Special shout outs!
I have been waiting for this special update to give mention to special people. First to The LUV'NV group for giving me a voice back when I was a meek writer (still am actually) in a vast sea of much talented authors.
And to the amazing Mathia Arkoniel for making a very lovely fanart of Caius and Bella, which you can find a link of in my profile, props to you hun, you gave me the final push to continue this fic. And welcome to the dark side on team Caius. *wink*
A/N is at the bottom of the page. And excuse any mistakes, I revise my own chapters.
Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: All Twilight Saga characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. Unless stated otherwise. Plot to Bloody Rose belongs to me, respect artistic creativity please. This is a non-profit story. No copyrights infringements intended.
I could see. My eyes were open. They blinked, constantly, eyelashes fluttering over my cheeks. Shapes and figures and sounds passed me, all around my head, but my mind refused to comprehend. Anything.
My skin tingled where cold, hard flesh touched me. Lips on my forehead, fingers on my cheek, hands on my arms, a flat palm on my back.
After several minutes, my mind unwillingly urged me to pay attention to these subtle and foreign elements touching me and floating around me. I focused not too hard. I didn't have to acknowledge them but I was aware they were there. Whoever they were.
"Why is she like this?" someone spoke. A growling, yet smooth voice.
"I do not know, brother. We have to call upon a physician to look her over." A velvety deep voice.
"A strange human in our sanctum?!" Yelling. More growling.
"I will not jeopardize her wellbeing! It will be done." The clattering of shoes on floor. A handle creaking.
A loud and swift sigh. A huff, maybe?
"Tend to her."
"Yes … my king." A melodic voice.
Closing of a door.
I had enough. I closed my eyes and succumbed to sleep.
Brightness burned my lids and warmth pulsed through my skin. The glares of the late morning sun screaming like a damn harpy pulling me violently to kindle.
I opened my eyes and sat up, half expecting and fully hoping that I would somehow be back in my room, back home, welcoming another boring and mundane day. But as my blurry vision adjusted to semi-clarity, I realized it was hopeless wishful thinking.
The gothic cathedral like bedroom looked marginally different, submerged in sunlight, it looked more warm, and artistically inviting in its, trapped in the medieval era, sort of feel.
But that could not overshadow that this was still a vampire's den.
My bladder deciding it had enough of me ignoring its casual call of nature, decided to plainly irritate me. Fortunately upon my pervious grooming session with Jane, I discovered two of the other three doors within the circular sitting room was a, very well kept, fully functioning bathroom. The other was a closet. They had to dress I guess, and they had to hang the clothes somewhere. But did they really need so many? That's what kind of irked me.
An irrelevant thought as I rushed to relive my human needs, I didn't want to acknowledge the bigger picture. Or the fact that I was wearing a rather short, rather overly revealing, grey and ivory, nightgown that I do recall with crystal clarity that I have not dressed myself in.
I slipped out of the bathroom with the very mind to seek a robe to cover my shamefully scantly clothed self. As I was walking I looked down and paid no mind to seeing what was before me, until I rammed into something slightly small and incredibly hard.
"Careful there." Jane cooed. She grabbed my arm as to not let me fall, a kindness from her, because me stumbling on my arse would have been a hoot. Once she was sure I wont clumsily collapse on myself, she released me.
"I hope you don't mind, I dressed you. You were a little out of it last night." She said unabashedly.
Ignoring her reference of the previous day, I looked down at the chosen garment in question then back at her. "Couldn't you dress me in something less ….. revealing?" I grumbled, blushing slightly at my almost nudity.
Even if I was only with the presence of another female, only other person I had see me naked was Alice, and that was in a dire situation, when I was too injured to care for myself and Charlie was the aid I would seek not even on my death bed. My own mother hadn't had the ghastly pleasure of seeing me even partially nude after I hit my point of puberty.
"Well the morning and noon is rather warm. You being equally warm in temperature would have been suffocating. After the sun descends, the night will keep you much cool. I would expect some form of gratitude for being thoughtful to your comfort." She spoke logically, scientifically, and a little disdainfully at my less than humble show of appreciation, making me blush seven shades of scarlet.
Then she leaned her head and smirked, noticing my discomfort. "Your welcome." She whispered, inclining her head curtly. I need to brush up on my etiquette.
She righted herself and stood straight, chest out. Poised.
"You have a telephone call." She spoke tensely, giving me a grimacing pointed look.
"You have …. technology?" Not meaning it intentionally, but I sounded insulting more or less. They screamed to me old-school pen and paper type of lot, not wires, receivers and WiFi.
"Our leaders despise man's made machines. But with the passing of time one must make due with what one is presented with." Jane chanted, as if she had said or heard this sentence one too many time for her liking. "We have a few gadgets here and there. And you should be lucky, otherwise a fully functioning bathroom is considered manmade, technological and abhorred." She laughed wickedly at the sight of my own grimacing face.
She walked over to the round dressing chair and grabbed a grey, silk robe equally matching to the nightgown I wore and handed it to me. "I dragged the long corded telephone in the sitting room, but only for this call. I will be taking it back once you are done."
"Can it just remain in the room?" I pleaded and I'll be damned but I laced my words with shameless pity.
As Jane slowly walked out of the room, with myself bumping her shoulder-to-shoulder, she stopped and turned. Her lips pressed into a thin line, her red eyes bright and thoughtful. "My master Aro was well and all with it. Master Caius on the other hand …. objected." She shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry." Oh she wasn't sorry.
Jane walked across the room to stand beside a table that held said telephone. She eyed me distrustfully from beneath her long lashes. "I will be… close. Very very close." She said slowly, as thought she was instructing a two-year-old, narrowing her already sharp cat shaped eyes.
Was that some underhanded way of saying she would be listening in on my conversation? I bit my lip. Disregarded the thought to ask it aloud, I instead picked up the receiver and held it to my ear.
"Hello?"
"Good choice not asking that question. It wouldn't have been pretty." The high shrill voice chimed. Took my brain a second to register its owner.
"Alice?"
"Is there any other cryptic, psychic, vampire best friend, slash, sister you are hiding from me?" She chuckled, if a little forced.
Where in any other situation I would have humored her back, but given the circumstances and how she departed, I was in no mood for sarcasm. I remained silent but my loud breathing was enough to inform her I was still on the line.
She sighed, defeated in her attempt. "Bella, I am so sorry for lashing out at you that way. … its just ….. why did you change your mind? You were going to come home with us. I saw it."
"Why does it matter anymore, Alice?"
"It does matter!" she countered, her already high voice rising with her apparent frustration.
"No it doesn't." I stated a little too roughly.
She blew a loud puff over the speaker. "Bella. I am going to ask you something, and I want your honest answer."
"What?"
"Do you promise to be completely truthful to me, your sister in bonds stronger than blood?" She continued to question, as though she doubted my honesty.
"Yes yes yes …. Alice. Your making me nervous. What is it?" my heartbeat picked up, she was in doubt, I could feel it and that was never a good sign. That little pixie was always so sure, hearing her in any other manner was wrong.
"Did you making a deal with one of the brothers?" She asked almost hesitantly.
"Yes." My answer was instant.
"Bella! How could you!?" She whimpered.
I rubbed my temple, a grimace on my lips. "I was doing it to protect you all, Alice. He gave me his word he would let me go! I thought you would have seen that."
She was silent for a few seconds. "Wait a minute. What are you talking about?" she questioned. Was she serious?
"What are you talking about?"
"I meant the deal you made with Caius. To stay in Volterra in exchange for immortality." She spoke with an exasperation you really didn't want to face shortly after waking up.
"What sort of bullshit are you saying, Alice?" I never took Alice for one to spew nonsense, cryptic yes, but ….… needless to say I was shocked, as she must have been too, because she did not address my profanity.
"That's what Edward saw, Bella. He saw you make this deal with him." Edward told her? I thought Alice saw me have that conversation. How did Edward know if not by Alice?
"You didn't see anything?" I asked. Perhaps she meant herself. Perhaps she is confused. Do vampires get confused?
"I must have missed that vision." She replied dejectedly and I can almost imagine her shaking her head, blaming her self. "Between watching Victoria and this new vampire she had helping, and the Volturi members that are bombarding Forks, and the wolves breathing down our necks ….. " she sighed. " .. a few visions must have slipped my notice."
Then something clicked in my head, and the dots were immediately connected. "You are talking about when Edward was reading Caius' mind in the throne room." That has to be it, because after that he flipped on me instantly. "Alice! What did Edward see? Why did he leave?" I demanded.
"Edward saw you make a deal with Caius. That if you stayed you would be changed among them. That you agreed to that because you were …um.. because …." She stuttered.
Because I was what?
"Spit it out, Alice!" I screamed into the receiver.
" …. that you were with …. Caius. Edward saw things … in his mind … intimate things, Bella." Her voice became a little whisper as she finished. Almost like she couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it.
What the hell?
I shook my head. I refused to accept what I just heard. "He did nothing, Alice, I swear on my parents lives, we did nothing!" I repeated a few more times if she didn't get it the first few times. "Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!"
"Calm down, Bella. You didn't … do anything with him?" Did she not hear what I just said?
I looked at the ceiling and screamed. "No!" My voice echoed through the dome like room. I could be heard by someone, or everyone, but I didn't care.
"You didn't let him drink from you?" Alice asked cautiously. I could tell from her voice that she was a little afraid of me. I never yelled but this …. this … oh god! This is just insanity!
"No no no no no!" I chanted tilting my head from side to side. "A thousand times no! Wouldn't I be dead or changed if he bit me?" They saw me with their own eyes. I was very much alive.
"Bella … there is a way to drink from humans without changing them, to take blood without giving venom. And with proper control, one could stop before the …. before the prey reaches a fatale point." She confessed.
I was stunned. I never thought that was even a possibility. And to think I would let someone drink from me willingly. Oh Alice! Oh yee of little faith!
"Do you honestly believe I would let that ….. that .. that" I had to remember not to insult one of the kings in their own fortress. I had this urge to call him every bad name in the book. Would they kill me right then and there if I did?
I took a deep breath." I would never let anyone drink from me." I scoffed.
"That's what Edward saw …." Her words got cut off.
"Bella." Edward's voice now filled my ears, and had it not been such a shitty conversation I would have rejoiced.
"Edward." I answered. I was stumped. I didn't know what to even say to him. What do you tell someone who left you not once but twice.
"He tricked me, Bella. That son of a bitch tricked me! He made me see those things and he made me believe them to be true." Edward pleaded.
"So you left." my voice was cold and completely devoid of any emotion. It was strange and freighting, even to my own ears.
But what he did, what he did again, that hurt. There is just so much pain I could take before I finally break. And Edward just kept chipping away at my heart.
"Oh Bella ….." he sighed.
A few seconds of silence stretched between us. And I didn't know or have any words to share with him. I was hurt, confused, and mad.
"Please put Alice on the phone. I wont ask you again." I whispered.
I could hear him gasp, before the phone was exchanging hands.
"Hey" Alice's bell-like voice ringed in my ears. I can already see the sad smile on her face.
"How is Charlie?" I didn't care who should be soothing whom right now, but I had to make sure my leaving didn't cause any damage for my father.
"Really worried, but he is convinced your coming back. After all, the last two times you left you came back, and he is clinging to that hope." My treacherous tears flowed at this fact.
"He thinks I ran away?" I asked, but I already know that's what he believed.
"Yes. We took your truck, and some personal items from your room for affect. He went to the dogs to look for you first, then came straight to our house. He thinks Edward and I went to Seattle, and we were not aware that you were gone. He called me before we got on the plane."
"But you have to go back." I surmised. I guessed as much. Last time I left, I was with Alice, and Charlie wont rest until his suspicious are checked off about them.
And as if our minds are in sync, Alice confirmed my thought. "He will soon suspect if our absence is extended."
I took a second to reflect.
If I could go back, if I was truly allowed to leave. Alive. Would I go back home? And what would I go back to? I am nothing but a burden to my father. Jacob isn't even speaking to me. Victoria is after me, and if I stay then the people I love might get hurt trying to protect me. But if she saw that I was gone she might look for me elsewhere. Away from my home and my family. The Cullens will be under the Volturi's protection whichever way.
Somehow no matter how I look at it from every angle, and considering every possibility and every reason, then the odds are against me if I return. If I ponder it long enough then the list of good it would do to not have me around would be almost endless.
I am nothing but a hindrance. Problems would escalate, people will get hurt, and everything would fall apart.
I am better off if I left them all alone. Why did I even exist in this world, if my nonexistence was a better alternative?
I have an opportunity, a chance to give them all a better life, a way of life with no hassle to look after the weak and pathetic human. It's only a matter of time before they deem my position here unworthy and have my life ended.
I am just a tasty lamb in a den of lions, awaiting my slaughter.
I smiled bitterly at the nostalgia of that metaphor. Stupid lamb.
"Bella, are you still there?" Alice's voice brought me back from my thoughts.
And what drastic and extreme thoughts they were. My decision was made before I even knew it.
"You know my horrible handwriting, Alice. Write Charlie a letter from me, make up whatever excuse you deem fit."
"I considered doing that. But Bella …. We are coming back. It's not over. Not until we get you home." I genuinely smiled this time. Bless her; she was the most optimistic person I know.
"No," I shook my head, but then I had to smile again at my stupidity. She couldn't see the motion. "When you write him a letter, make sure you mention that I am well but that I am not coming back. Let him not waste his time looking for me."
"What are you saying?!" She screamed suddenly. And I had to hold the phone away briefly from the loud shock.
"I'm not coming back, Alice." I swallowed the sobs. This was my goodbye. My final farewell, but I would part with them if I knew they would move on peacefully.
"Yes. You. Are." She growled. "Once we clear the confusion, you will be back before you even know it! And I promise to even stop plaguing you to go shopping." She laughed, she was almost borderline hysterical.
I scoffed a very tired laugh. I already gave up all hope, it was almost instant, and it made me feel lighter, my hope was merely a burden. "With my horrible luck I will be dead by then."
"Don't you dare say that, Bella!" She growled, her light humor gone as fast as it came.
The phone was ripped from her and then his voice came on the speaker.
"Bella." I didn't want to hear him.
"Put Alice back on the phone, Edward." I demanded calmly, swallowing another sob. My throat felt like it held acid.
"Please, Bella, try to stay alive and out of trouble for twenty four hours. We are coming back to you. I am coming back to you. I swear it. I am not giving up, love."
I laughed, full out, with no hint of humor, and abruptly stopped all in one breath. "Its funny how you looked at me and believed I had betrayed you with so much ease. And then just as easily you turned to my side in a second. What do you believe, Edward? Because it sure as FUCK didn't look like you believed me then!" I growled. Yes, the little human can growl and curse. Go figure.
I half expected him to scold me for my bad word, but surprisingly he let it go. "I believe you, you Bella. That's whom I believe. Caius just ….." I cut him off.
"Do you want to know what really happened with Caius, Edward? I will tell you. Ironically, he questioned your love for me; he thought you would never fight for me. I told him you would. He decided to make a little bet, me being so sure and confident, I knew you would rise to it because you love me, and what we have was strong."
I swallowed the sob; I refused to break down now. "If I declined to go back with you on the spot, but you still protested and refused to leave without me, I would have been tossed in your arms right then and there. But … but …"
I couldn't hold it in anymore. My sobs demanded their presence. "you had to go and …. believe ….. the sick and twisted fantasies of a … of a….. of some vampire. Someone else over me. You fled so easily." I shock my head as the events of that moment rolled like old film behind my eyelids.
"Bella ….." I knew he couldn't find a way to explain himself. And how could he really? But whatever he offered, I just couldn't stand hearing it to any further extent. I didn't feel so young in my skin anymore, I felt like a very tired, battered, old woman. Like life was always handing me the short end of the stick, but I refused to sink to it, instead always challenging and defying. This time I just accepted the circumstances.
"Let Charlie think I ran away. Go home Edward, and stay there. Me being here long enough, I could either be changed or killed. Right now I wish for the latter." I shuddered one last shaky breath. "Good bye, Edward." I hung up the phone. My fingers tried to clutch the table, to hold myself firm, but I crumbled to the floor.
Seconds didn't pass long before cold fingers curled around my upper arms; I flinched and looked up. Jane was crouched down beside me; she gave me a deplorable shrug of her delicate shoulders, trying to help me to my feet. I knew she heard it all, heard the conversation on both sides, but she didn't say anything. To which I was relieved and grateful. Rehashing it when it was just so fresh would be agonizing beyond any physical wound.
She bit her lip. Words lost on her tongue. "I brought breakfast." She finally blurted out, but didn't offer a sarcastic add-on.
I went for a smile, or what semblance of a smile, though small, must look like in my pathetic state. "Would you believe me if I said I wasn't hungry?" I wiped the tears away but gave up when more came.
"I wont force you." And then she smiled. It was sweet and genuine and kind.
I wanted to thank her for all she has done for me so far, but as I opened my mouth to speak, we were interrupted.
"Leave us, Jane." We both whipped our heads. And by the surprised look on Jane's face, she must not have sensed him approach.
Caius stood by the door, looking at me then at Jane. His eyes grew bright and hateful as he looked at her form, stepping away from me until she left and closed that whale of a door behind her.
That was harsh.
And as his eyes met mine, I looked away. Anger filled me, the tears still flowed but they were furious tears now. I marched myself across the other side of the room, toward the bedroom with half a mind to slam the door shut, right in his prodigious face. Did that room even have a lock? It wouldn't matter; nothing could stand in a way of a vampire. But it's the thought that counts.
"Where do you think you are going?" He growled. I didn't answer. I just continued to walk.
"Little girl!" Again his calls weren't acknowledged.
His snipping titles to me were like gasoline to my fire, urging me to ignore his entire being and spiraling me into frenzy all in one swift.
I could hear his loud growl as I reached the bedroom, and went to close the door. But his deft fingers appeared around the frame as he pushed it open. I didn't push back to resist, it was futile against his strength and I stepped away, so at least if he threw the door off its hinges I wouldn't be caught in the catapulting crossfire of the big wooden object.
The blonde tyrannical king stepped inside and shut the door behind him, making it rattle, effectively banishing any hope of an escape route. I stepped backwards until my knees hit the edge of the bed, but tried not to stumble. I narrowed my eyes, crossed my arms over my chest, and I remembered that I was in a thin silk robe, with an even thinner nightgown underneath. I hoped he would not take notice, but he did as his sharp eyes surveyed me, pursing his lips.
I brought my thick hair to either front side of my shoulders and over my chest, effectively covering their outline along with the aid of my crossed arms.
When I looked up again, he was gone. But the swishing and rattling of the curtains to my ears alerted me to his location by the window as he drew the fabric shut, effectively cutting off all light sources to the bedroom. It happened so quick that I just barely caught the dancing of prism rainbows fluttering about his marble smooth hand for a split second, with hardly any time for my brain to register the image. Yet he managed to skillfully hide himself behind the drapes from the blare of the noon sun.
I half wondered what he must look like in the sun. With his translucent skin, and deathly pale color, that rivaled the pale complexion of any vampire I had yet to see, and blonde hair that could reach borderline silver.
But I pushed that thought aside.
"What do you want?" I took no measure to hide my insolence. Glaring up at him but the fact that my eyes were still wet with tears didn't add to the affect to show the palpable anger I felt.
Caius remained passive, but the irritation was obvious by the crease in his astute gaze, and the slight crinkle between his brows. "I see you have regained control over your facilities." He stated, looking to me from under his nose, making it very obvious that he is the tower and I am a lonely stump. I shivered beyond my control, because adding with the intense stare; he did not blink, not once, nor did he breath. He embraced his inhumanity.
I gulped and barely remembered that he ignored my question, but I had more important things to bring forth than his intrusive presence in this room and my life.
"I know what you did!" I started, hissing rigidly.
Here I was, a human girl, barely 5 feet 4 inches and I was hissing and accusing a vampire king, supreme leader of all vampires across the world. A deadly, merciless, sadistic, ancient immortal who saw things and knew so much and would probably put me and all in my family-line who came before me, to shame.
The ligaments in my jaw were flexed so tightly they would snap. I would never acknowledge his superiority!
He ultimately ignored what I said; standing now stoically, as he slowly unhooked his robe open. The nonchalant attitude was provoking. That's another thing I found that annoyed me from him, why wear the damn thing if you are just going to take it off. And the fact remains is that he can toss it aside in a nanosecond. Unnatural speed was hardwired into his system, yet he chose the slow and leisure movements, and in this most unsuitable moment, it just kept building up the anger inside me into a twister of goddamn rage.
A chill ran through my spin as he was sliding the abomination off his form ever so gracefully and tossing it with ease on the side chair by the door. All the while he looked at me from the corner of his ruby eyes, as I stood there, arms crossed and bare foot tapping.
A small grin played on his lips and he stepped in front of me, barely six long strides were apart between us, his own arms crossed over his massive, bulked out chest. He did it well, with his deceptively tall height and big built, he was purely menacing. A mighty man that easily overshadowed my slight form. His entire aura screamed 'bow down to me'. And he knew it. He enjoyed it. His eyes danced with delight over it.
Sadistic. Fucking. Bastard.
But I am not backing down. I was wound up too tight. I would either lash out or break down. I choose the destructive option.
"Do you?" he slowly raised his eyebrow, amused yet his lips were pressed tight. "What is it do you think I did, little girrrl?" He drawled. Nearly purring, making my chest seize in the most unfamiliar way, invoking feelings I didn't care for.
I fisted my hands. "Stop calling me that! And I know that you tricked me!" I pointed my finger at him, and to my utter surprise, he glared at it. I suppressed a curious grin myself. It seems Caius doesn't like to have fingers point at him.
"Lower you finger, girl." He spoke menacingly slow. I clenched my hand, not for his benefit but if he was going to obsess about a damn pointed finger, I'll just rip it off and toss it at him just for the giggles. Never the less, I retreated my hand back to cross on my chest.
"You tricked me." I stated again harshly, clenching my teeth.
His eyes met mine, and the former irritation now gone. "And how did I accomplished such a thing?" He questioned. He had the audacity to look unaccountable for his actions.
"Are you kidding me?!" I stomped my foot. It was childish, but if he was being infantile then, god help me, so was I!
"You gave me your word that if we do that dumb, stupid, idiotic, moronic, time-wasting, pointless ….. " I ran my fingers through my hair, clutching my scalp; more tears rimmed my eyes out of sheer frustration. He just made me so mad.
And fuck me, if he isn't full out smiling right now! Smiling. Sneering. Sneer-smile?
Focus!
"You filled Edward's mind with lies! You put disgusting thoughts into his head." I accused him.
I have never been so mad at someone in my entire life. I tried to breath, to calm myself. My cheeks were on fire; my heart was pounding like a hammer on an anvil. The echo reached my ears, making it nearly impossible to stay coherent, much less conversing.
Caius just froze, standing too eerily still, but he blinked rapidly, narrow and leery eyes scrutinizing my every fidget and movement, Like a foreign specimen on display to be observed. I must look like a mess, and he is taking an affinity to reeking havoc on me. His lack of movement was a memorandum to which my human tendencies were overcompensating for the lack of his, and its making me hysterical.
He inclined his head and his eyes twitched and his pupils frighteningly sparkled. "The fault lies not with me if your eternally adolescent lover boy believed the inner fantasies of a stranger, instead of the spoken truth from his soul mate." He offered coolly. Spiting the word 'soul mate' like an insult. Yet his words flowed like poetry. Momentarily dazing me, before their meaning sunk into my cerebrum.
Focus, damn it!
My eyes grew wide, alarmingly wide. "That is completely not the point. You knew what you were doing?" Don't point your finger! My subconscious reminded me.
Instead I fisted my hands on my hips. "What you were thinking were not just some fantasies! You were tainting his mind with misrepresented thoughts and arrangements that were false. He told me everything!" I spat.
I would have said more, but something struck me weird. During my entire rant, I didn't notice but Caius seemed to have been getting closer to me. When did that happen? How did it happen? His legs didn't move. If he reaches out his long arms, he could almost touch me.
I tried to back away, but the edge of the bed was bumping the back of my knees.
"Maybe he shouldn't have pried where he was not welcomed." Caius replied. I was momentarily bewildered, my brain scrambled to keep up.
I scowled, getting my bearings about me. "He can't help it if his gift is a burden, it exposes him to everything."
"Yes." He hissed, almost in agreement.
My hands dropped limp to my side. I couldn't hide the shock on my face for the life of me. "You took advantage of it." I whispered, not sure of it was a statement for him or a spoke truth for myself. The realization causing a chill to run down my spine.
"Yes." He confirmed.
He didn't deny it.
Was I expecting him to deny it?
I shook my head, but in show of disapproval? I wasn't sure. But I was definitely bewildered. "If I would have known you were going to be devious I wouldn't have entertained your proposal. You … you are …" I looked to him in aversion.
"Careful, girl, I sense something extremely dislikable on the tip of that delicate little tongue." He glared in warning. Hunching forward, his eyes uncomfortably pinning me. "Keep it to yourself." He spoke slowly through his teeth.
The ferocity of his eyes, and the proximity of his body to mine made me almost nearly comply with him. The sheer power of his bright red eyes darkened to a shade of garnet. It made me mildly hyperventilate. It was a mysterious heavy feeling, like a muffled suffocation but not entirely unpleasant.
"Or what? You already did more damage than you could ever do to me. I lost everything because of you." I spoke yet my words felt weird. They meant to have more of an edge to them but it came out as a flustered mess.
"I am not the cause. You chose to relinquish everything. Do not deny it. I heard you." Now he was accusing me. And the fact that he suggested he heard what was spoken on the phone was lost on me to take seriously. I felt almost lightheaded.
"My .. my … my" I cleared my throat. "My choice … will keep them safe. It's … the only thing I can do. The least I can do." I spoke softly. I placed my hand on my chest; my heart was nearly at the point of combustion.
Caius leaned even closer; bringing those eyes even nearer in proximity to me. I willed myself to look away but I couldn't. "How generous of you." He whispered very eerily low, the corner of his lip twitched up.
I licked my dry lips. He was too close, far too close. I tried to back away but my knees bent and I fell on the bed with a slight bounce. "Keep your compliments to yourself. Anything out of that mouth of your is nothing but poison. You are nothing more than a blood thirsty, power hungry monster."
"Watch it." He bared his teeth, but I couldn't care less. The small little distance knocked a little sense into me. I don't know why I felt very weak before but I flared a little to life now.
The bite to my words I meant to lace before was back and it demanded revenge for all the hateful things he did to me. "This is all you are good at, ruining other people's lives, watching them suffer. You feed off of other people's pain like a damn viper. You care about no one but yourself and that's it. You are just a selfish creature!" I screamed, I hope all ears in this damnation could hear me say what they are too scared to say themselves. He was no king over me. If he wanted to kill me, let him try. I welcomed it now.
"I am warning you ….." He spoke subtly; his chest was vibrating with a suppressed growl, simultaneously rising and falling with futile breathing. He closed his eyes as in focus, his brows wrinkled further in complete concentration. But I wasn't backing down; I seem to have hit a nerve. He needed a taste on his own medicine. He should be put in his place.
I rose back to my feet, not taking much care to the close proximity of him. Whatever weakness had me completely flustered before was gone now.
"Just because you are some unofficial king, with insecurities for your lack of gifts among two leaders who are far more talented then you doesn't give you the right to inflect your sadistic tendencies on innocent bystanders. You are no more than a ….. foul ….. bastard!"
My adrenaline rush possessing my body more than my mental will power had me raising my clenched fist with the very mind to pound into him, completely ignoring the warnings in my head that this was a bad idea, and could cause me more harm than him.
But in that split second, his eyes snapped open, wide and black and incredulous. He grabbed my wrist before it landed. He looked to my, still fisted, hand then at me as his demeanor grew tense and livid.
I pulled myself back and whether it was in retreat or I was going for a second round, I couldn't be so sure, but Caius's hold on my hand grew firmer. He lips pulled back to reveal his full set of sharp white teeth. His entire body was passed the point of vibrating into a full trembling, almost like the follow up on a nebular combustion.
The alarm in my head grew louder that I finally sensed the danger in this situation, I pulled repeatedly on my hand to pry it away but with each attempt he just kept squeezing it until the grasp became painful enough for me to wince.
Suddenly, my hand was tugged forward as was my entire body. I gasp when my torso was flush against Caius; my chest was grazing his firm upper abdomen. I shivered as the cold temperature of his body rubbed into my silk garment all the way to my heated skin.
My wrist was parallel to his face; he turned his head and grazed his nose on the prime vein. His tongue darted out as he licked the main artery. I quaked violently. Caius' slowly peered at me from the corner of his eyes, his mouth turned into a menacing smile against the skin of my wrist.
"So I am a bastard, you say?" He growled viciously. His lips left the touch of my wrist to inch closer to my face as he hunched down, a giant mass of a body over me. "I will hand it to you, kitten, you have a sharp tongue on you. I gave you too vast a liberty." He whispered the sharpness of his words was laced with an irrefutable threat.
I stopped breathing. His nose was almost touching the tip of mine. His cool breath blowing on my face, scrambling my brain entirely of proper function, tethering like a weak twine on my will power.
"I wonder ….. what do we do with a little kitten that bites?" He mused. He approached me further. His face alive with excitement, asking a question I was sure he would offer the answer himself. And in that aspect he didn't disappoint.
"She gets tamed by a bigger beast." He snarled.
I was certain my pupils dilated having those words fall to my ears. But then my sight caught the slight shimmer of something on the edge of Caius's jaw. I dare not move my head, but I slowly inched my eyes down and I barely witnessed the drip and ooze of a single drop of moisture from Caius's teeth exposed snarl. It was saliva, yet it shimmered and glowed like silver specks of rainbow dust within them. Somewhere, in the deep part of my comprehension, I registered that it's his saliva mixed with venom.
His sharp teeth were exposed to me and they were ready and coated with his venom, which apparently in its surplus, dripped from the corner of his mouth and down his chin. If I hadn't caught that, I would have probably just surmised that the coal like color of his eyes was the product of his rage. But I almost acknowledged that it could be his bloodlust and rage. I am after all, even better smelling than the average human, absent the singer attribute to any vampire.
What adrenaline rush I had in that moment, completely vanished, evaporated, gone. Overridden by a wave of acceptance. A little bit of sorrow, helplessness and desperation lurked on the edge but I saw them as selfish enough, and tucked them away.
Some might say this was a weak escape, and a form of surrender but it was as simple as it could be.
Purgatory.
A little pain to rid the world off all the bad I have brought upon it.
And with that thought cemented in mind I lifted my free hand, while the other one was still caught in Caius's steel grip, and brushed my hair off the side of my right shoulder. Effectively exposing my neck.
His nose flared.
My heart was burning, pounding on overdrive. The vein in my neck was throbbing. He can hear it. He can smell it, more so at this close, intimate, proximity.
And I took it a step further.
I couldn't pull my body away with him still clutching my other hand, effectively having us pressed together. In a collision of fire and ice. And so I winched my neck back. My long curls tumbled backwards, cascading my back, exposing more of my skin. From the very tip of my nose I could see him eyeing that dominant vein. More venom dripped from his mouth. His grip on my hand tightened painfully, but not enough to have me declare protest. I couldn't shatter the illusion, the crackling anticipation.
I stayed silent, waiting for him to take the initiative. Yet his hungry, black eyes seemed to be warring and conflicted. His brows furrowed, as though he was fighting a fight of control. A type of control that was unneeded, unwelcomed.
And so I urged him, urged his inner monster. Verbally voicing the invite. "Do it. Bite me." I whispered between us.
Caius blinked slowly, and when his eyes opened again they suddenly met mine. I suppressed a sudden facial flinch at the inhuman movement. I kept my face with its façade. My acceptance of my soon to be fate didn't falter, I was sure I looked at peace, calm and unafraid.
"Have you no will to live, girl?" He asked, with a strain in his voice, and a scowl on his mouth.
"My will to live is a liability." I answered. And it didn't escape my notice of the irony of having his words, spoken to me not so long ago, thrown back at him.
Apparently the irony wasn't lost on him too, as Caius blinked rapidly in surprise. But he didn't say anything; instead, he slowly descended down, to the crook of my neck. I can feel his cold breath on my throat as he inhaled my scent and blew a chilling huff on my skin, sending goose bumps in their wake.
His cold lips pressed on my skin, and I closed my eyes.
Author's Note: I know I'm bad for ending the chapter so abruptly but this is a really really really really long chapter that I had to split into two parts. Otherwise you guys wouldn't be reading this right now. So I made a compromise. Check out Pinterest, posted more pics. link on my profile.
On another note, I am kind of confused because I am noticing some of the reviews are cheering for Edward to get Bella back. While others demand more Caius. Sooo what's up with that? I am a little clueless on who you guys are cheering for, because this is clearly marked as a Caius and Bella story.
And maybe if I get a little more lovin' from all you fab-u-lous people, I might finish the next chapter faster. I really do love reading your reviews. And majority of the time you give me inspiration. So don't skimp out guys!
This story is for YOU and you bring it to life. I mean … god … you brought me out of hiding to start updating again. YOU GUYS DID THAT! I freakin' love ya!
