Chapter Sixty Two

Peter

It was good to get out on my own for a while, I would run for a while to relax then find myself someone to feed on. It was hard around the Cullens, the veggies, but they never made anything of it and with Garrett there too I didn't feel I was under such close scrutiny but I wondered how long it would be before he too started chasing bunnies and squirrels instead of humans. If he was going to get hitched to Alice then it was pretty much a given.

Who knew maybe one day the Cullens would spread their diet further although I doubted it would catch on with many of the nomads and definitely not with the Volturi. By the time I found myself a lone guy wandering suspiciously in a back alley to feed on I felt mellow. The worry about The Major and Bella was still there but it was more manageable. The guilt was a little more difficult to deal with, I still felt that if I'd spoken to The Major when I first had the strange feeling maybe Bella wouldn't have been subjected to all she had but then it would have meant the kid and the baby still being in the clutches of that fucking monster. I drained the guy and felt more my old self but I knew the draw back to The Major would soon build up again, I'd always been there when there was trouble and I would be there again soon, after all he was still in trouble. I just needed a few days away to get my own shit together.

I was on my way back when the itch started up again but this time it was different, I felt like my skin was crawling with ants and I even looked down to make sure I didn't have them swarming all over me. What the hell was going on with me? Knowing my gift only steered me in the right direction, it didn't tell me the nature of the danger, I tried to relax and just go with it finding myself headed back towards the rental house, This worried me, did it mean there was trouble there? Did it affect Charlotte? Nope, I knew that feeling only too well, it had been at its worst when we were with Maria. This was different, freaky, and I sped up feeling the danger was getting closer. I looked around but I couldn't see anything at first then as I got closer I saw a figure on the roof of the porch, who the fuck would be up there? A sudden thought hit me, had that fucking monster got free somehow and come looking for his "family"? I slowed down, I wanted to be sure before I acted.

Esme

It was nice to have Alice home and looking so happy with Garrett, we had known him a long time or at least Carlisle had and he thought very highly of the young man. I was slightly worried about his diet but Carlisle had great confidence in Alice's influence over him. Charlotte had seen Bella and The Major and told me all about them not that it made me feel any happier about the situation but she seemed to think that Bella would come through it in the end.

"The Major may be on the wrong track but he will never give up on her and eventually he'll see the best way to go."

"You think he'll let Charlie in?"

"I don't think he'll want to but if Charlie has a shield then its going to be quite a battle but then if he fights Charlie its going to make matters worse with Bella so its a no win situation for him. We'll just have to wait and see I guess."

"I really hope so Charlotte, he never stopped talking about Bella when he was here and I'm sure he's riddled with guilt that he wasn't there to save her from being kidnapped in the first place, her mother and Phil too."

Carmen appeared at that moment with Garrett,

"That carpet will have to go to the tip. It reeks."

"Yes, I'll have to get it replaced. I told her that behavior was unacceptable and I think she understood I meant what I said. She used a bucket in the cellar, she can use the toilet here, it will never overfill."

"How is she?"

"Sulking in the nude at the moment. She wants her old clothes back."

"Shame Carmen, I just binned them, they weren't even clothes, just rags."

"You know I was shocked by the number of bruises on her little body, she's so thin its almost painful. How could a man hit a child like that?"

"I really don't know Carmen but one thing I did find a relief, I didn't see any signs that she had been...interfered with."

"Well that's a relief. I left her to make her mind up if she's going to get dressed or go naked. The rest is up to you Esme, she exasperates me."

"I really thought she might attach herself to you or I, a mother figure but if she saw the only mother figure she was presented with die then you can understand why she doesn't trust any of us."

"Alice, have you seen anything about Kat? You know, any visions?"

"No, I won't until I meet her Carmen, it doesn't work with strangers unless they affect the family directly. You know I couldn't see Bella, only that Jazz would find his mate at college in Seattle and now I wonder if that wasn't because she has a shield like Charlie's but as a human it was weak so it just prevented me seeing her properly."

"If she does then maybe it will have helped her by shielding her from the worst of what happened in that dreadful place."

"We can only hope Carmen."

I got up looking towards the stairs

"Well I guess I'd better go up and see what she decided. I am not having a naked savage running around the house so one way or another that young lady will be putting some clothes on."

I went upstairs wondering if Kat had found something she would be prepared to wear, I had given her a selection to choose from, jeans, skirts, sweaters, tee shirts, shorts, shirts. Even she must be able to find something that was acceptable. I knew she was worried about being disloyal to "daddy" but she couldn't go round in those filthy stinking rags any longer. I knocked on the door but immediately I could tell something was wrong. I couldn't hear any movement, not even a heartbeat, Kat was gone, but how? She hadn't come down stairs so maybe she was climbing about on the porch roof, a dangerous past time and I rushed in going straight to the window which was pushed all the way up, the drapes blowing out with the breeze.

I looked out but I couldn't see anything, the roof, front yard, and road were empty and quiet. Where had she gone?

Going back to the door I shouted down,

"Alice, Carmen, she's gone. Check the back yard and the garage she might be hiding out in there somewhere. I can't see her out the front."

"How on earth did she get out?"

I shrugged in answer to Alice's question.

You sure she went of her own free will Esme?"

"Yes Garrett there's no scent of anyone else and it looks like she put some clothes on thank God. How would I explain a naked child escaping from the house?"

I joined the others outside but Kat was nowhere to be found, where had she gone? More to the point how was I going to explain losing her to the others?