Not much action in this chapter, but there is a little bit of a mystery. Luckily vampires make great detectives.

Chapter 32: Promise

"Oh. That sounds bad."

"Yes, it certainly does," Noah agreed. "That's why you won't object to helping me track down the responsible party, will you? Think of it as a working vacation."

"Maybe she won't object," Edward cut in before Elle could say whether she did or not, "but I will. I'm well aware that she's far from defenseless, but pitting her abilities against those of a killer who may not even be human is too dangerous. I won't allow it."

"Hey! Since when do I need your permission to do my job?"

Her protests went unheeded by Edward and Noah, the latter talking right over her. "I understand your concerns - maybe you'd like to join us so you can make sure she's safe?"

His suggestion surprised Elle so much that she forgot all about being angry at Edward's overprotective attitude. "You actually want him to work with us?"

"Yes, I do. Most people in the Company would rather steer clear of vampires, but I think when lives are at risk it'd be foolish not to use every available resource to eliminate the danger. So what do you say, Cullen?"

"Of course I'll help." Edward's demeanor suddenly changed; in the blink of an eye he went from amiable to darkly menacing. "Keep in mind, though, that I am not a resource for you to use. My only concern in all this is ensuring Elle's safety. Is that clear?"

Noah, having suddenly gained a much better understanding of why everyone had kept as much distance as possible between themselves and the vampire while he was being held in the Hartsdale facility, quickly replied, "Crystal."

Edward admired his ability to keep his voice steady when most men would have been quaking in fear. If I couldn't read this one's mind, I would have thought I hadn't ruffled him at all. He smiled, making sure to bare his teeth, and said, "I'm glad we understand each other."

"Is the macho pissing contest over yet?" Elle asked. Watching Edward intimidate Noah - a feat she had thought impossible - was fun, but she didn't want to listen to them quarrel for the rest of the night. Besides, she didn't care for her boyfriend paying more attention to Noah Bennet than to her, even if it was just to butt heads with him. "'Cause I thought, if you're not too busy establishing who's the alpha male here, we might go to where Bennet found those creeps' bodies and see if you can pick up the scent of whoever killed them." She looked at Noah. "Since you invited him to hang around us, he might as well do something to help."

Noah expected him to refuse, but what he'd said about not wanting to be used apparently did not apply to Elle. He even offered to drive them to the crime scene, an offer Noah regretted taking him up on once he learned that Edward tended to drive like he was trying to escape the apocalypse. Any hopes he had of Elle telling him to slow down were dashed when he peered around the back of her seat (she was riding shotgun, while he had been relegated to the backseat) and saw that she seemed to be having fun watching the town whiz past her window. She's crazy, he decided, not just screwed up from the things that that were done to her as a child; she's actually insane. Then he remembered he was in range of a telepath who probably wouldn't appreciate him thinking such negative things about her and quickly channeled his thoughts in a safer direction just in case the vampire was listening.

Edward was listening, at least until Noah started thinking about his wife's prize Pomeranian, but he didn't react to what he'd heard. Although Noah's doubts about Elle's sanity made him angry, he was more interested in the allusion to something having been done to her when she was younger; the idea of anyone hurting her nearly sent him into a blind rage, and he wanted nothing more than to stop the car and force Noah to give him a name so he could hunt that person down and make them pay with their life…but this wasn't the time or place, not with her here. He didn't want to stir up bad memories for her, so his inquiries into her past would be carried out without her knowledge.

Then they reached the crime scene, and his concern over Elle's childhood trauma was pushed aside in favor of a more immediate worry; the alley was splattered with more human blood than he'd come in contact with since his stint as a non-vegetarian. He stopped breathing, but that was almost no help since he had already smelled it. Elle's presence was all that kept his bloodlust in check; he refused to behave like a mindless animal in front of her.

She noticed him tensing up and edged closer, searching his face for a clue as to what had affected him so suddenly and strongly. Maybe it was just a trick of the alleyway's dim lighting, but his eyes appeared darker than they had been just a short while ago. "Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"You don't look fine. You look like you're in pain."

"Not hurt," he assured her, leaving out unnecessary words to make the most of what air was left in his lungs. "Just…the blood."

"Oh." She examined the scene and saw that there was indeed a lot of blood: four large spatters where the four men had met their grisly end, and a smaller bloodstain on the ground which must have been left when they assaulted Bella. Imagining what they did to the girl to cause that much bleeding turned Elle's stomach, but the gory scene seemed to have the opposite effect on Edward. She lowered her voice so Noah wouldn't hear and asked, "Is this making you thirsty?"

Eyes closed so as not to see her reaction, he nodded.

"Something wrong with your vampire, Elle?" Noah called out.

"He's fine," she called back, "but you should stay back." Her blood was less appealing to vampires than a normal human's, so she wasn't worried about Edward attacking her; the same wasn't true for Noah. If Edward's thirst got the better of him, her partner might be in danger. "You're not gonna go into some kind of feeding frenzy, are you?" she asked warily.

He took in a quick breath and answered, "No, I've abstained from feeding on human blood long enough to build up a resistance, although this is the first time I've put it to the test."

"And?"

Edward inhaled again, deeper this time. "And it seems I'm strong enough to withstand the temptation…but it's hard to smell anything else under all this blood. The only scents I can detect are Bella's and those of the four men who assaulted her."

"That doesn't make sense. There had to be a fifth person. Maybe you just can't smell them because they weren't bleeding?"

But he was shaking his head before she finished speaking. "The paramedics who came for Bella didn't leave blood here, and I can smell them."

"How do you know it's the paramedics? Maybe one of the other scents you're picking up belongs to the killer."

"I know because, like everyone who works in the medical field, the paramedics smell like disinfectant and the latex used in their gloves. Also, their scents are fresher than the blood, so I know they arrived after the men were killed. I'm sorry, Elle, but as far as I can tell no one else was here."

She sighed. "Well, I can't think of anything else we can do tonight, and I think jet lag's starting to kick in. Let's ditch Bennet and go to your place, okay?"

###

Emmett bounded up to greet them the minute they arrived and eagerly asked, "So how was the big date?" Behind him, the rest of the family could be seen grouped throughout the living room, trying and mostly succeeding at not looking too interested.

"It was a very…eventful evening."

Emmett's grin transformed into a bemused frown. "Is that good or bad?"

"It's a long story-" Edward began, but Elle cut him off.

"We had dinner at some fancy restaurant and everything went great until my babysitter called to tell us that Edward's friend Bella Swan got gang-raped by four lowlifes-" Esme and Rosalie gasped in horror "-and then somebody killed them. Whoever did it covered their scent so that even after I had Edward sniff around we still have no clue about them. All we know is that there's a murderer or vigilante with superpowers running around Port Angeles."

"All right, not such a long story after all," Edward muttered.

"By the way, Alice," Elle continued, "what's with this outfit? An old-lady shawl? Seriously? Did you think he was taking me to bingo night at the senior center?"

"Did I hear you right?" Rosalie demanded, eyes flashing with fury. "After what happened to that poor girl, all you can think about is that you don't like Alice's choice of couture?"

Elle shrugged. "I'm a sociopath - what do you expect? I don't even know Bella Swan, and I can't help her by getting upset. The doctors will take care of her."

"Calm down, Rose." Esme put a comforting arm around her daughter. "We understand why this is so distressing for you, but Elle has a point. There's nothing more that can be done for her now, and not by us. You could be a little more sensitive, though," she added pointedly to Elle.

Sensing a surge of irritation from Elle, Jasper tried to calm her. "She's just tired, Mom. Edward, why don't you take her to bed?"

"I can take myself to bed!" she snapped. "Good night, Jasper." As she passed him on her way to the staircase, she pulled off her wrap and draped it over his head. He snatched it off with a scowl at Emmett, who was laughing his head off, and dropped it on the sofa.

Alice picked it up, a forlorn look on her face. "It's not fair; she's so pretty that I'm dying to redo her wardrobe, and she won't let me! Humans are supposed to be easy for us to manage, but you just had to find the one human who can electrocute me if I try to get her into a decent dress, didn't you, Edward?"

"I'm sorry, Alice, I didn't realize willingness to be dressed up like a doll should be a criterion in my choice of a mate. Carlisle, would you check on Bella in the morning? Charlie Swan thinks very highly of you; he'll let you see her."

"Of course I will."

Edward thanked Carlisle, then went upstairs. Elle was still in the bathroom, so he waited outside the door and inadvertently startled her when she came out. "So where am I sleeping?" she asked once she had explained to him why most humans jumped when they opened a door to find a person unexpectedly standing there.

"In my room."

"But you don't have a bed." She couldn't recall the exact dimensions of his couch, but she supposed it would be comfortable enough.

Edward laughed softly. "Silly girl - you don't think I would make you sleep on a couch, do you?" He opened the door to his room, revealing the deluxe king-size bed he had purchased for her use.

Her eyes went wide - she hadn't known they made beds this big - and she wasted no time in crawling onto it and bouncing on the mattress. If she were a little younger and there wasn't an iron-framed canopy overhead, she would have been tempted to jump on it.

"That would be a very bad idea," Edward told her. "I'd rather not have you hospitalized for a concussion tonight. You like the bed, then?"

"Yeah, it's great."

"Would you object to sharing it with me?"

Elle hesitated before answering, unsure if she would or not. She'd woken up with Edward twice, and it hadn't been unpleasant, but both times she had fallen asleep somewhere else and he had carried her to bed with her none the wiser. She had never actually tried to get to sleep while he - or anyone else, for that matter - was in bed with her. It was bound to be awkward, but, she reasoned, it couldn't be worse than trying to sleep with him watching her from the corner, and she couldn't ask him to leave the room altogether; it was his room after all. Kicking him out of his own room was too impolite even for her. "Sure, I guess. You want to put on some pj's or sweats or something?"

"I don't have any."

"Really? I thought Cullens had everything."

He rolled his eyes at her exaggerated astonishment. "I can't sleep, so I never saw the need for them."

"That makes sense. So how does this bed-sharing thing work?"

"Just lie down like you normally would."

She crawled under the covers and curled up in her normal sleeping position; once she was settled in, Edward took off his shoes and joined her. She tensed as she felt his body molding to hers, his arms wrapping around her and pulling her close until her back was flush against his chest and their legs were in danger of becoming entangled.

"Is this uncomfortable? Am I making you cold?"

"No," she said honestly - with her flannel pajamas, a sheet, a thick blanket, and the golden comforter between them she was definitely warm enough. "It's just that you've never been this clingy before. What gives?"

"I'm worried about you. What Bennet wants you to do is-"

"Too dangerous? Yeah, you said."

"Then why won't you listen to me? I saw in Bennet's mind exactly what Bella looked like after those animals finished with her, and I can't stand the thought of anyone ever hurting you like that."

"I'll be fine, Edward."

No sooner were the words out of Elle's mouth than she felt herself being flipped over with dizzying speed; when the world righted itself she was nose to nose with a furious-looking vampire. "Don't make promises you might not be able to keep," he snapped. "'High-risk employment' doesn't begin to cover what you do - you can't guarantee you'll be able to keep yourself safe."

"I've done okay at it so far. I'm still alive, right?" Edward said nothing, which Elle took to mean he could find no argument. He still looked unconvinced, though. "Look," she continued with as much sincerity as she could muster, "I promise that no matter how dangerous my job gets, I will always do everything I can to come back to you. You're not going to lose me, so quit worrying." She rolled over, a clear sign that the discussion was over.

Edward didn't try to restart it - he suspected it would be pointless to tell her he wouldn't be able to stop worrying about her simply because she told him to; it wasn't that easy. Nothing had been easy since they met, and he had a feeling that wasn't going to change any time soon.

Next up: The murder mystery is solved, and Edward learns about Elle's past from Noah.