Chapter 9
James POV:
I couldn't believe this was happening! Victoria was going to be absolutely furious! Why would she run away? I thought my acting was pretty good, but apparently not! I walked down to the front desk.
"Hello, my name is James. I checked in a little while ago with a petite girl with brunette hair and brown eyes." The clerk nodded her head and I continued, "Did you happen to see when she left? We got in a little argument, and I went out for a walk, but when I came back she was gone too."
"Why yes, it wasn't very long after you left that I saw her walk out of the door too. I figured she knew where you were or I would've stopped her, I'm dearly sorry sir. There's not much more I can help you with on that matter." The lady said. She was an older woman with graying hair. Maybe Bella had left behind some sort of clue in the room; I hadn't actually really searched it yet. I knew right away when I walked in that she wasn't there.
When I got into the room, I found a note on her book in the middle of the bed.
James,
I went to look for you to make things better. Ever since the kiss everything has been awkward, and we need to talk. If you get back before me, then just wait. I'll follow your scent back here.
-Bella
Shoot! She must have overheard us talking! Where could she have gone? Why didn't I smell her scent on my way back? Maybe I did, but I wasn't paying attention. I have to call Victoria.
"Hey Vicki, I got some bad news." I said right away when she answered.
"What'd you do wrong now? Why are you calling me? Didn't you go back to the girl?" She hissed into the phone.
"That's the problem. She followed me and overheard us talking, and now she's gone. She must've heard the last part of our conversation." I said.
"What? You said she didn't follow you and you were sure of it!" Now she was screaming into the phone.
"She followed my scent. Now, we can sit here and argue, or we can try and find her before she gets too far." I said annoyed.
"Meet at the same spot." She said more calmly and hung up. I turned and walked down to the lobby as fast as I could, still trying to look normal.
"Where are you going?" The lady at the front desk asked when I got downstairs.
"Out." I told her with frustration in my voice.
"I'll watch for the girl, until you come back." She said and I nodded, never looking at her.
Bella POV:
When Edward and I got back, everyone else was doing their own things and minding their own business around the house. That is, everyone except one with pixie hair sitting on the couch waiting for our return.
"So…how was the hunt?" She asked expectantly. I looked up at Edward and I saw a little trace of a smile come on his face.
"It was…it was great." I said forcing a smile.
"Oh Bella, you're such a liar." She said hastily, and Edward and I broke into laughter. I looked up at Edward, but he was staring with a blank face at Alice. I turned back to look at Alice and saw a big grin on her face. Edward disappeared upstairs, leaving me alone with Alice.
"If you saw what happened, then why did you even ask?" I asked, taking a seat next to her.
"Because, I knew you would lie, and there are consequences to lying in this house." She said with a huge grin on her face. I stood up and took a step back from her cautiously.
"Alice, what do you mean by consequences?" I asked slowly.
"You'll just have to find out the hard way, now won't you?" She said with an evil smile, "Oh Rosalie," she sad in a sing-song voice. "I have a great surprise for you!" Rosalie walked in and smiled when she saw Alice looking at me like she was.
"Rosalie, please tell me what's going on." I pleaded.
"It's Alice's favorite time of the month right now. It's make over time." Rosalie said in a deadly voice.
About two hours later, I was almost done with my torture. Alice and Rosalie had given me a full on make over. Including a new hair style, make up, eyebrow waxing, and even clothes. After the final touches were made, I looked into the mirror and didn't even recognize the girl I was staring at. My hair was done in a million fantastic spiral curls with a darkish blue headband that was the same color as my dress. I had on globs of mascara, and I little bit of eyeliner with dark blue eye shadow. Next I looked at my dress; it was a beautiful dark blue color with fancy diamonds lining it. It was a perfect length that wasn't too revealing or too long, just a little bit above the knees. I was in complete shock of what they had done to me, I actually looked beautiful. I looked over at Alice and Rosalie, and they both ran over to me squealing in excitement.
"What's all of this for?" I asked. They both shrugged their shoulders, and I knew they were hiding something from me. "Oh Alice, I know you're just dying to give me hug!" I said trying to sound like I meant it.
"Bella, even though I just found out about your talent doesn't mean that I'm naïve about it," Alice said with an evil grin.
"This is so not fair!" I said in frustration.
"Welcome to the family little sis." Rosalie said as she smiled. Just those words made me forgive them for not telling me what was going on.
"Do you really mean that?" I asked with a total change of tone. They both rushed over and hugged me at that, and I didn't touch their foreheads.
"Of course we do!" Alice said.
"You're part of the family now," Rosalie said smiling.
"But you just met me," I said, cautious about all of this. I had never really been loved by anyone besides Jacob for being myself. And I didn't want to get hurt anymore; I'd already had enough of that in my human life.
"Yes, but I've already seen us three being best friends, and sisters!" Alice said excitedly. I smiled big and we all hugged again before Jasper and Emmett walked in.
"Whoa, what's going on here? Rose, did you through a party that you forgot to tell me about?" Emmett said, and I held in a laugh because the statement didn't seem that funny, but for some reason it was funny, to me at least.
"Oh Emmett, don't be jealous that you weren't invited to it," Rosalie replied jokingly. She walked by him to the door, grabbing his hand on the way. Then Alice and Jasper stared lovingly at each other and I felt awkward ruining their moment.
"Oh, gosh! Did you hear that? My stomach is growling, guess I should go hunt to satisfy it!" I said sarcastically and walked quickly to the door. Once I turned to head for the stairs I ran directly into Edward. I murmured an apology, and started to walk away when he caught my hand.
"You look beautiful," He said softly in a velvety voice.
"Thank you, um you look good too," I stuttered as I tried to think of something to say; if I was still human, I would've been blushing dramatically. "Um, I was just about to go on a hunt, so I'll see you later." I said, and looked at our hands. He quickly released my hand, but I kept standing there for about a minute just looking into his eyes. I shook my head and remembered that I needed to hunt; I turned around and continued on my way down the stairs trying to hide my smile. Once I was outside I broke into a sprint for the meadow that I seemed to like as my favorite hideout. Once I stepped inside the limits of the clearing I stopped and leaned back against on of the trees and slid down to the floor.
"I'm such an idiot!" I said out loud, mad at myself for how I acted to the situation between me and Edward. Now he's probably going to avoid me, thinking that I don't want to talk to him because I totally like shunned him today. Why can't I think fast on my feet? I stopped my train of thoughts when I heard something moving in the brush behind me. I jumped up and ran to the middle of the clearing, facing where the sound came from. I remained completely still listening for another sound and then James walked out into the clearing.
"Bella, it was so nice of you to just leave without telling me. You know, I was really starting to like you, and then you just decided to run off when we had one disagreement. Tsk, tsk, tsk, I thought we had something going." He said with a smile on his face.
"You know perfectly well why I left, how'd you found me?" I asked taking another step back.
"I went back to the hotel shortly after you ran off, so your scent was fresh and easy for me to track," He said his smile growing wider. I bolted out of the meadow as fast as I could, and tried to go back to the Cullen house. But just outside of the clearing was a big line of vampires who grabbed both of my arms and tied my legs with some type of material that I couldn't break through. I struggled as much as I could, but there was too many of them restraining me. They picked me up and took me back into the clearing and tied me to one of the trees with the same material that was around my legs.
"So this is the wonderful Bella that you have been telling me about? Who barely as control of her own power, does she even have any useful powers?" I heard the woman say who was talking to James when I ran away. I remembered her name to be Victoria.
"Not that I know of." James replied losing his smile. His face wasn't scared or fearful like it had been while he was talking to her the day I ran away, now I could see the anger building up in it.
"So she's pretty much useless?" Victoria asked with venom in her voice. "So she's just like the rest of the newborns we have? So we went through all of this work for a useless girl! What use are you anymore? Maybe I should do away with both of you!"
"Or maybe we should do away with you! All you do is piss and moan and complain about how nothing ever goes your way, and it's not just me who is sick of it; we all are. Attack!" This seriously felt like a soap opera, but it was actually happening. All of the vampires who had helped restrain me, plus many others turned on their supposed leader and attacked her. A couple seconds later I saw an arm fly in the air over my head. I closed my eyes not wanting to see what was going on, but I could hear everything that was going on. I looked up to find James but he was gone to help kill the woman. I looked around and saw a man who had to be in his late twenties standing guard next to me. I willed me to untie me with my mind and he did it right away. I jumped up once the wire was totally off and took off running for the Cullen's house. I didn't pause to see how the man would react to what he just did.
I stormed in the front door and saw Alice and Jasper in the front room. Jasper's expression went from happiness to confusion; my emotions must have been running wild.
"I'm sorry, but I have to leave. It's urgent, it's nothing about you. You all have been really great and nice to me, and I really wish I could stay, but I have to leave right now." I said and turned around to go back out the door when I lost my balance and fell to the floor as I was overcome with another vision.
I was running in the woods when I noticed something in my peripheral vision. I stopped running and scanned my surroundings. I was in the middle of the woods, and I couldn't see any movement or hear anything. I started running again, but then I saw something move again and started to run faster. I saw something shiny at the edge of the woods and then I remembered that I couldn't go out in the sunlight around civilization and I stopped running. I looked down at the ground knowing he was the one following me.
"Bella, Bella, Bella. What is up with you and running away? We haven't even gotten to know each other yet. With Victoria out of the way, we could do great things together. Especially since we have a handmade army at our fingertips." James' voice ringed through my ears and he stepped out in front of me as I looked up.
"How do I know you're not just going to kill me to like you did Victoria?" I asked, not moving, knowing I was trapped anyways. Who knew where his little army was hidden?
"Because you haven't gone behind my back, or betrayed me yet. Plus she just got real annoying with the whole 'we're going to destroy the Volturi and then the Roman's and then the Cullen's' crap. I just went along with it at first, but then it got quite irritating when she started talking down to me and bossing me around. So I arranged a revolt with the army; they were all sick of it too."
"I didn't ask why you killed her. What do you want from me anyways? I already love someone else; I lied to you when I first met you. I was headed back to Washington to visit my vampire family when I met up with you in that alleyway. My husband was going to turn me into a vampire so that we could be together forever." I said, casually making up lies as I went on.
"Really, where's the ring?"
"We didn't get one yet; we figured people would get suspicious if I was wearing a ring. It'd just be easier to keep it a secret from my family."
"What's his name?" James took a step forward, not believing me for a second.
"Edward Mason," I said with confidence. I remembered that as being Edward's name before he was turned into a Cullen.
"Are you sure that's his real name?" James asked.
Then the vision ended abruptly. I looked back at Alice and realized we had both seen it. I got up and bolted out the door.
I didn't actually know where I was going to go, but I went as far away from the meadow where James and his clan were still probably cleaning up the mess they had created. I regained my sense of direction and decided to head for the ocean. When I was about to leave the forest I changed direction and headed North until the sun set and then I slowed to a fast walk and went through a town to an abandoned beach and then started to run into the water until my feet couldn't reach the floor of the water anymore. I dove underwater and started to swim. It was really easy to swim far since I had a lot of strength and didn't have to come up for a breath at all.
After a couple of hours I came across an abandoned beach on an island that I had found from swimming that turned into a jungle past the sand. I climbed out of the water and ran in the jungle until I found a nice spring with a little waterfall flowing into it and a cave hidden behind the waterfall. I walked into the cave and found a family of jaguars living in the corner. The biggest one-which I guessed to be the mother-jumped up from her sleep when she sensed my approach. She leapt at me and I caught her in midair and threw her against the side of the wall I walked over and snapped her neck killing her, then I drank all of her blood and enjoyed every drop of it. Next I moved on to her cubs and then I took all of the bodies far away from the cave and left them there for some type of scavengers to devour on later on in the daylight. When I got back to the spring, I stripped my dress off and washed it off in the waterfall and left it out on a rock to dry as I went back into the cave to relax.
I started to cry soft dry sobs and leaned back against the back wall of the cave. It actually wasn't that deep or wide. I was sitting about twenty-five feet from the entrance, and the width was about the length of two full grown men lying on the ground. I thought about the day's events and felt all the pain come to me, making me want to cry harder, but I didn't really know why I was crying so hard. I hadn't really known the Cullen's that well, but it felt as if I had belonged with them. After meeting them for a couple of minutes, they were already willing to give a whole room to me.
I reached in my hair to find my headband that was still in my hair. I pulled it out and found that the saltwater of the ocean had affected the color and threw it across the floor in frustration. I had thrown it harder than I expected and it fell into the water. I quickly got up and retrieved it and placed it next to my dress.
I walked back to where I had been sitting and suddenly wished that vampires could indeed sleep; it would've given me something to do other than think about James and his army or the hurt look on Alice's face when I told her I was leaving. I was actually king of glad that I didn't have to face the rest of the family and see their faces too. But then again, would they really have cared that much? I mean I had just met them so I could've meant nothing to them, but then the look of terror on Alice's face after she had seen the vision with me flashed back in my memory.
Had she seen it in the same perspective as me? Could she hear my thoughts spoken aloud like I could? Or did she just see everything that happened from a third person's point of view? Had Edward seen the vision through her thoughts, or was he elsewhere? Ugh, so many possibilities, and questions that would never be answered. I'm so stupid; I should've never become attached to anyone after James' betrayal. It just seemed to slow me down. What if I had become more attached to Edward? Would I have been able to leave as quickly as I did?
I did it for their safety, too. In the vision James said that he was after the Cullen's, so if he had found out that I was staying with them then he definitely would go back and fulfill his goal of destroying them. Though I didn't know who the Volturi were, and why would they want to destroy the Roman's? Ugh, here we go again with the questions.
I sighed and laid my head back against the cave wall. I closed my eyes, wanting to be in complete darkness where I couldn't see anything. I thought of Edward's beautiful face, then Alice's hurt face came and then a memory of my old life before I had met James. Would I like that better than how I was living now? Vampires had the same nature as humans in the sense of power, except they could do more without getting killed. Especially if they created an army of newborns that obeyed their every command. So I bet dealing with my family and 'friends' at school would've been better than this.
I sighed again and rolled onto my back and tried to focus my mind on nothing so I could relax without any stress. I knew James would eventually find me, but I just wanted to enjoy myself while I could.
A/N Ok, I know it's taken me awhile to update, but I'm almost finished with my other story on my previous profile so I will have more time to write this one. Please review and tell me how you like it, don't be afraid to offer some positive criticism. -Legacygrl
