Looking back to Paul she waited, hoping that her fears weren't going to be confirmed, but his eyes didn't leave their mark. Stumbling backwards, Bella felt her gut wrench as Sam took a step forward, moonlight bringing a gaunt look to his once handsome face.
"I'm here to end this all." Paul stated clearly and though he reached out to bring Bella back to him, she was already two steps too far and before he could find her body with his fingers, she was being dragged backwards into the night.
Screaming wildly, Bella kicked, writhing angrily in the cold hands that felt like steel on her skin. She was forced to watch as Sam drew ever closer, his body prowling towards her wolf, his teeth bared with a warning and a threat.
"I suggest you don't make any stupid moves or you might end up like that one." Sam sneered and both Bella and Paul turned. It took Bella a moment to understand, to see the body hanging limply between two trees, blood pooling on the ground underneath him. She tried to look away, to forget the plea she'd found in Embry's eyes, but even when she closed her eyes, it lingered.
"Paul, just get her out of here, please?" Embry said weakly, the effort of speaking resulting in a thick spluttering cough that wrecked through his body, blood projecting into the air from the deep slashes through his lungs.
"How very noble of you." Sam jeered, turning to Paul conspiratorially. "Does she know that you once considered killing her yourself?"
Bella couldn't help but look to Paul for confirmation but she was too slow and just as her eyes fell to his, it was to see his body twist, morphing into a hurricane of feral anger. Her body was cast aside roughly and as soon as she hit the floor, she shuffled backwards, not caring that her arm was twisted painfully. She didn't want to watch as they descended on him as an unnatural pack of two, but she couldn't pull her eyes away and as sharp teeth bit down, she understood the power they held together that made them so formidable.
Immediately Paul's body slumped to the ground, weakened as venom muddied the thin blood coursing through his veins. He lashed out with the last morsel of energy he had, slashing his claws down over Sam's leering face.
"Tie him up." Sam ordered as he turned his cold eyes to Bella, one turning a ghastly shade of red as it pooled with blood. "Nice try." He said with deep sarcasm as he smiled in mockery to see her edging her way closer to the trees, retaking the distance between them in five large strides.
He wasn't gentle when he pulled her to her feet, his smile extending in appreciation as she sucked in a sharp breath to stop herself from shouting out in pain. He dragged her all the way across her back yard, her feet flailing behind her as the arm he held bore her entire weight. With a final pop as he tore her shoulder from its socket, he threw her against the backdoor which flew open under her weight.
Gasping in pain as tears tore down her blanched cheeks, she forced her eyes around the room. Not a single light was lit, but she still knew the space like the back of her hand and she hoped somewhere in the pit of her stomach that familiarity would give her an upper hand.
Foolishly she assumed from his size that his presence would be announced with a thundering of heavy footsteps, but when she felt a tepid breath on her ear, her whole body shirked away in revulsion. He was too fast she concluded, too fast and far too malicious for her to ever walk away from this alive, and without realizing it, she slumped back in defeat, giving up before the night had even really begun.
"I knew from the beginning you were too weak for him. You insult the magnificence of his wolf, Isabella Swan, with your pale skin and your fragile mind; you will never become what he needs." She told herself that he didn't know, that his words held no truth, but she found them curling under the edges of her skin, writing themselves malignantly all over her self-doubt.
"Sam!" Edward barked, and as Sam turned away from her sharply to face his accomplice, Bella felt his blood flick over her face. With disgust she tried to wipe the fluid from her skin, but she only succeeded in streaking crimson stains across her flesh.
Striding forward with a grace that didn't befit the situation, Edward knelt down on his heels taking in every torn and misused inch of her body.
"I'm sorry if he hurt you; he wasn't meant to do that." His voice slid over her skin and she understood that he had meant, unsuccessfully, to soothe. She told herself not to flinch as she watched his fingers reach out to touch the arm that was hanging loosely by her side, but the ice of his skin was unexpected and she howled out in self-inflicted pain.
"I can fix this, if you let me." The gentle lilt of his voice did nothing to encourage her, but before she could protest he had wrapped his fingers securely around her flesh and pushed her back into one piece. Iron exploded in her mouth and as her arm numbed into a pain that allowed her to think, she felt the torn edges of her tongue.
Edward's whole demeanor shifted in a flash, every single thawed muscle in his body freezing in an instant. Bella knew enough to trust her instincts, to press her body back into the cupboard door she was propped against, to swallow down the sickly blood and to keep her mouth firmly closed.
It felt like an eternity as they watched each other like living statues, predator and prey locked in a contradictory battle. Still, nothing could keep Bella's eyes from fluttering across the room when she heard a low moan, darkness and night hiding the source from her searching glare.
With one eye on Edward, she watched as his marble exterior seemed to soften at the edges, his chest rising with tentative breaths until he could taste clarity in the air. She didn't understand that Sam had done her a small favor leaving behind his mark, the lingering aroma of stagnant dog sitting like a fine silk over her skin.
"Come on, it won't be long now until the rest of the pack follow their dirty little noses here; and when they do, when I have the Alpha's word that I can take back what is rightfully mine, we can leave." Edward helped her to her feet, led her into the living room and sat her down in what she'd once known as her father's favorite chair. The touch of the fabric felt comforting under fingers and she knew that if she leaned back, she would almost be able to imagine his embrace.
From her new vantage point, she could see the muddied legs sticking out from behind the sofa, thick rope tightly binding her ankles together. Bella knew who's feet they were, knew just as she should have known when she found Embry hanging outsight and a low moan of pain sounding from within. It hurt to know that it wasn't the first time Leah had been abused by the monster standing in front of her, but she knew whether they walked away from this, or were wheeled away in a thick black bag, it would be the last.
"Edward, why are you doing this? I know you aren't bad! Jacob said as much himself, so you must know this is wrong." It was a long shot, appealing to the humanity she wasn't even sure he possessed, but she knew that Jacob believed it and right now it was all she had.
"I'm doing this because they were going to kill you, Bella, I've seen it." His eyes shone with sincerity and she forced herself to hold his gaze. "What does that mean, Edward? Were you there with them?" She asked, trying to ignore the potent possibility that Leah wasn't moving, that she hadn't made a sound in what felt like forever, that she could potentially already be gone.
"It's not supposed to happen like this; it's not supposed to be like this when I tell you." Edward seemed ruffled by her question, his hand going to his hair in a very human like imitation of frustration. Bella didn't know what to say, didn't know how to make sense of his gibberish, but assumed it had something to do with his insistence that they belonged together.
Edward stood suddenly, and then without warning, took his seat once again. Indecision was plainly written all over his face. Bella didn't know whether she preferred him here or gone, whether the obsession of Edward was better than the insanity of Sam. However, as Edward spoke again, his voice lowered to offer a hint of intimacy, she felt a glimmer of hope tug at her heart. "I can read minds."
Bella twisted sharply, instinctively and though her body screamed in protest, she met his eyes with hope. "So you can read mine then; you can see that this is all crazy Edward. They aren't trying to hurt me! They only want to protect me from Sam." Every memory of the pack flashed unrestricted though her mind and she tried to focus on the important things, the times when Sam had shown his true colors, but as each day passed by, she knew she had little concrete proof.
"You've been brainwashed, Bella. I couldn't trust what you know, even if I could see it." Edward replied, placing his hand on hers in a show of comfort which she threw off immediately.
"What do you mean? You just said you could read minds, my memories can't deceive, Edward." Bella all but shouted, the tension finally showing itself as she threw her body around in frustration.
"Whether you believe them or not is irrelevant, yours is the only mind I can't read." Edward said gingerly, sensing her emotions about to break.
"So you've read Sam's? You've seen what he did to his own imprint and you're still willing to work by his side." Bella's whole face twisted in revulsion and Edward watched her sharply, seeing the lies she'd been fed manifest themselves through her purity.
"Bella, Sam is an old wolf; his mind is as open to me as he chooses, but what he has shown me isn't what you've been told. I know you're talking of Emily Young, of her untimely demise, but it wasn't Sam who stole her last breath, Bella. It was the man who you found not so long ago hanging repentantly in the woods."
Bella shook her head, trying to stop the words she was being fed from weaving their way into her brain. Unlike those around her, she didn't have any unnatural gifts to show her the truth; she simply had her trust and her faith.
"Edward, you said yourself that he only shows you what he chooses. So how can you be sure what he does show you is real? Have you listened to the others? To Paul? To Leah? There were both there, you know. They were both there when Emily got hurt, when the whole thing started." Bella shouted out, desperation clawing at her voice and turning it into something whiney and unappealing.
"I listened to Jared as he fastened a rope around the tree. I listened as he jumped from the highest branch he could find, hoping it would break his neck to end his suffering. I listened as the last breaths slid from his lungs and you know what he thought about that whole time? He thought about how his paw had stretched out, how his claws felt when they sliced deeper into her skin. You think he could hide those things from me, how it felt to watch her die?"
Bella felt every muscle in her body pull away from his, every whisper of his words enveloping her cells with terror. They had lied; lied to her face and she had bought every word.
"So what now? Revenge? Is that why you're here?" Bella asked, the harsh truth leaving her whole body tingling with adrenaline.
"No, Sam is going to take control of the pack again, take back the role that is rightfully his. He's going to right the wrongs that have been done and I will take you away from here, from their violence and their vile ways, to the only place you can be safe." Edward surmised their future with ease and Bella found his words rattle her down to her core. The thought of leaving Paul, leaving Jacob, Embry, and Leah to Sam left her feeling like her heart had been ripped clean from her chest. Still, as she looked around a home that had once held the illusion of security and warmth, she didn't know where she had left to turn, who she had left to trust.
a/n: Thank you as always to my wonderful beta Twiticulate.
A day earlier than usual... but I'm going awol tomorrow and I didn't think you'd want to wait until Monday!
See you all again on Wednesday. xxx
