Note: Hey everyone! I'm sorry it's been awhile but I was sick from the 5th till the 9th…and the with my father's birthday and Easter being a big deal to my boyfriends family I haven't had any time to type. I also only have half days three days a week and I don't have time to type in my afternoon class like I don in my morning class. I'm going to try to make this chapter a good as I can to make up for it.
Chapter 21: Tourniquet
EPOV
"How could you ever have thought that you would change Bella behind my back?" Emmett had let his thoughts slip and he was going to pay for them.
"Carlisle and I wanted to be sure that Bella would always be safe. Even if she didn't get to live life as a human, being around us and spending time with us, she was bound to have something happen to her. We just wanted to make sure she could take care of herself if something happened. We know you won't let yourself sleep with her. You would have stopped yourself had Jake not knocked on the door. Don't get all pissed at us for wanting to protect her and prevent what happened to Rose from happening to her." Emmett was on a roll.
It had been two days since the search was called off. Nothing was found in the surroundings and we couldn't find any fresh vampire scents leading to anywhere other than right out of town.
All the nomads we knew had been keeping their eyes open and waiting to see if they spotted Bella. Everyone reported back with no news regularly.
"Emmett, we both know that I love Bella but I don't want her to lose her chance at living life as a human! It's unfair!"
"And what if she thinks that it's unfair that she's the only one who isn't one of us? She feels left out, and doesn't really belong to us because we're very different and she doesn't really get along well with other humans because she can't stand how stupid most of them are! She's nothing like us and nothing like those people at Forks High School. She's a very different girl and the only family I have left! Other than Charlie but let's just say I wouldn't consider him family if Bella wasn't so strong."
I was shocked by his statement.
"Wait, what?"
"You heard me Edward! Charlie gets drunk and doesn't seem to care that Bella is his daughter sometimes. If she was turned he may drool over her more but she would be able to keep him away. Especially since she'll be able to stay up longer..."
If he could cry he probably would have then. I could see the images in his head of secret talks with Bella late at night. Telling her to stop crying and be strong.
Alice and Rosalie showed me Bella scared to come out of her hiding place in her closet. Days when she would wear shirts that covered up everything because she had cut the night before to get to bed.
They showed me when they talked to Bella about her cutting problem and how they helped her stop.
"Has anyone wondered if Bella is still alive...I mean...if she may have been turned...?" Alice spoke so low that if we weren't vampires, none of us would have heard it.
"I think all of us would rather she be a vampire than dead...I'd rather she be turned than still human..." Emmett just wanted to piss me off.
"The problem is if she is turned and she hasn't contacted us or run away, Laurent may have him under his spell...he can be very persuasive...And if she's under his spell then she won't do anything unless her lets her." Jasper was right. I didn't need any ability to see that.
"We were lured to him with the promise of seeing the girls. I can't believe we even fell for that..." Emmett kept thinking he was a complete idiot over and over.
"As much as I agree with you Emmett, we all wanted to see them so bad...And Riley wasn't much help. He was already like him when he became our manager...That's why we never saw him during the day, unless it was rainy or there were no windows around..." I couldn't believe our stupidity either.
"As much as I love this game of 'Man, were we stupid', I think we should try and see if there are any new bands with strange names. I mean, we're The Cold Ones, which to us is about our cold skin. The La Push dogs are called The Wolf Pack. Basically calling themselves what they are." Rosalie said
"They've been helpful in the search but that Jacob kid better stop thinking of Bella before I turn his fur pelt into a fur coat for Bella. I guess it it's a good idea...but what should we look for? The Kidnappers? The Losers who take girls in the middle of the night?"
The second part came out sounding harsher than intended. I looked around the room and saw Alice in Jasper's arms, Rosalie holding onto Emmett by his shoulders and even Carlisle and Esme, who had been very quiet the whole time, were holding onto each other. I felt so alone and itched to feel Bella's warm, soft body against my cold, hard one.
I'm such an inconsiderate jerk!
"Alright...If Bella agrees to marry me, and then I'll turn her." I bowed my head in defeat and listened to everyone's thoughts.
"First we have to get her back, then if she is still human, we'll talk about marriage and turning her." Esme's soft voice held a hidden meaning.
I truly hope she's still alive...at least a vampire...
I knew she wanted Bella to be like us...
"I'll go and start looking on the net for new bands with strange names..." Rosalie got up and went to our computer.
"I'll look through all the MTV channels and see if they still play music, and if they do, then I'll look for a strange new band.
BPOV
"Come on Bree! You can do it, I know you can!" We were in the main room, I was sitting on a plush leather couch and she was at the piano. I had been giving her lessons almost non-stop for the past few days.
"I'll try..." She started playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and it was perfect.
"I told you! It was perfect."
If she could blush she would have there. She was always so embarrassed whenever anyone complimented her.
"That's because I have a perfect teacher. You are so much better than I am..."
"That's because of years of practice." Which was true. After Edward had gotten into the piano at 8 years old I had gotten lessons too. From Edward. He taught me everything I knew and I always tried hard to make him happy. When he left Charlie had gotten me professional lessons but I quit those after a couple of months because my teacher was an ass and paid more attention to my body then my playing.
"Even with years of practice I don't think I'll ever be as good as you" Bree never thought she was good.
"Um...Bree...why do you always think you're never good enough for anything? If you don't mind me asking..." I didn't want to intrude on anything personal.
"Because I'm not good enough. My father always told me that I was nothing and that my mother left us because of me. And that's true. If I hadn't of been such an annoying baby, crying all the time, she wouldn't have left." She probably would have been crying had she been able.
"Bree, I don't think that she left because of you. The way your father sounds, I think she left because he was abusing her. I'm not an expert and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to but did he ever hit you, or maybe touch you where he shouldn't have?"
Her face was heart breaking. It held so much pain that even her abnormal beauty was almost completely gone. She shook her head yes.
"Oh, hunny, don't worry! Everything is different now. He can't hurt you. Hell you could hurt him with the flick of your wrist!" I hugged her tight and was still surprised at the heat from her body.
To humans, vampires are freezing, and have ice cold skin. Between vampires, everything was like normal. We felt heat off each others bodies and it was like I was human.
"Bella, he...he used to...do very bad things to me and touch me where he shouldn't...I...I couldn't stop him!" she dry sobbed into my chest.
"Shhhh...Don't worry about him anymore. I'll protect you. No one will hurt you again." I meant it too. I would be like her older sister. Speaking of sisters...
"Bree...are you related to Victoria? I've only seen you with her. Like the first time I met you and almost all the time I've been here..." Once again her face contorted into fear and hurt.
"She's not my sister. She's my cousin. She was the only one who I was allowed to go out with. That's why you only saw me with her. When I saw you at that spa we were both still human. I also had a secret boyfriend, as did she. She had been secretly dating James, while I had been dating The Cold Ones manager Riley."
I guess that answers the question of how she was turned.
"When we went to meet them after the concert...James turned us. Victoria told me he wanted to have some...extra fun...She knew his plan...she told him that he had to do both of us or she wouldn't stay around. So he turned the both of us. Riley was already one of them. He was with Laurent when I woke up. I didn't know who he was but he said he would take me away from the pain of everyone in the human world and that the best way to get back at them was to drink their blood. And so I did..." She started dry sobbing again.
"Bree, I promise, your father, James and Riley will never hurt you again. No one will ever hurt you again." I thought of when Emmett said that to me a couple of months ago...or was it less? I couldn't remember. I hadn't really been outside and I hadn't really been watching TV.
"Isabella! Bree! Where are you two?" As I heard him call me Isabella I growled. Laurent knew that but he still called me like that.
"We're in here Laurent!"
Bree let go of me and sat at the piano. I went to the love seat that was near the piano, facing away from the entrance.
"Ah! There you two beautiful woman are. How are you girls? Working hard I see." He walked over to the love seat and sat on that arm opposite of me.
"Yes, we are actually. Bella and I were going to start working on a song. Isn't that right Bella?" She stressed my name twice, trying to tell Laurent that I like Bella much better than Isabella.
"Well then, I'd rather not get in your way. Please, go ahead." He gestured for us to start playing but didn't move at all. So i started.
"Try to follow my lead. I'll sing and you try to follow along with the piano, OK?" She nodded and I started thinking of lyrics I had in my head for quite a while.
I tried to kill the pain
But only brought more (so much more)I lay dying
And I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal
Bree cam in with the music that followed perfectly. I saw Laurent squirm slightly when I spoke about blood. He must have needed to feed.
I'm dying (dying)
Praying (praying)
Bleeding (bleeding)
And screaming
Am I too lost to be saved?
Am I too lost?
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
Do you remember me?
Lost for so long
Will you be on the other side?
Will you forget me?
I'm dying (dying)
Praying (praying)
Bleeding (bleeding)
And screaming
Am I too lost to be saved?
Am I too lost?
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
Return to me salvation
I want to die
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My wounds cry for the grave
My soul cries for deliverance
Will I be denied?
Christ - tourniquet - my suicide
Laurent left the room by the time I reached the second verse.
Guess he can't handle talks of suicide and death.
I smiled over at Bree. "Let's get some books and go read. I've heard The House Of Night Series is really good. And Vampire Kisses is something you'll love for sure."
She smiled at me and followed me to the library.
"I've always wanted an older sister!" I smiled back.
I've always wanted a younger sister...
Note: Hey!! Sorry again that it took so long and I hope that this chapter makes up for it. The first part (EPOV) is exactly 1000 words long. That's kinda funny. The second part is much longer. Anyways please R&R and I love you all!