Chap. 3

Alice

The cavernous chambers of the Volterra castle flew by. I had met Carlisle at the airport – we took the soonest flight to Europe. We would be too late – it was certain. I had peeked into the future over and over, waiting for the one mind that would flicker and change the decision of death. But no mind flickered – each was set for the death of my brother, to rip him to shreds.

I knew Aro saw this as a game. His amusement came first, his delight over pain and destruction. Our family was the greatest threat to their clan, and it was falling apart by the seams. Edward was just one more strand of the fabric being pulled, one more link in the chain being unhinged. And now, as I raced toward the final chamber, I was fighting for the chain to stay linked.

The final doorway appeared before Carlisle and I. We burst through, startling the vampires residing inside. We both turned to face the circle of vampires, the dark violet smoke billowing from the center of the five. The smell was ghastly – but unmistakable. Edward's scent, with the smell of venom and burning flesh. Carlisle knelt before the ashes of his first son, his silent form curving painfully of the still-smoldering flecks of black. Aro was silent, watching as I fell to my knees, as my father ran his fingers through what was left of my brother. We both turned silently to the vampire who had issued the order, the order which had killed Edward. Aro shrugged, amused eyes gazing toward us.

"It was his request."

My anger billowed, enveloping me. His smug appearance angered me, his confident minions making the burning anger grow. I stepped forward, but a strong hand came to rest on my shoulder. Carlisle shook his head once, pulling me back. A growl bubbled up as I turned back toward the murderous leader of the Volturi, but backed away. His grim but amused smile slowly faded, and he turned, his cape fluttering, to proceed to his feeding chamber.

Edward

It was a curious feeling, dying. The initial destruction of the body was as expected – each piece ripping of in agony. It was like being wrenched in different directions, though not nearly as painful as the change toward vampirism in the beginning. To die, though, was to be sucked into a whirlpool, or rather, a black hole. I was being ripped apart, and yet at the same time being squeezed out of my own body, crushed until only my consciousness remained. Farther still into the darkness I was pulled, plunged down through a timeless vortex toward a single flame. No tunnel of light, no out-of-body experience, no booming voice telling me that my sins were too great. Just the swirling feeling of death. The gates of hell were open, the souls of others being pushed in. I noticed that there certainly was the smell of brimstone, the searing heat of flames. The souls around me pushed father in, their chilled breath rivaling the heat in its potency. The flickering light of the flames grew ever deeper and more ominous, lashing out to lick up the spires around us, coming close to singe our clothes on our backs and the hair on our heads.

Perhaps I should have been grateful – an existence in Hell must have been better than no afterlife at all, but still, entering Hell was not a treat for any of us. The line of souls, once we passed the gateway, stretched for miles, farther and farther. Looking up I saw only the spires and rock of the cave ceiling above, glowing red with the fire dancing beneath it, eyeless bats flitting between columns of lava rock, their winged forms throwing ever more shadows against the far walls. The road the the left and right of the lines fell away into a boiling mass of magma, seething and hissing with flames flickering across the top of the molten rock. It bubbled, the effect almost hypnotizing as one stared at the horrifying sight. Every other minute one person or another was pushed from the crowd, stumbling towards the ledge until there was no more ledge to stand on. Then they fell, screaming (as was the general way to go) into the fiery pit of liquid rock.

The line ahead of me was growing shorter and shorter, but still it took ages to move a single step. With no distraction, my mind quickly found its way to a person whose name echoed within my head constantly, day and night. Bella. The name itself seemed to taunt me, speaking of beauty that I would never see again, eyes that would never gaze into mine, and hand that I would never again hold. Her grave lips came to mind as I wandered slowly over her face, my mind raking over the vision of her that remained inside of my head. I shook my head once more to clear it – to think of her now would be useless, I could never see her again.

At last my turn was reached. Light and darkness seemed to fuse together as I stepped through a narrow tunnel at the end of the hall. Emerging into the outer chamber, I stepped quickly onto a single piece of rock at the end of the ledge. It seemed to float, its density lighter than air and yet able to carry the weight of a vampire. Others were being carried as such, each rock carrying a passenger and one only. We reached are destination – another set of gates, only this time guarded. Three dogs stood at the doors, snapping at those who dare come to near or strayed to far. I looked more closely at it – it was not three dogs, but only one, with two extra heads besides it. Stray serpents wrapped around its neck and slowly climbed to the top of one of the heads, acting like a mane of fangs and venom. As I looked on, it strained at its collar, and I saw it dig into the neck of the beast. Chained and shackled it was – as I was only a few days ago. Wait – was it days? Was it minutes? Time elapsed I took no notice of – neither in death nor existence, I suppose. As I passed the chained beast, it growled ever fiercely, but cowered as I met its gaze. Alive or not, the vampire in me clung to my soul through death. I bared my teeth at the dog and it whimpered, crawling backward on its haunches.

A river of blackened depths spread before us once through to gates guarded by Cerberus' jaws. A single ferryman rowed endlessly back and forth across it, parting its waters soundlessly as he carried boatload after boatload to the other side. His gaze weaved through the crowd and landed on me.

"Oy there! You! Vampires first – that is the rule." His brow furrowed as I stepped aboard his rickety ship, glancing uneasily between me and the other side. "We've been getting another wave of your folk here – just a few decades ago we had a male and a female – James and Victoria. I don't suppose that you had anything to do with that now, would you?"

I looked up in surprise at the familiar names – the tormentors of my poor Bella in her first years with me. I had not heard their names in many years, and nor did I want to think of them. Instead of giving him an answer, I asked a question of my own.

"Why vampires first?"

He looked down into the waters, and I followed his gaze, toward an outstretched hand floating toward us.

"Your punishments are swift – no lingering is allowed."

I studied the side of the boat as I pondered this. We, as a species (hah, as if we are even that) were condemned to a life in hell already, and yet we are still to be burned sooner than the others in the pit of fire.

Looking into the waters I saw faces – the faces of the dead. Bloated corpses with bleached skin bobbed to the top of the water, dead yet not dead, as their fingers scrabbled at the crumbling paint of the boat. Their desperate attempts were useless – not one had found purchase on the vessel, not one had climbed out of the murky waters to cross onto land. They looked toward me, redoubling their efforts to clamber on deck. I turned away – their lifeless eyes seemed to reflect my own image back.

"It is just as well you turn away – those who see the ones crossing cling to the slightest hope that you will reach in to pull them out, and you would be drowned in the effort." He shot a wary glance back at the still-churning waters, and we rowed onward. Their bleached hands still slapped at the sides of the boat, nails scraping and screeching, ringing in my ears.

I saw the empty path before me and flitted to the front of the boat. The fire and brimstone, as were told, awaited me. I, the monster, was to finally be faced with the wrath of hell, my soul stained red with the blood of the lives claimed in my thirst. My destiny awaited ahead. The path wound down an endless road, no turns or twists or changes of any kind. I knew that I would not grow weary, yet the task ahead of me seemed strangely daunting. Not dark nor light, the faded scenery around me did not end – there was no horizon, no place where earth met sky, no light shining from a pulsing sun. Only a dim glow seeming to come from nowhere, and a fog that rolled endlessly both away and toward me.

The path led me onward, and I passed only one person along the way. A woman, of fine garb and gaunt face stood by the side of the road, singing softly to herself in a voice that murmured yet was clear. She looked haunted, and even as she was crowned in gold the gold was intertwined with thorns. She reached out one fair hand and called for me to stop.

"You are different from the others." She cocked her head and stared at my eyes, blinking slowly as she examined me. The orbs of gray were not unkind but were more studying – no feeling moved vividly within them but interest still swam slowly through and through. "You are damned for eternal hell, but there is a part of you that is not. Curious ... curious."

I stared back then, listening to her words that confused me ever more.

"Ah, I forget myself – we must introduce. I am Persephone – trapped here during winter because of three simple pomegranate seeds." She shook her head in shame. "I was fool – now I am trapped here for six out of twelve months. And you – you are a blood drinker, but you drink not the blood of humans. Ah, yes, I know of your habits – it is spelled out in your eyes. You love, but hate, and loath mostly your own kind."

I stared warily at her – she who knew all through one glance at me. She laughed.

"Frightened you have a right to be – though you need not. Pass, blood drinker. May your verdict be less harsh than others of your kind."

And so I walked on ....

The pathway reached its end - simply faded into a cracked desert of lava and flames. It looked deserted – but in the distance a figure approached, a figure, crawling forward, with waving red hair. I glanced back toward where the path was. The dusty trail that had led me here no longer existed, only an endless desert with no horizon. The figure glanced up and saw me, and it grinned menacingly. Climbing to its feet I recognized it once more – the same figure that I had decapitated, the same person who had tried again and again to destroy my only reason for being. Wryly I thought of how I myself had destroyed my reason for being, and then myself took my life. How ironic, was it not?

Victoria stared at me, eye to eye, both our damned souls standing once again as equals. She threw her head back and laughed, and I stood there, standing unaffected in front of her.

"I did not expect to see you so soon, Edward. How is that pretty little treat doing – Isabella was her name, was it not? Fifty years ... she would be in ripe old age."

I stood glaring at her, anger welling up at another reminder of the destruction I had done. Victoria continued with the speech.

"Ah yes, I suppose with a family and even grandchildren. Hah!" I snarled as I realized that she was taunting me – she knew already of Bella's death, of my torture, of the darkness welling around my thoughts. I leaped at her, arms stretched out wide to tear her head off again, to rip out the red waves of fiery hair. But my hands simply dove into nothingness, as if she had dissolved into the air surrounding us.

She grinned, her burgundy eyes lighting up with delight. "Welcome to your hell, Edward."

I turned and ran, the sand in the wind whipping at me like claws. Still I felt her cling to me, like a parasite of smoke. She clutched me closer and whispered into my ear, her chilling breath wafting across my cheek.

"Run Edward. You'll never go anywhere anyway."