A Delphian Utopia
3
Nox
Italian Dictionary;
Non li ho visti là - I didn't see you there.
Fretta – Hurry
-
Last Time;
"Oh…" Lorraine said slowly, "you're that Bella."
The brunette rolled her eyes, "You've… heard of me?"
"Oh, yes," Ray laughed, relief in her lilt, "you're why I'm here."
-
Bella furrowed her brows, "How so?"
Suddenly, very aware of the probing eyes around them, Ray motioned a little farther into the alleyway. Bella followed the intriguing ginger into the shadows, and watched as Ray leaned against the cobblestone wall.
"Kale," Lorraine began distantly, "is someone I've known for a very long time. He and I, we're like pleasant… enemies. We get along rather well, but live on opposite sides of a disagreement. My ambrosia is that of animals, and he finds his pleasures in a more human environment," she looked up at Bella through dark eyelashes, "Lately, though, Kale and I differ completely."
Bella leaned on the opposite side of the alley, stunned, "How can you support what he's doing now?" she whispered, "how can you watch all the killings and remain submissive?"
"Then what--?"
"I don't." Ray said strongly, her tone taking a defensive stance.
"I came here to talk some sense into him, but Kale had other plans. He knew of my arrival long before I even arrived, and it seemed that I was just what you needed."
Bella shook her head, feeling the story Ray was telling become even more complex than she had originally thought, "I don't understand."
"Being a hunter, not a murderer, I'm a little more civilized than most. He wanted me to help you to tame your beast. He says you call them your monsters."
"Monsters," Bella agreed gently.
Ray smiled, "Well, I do want to help you, Bella, but not with your inner havoc."
"What then?" Bella breathed.
One word. It was all it took.
"Escape."
-
Jacob Black had finally come of age in a tribe where no one was respected until they at least reached the age of eighteen. It was his birthday, and there was only one person who hadn't shown up to celebrate.
Bella.
It wasn't as if he had expected her to come. What had happened to her? He could try and believe the story Charlie had fed him in disappointed remorse only a few months prior. He remembered that day clearly, the day he'd decided to swallow his pride, and beg for Bella's forgiveness—even if it did mean betraying his pack.
Friendship, love, like that didn't come around so often. If Sam and the boys were really his brothers, they'd forgive him eventually. So he was stood in front of Bella's house that morning, flowers at hand, sincerely hoping that the blood sucking leech was off somewhere, anywhere else.
Only, there was no scent of Bella at all.
He'd knocked on the door softly, to be greeted by a very bedraggled looking Charlie in a ratty old robe and a five o'clock shadow from many days previous.
"Yeah?" he'd grunted, squinting through the rain, "Jake?"
"It's me, Charlie," Jacob said, following the police chief into the house. He stood, drip drying, on the welcome mat, and Charlie turned to face him. The older man's eyes drifted downwards to the bouquet of flowers that had been slightly drowned out by the rain.
"She's gone you know." Jacob hardly had time to register this before he saw tears forming in Charlie's eyes, "eloped with the Cullen boy."
The werewolf could have sworn he heard his heart shattering, and the pieces screaming that they'd never be able to regroup.
So much for best friends.
Now, as he stood on the windy, cold cliffs of La Push, Jacob could feel the familiar pang in his heart as he thought of her. Behind him, people were celebrating, not noticing the birthday boy wasn't in sight. It was too dark to see your hand in front of your face, anyway.
He didn't believe the bullshit about eloping. Cullen had probably turned his poor, sweet, innocent Bella into a leech himself. He'd stolen her. And the rest of them? The good doctor and his gorgeous wife? They'd probably just sat back and watched.
A low growl came from Jacob's throat, and faded away into the wind.
"Hey."
He turned slightly, his nostrils widening to take in the scent he hadn't noticed before. It was Embry and Quil, come to see what was bothering him.
"H--."
Another scent assaulted his nostrils, strong and sickly sweet. His heart froze, and his spine became rigid.
"No way," Embry breathed. Sam was by their side in seconds, along with the rest of the pack, Paul and Jared.
"Let's go," Sam ordered.
"We're not allowed on their land," Embry pointed out, "the treaty?"
"Screw the treaty," Jacob growled, already pacing down the beach, getting far enough away from his tribe so that he could morph, "this is personal."
-
They found the leech sitting on the Cullen's old porch, his auburn hair being grasped at by his hands. What had brought him back here, all by himself? And most importantly, where was Bella?
"She's gone," Edward whispered, reading Jacob's thoughts like book. The boy was always easy to read. Jake reacted immediately, growling, and stepping forward with his fists clenched.
"What do you mean?"
Sam placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and Jacob relaxed, if only a little.
Edward took his head from his hands, and his turmoil was evident on his face, "I mean she's gone, dog. As in, they killed her," the vampire took a shaky breath; "Bella is dead."
"Liar," Jacob spat, coming to stand directly before Edward.
He was a few inches shorter, but Edward stood anyways, prepared for Jacob, welcoming death.
"I owe this to you, I suppose," Edward muttered, "Bella loved you too." Their eyes connected, and Edward took a step back, "We left Forks after we heard of a threat from the new rulers of our race. I'm sure you've noticed the surplus of killings?"
"We've noticed," Sam growled, leaning on the railing of the stairs.
"Well, the old leaders were taken care of. The new ones believe in a more—open—policy. Their greed led them to Bella, and we left here in search of somewhere safe. It was useless. Only a day after we arrived in Chicago they came for her. I—I couldn't protect her from them," he sighed, looking back up at Jacob, "When my family and I went to Italy to get her back, they proposed an ultimatum. Either Bella joined them as a vampire, or my family and I were to be killed. She chose servitude."
"So then she should be alive." Jacob snarled, fisting the front of Edward's shirt in his hand. Edward remained impassive.
"When Declan bit her, it was already too late. She was too far beyond mutilated to live, and she died right before my eyes."
Jacob clenched his jaw to keep from crying. Mutilated? He heard what Edward was unable to say… that they had tortured her first, that she was in so much pain that not even a vampire's elixir could save her.
"This would have never happened," he whispered, "if you'd have left her alone from the beginning."
Edward looked down at his shoes, "I don't deny it."
"So it's your fault that she's dead."
"Don't think I haven't been blaming myself."
Jacob took the first hit. His punch landed straight in Edward's jaw, and it shook the vampire. It was hard to resist the urge to morph, but Jacob stood firm, He wanted to do this the human way.
"Stop!"
Sam's voice was like a trigger in Jacob's mind and his actions were halted.
"Jacob," the elder advised carefully, an image of Emily flashing in his mind, "let's be rational here."
"Fuck rationality!" Jacob swore, the force of his eyes rivaling that of Edward's, "you killed her!"
"No," Sam said sternly, his voice raising an octave or two, "no he didn't, Jake. But someone did, someone who deserves your anger. You know… you know Bella wouldn't want this."
The raven-haired teen settled back into his skin, his muscles loosening, and the grievances finally breaking through his stony loathing.
"No," he agreed, "you're not even worth it."
Edward looked away, up into the night sky. No, I'm not.
-
Bella's eyes snapped open, and locked with Kale's. As if the moment had come rushing up to greet her reality, she ripped her lips from his, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
Betrayal.
She felt her heart sink as she stared at Kale, a sick, tainted feeling seeping into her stomach. There was something about this ultimate form of loathing, of unfaithfulness, that she found completely nauseating.
"Kale," she gasped, "I love Edward."
"And I love you," Kale rebutted, pleading with the brunette through ruby eyes, "please understand, Bella."
"No!" she screamed, "I love him, no one else!" She shuddered, wondering if maybe Edward would ever do this to her.
No, her mind argued, he's much too good for that.
Kale turned his head to the side, feeling as if he'd been smacked, as if his heart had been ripped from his chest, as if he'd been right when he swore never to love.
"Fine," he growled, "get out of my sight, Isabella."
She shook her head, grabbing her black trench coat from the chaise, and noisily departing. Outside Kale's large chambers, she stopped, her face scrunching up in anger. Her head turned back to the door, and she bit down on her lip, "Gladly."
-
Lorraine waited patiently in the darkness, her probing, jewel like eyes sweeping the street for any sign of Bella. The brunette lifted herself from a sewer drain on the opposite side of the street, hurrying out onto the main road. Night owls bustled by her, laughing joyously in their drunken stupor. A few stopped to give her appreciative glances, shouting compliments to her in slurring Italian.
Bella merely smiled shortly, waving them off as she made haste toward her new companion. Lorraine bit her lip, making sure to keep an eye out for any patch of darkness that was not tranquil, or any flash of burgundy out of the corner of her eye. They were daring escape from Volterra, something never before heard of because no one had ever succeeded—human or not.
"Bella," Lorraine stressed, "you have to tell me—now. Can you do this?"
Bella hesitated, letting Ray's words work their way into her mind. Could she do this? There were so many things she hadn't factored into her plan of escape—like the assuredness of a plane ride full of human blood, the consequences of her disappearance, and the brutal wrath of Kale when he learned of her departure…
Could she survive, and manage to keep everyone she loved out of harms way? Could she leave, all the while wondering if Edward would accept her new self? And what about Lorraine?
"Bella?"
Nodding her head firmly, she decided that she could take whatever it was Kale had to dish out. She would greet his retribution with open arms, shielding everyone who stood behind her. If it meant only a few short months, days, hours with Edward, she would gladly compromise.
"I can do this."
Ray smiled warily, "Never thought you couldn't," she laughed quietly, "now look, I don't know what it is you're going back to, but I can see in your eyes that it's worth it," from the folds of her cloak, she drew a small, white envelope. Plane tickets, agendas, and a small, folded letter were inside, and Bella held them fast to her chest.
"You're coming with me," Bella pleaded, "I thought…"
Ray shook her head, cutting off Bella from her desperation, "We won't make it, not together," Ray said softly, "I can only see you off Bella, I can't make the journey with you."
"But you'll be killed!" the brunette cried as loud as a whisper would allow, "if Kale finds out you helped me, he'll be merciless."
Ray smirked, "Don't worry about me."
It was almost an immediate reaction; Bella felt selfishness overtake her. How could she just leave Ray here, alone, defenseless against the rage of an entire coven?
"No."
Ray cast an impatient look over Bella's shoulder, "If you won't leave for me Bella, leave for whatever's waiting outside these walls."
Edward.
Looking away from the eyes that mirrored those of her lover's, she sighed, "Be safe."
With a brush of wind, Bella was running.
It would be only seconds before she was being chased. The airport, she knew, wasn't far from Volterra. As inhuman footsteps reached her ears, Bella pushed a little further, letting her feet guide her towards the ancient exit of the city. If she ran fast enough, she'd make it.
Stop following me, she thought ruefully, closing her eyes as she finally passed the overhang, let me go…
Miraculously, and Bella hardly knew how she escaped the extensive grasp of detainment, she made it to the airport, with only a minute left to spare. The attendant was closing one of the heavy, steel doors, muttering about a particularly smelly passenger. Bella appeared behind her, already holding her breath from the sweet aroma of blood.
"O," the woman jumped, her hand flying to her chest, "Non li ho visti là,"
Bella shook her head, thrusting the ticket towards the woman, and letting her unusual eyes play their powers of persuasion. The attendant looked back at the remaining opening door while she ripped Bella's ticket on the perforated lines.
"Fretta," the woman stressed, nodding urgently to the door. Bella wasted no time, going a little faster than she should have to reach the doors before they closed. She slid past the flight attendant who was reaching for the safety handle, and sat down in the only empty seat on the plane.
She had escaped one hell, and immersed herself into another.
Grasping at the bosom of her black cloak, she secured her hands. If only she could distract her hunger in such a way. She had once been told, by Carlisle, she imagined, that newborn vampires were the most insatiable creatures when it came to blood. There was no limit to the amount they could consume; a sense of being full meant nothing to them.
For Bella, and it perplexed her, she was about five times worse. She was already a year old, but still the hunger was the only thing on her mind. If it wasn't present in every thought, it was the basis of her subconscious. If she could still sleep, she would dream of bloodshed and slaughtering.
There were hardly any children on this flight, she noticed with relief. Their curiosity would have led Bella to be a little more than friendly with a few of them. Thankfully, only a handful of people were casting her admiring looks, while most were either asleep, or too exhausted to pay any attention to their surroundings.
As the plane finally lifted into the air, Bella sighed, not bothering to draw back a breath. The smells would be too much right now. She let her mind wander instead to her return. Edward's face swam before her closed eyelids, and excitement coursed through her dry veins.
What it would be like to feel him touch her again, to taste the essence of his lips? She couldn't remember much, about the finite details of their relationship, only that it was euphoria to be in his presence. Did they fight a lot, or were they always at peace? What was it like to share conversation with him? What would it feel like; she wondered the most, to feel whole again?
-
They touched down in New York, Bella and a few other people who had been on her plane, traveled quickly to gate 4A, where they boarded their final flight to Chicago. O'Hare airport was crowded, and the people around the vampiress were shivering like mad as soon as the sliding doors opened to the outside. She cast amused glances at them all, before finally taking a breath. Out there in the open, it was a little easier to concentrate on things besides blood.
The soft, almost indiscernible scent of moisture littered the air as snow besieged her hair and skin. She began to move towards the highway, trusting in her nose to guide her home.
Home, the world filled her with both a sense of safety, and one of uncertainty.
The Cullens were so civilized, so amazingly adapted to the sweet temptation of a blushing woman or an exhilarated man. And here she was, standing a good distance from a crowd, yet they all called to her like singers.
She was weak.
-
I'm heavily broken
And I don't know what to do
Can't you see that I'm choking
And I can't even move
When there's nothing left to say
What can you do
I'm heavily broken
And there's nothing I can do
-
Sorry for the short chapter, once again. I mean, it just happens that way. I won't say much here except for the fact that if you happen to like Harry Potter, and my writing, then I made a new fic called Wicked. It's a SiriusOC fic, and it's pretty amazing so far, I must say. The link is in my profile, obviously.
Oh, and I may have moved Jacob's birthday up a few months. By now, as I'm sure you've realized, Bella would be nineteen. But hey, what's a year or two between friends, right?