COCKROACH WAS NOMINATED! READ CHAPPIE FOR DETAILS.


The Sultan's promise didn't last long. A couple hours later that he disappeared. Bella only knew this because a severe nurse informed her. She had fallen back to sleep not long after waking.

They had talked. Although, the conversation never strayed from a carefully chosen path.

Bella now knew what abandoned puppies felt like.

There was nothing romantic about the way she felt without him. Lost, with only cold vampyre nurse to tell her directions. Directions weren't going to be given.

Bella rested her head against the pillow, wishing that it were a bit cooler. She felt hot, as though she had spent hours on a sunny beach without dipping into water. There was a needle in her arm, pumping an odd liquid into her body. Moving her hand towards the needle only earned Bella a strict look and a gently swatted hand.

No words were said between them.

Nor would there ever be.

So, Bella simply went back to wishful thinking about the temperature. The nurse flitted around the room, fiddling with things. The nurse glanced at her from time to time, a look of fear in her eyes.

Bella could only sluggishly wonder why there was fear in her eyes.

It went on like that for another eternity. Bella tried to venture into conversation but found that it was impossible to speak when one was just so damn hot. It was as though someone had jammed a switch in the recesses of her voice box.

As if in punishment, her body temperature rose even more.

"I'm…", Bella felt like she was trying to cough up marbles. "Hot. So. Hot."

The nurse heard her. An answer was not given. The yellow liquid didn't stop pumping.

That was when the terror set in.

She was being murdered.

The IV had to come out.

Her body was slick with perspiration, and sweaty fingers tugged at the IV. The nurse made no move to stop her.

The damn thing came out, with a sickening pop. Bella shuddered.

The murderess fled, her footsteps deafening in the quiet room. Bella could only curl up into a ball and hope the heat would subside soon.

This concluded the first attempt on her person.

There were muted sounds coming from the outside of the door. Someone was yelling, the other was listening adding comment only when they saw fit. Bella gripped her head, marveling at the capacities of migraines to destroy coherent thought. The door to the room burst open. A cool breeze seemed to slowly waft in, cocooning Bella like her mother's arms.

It was a doctor.

Bella watched him suspiciously. He was going through the same motions the nurse had been going through. Was he here to finish off what the other had started?

"Isabella, my name is Carlisle. I'm the doctor who took care of the surgery."

Bella's tongue was cotton. Useless.

"I'm also solely responsible for what happened here today."

There was a shaky fear in his voice. He was going to die. Bella let him continue.

"The poison she gave you was a mixture of many deadly things capable of killing a vampyre in mere moments."

Carlisle poked her with a blue syringe. She couldn't stop him. Whatever it was, she was glad that he gave it to her. It stopped the slow burn that was gently consuming her body.

If she wasn't a vampyre, then what was she?

Carefully, Carlisle pulled back the blanket.

Bella took one look at herself. There was nothing to do, but moan.

Tears slid down her face.

She looked like she had been deep broiled. Up and down her legs were heat burns and sores. Even blisters had popped up in some places.

Nothing could have been uglier to her than that.

The body that she had so carefully preserved even through the hard times was gone. Muscle had disappeared in her time at the Sanguine, but now her skin was gone.

The burns looked like they had started from the feet and gone up. Carlisle seemed to have stopped them just her thighs were being devoured.

Carlisle was slathering a liquid on her legs. She couldn't feel anything anymore, so whether the liquid was cooling her, she couldn't tell.

"How did she get in?" Bella forced through cotton tongue and nonexistent teeth.

"She was allowed in. She had been a faithful servant all of her life, and was my assistant in your surgery."

"Where is she now?"

"Dead."

"You're going to get killed for her actions?" Bella couldn't bring herself to blame this man - no, vampyre- for anything. She knew that Jasper would, though.

"Yes, I should have seen it coming."

You should have, Bella thought groggily, but there no way you could.

The shivers brought Bella to a final wakefulness. Something was completed, but she has no idea what. She was covered in three blankets, and dressed in thick skirts and sweaters. Bless the person who gave her the second skin of leggings.

It wasn't the most beautiful of ensembles, but it kept her warm enough. Slowly, Bella sat up. A glance to her side gave her a Carlisle hunched over a plastic seat breathing in deeply, evenly. He wasn't sleeping.

"How long since the Sultan was here last?"

"Three and a half hours."

Bella recoiled in shock, as though from a well-delivered slap.

Only three hours?

"The poison messed up your time perception too."

Bella could feel the advancing presence. She felt vaguely excited.

"Carlisle, leave." Bella stood and walked over to him, tugging his sleeve upwards.

"Are you feeling alright? Do you feel nauseous?" Carlisle put a hand on her arm.

Carlisle did not deserve to die for someone else's actions. Bella didn't know why she felt this, but vampyre or not, Carlisle would be needed later.

"Get out. Out. Now, I'm begging you. Find someone to help you and hide. I will do everything to help."

Carlisle put his hands on his head, his ruby red eyes glistening.

"Bella, do you know how selfish it was not to tell him right away after I found you?"

"Consider me grateful, because then I will not be the reason for your death. Now, leave!"

Something in her tone triggered Carlisle. One moment Bella was clutching his white sleeve, the next moment her fingers were clutching the absence of it.

The Sultan came a couple minutes after Carlisle's passing. Bella fully realized why Carlisle had thought himself to be selfish. The Sultan had no idea of what had passed.

It didn't take Bella long to realize that their moment of intimacy was temporary. This was the moment that they had to start all over again, other lives be damned.

"Isabella Swan."

"Jasper the Sultan."

The new possibilities stretched out before them. Never before had these two souls be in this situation, in this moment of the time continuum. Never again would they be. It was crucial at this moment not to mess up, not to start off on the wrong foot. They might as well have been strangers.

Jasper's eyes moved from the grip of her gaze and explored the rest of her body. Something didn't exactly sit well with him.

The silence grew exponentially in weight. Bella was hell bent on not being the first one to dip her toes into the lake of sound.

Apparently, Jasper was too. His hand shot out and gripped her neck, tilting her head backwards. A guttural whisper escaped Bella's lips. Then, with his other hand, he pulled her hips to his, lifting her slightly.

What is he going to do?

In all her past lives, Bella always had some idea of what he was going to do. It was an intuition that she had always relied on to know what to do with him. This time, it had very graciously escaped her.

His cold breath was so close to her precious vein that goosebumps of fear arose.

Bella realized that she was being lifted off of the floor. He would never be doing this again.

"I almost can't resist." The whisper brought his lips ever closer to the soft skin under.

The ceiling looked very beautiful today.

"Stop." Bella's anger dripped through the whisper, as well as through the blush the was slowly making its way through her body. Bad choice, body.

Jasper's teeth caressed the soft sensitive skin.

"One day, I won't."

He pulled away from her, as though someone had broken a spell. A small grin graced those marble lip.

As soon as he let go, Bella jumped away from him.

"NO! No. No." She stuck her finger in his face, which would have been an impressive gesture had she been taller. "You have no right, no matter if you were a god or a lowly peasant to touch me without my permission. Do not ever do that again. I swear to god, if you do, I will find a way to punish you."

The grin inevitable turned into a smirk.

"Punish me?"

Bella was almost tomato-like with fury. She would be damned if she was taken out of a society that was just on the brink of equality between the sexes into a place where the medieval morals thrived.

"I am your equal, and you will treat me as such!"

"Such big words for a child." Jasper's smirk stayed on.

Bella fell silent. Instead of giving a negative retort, she simply smiled and cast her eyes downward.

"I certainly don't think I am a child. Maybe you are just blind."

Jasper did not expect that one. One point for Bella and none for the Sultan. Lust turned his eyes a shade of mahogany.

"Come, let me show you to our quarter, where your preparations for the wedding ceremony shall begin."

Bella followed him into the abyss.

Beta'd by 4MeJasper(THANK YOU).

So, guys, I know it's a little late for this, but Cockroach was nominated for Drop Everything Fic at the Twilight Fanfiction Awards.

Vote Here: . Just go down to Drop Everything and there we are!

Thank you for reading!

Review.

Mwah

Cvaboda