Chapter Forty Nine

Harry

We had expected Charlie to appear eventually but not quite this soon, he had overheard Billy and now he wanted answers. The trouble was that he wasn't going to believe us and even if he did there was nothing he could do about it. If the vampires had snatched Bella then Charlie would never see her again, not human anyway. As he walked over to confront Sam and myself one of the younger members of the pack started talking much too loudly,

"We should have run them off a long time ago, treaty or no treaty They have no place here and now look what's happened."

It was clear from the way Charlie tensed that he had heard this and by the time the other members of the pack grabbed him he was already shaking violently. That was all we needed, a phasing right in front of him. Luckily Jared and Paul pulled him away into the trees before it was too late but Charlie who stopped in front of us just shook his head angrily,

"Don't give me any crap. You know what's going on with Bella and you will tell me or the Seattle police, the choice is yours but one way or another I intend finding out."

Charlie

There was a commotion at the fire between some of the young men and I heard one snap,

"We all know this is down to the Cullens."

Before he was silenced by a sharp retort from another.

"The Cullens? You think they are responsible for Bella going missing? For my deputies death? Isn't this taking hatred of the Cullens just a little too far Harry?"

He exchanged a glance with Sam Uley who shook his head warily and almost imperceptibly but another of the younger men who had made the earlier outburst approached and it seemed as if his very body were shimmering and shivering or was it just that I was so tired and worried?

"We should run them out, kill them if necessary you know we could, the pack could take the leeches down."

Sam's command was like a whip crack and the young man cowered before running into the forest and I swear I saw his shape changing as he did so. God I was so tired I was now hallucinating.

"Charlie please, we will help all we can, the pa….young men are searching the forest and the roads between here and Seattle but there is little we can do to help under the circumstances. You misheard a conversation and thought we were talking about Bella and the Cullens when you made it perfectly clear that you weren't interested in our opinions. We will not force any more upon you. Now why don't you let Jake drive you home? You should try to get some sleep."

It was obvious I would get no more from them and as I was stumbling from weariness I allowed Jake to drive the cruiser back hoping no one would see me. I tried to engage him in conversation but he was extremely tight lipped and all I got were a couple of grunts before he pulled in outside my house where Sue still waited but now accompanied by her daughter Leah and son Seth. She put an arm around me and led me through to the kitchen where the smell of freshly brewed coffee and ham cooking woke me up a little. The two youngsters went through to the other room leaving us alone in the kitchen and I tried to question Sue.

"I think your husband and his friends know more than they are willing to say. They seem to think the Cullens are involved in Bella's disappearance. Now why would they think that?"

She looked away uneasily then shook her head,

"Its not for me to say anything Charlie. Forks has always been a strange place although you never seemed to notice it.. All I can say is that if they can the Quileutes will find Bella and return her safely although the longer this goes on the less chance there is of that outcome. You should try getting some sleep."

I argued but only half heartedly I wanted to be fresh for the morning so I could track down my daughter's whereabouts so I went upstairs and sat on my bed thinking of my innocent daughter and trying to work out what she had to do with a dead police officer and what the Cullens had to do with any of it. I must have dropped off to sleep because I had the most vivid yet weird dream I had ever experienced. I was in the woods with Harry and Billy when suddenly they began to shake and shiver like the boy at the bonfire and then quite suddenly where they had stood were two huge wolves snarling and hunching their bodies ready for the attack but they didn't seem to be watching me but something or someone behind me and when I turned I saw Carlisle Cullen and Jasper Hale standing over a prostrate woman who seemed to be dead, blood flowing from puncture wounds in her neck and then I understood that their strange red lips were stained with her blood, they had been feeding on her.

I woke with a cry of horror and suddenly things started to make….well hardly sense because it was all so fantastic and deeply disturbing but at least so kind of strange and bizarre story. I remembered the old stories I heard with Billy when I stayed on the res. His father often told of the legends, the stories of the spirit warriors and the Cold Ones. It took a while before I understood what these creatures really were, when I saw my first werewolf movie. The story he told of the men of the tribe turning into giant wolves to protect the rest of the tribe from the Cold Ones, strange man shaped monsters that killed men and drank their blood. Yet more horror movies and magazines furnished the term for those, vampires. Now either I had gone crazy, I was still dreaming, or the Quileutes really believed in the spirit warriors, their own young men and the Cold Ones, the Cullens believing them to be vampires. Hell Id spent enough time with Carlisle and Jasper to see they weren't vampires. Sure they were pale and strong and their touch was cold but didn't vampires hide from daylight? Didn't they attack to feed? If so where had the Cullens been feeding all this time because I'm sure I would have noticed if residents of Forks were turning up dead with bite marks on their necks and their bodies drained of blood.

My head was pounding and I had a quick wash and changed before going back into the kitchen to find Sue standing at the cooker, the smell of eggs and bacon cooking filling the air while Seth sat reading the newspaper which he put down hurriedly when he saw me and stood up.

"Morning Chief Swan. Are you feeling OK? I thought I heard you shout out earlier."

"Yeah I was dreaming. Tell me Seth are you a werewolf? I know Billy isn't and Harry's too old but maybe you or Sam, Paul? Am I getting close?"

He looked shocked at my words but he also looked stunned and I knew however crazy it might sound I was on the right track.

Sue turned round fast also looking astounded,

"Really Charlie? What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that the legends are true, that your son and his friends turn into wolves to protect the tribe. What I don't get is the Cullens being Cold Ones because I take that to mean vampires and I've seen no evidence of vampire attacks in or around Forks so maybe you can explain that bit to me."