Chapter 6: The News

I still don't own any of these characters.

Alice and I found a place just down the street called Tim Horton's. I ordered a wrap, a small salad, and some coffee.

I decided it was time to use the bathroom, since it had been a while. I told Alice where I was going, assuming she would realize I wanted her to pick up my food when they called my number, so I was quite surprised when she followed me. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"I need a mirror. I haven't touched up my makeup in hours!" she replied like this was a matter of utmost urgency. "Besides, I'm supposed to be babysitting you, right?"

"Alice! I've been able to use the bathroom alone since I was about three. I think I can manage it," I snorted in response.

"It's not that, Bella. It's just that I'd rather be standing right there to catch you when you slip on that soapy water by the sink. Otherwise, you're going to bust your lip open when you face-plant and having you bleeding right now would not be a good idea" Alice stated matter-of-factly. "Or better yet, I'll clean it up before you get there." She paused for a moment. "Yes, that will work just fine."

"Sometimes that's just creepy, you know?"

We both laughed as we went into the bathroom. I took my human moment and chatted with Alice, who was cleaning the floor with paper towels. "So, what do you think of Fred so far?" I asked. "At first I thought he was going to be trouble, but I really think he was just scared. I know I would be. Does he have control over his bloodlust? I noticed he didn't kill any of the humans in the park. Maybe he'd already fed recently. Ewww… Anyway, he's actually very polite when he's not talking about drinking my blood. Actually, even then he was polite! He seems a little overly fascinated by my relationship with Edward. Don't you think?"

It was then I realized I was in the middle of a monologue.

"Alice?"

She didn't answer.

"Alice?" She didn't answer.

I quickly finished and burst out of the bathroom stall to find Alice staring at the mirror. "What? What do you see?" I asked, giving her a little shake.

She turned toward me, looking confused and distant. "It's nothing… I don't know. I'm pretty sure it's nothing."

Then her eyes snapped to mine and she smiled like everything was just peachy. I knew better. Alice was never indecisive like this. Something was very clearly wrong.

"Wash your hands, Bella. We can't have you getting sick from poor hygiene," she said with a laugh. "Then let's get your food and get back over to the guys."

The more Alice tried to act nonchalant, the more I could see that something was bothering her. She was suddenly laughing a little too much, talking a little too fast. And she was clearly in a hurry.

The girl at the counter only gave me a half eye-roll when I asked to take my food to go. Alice was impatiently tugging at my sleeve. "Bella…" she whined for no apparent reason.

"Alice! What is wrong with you? What's going on?"

"Nothing! I'm just anxious to…you know… get back to Jasper."

I scoffed. "Don't lie to me! You always get on Edward about keeping me in the dark, and now it's OK for you to do the same? I don't think so."

A look of horror came over her face as her eyes slowly shifted to a TV mounted in the far corner of the restaurant. It wasn't until then that I noticed everyone's attention was on the TV. Someone turned up the volume.

The words 'Breaking News' scrolled along the bottom of the screen. "…Riley Park, the scene of what some are calling a flash epidemic. Hundreds of people have been quarantined. The cause of this massive outbreak of illness is undetermined, however there is fear that this may be an act of terrorism. Reporter Tim Weeks is live at the scene. Tim?"

I turned my head slightly toward Alice. "This is not good, is it…" It wasn't really a question.

"It's about to get worse," Alice said in a quiet monotone.

"Thanks, Gloria. I'm here at Riley Park where, just about an hour ago, hundreds of people became violently ill all at the same time. So far, no explanations have been offered. We haven't been able to confirm this yet, but some onlookers reported that people inside the Community Center were also affected, bringing into question whether the source of this strange sickness could be airborne or not. If not spread by air, the question becomes 'What caused these people to get sick all at once, whether they were in a building or outside?' So far, we've received no confirmation about the cause of this sickness, exactly how many became ill, or the condition of the victims. We should…"

"I'm sorry, Tim, but we have breaking footage from the scene. We'll come back to you as soon as we can. This amateur video was shot from a building near the park and e-mailed to us from within the quarantine zone. It's difficult to see, but if you look closely… Did you see that? Please run that again. The man at the bottom of your screen appears to be getting dragged away, but who or what is dragging him? Our technicians are working to clear up the picture for you, but for now, you can clearly see that he is being dragged by some unknown force."

The room erupted with loud speculation, people clearly afraid of what they'd just seen. I'm sure the look of horror on my face matched that of Alice's. She pulled her phone out just before it rang. "Carlisle… yes, I'm watching it, too."

"Number 14, order to go" the girl at the counter called out absentmindedly. I wasn't hungry anymore, but I grabbed the bag and coffee from her anyway. Alice tilted her head toward the door, indicating it was time to go.

"We're going back to Edward and Jasper now. If you see anything else on TV, call me. Tell Esme not to worry. We'll figure it out, OK? Bye," Alice finished up, talking at a human pace for my sake, I suppose.

I wanted to run back to Edward, but we couldn't afford to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves. If there was one video, who knew how many more would surface. Would they be able to identify Edward? Or Fred and Jasper? Or…

Suddenly my stomach sank. Alice and I had walked through the park to where the guys were standing. If there was a video… Charlie.

I prayed to God that no clear videos would appear, and I cursed the high-tech industry in general for making my life miserable. And then I thought of something worse than Charlie finding out I had both lied to him, and that I was somehow involved in what was now international news: The Volturi.

"Precisely," Alice answered before I had a chance to voice my concerns. "We have to figure something out, and fast."

Edward greeted us with the same panicked look on his face as I'd seen from Alice. "I don't know either," he answered her unspoken question.

"OK, time out here," I demanded. "Most of us can't read each other's thoughts nor do we know the future. Spell it out so the rest of us know what's going on!"

"Sorry, guys. We forget sometimes," Alice apologized for both her and Edward. "Bella, when we were in the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of the Volturi coming here. I wasn't sure, but then I saw what was going to be on the news, and I realized I was right. All I know at the moment is that someone ordered their plane back to Seattle."

"What's a Volturi?" Fred asked.

"The ones Bree called the dark cloaks," Edward answered.

"Or dark clocks…" I teased from under my breath.

Edward looked at me disapprovingly. "Sorry!" I exclaimed, putting my hands up in a show of surrender, "But it was pretty funny. I know… I know… wrong time for jokes."

"It's not my fault your texting is so bad," Fred quipped, before turning serious again. "So, how do they fit into this? Are they're our enemy?"

Jasper, Alice, and Edward looked at each other, not sure how to answer.

"Technically, they're not," Jasper started hesitantly. "They're more like vampire government. They make and enforce the rules, and like many governments, they're somewhat corrupt. But they keep our kind in line. I mean, people have heard legends about vampires, but did you ever think they actually existed before you became one? We've been around for thousands of years and people still think we're a myth, the stuff of scary movies and books. That's because of their laws."

"So vampires have laws? Riley told us…"

"Riley didn't tell you everything, although you seem to have managed to figure some of it out for yourself," Edward explained. "The primary rule is to keep our kind a secret. The other rules basically reinforce this one. Like feeding discretely, not being out in the sun in public, and not letting humans know we exist…"

Fred gave me a curious glance. "But Bella knows. Do they know about her?"

"Yes, they do," I answered for myself. "Because I'm Edward's mate, they allowed me to live for now. I have an unspecified amount of time before I have to be changed or be… well, permanently silenced."

A hush fell over our little group as Edward slowly ran his hands up and down my arms. I wasn't sure if he was trying to comfort me or himself, but I suppose that mattered little.

"Well, Riley did tell us to feed carefully, not to draw attention to ourselves," Fred quietly broke the silence. "But he didn't explain why. He also told us we were basically gods among men, so most of the others didn't think they needed to follow Riley's stupid rules. They just used Seattle like their own personal all-you-can-eat buffet. Riley showed us newspapers about the killing sprees, screaming furiously that we needed to keep a low profile. We didn't know why we should bother. We didn't think anyone could stop us."

"The Volturi could stop you." Alice warned. "They watch for illegal vampire activity, like what was going on in Seattle, and they put a stop to it. Or at least that's the idea…" she trailed off, momentarily lost in thought. "Creating a newborn army is definitely illegal, which is why they were here. Oh, and don't ever create an immortal child. Trust me on that one."

"But Bree said there were only four of them. How could they defeat an army of 20 or more?" Fred asked innocently.

"Easily," Edward answered. "The main leader, Aro, collects gifted vampires for the Volturi guard. They have one who can inflict intense pain. I've experienced it firsthand, and let me tell you, it's not something you'd want to try. One can cut off all your senses completely, one can track, one can shield and so on. Oddly enough, most of these don't work on Bella. We don't know why, but part of the reason she was allowed to live was Aro's fascination over a human with such a strong, natural mental shield."

Fred was now grasping the gravity of our situation. "When will they be here? Can't we run?"

Edward shook his head. "It wouldn't do any good. They have Demetri, the best tracker on the planet. He would most definitely find us, and we don't want to raise suspicions by suddenly taking off into the middle of nowhere."

"What if…" I pondered aloud, "… we didn't run to the middle of nowhere. What if we just went back home?"

"And bring the Volturi back to Forks? Why would we do that?" Edward exclaimed.

"Well, we certainly don't want them coming here! One of them is going to retrace Fred's scent back to the newborn army's home base, and they'll know he was one of them. We don't want Fred to face the same fate as Bree, do we?" I shuddered at the thought.

"Awwww… now I'm REALLY sorry for thinking about eating you," Fred kidded. Edward growled. "Just joking around, man. Calm down!"

I rolled my eyes at Edward. "Nevermind him. He's just very protective."

"He should mind me," Edward muttered. "He's likely to lose a limb otherwise. More than that if I have reason to think he's serious."

"So cranky!" I reached over and messed up his already messed up hair. He growled again, baring his teeth as he grabbed my wrist and brought it up to his mouth. Then he smiled and started peppering my hand with kisses.

Fred's mouth was agape. "How do have that kind of control? Wow. Impressive."

"What can I say? I love her." Edward answered between kisses.

"OK, enough with the lovey dovey crap," Jasper interrupted. "We need to plan. I think Bella's on to something here. You know, I'm startin' to think you have a gift for strategy, little lady."

"Coming from you, that means a lot," I blushed.

"Here's what I'm thinking," Jasper continued. "We go home, have Carlisle call Aro and tell him this was all a big misunderstanding. Just a sightseeing trip gone awry. We found a young, gifted vampire with no sire and brought him home with us. We're teaching him about the law. He's sorry he caused a ruckus and even with the video coverage, nobody is ever gonna suspect vampires. So no laws have actually been broken. Everything's OK. All nice and friendly-like."

"Maybe they won't even investigate. Do you think that's possible?" I was trying to remain hopeful.

"If I know Aro, he's going to want to know as much as he can about Fred's gift. I don't think there's any way to get around that part. I mean, they're going to have questions after what they saw on the news," Edward surmised. "Anyone have other ideas about how to play this?"

"At least if we're in Forks, we'll have Sam and his friends as a backup plan, if we need to," said Alice.

Fred eyed her questioningly. "Who's Sam?"

A/N: Please take a minute to review. It's super encouraging! Thanks!