Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Winner Takes All

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 05:

BPOV

“Damn…” I whispered, standing next to Bosco.

“Yeah. It’s a mess. At least we can recognize her. Tiffany Pruitt. 22 years old. Waitress. No boyfriend, no nearby family.”

“First apartment killing. Door wasn’t busted in. She let him in.”

“Yep. Hand stamp shows she was at a dance club last night 6 blocks away last night and we got something else.” He said while I stared at the naked mutilated young girl lying on her bed with a bloody symbol on the wall over her headboard.

“Please tell me a connection has been found.”

“Not personal. But the tech geeks are telling me that the victim’s Facebook accounts show all the girls visited the club she was at last night within a week of their death.”

“He’s a hunter. Now we know his hunting ground.”

“Yep. The problem is that the club is very popular. Thousands go in and out on weekends. Dance club. All types of people get in. Not a very selective cliental. So finding one guy in that is going to be difficult. Hell, half the guys in clubs look like serial killers and stalkers. Half of them probably are.”

Okay then. I looked around the bedroom. Her clothes weren’t ripped. She was planning on having sex with him. She did have sex with him. He got on top and strangled her. Chunks of skin were missing all over her body. It started consensual and turned violent quickly once she was in a position of vulnerability. I am hoping he bit her after he strangled her to death. Nobody should have to feel that. He used the blood from the missing pieces of her to draw his fucking symbol on the wall. The symbol that I still had no idea what it meant.

Carlisle said the man retains characteristics of the wolf even while human.

He felt like hunting even though the full moon wasn’t out. He met girls at this club. Followed them a few days. Learned their patterns quickly, decided when the best time to kill them was and struck. He waited for the full moon the first three times. He must be old to have control like that. To stalk and then to strike brutally as a wolf.

Now he was killing as a human. He stalked Tiffany. He gained her trust and she let him in. He must be good looking. Probably closer to thirty. At least he would appear to be late twenties, early thirties. Charismatic. Good looking. Confident. Also inpatient. He is killing because he likes to kill. Not for blood and not to tame his beast. These aren’t his first. Not by a long shot. But if he left bodies for us to find…

“Bosco, check with Interpol about murders matching these descriptions.”

“This description? Or the other victims?”

“Both. Maybe not the exact same symbol but a symbol in blood. Mangled bodies of young girls who could have been mistaken for a large animal attack, also bodies strangled with pieces chewed off.”

“Let me guess? You want to start the search in Romania?” He grinned.

“Bosco, you are the investigator. I am the fucking profiler. My profile right now says this isn’t new. He has been doing this for a while. He probably didn’t hide the bodies. Since we haven’t noticed, he may have been getting away with it somewhere else. That would be overseas. If you think about places with limited communication with the law enforcement world as a whole, you would think about Eastern Europe. Siberia, Bulgaria, Romania. If you want to make people think you are a werewolf where else would you hang out?”

“Alright Swan. I’ll have a search done. Maybe if we can track his movements he may have slipped up somewhere. But I doubt we will find anything other than he has done it before.”

“We might know nationality. Help us draw closer to the accent of a person if we can figure out where he started. Then can match the end of the killing pattern we find in another country to the beginning of this one. Nationality and time period he flew or sailed in could give us a narrower search window to examine Passports.”

“That’s a fuck load of people no matter how you narrow it down, Bella.”

“Yeah but it is a lot less than what we had before. If we can match killings overseas. Plus we have his hunting grounds.”

“Yeah. Now we just need bait.” Bosco replied.

“We have bait.”

“No. We don’t. Profile Swan. That’s what you do.”

“I’ll just go anyway. You can keep an eye on me if it makes you feel better. Besides with all the girls there, the odds of me catching his attention are small.”

“Unless he has been watching the scenes and knows who you are already.”

I hadn’t thought of that. Either way, it was all we had to go on.

“Get started running the possible overseas connections. I have to go home and get ready.”

“He just killed, Bella. He won’t be looking for a victim tonight.”

“Maybe not. But the next full moon is in three weeks. He didn’t need a moon last night. That means he is stepping it up. I am betting he is already scouting for his next victim. May as well make myself front and center in his line of sight.”

I made it home and took a shower. It helped. I lit a cigarette and poured a glass of red wine.

I briefly thought of calling my would be boyfriends.

Then realized I really wasn’t in the mood. I hadn’t thought about them since I saw that girl lying there torn up on the bed. I didn’t have time for this. I needed to focus on this case. No matter how much I liked both of these guys I needed to focus. Before I had no leads. Now I did. All I had to do was make myself available.

My phone buzzed. I looked down and saw it was Garrett. I didn’t answer.

My phone buzzed again. Peter.

I didn’t answer again.

I finally sent a text to both telling them that I would be working for the next few weeks and wouldn’t have time to go out. We would talk in a few weeks. Who knows? Maybe they will lose interest and take the decision out of my hands. Either way, no matter how much I liked both of them, my job had to come first. Now it was time to take my years of education and the finest training the FBI had to offer and get to work. Walking to my bedroom I grabbed a thong and a silver mini dress, with some three inch heels.

It was time to go clubbing.

Garrett POV

I watched her leave her apartment. Peter and I thought she may have freaked out and ran from us. I should have known better.

She was going out on another date.

“She certainly didn’t dress like that for our dates, did she?” Peter said behind me.

“It would have been strange if she had, considering the places we took her.”

“I don’t understand. She should have been freaked out by us being vampires. She wasn’t. Now that I think about some of the things she said on our date it is obvious she knew all along. Then she confronts us. And now… we get the brush off text?”

“I don’t think it was a brush off. A brush off is thinking you are getting a threesome with your wife and a hot blonde and then find out that you weren’t invited. She just said she would get back with us in a few weeks. We should give her space. She probably needs to process the whole vampire thing. You think the whole FBI knows about us?”

“No. I think it is just her. I noticed a mark on her wrist. I was struck by how much it looked like a vampire bite but I knew that was impossible. Now I know it was. She knew vampires before. She wasn’t afraid of us. If the government knew about us she would have tried to track us or kill us or run. She is keeping this to herself.”

“Yeah. So we need to give her some space.” Peter said again.

“Peter, I am not going to give her space so you can move in. Drop it.”

“So where do you think she is going, dressed like that? I mean she barely had any clothes on.”

“Another date?” I offered. One way to find out.

“Are we going to pretend that the other isn’t going to follow or shall we just go together?”

‘I guess together it is. But I am driving.” He replied.

We followed her to a large dance club.

She looked good. Really good. Lean body. She was kind of short but her lines made her seem taller than she was. Her eyes were what caught me though. She had a look that could see right through you.

Plus that dress fit her like a second skin.

We gave her a few minutes and walked in. Scanning the crowd was difficult even for me. The mass of sweating bodies was amazing. It was loud. Very loud. The dancing bodies in the middle seemed like a pulsing mass.

I made me hungry.

“There she is.” Peter said.

I looked towards where he was pointing and saw her. Sitting there drinking out of a glass on a bar stool, legs crossed. She was looking around.

“Does she look like she is here to meet someone?”

“Not really.” Peter replied. “God, this music sucks.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Let’s focus here Whitlock.”

“Should we go talk to her?”

“No. She said she wanted space. Let’s give her space.”

“Fuck that. I want to talk to her.”

Peter began walking before I could grab him. I guess we were talking to her. Remember Garrett. You are a vampire. Be dangerous.

She didn’t see us until we stood on either side of her.

“What the fuck are you guys doing here?”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Peter asked. I winced a little. Then remembered if he was going to be a possessive dick with a woman he hardly knew this could only help my chances. I shut the hell up. Let him dig his own grave.

“What the fuck did you say?” She asked, not looking happy.

“I asked what the fuck you are doing here. Dressed like that? I thought you were busy working? You come up to us saying you know what we are, wanting not know our game? What game are you playing?”

“I’m not playing a game you hick asshole! I was minding my own business. You two are the ones who have some bet on who can seduce the human. You asked me out. As far as what I am doing here it really isn’t your fucking business is it?”

“We didn’t have a bet.” I pointed out.

Damn. Now she was giving me the same look she just gave Peter.

“So two vampires happened to ask me out on the same night? You guys didn’t plan that beforehand? I’ve been played with by vampires before. I don’t appreciate it.”

“I didn’t ask you out because of a bet! Neither did he. We saw you at the crime scene a few night ago and both of us found you interesting. I wanted to ask you out. He wanted to ask you out. So we both did. That’s it! No bet, no games!” If I was going to get a dirty look I may as well set the record straight.

“That’s it?” she asked, still suspicious.

“Yeah, that’s it.” I could glare back.

“Wait, you saw me at the crime scene in the alley?” I glanced at Peter. This would probably be a good time to tell her.

“Yes. You can’t catch this killer. It’s a…” I started.

“Werewolf. I know.”

“How the fuck do you know? How the hell do you know about us? Who gave you that bite on your arm?” Peter asked. I was curious myself.

“None of your business.” She just lit a cigarette.

“Yes. I think the fact that you are human and have knowledge of vampires would make it our business.” She wanted dangerous? Let’s see how she likes forceful Garrett.

“Oh really? You are lucky I haven’t told the entire world. I’m a federal agent. You really think I don’t have information that will be found and expose vampires if anything happens to me?”

“You don’t have any information. Not that would be found.” I told her, calling her bluff.

“You willing to bet on that, Garrett?” she asked me with a poker face. She was good.

“Yes, I am. You kept this information secret for a reason. My guess is you like whoever you learned it from, a vampire, and the knowledge would hurt him or her if it got out. In your line of work any number of things could happen to you. You wouldn’t take the chance.”

She stared at me for a moment. Then she stared at Peter who was grinning. She finally shrugged her shoulders.

“You might be right. But it’s still my business. If you don’t like it kill me.” She took a long drag on her cigarette.

“Nobody is killin you. You want to keep your business to yourself that’s fine. But this a werewolf. You can’t take him down. We will.” Peter said, in a serious tone. Look who is Mr. Serious all of a sudden.

“Do you know who he is?” she asked.

“No.” I said quietly. “But we haven’t really been looking. We will find him. We will kill him.”

“Good luck with that. I don’t care much who takes him down so long as he can’t kill anymore girls. He killed one last night in human form.”

I looked at Peter. This was bad. Most werewolves have no control. This one not only has control to write with blood on an alley wall he is malicious enough to kill as a human.

“Look guys, I really am not mad at either of you. We had fun. I’ll be honest, I like you both. But right now there is a hairy guy killing girls and I really am working right now, despite how I am dressed. So please. Give me a few weeks. We can work the whole dating thing out then.”

“So you aren’t on a date?” Peter asked.

“Nope. Working. You two are screwing that up. Please. Leave.”

“I want to talk to you. I don’t want to wait until this is over. Can I at least call you?” I asked.

“Yeah. You both can. But no dating. I had to look at a pretty girl who had been strangled and chewed on today. I need to focus on this now. So please?”

I looked at Peter and he nodded. We both kissed her on the cheek and walked out. When we reached the front Peter stopped me.

“Why do you think she is here for work?” he asked.

“I can only guess that…” Damn it.

“Yeah. She thinks the werewolf is here and is setting herself up as a chew toy.”

Fuck.

“We better keep an eye on her.” Peter said. He was worried. He was being serious for once and it wasn’t an act.

“She won’t like it.” I pointed out.

“No worries man. She will never know.”

I grinned. Of course she wouldn’t. We were vampires. How hard could it be to follow her without her knowing?

BPOV

God what a night. What a day. My ears weren’t working. The sound of blaring music had beaten my ear drums into submission. This would be my life until I could end his. It was impossible to see if anyone looked out of place. Too many damn people. Besides this guy would blend in. He wouldn’t be out of place. I had to hope he recognized me from the scenes if he had been watching or he saw something he liked about me. I attracted vampires. No reason werewolves shouldn’t like me too.

I can’t believe Peter and Garrett followed me. At least they had enough sense to leave me alone when I told them too. I hated to send them away. They were so cute. But having two vampires around me would definitely scare a werewolf away. With all the sweat emitting from the bodies in that club I doubt they could have sniffed a werewolf out.

I would love to explain that to a Judge. Yes, your honor, I shot the man. He was a werewolf that killed those young ladies. How did I know? My two vampire boyfriends sniffed him out. Thank you, you honor. May I have my medal now?

As long as they gave me space for a week or so, I think this plan could work. Draw the big bad wolf out and shoot him with the silver bullets currently residing in my .45, waiting for a furry home.

Plus it would give me a chance to think about which one of these guys I was really interested in. Peter looked gorgeous tonight. He literally took my breath away. Then I looked at Garrett and my damn legs started shaking. Problem was that now that they knew that I knew, I couldn’t sleep with both of them. That would be wrong. That would be announcing my whorish behavior.

Of course if they didn’t care, who was I to say what was right and wrong…

I was fifty feet away from my car inside the parking garage. I had parked in a corner of a nearby parking garage with little to no light. Then I heard him. I pulled my gun from my handbag.

“FBI! On the ground now motherfuckers! Do not move!” Bosco yelled.

I ran around the corner and saw Bosco had drawn on two guys who currently had their hands in the air.

“I got them Swan. They were tracking your movements from the moment you left the club.”

I walked closer and saw them.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me. Bosco put your gun down. These stealthy gentlemen are friends of mine. At least they were.”

I glared at Peter and Garrett.

Peter grinned, hands still in the air.

“Hi Bella. I give you FBI guy’s credit. You are good at catching people trying to be sneaky.”

Garrett dropped his head and began laughing.

These motherfuckers. I started laughing too. They may not be the brightest or sneakiest vampire stalkers but damn if they weren’t dedicated.

Rose POV

“This is bad.”

“What is it now Edward?” I asked, rolling my eyes. Alice must have had another vision of Bella getting laid. That would be an improvement since Alice had gotten no visions of Bella in a while. It was even starting to disturb me a little.

“The symbol. Carlisle and I found it in an ancient text.”

“You identified the symbol? I need to call Bella.”

“No Rose. You have to get Bella out of New York City. You are the only one she will listen to.”

“You don’t know her at all if you think she will listen to me, Edward. What is the fucking symbol?”

“We didn’t find the exact symbol.” Carlisle said, walking in. “But we do know what the symbol means. Werewolves used marks like this to establish hunting grounds. They would usually have a pack master who would carve it into trees the pack hunted in, declaring the territory and marking it off limits to other wolf packs. The symbols were always something simple. They would change depending on the pack and the region. But the symbols were there. A cross and an Arrow. A circle and a pyramid. Bella’s is an X and an inverted cross in the middle. They stopped being prevalent when werewolves started dying out. Forgotten to history.”

“So you are saying a werewolf has marked New York City as his territory?” This wasn’t good.

“Not only a werewolf. If what Bella says is correct, this werewolf would have to be at least a thousand years old to be able to stand and think clearly while changed. Shooting him with a single silver bullet most likely won’t end him.”

Oh shit.

“You understand Rose? Alice can’t see Bella. She is on a collision course with this monster. She can’t stop him. We have to pull her out.” Edward said. I gave him credit. He was a dumb spoiled bastard but he did love her.

“Edward, we can’t pull her out, as you put it. She would just go back. This is who she is. If you try to interfere she will hate you.”

“She hates me already, Rose. I would rather her be alive.”

“She doesn’t hate you Edward. She doesn’t love you but she doesn’t hate you. She just moved on with her life. You could have had her and you let it go. She still talks to you. If she really hated you she wouldn’t speak to you, even if it is to fuck with you most of the time.”

“Either way Rose. She cannot be in New York.”

“We can’t stop her. I will warn her. I will go watch over her as much as possible without her finding out. But she won’t stop. She never has Edward. If you really love her like you say you do, you would understand this.”

Edward said nothing for a few moments.

“You will warn her?”

“Yes.”

“And you will watch her?”

“Yes. Only me. Nobody else Edward. Not Emmett, not Alice and especially not you. I won’t let her know I am there.”

“Okay. When are you leaving?”

“Now.” I looked at Emmett and he nodded. We walked upstairs and began packing my bag.

“Be careful baby.”

“I got this.” I told him. I wish I had time to feel him inside me before I left but time was of the essence.

“Let me come.”

“No. You make sure Alice doesn’t talk Edward into some misguided attempt at saving his love.”

He nodded and kissed me.

It was time to visit New York. If nothing else I should be able to see Bella’s new boy toys. As long as she doesn’t find out I am there, it should be no problem. I’m a vampire. I can be sneaky. I’m all about sneaky.

What could go wrong?