Victoria's Lies Fall Apart

Riley

I'm Riley, or Rizolf, Biers. I know, it's a stupid name, but at least only you and my family knows about it. What I'm about to write is for my family. I can't say what I've done is right, or even forgivable, but's what I had to do for Victoria.

So, here's my story. It was almost a year ago when Victoria recruited me, though it felt like longer. Actually, she didn't recruit me, she staked me down on the wharf while I was making a sub sandwich delivery. She chased me down into an ally and bit me. It was the most terrifying moment of my life, but it didn't last long. I passed out quickly.

The next time I woke up, Victoria was by my bedside. She told me that love drew her to me. Soon, Victoria told me about the Cullens, a ruthless coven of vampires who terrorized anyone who presented a threat. She said they killed her friend, and now they were after her. I believed her. Well, I sort of believed her, but I still had doubts.

When Victoria recognized my hesitation, she told me that they would come after my family because of this mind reading vampire. My family wasn't the best, but I didn't want them to get hurt. The weird part was that I didn't really miss them, or my human life. I had a good family, but I had left them already left them going to college. I went to college, but I didn't have any plans. I was probably just going to get a dead end job back in Forks by the time I was twenty one. That really didn't seem like much to look forward to.

When I woke up from the attack, for the first time, all I could think about was what was ahead of me. Victoria promised that we'd be together for an eternity, once the Cullens were gone.

I was writing in this moleksine journal that I stole from a Target that we raided a couple weeks back. At the moment, we were in Seattle, and I was on top of an apartment complex with a nice view. I grew up in Forks, but I knew my way around Seattle pretty well, even the seedier parts. I didn't miss Forks either. In my human life, I wasn't very popular. At the bottom? No, but I wasn't terribly important. I was a mid defense in lacrosse, but I was always third string. I wasn't somebody that anybody would really notice if I went missing.

I put my molskine in my pocket and peered over the ledge to check on the newborns. They were feeding right now. When I wasn't in a frenzy, my human side would emerge, and I would be revolted by their actions. However, it didn't mean that I didn't get thirsty for blood, myself. Most of the victims were like me; people who were at the wrong place, at the wrong time. I felt bad for them. They probably had families, and when they did, their names appeared in the news, which angered Victoria.

As I looked up at the starry sky, a car sounded off from below. "What the hell are they doing?" I jumped down to the ground and surveyed the scene. In a fight over their next meal, a newborn had been slammed into a car, setting off the alarm. "Keep it down, you morons. Does a low profile mean anything?" I hissed. I shoved Raoul aside and lifted the perpetrator up by his collar. I almost ripped off his arm, but I decided not to let my anger get the best of me. "Kevin, I should kill you, but I won't. Now, we have to leave before anyone comes to check on your mess."

I pulled out the wallet of the women they had just killed. She was was social service worker. "Way to go. Try to go after less conspicuous people," I said disgusted.

Kevin smirked at me, but he didn't say anything.

I looked at Spidy, who was reattaching his hand, and added, "Don't kill each other." For a moment, I thought about how my army would be nothing more than a bunch of dismembered parts by the battle.

I reoriented myself, and climbed back up the on the roof. As I ran, car alarms went off, music blared, and people yelled around me, but I wasn't bothered. The rhythmic pulse of the city almost made me forget about the newborns that trailed after me.

After a few minutes of running, we were far away enough from the scene. I saw a couple junkies in an ally. It only took one snap to kill the one. The other was too stoned to notice. Kevin killed him.I was about to drink when I lost my appetite; it wasn't the tainted blood that put me off, but knowledge that I had just killed someone again. So I gave Bree the body to alleviate my guilt. I hadn't drank in a week, so I was getting frustrated. It's probably why I was pissed off at all the newborns.

I herded the newborns back to our base around four o' clock in the morning. It wasn't really a base, so much as a domicile. I made the newborns enter through a window, but I went through the front door.

"Hello, Mr. Cobbs."

I kept on walking to the basement, where I lived.

"Mr. Cobbs?" Mr. Petrucci said louder.

"Oh, hello, Sid."

Sid was my landlord. He was almost fifty years old and reeked of fish. He was a fisherman who worked with Waylon Forge, this guy who had died mysteriously two years ago. Sid was lonely, and he tried to get Victoria and me to spend time with him. It was boring, but it kept him out of the basement. Maybe I sounded like a jerk, be he was just so desperate.

"So, I was wondering if you and your wife wanted go on a double date with me, tomorrow."

I made up a lie quickly. "Sorry, I've got to stay at the office for evaluations."

He sighed. "Oh well, maybe some other time."

I was about to walk away when Sid asked, "What's up with your clothes?"

"What? Oh, that. I tripped… down some steps.

"Jim, if it's ok to call you that, what exactly do you do for a living?"

"I'm a car salesman. Car salesmen get into fight a lot," I said flatly.

Sid gave me a perplexed look, and took off his skullcap before scratching his balding head.

"Sid, please don't tell my wife. She'd get worried, you know?" That was a complete lie. After the the first few times that I came home battered and beat, Victoria stopped getting concerned. She only cared about how many people I recruited.

I ran downstairs before Sid could say anything else. I unlocked the door and went down the steps. If you're wondering, the basement was soundproof. Sid never knew about anybody coming in, except Victoria and me.

I found most of the vampires in a sleep-like state, though not truly asleep, as the tv blared. It was probably no different from their human lives, except, now there was more blood.

Bree was sitting next to Fred, far away from the others. She was probably the least annoying one out of my army. Fred would have made that list, but there was just something so repulsive about him.

I passed by two vampires playing ludicrous speed air hockey, and went into my room. It was dark and only had those glass blocks for light. There was a futon and a desk. I used the bathroom as a closet since I didn't need a toilet. The whole room was dank and depressing.

I sat down at my computer and scrolled through twitter. I got bored looking at all of the statuses and pulled up a picture of my family. I hoped they were doing ok and that they weren't to sad about losing me. I didn't want them to be brought down by losing me. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I did miss them.

At that moment, Victoria came in through the bathroom window. "Riley dear, are you ready for tomorrow?" She went behind my chair, and put her arms around me. "Is there anything wrong?" She leaned in and looked at me innocently.

"Um, Victoria, I was wondering…" I paused and fumbled for words, "why can't we run away?"

Victoria frowned. "Riley, don't you want to confront your problems, and not live in fear?"

I rubbed my eyes and turned towards her. "I don't want to run, but I just don't see the point to what we're doing. It sound like a suicide—"

Victoria's face hardened. "Riley, I'm doing this all for us, don't you see?" Her grip tensed around my shoulders. I tried to scoot my chair away with my leg, unsuccessfully. "The Cullens want to destroy me, Riley. You know that I would never ask you to do anything if it weren't absolutely necessary."

"I guess you're right. We fight to win, or go down trying."

She smiled, then hugged me. "Yes, Riley."

Victoria kissed me and looked into my eyes, giving me a reassuring look. "You are confident, right?" she asked seductively.

I wasn't confident. I was scared of what might happen, and I didn't want to kill anymore. By the look on her face, I could tell that she didn't like that I paused. I felt my chair dip back until I crashed to the ground. I felt embarrassed lying on my back, letting her push me around. I felt a sharp pain but I didn't look.

"Riley, I need you to trust me. Can you do that?" she pleaded desperately. It was rhetorical because she said viciously, "Sometimes, I feel like it's a waste of time, and that I might as well let the Cullens kill me. That isn't what you want, is it?"

I cringed as she began to swing her foot back and forth. "Before tomorrow, remember what I've done for you," she whispered. I wanted to cry out that she hadn't sacrificed a thing for me. I opened my eyes because I thought she would let me up. Instead, she kicked me in the jaw, sending me into the wall. I sat up and backed up to the wall. I couldn't believe that I was cowering. But what was I going to do? Fight her?

Victoria kneeled beside me. "Please, I'm begging you. I need you to be there for me," she crooned before helping me up.

Then she pulled me onto the futon where we started to make out. I felt so good that I forgot what she was even mad about. That was probably the opposite of how it should have gone, but I was never good at dating. It felt great to be kissing her, but she was distracted. She kept glancing at the door, and she wasn't paying much attention to what she was doing. As she ripped my shirt off, there was a knock.

I waited until Victoria ran to the bathroom and climbed out the window. Bree had knocked. "Hi, Bree. What's up?"

"Are you ok, Riley? I heard something slam into the wall."

I felt happy, for a moment, that Bree cared enough to check on me. Then I remembered that I helped kill her boyfriend.

"I just got angry, and um, threw my chair at the wall."

Bree took a look around the room.

"It looks like you got beat up."

"No, I'm fine, but thanks for the consideration. Rest up, tomorrow's a big day."

.

The next morning, I told the newborns some ridiculous about how the sun would be in such and such a place so that we could all go into the light without burning up. I lied a lot to keep the newborns in line.

Surprisingly, it wasn't hard to get the newborns to the battle grounds since we travelled under the river. There were a few vampires that I cared for: Spidy, Diego, and Bree. After I spoke to the whole group, I walked over to Bree. She wouldn't look at me when I tried to speak to her. I wanted to tell her the truth, but I stowed that idea away. "Bree, I need you to meet up with Diego. You guys have a very special task to carry out." I said hesitantly, "Diego already knows, so he'll clue you in. He'll be off the field. Can you do this?"

She nodded before running off. I left too, to find Victoria. She was hiding in some bushes, watching a girl, when I found her. It was Chief Swan's daughter, who was only a year younger than me.

"So, when do we attack?" I asked.

"As soon as he leaves." Victoria pointed at a shirtless guy. I hoped that she wasn't thinking about him. "Then, there will be one standing between the girl and me," she said almost unaware that I was even there.

Her whole body tensed, so I prepared myself to fight. I look out towards the brush on the other side. I had a feeling that something else was there. I whispered,

"Victoria, I know that Cullen has something—"

Before I could finish, Victoria jumped out from the bushes and charged. I followed her, tripping on a root. She screamed, "Kill the vampire. I'll go after the girl."

That was when the bronze haired vampire spoke. "Riley, stop before you make a mistake. I know Victoria has told you that we're monsters, but it's a lie. She's been telling you some real things, but she changed the truth, like why she fights, why we are fighting her, and who she really loved."

I stepped forward and snarled, making the best attempt to seem threatening. He is a mind reading creep, and nothing more I told myself. He doesn't know the truth.

"She had a mate whom we killed because he attacked my mate. We didn't go on a murderous rampage. If anything, she's doing so, now."

I stopped acting up and listened because he didn't seem very dangerous or devious. In contrast, he made Victoria seem pretty violent and manipulative. But maybe, he was so good at manipulating people that he could do this to me.

"Listen, Riley. You are not what she tried to make you. She failed because I know you still have your humanity and compassion. You can still redeem yourself.

You just have to stop." He offered his hand. I wanted to join him, but I didn't want to Victoria. My head snapped back up when he kept speaking. "His name was James. He was Victoria's true lover," Edward said. "Maybe Victoria told you that you were her first love that she just happened to meet. It's all a convoluted charade to keep you on her side."

"Really?"

"Riley, I don't know how else to say it. Victoria wants you to die. That way, she doesn't have to keep lying. As I kill you, she will kill Bella, and then I'd kill her.

The only reason she fights is for revenge."

I turned towards Victoria, who's facial expression was bouncing between fear and outrage. "Riley, listen to me. I love you more that you know."

I backed off towards the trees. "I don't know what to believe."

A large wolf jumped out from the bushes. I turned to run, but it was too late. It had me pinned to the ground. I pushed it back with my one free arm as it's maw snapped inches from my face. In a desperate attempt, I yanked my arm out of it's grip. It still had my hand in it's mouth. The wolf turned away from me and headed towards Victoira, who was on the ground wrestling with Cullen. I charged the wolf, so that it couldn't get Victoria.

The strange thing was that its eyes were not those of a dog's or a fierce predator, but something intelligent. But I didn't spend any more time to think about it because I was about to become its next meal.

I punched the wolf's side with my good arm. It doubled over and whined. I looked back at Victoria, who sorely needed help. I went after the girl, who was staring at me with pure terror, the same as my meals. My fist was above her ready to come down, but I couldn't bring myself to kill her. I stopped in my tracks and cried out in my consternation.

That was my mistake. The wolf came back and latched its teeth onto my leg. Naturally, I yelled for help from Victoria, but she didn't even look at me. "Victoria," I cried out again. She was too preoccupied the Cullen. The wolf shook me around like a rag doll until it decided to drag me away. I kicked the wolf in the stomach. It reared like a horse, giving me the opportunity to get my hand and run.

As I ran, the wolf followed me from close behind. Trees flew by and I hardly thought about anything except getting away. A couple of times, my foot got caught on an errant root, but it didn't slow me down. Roots have always been my problem. I got in a dirt bike accident when the wheel got stuck on a root. I went flying into a tree.

I could here shouting from the clearing. My hopes rose as I thought about getting reinforcements to save Victoria. But then, a sickening feeling hit my stomach as my foot fell through a crack in the ground. Before I knew it, I was lying facedown in a hole.

"Why can't something go right?" I screamed. I was enraged that the battle was going to hell and that I hesitated to attack the girl.

I tried to jump out of the hole and grabbed a root to hoist myself up on. But then, I thought why does it even matter? Victoria didn't care about me. I was just her servant. We weren't even supposed to win, I was just leading everyone to their death. We were just a diversion. I didn't have a reason to go back up. I had nothing left, absolutely nothing left. Even if Victoria won, I still had nothing.

I let go of the root and dropped back down into the hole. My back slumped against the icy wall and I fell to the ground in despair. I didn't even have the strength to hit the wall or anything.

Author's note: To clear up some confusion if any, I use periods as breaks between sections. Remember to review if you have any comments. I still am editing this story. Thanks for reading.

So, this was my first story, and I wrote it in hopes of getting input. I'm hoping anyone who reads this might give me some feedback. I'm still holding out on feedback.