Bella's POV
"It's me." he said, though weather it was to Aro or myself, I wasn't sure. He had a strange look on his face.
His eyes were black.
I fainted.
The next thing I knew I was laying on something soft. It wasn't soft enough to be a bed, it felt like a hard couch but I couldn't be sure. I opened my eyes and found I was on my back in a dark room. It was darker than dark, I couldn't see a thing. I was disorientated for a moment, unsure of where I was and how I had got here, the main thing that confused me was the fact I was laying on my back, I always slept on my side, curled into a ball. It helped to hold the memories in, it stopped me from having so many nightmares. Then it all came flooding back to me. Travelling with Jake. Getting lost in Italy. Finding a cute little town on a hill. Going exploring. Seeing a vampire. Seeing Edward. I gasped involuntary at the last memory. I froze, straining my ears to hear someone I knew was there but at the same time I knew I would never be able to hear if he didn't want me to.
"Edward?" I heard myself say his name before I had time to decided if I wanted to talk to him or not. My voice sounded weak, and I realised how long it had been since I had said his name. I knew he was there, in the same room as me, but even if he hadn't been, he would have been able to hear me say his name, the wonders of vampire hearing. I heard something move slightly on my right and although I couldn't see a thing, I moved my head towards the sound. It was wood sliding across brick, a chair on a floor, and as soon as I moved my head the sound stopped.
"Bella." It was him, it was Edward. I would recognise that voice anywhere although my memory hadn't done it justice. I hadn't made it all up. Although I couldn't see a thing, I knew he could see me. I have no idea what my expression must have looked like, somewhere between dazed, terrified and elated I think. When I felt a slight indent to the right of me in whatever it was I was laying on, I actually screamed. I have no idea why. As soon as the sound left my mouth I felt a freezing cold hand cover my mouth. The scream got lost somewhere in my throat at the touch of his hand. It was as though someone had knocked the air out of me. The hand moved away quicker than it had been placed there as a bright light flooded the room.
It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the light and while I was blinking I heard a low growl, I guessed it was coming from Edward.
"No need to be like that Edward." A sickly sweet voice murmured, I couldn't think who it was I was to busy trying to make my eyes work. "You had your chance and anyway Aro has forbidden me to do anything to her, for the time being at least. I was simply checking you weren't doing anything to her, I did hear her scream you know." It was Jane, my eyes had adjusted to the light and I could now see everything, I was in a small room, on a couch, as I had thought. The room was made out of stone, the same stone that everything else in this town seemed to be made from. There was no carpet. The couch was against the wall and took up nearly half of the room. Next to the end of the couch that my head was on was an ancient looking wooden chair, which I guessed Edward had been sitting on, now however he was in a defensive position facing the doorway on the opposite wall, where Jane was currently standing. There was a light bulb dangling from the ceiling with no light shade around it, the light had been turned on by Jane as she entered the room. The chair, sofa and light were the only furnishings the room had; it didn't even have a window.
Jane's attention suddenly turned to me and I realised my breathing had sped up since she had entered the room. As a smile formed on her lips Edward spun around toward me, blocking her from my sight. His eyes were darker than I had ever remembered. Even darker than that first day, that very first Biology lesson nearly four years ago now. I felt a chill on my spine. Edward was still looking at me as he spoke.
"We are fine thank you Jane. You can tell Aro we will be there shortly."
He stayed in that position until the door clicked shut; even then he didn't move very much, he simply stood up slightly straighter than he had been and let his arms drop to his sides. I decided I'd had enough of laying down and tried to sit up, but I apparently moved too quick, my head started spinning and I found myself flat on my back again.
"You should stay still Bella."
"Why do you always tell me what to do Edward?" My voice was harsher than I expected.
"I don't, I just… how are you here?"
"What do you mean?"
"How..? Why are you here?"
"I'm on holiday with Jake." I managed to sit up without falling over this time. He raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything about it.
"I don't mean… Rosalie told me… Alice saw…"
"Where are they? Are they all here too?"
"No, somewhere in Asia I believe. I haven't spoken to any of them in years."
"Why? What happened?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing."
"What do you mean?"
"Rosalie told me you were… dead." His voice sounded strange as he said that, strained as though he hadn't said it much, it reminded me of how I was whenever someone asked why he had left me. He sank down to the chair, elbows on his knees leaning towards me. He must have known I was shocked by his statement but he continued before I had a chance to speak. "Alice saw you jump off a cliff. I told her not to look for you but she can't stop her visions any more than I can stop the mind reading." His eyes had a look of pain and I guessed it had been a while since he saw her. "I wasn't with them when she had the vision. She wasn't going to tell me. She was just going to go to Forks and see what had happened, be a comfort for Charlie if you really were.., but Rosalie, she thought I should know, she thought it might make me come back to them. It didn't. I told Alice not to go to Forks, told her that your father would be more upset with her around if something had happened to you. That is when I came here. I had other intentions but Aro managed to convince me to join the guard."
"What other intentions?"
"I didn't want to be this anymore, especially knowing that you had taken your own life because I had left you."
"You felt guilty?" it wasn't meant to be a question, but my voice broke at the end of the sentence.
"No! Bella how many times did I tell you I couldn't live in a world where you didn't exist?"
"But you left."
"For your…"
"Yes, for my own good. To keep me safe, so you said. So why didn't you come and see if I was dead?"
"I… believed her, would you bet against Alice?"
"Probably not, no."
"Did you say you were on holiday?" I was confused at his sudden change of topic.
"Yes."
"With who?"
"Jake." His eyes tightened slightly and for a moment I though he recognised the name, after all he had met Jake's Grandfather, decades ago, when the treaty had been made.
"How do you know him?"
"I've known him for ages; my dad is best friends with his dad Billy."
"Billy Black?" Well he recognised that name. He leapt out of his chair hands reaching up to his hair.
"Yes." he started pacing the small space in the room.
"Bella they aren't great company to keep and I know it's none of my business but…"
"No, that's right Edward! It isn't any of your business! But for your information Jake has helped me a lot in the last 3 years."
"But, Bella he is a…"
"He is a what? A good friend? A laugh? A life-saver? A werewolf? Yes Edward I do know about the stories."
"But…"
"Stop it Edward! He saved my life! More than once!"
"He did?"
"Yes so before you start slating him at least understand that I wouldn't be around if it wasn't for him."
"How?" He sat back down on the chair as he asked this, but I could tell he was still annoyed.
"Well for a start, he helped me through a lot after you left me! I was a state, I barely spoke to anyone and he was there for me the whole time and got me through it. Then he stopped me from drowning, yes I did jump off a cliff, but not to kill myself, it was supposed to be fun, I didn't realise there was a storm starting and when I hit the water I was dragged straight under. Jake jumped in and saved me. And he saved me from Victoria when she came looking for me." I think it was the first time I had seen Edward lost for words.
"Victoria? When?"
"About six months after you left, Laurent came first, that was before I knew about the werewolves, Laurent found me in the meadow and the pack got there just before he could do anything."
"The meadow? What were you doing there?"
"Looking for you."
"Why were you looking for me?"
"It's a long story and I really don't have time to-" I remembered the room of vampires I had been in before Edward had come along and caused me to faint. "What are they going to do?"
"Who?"
"Aro and the others. They aren't just going to let me walk away from this are they?"
"No. they have rules about these sort of situations. They usually think of it as a free meal. But Aro seems sure that he can convince you to join them, join us."
"How?"
"Aro already knew you knew about us, even if you hadn't said anything he would have known."
"But he couldn't read my thoughts."
"No, he can't, I thought he might, with him having to touch people I thought it might work on you but apparently not. He can read mine though. He knows every thought I have ever had just by one touch."
"Can you read his mind?"
"Yes, it is very strange actually hearing and seeing all of my memories in his head."
"Well that still doesn't help me workout what will happen to me now."
"Well Aro obviously knows what happened between us, and he knows you are unaffected by either of our talents. He was going to test you out on some of the other guards, with more dangerous talents. Jane has the ability of causing pain in someone. It is so strong that when she was a new born she killed hundreds of humans by accident that way. That is what Aro was going to try on you before I came in. Jane was thinking about trying that when she came in here a minute ago. Aro thinks you would have a gift as well if you were to be turned. He is thinking of inviting you to join."
"He already did."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, I didn't have time, Jane came in just after he asked me."
"Would you join?"
"I don't know. Is that the only option? Death or vampire?"
"It would seem that way."
"Then no. Tell him I would prefer to be dinner."
"He thought you might say that. I could hear it in his thoughts as I entered the room. I was supposed to be his 'secret weapon'. He was going to tell you that if you joined the guard you and I could be together again."
"But you wouldn't want that. You left."
"Would you please stop saying that Bella. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't regret leaving you."
"Only because you thought I had committed suicide."
"I did it for you Bella. If Alice hadn't had that vision. If she'd had a vision of you being happy, having a family, growing old. Then yes I would have been happy, happy that you had the things I couldn't give you, but never happy for not being with you."
There was a loud nock at the door and before either of us could speak it swung open and Jane was there in the doorway, looking more annoyed than before.
"Aro knows the girl is awake, he wants to see her." She looked towards me "Follow me," I could tell she wasn't happy about being sent to fetch me. Edward started to stand up and Jane glared at him. "Edward you are to stay here."
"Not a chance."
"Oh I think there is a large chance. Aro told you not to harm either of us, did he not?"
"Well there was a struggle, you were going to harm her, I had to intervene." There was a look in her eyes that showed she was to be taken seriously, and it seemed Edward saw something in her head that confirmed that idea.
"Could I not just walk with you? She is still weak. Would you be able to carry her?"
"Very well, but you must wait outside the chamber. Felix and Demetri will wait there with you"
"Where will you be?"
"Where ever the master wants me."
"Fine." He held out his hand and helped me stand up, my legs were slightly wobbly and I wasn't sure if it was due to the fact I had just fainted, or the fact I was holding hands with Edward after all this time.
We left the room with Jane leading the way. The hallway was just as dark as the room had been and Edward had to guide me through the passages. It was almost like being blind. Jane would stop every few steps and turn to face us. She was obviously annoyed with walking so slowly. We stopped just outside the doors and I had a sense of déjà vu. This time however I was attached to Edward's side, and was reluctant to let go. Just as Jane opened the door Edward pulled me back into the shadows and turned me to face him.
"Bella, be careful. Aro can be very persuasive. I will try to think of a way out of this for you. Just don't do anything reckless ok?" He must have seen the pain the word brought me because he continued after a slight pause. "I know you can be very headstrong, but it isn't a good idea inviting vampires to make you into dinner. You should know that." I threw my arms around him. I couldn't help myself, it had been so long. I regretted it as soon as it was done. I felt him go completely rigid, he even stopped breathing.
"Sorry." I whispered as I let him go. His eyes were darker now, if that was even possible. I forced a smile before turning away from him and following Jane through the doors.
AN: Wow that was a difficult chapter. Thats why it took so long. Hopefully I will get the next chapter up soon. Please tell me what you think of it. I love getting reviews.
Thank you :)
