Nestled in the deep woods not even a mile from the Calawah river sat Carlisle Cullen's isolated three story manor. It was an ugly rectangular thing that perched on the side of the incline like a giant pretentious art piece. Expensive, overindulgent, and bizarre.

The outside was more glass than wall, but they'd tinted it black so I couldn't make out what was going on inside. All the worse, a thick fog hung low over the forest floor dyeing the world a murky grey that made it hard to peer through the trees at my surroundings. Not exactly the best weather for a battle...if it even came to that.

I sat in the police car with my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly my palms were numbing. The gun at my right side dug into my hip but that was normal. It was the wooden stake I'd tucked into my waistband that caused the sharp pain in my side and the knot in my gut.

I put my hand on the door handle with every intention of getting out but I felt frozen in place. I took deep breaths, a nerve steadying technique I hadn't used since the academy. I didn't want to do this. I wanted to drive home and pretend I didn't know anything about the Cullens. But I had to. For Bella.

By the time I'd gathered my courage and gotten out of the car I could just make out the silhouette of a man walking down the front steps of the house. I put my hand close to my gun but a laugh cut through the thick haze and sent a chill through me.

"There's hardly any need for that," said a voice through the fog. "Hardly."

"Doctor Cullen."

"Chief Swan." His voice was calm but curious as he stopped in front of me, his posture in the defensive but his hands shoved lazily in the pockets of his tailored slacks. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"This isn't a social call," I tried to keep my voice steady and authoritative, but the way he stared at me unblinking almost crushed my resolve. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand and the sweat begin beading at my brow.

If this thing in front of me was a vampire, he must have been powerful. And if he was half as strong as the strength alluded from his mere presence, then Jenks had been right to be scared.

"Then what type of call is it Charlie?" His voice dipped a little, not weary or afraid but more daring.

"It's about you and your family."

"Oh?"

"You and your family moved here two years ago, correct?"

"Yes. From Alaska."

"I have reason to believe that information about you and your family is false."

He stared for a moment, probably contemplating just how much I knew. All the while my right hand itched in anticipation for the slightest sign he would attack.

"What are you saying exactly, Charlie?"

"I'm saying that the story you tell to the people around here is a lie."

His hands came out of his pockets. Empty. "What makes you say that?"

"I ran a background check on you and your family. There are no records of your children ever attending the middle schools that are on file at Forks High School. There's no record of any of the children being adopted anywhere in the country. Nor is there records of any of you being born in the time and place you say you were."

"And how did you come about this information?"

"Police business."

"Ah, we're under investigation by the Forks Police Department then?"

When I didn't answer right away he arched one of his perfect blonde eyebrows and said, "I see, we're under investigation by you personally. May I ask, on what grounds?"

"On the grounds that I think you're responsible for the murders happening in these woods."

"Murder? The police claimed it was merely an animal attack."

"You know that it wasn't"

"I see. This is an unauthorized investigation perpetrated by a rogue cop who violated my family's privacy without a warrant because he has a vendetta against my son for dating his daughter. You have no proof, no witnesses, no probable cause, only some fanatical idea about murders that are not even on public record. Not to be rude but if you continue this illegal breach of protocol I will call my lawyer."

"You know an awful lot about law."

"You'd be surprised how well versed I am when it comes to legal matters."

He turned around to walk back toward his home, certain that I was scared enough to leave well enough alone.

My voice was unsteady as I said, "I know what you are."

He stopped in his tracks and looked back over one broad shoulder. "And what is that, exactly?" He turned back to me, his face still a cool white mask through the fog, but his eyes were sharper and more focused.

"You're...not human. Your son got hit by that van. I saw the indention, it didn't come from my daughter's car. The dead campers are all marked with puncture wounds and scratch marks--neither come from any animal the coroner has ever seen. Either Bigfoot became a psychopath or..."

"Or what?" His voice was strangely forceful and I almost stumbled back under it's sudden hostility. My hand itched again, ready to draw. "Say it Charlie. Say the word."

As if compelled I obliged. "Vampire."

"You're far more astute than you look, Chief." Through the fog I could see a wide grin playing at the corners of his mouth. When his lips parted his fangs peeked out at me. I almost fell over from light-headedness but I kept my ground and placed a hand over my pistol.

"There's no need for violence," he said with a sly laugh that rose up over the forest. "I have no intention of hurting you."

"Tell that to Brent Olson, Jermaine Harkins, Doyle Burton, Wilbert Adams, Mitchell Pearson, or Waylon Forge."

"Who?"

Rage boiled over in my gut. "All the people you've killed! All the people whose loved ones had to go to the morgue and identify their mutilated bodies! All the lives you've destroyed!"

"The campers? That wasn't us." He shrugged.

"Don't tell me it wasn't you! There are bodies littered from here to Seattle. All of them torn apart. All of them marked with fangs."

"It's probably just another coven of vampires."

"What?"

"You didn't think we were the only ones did you?" His chuckle was condescending. "Maybe you are as dumb as you look."

I drew my gun, my hand conforming firmly to the familiar grip but by the time I blinked Carlisle Cullen had closed the gap between us and was standing before me with his chest pushed up against the barrel--his golden eyes staring through me but still as calm as ever.

"Are you planning on shooting me Charlie?" He said in that obnoxious way of his. "Go ahead. Though I warn you, when I get up--and I will--your life will be forfeit."

I swallowed the fear in my throat as he smiled again. He was amused by me.

I lowered the gun slowly, but kept my hands firm. "Very good," he said. "My family and I choose not to harm humans."

"Bullshit."

"There's that glimpse of intelligence again." He gave me another fang-baring grin. "Fine then, my family and I keep a low profile when it comes to harming humans."

"Like eating my daughter?"

"Edward is very fond of her blood but has no desire to kill her just yet."

"And the rest of your family?"

"Two vampire can't feed from the same human at the same time. They'd either die from the toxic mix of venom from each vampire or go mad from being compelled by each vampire."

"And you think I'll just let him keep using her as a personal drinking fountain?"

"I don't think you can stop him. You're daughter is already under Edward's compulsion and compulsion can only be broken if the vampire is dies or there has been sufficient time away from the vampire's control." He backed away from me slightly but kept his distance within arms reach in case I tried anything. "Bella is special to us, Charlie."

"What's the hell does that mean?"

"She's different from any other human I've ever seen. She has power--somewhere, somehow. We need her."

"You can't have her."

"That wasn't a request."

"You'll have to kill me first."

"Don't temp me," he said with a surprising amount of dispassion. "I pride myself on self-control. Anyway that won't be necessary. She already belongs to us."

"No she doesn't. She's still at home every night safe in her bed. I'm going to keep it that way."

"Safe in her bed? Are you so sure?" The smile he gave me was so self-satisfied that I wanted to punch him in his cold dead face. A thought occurred to me then.

"Where is Edward?"

"With the rest of my family. I suspect your daughter's with them too. You probably should have watched her more carefully."

Before I could react he had run off into the woods, disappearing into the soft glow of twilight. "Fuck!"

I'd fallen for his ploy. The Cullen patriarch had been nothing but a diversion while the others had taken Bella. I ran back to the police car and started the engine.

When I pulled into the driveway Bella's truck was missing and the only sign that it had been there at all was a light oil stain on the concrete. I ran inside to a house so still it felt like time had stopped. "Bella!"

There was no haughty answer or cursing my name--I didn't even hear any movement. I ran upstairs and into her bedroom. The room had not changed in the hour I was gone. Her dresser and closet were still full of clothes and it looked like she had left with nothing but the clothes on her back.

"Shit!"

I ran downstairs again and got halfway out of the door before I realized I needed a picture of her. Most of mine were from when she was a little squirt with chubby cheeks and short soft arms. Maybe she had a picture of herself that was more recent.

I ran back upstairs. When I pushed the door open I was affronted and confused. There on top of her bed was a man. He was sitting among a pile of dirty laundry that hadn't been there moments before. He had a handful of it pressed gently into his face, his eyes closed as if he were in deep concentration. He inhaled deeply, letting a soft moan escape his lips as he exhaled.

"What the hell!" I heard myself say.

When he heard my voice his dark red eyes snapped open and a slow smile spread across his face.

I pulled my gun from the holster and aimed for the man but he had disappeared. The room grew quiet as I looked around, gun first. The sound of aging wood creaked in the corner. I turned...but nothing was there. I walked out of Bella's room with my gun at attention.

The hallway was clear, but the light had dimmed slightly as the darkness of night creep further over the sky. I heard another sound from behind and turned to fire, but it was nothing but my imagination it seemed. I was about to give up and leave when I felt the flush of a cool breeze over the back of my neck.

"The snack's daddy," his deep smooth voice echoed in my ear. "Cute."

I felt his arm hit me in the middle of my back and out of nowhere I was flying across the hall. I landed back first at the top of the stairs looking up just in time to see him lunging at me. I flung myself down the stairs before his fist could collide with the floor where I had lay seconds before.

When I landed on the first floor I didn't take the time to get my bearings but instead aimed at the top of the staircase and fired three times. Two bullets struck him, he fell back against their power and gripped his shattered jaw. He looked at me with rage but before he got up I fired again hitting him once in the chest and twice in the face.

One of the bullets struck his right eye and his hands reached up to cup his blood filled socket. His scream shook the house and his curses almost knocked me over but I managed to get up and run out of there while he was writhing in pain..

I flung myself into the driver's seat of the police cruiser without another thought and sped away from the house. I got on the radio. "Doris."

"Yeah, Charlie?"

"I need you to issue an Amber Alert."

"Who's missing?"

"Bella."

There was a pause. She had known Bella. She'd come to the hospital to congratulate Renee and me when Bella was born--had watched her grow. I snapped her out of it. "Doris!"

"I'm contacting the department as we speak. What was she wearing?"

"A dark green top with branch patterns. It might have a hood on it but I'm not sure. She's got on a pair of blue jeans and a pair of brown boots."

"Got it."

"They're in the Chevy. It's a 1963 Stepside C-10. It's red but the paint is fading. It's registered in my name. I want every officer from here to Florida on the look-out. I'm going to be out of range of the radio so if you get word contact me on my cell phone."

"Okay Charlie."