A/N: New chapters for my stories are instantly updated to my P atreon, under the same username, as soon as I finish writing them! I will still post new chapters here, just much slower as I'm putting all my focus on P atreon. I really appreciate all the support I've received from this site, which is why I will not stop posting here, just slowing down. I keep an updated list of the chapters I've posted so far on P atreon on my profile, just so you guys know what to look forward to when I eventually post them here ^^
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I went straight home after school, listening to Alice's ominous warning and wanting to know exactly what she meant. While I would have preferred to go over to the Cullen's to hang out with them, it would have felt weird to not have Edward there. The house would have felt too silent, too empty without him. So, even though I wouldn't have minded to hangout with either Alice or Emmett, I went straight home just like Charlie wanted me to, just so I could avoid the uncomfortable quiet the Cullen house would have. I just hoped Jane and Heidi didn't have bad news.
When I finally got home, I was very thankful Charlie wasn't there. He was still on shift, so I had some time to just be there with the two vampires while not having to worry about Charlie hearing me talk to someone that shouldn't have been there.
I found them both upstairs in my room, Jane was staring stoically out the window, ever on guard, and Heidi was lounging on my bed. A part of me was confident she was trying to mentally invite me to lay next to her. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the ever-persistent vampire. But what actually made me hesitate to walk further into me room, to even just put my backpack down on my desk to start on my homework, was the serious look Heidi had. It made me nervous.
"Hey." I greeted, "What's up?" I hesitantly asked. A small part of me was preparing to hear the Volturi wanted me to go back to Italy, that they felt I had had more than enough time in Forks to finish what I wanted and it was time to leave.
"We've found out some bad news." Heidi said as she moved to lean against the headboard instead of lying on the bed.
Before Bella could question anything, Jane took over with a roll of her eyes. Heidi was always one for the dramatics. She liked to drag things out as if life was a television show and Heidi was wanting to drag out everything to keep the audience in suspense. It was annoying.
"Victoria is lurking in Seattle." Jane said as she turned towards me, giving me her full attention, "It appeared she was in the middle of changing a few people but she killed them before their change could be finished." Jane said with a frown.
From what the Cullen's told me, changing someone was a lot of responsibility. Why would she try to change more than one person at a time? Why would she even be around here if the Cullen's, and now the Volturi guard, were in town?
"What does that mean?" I asked, really wondering what it meant for me. I knew the trouble the Cullen's had with James, and the trouble the pack had with Laurent, would Victoria then be trouble for me and the Volturi?
A sneer crossed over Jane's face at the question, "It means Victoria is walking a fine line between keeping her life and me moving to end it."
I couldn't stop my eyes from widening. After being around the Cullen's, it was odd to hear someone mention killing someone so casually and with the conviction Jane had. I had no doubt she would have no problems following through on the threat.
"We won't interfere until she gives us a reason to." Heidi said, sounding entirely unconcerned about what the redhead may be up to. "If she behaves and doesn't do anything illegal, we will leave her alone but if she keeps 'accidently'," Heidi used hand air quotes to express how little she believed in the word she was using, "Changing people, then we will be forced to end her as it would only be a matter of time before she attracts unwanted attention. As it is, she's already attracted too much."
I was about to ask what she meant by Victoria having too much attention, but the phone ringing interrupted anything I was about to say.
"I'll be right back, I have to get that." It could be Charlie calling, he would know I should be home and if I didn't answer, I could get in trouble.
"Of course, we'll wait here." Jane said before turning her attention back towards the woods.
I turned around and left, very much able to feel Heidi's eyes on me and couldn't help but become self-conscious of how I was walking because of the eyes I could feel on me.
"Hello?" I answered, momentarily wishing Charlie would get me a cell phone so I didn't have to go to the very much wired in landline. I was pretty sure Charlie had to be one of the last people in the state that still have a landline that was still connected via a long cord.
"Hey Bells," Charlie greeted with a weary voice, "I'm afraid I have some bad news. There's some missing people up in Seattle and they asked me to go over to help. So, I won't be home for dinner, I may be there for a few days to help out."
Missing bodies? That had to be the people the two vampires in my room were telling me about. If the police were already getting involved, didn't that mean Victoria had too much attention as is?
"Are you sure you need to go there?" I asked, worried about my dad being where a clearly homicidal vampire was that had no qualms about killing humans. "Don't they have enough of their own people there to investigate? They are a much bigger city after all." I added.
Charlie chuckled at my question and that didn't bode well, "Yeah, they have plenty of people but one of the missing people is from Forks, so we decided to send some of our guys to help out. Port Angeles is sending a couple of theirs too to help."
Multiple cities sending people to help? Didn't that mean the situation was worse than they were telling the media, or in this case what Charlie was telling me? If it involved vampires, which the media and Charlie didn't know, it was always worse than what they knew.
"If they need that much help, shouldn't someone besides the Police Chief go over?" I asked in one last ditch effort to try and change his mind. "You should be here in Forks, you can send a few of your regular officers to go to Seattle instead."
Charlie only laughed at me again, "Bella, stop worrying so much. I get that you're worried but I promise nothing will happen to me. I'll only being going there to ask questions and look at the lab results of some of the evidence they have found. I won't be in any danger at all and I'll only even be there for a weeks tops."
"Yeah, I guess it sounds like nothing will happen to you." I said in a smaller voice than I was willing to admit I had. I felt Heidi appear behind me and felt her hand on my shoulder in a show of silent support. I was a lot more grateful for that act alone, the reminder that she and Jane were both there for me, than I thought I would be. "Just, promise to be safe please." I said, completely worried about what would happen to him. I doubted anything would, but with the supernatural, you could never tell.
"I will be, and don't worry, I'll be home in a week and it'll be like I never left." Charlie said with a clear smile in his voice.
With a frown, I hung up the phone. I just couldn't help but shake the feeling something bad was going to happen and that there would be nothing I could do.