AN: HEY Y'ALL! SO SORRY THAT I'VE BEEN MIA. MY MENTAL HEALTH HAS NOT BEEN IN THE BEST PLACE AND I UNFORTUNATELY HAVE NEGLECTED MY HOUSE AS WELL AS MY READERS.
PLEASE ENJOY THIS SHORT CHAPTER. IT'S NOT MUCH BUT I KNOW SO MANY OF YOU ARE WAITING FOR THE STORY TO CONTINUE.
They all started talking at once, clamoring for their question to be heard much like they had been to each other not two hours before they had sat down to talk.
"Look. What's done is done, Isabella will either accept her second chance or decide this is not the forever she wanted and let herself die." With that, Damon shoved himself roughly away from the table, going down to the basement with Jasper hot on his heels as he left the three siblings to field questions from the Cullens.
"You know, taunting Edward will hardly help your fear." Jasper drawled slowly and low as they made there way down the spiraling staircase that led to his brother.
"I know," Damon shrugged as he grabbed a large bag of animal blood from the table beside the cell door. "But it will make me feel better."
Damon opened the small hole that they had created in the door to slip the bags of blood to Edward. The bars still allowed him to look out at the hallway, but had since been reinforced and Edward was unable to break free.
"Finally come to rub that I've killed my mate in my face?" The boy howled, his tone hollow and devoid of any emotion other than sorrow.
"I've come to feed you, not that I should." Damon threw the image of his little doe's lifeless body being carried up the stairs to the freshly decorated with flower's bedroom. Edward let out a pitiful strangled sound.
Jasper looked confused, but Damon ignored him and continued to mentally assault the boys senses.
Images of the glimpses Damon had of her brilliant smile.
Edward crouched in the back corner of the cell, growling.
Bella, sitting curled on Damon's bed with one of Stefan's journals in her lap and several more at her feet.
Edward's snarls continued to grow louder. Jasper's confusion only seemed to worsen.
Bella, running the short train Damon had made her around the back of the boarding house in the joggers and jacket he loved on her.
Edward was pressed against the door now, trying to shove his hand through the small slit in the door Damon had just given him his blood bag through.
Isabella, frowning at Damon for the umpteenth time disapprovingly.
Isabella, standing in front of Damon's dresser when he hadn't known he was there; trying on the wedding ring from their time in Vegas.
The fortified steel creaked under the pressure of Edward's force. He was sure even the company upstairs had heard it.
Isabella, trying to catch Damon as Damon ran around her at vampire speed.
Damon switched tactics. No longer using mental images.
He filled his mind with her scent, with the warmth of her skin.
Edward was nearly rabid, screaming at Damon that he was going to kill him.
He didn't bother to look to see Jasper's reaction, only continued the silent attack.
The grand finale, if you so like.
He began to think hard, drawing forth the soft sound of her breathing, the way it had hitched when Damon had pinned her to the tree. Pictured the embarrassed look of pleasure she had tried to hide from him as she caught her breath.
"I think maybe that's enough, Damon." Jasper drawled from the side of Damon, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Damon realized that one of the bars had bent slightly under the force of Edward's grip, the feral look in his eye a sight to behold.
"Maybe just sedate him. Human mood ring." Damon offered, his nickname for Jasper mirthless.
Jasper sighed and nodded, concentrating on Edward and doing whatever it was he did to get the desired result.
When the boy had finally collapsed, weak from fighting the door and Jasper's power, they pair headed up stairs. Damon's expression smug and Jasper's confused. "What on earth could possibly be so confusing about what just happened down there?" Damon snapped, slightly irritated. When was the last time he'd fed?
"Well... He wasn't angry. He was... so uncharacteristically possessive.." Jasper mused to mostly himself as the joined the rest of the party in the living room.
"What do you mean?" Alice appeared beside Jasper suddenly, her hand on his arm, eyes wide with concern.
They never got to hear his thoughts on the matter, nine pairs of eyes snapped to the ceiling above them as a strangled gasp caught their attention, followed shortly by the unmistakable sound of Bella's voice screaming Damon's name.
The tenth set of eyes had already made it's way upstairs.
Isabella
Bella woke with a jolt, gasping and shooting up in bed. She grabbed at the comforter under her and slid up so her back was to the headboard; her eyes wild as she struggled to draw breath into her lungs.
Damon was in front of her in the next instant, cupping her face in his hands and hushing her softly. "Isabella," he spoke slowly, cautiously. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"
Still too shaken up to notice he was nervous, she threw herself at him; again failing to notice the way that Damon grunted softly as she hit his chest. "Damon, I had the worst night-" She was interrupted by several concerned and curious Cullens speaking.
"Bella, I'm so sorry, I didn't see" Alice began.
"How do you feel, Bella?" Esme was here?
"So fascinating, her heart is not beating.. but she's every bit still herself." Carlisle's voice hit her ears.
The rest of the pack now flooded in Damon's room were speaking amongst themselves. Bella held her hands over her ears; unaware she was growling.
Loud, too loud. Why were they all shouting at her? Why were they even here in the first place?
"Why are you all yelling?" She snapped, pulling her face away from Damon's chest to glare at the collective group.
Esme stepped back from her, a slight frown on her delicate features as Carlisle put an arm over his mates shoulders.
Damon disentangled himself from Bella's grip with some effort, and gestured for the small mob to back up.
"Now, I know we gave the general gist but it truthfully is best if we give her a second."
Give her a second? Bella could feel her brows come close together as she grew more and more confused.
Flashes of her last conscious moments flooded her brain, the fear she had felt, the way Edwards steely grip had started to choke the life out of her body.
She could feel the burn in her throat as she struggled to pull enough air in her lings to remain conscious.
Her hand slipped up to grasp at the base of her throat, as if her hand could put out the flames licking at the back of her throat. She was stunned. She had died? How could Edward have done that? He had held her to tight, he didn't even care when she had started to bat weakly at his chest.
Their shouting and murmuring died down as someone began snarling loudly. So loudly it was shaking her, was Damon holding her again? She blinked her mind clear of her thoughts and realized Damon was standing between her and the group. Klaus seemed entertained, Elijah looked as if he were.. worried? Rebekah seemed delighted, and the Cullens wore varying expressions of shock. But why were the looks directed at her?
Irritation churned quickly to rage in her belly, and the snarls echoing around the room seemed to drown out even the sounds of the animals outside. Or maybe they had fled, sensing a larger predator nearby.
How could he do this to her? "He. Killed. Me." The snarl broke at Bella's words and she realized that the noise had been coming from her. Klaus was the first one to speak after several minutes.
"He's in the basement."
Bella didn't get to hear the impish 'what?' he let out soon after. She didn't even realize that, for once, the Cullens were nearly a half dozen steps behind her. Damon's voice fell on deaf ears as he attempted to pull Bella's attention away. The burn in her throat was forgotten; replaced by a burn that blazed hotter and consumed her far more easily than the scratch at the back of her mouth. He had killed her. Snapped her neck as if she were a toy. Some fucking mate he was.
Anger. Followed minutely by fear nearly brought Jasper to his knees as they all hurried to keep up with the newborn.
She was going to murder the son of a bitch herself when she finally got down to the basement.