I forgot to put the names up of the people that reviewed, so here they are!
SmileyFace55 – Thanks for being my first reviewer!
DreamerH21 – What can I say, you're amazing! The advice you give on and off of fan fiction is awesome. Ly! Your story, Running is just the first Step is so good!
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Dreams Never Come true – I love how you love stories like these! Lol
Sarah Su Pengly – Thank you for saying that, it means a lot.
Thank you so much you guys, especially those who reviewed more than once!!!
On with the Chapter!
We burst through the wide doors, bending the wood back with such a force it nearly came off its hinges. We ran into the stone room where Aro sat, a pool of blood in the centre of the room where the drain was. I shivered at the thought of what must have been happening here a few minutes ago.
We froze as a little voice drifted towards us, angelically young, shocking us still.
'A ring a ring a roses
A pocket full of poses
A tissue! A tissue!
We all fall down!'
Renesmee giggled in her sing-song voice at her silly song. Her dress was slightly bloody. What could they have done? The blood was dried, staining the little white frills erupting out of her skirt, so I couldn't tell if the blood was hers, or someone else's. And evidently, no one else could bleed here apart from her and Giana. And lunch.
She was sitting on the floor, playing with a thick-chained, gem-crusted necklace. She liked sparkly things.
I almost flew to her my movements were so fast. I would do anything, just to hold her in my arms and run away as fast as I possibly could. Renesmee. My Renesmee. She was here and safe, sort of. She was so close, almost in my arms –
Suddenly, I was knocked to the side, three figures holding me down.
"Don't struggle." A familiar voice whispered in my ear. Felix. Typical.
I struggled against their grip, desperate to reach my baby. They pushed me down further, fast and hard. My breath whooshed out of me. Not that I needed it. I couldn't speak; I could only just move my head now. I turned it to see Edward was in the same position, his arms behind him in such away he couldn't move at all, like me. The two guards were forcefully pushing him down. Huh. I guess I must have seemed a bigger threat. That humoured me slightly. They thought I was a bigger threat than Edward.
His topaz eyes were locked on mine, with mine. They burned with an emotion of hatred, and pain. I imagined, again, our emotions on our faces must be very similar.
That was happening a lot lately. But not from good things.
"Mommy! Daddy! I'm so glad you came! Aro said you would!"
I couldn't breath.
What? What – had they done?
Even with my super vampire brain, I couldn't get my mind over this new figure of Renesmee. She looked the same, but her spirit - the way she wore her emotions on her face – was completely different. Her expression was one of delight, but there was like a white sheet behind that. It was if she recognised us, but only us. Not the memories we held.
A deep and intense silence filled the room, the air crackling with tension. My mouth dropped open as she bounded up to Aro, who caught her and held her up in his arms. I growled menacingly at him. He should not be touching Renesmee. That scumbag should not be touching my daughter, my Renesmee!
"Bella, Edward! So nice of you to come." Aro said joyfully. An enraged roar came from my lips, joined in unison with Edwards. I looked over at him, to see his fury spilling out over his face. Right then, I wish I knew what Edward was thinking. What they were thinking what Aro was thinking.
What Renesmee was thinking. What had happened to her in the space of a couple of days?
"What have you done to her?!" I snarled, voicing my question. The words spat from my lips. He deserved no better. Renesmee looked at me suddenly, to glare with an icy mask.
"Mom, drop it! He has done nothing. It was my choice to come here, my choice! I was not taken, I sent for the girl! I have chosen my life, so deal with it." She said menacingly.
Edward snarled at the outright lie and shook his head at me. Renesmee opened her mouth to launch into another torrent of lies, but Aro put his hand on her mouth and sighed.
"We'll have to try another method. Tom, you know what to do." Aro said regretfully.
A young vampire stepped forward, his dark brown hair curling around his face. He must have been about 17 or 18 when he was changed, his features still young. His dark ruby eyes flicking nervously to me and then Renesmee. He could sense a tension of sort, yet it didn't look like he knew the cause of that tension. He had a confused look sprawled across his face.
His eyes were on Renesmee as she drooped in Aro's arms, her eyes rolling back in their sockets.
"No!" I screamed. "What have you done?!"
"You see, you are not the only one with new arrivals", Aro said, gesturing to Nessie, whom he had lain on the floor. "Tom here joined us about a month ago with his dear sister, Ricky. They have not been vampire for very long, only about a year or so. I have to say, Ricky is much like you, dear Bella. Feisty, newborn to this life, and deeply in love."
My eyes flickered to Edward for half a second. He was seething slightly. He obviously didn't like Aro making a resemblance between me and this Ricky girl.
Who was this girl? What has she anything to do with this?
"Ricky wanted to impress Felix", continued Aro. I looked up towards one of my captors. Felix was grinning from ear to ear. He saw me looking, and winked down at me.
"So she figured the best way to impress Felix was to do something drastic, to impress me. So she tried to impress him with a gift. And what surprising gift that was! She is very clever, figuring that if she took your Renesmee, you would come. Though personally I hoped Alice would come too."
He sighed in disappointment.
"But carrying on, her power is to speed up minds, so as to protect them, as Edward found out. You've already seen tom's handy work. He can make anyone unconscious in a second. Humans are easy, though vampires can be a little tricky. But unfortunately for Ricky, she was not clever enough to realise one simple favour, one gift would not impress Felix. Oh no, he has much higher standards" Aro said, chuckling quietly. Again, Felix grinned, but in agreement.
A brutal snarl ripped through the air.
My head wiped round to the source of the intimidating noise. A figure was crouching in a hunter like way, her eyes focused on Aro. She leaped up in to the air, letting out a scream of pain almost instantly. She crumpled onto the floor, writing convulsively. Her scarlet eyes rolled back. I looked up to see Jane smiling angelically, her face concentrated, using all her force to make the girl suffer.
The girl had ash blond hair, cropped into a messy array of spikes. It was similar to Alice's but not as nice. Here bright crimson eyes flashed brightly. Her slender build looked sweet as sugar. I could hardly imagine her hunting, her sweet looks and angelic features could lead someone to believe she wouldn't hurt a fly. The look on her face said it all though. Her emotions were all splayed across her face; disgust; revenge; outrage; pain, and one that surprised me, fearful. Not the fear of pain, no, it went deeper than that. It was hard to place; she hid the terror in her eyes, masking it with her anger. She shuddered to a violent stop.
Jane was now looking at Edward.
Fear washed over me. Fear for Edward. No! He had no protection! His face was still furious, black and smouldering. But it was a little smug too. How could he be smug over that girl in pain? A pain he had experienced and knew the full force of? How could he? There must be reason… what did he know, that I didn't?
I stretched my shield over him swiftly, creating a bubble of safety around him, just in cause Jane decided to turn the tables onto Edward. I looked over to Renesmee, trying to draw out my shield to her too, but it kept sliding off. Every time it went near enough to touch her it was pushed away. What the hell? So I couldn't even protect her now? I am such a bad mother. What kind of mother would let her own daughter be kidnapped, and when she did find her daughter damaged and broken? What kind of a mother for one second would sit there and watch her baby get hurt? Me, that's who. Renesmee doesn't deserve me. She derverses better. Better than this.
"Now, Now Ricky!" Aro scolded. "Don't get mad, it was your own fault! You know what they say about eavesdropping!"
This was Ricky?!
This was the girl that stole my daughter?! My Renesmee?!
That bitch! That poor excuse of a vampire deserves all the pain Jane can give her, all the pain anyone could give her! Now I understand why Edward looked so smug.
"But you lied!" Ricky's melodic voice screeched.
"I did not. You merely picked up part of a conversation and turned it around to fit your needs." Aro remarked coldly.
"You said you wanted the girl!" Ricky hissed. "An insignificant girl who you would give anything for! You said you would be so grateful to whoever would be so brave to fetch her! That you would proclaim their name on high.
"You. Lied." She whispered. "I have no want of anything from you, or Felix, or your guards, or anyone here! So let. Me. Go!!!"
"What fun would that be? You disobeyed the Voultri, which would mean you'd be a pile of ashes now if not for Felix. Even though he laughs at your very name, he felt pity for you. He didn't want for you to be killed, but we can change that." Aro said. "Renesmee wasn't to keen on you, Ricky" he carried on, nudging Renesmee's crumpled figure on the floor with his foot.
I hissed furiously in protest.
"Do not touch her! Or mess with her mind either! You may able to take away countless lives, destroy countless bonds, but you hurt my daughter, you scum that call yourself the Voultri, and you can start running, because when I find you, when we find you, all that'll be left is a little pile of ashes!"
"My dear Bella, it seems as though you have become quite aggressive in you newborn months."
I stayed silent, so as not give them the satisfaction he wanted. I still bared my teeth, barely suppressing the growl that was threatening to roar out of my throat.
"Now, back to business. Bella, Edward, we have a proposition for you to consider." Said Aro joyfully. "We would like you to join the Voultri. Your skills would be most desired and very useful."
I looked at him in disbelief.
"If you think we'll join you, then think again. Nothing would ever make us join you!" Edward spat.
"Let's put this another way, shall we?" Caius said, speaking for the first time. "You join us, or Renesmee gets hurt. Your choice."
I roared in outrage, Edwards snarl making it even more terrifying. Not my baby! No, no, no! They can't hurt her! Not my baby!
Caius eyes flickered between us, a sly, triumphant smile on his face. He had us caught, and he knew it.
"You wouldn't dare!" snarled Edward, struggling against his guards.
"Oh believe me, we would" Caius said with an evil gleam in his eyes. "And if that doesn't work, then there's always you two."
I looked at Edward. His golden eyes were flashing a flat black colour, a painful colour for him and me. How many times were are emotions mirrored?!
So now I give up. To hurt Renesmee would end all happiness in my life. But Edward too? Both? Both of my reasons for my immortal existence? A life without them would be no life at all. All hope is gone, lost. So is the battle, we cannot fight anymore. We cannot fight with each other in the way. We cannot win if they have my Renesmee, and my Edward.
I lifted my shield off myself with great effort, so Edward could here my last thought.
It's all over.
Updates will be about a month between each chapter. Sorry it's so long, but i have school work to catch up on! (and GCSE's soon *gasp*)
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