Chapter 23

*trigger warning - nothing too graphic but reader discretion is advised*

"I was no longer drugged up by the time Rose left me alone in the room. Or, at least I thought I had been alone."

Bella:

I wasn't alone. That fact was made very clear by the lean figure that stepped out of the dark corner and into the dim glow of flashing light that emitted from the silent TV.

The figure was somewhat tall, though that was hard to judge now that I had spent time around Sam, who made everyone, even Emmet, seem short. The man looked rugged in his baggy, beat up clothes and horribly messy copper hair.

I knew that copper hair all too well, but honey colored eyes had been replaced by startling red irises that were watching my every inhale and exhale of breath with a focused intensity.

My stomach was in my throat and my heart rate began to speed up in a panic. The panic was horrifically caused by more than just a fear of his vampiric nature. Memories of his manipulations and emotional abuse came rushing back to me as well. I wanted nothing more than to be as far away from him as possible in that moment.

He wore a smirk that promised punishment and could be described as nothing short of evil. He took another predatory step towards me and I opened my mouth to let out a scream. I was in a hospital full of werewolves and vampires alike, someone was bound to hear me.

"Oh no, Bella, my love. There is no need to scream, I am only here to test something." He hushed in his smooth tenor.

"I could feel my eyes widen in question of what he could possible be testing on me. In that second I felt the scream catch in my throat and I was struck with a wave of even more bone chilling fear. It felt cold, slithery and vile, it felt like the coldness in my nightmares.

"I suppose that is a positive sign, now isn't it, my love." His eyes were alight with wicked intent as he made his next command.

"Come here, Bella."

Despite myself, and every last molecule of my conscious brain, I rose to my feet and made my way to my dangerous, abusive, ex-boyfriend. I watched on from inside myself as merely a spectator. The icy coldness controlled my every action.

Edward, deranged as he was, embraced my body to him and deeply kissed my lips. It was deeper and more harsh than any kiss he had given me in the years that we had been together. No matter how much I had wanted this in the past, I now felt the need to vomit when his one-sided kiss became more passionate. I was disgusted by the feel of his frozen lips on mine. I tried to move away, and still nothing happened, his frigid tongue was still shoved in my mouth. Then, I pleaded with the icy coldness to return the control it had over my body. I begged for it to let me leave Edward's clutch, to put an end to this torture.

When that too, did not work and I felt Edward begin to work his marble hand under and up my thin top, I inwardly cried out. I desperately pleaded for Sam to know that something was wrong, and for him to save me.

I don't know how you could possibly hear me Sam, but please, end this. End Edward. I thought as my mind continued to become more and more muddled and frantic.

Just as Edward's fingertips brushed the sensitive skin of my breast beneath my bra, and ugly goosebumps broke out across my body, he was alerted by something that I could not see or hear beyond the walls of this small room. He pulled away, and made quick work to make me look slightly less disheveled as I still stood frozen in place.

He quickly kissed me once again and then whispered something that was spoken both too quickly and too quietly for me to understand. Before I could even blink he was gone. The coldness that had controlled my every move fled from me in an instant as well.

My vision immediately clouded up with black spots like a bad case of vertigo and as soon as I could see properly once more the room was filled by a shaking Sam standing beside me.

He was sporting wild eyes that darted around the room looking for something, though I had no idea what.

"Where is he?" Sam demanded.

"Where is who?" I asked, confused and a bit frightened. I had a splitting headache from hell and couldn't think straight.

"The leech. Did you see him?" That's when I noticed his carmel brown eyes, which now had a gold ring around the irises instead of the darker brown that I had grown accustomed to seeing. I figured that it had something to do with the wolf. He was trying to be discreet but I could tell that he was checking me over for injury or harm of any kind. It warmed my heart to know that he would worry about me.

Suddenly his nostrils flared and his voice dropped to a threatening half baritone timbre and half vicious growl.

"He's been all over you." He snarled.

I looked down at myself and pulled my top up to my nose to try to smell what he was picking up on. I recognized my own scent and then felt sick when I could smell the cologne that Edward always wore.

It was then that I was struck with the horrible realization that I had absolutely no memory of what had happened from when Rosalie left the hospital room to when Sam barreled through the doorway just moments ago.

"Edward…" My voice broke as I said his name and I looked up as Sam with what I imagined to be wide, fearful eyes.

His own eyes softened at the knowledge that I hadn't known Edward was here and that whatever had happened I hadn't been a willing participant. His stance relaxed and he pulled me to him. He buried his nose into my hair, in an attempt to smell only me, I'm sure. I could tell that he was purely acting on instinct.

It must have been scary for him to know that I still had loyalty to some vampires, Rose, Emmet, and even Jasper, but I couldn't even imagine how he would feel about me knowing his secret if I were still loyal to all of the Cullen clan. I could definitely see a few of them using any information about the wolves to have an upper hand against them.

It wasn't until Sam pulled away just enough to wipe away a tear from my cheek, that I even noticed I had started to cry. I was scared. I could feel frustration and panic bloom inside me the longer we stood here and I still couldn't remember anything, much less the fact that Edward had been here at all. I looked back up into Sam's eyes and somehow knew that I could trust him with anything.

"Sam… I… I don't remember. I have no idea what happened." I whispered.

Author's note:

I have no real explanation for why this took so long… so I am just going to apologize. I'm sorry guys! I really have no intention on giving up on this story or on any of my stories. With the new year, I have set my mind to keep up with my writing. It brings me so much joy to write and I truly hope that you will enjoy the stories I come up with.

I can't wait to hear what you all have to say about this long awaited chapter as this definitely does reveal some more plot and direction! Even though I don't send one on one responses to all of the reviews, I hope that you all know just how much I appreciate them and want to respond! I simply can't without giving everything away because I just get too darn excited about it!

Here's to a new year filled with new chapters!

And as always, happy reading 3

Dahlia