Disclaimer: Oh, come on now; do characters as amazing as these and a plot as wonderful as this look like they belong to me? A plain, un-amazing girl? Nope. Everything belongs to Stephanie Meyer.

Chapter Two-Drink From Me

The ghost of a smile haunted my face as I studied the scene around me, playing around the edges as if teasing and reminding my lips how it felt to curve upwards, to look happy. My misery felt unwelcome in this green wilderness, and the crimson flame spreading toward me now seemed even more menacing: the forces of nature wanted my bleak intrusion gone. I kept trudging forward, even when I felt the woods awaken to their defenses. A frigid breeze slashed at my skin, branches slapped my cheek, and a tree root sent my flying into a wall of stone. I let the woods punish me for invading its happiness with my pain, for disturbing its peace. I asked it to forgive me, to end my accursed misery quickly. I never expected a response.

Through my pain-induced haze, I heard laughter: a wicked, cackling celebration of some victory I was not aware of. And then it stopped and she was in front of me, pinning me to the tree. Victoria.

"I'm afraid, dear Bella, that I cannot forgive you. Nor will I be merciful in ending your misery." She stared at me, the intensity of her hatred appearing to lessen in response to something she saw. "However, since I am curious and since this unplanned addition may make the game a bit more interesting, I want you to tell me a story. A story about Edward and your so-called misery. "I must have been looking at her like she was mental; it was either that, or I was, and I had imagined her saying that. "Prove to me that your suffering is greater than my own, and maybe I'll go a tad easier on you. Indulge my childish desire to hear a story, and maybe I will go easier on the Cullen's when I track Edward next."

The last threat got to me. I took Victoria's hand and sat down in the middle of the woods; and I told a story that I knew with every fiber of my being, that was etched into my soul so it might live forever, a different version of Juliet's tragic tale.

By the time the last tragically beautiful memories left my lips, I was falling apart. Victoria looked lost, empty, as if I'd stripped her of her purpose and therefore her sanity. She must have found herself again, though, for her crimson eyes settled back on my face.

"You have suffered….as I have. But I can't let you escape untouched, can I? I have to avenge James. To do this for him, for myself. And I haven't played James' favorite game in a long time. Fitting, then, that I play for him the game he never got to finish – isn't it?" She seemed to address her question as much to herself as to me. And, not much of a surprise now, I nodded. "Finish the game. Please," I managed to whisper, as I offered her my wrist.

She lowered her mouth to my flesh slowly, almost reverently, and her eyes met mine one last time. "I apologize, Bella. I wish it did not have to be this way."

And then she drank from me.