. We have to find her before midnight so come on, we have think of how were going to do this." Carlisle's calm but serious voice calmed him enough to let me go and I fell to the ground in a heap.

"Edward, are you ok?" Carlisle asked concerned, crouching next to me.

I nodded. "Great, then you can tell us who these people are." Charlie said sarcastically above me.

"I'm pretty certain those initials stand for Victoria, Laurent and James." Esme said quietly behind us, I rose to my feet.

"Bella and I ran into them at the concert in Chicago a while ago, there was an incident and they might still bear a grudge against me."

Charlie glared at me and I could see how he clenched his fists. "Harry, send a deputy to see if we have any records of misconduct on these… these lowlife mongrels. Also check if some sort of transportation is registered to any of their names. Edward, make yourself useful and give a detailed description of their faces to our sketch artists. The rest of you will help and search the surrounding areas. Emily, please get the dogs up to that rock Bella jogged to in the mornings and see if they can find a trail."

Emily opened her mouth to say something when Charlie interrupted her. "I know what the odds are, just do it in anyway." She nodded and headed back outside. I saw a woman beckon for me to join her in the kitchen. She had a clipboard with her so I figured she must be the sketch artist. The house became very quiet as most of the people left, Alice joined me in the kitchen as I began describing Victoria.

"Shouldn't you be out there searching?" I asked quickly and continued the description.

"I'm waiting for the sketches, as she finishes them I'm going to hand them to the others. We divided into pairs and are going to ask around in town if people maybe saw any of them." I nodded as I described Victoria's facial features. After what felt like ages I stared at the exact replica of Victoria's face before Alice grabbed it and handed it to Rose and Emmett. They left quickly and I started with Laurent.

"I wonder if the dogs would find anything." I heard Alice say as she looked out the window. I glanced quickly and saw that it was raining again.

"I doubt it, no trail can be found in this weather." Alice sighed and turned around. She hoisted herself backwards on the counter and sat there dangling her legs.

"I don't know, her dogs are pretty amazing. Did you know that the leader of the pack saved her from a car wreck?" I shook my head and concentrated on the sketch. "Yeah, some drunken guy stepped in front of her car. She swerved out and hit a tree. The car looked like a pretzel. She was thrown into the windshield and cut her face pretty bad. No one could get the car door open to get her out, but the big black dog, Sam, jumped on the hood and bit down on her collar. He dragged her out through the windshield and saved her life. The doctors offered to remove the scar permanently but she said she wanted to keep it as reminder that no hope is lost until you breathed your last breath. She trains dogs now to help the police but they mostly just use them to locate lost people in the woods."

That explains the scar, I thought as I held up the finished sketch in the air. Alice jumped of the counter and gave it to Jasper and Jacob. She walked back to the counter and jumped up again. I watched as she began dangling her legs, she was clearly agitated. I began describing James.

"Edward you know them best, do you think they would hurt Bella?" She asked and her legs finally stopped dangling.

"I don't know, I think that they are unstable and so, could be capable of anything. James would probably hurt her just to get to me. Laurent and Victoria, I'm not so sure about." Her shoulders slumped forward and her chin rested on her chest.

"I hope we find her in time." I heard her whisper.

"I do too Alice, I do too."

11:00 am

Alice and I were walking through the streets of Forks with a picture of James in our hands. We asked everybody we came across if they saw somebody that looked like him but every time the answer was the same. Nobody saw or knew anything. We walked into the school yard. Forks high was our last stop before we headed back home, our parents phoned the principal and explained to him why we were absent. He understood of course and even asked any student with information to come forward. Our plan was to visit all the classes with the picture and ask if someone saw James or one of his followers. As we walked from class to class, I couldn't help but glance at my watch. Why is it that time speeds up when something bad is waiting for you and slows down while you wait in anticipation?

I felt so helpless, every second that ticked by meant that Bella's end was nearer. My end would also be near. My life would be over if she would die because for all intents and purposes, she was my life. Alice became quieter and quieter as we walked from class to class. I could feel how hopeless she felt. The bastards just hid themselves to well. They had a well thought out plan and we had nothing. It felt like they were playing with us and we just let them have their way.

"I saved Bella once in this hallway, did she ever tell you?" Alice asked as we made our way down the corridor.

I shook my head. "The janitor just mopped the floor and forgot to put out a warning sign to warn us about the wet floor. We were walking next to each other when she slipped. I barely caught her wrist in time, but I just saved her from hitting the floor." Her voice broke on the last sentence as a sob escaped her throat, a tear rolled down her cheek.

I pulled her into a hug and rested my head on her spiky hair. "It's ok Spiky, we'll find her. Don't give up hope just yet." I hoped my words weren't as hollow as they sounded.

1:00 pm

We walked into a somewhat crowded house. Alice immediately walked to Jasper and he pulled her into a tight embrace. I looked around, Emmett was also holding Rose. Carlisle was holding Esme's hand while he talked to some police officer about something. Charlie even had his hand on Renee's back where he stood next to her. The person that could comfort me wasn't here. I had so little time left to find her and there was no clue to where we could even start to look. The living room door opened and Harry walked in clutching some papers in his hand.

"Charlie I have something that might interest you." All our heads turned to him expectantly. Was this the miracle I was waiting for? "James and Victoria's name came up clean but this Laurent guy has some record. Breaking an entering, shoplifting, stealing a car, assault and he may be tied to some rape cases in Chicago."

We stared at him dumbfounded. He basically said Bella was held captive by some maniac and this was supposed to be interesting. "Somehow he managed to break his knee…"

"Yes I broke it." I interrupted and he looked at me surprised before he continued.

"He had the cast removed in the hospital in Port Angeles. He had to give an address to the hospital and the address was a hotel room he stayed in during his visit. I took the liberty of calling the hotel and they confirmed the room was still booked until tomorrow, although he hasn't been there for the last day or so."

Everyone started talking at once. "Quiet! Harry call a judge and get me a warrant, I don't care about jurisdiction. Tell him a police officer from Port Angeles can come into the room with me. Did you find anything about their transport?"

He nodded. "Yes, a Jeep was registered in James's name. As of this time I don't know what year the model is or what color."

Charlie nodded. "It's black, his Jeep is black." I said remembering the black Jeep at the concert.

Charlie looked at me. "Ok. Harry, could you also find out if it carried a tracking device?" Charlie asked him ignoring the fact that he was already overloaded with tasks. "I did. The tracking company will send the last known coordinates to us as soon as they get them, it my take a few hours." A few hours! We didn't have a few hours.

Harry turned and hurried back to the station. The atmosphere in the house had changed suddenly from hopelessness to excitement and for the first time it felt like we were actually making progress.

6:00 pm

I was in the kitchen making some sandwiches when Charlie came back from Port Angeles. He walked to the nearest couch and sat down. He took out a small envelope. "All we could gather from the contents of his room was that they planned on taking Bella to a house in the woods. There was no indication to what part of the forest it was but at least we knew it's somewhere close by. Where going to search wider through the forest, we're just here for a quick pit stop." He said as more people walked into the house. I grabbed a flash light and went to stand by the door. If I had to search the entire forest on my knees I will.

"What are these?" Renee asked as she opened the envelope.

"We think they are his previous victims." Esme gasped suddenly and took a picture from Renee's hands.

"Edward don't you know this girl." I took a few steps forward and stiffened. Tanya was smiling widely at me. I walked to Esme and took the picture from her. Why did Laurent have a picture of Tanya? I turned it around and almost dropped it. There were a few words scrawled on the back.

Put up a good fight.

"It's Tanya…. that Fuck killed Tanya. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill them all." I spun round, grabbed the flash light and walked into the forest.

11:00 pm

I shown the flash light on my watch and continued on. I stumbled over some tree roots but couldn't care less. All I cared about was finding Bella. My clothes were ripped and drenched from the rain. I could hear people walking around me but no one called out to say that they found something. I could hear dogs barking and voices from people around me, we didn't want to stop. We didn't want to give up first but as the seconds ticked by we knew it was hopeless. I didn't feel anymore, I was loosing Bella more every second and I don't know how to find her. I just kept stumbling on, kept falling to the ground, kept standing up and kept placing one foot in front of the other. It was the only way to stay sane.

3.00am

I walked into the Swans house, all the volunteers left awhile ago. I looked into the living room, Renee was crying and Charlie was comforting her while tears rolled noiselessly down his cheeks. Jasper was comforting a crying Alice and Emmett was doing the same for Rose. Esme walked over to me, tear drops clinging to her eyelashes and embraced me tightly. We failed, I failed.

I could only hope that they return Bella's body to us. I turned out of Esme embrace and walked to the swing in the back yard, it was the first place I kissed Bella and I just wanted to be close to her. I was about to sit down when something silver caught my eye. A small silver box was on the seat of the swing. I took a deep breath and picked it up. I didn't want to know what was waiting for me under the lid.

I walked back inside and looked at Bella's loved ones. They wouldn't have the strength either to look under the lid. "What is that Edward?" Jacob asked me, he was the only one who saw me come back in.

"It was on the swing, I think someone placed it there while we were out searching for Bella." Now everyone looked at me, I slowly took of the lid and stared at a small piece of paper. I took it out and exposed a strand of hair. I could smell the faint smell of strawberries. I placed it on the table next to me and without thinking where the rest of her body was hidden unfolded the small paper. I couldn't help but sigh in relief after I read it. Somewhere out there really was someone listening to our priers.

"Bella is still alive. We have another day to look." I passed the paper around and everyone felt a bit of relief after they've read the same line I did just a moment ago.

You have failed. The next box will contain her head if you don't find her at midnight tomorrow.

Bpov:

I have never given much thought to how I would die. But seeing your time literally tick away really does raise a few scenarios. I sat on the small bed, my back against the wall and my knees brought up to my chin. I stared at the clock, hung on my wall courtesy of Victoria. Twenty minutes left before midnight and then it was pumpkin time. Unlike Cinderella my knight in shining amour was as absent as rain clouds in the Sahara dessert.

Tick tock, tick tock the stupid clock was teasing me. I have envisioned a few hundred scenes since they told me my time of death. The visions changed since this morning. This morning I still had hope and now my last will power was as defeated as Samson without hair.

I envisioned Edward saving me in the nick of time. Every time I heard a noise from outside I saw everyone I loved rushing in and saving me. I saw myself running into Edwards waiting arms and hearing him whispers small nothings in my ear to comfort me. Never had my visions faltered, not when I was ushered back into the room. Not when Victoria came in to hang the clock on the wall, not when James brought me food and stayed awhile with me. I began to rock back and forth as I remembered his little visit.

Flashback:

I sat on the tip of the bed listening to the seconds tick by. Every sixty seconds represented a minute, one more minute that I was waiting for someone to save me. Every sixty minutes represented an hour and every hour I thought the same thing, maybe they will find me in the next hour. It's been four hours when my door opened, James walked in with a plate of sandwiches.

"I thought that you might be hungry." He placed the plate next to me and went to lean against the wall. I looked at the sandwiches, looked like chicken mayonnaise. It was one of my favorite toppings on bread but I wasn't hungry.

"It's not poisoned, I made it myself." I frowned why would he make me some food?

"What? Did Red go for a manicure?" I asked sarcastically. He smiled obviously finding something funny.

"Red? No she and Laurent left to run some quick errands."

What? Did they go shopping for the perfect murder weapon? "I'm not that hungry. Not that it matters since I'm going to die and all."

His face softened somewhat. "Are you afraid to die?" He asked tilting his head. "Yesterday you were all for giving your life for your friends". I stared at him for awhile when he cocked his eyebrow at me waiting for my answer.

"Dieing for someone you love seems like a good way to go. Things differ somewhat when you know you're going to die and even when you're going to die. Plus if you don't even know what method is going to be used before you're killed gives anyone the right to be scared, don't you think?"

He laughed out loud suddenly. "Would you like to know how we intend to kill you?" He whispered to me, he seemed rather morbid about the whole situation.

I shook my head fearing that if I knew it would worsen matters not make it any better. "We couldn't make up our minds you know. Laurent wanted to play with you until he got what he wanted and then slid your throat. He was all for cutting you here and there before he killed you though." He waited awhile.

The scene he created in my head wouldn't go away. All I could hear was the ticking of the clock. When he finally felt that I had enough time to digest what he told me he continued. "Victoria wanted to beat you to a pulp and only when you begged to die would she finally give in. She likes the whole dominant thing."

He stopped again but I was expecting something like that from her so there were no surprises there.

"And you, how did you want me to die?" I asked surprising him a little.

"I couldn't make up my mind. When I thought about Edward I wanted you to suffer, torture you before finally killing you. Somehow I just couldn't picture myself torturing you, so I thought instead maybe just suffocating you would be better and less messy." I stared at him. Why couldn't he just say where going to shoot you in the head or the heart. Now I have even more visions running through my head.

"I can't decide witch one sounds better, I guess it doesn't matter since I still die. So on which one did you decide?" He smiled again but it was his usual devilish grin.

"We couldn't so we played rock paper scissors." My mouth fell open. They played a silly game deciding my fate.

"Who won?" I asked in barely a whisper.

"Mm, I don't want to spoil the surprise now do I? You'll just have to wait and see."

He smiled at me while I just glared at him, tick tock. Tick tock the clock ticked away taunting me. "So, knowing you will die soon, I ask you again. Would you still give your life for your friends even though they couldn't find you in time?"

I didn't hesitate. "Yes I would."

He shook his head. "Why?" He still couldn't grasp the idea of what true friendship really is.

"Why not?" I countered getting fed up with his games.

"They failed you, you're going to die tonight and it's their fault. They couldn't find you in time. Surely you blame them for the position you're in now?"

Did he have no brains at all? "They are not forcing you to kill me. That was the decision you made. You are the ones that decided to play God. You are to blame for the position I am in now. If I'm mad at somebody, it's you, not my friends."

Tick tock, tick tock was all I heard after my little speech. Tick tock, tick tock and he sat down on the ground. "Sometimes you don't have a choice." He said in a small hopeless voice.

"You always have a choice James. It's up to you to make the right one."

He looked at me. "You know out of all the people I have harmed you are the only one I have remorse over". I felt a form of hope for the first time today.

"Then let me go, you can say that I hit you over the head or something." He looked at me, studying me and then my hope disappeared as we heard the Jeep stop outside and James stood up.

"Try to eat Isabella. You still have some time left." He said before he walked out the door locking it behind him.

Present time:

Tick tock, I had five minutes left. Time never meant much to me until today, I never grasped what wasting time really meant until I had no time left to waste. The arm on the clock moved just an inch, another minute of my life gone. I grasped my knees and held them tight, the arm moved another inch. Three minutes of my life left, time stood still for nobody.

I pictured everyone I loved, Rosalie with all her beauty. Emmett with a stupid grin, Jacob the way he was before he changed. Jasper all tall and quiet. Esme always the loving mother. Carlisle as serious as always, but with a soft smile. Alice with her spiky hair dressed in the latest fashion. Mom in some yoga position, Dad sprawled on the couch in front of the TV and finally Edward. I pictured him like the first day I saw him, sunrays falling on his head making him look like an angel.

Ding. I opened my eyes, my time was up. A key turned in my door and it swung open, Laurent walked in closing it behind him. "Isabella I have looked forward to this moment since we brought you here. And this time, excuse the irony. No one is there to save you." He walked towards my bed and took out his knife, I still clutched my knees. "How does it feel knowing you're going to die any minute?" He asked as he stopped in front of me.

I didn't even look up and just stared at the front of his chest. "It feels like crap." I answered him.

He chuckled. "Understandably, but I'm going to fix that for you. Before I kill you, we'll have some fun. At least you'll have slept with one person before you die. Now why don't you lay down?"

I gulped. "Go to hell!" My skull felt like it was going to burst as the bottom of the knife made contact with my head. I fell to the side and he climbed on the bed.

"Ooh, feisty! I like that." He pressed the knife under my chin. "Let's try this again, lay down Bella." I was going to die but I was not going to make it easy for him.

"No, I don't think so." He raised his arm to punch me again and I kicked him. He fell of the bed and I sat up quickly aiming to run for the door.

"Bitch! You'll pay for that!" I started to run for the door when he grabbed my ankle and I fell, face first on the ground. He stood over me and grabbed my arms, pulling them to the side he turned me over. I was still breathing heavily, when he sat down, straddling me.

"Now where were we? Oh yeah some fun, lets see what your hiding under your shirt." He trailed the knife down over my chest and down my stomach.

He raised himself and untied his belt pressing the knife back against my throat. The door suddenly opened.

"Wait, I have a better idea, get off her Laurent." I looked up, James came to stand next to Laurent as if the position I was in didn't bother him at all.

"What is it know? I was just enjoying myself." He said while he slowly got off me. James grabbed my hands and helped me to my feet. He half carried, half helped me to the bed.

"Where going to torment Edward some more. Give me your knife." Laurent obliged and James leaned forward taking a strand of hair in his hand. There was a slight tugging sensation and then he stepped back, the strand of hair clutched in his hand.

"Seems you have some more time Isabella, come on Laurent you waited this long what is one more day?" Laurent smiled in my direction and walked out.

"Thank you James". I said and he froze for a few seconds before he closed the door behind him, locking it.

A/n finally I got time to write this chapter. Sorry Bella's still missing; I can be really cruel some times. Ok James has a soft side, who could have guessed. All I can say is the next chapter will be action packed so just bear with me.

Thanks for all the reviews; I can't think of words that can describe them, they're that good. Thanks for adding the story to your favorites and alerts lists. A special thanks to my wonderful beta, Princess Blair Rose, for polishing this chapter to perfection and all your support.

Thanks for reading.