I apologize for the wait, guys; my whole family was hogging the computer. Enjoy the chapter ^^
Chapter 25
I held up my hands for protection, but it didn't curb Victoria's vicious attack.
Her icy fingers locked around my arm in a bruising grip and she yanked me backwards, into the shadows of the buildings. The other hand squeezed my mouth shut in case I was planning to scream, which I wasn't, and she took off, taking me with her. Riley, the other vampire, followed her speed, giving me a cold glare as the gates of Volterra were beginning to grow farther and farther away. I understood her motivation perfectly. She wanted to torture me first, and have no one hear my screams or something like that.
Eventually, she slowed down, into a middle of an unknown forest with hundreds of tall trees. She threw me to the ground and turned briefly to her partner.
"What's wrong with you?" Victoria demanded at Riley's confused expression.
"I thought the plan was to kill her in front of Cullen," he replied.
"Too risky," Victoria snorted. "You've seen the Cullen's powers yourself. If that Cullen boy sees us kill his mate, he would slaughter us all, and probably end up saving the girl."
"I'm not his mate," I informed.
They both turned to me with wild expressions. "What?"
"You said Edward's my mate," I said casually. "But he's not."
Victoria sneered at me. "So the puny human tries to save herself by lying to her murderer. How unbelievably touching."
"No, no, go ahead and kill me, by all means," I muttered. "I just figured you'd want to know that I don't really love Edward anymore and I have moved onto someone else- well, had moved on to someone else. Besides, I'm not a good liar so you could probably tell if I was lying to try and save myself. So yea…"
Victoria's expression was almost funny. You could tell this wasn't the kind of conversation she had with her victims. Well, I figured since these were my last few moments, I'd make the best of it.
She shook off her confusion and then leaned towards me with a cruel grin. "I bet you're wondering how your death is going to play out. Well I'll tell you. First, I'm going to suck the sweet blood out of you ever so slowly. And afterwards, if you're still alive, I'm going to rip you apart, limb by limb and then drain you of blood completely. And for the final touch, I'll take all your body parts and leave them on Cullen's porch."
"Sounds fun," I muttered.
"Oh, it will be," Victoria promised.
She then pounced, gripping both of my shoulders to the ground while she searched my neck for good spot to begin feeding. I closed my eyes all the way this time, trying to remember the good times I had had with Caius and how I would never get to be with him after all. Well, who cared? He had Jordana now. I waited for the agonizing bite to come, but it never came. Slowly, I reopened my eyes and saw she was staring intently at the beautiful locket Caius had given me.
"What a nice piece of jewelry," Victoria purred, her long fingers running over the rubies. "I have not seen something of this beauty in…" She locked her fingers around the clip that brought the locket together.
"Hey, hey, no!" I snapped at her. "If you're going to kill me, fine. But don't take that off. It means a lot to me."
"From your dear Cullen boy," Victoria guessed.
"Nope," I quipped. "From Caius."
"Caius…" Victoria didn't seem to recall the name. "Ah, yes. He must be your new lover."
"Was," I corrected.
"I'm sure Cullen would be so sad to hear you no longer consider him your mate," Victoria sneered. "Perhaps I will leave a note about that on your box of body parts. But no matter, you will die at my hand whether or not you are still involved with those wrenched Cullens. You will not survive the night!"
"I already kind of knew that," I pointed out.
Victoria growled, and instead of piercing her long fangs into my neck, she grabbed my arm where the agonizing bite of James lay. She ran my mark across her nose before pulling back. "I will suck you from your neck later. Now, I will begin the draining session by piercing you exactly where this bite had come from."
"Oh, well that's kind of nice," I acknowledged. "Bite me in the spot where your mate did."
"What mate?" Riley suddenly demanded.
Victoria shot me an icy glare.
"Oh, were you keeping that a secret?" I asked. "Whoops. My bad."
"What mate, Victoria?" Riley pressed.
"Nothing," Victoria snapped.
"You had a mate before me?"
"Of course not," Victoria snarled.
"You sure?"
"It's always been you."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Then why-"
Looked like they were distracted well. Still, I didn't have a good chance at escaping. But did I want to escape? I did ask for death. I didn't want to be alive if Caius and Jordana were together. Yes, I would die. And I would be happy with that.
Unless that kiss was a misunderstanding.
No, that couldn't be true. He had enjoyed the kiss. I saw it myself. Although...it was dark…and he could've not wanted to. And he really didn't like Jordana. He was protecting me from her at the festival. That kiss must have been a misunderstanding. Caius wouldn't cheat on me. I knew him too well. He didn't want Jordana. And if he didn't want Jordana…he didn't want her to be his mate.
Which meant I wanted to live.
Panic scorched through my body. I seriously wanted to die? I was such an idiot! I had to run- before the vampires would focus back on me.
But before I could stand up, Victoria yanked my arm to her lips and sunk her deadly fangs into my skin. Pain jerked through my veins as James's bite was reopened and filled with venom. As much as I tried to hold it back, screams escaped my lips. Victoria grinned against my skin and bit down harder, blood running down her chin. That rusty smell filled my nostrils, adding disgust to my list of mental problems at the moment.
Then, Victoria pulled back to watch me withering on the ground in agonizing pain. Her fangs pulled into a smile. She wanted this. She wanted me to suffer as James did. And guess what? It was working.
"You deserve this," she spat. "You deserve this death! James didn't deserve to die, but you do! More than ever!"
"So…you did have a mate before me," Riley realized with a slight frown.
"Silence!" Victoria snapped at him. "You're ruining the moment!"
Riley reluctantly leaned back, handling being dumped a lot better than I had. My whole body jerked upwards, twisting and shaking as the pain increased. Oh God…Caius I'm sorry. I should have stayed with the Volturi like you told me. IDIOT-IDIOT-IDIOT-
I desperately fumbled my other arm to the locket, yanking it off of my neck. I tossed it into the open air, causing the locket to open and begin playing the lullaby. I didn't see how it gave me hope, but it did. I loved the sound. And I wanted to at least die hearing the sound of it.
Victoria then leaned back towards my arm. "If I let that venom go on any further, it will only transform you into one of us. And that isn't going to happen. You will not get off this easily. Now begins the process of eliminating all the blood from your feeble human body!"
Her fiery orange head lunged back towards my arm where her fangs sank into my skin once again. I screamed loudly this time, the pain of her sucking the life out of me so torturing it was impossible to breath. Black spots were foaming in my vision, the sound of my own screams going distant. I knew for sure that the stars I was seeing now were the last thing I'd see and the sweet lullaby of Caius's gift was the last thing I'd hear.
And suddenly, the eternal pain of my blood decreasing stopped.
Squinting through the pain, I realized Victoria wasn't even next to me anymore. She was groaning heavily, slumped against a nearby tree, which had split in half. She weakly looked up at her attacker who I couldn't entirely make out.
The attacker suddenly lurched forward, towards Victoria's limp form. Several blurs occurred, both near and far away. Sounds of ripping and snarling interrupted the song of the lullaby. Someone was trying to save me.
Warmth.
But even I knew they would be too late, whoever it was. The darkness buried the last bit of sight I had left, and it was getting harder and harder to breath.
"-NEVER-AGAIN!" a monstrous snarled ripped through the air, followed by a loud crack.
She was dead.
Several voices wandered through my ears, someone with a cold, firm grip holding my wrist. "She is wounded very greatly," a recognized the voice to be Marcus's. "She does not have much time left."
"Save her," the most familiar and comforting voice begged. "Please- just save her. SAVE HER!"
"There is nothing we can do, Brother," Aro's voice sounded lost. "The vampress put in a lot of venom. And took much of her blood. There is very little to be done. One of us can attempt to suck out the venom in time but I do not think-"
"Try," Caius growled menacingly.
"Very well," Aro agreed quickly. "Let Felix do this job. He has the strength and ability to remove venom quickly. He may be able to save her in time-"
"Let me do it," Caius snapped bitterly. "Felix does not have enough control to suck out the venom and stop drinking when the venom is out."
"Brother, you do not know how to-"
"Move!"
It sounded like Aro was reluctantly moving away.
Then, another pair of fangs sunk into my wound. Another wave of pain pricked at my skin, but the pain decreased and decreased as the venom was sucked back out. The agonizing sting in my arm disappeared. Still, my body ached from the rest of the pain pumping through my veins.
The fangs suddenly released my arm, dropping it gently back to the ground. A firm, icy hand touched my cheek, sending chills and warmth down my bones.
"We need to seal the wound before she bleeds anymore," Marcus's voice asserted. "Then we should send for a mortal doctor. Lets take her back to the palace."
"Will she…live?" Caius uttered, still holding my cheek.
I couldn't see the answer the Marcus gave, but a relieved breath from my love followed. I still had darkness foaming in my vision, and I felt very ill and light headed from the loss of blood, but I was sure of two things.
Victoria was wrong.
I was going to live.
And Caius saves the day haha once again I apologize for the wait and you fans of Caius/ Bella fluff should probably stick around for the next chapter ^^ Review