DISCLAIMER: These characters are property of Stephenie Meyer. And she's an incredible person for letting me manipulate them like this!!
A/N: No love for the last chapter? I'm trying to wrap this story up. This chapter is short, and the few following will be as well. If you like it, please drop a review when you're done; it's the only way I'll ever finish this story, with encouragement. Don't make me beg : )
Bella woke up in a cold, damp and dark room. At first it was a struggle to just open her eyes; she felt incredibly weak and any amount of movement required a great effort. Her body was slumped back in an icy hard chair; her arms were stretched out and bound at the wrists, to what Bella couldn't make out in the darkness, but the cold shackles that bound her tugged harshly. This arrangement felt awkward and painful to her body; she wanted to move, to rip her bindings from wherever she was bound, but she couldn't find the strength.
A cackle of laughter came from behind her; Bella tried to whip her head around but found herself seeing flashes of black instead. She couldn't focus, she couldn't smell; she felt like she was losing it.
"What's… what's happening to me?" Bella mumbled, unaware that is was possible for vampires to be in this kind of physical state of confusion and weakness. This vulnerability frightened Bella.
The familiar feline voice was behind her ear now, purring, "You're just thirsty darling, that's all." And then that high-pitched laugh again, echoed throughout the small confinement.
Victoria. An image of her from their last encounter flashed through Bella's memory and at first, her fear increased. But almost immediately, Bella felt reassured; she was a vampire now. There was nothing Victoria could do to harm her… or was there?
"So are you enjoying this life? Being one of us… immortal… invincible?" Victoria said, a bitter edge to her voice. She walked around Bella now so she was standing in front of her. She braced herself on either arm of the chair and leaned in close to Bella. "You're so cocky, aren't you? That's ok, I was too when I was a newborn. You think you can be in control of everything now, but you can't."
Bella struggled against her bindings but weakly. She couldn't summon the strength to rip them from the walls, to shout at Victoria, to do anything. Bella felt so helpless; being a vampire wasn't supposed to be like this.
Victoria continued to circle her. "You're wondering why you're so weak, I know," she said. "You could just ask, you know, instead of sitting there pathetically." Victoria threw her wild red hair back and laughed, a sinister sound. "How long has it been since you last fed?"
Bella felt herself shrug. She had never gotten to drink from the coyote; a double attack came at her from nowhere. The last thing she could recall from the attack was being slammed between both the attackers and then hoisted into a heavy, steel box. "How did you…" she began, but decided to save her strength.
"How did I what child? You newborns can be incredibly strong but ridiculously stupid. You're so naïve," Victoria hissed. "I brought you here to fulfill my promise. I told you I would torture you until you died. Yes, I know, I've done the second part, but I don't feel right not being thorough with my promise." She came back to stand in front of Bella, leaning in close, gripping Bella's chin in her icy hand and holding her head up to look into her eyes. "Another hour or two and your body will be screaming for blood. You will be in more pain than you ever could have imagined possible. And I'm going to watch." She grinned evilly.
"Just… kill me then. Get rid of me…" Bella gasped.
Victoria chuckled. "Where's the fun in that? I'll watch you struggle for a day or two. And when you finally decide to beg for it… maybe then I'll rip your head off. Sound like a deal?" she proposed.
Bella moaned. Where was Jasper? Where was Edward? Was Alice aware of what was happening? Bella could feel herself slipping, quickly, surrendering to this state of weakness that she desperately hoped her body would snap out of. Edward, wherever you are, come save me. I need you.
Edward and Alice had been in the car for less than half and hour when Alice suddenly went stiff and told Edward to pull over. Edward looked at her quizzically. "What is it Alice? What do you see?" he pleaded. She was blocking her mind from him again, something he hated, and something that prohibited them from being an effective team.
"Edward, you need to go back for Jasper," Alice whispered, her eyes still shut tightly.
Panic shot through Edward. He was grateful she had asked him to pull over. "What do you mean Alice?"
She shook her head as if trying to rid herself of the images she was capturing. "They were attacked before they even started hunting… by Victoria and some other newborns. The newborns are still with Jasper, but Edward…"
Edward didn't hear anything else Alice wanted to say; he had already opened the Volvo door and was shooting into the woods beside the road, running as fast as he had ever ran in his immortal life. His mind ran through millions of scenarios as he ran, through the whys and hows, but none of it seemed to really matter right now. Obviously, Victoria had attacked Rosalie to distract the rest of them, and they walked blindly into her trap.
As the forest flew by him, Edward felt like he was practically flying through the trees. He made it back to the house in a matter of minutes and picked up Jasper and Bella's scent from there. About three miles from the house, Bella's scent disappeared; this disturbed Edward but he fixed his concentration on finding his brother. Jasper's scent was mingled with two fresh scents, equally vulgar and harsh to Edward's senses.
It was easy to sneak up on these two newborns; one was crouched on Jasper's back and the other on his legs. With a leap from the nearest tree, Edward crushed the first vampire's skull with his fist and wrapped his other hand around the second vampire's neck. In a matter of seconds, both vampires slumped over; to be on the safe side, Edward channeled his rage at not finding Bella and snapped the vampire's heads clean off.
A moment of silence ensued as Jasper slowly rose from the ground and brushed the earth from the front of his clothes. He refused to meet Edward's gaze; he couldn't handle this recent failure. So frequently Jasper felt the shame of being the weakest link in their clan, and now his failure had cost them Bella. Bella. Thinking about where she was now, the many ways in which Victoria could be torturing her…
"Stop it," Edward spat bitterly. "Could you please stop blaming yourself Jasper? None of us could see this coming, not even Alice. So just… stop. Please?" He sighed and paused for a moment, pinching the bridge on his nose. "Try to concentrate on what needs to be done now, ok? We have to get to Seattle."
Jasper finally looked up at Edward, although the shame was still plain on his face. "Seattle? Why there?"
"I got a glimpse of these… minds before I snapped their heads off," Edward grunted, gesturing towards the decapitated stone bodies beside them. "Victoria turned them in some boathouse last week and that's where I think she's taken…" Edward carried off, his thoughts echoing Jasper's, wondering the amount of torture Victoria would be inflicting on her.
Jasper put his hand on Edward's shoulder reassuringly. "Well let's go then. I'll call Alice on the way and see if she can help us with anything," he spoke seriously, taking note of Edward's onyx eyes and the screaming rage that was brewing in them. "But something tells me you'll be able to handle this one on your own."