Chapter Fifty

Jasper

I had an address and I was out of there, Peter following and we joined the others, it had all happened so quickly that Mendoza hadn't even been missed yet and it wasn't until we jumped the perimeter fence that we heard shouts that told us he'd been found unconscious in the pool house with a crushed hand and broken jaw.

"He'll have fun explaining that, should have just killed him."

"If he's lied to me we'll be back and then you can Peter, for now I want him alive."

Peter nodded and we got back in the car giving Darius the address of the cabin.

"Go now before he decides to move again or to kill them."

Peter was thinking like me, why would Alonzo move the girls to a place in the woods if not to kill them? He had them nice and secure in that cellar, he had no reason to move them if he wasn't getting ready to murder them, we might already be too late but I couldn't bear the thought of that, Bella had to be alive.

Darius

Emmett drove as fast as he could,

"I know these forests from when we lived around here after leaving Forks, the cabins are scattered all over giving plenty of privacy, maybe he just wanted the girls out of that neighborhood. Someone might have heard or suspected something, made him feel uncomfortable."

No one answered him and he subsided into silence watching The Major in the mirror every few minutes as if afraid he might lose it and he wasn't the only one worried about our friend. Carlisle had given Peter and I a warning look and we both knew what it meant, be ready of he explodes although I wasn't sure even Peter and I could hold him if he did go off. He was strong, ruthless, and determined when it was necessary and the thought of finding his mates body out here was enough to send his mind into free fall. We stopped a few hundred yards from the cabin to avoid Alonzo hearing any vehicle and panicking and The Major was out followed closely by Peter so I decided the three of us who remained would watch out for our quarry in case he wasn't inside with his girls, it would not be good to lose him having got so close.

Peter

The Major was running full speed, he'd felt something and nothing was going to get between him and Bella, I just prayed she would be alive though after seeing that cellar if she was I feared what state she might be in. We should have brought one of the girls with us but it was too late now so we'd just have to wing it, something I was used to doing in company with The Major. Stopping close to the cabin we listened, there were three heartbeats inside, so the two girls and Alonzo, at least Bella was alive thank God. He seemed to calm slightly but that could change in an instant, I'd seen it happen before. I didn't bother to ask if we were going in quietly as he ran at the door kicking it in and disappearing through,

"Wait for me Major."

I followed him inside but the cabin seemed empty which was fucking weird because I could still hear the three heartbeats. We checked all the rooms and then in the kitchen we saw it, a cellar door. He kicked that open and burst in going down the steps at top speed fearful Bella might even now be about to meet her death. This time we heard the screams of fear and the racing heartbeats.

Following him inside the smell was almost as bad and the conditions if anything worse than the other cellar. The earth floor was covered with old newspapers and was bare of any furniture except a box filled with rags in one corner. A figure hunched over it dressed in rags that matched those we'd found in the first cellar while another, similarly clad, huddled against the other corner speaking rapidly. I approached her very slowly and stretched a hand out to touch her but the girl screamed and we heard her words,

"Please daddy don't hit me, I'm good. I'm always good please. I didn't touch Aggie, I know she's my sister and I love her really I do daddy so please don't hit me any more."

I knelt down right out of my depth but understanding I had to do something and looked at the girl speaking very quietly,

"Hi there, I'm Peter and we've come to get you out of here. No one is going to hurt you I promise, not again. What's your name?"

The girl threw a worried glance art the door and shook her head, her greasy hair swinging about like rats tails,

"Go away, go away, go away."

I looked for Alonzo but I could only see the two girls yet the third heartbeat was still audible.

Jasper

I knew that the girl Peter was approaching wasn't Bella, she was the figure hunched over the box and I moved to stand a few feet away then crouched down to look into her face which she lowered submissively to the floor,

"She's sleeping, please don't take her away. I'm looking after her so please don't beat me again."

The words were almost inaudible coming from cracked lips and a hoarse throat,

"Bella?"

She didn't react to my voice or her name, she was looking at something she had picked up from the box and now had in her arms and I understood the third heartbeat. Bella held a child in her arms, a baby, a very young baby, with a grubby face. How did she come to have a baby? She hadn't been missing long enough to have given birth to a baby so whose was it?

"Bella, don't you recognize me? It's Jasper. I've come to rescue you, I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner."

She shook her head in panic,

"No, no, no."

She was terrified and she didn't recognize me, I was just another threat, another source of fear, but I tried again, she had to let me help her, had to recognize me.

I calmed myself with a great effort of will and knelt down to look into her eyes but she bowed her head further as if frightened to look at me. I put a hand out to stroke the baby's head but Bella pulled away hunching protectively over the baby.

"She's very pretty, what's her name?"

There was no reply from the girl, the one I had fallen in love with but who looked like a street urchin from the slums at present.

"May I hold her Bella?"

"Ellie, its Ellie. You mustn't call me anything else. My name is Ellie Mendoza."

He'd brainwashed her, scared her so much she had no idea who she really was any longer and I felt my own anger boiling deep inside me but I tried to sound calm as I continued,

"OK, Ellie but we want to take you somewhere warmer, get you something to eat and find some clothes for your baby."

She shook her head,

"Sophie's dead, I have to look after her."

I wasn't sure I understood her so I took another look at the baby but I could hear its heartbeat and its breathing,

"Sophie's OK Ellie, she's not dead."

She looked up and I saw a face that belonged in Dante's inferno, devoid of hope, terrified and in pain,

"Sophie's dead, I couldn't save her but don't tell him or he'll beat me again."

I had to do something, I couldn't bear the sight of her in so much pain both physical and emotional so I sent her some calming thoughts and she started to relax a little so I took her arm and tried to persuade her to stand and come with me. Peter did the same with the other girl although she was fighting and screaming until I calmed her too.

Peter

She hesitated then stood up and as she did so we heard the sound of chains clinking. I looked down and saw the girl I had picked up was chained to the floor, they both were and then hell broke loose. The Major snarled loud enough to make my head vibrate and ripped the chains from the floor. The loud noise and the violence of his actions terrified the girls once more and they both started screaming and fighting although Bella was hindered by the baby in her arms.

"Major get the fuck out of here and get your shit together. Look what you're doing to the girls."

I have no idea if he heard me, he was gone a second later but I could still hear his screams of rage mingled with Bella's, now the shit had really hit the fan!