AN: Thank you to all of you who reviewed me. Its means the whole world and it inspires me to write faster =)
But, winter break is ending in 1 day so I wont be able to write as much as I would like. Bare with me, even if the chapters are updated slowly ^^ I love you all =)
Bella`s POV~
My breathing became shallow as I said those words....."She-she`s a runaway from the Volturi..."
Alice`s breath caught in her throat, Jasper glared at me as if I had made the most stupidest decision in my whole life. Everyone else looked astonished, however, Edward, my angel, seemed slightly angry, his lips were set into a straight line.
"Bella!" Esme gasped. "The Volturi? No one and I mean no one runs away from the Volturi! This doesnt make sense, Bella, you of all people should know how dangerous they are!" Esme`s voice was layered with motherly concern. I gazed deep into her honey colored eyes, ashamed.
"Esme, What was I suppose to do? Tell her to leave?" I pleaded. Jasper frowned.
"Leave? You mean she came to you?" Jasper sounded appalled. His scars were becoming more and more visible, something that happened when he was incredibly angry. My hands trembled in Edward`s marble grasp.
"Well, see around 80 years ago, when Edward and you guys .....left....I started noticing things about myself. Later, Charlie became to see me change too. My skin was more paler than normal and I gleamed a bit in the sun. Charlie got scared and hid me inside the house, telling people I left for collage. Deep inside, I knew what was happening, I was just afriad.....After Charlie died, I was sitting alone in his grave when Ella ran out from the bushes behind me......." I continued speaking in a shaking, weak voice while a flashback of that fateful day replayed in my mind.
---Flashback---
"Dad..." I whispered his name softly to myself. My eyes were all red, puffy and sore from all my bawling but the water works wouldnt end. Running my hand across his grey, rough, stone tombstone, I traced the words written beneath his beautiful name. "A great chief, a greater friend, the greatest Father." Placing my hand on my mouth, I attempted to muffle my cries as my heart broke again after re-re-re-re-reading those words. The grey overcast of the clouds reflected my mood. I was alone....Edward`s gone....Charlie is gone...I have no one left....No one loves me.....Im alone.....My brown, tangled hair blew across my face, moved by the gentle breeze, it was as if Mother Nature was trying to comfort me since there wasnt anybody here for me. I moved my eyes across the recently mowed, fresh green grass over to the forest completely surrounding the Forks Cemetary. The lush canopy of the trees swayed in the wind. The weather should have chilled me to the bone but right now, I didnt feel anything....I was a shell, souless and empty...Abandoned.....My hands brushed the white carnations that laid carefully on the dirt bed before my father`s grave. I stood up, it was time to leave....Ive been here for 3 days, unmoving. My body didnt crave food nor rest, it was as if I became a statue. Smoothing out my black satin skirt and my black blouse, I took 3 hesitant steps away from his grave. Immediately, I wanted to sit back down and mourn for the rest of time but I knew that it wasnt what Charlie wanted. He would`ve wanted me to be happy.....I eyed the silver chain on my wrist that held a delicate, wooded, hand-carved wolf and a precious diamond heart. Jacob.....My personal sun...How I wished he was here with me now....But he wouldnt come....He never came to visit me...I hurt him so much, it would be a miracle if he didnt hate me to the bone. Sighing, I wiped the remainder tears off my swollen face and headed home....Suddenly, my nose caught a whiff of something unnatural. It was strange, like a slightly floral scent...Oddly enough, the smell made my throat burn a little.....I shook my head, clearing my thoughts....Come on Bella! I urged myself. You will survive eating food for the rest of eternity, not blood. Edward wouldnt want you to become a murderer or a monster....Think of Carlisle! Your half human...You can do it! My mind shouted at my body to move my feet but they would not obey. It wasnt just the appealing scent that froze me stiff, it was also the sounds. My ears detected panting, frantic panting like someone running for thier life, little gasps and whimpers escaped thier lips in terror. The bushes, twigs and leaves on the dirt floor crunched and snapped, someone was fighting thier way through the forest in desperation, but who and for what reason? Then, out of a small clearning towards the East, a girl popped out of the thick vegitation. Her golden brown hair was a wild mess, covered in dirt, leaves and bits of twigs indicating countless times, sleeping on the forest ground. Her jeans were completely filthy and ripped in odd places. I saw dried blood near her knees and the corners of her mouth. Her emeral green eyes darted here and there, disorientated, unfocused, blinded by fear. A pinkish flush in her cheeks were the only color her white, pale skin had. A loose white T-shirt around 5 sizes to big for her, hung around her body, flowing in the breeze. At last, her fear-filled eyes flickered my way. Her feet, bare and blood-crusted, dashed over to me. The girls lush, full lips parted in horror.
"Help me! Please, hide me!" She begged, clutching my arm, shaking it. Her voice cracked and wavered. She was breathless. I pityed the girl, it seemed as if she was alone, like me. I briefly wondered where she came from.....
"Dont worry. Follow me." I stated. I slung my arm protectively around her slumped, trembling shoulders and led her to my rusty, chevy truck. Sliding her into the passenger seat, I started the engine. My ancient truck roared into life and trugged its little grampa wheels over to Ch-Ch-Charlie`s house. We didnt speak the whole way. I bolted over to the front door and flew it open, the wild girl rushed inside in a hurry, slamming the door shut. Then, she crumbled onto my living room floor, weeping.
"Thank you..." She said in between her cries. My heart leaped out to her, "Smoothe her!" it commanded me. Wrapping my arms around this poor, lonley girl, I comforted her all through-out the night. Giving her some old sweats, I pointed the way to my bathroom then when I heared the shower turn on, I walked downstairs and set some hot tea. Drinking calmly, I pondered the idea of keeping her....I was in desperate need of a companion...Without Edward or Alice, my life was too depressing. Now that Charlie left me too....I had no reason, no will to continue living. My ears caught the sound of little pitter pattering of feet heading my way. I glanced up at her. Her hair was dull yellow now, drenched in water, it was all stringy, falling down to her ribs. The girl`s emeral eyes were less frantic. It was there that I saw for the first time, the full impact of her beauty. She settled herself down across from me on the small, rounded, white kitchen table. Sliding a hot, streaming cup of Jade tea her way, I motioned for her to drink it.
Sniffing it, her little nose crinkled. "Im sorry....I really hate food..." Her pale, delicate hands pushed the cup back to me.
"You dont eat food? Then....blood?" I gasped. She too was shocked and wildly shook her head, her wonderfully drenched hair flying around her.
"No! No, uh I dont eat....."
"You dont eat? How do you live?" I questioned incredulously. Now eyeing her more closely, I could see that her skin was tight around her bones. Was she starving herself?
"Well, sometimes when it gets too hard...I drink my own blood..." She sheepishly confessed. Sliding her arm across the table, I saw little crescent shaped scars covering her wrist.
"Well, from now on. Your going to HAVE to eat food. My roof, my rules." I said, smiling. She looked at me, her lips parted in shock.
"Your-your-your letting me live with you?" Her trembling hands moved to cover her mouth. I nodded, flashing a grin.
"No, No. I couldnt....Im dangerous, just letting me near you right now puts your whole life at stake!" Her voice cracked twice. Grasping her hands in mine, I forced her to gaze into my eyes.
"I live for danger.....Its okay....You can stay, but first, you must answer some questions for me...." She nodded, surrendering.
"Whats your name and what are you? No offence but I mean, obviously your different." I grinned widely to show that I was genuinly meaning no harm. A sly smile played on her beautifully pink lips.
"Im Ariella....Im what you are." Ariella stated. I gasped...
"Well what am I?" I wavered, my heart skipped a beat. I already knew and dreaded her answer.
Her voice came out in a whisper, "A half immortal....Vampire"
My mind throbbed.... I was a half immortal...I knew....I was able to make comparisons to my changes with my old, painful memories of Edward. We both had unnatural speed, strength, and senses. The only difference was, my heart yearned and pumped for him and I was more in touch with my human feelings. Not to mention, my life could be sustained with normal food. I also noticed that by not drinking blood, my hunger (thirst) was never fully satisfied, it reminded me of what Edward once said to me "Its like a human living off tofu. It keeps you strong but never fully satisfys you." I winced, recalling the memory of his velvet voice. An odd thing I recently discovered was that slowly but surely, the vampire side of me faded away each time I ate human food, because I was starving my vampire side, my human side was getting stronger, more in control. This was how I wanted it, if...if...if Edward ever came back to me....I wanted him to be able to ignore the small immortal part of me and continue loving my much larger, dominant human side. That is..if Edward ever came back.....A black hole opened up in my chest, piercing my chest, threatening to suck me into oblivion.
"How....how did you change? Wh-why and what were you running from?" I asked gravely.
Ariella looked around the room, scanning for danger. "The Volturi..." That was all that she said but it was more than enough. My mind went blank at the sound of that cursed word...That word killed my relationship with Edward. Always power hungry, they threatened Edward to change me or let me die....They were the greatest danger, next to Victoria, that Edward worried about and the reason behind him leaving me....My blood boiled at the sound of such blood thirsty, power lusting creatures.
"The volturi changed you....but then why are you half? How did you escape Demetri?" I shuddered at the thought of the world greatest tracker, the uncanny abiltiy to find his prey all throughout the world by catching the tenor of thier thoughts...His chalky, olive complexion, the wavy black hair flowing down to his shoulders, and his lean tall body like a jungle cat spiked fear into my brain.
Ariella, her gorgeous, dazzling eyes stared into space, her sweet soprano voice was faltering slightly, I could see that she was desperatly trying to remain in control. "I was changed around the same time Alec and Jane were made into vampires....They were being burned at the stakes because the village assumed that they were performing witchcraft. Aro swept into the village, changed them, then massacerd the entire village, my village. He thought that there were no survivors, but I was hiding in the cellar.--She shuddered involuntarily at the haunting memory---He murdered my whole family....When I foolishly thought that the 3 devils left, I crawled out. I was soo stupid! I should have known that they could smell me! As soon as I stepped out, Aro grabbed me. He-he knew what I was thinking, what I ever thought! His disgusting, pale hands restrained me while this creepy, eerie mist surrounded me. I couldnt feel a thing or hear anything, it was the worst feeling ever, being completely senseless....I felt so suffocated...so scared...."
Ariella started weeping, mourning for her village and her family. I walked over to her and patted her shaking body reassuringly. She turned her skinny body towards me and leaned into my embrace. I snuggled her closer, "Its alright.." I breathed. I heared her sigh, a deep, shaking breath. Ariella straightened up and continued her story, the sadness in her eyes made them glossy, tears brimmed her full, lushious eye lashes.
"When the mist was gone, Aro was standing by me, his jet black hair was so dark compaired to his nearly transparent white skin. The witch twins were at his side. Alec, his chalky compexion, blood thirsting red eyes, and his crimson stained lips smiled at me smugly. Aro sort of floated towards me, his walk was so gracefull, he offered me a place with the Volturi. As if I`d ever join that bloody group with my own will." She snorted. " Of course, at that time, I didnt really have a choice, Aro wrapped his cold, icy hands around me neck and sunk into my skin, just barely though. His eyes were blood red, crimson...He drank so much blood, he was afraid that once he started on mine, he would lose control. I felt something excrusiatingly cold yet fiery hot at the same time run though my body. In a matter of moments, the pain was gone. The only evidence of it was this dull, numbing feeling. Jane spoke, for the first time, her face was angelic yet fiercly sadistic.
"Master, this girl, you didnt inject enough venom. Shall I help?" Jane, her expression scared me. A small stream of blood trickled down from the corner of her lips. Aro waved her away. I bet he wanted the satisfaction of changing me himself! He told her to leave me be, that his venom would take over me eventually. After that, the 3 creatures nearly dragged me back to Italy where I lived in fear for many years. Jane always threatened to kill me, should Aro ever stop taking an interest in me. Marcus and Cais constantly wanted to experiment with me, I was a freak among freaks! The fear was eating me away! I felt myself die, little by little each day....Finally, I asked Aro to let me outside, I pleaded with him that I wanted to see the sun. As soon as I felt fresh air in my lungs, I made a break for it. I had absolutely no idea where I was going but anywhere was better than there!" Ariella`s voice became more and more animated as fury leaked into her thoughts....
---Flashback End---
"...It took a while for her to be more comfortable with me, but eventually, she forgot about the Volturi and was happy again. Im sorry, I know it was a bad idea to take her in. But I had too!" I defended my descision to the crowd of angry vampires infront of me. Edward, his hand shaking with rage, hissed.
"Bella! The Volturi is already furious with us and you! Your so irresponsible! Should Aro find out about this, the Volturi wont even care that your a vampire, they`ll kill you anyways! Bella, why did you do this?" Edward cried. My heart sank...I knew telling them this would be bad. If I kept it to myself, the Volturi would only have reason to kill me, but now that everyone knew, the bloodthirsty royals had reason enough to slaughter them too. I shuddered at the thought of death coming towards the Cullens because of me....even so, I wouldnt ever regret the descision of becoming Ella`s older sister.
"But dont you see?! Ella is the girl who drank her own blood so that she wouldnt have to hurt anyone! How could someone like that hurt Emmett? Its not reasonable!" I retored. Jasper shook his head.
"Your the one whose not reasonable. Bella, you placed a death sentence over us all the moment you took that girls hand!"
I gasped. Jasper`s words were like a bullet to my heart. It shattered inside, deflating my anger and leaving me with only sorrow. What have I done? Was Ella worth the death of me and everyone I loved? No, I loved Ella...She loved me too.....So the Volturi was out to get her..Would they really turn thier attention to me just because I helped her?.......Yes....Yes they would....What have I done? How can I fix this?
"Wh-wh-what do we do?" I whispered. I looked around the room, at the faces of all the people that I loved, that were now standing at the edge of death with me. I knew of the strained relationship the Volturi had with the Cullens....The Volturi wanted Alice, Edward and Carlisle but they refused to leave thier coven.....Now, just because I helped Ella out of desperate need of companionship, that relationship took a turn for the worst. My feelings plummeted and made me feel worse because although I loved the Cullens with the bottom of my heart, I still loved Ella and didnt want to blame her for raising the cloud of death above our heads.....The only one I could blame...was me.
Jasper ran a frustrated hand through his golden brown hair and released a heavy sigh. Rose strengthened her grip on Emmett, his massive fingers twitched in anxiety. A tense atmosphere settled into the room.
"The only way we can hope to revive our ties with the Volturi..."Jasper stated, emotionless. "Is to find that girl and turn her in."
My heart stopped, shutting down my lungs too. Turn Ella in? But that meant death for Ella.....The crime for escaping the Volturi and resisting thier authority was a felony punishable by the darkness of hell....Isnt there a way I could save them both? My life suddenly transformed into a balancing scale. On my left, stood Edward, his marble body tempting me towards him, his breath-taking scent drawing me in, and his love for me, made my head spin. Alongside my angel was his family, my family...On the right, evening out the scale, was Ella. Her beautiful face filled with torture from when she left me so that I could pursue happiness. Her selfless act was something I swore I`d spend the rest of eternity re-paying....How could I repay her with a visit from the Grim Reaper? My mind throbbed from all the stress. It was Love VS Love. Ella VS Edward. My Life VS My other Life. How could I chose? Which side was right?!
AN: Hows the plot so far? I mean, I recently forgot where I was going with my story so im making things up as im going....Sorry! Im worried that some facts from the beginning of the story dont match up to this current chapter....if they dont, juss ignore it fer me hahaha
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