C H A P T E R | E L E V E N
Author's Notes: I can't possibly say enough about you wonderful people who leave me such kind comments on this story! It's always a great feeling to get feedback on something personal like writing. But before I get into babble, I'd like to say, this story helps answer some of the questions about Victoria I've been getting. Hopefully this is up to my reader's standards!
It had been less than a week, though I had no idea. I had begun to slowly lose track of time, the more of it I spent at James' side.
My days and nights were successfully reversed, a problem that worsened each and every day that I spent with James. I slept in different beds every night, motels and hotels coming and going without much to distinguish them from the ones we had visited, already. The seats of the Mustang became another camp ground to me, James preferring to keep things on the move rather than allow our presence to stagnate in one place, too long. I understood the purpose of this, however – we were not alone. Edward was always just a step behind, guided by Alice's visions and his own mindreading skills, though we never saw him. He was a ghost, just as he had promised me once he would be. Though, unlike the respectful spirits, he was a presence in my life I could not ignore. I was learning to, though, primarily thought remembering whose hands were truly keeping me safe, who kept me flush with food, shelter, and a protector.
For all the traveling we had been doing, we seemed to have made it nowhere. I could only believe that James had a plan, though I would not dare to question it, either way. We had spent time in Olympia, Seattle, even some logging community on the outskirts of the state. It was now evening, the sun disappearing as we made the first stop we'd made all day. The gas station he had chosen was not one I personally would have picked, the super florescent and slightly dirty look of it not at all welcome. I knew the reason behind our stop, just before we hit the state border, was more than food and stretching. There was a certain phone call in order before I got too far from home, one that I could no longer hide from.
"Make this snappy," he instructed, jerking a thumb at the payphone we stood beside.
Though I knew my place was and would be with James, the notion did little to make the phone call I was to place to Charlie any easier. It had taken me this long to go through with it at all, knowing he was probably figuring me for dead, but still too afraid to pick up the phone. I was no longer being allowed a choice in the matter, James' hand shoving the payphone into mine.
"You will call him, or we will simply eliminate the problem he poses," James threatened, clamping down on my fingers until they curled around the receiver. I knew and shared his fears, that my father would involve the authorities, that he would place a missing person's report, something that would make headline news anywhere, let alone in Forks. I could see the worried faces now, practically hear the rumors that would spawn, ringing in my ears. Of course, the excuse I intended to give was not much less scandalous than what the townspeople would assume all on their own.
I breathed deeply, nodding my head in agreement. He released his hold on my hand and stared at me, intimidating me into following through with my promise. I inserted a few coins and dialed Charlie's familiar number, praying to any God who might be listening in that things would pass without an argument of epic proportions, that this would be easier than I expected it to be. I continued to hope and wish desperately, my pulse skyrocketing with every ring, which brought me closer to a rehearsed discussion I did not want to have.
Though I was living in sin with a man somewhat akin to the devil himself, in the eyes of some, blessings still showered upon me from time to time. The familiar speech that had been recorded on my father's answering machine for the past seven years played loudly over the telephone and I finally drew a breath. My hand was still shaking, James' eyes were still fixated on me, and I still had an important part to play, but I felt somehow relieved.
"Dad," I half gasped when the beep sounded, fumbling over my words. James motioned for me to continue, likely frustrated that I was not delivering the whole rigmarole we had planned out carefully. I continued without a guide, though I made sure to hit all the important parts.
"Charlie… I'm sorry about all of this, and for not calling sooner. I just wasn't sure how to say everything I've got to say. So I guess this is the easiest way, a message. I'm not in Forks, anymore. I didn't want to stay there," I paused in confusion as to where to go from there, earning me a sharp look for the lapse. Quickly, I continued. "It has nothing to do with Edward. It's someone else, I'm with someone else. I just… needed to see more than Forks, Dad. But please, don't worry. I'm safe, and everything. I'm – "
James slammed down the receiver. Taking it from me had been a piece of cake, his movements lightening quick, my reflexes even more disconnected than usual due to the emotions coursing through me. I glared daggers at James, who merely smiled back with the utmost cordiality.
"You said what you had to say," he informed me, shrugging off my concerns and twirling the Mustang's key ring around his index finger. He seemed utterly unmoved by my sudden swell of anger, not the least bit affected by it. "Believe me, Bella, breaking a heart is like breaking a bone. It's more entertaining to splinter it and watch your prey writhe in pain, but it's much more merciful to simply make a clean break."
"We aren't talking about bones, we're talking about my father. Breaking his heart was the exact opposite of what I was trying to do," I half shouted, flames of anger licking at my tone. I knew I had placed the last phone call to Charlie I would make for quite some time, possibly ever again, depending on the way things went. I had been attempting to let him down easily, to explain that I never wanted to hurt him, while covering up where I had really escaped to with a band aid of a lie.
Yes, there was another guy in the picture, and yes, I was off touring Washington State with him. The safety portion of my story? That may have been a slight exaggeration.
"Amazing," he murmured, shaking his head at me as a strange smile crept over his lips. He crossed his arms and examined me, slightly. "You don't even have to work at hurting those you wound the deepest. First Edward and his little coven, now your own father and you hardly realize what a cruel creature you, yourself, happen to be. Unrefined and marred by that damned conscience of yours, but hurtful, nonetheless."
I scowled at him, left reeling and searching in vain for some sort of a comeback. He would not take offence to being told what a sickening creature he was. The opposite, rather – he would likely revel in that sort of a 'compliment'. I did not view myself as hateful, certainly not the least bit cruel, when it really came down to it. I had never meant to hurt anyone, least of all Charlie. Edward's hurt had been brought on by his own decisions, though I suppose my choices had thrown some fuel on that fire. Still, had I truly shattered anyone's heart the way Edward had broken mine? He had gone so far as to do that, and yet I still viewed him with rose tinted glasses. Surely I could not be so much worse than him.
"You say that as if I rival you in breaking hearts," I murmured, defenseless other than that single, weak comment. He chuckled, seeing through my extremely flimsy comeback. It was more a statement of truth than the stinging remark I had intended it to be.
"Oh, I'm sure you do have a higher body count, in that sense. At least, if we're speaking about directly causing heartache," he said, speaking as he briskly lead me back to the car by the crook of my arm. He ushered me into the passenger seat before he crossed around to the driver's side, revving up the engine before continuing to speak. "Personally, I've never let someone live after ripping their heart out. I'm an extremely merciful creature, that way."
It was hard to imagine the same man who had ruthlessly beaten me and left me for dead was calling such an act merciful. I was well aware of his ego, however, and thus, likely believed the nonsensical words coming out of his mouth. I had not ripped out anyone's heart, the very description inaccurate when it came to what I had done. The feelings of some had been collateral damage, and I was sure the guilt would eat away at my heart for quite sometime, but I had not relished any of the pain I had caused. Every moment of it was heartbreaking for me, though the idea of hurting so many people with me as an instrument seemed to cause James absolute glee, at times.
I sat quietly in thought for a few moments at the least, attempting to find some way to back up my accusation. It dawned on me slowly, though I did eventually come to a full blown realization. He had left someone behind, the same way I had. He had been the leader of several, only to abandon them to pursue his own interests.
"What about your coven, James? About Laurent, about Victoria?" I asked, my tone presenting more of a challenge than was safe, by most standards. I was in the mood to push my limits, however, to see just how far out of line he would allow me to venture before snapping me back into place.
"What about them?" he countered, tone hard but eyes never leaving the road before us. He did not seem quite as perturbed as I had almost hoped the comment would make him.
"You abandoned them, you left them without a leader. And Victoria was supposed to be your mate," I reminded him, severely mistaking my boundaries at this point. I wanted a reaction from him, this much I was certain of. I could not deny I had a hint of curiosity as to just how the ordeal would affect his coven. It would give me a gauge as to what his deadline in toying with me might approach.
"Victoria," he hummed the name, chuckling darkly as he continued to maneuver the dimly lit and nearly empty road we continued down. "Victoria is an interesting creature. Intriguing, beautiful, and deadly. But incessant and clingy, all the same. She would have found a mate in Laurent, if only he'd been the leader in our coven."
"I didn't think it worked that way," I replied, sounding severely uneducated for someone who had spent a majority of her time with a large family of vampires, at one point. The way I understood the notion of mates, in their world, was much the way I understood imprinting in Jacob's kind. To my knowledge, one could not help the person who became the object of their affection, nor could that person change. It had all been explained in a very soul mate sense, to me.
"It doesn't," he replied, disinterestedly. The notion that the flaming redheaded Goddess I had seen in the clearing that day did not love him for the creature he was did not seem to stir him, much. She had certainly seemed attached to him, by my observation. Of course, I could have been wildly off base with that assumption. I was not a vampire, nor could I read minds. "Victoria's mate was never of my world, or yours. Power, survival, instincts – those are her suitors. As engrossed as she became with me, I find it difficult to believe she will not move along with her life, now that I have left."
"And Laurent?" I pressed, my emboldened sense of argumentativeness dying down, considerably. I was more genuinely curious that I had been, before.
"Laurent joined me simply because he was frightened not to. I may be younger than him, but I surpassed him in every sense of the word," he answered, smiling confidently at his own praise. I could not help but agree at that point. James was one of the most lethal creatures I had ever encountered, creative and intelligent when it came to the planning of an attack, yet ruthless and despondent when it came to carrying it out. He was the embodiment of a killer, as much as I tried to ignore that fact.
"Do you plan on going back to them?" I asked, though my real question, as nauseated as it made me, was 'do you plan on going back to her?'. How I managed to conjure up jealousy and territoriality over James of all people was beyond me, but the feeling was very much alive and festering. I did not want him to return to his coven, to Victoria, or anyone else. I wanted him to stay with me, for things to continue on as they had, the past week or so we had been with one another.
"There will be no coven to return to, by the time I'm finished here. Laurent has already moved on, I'm guessing. Victoria will not be far behind," he answered, though he still failed to seem moved by either of these facts. He stated them as simply as he might the weather or the color of his shirt, though he was talking about his only companions in the world. I was more of an entertaining burden than a companion, in my opinion. I was not of James' kind, hindering his ability to hunt at random, to run barefoot across miles in minutes, to live a much less human life.
Of course, that would only be an issue assuming he would allow me to remain human, alive and breathing, much longer.