Chapter 4: Multiple Personalities
BPOV
"You're not dead yet Bella." The way he spoke those words sent a chill down my body. It felt as if he was attempting to convey sympathy towards me, but really all he accomplished was making my Emmett illusions dissipate. I saw him clearly then. This wasn't my huge teddy bear of a brother protecting me from my aggressor. I wanted to still believe that my family was here with me, somehow guarding me from the world as well as myself. I was doing a pretty good job of maintaining my deception, but those few words opened my eyes again to the reality of the last three months. Emmett was gone. Alice was gone. My Edward was gone. There would be no Cullen here to save me this time.
Tightly I closed my eyes to keep in the emotion, but it was pointless in the end. The tears were streaming down my face disobediently. At the site of my waterworks, Felix shifted nervously at my side.
"Bella, stop that. You're going to draw attention to yourself, and I know you don't want that." He started to pat my leg, but thought better of it. He began to look around with fear that people would be concerned about my tears. "Look I don't understand these emotions. Are you scared, or sad maybe? What will make you stop crying?" This time his hand touched my leg softly. Without thinking I violently threw my body away from his touch. "What is your problem?" he snapped. "I've done nothing to hurt you whatsoever. I even saved your father!"
"I know you did, and I'm so thankful for that. I can't help it, I'm just scared."
"Humans are supposed to be scared of us Bella, but you're not a normal human obviously. You consider a whole coven of us to be your family!" I could tell he was disgusted at the idea. He looked away from me shaking his head.
"But I know them. I trust them." I managed to utter. Another unexpected reflection showed its ugly head when I silently thought, At least I thought I knew them. He was still staring at me incredulously from the corner of his eyes as I said, "I'll be good now. I'm done feeling sorry for myself. I just want to get this over with okay?"
The "Buckle Your Seat Belt" light came on and we both obeyed. The plane began to make its descent then. I felt the jolt as the wheels touched the runway and sighed at what the future was sure to hold. Felix stood and held his hand out to me. I took it of course. What else was I supposed to do? We made our way out of the plane and through the airport, and he never relinquished my hand. Outside I was surprised to see a long black limousine waiting to pick us up. Felix climbed into the car first and fluidly pulled me in to sit right next to him. He let go of my hand only long enough to place it in the crook of his arm. Jane and Heidi were sitting across from us already; Jane shooting daggers at me, while Heidi still seemed amused at the situation. As we pulled away from the airport I felt sick to my stomach. My ever transparent face displayed my fears and Felix softly chuckled at my side. Stupid smug vampire.
EPOV
She was precious, like a flower.
She grew wild, wild with innocence.
A perfect pray in a desperate hour.
She was everything beautiful, and different.
If I wasn't indestructible I would literally die now of a broken heart. The loneliness and despair was so unbearable, and crippling. I had hunted Victoria for over three months now. It would be putting it lightly to say that I was not the best tracker. She was a very cunning creature who seemed to have a knack for escape. I had followed her here to Texas only to find that she had most likely laid a false trail. She must be miles away now, and I had no idea where to go from here. I was standing in Fort Worth outside a sports bar of some sort. At least that's what I thought it was. I had come over to listen to the minds of the people inside, trying to see if anyone had noticed her. The thoughts of these people were strange. It was like a different planet down here.
Frustrated and thoroughly annoyed, I started to leave when I heard the damn song. I never liked this kind of music, and now it was like this song was written as my own personal hell.
She laid her heart and soul right in your hands.
And you stole her every dream, and crushed her plans.
The guilt of what I had done to my personal angel took hold of me. I told her I loved her, and that I would never leave her. I made promises to her that I broke cleanly with one little lie. The pain I caused with my absence was nothing compared to the way I took my sweet and trusting Bella and crushed every ounce of faith in me that she had so willingly given. I was the worst kind of monster. I was saving her from me now, but only after I had dazzled her into believing in me; into loving me.
You stupid boy.
Ohh you always had to be right.
Now you've lost the only thing that ever
Made you feel alive.
I took off running to the woods to flee the lyrics. But just as it always did, my 'gift' wouldn't let me escape things it truly felt I needed to hear. When I reached the woods and was safely away from eye site, I fell to the ground and literally curled into a ball. My beautiful Bella. What have I done?
She loved me, she loved me, she loved me,
Oh God please let her know.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
CPOV
We continued to search everyday for Bella. There had been more search parties out into the forests, with almost everyone in town involved. When I had called Renee she screamed out in hysterics. Phil immediately made flight plans and they were in Forks within hours. I felt useless. I was the chief of police damn it and I had no idea where to go from here. We had no leads, no clues, we weren't even sure if she had run away or kidnapped. My heart had not hurt this bad since Renee had took our baby and left me in Forks to care for my parents. She was so upset then when I had refused to leave this town with her. I wanted frantically to do whatever was required to make her happy, but leaving my parents to care for themselves was one request I couldn't grant. I felt that I failed her on so many levels all these years. I never forgave myself really.
And here she was again, in pain because of me. I opened Bella's door at the top of the stairs to see Renee curled up on her bed crying. She was clutching Bella's pillow and sobbing loudly. I was frozen in the doorway. I had no words for her at all.
She had apparently heard me open the door since she then cried out, "Where is my baby Charlie? Where is she? We were supposed to take care of her!" Her sobbing became hysterical again. I felt her new husband push past me and go to her. He wrapped her up in his lap and gave me an apologetic look. I hated to admit that I liked that guy. If I couldn't take care of her, then at least he could.
The knock on the door sent me running down the stairs. I pulled the door open without a single thought as to who was waiting on the other side. Billy was looking up at me with care and concern.
"Hey, Charlie. I wanted to come by and check on things. Is it alright if I came in for awhile?" I pulled the door farther open to let Jacob pull Billy through the threshold. We went into the living room, and it was apparent that Billy had something on his mind. "Charlie, do you have any way of getting hold of the Cullen's?"
"The Cullen's?" I said a little shocked. "Why do you ask? Do you think they have something to do with this? Like they took her? Or are you thinking she ran away with him? I know my daughter a little better than that. Bella's wouldn't put me through this on purpose."
"I don't think they have anything to do with it Charlie. I only ask because I thought maybe they would like to know what is going on." He shot a glance at Jacob then. I was justifiably under the belief that the guys down at the Reservation had some sort of grudge against the Cullen family, so his interest in them was strange.
"I don't know what you're getting at Billy, but after they left, Bella never heard from them again. He never called once. Dr. Cullen had told the hospital he was taking a job in L.A. That's the only information she ever got about where they might be."
He shook his head in a very disappointed fashion. He looked again at Jacob and said, "Jacob just thought Edward would want to know what has happened, is all. Nothing to stress over, Charlie." Jacob pressed his lips together in a hard line. He didn't like that last comment.
BPOV
I had no idea where we were when the car stopped. Felix leaned over, took another deep whiff of me and said, "Welcome to Volterra Italy." He got out of the car and pulled me with him. We were standing next to a building that reminded me of a huge bank. I was thoroughly confused with why we would be here, but I kept quiet and let Felix lead me into the extremely fancy lobby. We all approached an elevator and stepped inside. We went two floors up before I heard the elevator ding. It was then that Felix ripped his hand away from mine. *The door opened and we stepped into what looked like a posh office reception area. The walls were paneled in wood, the floors carpeted in thick, deep green. There were no windows, but large, brightly lit paintings of the Tuscan countryside hung everywhere as replacements. Pale leather couches were arranged in cozy groupings, and the glossy tables held crystal vases full of vibrantly colored bouquets. (NM, Stephanie Meyer)
In the center of the room stood a large mahogany reception desk where a human sat. This was absolutely a shock. Jane rushed over to a boy that could be her twin and gave him a huge. "Alec. I've missed you." It was weird and very creepy to see the tiny vampire smiling. She had done nothing but give me the death glare since I met her. Alec had a very curious look on his face when he noticed me standing slightly behind Felix.
"What is this Jane?" He questioned. She was about to speak when Felix cut her off.
"We should take this matter directly to Aro, Jane. Alec can come along of course, but Aro should be made aware of this before anyone else."
The tiny twin vampires nodded, with Jane returning her face to the ugly scowl position. Jane walked forward and the others followed. I didn't move at first. "Come." Was all Felix said to me when he turned around to beckon me forward.
Holding hands, the twins lead us down a wide ornate hallway. They stopped in front of what seemed like nothing, before Alec slid a piece of paneling to the side to reveal a wooden door. He pushed it open and allowed Jane to walk through, before the rest of us followed. It was a room of stone; like that which you would expect to find in an ancient castle. I was scared as soon as I observed my surroundings. This was a place straight out of a horror film that was for sure. Some of the other vampires inside called Jane's and Heidi's name out excited to see their return. Heidi smiled to all of them sweetly before speaking, "Gentlemen, can you please go ask Aro to grace us with his company. Tell him we bring news from our visit to Carlisle. Oh, and let him know we have also brought a surprise along." She looked back at me still smirking.
Billy's POV
"I know they wouldn't go to L.A Sam. I'm simply relaying the information that Charlie was given. The Dr. told the hospital that he was taking a job in L.A. That's the reason they gave everyone for their departure." I was just as frustrated as Sam. He was eaten up with guilt that the pack had not stopped the three vampires from stealing Bella straight out of her house. For days he had lead the pack out into the woods searching in vain for a way to track down the strangers. We didn't know why vampires would capture a human instead of simply killing them, but Sam was taking that as a reason for hope.
He had brought up the idea, that if we got a hold of the Cullen's they could come help in the search. I knew that Carlisle was very old, so the thought was he might find one of the scents familiar and perhaps know where to start looking. The effort to track the Cullen's down however was proving to be very difficult. Just to be sure, I had called every hospital in L.A. looking for Dr. Cullen. Not surprisingly, he was not to be found at any of them.
"Look, we'll keep looking. Maybe they will show up again soon. I saw the way he looked at Bella. I'm not sure he would be able to stay away forever." I patted Sam on the back as he walked out the door before calling Jacob in from the garage. He came bounding up to the porch looking like he had grown six inches within the hour. That boy was huge now. I was still shocked that he hadn't changed yet.
I pushed those thoughts out of my head quickly. I couldn't even imagine if this was Jacob right now feeling like a failure to Charlie and Bella. I'm not sure he would recover from that, given his long standing feelings for her. Before, I was frustrated that the change was taking so long in him, but recent events made me appreciate the time I had left to keep Jake innocent. I didn't want him carrying around this burden. Bella may very well be dead, and I was glad Jake had no reason to blame himself.
BPOV
"Jane, dear one, you're returned." The man that came through the door then was not like any vampire I had seen before. He had long black hair, yet his skin was by far the palest out of all of them. It had an appearance of paper, almost translucent. His eyes were red; the same as the others around him, but the color was clouded, milky. I don't know why, but all of these features made him seem very old. This must be one of the elders. "Please tell me you found my old friend Carlisle well?"
"Actually Master, we did not find them. However, due to the circumstances, I think if would be better for you to get the story out of Felix." She was smiling mischievously trying to hold back a chuckle. The black haired man seemed to notice me then. His head angled to the side as he stared at me questionably.
Heidi let out a little laugh and spoke. "Aro, this is your surprise!" The little bouncing thing she was doing reminded me of Alice anytime I would let her dress me.
"You brought me a human? As a surprise?" Aro asked questionably. "Humm, well Jane, shall I take your advice and let Felix show me what is going on here?" Aro turned his gaze to Felix and held out his hand. "Felix, old friend, let me see."
When he glanced over at me, he looked very hesitate to take Aro's hand. I was a little taken back. I expected Aro to possess the talents equal to Edwards, but he didn't seem to be hearing any of their thoughts. He would surely already be able to know what had happened just by listening to their minds, but his confusion confirmed my suspicions.
Felix stepped forward to take Aro's hand in the end, and they stood there in complete silence as everyone watched. Finally, Aro stepped away and chuckled. "Well this in very interesting indeed. Where to begin. I have so many questions." He looked over at Jane and smiled. "This must be very frustrating for you indeed Jane, but don't you agree it is rather intriguing."
From the look of shear panic that came across Jane's face, there was no question that she was anything but intrigued by what I was able to do to her.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves though. First, you did not come across the Carlisle and his coven. You pretty much are in agreement that they have moved on from forks. While retreating, you came across their scent leading to a house and that is where our visitor comes in. Is that correct?"
Felix decided he needed to clarify a few points then I suppose. "Master, while at the permanent residence of the Cullen's, we caught a very strong smell of a human. It was all over the house, completely wrapped in their scent. This brought on some curiosity as to why a human would be at the house of vampires. It didn't take long for us to find a trail that held numerous scents of vampires. Again we were curious, so we followed it. The trail led through the forest straight to a house. We let ourselves in naturally, and noticed again that we found multiple vampire scents intertwined with the human smell. Before we could even stop to consider the implications of this, the girl came running through the door frantically shouting the name of Carlisle's companion." He stopped and turned to me, "Edward wasn't it?"
I of course did not respond with a single word, but stood there with a huge frown on my face. Felix seemed to be amused by all of this. This was Dr. Jekle and Mr. Hyde vampire. Not only was he crazy, but apparently he had multiple personalities.
"We inferred naturally that she was in on our little charade after all these clues fell into place. She would have been disposed of right then of course, but when Jane had no effect of her, I figured that is something you might want to see for yourself." He finished his monologue and then took a few steps back and away from me.
"Well that is something I will have to see," Aro exclaimed gleefully. "Go on Jane, give it a try." He waved his hand in my direction instructing her to begin. Jane squeezed her face very hard in concentration then, before letting a gasp out when her attempts proved futile. Aro was ecstatic. "Excellent! This is wonderful." He turned his head to me and asked, "And you felt nothing at all?"
I slightly shook my head from side to side, but otherwise said nothing.
"Well let's skip ahead to what was going on with the coven and our visitor shall we. Felix has shown me your name is Bella. Well Bella, please tell me your ties to my old friend." He stood there expecting me to answer his question without fail. Apparently he wasn't used to people not doing exactly what he wished. I however, was not giving away anything about my Family. I stood there silent with my hand crossed over my chest.
"Ah yes, Felix thought you were going to be stubborn about this. Bring her to me Felix." I felt my body jerk forward as Felix pulled me closer to Aro. He grabbed my arm and forced me to hold my hand out to him. Aro took it without hesitation.
"Humm, well you shouldn't be so hard on yourself Jane. Apparently I have no effect on her either. What a treat you have brought me indeed Felix." He patted him on the back and gave him a smile. He spoke then to Felix softly. "I've seen your wavering feelings Felix. Therefore I think I can trust you to take care of her without ending it. You can begin as soon as you are ready."
I was spun around then as Felix placed his hand on my shoulder to lead me out of the room. We walked through the doorway back into the hallway before Felix took my hand again and quietly whispered in my ear, "I knew you would be able to save yourself."
