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

Chapter 73 Storm

Jacob POV

Carlisle reached the house at about the same time we did, heading in the front door. Sam and I circled around to the back porch and phased, putting our shorts on and walking in the patio door to the kitchen. I was excited that I could phase almost as quickly as Sam. When we entered the house, Edward was staring out the front window, obviously distraught with Carlisle standing near him. Jasper and Alice were standing to one side of the room watching and Sue was somehow managing to keep Charlie sitting on the sofa with she and Emily, though he was obviously irate and vocal about it.

"Charlie, we couldn't have the local police interfering in the search operation for Bella," Sue said as Charlie bristled, "She was kidnapped by forces that the police could not possibly understand or have an effect on. No, of course she did not go willingly, Carlisle told them that to get them to drop it. It had to be handled by the Cullen's and Sam and Jacob." "What in the hell are you talking about, Sue, and why the hell are Sam and Emily here?" Charlie was nearly violent in his outrage at this point, "Explain!"

I walked into the living room and the movement caught his attention. "Charlie, do you remember all the stories that my Dad used to tell, the ones about our tribe being descended from wolves?" I asked him. He completely dismissed me saying, "Jacob. This is not the time . . . ."

I cut him off, "Charlie . . . this is exactly the time. Come with me." I turned and Sue nudged him to his feet to follow us as Sam and I walked through the kitchen and back outside in our shorts with no shirts on and barefoot.

"What the hell are you doing, boys? You're going to freeze to death out here you idiots," Charlie spat at us, watching us walk barefoot into the accumulating snow. We paid no attention to him, we just continued walking a good ten yards into the backyard and took off out shorts, phasing into wolves almost immediately.

Charlie sat down at the patio table . . . quickly. Well, he kind of fell back and there was a chair there to catch him. "What the hell?" he murmured almost to himself, his face going completely white as he continued to stare wide eyed at us. "Now, Charlie," Sue said, walking over to him and placing her hands on his cheeks so that she could lift his face and look him in the eye, "You need to listen." Sam and I phased back with Charlie watching, but not until after I padded over and nudged him with my head, letting him feel my breath in his face and my coat against his skin. He needed to absolutely believe that this was real. "I didn't know about this being real myself, Charlie, till I phased into wolf form and couldn't phase back," I told him after I had my shorts back on and had walked slowly over to stand beside him, "Edward and Carlisle tried to help me, but Sue called Sam and he and Emily flew out here to be with me, courtesy of the Cullens. Now that you know about me and our tribe . . . you need to know about the Cullens."

"Charlie, let's go inside. The cold has no effect on any of us, but you and Sue are obviously cold," Carlisle suggested, noticing them shivering

"Does your family turn into wolves as well, Carlisle?" Charlie asked hesitantly. It was obvious that he was thinking about Bella and her relationship with Edward. "No, Charlie. While the Quileute tribe has the ability to transform into wolves, my family remains, for all eternity . . . vampires," Carlisle stated flatly. You could have heard a pin drop. The entire Cullen family stopped moving, hell I think they even stopped breathing. Charlie laughed uncomfortably, turning to face Carlisle as they stood just inside the kitchen, but no one said a thing. "You're serious, Carlisle? You're not delusional?" Charlie asked. "No, Charlie. I have been around almost three hundred and sixty six years. I never age, I don't eat, I never sleep, and I drink the blood of animals, not humans," he continued with a solemn face.

"You all know all of this?" he asked incredulously, looking around the kitchen to Sue and me as well as to the living room where all the other Cullen's stood. His hands we in fists now, and he was actually trembling with rage, " . . . Bella knows all of this?"

"Yes, Charlie. Bella knows what I am," Edward told him, having turned from the window to face him, "I left to try and keep her away from all this. She has known for several years now and chose to be with me anyway."

Charlie walked defiantly through the kitchen and living room, over to where Edward stood in front of the window, taking a swing at him with his right fist. Edward simply caught Charlie's hand in his and pushed it away without hurting him. There was no effort involved, he didn't even blink. They stood there, staring at each other for a long moment, toe to toe. "You can try knives or guns if you like, Charlie, but they will not hurt me. At all. Your police can do nothing to stop the vampire that took Bella from me. We have to find her ourselves," he told Charlie.

Carlisle approached them and managed to lead Charlie over to the sofa, spending a long time talking to him and explaining. It would take some time to settle in. Sue telling him that both her kids were members of the wolf pack sent shivers down Charlie's skin and Charlie was normally quite a strong man.

Edward indicated that Charlie's mind had calmed somewhat and that Sue was the best bet we had to explain everything to him and have him calm down, so Sam and I headed out, as did Carlisle, to continue the search. The weather was turning quite nasty and it was good that we neither felt the cold nor required a car. I really wanted to check out that one place on the far side of the town we were searching . . .

~oooOooo~

Victoria POV

"Well, your husband is quite the negotiator," I said as I crossed my legs and made myself comfortable on the sofa with her.

"Victoria . . . ," she almost whispered.

"Well, at least you remembered my name. I suppose that's something," I mused, holding my hands up to feel the warmth from the fire. "You're hubby and I have made a deal. Ten million dollars in return for you; fed, watered and unharmed," I snickered, "Well, except for that shoulder. What I want to know is why the hell you're worth that much money to him. I thought we could chat and perhaps I could figure it out."

"What do you want to know, Victoria?" she asked, meeting my gaze head on. She had balls, I'd give her that. But then again, she was accustomed to being around vampires and probably even arguing with them . . . she lived with him after all.

"Well, being human, you couldn't be that interesting for him to screw," I said looking at her belly, "though he seems to have managed. So I guessed it must be that you were just that much fun to be around. I thought I'd just see for myself."

"Why don't you just realize that James started this, we did nothing to you before he tried to kill me. Just let me go, Victoria. Woman to woman . . . you know you don't want to hurt the baby," she prattled on, but I had quit listening. I was watching the little thing move around in her belly, and wondering what that must feel like.

I needed to get out of here. I didn't need to be reminded of what I couldn't have and I was becoming angry about it . . . I would ruin the agreement if she were hurt this soon, if I killed her before he talked to her every eight hours till I got the money. There would be plenty of time to take care of her once I had confirmed that the money was in the bank, I could take my time with her then, and not care if he knew or not . . . I would leave him quite a mess to clean up.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Edward can't be much of a vampire if fucking a human is all he can manage. You will speak to him every eight hours till I have the money, and you will tell him that you are warm, and have food and water. Do you understand?" I asked her as I stood.

"Yes."

It was all I needed to hear. I shuttered as I locked the basement door behind me. God that was weird, I thought to myself. I went down there with the intention of roughing her up and scaring her, you know, having a little fun and then I ended up sitting and almost fucking sympathizing with her - what the hell?

"So. You talked to the Cullen's and they are willing to pay?" Riley asked as he came around the corner.

"They'll pay. They want her back, they'll pay. That Edward agreed to the amount a little too quickly, though. Makes me think we should ask for more. You know what . . . I'm going to ask for more. I don't give a shit about his three days to settle bullshit. If he wants us to wait three days, he can damn well pay for that!"

"Ha! Like paying interest! I love it, baby. Make the Cullen's squirm, get the money if it means so much to you, then lets have our snacks and get out of here. If I have to stay in this house and not even set foot outside for much longer, there is no way I'll resist having my snack early! I haven't had anything to drink since yesterday morning and Friday is a long way off," he complained.

Jerk No self restraint. Why does he think I got the extra little human anyway? I knew he would loose it and need to drink someone, and she needs to stay alive till I get my money! The day finally turned into night. Keeping Riley's pathetic excuse for a mind occupied was going to be a problem, though. I swear, I don't know how many more times I can endure screwing the little jerk. Not that he isn't good at it . . . he is. Body of a twenty year old and knows how to use it. It's just that, it's not James. I just don't like sex without James. Maybe I don't even need him. Why would I? Everything is set now, why share the money? What am I even thinking . . . I intended to end him as soon as his usefulness was over, maybe the time has come. Let's see how this phone call goes . . .

I unlocked the door and headed back to the basement to see my cash cow. Where the hell was she? The living room was empty and so was the kitchen. Bedroom, they could be in the bedroom. Sure enough, they were both huddled together on one bed, asleep. Screw that. I lifted the side of the bed and tossed it to the opposite side of the room, flipping them both to the floor in the process.

"Get up my pretties, you have a phone call to make . . .

~oooOooo~

Jasper POV

I had been systematically and methodically eliminating possibilities, narrowing the area in which we had to search. I was fairly comfortable that we had them within a forty mile radius. Problem was, forty miles was a lot of territory to cover, especially now that the storm was full on us and following a scent was impossible. I had told Emmett as well as Sam and Jacob to head in, there was nothing that could be done till the storm allowed us some visibility, not to mention allowed us any chance of picking up a scent in the air. The snow falling this thickly made that impossible, even for us.

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

I had done everything I could to cover my bases before the storm hit. The phone was the problem, and Edward having to go without talking to Bella was about to do him in . . . we knew he would react that way. Alice had foreseen it and Rose had gone down to the courthouse in her place, so that she could stay here with Edward. Any visions she got of Bella seemed to calm him somewhat and we were doing any and everything we could think of to keep him together. He was holding on by a thread, and he knew it as well.

Charlie's knowledge of police and federal data banks was tremendously helpful and he set to work helping. Though he was still stunned and I'm sure somewhat in shock finding out that Sue's kids were werewolves and that we were vampires, his need to find his daughter outweighed everything else. Sue stood behind him rubbing his shoulders to try and comfort him as he worked, sifting through the data on the screen.

Emily was feeling better and busied herself making horrid smells come from the kitchen. Apparently they were just the opposite to the humans, as Sue and Charlie kept telling her how wonderful it smelled. Apparently, if it were not for Bella being in danger, being snowed in was equivalent to having a party as far as humans were concerned. I was never going to understand them . . . ever.

Back in my day, this much snow could cause death so easily, cut off supply lines and create a very dangerous situation for all involved. Of course, I grew up back before the start of the Civil War when the technology of today wasn't even dreamed about and families were much more self sustaining, depending on their own efforts and ability to farm the land to survive. I wasn't sure that some of the old ways weren't better, though. A horse could still navigate some of the areas on this day that cars could not. Though it would be an effort in survival, you could get from one place to another on a horse in snow when cars failed every time.

~oooOooo~

EPOV

Bella had been missing now for almost two days. Two days. Two nights without my sleeping beside her. We were doing everything we could possible think of to find her. Jacob and Sam were still circling the area that we suspected them to be in, as well as Emmett, Rose and Esme. Carlisle was getting ready to go in to the hospital. His presence was mandatory during a weather crisis and as Chief of Staff he had to be there. The human facade needed to be maintained if we planned to stay here after Bella was found . . . and we were all hoping. Carlisle had even used his position to stock the refrigerator with blood. He had said it was for Bella, in case the steak she was eating didn't supply her need for blood, but he hadn't fooled me. He was stocking Bella's blood type and everything we would need for IV's along with some surgical equipment.

Jasper was amazing. He had stepped in and taken charge immediately, setting up surveillance and monitoring everything possible, from the use of any of her credit cards to tracking her cell phone. He had tapped into County records to find houses with basements and owners of silver Volvos, not to mention the police reports for any killings or thefts, trying to pinpoint the area that Victoria was in.

Alice could see Bella now, for whatever reason. She could feed me updated visions of her . . . sitting on a sofa with a large TV in the room, fireplace, preparing food . . .

It was enough to give me the strength to continue. I had to find her, there was no other option.

Charlie sat at Bella's desk and worked, glaring at me occasionally as I worked at the terminal Jasper had set up for satellite surveillance of the terrain and roadways in the area. Whether he was finished with me or not, he was much more determined to help Jasper in the search for his daughter than he was to find a way to end me right now. Charlie had a system for finding people as well from being on the police force for years and Jasper had set up all the equipment he needed. Being Chief of Police gave him instant access to many data banks that Jasper had trouble accessing.

He was more focused than any human I had encountered in a while, and slightly more tolerant of me since I allowed him to speak to Bella when she called, giving him some of my precious time with her. She had called at 11pm, just as I had required of Victoria. She sounded so scared . . . so rattled, though she insisted that she and Masen were alright. I was terrified that Victoria had just tortured her in some manner . . . and I wasn't sure that I was wrong. Alice had seen a bedroom where the furniture was broken and the bed tossed about, the mattress leaning crooked against a wall and linens strewn across the floor. Bella seemed unhurt in her vision, and she was using her left arm now, so I could only imagine what had happened.

Rose headed off to meet Esme down in the town of Franklin, North Carolina, where the County Records were filed. Since the planning and tax files were not on computer record for us to access, they would go and look on the microfilm records in an attempt to find the house with the basement Bella had described. The snow was coming down hard now, I suppose it was what humans would have called a whiteout. There was no possible way to drive a car, and I was thankful that we didn't need them. I only hoped that whoever opened the courthouse in Franklin had been able to get to work!

Jasper had schooled me in ways to prolong my conversation and keep Victoria on the line. The problem was that it wasn't Victoria that was on line. She apparently handed the phone to Bella and took it back at the appointed time with no room to prolong anything.

Seven o'clock came and went with no call from Bella . . . no calls from anyone to check in, in fact. Finally, Jasper realized that the satellite phones that I had purchased when Bella and I had been in Florida were not gong to work with this kind of storm interference. There would be no way to contact anyone without using a land line, and there was no telling how long those would hold before the weight of the snow would bring down enough trees to take out the phone lines. I would just have to wait . . .

49 Hours Wednesday Afternoon

Three o'clock. Damn it, it was three and no phone call. I hadn't spoken to Bella since eleven last night, before the storm got into full swing. The snow was still coming down just as strong, no change there. I walked from monitor to monitor, checking and rechecking the information that we had compiled, trying to figure out where they were holding her.

"Edward? What's wrong?" Alice asked when she saw the look on my face.

"What the hell? No . . . no way. I'll rip him limb from limb," I said, running to the front door.

Everyone following me with their eyes as there was very little other movement in the house. Carlisle was at the hospital and Rose and Esme had yet to return from Franklin, but everyone else was there, Sam and Jacob included. The five humans were sitting at the table in the kitchen, having just finished eating the meal that Emily had prepared when I heard him . . . Riley.

Riley Biers was approaching my house. I read his mind. He was going to walk right up to the front door it seemed, to deliver a message from Victoria. They knew, as we did, that we couldn't track him in this weather with this amount of snow on the ground. I nearly ripped the door off the hinges as I ran to meet him, my hands going to his throat with absolutely no effort involved. He hadn't expected that. He thought I was going to be civil to him. Why the hell he thought there was any chance of that, I had no idea.

"Where is my wife you son of a bitch?" I demanded as I tightened my grip on his throat.

"Better ease up on that or you'll never have a chance at seeing her again, alive anyway," Riley sneered, offering no resistance.

Charlie ran out, realizing that this was one of the people involved with his daughters abduction. Since I had Riley by the throat, and Jasper stood beside me, no one stopped Charlie from approaching us. He drove his fist into Riley's stomach with the force of a Mac truck. It had been a long time since I had seen a human hit anyone that hard, and it was too bad that if had no effect on Riley. It did, however, have an effect on Charlie and his hand hung limply at his side as he continued to scream in Riley's face and demand to know where his daughter was.

Emmett was having quite a time keeping Sam and Jacob from revealing their presence in wolf form, doing everything he could to explain to them that they needed to not phase, that there were enough vampires around to handle it and their identity could remain secret.

"What is it you're here for? Did Victoria send her messenger boy to deliver a message?" I asked him, still holding him subdued, his back to my chest and his head in serious jeopardy of being ripped from his shoulders.

"I have a note for you from your wife," he spat, "just so you realize that she is still breathing. The phone call this morning and now, were not possible, fucker, so Victoria sent me. She also wants you to know that since we have to keep the bitch alive all this extra time, the ransom is now double. Twenty million, or the girl dies."

"What makes you think we won't just follow your tracks back to where you were holding her?" Jasper asked.

Riley laughed. He actually laughed a deep belly laugh, displaying absolutely no fear of us at all. "You can't track in this. I'm not an idiot and neither is Victoria. She has tracked with the best, and you will never find her that way."

He was right. Damn it. I knew he was right, and that he also probably took a hell of a path to get here to throw us off. I released him, tossing him on the snow. "Go tell your master that the money will be there, but not a single hair had better be harmed, do you understand. My wife better not be so much as bruised, got that?" I told him as I glared down at his face. and snatched the note from his hand.

"Yea, I got it. You'll get a phone call as soon as your fucking phone works again. Call when it does, and she'll give the bitch the phone," he said as he turned to leave.

"Wait," Alice yelled as she sprang from the house, "Take this. Bella's phone isn't going to hold a charge for three days without this extra battery and take the charger as well in case the power stays on," she said as she threw the items to him. He caught them, turned away and was gone, heading South into the woods where he came from. His thoughts gave him away. He was indeed heading back to her, but he was calling her from a phone halfway to Atlanta first and then he was going to hunt. He was being very, very careful to concentrate on anything other than the house where they were holding Bella, or it's location. Damn. I guess Laurent had explained mine as well as Alice's powers to Victoria. Too bad Irina had discussed it with him, they would have to be told to be more careful who they talked to in the future.

"Alice, keep up with him. See if you can figure out where the phone booth he's going to is. We can get the number for the house where Victoria is if he uses a land line!" I told her, a ray of hope sprang up in my mind. We just had to follow him, Alice could follow him mentally and Emmett was already running after him.

"Excellent idea brother, but so was the tracking device that I slipped inside the cover of the battery!" Alice said proudly. There were gasps from almost everyone as they realized the enormity of what had just happened . . . what Alice had managed to do.

"Alice!"

I closed my eyes, standing there silently in the snow and said a silent prayer, thanking God for at least giving us this bit of hope at finding her. Jasper was already on it and we all watched as he loaded the information and a small bleep showed up on screen giving us Riley's exact location.

"Well done, Alice, and you too Jasper. At least we may get a break here and know where they are keeping her," Charlie exclaimed.

"Would you like me to take a look at that hand, Charlie?" I asked him. If looks could kill, I was a goner just from his glance.

"I'll wait for Carlisle," he said gruffly.

"You'll do no such thing," Alice insisted, leading him over to the bar in the kitchen and dragging me to the other side of it. She got him to lay his arm out on the bar in front of me, but I hesitated to touch him.

"Charlie, I'll have you know that my brother graduated from Harvard Medical school at the top of his class! Charlie looked at me, amazed.

"That right, son? You went to Harvard Medical?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, sir. There was a time when I planned to follow Carlisle into medicine. I still may at some point," I told him.

"Huh. I always root for Yale when they have that yearly grudge match with their college football teams," Charlie scoffed.

"I do too, Charlie. I graduated from Yale Medical as well," I told him bluntly, annoyed by the entire discussion. "Would you like me to treat the hand or not, Charlie. I'd like to get back to my computer so that I can transfer the funds that Victoria wants.

Sue nodded her head and pushed Charlie's hand toward me, "Fine, fine. Look at the damned thing. That boy's stomach didn't give an inch," Charlie complained.

"No, it wouldn't have," I said under my breath as I examined his hand.

"You always this cold, Edward?" he asked after he felt my touch for a few minutes.,

"Yes. Almost always, Charlie."

"And if you hadn't caught my fist this morning when I went to punch you, I would have broken it then, wouldn't I?"

"Yes. But you've broken it now. Nothing terribly serious, I think just a couple of hairline fractures on the second and third metacarpals, that's all. I'll wrap and splint it till we can get you in and get a cast on it. Sue, ice on it will help the swelling," I said as I went to the kitchen cabinet and took out a first aid kit. It had the wraps I would need in it as well as Advil for the swelling. Sue looked at the kit with the most surprised expression on her face. I answered her unspoken question, "No Sue, vampires have no need of a first aid kit, but a human lives in this house, and a very clumsy human at that," I snickered, unable to keep the corner of my mouth starting to smile at the thought of my accident prone wife.

We watched the bleep on screen as Riley ran full out till he got down the mountain to Clayton, Georgia. There would be less snow there and getting far enough ahead of Emmett so that he had a chance of having lost him on the way down the mountain. Scents were immediately washed out of the air with the falling snow, and if he had been smart enough to run down a stream, his footprints would be hidden completely, requiring time to see where he emerged from the stream, or if he doubled back.

Once in Clayton, he headed South West towards the city of Atlanta, just as his mind had told me. He had only to steal a car to evade us as it would cover his scent. He was going to feed and an area with a large population allowed the abduction to go almost unnoticed, depending on who he chose as a victim. It looked like it might be quite awhile before he headed back towards the mountains . . . and where ever it was that they had Bella.

57 Hours Wednesday Night

It was eleven o'clock, and I should have been getting a call from Bella, but there was nothing. The worst snow storm this century raged on outside, killing satellite communications completely. Carlisle had called in several times using land lines, and Rose and Esme had long ago returned with the information on basements that was needed from Franklin. They had wanted to close the courthouse at noon, but money talked and for a few thousand dollars, the clerk had agreed to remain till they finished going through the files.

Charlie had watched with amazement as I transferred another ten million to the account I had set up without batting an eye. The money meant nothing to me and Bella meant everything. Charlie knew how I felt about his daughter. I had made it perfectly clear with no room for doubt. He was just having a difficult time processing the mythical creature part. We would have plenty of time to talk about it in the future, but if he wanted to discuss it now, it was fine with me.

We were with Jasper and Alice in the library, our mock control room it seemed, when he finally brought it up again.

"Edward. Explain to me what the hell a vampire is, exactly. I'm pretty sure that the Hollywood version in my head can't be correct . . ."