Disclaimer: I do not own these stories

Ch 4: Into the Wild

A twig snapped behind Bella. She literally sprung to her feet, gathering an amount of gracefulness she never knew she had while she spun around.

His wild blond hair was still pulled back in the same low ponytail. He had stomped out from behind a large conifer in the same brown combat boots and low slung jeans he had been wearing before. His eyes were the same deep shade of red that Bella remembered.

"James…" she whispered into the rustling forest.

A sneer rose from his full lips and his arms crossed firmly over his bare front. His chest was pushed forward, his shoulders back, puffing up like a king rooster. He seemed to be keeping a purposeful distance from Bella.

A slight tremble started in Bella's legs and worked its way up. She thought she should run but knew she wouldn't make it far anyway. Her head twitched to the side as she wondered which direction was home.

"I wouldn't bother running, Bella." James' voice was just as low and smooth as she remembered. Her name had a tonal quality as it left his mouth. He dropped his arms and turned to the side. His gaze went to the earth as he began walking in a wide circle around her. He was still keeping his distance from her.

Bella stood as still as possible. She was scared, but it wasn't overwhelming. A part of her had already made peace with death. Another small part of her thought that the encounter might magically conjure Edward back up to her side. She paused at that thought. Did she want Edward back by her side, or did she want the safety he brought with him?

"Isabella." James shook his head at the ground, continuing his orbit around her. "I wish I had killed you in that ballet studio in Pheonix."

A terrifying grin stretched up to his eyes as he eventually looked up at her, "Guess I'll just have to make up for it now."

Bella's heart rate picked up and a light sweat broke on her skin. James turned an ear in her direction with a flare of drama as his eyes slid away. Then his gaze snapped back towards her and his smile grew even wider. She got a full view of his fangs as they descended, glistening white with what seemed like a sheen of pinkness that she may have been fabricating.

"Oh Bella, that's just what I like to hear. Your blood really is appetizing, but I'm sure you've heard that before."

Bella knew she couldn't run. She knew Edward wasn't going to save her. She knew nobody powerful enough was going to come to her rescue. It was just her and a wrathful, bloodthirsty vampire, in the middle of the woods where no one would even hear her last cries. A flash of her body, neck torn, eyes still wide in surprise, limbs at all awkward angles, blood soaking into the damp earth beneath it, flashed through her mind. She was going to die. It wasn't a question.

"Why don't you just fucking take it then? Take all of it." The words left her lips with pride. He could have her body if he wanted, but he couldn't take away her pride. She would not become a quivering mess for him. She would not grovel for her life.

James looked taken aback. He'd stopped his slow rotation around her and was staring at her in what seemed like disbelief.

"What? You don't like when your food talks back?" Bella figured if she was already digging a hole she may as well try to reach China. "I see. You're too weak to kill me when a whole vampire coven is on your tail so you wait to get the easy prey alone. You think I'm the one who's pathetic?"

James was at her in a split second, lifting her off the ground by the underside of her jaw. He held her there for a moment, squeezing tighter and tighter. Then he threw her suddenly backwards and towards the ground. Her back skidded as it hit earth. She slid a couple feet until her head met with a tree trunk. Pain exploded behind Bella's eyes. Everything went black for a second. When her vision cleared James was crouching over her, face inches away.

"I think you've gotten too used to safe vampires, Bella."

Bella tried to lift her head a little, her neck hurt like a son of a bitch,"I think you've gotten too used to docile prey. I'm not going to roll over and play dead, asshole." The rest of her body was numb from the shock of hitting the ground and the tree. She absentmindedly licked away the trickle of blood that was forming at the corner of her mouth. James' eyes caught the movement and followed it closely. His face was mere centimeters away from hers now. She noted again that he never breathed. She suddenly wondered what her breath smelled like, fanning over his face. Was she practically pushing the smell of her blood up his nose?

James was even closer to Bella's face as she checked back into the present. His full pink lips were parted just slightly. His eyes had seemed to soften, the red of his irises deep as pools of blood. Bella was looking right into them, her breath bated, unsure, when his look narrowed again. He threw himself suddenly away from her. Bella looked up at the canopy of the forest for a few moments. There was a haze of dull light filtering in through the branches. A soft wind was playing with the topmost layer of leaves.

She drug herself up with the heels of her hands and leaned back into the tree she had previously met with. James was a few feet away, crouched on the ground, head squeezed between his hands and elbows out. His eyes were shut tight. He spoke like that.

"What are you doing to me?"

An odd silence built between them that the forest filled with rustling leaves and the various sounds of animals living their every day lives. A squirrel hopped from one branch to another high above them. A mosquito buzzed around near Bella's left ear briefly then flew away. A twig snapped somewhere in some direction at some distance away. James' eyes opened again. They were glaring at Bella.

"You," he spat, "you've done something to me. I can't…" He stood and stalked further away then turned around and stalked back to her. He crouched over her aching body and moved his hand to grip her throat again, then stopped in mid-motion. His fingers curled into a fist and his face went down, away from her stare.

He fell forward, a knee on either side of Bella's outstretched legs. His face was hidden from her. "You…" His muscles were tense potentials of power. She was paralyzed, terrified, confused. She didn't move as he lowered hands to her thighs and gripped her there. He brought his face up to see her and she would have described the look he gave her as lost if she didn't know the cold-blooded murderer she was dealing with. He inhaled suddenly and it surprised her. She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut. He was going to kill her now. She felt his head move closer from behind her eyelids. She felt the coolness emanating from his face on her neck. His lips touched the skin above her artery. It was gentle. That scared her more. Her heart thumped blood at ever increasing speeds through her veins and she wondered what that sounded like to him, wondered if he felt the pulse under his lips. He had to have. He wasn't ripping into her. His lips were motionless against her skin.

He flew back so suddenly it took her a moment to open her eyes and realize he wasn't there anymore. Her head moved around tentatively as she searched through the trees for him. The ground rustled behind the tree she was resting against. She leaned to look around and behind it. The weight on her right arm reminded her of how hard she had hit the ground not long ago. She tried to hide the pain in her face when she saw what had rustled. The dark body covered only by a pair of cut-off sweatpants moving towards her from the dark depths of the forest was not James. His deep brown eyes were staring right at her as he approached.

"Bella?"

Bella's face was contorted in confusion.

"Bella, I'm Sam."

She quickly looked forward and around but couldn't sense James anywhere. She thanked heaven quietly. She didn't need a dead body that wasn't hers on her hands or her conscience.

"Uhm, hi." Her voice came out breathy and shaking.

"Are you okay?" Sam reached the tree, "Is there someone else here?" His eyes weren't set on her anymore, they were searching the forest. The look on his face was unsettling, his eyes dark and his lips pulled back in a frown, his nose flared like he smelled something bad.

Bella stood up, any grace she had mustered earlier disappeared in the pain that shot through her body. She was leaning heavily against the tree to help herself up. She grunted as she did so and Sam's face snapped around to look at her.

"What happened?" He seemed sure that something bad had gone down.

"Nothing," Bella managed to stutter out, "I was running. I fell. I… was trying to get away."

"From what?" Sam's voice came out forceful. His shoulders were drawn up and he stance wide, like he was ready to take off. His body was practically thrumming with a sort of violence to it.

"Fr-from home. My dad. Billy and Jake. Everything." Bella's legs buckled and she would have fallen if Sam hadn't caught her by the bicep. She hung from her arm held in his hand, feeling the stress on her shoulder socket for a second before he scooped her up.

"I'm bringing you home."

"I can walk."

"Yeah, seems like it."

Sam began stomping through the woods with her.