Hello everyone! To all my friends in the USA, congratulations on getting rid of the orange tyrant! I have good news myself; my partner and I got married on Halloween just before the UK re-entered lockdown phew

I realised that in the last chapter a character called Ethan popped up with no explanation. This was an editing accident; it should have read Jacob - so my bad. As you all know, this story is one of my own originals and I just swapped the names, Ethan is the actual name of Jacob's character.

Anyway on with the show, this chapter is a little smaller than the others but it just felt right like that. I don't own Twilight

As per please keep the reviews coming they make me do a happy dance.

Chapter 15

It was a slow walk to Edward's apartment but I stayed upright braced against Angela. Despite him being locked in the cellar for at least three years, Aro's blood was still potent. I'd managed to lick barely a few drops from the wood but the pain and sickness dissipated instantly. However, my internal injuries we're going to need a bit more help not to mention something to replenish my own blood loss. My balance faltered on the second set of stairs causing Angela to support me from the back. She was surprisingly strong and managed to aim straight considering her own head injury. Though Edward had asked me to meet him at the boat, we both had a feeling Rosalie had some death trap set up there too.
"Once we get upstairs Edward should be able to hear any commotion." Angela had theorised when we got out of the crypt.

We took a break at the top of the stairs, both of us leaning against one of the uniformed red walls. Angela's eyes darted up and down the corridor even though we both knew we wouldn't see any attacks coming. Temporarily forgetting my injury, I made to put my head backwards.
"No!" Angela hissed wincing at the loudness of her voice "Lean forwards I'll hold you."
I mumbled a thanks and leant my front against hers, resting my chin on her shoulder "Is this how number 12 went out?" I laughed to hide my fear. The crack in the ceiling probably a mirror of the one in my skull.
"Leigh." She whispered a hint of sadness creeping in "Her name was Leigh."
"Leigh." I repeated in remembrance "How long were you with her?"
"Two years but we were only alone in the cellar for six months before..." Her eyes may have been checking for attacks, but they were glancing into the past too. The sadness faltered for a few minutes becoming a smile before switching back. Neither of us spoke Rosalie's name aloud, it was Leigh's story not hers "I looked after her for the last few days, between shifts obviously. She'd been a first aider at some school and taught me a little about head injuries. She'd say 'You name it, the kids had done it.'" Somehow a little laugh escaped "Leigh described her injury as when one student really thought Redbull did give you wings. Apparently, that's why they changed the wording to Wiings." A short chuckle left my lips too followed by what must have been an audible shift in my broken skull. Her "Lets move." Was calm but I felt the tattle-tale tremble in her hands.

Red and gold continued to morph together in the maze of corridors. My thoughts began to jumble and my legs stumble. There had been enough blood on the stake to help me but only temporarily it seemed. After a third stumble in a row, Angela roped my arm over her shoulder and began to quicken her pace. Though surprisingly strong, her body had years of malnutrition and would fold under piggybacking me. If it came to it, I knew she would drag me.

Somehow, we managed a few more corridors and turned a familiar corner. The oak doors were spread wide open; now fused into the brick wall. I couldn't see inside my vision still hazy at best, but it didn't matter the vampires within would have heard our heartbeats minutes before. The pain behind my eyes started up again so I closed them. I wasn't going to look death in the face for the second time this evening. Thankfully, I felt the grateful exhale Angela made and knew whoever she saw was an ally.
"Rosalie." She stated as they reached us a slight breeze announcing their arrival "A-And Aro." I recognised them from the growl like response and opened my eyes to see Edward moving me into his arms. I'd barely reclosed them before I felt him lower me onto the sofa of the main room.

To the right of me I heard an awful squelch and prayed the sound was something happening to Rosalie. Her rotten entrails being cut out or those talons of hers being ripped off. The tepid splatter to my cheek got rid of that disillusion.
"Open your mouth and swallow." Edward shoved his wrist between my lips before my brain could process the command. Blood gushed into my mouth, the sweet liquid with a slight tang forcing its way down my throat whether or not I was ready to swallow. I choked but he didn't withdraw; it just pressured my throat into working. I drank down enough that had he been human, blood loss would have killed him. Heat pulsed through my body, leaving a tingling in my fingertips, toes and even my nose. The pain behind my eyes dissipated first so I immediately opened them to look at Edward. His eyes were darting across my body; watching the progress of my healing. Finally, they landed on my gaze and he pulled his wrist back bringing the jagged dripping cut to his lips. His tongue followed the path of the cut, the skin knitting back together in its wake before lapping up the drying streaks making their way down his arm. Angela, blood staining her lips, perched on the arm rest above my head switching between looking down at me and grimacing at something in the room. The absence of worry in her eyes was enough to tell me we were finally safe allowing me to lie down for a few minutes to let the tingling come to a stop.

Skull crunch gone and my body finally feeling normal, I sat up. Carnage draped the room around us. The TV had been ripped off the wall and smashed to pieces. Most of my clothes had been dragged from my room and destroyed. The corpses of Edward's beloved wingbacks burnt half in and out of the fireplace, the charred leather releasing a pungent smell making my eyes water. Books, some shredded others whole, scattered the blood splattered with vampire blood. The bookcase which had served as Leonard's prison swung on its last hinge at the end of it's rail. The absence of his body meant he'd managed to escape but not without some wounds.
"What happened?" I asked Edward as Angela probed the base of my skull; nothing moved this time.
"Rosalie found Leonard before I arrived, and we had a disagreement." He confirmed, anger shining in his eyes like fireworks "As they escaped, her parting words were that she'd locked you both in with Aro. I assume he's dead?"
"We killed him." I answered for us both trying to save Angela from reliving the events of the cellar. It was going to take a long time to get over it "She'll be dead too then soon if she needs his blood to survive?" only a few nights before Edward had explained Rosalie's oath to him; with Aro gone her nights were numbered.
"Leonard is Aro's son, she can feed off him. It won't be as good as Aro's own blood, but it will suffice."
"Why does she care so much about him? If she had direct access to Aro's blood why were they were always at each other's side." Angela piped up. I'd told her the story as we tried to get to sleep the first night I rescued her.
"Rosalie is his biological mother. Aro changed her a few days after Leonard was born." He was too nonchalant about the whole situation. Both Angela and I sat in silence for minutes, that seemed like hours, trying to process everything that had over the course of the evening and trying to work out what that meant for the future. Edward left us to it, becoming a blur as he cleared up the carnage around us.

After 10 or so minutes it had become exhausting and verging on migraine inducing. Despite both of us being knocked out and taking a dose of Vampire blood; our energies were sapped. Angela's side vibrated against mine as she held back tears that were desperate to spill. I couldn't tell if she was holding them in because of Edward or both of us.
"Do you want to sleep alone?" I whispered knowing he'd hear the conversation but hoped it would fool her into thinking he couldn't "If not I'll stay with you." I didn't want her being alone and afraid for my comfort; I'd be up all night if she needed me.
"I'd like to be alone." Angela shook her head before looking to Edward "If that's safe?"
He appeared suddenly in front of us and pulled out a faded old-style key "You're safe. This is the key to the bedroom you've been sleeping in. If it will ease your fears lock the door behind you. Rosalie left the bed intact."
"Thank you Edward." Her smile and voice was weak as she took it. Under any other circumstances I would have praised her for saying his name without stumbling over his title but she was shaken enough. Angela hugged me tightly, checking to see if everything was fixed. I held her just as tight mumbling a thank you in her ear hoping those two words burst with the emotion I felt. She released me with a nod before hurrying off one tear stained my cheek.

"You should sleep too." Edward lifted me off my feet carrying me bridal style to his coffin; another item Rosalie had left untouched. Edward seemed to read my mind "Most of her damage was done before she called us." He sat me down in the coffin to remove my clothes. I peeled the soiled clothes from my body grimacing at the way they stuck on my arms or showered us with vampire ash. This time I stripped completely naked throwing my clothes in the fireplace ready to be made a pyre. I checked the filthiness of my body in the flickering candlelight weighing up getting in the bath but the yawn that ripped through my jaw told me to just deal with it. On my wrist I found a new crescent shaped scar that the blood hadn't purged. It had however made it look like I'd received it years before. Edward watched me, now naked and lying down himself before pulling me against his chest "I'm sorry I wasn't there." I froze in his arms looking up at him shocked for a few beats. Both Edward's eyes and body language held the emotion in a way I'd only seen his anger before. I regressed into a memory of us together at my flat watching a stupid comedy film whilst snuggled up in a makeshift bed in the living room. He'd smell of apple shampoo and his classic white V-neck of fresh linen scented detergent. I melted into his side burying my face in his neck, in the real world he held no smell other than the slight metallic tang of fresh blood.
"It was terrifying." I admitted my voice trembling "I couldn't move, she broke my skull when she threw me against the wall." A growl rumbled from his throat, but he didn't interrupt me as I recounted the last few hours. I was honest about who killed Aro, how I thought I was going to die and even Leigh's tragic demise. Eventually I began to sob, he held me tighter in response, a slightly painful grip but I didn't care; I needed it, he was finally showing some affection. An emotion other than anger or lust; sexually and for blood. I let the sobs yank as much of the terror and pain of the basement and the emotional distress from Edward's q and a from me they could. I don't remember him moving to pull the lid over us or when I fell asleep but thankfully when I did; it was dreamless.