Okay, I am so, so sorry for the delay in updating. All I can say is that I've had a lot going on here and haven't had much of a chance to update.

Thank you to all of you who are keeping up with this story and particularly to fprm for the message, making me realise I couldn't put off the update any longer and motivated me to update today. I want to finish this story and I will.

Also, just some quick explanations for the last chapter as I know some of you were confused: yes, Edward was a dream, but it was important as you may see in this chapter. What happened to Victoria for her to end up where she is will also be explained here. The Cullens… well as you know, this is only from Bella's point of view and she is clueless. I know exactly what the Cullens are up to, and slowly but surely it will be revealed. They'll return in a chapter or 2. But keep in mind, James does have some answers, its probably better if I let him explain.

Again I'm sorry for the delay. After that long AN, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 12

I sat bolt upright as I escaped from the almost encasing darkness. My breathing was laboured and my heart was racing, I felt sick and dizzy and my head was pounding. I had a dull pain in my wrist but I did not inspect it.

My eyes were focused straight ahead; on James to be precise.

My memory of what had happened before passing out was slowly but surely returning to me. Victoria had arrived - turning James against me - and tried to kill me. Though I was thankful she hadn't succeeded, I was mortified that James had allowed it to get so close. Besides, where was she now? How did I manage to escape death yet again?

"Bella?" James asked and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What?" I answered impatiently.

He released a puff of air unnecessarily and came towards me, kneeling down in front of where I sat, meaning I had to look down at him. My anger was briefly replaced with confusion as I wondered how that could be possible, until I looked down and saw that I was sat on the bed in the bedroom he had at one point refused to let me into. Once I had made this revelation, I narrowed my eyes at him once again and let the anger take control.

"How do you feel?" He asked almost sincerely, but it simply made my jaw clench.

"Brilliant." I replied sarcastically, "Who wouldn't be in my situation? It's great. Really."

He cocked his head to one side and placed his hands on either side of me on the bed. "I really am sorry for letting her-" he started but I cut him off.

"Are you serious?" I growled, "You just stood there and watched her almost kill me and your fucking sorry?" I shouted as he sat there looking guilty. I should think he felt guilty as well.

He shook his head, "I know there's nothing I can do to make you believe I'm sincere and regret not doing anything sooner." he paused, "I needed to gain some self control before I intervened, Bella. I was thirsty." he stopped and shook his head again.

I waited to see if he would continue before I asked, "If you were so thirsty, why didn't you help her out?" I sneered at him and a look of pain etched across his features, though I didn't take back my words.

"I don't want to kill you, Bella. I don't want you to lose your life. Surely you know that." His eyes were pleading but I fought on.

"If that were true you wouldn't be able to watch someone else attempt to take it away." I retorted.

He grasped my wrists tightly, which caused me to wince from the pain that hadn't dissolved from the bite wound. I tried in a vain attempt to escape from his grasp, but my struggle caused him to further tighten his grasp, making the pain worse. My head began to spin and my stomach heaved; I was fighting a losing battle against my body not to throw up.

James must have noticed my discomfort as he released his hold on me and I jumped up from where I sat, dodged ungracefully around him and ran down the stairs towards the bathroom. I knelt down and leaned over the bowl, emptying what little contents there were in my stomach.

Even when it was completely empty it took time for the convulsions to stop.

When I was done, I leaned back against the bathroom wall, spreading my legs in front of me. I allowed my head to flop back against the wall also, keeping my gaze upwards, so that I wouldn't have to look directly at James, who I had just noticed was standing by the door.

He came closer and I closed my eyes, blocking him out. I felt his freezing hands rest on my forehead, which was oddly relieving against my bodies raised temperature.

"You're warm." He informed me, "I mean of course that you're warmer than usual; you always feel warm to me."

I gave a small, soft nod to show him that I heard and understood, but I neither opened my eyes or gave a vocal response. After a couple more seconds, he removed his hand and sat beside me; I could feel the cool of his arm against mine.

"I'm guessing you won't be going anywhere for a while?" he asked and I shook my head no. "Good." he continued, "I want to explain myself. I know you do not want to hear it, but please, hear me out okay?"

I sighed, knowing I didn't really have a choice anyway. I opened one eye - the one closest to him - and turned my head so I could see him and gave another short nod before returning to my previous position.

He paused before he began, "Victoria's gone." he told me.

"Where?" I asked weakly.

He sighed, "I'd rather not go into it." he paused again and I was about to argue the case when he continued, "That doesn't mean I won't tell you; it just means I don't want to." he sighed, "she's dead."

I furrowed my brow and looked at him again, "How?"

"That is something I'm not going to tell you. At least, not now. It's not important." he ran his hands through his hair, "All you need to know is that as soon as I realised you were unconscious, I dealt with her."

I lowered my gaze to the floor, considering the fact that she was now dead. I didn't find an issue with it, though I did have some questions, following both that and my… dream.

"Why was she here?" I asked curiously, raising my eyes.

He met my gaze and something that looked like regret was hidden within the shining red of his eyes; I hated that I was so used to those eyes already.

"She was in hiding." he answered, but did not elaborate.

"From who?" I pressed. Were the Cullens still after her? Maybe they were nearby. The simple thought made me almost giddy, as much as I didn't want to be too hopeful.

"The Cullens." James confirmed my suspicions, making me feel elated. He continued, "they followed her near enough everywhere she went, but never actually caught her. She suspected they were only doing it to trap her somewhere she wouldn't be able to get out of, though of course she wasn't sure about that." he explained.

I cocked my head to the side, "Are they near?"

"Nearer than I'd like, by the sounds of it. When they pick up Victoria's scent, it will lead them here." He lowered his head into his hands sadly, "I'm not really sure what to do about it."

I didn't answer. I knew I wanted to leave with the Cullens, but there was no way I was going to say it; if he didn't know it then I wasn't going to provoke the issue. I wandered if it would come to a fight and winced at the image my head had come up with. What if there was only one of them? What if it was Alice? I couldn't picture little Alice in a fight against James; surely that would be entirely uneven. Even the same if it was Esme.

I'm sure - despite my worries - that any of them could provide an equal opponent for James realistically. I worried though that perhaps, if they knew about what had happened here, they wouldn't want to fight for me anymore.

Tears welled in my eyes and I blinked furiously against them, I wouldn't allow them to fall. I still followed James' original rules - well not the ones he changed, but the rest of them - whether he still took note of them or not. Therefore I would not cry for my heart wrenching thoughts.

"Is there, by any small chance, even a little part of you that would want to stay?" James asked hopelessly.

I bit down nervously on my lower lip. In all honesty, there had been a small part of me that had wanted to stay with him; this new, more caring captor who looked after me. Perhaps even now, there was still part of me who wanted to stay. However, I knew that at any moment, there was a chance that he would revert back to his old ways. That he would beat me and terrify me if I did something wrong.

Obviously, I had taken too long to respond because the next thing I knew, he was knelt in front of me, capturing my gaze. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead and pulled away again.

"Do you think you will be sick again?" he asked and I shook my head no.

He nodded and allowed himself to place his arms beneath me, and lift me gently from where I was sat. He ran us at vampire speed back upstairs to the bedroom and placed me down on the bed so I was sat in the middle. I didn't move, other than to bring my knees up so I could hug them to my chest.

I watched him cautiously as he moved to sit behind me, wrapping his arms around my body. I stiffened, though he didn't seem to notice or care, he simply tightened his hold on me, pressing my back against his chest.

He placed his lips against my neck and I concentrated on regulating my breathing; knowing that this was no time to panic; I simply didn't like it.

He kissed my neck and I grimaced, not appreciating his behaviour and I wandered how far he would take it now. He had been controlled recently, but that couldn't mean anything much; I would have to see where it went.

We continued to sit like this for some time. I couldn't get my mind off of the fact that he was not Edward anymore, the dream had only emphasised how much I missed him and James was no longer able to take my mind away from that fact. As James' kisses became more frequent, I at least tried to imagine that it was Edward behind me, but I wasn't able to fool myself for long.

My eyes filled with tears again, knowing I couldn't escape his hold, but I refused to let them fall. That is, until he said, "Relax, my pet."