It feels so long since we've seen each other. Anyways, I'll blabber on later but just know that Kidnapped has been changed from T to M.
Enjoy this chapter!
Though looking as calm as the ocean on the outside, Bella was actually screaming at the top of her lungs on the inside. She was so confused right now. One minute she was in some dark freaky alley being attacked by some of the weirdest things and hanging onto her dear life and the next, she's in Edward's room trying to save him. The minute he bit her, the most amazing sensations flowed through her and it was like an instantaneous reaction. Her mind was still the same but her body changed somewhat. She wanted Edward. She wanted to push him down and kiss him and ravish him. Thankfully for her, her mind was winning as she awkwardly walked over the tiny space between the room and the couch and sat on the other side of Edward.
"Would you like something to drink before we start?" Edward asked as he looked down. He too was having troubles trying to control the animal within him. He had been in perfect control of that side of him before but all his barriers broke down the minute he drank Bella's blood.
"Some coffee would be nice," Bella replied with a small smile.
Edward nodded and clapped his hands. Alice bounced into the room moments later with a coffee kart and asked Bella how she would like her coffee.
"Two sugars and one cream please," Bella answered with a small smile. Alice did as asked and gave Bella a white teacup with her coffee in it. Bella took a long whiff of the aroma of the coffee and smiled as she drank greedily ignoring the fact that the liquid was very hot and burned her throat. She was extremely thirsty and sleepy but she didn't want to go rest. She wanted her questions answered and she feared this would be the only time Edward would answer them.
Alice gave Edward his own cup and he took a sip before placing it on the coffee table next to the couch. He noticed that Bella was extremely pale – probably from the blood loss earlier on – and decided to ask Alice to get some red meat in her system larer. He quietly whispered into her ear before she nodded and exited the room with the coffee kart after she refilled Bella's cup and gave her brother a hug.
Bella took another big gulp of her coffee before placing it on the coffee table. She looked as Edward watched Alice as she walked out like she was in danger or something. "I don't get it," Bella started as Edward turned to her. "You two are brother and sister but you don't get like you're siblings."
"Then in your eyes, what do you see?" Edward asked back as he raised his left eyebrow and Bella blushed.
Bella shrugged before answering, "I don't know… The way the two of you act around each other, it's weird. Sometimes, you act so professionally with one other like with her serving coffee," Bella pointed to the cups of coffee on the table. "The next, you're hugging each other like the two of you are married."
"I know it can seem confusing seeing how we act around each other but do know that we have not done anything unethical or inhumane Bella. Alice and I are the only ones left in our family and this entire place. We hold many roles and it sometimes seems as though I'm disrespecting her but I'm not. I love my sister with every fiber of my being. She's all that I have left." Edward answered and the pain was so strong on his features that Bella was shocked to see that he could feel any emotion so strongly. It was mean to think that Edward couldn't feel anything but he always seemed like someone who was good at hiding what he was feeling on the inside.
"She's all you have left? Where's your family? Your mom? Your dad?" Bella asked.
"My family was destroyed. The humans murdered them all," Edward hissed. He looked so angry, so pained. He looked like he was about to kill someone. He closed his eyes shut for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose before he opened them again. "Please, let's not talk about it anymore. It just hurts too much."
Bella nodded and proceeded to her next question. "What were those things that attacked me?"
Edward returned back to his emotionless state and placed his chin on his knuckles as he looked at Bella. "Those things that attacked you are called shadows Bella."
Bella became even more confused. All she could imagine was the shadow that followed her around when she was blocking the light. She shook her head to tell Edward she didn't understand and his lips seemed to twitch a little.
"They're not the shadows that humans have come to know about. They're…spirits if you must say, they're the spirits of vampires who were killed," Edward said as Bella gasped. She had always thought vampires were just fiction. In normal circumstances, she would have just laughed it off but after the day's activities, she didn't even blink before she believed everything Edward told her.
"But doesn't one's spirit go to heaven when they… move on?" Bella choked out.
"For vampires they don't. You see Bella, when a human gets bitten and turns into a vampire, their soul is forever locked away in this world and they are unable to move on to the next life. They stay here on Earth but as shadows as they no longer have a physical body."
"No physical body? Can they like possess another person's body?"
"To answer your first question, yes they don't have a physical body Bella. You see, the only way to actually destroy a vampire is to burn his or her body completely. When the physical form is gone, they lose themselves completely. Their emotions, their sense of right and wrong, everything is gone. The only thing that is left within them is their insatiable thirst and that is why they attacked you. The shadows living here have been deprived of blood for so long they would attack anything with blood in their bodies that they come across," Edward explained.
"If they need blood so much, why can't they just go above and get it?" Bella asked.
"Simple. They can't get near sunlight. There are many vampires living above the Underground but their bodies protect them from the sun. A sparkle is produced from the chemicals that are released from the body to protect the vampires from burning but once you lose your body, you lose the chemical. Any shadow who come across the sun or any forms of strong light burns and their souls just vanishes and is completely eradicated. Many vampires who have died when they are above have been destroyed because of the sun."
"I don't get it," Bella asked as she was getting more and more confused. "If they can be destroyed completely, why not just wait and use some kind of light or something to destroy them?"
"Shadows are extremely difficult to destroy Bella. Their minds are only concerned with thirst they don't care if they hurt you or anything. They have also learnt to work in teams over the years. The team that you encountered was considered small and from the weaker, younger vampires. The older and larger teams are much harder to destroy, almost impossible even."
"Why can't they just come here? Is Jacob going to be safe?" Bella asked. Thoughts of Jacob being in trouble immediately brought her to a panic.
"Jacob is perfectly safe in the tower and so are you as long as you remain in the castle walls. There's a special barrier around this castle that prevents shadows from entering. You'll be safe and so will Jacob."
Bella nodded, relieved to know she and her fiancé are safe. There was so much information for her to process and she desperately needed to write this down somewhere or at least be alone to think about it. "I think that's all I want to ask," she said as she took her coffee and drank deeply. The liquid had already turned cold but she didn't care. It still felt good to have something slither down her dry throat.
"You don't want to know what I am?" Edward asked as he cocked his eyebrow.
Bella continued to drink her coffee as she looked at Edward. "I thought that question was out of bounds so I didn't ask." She placed her cup back on the table after taking another gulp.
Edward let out a weak chuckle before answering, "It's not an 'out of bounds' question."
"You're not gonna continue? I mean you can't just stop there now that you've mentioned it," Bella replied, irritated that Edward didn't continue.
Edward bent his head down a little before bending up and looked at her and smiled. It wasn't the kind of smile that showed his teeth but a smile as his lips went up. "I said I would only answer questions you asked me Bella. You didn't ask me what I am."
Bella puffed up one of her cheeks in annoyance at Edward's childish ways. "Silly… Okay fine. What are you Edward?"
"I am neither a human nor am I a vampire Bella. I am both. I am what my people call a vampire hybrid. A hybrid in short."
"Hybrids? Is Alice one too? How in the world can you be half human and half vampire? Aren't vampires like unable to reproduce or something?" Bella asked quizzically.
Edward smirked. "You like you chatter now don't cha," Edward teased and Bella blushed. He took his coffee and drank before answering, "Yes, Alice is a hybrid too. And though it is impossible for a vampire to give birth, it is possible for vampires to reproduce. My mother was a human. She conceived with my vampire father and I was born."
"Are you like other vampires?"
"Not really. I have blood flowing through my veins. I can go out into the sun without sparkling thanks to the human part of me. I am much weaker than the average vampire as in I'm not as strong as them but my speed is a match to theirs. Like some vampires, Alice and I have been gifted with extra senses."
"Extra senses?"
"Yes. Extra senses. I am able to sense what others are thinking and Alice is able to sense one's future. As said before, I am much weaker as compared to other vampires because of my human half so our senses are not always right. They are powerful but not always right. You for one Bella are one of the few people whom I can't sense. I am unable to sense a single thing that is on your mind."
"Do you drink blood?" Bella asked.
"I am accustomed to eating regular human food but yes, I do drink blood and I would much prefer to drink. Blood is just much more appetizing and keeps me strong but I don't partake in drinking from human on a regular basis. An occasional sip or two I do but never as much as I just took from you."
Bella blushed as she remembered the encounter before and quickly shook her head as her body was trying to conquer her mind. "Occasional sips? I highly doubt any human would let you drink from them Edward. It's just creepy and wrong."
"Unless you talk about those scantily dressed women on the streets of New York. They are more than willing for more than just one sip."
"Wait. You mean hookers?"
Edward nodded. "Alice and I would occasionally go to the above and seek some companionship. We never stay till the end and our companions always think we were just a dream. We always cover our tracks ensuring that no one would know of our existence. But we haven't been doing it for awhile. The only thing that we are unable to cover up would be our bite marks."
Bella flinched at that thought. Edward getting hot and heavy with a hooker and biting her and making all those wonderful sensations flow through her. "There's just one more thing I would like to ask," she started and Edward nodded. "Why did I feel that way when you bit me just now?"
"I was waiting for that question. When I bite someone, my teeth would release two things, venom and endorphins. I will first explain the venom. Venom when released into your bloodstream would change you into a vampire. However, only male hybrids can release venom but over the years, I have learnt to control my release of venom. The thing that I am unable to control would be the endorphins. I don't know how but hybrids release venom and endorphins when they bite. Regular vampires can't do that and it's impossible for them to control their secretion of venom when they bite a human. The endorphins when released into the human bloodstream would cause the sensations that you felt when I bit you Bella and as it spreads, some of it would come back to me as I drink and I too would feel those sensations. This makes drinking from a human a very pleasurable experience."
Bella shuddered at that thought of the biting being pleasurable but the itching feeling returned. She wanted to have sex with Edward. Her mind said no but her body was like yelling to her about the lust she felt for this creature.
"I think that's about all the questions you wanted to ask?" Edward said seeing that Bella was getting quite uncomfortable. She nodded. "I'll ask Alice to bring you to your room and prepare your dinner then. Alice," Edward called out.
Alice appeared moments later smiling from ear to ear and extended out her hand to take Bella's. "I've prepared dinner and it's waiting in your room Bella. Better go get it while it's hot," Alice chirped.
Bella was shocked to say the least and quickly looked at the old clock on the wall. So much time had passed and she didn't even know it. She felt her stomach growl and realized that she had missed both breakfast and lunch. She was famished now. Alice laughed loudly when Bella placed her hand on her stomach. "I have some ribs with your name on it Bella so let's go. Edward's about to eat too. I've laid everything on the dining room table so eat till your heart's content k!"
"How about I make your life easier by eating with Edward? Is that okay?" Bella asked.
Alice's smile broadened. "Of course it's okay Bella. It's more than okay. There's more than enough food on the dining room table so why not you and Edward head down to eat while I clear the tray in your room? I'll join you guys after I've finished cleaning kay!"
Bella smiled and nodded as Alice left the room.
As she followed Edward down the long hallway towards the dining room, she couldn't help but take another look at her surroundings. It still was the same grey walls surrounding her but the surrounding walls no longer held fear for her. She was definitely getting used to her surroundings.
No words were exchanged as they continued walking down the hallway towards the dining room until they came upon a huge door that was exactly twice Bella's height. She gasped at the how grand yet ancient the place looked as the doors opened and they walked into the dining room.
The room was adorned with paintings and flowers hung at the side. In the middle of the room held a long table with a chair on each end and different kinds of food was placed on the table from fruits to veggies to fish and a huge plate of ribs laid in the middle. Above the table hung a chandelier with all the candles lit and it created a very warm feeling inside Bella. The smell from the food and add on to Bella's intense hunger made her drool as she saw the food on the table.
Edward brought Bella to her seat and after he pushed her chair in with her sitting on it, he walked to the other end of the table and took his seat. As Bella looked up, Edward seemed so far from her and she quickly stood up and pulled her chair to sit right next to him on the table.
Edward gave her a confused expression as she pulled her chair like a cavewoman over to him and sat down. As she looked at Edward's expression, she mocked looking stern and said, "What? It doesn't feel like we're eating together if I'm on the other side of the room. I can hardly see your face from the other end…" She smiled and laughed a little before taking her fork and looked like a three year old for a minute. "Let's eat!" she cheered before helping herself to the food.
Edward couldn't help but laugh at Bella's childlike ways and when Bella looked at him, she was a little shocked to see how beautiful he looked when he was smiling. Edward took awhile to compose himself before starting to eat as well.
Alice soon came into the dining room and after awhile, some light conversation started. Bella asked what she would need to do as a companion. Edward explained to her the basic principles of being a companion and it turned out being a companion was nothing more than being a friend to the king. She was relieved that she didn't need to do anything weird that she didn't want to do. Being a friend was easy enough.
After dinner, Alice took Bella to her room and took out her pajamas from the closet as Bella showered in the bathroom. As Bella came out of the bathroom with only a towel covering her, she was surprised that she had yet another new piece of nightwear on the bed. It was sleeveless and a pretty purple with ruffles at the bottom.
After she had put on her night gown, she turned and saw that Alice was putting everything back in its place. "Alice, how is it possible that I get new clothes every day? Do you toss those clothes that I have worn before into the trash or something?" Bella asked.
Alice let out another high pitched laugh and came over and took Bella's hands in hers and smiled. "Course not. I just put it at the back of the closet. I love shopping and having someone other than me to shop for is tons of fun. I'm supposed to wait on you Bella so I'm gonna make sure you're spoiled for choice." Bella looked down and nodded. She was never the materialistic kind of girl coming from a family who earned just enough to make ends meet.
Alice continued cleaning up and soon, the mess Bella had made the previous night was completely cleared out minutes later with her pink diary sitting on her dresser. Alice wished Bella goodnight before exiting her room.
Bella got up from her bed and went over to write in her diary. After she finished writing, she pulled the covers on the bed and climbed in. Clearing everything in her mind, she soon fell into a deep sleep…
Dear diary,
I'm so confused. Everything's changed. I am never going to be able to leave this place. There's no way Edward would ever let me leave and I can't escape. The shadows will kill me before I can even leave. I know I should be feeling sad about this but I'm not. I don't understand why but I starting to like this place. Call me crazy or anything but this place isn't that bad. I'm no longer afraid of the grey walls that surround me but instead, a sense of warmth can be felt. I don't feel like a stranger anymore. I'm not afraid anymore.
I learnt so much today. Vampires exist. Creatures that I thought only existed in nightmares and inside horror stories exist and they live among the humans. The thought of maybe during one part of my life that I could have actually interacted or even seen one scares me. This could maybe explain some of the homicides in our world.
I got to know the people here so much better. Alice has been more than pleasant. Under that rock cold exterior is a bundle of joy. She's like the sister I never had, the best friend whom I always wanted but never got. When she's smiling, I can't help but feel all my helplessness wash away and just be happy.
Now we go to the next person, Edward. I don't understand what pushed me to kiss him just now. I could blame it all on the endorphins from his bite but I know it's not exactly the case. We didn't talk about it after he apologized and I'm thankful for that. It's just too awkward to even think about it. Though he did mention the sensations and stuff, he never wandered near the 'kiss' territory. Another weird thing that happened, when I touched my neck just now, all I felt was smooth skin and when I went to look at the mirror, I couldn't see any bite marks. I was sure I felt Edward tear my skin when he drank from me just now but there was no indication that he did it. He did mention about the hookers he hooked up with having bite marks but where are mine? It makes this all seem like a dream.
What the hell is going on?
Bella
~x~x~
"You smiled today. Haven't seen you smile in like a million years Edward," Alice came bouncing into the room as she wrapped her arms around Edward's waist and rested her head on his chest. Edward sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on top of hers for awhile. As she looked up, Edward was smiling at her. "I told you she would change you in ways unimaginable. One day with her and you're already smiling. Guess what one week would do."
Edward chuckled as he unwrapped his arms around his sister and went to his desk. "It still doesn't remove the danger she is being faced with."
"Yes… He is a tricky one. I can't sense anything about his future. I don't know what he's planning but no matter what; I know we can beat him. He's not really that big a threat Edward. So long as the barrier is up, we're safe," Alice said as she went to massage Edward's shoulders. He was too stressed from the situation itself.
"You know very well he's watching us. The notes, the warnings are dangerous enough. What if I get careless?" Edward asked, a hint of panic coloring his tone.
"You won't okay. Now stop worrying. He won't get anywhere near Bella. I promise you, she's as safe as can be here," Alice assured him and wrapped her arms around Edward's shoulder.
"Let's hope so," he whispered as he stood and went over to the watery screen and called to look at Bella. She was in her room and writing on her diary and looking totally at peace as she wrote. Edward couldn't help but smile again as he went to his desk and took out his own journal. As words started appearing on the page, Alice excused herself and left the room.
Alice's plan worked. I drank from her. And it tasted so good. It was the first time I drank blood so clean unlike those New York girl's I used to drink from before. Theirs tasted like alcohol and drugs and though the blood was still there, the chemicals in their blood made it a little less appetizing.
She makes me feel whole. I don't know how she did it from one day but I feel more at peace when I'm with her. She gives me the feeling when mom was still around. God I miss her like crazy. If I wasn't so weak back then, she would still be with me and she would be holding me and we would be chatting happily while drinking hot coco or something near the fireplace.
I wasn't able to protect my mother but I'll protect Bella. I'll protect her with my life.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a ton of fun writing this while watching an episode of Glee on TV that I couldn't stop and study when the show ended so I do hope I didn't disappoint! Sorry for the long wait but between finishing Memories and studying and schoolwork, Kidnapped just got pushed back to the end of my to-do-list.
That and because I've been obsessed with reading fanfiction. I'm addicted to coldplaywhore's fanfictions and I highly recommend them. The stories are really good and I just find myself falling in love with Edward all over again.
For those who are worrying that I would stop writing, I promise I won't and that's because I really want to see everyone's reaction when I reach the ending. It's going to be epic that I can promise. Let's just say it'll be something no one would really expect? I don't know…
Regarding the questions posted from last chapter, I'll be doing a blog entry on questions given in my fanfic blog. The link is in my profile. It contains more of my personal touch in it as in I explain how I got the concepts and stuff. Edward answered in a very scientific way? Anyway, there's one question I didn't answer in the story but it will be in the blog entry but the person who asked already knows the answer. Spoilers are inside so don't read if you hate spoilers. The poster for Kidnapped is also posted on the blog!
Next will be on the 100 reviews contest thingy. I have decided to cancel it. From the response I got from the last chapter of Memories, I have decided to cancel it and to say I'm sad is true. But I don't blame anyone for not reviewing. It's not my best work so yeah…
Question for this chapter: What are some of the things you would like to see Bella and Edward do in the future chapters?
I've decided to do this so readers can have a say in what they would like and also ease some of my writer's block. So do go hit the reviews button and tell me what you want! If I love the idea, I'll expand it into a full chapter!
Lil Vamp Girl