DC: I don't own it
Thank you to my reviewers!
Chapter 9,
"I must say Carlisle, of all the strange things you've done, this has to be the strangest," Eleazar said as he arrived at the large white mansion. "Are you sure you want to take on the Volturi?!"
"Aro has my daughter and will not rest until she is safe again," Carlisle said grimly. His friend embraced him.
"Don't worry my friend, my family will help you get her back. But first tell me about this girl. You're so determined to save her."
Carlisle told Eleazar the story and when he finished, the other vampire was surprised.
"You mean Bella is your child?! Heavens I should have known!"
"You know her?" Carlisle asked.
"Oh yes. I worked with her. Dear sweet thing, she is. Marcus had a huge thing for her. I think I was one of the only ones that has never been attracted to her. I saw her as more of a daughter than anything. She used to mention you, but I never put the pieces together. It's a small world my friend."
"Was she happy in Volterra?"
"Happy enough," Eleazar answered, "she's always been so obsessed with her freedom."
"Well I suppose when you're a prisoner all your life..."
"I remember just before I left she had managed to convince Aro to let her be a doctor. When she found out you were still alive...heavens it was heart wrenching. Aro wouldn't let her go and she so desperately wanted to come and find you. Then I left. She was sad about that but we kept in touch. I'm sorry that she had to be forced away. My family and I will help in any way we can."
Carlisle smiled gratefully at him though his eyes were sad. Edward was sitting on the porch again. Unable to do anything besides heal. The gashes in his arms were almost completely gone but Carlisle had placed him under house arrest until they were completely gone. While his injuries were a concern, that wasn't what Carlisle was worried about. He was truly seeing just how much Edward loved his Bella. He watched in pain as Edward refused to speak, refused to hunt and just plain refused to do anything besides mope.
Not that he didn't have a right to. It had been three days since Bella had left.
--
"We'll be married," Aro said when they arrived back home. Bella didn't say anything. "By the end of the month preferably."
"As you wish," she murmured. Aro grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.
"Now listen, I won't have you being moody for the rest of your life. You will learn to enjoy this."
Bella pulled away from him when his grip lightened and walked up the stairs to her room. Aro watched her.
"You can't let anyone be happy," Marcus said, "Bella was happy for the first time in her life and you had to rip it away."
"When I want to hear your comments, Marcus, I'll ask for them."
"You'll fall out of lust with her, and then what? You'll have your fill and then throw her aside. She deserves so much more than that."
"Marcus if you weren't in love with her yourself you wouldn't even mind," Aro sighed lazily as he sat in a soft armchair. "Jealousy is very unbecoming."
"I'd rather she didn't return my feelings then force her to," Marcus spat. He turned and stormed out of the room angrily. Aro rolled his eyes and looked towards the stairs Bella had gone up.
"Edwin," he said.
"Yes, sir."
"Keep an eye on her."
"Yes, sir," Edwin said with a nod, going up the stairs.
When he arrived at Bella's room he found her sitting on a large bed. She rested her chin on her knees and her eyes were closed. She looked over when she heard him enter and didn't seem to care.
"I'm to watch over you," he said.
"It's a shame you never knew papa," Bella said quietly.
"No use dwelling on it," Edwin said with a shrug. "Not that he would have cared anyway. I was his first son, it should have been you that was sent away."
"You remember it?" Bella asked.
"We retain all of our memories and thoughts. They just fade over time and sometimes we misplace them. But Aro can find them. I'm sure he can find any memory you have."
"What memories did he bring back?" Bella asked.
"Our mother deciding that I wasn't good enough to fight for. Your step-father saying that he wanted to have his own son. He was willing to keep you. Do you understand how unfair that is? You, a woman. I was a son!"
"You're blaming that on me?" Bella asked.
"Not entirely," Edwin said with a shrug. "I'll admit that there is jealousy there. Especially since you grew up in a comfortable home and I grew up in an orphanage and then a work house! While mother was tucking you in at night I was falling asleep on a cold floor, wishing someone would come and take me home."
Bella looked away from him. Out to the streets of Volterra.
"You think my life was easy? Sure, I had all of the material things I needed but mother never wanted me. I'm sure that the moment she saw I was a girl she pushed me aside and hoped that I was you. She probably felt so happy when you came out a boy. My step father didn't care about me. He sold me off to the first man that he could get. Not every form of abuse comes in physical blows and not ever wretched life begins in a work house. I think it would be easier for you because you never knew the kindness that was our father. He would have loved you as much as he loves me."
"Aro said you might try to talk me out of guarding you," Edwin sighed, running a hand through his blonde hair.
"How old are you anyway?"
"Twenty three," he said, "I was bitten severals years after you were an I was bitten for a purpose," he said smugly.
"Well clearly I was too," Bella replied, picking up on his tone. "You're such a brat."
The door opened and Aro came in. Edwin reached out and grabbed the shield clean off of her mind and Aro took her hand.
"Still don't like me I see," he sighed.
"Still living I see," Bella sighed.
"Cute," Aro said dryly, "listen, if you let yourself, I know you could love me too."
"I love Edward," Bella said defiantly, "I will always love him and I will never love you. I'll hate you forever."
"I was afraid of that," Aro said with a defeated sigh. Bella didn't dare feel hope. She heard someone else come in. She looked over and her eyes widened a little.
"No, Aro, please don't..."
"Bella this will make it easier," he said with a smile. Bella backed away as Chelsea came towards her.
"Edwin! Please! Help me!"
"His loyalty isn't to you, sweet one," Aro said. Edwin looked at Bella then back at Aro.
Chelsea put her hand on Bella's forehead. A more powerful attack. Bella struggled away but failed. Aro was holding her. She felt his lips on her temple. "It will all be over soon," he whispered.
"Chelsea...please...please don't..."
"I have no choice Bella, you know that," she said. "Besides, this will make you happy again. Just wait."
A warm feeling started to engulf her body. Bella felt all of the happy moments with Edward bubble in her mind and fill her with such joy. His smile warmed her heart. Aro snarled when memories of her wonderful sex with Edward passed through. Then, as they came up, they were slowly ripped away. She could feel everything that held her to Edward snap and break. It was as if someone was sawing away at them with a dull blade. Each snap hurt her physically.
She struggled, jerking her arms and pulling but Aro held her tight. Her physical strength was nothing compared to his. A fact she always cursed. Softer feelings and attachments, such as physical attraction broke away first. She could feel Chelsea work. She came to Bella's love for Edward. Her deep unconditional love. Bella could see it. It was as if a thick iron band was holding Edward to her. Back to back they held hands tight. Chelsea slowly cut through it. Each time the band weakened Bella felt more and more sick. Edward was falling away from her. Her love for him was dying.
Then it was gone.
--
Edward snapped up to his feet. Carlisle looked up at him, worried and Esme jumped.
"What's wrong?"
"Bella..." he whispered.
He couldn't feel her anymore. It was as if someone had torn her from him. Cut the ribbon of fate that encircled them. She wasn't there, in his mind. Just a figure he once knew.
--
Bella laid on the floor unable to move. She had emptied the blood from her recent hunt on the floor as the final break happened and her body jerked into convulsions. When someone picked her up and carried her off she didn't care. She didn't even look up to see who it was.
"Why can't you do it now?" Aro asked.
"Because her body is too weak," Chelsea said.
Whoever was carrying her stopped. Marcus maybe? He was always so kind to her.
"You saw the way she reacted to severing her bond with Edward," Chelsea continued, "I'm sorry, sir, but we'll have to wait a little while before binding her to you."
"Very well, but do it as soon as possible."
Bella felt whoever was carrying her move again. She wondered where she was being taken to. Wherever it was she was sure it would be better than wherever Aro was.
They got to wherever it was and Bella was laid on something soft. The scent was too familiar. Aro's room. She felt so weak and drained. It was a strange feeling that she hadn't felt since she was a child. She felt someone brushing her hair from her face. Almost like someone was taking care of her. She felt so cold. She half expected to wake to find a cold sweat covering her body.
When she was little she had been sick. She remembered Carlisle sitting up with her, moping the sweat from her forehead with a damp cloth and feeding her soup.
She wanted to cry. Carlisle wasn't here with her and he wasn't going to take care of her. She was alone in Volterra. No doubt Aro would restrict her movements and interactions. Nobody was going to get to her. Nobody.
"You need to drink something."
Bella opened her eyes. The voice sounded like Carlisle. She was surprised when she realized that it hadn't been Marcus that was caring for her, but Edwin.
"You collapsed," he said, "and vomited. Your eyes are black again."
"I'm not hungry," Bella mumbled, pushing the bowl away from her. Blood from bowls. How strange.
"You need strength..."
"So Aro can have Chelsea bind me to him?"
"You don't want it to be like this again do you?" Edwin asked, offering a spoonful again. Bella knocked it away, splattering it on Aro's sheets. "He won't like that."
"I don't care," she said. "Give me my shield back!"
"I can't," Edwin said, "Aro's orders."
Bella got up and went to the window. She looked out at the golden sky. "Twilight," she murmured.
"What about it?"
"I don't know for sure," she said quietly. "Symbolic don't you think? It brings the dark of night. Just as he does."
"I suppose," Edwin said with a shrug. "If you aren't bonded to him then why are you so sad?"
Bella sighed and hugged her knees. "Did you ever see the movie Ella Enchanted?" she asked.
"Once maybe," Edwin said. "Remind me."
"A girl is under a spell that makes it so she has to obey any command, no matter what. Her step sister in the movie orders her to steal objects and in the end the evil king orders her to murder his nephew, the man she's in love with."
"Are you afraid Aro will order you to kill Edward?"
"No, he doesn't have that power...yet. Edward and I watched that movie. I've been under someone's control all of my life. I've always been someone's prisoner, and then, when I left, I was free. I was with papa and he loved me. The Cullens were like my family...because they were in a way. My step family but my family all the same."
"Then you fell in love with your step brother!" Edwin pointed out, wrinkling his nose.
The bells sounded, announcing the time.
--
Edward sat on the railing of his balcony. A soft breeze ruffled his hair and he could hear his music playing quietly. The twilight was beautiful that night. He closed his eyes and sighed, trying to remember the feeling of being loved. But it felt as if that part of him had been stolen, erased from existence. Did he ever love Bella Cullen? He couldn't feel her in his heart but he felt the hole she left behind.
TBC
Yay another update! Enjoy and review!
