Well here it is Charlie's POV..This one is longer than any of the others because once I got started everything he wanted to say just came pouring out :) I hope you like it! Thanks for all of the support you all have given me. I hope to have the next one up soon but this coming weekend is Labor Day weekend so we will see how that goes! As always please review it as I treasure all of your words. Hugs and Loves!
As always all names, places, music, and etc... are property of their rightful owners. I just own the plot.
Charlie's POV
I got up around 4 a.m. because I needed to be at the station around 5 a.m. We have had a lot of unexplained disappearances and animal attacks and I needed to try and figure out what was going on. Which meant that I was going to have to spend some of the day out in the woods. I made my way to the bathroom to take a shower and to get ready for work. As I came out of the bathroom, I stopped at Bella's bedroom door and listened. All was quiet so, I barely opened the door to check on her.
Bella was sound asleep and from what I could see of her face, from the glow of the lamp, she was sleeping peacefully. I stood there watching my little girl sleep for a few minutes thinking to myself just how lucky I am to have her in my life and that I was going to find a way to save her. Her life couldn't be over just as she was beginning to live it and her dreams were so close to coming true. There had to be a solution to this problem and I was determined that I was going to find one and quick. I already had my suspicions on how I was going to be able to do that as well. I knew that she didn't have much longer, maybe a couple of years and that is just unacceptable. I stole one more quick glance at my angel resting peacefully and I quietly shut the door and went downstairs.
I went into the kitchen to grab some breakfast and to write Bella a note. I had told her the night before that I was going in to work early but I still wanted to leave my little girl a note.
Bella,
Good morning sweetheart. I just wanted to remind you that I will be late tonight so, if you want to go out for dinner go ahead. I also wanted to tell you to have a great day and to stay out of trouble, not that you would ever get into any (ha-ha). If you need me for anything call the station and if I'm not there call my cell. I love you, Bells.
Dad
I left the note on the kitchen table as I knew that would be the first place she would go when she got up. I rinsed out my bowl and put it in the drainer then I turned and left the house, after double checking that she was locked in tight. I constantly worry about her. As I got in my cruiser, I started thinking about her and the others going to Seattle next week. I was scared to death to let her go off that far without me around. I would have agreed to let her go without the bodyguards had she thrown a fit but she didn't and it did make me feel better. I hope Andy agrees with me. I suddenly realized that I was already pulling into the parking lot of the police station; I guess you can drive while your mind is otherwise occupied.
I got out of the cruiser and went inside to see my deputy, Steve Martin, sitting behind his desk already. I wonder when he got here. These cases were bothering him just as much as they were me. He looked up when he heard the door open and smiled at me. He is such a great friend and deputy.
"Good morning, Steve. What time did you get here?" I asked returning his smile and making my way to my desk.
"Good morning, Chief. I got here around 4 a.m. I was anxious to get started on some of these cases. I made the coffee already, would you like a cup?" He tells me getting up from his desk.
"Jeez Steve, that is early and I thought I was anxious. Sure, I would love a cup of coffee. Lord knows we are going to need it today." I say to him as I take my jacket off and hang it on the back of my chair.
"I know we are and I've been thinking that since we are going to have to go out into the woods today that maybe we ought to call in some of your friends from La Push to help us out." He tells me as he is pouring me a cup of coffee and him another.
"That is a good idea, the more eyes we have the more area we can cover. I think I will give Billy a call and see if he can't get some guys together and meet us here around 10:00 or so." I tell him taking the cup of coffee from him and sitting down in my chair.
"Sounds like a plan to me. I really want to figure out what in the hell is going on around here. We usually don't have any trouble and now all of the sudden in the past month we are having attacks and disappearances, something is not right." He tells me as he goes back to his desk.
"I couldn't agree with you more." I say to him as I grab my own pile of unsolved cases.
We sat quietly through the first part of the morning just reading the cases, making notes, drinking coffee and occasionally bouncing ideas off of each other. Some of the people attacked had been attacked by a rabid fox and were in the hospital undergoing a series of rabies shots. However, some of these people that had been attacked only had two bite marks on them but they couldn't remember who or what had attacked them. This bothered me because the marks looked like puncture wounds from fangs and the only thing that I knew for sure of that had fangs like that were bats. However, I had heard the rumors of other beings, shall we say, with these same type of fangs but they usually didn't let their victim live. Oh, how I wish the rumors were true, then I might have a solution for my little angel. I needed to do some research privately because if anyone found out what I was thinking then they would think that I am crazy and maybe I am. I should talk to Billy about it. I know the Quileute's have legends and stories and just maybe one of those can help me. Around 9:30 a.m. the phone in the office began to ring, bringing me out of my thoughts and I wondered who was calling this early and what could have possibly happened this early in the morning. So, I answered the phone.
"Forks PD, Chief Swan speaking. How may I help you?" Steve gave me a smirk because he thought it was funny how serious I sounded when I answered the phone at work.
"Hey dad, it's me." Said the sweetest voice I had ever heard and at that moment I began to worry.
"Oh, hiya Bells. Is something wrong? Are you feeling alright?" I asked her going into full blown dad mode.
"No, I'm fine. The girls want to go shopping today and they want to go to Olympia. I just wanted to call and check with you first." She tells me as I hear her giggle at me. Thank goodness nothing is wrong.
"Oh, well I guess that's fine. I'm going to be really late tonight anyway. So, you go ahead and go shopping. You're not taking your truck are you?" I ask her because she doesn't need to drive that thing off that far.
"No, that thing is a gas guzzler. We're going in Jessica's car." She tells me. She always thinks ahead so that I won't worry.
"Alright then, have fun. Call me when you get there and again when you are on your way home. I'll have my cell with me." I tell her as we get ready to hang up.
"Okay dad, I love you."
"Love you too, Bells. You girls be careful." And with that being said the phone went silent.
'So, the girls are going to go shopping today, I guess it is a good thing I gave her that credit card,' I thought to myself. I must have had a smile or a certain look on my face because Steve was just smirking at me.
"What?"
"Nothing chief, it's just that when you talk to Bella you get this goofy look on your face and I think it is cool."
"Agh, get back to the case files, while I call Billy."
"Yes sir, Chief Swan, right away."
I gave him an official police look and he just smiled at me and went back to work. I looked at the clock and it was 10:00 on the dot. So, I picked up the phone to call Billy. After about the fifth ring, I heard someone pick up the phone.
"Black residence, you got Jake on the line."
"Hey Jake, its Charlie is your dad around?"
"Hi Charlie, yeah he is in the kitchen, hang on and I will take him the phone."
"Thanks Jake, you behave yourself."
"Yes sir, bye Charlie."
"Hey Charlie, what's going on? You never call me from the station." Billy asked with interest and curiosity in his voice.
"Hey Billy, I was wondering are you, Quil, Harry, and Sam busy today? I've got these cases and Steve and I are going to have to go out in the woods today and we could really use the extra eyes. Also if Jake wants to come he can man the station for us while we are gone."
"Sure sure, let me call them and maybe some other people and we will be there around 11:00. How does that sound?"
"Sounds perfect, thank you Billy. See you soon."
"We will see you in a little bit, Charlie."
When I hung up the phone I told Steve that they were coming and bringing some help. He was glad to hear that. So, we started to get everything together that we would need while we went out to scout the woods. I pinned up the map onto the board so that everyone would be able to see the areas I had marked for where the attacks or disappearances had happened. Those were the areas we were going to focus on first and then if we needed to we would expand out around those areas. Steve gathered up some guns, ammo, coats, walkie talkies, and bottles of water for everyone. Around 11:00, the door opened to the station and in walked Billy, Quil, Jake, Sam, Harry, Jared, Paul and a couple of others that I didn't know very well.
"We are here to report for duty, Chief." Billy said as he came in.
"Thank you all so much for coming to help out with this. There was no way just the two of us was going to be able to do it." I tell them shaking everyone's hand.
"Jake, I need you to stay here and take care of the station. If any emergencies come in just call me on the walkie talkie or my cell."
"I can do that, no problem. What is Bella doing today?"
"She is on her way to Olympia with Jessica and Angela to do some shopping for the Seattle trip next week."
"That's cool, I'm excited about going. I'm glad she invited me."
"I'm glad she did too because at least that way she has someone really close to her with her. But no funny business with my little girl though, do you understand?"
"Don't worry Charlie, I won't let anything happen to her and I would never take advantage of her like that. She is my best friend."
"I know you won't, Jake and thanks."
"Now, I have mapped out the areas where the attacks and disappearances have happened. I think we should split up into two groups of three and a group of four that way we can cover more ground. Each group will have walkie talkies that way if something is found we will have a way to communicate with each other."
"Sounds like a plan, me, Billy, and Harry will be one group." Quil tells me.
"Steve, myself, and Sam will be another group and that leaves Jared, Paul and the other two to be a group." I tell them.
"Let's all head out and please be careful."
After I said that, everyone grabbed the supplies that Steve had gathered up and we headed out to the cars. We all drove out to Route 101 as that is where everything seemed to be happening. We parked on the side of the road and headed into the woods. We had been searching for about an hour and all that any of had found so far were some dead animals and from the looks of some of them they had been out here for a while. My group continued on into the woods and we were coming up on a clearing when I all of the sudden felt this gush of wind on my left side. I turned to look but nothing was there and the leaves on the trees were not moving.
"Steve, Sam, did you guys feel that?" I asked them still looking around for what could have possibly caused it.
"Feel what? I didn't feel anything." Steve replied turning to see what I was looking at.
"Me either, you sure you felt something?" Sam asked looking in my direction.
"I was sure I felt a gush a wind a few minutes ago but the leaves aren't even moving." I tell them still looking around.
"Chief, maybe it was your imagination because you have been stressed out lately between these cases and Bella." Steve tells me.
"Yeah, maybe you are right. Come on, let's keep going." I say as I turn around and head towards the clearing.
As we entered the clearing, I noticed some footprints, human footprints at that. I motion to Steve and Sam to look at what I have just discovered and we spanned out just in case the person was still here. We continued to follow the footprints to the other side of the clearing but they all of the sudden disappeared at the woods. Well hell, I thought maybe we had found something but they must have been from a hiker. We went into the woods on the other side of the clearing and continued to search. The other groups would radio in every so often to let us know that they hadn't found anything either except for some dead animals too. After about 4 hours of searching, we all met back at the cars parked on the side of the road.
"Sorry Charlie, we didn't find anything." Billy tells me.
"Yeah, we didn't either." Paul tells me.
"The only thing we found was some footprints in the clearing but they disappeared back into the woods on the other side." I told them.
"Well, what do you want to do now?" Billy asked me.
"I guess let's head back to the station and grab something to eat since it is 3:00 and if Bella finds out I'm skipping lunch she will have my head." I laugh as I get into the car.
We got back to the station around 3:30 p.m. and Jake was sitting behind the counter on the computer with his feet propped up. He jumped when we opened the door and he saw that it was us.
"Hey guys, how did it go? Did you find anything or anyone?" He asked as we all came in and started taking off our jackets.
"No, we found some footprints but that was about it. I guess I'm going to have to figure something else out to be able to solve these cases." I tell him as I go to my desk.
"Well, if you ever need me to run the station again just ask because it was kind of fun." Jake says to me with a smile.
"I will keep that in mind. Would you mind going into town to the diner and grabbing all of us some lunch?" I ask him.
"Sure sure, just write down what all of you want and I will go and get it." He tells me as he gets the car keys from his dad.
So, everyone decided on what they wanted and I gave Jake the list along with enough money to cover it. He arrived back about 30 minutes later with lunch in hand and I let him keep the change. All of us ate our lunch and talked about the trip to Seattle, what was going on in La Push and just things in general. About 5:00 p.m. the station phone rang again and this time Steve answered it. He was talking real serious and asking questions like, where did this happen? At what time did this happen? Is the person alright? I immediately got interested and was looking at him with a puzzled look on my face. As soon as he got off the phone, I asked him what was going on. It would seem that someone else had been attacked in the woods and the man was at the hospital. Great, just great, another attack. I put on my jacket and told everyone that I would talk to them later and I headed to the hospital.
The man at the hospital was fine and I asked him the general questions: 'Where did it happen? What time was it when he got attacked? Did he know who or what had attacked him?' That was the million dollar question, and he said that he could have sworn he felt a gush of wind right before the attack and then it felt like something stung him but when he went to smack at whatever it was, he thought he saw a woman standing in front of him with red eyes but then in a blink of an eye she was gone. That's strange; this is the first person with this kind of information. Maybe whatever bit him was poisonous and he was hallucinating. About that time Dr. Cullen came into the E.R., to check on a patient that had come in having chest pains.
"Hello Dr. Cullen, how are you?"
"Oh, hello Charlie, I'm doing well. How about yourself? Are you feeling ill?"
"Oh no, I'm fine. I'm here on official business."
"Well, that is good. How about Bella? How has she been doing?"
"She is doing well. She is in Olympia shopping with some friends for a trip she has coming up next week."
"Where is she going?"
"She and her band are going to Seattle for the weekend. They are meeting up with a manager to talk music business."
"That sounds really good. I'm sure she will have a good time."
"I'm sure she will too. Well, I have to get back to the station. It was good to see you again."
"It was good to see you, Charlie. Be sure to tell Bella that I said Hello."
"I will."
I got back to the station around 5:45 p.m. and I was beginning to get frustrated with all of this. The man at the hospital had said that he felt a gush of wind before being attacked. I wonder if it was anything like what I felt. He also said he thought he saw a woman with red eyes. Personally, I think he was having a hallucination which was a reaction to whatever had bitten him. I mean a woman with red eyes, how crazy did that sound? I sat back at my desk and looked over at Steve, who was still looking through the files and making notes. He really should go home and rest or at least try to go and find him a lady friend. But who am I to give anyone relationship advice, I'm still single. Around 6 p.m. my cell phone rang and I saw from the Caller ID that it was Bella but I still answered the phone officially knowing it would make her giggle.
"Hello, Chief Swan speaking."
"Hi dad, it's me."
"Hi Bells, you girls enjoying yourselves?"
"Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that we are on our way home now. I didn't realize it was so late."
"That's okay; I'm actually still at the office." I was hoping she wouldn't hear the strange tone of my voice.
"Everything ok, dad?"
"Huh, oh yeah, we have just had some unexplained animal attacks and some disappearances in the past couple of days and we are trying to figure it out." I guess she noticed.
"Oh, you want me to bring you something to eat when I get back into town?"
"No, why don't you and the girls go to the diner and have some dinner and I will get something on the way home because I don't know how late I'm going to be."
"Alright then, be safe and I will call you when we get back into town."
"Sounds good, Bells. I love you."
"I love you too, dad." And with that being said the phone went silent.
As I closed my cell, I thought to myself 'How intuitive she is.' She knew immediately something was bothering me and asked me what was going on. I only told her the basics as I didn't want to worry her. I looked over at Steve again and he was still writing notes and he had this stressed look on his face. I decided at that moment that I was going to demand he go home.
"Hey Steve, why don't you call it a night?"
"No Chief, I'm fine and I want to finish my notes on this file."
"I wasn't really asking you to call it a night, I'm telling you to go home."
"But Charlie, we need to figure this out."
"Yes we do but it's not going to be tonight. Bella is on her way home and I would like to see her before it gets too late. Besides that, my brain is fried and I need to just forget about it for the rest of the night and so do you."
"Oh, well if you are sure. I would like to go get some dinner, go home and relax."
"I am and we will start back on this bright and early tomorrow."
"Alright then, goodnight Charlie."
"Goodnight Steve, and drive safe."
After I saw him pull out of the parking lot, I decided that I was going to go to the library for a couple of hours and do some research on the theories I had for saving Bella. I locked up the station and headed that way. When I arrived, no one was there but a couple of teenagers and the librarian. I walked in and headed for the section that dealt with myths and legends. I found a couple of books on vampires and one on the Quileute's legends. I sat them on the table next to a computer and began reading and taking notes. The vampire books weren't very helpful. They mainly talked of Dracula, vampire bats, and Transylvania, which I had heard about my entire life. However, the book on the legends of the Quileute's had some information that I had never heard of. In the book, they referred to 'The Cold Ones' and described them to look like man but their skin is pale white and hard as stone. They also went on to say that they feed on human blood. Hmmm, I think I better do some research on the computer as well. I went to Google and typed in 'The Cold Ones' and hit search. I was amazed at the 100's of pages that came up affiliated with this.
I clicked on I don't know how many before I came upon one website with some useful and shocking information. It described them as the Quileute's did, but it said that they had red eyes because feeding on human blood turned them that color and that they were as fast as the wind if not faster. Holy shit, that is exactly what I felt and what the victim in the hospital described. They actually exist. I went on to read that they could not be around humans because we would know that they were different and they had to keep their race a secret. I went on to read how dangerous they were and that the only way to destroy them is to tear them apart and burn the pieces. Great, if this is what attacking all of these people how in the hell am I to stop it? I can't just tell Steve or anyone else, "Hey, I know what is attacking all of these people. It's a vampire and the only way to kill it is to tear it apart and burn it." They would think I'm crazy and maybe I am for believing all of this but it makes sense. The next section really caught my attention. It described those that didn't believe in taking human life because they felt that they had been cheated out of their own and they wouldn't impose that on someone else. It described the same way pale white, skin hard as stone, fast as the wind, but they feed on animals and live among humans, specifically in the Pacific Northwest. It also said that because of them feeding on animals that their eye color was gold because animal blood had a different effect on their eye color but it kept them strong and the thirst at bay. Well, I'll be damned. That was really all it had to say about them, so I closed out the internet and just sat there trying to take all of this in. I actually may have found a solution for Bella if I could find one of these creatures, especially the ones that are different from the rest. But where in the hell am I going to start looking and what would I say to one if I did find them. "Hey, my daughter, Bella, is dying of a heart condition, so I was wondering if you could turn her into one of you so that she doesn't ever have to die." Yeah, that sounded really stupid. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 10:00 p.m. already. I better head home before Bella really starts to worry. I put up the books I had taken off the shelf and I left to go home.
I thought about all that I had just found out and how it would help my little girl. She would be able to go on and live her life to the fullest but would she want to live forever? Could I do that to her knowing that one day I would die and she would have to suffer that and live on forever? Yes, I think I could because I would do anything for her. I pulled up to the house and the living room light was on and so was the porch light. She always is so thoughtful. As I got out of the car and approached the porch, I heard the most beautiful sound ever, Bella was playing the piano and it was a melody I hadn't heard before. I opened the door and went into the living room where she was playing and I just listened and watched her. She was in her element and I knew that. It was one of the most beautiful melodies I had ever heard and she was so in tune with it that she didn't even know that I was there. She was in her own little world. When she finished, she just sat there and stared off into the distance out the window. I decided that I better make some kind of noise or movement because if she turned around and saw me it would scare her to death. So, I cleared my throat and she turned around to look at me and smiled.
"Hey dad, when did you get home?" She asked getting up off the bench to come and give me a hug.
"Just a few minutes ago. I heard you playing and I didn't want to interrupt. That was absolutely beautiful, when did you write that?" I tell her returning the hug.
"Thanks, it just popped in my head today on the way home. I was watching the hills roll by and thinking how peaceful it is here and it just popped in my head. So, when I got home I sat down and started playing it."
"Well, it is wonderful and I love it. What are you going to call it?"
"I don't know yet. I was thinking of something that had to do with outside but I haven't come up with anything yet."
"Well, I'm sure when you do it will fit it perfectly. Did you get all of your shopping done?" I asked her as I turned towards the kitchen to get me something to eat.
"Yep, we got everything we could possibly need and then some. I already put all the bags in my room, I just have to go through them and wash it all now." She tells me following me and getting my dinner out of the fridge.
"Well good, is my credit card maxed out?" I asked her with a look of horror on my face. I love messing with her.
"No, I didn't spend that much. A couple thousand dollars maybe but not all of it." She tells me defensively and with a look of pure love on her face.
"Wow, I did come out cheap." I said with a laugh.
"Yes, you did. I even got something for Jake." She tells me with a laugh as she puts my dinner on a plate and heats it up. She is so good to me.
"Well, he will like that. He told me today that he is so excited about going." I tell her and as soon as I say that I realize I hadn't told her that I had talked to him today, damn it.
"You talked to Jake today?" She asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Yes, he and some of the guys came up from La Push to help search the woods for whatever is causing these attacks. Jake stayed at the station to keep an eye on everything for me." I told her hoping it would pacify her and she wouldn't push the issue. I didn't want to scare her with the details of what is really going on.
"Oh, well I'm glad he and everyone else were there to help." She told me as she put my plate on the table. Good, she's not going to push it.
"Oh, Dr. Cullen told me to tell you Hello. I saw him this afternoon at the hospital while I was there following up on an attack."
"That was nice of him. I actually ran into his wife and two daughters today in Olympia at the mall. They are very nice."
"Yes, they are and very polite."
"Well dad, I'm going to go and take a shower and get ready for bed. I'm beat." She says getting up from the table to give me a hug and kiss.
"Okay sweetie, enjoy your shower and sweet dreams. I love you." I tell her returning the hug and kiss.
"I love you too, dad and sweet dreams to you."
As she went up the stairs, I couldn't help but feel like the luckiest man alive. I loved my little girl and I was going to save her. I had found out how to do it but now I had to find someone to do it. I finished my dinner and went up to my room to get ready for bed. As I lay there, I went over my notes and everything in my head. The ones that are different live among humans and have gold eyes. They are also more prone to living in the Pacific Northwest, which is where we are. I closed my eyes and let images run through my head of people I had come in contact with that could be possibly what I am looking for. All of the sudden, I had an image of a couple of people with golden eyes and I sat straight up in the bed. Could it really be them? Could they have been here all along? Could they or would they help save my little girl? The Cullen's? I wondered to myself.