Chapter 13

Dust filled the air after the aftermath of falling through into another underground chamber. This time Edward had broken Bella's fall by landing on top of him. Bella immediately became aware of her precarious position when she looked down and saw Edward staring back at her.

"Sorry," Bella mumbled her apology.

Before she had a chance to get off, Edward looked at her with concern. Although he took most of the force from the fall, he was still worried that Bella might have been hurt.

"Are you okay?" he asked, searching her face for any evidence of pain.

Bella smiled weakly, "I'm fine. You?"

Edward grinned wickedly, "Not bad." Knowing that Bella wasn't hurt, he was pleased with his current situation.

Bella rolled her eyes, but she couldn't stop the smile that spread across her lips.

She quickly got off him when they heard footsteps coming from above. Carlisle poked his head into the opening.

"You two okay?" he called down.

Edward got up and helped Bella to her feet. "We're fine," he said as they brushed the dust off themselves.

Carlisle's relief that they were okay was short lived. He still needed to get them out of there before they were caught.

"Stay there a minute," Carlisle ordered, "I'll be right back."

"As if we could get out," Edward retorted with a laugh. He tried to keep his sense of humour on the situation, but he knew all to well that the only reason they were trying to get away so quickly was because James' men had possibly found them.

Carlisle rushed back to the first chamber and peered inside, "Emmett, are you ready."

Emmett appeared below him, brushing off camel spiders with the piece of paper that had the second rubbing of the altar.

"Just get me out of here?" he answered back before muttering to himself that he was officially not a fan of spiders.

Emmett dug through his pack and found some rope that he promptly tossed to Carlisle above.

Carlisle lowered the rope, "Grab on," he said to Emmett, anxious to get back to Edward and Bella, and get them out before James found them.

Emmett held on to the rope and finally, with some difficulty, because of Emmett's size, Carlisle managed to pull him out of the chamber.

Before the two of them had a chance to recover from their efforts and help rescue Edward and Bella, half a dozen mercenaries rushed into the building and held them at gunpoint.

Carlisle and Emmett surrendered immediately.

A few moments later a few more mercenaries came in followed by James and Demetri.

A large grin spreads across James' face when he found the cause of all his troubles. The famous Dr. Carlisle Cullen stood with his arms raised and stalk still. Finally, the tables had turned and thing were starting to go his way, he thought to himself.

"Well, well, Dr. Cullen," James mused, "Our paths finally crossed. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, especially since you had cost me quite a lot. 1.5 million to be exact."

"Send me the bill," Carlisle retorted.

Carlisle dropped his arms and indicated to Emmett to do the same. He hated this polite, calm, and well-spoken villain persona that James Banner portrayed. But he also knew that he was safe for the time being as long as he didn't make any sudden moves.

James chuckled at Carlisle bravado.

At least Emmett was intelligent enough to keep his mouth shut. He knew James well enough, even before this entire fiasco. James had a very unpredictable temper and he could turn on you without a seconds notice.

Emmett pressed his lips together to keep himself from laughing when he compared James' unpredictability to that of a koala bear. He knew instantly which one he preferred to kill. Maybe James' life would be spared if he resembled a fuzzy, gray, Eucalyptus eating marsupial.

James made his way closer to them. "I'm surprised you're still here and haven't gone back to England. I thought you'd know better and that it would be only a matter of time until I found you if you stayed."

"I do know better," Carlisle replied, "I Just thought I had more time before you showed up. Time management never was my strength," he quipped.

James ignored his comment and had a look around the interior of the building. He noticed two things missing from it. He turned to Carlisle, "Where are they?"

It was Carlisle's turn to laugh, "You really think I'd bring them along after what happened?" James did not need to know that he was standing right above Edward and Bella as they spoke.

James motioned to a mercenary that stood near Carlisle. The mercenary stepped forward and swiftly hit Carlisle in the stomach with the butt of his rifle.

Before Carlisle had a chance to keel over from the immense pain that surge through him, James took a step forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Never. Lie. To me. Cullen," James spat in his face, "Four sets of footprints tell me otherwise." He forcefully pushed Carlisle back and turned to his men. "Search the place!" James yelled.

Carlisle quickly composed himself and hoped that the first chamber they searched was the one he pulled Emmett from. He got his wish and smiled when a few mercenaries jumped into the chamber that had the camel spider infestation.

"Get us out!" the panicked voice of a mercenary called from below seconds after they descended.

Some others ran to their aid and lowered ropes in to pull them out. Carlisle laughed at the mercenaries when they came out of the chamber. They squirmed and yelled to each other in foreign tongues trying to removed the remaining camel spiders off their bodies.

James snarled at them, wholly not amused by their behaviour.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Carlisle chuckled, "But I'd say the whole chamber is their nest."

Out of anger, James stomped on one of the spiders that was near his foot and shoved one of the mercenaries, who was dancing about trying to get a spider out of his pant leg, out of his way.

"Check the other chamber," James growled.

Immediately a mercenary approached the opening of the chamber. Carlisle watched in horror at the possibility of Edward and Bella being discovered. The fact that they were missing was the only possible reason that James hadn't killed him yet.

He silently breathed a sigh of relief when the mercenary lit a torched and dropped it into the chamber.

Edward and Bella heard what was going on above them. They managed to carefully and quietly get to the furthest and darkest part of the chamber.

When the torch fell in, they were still hidden in the darkness and kept safe from the mercenaries, but not from the camel spiders. There was another nest in this chamber and the light from the torch caused them to scurry towards Edward and Bella.

They pressed themselves against the wall fearful that they would be discovered, and fearful of the Camel spiders that began to crawl onto them.

Edward glanced at Bella and she was beginning to shake. He carefully reached out for her hand and held onto it in hopes to calm her. Any sudden movement would cause a spider to bite and that would definitely cause one of them to cry out pain.

The shadow of the mercenary moved away from the floor of the chamber. Edward waited a few for seconds, wondering if someone would venture down.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the mercenary spoke.

"Nothing. Just more spiders."

Emmett and Carlisle's panicked expressions fell, and fortunately James didn't notice their obvious give away to where Edward and Bella were.

James started to lose his patience, so he opted for a new tactic. He moved away from the group looked around for any visible traces of Bella. He knew that they were around here somewhere and possibly even within hearing distance.

He whistled, calling out to her as one would call for an animal. "Bella, sweetheart," James crooned, "you better come out, or Emmy boy hear gets it.

Emmett eyes widened when James approached him with big long strides and pointed a revolver at his head.

Everything was silent above them. So quiet that Bella heard James cocking his gun. Tears stung her eyes as she admitted defeat and took an apprehensive step forward.

Edward reacted just as fast. He held her back by sandwiching Bella against the wall. He silently shook his head urging her not to go, but the fear in her eyes told him that she wouldn't listen.

He pushed himself harder against her, restraining her as she fought against him, struggling to get out of his grasp.

The fear for Emmett's safety caused Bella to forget about the spiders that were crawling on her. She soon remembered when one of the spiders bit her wrist. Edward saw Bella wince in pain and when she opened her mouth to cry out in pain, Edward dipped his head down and kissed her passionately.

He poured everything he had into that one kiss. Urging her not to make a noise or play into James' trap by coming out of their hiding place; promising that she would be safe with him and that nothing would happen to Emmett. All he wanted Bella to do was to stay with him. Although spiders surrounded them, they were still safe.

Bella finally relented and relaxed in his arms. He soon found her returning the kiss with as much urgency and passion he had given her. They became lost in each other in trying to forget the trauma they were being forced to endure.

Their kiss slowed after a few more moments and then Bella pulled away and rested her forehead on his shoulder. Both of them tried to steady their breath so as to not be heard.

Bella nodded, giving into Edward's wishes. She had no choice but to give him her trust. It was now her only wish for all of them to get back to England alive. He silently thanked by kissing the top of her head and held her closer to his body. He vowed not to let her down.

Carlisle glanced around, his eyes stopped for a fraction of a second, at the opening of the chamber that Edward and Bella were in. He was afraid that Bella would come running to Emmett's aid. He had seen the loyalty Bella and Emmett had for each other and he wouldn't be surprised if she did reveal herself. His only hope was Edward, and that he would stop at nothing to keep themselves hidden.

If only he knew to what lengths Edward had to go to seconds ago to keep Bella from surfacing and what actually transpired between them. Then he would know how close he got to having all their lives end right then and there.

As Emmett stared into the barrel of the gun, he made his silent goodbyes to the ones he loved. He wasn't a firm believer of god, but he did believe in an afterlife, and he did believe that he would be reunited with Rosalie there. Out of all the ways he could have died in the last few days, this one seemed to be the least painful and fastest. He almost welcomed it.

James still hadn't received a response from Bella and his finger itched to pull the trigger. But what fun would it be if he did kill him without seeing the expression on Bella's face? No fun at all, he answered to himself.

"For god's sake," Carlisle cried, "We heard you coming and they made a run for it. They are not here!"

James cocked his head and studied Carlisle for a while. He knew that he couldn't trust Carlisle and that he was up to something. Eventually James lowered the revolver—he would rather see Bella suffer the death of her friend than to have her only know about it. Wherever she was right now, she would follow, and he'd get the chance to see that pretty little face fall into misery.

"Give me the journal," James spat to Carlisle.

Carlisle couldn't refrain from grinning, "I don't have," he replied.

"For Fuck's sake," James yelled furiously. He turned to Demetri who was standing stoically in the same spot the entire time. "Search them and tie them up. Were taking them with us. Radio the camp to let them know we'll be there in twenty-five minutes."

Demetri nodded at the orders. "What about the kids?" he inquired.

James was walking towards the exit of the building. He knew they were somewhere within hearing distance, but the mercenaries he hired were clowns and wouldn't be able to find them if Bella and Edward were tangoing in front of them.

"Take the jeep and any supplies left. They don't have the survival skills to last more than two days out here." He hoped that was enough to challenge Bella's stubborn demeanor, but she stayed hidden.

Frustrated, James left and Demetri trailed behind after he barked out orders to the mercenaries.

Carlisle and Emmett were tied up and taken hostage. The mercenaries led them towards the exit. Both, Carlisle and Emmett snuck one more glance at the chamber that Edward and Bella fell into.

Emmett noticed Carlisle concern. "They'll be fine," Emmett assured, "Bella has exceptional survival skills."

"I Hope you're right," Carlisle said.

After about thirty minutes of holding Bella and not hearing a thing, Edward surveyed the opening to the chamber. Luckily, the spiders had resided back into the cracks and had long disappeared.

He tried to move closer to get a better look, but Bella clung onto him, refusing to let go. "It's safe now, they're gone," Edward whispered softly.

Bella reluctantly pulled away from him.

Edward grabbed the torch that was thrown into the chamber and relit it in order to look for a way out.

He spotted a large boulder. Bella was too small to reach the ledge if he gave her a boost, but… "Do you think you can give me a boost from that rock?"

"Yeah, I think so," she replied.

After a little maneuvering, they were safely balanced on the rock and Bella managed to help Edward climb out. Soon after, he pulled Bella out of the chamber.

They sat together on the floor, in the dark. Safe from everything, but stranded and uncertain what to do next.

"How's your wrist?" Edward asked by, picking up her hand and trying to inspect the spider bite in the dim light.

Until now, Bella had forgotten about it because of what followed directly after the bite.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, "Because it looks like it might leave a scar. I'll have it bandaged as soon as I can. These type of bites could lead to infection."

She smiled at his concern, "I'm okay, Edward."

He let out a sigh of relief after Bella softly said his name, and put his arm around her shoulder. If only he could hear her say his name for the rest of his life, he thought to himself.

"Do we follow them?" Bella asked after a few moments of silence.

"I don't know. I think James is expecting us to follow him. We might be walking into a trap."

"I know we are walking into a trap, but we don't have a choice."

"I know," he replied sadly.

Edward picked himself of the ground. "Come on, let's get out of here," he said pulling up Bella to her feet.

He tugged her forward, towards him, and he put his hands to her face. He held her still until she found his eyes in the dark.

"Bella," he whispered, "I promise you that we are going to be okay. You, me, my dad, Emmett… We're all going to be okay. You got that?"

Bella nodded before Edward sealed his promise with a gentle kiss.

He took her by the hand and led her out of the hall of records.

"We'll follow the river in the direction that they left," Edward stated, "Hopefully we'll find them before they find us."

"That's your plan?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah."

Bella was hesitant, but she had to trust him now. Too much was at stake.

"Okay."