Warning: This might be gruesome, but I don't really think so?
Chapter song: The Box by Roddy Ricch
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Bella couldn't so much as twitch a finger as they laid her in the cold, padded box. It felt like an eternity had passed since she'd woken in a viciously strange agony that'd chased her heartbeat away. Ever since the dark angel had attacked her, she'd merely been sleeping and waiting to follow the death's siren call to the other side. Awareness of outside forces had disappeared.
But once the fire in her bones began, sensation from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair returned. Her hearing caught every whisper uttered by the nurses just outside her door.
She'd heard Jasper tell her not to scream right after her heart stopped working. Bella had very much wanted to reply that his order was impossible to disobey since movement was no longer an option. But the visit did tell her through the tremors of knives through her body that there would be an end to it all, that she hadn't died all the way.
Being a vampire already sucked.
Yet as Bella Swan was placed into her coffin, the worst thing to happen was still her father's last words to her. His grief and love had shrouded and destroyed and made the dark angel's deed all that more horrendous.
Time ticked forever and she dreaded what the morticians would do to her. The ghosts had always bitched and moaned about being forced out of their shells and out into the open air by the chemicals, but Bella feared that she'd be stuck since she could feel her new fangs with her tongue.
Wait... Bella realized with a thrill that she could actually move her tongue. Somewhat of a twitch from her fingers still seemed impossible though.
"Hey Bells." A hard slap in the wood startled her. It was a big, boisterous voice and filled of such laissez-faire of her situation that it nearly drove her into a fucking blood rage. "We are getting out of here." Her wooden cage was tilted to the side and she rolled stiffly where her nose wacked the unforgiving surface.
I'm literally a fucking stiff. How charming. Meanwhile the pain had merely dulled to a low roar. A finger finally twitched as she kept being jostled. Better.
"I know everything kinda sucks right now, sweetheart. But you'll feel better soon, I promise." Esme's honey-sweet voice halted any of Vegetable Bella's ill-will.
Her right hand had full movement. She scratched the wood hard. It cracked and splintered and gave way until sweet cool air hit her face in merciful relief. Her throat began a terrible burn.
"Let us get you to one of my summer houses, baby, before we let you out. I have something that'll make you feel better."
Bella had full control of her upper torso nearly two hours later and it seemed as though the screams that had been suppressed were making up for lost time. They spilled out of her throat into hysterical sobs. Her eyes twitched and began to severely itch from tears that would never again fall. She was opening her mouth for another scream and oblivious to all when the lid to her box at last opened.
"Crikey! We have ourselves a real beauty here." Emmett tried a shitty Steve Irwin impression as she fell onto a concrete floor. "Weighing approximately 120-"
CRACK! "Bella, there is food here when you're ready. We are right here if you need anything, okay, sweetie?" Esme somehow managed to be heard over Bella's enraged shriek and Emmett's cursing from being slapped across the face. But the shriek suddenly was cut short when a scent wafted and permeated throughout the small garage.
The newborn raised her eyes to see a large, fluffy bear prowling around the garage.
They trapped a motherfucking bear instead of just giving me a cup? The rational, still-human part of her whined while the rest of her was scurrying over the floor like a half-crushed spider.
"Why did Rose catch live prey, for the love of God?" Esme moaned.
"Because she loves me." Emmett sighed, his eternal grudges against bears still intact.
Crawling became so frustrating that rage, pure and unadulterated, pulsed through her. She pointed a finger at her food and growled.
What happened next had both of the Cullens in the room rising to their feet and running towards the newborn in alarm.
Maria tapped her foot in utter boredom as she waited for Bre's report on Jasper's little girlfriend. Things had been a tad tedious ever since she'd given the Volturi the slip in Montreal, and trying to win over Jasper and his coven was proving slow work. Perhaps she should take extra precautions on this operation to ensure her man never suspected any interference on her part.
He was, after all, practically impossible to lie to. A dangerous trait, but one that she had quickly adapted to in order for him to do her bidding.
She was so close to getting him back.
"Mistress!" Bre scuttled through the doors to her office with dirt covering her designer clothes. The usually cool and ambitious vampire looked terrified yet excited.
A thrill went through Maria at the thought of something interesting happening finally. "You took out the girl? Is she alone?" If the coast was clear enough, perhaps she could teach this girl, who dared tried to take was rightfully hers, a lesson.
Her subordinate took the tiniest step back from her. "The scarred one spotted me."
Everything went quiet for a moment while Maria's jaw dropped open. "And you continued to come here rather than contacting me?"
She suddenly regretted recruiting outside of her own brood, but Jasper and Gabi were the only mature ones left in existence. And Bre had seemed the perfect idiot to throw at the Volturi once they came sniffing. Power-hungry and not amazing at masking her intentions, the younger vampire had seemed like the ideal lackey.
It was getting so tiresome being wrong.
"Did he follow you?" She kept her voice calm and reasonable, yet the idiot still backed away as if sensing her malicious ill-will gathering into a maelstrom within her.
"... No. He walked back into the mansion where they're holding the girl you wanted wacked." The girl pouted but still her hands were shaking with excitement. "May I kill him, Mistress?"
She tried her best to disguise her snort at the thought. "As tempting as that is, I can't let him catch you and make you squeal all of our secrets."
Bre was then sent into the wall with a single punch from Maria. The concrete walls crumbled and all of her brood quickly flooded into the scene, their fangs flashing with surprise at seeing their Mistress at work. The smaller vampire quickly landed on top of her prey and immobilized her in a simple hold.
Her hands had just begun to twist at the base of the neck when a breathy, familiar shout interrupted her. "Mistress, please wait!"
She froze in the nick of time, her bloodied eyes jerkily searching for her seer. Was there an unforeseen consequence to killing this one? "Gabi, where are you?"
"Over here."
The hair on Maria's back rose as she realized that the reply had been given in a much deeper voice. Fuck. "I see that I'm caught." She slowly rose, continuing to squash the bug underneath her heel in a precise jab. She plastered her best winning smile on.
A dark figure walked slowly toward her through the fog. Broad shoulders, narrow hips... Maria tried her best to keep her eyes on the man's face as he revealed himself to her. He had never liked it when she objectified him.
With that ass, it was nearly an impossible task.
It took entirely too long for her to notice that he was carrying a howling Gabi by the scruff of her sweater. "This yours?" Jasper growled, revealing sharp fangs as all of her newborns dropped to the floor and began whimpering in pain.
"Might be." Joy, visceral and all so real, hit Maria at seeing her favorite toy in front of her again. "You come to play, sugar plum?" Bre still squirmed underneath her heel.
Jasper casually flipped Gabi into his arms. He completely ignored his former lover and focused on the crazy lackey. "Does she hurt you?" The murmur was low and hard.
The girl whimpered and looked away from him. As though she wanted to be anywhere but in the large vampire's hold.
"I see." He sat her down carefully. "Don't turn on me and I'll free you."
The traitorous seer nodded and crossed her arms while shivering like a pathetic little rat. Maria's eye twitched in utter impatience as she realized that her right-hand man had already managed to turn her most loyal compatriot. "It isn't right to lie, Jasper. Gabi, this man has killed more of my children than I've ever dreamed to."
Jasper cracked his shoulders in a very human gesture before rolling his sleeves up. "I left you alive, Maria. You could've stayed that way if you'd just let things lie."
She barked out a surprised laugh despite the wave of unease sweeping through her. The rage that Jasper was emitting pulsed throughout the dusty warehouse. "Darling, there's no need to get violent. I merely missed you is all."
It was extremely pleasing to notice her Children slowly encircling them, prepared to swarm on her aggressor at the mere twitch of her right hand. But it would be such shame to kill the man she'd been craving to possess for centuries.
"If that's all you wanted, then you sure picked the dumbest way to do it. Why, Maria..?" He bit the words out with flashing, enraged eyes. "Why'd you send your pet to kill Bella Swan?"
It was impossible to lie to him. Damn it to hell, but the insect beneath her heel had ruined everything. She kicked a hissing Bre to the side, her eyes focused on the only true threat to her existence. She gave up on trying to control Jasper cleanly — now it was up to the tried and true formula of cold, hard manipulation.
"You're too close to those human girls, Jasper." The tiny, petite vampire shrugged prettily at him. "I was just saving you time by killing them. It just so happened that the bigger one was more accessible than the other." She didn't dare use their names in fear of invoking the hatred and jealousy that she felt. "Vampires and humans have a very simple relationship: predator and prey."
"Who've you got after you, Mistress? What's got you all frazzled?" Jasper took a small step towards her, not bothering to hide his disgust of her. "What has you harassing me and my family?"
She couldn't help the hiss that escaped her. "Don't forget all that animal blood makes you weak, Major. I'll gut you. All I was trying to do was a favor for you because you've always been my favorite." No effort was given to stop herself as she took the time to suggestively eye the man up and down.
A wicked grin hit her lips involuntarily.
The mood in the room took a nosedive as suddenly all of the newborns collapsed to their knees in pain. Drew, a handsome young man who had dared to wink at Maria a month before, screeched inhumanly. It appeared as though her second-hand man hadn't spent his time in retirement neglecting his unique gifts.
Within a fraction of a second, Maria found herself ducking as a muscular arm attempted to punch through her skull. A delicate twirl and block of her arm stopped the next attack. She grinned even as her calf cracked from the impact.
"Oh, finally, here's what I missed!" She couldn't help her gleeful taunt as she achieved a simple claw to his eye.
Their strikes reverberated throughout the room while the newborns continued their painful writhing. And Gabi watched in stunned silence. Sure, she'd seen her Mistress in action, but never quite like this.
It was normally over in an instant.
The strange man who'd made all the screams go away from her head was easily going toe-to-toe with Maria. He had scars just like Maria, only more. She'd seen many other vampires in her nomadic lifestyle, but never so many scars. It reminded her of the first person she'd eaten after Maria had turned her in that hospital, a patient who'd acted as if he had known her while she'd been human. He'd had as many scars as this stranger, only from his own fingernails.
If she hadn't been so hungry, perhaps she could've learned who'd she'd been before she was a monster.
The loudest crack finally snapped Gabi from her own world as Maria's ruby, almond-shaped eyes met her own. She was on her knees with both arms removed, so bloodless as was the way of vampires, and a rueful smile on her lips let Gabi know that Maria was probably thinking about waving goodbye. But then that second of connection was over and gone.
Maria, the oldest and strongest vampire of the Southern Vampire Wars, was beheaded.
The wickedly handsome killer wordlessly stood among all that remained of the Mistress's legacy. The newborns slowly regained themselves and stared at the man, and Gabi found herself stumbling to join them.
Being imprisoned for decades had a way of making a girl sensitive to such events. Would this Jasper be even worse than Maria?
Imprisonment and torture wasn't unusual among vampires. They certainly hadn't been the worst off of covens.
Jasper scratched his head even as he reached into his worn-down jeans and produced a generic cigarette lighter. "Before y'all fall onto me and try to take me down, would anybody like the honors of lighting the fire to get rid of her?"
"Wow." Bre whispered as the newborns chattered excitedly all around them. Gabi hadn't even realized until then that the cruel idiot had stuck around.
A vision hit her then and suddenly an evil plan formed in the strangest place from her heart. Bre had been very evil towards the newborns and was always plotting to take advantage of Gabi's gifts. "You better leave, he's going to kill you for breaking that human." Gabi told her.
Bre shook her head and began moving before Gabi had stopped speaking. "Thanks, smell ya later, freak." She left in a dash.
Gabi giggled as she thought about the silver wolf waiting outside the door for her.
Lauren moaned and licked at the floor, enjoying every drop of blood that she'd gotten from the man's gut wound. Sure, it was gross, but the Mistress hadn't lied to her.
This, this was power. She could hear and smell everything and drinking blood felt so good. Nobody would be able to stop her from taking what she wanted. Once she got on top of her new gifts, she'd return to Forks and rule over all of the humans.
Rampaging was so much fun, the Mistress had told her to go nuts and to return to the warehouse whenever she felt like it. No strings attached.
She was so free. She'd received immortality for luring Bella to her party. Two birds with one stone. Was there any downside to this situation?
"Eeeew. Nobody has taught you to feed properly, huh?" A high-pitched, bitchy voice, very similar to her own, commented.
A growl ripped through her frame as the stranger made a condescending tsk with her tongue. "You're going to be pretty much helpless with how much you glutted yourself. Not very promising for when my Masters get a hold of you." A petite hand touched Lauren's cheek as she continued to feed without restraint.
Jane cackled as the newborn lost consciousness.
Yeah... A lot happened! A lot of stuff is still unresolved now but at least Jasper and Leah took out you-know-who and now I can get back to the romance