Thirteen

Madness

Four days… Bella had been missing for four days. Paul could feel the pull of the imprint, but it was weakening. He was willing to meet with the leech coven, if only because the only clue they had was the mind-reader's scent mixed with Bella's. They proved to be nearly as useless as he was turning out to be. Paul paced inside their large living room – the smell of bleach and overly fragrant flowers burning the inside of his nose to the point that his eyes almost watered. He only half listened as Sam and the head bloodsucker spoke. Apparently, their greatest resource was trying to call Edward. Not surprisingly, he didn't answer his phone. Not long after they arrived, the tiny one that saw the future and her mate disappeared. Paul had no doubt that she was helping the wayward vamp. A growl rumbled in Paul's chest before bubbling through his lips.

"There has to be some other way to find him!" Paul spat, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Between the pack and the Cullen's, it was pretty packed. He was just glad that Wyatt was safe back on the reservation with Emily. "Every day I'm away from her, it makes me weaker." At this rate, he wouldn't have the strength to fight the leech when they did find him.

"My family has several dozen safe houses all over the world." Carlisle frowned and turned his gaze back to Sam. "As misguided as Edward's actions are, he wouldn't want to kill Bella."

"Turning her is killing her." Surprisingly, it was Rosalie that spoke up. "She got away. She decided she didn't want this life, and I think that was the smart choice. Edward thinks that if he changes her, he'll be able to break the imprint. I heard him and Alice talking about it… but I didn't think they would go this far…"

"What about the one that manipulates emotions?" Jacob asked, crossing his large arms over his chest. "Could he make her want to be changed?"

"He might be able to make her more susceptible to it, but as much as Jasper loves Alice, I don't think he means Bella any harm. I think he was roped into this whole thing."

"Yeah, I'm sure he's so innocent." Paul bit out. They fell into a heavy silence before Carlisle sighed deeply.

"Let me call around. I have friends that will check our properties."

IT DIDN'T TAKE long for Bella to realize she was pregnant. She nearly scolded herself for not realizing sooner, after all, she had been here before, hadn't she? And by here, she didn't mean the small, almost cozy cabin that had been her prison for four long days… or maybe it was five? The days and nights were blending together, and the only indication of actual time she had was when Edward brought her a meal. Just an hour ago, it had been eggs and bacon, so it must have been after breakfast. Luckily, Edward hadn't learned about Bella's condition yet, and she hoped to keep it that way until Paul found her. There was an odd sense of comfort in that thought. She just…knew Paul would find her. She wasn't sure how long it would take, but she knew that he would do whatever he could to make sure she and their child were safe. She just wished she could help him somehow. The chain around her ankle that bound her to the bed allowed her enough movement to get to the small adjoined bathroom and to most of the cabin. Through the small frost-covered window, Bella could see endless stretches of snow and trees. They had to be in the mountains somewhere, but Bella wasn't even sure which country they were in.

Edward kept a fire going, sometimes only returning to throw another log on before wordlessly leaving her again. It seemed like he was waiting for something to happen, but she wasn't sure what. Bella looked to the door as it opened, leaving a flurry of snow and whistling wind in its wake before being nearly slammed shut again. She was surprised however, by the bright golden eyes that met hers.

"Jasper?" Her voice was raspy from disuse, and she was sure the bruise left around her neck didn't help. "What are you doing here?" She thought Edward was acting alone. If the entire Cullen Clan was in on his plot… Bella's hopes for rescue fell slightly. The wolves were strong, but the Cullen's had hundreds of years to learn the art of war. Especially Jasper and Carlisle.

"Alice and Edward are talking. They sent me to keep an eye on you." He frowned, his bright eyes moving to the heavy chain around her ankle. "I'm sorry, Bella. I want you to know that this is all Edward and Alice."

"Then let me go." Bella nearly demanded, sitting up a bit straighter.

Jasper sighed and shook his head. "Even if I did, you'd die out there. We're hundreds of miles away from anyone else. At least five hundred from the boarder. You're in Canada." He answered her unspoken question. "I love Alice. I love her more than I thought I could ever love anyone… but this is…" He grit his teeth and turned towards the window. Bella felt her body grow heavy, slumping against the plush mattress. "Rest, Bella. You'll need your strength for when they come…" She heard in his easy southern drawl as darkness consumed her.

PAUL NEARLY JUMPED out of his skin as the largest of the vampires barreled into the room around midnight. Paul hadn't wanted to fall asleep on the leech's couch, but the strain of the imprint and the lack of sleep the last few nights had him nodding off before he could even think to run home. He didn't have time to be angry with himself however, because the burly one was calling everyone into the room, waving his phone around like a maniac.

"I just got a text from Jasper. He sent me their coordinates." He looked to Carlisle, but Paul was already on his feet. He was halfway to the phone when Sam caught his arm.

"We can't just go in gun's blazing, Paul. If we don't handle this the right way, he might bite Bella out of spite. Once he does, there's no going back."

"He's right." Carlisle frowned as he took the phone from Emmett. "Everything Edward has done has been out of passion. He's not thinking it through. Perhaps Esme and I should go alone and try to reason with him."

"You had your chance to reason with him." Paul spat, earning several nods from his pack brothers.

"Besides, maybe you'll just act as a warning and he'll run off." Seth shrugged. "Maybe not on purpose, but if he's scared that we'll stop him, we won't have another chance to find them."

Carlisle's shoulders slumped. "Then we devise a plan. We'll have to corner him if we want to get Bella out alive." He looked to Paul, the pity in his eyes nearly sickening. "We leave at sunrise."

AN: I know this chapter is super short! With Christmas right around the corner I don't have a lot of free time, but I wanted to give you guys some kind of update. I'm working on longer chapters, promise! As a small 'I'm sorry', below I've included a teaser for my AU Paul/Bella fic that will be coming out after this one – and I'm going to make those chapters super long as well.

Beautiful Trauma (teaser)

Edward Cullen was the perfect boyfriend – on paper at the very least. He was smart, and handsome, and was a shoe-in for the premed program in the fall. He was one of the senior members of the Delta Kappa Phi fraternity. Bella still wasn't completely sure why on earth he had chosen her, but she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Excusing herself from Angela, Bella attempted to make her way through the crowd once more. At one point, she nearly sighed in relief at the blare of police sirens before realizing they were overlaid on the repetitive track the DJ chose to play. As she passed a group of particularly sweaty students, she couldn't help but think that the chiffon of her favorite pink dress would hold the smell of smoke and alcohol for weeks – maybe indefinitely. Finally spotting Edward against the archway that led to kitchen with his frat brothers, Emmett and Jasper, Bella nearly smiled to herself.

Any relief she might have felt was snuffed out as something – no, someone, that could have very easily double for a wall pushed past her, knocking her shoulder so hard that she nearly toppled over. The man, who she realized was the wall in question, placed a large, hot hand on her shoulder to steady her. Without so much as an excuse he turned to continue on his way when Bella grabbed a fistful of his worn leather jacket. "Aren't you even going to apologize?" She asked, her cheeks turning red in anger. She didn't want this party, and she didn't even know these people. At the very least, they could be respectful.

It was when the leather-clad wall turned that Bella realized her mistake. It was Paul Lahote – one of Brigeton University's supposed gang members. No one knew for sure if they were really a gang, but there were rumors. The guys kept to themselves, having gotten in on respective scholarships. They were all native and as tall as they were broad. There was talk of them using steroids, but that was just another rumor… Bella hoped. She had seen Paul in one of her classes during the previous semester, but he stayed in the back with his friend, never talking unless prompted by the professor.

Bella found that she nearly had to tilt her neck all the way back just to look at his face – and it was beautiful face – not that she would dare to say that out loud. He wasn't beautiful in the way a flower or a certain color was beautiful. He was rugged and worn, like a painting lost to time by a tortured artist that nobody quite understood or respected. When Paul's deep brown eyes, nearly black in the haze of low light and smoke, met hers Bella felt her breath catch. The air around them seemed to turn to static, and for one bliss-filled moment, the music and people seemed to die away. Her hand tightened slightly on the leather of his jacket, the smooth fabric molding to her touch before her fingers fell away. The only indication that their interaction had any effect on Paul was the slight furrowing of his brows as those endless pools of black moved fluidly over the curve of her cheek before landing on her eyes once again.

She was so wrapped up in the oddness of the moment, Bella hardly realized when Edward's arm draped protectively over her shoulder. Instead of looking to her boyfriend, she watched as Paul's gaze moved from Edward's arm back to her face. "We got a problem here?" Edward's voice seemed to bring the music with it, and suddenly, it was deafening again.

Paul didn't look to Edward. He didn't even acknowledge he had said anything. Instead, he leaned in, bending at the waist so that his face was only a foot away from Bella's. She was sure she felt Edward's arm tighten around her, but she was too distracted by the vibrancy of Paul's features as one corner of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile, his teeth impossibly white and straight. "Sorry." He said simply before straightening. He watched her for on a moment longer before turning and continuing on his way. Just as quickly as he had come, Paul Lahote disappeared back into the crowd, like a dream you couldn't quite remember fully upon waking.