A/N NEW CHAPTER ALERT!

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****P.S I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT****


"James, did you eat the seed of your own free will?"

"I did"


Chapter Nine

Ondine and her fighter

Year Unknown - The Pit

The Pit was a bacteria. It fed on blood and money. There were the ones who spent their last wages betting on a fight, the addicted, the gamblers and the ones who had the money to waste, the ones who brought their own captured nurims and trained them to fight in the arena.

It wasn't a hard place to find, if the lights illuminating the dark sky didn't lead you to it, the crowd around the entrance would. You could hear the cheers of the people and the officiators loud micro phoned voice from streets away.

"This is ridiculous" Jasper whispered between gritted teeth. It was ridiculous but not unheard of, people have been doing these kinds of things for centuries, from the Romans to the New World, people loved a bloody fight, especially if money was involved.

Ahead of us, I saw the shadows of three men, behind a pile of trash, they seemed to be wresting with someone . As we got closer we saw it was a boy around Paul's age, a frightened look in his face frantically looked around for help.

"Don't look" he said, "We can't help him"

But it was too late his blue eyes met mine, a pool of blue, tears seeping from all corners, begging for help without saying a word. I knew that look, that boy was a reflection of a younger me. I looked down and clenched my fists, Paul was right, there was no way we could help everyone. I began to feel sick; with myself, with this place.

"Focus" he said, his voice stern. I looked at him, still surprised at the man walking besides me, it was Jasper, except it wasn't.


8:00 hours before -

"I don't think you get it yet edge-walker" Jasper glared and edged closer to me, "We are at War with these people, complete Gates have been annihilated for less"

I gulped as he continued,"If a Nurim is found waging or even near a pit...our home..our lives..everything we've managed to do this far will be for naught" I lowered my eyes, feeling a surge of guilt drip down my throat. Instead I looked elsewhere and I noticed Alice's gaze had lowered as well, for a second I thought I saw a tear caress her cheek but it was gone as fast as a blink, fast enough for me to wonder whether I had seen anything at all.

Maybe it was best if I remained silent. I took off my glasses and rubbed the bridge of my nose. I realized it was a crazy idea to send anyone to fight in the pit, I've put their lives at risk by even coming here, specially by hiding the fact that I was a human...

I stopped and suddenly something inside me clicked, like a light switch being turned on or a gas stove clicking to a different level. I put my glasses back on and thought about the advantage having a soul could have.

I could wage my human soul, that had to be a possibility. A human in Hell would be an outrage in the Pit. I looked over at Bella but she was already discussing other options with the group, except Alice who had been looking at me, her brows meeting at the middle.

Oh no..could she hear what I was thinking? did she have some kind of power to do that? what if she said something before I could, there was no denying it now, she knew I was human, the way her eyes analyzed me.

"Jasper" she interrupted, I quickly stepped forward apprehensive "Wait" I replied, and all conversation seized.

Everyone was now looking from Alice to me.

Alice glared, "Quiet" she said and gestured a hand movement that rendered me mute.

"What is going on, Alice?" Bella's voice resounded, echoing around the empty loft. I touched my mouth and realized my lips were zipped shut, as if there weren't lips but just a tight zipper line. I tried to speak but no words came out.

I began to lose my composure, she was going to tell everyone I was a human and I had no way of giving my input about waging it to our benefit. I looked at Emmett, hyperventilating, eyes wide, but he was just as nervous as I was. His hands were in his mouth, touching his lips to make sure his was still intact.

"The edge walker has an interesting idea" she said as she paced around the room, her hand holding her chin, pensive "Jasper, you are a shape-shifter, you can shift as an Overtaker and present our fighter" Jasper stayed quiet but his eyes narrowed towards me with a raised brow, I raised mine in return. Completely taken back by Alice suggestion. Knowing she wasn't going to say i was human suddenly made it easier to breathe.

Did she say that to stop me from revealing I was human? I thought.

"And who exactly would this fighter be? You do know Nurims who are not burned aren't even able to cross the Pits boundaries, right" Eric said in a matter-of-fact tone , he was sitting on the couch, his arms resting on his legs, fingers linked together.

"Burned?" Emmett asked. I was glad one of us was able to speak.

"Nurim's who are captured to fight are branded in iron, if they don't have the brand they cannot enter" Paul answered, always eager to teach. Alice smiled, and it was a long minute before she replied,

"That's why we are sending the edge-walker to fight"

Her words managed to grab the same reaction from everyone,"WHAT?" they all replied in unison.

"HM?" I mumbled.

I wondered if she was sending me to my eminent death.

Sure, send me to fight another human or anything else that did not have wings and talons and could channel rune.

Jasper laughed out loud, "That is absurd, the man can't even stand still in a moving wagon" his laugh was obnoxious, the kind of laugh that was the opposite of contagious.

"That's true but we've seen him fight...he can handle himself" Alice replied,

"He is an edge-walker Alice!" Paul was visibly upset, "There is no way he can beat a drainer, they'll eat him alive"

Alive, I actually chuckled when he said the word.

My eyes narrowed towards Bella's hooked sword, it was resting against the wall behind her, and ominous glow seemed to be emanating from it. I tilted my head to the side and blinked rapidly. Was I imagining this? I looked around, but no one seemed to notice the glowing sword. I nudged Emmett, he looked at me and I nodded toward the sword. He looked towards it and the back at me, shoulder's raised,

"What?" he asked,

I nodded towards it and mumbled aggressively, but he did the same thing; looked at the sword then back at me, still confused.

"What are you nodding at? There's nothing there but that creepy sword" he murmured with exasperation.

I rolled my eyes and sighed in surrender.

"Well why don't you let the man speak for himself" Paul argued back, his hand angled towards me. I was so focused on the mythical glowing sword I had forgotten about the fact I could possibly be being sent into a pit where chances were all chances pointed towards my eminent death.

Alice sighed and made the same hand gesture she had done previously to hex me mute, my mouth literally unzipped and I almost cried of joy.

"It doesn't matter whether he speaks or not, he's not going" Bella said, her voice abrasive.


Jasper was a shape-shifter, he was able to take the form of any beast, edge-walker or nurim at will. The catch was he could not shift into anyone from his own gate or another nurim without drinking some of their blood beforehand, but an Overtaker...an Overtaker was 'a piece of cake' he said.

"You know, you're not really making the whole woman thing believable if you keep walking like that" I tried to fight the amusement in my voice. Jasper stumbled in his heels, he had taken the shift of a woman. It was easier to enter the Pit if he was a lady,was what everyone agreed.

"Kiss the darkest part of my ass" he replied, irritated as he picked his wedgie and murmured "Damn women, couldn't choose less intricate lingerie"

He didn't choose just any woman but Ondine, an Overtaker from the 'Upper East Side' of Limbo City, she was the CEO of Ondine Fish Co. an older, respected woman in the industry who also had a knack for the Pit Fights, although money was not an issue her fighters always lacked in the Pit. She was known to choose beauty over brawn, which was a spectacle when they lost. The people of Limbo City came to the Pit with the intention to watch a gruesome death and Ondine provided that.

I watched the sea of people part as we made our way to the entrance. Two incredibly large and brawny men covered the door, they looked identical, each a carbon copy of the other. I cringed, if James disguise didn't work, those men would probably eat us for dinner. I had to step back and crane my neck up to look at them, they were both almost 8 feet tall and full of terror, between their large bodies the door was almost invisible. They both wore dark leather jackets and dark glasses that were too small for their faces. I looked at Jasper, unsure of what the conversation was going to be, it wasn't like we had practiced this part, we just expected them to open the doors and let us in when they saw Ondie, instead they both crossed their arms across their chest.

Jasper cleared his throat, "I'm Ondine. I've come to submit my fighter" he narrowed his eyes towards me, and for the first time actually looked at me except with pity in his eyes. I could only imagine what i looked like, lanky under the heavy leather coat, in the midst of an awkward beginning of a beard,my hair was a dirty mess, the glass of my glasses was cracked from the first fall into Hell. I puffed my chest out and gave them my meanest stare. The men's eyes narrowed on my face and he regarded me with suspicion.

"We know who you are" One of them answered after the silent regard, his voice was deeper than any i heard before.

"You alone tonight?" the other questioned? raising a thick eyebrow.

I swallowed hard and felt the eyes of the crowd on us. My heart started banging on my chest and my chest started to lower.

Jasper now had one hand on his hips and another on the bridge of his nose "Do I look like I need a fucking babysitter? You see me come here every weekend" exasperation oozed off of him "Now the fights about to start and if i don't have my fighter in there before the second bell I'm going to stick one head into the others ass" I looked at him incredulously.

One of them cleared his throat and lowered his glasses slowly, tiny eyes peered from behind the lens, hooded by thick dark eyebrows. He looked me up and down again,

"This little man here your fighter..don't look like your type Ondine" he asked, not taking his eyes off of me. Jasper shifted from one foot to the other, hands still in his waist, he raised a questionable eyebrow. I swallowed hard again, trying to push the lump of fear down, I was having trouble holding it together. The man somehow understood Jasper's silent response, he raised the glasses back up with his index finger and unexpectedly laughed, a deep, frightening roar. The other joined in.

"Good luck little man, hope you make it past the first round" he said, still recovering from his fit of laughter. My shoulders sunk when he placed a heavy hand on it and pushed me towards the door as the other man opened it. A pool of red smoke protruded out of the place. I held my breath and swallowed down the nerves as we entered.


Bella's word was known to be final, no one argued with her before without suffering the consequences but this time was different. Somehow it had gotten darker outside, the rain covered the window making it impossible to see anything. I sat on the corner of the window, leaning against the cold glass. I was rolling the red marble between my fingers, feeling the cracked agate over my thumb.

Eric had fallen asleep on the couch and Emmett on a sleeping bag across from me, between their loud snoring and the thunder outside it was hard to get any rest. I craved the warmth of a real bed and covers but the concrete beneath me made it difficult to get any sleep at all. Alice and Rosalie had gone out to gather more information on the Pit. Jasper, whom I'd recently found out was a shape-shifter, was the only one free to roam around the City unnoticed, without worry of being caught. He knew someone in the City who could provide us illegal weapons but it was still a risk he took.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the drops of rain hitting the window, I wanted to be useful but the lack of knowledge and power rendered me helpless. All I could do was wait and I hated waiting idly.

Suddenly I felt the warmth of another body slide down the wall and slump besides me with a small -oomph-,

"Hungry?" Bella asked holding out an opened can of beans, my stomach growled in agreement and I took the can from her hands. Maybe it was because I hadn't eaten in so long but the beans tasted amazing,

"Wow" I said, between mouthfuls of beans, "This isz amuhzen"

"It isn't a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich but..it's edible"

I swallowed the last bit and licked the spoon before placing it inside the empty can on the floor "I would probably give my left hand for a Philly right about now"

"You're quite eager to give your limbs away" she tilted her head towards me and grinned, two small yet sharp fangs poking out from behind her top lip. It was a forced smile, behind her eyes something told me she was really curious. I sighed,

"I-I just want to help, I want to fight" I said and shifted to angle towards her,

"Why.." her voice wavered then almost as if she were speaking to herself, her eyes now directed towards her tangled fingers, "Why would you risk yourself to save someone you don't know...Leah-" she paused and swallowed hard "We're all already dead"

"I don't know" I mouthed, my voice low and husky, "but I feel like it's something I need to do, for myself..for Paul. I'm here to help my brother because when he needed me the most, I didn't. I cowered and.." I felt the tears begin to pool down my face, "He's dead and it's because of me"

Bella looked up at me, her big brown eyes puzzled. The reflection of the lightning on the window lit up her face.

Dear god she was beautiful, I couldn't fight the thoughts going through my head any longer.

"I can't protect you if you're always-"

My lips were on hers before she could finish speaking. Ravenous. Passionate. Demanding. She pulled away and inhaled sharply,

"Edward-" she whispered slowly, pronouncing each letter as if to savor them. Her hand was against me, intending to push away but instead she left it there. Never had my named ever sounded so wonderful.

My breathing quickened as did hers and I angled my head slightly to the side and drew closer, slowly, my eyes focused on her soft lips, surprised to find them parting and her eyes closing. She inched closer, until her breath tickled my face, her smell flooding all my senses. Earth and rain and roses. She was intoxicating.

Our second kiss was a delicate butterfly of a kiss, it was slow and soft and comforting in ways that words could never be. I took her bottom lip between my teeth and sucked lightly on it's flesh. A low moan rolled of her tongue and I encircled her with my arms drawing her closer to me. Her arms reached up and tangled around my neck, pushing me closer to her. I wanted to be one with her, to melt and mold into her skin. My hands lowered to the small of her back, under her shirt and I reached up and pulled her body on top of mine. Her legs straddled me as I kissed deeper. Her hands found their way to my hair, sending chills down my spine as she pulled ever so lightly. My fingers roamed her back, her waist and up to her breasts. She broke the kiss and moaned when I thumbed her nipples, then her two hands grabbed mine, squeezing her breasts with me. She titled her head back in delirious pleasure as I licked and ran my lips up her neck towards her ear, where I nibbled with my tongue, biting the soft flesh of her earlobe.

I pulled away, "I have to fight" my heart was soaring dizzily. Her eyes low and unfocused, a swirl of emotions in her face, lust and desire disappeared and her brows met in the middle.

"Don't"

"I have too, we both know it's our best bet at getting her back" I replied and felt the warmth fade as she pulled away and distanced her self, her eyes searching mine for doubt, but I knew and she knew she wouldn't find it.

"I will give you my rune then, it is the only way you will have a chance at getting out alive"