Thanks guys! Here's another chapter for my awesometastic audience! Seriously, thanks for reading!
Here we go!
"What do you want, Victor?" I snapped, glaring at him. First of all, how dare he come and seek me out when I made my feelings for him quite clear, even many years ago? And, secondly, who in the Lord's name did he think he was to just barge into my conversation, even with Edward? Especially with Edward.
He just smiled at me, looking me up and down with appraising eyes. "Ah, you do look lovely tonight, my lady."
"Why, thank you," I spat, biting sarcasm practically dripping from my tone. I wanted to rip those eyes, looking upon me like I was a piece of raw meat, out of their disgusting sockets. "And I do wish I could say the same for you, Victor."
He merely chuckled. "My, my: in a very humorous today, aren't we my dear Bella?" He moved closer so that, now, he was almost half of a foot apart from me. I could feel a strangely cold sensation as he stepped closer, almost as if his entire aura was exuding evil. I frowned, moving even more away as he stepped nearer.
How disgusting this man was.
I remembered back to the first time we met. We were very young, at the tender age of about five or six. I was, of course, as shy as ever, blushing constantly at the slightest word from a peer. Adults, on the other hand, were slightly easier, as I never truly found myself fitting in with the others around my age, who all seemed to react with just as much resistance to me. I thought I was to good for them, they figured, because I used "grown-up words" and didn't want to play games like "Tip the Teapot" and "Hopscotch".
But that wasn't it. I had never figured myself too good for anyone. In reality, it was actually the other way around: I was too clumsy, too odd, too plain to ever have a chance with the other kids. And it didn't help that I was mature for my age. After all, my mother had always joked that I was born about thirty years ahead of everyone else, and was on the way to becoming the wisest girl in Europe by the age of ten.
And, of course, Victor was the epitome of the childish immaturity that I despised so much.
He would not rest until he played that one trick. He would not sleep until he pulled my hair one more time. He would not eat if he wasn't able to get me to blush at least five times that day. It was a life of constant paranoia, of persistent exasperation and a promise of ceaseless irritation. I was, for lack of a better word, in hell.
And it hadn't stopped my whole life. I was always looking behind my back to see if Victor was there, trying to kiss me again, or refusing to close my eyes until I knew the door to my room was locked and Victor was sound asleep. I was invariably on the edge of my seat, and there was nothing to get him to stop.
Many times I had wondered exactly what had drawn him to me. He could have had any girl he ever wanted with the wink of his cold blue eye or a simple smile. It couldn't have been my looks; I was much too plain for that. So, then, what was it? Was it my obvious opposition to him? Was there truly something he liked about me beneath all of my irritated remarks? Or was it simply the thrill of the chase?
As I looked upon him now, I couldn't help but ask myself the same things.
Then, as if for the first time, Victor noticed Edward standing there by the balcony. "Ah, Prince Edward Cullen, is it not?" He raised an eyebrow with a smile plastered on his face, as if he were sharing an inside joke with himself. I secretly hoped he would just go away and share those laughs with someone who actually cared, and banish his presence from the human world.
"Yes." Edward replied curtly, staring at him without any expression.
There a was a long silence, the only sound being that of the night owl's gentle cooing and the rustling of the surrounding trees. The two them were staring each other down while I stood worriedly by the side. I briefly wondered if this would end up in an actual fight, but quickly shook that idea from my mind.
"So," Victor finally said, looking back at me. "What were you and my Bella discussing out here? You looked in deep conversation." His gaze was suspicious as he looked back and forth between me and Edward, as if searching for something he knew was hidden from him.
"I am not anyone's Bella, let alone yours, Victor." I glared at him.
Despite his serious expression, his tone was passive and light, almost teasing. "Sure, sure. Whatever you desire to think, my love. But really, what were you talking about?" His sudden tone was much too abrupt and brusque, filled with a caprice that was extremely random in this conversation. He was glaring at me, his cold blue eyes boring into my own, the opposite of when Edward looked at me. When Edward's golden eyes melted into my own, I never felt frightened or nervous, but here I found myself frozen, unable to move at all.
"I-er, well..." I lost my speech, nervously stuttering under his uncomfortable gaze. It was as if I was under a spell, as I could not move an inch or even shift my eyes anywhere but at his own. Thankfully, Edward came to my rescue, jumping into the conversation with a lie that I would never have been able to carry out.
"We had been discussing the opening dance tonight, and how dreary the night is to be on such a joyous occasion." Edward had said it so confidently and surely that I knew he would have had anyone fooled, especially a fraudulent man such as Victor Von Leighton. To tell the truth, I almost believed him myself, and I knew what had actually been going on.
Victor's cold gaze briefly shifted to him, and I was thankful as I was finally released from his iron hold. I was worried, however, when I notice him looking blankly at Edward, but then shifted back to me. He was like a shark smelling the water for any trace of prey. I was still anxious when he spoke.
"Ah, yes," he finally said, narrowing his eyes. "What unpleasant weather..." And suddenly his face brightened again to that overconfident, cocky grin, as if nothing in the previous moments had ever occurred. "And, even so, I'm sure Bella and I will have a remarkable time together, dancing the first dance."
My mouth dropped open in shock. "Excuse me?"
Victor was grinning evilly at me, like the cat who had just eaten the canary. "Oh yes, didn't you hear? You're mother set it up for us. She wanted it to be a nice reunion for the both of us. Isn't it lovely?"
I tried to control the boiling anger inside me that was ready to explode. "She...what?"
He just grinned, taking my hand. His was fairly large and smooth, as if he hadn't had to work a day in his life. One of his was covering both of mine, and was gently rubbing my fingers, almost like he was trying to soothe me. At the same time, I could fell him pulling me closer to his body, closer until I was just inches away from him. His breath, a hot mixture of wine and pure evil, was on my face.
It was then that I lost it. I screamed bloody murder, ripping my hands out of his hold. I didn't wait to register what his reaction was, or try to guess what Edward was feeling at the moment, or even think about what I was going to do next. Actually, I didn't much think at all after that.
I just ran.
I sprinted through the large balcony doors to get inside the castle, where I was greeted with a hundred or so princesses and princes (all of whom, I guessed, had arrived during the time I was outside), and then out of the grand ballroom. I could see confused and shocked faces rushing past me, fabrics flying and threatening to trip me in my shoes. It was a miracle I managed to run with only a few stumbles.
I pushed my way out of the castle and past the tall, stiff-looking guard. I could vaguely hear, in the back of my mind, his frantic, surprised shouts from behind me. "Princess? Princess come back!"
And, for a moment, I stopped in my tracks and looked back briefly, catching a glimpse of three people in the distance, gazing at me anxiously from the large stone steps of the castle. There stood, of course, the guard, flailing his arms as if he were directing carriages, and Victor, standing there with a scowl on his face. And, to my schock, Edward, eyes widened at something I, apparently, couldn't see.
Deciding that I didn't give a damn as to what he was thinking, I looked back to what was in front of me. In my frozen path, a carraige, only feet away from flying past the path, with no indications that it was going to stop.
And I was right in the way of it.
DUN DUN DUN!!!! Oh no! What will happen to Bella? Will she get hit? Will someone rescue her? WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN?! Find out next time in By Moonlight...How did I sound? Did ya like the announcer/T.V/commercial author's note? Hehe...
Belle
