First off, I have just got to say Congratulations to the cast of Twilight for their ELEVAN teen choice awards. Woo hoo!

Secondly, guys I'm sorry for not updating. I start school next week, and I've had band camp for the past few weeks from 9-12 in the morning, then I have show choir practice from 7-9 in the evening, on top of everything else I have to do to prepare for school (like summer Spanish homework, ugh) so I haven't found the time to update. I'm going to try and get chapters up at least once a week, which will usually be a Saturday or Sunday...so look out for that. Sorry again!

Chapter 30

I didn't know how it happened, but I somehow put on my raincoat and tennis shoes and locked the door, running after Sandra down the stairs that lead to the bottom floor of my apartment complex.

"What do you mean he's been killed?" I shouted after her, as we ran through the parking lot. My face was already soaking wet from the rain...and my tears.

I could hear Sandra crying too as she ran ahead of me. "I went over there..." She said, coughing. "And he wasn't around...so I went upstairs..and...and."

"What Sandra? What?" I screamed, just as I arrived by the car at her side.

She sniffed. "I saw him laying there on the floor...and he was gone."

I didn't say anything else, I just burst into tears as I jumped in the passenger's seat of Sandra's car. Sandra sped out of the parking lot quickly, going at least eighty miles an hour.

I didn't know what to think, or how to feel. There was no way any of this could be real. My grandfather could not be dead. He just couldn't be. I just talked to him a few hours ago on the phone.

Thinking about that made me cry anymore, because I remembered the conversation my grandfather and I had on the phone, shortly before Dr. Cullen confronted me with his news. My grandfather and I had a normal conversation, nothing different than normal.

And I remembered that the last thing I told him was that I loved him.

I was crying uncontrollably, and so was Sandra, so neither one of us really talked. I think we both had so many emotions running through our minds at the time that we couldn't find ourselves physically able to talk.

When my parents had died, I was only two and didn't remember anything about it. I only had a vague memory of my grandmother's death, since I was only ten at the time. But now, I was twenty years old, and I knew that my grandfather's death would always stand out vividly in my mind.

I didn't exactly understand why Sandra had told me grandfather had been killed. Who would want to kill my grandfather? He was a wonderful man, and when he was a doctor, he helped so many people and saved so many lives. Who would want to harm him?

Then I remembered the serial killers, and I knew that my grandfather must have been their latest victim. He was just a senseless killing. Now more than ever, I wanted the people responsible for all of these deaths caught and locked up behind bars.

When we pulled into the driveway of my grandfather's house there were at least fifteen different police cruisers parked around the property. Several policemen had tracker dogs sniffing the perimeter of the house, other police officers were searching for trace evidence. It all seemed like something you would see on TV, not in real life.

I jumped out of the car before Sandra even turned off the ignition, and I ran over to where my Uncle Todd was standing, talking to some police officers.

"Uncle Todd...what's happened?" I asked him, choking through my tears as Sandra joined me at my side.

I could tell he had been crying. "Brooke, it seems as though your grandfather was targeted by the serial killers."

I nodded my head slowly, already knowing that.

He sighed. "They are guessing that he hadn't been dead for very long when Sandra showed up."

As if on cue, Sandra coughed, and then burst into tears again.

"All the basic evidence looks comparable to the other killings recently." One of the officers said.

Uncle Todd wiped his nose on his jacket sleeve. "Officer Dresden and Officer Summons, this is my daughter Sandra...she was the one that called you." He said, resting his arm gently on Sandra's shoulder. She hugged her dad tightly, crying into his arm.

"And this..." He said, pointing toward me. "Is my niece Brooke."

I shook their hands, and both of them smiled softly at me. "Sorry to hear about your loss miss." One of the officers said.

I merely nodded again.

"Young lady." The other officer said to Sandra. "Would you mind answering some questions for us?"

She nodded and released her dad, before following the officers over to one of the squad cars.

I looked over at my uncle, and he wiped his nose on his jacket sleeve once more.

"I was the last person that ever talked to him." I said randomly, not knowing where it came from.

My uncle looked at me. "When?" He asked.

"Around six thirty." I said, remembering the time.

He nodded in response. "That might be good for the police to know."

"Of course." I said, crossing my arms and biting my lip, trying to keep my emotions under control. Then I thought of a question I wanted to ask him.

"Have you seen him?" I asked.

Uncle Todd sniffed, and nodded once. "Yes."

"Can I?" I asked, not knowing why I wanted to see my grandfather's body. But for some reason I felt like I needed too.

"Brooke, it's...pretty bad." He said.

"What? Is the crime scene really..." I choked on the word. "Bloody?"

"No...in fact there's barely any blood at all." He said. "But he just looks so, well...awful really."

"I don't care." I almost snapped. "I want to see."

"Alright, I'll see what the police thinks." He said, leading me out of the rain and into my grandfather's house. I slipped on the floor on my way to the staircase, and my uncle helped me up.

Once we got to the second floor, I saw that the door to my grandfather's room was roped off in caution tape. There were about four police officers in there. One of them came over to the door to great us.

"Mr. Jeffers." He said, nodding towards my uncle.

"Officer Thomas, this is my niece Brooke." He said, gently rubbing my arm. "She lived with my father for most of her life when my brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car accident."

The officer shook my hand politely. "Hello Miss." He said.

I smiled very softly in response and muttered a soft, "Hello."

"She um...wanted to see my father's body." My uncle said, looking down at the floor.

"Miss it's not exactly a pretty sight." The officer said, repeating the words my uncle had told me minutes earlier.

"I really don't mind." I said.

The officer sighed. "Alright, be very careful, and don't touch anything in here." He said, moving the caution tape so I could walk inside my grandfather's bedroom.

My uncle was right, I did not see one drop of blood anywhere. Not on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the bed, nowhere. That seemed very odd to me. Shouldn't all murders be bloody in some manner? Unless the killers did a very good job of cleaning up afterwords. The thought made me shiver, and I coughed...realizing that I was crying again.

The officer led me over to the right side of my grandfather's bed, and I gasped at the sight of his body. Everyone's warnings certainly had been correct, it was not a very pretty sight.

He looked nothing like my grandfather. He was just skin and bones, it was like all the blood had been drained out of his body.

And then suddenly an alarm went off in my head.

I bent over, so that way I could get a closer view of him. Even though it hurt me more and more every time I looked at the body of my now deceased grandfather, I knew I had to investigate something. I didn't know what exactly it was that I was looking for, but I knew once I saw it...I'd know.

After a few minutes of looking up and down my grandfather's body, I'm sure the police officer thought I was crazy. But I really didn't care. Something inside my head had put two and two together, and it knew that this was not the work of no regular serial killer.

I was just about to give up on looking for my proof, when I suddenly noticed something I hadn't seen before. On my grandfather's neck, there was a small, silver, half-moon shaped scar.

And the scar appeared to look like teeth marks.

Now what I had known since seeing my grandfather's body had became very obvious to me. He was killed by a vampire.

I was now finding it even harder than ever to be able to control my emotions. Even though I somewhat believed that Dr. Cullen was telling the truth about his diet...still...something like him killed my grandfather. It was almost too much to bare.

"Do all of the victims have scars like these?" I asked the officer, pointing to the scar on my grandfather's neck.

He nodded. "Yes they all have had the same scars. Every victim."

I didn't say anything else, I simply turned away and walked out of the room.

The rest of the night passed very quickly, and by the time my Aunt Molly picked Sandra and I up to get some sleep at their house, it was four in the morning.

Neither one of us thought we would be able to fall asleep, but Sandra was snoring within minutes, and I drifted into a deep, dream-filled sleep not too long afterwords.

And this time my dream was worse than ever before.

I was laying on the couch once more, watching the fire burn. I was wearing the same dress, and looked the same way I always did, only I had tears rolling down my face. Then just like always, I became aware that I was no longer the only person in the room, and I felt someone's cool breath fan across my neck.

"Why are you crying Brooke?" The vampire said, and his voice was so soft and smooth.

"My grandfather. " I said, not daring to move. "He's dead."

"Aw...that's quite a tragedy...isn't it?"

I nodded, and I felt his cool lips kiss my neck.

After a few minutes of silence, I spoke again.

"What do you want with me?"

He laughed. "Why Brooke...what makes you think that I want to do something to you?" He said, kissing my neck again.

"You won't leave me alone." I said, through my tears.

He merely laughed.

My breathing became quicker in pace. "Who are you?" I asked, with more fire to my words than before.

He laughed again, and this time his laugh sounded so wonderful, it sent shivers through my whole body. "Brooke love...how can you not know who I am?"

"I don't know." I said, feeling my heart pound in my chest. I felt his cool breath fan across my neck once more.

"Brooke, I am truly hurt that you don't even recognize your own boyfriend." He said, and I turned around just in time to see Dr. Cullen's gorgeous face, and he smiled right at me...that same smile that I had fallen in love with over a year ago.

And then he bit me.

I couldn't sleep anymore that night. After my dream, I woke myself up screaming, and everyone in the entire house came running to see if I was alright. Even the neighbors came over, wondering if everything was ok. I sat up for the rest of the night and forced myself not to fall asleep. I did this for two nights, before I finally became so exhausted that I allowed myself to sleep. I didn't dream at all that night, and I was very thankful for that.

We had a viewing for my grandfather, where friends and family could stop in and pay their respects to the surviving family members. The viewing was supposed to last from one in the afternoon, until seven that evening. Many people had come in to mourn the loss of my grandfather. It was a closed casket...something my uncle and the rest of the family had agreed on.

Even though it was a sad atmosphere, Sandra was a little bit more cheery than she had been a few days ago. She was really trying to keep all of us together, and keep all of us strong, and she was doing a pretty good job at it. I looked over at her from across the room, and she smiled softly at me. She looked very pretty in her one-shoulder strap black gown, that flowed all around her. I chose a simpler look, wearing a black dress that was fairly form-fitting, and was about knee length. There was a small black belt around the waist, and I kept picking off random white cat hairs that clung to the skirt.

I had not spoke to Dr. Cullen since our conversation on the day of my grandfather's death, although I had talked to almost every one of his children. They all were obviously aware of the situation, and I think the were debating how to address it.

I was not mad at Dr. Cullen in any way, but after everything that had just occurred, I was so shook up about everything that I was certain what to do.

It had actually been sunny that day, so I knew if the Cullens were going to show up at all, it would be during the evening. Even though Dr. Cullen claimed they didn't burn up in the sunlight, I didn't know if anything he said was true.

It was later that evening, around six, and the sun had disappeared behind the clouds for the day. The flow of people had been slowing, so us few family members drifted away from our line at the front of the room, and walked around to talk to the few people that were still there. Sandra was sitting beside our Great-Aunt Bertha, and she had been talking to her for the past two hours. Well, Bertha had been talking to Sandra for the past two hours, I think Sandra was asleep.

I had just finished issuing my farewells to a few former patients of my father, when I turned around toward the entry way and saw Emmett and Rosalie. Emmett walked quickly over to where I stood, and wrapped me up in a huge bear hug.

"Hey Brooke." He said, sounding more serious than I had ever heard him sound. "Sorry about your granddad."

"Thanks Emmett." I said, smiling softly at him, then turning my attention to Rose.

She looked stunning as usual, but more stunning than ever. She was wearing a long, flowing, black, spaghetti-strap dress and she smiled in return when I looked at her.

Then she did something that surprised me. She hugged me as well, not for very long, but she still hugged me none the less. "Sorry Brooke." She said simply, looking over at Emmett.

The two of them moved to the side to reveal Jasper and Alice. They each hugged me, Alice a little longer than Jasper. She looked adorable as always, in a short, strapless black dress.

Then came Bella and Edward. After I finished hugging Edward, I turned to hug Bella, and for some reason I started to cry. She simply stood there, never breaking her embrace, and she waited on me to finish crying. When I did, she smiled at me.

"Everything will be okay." She said, before moving along with Edward. She too, looked beautiful in her dress, although she chose a little less revealing number than Alice and Rosalie. Her dress had long sleeves and a bow around the middle.

I knew he was there, but I didn't want to look up. However, I did anyway, and when I did I instantly found my heart racing.

Whenever I was away from him it was like I seemed to forget how stunning he was. He was just wearing a simple black tux, but he looked so perfect.

He smiled softly at me, and broke his number one rule for our relationship. He kissed me softly on the lips, before hugging me close.

I instinctively looked around us, seeing if anyone had noticed our kiss, but no one had. And I assumed if anyone did, they wouldn't run away and tell Viviene.

"I know what did it." I said, again not knowing where my words were coming from.

He released me from his arms, and sighed. "You do?"

"Yes." I said. "So that is why you were worried about the killings. You knew what they were."

"And I wanted you to be kept safe."

I nodded.

"I was going to tell you in a few weeks Brooke, about my family." He said. "But the situation in Seattle called for you knowing sooner."

"I understand." I said. "Thank you."

He nodded, placing his hands in his pockets. "I am terribly sorry about your loss."

"Thank you." I repeated, starring at my grandfather's casket, and remembering my dream. I shivered.

He looked at me with concern, but said nothing.

I turned around to see Sandra bouncing in our direction. "Hey Brooke." She said, smiling at me.

"Hey San." I said, smiling in return, before gesturing toward Dr. Cullen. "You of course remember my boyfriend Dr. Cullen."

"Of course." She said, grinning at the mere mention of him.

He shook her hand. "A pleasure to see you again Miss Jeffers, I'm terribly sorry to hear about your loss."

"Thanks." She said, before she groaned in response to something Bertha was yelling. "I gotta go." She said, before running away.

I laughed softly. "Poor Sandra." I said.

"Why do you do that?" He asked.

"Do what?" I asked, confused.

"Introduce me to people like that?"

"Like what?" I said, becoming slightly aggravated with him.

"Why do you introduce me to people as Dr. Cullen...instead of by name?"

I paused for a minute, trying to think of a response. "You noticed that?"

He laughed slightly. "Yes Brooke, how can I not notice it? You don't only introduce me to people like that, but you call me that in casual conversation."

I bit my lip and starred at the floor. "And your point?"

"My point Brooke is that you do not have to call me by title. I am your boyfriend, you should refer to me by name." He whispered, just in case anyone was listening.

"I mean, in public, like at work and such when we are in front of people, then I could see your reasoning for calling me by title, but when it's just you and me alone...you still call me Dr. Cullen."

"I guess I do." I said. This didn't come as a total shock to me. Truthfully, I knew all along that I never called him by name.

"Do you even know what my name is?" He asked me.

"Yes I know what your name is." I said.

"Then what is it?" He asked, his topaz eyes starring deep into mine.

"It's..." I sighed. "Dr. Cullen."

"That's not it." He said, looking away from me, then shifting his gaze back again."Why don't you call me by name?"

I walked away from him, and starred at the wall. I heard him take two steps so he was standing directly behind me.

"I don't know." I said. "I guess part of it is because I want to be careful in public...like you said. And I guess I don't call you by name in private because it just....doesn't seem right."

"What do you mean?"

I turned around to face him. "Employees aren't supposed to call their boss by their first name."

He sighed, and turned away from me in slight frustration. He ran one hand through his hair, before turning back toward me again.

"Brooke...I want you to register this right now...okay?"

I nodded.

"I am not, and never will be your boss...I am your boyfriend, and I don't ever want you to think that you are nothing more than another employee to me." He stepped forward, and took one of my hands in his. "You are the love of my life, and you mean so much more to me than just a simple assistant."

I felt my heart immediately start beating faster at the sound of his words. I could not help but be pulled deeper and deeper into his spell. But I still needed time to clear my head.

"Can I take another couple weeks off of work?" I asked him, looking down at our interlaced hands.

"Of course." He said. "Take all the time you need."

"I just need some time to relax, calm down, and think." I said, now looking into his eyes, and I think he knew what I meant. "This has all been a very difficult situation."

"Yes...it has been." He said.

I sighed, and shifted my gaze away from him again. "I need to go do something fun." I said, and laughed slightly.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." He said. "Go catch a movie with Natalie, have a slumber party with Sandra, go shopping with Melody and Destiny, try and have fun with your friends and family to help ease your mind a little."

I bit my lip and nodded. "Okay." I said. "I will...thanks."

He gently kissed my cheek, as Edward approached us.

"We should probably be on our way." Edward said, nodding in my direction.

"Alright." I said, waving at all of the Cullen children. "Thank you guys for coming."

They issued their goodbyes, and Alice hugged me quickly once more before darting away, clinging onto Jasper's arm.

He smiled at the sight of all of them.

"Thanks again." I said to him, once all of his children had made their way out the door.

"Of course." He said, and he gently pulled me to him. I sighed and rested my head on his chest.

"I love you ok." I said. "No matter what."

"I love you too Brooke." He said, and he softly kissed my forehead. Then he left without saying another word.

I watched him leave before I walked over to join Sandra and Great-Aunt Bertha.

The next few days passed quickly, and I finally gathered up enough courage to stay in my apartment alone one night. I having my dreams, so I was sleeping better than before. But I was becoming bored being cooped up in my apartment while it rained. I remembered that in order to help take my mind of of things, and to help myself relax, I needed to have some fun.

So I got dressed, fed my cat before I left, checked to make sure all of the appliances were off so that nothing would catch on fire, gathered up my things, and ran quickly through the rain to get to my car in the apartment complex parking lot.

After driving forever through the incredibly powerful rainstorm, I finally got out of my car, and walked up to the house's front door. I rang the doorbell once, before the door opened.

"Hey." I said and I smiled slightly, although I could feel tears stinging at my eyes.

The series of cliff hanger chapters...lol. Hope you guys enjoyed that one! Now you finally know the reason behind the whole Dr. Cullen thing. But don't worry, there is more to it.

The links to the girls dresses are on my profile page. Check them out if you want!

Thanks for reading...please shoot me a review with what you think so far!

~Hazl~