56

Bella looked at the pile of clothing and smiled. She had arrived at the Cullen house an hour earlier and found Alice and Rose opening a packet from Walmart. Inside were 5 pairs of jeans, and a dozen plain coloured t-shirts. She thanked them profusely and didn't even object when Rose insisted she try them on.

Edward walked into the room and she showed him the new clothes. "Are you OK with them buying them without asking you?" he asked.

"I did need them." She admitted, "and they are exactly what I would have got myself." He nodded and they walked down to the living room to join the others.

Emmett and Jasper were playing a marathon chess game.

Alice, Rose and Esme were on their new charity website approving grants that people were applying for even as they were watching.

The only thing wrong was the way Carlisle hovered in the doorway. He watched her as if she was an unexploded bomb that could go off at any minute. It had been a week since she had woken from the change, and she still had not eaten/drunk more than that pint or so of mountain lion blood. She didn't feel any different than she had before. She was not tired either, which he could not understand. He kept talking about the laws of physics and how on a basic level it was wrong that she could continue to expend energy the way she did (she was glad she could no longer blush when she realised he was referring to her and Edward's bedroom activities) and yet not take in any form of sustenance.

The Denalis were all outside in the sun, discussing the new house and their connection to the tribe.

Charlie rolled up to the house in his cruiser. At least he accepted what she told him as gospel truth. He insisted that Carlisle stop questioning her repeatedly, stating that when she wanted to eat, she would.

"Problem folks!" Charlie walked into the living room looking 20 years older than he usually did, several sheets of printer paper in his hands. He put them on the table and looked around. Everyone had gathered the second the words were out of his mouth. "There has been a series of murders, they seem to be unconnected, but alerts have been issued when someone noticed the connections. Ok, There was one in Spokane the night Rachel changed, that's some time between 10 and 12 on Saturday night according to the autopsy. Missoula was next in the early evening Sunday and one Monday there too. Billings had two on Sunday night/Monday morning and one on this morning." he sat on the sofa and spread the papers out so everyone could read them. "A town called Beach in North Dakota has reported one on Monday, also one yesterday and two bodies turned up this morning, we are getting reports quicker now it is looking more serious. Jamestown ND has three missing persons reported since Monday, an alert has been issued to every town along interstate 94 as they are thinking it could be a cult, or even something organised over the internet." Charlie rubbed his face with his hand and Bella sat beside him, he patted her leg, she knew he understood her actions, as she did his. The Cullens were a lot more physically demonstrative, but the connection she felt to Charlie was just as deep. "Eau Claire and Milwaukee have reported bodies with similar injuries this morning. Each body was badly torn apart and drained of all blood."

Each of the vampires in the room looked aghast at Charlie.

"It isn't just one vampire." Bella voiced what she knew they were all thinking. "Even at the speed we can travel, there's just no way to be in that many places so quickly."

"What then? All of a sudden a string of vampires have decided to throw caution to the wind and go on a rampage?" Jacob asked and Paul got to his feet, pacing up and down in front of the glass wall. The shaking of his limbs telling everyone in sight that he was close to losing his temper. He may have imprinted on Irina but he was still genetically encoded to hate vampires.

"I think it's the nomad who got away." She said. "He may believe we are still tracking him and he knows that if we are 'busy' cleaning up after him he will be able to get away."

"I would agree." Jasper said, he looked at Alice and she frowned. "except that there wasn't time. If he managed to get to Spokane the same day he escaped from us, the newborns wouldn't have changed this quickly."

"I still can't see him." Alice told everyone when she noticed they were all looking at her.

"We have to go and hunt them." Bella said, determination in her voice. Edward opened his mouth to object but she shook her head, her eyes still fastened on Alice's face. The small vampire's eyes went out of focus.

"You're right." She said softly. "There are five, maybe six, one is still changing, something about this vampire is different. His venom is extra potent, the newborns he creates take just over a day to change instead of three."

"It won't be long before the TV and newspapers get wind of this, then someone in town will report the Newtons' deaths and as the first town we will have federal law enforcement descend on us to find how it all started and what the link is." Charlie gathered the papers together again and tapped the pile with his finger. "Are you really going to go after them?" he looked Bella in the eye.

"I only said that because I thought it would help Alice to track them."

"If we don't do something, the Volturi will." Jasper grimaced and shook his head. "I remember when they decided that Maria had gone too far, if they come they will not bother asking questions. They will kill anyone they think is involved in any way."

"But you didn't do anything!" Jacob objected.

"They won't see it like that. They will either blame us for not catching Gioffre or will blame us for not going after him and killing the newborns before they caused all this trouble."

Alice's eyes went out of focus again and she gasped. Edward jumped to his feet.

"They are coming."

It was strange. Edward knew that he should be terrified of Bella being brought to the attention of the Volturi, but he wasn't. He shot a look at Jasper, suspicious that he was altering his mood, but his brother was too busy trying to work out a strategy for the coming confrontation to be using his talent.

"Why are they coming?" Emmett asked.

Alice sat on the sofa, the focus of everyone's gaze as her own eyes focussed on the future. "They have worm programmes in law enforcement agencies worldwide that alert them to vampire kills. The same alert Charlie just brought reached them a couple of hours ago. Aro was going to send Demetri alone, but he can't get a lock on Gioffre any more than I can. He believes that if he can see him and allow his talent to read him, he will be able to track him, however he has to find him first. So Aro is sending Jane, Alec and Felix with him."

That was a shock to Carlisle. Aro very rarely let his four most important lieutenants travel together, especially without either himself or Caius to control the two youngsters. Neither Demetri nor Felix had the authority or strength to control the Witch Twins if they deviated from their orders.

"If they capture him they have orders to return him to Volterra, and though I cannot see Gioffre I can see that if Aro reads his mind he will come after us all. He will want us for the guard. If they don't capture him, because we get to him first, then we should be safe. Assuming we don't show them all our talents when we meet them. Bella should be able to help there."

"No!" Edward jumped to his feet. Just the thought of Bella being anywhere near Jane and Alec sent him into a near-panic.

Alice's visions swirled as the future changed. Without Bella, Edward and Alice would be exposed to the Volturi and Aro would come on an acquisition trip. Citing the pact between the wolves of La Push and the Cullen's as a breach of the rules, they would come in huge numbers, Alice could see at least 40 vampires. Though powerful Bella's shield wasn't trained, she wouldn't be able to hold that many at a time, especially as a couple of them were minor shields in their own right. Not as strong as Bella, nor were they able to project, but they would be able to negate her influence on themselves enough that several of the family could be hurt, or even killed. The ONLY way to ensure the pitch battle didn't happen was if the Guard members were to return to Italy none the wiser about the talented Cullen's.

Of course there were huge gaps in Alice's vision, anything actually involving Gioffre was unseeable. Only if they were totally successful did the future become crystal clear. It was rather like it had been when she had got the visions of Bella when she was a child, she told Edward. She knew the future she wanted to happen and so could take steps towards it, but random chance and sudden changes could effect the outcome, needing an alteration of the plan at any second.

Edward and Jasper would have to go on the hunt, Alice and Bella were already necessary if they were to succeed, Emmett was chomping at the bit to go as well, which meant Rose had to go, Esme and Carlisle also felt the need to go with their children to help. Tanya and Jacob volunteered, but the effect on Alice's visions meant they would be better staying at home, this meant that Irina could not go either, though Paul didn't offer anyway, he felt no need to go hunting outside of the tribal lands. The other Denali's would also stay in Washington.

"At least some of us are going to have to go overland. There's no point in heading straight for New York, the newborns will have to be dealt with." Jasper pointed out. In the end it was decided that each couple would travel to one of the places they believed a newborn was inhabiting and take them out as quickly as possible. Then they would all meet up to hunt Gioffre after they had either convinced the newborns to be more judicious in their hunting, or killed them.

They packed small bags quickly and were on their way as soon as they could be. Emmett and Rose were to travel overland to Spokane, and then to Missoula to deal with the first 2 nomads, Alice and Jasper would hire a helicopter from Forks to Billings. Esme and Carlisle would fly to Beach and then fly straight to Eau Claire, Edward and Bella would fly to Jamestown and take out the Fargo problem as soon as they could. Once their individual problems were dealt with they would meet in Eau Claire with Esme and Carlisle and then to Milwaukee. The bigger the city the harder it would be to find the vampires they were looking for, though it was possible that some or all of the problems there would be taken out by local vampires. After all no matter what they thought of the Volturi, none of them needed or wanted the attention of the humans being drawn to their race.

When Milwaukee was dealt with they would contact Charlie to find if there were any more problems to be sorted between them and New York, if so they would decide whether to deal with them first or head straight for the city and go after Gioffre himself.

The human pilot and plane were still standing by in Port Angeles in case the Denalis needed to travel back to Alaska for any reason, so it wasn't long before the four who were flying aboard it climbed onto the Cullen Jet, Edward smiled as Bella just rolled her eyes at the sight of the private aircraft stood on the small runway of the local airport.

"We will have to get you a pilot's license soon." Edward said, nuzzling her neck as they taxied down the runway, picking up speed for take-off.

"Me… fly?" She squeaked.

"Everyone else does, you will be surprised how handy it comes in when we want to go to Europe or somewhere." Esme said as the wheels lifted from the tarmac.

"You all fly?" she looked around at the nodding heads. "Well then I don't see why I need to learn, it's not like any of you would get tired flying." She pointed out. Edward frowned at her but she did have a point.

They landed on Beach Field and allowed Carlisle and Esme to disembark, taking off again as soon as they got clearance from the tower.

Edward and Bella got off the plane at the Jamestown Regional Airport at about 6 in the evening, the sky was slightly overcast but twilight had already arrived and so they were safe disembarking from the aircraft.

They told the pilot to fly to Billings to pick up Jasper and Alice. Emmett and Rose were to only catch up if there were no more nomad killings reported. After all there was a chance that some of those changed had been more judicious with either their hunting or the disposal of the bodies. If they could, they would join the rest before they got to New York. Everything was set, they all just had to find their targets now.

They walked out of the airport and flagged down a taxi. Bella got in first and asked the driver if he could recommend a hotel and he took them to one on 5th Avenue NE, the hospital was to their west and the college to the east. These two places were probably the easiest places for the nomad to hunt.

They booked a suite for just the one night and sat to wait until it got totally dark. Bella was nervous. Except for the hunt on her first day as a vampire and tracking down and killing the nomad she had never allowed her inner beast to dominate her actions. Even on those occasions she had felt in full control. Knowing the job ahead of them she worried that she could lose control, or even not be able to do it.

Edward kissed her neck. "What's wrong?" he asked.

She couldn't put it into words. What if she let him down? What if, when it came down to it, she couldn't kill the nomad?

He seemed to sense some of what she was feeling. "Don't worry." He told her. "I promise I'll be the one to kill him." She sighed a deep breath.

"I'm just not sure I can." She told him.

"You'll be fine." He assured her. He moved around so he was facing her. She nodded and bit her lip, he put his thumb on it and freed it from her teeth. "Hey!" he lifted her chin until she met his gaze, "You'll be fine. We have to do this, you know that." She nodded, "Do you want to stay here while I deal with him?"

She immediately shook her head. Jasper had taken her to one side and given her a slight pep talk even more than he had the others, he had stressed the strength of newborns and pointed out that she too was just as strong as the one they were hunting. As the only vampire in the family that had no experience of hunting he had meant to be reassuring, but it just made her worried that she could not let Edward go alone. No matter how experienced he was at fighting, SHE was the one who could match the newborn's strength, and her talent would make it even easier if it was needed.

He ran his fingers along her jaw and to her ear where he stroked the skin behind it softly. She moaned, tilting her head to the side to allow him access and he kissed the exposed skin, sending a shudder through her.

Her eyes got heavy as he moved down her neck and kissed the spot where his bite was still visible to anyone with enhanced sight. The humming of electricity filled her very being and she lifted her arms to him.

They made their way to the bedroom and quickly stripped their clothes off, throwing them on the floor in their hurry to get naked.

As they lay on the bed though, the hurry abated and soft touches and slow strokes took over.

His fingers teased her breasts, his soft mouth and lips sucked gently on her nipples until she was gasping for air and her hand closed around his hard length. Since her change he felt hot in her hand as he thrust into her grip.

"Bella!" his voice whispered on a gasp. She rolled him on top of her and he slowly entered. She loved the feeling of him inside her, the push of muscle and the heat of his member made her wetter than ever. He lifted up slightly, making his strokes longer. His body stroked her clit as his cock stroked her insides, she felt the bond tighten and bring her almost to completion.

He continued to stroke in and out, slowly but passionately, as a vampire he could hold positions that it would be impossible for a human male to achieve for any length of time. One hand on the mattress was all he needed to free his other hand to keep touching her skin, all over her body. She felt the build up of her orgasm and when she tipped over the edge she sighed softly rather than crying out. Edward followed, milked by her inner muscles, and they lay embraced until it was time to get up.

As soon as full night fell they dressed in black jeans and black shirts to allow them to fade into the background if any humans were around. Though the streets were well lit there were plenty of dark alleyways and such that the almost moonless night rendered them almost totally invisible to human eyes.

It wasn't long before Edward heard the disjointed, random thoughts of a newborn vampire. Through his thoughts Edward could see he was stalking a group of kids that were heading to the dorms at the college. The nomad was hungry, the usual newborn thirst was raging inside him, but he had had a close call the night before and so was a little wary of attacking the half dozen teenagers in front of him. He obviously had no idea how fast he could kill them!

"He's going to attack as soon as the group splits." Edward whispered almost silently in Bella's ear so the vampire could not hear them. "You get between him and his victims and I will come up behind him and grab him."

Bella nodded her understanding and slipped silently into the bushes at the side of the path.

When the four boys in the group went into the closest dorms the vampire moved. Not quickly enough! Bella stepped out into the path, blocking his access to the girls, who walked on unknowing of the danger that had stalked them. The nomad stopped, puzzled, as he watched his prey walk away into the night. It took him several seconds to realise that the girl he faced was a vampire. He lowered into a crouch, ready to attack.

Edward swiftly came up behind the stalker and grabbed him around the chest with his left arm. Even before the vampire could stiffen up in response Edward had grabbed his forehead with his other hand and twisted. The sound of tortured metal screeched through the dark campus. Luckily the path at that point was at its darkest. Edward had made sure that his attack happened at the point furthest away from any street lighting.

Bella joined him and he scanned the minds around. No one had noticed anything, the few who had heard the sound dismissed it as the screech of bike brakes or something. Bella took the decapitated body as Edward and she ran into the thicker trees to the south of the college. A quick fire and the residents of Jamestown were safe in their town again.

"I didn't think it would be that easy." Bella said with a frown as they watched the thick smoke rise from the fire in the small copse.

"Usually it wouldn't be, but he was so concentrated on feeding that he let his guard down. If they know we are hunting them, or even if they get a chance to attack us, it won't be so easy."

She sighed and looked sadly at the pile of ash. "I don't suppose there was any way that he would have been persuaded to take on our diet?" she asked. Edward shook his head.

"He had a taste for human blood, Bella. It would have been almost impossible for him to stop hunting, and we don't really have time to stop and try and reason with them. The Guard will be in the New York by tomorrow night." She nodded and they quickly made their way back to the hotel. It was still only 10 at night, they had plenty of time to find the second one on their list.

They packed up the clothes they had changed out of earlier, jumped out of the hotel window and sped off towards the next destination.

Edward had considered hiring a car, but they could get to Fargo on foot as quick, if not quicker, than they could drive. He hoped that they could manage to find the second nomad when they arrived. It would make things much easier if they could head for Eau Claire that night.

They were less than 20 miles east of Jamestown when a text message sounded. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. Emmett and Rose had managed to dispose of their first nomad and were heading off to Missoula. Soon after both other couples sent texts to say they too had completed their parts and were heading to the airports to catch the Cullen Jet.

Edward didn't know if it was because Gioffre hadn't stayed to train them, or if it was something to do with his venom, but for some reason the nomads were ridiculously easy to kill. Usually fighting newborns was a dangerous occupation. Jasper had quickly given everyone a few tips, mainly not to allow them to get their hands around them, to the Cullens before they all set off. However there wasn't much fight in any of the nomads they had so far taken out. It was a puzzle, but none of them were going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The quicker they took out the problem, the less notice the humans would take of them.