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14

Someone hands me a glass of water. I gulp it greedily while Esme opens a window to give me some air. Once my glass is empty, Jasper coaches me through some focused breathing exercises to slow my still-racing heart.

I'm unsure how much time passes, but eventually, the calm I so desperately need finds me. Alice sits beside me on the Cullens' couch, her cool hand covering mine. I shouldn't feel any comfort from it, but I do. The coolness of her skin is centering in a way I wasn't expecting.

"I know you don't know us well, Bella," she says, "but we're here for you. We want to help you, and we want to help you find Edward."

"But how?" I rasp.

On the far end of the sofa, Jasper leans forward, his hands clasped between his knees. He looks past Alice to me. "You have to understand, we're not human. We have … heightened senses. We're able to see, hear, and smell things humans cannot. In the alley, in the woods, I could smell many things. I could tell you exactly where you'd been, where Edward was when he was attacked, in which direction you'd been taken, and … I could smell that it was vampires that attacked you both that night."

I close my eyes and shake my head. Bursts of disjointed, painful memories from that night flash behind my eyelids.

So much pain.

I open my eyes and look around the room. "But how could there still be any trace of me or anyone else after so long? I don't understand."

Carlisle chooses that moment to interject. "Bella, as Jasper said, our senses are incredibly sharp. They allow us to seek out our prey, be it animals, or—in the case of other vampires—humans." I cringe, but he continues. "But we're acutely aware of the presence of others of our kind. And the scents we leave behind linger for a very long time. Especially, in a place where there is little to disturb the area where another vampire might have been."

Carlisle looks at Jasper. "What could you determine while you were in the woods?"

"There was more than one. If I'm to trust my senses, there were three of them there that night." Jasper turns my way. "And I also could sense traces of your blood where you woke up."

I furrow my brow and turn to Carlisle. "But you said all my bleeding was internal."

Carlisle smirks. "Yes, well, I couldn't exactly write near exsanguination on your chart, could I?"

"You mean …"

"Your bleeding wasn't internal, Bella," he replies softly.

He turns to Jasper, exchanging another meaningful look with him. Unease settles in my bones.

"It's more than likely," Jasper says, replying to some unspoken question.

Carlisle sighs. Remorse fills his golden eyes. "I have reason to believe …" He hesitates.

"What, Carlisle?" I plead.

"Do you remember the bandaged area on your neck?"

I nod.

"I fear you were taken out there to feed on."