Edward's POV
I sighed, frustrated, when I hung up the phone to Emmett. Why couldn't Bella just stay put! Now I have to go look for her and drag her back to base. It was something I had to do, even though I didn't particularly want to take Bella back to my brothers. Knowing someone's fate and being able to do something about it was horrible if you couldn't.
Stop it Edward, I told myself. Your duty comes first. Don't let anything get in the way of that.
I scowled to myself and got back into my car. I started the engine and drove around the streets looking for her. Looking around, I saw that this wasn't exactly the best place to be at night on your own, and 15 years old. Gangs of late teenagers hung around the corners drinking and smoking. I scowled as one of them put their middle finger up as me as I drove past the fourth teenage gang I had seen tonight.
"Yeah, up yours," I mumbled. I knew it sounded stupid but it was just one of those moments when it would just come out.
The next street I turned onto, all of the houses were unoccupied, they were bordered up and a lot of the windows were broken. One house even had toilet paper draped over it.
How attractive.
I turned a few more corners, and still no sign of Bella. Where the hell is she? But to be honest, this area is quite big; she could be anywhere by now. Or maybe she is not even here anymore. It's not hard to get a lift from somebody nowadays.
After another few corner turns, I turned onto a street with another teenage gang on. They seemed to be turning down an alleyway. But something about that didn't seem right. So I stopped the car and climbed out.
One of them turned around to look at me as I slammed my car door shut, and I recognised him as the one who had stuck his middle finger up at me earlier. He looked about my age, maybe a few years older. He turned back around as I casually walked past him. Peering past into the alleyway along the way to see what was happening.
And what I saw made my blood run cold.
There at the end of the alleyway was Bella, cowering underneath this scum who had put a knife to her throat. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I knew that he was up to no good.
A growl crept up in my chest so loudly, that the boys who were standing at the mouth of the alleyway turned to look at me, one of them knocking over a dustbin in the process. This caused Bella and the dirty bastard to look at me. And as soon as Bella took in my face, relief washed over her and her lips moved but I couldn't make out what she had just said.
In one simple swift movement, I had karate chopped the 5 boy's necks, making them unconscious and causing them to slump onto the ground. Bella's face was in pure terror now as the boy with the knife grabbed her and put her in front of him with the knife pressed harder against her neck. As I approached them I could see droplets of blood forming on her neck, as the blade broke her skin.
I growled again as I got out my gun. The bullets I had at the moment were used to stun people, but for the reason I was about to use it for I wish they were to kill.
I lifted my gun up and took aim, just above Bella's head, into his. He pulled Bella closer to him and I pulled the trigger. A bang, and then it went silent. Bella was free from his grip as he fell to the floor and grabbed the knife the boy was holding, with droplets of her blood on the sharp edge of the blade. She wiped her blood on the sleeve of the hoodie she was wearing and turned to look back at me.
"Stay away," she said, her voice wavering. The knife was now pointed in my direction at my chest.
She looked so scared and lost. And upon a close inspection, I noticed that she wasn't in the clothes that she was wearing earlier. She had changed her clothes and her hair was shiny and clean. So she must have found refuge at a stranger's house for while. This scared me a little; people think different things these days. She could have been raped which I had just prevented from happening.
"Bella, I'm not going to hurt you."
"No. But you're going to take me back." My eyes fell to the ground as I tried to avoid her eyes.
"Yes! I knew it. S-s-s-stay away." My eyes leapt back to her face which looked wild.
"Please, Bella," I begged. I was the one with the gun and yet I was the one begging at her to listen to me, to see my reasons for taking her back.
"No. Like I said, stay away from me." Her eyes began to brim with tears and she lifted up her spare hand to wipe them away. I wanted to hold her and whisper to her that everything would end out OK, even though they probably wouldn't. Wait, why was I feeling like this? I should be emotionless; I can't let my feelings in the way. She is just a subject, she is just a subject, I tried to remind myself.
She stepped around me, the knife still pointed at my chest, and her eyes fell onto the gun in my hand. I lowered it, I really didn't want to have to use it on her, but if it came to it I would have too. I still don't know why I won't just let her go. It was probably because I wanted to spend time with her, or that if one of my brothers found her they would put her though so much pain, or mostly the fact that I idolised my brothers still too much to let anything get in the way.
Bella's POV
"Edward," I breathed.
Edwards face, was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. In one smooth movement; he karate chopped the back of the boy's necks and they fell onto the floor either dead or unconscious. I hoped the latter; I would rather not witness people being killed before my own two eyes. The boy with the knife grabbed me and placed me in front of him, while the knife pressed harder across my neck. I could feel my skin cracking beginning to form beads of my blood.
Edward, slowly crept towards us, his hand inside he coat pocket and he withdrew a gun. I froze.
A gun, he could kill me right now with it. I shivered and the knife was pushed harder against my neck as the boy holding me saw the gun Edward was carrying.
Edward lifted the gun so the nozzle was directed just above my head, directly at the boy's head- which was another advantage of being smaller than most boys.
The knife yet again pressed harder down on my neck as I saw Edward's finger rest on the trigger, and then pulled it back. There was a loud bang, and then complete and utter silence apart from the sounds of mine and Edward's heavy erratic breathing.
The boy holding me, dropped to the ground and I was left standing staring at Edward.
Still keeping my eyes on Edward, I bent down and picked up the knife which lay next to me, my blood covering the edge of it. I wiped off my blood with my sleeve and pointed the knife towards Edward.
"Stay away from me." I said feeling my voice wavering at the end of my sentence.
"Bella, I'm not going to hurt you." He said, surprised at my reaction to him. Well if he just expected me to go with him quietly, then he has another thing coming. I had gotten this close to escaping and I wasn't in any hurry to go back.
"No. But you're going to take me back." His eyes fell to the floor, clearly avoiding my lies.
"Yes!! I knew it. S-s-s-stay away." My heart felt as though it had dropped a thousand feet.
"Please, Bella," he begged.
"No, like I said, stay away from me." My eyes filled with tears, as my dream of Edward coming to rescue me and take me to America went down the toilet. I wiped my tears away with my free hand and looked at Edward again. His face looked pained.
I stepped around him, making sure that my knife was still pointed at him, with my eyes on the gun ready to run if he pulled the trigger. He saw where my eyes were looking and lowered it, as if it would somehow convince me to go with him.
By now I was facing the dead end of the alleyway and Edward- my back was facing the mouth. I took a few steps back, testing to see if he would take some forward. But he didn't.
"Bella, please listen to me," he pleaded again, his arms reaching out as though to grab me. I took another step back.
"Go away. Stay away. I never want to see you again." I practically screamed at him. And with that I turned and ran out of the alleyway.
"BELLA! WAIT!" I could hear him shout behind me. But his voice was growing distant. I was too fast for him. However, I could still hear his footsteps pursuing me, but mine were still quicker. I could also hear him yelling my name at the top of his voice as I ran through the roads, with no idea where I was going, just hoping that I could get away from here, and him.
A loud bang erupted from about 50 metres behind me, and I felt something fly past my face, just missing me. My body nearly froze with shock. He was shooting me, he was actually shooting me. But I forced myself to keep going, just one pause and he could get me. One small stop for breath and the bullet could hit me, just keep going Bella.
I turned around to see how far behind he was from me, but to my dismay I saw he was gaining on me, with the gun raised. I looked forward again and picked up my pace. There was another bang but this time the bullet wasn't close to me. It was just a warning shot.
I turned onto the next street, but because I was concentrating on getting as far away from him as possible, I didn't see the uneven paving slabs. My foot got caught on them and I fell forward, falling flat onto my face. Before I had a chance to get up, a body jumped onto me pinning me down. I didn't have to turn around to see that it was Edward. He grabbed my wrists placing them them above my head on the floor and he turned me around so that our chests were pressed together.
He was positioned so that his body weight was on mine and so that he had pinned me down that I couldn't move an inch.
It was quite an awkward position.
"Edward, please let me go," I whispered.
"I can't Bella. Don't you understand?"
"You can come with me. We could run away to America, just the two of us." I knew how pathetic and stupid I sounded but I do want to run away with Edward. It seemed like a dream. Wait, where was I getting all of this crap from? He was my kidnapper! I hate him remember?
But staring into his eyes, all that hate would vanish in a second, and my insides felt all tingly.
"I can't." And again his voice sounded agonized, as though he really wanted to come with me.
I realised then I had no other choice. And with that I sucked in what breath I could muster -which wasn't easy, seeing as Edward was on top of me- and screamed so loud that I was sure somebody was bound to hear it.
Edward put both of my wrists into one of his hands and clamped the other one down onto my mouth. This must've been the third time that he has had to silence me that way.
"Bella, please be quiet, I need to call my brothers."
I hadn't noticed that he has just released my wrists; however, I still couldn't do much with them as Edward was heavier than me.
He got his phone out of his jean pocket and flipped it open. He pressed in a few numbers and put his phone to his ear. His hand was still clamped on my mouth.
"Hello Jared, its Edward. I have the girl." The girl? Nice. I did have a name. But I couldn't shout it out as I would have liked too.
I heard some mumbling from the other end of the phone.
"Yes, she's still conscious."
Then there was more mumbling.
"Well I didn't stun her with the gun, as she just accepted that she was coming back with me." Oh it was a stunner then. I also noticed that he mentioned nothing about me nearly escaping or how he was preventing me from escaping right that minute.
He paused while he listened to the voice on the other side of the line again.
"OK, I will see you in half an hour." He closed his phone and put it back into his pocket. He grabbed my wrists again with one arm, and released my mouth. He got up off of me and dragged me up with him. He let go of my wrists but so fast that I didn't have a chance to run he grabbed my arm.
"Come on. Let's get back to my car." And without giving me a chance to reply or anything, he tugged me along back the way I had just run.
As we passed some houses, I saw an old lady standing on her doorstep. As we walked -or rather marched- past her she called out at us.
"Hey! Aren't you Isabella swan?"
Edward gripped my arm tighter as though telling me not to say yes. But this was my last chance.
"Yes. Yes I am."
"I thought you were. The police are on their way." She said now standing in front of us with her hands on her hips. She grabbed my other arm and tugged me towards her. Edward still didn't let go, so I felt like I was being ripped in half.
"And you-" she turned to Edward. "-are going to enjoy a long life in jail."
"No I won't." He replied. "Because we leaving now." And tugging me, he released me from her grip and dragged me down the street towards his car.
The old lady was shouting after us and as I turned back towards her, she threw a brick at Edward. Before I had a chance to warn him, it hit him on the back, and surprised, he let go of my arm. I sprang away from him and ran down the street.
I stood at the edge of the pavement and ran out onto the road without stopping or caring to look left and right.
"Bella! No!" Edward shouted behind me and I turned to my right to see a car screech towards me, a pair of bright white lights, a scream which I assumed was my own, and then eventually nothing.
Charlie's POV
Ever since my beloved daughter had been kidnapped, I had not been able to eat or sleep. Sighing, I looked at a picture of Bella on my office desk. She looked so happy there but if you looked closely at her, behind her eyes you could see she was also very unhappy.
I thought back to when she had suddenly appeared on TV, when she had told me not to meet their demands and that she had never wanted any of this lifestyle, I felt unbelievably guilty. She should be with her Mother, not me. Her Mother left me because she didn't want to be Royal and now Bella has done the same. They were too much alike.
I banged my head on my desk, just as the door opened and my trusted servant James stood in front of my desk.
"Sir, your daughter Isabella has been spotted."
My head instantly shot up. "Where?!"
"In the outskirts of Volterra, she was spotted running down a street with a young man aged about 17, following her, carrying a gun which at the time was pointed at her." My heart sank. A gun, the Mafia! She's probably dead. But I mustn't give up any hope that I had.
"Get all police officers to that area, IMMEDIATLY!" I shouted, causing James to jump.
I could only just hope that Bella can survive until the police found her.
