Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, I'm not Stephenie Meyer, and I also don't own the song.
A/N: Hmm, yeah, no excuse this time. I'm just lazy.
I seem to make up a few words in this chapter. Empaths? Leapt?
Chapter 34: She's Going, Going, and She's Outta Here!
Song: Crushcrushcrush by Paramore (Maybe this song only makes sense to me in this chapter, but I think it fits pretty good.)
I got a lot to say to you
Yeah, I got a lot to say
I noticed your eyes are always glued to me
Keeping them here
And it makes no sense at all
They taped over your mouth
Scribbled out the truth with their lies
You little spies
They taped over your mouth
Scribbled out the truth with their lies
You little spies
Crush
Crush
Crush
Crush, crush
(Two, three, four!)
Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone
Just the one, two I was just counting on
That never happens
I guess I'm dreaming again
Let's be more than this
If you want to play it like a game
Well, come on, come on, let's play
Cause I'd rather waste my life pretending
Than have to forget you for one whole minute
They taped over your mouth
Scribbled out the truth with their lies
You little spies
They taped over your mouth
Scribbled out the truth with their lies
You little spies
Crush
Crush
Crush
Crush, crush
(Two, three, four!)
Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone
Just the one, two I was just counting on
That never happens
I guess I'm dreaming again
Let's be more than this
Rock and roll, baby
Don't you know that we're all alone now?
I need something to sing about
Rock and roll, honey (Hey!)
Don't you know, baby, we're all alone now?
I need something to sing about
Rock and roll, honey (Hey!)
Don't you know, baby, we're all alone now?
Give me something to sing about
Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone
Just the one, two I was just counting on
That never happens
I guess I'm dreaming again
Let's be more than this
No, oh
Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone
Just the one, two I was just counting on
That never happens
I guess I'm dreaming again
Let's be more than
More than this
Edward POV
Bella! I realize she had been the one attacking me. The one still attacking.
"Emmett!" I called. He knew what I wanted him to do.
Edward, I don't know. She's not that comfortable around me on account of her not knowing me, I don't think it's a good idea. Emmett thought, hesitant to hold back Bella like I wanted him too. Finally he grabbed her arm and I could focus.
I turned all my attention to Riley, who smiled wickedly at me. In his mind, he was thinking about Bella, pretending to be worried about her. Why was he pretending to care? I could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew I remembered everything. I pictured Victoria again in my mind, remembering how Riley had thought of her. That sick bastard loved her.
Bella roared loudly from behind me. A few seconds later, right when I was about to spring on Riley, Alice came running in. In her mind, she was remembering a vision she must have just had of Bella screaming at me, pure hatred in her eyes. A few moments later, Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie and Jasper were in the room.
How did Alice get here before them? I thought. Alice must have guessed what I thought because she tapped the side of her head and thought, head start.
"Edward, please explain what's going on in here?" Carlisle said slowly. I realized that I was still crouched down, facing Riley. I slowly stood up.
"Nothing." I said and glared at Riley.
Bella roared again.
"Emmett!" Esme scolded Emmett, who immediately let go of Bella.
"No, let me explain! Riley is a very bad person!" I said, turning to Bella. "He's planning on–"
Bella roared and jumped high in the air. The attack surprised me so much that I barely had time to react. Alice, though, must have saw it seconds before she sprang, because she stepped in front of me the second Bella sprang so Bella landed on her. Realizing her mistake, Bella jumped back to where she had been standing and got ready to jump again, eyes locked on my throat. No doubt she was planning on ripping it out. The real question was why? Sure, I attacked her mate and have every intention of killing him, but once Bella knows what kind of monster he really is, she'll probably help me kill him!
"Never!" She hissed. What? "I would never help you kill Riley!" She said. My eyes grew wide. That's right! We're within 30 yards of each other! She can read minds automatically! That means she must know what Riley's done and is planning on doing with that red-haired woman, Victoria! Another image of her flashed in my mind. Bella roared.
"My Riley has done nothing! You are the one we should be killing!" Bella hissed.
"Bella! Don't say stuff like that!" Alice sounded shocked at Bella's behavior.
"No, Alice! You don't know who he is or what he's done!" Bella snapped. Ok, now I was confused. What had I done?
Bella's head snapped to face me. She growled.
"Bella? What did he do?" Alice asked.
"Remember that flame-haired vampire that was going to kill me 10 years ago?" Bella asked. Alice, Jasper, and Riley nodded. "Edward knows her, and by the way he thinks about her, he loves he too. I don't know why she wants me dead, but any association with her and we know you're evil."
Bella's logic was flawed, at best. Bella was smarter than this! Or at least she used to be when she was human.
"Bella, you don't understand. I don't—"
"Oh, I do understand. I don't know why you two want me dead, but I'm not going to stick around to find out." Bella hissed. She turned to Alice. "Riley and I are leaving. Right now. I don't expect you and Jasper to come with us; I know you have always wanted this family."
"But Bella, it's not a family unless you're here!" Alice said, but it was nearly concrete in her visions that Bella was leaving this second with Riley.
"Riley and I can't be a part of this "family", Alice, and I know you realize that. Edward wants me dead so we're leaving." Bella gave Alice, then Jasper, a hug, grabbed Riley's hand, and marched out of the room.
"Last time I at least got a hug…" Emmett mumbled. Rosalie looked like she was about to slap him in the back of the head, but stopped herself when she realized Emmett really was sad about Bella leaving.
I've never seen a persons face show so much devastation before than how much I saw on Alice's. Jasper tried to comfort her, but she ran away to her room, him on her heels. It was just me, Emmett, Rosalie, Esme, and Carlisle in the room.
"Explain. Now." Esme said.
"Ok, I saw into Riley's mind. Basically, I saw 10 years of pure hatred stored up there, all directed at Bella. Him and this red-haired Victoria planned on killing her the best chance they got until she was discovered following them 10 years ago, immediately they made her lose their trail." I said.
"Riley…wants to kill Bella?" Emmett asked, his rage mounting by the second.
"Not just kill, slaughter. He wants to see her suffer, he absolutely and purely hates her."
"How is that even possible? Jasper and her are empaths! Couldn't they easily see that?" Rosalie asked.
"I don't know exactly, but I do know that he shoves that part of himself so far deep down that Jasper and Bella wouldn't have a chance to see that part of him unless they dug extremely deep. Not only that, but Riley can control and manipulate people and they're actions so powerfully it's like nothing I've ever seen or heard of."
"And because she saw you thinking about this Victoria, Bella thinks you're the one that wants her dead, not Riley." Rosalie said.
"How do we convince Bella of the truth?" Esme asked.
I ran my hands through my hair and sighed. "I don't know. I tried to tell her but you all saw how she wouldn't listen to reason." I said.
We were all silent for a minute, thinking about how we could fix this. Bella was in much more danger now that it was just her and Riley. We had to think of something and fast.
"What about Alice and Jasper?" Rosalie said. "Bella isn't closer to anybody else, except maybe Riley. If we can convince them of the truth and they try to tell her, maybe she'll listen more." Rosalie offered.
"No time to waste, let's go!" I said and ran to Alice and Jasper's room. From a few doors down, I could hear Alice screaming into a pillow. Normally I would turn around at this point and walk away to give her some privacy, but Bella was in danger.
Right as I was about to knock on their door, Jasper opened it with a scowl on his face.
"She doesn't want to talk to anyone at the moment, least of all you." He glared at me. He was protecting his wife from more emotional pain, and I respect that, but once again I reminded myself that Bella was in danger.
"We are all extremely upset at the recent events that have taken place and we understand that yourself and Alice do not want company at the moment, but we need to discuss with you a matter of grave importance." Carlisle said from behind me.
Jasper hesitated, but knew how serious Carlisle was being. After a moment, he opened up the door wider and stepped back to let all of us in.
Alice snapped her head up to glare at me, daggers in her eyes. She snarled and leapt off her bed to stand in front of me.
"Alice, I—" I started. She roared and started punching me in the chest and stomach. Even thought she had vampire strength, so did I, and she was much smaller than I was so her punches had as much effect on me as a 5 year old's would on a human man.
"How-could-you-do-that?" She said one punch per word. "Bella's-gone! My-best-friend! My-sister! All-your-fault!" Alice then stopped punching me and collapsed into my chest, dry-heaving. If she were human, tears would be streaming down her cheeks like an uncontainable river.
I looked up at Jasper questioningly.
Hug her, she needs it. It will show her you care. He thought with a nod.
I did as he said, and tentatively wrapped my arms around her tiny, heaving form.
"Alice, we have a way to get Bella back, but you need to be willing to listen to everything we have to say." Rosalie said cautiously. Alice nodded against my chest. I took my arms from around her and guided her to her bed to sit down.
It was time to tell them everything. I started from when I first met Bella when we were human, about my cancer and how I "died". We told her about the night we thought Bella had died and we followed the people who we thought had killed her. Jasper then interrupted to explain that was them and they're side of the story. I then proceeded to tell them my life without Bella and how it had been beyond miserable. I didn't go into too much detail at that point because I didn't want them to all see the monster that I truly was. When I got to the part where we saw them all for the first time and everything leading up to this point, I couldn't have been more detailed. I even quoted all the important conversations. Alice and Jasper had to know as much as they could in the short time we had.
Except for they're explanation in the beginning, they were completely silent and contemplative through out everything. At the end, there were a few moments of complete silence as we anticipated what they were going to say. They were still absorbing everything we had said and thinking about what to do with all that information.
Finally, Alice broke the silence.
"It all makes sense, now that we know the whole story." Alice said, directing that at Jasper.
"Yes, I agree. There was something…off…about Riley and now I understand what that was."
"Jasper!" Alice cried, as though she just realized something.
"What? What's wrong?" He said, looking around for danger.
"This is my fault!" Alice cried.
"What? How is this your fault? No one knew Riley was so psychotic!" Jasper said.
"I set them up, Jasper! I made them get together! If I hadn't pushed them, it never would have happened and Riley wouldn't have Bella wrapped around his disgusting little finger!" Alice wailed.
"Alice, it's not your fault at all! Riley was the one leading Bella one! Leading all of us on!"
No one knew what else to say. Jasper was right; this was only Riley (and Victoria)'s fault. No one could have saw this coming.
Alice suddenly gasped, a vision flashing behind her eyelids, consequentially flashing behind mine.
This vision was short, quick, and simple. Yet it was the worst flash of images I have ever seen in my entire existence. For the longest time I had thought it was true, but now, to actually see it, was truly devastating.
It was Bella, dead. Not only that, but Riley stood over her, ripping her limb from limb, and burning the pieces.
I roared and shot out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door. That was not something I was ever going to let happen.