"How much farther?" I whined as we ran. Adeliza hadn't relinquished her grip on my hand, though we had been running for a long time. She wasn't showing any signs of slowing.

"Only a few more miles," she told me. "Be patient."

"Where are we going?"

"Your final destination," she answered. "The end will come soon enough."

"Where will you kill me?"

"In an old warehouse," she answered in an amused tone. "I know you're anxious to see Edward again, but trust me, the end will come sooner than you want it to."

"I just want to get it over with," I sighed.

"As do I," she assured me. "You'll make a nice addition to the ranks."

"Addition to the ranks?" I questioned harshly.

"The ranks of those we have killed," she hastened to assure me, but I was suspicious.

"Here we are," she finally said, slowing near the edge of a town. It was well past dark so we could walk through the streets without worrying about the clear sky above. I looked at the stars, thinking about Edward and what he had said to me after I had helped rescue him from Volterra. I sighed, and Adeliza looked at me oddly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"The stars remind me of my husband," I answered in a whisper.

"Then don't look up," she suggested.

"I thought I would look up this one last time," I said.

"Oh, please," she scoffed. "You're one of those types, are you? The kind that have to have everything one last time?"

"I am," I agreed.

"Well, you're walking through these doors for the last time," she said, and pulled me in a hidden doorway to an old and abandoned warehouse.

Inside it was clean enough, despite the fact that it looked like it had been either ruined by animals or trashed. It wasn't dusty. I looked around, taking in my surroundings.

"This way," Adeliza said, pulling me down a hallway.

"Why are you killing me here and you killed the others in the forest?" I asked.

"Because you're not dying immediately," she answered. "You will die soon, but you're not going to die right now. We do reserve the right to torture you a little prior to your death."

"You promised a fast end," I snapped.

"I lied," she said casually, "My bad."

She shoved me in the door to a small and dark room and closed the door behind me, sliding a deadbolt into place. I banged on the door, but it wouldn't budge. It had been reinforced with something besides the wood that it appeared to be.

I banged on the door for several moments, ending with a kick and then launching myself across the room. I wanted a fast end, not torture, so I was unhappy with the way this had progressed. I threw myself against the walls, trying to either injure myself or break something in the walls in the hopes of escaping.

Some time later, I'm not sure how long, I finally stopped. I lay in the middle of the small room and sobbed. I hadn't hunted recently, so I was growing weak, and I was tired of living. I wanted to die. I just wanted the end.

It was impossible to measure time in my prison. There was no light, so I couldn't measure it by that. I didn't have a watch, so I couldn't use that to tell me how long I had been captive. I just lay and sobbed for the entire time.

Eventually the door to my room opened. I didn't look away from the ceiling.

"Come with me," a male voice commanded.

"Why?" I questioned.

"Because I told you to, and because we're tired of listening to you sob for days on end."

"I'm not coming," I said.

"Fine," he said. He came over and picked me up by the neck, set me on my feet, and shoved me out the door.

"I'm not going," I protested, trying to go back in my room. I didn't want to get tortured.

My escort shoved me again. I didn't care enough to struggle.

He led me to another room and pushed me inside, closing the door behind me. There were five different vampires in the room, all staring at me.

"Um, hello?" I asked.

"Isabella Cullen?" one asked.

"That would be me," I confirmed.

"We have a question for you."

"I probably have an answer," I said.

"What do you know of our club?"

"You're all stupid vampires that were bent on ruining my family's lives and killing everyone that I care about."

"What else do you know of us?"

"You're all hunters and trackers with powerful gifts, second in power only to the Volturi."

"What else?"

"You're all hot-headed and merciless."

"Are you done insulting us?"

"You asked what I knew."

"Enough," another vampire commanded. The one who had been talking to me and I fell silent.

"We wish for you to join our club," another, this time a woman, said. "You have interesting gifts. You would make an excellent addition to our ranks."

"I'm not joining the people who ruined my life," I told them.

"You are thirsty, are you not?" the first one asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"I am," I said hesitantly.

"We will let you drink if you agree to consider working for us."

"No deal."

"You will not even consider it?" one asked, staggered.

"I already know my answer is no," I said. "Considering it, no matter how long or hard I try, will not change my mind."

"You have not hunted in over three weeks," another said. "Are you not weak?"

"I'm getting there."

"Then do you not wish to hunt?"

"Not if I have to even pretend that I'll think about joining you. My answer is still no."

"You cannot go for long without feeding," the commanding one told me.

"I'll go as long as I have to. I want you to kill me anyway. It's not like I'll need strength to die."

"If you refuse to join us, we will torture you," they warned me.

"I don't care," I sighed.

Pain erupted in every inch of my body. I gasped in pain and fell to the floor, thrashing around.

There was a moment of relief, and then the pain started again. I screamed.

Finally, the pain stopped.

"That is a mere taste of what you will experience if you do not cooperate," they warned me.

"Bite me," I spat.

I was roughly pulled off the floor and thrown into a wall. I crumpled to the floor, and another vampire picked me up, throwing me across the room and into a spiked wall. I gasped in pain again.

"That's enough for one day," the commanding one declared. I was roughly picked up off the floor again and tossed into the arms of my escort. He shoved me out the door and back towards my room, picking me up off the floor every time I fell.

"I'll be back next time they want to see you," he informed me before slamming the door and plunging me into darkness once again.

The next time my door opened I was bombarded with noises. They threw a human in my cell with me, slamming the door again. I could hear the human's labored breathing, their sobbing, their heartbeat, and I could hear and smell the blood leaving a wound that the other vampires had undoubtedly given to the poor thing.

"Who's there?" the human, a girl, demanded fearfully. "Who are you?"

"Bella," I answered quietly.

"What are you?" she demanded. "Are you like the others?" I heard her backing up until she hit the wall and couldn't back away from my voice any more.

"I'm like them to a point," I said, "But I'm not as cruel as they are. I'm their prisoner."

"They said you would eat me," she whispered, as if she were afraid of admitting that they had said that for fear of sounding crazy.

"I'm not like them," I repeated. "I don't eat humans."

"Are they cannibals?" she asked.

"No," I said with a slight laugh. "Nothing so pleasant."

"What are they?"

"You don't want to know."

"What are you?" she demanded.

"You don't want to know that either."

I think by that time she realized that I wasn't going to eat her, so she started shuffling forward in the dark, trying to find me.

"Do you know why they cut me?" she asked.

"They want me to eat you," I answered.

"But you aren't going to?" she confirmed.

"No," I answered. "I never eat humans."

"Are you a vampire?" she asked.

"How did you know?"

"I heard somebody say something about vampires before they threw me in here, and they exposed my blood in hopes that you would eat me," she said. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized what she had just said. "Does my blood tempt you too much?"

"I'm immune to the smell of human blood," I told her tiredly. "I'm not sure about the taste, but I never plan on finding out."

"Are they torturing you?" she asked.

"Yes," I answered. She found me then and sat down on my left side. She reached out and touched my arm.

"You're cold!" she exclaimed.

"I'm dead," I told her. "My heart doesn't beat and I'm not warm. I can't cry or eat real food or go out in the sunlight."

"Do you burn?"

"No, I just sparkle."

"Sleep in coffins?"

"Can't sleep at all."

"Are you okay? You sound really weak."

"I haven't fed in over a month."

"But my blood doesn't tempt you?"

"No, you're fine."

"I'm going to die," she said confidently. "If you don't kill me, then another one will."

"I won't do it," I assured her.

"I would rather that you do it than one of them. You don't deserve to be weak. If I'm going to die, then I would rather that my death benefit one of the good vampires than the evil ones."

"I'm not going to kill you," I said harshly.

She put a bloodstained finger in my mouth, surprising me. The blood was sweet, sweeter than any blood I had ever tasted before, but at the same time it was revolting. I jerked my head to the side, removing her finger from my mouth.

"I want you to take my blood," she insisted. "I don't want them to take it."

"I won't kill you," I growled.

"They gave me a knife," she warned me. "I'll slit my wrists so they can't kill me."

"Give me the knife," I commanded.

"No," she said stubbornly.

"Give. Me. The. Knife." I growled.

"No."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "Fine. Kill yourself for all I care. I can see it's pointless trying to keep you alive."

"I'll die anyway," she insisted.

"Help me up," I told her.

"Why?"

"I'm going to go knock on my door and tell the stupid guard to take you out of here. I don't want to deal with you when you realize that you really don't want to die but can't do anything about it because you slit your wrists."

She grabbed me by the arm and helped pull me up. She helped support my weight as I walked to the door.

I pounded on the door and yelled, "I'm not eating her, so you might as well take her out!"

The door opened. "We offered you food," the guard said. I was able to see the girl for the first time. She could not have been more than 12 or 13.

"I won't eat humans," I growled. "Take her away and bring me an animal, if you really want to feed me."

"I don't want to leave," she said.

"Take her away," I insisted. "I don't want to deal with her."

"Keep her," the guard said. "She can keep you company."

The door shut again, and I slumped to the floor with a groan.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Go away," I moaned. "I don't want to deal with you right now."

"Okay," she said uncertainly. She shuffled across the room and sat down in the corner.

For a short, glorious, monumental time, she was silent. But she didn't have the patience that I did, so sooner than I wanted her to, she started talking again.

"Why are you here?" she questioned.

"Why do you care?"

"You seem too nice to have pissed off these other vampires," she said. "I just wanted to know what you had done."

So I told her the whole story. And by whole, I mean whole. I started with moving to Forks and ended with feeling helpless in my prison, even with her there. I was impressed; she didn't say a single thing while I talked.

"No wonder you don't want to kill humans," she said quietly once I finished. "You don't want to let your new family down."

"I loved them very much," I agreed.

"But you just want to die now?" she asked, confused. "Why would you want to do that?"

"I don't have anything left to live for," I said with a humorless laugh.

"Change me," she said suddenly.

"What?" I asked, sure that I had heard wrong.

"Change me," she repeated. "If you change me, then we can live together. We'll both have something left to live for, then."

"You have a life outside of here, I'm sure," I said. "You have something to live for, once you escape."

"No, I don't," she said softly.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

It was her turn to be the story teller. She told me all about her life, how she had been born to an abusive father and her mother had died due to complications during labor. She lived with her father for 10 years, dealing with the abuse and her father always being drunk. She hid the bruises so no one would know, because if anyone found out then she was sure that her father would beat her harder, possibly even kill her. She had no friends at school because she was so stand-offish, and she had no siblings at home. She couldn't confide in anybody for the fear that her father would find out.

Finally, at age 10, she ran away. She wasn't sure where to go, but she ran anyway. She ended up in a homeless shelter, where her father found her two months later. He took her home and beat her again before locking her in her room for a week.

When she was finally allowed out, she ran away again, this time asking for help from the police. They sent her to a foster home where she could stay until she was old enough to live on her own.

But the people in this foster home had a strange friend, a friend who had red eyes and unnaturally pale skin. This friend kidnapped her and gave her to the club, where she had spent the last two years being held captive. The first time that she had met someone nice was when she met me.

She finished her story, and I remained silent, thinking it through.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm thinking," I answered.

"Oh," she said.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Andria," she answered.

"That's a pretty name," I complimented her.

"My mother named me," she said sadly. "It was her last living act."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"It's not your fault," she said. "I just have a rotten life. But we could help each other. Just change me, and then we'll get out somehow, and we can live together for the rest of eternity, acting like sisters."

"I can't," I said.

"Are you worried that you would drink me dry?" she asked.

"No, I can't condemn you to this life," I said. "If I change you then the club will hunt you down until they kill you. Plus, if I change you now, you'll never age. You'll always be a twelve year old girl, and I don't know anyone who wants to go through eternity as a twelve year old."

"We can run," she insisted, "and I don't care if I'm twelve. I could act like your daughter, if that would work better."

"They're trackers, they will find us."

The door opened and the guard picked me up off the floor.

"Don't leave me, Bella!" Andria cried.

"She might be back," the guard informed her. He shut the door and shoved me down the hallway, finally giving up and just carrying me when he saw that I couldn't walk.

He dropped me in the middle of the floor in the same room I had been in before, and then retreated back into the hallway.

"Have you considered our proposition?" the commanding vampire asked.

"I won't join you," I repeated.

"What if by joining us you could be with Edward again?" one asked slyly.

A/N: Dun Dun Dun! Cliffhanger! Is he really alive or is the club just trying to make Bella join them? Find out next time (maybe :P ) on I Didn't Want The End To Come!!!!

Anyway, I have all of the chapters typed now. I'll probably be updating once a day until it's done. :)

Until the next chapter,
Addie