The scene before my eyes was suspended in time like the snowflakes and glitter of a snow globe, though in every way the antithesis of a beautiful frozen moment. The fractals of Alice's vision solidified before us. As soon as my eyes found her, I knew three fundamental things with absolute certainty.
The first, and most important, was the fact that Bella was alive.
Words failed me. Relief was not a strong enough descriptor for the current of emotion that jolted through me. She had blood on her jeans, her dark green button down, and in her mahogany locks. None of it, her own. She was shaking like a leaf as she leaned over her bleeding friend, her eyes shut, repeatedly murmuring that it would all be okay. Her voice betrayed her. Bella's body remembered what it was to endure torture at the hands of a vampire. It kept score. It knew the odds were not good. It prepared to endure more.
Second, I knew that Riley presented a complication.
The human boy's thoughts were entirely incoherent and unstable. He vacillated between the urge to commit violence and the urge to flee. Victoria had promised him that no harm would come to Bella. She was just bait. He had seen Bella as a victim of my abuse. After all, I was a monster that seduced, abused, and eventually turned helpless women with the intent of making them submit to my will, was I not? He had to orchestrate this spectacle to draw me out of the shadows. Underneath of Victoria's lies, a darker narrative had begun to form in his mind. A part of him wanted Bella to suffer for rejecting him. A part of him was aroused by the sound of her whimper, the way she begged for him to let her go. A part of him was curious what sounds she would make if he pressed the knife in his hand against her abdomen. He was a dark horse in this plot line.
Third, and most problematic of all, I knew that Olly's blood smelled like a decadent vanilla cupcake, and the hot nectar gushing from Olly's thigh had pooled. Despite Bella's attempts to stop the bleeding, enough blood had been spilled to send even the most disciplined vampire into a frenzy; and Laurent was not a particularly disciplined vampire. I knew - unequivocally - that once he began the hunt, I would have no choice but to kill him.
Alice's thoughts echoed my own. You take him. Victoria is mine.
Laurent hissed and launched himself at the humans, his body moving like a panther pursuing a herd of gazelle. I dove at him with equal precision and force, colliding with him from the side. I shoved him against a concrete wall, far from the humans, and wrestled him into a headlock. He clawed at my arms, twisting and thrashing.
"The cavalry has arrived!" Victoria squealed. "But wait, where is your Sergeant Major? Who's going to give you your orders?"
Alice snarled and sped toward Victoria like a shot from a canon. She and Victoria became ensnared in a sort of twisted dance. Alice's agility and premonitions were perfectly matched with Victoria's talent for evasion. Every push and pull, lunge and lean, dive and leap, punch and block, swipe and slash resembled a perfectly coordinated stage fight. Their motions were too fast for human eyes. Alice was unrelenting. They circled each other in dichotomous harmony, yin and yang, the darkness and the light.
Laurent howled in his frenzied state. He tried to spin out of my grip. He bit down on my injured arm breaking out of my hold and began sprinting toward the humans again. I caught him by his leg and slammed him into the floor, wrestling him until my knees pressed into his neck and chest. I didn't want to have to kill him. I wasn't sure Irina would be able to forgive me if I did. I owed the Denali sisters my life. I caught Laurent's left arm as he swung at me and snapped it, shattering the bone in his forearm.
"Laurent, yield!" I pushed his flailing limbs down hard. His chest began to snap beneath the pressure of my knee, like cracks forming in a lake of ice. Perhaps this entirely too familiar disaster was a test, an opportunity to set things right. My second chance. I would not be too late this time.
"Yield," I growled again. His nails scraped against the concrete flooring. He kneed me hard in the back, knocking me off balance. His teeth snapped an inch away from my face. That was when I heard Bella gasp, and looked up to meet her horrified gaze. Her brown eyes brimmed with worry. How classically Bella, to be afraid for me in a moment when she was in greater peril. Always the wrong reaction. The girl who would have sympathy for the devil.
Riley heard her intake of breath, and when his eyes found Bella, several realizations settled into place, like the final grains of sand in an hourglass. He read her expression, and the poisonous thoughts took hold.
She still wants him.
His mind replayed our parting scene. Riley was right. She had said. This is a toxic relationship.
He gripped his knife. Possessive. Jealous. His thoughts were seething. She lied.
Laurent used my momentary distraction to sucker punch me and flip me until I lay beneath him. I dodged his attacks, and caught him by the torso, just barely stopping him as he began to follow the scent of the blood again. I was running out of options. There was no way to stop him from sucking Olly dry without having to dispatch him.
"Is that what you want Bella?" Riley spit out. "That deranged, dead freak?"
Bella's eyes immediately flickered to mine. Time suspended again, and for a moment there was only me and her, and I saw her answer, unequivocally. Unconditionally. Irrevocably.
Lie, I tried to tell her.
"Nnn-No." Bella stammered. She looked down at Olly, who lay breathing quickly in her arms, her blue eyes wide. "It's like you said. He's just manipulating me."
Lie better, I pleaded silently.
"He's made me all confused Riley," she tried again. "I nn-need your help. Help me."
Riley walked over to her and crouched in front of her, obscuring my view of her face. He leaned over the two girls. I saw her expression through his mind, tear stained, blood stained, and tragic.
"No. I think I know what you want." He ran the knife down her cheek, drawing blood. Laurent screamed in my arms as the newly drawn blood hit his senses. "You crave the darkness. I could have been dark for you, but you just want to be another one of his vampire whores."
Neither Riley nor I expected what came next. Olly gathered her strength and suddenly grabbed Riley by his collar and snapped her uninjured leg upward, kneeing Riley square in the jaw. At the same time, as if in sync, Bella jolted forward and hit the boy in the face with a head-butt. He began to fall backwards. Olly threw her body onto his legs as Bella flung herself over his torso, pinning him in a well practiced jujitsu move. She shifted her weight and wrapped her legs around the arm that held the knife, bending backwards and pulling his arm socket up at an unnatural angle. Riley yelped in pain and released the knife.
"Bella, run!" Olly shouted.
Bella clambered after the knife and grabbed it off of the floor. She ran away from Riley and toward the back exit. Victoria blocked her path as she pressed Alice's body up against the doorway. Bella changed course, running past me and throwing the double doors that led into the school wide open. Her sneakers hit the floor loudly as she sprinted away. She was fearless. I marveled at her disciplined strength. Gone was the girl who needed rescuing. This Bella was a warrior in her own right.
Riley kicked Olly hard in her abdomen. She curled inward like a shrimp as he threw the injured girl off of him and followed Bella. He was weaponless and desperate.
Edward! Alice screamed at me in her thoughts. I heard Victoria's mind begin calculating exit strategies; she was on the verge of fleeing. This was our only chance. Only one scenario remained where Victoria failed to escape us again. I had to make a choice.
Months ago, my only thought would have been to run after Bella, to protect her from the pursuer who wished her ill. I had a bad habit of underestimating Bella. I would not make that same mistake today. She was stronger than I had ever given her credit for.
Alice dove at Victoria from behind, wrapping her small hand around her throat and her legs around her waist. Victoria caught her arm and leaned forward, flipping Alice over her shoulder. As Alice's head hit the concrete floor, she saw Bella.
Bella's arms ache. Sweat falls from her brow as she runs. Riley is gaining on her.
"Bitch!" Riley screams.
Bella darts to the right and takes the stairs two at a time. She can hear Riley following. Thinking quickly, Bella unlatches a glass case containing a fire extinguisher. She hides in a corner and lifts the red cylinder over her head. As Riley reaches the top of the stairs, she throws the heavy object directly into his chest. Riley grunts, and Bella runs again, flying through the science wing. She curses loudly as she reaches a set of locked hallway doors. A dead end. These doors lock automatically during a code red. Bella turns and grips the knife in her hand.
I hoped the Denali sisters would someday forgive me. "I am truly sorry," I murmured to Laurent. I reached up, snapped his neck with my bare hands, and tossed his limp decapitated body into a pile of electrical equipment. With one final glance I sprinted toward my sister.
This was fight or flight, and flight was off the table. The boy slows as he corners her.
"Victoria's using you. She's brainwashed you," Bella reasons. "The Cullens aren't what you think they are."
"I know exactly what they are."
Riley lunges at Bella, slamming her into the doors. Riley presses his forearm into Bella's windpipe, his breath hot on her cheek.
"Does this do it for you, Bella?" He asks as he presses his hips against her.
Bella plunges the knife into his bicep. Riley howls. Blood trickles down to the floor. The wound is superficial. Riley presses against her body again, running on adrenaline.
Once in close quarters, Bella wraps her legs around his knees and her arms around his neck. She uses her weight to pull him to the ground and maneuvers her legs until she lays on the ground behind him, her legs wrapped around his neck and shoulders. Riley claws at her. Bella squeezes his neck with her thighs. She grunts, using all of her strength. Riley's face begins to turn purple from exertion. He lifts his body suddenly and slams Bella back onto the ground, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Bella releases her hold on him. Riley flips over and holds her down. He pulls the knife out of his arm. He holds the knife to her abdomen, just as he imagined. Bella closes her eyes.
Then, a flash of white, and Riley's weight disappears off of her body entirely.
A few feet away, Bree sinks her venomous teeth into the boy. Bella watches Riley scream, her hand covering her flying heart. Bree drops Riley's body. He falls to the ground like a sack full of bricks. She wipes the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. She looks up at Bella.
"You smell yummy..."
Bree abandons her snack and moves toward Bella. As Bree reaches her, two sets of arms encircle the child. Rosalie and Emmett hold her as she flails in their arms. Emmett soothes her as she bites and unleashes her strength on him. As Bree screeches like a banshee, Kate appears at her side. She touches Bree's shoulder. The crackle of a high voltage electric shock leaves the newborn immortal limp in her adopted parents arms.
Could a long-dead heart have a heart attack? I could have sworn I just did.
I sideswiped Victoria just as she reached for my sister, throwing her upward into the pipes that lined the basement ceiling. She landed in a crouch, hissing and eyeing the exit behind me.
"Come on Victoria. Finish this. You've got me where you want me." Her blood red eyes darted toward me and back toward the exit.
"You want to make me suffer, like you suffered when we tore into him, when we threw James's head into that fire by his little blonde ponytail."
"Don't you dare say his name," she screamed. She launched herself at me, swinging wildly. I ducked beneath her swing, and landed a hard hit against her abdomen. As she made to stand again, Alice executed a scissor kick directly against Victoria's face, dislocating her jaw. I grabbed her body as she fell toward me, knocking her down onto her knees and holding her down.
That was when her crimson eyes met mine, and for the briefest of seconds, I really saw her. The woman beneath the monster. Unguarded, Victoria showed me that she knew this moment would soon find her. She knew this night would end in her execution.
Instead of contemplating death, she showed me the James she knew. Laying beneath the moonlight, after gorging themselves on a village full of humans in Greenland, he once held her and told her that she was spectacular. She wanted me to remember him. Alice grabbed her jaw in her hands, crunching and twisting until the mandible bone broke off, just as Victoria had done to Jasper. Victoria dissociated, showing me the wicked glint in James' eyes. This memory was hazy, as if it was from her time as a human.
Alice braced her hands on either side of Victoria's head. Just as she began to twist, everything went black.
Eerie, deafening, silence. Robbed of sight, smell, and sound, I was in complete darkness. If I hadn't felt Victoria underneath my hands, I would have believed that I had simply stopped existing in this moment. I stared into the vast nothingness, waiting, seeing nothing. How does one listen when there is no sound? I strained to find something, anything. Failing miserably, I gave myself over to my other senses, finding Alice's mind equally imprisoned in the nothingness. She understood this absence just the same as I did.
Alec and Jane. The Volturi guard had intervened.
I was not sure how much time had passed, but eventually a small light glowed in my periphery. Relief followed as Alec retracted his mind-numbing power, slowly returning our sense of presence in the world. Everything was too loud. My eyes struggled to adjust to the image before me. Two small figures resembling a gothic Hansel and Gretel cloaked in black stood before me. Slowly my eyes registered their pale faces, their childlike wine-red eyes. Jane examined the scene before her with mild interest.
"Jane. Alec." I greeted them. "It's a pleasure."
"It seems they know who we are, sister," Alec said. This pleased him immensely.
"Your reputation precedes you. My father, Carlisle spoke very highly of you when discussing his time with the Volturi."
"Yes I remember him as well," Jane replied.
"Alec, we appear to have been rendered unnecessary," the blonde young woman mused.
The redhead failed to serve her purpose. What a shame, Jane thought.
"How dull," her twin brother replied. Jane circled us, as if it were perfectly normal to have a pleasant conversation whilst preparing to decapitate a sentient creature.
"So you are the cause of all the trouble?" Jane touched a lock of Victoria's crimson curls. As if this was their first meeting. As if the guard hadn't allowed Victoria to act against us. I absorbed the information from Alec's mind; Aro's desire to eliminate the olympia vampire clan that had grown too powerful for his liking. Victoria stared helplessly into Jane's eyes. "It seems someone has been drawing far too much attention to herself."
"As you can see, we have the problem handled. If you'd be so kind to allow us to finish this - this is personal."
Jane smiled lightly, perching upon a wooden desk. Alec remained unmoving, not bothering with pleasantries or interaction.
"Proceed," Jane indulged me.
Alice and I each took one of Victoria's arms. We pulled in opposite directions, splitting the woman in half. Her death was brief and insignificant. She was undeserving of spectacle or fanfare. She did not have a mouth to scream from.
"Eliminating this menace as a threat was only part of our purpose here," Alec commented, kicking Victoria's limbs away from him, suddenly becoming animated. "We came for the girl."
Panic filled my chest like a noxious gas. Alice and I shared a brief glance. Bella was with Emmett, Rosalie, and the Denali sisters. I prayed that my brother had taken my reason for existing, my soul's echo, far far away from here.
Alec turned and glided toward the human girl that lay crumpled and bleeding on the floor.
"Don't hurt me." Olly's voice was surprisingly clear, convincing.
"We wouldn't dream of it darling girl," Alec hushed. He crouched down in front of the girl, brushing the long blonde bangs out of her eyes. "We have been waiting a long time for your initiation. Your unfortunate injury simply moves up the timeline." He took her wrist, ignoring her attempts to crawl away from him.
"Now hold still."
TO BE CONTINUED. . .
Note: This chapter took a little while longer, but I got some pretty huge news this week.
All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer, the Twilight Series.
No copyright infringement intended. Plot is mine :) I made a Twitter for this story! Follow for chapter updates and twilight memes StardustRiley
Today's chapter was brought to you by Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation/Zeds Dead!
Here's the link to the soundtrack on Spotify! https/open./playlist/0kgyLShDmJwdza3uAqXi3q?si=YQuXxXruROSt35Pmwi28qQ