A/N - I kind of went in a completely unexpected direction, but you guys like unexpected. Right?
Right.
Boring disclaimer you can probably skip: All rights to Twilight belong to literally everyone but myself. That's an exaggeration... All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer.
WARNING - There are dark themes in this chapter. Not suitable for all audiences.
I avoided the alleyways.
A fair amount of time had been spent in alleys, and none of it good.
Example A: I was nearly attacked twice, and successfully attacked once. Need I say more?
Example B: When I first began my descent into the land of rebellion, I made friends with the people in the alleys. Big mistake. That decision ultimately contributed to my near-misses. Oh, and of course, the bullseye.
After looking at the nearest road sign I knew I had gone much further than I had anticipated. It wasn't until I reached Fred Meyer's that I realized I didn't even have my phone on me. I was lucky that I was anxious enough to triple-check for the keys before leaving.
I walked the streets, ignoring the subtle drop in temperature as the sun fell.
Looking at my watch, I saw that it'd been at least an hour since I left, and I hadn't begun sorting through the puzzle that was my thoughts.
My dilemma was not 'to be or not to be', but rather, who do I want in my life? The answer was fairly simple yet completely difficult. I wanted Charlie and Renée, I wanted Mike, Angela, the pack, the Cullens… That was my problem.
Choosing.
Just the mere thought of not having any of those people in my life tore at my heart, threatening to split it right down the middle.
"I believe that if you can hate someone, you can love them, and if you can love, you can hate."
Rose was right. The scale was equally balanced; I shared the same amount of love and hate for everyone I know. I had too many reasons for the latter; Charlie letting my mother cart me off, Renée not-so-subtly keeping me from Charlie… Everyone made mistakes, God knows I've made my fair share, but I couldn't move past theirs.
"There's only so much room in a heart for war. One day, you'll have to let go of one of them. Find a way to make peace with your emotions, and only then will you be able to let go."
If only it were that easy, Rosalie.
I wanted to be a vampire; I wanted my eternity with Edward and the Cullens. But their leaving opened my eyes, showing me the people I already had. I'm caught between two worlds. Not for the first time, I wished that the Cullens were human, so I could live a normal life. I could grow old with everyone, go through the ups and the downs, and eventually die as I was meant to.
But that was an impossibility.
I had to choose.
If I decided to choose my past: Charlie, Jacob, Mike, Leah, Seth, then the Cullens would leave. If I chose my future; Edward, Rose, Esme, Carlisle, then I'd have to leave the others behind.
Time. That's what I need. I wished I had the ability to simply stop time just to spend all I could with my family. There wasn't enough time in the world.
But maybe - and I ignored the smug expression on Edward's face that my mind so generously supplied - I could prolong my change until after college. It was what Edward had said before. Before he left. Back when I was foolish enough to eagerly throw away the people I had known for all my life; to want to.
I was still feeling extremely tense, but significantly less so after coming to my decision. When I finally freed myself from my thoughts, the sun was lowering past the rooftops. Dusk. Despite it being Saturday, cars flew past until they hit a light, a long line of headlights growing immediately as far as I could see. Rush hour.
So many cars made me anxious so I turned a corner onto a significantly less populated street. There was still a fair amount of people driving by, but only enough to remind me of Forks Main Street on a good day.
Excluding the occasional sound of an engine, it was oddly quiet. Unnaturally so. There were no crickets or birds chirping, no wind, and no people. I've seen enough movies to know that if everything in the forest goes silent, then you had better run. But I wasn't in the forest, I was a young girl, walking alone on the streets. Was I still in Seattle?
I turned yet another corner, which put me directly on the path that I had come from, except a street or two over. I sped up slightly just before I passed an alleyway, a space that was now eerie because of the lack of light.
Behind me, a shriek pierced the still air. I froze, my ears zoning in as if they could hear the breathing of this new person. There was another shriek, but I didn't hear the following peal of laughter as I had already moved into action. I darted back to the alley, my earlier wariness forgotten.
With the sight that greeted me, my body drained of tension and I slumped against a trash bin. Staying in the shadows, I kept my eye on the two women that were laughing and playfully hitting each other.
"Shut up, Leigh, you're going to get us caught!" hushed the shorter of the two, though her words were slurred and loud. If anything, she was going to be the one that got the two of them 'caught'. What cop cared about two drunk women? They were obviously of age, just barely hitting the mark.
It seemed the taller one, the woman who was maneuvering her drunk self surprisingly well in the heels she wore, agreed. "No, Ali, it's gonna be you," she said, jamming her finger directly into the shorter woman's chest. I realized too late to cover my eyes and I saw the fondling.
Even so, I covered my face like a child would when watching a scary movie. I pried open my fingers to see the two of them engage in a long, mushy kiss. I wanted to look away but found I couldn't. The two women looked familiar, way too familiar. I knew it wasn't them, but the resemblance was uncanny. The similarities went right down to their names! Rosalie - Leigh? Alice - Ali?
Too wrapped up in the strange coincidence, I didn't notice the shadow from above. I only stared, dumbly, at the two women in front of me. Ali was short with dark brown hair styled as a bob, and Leigh was leggy with a luscious mane of straight golden hair.
"God, I love you," Leigh whispered as she bent down to kiss Ali's neck.
"More than you love your husband?" Even from here, I could detect the playfulness in the brunette's voice.
Leigh scoffed, and do I need to even say it was in a manner eerily similar to Rose's? "What Elliott doesn't know won't kill him."
Elliot! Oh my god, what is going on?
I, apparently, made the mistake of blinking.
One moment there were two women, who were so obviously head over heels for the other, sticking their tongues down each other's throats. And in the next, they were nothing but a bloody mess on the pavement.
My jaw dropped as the vampire licked the last drop of blood from her finger. If I didn't already know vampires existed, the moment she raised her eyes to meet mine, I believe my heart would've stopped.
"Hello, Bella," she smiled. I had expected something sinister, or maybe even some form of an evil taunt, something. However, I did not expect her to be so casual. But Victoria, after all, did have a flair for the dramatic.
She frowned when I didn't say anything. "Are you a mute, Bella?"
Why did she keep saying my name? I looked down as she stepped over Leigh. My brows furrowed as the remaining rays of light landed on her body. The hair was less golden and more dirty-blonde. Looking to Ali, who laid beside her lover, even in death, I saw that her hair was freshly cut. Their pained faces were not of two unknown women.
Victoria smiled as realization dawned on me. I looked up, anger filling my entire being, and stomped forward, stopping my fist just a hair before I made contact with her skin. "Why?!" I screeched. "Why them?"
I stepped back, not turning around. I refused to look at them. It's not them. Their bodies are only the shell of who they were. Still smiling, Victoria gripped my arms as I tried to back away and spun me around as she trapped me against her body. I slammed my eyes shut and shook my head.
"Oh, come on, Bella. Don't be so rude," she said sweetly as I struggled in her arms. Her red curls spilled over my shoulder as she leaned in my ear. "They're dead because of you," she hissed. Her voice was like a child's; high and grating. "When your little protectors came back, I thought they would have kept an eye out for me. I thought your vampires and wolves would've extended their protection to your friends.
"What were their names?" she paused, as if she was actually asking me. I felt her shake her head from behind. "Lauren? Mommy and Daddy have been looking for her for days now, or haven't you heard? And Jess? Poor Mikey didn't even notice until I was blocks away."
My anger surged and in a surprising show of strength, I broke free from her arms, tripping from the sudden movement. Having only a second to prepare myself, I held out my hands, and they were immediately coated in spilled blood as I landed. The combined blood of Jessica and Lauren.
I didn't look at their faces as I forced myself off the ground and once again faced Victoria. Seeing as I wasn't much of a threat, she continued her villainous monologue. "I will never get tired of the fear of humans. In the face of danger, they'll do anything to save themselves." She chuckled, and I furiously noticed the trail of blood just below her lip. "It was so easy to get them to bow to my whims. What a performance, wouldn't you agree?" She praised the two dead girls just behind me.
"Sad to say it wasn't much of an act," she frowned. Victoria raised her head, her now startlingly red eyes glistening from a fresh feed. "I needed it to be believable. You and your experiences in alleys kept you away, but I knew you'd come if you thought there was someone to save."
"What do you want?" I managed to hiss through clenched teeth. My breaths were sporadic and it felt as if my heart was pounding a mile a minute.
She lowered her head, looking me directly in the eyes. "I want you to leave."
The answer was so simple and so completely, wholly unexpected, that I took a step back in surprise. "That's it?" What did she mean by 'leave'? Obviously, I wasn't going to stay in Seattle. If I somehow managed to escape Victoria, I'd go straight back to the motel to get Rose and Alice and head directly to Forks.
"I'm not here to torture you or kill you or anything of the sort," she said. Victoria crossed her arms and sat on a stack of boxes. I was surprised they didn't immediately cave in. "Originally, my plan was to kill you because Edward killed my James. But, then I thought, 'Did he? Did Edward kill James?' I was right behind your human-lovers. Close enough to investigate the scene before they burned it down. Dear Mary Alice's scent was all over the pyre, predating the boys' by only seconds."
She grinned to herself then, smiling at whatever wicked plan she had concocted. "I will have my fun with your Alice, just you wait. But you were involved, and it is because of his ridiculous obsession with playing games, because of you, that he is dead. I have games of my own."
Victoria blurred over to me, gripping my chin with bruising force. "Here are the rules. Number one, you leave the country, and you do so without contacting the Cullens or your precious mutts. No further contact will be allowed. I will find out if you do." She smiled again, revealing a perfect set of sharp teeth. "Number two, the yellow-eyes will try to desperately find you, which means you have to be alert and stay ahead of them." I didn't bother to mention how utterly impossible that was considering the mind reader and the psychic. "Number three, adhere to rules one and two and I will leave your vampires, your wolves, and your town alone. No one will come to any harm at my hands. I think it's a deal worth more than you deserve, but I do love to see supernaturals climb over themselves to win your favor."
I frowned, narrowing my eyes. "Why should I believe a word you say? You say you won't hurt anyone, which includes Alice, and I find that hard to believe. James was your mate, and if Alice killed him," I said, careful of my words in case Victoria was only bluffing about the studio. She could very well only have suspicions about Alice's involvement in her mate's death. "If Alice killed him, why wouldn't you go after her?"
Victoria laughed. It was not sinister and it was not cruel. It was genuine. "You don't know anything, do you?" She looked at me and I refused to believe I saw true pity in her eyes. "James wasn't my mate, dear sweet Bella. Vampires take many lovers, or maybe someone to serve as a placeholder until they find their true mate." Her expression darkened considerably. "If he had been, then there would be hell to pay."
"Because he wasn't your mate, your quest for vengeance isn't as…intense?"
As she perched herself on a trash bin, she laughed again, which was really starting to irritate me. "There wouldn't even be a 'quest for vengeance', as you put it, if it wasn't for the Cullens' interference. I didn't love him," she revealed. "There are very few laws for us vampires, but the two main ones, one of which you already know, are to not reveal ourselves to the humans, and to not interfere with one's mating. The Cullens killed James, believing he was my mate, thus breaking the second. So I am invoking my Volturi right to go after them."
I opened my mouth to ask another question, but she cut me off. "This is a blessing, child. Take this gift I am offering before you upset me."
"Fine," I said, as if I was agreeing to a deal. But there was no choice. It was simple, suspiciously simple. I leave, break many hearts in the process, and everyone I know will be safe.
Victoria giggled victoriously. "If you are still in this country by midnight, I promise everyone you love will die, and they will know their deaths are because you failed. If you attempt to contact anyone you know, if you step foot inside this country after today, if you even think of breaking any of my rules, I will know. And the results will not be pleasant."
She stood up and tossed me a small item, and I caught it with the tips of my fingers. In the low light, I saw it was a passport. Tucked inside was a credit card. Right. Why wouldn't a madwoman spend the last year plotting her revenge? This was the first, and I believe the only time, I spoke with her face-to-face, but I knew Victoria was a woman to plan things thoroughly or not at all. Without opening it I somehow knew my face would be inside. "The pin's 1342."
As Victoria turned to leave, I spoke, my voice shockingly firm despite the night's events. "Won't Alice see?"
And then the red-haired woman smirked. "I can't believe I almost forgot, and it's the best part!" She planted her feet in front of me, standing tall. "There is a reason Edward cannot read your mind. And now, Alice's visions are naught when it comes to you. Your anger towards them," she grinned as I opened my mouth to refute her words, "only sped along the development of who you truly are. Truthfully, I don't know why I worry so much. Soon, your problems will become much bigger.
"They-" She looked behind me, towards the bodies of my fallen classmates. "-are a reminder that I do not make false promises. My words are not empty. The threat I pose is true, and as you escape this country on a plane to wherever you decide to go, remember how easily I have gotten in and out of Forks undetected. Who knows? Maybe Mike could be next.
"Go. Flee this life and start anew. Begin and settle, know that I won't come for you, and live, knowing, waiting for the moment when you have to pack up and leave to start again." Victoria walked forward, and I waited for the moment when she decided her plan was too much and that it would be easier to kill me, but she passed me and knelt down next to the bodies of Lauren and Jess. With a shrug of her shoulders, she picked them both up and stood once again. "I'll take care of your friends as you have some running to do."
With that, she walked down the alley. I checked my watch, the movement enough to bring to my attention the loss of weight in my jacket. I shoved my hand in my pocket to discover my cigarettes were gone. I looked up and saw Victoria's silhouette paused just at the end of the alley, facing me, a single hand raised to show my missing pack of smokes.
"Smoking is a nasty habit," she tutted disapprovingly, to which I glared. Just when things were finally getting somewhat good, she comes in to destroy my life, and she has the gall to lecture me on smoking? "I can't have you offing yourself, either. Again, I'll find out if you do. I'd truly appreciate it if you lasted longer than a few years, else my time has been wasted.
"Rule number four: if you kill yourself, I'll kill everyone you know." Before she vanished into the darkness, the light from the rising moon illuminated her fiery red mane and her crimson eyes.
I looked at the street sign, squinting in the dark, and tried to call forth the mental image of the map I saw online. Where was the nearest airport, and how the hell would I get there?
Victoria was insane but there was no doubt in my mind that she meant every word she said.
15 - Written: 12/21/21 - 12/22/21
Posted - 12/23/21