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CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG

THE TOWN OF FORKS WAS IN ABSOLUTE SHAMBLES BY THE END OF THE SUMMER.

The months raged on, and though there was no sign of Billie Burbank, Seattle PD managed to identify the deceased remains of Vincent Matthews and Kate Caldwell in an abandoned warehouse within the old distillery district.

The Burbank girl's DNA was all over the crime scene before a trail of bloodied footprints vanished suddenly, without a trace. Not only that, but footage from the hotel put Vincent and Kate as prime suspects in her initial kidnapping, though it only brought about the first theory; had an unknown, third party taken Billie the second time?

The first time Katherine heard the other theory, the one where Billie killed her kidnappers herself and was now in hiding because of the crime she commit, she had almost punched a Seattle officer in his nose. But, because Charlie Swan had taken the lead on holding her thrashing body back, she settled on spewing more than colourful insults.

"What kind of name is Weatherbee, anyways?! It sounds like you should be a damn school principal, much less a senior detective!" she seethed, curling her fist and shaking it in the air. "When I get my hands on your superior's email, you'll wish you were never born!"

She had to be escorted out of the Forks police station by the Chief himself. Some detectives from Seattle had been shipped over to analyze the scene at the Davidsons residence, thus using the small station as their temporary headquarters. The case of Billie's disappearance was at the epicentre of what had been going on, it seemed, and it had taken three detectives and a retired crime scene investigator to even figure out how to decode the clue board Vincent and Kate established.

Based on their findings, it seemed as though their reasoning for taking Billie was rooted in bullshit folklore tales— their words, really. They thought she was some key in discovering the secret in turning into a vampire... and boy, had the four professionals at the scene had a good laugh about that afterward.

But Katherine Burbank heard their findings and didn't laugh like the others did, no. Instead, she went home, changed into her pinstripe suit that meant business, got into her car, and drove straight to the Cullen residence.

After all, nobody simply moved to Forks without Katherine doing extensive background checks of them.

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"Katherine— to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Cut the shit, Carlisle. Did a vampire take my kid or not?"

She wished she would've captured a picture of Carlisle's face at that moment, because his calm facade dropped into one of minor panic for just a second, before it was schooled into nonchalance.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," he tried to cover up, though his grip on the front door's handle tightened with a subtle creaking noise.

Katherine rolled her eyes, shoving past him and entering the home with determination in her stride. "You and your family know exactly what I mean," she snapped, pointing an accusatory finger in his direction. It faltered when she heard footsteps from behind her approach, and decided to take a more calmer approach. "My kid is missing, Carlisle. If you know something, you have to tell me. Please."

Carlisle looked at someone over the woman's shoulder, and it made Katherine crane her head to see who else had joined them in the foyer. It was one of Carlisle's daughters, Alice, who then gave him a barely noticeable nod.

The blond man sighed, gesturing his head towards the hall to their left. "Let's talk about this in my office."

Katherine breathed out a sound of relief, shoulders physically hunching as she followed him into his spacious office. Alice was trailing behind them, entering as well and shutting the door behind them.

The Burbank woman placed herself in the chair across from his wooden desk, Carlisle sitting with his hands folded on the table. "What do you know?"

"I know enough," she shrugged. "You guys were too weird to be normal. Plus, you all have no digital footprint and are seriously lacking any paper trails... very suspicious, no offence."

It was obvious that Carlisle stifled a chuckle at that, because he really hadn't thought that anyone would look into his family's past before their move back to Forks— he underestimated Katherine and her researching abilities immensely, it seemed.

He turned serious once more due to the nature of their discussion. "We lost her trail in Seattle when Billie first disappeared," he told her, and she leaned forward in interest at the details coming from the man, "and since then, we've been trying to locate her. I've been asking around, but there's been nothing so far."

"I can't see her future anymore, either," Alice added, albeit a little sorrowfully.

It made Katherine's stomach clench. "I know you've been busy, with the search and with the wedding," she started, obviously taking into account Bella and Edward's wedding that had occurred just last week, "but could there even be a possibility of another vampire being involved in all of this?"

"The one initially responsible is dead, I promise you that," he told her, not wanting to divulge into the happenings of Victoria now that she had been eliminated, "but yes, there is a possibility that someone else is... involved."

"Involved how?"

Carlisle's lips pursed before he asked her a question. "Did Billie ever mention that she was seeing somebody, or perhaps told you that she gained a new friend recently?"

Katherine thought about it, ran through her conversations with her daughter in her mind before coming across something— because while Billie wasn't seeing anyone romantically, there had been someone new in her life ever since she returned from that spontaneous trip to Italy. "A friend of a friend bought her a car for graduation," she told them both, now watching as Alice came closer to the two adults speaking. "Let me guess: the friend of a friend isn't a human friend?"

"You'd be correct," Carlisle sighed, nodding to a portrait that was hanging on the furthest wall. Katherine hadn't seen it when she walked in, but now that she was looking at it, she could clearly see that it was a painting of Carlisle and three other men in regency-esque attire. "In Italy, Edward discovered that Billie is the mate to Aro— one of the Volturi kings. And she was made aware of that."

Katherine's nose shrivelled in distaste. "The what-now?"

"The Volturi are the most powerful vampires that walk the earth," Alice supplied on the blond man's behalf, all in a faraway tone of voice. "They act as the governing bodies... and Aro is their leader."

Bless her heart, because of course her daughter had somehow managed to attract a cosmic connection between herself and the damn king of vampires. No wonder her friend of a friend had sent her a damn car as a graduation gift— it was a fucking courting gift.

"And you think he's taken her?" she asked him, wondering why Billie's supposed soulmate would even think to endanger her and kidnap her.

"There's no way to say for sure... plus, we would've heard about it by now," was his response, because truly they would've; the vampire world was small, and word about the Volturi travelled fast. Besides, surely Alice would've seen it by now, right? "But Katherine, he would never hurt Billie. Really, I feel as though she's safest with him."

"Safest with one of the oldest vampires on earth?" Katherine scoffed out, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah, I'll go to Italy myself and bring her ass home. She's supposed to be starting college in two weeks... she's supposed to be living, Carlisle."

"And we don't know if she's not," he tried reassuring her, though judging from the frown on her face, it wasn't working. "Until we can say otherwise, she's still human. She's still alive."

Katherine's phone beeped: a message from Charlie, asking her to return to the station when she had the chance. She looked back up at the Cullen patriarch. "This discussion is far from over, by the way."

He also stood when she did, hands going into his pant pockets with a somewhat fond grin.

"Oh, I don't doubt that."

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[ wyn's note ]

update 1 of the pre-scheduled chaps!! hope you guys enjoy while i'm on break — all my love xx