Chapter Forty Eight

Jasper

I knew how close to the edge I really was but I also knew if I didn't find Bella soon I would reach the point of no return so I tried to relax and followed Darius into the alleyway stepping over the two bodies which Peter then dragged further in and stacked against the wall.

"I take it this was your handiwork Major?"

I ignored his question looking at the others who appeared out of the blue,

"Right folks its party time. As I told you The Major thinks this is the area where Bella's being held so we'll split into pairs and check out every house, leap frogging each other. Try to keep invisible and let's not kill anyone we don't have to. We want to be in and out without alerting the bastard responsible if he's not there. Everyone got that?"

The others nodded, everyone looked grave, and paired up, Eleazer and Carmen, Tanya and Irina, Kate and Carlisle, Peter and Char, Emmett and Rose, leaving Darius with me.

"The others are back at the house looking after Charlie."

At this moment in time I didn't care where they were so I don't know why he bothered telling me, I just needed to get on with this.

"We should go, every minute we waste here could be the difference between life and death for Bella."

"Hey Major, no one is going to die on my watch now come on choose a house and the others will spread out around us."

I turned and strode away towards the most decrepit looking dwelling, only held together by the rusted siding and timbers leaning against the walls. We leaped the chain link fencing and I heard the same noises coming from the other pairs as they took their own targets. Darius peered in the window where the strange flickering light of a TV was the only illumination then he shook his head and whispered to me,

"Looks like an old couple, he's in a wheelchair so I doubt this is the one, I don't smell any other human scents but we'll try round back, they may have a son or a lodger."

I followed him round but the back yard was empty, no cellar doors or steps and only an accumulation of rubbish and empty bottles thrown in from next door. I thought the old couple probably been here when the houses were new and the area was a better one so taking the wallet I'd pulled from one of the first two I'd killed I took out a wad of notes and put them under the ill fitting screen door. It might as well do someone some good.

Darius

I knew I had to keep The Major moving and focused or we were likely to see a bloodbath where he took down anyone who stood in his way as he searched. Our first two searches were a bust and it seemed no one else was having any more luck when I heard a low whistle from Emmett and Rose who were half way down the street on the opposite side standing in the shadow of the only tree that still survived on the block. The Major was there ahead of me and Emmett was explaining why they'd called us.

"There's a really bad smell coming from next door, several humans I think, but the other smells are masking it too much to be sure. Smells like rotting meat and crap."

He pointed to the house he was talking about and we made our way slowly over trying to make something of the truly awful stench our hypersensitive noses were sensing.

The Major's fists clenched,

"I know that smell Darius. Peter and I came across it once before. Some of Maria's men were attacked and burned by a few determined villagers so she threw the rest into a cellar and left them there to die. Its a combination of sweat, rotting food, effluent, and sour blood."

"How come the neighbors haven't complained? Its enough to turn my stomach."

"Because its underground, filtered, you can smell it but humans would only think of it as just a bad drain and in this kind of area its better not to complain too loudly, it might be the last thing you ever do."

Emmett nodded at my explanation.

Jasper

The smell brought back memories of what we had found when we broke into the cellar and killed the few humans who still remained alive. If the stench were coming from where Bella was held then it was going to be bad, not only that but it might be as well if Rose were the person to go down first. The sight of a woman being less threatening but I couldn't wait, I wanted Bella but I also wanted the bastard who had taken her. He was mine and I just hoped he was there or I would go hunting for him and I knew Peter would be at my side.

"Lets go."

I went first gliding round the edge of the house to look in the back yard, there was a dog chained up and another loose and both were now snarling but backing away too so I waited to see if anyone came out of the house but it was in darkness, nothing stirred within. Gesturing to Darius and Emmett they took the two dogs out quickly and silently moving the bodies where they couldn't be seen by anyone else who came round the side of the house.

We found the basement steps inside a lean to that had been put up presumably to hide them. The door was sound and locked but a quick tug pulled it open to sag sideways on a single remaining hinge. Emmett propped it back up so it didn't look as if it had been opened at first glance. Then I smelled it, very faintly but I recognized it immediately, Bella's scent among the other smells and I ran down to find another door, also locked, at the bottom. This time a key hung on a rusty nail and rather than kick the door in not knowing the state of whoever was inside I inserted the key and it turned in a well oiled mechanism but there was something wrong. I listened but heard nothing.

"Jazz, there are no sounds, no heartbeats, no breathing."

Rose was correct, there wasn't, which meant there were no living humans down here. Was Bella laying dead in the room? Unable to bear the suspense any longer I opened the door wide and stepped inside almost knocked from my feet by the stench that came out to hit us in the face. If we'd been human we would have been gagging and retching by now.

Revealed in the light from a single weak bulb hanging inside a wire cage from the low ceiling was a chamber steeped in gloom, the corners in total darkness. I could see mounds on the filthy floor and ran over praying I wouldn't find Bella's body there. With relief I saw they were just piles of filthy rags but one of them smelled strongly of Bella's scent mingled with other more unfamiliar odors. Darius and Emmett joined me looking around at the rotting food, filthy rags, and blood stains on the floor. Pools of congealed blood some smelling far fresher than others stained the ground and the stench from these was only made worse by the scent of diluted bleach.

I fell to my knees fearing I was too late, Bella had been here but she was gone and the only reason I could see for this was that she and whoever else we scented down here had outlived their usefulness and had been murdered. Was he even now disposing of the bodies? Throwing them into the river or dropping them into another dumpster? I heard a scream of agony and realized it was coming from me, I was already mourning my mate. Darius touched my shoulder but I shoved him away too violently and he skidded across the cellar to hit the far wall knocking over a bucket which slopped over the floor increasing the terrible stench.

"Jazz, we need to get out of here. Find out where he took them. We don't know Bella is dead just because this place is empty. He could have just moved her and the other girl we can identify as here with her. She wasn't alone Jazz and surely that must have helped her."

Rose's words washed over me in my misery, if Bella were dead then I would find her body and the man who did this to her and once I had taken my revenge I would join her, hoping we might be allowed to meet in some afterlife if there were any justice in the world.