A/N – hi! Long time no see... yeah, no excuses. But please review anyway!

Previously - "I'll shoot you, I really will!" she was making more noise than me now and she was too nervous to be able to actually kill someone... intentionally. The barrel of the gun was right between my eyebrows and dreads was whispering to the blonde that she should just do it. It occurred to me that if the blonde was to be startled, would she flinch and accidentally squeeze the trigger? Was it worth the risk to find out? There could possibly be help on the outside, would I ever get this chance again?

The other girl in the room came closer too, trying to intimidate me by outnumbering me even more. But if someone knew I was here... if help would actually come...

I swallowed, trying to wet my throat before I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with as much air as I could so I could shout for help. All six eyes of my captor's widened in front of me when they realised what I was going to do. I could see their panic and I relished in the vindictive satisfaction for a moment before, everything happened at once and the air gushed out of me explosively.


Chapter 7 – Worry

Edward's pov

Bang!

The sound of the gun shot rang out around the house and probably the surrounding area if we were still in Forks, but it was accompanied by a cry of pain. I felt burning agony in my stomach. I couldn't breathe. I dropped to the floor and curled into a ball. The pain was breathtaking. The cry was still ringing in my ears and I literally couldn't breathe...

The despair crashed down on me, how could this have happened? Why did this have to happen?

Alice's pov

Two weeks. Two freaking weeks!

Bella should've called by now. She should've called twice by now. Or communicated with us one way or another... if she was getting Jaz back for the awful name, then she will have hell to pay when I get my hands on her for making me worry like that!

But what if something was really wrong? I mean really, really wrong? Suddenly all the things that could go wrong were flashing through my head, each one more horrifying than the next... I really knew how to get myself worked up. I'd been doing it every day for the past week, what happened? Why haven't we received word?

The hospital records show Bella reached Forks and was in the care of Dr Carlisle Cullen, but why hasn't she contacted us? What could've happened to one of our best agents to make her... silent?

Jaz put a comforting hand on my shoulder and with the other hand gently pulled my fingernails from between my teeth. "Sshhh, baby. She might just have broken her comms unit and not be able to fix it, you know technology isn't her forte," Jaz tried to console me.

And I tried to let him. But when its your best friend out there... The worst thing was, if something could put Bells out of action, what chance did the rest of us have? Maybe if we stuck together... Either way, the future looked bleak.

My hand worked its way to my mouth again and I bounced on my seat, having nothing to do with seemingly so much time. Everyone was worrying, and we were all handling it differently... which made arguments more common.

We were reluctant to initiate contact with the targets, especially since we didn't know Bells' status. Had going in blind been a bad idea? The thing is, I was usually able to tell straight away whether going out into the field was a bad idea... but I got no such feelings before this mission. Was I losing my touch? This mission had been rocky from the start, everything seemed to be delayed or indistinct. We had no idea what was going on.

We were an elite team, Emmett was the strongest person ever to have walked the earth... probably. I had some kind of intuition on where to go and whether missions are a bad idea, Jasper can tell whether someone is aggressive or when they're lying... unless they're very confident and skilled. Rosalie... well, Rosalie is the 'distraction'. And Bells is the chameleon, she blends into the background. I still wasn't getting any bad vibes from this mission, but the way this was going had me worried.

What the hell could we do?

Bella's pov

Jessica and Lauren simply refused to leave. It was infuriating! They demanded to see Edward. When we told them no, they demanded we stop hiding him. When we told them we weren't hiding him, they said they would wait here for him. That's when they sat down and refused to budge. Should I be worried that the idea of strangling them was starting to become really tempting? I guess I should be worrying, the idea was bordering on being irresistible! Those two had better watch out!

Esme, ever the gracious host, offered them drinks and snacks once it was obvious they were going to be staying for a while, I would've just left them. Why did they even have to be here? Could we even tell them what happened? We were reluctant to tell the police as, obviously they would show up – making their presence know, here at least... and the kidnappers were watching the house. No-one wanted to take that chance with Edward's life. I think everyone agreed that nothing was more important than that.

Night fell and we finally managed to get them to leave. Had the darkness suddenly bestowed upon them the sacred gift of reason? I was fuming the whole day, I had wanted to simply drag them out of the house – kicking and screaming preferably. It took Seth convincing me for fifteen minutes that that wasn't a good idea and insane amount of self control for me to leave them in peace... physically. The strange thing was, that even though I knew what satisfaction physically kicking them out would bring... I knew I shouldn't, it was like I didn't want to show them that side of me. I was in a foul mood and I made explicitly sure that Jessica and Lauren knew that. Hmm... maybe it wasn't so much the darkness that got them to leave for the night, but the fear that I would garotte them in their sleep. Well, it certainly was an entertaining idea.

I suggested we go to bed early that night, reasoning that the earlier we go to bed, the earlier we will wake up, thus giving us more of a chance to actually get out in the morning. I had little doubt that Jessica and Lauren would make good on their promise to come back in the morning, they were too obsessed with Edward not to. Jesus! How had he lived here for all those years without being molested? I also wondered how extreme Tweedledum and Tweedledee would get, what length they would go to to get Edward, what they would do if we told them what happened to him. I had a vision of them blaming me... but I took care of them. Ok, them cowering at my feet probably wasn't going to happen, but it was a fun thought.

Consistent with my reasoning, I was up early. Ridiculously early. As in half five in the morning, early. Somehow the term eager didn't quite seem strong enough.

I stood in the kitchen, staring out the window and daydreaming until I heard footsteps on the stairs. I was reluctant to come back to earth so I stayed by the window, making Carlisle jump when he spotted me. I didn't move, just kept staring out the window, I don't think Carlisle minded, he joined me after he made his coffee.

Finally, everyone was up... and by everyone, I mean everyone who was going to find Edward. There was a part of me that was screaming at me to get this done alone... and with more stealth, but I had no idea how to go about doing that. In the end, I ignored the squirming in my gut and followed Carlisle, Seth and Ben out of the house and into Carlisle's back Mercedes, very nice car, can produce lots of power, if handled right.

Just as I was about to get in the car, I turned and saw Esme and Angela standing at the front bedroom window. I tried to manage a smile for them and their answering smiles were equally pathetic. I didn't blame them though, at least they were trying, now. Hope was definitely a powerful thing. I briefly wondered where this family would be by now, if they didn't have any hope... yeah, it wasn't pretty.

Shuddering to myself, I climbed into the car and looked out the window as the scenery began to move. Carlisle drove a little above the speed limit – he had probably seen enough accidents to ensure that he never sped... but he was anxious to get to Edward. We arrived at a small, run-down house with a severely overgrown garden – if you could call it that. The grass was patchy at best, and there was an abundance of weeds everywhere. There was also a cracked, concrete path leading to darkened and peeling door, with dusty, grimy windows that were too dirty to see through, even up close. There were no cars in front of the house, meaning their car/van was hidden on the property or parked further down the street. A twitch of an upstairs curtain caught my eye, alerting me to the fact that they were in... and knew we were here. This was not good; this meant that they had all the power. I gave no indication that I had seen the twitch as I continued to walk along the crumbling concrete path.

Carlisle knocked on the door while me, Seth and Ben were gathered around him. Everyone else was focusing on the door – that almost definitely wouldn't open – while I was looking around the vicinity and spotted several alternative ways of entering the house... although only one would realistically work at this time, with these resources and this company; unfortunately it was also the most risky – well, it would be if I was on my own. If only I had my equipment on me, I could easily scale the wall and enter through the window! An errant thought crossed my mind, quite disturbingly. Why would I know how to break and enter? Was I a criminal? I hoped not.

After it became clear that no-one was going to answer – the door, not the questions in my head – Seth suggested the much clichéd 'let's go round the back'. I tried to shoot the idea down, but I was overruled and unwilling to let them bumble along without supervision. I felt like a baby sitter... which was weird since Carlisle was an adult and Ben and Seth weren't exactly children.

I rushed to head into the front and lead them into the bushes near the front of the garden, going right to the edge of the property to give the illusion that we'd left. Something about this told me that we were dealing with amateurs, I mean, it had only taken us a week to locate Edward – even though that week was excruciating and I would never think it ought to have taken longer. Which meant that they were more likely to panic and therefore more likely to become violent. I lead the others into the hedge and made sure to climb deep enough that any rustling of the branches would be minimal. I crawled between the branches around the trunks, going slowly and carefully as stealth was more important than speed. Although I wasn't sure what we hoped to accomplish by observing the house from behind, maybe we could confirm that Edward was here? I had no idea.

The back of the house was just as overgrown and as filthy as the front and I was disgusted at the thought of Edward being held captive here, hell it made me sick to think of anyone living here willingly! I peered through the branches and tried to make out what was happening beyond the grime in the windows. I gasped when I saw Edward, hung from the ceiling by his wrists, with a gun pointed at his head by Cruella Devil; and judging by the similar gasps emanating from beside me, the others had seen the scene too.

"I'll shoot you, I really will!" we heard the words float down from the second story window.

A rustle beside me alerted me to the fact that Carlisle was obviously overwhelmed by the sight of his son being in danger right in front of him and had sprung from his hiding place. What he planned to do, I will never know – and I doubt he ever will either – but I was immediately diving after him, trying to drag him back into the cover of the hedge. Alas it didn't work and we were spotted by the slut with the gun.

"Retreat!" I whisper-yelled as I pushed Carlisle towards our only feasible escape route.

The kidnappers were slow to react and I was halfway across the yard before the gun was fired... unfortunately, the bullet went straight through my thigh. While it didn't feel like the bone had been hit – thank god or it would take even longer to heal – nevertheless, I was still incapacitated, adrenaline being the only thing allowing me to hobble away with me arm around Seth's shoulder. As I was turning the corner, I glanced back at Cruella and mouthed the word 'bitch' to her while giving her the middle finger. Her enraged expression was enough to distract me from the pain for a moment.

I collapsed into the backseat of the car: laying down; raising my leg and gripping onto it fiercely, trying to apply enough pressure to stem the blood-flow... or at least slow it. Fortunately, the bullet missed any and all major arteries. I ordered Carlisle not to go to the hospital; I was met with some resistance but as soon as I pointed out the a gun-shot-wound would be pretty hard to explain, they were more compliant.

We soon pulled into Carlisle's drive and everyone was rushing around me. Carlisle was now in doctor mode, directing everyone – finally I could relax – as I was moved into the house and given anaesthetic.

When I woke up, I was back in my bed and my leg was bandaged and clean. I looked around to see if there was anything to indicate how long I had been out for. Unfortunately, no-one was around and I wasn't about to risk my recovery by using my leg now. So, I drained the water on the bedside table and went back to sleep.

The second time I woke up, Esme was beside me. After a moment of simply giving me a soft smile – Carlisle obviously hadn't told her what we saw at the kidnappers' base – she thanked me for both saving Carlisle's life and risking my own for Edward. I told her that I couldn't have done anything else and I also found out I'd only been asleep for two days as the bullet had hit the outside of my leg and gone straight through. I also found out that it would be a few days before I should consider moving my leg and another week or so before I would be able to walk on it. I tried to go back to sleep soon as that's when the body mostly uses its protein for growth and repair. So I also instructed Esme to give me lots of protein-rich foods like chicken and fish.

Esme was eager to agree and swept out of the room to fetch Carlisle. Carlisle was back in record time and by the look on his face, what he had seen was haunting him. He sat down on the end of my bed and gave me a half smile, "How are you feeling Bells?"

"My leg is a little sore, but what about you, Carlisle? How are you feeling? ...and I don't mean physically."

Carlisle looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, presumably trying to organise his thoughts, "I suppose I'm thankful... grateful," Carlisle saw my expression and hurried to continue to explain, "to you! For keeping us sane after the last DVD... and for saving my life back there. Thank you for guiding us... But I'm also horrified and disgusted and terrified that they're going to up their game now and frustrated that I came so close to him only to be forced to flee after a glimpse and useless because there seems to be nothing I can do! ...and... what do we do next Bells?" Carlisle looked at me pleadingly.

"Well," I started as I began to strategise, "They will be in panic mode now, they will move Edward somewhere else, although they have to stay close by to continue posting the DVDs without a stamp... However, since they'll be trying to move base, their surveillance of the house will be lacking, so now would be the time to involve the police."

Carlisle looked at me, his face paling and his eye terror-stricken, "But... but won't... won't those monsters do something more to Edward! They said they would. They told us not to involve the police or else they would kill him!"

"We can't do this alone." I told him, keeping my voice calm and even, "The police have the resources and the authority to get him back. None of us here really know what we're doing, the police do. Someone needs to take all the DVDs and the photos and the medical records to the police. Don't phone them, the phones might be bugged."

"By the end of my speech, Carlisle was nodding along with everything I was saying – how did I somehow become the de-facto leader of... whatever this was? "You're right, I hope this ends soon, I don't think anyone can take much more of this." I nodded in agreement, "When should we do this?"

"Do it sometime where the traffic is busy, there might still be someone watching the house so make sure everyone goes out at roughly the same time, and after, go straight to the hospital, or somewhere, in case they decide to try and find you while you're out. Stay in public areas and don't let anyone go on their own. If someone tries to attack you, call the police but don't draw attention to the call."

Carlisle left me shortly afterwards with some painkillers. I took them, finding amusement in Carlisle's surprise at my cooperation. He thought my independence and determination would make me restless and awkward when it came to being taken care of, but I assured him it was my determination that meant I would do anything heal quickly, if it meant I would be confined to a bed, then so be it.

I fell asleep soon after, worrying about how Edward was, I was suddenly worried that our attempted rescue mission had provoked the kidnappers. What would that mean for Edward? The image of Edward staring down the barrel of a gun was imprinted on my mind as I fell asleep.

Edward's pov

Bella... it was the only thought in my head as I lay on the floor, struggling to breathe. The kick had been so powerful that the ropes holding me up had snapped... hence my position on the floor.

I was towed back to my cell, hurriedly chained to the wall once again and left to get over the pain in the dark. Once the pain had receded to a dull throbbing, I was able to fall asleep – thank god. On the one hand, I was depressed that my family had come so close, yet I hadn't even seen them properly, and on the other hand, relieved that they did actually care. I was thankful that I had been lied to.

The door banged open and the redhead stormed into the room looking like she was burning with rage, her flame-coloured hair was waving around her face as she moved and her eyes were ablaze – not to mention the yellow light on her pale skin made her look like she was made out of fire... maybe she was a demon or something, sent straight from the fiery depths of hell to prey on innocent people and thrive on their pain. Two of her bulky lackeys marched in behind her, coming to unchain me from the wall. They dragged me down the hall in the familiar ritual that would lead to more torture. Every time it would be something different. I suppose the only good thing about that would be that they had to run out of ideas eventually, right? There had to be only so many ways of torturing someone.

Why don't they just shoot me like they did Bella.

Only we went straight past the room and turned down some stairs. They quickly yanked a bag over my head before pushing me through the door. The cold bit at my bare skin, the Forks weather unforgiving on my exposed flesh. I stumbled blindly over the unkempt path until I was bundled into the very small boot of someone's car.

The thing about being in the boot, is that you can definitely tell exactly which roads need resurfacing. The journey was long, the space was cramped and stuffy and a single thought kept running through my mind: is today my last day?

The worry gnawed at me for the entire journey until I felt the car stop. I suppose it was selfish to be concerned about my own flesh when my family seemed to be in as much danger as me. But I couldn't help it. The boot opened and I was hauled out, my feet fumbling as I tried to stand under my own power, and taken into a new house.

I banged my shins when I unexpectedly hit the stairs. Whoever held my arms didn't slow down as they ascended, while I struggled to use my feet. We reached the top of the stairs – I wasn't expecting this either so I panicked for a moment as my foot fell through the air. We walked a little way along the landing, until I heard a door open and I was shoved into the room.

I fell flat on my face – the bag still covering my head – and tried to sit up, or at least get into a more comfortable position, but its a lot more difficult when you don't have the use of your arms. Eventually I managed it, I briefly considered trying to take the bag off as well but without my hands I would be reduced to flopping about like a fish out of water... and I had no intention of doing that.

My shoulder throbbed where I had instinctively twisted to try and stop myself completely face-planting and ending up with another broken nose, and the skin was grazed. I tried to move my cramped muscles to loosen them up a bit, but I couldn't effectively relieve the ache. I felt a small trickle of blood oozing out of the scrape, but I couldn't do shit about it.

I began doing what I always did when I was left alone – a survival tactic, if you will – and started thinking about anything that wouldn't remind me of where I was. I decided to work on the ending that still wasn't quite right yet. The tune ran through my head and I hummed it softly to myself trying out different combinations of notes, but nothing fit. In a way – although it was frustrating – I was glad, it kept me focused so I wouldn't go mad with boredom and despair.

Trying to sleep with your hands cuffed behind you is extremely difficult – don't try it. I was exhausted, but the sheer discomfort of trying to relax was keeping me up. At last I fell asleep on my stomach, my head turned at an angle almost painful for my neck, my dirty scrape burning at the contact with the wood and the floor digging in to my knees.

I was stiff when I woke up and completely disorientated. When I realised where I was – a new mystery location that was probably as grimy and disgusting as the last – I sighed and slumped against the wall. When would this end? How the hell would anyone find me now? ...how did anyone find me in the first place? I spent a few minutes pondering that question before the door opened and the bag was ripped of my head.

I blinked as I looked at the demon, she smirked and said, "Do you like your new home? You know, we were going to let you go in a couple of days, but I think we could have a little more fun with you yet." She ran her fingers through my hair, almost tenderly, but I felt dirty at her touch. I cringed away from her as she sat down, straddling my legs. Her hands started roaming my face and she looked at me, as if seeing me for the first time. "You know, you're quite the looker aren't you? Clear skin, sex-hair, startling green eyes... practically everything about you invites people in. I suppose you just cant help making people fall in love with you."

I didn't say anything, I wanted to spit in her face and tell her she was lying. I didn't want her to be right, I was desperate for it. I couldn't stomach the idea of any of these people falling in love with me, I didn't want anyone to fall in love with me...

Except the person who forgot me.

She seemed to snap herself out of the trance-like state she was in and ordered her lackeys to drag me into a new torture chamber. Oh what fun! At least they didn't have to drag me for too long in this prison.

I landed in a hard, wooden chair, just like the one that had been used since they first took me to the torture chamber. I started to really worry when I saw the tank of ice water in front of me. It was already cold in here, and my hungry and shirtless state just made me even more apprehensive. The tell-tale red LED light flickered on and I realised what this was.

This was revenge.

This time the demon spoke directly to the camera in a fearfully sweet voice, "We told you not to come looking for us. Tut tut tut... that was very naughty of you, we're gonna have to punish someone. Oh look! The only person we can punish is little Edward here. Poor Edward, he's going to have to take all your punishments for you, isn't that sweet of him?" her voice lost all its sugaryness and dropped to a flat monotone with a strong undertone of menace, contrasting scarily with the rest of her speech.

This was payback for coming to find me, this was their punishment... via me. Oh god. It would be easier for them just to forget about me. I eyed the tank just as the demon pushed me closer to it. The two that had dragged me to here grabbed me and shoved my head in the water, they held me there for a while and I started panicking as I ran out of oxygen. I struggled to get back in the air, but there was two of them leaning over me. Just as I thought I was going to drown, they let me up for some air.

I came up, panting and gasping for air, my lungs trying to compensate for the previous moments of being deprived. But before I could catch my breath, I was being shoved into the water again. After a while my lungs were burning, but it looked like they were going to shove me under again. When I came up it felt like my lungs were going to explode.

"Please," I tried to beg, but my voice was so hoarse it was barely a whisper, "Please... no more."

The devil woman looked over me critically before dunking my head one last time.

I was coughing up water as I was being dragged backwards, I couldn't see where I was being dragged to, but at that moment I was more focused on regaining the ability to breathe. I was left for only a moment before I was hoisted up and hung from my wrists again. My arms started protesting almost immediately as they were still somewhat sore from the prolonged hanging yesterday... bad choice of words, and the fall I took yesterday. Then, they attached big metal clips to me and stood back.

The demon walked in front of the camera and said, "The water was for you, Carlisle. Now this is for the skank who pushed you out of the way of T's bullet."

Fire. Burning through me as I jerked on the chain like a fucking fish... As I screamed in raw agony... As the electricity pulsated through seemingly every nerve in my body. It stopped after a few seconds – although I was a bit too preoccupied to be counting – and I was left panting heavily.

"Did you hear that Carlisle?" demon-girl asked, her voice falsely seductive as she showed her cleavage to the camera – dammit, everyone at home is going to see this, it would just about kill Esme... "When you pulled your little stunt the other day, you forced us into this. You. You made your precious son scream in pain."

Anger boiled inside of me, "How dare you!" I shouted, not caring that I was probably – definitely – making things worse for myself. "You think you can blame your sadistic shit on someone else? Or are you too cowardly to own up yourselves?"

"Shut up bitch!" she shouted as she backhanded me.

"Oh, you cant think of anything to say so you resort to violence? You're the lowest of the low! Was three on one a fair fight? You keep me tied up all the time because you're afraid of me getting out!" I taunted them as I struggled half-heartedly on the chains, I wanted to hit her, but I knew I wouldn't be able to escape.

She stood glaring at me – speechless once again – her fisted hands were trembling before she smirked, "I think we need to turn up the voltage, boys." She said as she turned on her heel and strutted back behind the camera.

The electricity scorched me from the inside out. My muscles contracted but I gritted my teeth, determined not to scream out again. Again, the misery ended after a few seconds. After a small reprieve before the electricity was switched on again. The voltage had been cranked up even higher, but I was prepared. I still gritted my teeth, keeping all the screams locked inside. This time though, the electricity didn't stop. It just kept going and going, with the voltage increasing.

I couldn't help it. I screamed.

Then colourless dots danced in front of my eyes, obscuring my vision. I felt hot and stuffy as I was released from the grip of the shock at the sound of my scream. I sighed as I lost consciousness.