Edward's POV

I'd been in Vancouver for just under thirty-six hours when I couldn't stand it any longer. I'd been calling Alice relentlessly, almost blowing up her phone line trying to reach her. Jasper wasn't picking up his phone, either, and none of the other members of our family would tell me anything. Rose and Emmett honestly didn't know anything, aside from whatever they'd gleaned from hearing Carlisle and Esme—who both no doubt knew something they refused to tell me. Icy tingles of dread ran down my back; I was very worried something had happened to Bella and they weren't telling me because they were afraid of my reaction.

I finally left the motel in the middle of the night, dropping my key off at the front office on my way out. It was going to take me about an hour and a half to run from where I was to Forks, although with as anxious as I was, I didn't doubt that I could push that to an hour, tops. There was little to no traffic, and I was able to stick to alleys and deserted side streets until I got out of town.

Before leaving the motel, I'd debated taking the more direct route and swimming from the Canadian coast to Washington. However, running from Vancouver to Seattle, to Olympia, and then north to Forks wasn't going to take that much longer than swimming, and I needed the time to clear my head and think. So as I crossed the border into the U.S., my mind began wandering.

Where was my Bella?

Why wasn't Alice answering her phone?

Did she know something bad and just didn't want to tell me?

I'd tried so hard to allow my Bella to live a normal, human life, rather than curse her to this long, hard, lonely existence. What if I'd been wrong? What if, by leaving her, I'd condemned her to a shorter, unfulfilled life somehow?

As my thoughts turned dark, I nearly felt human again. My breathing became labored. My speed faltered, and I nearly found myself tripping over my own two feet several times. If something had happened to my Bella, I didn't know what I would do. Over the last year and a half, the only thing that had kept me going sometimes was knowing she was alive and well. If that had changed...

Just over an hour after I'd left Vancouver, I passed the "Welcome to Forks" sign. I ran even faster, determination and fear fueling my speed. I cut through the forest, paying no attention to the sights, smells, and sounds around me as I raced to get to our family's home on the other side of town.

About a mile and a half away from the house, I began hearing Alice's voice in my head, conjugating French verbs.

Was she waiting for me to get there to give me bad news? Was it so awful that she didn't want me to read it in her thoughts? My stomach churned, and I faltered on my next step when I thought, Oh, God, what if my Bella's dead? I'd have to figure out a way to end my own existence if that were true. Maybe I could pay a visit to the Volturi, like I'd mentioned to Bella months be—

Oh, for God's sake, Edward, Alice huffed in her head. Just stop with the melodramatics already!

Before I could garner anything more, she was back to, Parle, je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent... I tuned her out, knowing I'd get nothing more until she was ready.

Just under a minute later, I skidded to a stop at the end of the driveway in front of my sister, who was standing there with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face.

"Alice," I greeted shortly. "Why haven't you been answering your phone?" When she didn't answer, I opened my mouth to ask her what the hell she was doing in Forks and what was going on with Bella, but she held her hand up, stopping me from speaking.

"Edward, I know you have questions—"

I hissed in response.

"—but first, I want you to take a good sniff and tell me what you smell."

I rolled my eyes, but did as she'd instructed. "Jasper. A second vampire," I said shortly. "Who is it?" My hands clenched into fists, fighting the instinct to find the intruder on our territory.

Alice shook her head. "Again," she instructed.

With another deep whiff, I caught a stench I hadn't smelled in seventy years—the wolves were back?—but below that, there was the scent of...freesia and strawberry. My Bella had been here! Instantly, I panicked. Did the new vampire have her? Had she been killed by whatever nomad had come through here? Or by one of the wolves? I'd kill them! Whoever had touched her would pay!

"What happened?" I growled, stopping just short of attacking her.

She smiled sadly and looped her arm through mine. "If you can control yourself, we'll go inside and I'll try to explain everything."

"Bella?" I croaked.

"Bella's...fine," she sighed. "Just give me a minute to explain."

Once we'd made it inside, the smells of Bella, the wolf, vampire, and Jasper were heavy in the air. I tried reading Alice's thoughts, but she was still effectively hiding them. I stood by the fireplace, muscles tight, as I waited for Alice to spill whatever she was keeping from me.

"There's no good way to say this," she finally said. "Before I tell you anything, you must promise me to listen before you go running off. Things...won't turn out well for you if you leave without hearing everything first." When I didn't respond, she cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Fine," I said in resignation. "Just tell me, Alice. Is Bella okay?"

"Bella's a vampire, Edward," she stated bluntly. "She was changed a week ago."

As soon as my relief that Bella wasn't dead had passed, I leapt at my sister, grabbing her arms and shaking her. "Who was it, Alice?" I hissed. "Was it you...or Jasper? Is that why you came here?"

Instead of fighting me, Alice finally opened her thoughts some, allowing me to see the memories of her conversation with Bella and the story of Laurent and the meadow.

I swallowed back the urge I had to pound my fist through the wall, letting go of her. "Sorry," I said before collapsing onto the sofa. "That was...the twelfth?"

Alice nodded. "She didn't tell me why she was out in the woods; all she said was that it was personal."

I cursed under my breath. The significance of the spot would be lost on many, but never on Bella or myself. I knew exactly why Bella had gone to the woods.

"Where is she?" I asked, feeling strangely sick to my stomach. I'd tried to protect her—from my fate, from myself—yet, it had all been in vain. I'd still managed to be the one who had destroyed her humanity.

"She's out hunting with Jazz and Jacob," Alice answered. Before I could voice my next question, she nodded. "Jacob Black, Alpha of the shape shifter tribe in La Push. Apparently, he and Bella are friends. He and the wolves saved her from Laurent—" She paused at my scoff. "Okay, fine. They stopped him from draining her. Jacob and Seth Clearwater, his second-in-command, helped care for her during her change and once she woke up. They helped her hunt, informed the rest of the pack of her condition, and have been keeping Charlie from calling in the FBI."

I started toward the door. Excitement, worry, remorse, and longing warred in my mind, each with equal footing. I wanted to see Bella; I needed to see her—

"Wait, Edward!" she called, her tone urgent enough that I stopped in my tracks. "There's more."

That feeling of dread crawled over me again like maggots over rotting flesh. I didn't want to hear any more; I just wanted to see Bella. Yet, like a car wreck, I couldn't keep from turning back, from seeing what had happened.

Bittery irony... I'd run for an hour, wanting nothing more than knowledge, and now, I would fight tooth and nail against it if I could.

Alice flashed on a memory of the four of them—Bella, Jacob, Jasper, and herself—in the tree outside her bedroom window at Charlie's. I watched as they looked in on a baby in a crib in the room I'd been in a year and a half before, and then watched as Charlie walked into the room to pick up the now-crying infant. When he left the room, Alice began thinking of other things, effectively closing her mind to me.

My mind stirred with profane thoughts...of Bella in another man's embrace, making love, becoming pregnant, giving birth. All the things I had hoped for her when I'd left. A wash of fire-hot jealousy and despair filled me, and I wanted to rage at Alice, at anyone. At some point, I would have to deal with the probability that Bella had given birth and most likely had a man—Jacob Black, perhaps?—in her life. But for now...

"Fuck, Alice!" I hissed, striking out verbally, unable to control my roiling emotions. "Do you know how reckless that was? That was so irresponsible of you to let her get that close to them! Do you know how much it would have wrecked her had she been unable to resist—" and I wasn't sure how she'd been able to, but that would have to be addressed later as well "—going in and killing them?"

I was so caught up in my anger, my fear, and my worry over Bella that I didn't hear the noise at the entrance to the living room until she spoke.

"You always did underestimate me, Edward Cullen."