Finding Heaven
A/N: I'm updating quickly because some were confused, so I hope this clears stuff up. This chapter is from Edward's POV, starting at the time he was captured. It's a very long chapter because Bella had two chapters of being confused at Edward's behavior, but I wanted to get his POV across in one chapter so everything gets explained.
~Chapter 24 –Betrayal~
EPOV
Heidi was being annoying, and I really could care less about her little theories; all I wanted was to get back to Bella and our babies. I turned to walk away, but then I was sucker-punched square in the jaw by Felix, causing my face to crack. I surprisingly never heard him there, or even smelled him, but there was also no way to escape him.
I got up and actually tried to run for it, which is something I never would have done before, but he caught me by the neck, and suddenly everything went black. All of my senses were cut off and even though it was hard to think, I understood enough to know that Alec must have stepped in.
…
It felt like I had been in the dark abyss for centuries, but I could have only been there for minutes and I wouldn't have known the difference. Slowly, I started regaining my hearing, though there was nothing to hear because when my sight came back, I saw that I was in a locked dungeon in the chambers.
"Good morning, my young friend," Aro said as he sat in the far corner of the dungeon with Felix, Chelsea, and another vampire that I didn't recognize.
SHIT!
"Alec just left the room, so you should be returning to your normal full strength soon. I'm so happy that you've come back, we have all been so worried about you," Aro said in his false pleasant tone.
"Knock the bull, and say what you want to say," I said bitterly.
"Need I remind you that you're in a lot of trouble, so I suggest that you cut the attitude? You gave me your word that the human would not leave the compound alive, so imagine my shock when you show back up here and I touch you to learn what you have been up to since leaving here. Sex with the human, setting her free, steeling another human from a fellow vampire and bringing her to the hospital. The moment you suspected that Bella was pregnant, you should have immediately brought her back here, but instead, you searched out the Cullen coven and yet again, betrayed me by joining them."
"I really don't know what you want me to say, you already know everything," I said, annoyed by his charade.
"I don't expect you to say anything. You already know Chelsea, but let me introduce you to Arianna. Her gift amplifies the gifts of those around her."
I suddenly became worried. I knew that Chelsea wasn't strong enough to break the bonds of mates, but this new vampire could strengthen her.
And then I felt the change.
None of my memories were lost, and I knew exactly what was happening, but I just didn't care anymore. I started thinking over the past few months, and wondered what the hell I had been doing. My life had always been about Aro, and for me to break away like that was ludicrous. Bella was still my mate, but I was angry with her for dragging me away from my master, and I wanted nothing more than to bring her and my children back to Volterra to serve Aro permanently.
"I'm sorry for my betrayal Master, and I understand if you wish to punish me by ending my life," I said to him.
"Why, that would be such a pitiful waste. No, I only wish for your returned loyalty."
"You have it," I assured him.
"Good. Now I want your children here, and we will make sure that we get them; you must trick your mate in telling you where they are."
"Of course, but I have no idea where she went to with the Cullens."
"Don't worry, she will come here to find you," Aro said confidently.
"I instructed Carlisle to keep Bella from coming back to Italy."
"My dear boy, you have a lot to learn. You believe that the bond of mates is weaker than the love shared between humans, but you are so wrong. Mates will comb the planet to be reunited, and it's only a matter of time until your Bella finds her way back here. At that point, you need to trick her into believing that you still wish to return to your life with the Cullens. Once she tells you where the coven is, return to me with the information."
"Yes, Master."
"In the meantime, I have some exciting news. We are hosting the very first world vampire games, and I'd like nothing more than for you to be Italy's champion."
"Why me?" I asked, surprised that he wouldn't pick someone stronger like Felix.
"You are undefeatable. As you know, the world is overpopulating with vampires, and it's time to thin out the masses otherwise our food source will diminish. Having such a large amount of vampires all over the world is very difficult to control, so these games will provide an excellent way to thin out the numbers. It will be fight to the death; of course, we'll make the crowd believe that they chose that."
Aro was brilliant. It was no wonder he had been in control for so long.
"But why me? Surely you have stronger fighters."
"Of course, but strength isn't the best weapon. With your mind reading ability, there is no one who can touch you."
"I'd be honored, Master."
I went to return to my old chamber, but I was stopped by Heidi.
"Feeling better?" she asked smugly.
"Why, yes."
"You're welcome."
"I didn't thank you. Heidi, you really think that just because I'm loyal to Aro again, that I'd want anything to do with you? I mean come on, it's laughable. Regardless of my allegiance, I still have a mate, and vampires mate FOR LIFE!" I yelled at her at the end. I was just so sick of her pathetic attempts at becoming my mate, that being nice about it was just beyond me.
The next day I was walking the halls of the compound, and listening to all the thoughts of the visitors there, when two familiar faces were being escorted by.
Edward, thank god that you're Ok – Emmett thought.
You need to come meet us in the dungeon so we can come up with some kind of plan – Jasper thought. Like that was going to happen.
I felt slightly bad for the two of them, but I couldn't care enough to put too much thought into it. I had no plans on going to the dungeon, but as I continued to boringly walk the halls the next day, I decided it would be a little fun to harass my former 'brothers'.
"Edward, we were starting to wonder if Chelsea had already gotten to you." Emmett said when he saw me.
"Oh, she has," I said casually.
"And you were able to fight it?" Jasper asked confused.
"No, and why would I want to? Eternity with the Volturi is much more appealing than pretending to have human relationships the way the Cullens do."
"Come on Edward, this isn't you," Emmett tried to get to me, but I was too smart for him.
"You know, I hear that my first fight is against you. I really can't wait for that one."
"No, they said I was fighting an Italian."
"What the hell do you think that I am?"
"American. You were born in Boston or something, right?"
"Chicago. But I only lived there until I was seventeen. I spent my entire vampire life here, almost a century, so I'm more Italian than I am a filthy American."
"Edward, you have to fight what you're feeling, think about Bella and what she'd want. You're stronger than this," Jasper said.
I ignored him. "The preliminary fights have been going on all week, but the main event in tomorrow. Well, I hope you've fed recently, but if you were smart, you'd drain those humans to power up for the battle." For every prisoner, there was one human in their cells for them to drain. Most were already killed, but Jasper and Emmet hadn't touched theirs, which was stupid and would make them weak.
I had already killed two humans since being back in Volterra, and I wondered how the hell I ever drank that disgusting animal blood shit.
…..
The morning of the main event arrived, and the whole compound buzzed with excited anticipation. I had never seen so many vampires, but it was interesting to meet so many. Aro led me around and introduced me to all different types of vampires, but had I not had perfect recollection, there would be no way I would have been able to remember all of them. Though my main job was listening to their minds, I was also gaining a large following, all of which would be rooting for me to win the entire tournament.
I watched the first battle, but it was extremely predictable, and a part of me wanted to be surprised at who the final vampires left standing would be, so I went back to walking and listening to the minds of the masses. My turn to fight was coming up, so I went back to my chamber to change my clothes, and after dressing, I was surprised when someone cracked my door.
I was about to yell at who I thought was Heidi, when the most beautiful aroma filled the room.
"Edward?" she said cautiously.
"Bella," I said, surprised to see her. Aro told me that she'd come, but I really didn't expect her so soon. She jumped into my waiting arms and hugged me tightly. I was happy to see her, but the most important thing was getting the information that Aro told me to get. "What are you doing here, I asked Carlisle to keep you away?"
"I *needed *to get *you *out of* here," she said while kissing me between words. A part of me didn't care about Aro in that moment, all I wanted was to make love to her and never stop, but Aro was my master, and he came first.
"Where are the twins?" I asked feigning concern.
"They're safe with Carlisle and Esme," she assured me. "I saw Jasper, they're making him fight."
"I know, he and Emmett were caught and Aro forced them in the games, but they're strong, I know they'll be fine," I said nonchalantly. I really didn't care about Emmett or Jasper, but I pretended to for her benefit.
"How are we going to get them out?" she asked.
"We can't. They just have to win their freedom back by winning the tournaments. Don't worry love, they can do it."
"Ok, so after they win, Aro will just let us all go? Did he touch you, does he know about the twins?" Bella's curiosity has always gotten her into trouble, and I needed to make sure that I kept her from asking too many questions.
"Shh, don't worry about that right now. Aro's only concern at the moment, is these battles; we'll figure out everything else later. Aro only wanted me so I could listen to all the minds around here, and make sure none are conspiring against him. Aro isn't a bad man, he just wants to maintain the peace; if I want to leave after this, then he'll let me."
"Are you sure?" she asked warily.
"I can read his mind Bella, I know what he's thinking. Now, why don't you tell me a number that I can call Carlisle at, so I can tell him that you're safe. I would have called sooner but I had no idea how to reach him."
"I don't know the number, I only know where they are so we can return when we're finished here."
"Alaska?" I guessed knowing that Carlisle was thinking about going there before I left.
"No, Leon Mexico," she said. That was almost too easy.
I smiled at her, then caressed her face gently. "Good girl," I said with a smile, then kissed the top of her head. Bella was smart, but the problem was that she was just too trusting of me, even from the beginning of our relationship.
"You wanted to see me?" Heidi showed up in my doorway and asked. I had told Corin to get Heidi for me, because Aro wanted her to fetch some fish for some of our more important guests, but since she showed up right before I had to leave to fight, I decided to have her watch Bella for me. I knew Heidi hated Bella, but I also knew that she was too afraid of me to try anything.
"I need you to hang here with my mate for a while, until I return. Don't let her out of your sight." I ordered Heidi.
"Edward, don't do this," Bella said desperately. I absolutely hated seeing that look in her eye, but I couldn't do anything about it. Aro was my master, and his wishes needed to be obeyed.
"Don't do what, love?"
"Don't tell Aro where our children are. I know that he used Chelsea to bond you to him, but please, you have to fight it."
I walked back over to her, and touched her face gently again. "Bella, he doesn't want to hurt them, I told you, Aro is a good man. He just wants to meet them, and maybe study them a little; he's absolutely fascinated by their very existence," I told her honestly. I needed to make her understand the importance of having Aro as our master, and I knew it would take time, but eventually she'd have to understand.
"Edward," she whispered, and shook her head slightly. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and whisk her away from there, but I just wasn't physically able to do it. My tie to Aro was just too strong, and my body was unable to cooperate with my inner most desires.
"It's Ok, you'll see," I tried assuring her, and then I left the room. Every step I took away from her was pure agony, but I strongly believed that I was doing what was best for our family.
I went up to find Aro to tell him where the children were, and he was sitting in the stands watching the games.
"Aro, Bella is here and she told me where the children were," I told him.
"Wonderful," he said, and held out his hand for me to touch, which I did. "Your feelings for her are still strong, interesting."
"She is still my mate, by my loyalties are to you."
"Of course they are, I can see that. After you fight, she will probably be upset that you killed your former coven member, so you need to solidify the mating bond and reconnect to her. Once you have done that, it should keep her quiet for a while."
I wasn't exactly sure what he was telling me, "You want me to…have sex with her?" I asked confused.
"Yes. A mating bond is purely physical, and though you may not realize it, Chelsea has weakened that bond between you, so it needs to be reestablished."
"If she's angry with me for killing Emmett, then she's not going to want to have sex with me."
"Your bond is weakened, not broken. Angry or not, she'll respond to your advances, and welcome it. Trust me, my young friend."
I have always respected Aro, even when my loyalties shifted towards the Cullens, but what he told me to do just pissed me off. I fully understood that I was bonded to him because of Chelsea, and that I'd do whatever he told me to do, but I had never been angrier in my life. Bella didn't deserve to be manipulated in that way, and I hated myself knowing that I was going to do it anyway.
The announcer called me to the arena, and I tried to clear my head for the fight, but my anger towards Aro just kept boiling. Aro patted me on the back, but he didn't touch my skin so he didn't hear my growing resentment towards him. I always enjoyed a good fight, and I had fought Emmett before so I knew it would be entertaining, but the truth was that I really didn't want to kill him. But I didn't have a choice, so I plastered on my normal cocky mask to disguise my true feelings.
"Remember, its fight to the death," the announcer said. "GO!"
We started pacing the arena, and Emmett used that time to plead his case.
Edward, I know that Aro is making you fight, but we have a plan – Emmett thought.
I smiled at him because I found it humorous that he was risking his entire plan on my lack of care. Though I really didn't want to kill him, that was the rules and that's what I was going to do.
I'm going to fight you back, but I'm going to let you behead me. Jasper has an old Amazonian friend who's here, and she has the gift of visions. She's going to create the illusion of a fire in front of the real fire that's already there. All you have to do is throw me in the pretend fire and then the Amazonian will pull my body out and reassemble me. Look, I realize that you could tell Aro about this, so I'm risking a lot by trusting you, but I know you bro, you can beat the tie they have on you.
Emmett's confidence in me was about to get him killed, and I couldn't help but smile at the thought. I would not betray my master, and as soon as the battle was over, I'd make sure to throw him in the real fire and tell Aro.
I grabbed Emmett by the neck and tried to remove his head, but he was strong and threw me off of him.
I'm not your enemy Edward, think about your children, think about Bella watching in the stands – Emmett said angrily as we fought.
And that did it. I tried to push away my negative feelings for Aro, but having Emmett bring Bella up while in the middle of fighting, made me became angry with him again. He was forcing me to betray my Bella, and I couldn't stop it…but I could go along with what Emmett was thinking. I didn't have to do anything different, I was still going to behead him, and I was still going to throw him in the fire, but it just so happens that the particular fire that I threw him in, would be an illusion.
I'm going to give up now, if you throw me in the illusionistic fire, then we'll know that you're going to help us, if not, then just know that I'll always love you like a brother man, and I don't blame you for killing me.
I had Emmett pinned, though it was way too easy because he let me do it, but before I could make the final blow, he had one last thing to tell me.
You can't let Bella in on this plan. I know you can avoid being touched by Aro because he's already touched you and won't feel the need to touch you again, but we have no idea how Bella's mind blocking thing works and if she will even be able to block out Aro the way she does with you, so keep her in the dark until we know for sure that Aro can't access her mind. I love you bro, and if this hurts too bad, then know that I will fully retaliate when we get back home.
"EDWARD STOP!" Bella yelled from the audience, and everyone looked at her.
Now's your best chance, if Bella can't see the illusions that Zafrina creates, then she'll know that the fire is fake, but if you throw me in while she's not looking, she'll think I went in the real fire behind the illusion.
I hesitated.
Do it NOW! – he yelled at me mentally, so I ripped his head off. I stood slowly, feeling like shit, and I glanced at the Amazon woman in the crowd briefly, and saw her nod ever so slightly, so I tossed Emmett's head in the nearest flames to where I was standing.
The crowd roared in applause, so I faked a smile for them. "And Italy's own EDWARD is the winner," the announcer said happily.
I was so confused. I was still loyal to Aro, but surprisingly my bond to Bella and my Cullen brothers was still latently there too. My surface thoughts were all about Aro, but under that, Emmett got to me and I wanted to help them.
Bella started screaming in horror, and my still heart echoed her cries. I wanted to grab her and make her pain stop, but I couldn't do it. I was a slave to Aro's will, and though I was able to not throw Emmett in the real fire, I still did what Aro wanted me to by fighting him in the first place.
Though I hated hearing her so upset, Bella's screams actually helped divert the attention from the ring so I was able to shove the rest of Emmett's body in the fake flames. I watched as Felix covered Bella's mouth to stop her from screaming, and I wanted to run after him and rip his hand off for touching her like that, but I couldn't leave the unburned body of Emmett there. Felix took Bella out of the arena, and I looked up at Aro, and he motioned for me to follow him. I walked slowly towards Aro, and when his back was turned, I turned my back too and saw the Amazon woman sneak Emmett's body out of the false fire. No one saw her, and no one cared. Aro was out of the room so everyone seemed to relax and go about their business.
In the throne room, I could hear Aro's hateful thoughts towards my Bella, and I could feel the hatred radiating off of my Bella for me. I wanted to explain everything, but Emmett was right, we had no way of knowing if Aro could read her mind or not. Aro never attempted to touch me again, because he just had right before the fight and knew my thoughts were loyal to him at that time, so he would never think that my feelings would change so drastically so quickly.
"You Bastard!" Bella yelled at me, so I smirked cruelly at her, just to keep up pretenses. The last thing I needed was Aro getting suspicious and wanting to touch me again after all.
Aro was sadistically enjoying Bella's anger and pain, but the only part of the conversation that I enjoyed was when Corin brought Heidi's headless body in the room. I hated that I left Bella to fight her, but I was so happy she was dead.
Aro's fondness for Heidi took center stage and although he was lying, I went with it. Aro didn't really care about Heidi; he just hated the fact that he was going to have to find a new fisherman. Aro asked my opinion on Bella, so I pretended to be displeased in Heidi's death, and used it to try and get him to touch Bella.
"She has become a disappointment, but the truth is that Heidi would have been the only worthy replacement for a mate, and with her gone, I don't have any interest in finding a new one. With some proper persuasion, Bella can be a very good asset here, and with time, I'm sure I can get her to disclose the true location of our children."
I figured Bella lied about the Cullens being in Mexico, so I tried to make Aro interested in touching her, just so we could see once and for all if Bella's mind was blocked from him. But he didn't touch her, so I had to continue to keep her in the dark about everything, just in case he decided to touch her later.
Aro grew tired of Bella's attitude and he wanted to get back to the games, so he excused me and left Bella in my custody.
I grabbed her and brought her back to my chamber, and as much as my mind and un-beating heart belonged to her, my actions still were cursed to follow Aro's sick commands.
You fucking bastard!" she said venomously.
"I do love that spunk," I said with a malevolent smirk. I hated her anger, but I couldn't risk her knowing the truth so I kept it up.
"How could you do this, how could you kill Emmett? He loved you like a brother, what do you think this will do to Rose?" she yelled.
"Rose? Oh come now, we both know that that evil wench deserves whatever hell is coming to her."
"Who the hell are you?"
"That's a ridiculous question. THIS is who I've always been, who I was meant to be. Whatever weak pathetic loser you turned me into for a while, was the falsity." I would have to remind Emmett of his promise to behead me later, as punishment for my horrid words to my Bella.
"That's not true. Chelsea and that other vampire did this; they killed your soul when they bonded you to Aro." Bella was fighting my lies and still trying to get through to me, so I had to bump it up a notch.
"VAMPIRES DON'T HAVE SOULS!" I yelled at her, and smiled eagerly at the thought of Emmett's hands around my neck and detaching my head.
"You did, but it's gone now," she started bawling tearlessly.
"Well, soul or no soul, you're still my mate, and you'll do as I tell you," I said emotionlessly, and walked towards her slowly. Aro told me that I had to have sex with her, so I had to, but I was hoping that even though she was angry with me, that she would feel my love for her.
"Don't you dare touch me," she warned me, but I physically couldn't stop.
"You can't fight it, you belong to me forever…that is unless you want to use your newborn strength to kill me." And I wished that she would. I grabbed her, and pulled her into me, hoping that the electricity that was still between us would cause her to react to me the way that Aro said she would.
And she did.
She kissed me passionately, and started taking off my clothes. There was a strong smell of anger mixed with arousal radiating off of her, and as much as I hated taking advantage, I didn't have a choice. Aro told me that I had to, my body told me that I had to, and so did hers. I absolutely needed to be inside her in every way, her smell was intoxicating and I lost all control.
I could feel her coming, which made me come too, and it was pure agonizing delight. Afterwards, I got redressed quickly because I knew I was due to be back in the arena, but I knew she was upset and I hated myself for not being able to fix it.
"Oh, cheer up love," I said while leaning over and moving the hair out of her face. "I have two more rounds of fighting left, so perhaps I'll get killed and you'll be free of me. You know, everyone says that I'm only the best fighter around because I can hear my opponents' thoughts, but when I fight the mindless werewolf, that theory will surely be tested. Real werewolves aren't like your little buddy Muttboy. He's a shape-shifter, real werewolves are so much more aggressively uncontrollable," I said it rudely, but I was really trying to tell her goodbye in case I really was killed.
She asked me to stop fighting, but that was out of my hands. Somehow, I was managing to do everything Aro told me to do, at the same time as trying to go along with Jasper and Emmett's plan. It was difficult, but it was my only choice. I needed a way to break the ties that bonded me to Aro, and I needed to do it soon so I could get down on my knees and beg Bella to forgive me.
I went to the back of the arena where the rest of the fighters were, and I could feel the fear radiating off of them. I saw Jasper in the far corner, and he was talking with another vampire with sandy colored hair.
Jasper peered at me briefly, and then started explaining the next step of their plan in his head.
Emmett is fine, Zafrina's coven members are putting him back together again, but she's going to help us create more illusions. After the werewolves are killed, we will have to fight each other. When we are finished fighting, Zafrina will create more fake fire. All we have to do is survive the wolves, though I have no idea how.
I walked over to him casually and turned my back to him, so I was facing the back wall. Aro never said that I couldn't help anyone, so I was free to make that decision myself.
"You have to get them from behind. Jump on its back then break its neck. Stay clear of its mouth because its bite is poisonous to vampires." I whispered so low that only Jasper and his friend would be able to hear me. Although I had never actually been up against a werewolf before, Caius was terrified of them and forced all Volturi guard members to know how to defeat them, in case we ever had to protect him from one.
I know this is hard for you Edward, but you're doing well - Jasper tried to encourage me.
One by one, vampires would go up against the beasts, but they didn't comeback. Garrett seemed nervous, but Jasper sent a wave of calm over him. Garrett left when it was his turn, and we could hear the crowd roar when he defeated the wolf. He came back and thanked me mentally for telling him how to defeat the monster. Jasper and I both defeated our werewolf as well, and it was on to the next round.
Six vampires were left standing, and we all had to fight each other for the right to live. We went out to the ring, and Jasper and I refused to look at each other. Garrett understood that he would not really be thrown in a fire at the end, so he didn't fight as hard as the rest of us. A haze of vampire dust swept over the ring as we fought, and Jasper and I were all that was left standing.
Take me out, and then distract Aro so Zafrina can remove our bodies – Jasper thought, but I was mentally tired. I just physically couldn't do it anymore, I couldn't allow Aro to make me hurt Bella again.
"No," I said lowly. "Neither of us has to be taken apart. I'm going to lie down and just let the haze and dismembered body parts cover me until the fake fire can hide me completely. I need to get to Bella somehow, but she still hasn't been touched by Aro, so don't tell her yet."
I didn't give Jasper a chance to argue, I just laid down and grabbed a few legs and arms to cover me. Jasper stood the winner, and then we were on to the real battle…escaping.
The crowd in the arena started dissipating because the games were over, and Zafrina somehow got me and the four dismembered vampires out of the arena. I wasn't sure if she was using another illusion in order to not be seen, but the logistics really didn't matter to me in that moment, I needed to get to Bella.
"I need your help again," I told Zafrina. Her coven members came to collect the bodies of the other vampires, including Garrett, and they took them away to be reassembled.
"Of course," she said in a heavy accent.
We ran to the throne room where I knew they would be, but we were too late. As we ran closer, I could hear from all their minds what was happening. Jasper was suffering on the ground under Jane's wrath, and my Bella was just beheaded.
"Zafrina" I said quickly.
She used her illusions on everyone in the room, and recreated a scene which was exactly the way that it was in reality, except her vision for them had a fake Jasper and Bella. Zafrina and I were able to move around the room undetected, and the real Jasper was released from Jane's torture. He stood and looked around the room, but no one else saw him, because they were left in the illusion. I pointed towards the door because I knew that though they couldn't see us, they would still be able to hear us. My stomach churned as I picked up the two pieces of Bella, and froze as Felix did the same with the false Bella that Zafrina had created. Since I wasn't in the vision with them, it just looked like Felix was picking up nothing, but he fully believed that he had her.
We need to leave now – Jasper thought, but I hesitated. The moment Zafrina was gone, Aro and the rest of them would realize that they had been tricked, and I wasn't sure if we would have enough time to fully escape.
I will stay behind and keep them in the vision until they believe that they have disposed of the bodies – Zafrina thought to me. Thank god.
I mouthed thank you to her, and Jasper and I took off.
"Where are we going?" I asked as soon as we were out of the Volterra city limits.
"We're meeting Senna and Kachiri to pick up Emmett, and then we need to get back to the states. I bought a small private plane and it's waiting for us at the airport." Jasper explained.
When we picked up Emmett, his head was reattached, but he was still unconscious as he was continuing to mend.
"Shouldn't he be fixed by now?" I asked worriedly because I knew Bella had to go through the same process.
"The head takes longer. When you tore off Emmett's arm before, it took him a full day for it to reattach. The larger the limb, the longer it takes; fingers will refuse in just a few hours."
"Is she in pain?" I asked Jasper, because he seemed to know.
He shook his head. "I was only beheaded once in my early days of war, but I don't remember anything from it, though she may be sore and confused when she wakes up. We'll see as soon as Emmett wakes."
Zafrina showed up soon after we got there. "They believe that both Jasper and Bella have been burned."
"Thank you," I told her sincerely, and then we all went to the airport.
Jasper flew the small plane, and Bella's head began to reattach while in flight, but it was still a weak connection so we tried not to jostle her much. We landed in Florida, and went straight to a hotel. Bella was the only one who knew where the Cullens were, so we had to wait for her to wake up, before we could go any further.
We got a room, and laid Bella and Emmett on the beds until they could wake up. Jasper went to discuss some things with Zafrina, when he came back a few minutes later.
"Look who I ran into," he said, and Renee followed him into the room.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"We live here now..well not here, but in Florida. Our house is being fumigated, so we've been staying here for a few days. I wish our house was done so we could bring Bella there." She looked at Bella, and turned to Jasper. "Are you sure she'll be Ok?" she asked worriedly.
At that moment, Emmett started moaning, and moving around. "Yep," Jasper told Renee.
…..
Renee and Phil stayed by Bella's side, so the non vegetarian Amazon coven stayed outside. The next day, Jasper came into the room to talk to me.
"Emmett was very confused when he woke up, and I'm pretty sure that Bella will be too, perhaps it would be best if Renee stayed close and help ease her back to reality," Jasper suggested.
"That's probably a good idea," I said to him.
"Dudes, I the Amazons want to go home. They asked me to get you guys to go out to say goodbye." Emmett said.
The three of us went outside, and Jasper was the first to give them his regards. When he was finished, he went back into the hotel room, and Emmett took his turn.
"Well, thanks for, you know, putting me back together and stuff." Emmett said uncomfortably to the only females he had ever come across who were taller than him.
"You are welcome strong one, and please, come visit us in the Amazon sometime," Zafrina said.
"Will do," he said uneasily, then went back into the hotel room.
"I really don't know how to thank you," I told Zafrina.
"You are truly special, to be able to fight through the bonds that Chelsea has you under," she said in her heavy accent.
"I still don't understand how I was able to do that," I said to her.
"Well, besides the fact that I killed the vampire that was amplifying Chelsea's power, your love for your family was much stronger than any tie Chelsea could force on you. You only had to force yourself to make that choice."
"Well, I'm eternally grateful for your help. We would not have made it out of this alive without you."
There was a bunch of commotion inside the hotel room, and I turned just in time to see Bella come running out of the room, and she leapt into my arms. I had never been so happy in all my eternity, then having her safely in my embrace.
"Bella," I whispered, but she shut me up by pressing her mouth to mine forcefully. Somehow two vampires with perfect balance, fell over to the ground and we just laid in each other's arms and kissed with the ferociousness of a tornado.
There was still so much to explain, and even more begging for forgiveness left for me to do, but in that moment, all that mattered was staying completely locked to her.
*Ugh, that was a long one.
Just to clear up a few points, Bella could not see Zafrina's visions, but from where she was sitting, it looked like Edward threw Emmett's head in the real fire which was behind the fake one. As for the second fire where Edward was supposed to be burned in, she was taken away before that fire started, and she only smelled fire as she was dragged away, which could have been from the real fires in the room.
I hope that it wasn't too confusing, but if so, please ask me and I'll write back to explain further. But if you liked it, let me know in the reviews. More still to come, thanks for reading.*