A/N and Disclaimer: I do not own Alice, Bella, or any of Stephanie Meyer's creations... Izzy is my own character created in the depths of my mind. Gothic Sanctuary is a song by Nightwish, a very kick-ass band. You should listen to them. All chapter titles are titles of the band Nightwish's songs. Again, listen to them. Oh, this is where things start getting "M" rated, so don't read it if you don't want to read f/f. And I'm taking a short sabatical, but I'll be back in a few days. New chapter is promised to be up by thursday.
Recap: "You're a nice friend, Jazz. I hope we can hang out more often," I whispered, being lulled into sleep by the steadiness of the ride.
Jasper said something else, but I didn't catch it. I was too far gone in my dream.
I was back on the cliff. A beautiful woman with long black hair was staring at me, her eyes red as the blood slipping down my wrists.
"I'm here, Victoria. I'm here. Take me," I said, holding out my arms in an offering.
The woman took a step towards me before I leapt backwards, falling towards the tempest ocean waiting to devour me whole.
Chapter nine: -last of the wilds-
I woke up right as Jasper was setting me down on the grass in the backyard.
"Nice to see you up," Jazz said. I rubbed my eyes, yawning and stretching out.
"Long day, Jazz. Long day," I muttered, sleep heavy in my voice.
"Rose should be here any moment. Alice told her to play nice." Jasper yanked me to my feet, the rush jolting me awake.
"Wait, she normally doesn't play nice, then?" I was only asking because I was still out of it. Otherwise I would have insisted that I could manage to get ready by myself.
Jasper shrugged and went "Eh. You'll see what I mean when she gets here, which is about now, actually," he said, an engine softly purring into the driveway in the front.
I sighed and went to greet Rosalie. She was driving some sort of red car that was imposing. It didn't have that same familiar feel as Alice's did.
The very beautiful and intimidating Rosalie Cullen got out of her car with grace and style. Her hair blew gently in the wind, giving her glare an extra flare of hatred.
"Let's get this over with," she said, walking past me, shaking those hips of hers. "I agreed to do this because Alice begged me. I'm not here because I want to be."
I grimaced at Jasper who laughed.
"Better get going, Izzy. Rose doesn't wait for anyone," he offered as a supposed piece of helpful advice. "I'll see you at the bonfire tonight."
I waved good-bye as I hurried into the house. Charlie had apparently left when I was gone and Bella waved bye as she hurried out the door.
"Sanda, get up here! I'm not going to wait forever," Rosalie yelled from somewhere on the second level. I purposely dallied, laughing with the voice in my head.
Rosalie yanked me up the stairs after about ten minutes of me pretending to drink a glass of apple juice.
"I said I wasn't going to wait," she growled. I was genuinely glad to be around her. She was an interesting addition to my new life.
"I'm sorry. I got thirsty," I said, grinning from ear to ear. "I didn't think I was taking that long."
"You did, now sit," Rosalie said, pushing me onto my bed. "You are going to wear something nice because apparently this is going to be a big deal for all of us. Where are your clothes?"
I pointed to the bags that I hadn't bothered unpacking since the shopping trip a few days prior. I didn't know when I was going to get to it, but I knew it wasn't going to be for a while. Most of the clothes Alice bought I hadn't planned on wearing.
Rosalie seemed to know this because she managed to find the one dress I would rather kill myself than wear. It was black and strapless, with lots of frills and chills. It was very sexy, but it looked like a tutu and was short, much shorter than I preferred. And it had a huge black bow on the front, right between the breasts.
"I'm not wearing that," I said blatantly as she found a black strapless bra. "Nor am I wearing that. I can choose my own clothes."
Rosalie glared at me. "Alice told me what you are wearing. I told her that I'd help you get ready. You are going to wear the clothes whether or not you want to."
I smiled. "I'd like to see you make me."
Wrong thing to say, chica.
Rosalie had jumped on me, literally tearing my shirt off so she could get my bra on. It would have been very sexy if it had been Alice. With Rosalie it was just plain frightening.
"You can either do the rest yourself or I'll do it," she said in a matter-of-fact voice, a smile on her face.
"Get off me," I grunted, trying to push her off. The shock had worn off and I was blushing from the awkwardness of it all.
She shook her head. "No, not until you tell me you're going to dress yourself," she whispered into my ear. I started panicking, not entirely sure what she wanted but at the same time, I knew it couldn't be good.
"I-I'll… BUBBLEGUM!!" I screamed although I knew there was no one to hear me and I knew Rosalie wouldn't know about my safe word.
She laughed. "That's not telling me anything," Rosalie murmured, taking the chance to take off my pants.
She's worse than Alice, this one.
I couldn't think straight. My breathing was shallow and rapid and I didn't know what to do.
"Bubblegum, bubblegum, bubblegum," I repeated, closing my eyes and saying my safe word over and over and over again, hoping that I'd be understood eventually.
"Oh, shut up, Sanda. I was only playing with you," Rosalie sighed, pulling me up and sticking the dress over my head. "Put on the fishnet tights and those combat boots you have. Alice loves that."
She zipped me up as I slipped on the tights and boots. I tried not to dwell on the bed situation.
Rosalie looked at me. "Hair and make-up," she muttered, digging through my bag for my beauty products.
"Hey! Why don't you just ask?" I said, yanking it away from her. She glared at me.
"Fine. May I do your make-up? Yes? Okay then," Rosalie replied, holding up my toiletry bag and grabbing my hand. "To the bathroom so I can do this right."
I groaned. Rosalie was torturing me. She pushed me towards the bathroom and I sullenly did what she wanted, if only because I didn't want a repeat of what happened in the bedroom.
I sat down on the toilet, crossing my legs and turning on the stereo I kept there. My Halestorm CD was in and "Dirty Work" was playing. I laughed at the pure coincidence of it.
"Make up, then hair, that's what Alice said," Rosalie muttered, applying my foundation. It had taken forever to find one that matched my pale olive complexion perfectly. Then she gently slid on my eye-shadow and my eyeliner. Mascara soon followed.
"Hair up in… spikes? Yeah, spikes." Rosalie seemed to be talking more to herself than me.
Soon enough, my hair was done and I was ready to go. Unfortunately, we still had about three hours before the bonfire started.
Alice called Rosalie on her cell phone. "Hey, Al. Yeah. No. Let me see," Rosalie said, looking at me. "Izzy, what do you want to eat? Alice says I have to take you out for dinner."
I shook my head. "I'm not hungry," I replied, standing up.
Rosalie relayed the message to Alice and then hung up. "Alice says you have to eat, so I'm to take you out to a restaurant of your choice and shove the food down your throat." The way she smiled at me I thought it would be better to just do what she said.
"Bella told me about this place called Muffin Mayhem in Port Angeles, if you don't mind driving there," I said softly, glaring at the phone.
Rosalie shook her head. "Of course not. It'll be my pleasure to get you food," she said, smiling at me even more.
It was very frightening and it stayed there, frozen on her face all the way to Port Angeles.
I had brought a small purse that had a toothbrush with toothpaste, a few band-aids, and a small can of mace I had stolen from beneath Bella's bed. I didn't know when I would need it but I hated being unprepared.
I gave Rosalie directions that I had printed off MapQuest. We would go left, left, right, and we would reach the restaurant. I hadn't been there, but the buzz was that it was good and served vegetarian dishes.
Rosalie pulled over about a block from Muffin Mayhem. "Okay, Sanda, let's get this straight. I don't like you. I don't like Bella either, but for some odd reason fate keeps dragging you two into my life," she glared at me.
"You don't have to like me, Rosalie. I'm not here for you to like me. If you did like me it would make life easier, but since you don't, I'm not going to try," I returned her glare. "Whether or not you or anyone else wants it, I like Alice. I like her a lot and I want to be with her."
I felt a twinge in my stomach that probably indicated that I was inching closer to the inevitable death I had been waiting for since the car crash. I was a heavy drinker and drug addict before I got to the Chief's house and there were plenty of overdoses in the time I was doing that. I had sobered up, but the aftermath of such idiocy was going to haunt me for the rest of my life, which wasn't going to be long.
To my surprise, Rosalie laughed. "I like that, Izzy," she said, getting out. It was the first time she had called me by my nickname. "You have the galls to stick up for what you believe in and you don't take shit from anyone. I can appreciate that."
I smiled as I shut the door and hurried to catch up to her. We walked step in step, equals for all purposes of the word.