BEFORE YOU READ. I just want to address a couple of things.
I'm sorry that my updates are so slow! I'm not sure if you guys don't know or don't remember, but I actually write original works outside of fan-fiction. I mainly do projects like RAVAGE as a way to let off steam and practice my craft in a less stressful environment than the one I post my original work on. If you like this story and you're interested in my original works, I'll be happy to PM folks with a link to a story I currently have online that you can read FOR FREE. It's a New Adult fantasy that I think a lot of you will enjoy if you like Twilight. The best part is, I update that once a week without fail.
To answer a lot of people's questions who have asked, I AM NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY. I can't help but laugh at everyone asking me this or assuming it, but I can see where y'all get that idea. I promise I'm not. I'm just busy! I'm currently working on three original novels and I also do consultation-work on two others. I didn't realize how much everyone was enjoying this story, I honestly thought it was just me lol. To show you guys how much I appreciate you, I'm going to start devoting a bit more time to this story and attempt to create a bi-weekly posting schedule so I can fit it in with my original writing and consultations. How does that sound?
Anyway, I hope you enjoy our latest installment! Thanks for sticking with me!
19. MISUNDERSTANDING
I could hardly believe my eyes. Was this seriously happening right now? Sure enough, the two men were advancing on us. They were quiet, the difference between them now and how they were only… had it been fifteen minutes before? Thirty? I had no idea and I didn't think I should care. What I did care about was that these men seemed to be moving with a purpose now, and I didn't want to find out what that purpose was.
I focused on what I could control, which was Bella and I. We both turned down the next corner and started walking a lot faster. Her fingernails dug into my arm as mine did the same to hers. We were stiff, robotic, moving like one unit. I wondered if I needed to call 911, but I wasn't sure if the men were following us. It could all be some huge misunderstanding, right?
We pulled each other down the sidewalk until we reached a right-hand corner. I pulled Bella down it immediately and froze just at its entrance.
The two other men from the group stood in that alleyway. It was closed in with walls and no windows on either side. No one would be able to see us from inside the buildings. Just beyond them, I could see an intersection, people walking, civilization. But it seemed so far away. Especially right now, knowing those two other men were going to seal off any chance of escape if we just kept standing here.
It was fine, though. It was okay. Bella and I would make it through this. Vampires were the scariest things in the world, not these men, even if they seemed more like monsters with their crooked smiles in the dim light.
Rage flared through me when I saw those self-assured smirks. I yanked Bella away, across the street, and I couldn't tell if the loud thumping noises I heard were their footsteps closing in on us or the blood roaring through my ears.
"There you are!" One of them shouted, the one who'd called me Red.
"Yeah," someone else said, responding to them. "We just took a little detour."
Bella and I wouldn't be able to outrun them, not together, not with how klutzy she was. I almost hated her in that moment, but quickly pushed the emotion away. The hate came from fear and I would not be afraid.
There were scarier things in the world. There were scarier things -
"Stay away from us," Bella said, her voice stern but not at all threatening. I grimaced as felt the men close in around us. I pushed her behind me before spinning around to face them. One of the men, a taller ganglier one, looked me up and down.
"Aren't you the brave one?" He laughed. The others did too.
It was too late to call 911.
I glared. "Better than a coward," I snarled. "It must take a certain breed of loser to gang up on two -"
An engine roared.
Two bright beams of light flashed down the road, illuminating the scene, making everyone freeze. A car rushed toward us so fast it almost clipped one of the guys in the process, making him trip onto the sidewalk. Bella yanked me into the road, right in front of the car, to which I almost screeched at her in protest as I tried to pull her back - we almost got hit by a car once, and that'd been one time too many - but miraculously the car skidded to a stop with the doors of its passenger side facing us. Silver doors for a silver car.
"Get in," a growl that was so much deeper and so much more terrifying than any would-be thug made me tremble. I grappled Bella's arm to keep me from screaming.
"Blaire, come on!" Bella shouted, pulling me toward the car while I tried to pull her away. She somehow overpowered me, or maybe she tripped, because we both fell in the backseat. The door slammed shut behind us.
We were in so much more danger now.
I clawed at Bella, past her, at the other door, but the tires vibrated and screeched beneath us, sending the car racing back up the road it'd come down. I barely reigned back a scream of absolute terror and settled to crowding Bella as far into the corner of the car as I could before I faced the driver - our fresh wave of hell.
"Put on your seatbelts," Edward Cullen said. His eyes met mine in the rearview mirror, a knowing glint in them that I could only place as a predator recognizing its prey.
Bella's hands fumbled beneath my weight. "Blaire," she said quietly, "come on -"
"We're fine," I whispered. There wasn't enough room in my lungs to say much else.
"Are you okay?" Bella suddenly asked, but before I could answer her, I realized she was talking to him. Why was she asking him if he was okay? And how the hell did she sound so calm?
"No," Edward answered. I grabbed Bella's knee, hoping my nails could dig through her jeans and she could understand what I was trying to tell her. She needed to shut up. She needed to stop talking.
The car suddenly stopped. I almost rolled out of my seat and into the center console, but I pulled myself back, determined to keep myself between Bella and Edward Cullen, slowly coming to terms with the fact that I would share the same fate as my uncle.
"Are you all right?" Edward asked. I wanted to burst out in hysterical laughter because, really, that question had to be the sickest joke.
"Yes," Bella said. She gently held my shoulder, trying to push me away, but I was stock still, probably looking like an idiot half-sprawled along the backseat. "We're okay."
Oh no, Bella, we were far from it.
"Distract me," Edward said, the harshness of his voice making me jump.
"I - I'm sorry," Bella said and I wanted to scream at her to stop talking, but it was like my fear made me paralyzed. "What?"
He let out a sharp breath, one that almost sounded like the guttural hiss of a jungle cat. Not human. I wondered how couldn't I see it all before? Why did it take my uncle's death to show me what the Cullens really were? "Just prattle about something unimportant until I calm down," he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
Hell no. Hell no. No way -
"Um," Bella said anyway. "I think Blaire is contemplating Tyler Crowley's death."
He was the last one on my kill-list.
"Why?"
"He's just… He's telling everyone that he's taking her to prom - either he's insane or he's trying to make up for almost killing us last… well, you remember it, and he thinks prom is somehow the correct way to do this. So maybe, if she endangers his life, then we'd all be even, and he can't keep trying to make amends. Maybe Lauren would back off more, too. We were talking about totaling his Sentra. If he doesn't have a ride, he can't take anyone to prom…"
This was fucking hilarious. I almost wanted to pass out from the insanity - maybe it would wake me up if this was a horrible dream. There was no way in hell Bella was talking about high school drama to a fucking vampire -
"I heard about that," Edward said. He almost sounded calmer, but that could have been my imagination.
"You did?" Bella asked. "We were thinking maybe, if he was paralyzed from the neck down, he can't go to prom either."
Finally, we heard him sigh. And it was a normal sigh. Human-like. I did not relax.
"Better?" Bella asked.
"Not really," he admitted. He leaned back into his seat to look at the ceiling of the car. We only saw the top of his copper head. I wanted to drag Bella to the other side of the backseat, maybe make a break for it. But then I snuck a glance at the locks on the car, which were buried deep into the door. Maybe they could still be opened…?
"What's wrong?" Bella whispered.
Literally everything, I wanted to reply, then realized she still wasn't talking to me. Why wasn't she talking to me?
"Sometimes I have a problem with my temper, Bella," he said just as quietly. That was all the more reason to get the hell out of here for me. I carefully inched my hand toward the door handle. "It wouldn't be helpful for me to turn around and hunt down those…"
My fingers brushed along the handle and pulled, but it slipped out from my shaking fingers. The handle made a small thunk when it hit the door. Edward's head tilted forward. I froze.
"At least… that's what I'm trying to convince myself," he finished.
"Oh," Bella said. Did that finally mean she was getting the hint? That Edward Cullen wasn't a – a being to be trifled with? We needed to get out of here. I needed to stop being a freaking statue and do something.
"I – I think our friends will be worried about us," I finally said, not even bothering to mask the sharpness of my tone. "We're supposed to meet them."
Bella gasped. "You're right. It's six-thirty!"
I watched Edward twist his key in the ignition of the car to make it start, I remained stock still as he began driving again. I noticed with some surprise that we were going back to town. We… We were going back to town? I didn't know why. Weren't we about to be eaten?
I didn't react as the light of streetlamps lit up the interior of the car, didn't move even as Bella tried to push me off of her, and said absolutely nothing even when Edward parallel-parked the Volvo in front of the little Italian restaurant, La Bella Italia, what we joked was Bella's restaurant, where we were supposed to meet Jessica and Angela. Wait… did we ever say what restaurant we were meeting at? Did we even say we were meeting them at a restaurant?
The locks on all of the doors popped up.
"How did you know where –" Bella started, but I launched into action.
I lunged toward the door and opened it, shoving Bella out of the car. She promptly fell on her ass on the sidewalk while I tumbled out after her. I hauled her up to her feet, ignoring her as she squawked at me, pushing her toward the restaurant, jumping when I heard a car door open and close behind us. I whipped around, glaring as Edward Cullen sauntered around the front of his car toward us.
"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.
"I'm taking you to dinner," he said. He gave me an unnerving smile, one that didn't reach his eyes.
"Like hell," I snarled, wondering how much of a chance I had of tackling him to the ground and screaming at Bella to make a break for it.
"You'd have a better chance of tipping over my car," he said. I glared at the snarkiness of his response before my eyes suddenly widened. Wait, what –?
"Go stop Jessica and Angela before I have to track them down, too," Edward said. "I don't think I could restrain myself if I ran into your other friends again."
Bella jumped to follow his instructions, running a little way down the sidewalk to stop Jessica and Angela before they could cross the street at the next corner. I whipped around and stalked toward him. This was my only chance to confront the Cullens and I wouldn't waste it.
"I would choose your next words carefully," Edward suddenly warned me, stopping me short. "Whatever you think you know about my family is wrong."
I scoffed at him. "Bullshit –"
"You know my actions tonight contradict your prior evidence," he pressed. "If any of my family killed your uncle, why would I waste my time saving you tonight?"
"You don't know what I'm thinking," I hissed.
"You already know I do," he retorted.
When the fuck could vampires read minds?
"I could tell you when, why, and more," he said. "You want answers. I understand that. Allow me the opportunity to give them to you."
"Why?"
"Because we have a misunderstanding," Edward said. "I want to remedy it. You want to keep your promise, don't you?"
The question cut me deep. My eyes welled with tears I couldn't even try to hide.
"Um… Blaire?"
I spun around, almost crashing into Jessica in the process because she tried reached out for me. She looked worried, glancing between Edward and I, then took a nervous step back as Edward straightened up and smiled. It was a charming smile, lovely, fake.
"We… We should go," Jessica uttered, her usual confidence long gone as she succumbed to Edward's stare.
"Yes," I said as I stepped back with her. "We should."
"I think you both should eat something," Edward said, glancing between Bella and I. The smile was gone now, replaced with a gentle concern I knew wasn't gentle at all. He would tear us to shreds. "I could drive you both home, that way you don't have to wait for them."
The perfect setup to commit a murder. He frowned at me.
"Uh, that's not problem… I guess…" Jessica said. I turned and gave her a sharp look, which made her wilt, until her eyes met Bella's.
Bella smiled and shrugged, then she tried to wink. It was the worst attempt at it I'd ever seen, but I couldn't exactly comment on it when I was busy losing my mind over its implications.
"No –" I started off.
"Okay!" Angela said, turning to me. "I mean, that's no big deal, especially if you and Bella are both getting something to eat. We'll see you guys tomorrow!"
She grabbed Jessica's hand and pulled her back down the sidewalk toward their car, my salvation disappearing while I felt like my feet were glued to the sidewalk, shocked at the events unfolding before my eyes. I turned to Bella, but she only had eyes for Edward.
"Honestly, I'm not hungry," she told him, still not talking to me.
"Great, then we should go with them," I said, reaching out for her.
"Humor me," Edward replied, but there was a double-meaning to his words I couldn't ignore. He started walking to the restaurant's front door and pulled it open. Bella walked toward it, but I quickly grabbed her arm.
"Bella please," I whispered to her, "we should go."
"Maybe you should," she said. There wasn't any meanness behind her words, she genuinely looked concerned for me, and it was what stopped me from snapping at her. "I mean, maybe it would be best. I just…" She looked at Edward holding the door, who was watching us carefully. "There are things I have to know."
I pieced everything together rather fast, at least my mind seemed to move faster than my body. Bella knew. She knew what I knew. I didn't know how she figured it all out on her own, without Waylon's case files, but…
But she knew, and I suddenly didn't feel so alone anymore. I wouldn't let her be alone either.
Finally, I nodded and followed her up to the restaurant and through the door Edward held open. I stared at him as I walked past.
If you hurt her, I challenged him through my foremost thoughts, I will end you. Got it?
He rolled his eyes and sighed.
V
No lie, I was smirking a little toward the end. Something tells me Blaire and Edward aren't going to get along well, what do you think?
Let me know if you want me to send you a PM with the link to my original novel that you can read FOR FREE and updates EVERY WEEK. Also, I am working up a bi-weekly schedule to update RAVAGE. Everybody wins!
I seriously can't thank you all enough for your continuous support with this story. I haven't checked this site often, but when I do, I'm always amazed by the sheer amount of comments and your consistent praise that somehow always flood in when I need to see it most. I hope I continue meeting and exceeding your expectations. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to show you all what I can do! See you soon!