"Um, I - " I stammered. She ignored me.
"So," she started, overly-sweet, "Let's talk about Matthew."
"Who are you?"
My heart hammered in my chest. The red in her eyes seemed incredibly ominous and seemed to signify impending, horrific doom.
I swallowed, trying to ignore the fear clogging my throat.
Her eyes moved back to the road.
"My name is Clarissa. And you are Paige. Paige Turner, which is simply the most ridiculous name I've ever heard. Do your parents hate you?"
My breath stopped. Was this for real? I was really had just been kidnapped and was being antagonized by an all-knowing stranger with red eyes? How did she know my name? The situation just seemed so unreal.
"Uh... no. Let me out of this car. Right now," I retorted, my fear temporarily replaced with disbelief.
"Oh, I don't think so, Paige. See, I have a bone to pick with you."
She looked me over critically, as if assessing my appearance. I suppressed a shiver, which surprised me. The air in the car had become as icy cold as her voice had become the moment she'd sped away. The fear, like the cold, began to seep through my skin, trying to penetrate my bones.
"You're not even very pretty," she scoffed.
"Who are you?" I repeated stonily, not wanting to betray any emotion.
"I told you, I'm Clarissa. Matthew really never mentioned me?"
"No."
She shook her head in mock disappointment.
"Shame."
I debated pulling the lock up and jumping out of the car. We were going seventy now, and were already out of town. The result would be painful, and it was probably a stupid plan.
"You won't make it far. You jump, and you probably won't be able to get up, much less run away. But go for it, if you really want."
She spoke slowly, the ice in her voice now obvious.
I turned to her, trying to suppress the uneasiness in my stomach. Could she hear thoughts, like Lorraine?
"How do you know me?" I demanded, losing a little of my impartial attitude.
Her eyes bore into mine and her voice turned even harder.
"I know everything about Matthew; of course I would know about you." She leaned back and took a deep breath, seemingly calming herself down, "Now tell me - I'm curious - is there anything remarkable about you at all?"
"What are you?" I demanded, ignoring her question and my now-sweaty palms.
She froze, and her eyes lit up, along with the corner of her mouth. She smiled slowly, smugly.
My stomach dropped as the atmosphere changed again. She was too smug; she was relishing this.
"You don't know? Matthew didn't tell you?" she chuckled, "Well, this is an interesting development."
"Didn't tell me what?" I snapped.
"What half of his bloodline is. What I am."
I turned away, watching the dense green forest speed by.
She laughed softly again.
I didn't want to think about what she was talking about. I had no doubt that she was of the dangerous, murderous creatures that Matthew had briefly touched on. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what - they - were. I wondered what she was planning on doing to me. If she was one such murderous being, she was probably going to kill me. But why me? And what connection did she have to Matthew? If she could move as fast as Matthew, why hadn't she killed me already? Why was she wasting time talking to me?
She slowed down quickly then, and I felt myself slide forward in my seat.
She hit the brakes.
"We're here!" she said. Her voice was falsely merry, and its ominous undertone was enough to solidify fear in the pit of my stomach.
We weren't anywhere, just the side of the road by the forest, far from anywhere civilized.
The perfect place for a murder.
"Get out," she commanded.
I looked at her in confusion. She wasn't getting out? She was just going to dump me out at the side of the road?
I got out without hesitation, trying to suppress the relief that wanted to overtake me; I didn't know her plan.
I wiped the sweat off my hands on my jeans, and pulled out my cell phone. I'd have to call someone to come and help me, or find my body. Someone had to know where I was.
I blinked.
My cell phone was no longer in my hand.
I stared at my hand and then the ground in confusion.
I knew I'd just pulled it out, but it had completely disappeared. I hadn't dropped it, apparently.
"I don't think you'll be needing this."
I jumped. Clarissa's voice was behind me. I spun around. Clarissa was standing in the middle of the abandoned road. Her poise was casual, as if she'd been standing there, relaxed, for awhile.
I hadn't even heard her get out of her car.
So she was as fast as Matthew. I licked my lips in nervous anticipation.
Her gaze fell on my phone in her hands. She moved it between her hands, playing with it as if she was bored and had been doing so for awhile.
Her eyes met mine again. She straightened up, and kept my phone in one had.
She took a few steps towards me, outstretching her hand as if to give my phone back.
Then her hand closed around it, slowly.
I heard cracking, and when she had completely closed and reopened her hand, the phone had been reduced into a pile of oddly colored dust.
I felt the blood drain from my face, felt the stone drop in my gut.
"Wha - what do you want from me?" I cleared my throat, trying to hide my fear and speak up.
"Not here," she said. Then, suddenly, she had flung me over her shoulder.
I yelled in shock and fear. She was hard as stone, and colder than ice. Her statuesque arms would have been impossible to escape, even if I hadn't been in the humiliating upside-down position that I found myself in.
And then she was running.
It was as smooth as running with Matthew had been, but this time I watched the ground streak by in a blur, and this time I was much less comfortable.
It lasted only minutes before she dumped me on the ground. We were in a small clearing, deep in the woods.
I felt my throat constricting. If she was going to kill me, no one would find my body way out here. Animals would get to it long before any people would. My body would be eaten, and never found. No one would know what had happened to me.
Maybe they'd think I ran away.
"Try to get away," she commanded me, laughing.
"I know I can't." I whispered.
"Ah! So you have some sense, at least." She laughed again.
"Now tell me everything Matthew told you about himself."
"No." My voice hardened with my determination. If I was to die, I wasn't going to go out crying and begging. I'd go out defiantly.
Her eyes flashed angrily, and her hands held my arm tightly. I shrank from her cold grasp, but knew there was no escape.
"I said," she growled as she twisted my arm, "Tell me everything Matthew told you about himself."
Something in my shoulder popped out of where it was supposed to be.
The pain shot down my arm and side - it felt like my shoulder was on fire. I barely stifled a whimper and worked to keep back the tears. I wasn't going to give her any satisfaction.
"Just tell me," I breathed through my teeth after a moment, "Can't you just answer some of my questions before you kill me?"
"Kill you?" She laughed, "Why would I want to kill you? No dear, you're not going to die - well, at least not at my hands. Tonight. What fun would that be?"
"Fun?" I asked incredulously, trying to block out the pain shooting through my body and suppressing the tears that wanted to spill out of my eyes. She twisted my arm more, and I couldn't stifle the little cry that escaped my lips. I fell onto my knees.
"Just tell me, and cooperate, or this is going to be a very long day for you."
She grabbed my thumb then, and slowly began bending it backwards.
"Okay! I don't know why this is such a big deal -" I started nervously, fear and pain getting the better of me.
"Just tell me."
"He just - he told me about his - werewolf thing."
"What else?"
My eyes met her merciless gaze.
I swallowed.
"He said half of his bloodline - through his mom - was something more dangerous. And he couldn't tell me more, or I'd die."
She scoffed, "That's really all he told you? And you just took it at that, and accepted it? You're actually a much stupider human than I would have guessed... though you weren't really scoring that many points anyway."
I was silent, wishing myself away from the meadow and wishing the pain away.
She leaned in closer.
"Wanna know what we are?" she whispered, her eyes taunting me.
I glared. I wished I stood a chance of outrunning her, of getting away.
"No?" she asked, "Whyever not?"
I continued to glare up at her.
"Ooh, I bet I know why! You want me to think that it's out of respect for Matthew, and his wishes for your ignorance. But you know what I know? You're scared, aren't you? Scared that whatever your boyfriend is, it will be terrible enough to terrify you, and for you end things with him."
She watched me closely.
"But you know what?" her voice lowered back into a whisper, "That would be excellent. I'd love it if you broke Matthew's heart. Because he's what I am. A monster. Haven't you any guesses?"
I made sure my silence was as stony as I could muster.
Her eyes flashed again, and my thumb bone snapped.
I cried out instinctively, tears flooding my eyes. I looked up, trying to keep them in and continuing to block the pain.
"I said guess," she snarled. The bone in my index finger snapped, and she started crushing my hand.
"I. Don't. Know." I tried to growl between gasps of air.
"I'll give you a hint," she said, relaxing the pressure on my hand, "I've been one for twelve years as of yesterday. I was twenty years old - still am. I'll be at this peak of perfection for eternity. It's really very cool."
She must have noted the lack of effect her words had on me.
"Fine," she said, leaning in closer again, "I'll give you one more little clue... my diet."
My eyes met hers again.
"Blood," she said, smiling, "It's blood. Human blood."
Vampire. The word jumped into my head, successfully blocking some of the pain. Vampire.
Vampire. There was no way he could be vampires - they went out in the sun. Vampires were supposed to burn in the sun and sleep in coffins and not be able to cross running water... there was more, but I was having a hard time focusing. None of those myths were true with the Blacks.
"Have you guessed it?" she asked, "The look of fear on your face leads me to the assumption that you did.
Of course this Clarissa was then an actual vampire, and the Blacks were different. Half-vampires. So maybe the rules were different for them. Clarissa hadn't taken a step into any sunlight that I'd seen.
"Oh, I can guess what's running through your mind right now. 'There's no way, I don't believe it, there must be a misunderstanding'... Trust me, Paige... You don't want me to prove it."
"Matthew's not like you. He eats regular food, not blood," I muttered.
I was able to think around the pain in my shoulder and in my hand now, but it continued to shoot through my muscles.
She laughed, "Oh yeah, okay. You certainly don't seem to know him as well as you'd like to think. Yeah, he eats disgusting human food - likes it even - but I promise you that he loves blood as well."
I swallowed hard.
It was hard to imagine Matthew as a blood-sucking demon. But if it was true - did I know Matthew that well? Had he hidden this side of him to protect me, like he'd said, or had he made it all up so that I wouldn't find out about his vampire habits?
I hated the seed of doubt that was now unshakably in my head.
She smirked.
"Well, I think I have most of what I came for. Need to add some finishing touches though..."
My elbow - on my bad arm - popped forward. Something snapped and I yelled in excruciating pain.
The tears poured out of my eyes; I gave up trying to suppress them.
"Tell Matthew I stopped by," she laughed, "I'm sure he'll love to hear all about me - his first love. Surely he still cares."
I felt my calf break then, and I the top half of my body screamed in pain as I hit the ground.
My toes. All my right-foot toes, being broken one-by-one. I barely felt them breaking next to the rest of my body's agony.
Something in my brain kicked in, and I passed out.
The first thing I knew was that I was in pain.
A lot of pain.
It wasn't long before I became aware of the icy-cold rain pelting me through the thin tree cover above me.
I realized I was freezing. I couldn't help shivering, and the shivering shifted my muscles and magnified the agony.
I realized that she'd done nothing to my left arm or leg - the pain in I felt in the left half of my body wasn't real, it was just an extension of the other side's. Was this her idea of not killing me? I was miles in the middle of the woods - did she expect me to find rescue somehow? She had probably planned to leave me here to let the forest slowly kill me. Thirst, hunger, an animal... I wouldn't last.
The sky seemed to be pelting me with despair rather than deathly-cold rain.
I tried to ease myself up, using the left half of my body as an anchor. I tried not to scream at the uproar the rest of my body threw at me.
My teeth chattered, and I shuddered involuntarily. I needed to get help; I needed to get dry and warm.
I took a deep breath, and realized that at least one of the ribs on the right side of my body was broken.
I collapsed, and it took a few minutes for me to get control over myself again. I wasn't even going to able to crawl anywhere.
I rolled onto the left half of my body and used my hand and leg to sort of scoot my way along in the direction I was fairly certain the road was in.
It was working! I was moving. It was only a little, but it was something.
Suddenly, I felt a restraint. I couldn't move my hand forward any further.
It took me a minute before I realized that there was a rope tied around my left wrist. Tied tightly.
I could feel one on my left ankle then too, and one around my neck, though they weren't taut yet.
My heart sank into despair.
I was tied up like some sort of rabid animal.
I fell back onto the ground slowly. So I was to die out here after all, beyond a shadow of doubt, now. There was nothing I could do about it. By breaking the bones in my right hand, she had ensured that I wouldn't be able to move my fingers to untie a knot. They were too complicated to untie with my teeth.
I let the rain wash over me and the hope drained out of me. I wished I could pass out again, to stop the pain.
It wasn't long before I began to wish that I would just die then, so that it would be over.
I knew that wishing wasn't going to do much, but I didn't have the strength to even try to find a way to end things.
I lied there for hours. The rain eventually stopped. As did my tears, and I began to think more beyond the pain. My shivers became sporadic. I knew it was pointless, but instinct had me trying to block the feeling of despair.
I closed my eyes and thought of Matthew; even knowing what he was, thinking about him made me feel - not better, but not as broken. If he had been with me, he would have scooped me off to the hospital in a heartbeat. And if he could have talked to me right then, I knew he'd tell me not to give up, and not to give up hope. That I could figure out a way to get out, a way to save myself...
It was a good thing Matthew wasn't here, because there absolutely no chance for my survival.
It was odd; it occurred to me that I didn't care so much about dying as I cared about leaving Matthew. Hours ago, while Clarissa had told me what he was and that I hadn't known him that well - I'd started to believe her. I'd started to doubt. But in my heart, I realized that whatever he had done, his heart was in the right place now. And even if it wasn't... I loved him. And that was all that mattered.
"Paige," I heard. My eyes flew open. My mind was starting to go. No doubt I had reached a point of delirium; I could have sworn I'd heard Matthew's voice. I could only see the ground below me, but the world was sort of foggy.
"Paige, I'm so sorry." Matthew. It sounded like Matthew, his voice broken, almost crying.
"I found her," his voice said. Even in my imagination, Matthew's voice made me feel so much better than I had only moments ago.
A few more tears escaped again. I would have given anything for him to have been here for real, to have an opportunity to say goodbye, and that I was sorry.
"Oh, my God. That bitch." It sounded like Lorraine.
"Lorraine." Renesme. What a fabulous dream. My eyes fluttered closed again.
"What did she do to her?"
"Get Carlisle." Jacob. Even Jacob was in my dream.
"He's with -"
"I know. We didn't pick up her scent until we were close and too far for him to hear."
"I'm going," Renesme cut in, "We need him -" Her last word was cut off.
"I could have went," Lorraine said.
"Dad - what do I do?" Matthew whispered, distraught.
"Wait for Carlisle."
"I can't; she's freezing. Look at her shaking."
I didn't think I was shaking.
"Matthew, you don't know how badly she's injured. The lack of blood is encouraging, but, who knows -"
There was silence.
"I'm taking the risk."
Warm, delightfully warm arms scooped me up from the ground. The ropes fell away.
"Ow," I whispered unintentionally.
He let out a tight breath.
"Okay Lorraine. Go tell them we'll be back at the house."
I leaned into his chest, oddly unaware of what was going on. I didn't really care. I just knew that I was cold and he was warm, and he felt - safe.