A/N: Okay, somehow I managed to write this whole chapter without taking a long break. I know my last chapter wasn't too long, but hopefully this chapter makes up for it. I hope no one is getting bored with this story. I am starting to put some action in here. Anyways, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Twilight.
Chapter 10: A New Threat
Although the week may have been the longest time for the Swans and Cullens, time after that started accelerating. Months was starting to pass as both families kept their distance from each other. The Cullens of course, did not want this and the kids made several attempts to communicate with the Swan kids but the latter group made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with them and the former group could do nothing but complied. Edward was back to his moping after what happened at the college, but had to limit it to home. There were many times where he was tempted to go and talk to Bella again. In fact there were many times he found himself running towards her, only to stop himself mid-run and force himself to turn back. He had to keep reminding himself to respect Bella's unspoken wishes and only talk to her when she wants to. The same goes with their- her children. He didn't have a right to refer to the hybrids as his kids.
Bella did her best to keep her mind away from Edward, though it was difficult. She wanted so much to go to him and have a talk about their relationship, but she always finds herself holding herself back. She just couldn't go face him after what she's learned.
So time passes peacefully, until the next month comes.
It was a regular day at the Swan household. That's when Allison gets a call.
Thinking it's from Seth, she immediately takes her phone out and looks at the caller I.D. "Hmmm, it's Desiree."
Anthony's head snaps up at the mention of his girlfriend's' name, as Allie answers her phone. "Hey Des, what's up?"
"Hey Allie. I just wanted to let you know that I won't be able to come with you, Bella, Nessie, Lilly and Mia to our shopping trip to Seattle." Des said with regret in her voice.
"What?! Why? We had this planned for months!" Allie exclaimed indignantly. For her and Lilly, anyone missing out on a shopping trip is committing a serious crime.
"Don't get mad at her!" A.J hissed to his sister, coming to his girlfriend's' defense.
"Calm down! I'm not mad at her!" Allie hissed back before listening to Des' response.
"My parents aren't letting me go. They said it's not safe in Seattle with the current situation."
"What current situation?" Allie asked. Both she and A.J were confused at that.
"Haven't you guys been watching the news?"
"No. For us news is just same old."
"Well, check channel six."
Anthony did just that and the two of them watched as the headlines appear.
THE TERROR OF ANIMAL ATTACKS CONTINUES IN SEATTLE AS THE NUMBER OF MISSING PEOPLE RISES
"Animal attacks…" Anthony mutters. Something was telling him that that there was more to this.
Allie got the same feeling. "Guys! Guys! Family regrouping in the living room! Right now! It's urgent!" She yelled, setting her phone on the table with Des still on the other line. A second later the rest of the family gathered together.
"What's wrong?" Bella said, her protective instincts kicking in.
"Check the news." Was A..J's only reply.
Bella, E.J, Lilly, Mason and Mia looked at the screen to see the news reporter discussing the increased animal attacks. All of them were thinking the same thing. 'This is more than an animal attack.'
"Hello?" A voice called out, getting A.J's attention. He looked to Allie's phone which still had Des on and immediately picked it up.
"Hey, Des I'm here." He said.
"A.J, those attacks in Seattle, they're not caused by animals, are they?" Des asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question. Clearly she could also sense something more happening.
"Well... i-it could be. But there is nothing out of the ordinary being reported. We don't know for sure." A.J responded with hesitation. He and his family had a very strong hunch that it is definitely more than an animal attack and they have never been wrong with their hunches before. But he doesn't want to worry his girlfriend, but at the same time, he has a very hard time lying to her.
"There is one way of finding out." E.J said getting up. The others were wondering what he meant by that as he went to open the window. Bella immediately appeared in front of her eldest son and closed the window.
"Edward Jacob Swan, you are not going to Seattle to investigate." Bella said sternly, staring her son down.
The others winced at E.J's full name being said. They knew how much the boy hates it, but Bella is the only one who can get away with saying it. And right now, it's definitely emphasising her point.
"Mom I know you don't want any of us to put ourselves in danger, but we need to know what's going on and we all know I'm the best option for a spy. My animal forms can mask my true scent and I'll be out of anyone's reaches." E.J said, He mentally pleaded with his siblings to back him up.
Lillian spoke up. "I hate to admit it, Mom, but E.J has a point. If this threat moves to Port Angeles, then we need to be prepared."
"And if we are right about this then the Volturi will definitely be involved." Renesmee reasoned.
At the mention of the Volturi, Bella lost her stance. She may not know them personally, but she has heard enough from Ed-him to know that she could not let anyone from her family be anywhere near the Volturi.
Still, she was very reluctant to let E.J go off by himself.
Mia noticed this and got a solution. "I'll go with him." She offered joining the two of them by the window,
"Mia." Mason said, getting up. He did not like the idea of his mate getting involved.
Mia cut him off before he could object. "Hear me out. I go with E.J we just take one quick sweep around Seattle, find out what's going on and come back. Don't forget my special ability. I can fly around with E.J as a bird and if, if we run into any trouble I can back him up."
"That is a good idea." Anthony piped in. He noticed Masen's glare. "Don't look at me like that. It is true! She does have my ability to produce fire in a second!"
"And my ability to manipulate people against their will." Lilly said.
"And my ability to create sound distortions." Allie piped in.
"Okay, I get it!" Masen said, though he still wasn't any happier about the plan.
E.J turned back to his mom. "Mom, please. You know as well as the rest of us, we need to find out what's going on."
A few seconds later, Bella's shoulders sagged and she gave out a sigh. Reluctantly, she moved away from the window. "You both get one day for this. One day. Not more than that. Whether you find something or not, if both of you aren't back by midnight tomorrow, we will come and find you. Both of you keep your minds open so that Lilly, Allie, Mason and A.J are updated by your whereabouts at all times. You two are only going to go there to observe not to confront. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Mia and E.J said.
"Please, don't make me regret this." Bella begged in a low voice. She would never forgive herself if anything would happen to anyone in her family.
"I would never hurt you like that." E.J responded, hugging his mom. He would never want to leave his mom or his siblings, but he knew that something is going on his Seattle, something that could put his whole family at risk and he needs to find out what,
Mia went to her husband and held his face in her hands. She wasn't saying anything to him, but was clearly communicating to him mentally. Mason gave a reluctant nod and the two shared a brief kiss.
Then the two of them went to hug their other siblings before they left. "You do know Leah is not going to be happy when she finds out what you're doing, right?" Lilly said to E.J after they hugged.
"That's putting it lightly." E.J said before hugging Renesmee.
As soon as they said their goodbyes to everyone, E.J and Mia went to the window, morphed into eagles and flew out.
"Lillian to Eagle 1 and 2, report." Lillian said in her mental link.
"Eagle 1 present." E.J confirmed.
"Eagle 2 present." Mia said.
Bella turned to the rest of her kids. "I want you guys to keep a tab on them at all times and report to me no matter. Understand?"
"Way ahead of you." Mason said, still looking out at the window. The other three nodded.
"Don't worry, Bella. Mia and E.J are two very tough, stealthy individuals. If anyone can pull off a recon mission, it's them." Des reassured, still on the phone.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Des." Bella said to the phone, managing a small smile.
"I'll take that." Allie said, snatching her phone from A.J's hand.
"Hey! I still want to talk to Des!" Anthony objected.
"You have your own phone, don't you? If I let you take my phone, I'm never getting it back. And I need to call Seth." Allie said, putting the phone to her ear. "Hey Des, I'm hanging up now so A.J can call you." She said while A.J grumbled as he pulled out his phone.
"Okay, talk to you later Allie. Keep me updated as well, Bye!"
Hours flew by until night time came, before E.J and Mia reached Seattle, thanks to their enhanced speed. They surveyed the place through a bird's eye view at all times, hoping to catch any clue.
"Still nothing. If this keeps up, we're going to have to fly on a low-level to get better visual." E.J reported to the rest of his siblings.
"I just told mom about this. She said to only fly down if you're one hundred percent sure you can't find anything." Renesmee replied.
"Got it." Mia said.
The two of them flew up a while longer keeping a sharp eye out. When they still couldn't find anything, they were about to agree to fly lower, when Mia spotted something from the corner of her eye.
"Wait! I see something 9 o'clock!" She alerted the others.
E.J looked in that direction. "I see it too. Coming in for a landing."
The two pigeons (A/N: I know earlier it's written that they turned into eagles, but before they arrived to Seattle they decided to morph into pigeons to be less conspicuous) landed a safe distance where they could see and hear what's going on. They kept their minds open for the others to see as well and report to Bella.
What they were watching was a crowd of people gathered in one area causing a commotion, which normally wouldn't be too out of the ordinary except for the fact that they were in an isolated area and they were all gathered around a car which clearly shows signs of an attack. And if one was to squint and look at the ground they were on, that person would be able to see a pool of blood.
During the commotion, one man, a young boy around E.J and Mia's age, stood on top of the overturned car and got everyone's attention, clearly angry at them. "Hey! WHAT did I say about staying hidden?!" Everyone stopped and looked at him. It was clear to E.J and Mia that this guy was the leader of their group as no one dared to speak up. The guy took a deep breath and started to calm down. "Something is coming. Something bigger than all of us. And if you can't control yourselves, we're all going to die." He took another pause, before speaking. "What's done is done. Just clean up your mess." He said, before jumping down from the car.
"Now we know what happened to the missing people." Mia said.
"Unfortunately yes. And I was really hoping we were wrong." E.J said.
"We all were. Also, mom said to get out of there now that we have our answers." Anthony informs them.
"Roger that." Mia and E.J said, They flew upwards and were about to fly off when something else caught their eyes. They looked on top of one of the buildings and saw four people there also looking at the scene below them.
"Guys, are you seeing what we're seeing?" Mia asked.
"We can and something is definitely off about this." Mason replied.
"No kidding. There are four people standing on a rooftop at night looking down at a group of people, who are linked to the missing people in Seattle and not one of them is showing the slightest bit of fear." Allie piped in.
"Come on, Mia. We need to find out more." E.J said as he lead her to the wire close to the building.
"Mom doesn't like this, but she says to be careful." Renesmee said.
They perched themselves on a wire, making sure to look away from the four people while keeping their ears open.
"They've already drawn so much attention." One of them, the shortest boy said.
"So has our inaction." A taller guy said. "Some are beginning to question the Volturi's effectiveness."
"The Volturi?" All six hybrids and one vampire echoed telepathically.
"Let them." The only girl of the group, who was the same height as the first boy, simply said.
The larger, more muscular turned his back on the scene below him. "Maybe we should consult with Aro." He suggested before walking off. A second later, he was on his knees clutching his head in pain, much to Mia and E.J's shock. The other three didn't seem to bothered by his turmoil, as if they knew what was going on.
"Aro's decisions are not safe." The girl explained calmly. "We must decide."
"Then decide, sister." The boy her height said to her.
"Uh, guys? I may have let it slip to mom that these guys are from the Volturi and now she's demanding you both to leave NOW! Please do." Mason pleaded.
Reluctantly, E.J and Mia flew away. They wanted to find out more of what was going on, but knew that it would do no good if they make Bella more worried than she already was. After some flying, they landed in a forest halfway between Seattle and Port Angeles and morphed into lions.
"Okay, we've landed in a forest, a safe distance away from Seattle, and are now lions. E.J's going to get some sleep while I'm staying guard. We're going to hunt first thing in the morning before we come back." Mia reported.
"Copy that. And I speak for all of us here when I say 'Please stay safe and out of trouble and keep us updated tomorrow as well." Lillian said.
"Got it, goodnight everyone." E.J said yawning.
"Good night." The others replied.
"Mia…" Mason started to ask, before Mia replied.
"Don't worry, M.J. My mind will be open to you at all times." Mia reassured.
"You're the best."
A/N: I know I'm changing the timings of the events from the movie a little in this story, but I feel like I can work with it. Also I hope I didn't make E.J and Mia's departure scene too dramatic. For me it feels like the appropriate reaction in that family. What do you guys think. Please review this story. I like to know how my story is, even if it's not positive. Just remember, constructive criticisms and suggestions for improvements are welcome here, but insults are not. If you don't like it, ignore this story all together.