A/N I hate writing cliff-hangers as much as I hate reading them, so I finished the next chapter and figured there was no reason not to put it up, except to be mean, which I'm not, so here you go. Enjoy!
Chapter 9
EPOV
Alice's mind was blank when she pushed past me out of the house, but I knew where she was going.
"I'm going with you." I said. She stopped in her tracks.
"No, Edward. Don't." She said in a quiet, but firm voice. She seemed detached as she turned around to face me. Her face was emotionless, her eyes coal black.
"You need me. How else will you find out if they told anyone about what happened?" I asked then grimaced as I watched her planned technique play out in her mind. True, breaking their fingers until they told would probably work, but my way would cause less regret to her later. My mind flashed back to the last time Alice had slipped up and I frowned. "Please, Alice." I pleaded with her. She nodded to me curtly and took off again into the woods. Four minutes later we were back at school.
"They should be coming out with their dates in exactly two minutes." She said in that same detached voice. I hated that voice. This wasn't my sister, it was the monster inside her, the same monster that resided in me. Although, I couldn't say that if this had happened to Jasper, I wouldn't do the exact same thing. As it is, being Bella's friend I felt very protective of her. I didn't want to see her hurt in anyway. We waited in the shadows, stalking our prey.
Just as Alice said, two minutes later the two boys stumbled out of the gym arms around their dates…laughing? They had just seen their friend killed and they were laughing? I smelled the alcohol on them, just as one of them reached into his coat and took out a flask, taking a sip before handing it back to the other boy.
"We can't do this now. Not here." I reasoned with Alice. Her thoughts proved that she was in enough control to realize that. She never planned on attacking them now anyway. So we continued to stalk them, watching from the cover of trees as they drove to one of the girls' houses and then the other. As they continued their drive we followed. When they pulled onto the deserted, dark highway we made our move.
Alice had a glint in her eye as she darted in front of their car. It slammed into her, causing the back of the car to fly up, dangerously close to flipping over, as if it had run into a boulder. Before the car had even settled, Alice pulled both of them out into the street.
"Hello boys." She growled. The driver of the car had apparently hit his head in the crash and had a line of blood dripping down the side of his face from the wound. The other boy had a bloody nose and was holding his ribs. Their thoughts were erratic due to fear and intoxication, but mostly fear. I think a situation like this would sober anyone up.
"Do you know who I am?" Alice hissed.
"F-freak's girlfriend." The first one slurred. That was a very stupid move. Alice's eyes flashed in anger and she stomped on the boy's crotch, not only destroying his bits but probably smashing his pelvic bone as well.
"HER NAME IS BELLA!" She roared. The boy screamed in pain, curling into himself. His friend watched the scene terrified and literally wet himself when Alice turned her gaze onto him.
"You saw what happened tonight?" She asked in a deadly quiet voice, squatting next to him. He shook his head. He thought if he didn't see anything she would let him go. Wrong.
"Yes you did. Don't lie to me. Did you or your friend tell anyone?" Alice persisted. He shook his head again.
"P-p-please. I didn't tell anyone, please." He begged, tears streaming down his face. I felt overwhelming pity for the boy. There was absolutely no reasoning with the monster, though, especially when its mate is in danger.
She moved her hand to the side of his face gently and up into his hair, as if caressing him, but her face remained unreadable. I knew what she planned to do before she did it, but I still flinched when she grabbed his ear and ripped it from his head. He screamed and grabbed at the place his ear had been. The blood was seeping through his fingers and I had to redouble my efforts to subdue my own monster.
"Edward, did they tell anyone?" She asked calmly turning to face me. Their thoughts were now only of excruciating pain, but before he was parted from his ear his mind had revealed their silence.
"They had not yet told anyone, but planned to come forward in the morning when the news of the body came out." I replied, swallowing the pool of venom in my mouth. How was Alice doing this, standing so close to two bleeding bodies.
"Good." She said before turning back to them. It's time. Blood, suck them dry. Need blood. Her thoughts were leading into the frenzy that I had expected from her much earlier.
"Alice, don't drink them. Don't give in." I begged her for her own sake.
For the first time I saw a shimmer of emotion on her face. It was a deep sadness, resigned to its fate that I saw in her eyes, then, as she turned around to look at me. "What difference does it make?" She sighed. I'm going to kill them either way. Why not get something out of it?
"It matters Alice. It matters to you. You know it does." I said. "Don't give into the thirst." She rolled her neck, growling as she did so. I could see and hear her fighting herself over this. She didn't want their deaths to be quick or painless. Drinking from them, slowly draining them of their life source while they could only watch themselves be killed, was just about the worst way to kill them. She knew this. If she drank from them she'd be giving into her monster, letting it control her will.
"If you have to do this, do it on your own terms." I pleaded with her once again. She growled again before leaping upon each boy and ripping his head from his body. It took all of two seconds for both boys to be dead. Quick and painless.
I moved the car into a tree, so the dent in the front would have a cause. Then Alice and I placed the bodies back into the front seats. I lifted the car so Alice could puncture the fuel tank. Within a few minutes we were watching the car explode and burn, the flames lighting up the dark highway.
Just as I knew she would, when the adrenaline in her system passed, Alice collapsed to the ground shaking with dry sobs. And so I held her, watching the car burn to near nothingness, until the sun began to rise; and, at last, she looked up.
BPOV
I opened my eyelids to the sun glaring into my eyes. I squinted, taking in my surroundings.
I was at the Cullen's house. Why? It only took a moment before my peaceful ignorance was taken over by memories of last night. I had killed someone.
"Bella?" A quiet voice asked from behind me. I didn't think anyone was in the room, but I turned to find Alice staring at me, concern mixed with severe sadness on her beautiful face. Tears silently fell from my eyes and she swept into hug me. "It's okay, baby. Don't cry."
"How can you say that, Alice. I killed. I'm a killer." I sobbed into her shirt as she rubbed my back.
"You had to do it Bella. You were protecting yourself. He was trying to hurt you." She said softly into my hair. Then a thought occurred to me. Those two boys had run off. Did they tell someone? Why weren't the Police here questioning me?
"Alice, what's going on? Where are the police?" I asked looking around me, but only finding an empty room.
"It's all taken care of Bella. Don't worry." What? I pulled away from her and looked up into her face.
"What do you mean? Didn't you call the police? Didn't those two other boys tell someone?" She didn't breathe a word but her eyes told me nearly everything I needed to know. "what did you do?" I hissed at her, pulling away even further. Her body flinched at my accusing tone, but she just continued to stare at me with guilt-ridden eyes. "You killed them, didn't you?" I said in barely a whisper, getting off the couch and taking a few steps away from her.
"It was the only way." She replied just as softly.
"It wasn't the only way! It couldn't have been! You don't just KILL people!" I yelled, waving my hands around, while pacing the room. "What? Did you lose your conscience when you became a vampire. You can just kill people willy-nilly?!" I raved. She closed her eyes and sank further into the couch.
"No." Her whisper was barely loud enough for me to hear. I stood, unmoving, watching her watch me. Slowly she stood and moved to stand in front of me. She moved her hand up to rub my arm and I grabbed it away from her.
"Don't touch me!" I hissed. She flinched.
"I'm sorry, Bella." She whispered before flying up the stairs out of sight. I collapsed onto the ground, pulling my knees into me and burying my face in them.
"She did it for you, you know. She saved you." I looked up to see Rose saunter into the room, a scowl prominent on her face as she took in my curled up figure in the corner.
"I didn't ask her to kill for me." I replied scathingly.
"It's not like you're exactly innocent on that front. Or did you forget your own transgression last night?" She hissed at me. I flinched at the reminder of my deed. "She could have just left you to clean up your own mess. That's what I told her to do. She went against her own morals to protect you and you basically call her a monster and throw her away."
"Do vampires even have a moral code?" I said defensively.
"No, Bella. Our coven just deprives ourselves because we like pain. We eat animals and attend school over and over with delicious morsels that we can't have, just for fun. You know what? From where I'm standing, you're the monster here." I was about to respond when Alice flew into the room and pushed Rosalie, sending her flying onto the coffee table, crushing it in the process.
"Don't EVER say that about her, again!" I was speechless as I took in the scene before me. I had just screamed at Alice and called her a murderer and she came back to defend me? Maybe I was the monster? No, it wasn't a question, I was a monster. I killed a person. But then, so was Alice. I need to get out of here.
"I'll take you home, Bella." Edward said, walking down the stairs.
Five minutes later, thanks to Edward's driving, we pulled into my driveway. I had my hand on the door handle when Edward spoke for the first time since we left the house.
"Just so you know Bella, it destroyed Alice to do that. The last time she slipped was over fifty years ago. Ever since then she has had the strictest control. Last time she killed a man who was about to rape a ten year old girl. Despite that, she stayed in her room, sobbing for days. She didn't eat for three months, nearly starving herself. She was a shell for two years. And she vowed afterwards that she would never kill another human again."
"But she did."
"Yes, Bella, she killed those two boys to save you from going to jail and dying in a small, dirty cell, with nothing but your guilt for companionship."
"So now I'm responsible for three deaths and Alice's spiraling depression?!" I yelled whipping around to face him.
"Bella, Alice would do anything for you. She defended you against Rose back at the house because she couldn't stand for you to feel any pain. If she could lift away the guilt you feel over killing that bastard, she'd do it, even if she tore apart herself in the process."
"Well now that I feel even more like shit, I think I'll say goodbye." I said, kicking the door open with my foot and climbing out. Edward didn't wait for me to get inside before pulling away.
"Hey Bells! I didn't know you were going to stay at the Cullen's last night. At least Mrs. Cullen called me last night to tell me. Otherwise I'd be worried sick right now. Two kids were found dead this morning, and there are two more missing. In fact, I'm heading out to the station right now." Charlie said, grabbing his police belt by the door. "Lock the doors, and stay inside today Bella." He said seriously, before grabbing his keys and heading outside. I was about to go up to my room and change when I heard the television. I guess Charlie left it on.
"…two bodies were found this morning just off Highway sixty-five in Forks. The remains were burnt beyond recognition, but the police are saying that based on the scene, the car most likely exploded after hitting a tree at high speeds. These two may have been students coming home from the Fork's High School Homecoming Dance which took place last night. Two other students who were seen earlier in the evening at this dance are now missing. Jason Stone and Crystal Freese are both juniors this year and according to their friends and families both exceptional students and responsible. The police have not released any information on these missing teenagers, but have said that there are no signs that they were violently taken, but are suggesting there is a link between these deaths and disappearances and those in Port Angeles last week. Samantha Bell, a friend of Ms. Freese, was surprised by her friend's disappearance. 'I don't know what happened. She was dancing with her boyfriend most of the night, but when he went to get drinks, she told me she was going out for a smoke. I didn't see her come back in, but I figured she just went home or something.' Anyone with information is asked to call Fork's Police at 422-716-5552." Bella turned off the television.
Jason's face flashing up onto the screen had caused a chill to run up her spine. She knew those two other boys had been the ones Alice killed, but what had Crystal done? Did she see Alice kill them and need to be disposed of as well?
Alice. I didn't know what to do about this. I was scared and disgusted by what Alice had done, but that didn't stop me from loving her, or being happy that she had done this for me. What the hell am I doing? Was I really so masochistic that I would trade my miserable life as a lonely freak for one where I was a freak with a vampire girlfriend who could suck the life out of me or break me apart in seconds? A picture of Alice laughing broke into my thoughts and felt a small smile on my face.
Without another thought I reached for the phone.
"Hello?" The person on the other line answered on the first ring.
"Jasper?" I asked. It sounded like him, but I couldn't be sure, sometimes he sounded a lot like Carlisle.
"Bella?" He questioned back.
"Can I talk to Alice?"
"Oh, uh…" Silence.
"Please, I need to apologize."
"Umm, Bella, I'm sorry, but Alice isn't talking to anyone right now. She's sort of, uh, barricaded herself in her room." Jasper said. I could hear the concern in his voice. What had I done? I needed to fix this.
"Alright, look, I'm coming over there. Can you just tell her that for me?"
"Yeah, sure Bella." I didn't even say goodbye as I hung up the phone and grabbed the keys to my truck. I was about halfway there, heading down Avery street which was just outside town. The road was surrounded on both sides by woods and in the still relatively early morning, a thick layer of fog was impeding my sight. A flash of color beside my car caused me to take my eyes off the road for a second and when I looked back there was a woman twenty feet in front of my truck. I slammed on the brake, coming to a stop just inches from where she stood. Thankfully I wasn't driving too fast because of the fog.
I was irritated and in no mood for some stupid person slowing up my route. I climbed out of the cab, slamming the door behind me. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to get yourself killed?" The woman's red hair was whipping around her in the wind. A storm was coming. I could feel it in the air, and the dark clouds overhead only supported this belief.
"No, I suppose I was just in the mood for fast food." She smirked at me and I looked at her queerly.
"Look if you were looking for a McDonald's or something, you're about ten miles out of the way." I said, getting increasingly annoyed by her cavalier attitude. "Now, if you would please move, I…" My words cut off sharply as I felt a cold hand on my shoulder.
"We're not going anywhere." A male voice whispered in my ear and I watched as an evil smirk played across the woman's face while she advanced on me.
"Yes, we quite enjoy your company." A third voice caused me to look to my side where a lean black man was standing, leaning against my truck. The man behind me moved around and I saw that he was slim, but muscular man. He was white and pale, like the woman.
"Aww, you started without me." Another woman's voice made me look around to find a petite girl with short blonde hair joining the group.
"Of course not, love. We were just preparing for your arrival." The man against the truck said, smiling and showing off his dazzling teeth. A chill went up my spine.
"Vampires." I whispered to myself. I'm fucked.
A/N I know, I know, another Cliffie, but don't worry, the next chapter is already half done. It'll probably be up tomorrow sometime.
