Disclaimer - I do not own Twilight, Jennifer's Body, or any of its characters.
A/N - This chapter gets a bit violent, with depictions of blood in great detail, and has mentions of suicidal thoughts.
xXx
Jennifer's Body
Part 2
xXx
Previously...
While she stood outside, she watched them work. The head doctor, she could only assume, barked orders at the others. Bella had never watched 'Grey's Anatomy', unlike Angela, so she understood little to nothing of what he was saying.
What she did understand, though, was when they put two pads on him; one on his upper right chest, and the other under his left armpit. There was water in her ears and she couldn't hear a thing but she saw their mouths move. The doctor yelled, then again, and Charlie's body jerked in the bed, his back arching before landing limply.
They were doing everything they could, Bella didn't need a doctor to tell her that, but she couldn't help the unimaginable bout of anger that swept through her when all movement stopped. The head doctor wiped a gloved hand across his forehead, looking at what she presumed was a clock on one of the walls.
Her ears decided to work again at that moment because just before the door drifted closed, she heard him say, "Time of death, 17:02."
Present...
Alice held a hand to her mouth to keep the sobs in. Though it was a different world, Charlie was like a second father - or third, if you counted the human father she'd forgotten - to her. Seeing him die cracked her heart, and seeing Bella's reaction shattered it.
Bella ran. For her entire life, she stopped herself from running because of her tendency to trip over herself, but not even fear of a skinned knee or elbow could've stopped her. She ran through the hall, out of the room, around the weird circle that was the second floor, down the staircase, and out of the hospital.
It wasn't until her car doors locked that she allowed herself to breathe. But she could barely do that as she sobbed uncontrollably, the aching in her chest worse than ever.
Charlie. Sweet, adorable, humorous Charlie. Gone.
Her father. Gone. Dead.
Another torrent of tears overtook her and she sat, and while she sat, she grieved. She didn't notice the parking lot slowly emptying or the sun lowering past the trees.
Bella was lost in her own world of grief.
And it was in that grief that she latched onto a passing thought, a comforting thought. She'd done it before, why couldn't she again? When the Cullens left her that first time, she locked herself in her mind, in her numbness. It was that numbness which she now sought.
Numbness was better than this pain. She never knew anything like it before. It hurt so deeply she thought she would die. Somewhere, deep in the catacombs of her mind, a voice spoke to her; an echo. It told her that this was heartbreak.
"Fantastic," Bella said sarcastically. "I'm going crazy."
But the Cullens knew she wasn't. They had a very real reason to be concerned. Carlisle especially, since he had heard of this happening before.
No, Bella thought. I know what heartbreak is and this isn't it.
You silly child, it countered, and Bella frowned. This was her own mind speaking to her, yet it was calling her a child. Your heart, it said slowly, is breaking.
When the meaning caught up to her, she gasped. She'd experienced heartbreak, and now, the literal breaking of her heart. But how was that possible?
The voice didn't speak again, and for that, Bella was glad. She filed away the strangeness of it to come back to on a later date. Right now she was searching for her numbness, but it was evading her.
Bella looked around the empty parking lot and sighed. She didn't realize how long she'd been sitting in her car. Though she had calmed down significantly, she knew she shouldn't drive. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearing nine.
She pulled out her phone and clicked on Jessica's contact. Her friend answered on the second ring. "Hello?"
"When's that party?" Bella asked.
"Starts at ten. But anyone can come whenever."
She smiled. "Great. Can you pick me up now?"
"Bella, what are you doing? You know I'm all for parties, but your father just died!" Alice exclaimed.
"My father did not just die, and I don't think he will. He's sitting right there," she pointed at Carlisle while still looking at Alice.
"Well, yes," Rose said, realizing the two were likely to get in an argument if they carried on with the way they were now. "But in this vision, Charlie is your dad. You can see why she's concerned, right? Partying after someone you love dies isn't usually what one does."
Bella nodded. "That's vision-me. I don't know the reasons behind how she acts or the way she thinks."
"Um, yeah, sure!" Bella heard rustling over the phone and assumed Jessica was getting out of bed. "Where are you?"
"The hospital."
"The where? Are you okay?" Jess asked, concerned and curious.
Bella shook her head but answered, "Yeah, fine. I'm in the front parking lot." She hung up before Jessica had a chance to respond.
She only had to wait five minutes before she saw Jessica's red 2004 impulse Toyota corolla pull into the lot. Her friend pulled into one of the many open spots next to her car and Bella got out of her own.
Jessica's eyes widened when she saw Bella and her first words were, "You look like shit."
"I try," Bella responded dryly. She rounded the front of Jess' car and was about to pull open the passenger's door when her friend's voice stopped her.
"What about your car?"
She shrugged. "I'll get it in the morning. Let's go."
On the drive over, neither girl said so much as a word. Jessica was too worried about Bella and wondering what she could've been doing at the hospital. She didn't look sick, just like she'd survived the apocalypse.
Despite how the party wasn't supposed to start until an hour later, the large house was already crawling with people.
"Where are we?" Bella asked, noticing the forest just behind the house. There were no neighbors.
"Edge of Forks," Jessica responded distractedly, looking for Mike. She smiled when she caught sight of his blond head in one of the windows. "Mike's already here. Go. Mingle."
Jessica ran off, leaving Bella alone on the curb. She sighed and made her way into the house. Kitchen, she said to herself. That's normally where the alcohol is in movies.
"Bella!" Jasper exclaimed.
"What? Like you said earlier, my father is dead. Cut us a break!"
"Alcohol is not the solution," Esme chided gently.
Bella huffed, crossing her arms. "The one thing I have in common with my on-screen self is that I'd react the same as her if any one of you died."
Despite being warmed by the statement, the frown remained on Esme's face. "Alcohol is alcohol. There'll still be consequences."
"Look, I'm not drinking now! Besides, you'd smell it a mile away."
Just as she predicted, there were several bottles on the counter and two stacks of red cups next to them. She pulled one from the top and grabbed a random, open bottle, and poured it clumsily into the cup. She set the bottle back on the counter and followed the sound of music to the living room, cup in hand.
The music she had heard was a band. She couldn't help but cringe mentally. They weren't good but they weren't bad. She was confident that if they changed a few notes it'd play smoothly. Despite the clashing notes, she fell into an almost hypnotized trance as she listened. The lead singer looked up and locked eyes with her and she fell all the more deeper into the trance.
Jessica came in from the dining room, scowling. She had come to this party for Mike and he had a freaking girl on his arm. She bumped into someone and looked up to apologize but stopped. The person she had bumped into, a man around her age, was staring dumbly in the direction of the band. As she looked around, she noticed everyone else was too, including Bella.
She weaved her way through the army of bodies toward Bella. Every time she accidentally bumped into someone, she expected them to shout at her, but no one even moved. It was like they were frozen.
The lead singer, who was still looking at Bella, moved his eyes over to Jessica. His eyes were dark and spooky. He winked at her before looking down to his guitar.
Suddenly, Bella broke out of her trance and turned to Jessica with a smile on her face. "I think they need two groupies. Come on!" She grabbed Jess' hand and tried to drag her along, but her friend didn't budge, too shocked at Bella's mood change to move.
"No."
"They're just boys. I don't see Mike anywhere. Come on, let up!" Bella continued trying to drag her across the room but Jessica shrugged herself out of her grip and reluctantly followed her.
As they walked, the band stopped playing and everyone started moving again as if nothing happened. The lead singer jumped down from their makeshift stage and met them halfway.
"Hi," Bella said shyly and Jess looked at her in confusion. She had seemed so confident, which was unlike Bella, and now she was back to her shy self. "We just wanted to introduce ourselves. I'm Bella Swan and this is my friend, Jessica Stanley."
The singer smiled. "I'm Nikolai Wolf, but call me Nik. This is my band," he gestured behind him to the other three guys who stopped messing with their instruments to give them half-hearted waves.
Awkward silence reigned, and Bella asked nervously, "Can I get you something? A drink or whatever?"
"Sure," he smiled again and Jessica noticed how creepy it looked on him.
While Bella went back to the kitchen, Jessica sat on one of the couches that were, luckily, on the other side of the room from the band. She was beyond concerned. First, Bella agreed to go to a party which was a miracle in itself. Then she asked her to pick her up an hour early at the hospital and she looked like a wreck. Now she was alternating between sudden confidence and her usual shyness. What was going on with Bella?
Jessica glanced at the band and saw that most of them were staring in the direction that Bella left.
"Dirk, what about her?" the lead singer, Nik, asked. Jessica couldn't help but overhear, because they were being anything but quiet. "She's it, man. She's the one we've been looking for. She's exactly what we're looking for."
"Emmett, switch seats with me," Rosalie ordered with a strained voice. There was no way she'd be able to watch the rest of the vision not sitting next to Bella. She'd pieced it together; the pointed memory of Port Angeles, and then Bella's fear of the guys at the party, and now the creepy guys themselves… Something was going to happen with the band and Bella.
Emmett was curious but recognized his wife's tone and switched seats without a question.
Once she sat, Rosalie eyed Bella worriedly, as if to make sure she was still there. Though she was as weak as a human, her inner vampire had reared its protective head. That part of her had created a list of all the people in the visions who had wronged Bella, including themselves, and it wanted to kill every last one of them.
Luckily, she couldn't actually do anything. She did enjoy the imagery though, and it satisfied the protective beast as it faded once more into the background.
"You're sure she's…" a second man, 'Dirk', started.
"She's a kid. We're in God's country, man. Everyone out here's a bible-banger. Of course she's a virgin." When Dirk looked hesitant, Nik continued. "We didn't hall our asses out to this drowned place for nothing!"
When the men turned to the back wall, fiddling with their instruments, Jessica rushed to the kitchen, where Bella stood pouring drinks, then pouring them out in the sink, and trying again. She turned to find Jessica standing in front of her, looking beyond concerned. She sat down the bottle and cup, setting her hands on the counter. "What's up with you?"
"There's something wrong with those guys."
Bella rolled her eyes. "They're an Indie Rock band, everything's wrong with them."
"I'm serious," Jess hissed. "They were talking about you. And more importantly, they focused on the fact that they think you're a virgin."
"I thought we agreed to not speak of that ever again!" Bella whispered furiously, brushing past Jessica and leaving the forgotten drinks behind.
Bella blushed and tipped her head forward so her hair fell on either side of her face. She didn't want to have to elaborate on that story.
She stomped into the living room, where Nik was addressing the people. "My apologies for the pause, technical difficulties," he spared Dirk a glare. "But we are back and ready to rock your world!" He winked at Bella.
The band opened with their next song, which sounded almost exactly like their first, entrancing everyone but Jessica. While they played, Bella and Nik stared intently into each other's eyes. The other party-goers once again fell into a trance-like state.
Everyone and everything seemed frozen and that is the very reason why Jessica was the only one to notice the fire. In the corner of her eye, orange flashed and grew brighter. She shouted in surprised fear, shocking everyone but Bella out of their daze.
Screams filled the room and people headed for the front door, but the fire had already taken over. Flames licked the ceiling and two of the walls, trapping everyone together in a room of death. A chunk of the ceiling groaned before falling, crushing a couple in their mid-twenties.
As chaos ensued, the band continued playing, and Jessica looked at Nik. Is he smiling?
Jessica's eyes searched the room wildly and landed on a small rocking chair, fit for a child. She picked it up and swung it into the window. The ear-splitting sound of shattering glass rang in her ears as she grabbed Bella's arm and dragged them both through the broken window.
No one, not even Carlisle, could make sense of the situation. Everyone at the party was in the living room, so how had the fire started in the kitchen?
They barely reached the curb before Jessica collapsed, coughing. She noticed Bella still in her trance and waved her hand in front of her face. "Bella?" she whispered. "Bella!" She snapped her fingers in front of her friend's face, which finally broke her out of her daze.
"What, Jessica?" Annoyance. She expected shock or fear, anything but annoyance.
"What's going on with you? You're all over the place today."
"My father died barely an hour ago," she answered bluntly.
Jessica's mouth dropped open in shock and she moved to comfort her but Bella shrugged her off. "Just...don't." She stood up and walked over to where Nik stood with his band.
The brunette watched as her friend talked to Nik before they all got in the van. She yelled after her but Bella looked her in the eye as Dirk, who sat in the back with her, slid the door closed.
"Bella, I understand you have no self-preservation, but I thought you'd at least have the sense to not hop in a white van!" Rose shouted, incensed.
"Haven't you been watching?" Bella challenged. "That me isn't really herself right now. I doubt anyone is, except for Jessica, thank God."
"What do you mean?" Emmett asked.
Bella smiled. "Well, those creepos somehow have me hypnotized so I can't exactly help myself. Jessica, for some reason, is immune, so she can help me."
Emmett nodded and returned his attention to the screen.
Jessica, unable to follow them as they sped away, fought the festering feeling of fear as she stumbled her way to her car. As she slid in, she looked through the front windshield and watched as the roof caved in, destroying the whole of the second floor as it fell.
There were no more screams. It was utterly silent. She only hoped that those who could get out did. Perhaps it was shock, perhaps it was a fight or flight response, whatever it was, Jessica considered it the reason why she left without so much as a backward glance.
She drove home in shock. Jessica wasn't surprised to see no cars in the driveway when she arrived at her house. Her mom was known to work late into the night and well into the morning.
"Damn you," she cursed as the key refused to go in the lock. It was dark, so she realized too late that she was holding Bella's keys rather than her own. "Fantastic," she muttered. She was glad that she at least left her window unlocked.
Jessica crawled through the foot-wide opening and dropped onto her bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
It could've been minutes or hours later when she felt a sharp poke in her side. "Go away, Mom," she mumbled groggily. But she felt another sharp poke, and she flipped her body over so she was on her back.
She made out the frame of Bella, who even in the dark, she could see was smiling. Jessica hopped out of bed and ran over to the light switch and flicked it on. She turned around, about to yell at her friend for scaring her, but screamed instead.
"Oh my god," Alice breathed.
"Is that-" Bella started, and gulped. "Blood?"
Rose could barely pick her jaw off the ground. "What the hell happened? And why are you smiling?"
"Your teeth are covered in blood," Jasper whispered and realization dawned on him. "Those guys did something to you," he growled, and he had a feeling that whatever they had done, she wasn't supposed to survive.
There Bella stood, her clothes tattered and stained, her entire front covered with blood. Beneath the blood, her shirt was cut away just above her belly button, and her skin was marred and torn. Jessica looked at her face, expecting an expression of pain - since she was dripping blood everywhere - but was met with an eerie smile instead.
"B-Bella?" she asked, but her friend didn't move a muscle. "What happened?" Still, Bella did not answer. Jessica opened her mouth to open another question and was cut off when Bella opened hers…
...and gagged up what looked to be an entire gallon of blood. Maybe more. It coated Jessica's wooden floor, her walls, her door, and Jessica herself. It completely doused a stack of books on the floor by her bed. It even reached as far as the corners of her comforter that fell to the floor.
The blood itself was dark, so dark it looked almost black. Once it all settled, Jessica saw a wave go through it, almost as if something were moving underneath it. But there was nothing, and she knew this because the wave was of spikes.
Bella fell to the floor, crying. Jessica knelt down next to her and listened as her cries turned into a fit of laughter. As she laughed she looked down at the wrist which Jess had grabbed and she smiled again. Then she moved.
The movement was so abrupt that Jessica let out a startled shriek. Bella had pinned her to the wall and leaned towards her neck; to kiss or to destroy, she didn't know. She froze in her fear, not daring to move a muscle.
The Cullens were familiar with this; they had all experienced it firsthand. But this was so much more terrifying because it was happening to Bella, and they didn't know what had happened in the first place.
Just as she was about to tear into her friend's neck, Bella pulled away and looked into Jessica's eyes. Jess saw fear, anger, sadness, and above all, a deep hopelessness.
"Help me," Bella whispered, and her body jerked, almost as if it went against her words, and she staggered down the hallway and out the front door. Jessica could only stare, horrified, as she stumbled away.
But, she remembered Bella's plea and ran down the hall and through the open front door. "Bella!" she yelled, but her friend was nowhere in sight.
Sighing, Jessica went back inside and slammed the door behind her, locking it and marching to her room. She reached into her purse and pulled out her phone, covering it with the blood Bella had choked up. She tried to wipe it off with her sleeve but to no avail.
She gave up and dialed her friend's number, who answered on the last ring. "Angela!" she exclaimed before the other girl could say a word. "There's something wrong with Bella and I need your help to fix it."
Bella strolled through the forest and she thought she had no goal in sight, but she was proven wrong when she found Jason, a boy she had gone to high school with, sitting at the fire of his makeshift camp alone.
He looked up when he heard the leaves crunching and he paled at the sight of Bella, immediately concerned and terrified for her.
"What happened?" he asked, standing up.
"I'm gonna kill him, aren't I?" Bella asked forlornly, covering her face with her hands.
"It'd seem so," Carlisle said, unable to hide the truth. If he wasn't convinced to not leave again before, he surely was now. Even if it was in a different way, he never wanted to see those he loved on that path. He'd do everything he could to stop it.
Bella only smiled.
"She what?" Angela shrieked.
Jessica knew her disbelief, she had felt it, and she hummed in response. "Blood. Everywhere. I'm gonna have to throw out those books you gave me," she said apologetically.
"What happened then?"
"She cried. Then laughed. But when I touched her, it was like something had come back to her, I don't know. She pinned me to the wall and looked almost hungry, and I swear to you, Ange, that I was seconds away from death. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but she pulled away, told me to help her, and ran."
"What do you think stopped her? Why do you think she pulled away?" Angela asked.
"I've the faintest idea. What I do know is that whatever or whoever happened, Bella's still in there. Somewhere." Jessica looked out the window she had locked, searching the surrounding forest for something. "Please tell me you're coming back."
Before Angela could respond, Jessica heard the clicking of a turning signal and sighed in relief. "I'm already on my way. I'll be there sometime around two."
"Go straight to the Swan house," she said, a plan coming to mind, and hung up.
She had three hours to kill, and she certainly wasn't going to Bella's alone. What to do?
For the next two hours, she researched everything she noticed about Bella within the last day. It seemed her father's death served as a catalyst. Bella had seemed fine that day at school but when Jessica arrived at the hospital, she was an absolute mess.
Nothing on the internet provided what she was looking for, though even that, she had no clue.
She checked her phone and ignored the stone that settled in her stomach when she read the time.
Time to go face my suddenly frightening demonic friend, she said to herself.
"What happens if they can't save me?" Bella asked worriedly.
No one responded because they all knew the answer to that question.
Jessica pulled into Bella's gravel driveway with Angela right behind her. She got out of her car, closing the door quietly. She didn't know what to expect and she wasn't going to take the risk of scaring her off. Angela took note of her movements and closed her door quietly too.
She stood by her car as Angela walked up next to her. "I keep waiting for Bella to pop out and shout, 'April Fools'," Ange said.
"It's September."
Angela glared at her. "You know what I mean," she grumbled.
"Well," Jessica started, looking up at the house. "Are we doing this or what?"
The two walked up the steps and stopped at the front door, exchanging wide-eyed glances. It was cracked open. Angela gently pushed open the door, the both of them wincing when it creaked.
So much for being inconspicuous.
"This is ridiculous," Jess muttered. She grabbed Angela's hand and pulled her along as she marched into the house. Somehow, she knew exactly where Bella was, and she ran up the steps, not even caring about her noise level.
Jessica froze at the top of the stairs, and Angela, who wasn't paying much attention, rammed into her back. She stepped to the side, rubbing her forehead, and looked at Jess confusedly. In response, Jessica tapped her ear and then pointed to Bella's closed bedroom door.
Faintly, they heard singing. Off-key and off-pitch, but singing nonetheless.
Bella's face flushed in embarrassment. She wished she could just skip over this part.
Rosalie quirked an eyebrow at how red Bella got. She leaned over. "You have a good voice. Don't hide it." Of course, now wasn't one of Bella's finest moments, but she had overheard over singing to herself on Bella-watch-duty one night shortly before they left.
The duo crept up to the room and as they walked, the singing became louder. They stopped just outside her door, and after waiting for a minute, Angela took the plunge and turned the knob, pushing it open.
There Bella was, singing and dancing around her room in extremely tiny shorts. No longer was she wearing her bloody clothes or the insane smile. Her hair was wet, making water fly all over the place as she flung it around.
Oh god, Bella groaned. Save me, she pleaded to whoever was listening.
Oh, there was someone listening, she just enjoyed watching Bella's embarrassment too much to intervene.
Edward frowned at her shorts, and stared, all but willing them to magically grow four inches.
Ever the protective father to the fragile and danger-attracting human, Carlisle had the same thoughts.
Even when she spun around and saw Angela and Jessica in her doorway, she didn't stop. She bounced over to the door and grabbed each of their hands, pulling them in. She dragged them to the bed where they sat and waited while the song finished.
When it finally ended, she danced over to the radio and shut it off. "You're here!" she exclaimed.
This doesn't look like a girl who just lost her father, Angela thought worriedly.
"How'd you know we were coming?" Jessica asked with furrowed brows.
Bella shrugged. "It was obvious," she answered before skipping to her desk. She opened the drawer on the top right, pulled out a tiny metal thing that neither of the girls could discern from their spots on the bed, closed the drawer, and walked back to her friends.
Situating herself between Ange and Jess, Bella looked at them from both sides before holding up the thing she'd gotten from her desk. Up close they could see it was a lighter.
"Watch this," Bella said and flicked the top open. There was a single, tiny flame, and in that flame, Jessica was reminded of the fire only a few hours ago. Both girls were too confused to stop her as Bella brought the flame to her tongue.
"Bella, no!" Angela exclaimed, but it was too late.
Bella's friends watched in awe as the flame lashed at her tongue but never burned it. After a minute of twisting her tongue around, Bella grew bored and flicked the lighter closed.
"H-how?" Angela asked breathily, dumbfounded.
"The fire," she answered simply and laid back into her pillows. "You were right, Jess. There's something seriously wrong with that band. I almost died, and they were the ones who nearly killed me."
Each of Bella's hands was seized by the vampire on either side. Two protective vampires feared for their human, and Bella couldn't move even if she wanted to. She was surprised at the strength they still had even at a human's level.
In the van, Bella looked around. Through the front windshield, all she could see was green. The interior of the van was covered with Satanic posters, pentagrams, and goat heads. On the floor were books called, 'Summoning the Beast', 'Spells and Incantations', and a copy of Black Mass.
Bella sprung to her feet, trying to escape, but the drummer whose name she never bothered to learn, wrapped his arms around her waist and brought them both back down.
"Are you guys rapists?" she shrieked.
Nik, who was driving, turned his head to look at her. "You wish," he snorted before turning back to the front.
The guy who had thwarted her escape attempt spoke, "How do you know she's a virgin?"
Nik turned again and eyed Bella with a calculating look. "She's a virgin," he said definitively.
They drove deeper into the forest. So deep, in fact, that the already worn and uneven path was overgrown with weeds.
Only a few seconds later the van slowed to a stop and all the band members hopped out. The guy who took away Bella's hope of escaping pulled her out with him. Nik rounded the van and made a comment on the moon, but Bella was too terrified to register anything.
All she heard was the roaring of blood in her ears and the frantic beating of her heart.
She saw stars, literally and figuratively, as Nik kicked her and she collapsed on her back in the dirt. Bella groaned before her eyes fluttered shut.
The screen faded to black and the Cullens waited, knowing there was more to the story.
"She needs to be awake for this," Bella heard that dick Nik bark. She felt a sharp nudge to her ribs and she moaned in pain. But there was something muffling the sound and her eyes flew open.
Her hands were tied and there was a gag in her mouth.
Bella found herself gripping the hands with all of her strength, matching that of her vampires.
She tried to move so she could sit herself up but there was a set of hands on her shoulders keeping her down. Not like this. Please not like this, she begged mentally. Tears streamed down her cheeks and at best, she tried to scoot backward.
Bella only moved an inch before the pressure on her shoulders increased. If she lived, she knew there'd be a bruise there.
Nik motioned to the fourth member of their band and he crawled into the van, emerging seconds later with a single, folded piece of paper. He handed it to Nik.
"That's it?" the drummer asked.
"I found it on Google," Nik answered and turned to face Bella, all the while unfolding the paper. He read aloud the words in a rather bland voice. "We come here tonight to sacrifice the body of…" he paused, not remembering her name, and bent down to remove the gag. "What's your name again? Lola?"
Bella was starting to lose hope. She knew she'd die in some weird, freaky way, but she hoped she'd at least graduate from college first! "My name is Bella," she said, upset and furious at the band and at the whole situation.
Nik pulled away. "Super," he muttered before continuing louder for the band's benefit. "We come here tonight to sacrifice the body of Bella from Forks, Washington"
Bella's cries cut him off. "Please! Please- don't do this! I'll do anything, just please don't do this." What little mascara she decided to wear was smeared all over her cheeks from her tears.
Nik sighed and folded the piece of paper, slipping it into his jeans pocket. He raised a leg and set it on a rock, leaning on his crossed arms. "Do you know how hard it is to make it as an indie band these days? There's so many of us and we're all so cute, and it's like if you don't get on Letterman or some retarted soundtrack, you're screwed. Okay? Satan is our only hope."
"Why that little-" Alice started, and hopped up from her chair, charging at the screen.
Emmett rushed out of his and in two long strides, stepped in front of her, catching her arms as they tried to scratch at him. "Alice, he isn't real."
"It's a posible future. He's real!" she responded, still too angry to think or see clearly.
"But he's not here," he said calmly, though on the inside he was just as mad as the rest of them. "You can't do anything to stop them."
"They exist! And they're coming to Forks no matter what we decide, so they're a threat to Bella!" Alice exclaimed, but ceased her useless attack on Emmett, and crossed her arms instead.
"Yes they are, and they'll be dealt with. I can assure you of that," said Jasper, the only one besides the two who was calm enough to speak. While he was calmer than the rest, it didn't mean he wasn't angry. He was imagining ways to eliminate them without spilling blood. To not risk temptation, not to preserve their life, of course.
"We'll take care of them?" Alice checked and smiled when both Jasper and Emmett nodded.
As they sat down, Bella stewed in her disbelief. "They'd kill me just for fame? Money? God, that is so messed up!"
"It is," Rose agreed, rubbing her thumb over Bella's hand. "And it's terrible that there are people like that all over the world. But, unfortunately, there's not much we can do about it."
"Why do vampires prey on innocent people when there are perfectly evil ones right here?" Bella asked.
"You know the answer to that, Bella," Carlisle said.
His comment seemed to end the conversation right then and Alice and Emmett sat back down.
"We're in league with the Beast now and we have to make a really big impression on it," Nik continued before he stood. "And to do that, we're going to have to butcher you. And bleed you. And then Dirk here is going to wear your face." At Dirk's terrified expression, he patted his chest. "Relax. I'm kidding about the face. The rest is gonna happen though."
He turned and whispered to Dirk, and while he did, Bella continued to cry. "You know what?" he said, turning back to her. "Maybe we'll write a song about you. I think as a fan that might be pretty cool, right?" he asked and they all heard the zing of the blade as he brought it out of its sheath.
"How can this guy be so chill about killing me? He's literally about to commit murder! Does that not faze him?" Bella asked.
"Guess not," Rose muttered angrily, wishing she could tear him limb from limb and leave his carcass for the animals.
Knife in hand, Nik stepped up to Bella and raised the blade. "With deepest malice, we deliver this virgin unto thee-"
"Dude, that is a hot murder weapon," the drummer interrupted.
Nik looked over his shoulder toward the drummer, Mick. "It's a bowie knife," he said with a smile and once again turned around.
"Alright, here we go, it's gonna be gnarly!" He raised the blade even higher and slammed his arms down.
Bella's screams drowned out the sudden chanting of the four men.
Everyone jumped, and, though Bella wanted to cover her eyes, she couldn't move an inch.
He raised the knife and slashed it through her body again.
And again.
And again.
"Jeez," Emmett breathed, horrified.
And again.
And…one more time.
All the while, Bella screamed and screamed and screamed, and she just didn't die. Some part of her refused to let her die, even though all she wanted was to see Charlie again. Even death denied her.
Everyone she loved either left or didn't want her. Edward, the Cullens, her father, even death itself. She felt the ache in her chest, despite it being her stomach that was mutilated, and it was powerful than anything else.
She was so tired. Tired of fighting, tired of trying, tired of hoping, tired...
I'm here, that voice in her head whispered. I'm here. You can go.
So she did. She let go of hope for the better, love for her only two friends, hatred for the men who tried to kill her, control over her life- she let go of it all, and it felt damn good. Bella fell into the depths of her mind; an empty, dark, peaceful place, where she hid away.
While Bella let go, the insanity took hold. Like a control center, Bella quit, and Insanity took her place. It swept through and wrecked everything like a hurricane. It took control of her senses, her systems, her emotions, her thoughts. But Insanity wasn't alone, no, the gift of control came with a partner. A partner that was so hungry, always, and it was a hunger that needed to be sated or this miraculous gift of life would be taken away.
"Though that is a terrifying prospect, it's a rather ingenious way to think of that transition," Carlisle thought aloud as he often tended to do.
It's just terrifying, Carlisle, Esme thought with a mental huff.
When Bella finished her story, she glanced at the two horrified faces in front of her. "Relax," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not going to bite you. It's men who did this to me, and it's men who'll pay."
Jessica looked to Angela, who nodded and cleared her throat. "You were lucky Jason was already in the woods or you'd be in trouble."
"They're just...okay with it?" Edward asked incredulously.
"Looks like it," Bella said, not registering who exactly she responded to.
"I have a question," Jessica said, pushing herself off of the bed. "You said you let go. What exactly does that mean? I mean, you're still you, right?"
Bella giggled. "That's actually two questions," she said, ignoring the glares both Jess and Angela sent her. "I'm still me, but it's like sharing my mind with two other people. It's weird, but it's me talking. At least I think it is."
"What do you mean you think?" Angela asked fearfully.
"We're all connected? I'm one person by myself but I'm also one with the others. It's all so complicated and It's hard to tell who's doing what."
"So you don't know if it's really you talking or if it's 'Insanity'," Jessica said and when no one moved to correct her, she rolled her eyes. "Fantastic," she muttered.
Angela shot Jess a glare before turning in the bed to look at Bella. She frowned at the warring expressions on her friend's face. "Bella?" She gently nudged her shoulder, which caused her to flinch.
"Sorry," she muttered. "It's just- I can feel them."
Jessica, who had crossed her arms, sat back down on the bed next to Bella. "Who?"
"Them," she said as if it should be obvious. "I can feel them fighting for control." She rubbed her temple. "It's so weird. Not to mention uncomfortable."
"You're better uncomfortable than dead."
"Am I?" Bella challenged. "I can feel it. I wasn't joking when I said it was hungry. It's still hungry." She shuddered. "It always will be."
It, Jessica repeated hatefully. 'It' is the monster that made her kill Jason. But what- "What happens if it isn't fed?" she asked carefully.
Bella shrugged. "Dunno. It'd probably turn it's little teeth on its host."
"You," Ange said, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Me," she finished.
"Wait," Jess said, an idea forming in her head. "I don't like the idea of you eating anyone more than you or Ange do, but what if it's someone who deserves it?"
"What do you mean?" both Angela and Bella asked simultaneously.
"Someone who deserves to die," she answered.
Angela's eyes grew wide. "Jeez, Jess!"
"No one gets to decide who does and doesn't deserve to die," Bella said with a raised eyebrow.
"They did," Jess answered, her voice rising slightly. "They said you deserved to die. They believed they had that power."
Angela looked convinced but Bella didn't, though they could both see her resolve was wavering. "What do you propose happens after they're dead?"
"Find others who deserve it."
"I never noticed it before, but Jessica makes a loyal friend. Never once would I have guessed she would willingly help you find someone to kill. Angela too. Some rare friends you got there," Jasper said, tossing his hair out of his eyes when he turned to look at Bella.
"Yeah," Bella agreed with a small smile. "They're amazing friends." But I've always taken them for granted, she added with a frown. Not like I'll become some kind of man-eating demon and force them to help me commit murder, but I won't take them for granted again.
Bella stood from the bed and looked Jess in the eye. After a few seconds, her shoulders slumped infinitesimally. She was just about to answer when a voice spoke from the doorway. "The hell?"
Three heads spun to the door to see Mike Newton, blond spikes, letterman jacket and all.
Two girls turned back to Bella and their eyes widened when they saw her teeth. They were elongated to points sharp as obsidian. Her eyes glowed a bright amber, but they twinkled with hunger. "Get him out of here," she hissed through gritted teeth. Her words completely opposed her as-
One body stalked forward, throwing both Angela and Jessica out of the way as she made her way to Mike. The boy who had unknowingly walked right into the lion's den.
"Oh, please don't tell me I kill him right in front of my friends!" Bella groaned.
"Don't you know it's rude to invite yourself in," she whispered into his ear as she used all of her willpower and strength to shove the hunger aside and walk past him. Once she made it past the doorway, she felt the monster rattling in its cage, and she ran down the stairs, out the back door, and into the forest.
It was only the beginning of a very long battle with insanity and hunger.
But her two best friends gave her the one thing she hadn't let go of.
Faith.
"This one was dark but at least it had a somewhat happy ending," Emmett said, trying to lift spirits.
"Without the 'eating men' thing, it's exactly what you go through when you're changed," Edward said. "You still want to become a vampire after watching that?"
Bella rolled her eyes. "No, Edward," she said with some annoyance, which was much less hostile than she had been earlier, so he considered it progress. "I never wanted to be a vampire."
"Huh?"
Bella turned to Emmett, but not without noticing widened eyes and open-mouths. "Why is it a shock? You've always known this."
Without warning, Bella fell back into her chair, unconscious. A faint blue glow, which was the tell-tale sign of Calista's arrival, filled the room and they all reluctantly shifted to face the front.
"What now?" Alice whined.
"Bella's memories can't answer your questions. I can."
"I don't have any questions. It was those memories you gave Bella that influenced her choice," Rosalie said matter-of-factly.
Calista shook her head. "Remember how I said I can't change what she feels?" They nodded. "I can't change her stance on something as important as this, either. It's something she feels deeply and no implanted memories will change her feelings on the matter."
"So this is really her choice?" Esme asked.
"Yes."
A shockwave of silence went through the room.
Edward thought he'd be happy that Bella finally realized what she would've been giving up, but after seeing the trouble she got into in the visions, and the 100% chance that she will get into trouble without them, he saw that both in his head and heart, he had changed his mind. He wanted to teach her to hunt, he wanted to run with her, he wanted her to be his equal, he wanted eternal life with her! And she changed her mind? Are you kidding me? Is this how I made her feel?
Rosalie, too, thought she would be happy to hear that Bella had finally seen sense. But the only thing she felt was dread. Dread for the inevitable death, fear for something as common as the flu to take her out, the terrifying notion of losing her. She had just created a strong base for a relationship and she didn't want to lose it just as quickly as it had formed.
The rest of them had already wanted and expected her to join them. To know that she no longer wanted that, wanted them, well, it broke their hearts.
While the Cullens mulled over that incredibly important piece of information, Calista poofed out of the room in her usual cloud of mist, bringing Bella with her.
15 - Written: 10/3/21 - 10/10/21
Posted - 10/10/21