A/N: Rapid update number 2! Enjoy!
Beau
I didn't let my nerves show as I slowly made my way into the studio. It was cool, dark, and almost dank. Clearly, it had been closed for a while. Old flyers littered the hallway in clumps, old and worn. Dust clung to the corners and the countertops. My nose begins to itch.
My feet seem to slow, and my breathing gets shallower and shallower. I force myself to keep going, pushing past the fear. It's quiet, save for the soft sound of the air conditioners.
"Mom," I call, my voice nothing more than a whisper. I force myself to clear my throat and try again. Suddenly, I hear it, my mother's voice, tinny with fear.
"Beau?! Beau?" she calls, worry and desperation in her voice. It breaks me out of my fog, and I break into a run, stumbling into the main studio. Her voice floats through the room, almost muffled. Maybe she's in a closet or something.
"Mom!" I call, whirling around wildly.
"Oh, Beau, honey, you scared me," my mother laughs. "Don't you ever do that again." I search desperately for the sound. There's a TV tucked away in a corner, playing a video from when I was younger. Thanksgiving, sixth grade. We were in California, soaking in the sunshine at a beach. I was on the pier, looking into the water, trying to decipher its murky depths. I'd leaned too far over the edge, and had almost fallen in. It was a Facebook post, something she'd posted this thanksgiving.
Facebook. The blue lights that Alice saw.
Slowly, I turn back to the room at large. The hunter stands across the room, leaning against the wall. We stared at each other for a moment, before he broke into a wide smile. He made his way across to me, passing close to me to shut off the TV.
"Sorry about that, Beau, but I thought it would be best not to involve your mother at all," he says courteously. His voice is almost kind, in a way. Suddenly, it hit me. It wasn't my mother on the map, it had been me. She wasn't here, she was still safe with Phil.
"Yeah," I sigh, relief easing the tension.
"You don't sound angry I tricked you," he points out.
"I'm not." Renee was safe. Charlie would wake up safe and sound in his house. Soon this will all be over. Edward and the rest of them were on their way. I pray silently that they won't walk in on a massacre.
"How odd," the hunter says. "You really mean it."
His eyes are a startling shade of red, deeper than ruby and richer than blood. There was a thin ring of black that bled into the red. Thirsty.
"You know, you humans are actually really interesting," he says conversationally. "I suppose I can see the allure."
Looking at him this closely, he seems almost… average. There was nothing remarkable about his face, just a normal guy, an every-man type face.
"I suppose you're going to tell me that your boyfriend will avenge me?" he sneers.
"Edward doesn't know where I am," I tell him. Strictly, this is true. He doesn't know about the ballet studio, but surely he'll find out soon. I hope desperately that Bella is being smart, staying in the car where nothing can harm her.
Or.
She might be laying down the protection spell to trap the hunter.
"Beau, your heart's beating very fast," the hunter says.
"I'm a little nervous," I confess. The hunter laughs. God, please let Bella be back in the car now. I can't tell how much time has passed. Minutes? Hours?
"Well, I certainly hopes he finds out, and soon," he says. "It wasn't very hard to find this place, or your mother's accounts. I won't pretend to know much about the internet, but it's not hard to navigate around it. I found this place in a post of hers and it… spoke to me. Something about the mirrors, I suppose."
The hunter produces a camera from his pocket, a sleek—albeit old—camcorder. He makes a show of setting it up on the tripod, adjusting it so it focused solely on me.
"I hope you don't mind, but I thought I might take the opportunity to… create some memories." I glance up at the clock. Edward, Carlisle, and Emmett should have just landed by now. It'll take them another thirty or so minutes to get out here. Maybe twenty if Edward's behind the wheel.
I'm starting to think that perhaps, I don't have twenty minutes.
"Cat-and-mouse is only fun when the mouse can run, and when they try and outsmart each other," the hunter explains. "You weren't much of a challenge to find. It took, what, thirty hours? Definitely not satisfying."
Please, god, if there is one, let Edward be behind the wheel, and let the hunter keep monologuing. Also, if I have room for another prayer, keep Bella in the car and safe.
"This video will ensure the game goes on for a while. Of course, we don't have too much time, so we better get started," the hunter is saying, jolting me back to myself. "Your boy—Edward, right?—will see what I'm doing to you and he won't be able to resist coming after me."
Okay, so I definitely didn't have twenty minutes.
"No!" I gasp, turning to look at the camera, shaking my head. "Edward, don't listen to him, just leave it—"
Pain bursts through my entire body and suddenly, I'm airborne. I crash into the far wall, shattering the mirrors. Pain blooms in my head, along my arms, and definitely in my legs. I'm going to die here.
The cavalry won't get here on time.
The hunter stalks towards me, but I'm dizzy with pain. He snarls, low in his throat.
"You're not going to beg your boy to avenge you?" The question is double edged, and I know that if I say the wrong thing, it will only accelerate his timeline.
"No, Edward, just leave it," I groan out. "You have to take care of Charlie—AHH!" The hunter slams his foot down, effectively shattering the bones there. Pain rolls over me in heavy, suffocating waves. I cannot even make a sound.
"Try again," the hunter snarls.
Edward, I think, I love you.
I'm sorry.
Suddenly, the door bursts open, sunlight filling the dank, dark studio. The figure is shadowy, and I am almost too far gone to feel relief. Almost.
"Get away from him!" A shaky, shrill voice calls. Bella.
Why didn't she stay in the car?
I groan, trying to force words out of my throat, but they don't come. I'm so encased in pain, all my energy is going into keeping awake. I'm forgetting why I have to, but I know I do.
"What's this?" the hunter asks with a laugh. "I can hear your heartbeat, but I can't smell you."
"Shut up!" Bella yells, sounding close to tears. No, no, no! I can't have the hunter focus attention on her, hurt her in any way. I force myself to sit up, force air through my lungs and through my mouth.
"Hey," I croak. Just one little word leaves me breathless, but I have to keep trying. "You're a shitty director."
"That wasn't very nice," the hunter says, voice a crude mimicry of hurt. "But I guess you're right. This is about you."
In an instant, he's on me, wrenching me free of the debris and dragging me to the middle of the floor. Air rushes out of me, but there's not enough left in me to make a real sound. Crushed glass embeds itself in my wounds, sends them stinging like no other.
Bella seems rooted to the spot, and for that, I am thankful. Please let her have an iota of common sense. Just stay there, where you're safe and wait for your family.
"There has only been one time when my prey got away from me," he snarls, looming over me. "Never again. But! I saw her again, right there on the field. That's why I had to start the game again. I couldn't just lose. There was another vampire, the first time, but he was strong enough to make the choice your Edward wasn't able to make. He took my prey from the asylum and turned her. She didn't even notice the pain, poor thing. She'd been stuck in that black hole of a cell for so long, getting shock treatments for her 'visions'. I lost the game, then, so I had to destroy the other vampire, but now, I'm going to win."
My mind is reeling and somewhere, I can hear the soft, muffled whimpers Bella gives, crying at the tale.
"Alice," she chocks out. I can't help but gasp, and for it, the hunter kicks me hard, effectively snapping a few of my ribs.
"You know, she smelled even better than you," he says to me, stooping low over me. "I think we've dragged this on long enough."
He moves so fast he is only a blur, and the next thing I know, the epicenter of my pain is my wrist. This forces an actual scream out of me, though I don't know where my body could have found the energy.
"Enough!" Bella's voice fills the room and suddenly, wind begins to blow. It whips through the room hard, pulling at my ripped shirt and rifling through my hair, as caked in blood as it is. The pain is bright, demanding, and I am weak.
I am…
I…
I drift, swirling in and out of dreams as the life seeps out of me. It's peaceful, in a way, now that I'm beyond the pain. A snarl rings out, a deep, wild roar that rang with fury. Weird.
It jerks me through the layers of my mind, forcing me all the way to the surface. Pain rings through me, joyous at being remembered. I do not want to remember. There is an angel, though my eyes won't let me open far enough to really see him. Maybe this is it, the angel finally here to take me to the only heaven I want.
"Beau, oh, god, no!" the angel cries, and I want to sit up, to soothe his tears. Beyond his voice was this strange creaking, like metal being rendered into pieces. Growls filled the air and through it all, I heard someone call Bella's name.
Bella!
Is she okay? Is she here with me in this strange purgatory? Please let her not be. Please let her be alright.
The angel spoke again, commanding my full attention.
"Beau, please, please, listen to me, please!" The angel keeps begging, over and over, and I want to acquiesce, but I don't know how.
"Carlisle!" The angel wept, sobbing tearless, broken sobs. "Beau, oh no, Beau, please, no!"
It hurt me the most to hear the angel weep like that, and I want to promise that everything will be alright, but I feel so disconnected from myself. I can't even reach my mouth. Something ignites the pain in my body, and just like that, I am snapped back into place, pain the only thing holding me together. I cry out, gasping and sputtering as I broke through the heavy haze.
"Beau," the angel weeps, relief laced in his voice.
"He's lost some blood, but the head wound isn't very deep. Watch the leg, though, it's broken." Pain blooms in every part of me, like lights coming alive on a display. "Some ribs too, I think."
The epicenter. The worst of my pain was all concentrated on one point. Someone was burning me.
"Edward." I try to tell him, but my voice was so heavy and slow. I could barely understand myself.
"Beau, you're going to be fine. Can you hear me? I love you."
"Edward." This attempt is clearer.
"I'm here, baby."
"It hurts," I manage to whimper.
"I know, Beau, I know." There was a pause, and the angel directed his next words away from me. "Can't you do something?"
"My bag. Hold your breath, Alice, it'll help."
"Alice," I croak. I need to apologize, but the words won't leave me.
"She's here, she knew where to find you."
"My hand hurts," I say. God, the burning was picking up now, the fire burning down my arm.
"I know, Carlisle, he's going to give you something. It'll stop, I promise."
"My hand is burning!" I scream, finally shaking away the last of the haze. The pain is so fierce, so bright, it's a wonder no one else can see it.
"Beau?" Edward's voice is frightened.
"The fire! Someone stop the fire!" I scream.
"Carlisle, his hand!"
"He bit her!" Even Carlisle is appalled now. Edward's breath catches in horror.
"Edward, you have to do it," Alice says. She's close to me, her cool fingers brushing the tears off my face.
"No!"
I moan her name, trying to get her attention. Alice will help me.
"There's still something we could try," Carlisle says. "Suck the venom out. The wound is fairly clean."
"Will that work?
"I don't know but we don't have a lot of time," Carlisle says.
"I don't know if I can do that," Edward says hesitantly. There was agony in his beautiful voice again.
"It's your decision, Edward, either way. I can't help you. I have to get this bleeding stopped if you're going to take blood from his hand."
The pain mounts and I writhe against it, trying to find some relief but it evades me. Every movement jolts some new source of pain.
"Get me something to brace her leg!" Carlisle is bent over me, working on my head. "Edward, now or never!"
Edward's face is drawn, and I watched his eyes as doubt is suddenly replaced with a blazing determination. His jaw goes taut and I feel his cool, strong fingers on my burning hand, locking it in place. He bent over my hand; his cold lips pressed to my skin.
At first, the pain was worse, and I screamed and thrashed. Alice tries desperately to calm me, holding me in place. Slowly, the pain in my wrist begins to give way to numbness, and with it, my consciousness begins to sink.
I am sinking, but the pain has subsided, the fire is out.
"Edward," I sigh. "Stay…"
"He's right here."
"I will, Beau, honey, I'm not going anywhere."
"Is it out?"
"—blood is clean—morphine." The words are beginning to swim as I sink deeper and deeper. Someone is saying my name, asking about the fire.
"S'out," I slur.
"I love you." Those words find me in crystal clarity.
"I know," I breathe.
"—Mom?"
"—Topeka"
"—Spell—Beau wasn't a good—"
"—Okay?"
"Sleep now," Edward says, and his voice is much closer now. I am cradled in his arms, I think, floating in a painless sea. "Sleep now, Beau."
A/N: Let me know what you thought!