52

Bella's diary

I'm still frightened out of my mind even though neither Laurent nor Victoria is with me any longer.

Whatever Edward told me about vampires being monsters is most certainly true; I've seen it firsthand when James had me kidnapped and now again with those two. Their plan to take revenge on Jasper was devilish, and when it turned out that I was about to drop off Laurent's back with fatigue at four o'clock on the third day, I saw what they do to humans. They simply went into a house on the outskirts of a suburb as if they owned it. When the sleeping inhabitants showed up, Laurent and Victoria went for the woman at inhuman speed and drained her with her husband dumbstruck and watching horrified. The poor man then screamed for me to get out, but it was too late, they got him right on the stairs as well. After they were done …feeding (that had nothing to do with humans eating or drinking! Surely Jasper and the Cullens are different?), they simply shoved them into a closet. I might be selfish and hard-hearted, but all the while I was looking for a way out. So even though I was about to drop off my feet from lack of sleep, I had kept inching closer to the front door in the hope of somehow making it outside and back to civilisation, but of course Laurent saw me and dragged me back. I thought I was done for when I looked into his crimson eyes and saw the blood smears on his chin. Surely now he would want some desert and share me with Victoria. Well, at least that would save Jasper from the results of their plan, but still, I' so young…

It turned out however that Laurent just wanted Victoria to take some more pictures of him with me so they could send them to my poor darling to make him mad. Afterwards he had an even 'better' idea and took me to a bedroom where he scratched me to shed some blood. This beast is trying to make Jasper think they were drinking from me. I tried to kick him, but he just laughed and started making out with me. I felt sick all of a sudden and when he saw that he let me go and rush to the bathroom for my first five minutes alone in all the time I was with them.

It was hopeless to think I could get away, but then my luck changed: I must have gone to sleep on the bed at some point, because I was woken by Victoria poking me awake painfully, and the running started again. At the first light of dawn, I saw surroundings that looked vaguely familiar, half an hour later I was sure: We were in Arizona and just about to enter the outskirts of Phoenix itself. Unfortunately, we passed my old hometown to go further south toward Tucson. We stopped in a secluded wooded area just outside Tucson and met with yet another vampire with greedy eyes as soon as he saw me. He was disappointed at finding out that he couldn't have me and wanted to leave, but Laurent was not having that. After a fight and a dispute he told my captors (not voluntarily – Laurent again, ugh!) that Maria had since moved her army to the east coast. Before I could figure out what that would mean for my fate, Victoria killed the other vampire. I must have blacked out somewhere along the line and only came to in a hotel room.

"What…?" I started asking, but Laurent interrupted me at once. "Don't get your hopes up, we're flying over to Kentucky and leave some trail for Jasper to find. Here!" He pointed to a piece of hotel stationary and made me write letter to Jasper telling him where to find us. I complied – what choice did I have? – and hoped Jasper would never find that piece of paper.

Soon after I was finished, Victoria came out of the bathroom towelling her hair, and I realised they had taken the room to clean themselves up for the flight. She was dressed quite fashionably in a white business suit, while Laurent was in a dark blue one that looked really strange on him.

"What are you waiting for, get dressed!" She barked at me, pointing to some clothes on the bed. I didn't want to know where they had gotten them or the money to pay for the room.

"Oh, why are these humans always so slow?" Victoria complained and shoo-ed me along.

"Can I use the bathroom?" I asked shyly. I definitely wanted (and needed) a shower and some fresh clothes, but I did not want to change in front of Laurent. She just rolled her eyes, and Laurent bowed me to the bathroom with a sardonic smile.

Once I had closed the door behind myself, I smiled myself. We were back in Phoenix, and there was something about the airport that I knew, what's more, the chances of them knowing were quite slim. So I transferred money from my wallet to my panties and when I got out I had a plan for an escape.

No one who saw us entering the airport that day would have suspected that the stunningly beautiful businesswoman in the short skirt and her companions were vampires and their kidnap victim. They wore sunglasses to cover their red eyes and kept me close enough to keep me in check. Victoria had even thought about luggage and had filled two small cases with the dirty clothes we had been in for so long. I waited for the moment when she went to the check in desk to tell Laurent that I really needed to use the bathroom. He rolled his eyes at my performance of crossing my legs s if I was absolutely desperate, but finally gave in in order not to attract unwanted attention. That was what I had been waiting for. I left him waiting outside the ladies' bathroom for me, went out the other door immediately and ran for my life. After taking a lift for the arrivals lounge, I caught a bus for one of the big hotels just outside the door. I had not seen anyone following so far, and I was sure they would try to stay inconspicuous, so they could not risk being seen running at vampire speed. If my luck held, they were still waiting for me to come out the door I had gone in.

My money and a lot of convincing got me a taxi to our house, where I paid off the driver with mom's emergency money. When he drove off, I closed the door behind me with a sigh of relief. I had made it, and I was reasonably sure the vampires could not follow my scent when I was going by bus or cab. I swallowed hard and for the first time in four days let go of my held breath – at least, that was what it felt like. Now I had to reach Jasper and tell him where I was and things could finally be alright.

Jasper's phone was busy, but I kept trying until I realised I had a much more immediate problem. HUNGER! I had kept telling Laurent and Victoria that I didn't need anything whenever they remembered I was human, and most of the time with them I was too nauseated to eat anyway, but now my legs started wobbling and I felt ravenous.

I went to the kitchen and got a frozen meal to nuke as first course. After I'd wolfed that down, I went for a tub of ice-cream at locust speed, helping the stuff along with lots of water. Ah – better. Still no answer from Jasper's phone. None from Rosalie's either. What would I do for food tomorrow? The money for the taxi had taken care of the emergency stash in the coffee can. Thoughts about money brought me to remembering my wallet which Victoria had taken to check me in. I drew a sharp breath. Was there anything in my wallet that would give away this address? I panicked, and for a while I expected the vampires to walk into my mother's house any second now. They had probably just kept me eating for fun or because I would taste better after a tub of chocolate ice-cream. When I finally came down from my panic, I was fairly sure that the only ID in the damn thing was my license which gave the Forks address. However, it was now absolutely clear to me that the house was not as safe as I thought it was. I walked the living room for twenty minutes before a solution came to me. I knew where to go and how to leave a clue to Jasper if I couldn't reach him in time.

As a last minute thought I tried to call Charlie who must by now be out of his mind with worry about me (and probably had the police go after Jasper), but I could not reach him either. Not even the machine was on – odd, but then again: what had not been these past few days?