AN: Okay guys, well finally I have the opportunity to sit down and send some loving your way once more. They're a bit longer than usual, since I babble endlessly and had to make up for my lack of it from my last update, but I enjoy writing back to you guys, and 4 pages of thanks you's seemed like nothing anyways. So right now there will be some bit of deeper characterization and explanations in the next few chapters, but just bear with me. I do promise some action, since I can't keep things so low key for long… or, at least… as low key as it gets for Bella. Thank you all for reviewing! I appreciate hearing from every one of you, and it's a pleasure to write back to you all whenever I update.
Midnight 1987: Well, you were right about the red eyes. You'll see pretty soon what Bella is going to do. The next few chapters will be interesting… definitely for me, and hopefully for you all too! Thanks for reviewing again! Loving the smilie, by the way.
Seraphyn: Haha. Yeah…what can I say… occasionally Bella finds herself in many situations such as these.
Andie Wolf: It's okay if you didn't remember the hooded figure. She's made an entrance twice: first at Mike's party and then in Bella's dream. I tried to have the situation mirror in a way, Bella's dream, but maybe that was too vague on my part. If you have any questions, feel free to send something my way, and I'll be more than willing to explain to the best of my ability. Thanks for the review!
Passionfornight: Well, I hope that Ch. 13 clarified who the person was. In the next few chapters I'll do more of a breakdown of everyone, considering all of the character's I've created myself are pretty one-dimensional… and that's never fun.
Miry68: Well, hope that my last update clarified who the red eyed figure was. Thanks for the review. As I tell everyone, if you need further clarifications, feel free to ask. I love answering questions and all that good stuff.
Angelalways17: I sympathize completely with the homework issues. It's going to be my dilemma in the near future when I'll have to update less frequently. I guess that's the toll I'll have to take for signing up for five AP classes this year, and my one non-AP is being one of the editors of the school newspaper. Needless to say, this year will be busy, and I understand completely how busy school can be. Still, it means a lot to me that you still came and read when you were available, and I thank you immensely for that!
Edwardlover1901: Well, at first when I read your review I was thinking of who I planned to be the character twist of the leader of Zane's pack. Victoria was definitely at the top of my list, but I seized the opportunity to create my own character instead. Sorry about that. If it had been anyone else though, I would have probably chosen her. I couldn't resist though, leaving her out in Ch. 13. I wanted to draw that connection. Maybe I'll bring her in later in the story. I'm not quite sure. To be perfectly honest, I just go with the flow with the writing and type out whatever comes to me at that instant. ;P Glad you enjoy my addition of Zane. Thanks for the update and the smilie! I shall return the favor and send one your way! D
Asquared91: Well, I hope I updated soon enough. I agree with you that the next two weeks I'll be busy, at least, with this story until I get my copy of New Moon, so the wait won't be too bad, especially when I get to read and smile over all of your guys' lovely reviews! Haha. Also, I know how you feel with the missing your copy. When I first read Twilight in the beginning of the summer, I had only checked it out from the public library after browsing across it, and immediately after finishing it, I ranted to a friend everyday until I just let her borrow it. Kinda sad, but those few days, I was dying to read it. I had been reading it everyday. Kind of sad, this obsession of Twilight, but I can't help it if Edward is so lovable. Thanks. Glad to know that I have the liberty of creating new characters and that they turn out to be approved by you all, regardless of whether they're the bad guy or not. Hehe. I promise a happy ending, but my story is far from ending. Unfortunately, Zane won't be out of the picture, but I can promise that there will be more to him from now on. Thanks once more for writing! I love hearing from you all!
Edward Bella Fan: Aw. Thank you very much. I really appreciate your comments and they make me smile. Yeah, I'm the queen of community service. This whole week… I'll have racked up about thirty hours. Fun stuff. But, of course, no matter how busy I am, I'll keep writing and updating as much and as soon as I possibly can. Hope you keep reading and enjoying what I come up with! Thanks again!
Rebel.angel.09: It's alright about not updating. It's like I told angelalways17 about me being preoccupied with school so much when it starts… I sympathize completely and understand exactly where you're coming from, since I'm often in that position myself. I hope most of your questions were answered in Ch. 13, but the reason that Edward didn't identify the identity thief will be answered soon enough. I tried to give a little bit of an explanation with Zane remarking on how much werewolves are the same when they transform that it's easy to mistake one for the other, but I'll come up with something much more creative, I'm sure. I do assure you I shall find a happy ending when this story is through but, as of now, I am not so willing to put an end to this tale quite yet… nor anytime soon. Hehe… this is much too fun! I hope this chapter clarifies some of your questions, but right now you'll have to wait a bit before you find out about the Bella changing stuff. Hope you like what remains! Thanks for the review!
Bright Green Eyes: Haha. Well, it wasn't as dramatic as I had hoped, but much drama shall come. For now, Bella will only be a bit educated further, but I can't stray too far from drama, or Edward, for long, so I'm not sure this little bit of calmness or whatever it may be shall last. Glad that you like dramatic messes. Life wouldn't be the same without them, so it's best to just embrace them. Hopefully these next few chapters though will dive more deeply into the characters that I have created. Up to this point, there hasn't been much dimension to them, and right now I'll be trying to change that a bit. Thanks for the reviews!
Danamarin: Well, I'm sure you know by now that it's not Laurent, but he might pop up eventually during this story. Haven't thought that ahead. But yes… now the main plot begins. Dun… dun… DUN! Thanks for the commentary on my plot twist. That was one of the few things that I had thought of in advance when I mentioned the leader of Zane's pack. All I knew before Ch. 13 was that I wanted the leader to be a girl and to be a vampire and from there I just improvise. Oh the wonders of writing. Gotta love it. Thanks for the review! I am so relieved to hear that I painted the picture of Vivian to be similar to Jessica, considering that was what I was hoping for. And, since I stopped referring back to Twilight like I had in the beginning when I started, it makes me all the more happy to hear that. Thanks again for the reviews! You have been such an awesome reviewer!
The Sin they called Pride: Haha. Well, it wasn't exactly right, but you deserve a cookie anyway since you reviewed and you're just awesome like that. Like I told Edwardlover1901, Victoria was a high possibility when I was considering who the character should be, but I wanted to have my own fun by creating my own character. But yes… here's another cookie… just because I love reading reviews and I think you're pretty dang cool.
Aba: Yes, I do realize I make mistakes in my writing. Without an editor, beta, or any proof-reading at all, I post these chapters and I hope that somehow I haven't butchered whatever I wrote to the extent that it confuses up the plot to the extreme. Just one of the bits of loveliness of no editing or proofing and of being an amateur writer, but at least my errors have caused you temporary, comical moments.
Pandora-69: Thanks for appreciating the quick updates. I know, first hand, how it can get to anticipate updates and you have to wait weeks to find out what happens next. It drives me crazy, since I'm such an impatient person, and I try hard to spare everyone those kinds of feelings. Thanks for the appreciation, and I'll send some your way for reviewing once more! Well, I must say that I'm drawing out that moment, if I decide to change Bella, but the ending of this story is not anywhere close to being around the corner, so yes… for now… I take it one chapter at a time. Lol. Hope you stick around to find out what happens though. I love hearing from you!
Johnny-Depp-and-fire-lover: So nice to hear that you like the story. I hope you continued to read and continued to like what you read. It's always a pleasure to hear from new readers, and I hope that you continue to read and that whatever it is that I write is exciting enough to keep you coming! Thanks for the reviews!
Ylfcwen: Haha. You're the second person to make commentary on Bella running. Thanks for the creative compliments. I try to do what I can with making it somewhat original, and it's great to hear that that effort is paying off. About the Vivian being Jessica's thing, this chapter will provide you guys with lots of answers about that. Yesterday I was in such a rush that I kind of just brushed over the topic very lightly, but this time around I plan to make it much more serious and more defined so I don't leave you all confused. Thanks for the cookie takes cookie with much delight and now I shall offer you a dozen for all the happiness I get from reading your review!
Iamcool511: Aww… despite the fact that I left you with an evil cliffy and much anxiousness, your review made me smile. It's so great to hear that my readers are getting as much into this story as I am, and I thank you very much for reviewing!
Rin09: Lucky person, you! You got to read New Moon, and here I am… still waiting in anticipation. My heart beats with complete envy! Re-reading stories are great. When I first read Twilight, I couldn't ever stop. I wanted to keep on reading it, never wanting to leave the world of Bella and Edward. Glad to hear you like the horse drawn carriage too. I get so sappy sometimes with all my romantic tendencies that I fear I might get too over-the-top. I guess in that way I'm similar to Alice, but I'm glad to hear that you liked it! Your compliments are the things that make writing this such a breeze. Haha. Well, hopefully I'll put more dimension to Zane besides his current evilness in the future. But yes, I agree with you. My portrait of Zane thus far is one to sit amongst fiery for quite some time. And Vivian is a bit sketchy, but I'm hoping these next few updates will break these two characters down a bit more. Thanks for reviewing! You are such a dear! Bakes you a cake with a big THANK YOU
PageGirl: Haha. That was one funny review. Glad to hear from you, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of what you read. Thanks again!
Priestess-of-Demons: Aw, so glad to read of your enthusiasm for Bella's situation. She is in quite a different place, and I'm sure I won't be able to avoid trouble with Bella for very long, with me being so dramatic about everything. Thanks for the excitement, enthusiasm, and energy! Ha… the 3 e's… according to a program at my school. Can't believe I incorporated that into a review. Okay, I side-track far too much than I should, but thank you once more for sending a review my way!
14. More Assumptions
Vivian had left me to my thoughts for the past hour, where I marched around the room, not sure what to do. I wonder what living underground does to those claustrophobic werewolves out there…
"You going to change into the gown Viv is lending you, or do you honesty want to ruin that pretty gown of yours further?"
I tensed, hearing Zane's voice and turning to see him leaning against the wall. I hadn't even heard him come in.
"What are you doing here?" I growled my words and he raised an eyebrow, thoroughly amused. "Shouldn't you be howling at the full moon now at your success?"
"It's nearly dawn right now," he answered simply, his hand now running across a cherry oak dresser where a vase of roses sat. "Viv always had a thing for flowers. I don't know why she goes through such a bother picking them all the time. As if tossing a few tulips and chrysanthemums is going to lighten up these caverns…"
"What… no smug remarks?" I asked. "You forget that you succeeded in whatever plans it were that you had with me…"
"I just gave Viv what she wanted," he shrugged. "I want plenty. Just not this."
"No need to sound all melancholy and depressed when you aren't the one held against your will here."
"You'll learn, Bella, that there's not much security around these parts." He moved to sit on the bed. "You could escape if you wanted to without anyone knowing. That is, if you can find the exit without getting lost or falling down a tunnel."
"Is that supposed to be an insult?"
"No, it's just a fact." Zane answered. "You're in a cavern. A naturally built area. It's not uncommon for there to be holes, and then it's dark… you can't really make out one darkness from the other."
"So why are you helping me here?" I questioned. "Why the sudden attitude change?"
"Welcome to my home, Bella." Zane held out his arms. "For hundreds of years, these were the cages of my own personal hell."
"No wonder you're pure evil, if this is hell."
"So you going to take Viv up on her offer?" Zane crossed his arms across his chest, now lying on his back, facing the ceiling. "About the whole vampire thing? Is that really your thing?"
"I'm as much a part of the world of the vampires as Viv and Edward and everyone else in my lives who don't happen to be human." I responded. "And if Edward won't change me, then I'll find someone else who will. Just like I told him."
"But don't you want lover boy to do you the honors?" Zane raised an eyebrow. "Don't you want him to give you the gift of forever? A forever with him?"
"Why should you care what I want or what happens to me?" I accused, growing irritated again. "You would've killed me last night if Vivian hadn't shown up when she did."
"Maybe so, but you can't judge me when I'm a werewolf."
"I can judge you whenever I feel like it," I retorted. "And you're a werewolf all the time, so that's no excuse."
"I can't control myself half the time…"
"Well you should have decided that it should be the other half when you can," I snapped. "You always have the choice, regardless of the circumstances. It can be harder sometimes, but giveng in only proves you to be weak."
"A bit harsh, don't you think?"
"So is kidnapping a girl from her romantic reunion with her boyfriend and then almost killing her."
"So maybe I deserved that," he shrugged. "But what will we say to each other after we're done with our verbal wars?"
"I won't ever run out of angry things to say to you, even if I had all of eternity."
"That can be arranged…"
"It will be, and it already is."
"Anything else you want to say before we turn serious?"
"I hate you."
"Okay, so maybe I deserved that too." He let out a breath, sat up, and grinned at me. "Viv told me that she told you a bit about me."
"Nothing to spark much interest. I could care less about your story."
"How unfortunate for you, since I plan to share it anyway."
"I can't promise that I'll listen."
"You have maybe a month in here. You'll need something to pass the time."
"I'd rather stare at the rocky walls than listen to you."
"Hear me out, Bella. Just listen to what I have to say. Maybe it'll change your opinion about me…"
"I doubt anything can change in that regards…"
"Okay, so if your opinion doesn't change, after this you won't have to deal with me ever again. Does that sound nice to you?"
"It's the best thing I've heard from you since the unfortunate day that we met."
"I'll take that as a yes for me to continue…" He scooted forward, so his legs dangled off the side of the bed. "I never had the choice, Bella. I was born into this. Even as a youth, not even thinking twice about what I would become, I was subject to my fate. I saw it in the pack I was in… in my family… my parents."
"That still doesn't excuse your actions."
"I know, but can you blame a person for being inhumane when they never had any humanity to begin with?" He looked up at me, meeting my gaze, a different kind of glint in his eyes. "I've always been an animal, Bella. There was no moment of being human for me."
"But you know now, and that didn't stop you."
"If a bear attacked a girl, it wouldn't have been any different. We have instincts. We act upon them. In this kind of world, Bella, your first instinct is survival."
"Killing that girl would not make you survive."
"She was close to dead… unconscious. I didn't even have to move her really. I sped up the process for her really."
"You're sick."
"At least that would be an excuse," Zane muttered. "You know, Bella, Viv wasn't the only one that you interested."
"Really?" I allowed my tone to drip in sarcasm. "How lucky am I?"
"I don't get to be in contact with humans often," Zane told me. "So I forget how to act. I forget that you're people sometimes."
"Well, we're the only people in your acquaintance, you know."
"Believe me, I know." Zane let out another breath. "Did you know how my parents died?"
"Suicide over coming together to create such an evil spawn?"
"No, I'm nothing in comparison." Zane remarked. "They were out on another hunt. Gone for months like they usually are. I was the youngest of the pack. The only kid. After awhile I got curious. As big as this place is, decades of being here gets boring, so I ventured out."
"Am I supposed to have sympathy for you now?"
"I'd found them lying amongst other dead werewolves," Zane looked down, reminiscing memories long past. "I thought maybe they'd fought 'til the death or something. Sounds like something they would've done, but then I noticed the bullet marks. After about a dozen or so rounds, they had been hunted and killed by humans like any other animal. If they can't tell the difference… if they treat us like animals, why should we not act like them? We're only embracing what they picture us as."
"You're not animals though. You have the…"
"Oh, we're not?" He laughed bitterly. "Do you think anyone in town would treat your precious Edward and his family the same if they found out they're vampires? Would Carlisle be treating patients at the hospital anymore? It won't matter if they're good people, even if they aren't really people. It won't matter if Carlisle is the best doctor out there and that they have never had a problem with him, or any of the Cullen's. They'll be hunted and killed like animals. Why should we give them justice for being what they are, when they can't give us our own for being what we are?"
Zane ceased his talking for a few minutes, staring down at his hands with furrowed eyes. Obviously we'd stumbled across a topic that he was touchy about, as odd as it seemed for someone like him to have any emotions at all besides his arrogance. But maybe he was as socially inept as he pleaded to be. Why was I even considering his explanation?
"Fine, so say I believed you…" My eyes narrowed when he looked up. "That doesn't excuse what you did at school. To Edward and me. Why so smug and arrogant?"
"You don't understand the thrill of the chase," Zane grinned now. "Maybe not yet, at least. If you go through with transforming…"
"There is no if. I've never been more certain."
"Well, once you transform, you'll understand." Zane nodded, his sureness back again. "The power is invigorating sometimes."
"Edward's powerful, but he's not going around like you are."
"Okay then, well I've never been to school before, and I liked the attention. Is that a more reasonable explanation for you?"
"No need to be bitter. I'm the one that should be spitting venom."
"Why do you demand that I accept your human understandings about life if you can't try to accept my own?"
"Don't talk as if I'm the one being unreasonable!"
"Well, you are!" He said it like he was a little child, and I couldn't help when I smiled. "About time you lightened up."
"Who says I'm lightening up?" I asked, frowning again. "I'm still a hostage, remember?"
"Hey, I told you in the beginning… there's no one here enforcing that you stay."
"Well, maybe I'm just a bit curious now, is all." I walked slowly to where Vivian had laid out my gown. "And I wanted to stick around for a bit. Is that so bad of a thing?"
"No, not at all." Zane grinned at me and leaned back. "Stay as long as you like."
"I'm not staying for you."
"I never said you were."
"I know what you were thinking!"
"You humans are so amusing," Zane smirked again. "You think you have everyone so figured out and you assume way too much."
"Could you drop it with the whole assumption thing?"
"You're just mad because you know it's true," Zane's smirk widened. "Not feeling so perfect about yourself with your vampire boyfriend not here to reinforce those sentiments, right?"
"What do you have against Edward, really?"
"Did I ever say I did?"
"I know…"
"See, you think you know it all once more." Zane shook his head. "If the truth doesn't fit your perception, then it must be wrong."
"You are the most aggravating…"
"You're only like this to me because I make you think." Zane responded, still grinning, back to his contentment with himself. "You have to re-evaluate what you say and do, and you don't like that. You thought that you had life all figured out, and these new perceptions threaten your hold on reality."
"I have a perfect hold on my reality, thank you very much."
"Really?" Zane questioned, arching his eyebrow, even more amused than before. "Because last time I checked you were still in a cavern with a pack of werewolves and a blood-sucking vampire."
"Vivian wouldn't…"
"There you go again, assuming things." Zane chuckled. "You don't even know Viv. You know she drinks human blood. Her eyes speak for themselves, really. And yet you don't think she won't attack you? What makes you so special?"
"Vivian says she wants to help me. She's not going to kill me to help me."
"Well, actually, she kinda is."
"You know what I meant!"
"No, I am not human." Zane flashed his teeth, and I had never seen a more smug creature in all of my life. "So why should you trust her? She took you away from your beloved Edward. She took me under her wing and let me do the kinds of things that I do. How could you trust someone like that?"
"Are you purposefully trying to torment me?"
"What? Too much thinking for your small-mindedness?"
"I am not small-minded."
"You're not exactly open-minded."
"I think I am."
"At least not open-minded about me and my kind."
"Why should I listen to you? Or care what you think? You put me in this situation."
"Because you're stuck with me for the next few weeks."
"Not if I'm not convinced by what you say," I reminded him of his previous promise. "And right now that's looking pretty definite."
"Be that as it may, you've got to admit that I have you thinking…"
"Yeah, thinking about how much of a complete–"
"Hey, no profane things with Viv in charge," Zane held up a finger in chastisement. "Okay, so I'll go and no me anymore. But as the days go by, you'll get lots of time to think and you'll wonder and want to come to me."
"And you think my assumptions are far fetched?"
"I never said they were."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I won't miss those remarks." I nodded my own confirmation as Zane stood up and walked out of the room.