Chapter 2 - Bullet With Butterfly Wings BPOV
I almost felt calm. I was in danger again. Almost a state of normalcy for me. And there was a vampire here. I felt a spasm of hysteria in my chest, but stopped it knowing that laughing would probably not be the best idea right now.
The screaming I had been hearing all day had stopped momentarily, and there was a whimpering sound instead. It was definitely male, and he was so frightened. I heard him gasp as whatever was happening to him happened again and he cried out in anguish. The screaming was painful to me now as the source had been moved next to me. He was so close that he had hit my hand at one point. His touch had been so hot - like a fire on his skin. He was almost as hot as... Jacob.
I turned my head away and tried to focus on Jacob's face. Oh, how I needed my personal sun right now. I wanted him here to make me feel better, to forget. Nothing bad could happen if Jacob was here. His world was peace and quiet and fun and laughter. A world were the only screams are ones of joy.
But if I had to be here then I was glad that Jacob wasn't. He would never be able to understand the horrible things happening here. Had I not had that experience in Phoenix last year I wouldn't be able to bear it either. The difference, the one I was trying to stop flooding my traitorous mind, was that this time there was no one who cared enough to rescue me.
The screams became babbling and words broke through, "The fire, oh God, the fire..."
I knew then what the fate of both of us would be.
CPOV
My beautiful wife was mewing slightly as I ran my fingers up her silken thigh. I had been doing this for about an hour now, getting higher and higher with each stroke. It was a game we had played for years, seeing who would break first. It was always me.
The sigh of pleasure that came from her as I reached the top for the first time carried my name in love, and it was all I could do not to attack her.
"Oh Carlisle... I love you." Her face shone and I reached up to kiss her. As our lips touched I heard the scream, and we both reacted.
Alice was hurting and I was going to protect my daughter from it. There had been too much pain recently and I had done nothing to stop it.
I ran into her room and saw her collapse, the phone dropping to the floor with Jasper screaming her name through it.
Alice was almost rigid, her eyes rolled back in her head as she gasped. What terrible things was she seeing? What was coming for us?
I pulled her into my arms and cradled her against my chest. I could hear Jasper still screaming and pushed the speaker button.
"Jasper, I've got her."
"What's going on, Carlisle?"
Esme swept into the room, wearing a long robe. She looked on at horror as Alice uttered one word before going limp in my arms
"Bella..."
I could hear the sound of wind from the cell phone and knew Jasper was running.
"She's had a vision. Something to do with..."
"I heard her... We'll be on the next flight."
Jasper hung up. Esme helped me put Alice on her bed as I checked her over to make sure there were no injuries. No physical ones anyway. I was never sure what Alice's visions did to her mind. All the research I had done had come to naught and Alice had insisted that I stopped worrying about them. All the horrible thing she had seen over the years must be doing something to her mind though. The last time she had this kind of reaction from her had been last year when Bella decided to face her death alone. Jasper had told me how she had fainted in the airport. She had still been holding her head when we got through customs a good 45 minutes later.
I knew that she would be fine, That any damage in her head would be cured in just a few moments; that the synapses were mending themselves as I watched her but there was a part of me that just wanted her conscious enough to tell me what was going on. What ever Alice had seen was going to require all of our strength, either to fight or survive.
"Esme, my love, could you call Rosalie and Emmett? They should be here."
RPOV
I was really enjoying London. The old city spoke to me in a way I never expected. I walked down the streets filled with Edwardian townhouses and could see myself in them, holding discreet cocktail parties with Emmett beside me, children running round the private parks. I was forever grateful to Carlisle for rescuing me from Royce and the slow death I would have endured being his wife but the knowledge that I would never be mother to beautiful children with dark curly hair still caused me pain.
I knew Emmett was slightly bored by the time I had spent walking around the beautiful streets and decided that the next day I would spend it doing what ever he wanted. Especially if it involved that little fantasy he had mentioned about breaking into Westminster Abbey and christening the altar. I licked my lips in anticipation as my phone rang.
Emmett.
"Babe. I know you're in your happy place right now but I just wanted to tell you that I am lying on our hotel bed totally naked with a whole selection of leather numbers that I picked up in Notting Hill today. Yes, my beautiful sparkle, I went shopping." He dropped into his best Austin Powers impression. "Do I make you horny?"
Despite the accent being horrendous I couldn't help but laugh. "You certainly do. I'll be there as fast as a cab can get me there."
"Groovy, baby, yeah!"
That was going to get old fast.
I hung up on him with a smile and put my arm out to hail a cab. I loved these Black boxes of joy. The spacious seats at the back had such potential. I wondered if I could persuade someone to lend me one for a few hours?
The cabbie looked me up and down, almost drooling
"Where to love?"
"Dorchester Hotel please."
"Certainly. Hop in."
I settled into the big back seat and calculated how long it would take to get there with the traffic being the way it was. I almost regretted not running but the chances of being seen outweighed the risk... just about. I could hear the cabbie's breathing deepen and I knew he was looking at me in his mirror. I heard him swallow and could almost hear the inane conversation that he would try to start up in a moment.
"So, you in town for business or pleas...?"
The ringing of my cell cut him off and I smiled. Alice. She must have seen this and decided to save me.
"Alice... You wonder. You can borrow anything you want from my wardrobe."
"Rosalie. Stop."
"Esme?" I could hear whimpering in the background and Carlisle's attempts to calm down whoever it was.
"Rosalie. Alice has had a vision. We don't know what it was yet, but..." It was my turn to cut her off.
"What do you mean? What's wrong? What did she see?"
"She collapsed and has not as yet come out of her trance. Carlisle is with her."
"Did she say anything?"
"Well, yes..." I could hear the hesitation in her voice and a shiver went down my spine. Emmett? What happened to him?
"Esme, what?" Please let it be anyone else.
"Don't get angry with her."
I knew exactly what that meant, and felt the growl in my throat rise "Bella."
"Yes. Come home."
"What about Edward?"
"He and Jasper are coming back from Buenos Aires now."
"I'm not sure when we can get a flight."
The tone in Esme's voice made me sit up and take notice in a way no one else could.
"Even if you have to fly cargo get home now."
She hung up then leaving me staring at the cell.
The cabbie cleared his throat, "Trouble?"
"Like you wouldn't believe."
Bella Fucking Swan. All the hassle of the last few months and yet still she was disrupting my life.
BPOV
I didn't know how long I had been here. If I could figure out how long I had been here then I could figure out how long the screaming had been going on and how long I had left before my situation became more than the current nightmare. I'm not an expert but I'm fairly certain a newborn vampire waking up next to a human would not go well.
Three days. That's pretty much how it goes, right? Three days of being burned from the inside out and then mindless thirst. I involuntarily shuddered as the memory of James filled me. Oh dammit. I broke the self imposed barrier between me and those thoughts and let Edward flood through me. It wasn't like I was gaining any comfort from the thoughts - every caress, every kiss - they meant nothing to him. There would be so rescue this time.
The voice hadn't returned to me yet. The soft French tones of Laurent hadn't spoken to me again. As the screaming broken I could hear him argued with a woman who had a high musical voice that seemed, to my ears, to be always on the edge of losing control.
"I got her here" Laurent sounded annoyed. "I brought one of the people she was friends with. I did everything you asked and now I am returning to Denali."
"Just stay with me, Laurent, you will enjoy this too"
"Oh Victoria. I never enjoyed your little games. If you want her dead just snap her neck and have done with it."
Victoria screamed.
"I want her to suffer! I want her to feel pain eternally for what she did to me!"
"We both know she did nothing. It was James' own stupidity that lead him to his death."
There was a sound like thunder and a shriek as she finally came undone.
"Thank you Victoria. Now I can go with no guilt. Enjoy your revenge."
There was a moment of total silence and then I felt a cold hand on my foot and it felt like the world stopped. I tried so hard to not move but my heart belied that idea and pounded until I knew Laurent, wherever he had gone to, would still be able to hear it.
"Was this the leg my James broke?" she whispered. "I know what happened. Laurent was so good at passing on the information he gained with the Denali coven. Was it this leg?"
I stayed still, not sure if answering her would anger her more; but as soon as I let that thought go I realised how stupid it was. Anger her more. Was this possible?
I felt the slightest movement, and then the pain came; so familiar to me now. I gasped and felt my eyes fill with tears but I could not scream. My throat was closed against my release and I bit my lip to hold it in. I almost didn't feel her finger lightly tracing the crescent shaped scar on my hand.
"He had such a beautiful bite, didn't he?"
I was trying so hard not to move, the throbbing pain in my leg was filling my head with fog and I tried to remind myself that what I was feeling was nothing compared to what the person lying next to me was feeling.
She twisted my hand around, and I knew that a couple of fingers had been crushed.
"Didn't he?"
It was clear that she was going to break every bone in my body unless I gave her an answer.
"Yes." I breathed the word out and then tried to hold on to something, to stave off the impending apocalypse in my brain.
"I am going out to pick up something to eat. Stay." She laughed at her instructions. "But while I'm out I'll give you something to consider."
She ripped off my blindfold and stared down at me - her eyes the bright red I had seen in my nightmares.
"I want you to meet the person who's been entertaining us with all the beautiful noise."
And with that she stepped to the side and smiled, clapping her hands together in glee as I laid eyes on the person who had been the source of all the sounds of anguish.
Mike Newton.
