Those who went to Phoenix never met up with Jolene. They saw Demetri, questioned him about where she was.
"The little Swan, she doesn't remember making a phone call to her sister," Demetri explained. "I feel that this vampire in the area was luring Jolene out with her sister."
"Well then where is Jolene?" Kate demands.
"I don't know."
-elastic heart-
Carlisle called every vampire he could think of in hopes of them coming across her. He described what she looked like and her unique scent.
The Cullen's were desperate. The guard from the Volturi showed up and joined in the hunt.
It was the twelfth day that she was gone when she finally appeared.
Jasper's old coven found her in Texas.
Peter and Charlotte Whitlock found Jolene Swan, bloody and wandering the streets at two in the morning. They were enraptured with her scent before recalling how Jasper described her.
Rosalie's mate with the comforting scent.
-elastic heart-
"Do you smell that?" Peter's head whips up from the man he was feeding upon.
"Smell what?" Charlotte inquired.
"That smell," Peter mumbles, finishing his feed quickly and disposing of the body. He then darts off.
"Peter!" Charlotte follows her mate and it isn't soon before she's hit with the scent.
It was in the wee hours of the morning. It was dark and barely anyone was out.
"There," Peter breathes out, shoving a finger at a figure down the street.
Peter Whitlock had the gift of 'knowing' things. Right now, he was following his gift that told him to head after the figure.
"Hey!" Peter catches up with the figure to see that it's a young woman. "Girlie!"
Her back was facing them as she slightly stumbled across the flat asphalt. She had the scent of blood on her.
"Hey Sugar?!" Charlotte calls out to the girl now, moving in next to her mate.
Charlotte reaches out and grabs the girls shoulder. "Hey,"
The girl stops moving but makes no effort to turn around.
"It's dangerous to move about this time of night alone," Peter comments, reaching out and turning her around. "Shit!"
The girl's front was coated in blood, shirt shredded. Her face was an array of bruises with dried blood under her nose. Her arms were firmly wrapped around her torso, covering where her shredded shirt did not.
"Hey, what happened?" Peter questioned. "Can we call someone for you?"
The girl reaches up to shove Peter's hand off of her shoulder when Peter catches sight of something.
He grabs bits of her shirt, shoving her against the nearest wall.
"Peter!?" Charlotte cries.
"Where did you get this?!" Peter demands, grabbing her wrist and shaking it. "Who gave it to you?"
Charlotte catches the flash of a charm on her wrist, a crest, and recognizes it for she bore the same one on a necklace.
"This is my brothers," Peter hisses. "How did you get this?"
The girl blinks a few times before she speaks. "You're Peter and Charlotte."
Peter wasn't expecting that answer and reels back before shoving her against the wall again. "Who are you?"
"Jolene Cullen," The girl whispers. "Rosalie's mate."
"Fuck me," Peter lets her go and she slides down the wall, her arms moving to cover her stomach again. Peter rakes a hand through his hair as he gathers his thoughts. "They still live in Washington, don't they? So how did you get across the country?"
"I don't know what state I'm in," Jolene confesses.
"You're in Lubbock, Texas," Charlotte pipes up, pulling herself together. "They're looking for you. You've been missing for two weeks."
"Have I?" Jolene frowns. "I can't really remember."
"What is the last thing you remember?" Peter questioned.
Jolene lets out a rattling breath. "Dunno. I think I was in Phoenix. Yeah, I was in Arizona. Then- then- It's kinda fuzzy."
"You reek of vampires," Peter pipes up. "Were you with vampires?"
It takes a few moments for Jolene to reply. "I think so... red eyes... yes, I was with other vampires."
"Come, lets get you home with us and we'll give the Cullen's a call," Peter offers. "I'm sorry for shovin' ya against a wall."
"Jasper said you were dangerous," Jolene comments. "But that he knew you would protect me."
"Come on," Peter crouches slightly. "Where are your shoes?"
"I can't run away if my feet are unprotected," Jolene tonelessly comments, staring at her bare feet.
Peter reaches out to pick her up when she recoils violently, hitting her head on the wall as she curls up before her head jerks up to look at him. "Sorry."
"It's alright," Peter assures her. "Are you alright if I carry you?"
"Could you do it piggy back?" Jolene flushed. "My side is hurt."
"Course," Peter nods. "One piggy back coming up!"
Charlotte helps Jolene onto Peter's back, noticing how burned the bottom of Jolene's feet are from walking on hot tarmac.
Peter and Charlotte lived out of the way of others. They didn't want to be bothered and the nearest town was an hours drive. They settle for walking in case any human saw them. Any human wouldn't be able to jog around with another human on their back like they wanted.
Once they reach country roads and Jolene falls asleep on Jasper's back, they pick up speed and make it home.
Charlotte helps Peter set the sleeping human on the couch before picking up the house phone and dialing her brothers number.
"I'm busy right now," Was how Jasper answered the phone.
"We got your girl," Charlotte snaps.
That silenced him. "What?"
"Jolene Cullen. Your missing girl. She's asleep on our couch," Charlotte explains.
"Is she okay?" Jasper demands.
"She's alive," Charlotte offers. "Bad shape. We haven't had too much time to access her."
"Shit, Char," Jasper breathes out. "My god."
Charlotte hears Jasper call out to the others. 'We found Jolene!'
She can hear the screaming and sudden pandemonium on the other end of the phone. She has to hold the phone away from her sensitive ear for a few moments as the phone is wretched from hand to hand on the other side before Jasper finally reclaims it.
"Can you put her on the phone?" Jasper questioned.
"I'd rather not wake her up. She was dead on her feet and if I rouse her now, I'm not sure how coherent she'd be," Charlotte sighs. "Sorry, brother."
"I'm gonna hang up the phone so you can take care of her. You still situated in Texas?" Jasper questioned.
"Yeah. Same place," Charlotte confirms.
"We'll meet you down there soon," Jasper then hangs up the phone and Charlotte place the phone back into it's cradle.
She grabs some warm clothes while Peter heads out to buy first aid and food. She cleans up Jolene's face, realizing how good she smelled despite the blood.
Peter returns shortly with the supplies and they work about getting her bandaged up. Jolene wakes up at the burning of hydrogen peroxide.
"Hey Sugar, is it okay to take your shirt off?" Charlotte questioned. "Peter'll get you something fresh to wear."
Jolene nods, taking a deep breath as the whispers. "Jasper trusts you."
Peter takes his cue and scurries upstairs as Charlotte helps Jolene peel away the shredded shirt caked in blood that was sticking it to her body.
There are plenty of scars on Jolene's torso and Charlotte was surprised to see that many of them were old. There are only a few scratches. The worst thing was on her stomach.
On the left side of her navel were three letters carved into her skin.
PON
"What does this mean?" Charlotte can't help but asking.
Jolene looks down at the scar as though she forgot it was there and is silent. Charlotte feels that she pushed to far and instead works on cleaning it.
"Property of Nico," Jolene mumbles as Charlotte cleans it, startling her. "Do you know him?"
"No," Charlotte shakes her head. "Who is Nico?"
"A vampire," Jolene grunts when Charlotte presses a little too hard.
Peter waltzed into the room, holding one of his shirts. He lets out a low whistle when he spots a topless Jolene, covered in scars.
"Jeez Louise, girlie," Peter tuts. "You're a right mess."
"What are you doing, get out!" Charlotte scolds, taking note that Jolene didn't bother to cover herself up.
"My knower was tellin' me to come in," Peter can't help but rake his eyes over Jolene's torso. "I'm startin' to understand why."
He then remembers what he was doing. "Oh! I also come bearing clothes."
Peter's eyes grow dark when he sees the letters engraved into the teens skin. He then sees something and reaches forward, tugging part of her pants down to reveal a bite mark. It was a claim mark, no venom used.
"Who did that to you?" Peter questioned, moving forward to crouch in front of the injured girl as he realized that this situation was far more serious than he first realized.
"Nico."
The name sparks some sort of memory that Peter had buried deep down inside. He knew that name somewhere.
He tried to forget that name.
"Nico..." Peter repeats, tapping his chin in thought. "Nico..."
The was Peter says the name with distaste stirs something inside Charlotte.
Jolene sits up, moving until she's nose to nose with Peter.
"Do you know Nico?" She repeats slowly articulating each word.
Peter looks her straight in the eyes. "I don't know."
Jolene's eyes narrow slightly. "Are you with Nico? Are you going to take me back?"
"No." Peter shakes his head. "We're going to take you to Jasper."
Jolene seems to accept that answer and leans back, letting Charlotte continue to wipe away blood. The bowl of water was stained light red and Charlotte's hands were dyed pink.
Peter gently grasps her wrist to look at the charm again before he frowns. "How did you hurt your fingers?" He lightly touches the burned fingertips.
"Like he told me," Jolene sighs. "Aim for the eyes. Those are vulnerable. Use fire. If no fire, use something sharp or your fingers. He took my lighter so I used my fingers. Just like he said. It hurt. I took his other eyes. He's dead."
"Nico?" Peter questioned.
"No, one of his army," Jolene sucks in air when ointment touches raw skin on her stomach.
"Army of what?" Peter slowly questioned.
"Vampires, newborns," Jolene mumbles.
"Newborn vampires?" Charlotte's hand stops and she hesitates to look up at Jolene.
"I only killed three of them. Nico said they were useless now and made me hurt them. I set them on fire," Jolene rambles, ignoring the horror filled faces of the Whitlocks. " I didn't mean to kill them, I just wanted them to stop hurting me."