Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Chapter 71 Demands

EPOV 18 hours

Carlisle had stayed with me as well as Emmett and Rose. They continued to search house after house as we moved down the highway away from Highlands and towards Cashiers some thirty miles away. I had to continue, I had to help . . . all my family asked of me was that I watch the road . . . I could do that, just watch the road and listen to see who was in each vehicle and check their scent . . .

"Nothing anywhere on this road," Emmett said as he came running back to me, "Has Rose gotten back yet?"

"Right here. No cars even down this way, I don't think anyone has been down this way in days," she said.

Carlisle came around the corner, I heard his thoughts before he ever got near us, "Nothing that way. I just spoke with Esme and she has this road in view now clearly, and with the sun rising, there is no room for error. She'll see any movement. We need to all go back to the house and look over the information that Jasper has come up with and regroup," he told us. My face must have shown the panic I felt because he immediately put a hand on my shoulder, "Edward, we are not giving up. If we put our heads together and look at all the information, we may come up with a more effective plan," he said as I stared at the ground, my shoulders rigid with fear. He waited for me to raise my eyes and look at him, though he knew I was already hearing his silent assurances, "We will not give up, Edward. We need to hurry, though. Come on."

. . . stay in control . . . cover all possibilities . . . keep it together . . .

We ran the entire way, though the feel of the wind in my face did not comfort me as it usually did. I saw the morning breaking, the sun coming over the mountain making sparkles glisten from the dampness on the trees and foliage, but there was no joy in it, no wonder now. There was nothing.

Jasper was at home, Alice helping him to isolate all the Volvos in the area and Esme keeping an eye on the satellite view of the roads. Vampire senses came in handy in that she could discern even the slightest shadow difference in the night time feed and tell even what color the car was . . . and she never tired.

My library resembled a control room, computers and monitors set up everywhere with the large screen TV incorporated into use. Efficient was not even the word for it. My brother was amazing. Last night this was a library with Bella's and my computers and desks, today it looked like it could monitor and control the space shuttle. Apparently he had things programed to beep if there was movement of anything resembling the Volvo they had been driving.

Alice was verifying the Volvos through other sources and feeding the addresses to Jasper and they were showing up on his screen. There was a report of one being stolen from the parking lot of a Walmart on New Years Day just hours after Victoria had escaped from my siblings at Mirror lake. Bingo. At least we now knew where the car had come from and exactly what we were looking for, based on this information and Alice's vision.

. . . eliminate possibilities . . . narrow the search area . . .

Jasper was methodically eliminating all possibilities. The problem was time. How long did we have before Victoria harmed her, if she hadn't already . . .

I heard the call come in, Carlisle's phone rang and he answered it, "Hello Charlie. Yes. Yes, it's true. Calm down and I'll tell you what we know so far . . ."

So . . . it wasn't contained. Apparently the girl at the shop had called the police and an APB had been issued, which Charlie had seen come across his desk this morning when he went in to work. Damn. I stood in the doorway watching, reading all their thoughts as they discussed options and courses of action.

I tossed the contents of my pockets on the table by the door and walked past a sleeping Sue and Emily, both curled up on the sofa where they had apparently fallen asleep sometime in the night. Sam was just walking in through the patio door and our eyes met for a moment. I blocked anything coming from him, the smile his face had was too much for me to take. I blocked everything and everyone for a moment . . .I just needed a moment . . .

Making my way up the stairs to my room, our room, I shut the door. Bella's clothing was laid across the foot of the bed, and her shoes. She had been wearing these clothes when we were shopping. I hadn't thought about it, but apparently she had the new outfit that Alice had her try on and no shoes when Victoria . . .

I couldn't even think it. I clutched the clothing and it smelled strongly of her. I inhaled deeply, clutching them to me and sinking to the floor at the foot of the bed, my back to the foot board and my arms around my knees. Two hundred and eighteen days. I had two hundred and eighteen days with her, one hundred and four since we moved to this house, this bed . . .

I stared at the painting of us that hung over the fireplace. I remembered the afternoon that we had shared, sitting on that bench in the garden of my families' home in Forks. I remembered everything with crystal clarity. Perfect recall. I remembered every second of every minute of the first time we had made love. It was here in this bed. I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face. She had been so scared that I was leaving her, so afraid that I didn't really want to keep her. What a ridiculous thought, as though she wasn't everything to me . . . everything . . .

My family was amazing. They had rallied around me before when I had stupidly decided to leave her, then they had tried to comfort me, urging me to change my mind. When I had finally come to my senses, they had helped me find her . . . and they were all here, helping me again.

Eighteen hours. It had been eighteen hours since she was taken. I knew that nomad vampires had little hope of keeping a human alive for any length of time, much less eighteen hours. Our rescue attempts were fast turning into recovery efforts . . . and we all knew it. We would find her . . . whatever was left.

It was in that moment that I decided that I would bring her back here when we found her, I would hold her to me and remember every second that we had spent together from the moment we had first met in school. I would relish each and every moment . . . and it would end here. I would destroy any trace of the life we had together, the things we owned and loved. I would burn the house and all its contents as I held her close to me on this bed. It would become my pyre, forever mingling my ashes with hers, and the son that had been our dream.

My family would understand. My father knew, he knew I could not exist without her. I had failed her . . . and my son. Oh God . . . my son.

Tears fell in earnest now, venom streamed down my face and I realized that she had been right, I did indeed have a heart and soul . . . for they were both breaking . . .

"Open the door, Edward."

I paid no attention to the repeated call from the hallway, or the apology when the door was broken into pieces as my room was entered.

"What the hell are you doing? Get up! We have to rescue Bella!" he shouted.

Rescue . . . I wish that word applied, God how I wished . . . I thought as I clutched her clothes to me, inhaling her scent that lingered there . . .

"Edward, bloodsucker . . . get up now before I yank you up. Do you hear me?" he continued, "I'm not letting her down and neither are you! Get off your stony ass, leech! Now!"

I stared at his outstretched hand. He was standing in front of me insisting that I try, that we find her. I just had to do it, I had to push myself into moving again, into finding her . . . she would not give up on me, I had to not give up . . .

I reached out and took Jacob's hand and he pulled me to my feet, hugging me to him for a moment before smacking me in the arm. "Dude, I was afraid I was going to have to carry your ass downstairs and I have no idea how heavy fucking rock is!" he joked as he ushered me towards the door.

Apparently the thoughts I had blocked from Sam earlier would have told me, had I listened. The reason for the smile on Sam's face had not been my pain, but rather Jacob's success in phasing back to human form. I realized this as we walked down the stairs and joined everyone in the living room.

"Alice!" I exclaimed as her thoughts hit me.

I closed my eyes and watched the vision she was showing me in her head. Bella . . . walking around a room with a huge fireplace, examining each and every nook and corner. She wasn't using her left arm, it appeared to hang limply at her side and a smile reflexively cross my face as I noticed she was wearing an unfamiliar pair of grey sweatpants. My Bella. That was so my Bella, though how the hell she came by them with everything that had to be going on, I had no idea.

"She's still alive, Edward. She's still alive!" she trilled as she danced over to me and threw herself at me, her arms around my neck. The excitement and relief in the room was palpable.

"Oh thank God," Esme sighed.

"Hold on just a damned minute," Jacob swore, "I thought you couldn't see shit when I was around?"

"I can't, dog, I saw this a few minutes before you and Sam came in the door. I've been going over and over it in my head. I didn't want to get everyone excited if I wasn't certain. It's a present vision though, I'm certain of it. She's still alive," Alice insisted, clapping her hands and bounding up and down.

"You cloud up my visions when I'm in the room with you or if someone decides to do something involving you, their future becomes mixed with yours and I can't see them either. That's why I couldn't see Bella when you two were together in Forks and working for Dale. I saw her clearly though, and she is alive!" Alice insisted, explaining herself to him.

"Alice, her arm?" I asked.

"I have no idea, Edward, but she's alive!" Alice reassured me.

"Alright then, lets find her" Jasper added, "Alice and I have compiled a list and placed the locations on a map, of every Volvo within fifty miles. I realize the theft on Friday night is the car that makes sense, and if they have that one, then these addresses are moot, but for now I want one of us to go to each of these and check them out. We have to be sure."

"I'll go," said Emmett, " I need to run anyway, give me the list."

"Give him half of it, Jasper," Esme said, "I'll take the other half."

Jasper stared at Carlisle for a moment, then at me before he handed the lists to them and had them check to make sure their cell phones were charged. "Check in with each house and let me know what you found," he instructed them, "Call Alice and she can systematically eliminate them from the maps we have on screen as you check them out. Make sure you check the entire perimeter of the house for scents, doesn't hurt to do a little overkill here."

"Edward, I'd like to help," Sam stepped forward to say.

Jasper looked to me, and I nodded. "Thank you, Sam," I managed to say.

"Jacob," I asked, "Are you comfortable that you can phase back at will, or still dicey?"

"Dicey. If I find something and I'm agitated, it could be a problem," Jacob replied honestly.

"If Sam runs loops with Jacob they can keep in touch with each other mentally as they run different areas and Sam can have a phone to call if they find something," Jasper explained, "Just in case Jacob has trouble phasing back. I have a phone with a long strap to the case, Sam. You could carry it around your neck in wolf form."

"I have my own damned phone, bloodsu . . .Jasper," Sam stammered, obviously having difficulty conversing with us.

"Reception here in the mountains is sketchy at best, Sam. This is a satellite phone and our numbers are programmed in it already. It will work virtually anywhere when no other phone will. Please use it for that reason . . . if you find something, time is of the essence." Jasper told him, retrieving the phone from wherever he had it instantly and placing it on the back of the sofa by Emily, where Sam was standing. Emily picked up the phone and handed it to Sam.

"Rose, I want you to head out and see if you can get a scent of the car on any road, all around the roads to and around the town of Cashiers. They couldn't have gotten that car more than a hundred or so miles away by the time I had the satellite feed set up and we saw no Volvo moving," Jasper suggested to Rose.

Carlisle, Jasper, Alice and I headed into the library as Sue got up to fix Emily some tea. She was supposed to stay in bed but she had insisted on being on the sofa so that she felt in touch with what was going on in our search efforts.

It was the first time I had seen her since I had run out of the shop after Bella, and she was remembering yesterday . . . in the shop, just before Victoria burst into the dressing room. I closed my eyes and saw what she remembered . . . Bella looking radiant, round with my child as she tried on the jeans that were way too tight on her distended belly. It explained why the vision Alice had shown me was of Bella in sweatpants, the damned jeans were too tight on my baby and she had taken them off, always taking care of Masen. The pink sweater looked just as beautiful on her then as it had in Alice's vision . . .

My thoughts were stopped cold by the sound that filled the room. Emmett, Rose and Esme stood statue still in their tracks, halfway out the door as they were leaving to continue the search. Jacob and Sam, along with Emily and Sue looked at us for the meaning of our reactions, Jasper, Carlisle and Alice stone still as well.

My phone. Bella's ring tone was going off on my phone. There was only one way that could be happening . . . someone was calling me from Bella's phone. Jasper was instantly gone, his thoughts telling me that he was in front of the screen that he had set up to track her phone, just in case. Her purse had not been left in the dressing room, so we assumed it was with her, though the credit cards, etc. had not been used.

I stared at it, unable to move.

"Answer it!" Alice demanded. "Quickly, Edward. Answer it, or I will," she said as she clicked the button to accept the call. I gestured to her to take the call, wanting to prolong the time that it took the person calling to say whatever it was they had to say so that Jasper could get a location on the phone. I knew that if it was Bella, the phone could be at my ear instantly.

Alice took a deep, unnecessary breath, and answered . . ."Hello?"

"Put Edward on the phone, now."

I knew the voice, we all heard it. It was Victoria, and she had Bella's phone. Oh God. Was she calling to torture me further . . . to tell me where I could come and collect Bella's body, or was she going to have me listen as she made her scream?

. . . stay in control . . . cover all possibilities . . . keep it together . . .

I had to take the phone. I had to remain calm and in control . . . I had to keep it together, in case there was something I could do, if only that I could hear her voice one last time . . .

"Hello," I said as confidently as I could manage.

"Well, hello there, fucker. Didn't think you could protect her from me forever, did you? By now, you must realize that I have your mate . . . the pathetic little human," she taunted me.

"Victoria. Let her go, it's me you want. You want revenge for James . . . I killed him, you end me, not her. She never had any choice in this, it was always me that James wanted to get at, you know it," I said resolutely, determination trying to win out over the pleading.

"Don't you dare try to tell me anything about James or what he wanted. I knew James better than anyone. I'm the one who lost my mate for all eternity. I want to be compensated . . . understand," she sneered.

"What do yo want, Victoria? What will it take for you to let her go?" I asked.

"Ten million dollars. I want ten million dollars wired to an account in the Caymans, understand? I have the offshore account set up and waiting."

"You're willing to let her go in exchange for money?" I asked, incredulously. A nomad vampire wanted money? Ransom? My wife was now being held for ransom?

"Yes."

"Unharmed?" I asked, knowing that she was injured in the vision Alice had showed me.

"Yes, well," she paused, "as unharmed as she is right now. I might have pulled her arm a little too hard and I doubt the shoulder is still in it's socket, but other than that and a bump on the head she's unharmed . . . for now."

That explained her not using her left arm in Alice's vision. Could it really be that she was still alive and this had turned into a ransom demand . . . dear God, I hoped so . . . . if only it could be that simple!

"How do I know she's alive and as unharmed as you say?" I asked. I had to know for sure.

"Tell you what, I'll call you back in three hours and let you talk to her. You can ask her yourself. Three hours . . . and you had better be working on getting that money, or I'll kill her oh so slowly, Edward. If I do, I'll tape it so you don't miss a thing, don't worry. I will tape it just like James was going to so that you can hear her every scream. You want to be able to hear her call for you to help her, don't you?"

"Fine. We'll discuss a deal in three hours and Victoria . . . she better tell me that she has food and drink and that she has been kept warm and comfortable, do you understand me? Hurt her even by not keeping her comfortable and you get nothing from me," I told her.

"The little bitch is in the lap of luxury, food and drink provided you prick. I know enough about pets to know to keep her warm and watered . . . and caged. I'll talk to you in three hours," she said indignantly as she hung up the phone.

. . . the line went dead.

"Alice?" I said as my eyes darted to hers, I needed to know if she still saw Bella alive.

"I still see her, Edward. Just the same as before," Alice assured me and showed me at the same time. Bella was sitting on a sofa. She looked actually somewhat peaceful in the glimpse that Alice saw.

"Oh my God, Edward . . . she's still alive?" Esme asked, everyone in the room still stood stone still. The only breath in the room came from the humans.

I turned to them, the rest of my family that were anxiously wanting to know what the hell was going on and told them, "Victoria says she's still alive, although her arm is injured." There was an audible gasp in the room. "Alice sees her alive as well, though injured," I continued. They were all hoping and they had all been doing anything and everything possible to help locate her . . . but they all knew, as I did, that the chances of her still being alive were almost non existent. A human still being alive twenty hours after being abducted by vampires just wasn't something that ever happened.

"Edward, Victoria is willing to exchange Bella for money?" Carlisle asked, needing it confirmed. Vampires just didn't behave that way, and this was beyond his ability to accept without having it repeated to confirm what he thought he heard. The Volturi were the only family of vampires that he thought capable of such an act.

"Victoria says she will exchange Bella for ten million dollars," I said flatly.

Sue gasped in a breath, "Where the hell would you ever get that kind of money, Edward?" Emily murmured something similar and Sam turned to look at them both, shaking his head. The rest of us, including Jacob ignored them.

"Edward," Jasper called from the library. In an instant, I stood behind him, looking over his shoulder at the computer monitors. "I was only able to narrow it to a hundred mile radius. At least our guess about Cashiers was right. They are North West of here, and no further than a hundred miles away, the radius being west of Cashiers," he said as he drew a circle on the satellite map.

"Alright. I think it's safe to assume that they are going to stay put and not risk having us see her or track her scent on the roadways. Divide up these areas within the radius of where that call came from, and let's check out each house, he said to the rest of the family. Jacob, you and Sam still run the loops, but do circles around the outer perimeter, here," Jasper said as he pointed it out on the map, and pull the circles in a mile or so each time you complete a circle. Scents for you are good up to how far, Sam?"

"Herd of deer, about five miles. Single person or subtler scent I wouldn't want to push over a couple of miles to be sure," he explained willingly.

"Okay, you and Jake can talk mentally a mile away from each other, right?" Jasper asked.

"A hundred miles," Sam replied somewhat hesitantly, not wanting to give anything away.

"Great, then if you run a mile or so apart, you can cover more area. You have the phone, right?" Jasper reaffirmed.

"Yea, I got it," Sam answered as he turned toward the door.

"We got this, bloodsucker. Just arrange the cash, use my account if you need it. We'll call in every hour," Jacob said, and left out the door with Sam, phasing before he hit the last step of the front porch and running full tilt off into the woods with Sam.

I pulled out my laptop and placed it in an open spot on the desk, pulling up both my personal account as well as Bella's. I was just checking our investment account when Carlisle walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Son, take the money out of the family account," he told me, looking at the computer.

"Dad?"

"Take the money out of the family account. She is my daughter, too, and the entire family wants her back. Don't argue. If you use the family account, it's a simple transaction and you don't have to juggle anything. Set up a separate account to use for the transfer, sometimes banks are picky about that sort of thing, you know that as well as I do," he reminded me.

"Edward," Jasper called to get my attention, "I'll try to narrow the area when she calls. You know to delay answering and all conversation to get us more time to run the trace, what I want to know is . . . will you transfer the funds right away, or should you stall for time so that we have a chance of locating her?"

"Alice?" I looked at her, hoping she could tell me what we should do. Hopefully she could look at both outcomes and see, "If we transfer the money right away, do you see her safe?"

Alice hesitated, the vision in her head almost too much to bear, "and if we delay till tomorrow?" I asked.

The same vision, in another form. Bella would not survive this alive if I gave her the money right away, or even tomorrow. "Alice!" I nearly shouted, "If we wait 48 hours Alice, what then?"

The vision Alice showed me calmed me somewhat. Me, having a picnic with a small copper haired boy running around. The vision did not show Bella, and the twins that were there before were absent.

"Edward, the best chance we have to get her back is if you delay the transfer . . . tell her it will take seventy two hours for the transaction to settle. That's standard in the stock market and she can check it if she wants to. If you set up the account today, that's Tuesday before 2pm then normally it would settle after midnight on the third day, that means the funds would be available when the bank opens Friday morning. Tell her that," Alice insisted.

"Alice! You want me to leave Bella with her for over two more days?" I said, standing and whirling around to face her, "She can't stay with her three more nights . . ."

Carlisle cut me off, "Alice, I mentioned to you yesterday that I was thinking of doing a c section on her then, I don't know that Masen will wait three days. We may not have that kind of time."

"If we don't wait and delay the transfer, we don't have a chance of getting her back alive. None," Alice insisted.

"You're sure, Alice?" Rosalie and Emmett both looked at her pleadingly, wanting a different answer.

"I'm sure. I don't know why. It doesn't make any sense to me either, but delay . . . or she dies," Alice insisted.

"Fine," I spat, not happy at all with that way of thinking or handling the ransom demand.

"Well, get moving. We won't have to debate ransom if we find her first!" Jasper said giving Emmett and Esme printouts of the area to cover, an area within the circle highlighted for each of the three that would search. Carlisle took his map and left as well. Rose asked for a copy . . . she was still going to cover all the roadways within that area looking for the scent of the damned car they had used.

Sue came over and put a hand on my shoulder as I sat back down at the screen to set up the account and transfer the funds.

"My God, Edward. What will you do about the money? I have some that you can use as well, if it helps," she offered.

Without turning to look at her I touched her hand on my shoulder to thank her, "I appreciate it, Sue. Money is not the problem, thankfully. Victoria seems to think that it's a lot, and I would never tell her different," I said coolly, my voice icy cold. I pulled up mine and Bella's joint account with just over five million in it and she gasped.

"Edward, I had no idea you had that kind of money!" she was still catching her breath as she sat in the chair next to me.

"I've had a long time to learn how to invest, Sue. Bella can literally have anything she wants. I told Charlie, finally, because he asked me. Renee as well, but please keep it to yourself. The fact that I have money is not something I like to discuss," I said.

I pulled up the family account and she damn near passed out. It had just over fifty five million in it, right now. I went about setting up an additional account and transferred the ten million into it, along with a little extra to cover any transfer fees or charges - I didn't want to have any problems come up that money could have handled.

Now I waited. Three hours had never passed more slowly.

Sam called in every hour, as did Rose, Emmett, Esme and Carlisle. They had found nothing, though Rose could swear she had gotten a whiff that was the same car. Jasper pinpointed it so that he could compare the area when the call came in from Bella. I sat, completely still, viewing the monitors and trying desperately to think of anything else that we could be doing to find her. Alice isolated herself out in the gazebo to try and clear her thoughts and see anything . . . anything at all to do with Bella.

Finally my phone rang with her ring tone, and I answered it . . .

"Edward," I heard from the other end of the phone . . . it was Bella.