125AN: Thank you all so much for your reviews and encouragement.
A big thank you to a couple people. Sweetgirl57 betas this for me. Thank you for the work, the patience, and the suggestions you offered. Brier Lynn Rose has held my hand and read over parts of it. Thank you for helping me along the way.
And the usual: Stephenie Meyer owns the characters. The plot and mistakes are mine.
Chapter 7
The pink and orange of the twilight sky cast a golden hue upon the street. Edward squeezed Bella's hand as they approached the Lincoln Park home of Dr. Carlisle Cullen, an 1800s grey stone mansion just blocks from the lake. He gave a tentative knock on the door. Seconds later the door swung open, and a tall blond man stood before them.
"Edward! It's wonderful to see you!" The man pulled Edward into a hug.
Edward stood stiffly at first, but then wrapped his arms around the other man. "Michael."
"I go by my Mike now," he smiled. "Who's your friend?" Mike winked at Bella.
Bella giggled. She wondered where that came from.
Edward grimaced. "Mike, this is Bella. Bella, Mike."
"Nice to meet you," they said at the same time, then laughed together.
Edward looked between the two of them and cleared his throat. "Is Carlisle in?"
"He's in his study. This way." Mike took Bella's arm and wrapped it around his.
Edward quietly growled as he looked at their connected arms.
Mike smiled almost imperceptibly as he led them through the spacious and impeccably decorated living room toward the closed door of Carlisle's office. Just as he was about to knock on the door, Carlisle called out to them.
"Come in." He stood as Edward entered.
In the meantime, Mike gently guided Bella toward the living room.
"Edward, son, it's so good to see you."
"Carlisle." Edward nodded.
"How have you been?"
"I'm fine."
"Good. Good to hear. You have not been around lately."
"I've been," Edward paused, "busy."
"I see." Carlisle looked into Edward's pale red eyes and sighed sadly.
The silence between them became uncomfortable. Edward cleared his throat. "I'm here in hope that you might be able to help us."
"Of course, anything you need. What can I do for you?"
"It appears one of our kind has been attacking young women throughout the city. Have you heard anything? Is there anyone new to the city?"
Carlisle moved around his desk toward Edward. "There are others always passing through the city. I do not think there are any who set down roots. I have read the newspaper reports. What makes you believe it is a vampire preying on these women?"
"They've all been drained of blood with no sign of being harmed."
Carlisle's eyes widened in surprise. "What an interesting piece of evidence to keep from the public."
He looked off into the distance while tapping his finger to his lips. "As I said there are always others, mostly nomads, passing through. I am not familiar with any who have decided to take up a permanent residence. I shall make a few queries."
Edward nodded. "I appreciate it."
"Now tell me about this friend you brought along with you." Carlisle said as they walked out of the room.
*****RTTD*****
"I should probably stay with Edward," Bella said as Mike led her back toward the living room.
"Nonsense. They haven't seen each other in quite some time. They should have a few moments alone," Mike replied as he directed Bella to a rich white suede couch that bordered a thick plush Persian rug.
Mike sat down with about a foot of space between the two of them. He turned toward Bella and entreated, "So how do you know Edward?"
"We met several years ago when I was chasing someone down."
"Why were you chasing someone?"
"I'm a detective with the Chicago PD. Well, then, I was a beat cop. A guy had mugged a woman on the street and took off with her computer bag. I was chasing after him. He was ahead of me by about half a block when he slipped into a breezeway between buildings. As I caught up and ran through, I saw Edward pinning him against the wall of one of the buildings."
Bella thought back to that day.
Edward turned his head in her direction as she exited the breezeway. He was tall and beautiful with strangely black eyes and deep red lips. She stumbled ahead as she tried to come to a dead stop. She stared. He stared. The perp cried out for help.
Bella squeezed her eyes tight and opened them back up to clear her mind. She turned her attention to the perp and stepped forward.
"Chicago PD," she said as she approached, though it was obvious by her uniform. "Step back sir, I'll take it from here."
The left side of his mouth crept up into a smile. "Yes, ma'am," he remarked, then stepped back.
As Bella approached she noticed blood on the perp's neck. Looking back at Edward, she realized that he didn't just have dark red lips. They were covered in blood.
"Listen, sir, I need you to stay right there while I take care of him," she commanded as she began to cuff the man now slouching against the wall. She guided him to sit on the ground, then turned toward Edward.
"You probably want this," Edward smiled as he handed the computer bag to her.
"Thank you," she responded sternly. "Now tell me what was going on here! Why is his neck bleeding? Why was there blood on your lips?"
Edward looked down at the ground, chagrined.
"Well, you see, I -"
Bella cut him off. "I'm not in the mood for any bullshit! Did you bite him?"
Edward hemmed and hawed. "Yes?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
Edward laughed. Bella scowled at him.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth," he said through his smile.
"Try me!"
He furrowed his brow as his gaze fell toward Bella's breasts.
"Hey, asshole, my eyes are up here," she called as she snapped her fingers at him.
"Sorry," he gulped. He looked at the man on the ground. The blood on his neck was clotting. Edward gulped again.
"Well, you see, I'm a vampire, you know, the undead."
Bella rolled her eyes. "Oh give me a fucking break! Are you one of those LARPers, trying to make yourself feel real?"
She stepped into Edward's personal space. "Listen-, What's your name?"
"Edward."
"Listen, Edward, you're gonna have to come with me. You seem like a good guy so I hope you don't plan to struggle. I won't hesitate to put you down."
She reached for her second set of handcuffs while looking him in the eyes. In a blink he was gone.
Mike cleared his throat. "So how much do you know about us?'
"I know Edward has his secrets, but I think he's always been honest with me about who he is."
'That's interesting."
"What is?" Bella asked.
"Edward usually keeps everything about himself close to the vest. He's not very open with anyone," Mike replied.
"We've become very close," Bella said.
"I can see that."
They sat in silence for a few moments until Mike began speaking again.
"Has he ever told you about his 90s grunge look?"
Bella gasped, eyes wide. "No, he hasn't."
"I'm sure you can see how he always seems to be noticed by everyone around him, especially women."
Bella nodded.
"Well, we were living just outside of Seattle in '91. He was determined to fit in and go unnoticed, so he decided to adopt the grunge look that had taken over the area. By the time we were there, it had become more than just an underground style. Everyone was doing it. He wore plaid shirts over tees, ripped jeans, and Doc Martens. He thought he would surely be invisible."
"That man could never be invisible!" Bella softly laughed.
"Oh, but Bella, never forget that he is not a man. He is a vampire, and a deadly one at that."
Mike went on to share Edwards more embarrassing moments of being propositioned nearly everywhere he went. Bella recalled how women and men seemed to always give him a once over wherever they went. It was disheartening to think about the attention he constantly received. At once she felt sad for Edward's inability to just blend in and also sad for herself as she wondered how he really felt about that attention.
"Okay, okay, you look like you're thinking way too hard about something. I think it's time to lighten the mood," Mike said as he patted her thigh.
Bella suddenly realized they were much closer than they had been when they sat down.
Mike lifted his eyes in thought.
"I got just the thing!" He laughs to himself then continues. "A linguistics professor says during a lecture that, "In English, a double negative forms a positive. But in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, in no language in the world can a double positive form a negative." But then a voice from the back of the room piped up, 'Yeah, right.'"
Bella laughs and Mike joins in, their knees touching as they are angled toward one another. Mike once again pats her thigh.
Bella scooted away from him. "I wonder how long Edward will be."
Edward and Carlisle could hear Mike and Bella talking and laughing. Edward smiled when Bella said his name. As they entered the room, Bella turned, as if she could sense he was there. She stood and took a step toward him.
"Bella," Edward said as he reached out to her, "please meet my father, Carlisle."
"It's very nice to meet you, Carlisle," Bella said as she held out her hand to shake his.
"The pleasure is mine, Bella." He took her hand in both of his.
Bella's phone rang, pulling her away from the newly reunited family. "Swan," she answered.
"We have another body," Emmett informed her.
"Where?" She asked.
"North Center, Six Corners – Irving at Lincoln and Damen."
"On my way."
Bella returned to the three preternaturally beautiful men to inform them that she needed to leave. Heading out, Edward came up silently behind her. "I'll come with you," he said.
She nodded and they quickly went to her car.
Arriving at the location behind a restaurant, they found the body of a young white woman, dark hair and eyes, much like the previous victims.
Alice was leaning over the body. It was askew. Whereas the other bodies appeared to be carefully placed, this one was off, one arm akimbo and hair shambles above her head. "Did anyone move this body before I got here?"
Heads shook and a murmured "no" came from the officers on the scene.
Alice stood as Bella and Edward approached. "Looks like another CoEd. Not dead long, I'd say close to 12 hours." Alice informed them.
"What else do we know?" Bella asks.
"She appears to be exsanguinated. Young adult woman. The uniforms are searching for any kind of identification," Alice responds. "But something's off. Perhaps he was scared off before displaying her as the others, or someone else has moved her."
Bella knelt and looked over the body without touching it.
Edward, who had been listening to the officers, looked toward Bella. He stepped next to her and leaned close. "You know this was done by a vampire, right?" He whispered.
Bella nodded.
"Hey, we found something," a uniformed officer called out.
Bella and Edward stepped over to see what they found. The officer held up a wallet. "It was on the ground laying open just down the alley. Looks like it was dropped."
Edward pulled a set of gloves out of his pocket, put them on, then took the wallet. He looked through it, seeing money, credit cards, driver's license, and student ID. "Angela Weber," he read. "She was from downstate, attending Northwestern."
Bella looked at the smiling face of the young woman who lay dead on the ground behind her. "We need to figure out who saw her last." Checking the time on her phone, Bella said, "if we're fast, we might be able to get a warrant for her college records before the university's offices close for the day."
"Alice, call me when you have any more info for me," Bella called as she and Edward headed over to her car.
"Will do!"
AN: As always tell me what you liked, or didn't like, what was great or what needs improvement. I appreciate all your comments. I didn't respond to the last chapter's comments, but I'll be back to responding to the ones for this chapter. I'm always thrilled to know that people are enjoying this.