Hey Peeps! I'm getting better with my update time. The reviews from the last chapter really inspired me to work a little faster. I hate to keep you guys/gals waiting too long. Anyways, let's get on with the show! I hope you enjoy.

Another Friend

Someone was holding me.

Small delicate hands traced my face and smoothed my hair as if I were a rare porcelain doll being pieced back together. The arms felt familiar and even with my eyes closed I knew that this person was safe. This person would never hurt me. My eyes fluttered open to meet her soft, golden stare and felt my heart suspend at the sight of her smiling face.

"Alice." My voice sounded strange to my own ears, as if I wasn't used to hearing myself sound so happy. I was so thankful to see her I felt like crying.

"It's okay Bella." She spoke and her voice was soothing like aloe on a burn wound.

"I'm here now. You're safe." I believed her. I trusted her. I always knew she'd be the one to save me when no one else could -not Edward, or Jake, or even Rosalie. Alice was the only one who could really protect me from everything.

"I was so scared, Alice." I was talking into her shoulder as my arms raced to make a circle around her tiny frame. "I knew you'd come. Please don't leave me again, please stay with me. I need you." My words were wet and rushed as I desperately clung to her, too afraid to let go.

Alice was quiet.

She was too quiet and her silence made me draw back. She was acting so strange and she refused to make eye contact so I lifted her chin to force her attention. Slowly, she focused on my face and I gasped when I was confronted by deep burgundy eyes staring a hole right through me. I didn't understand, they'd been normal just a second ago.

I backed away quickly, putting as much distance as I could between us, as I blindly searched for the edge of whatever it was we were sitting on top of. Only then did I notice we were sitting on the floor and there was nothing else around us.

And by "nothing" I really did mean nothing. There weren't any…walls.

I was surrounded by endless, empty, white space.

How could there be no walls? Where the fuck were we?!

Suddenly Alice was on top of me, pushing me down and doing her best to be gentle as I frantically fought to get away from her.

"Get off! Please someone help!" I screamed into the emptiness, hearing nothing but the sound of my own voice echo back at me. I kicked and punched at her marble body trying to get away but she was so much stronger than me.

"Bella stop! It's me, I'm not going to hurt you! Please, don't fight me sweetie." I didn't stop resisting until I felt the pressure of her body uncover mine. I scrambled to my feet once I was free but Alice remained on the ground on her knees.

I looked around for Jake or the rest of the Cullen's but every space my eyes touched was empty. Not only that but the space seemed to be getting smaller and darker.

It was changing.

It was becoming something more sinister.

Alice was sobbing. "I'm sorry Bella." She cried. "I'm so sorry…" She wouldn't stop apologizing and it scared me so much because I didn't know why she was sorry. What happened to us?

I reached for her but it was like she was made of fog because my hand kept passing through her.

Then everything faded away until there was only me and a painful pulsing in my head…

XXX

When I woke the red-headed vampire was still attached to my arm. I must've passed out for a few minutes and apparently those few minutes was all it took for the woman to completely undo all the damage James had caused with the bite. Granted, my wrist was still bleeding and my head felt like I'd taken a couple kicks to the temple but at least the burning had stopped.

At least I was still alive and still human.

Once she was finished the woman quickly stood and dusted herself off. She all but flew across the room trying to get away from me and I frowned, confused by her behavior.

I'd never seen a vampire feed before. Alice and the others were adamant that it was too dangerous for humans to be anywhere near them when they hunted, so I'd always been kept away. I don't know what I expected it to be like -perhaps I'd romanticized the whole thing in my head as some type of peaceful, natural exchange between man and animal- but it was nothing close to that. Speaking as someone with firsthand experience I can say it's torturous for the victim. Especially if that victim is human and coherent enough to realize what's happening. Even more troublesome was when the venom entered my bloodstream there was a euphoric element to it that almost felt...good. It was like some kind of adrenaline boost and oxygen-deprived high.

I don't know what's worse: dying of exsanguination or involuntarily liking it?

I watched as the vampire cringed then spit out the blood she'd sucked from me as if it was curdled milk. She wiped her hands on her shirt, dirtying what had been a very clean white blouse with red stains, and behaving as if I'd done something to personally offend her.

Well, excuse me for bleeding.

And while we're at it: excuse me for nearly dying as well. No big deal.

"Why'd you help me?" Shut up Bella! Shut up, right now. You do not ask the vampire who just decided not to chug your blood like a Pepsi product what her motives are. Maybe I really didn't have any sense of self preservation or maybe the loss of blood was lowering my ability to think rationally. Yeah, I'll go with that idea.

"I didn't help you. I helped myself and at the moment that involves keeping you alive." She spat the words even harsher than she'd spat the blood out of her mouth. Then she gripped the edge of her shirt and tugged, ripping a long piece of it off. In an instant she was standing in front of me and untying my bleeding arm from the chair. "James doesn't react well with too much temptation. I shouldn't have left him alone with you."

She'd protected me. "Thank yo-"

"Don't!" She cut me off before I could finish and I shrunk in my seat. "Trust me, the last thing I want is for you to be around for an eternity. I haven't done you any favors and I don't want your gratitude. Do you understand?" I nodded slowly as she finished undoing the rope and dropped it to the floor.

Who was this woman? She clearly didn't want me for my blood like most vampires and I'm guessing from the way she was acting that she wasn't interested in being bff's. Not to mention her friend had brutally attacked Edward. Why would someone go through this much trouble for me if…

Then I remembered.

How could I not have pieced it together sooner?

"You're Victoria." The words escaped my lips in a shocked whisper and when she looked up -her eyes narrowed in a death glare- I immediately regretted my decision to speak. This was the vampire that turned Alice, the same woman that scares her so much she can barely say her name without shaking. This was the vampire who ran Rosalie and I off the road and nearly succeeded in killing me once already.

I was so confused.

What the hell did she want from me?

She didn't even bother to respond as she took the cloth she'd ripped and began tying it around my wrist to slow the bleeding. "Alice told me about you." That got her attention and for the briefest moment she seemed to be interested in what I was saying. "She said you're a psychopath who hates humans and tried to kill Jasper." Did I seriously say that out loud? I'm still blaming it on the blood loss.

Surprisingly, Victoria started smiling. I mean, like actually fucking laughing as if I'd made a joke. It was weird to see someone so dark and intimidating with such a pleased expression.

"I'm not surprised Alice said something like that. She was never able to see things as they really were. It's easy for a person's sense of reality to get warped when they spend so much of their consciousness in the future." As she tied the cloth she tugged a bit too roughly and I whimpered as it pressed painfully into the bite wound. Her eyes caught mine and I knew she'd done that on purpose. She clearly didn't appreciate my little remark and I had to be careful not to overstep my bounds with this vampire.

"Alice has a nasty habit of neglecting her past. It doesn't matter how much you care for her or how hard you love her, running will always be what she does best." She seemed bitter and I got the distinct impression that she was the part of Alices' past that had been neglected. I wondered just how close Alice actually was to Victoria when they were together. I couldn't linger on that thought long though, the idea of it made me sick. Beside it didn't matter. I knew Alice would never leave me, we were different.

"I know what you're thinking." She had no idea what I was thinking. "You're thinking she'd never leave you but you're wrong. If she's smart leaving is exactly what she will do." She finished with the bandage and stepped back, crossing her arms as she stared down at me with a teasing smile. "You're playing a dangerous game little girl. I bet Alice never told you she used to hate humans even more than I did? In fact the first human she ever killed looked a lot like you."

I couldn't believe a word that left her mouth. Alice had warned me how manipulative she was. She was trying to make me doubt her and it wasn't going to work.

"You're lying."

"Then why is your heart beating so fast? Are you scared that I might be telling the truth?" I didn't like the way she was looking at me, as if she knew a secret that I didn't. Maybe she did. I had a feeling whatever secrets this vampire knew would give me nightmares for weeks.

"Alice only did those things because you forced her." I defended.

"I never forced her to enjoy it. She did that all on her own." I didn't know how to respond so I grudgingly decided on saying nothing at all. Victoria seemed pleased with my silence as if my lack of rebuttal had proven her right. I glared at her, wishing that looks actually could kill.

"They're going to find me." I hoped I was right but I honestly didn't know if that was even close to being true. Edward and I had been alone when James and that other guy showed up.

"You don't even know where you are. What makes you think anyone else would?" Once again, she was right and she knew it.

She pulled a wooden crate full of old newspapers in front of me then took a seat on top. She was doing that weird staring thing again and it was making me more than a little uncomfortable. Finally, after a few minutes of her staring and me squirming awkwardly under her gaze, she spoke. "You have no idea what you're involved in do you?"

"I-"

"Alice should have never gotten a human mixed up in this. It's like she has a death wish or something." She didn't seem to be talking to me, it was more like she was thinking out loud. I watched as she ran her hand through her hair as her eyebrows pulled together in an expression of angry frustration. Her mannerisms were starting to remind me of a certain pixie-haired vampire and I had to look away. I didn't want there to be similarities between the two of them.

I didn't want to imagine what more they might have in common.

She drew my attention back to her when she suddenly perked up, listening for a sound only she was able to hear.

"Laurent is back. He'll keep an eye on you while I'm gone." I resisted the urge to be a smart-ass and tell her I didn't need a baby-sitter, guessing that my humor probably wouldn't be appreciated.

Strangely, as I watched her walk away, I realized I didn't want her to leave. She may have been a monster but she'd still kept me alive. I didn't want to be left alone with yet another strange vampire that "couldn't resist" the temptation of my blood. I was pretty sure I was already down to three of my nine lives.

"Please, don't…" My small voice got her attention and she stopped and turned to face me.

There was an understanding in her eyes that I didn't expect to see. Of course she still looked like she hated my guts but she clearly cared if someone tried to spill them. "Laurent is a gentleman." It was all she said to reassure me before she disappeared a second later. Once she was out of sight I used the time to myself to finish untying my other arm and my legs.

Gentleman or not I had to get the hell out of here.

By the time I was on my feet and searching for the nearest exit, the vampire who I assumed was Laurent, was already making his grand entrance.

Great, another friend.

So...yeah. There's chapter 21. I'll do my best getting the next up soon. I think it's about time we find out what's up with Alice and the rest of the crew. So much for saviors. Tell me what you like so far and I'll keep serving it up.

Stay classy.