Authors note: I'm sorry I haven't updated in such a long time. I hope you haven't given up on me! I am going to finish this story, I promise, I just got a little sidetracked for a variety of reasons. I'm back now though, and while I haven't finished it yet, I have a few chapters finished in advance, which I just have to proofread before I post. Anyway, here's chapter twelve, I hope you like it. As always. I don't own the Twilight characters, or the song lyrics. Happy reading!
Chapter twelve
One engine barely makes it away
One engine barely makes it away
Hold on, they're breaking their bonds
Hold on, they're breaking their bonds
One engine barely makes it away
And the martyr line,
It's a bitter pill
And the line of right,
It will barely make you feel
I'd like to get you in some kind of way.
Some kind of trouble in some kind of way
Bear down the one you ground
Bear down, the one you ground
We all must suffer awhile in a way
-One Engine by The Decemberists
"Bella"
The perfect voice broke though the darkness she seemed to be floating in. She tried to focus, to see where the voice was coming from, but she felt fuzzy, and unsure.
"Bella" The voice gently called her name again. She knew that voice. She would always know that voice.
"Edward?" Her own voice sounded far away and strained to her. She looked around, but she could still see nothing. "Where are you? Where am I?"
"We're inside your mind."
"I'm hallucinating?"
"Think of it more as your mind creating a crisis management tool. Take a deep breath. Focus on my voice. Remember what I look like, and you'll see me."
She hesitated, not sure if she wanted to put herself through seeing him, even in her imagination. She finally relented, realizing that she needed to get her feet on solid ground. She concentrated on his voice, and soon she was looking at him. They were in a bare room, just him and her. She tried not to concentrate on how seeing him made her heart beat faster.
"What's going on? Why are we here?" Her mind was a jumble.
"Think Bella. It's within you, Remember what happened." His eyes were gentle and soft, the way they only were when he was calm and at ease; a state she rarely ever saw him in.
"I was in the meadow. Saying goodbye. Then..." She furrowed her brow as she struggled to find the missing pieces. They were there, just out of her reach, but soon her mind brushed onto the memory. "Victoria. She ambushed me."
"Exactly. Well done." His smile was exactly as she remembered, which she supposed made sense since they were in her head. She realized she was remembering him at his best. The way she always saw him. She would need to be careful. Falling in love with a figment of her imagination was a low she wasn't prepared to deal with. His voice pulled her out of her musings. "Now, what do we know?"
"She's obviously looking for revenge. She planned this. I think she's been lurking for months, maybe even the whole time. She waited for me to be isolated. She wants me dead. An eye for an eye?"
"Maybe. But if it were that simple, why aren't you dead yet?"
She felt the blood drain from her face, and her stomach churned. "Because she wants me to suffer as much as possible."
"I'm so sorry Bella, but things are going to get bad I think. No matter what happens, hold onto this. To me. I'll help you as much as I can."
She took a moment to wonder if this was pathetic; if it was completely, hilariously unhealthy for her mind to fall to him even after all this time. She decided it made as much sense as anyone else would. He had protected her before. She'd never felt safer than when she was in his arms. Despite what he thought, he offered her a sense of stability she'd never known before.
Her train of thought was cut short when a bucket of ice water was flung on her, jolting her awake. As she gasped for air, she realized that the interaction had taken place while she was unconscious. She looked around to gain her bearings. She was tied to a chair in what seemed to be the middle of a room with no windows, no doors, and one light bulb hanging from a rotted wood ceiling. She focused on the two figures in front of her as her vision became clearer. Victoria, she recognized, stood beside a boy who looked to be around Bella's age, with the tell-tale red eyes of a vampire.
"Sorry about that pet. Riley was getting a little bored waiting for you to to come around. Did you know you talk in your sleep?" Bella just stared. She had to decide what her play was. Should she stay silent? Should she try to cooperate? Play up her innocence? Go on a tirade about the sanctity of life? She didn't know which course of action would bring her the most pain, but she knew she was in trouble. 'You're stronger than she thinks', she heard his perfect voice call to her from inside her mind. She decided that if this was it, she was going to face it as straight on as she could. No use whimpering or begging.
"You're so quiet pet"
"Bella" she said before she even knew she was saying it.
"What?"
"My name isn't pet. It's Bella. In case you'd forgotten."
"Oh, I remember girl. But seeing as how I've brought you here, I'll call you whatever I want".
Bella decided to try the direct approach. "Why have you brought me here? What do you want from me?"
"I wanted to talk to you. Without your dog friends interrupting, or your fortune teller friend getting wise. Although, it seems I shouldn't have worried about her. It seems they've been gone for a while." Victoria moved closer to Bella. "What happened pet? Did he use you up and get bored?"
Bella looked Victoria straight in the eyes. "Go to hell". Victorias eyes hardened, losing all traces of amusement as she slapped Bella across her face. It was hard, and painful, but it was obvious to Bella that she was pulling her punches. Whatever she had planned, Victoria was not going to spoil it by hitting her too hard.
"So this is one of group that killed your friend?" Riley, the boy, spoke up. Bella couldn't help the smile as she looked at Victoria.
"Friend? Is that what you told him? Oh Riley, you're in it bad and you don't even know it".
"Shut up" He said. Bella could hear Edward's voice in her head telling her to be careful, but she couldn't help herself.
"You should ask her all about her friend. I didn't really know him very well myself, but I think you've got some pretty big shoes to fill there buddy."
Riley's eyes turned murderous, and she was sure he was going to attack, but Victoria moved more quickly, and Bella's body suddenly felt like it was being electrocuted by a thousand volts. She couldn't help but scream out as the pain erupted throughout her body. After a moment it ended, just as quickly as it had happened. She kept her eyes closed for a minute to compose herself, and she could see Edward there looking pained, telling her to breathe. That everything would be okay. She opened her eyes in time to see Victoria move to put a reassuring hand on Riley's arm.
"Don't listen to it. Remember, they all lie. It's what they do, and they trained their little human pet well. I think you should go hunt. Let me deal with this. Remember to go far, so the dogs don't catch your scent".
He walked up to her and locked her in an embrace, kissing her passionately. Bella noted with amusement, that Victoria grimaced at the gesture. "Be safe" he said. Just as Bella was wondering how he was going to get out of a room with know windows or doors, he pulled a door down from the ceiling and climbed up a deep cylindrical wall. 'That's interesting' Mind Edward, as she was coming to call him, said. "We're in a room at the bottom of a well" she said, mostly to herself.
"What was that pet?"
"You keep calling me anything other than my name. You won't even refer to me as her or she. I have to wonder if all of this dehumanization is an attempt to justify all this unnecessary torture."
Victoria laughed. "You stupid girl. Your humanity means nothing to me. You are the fly, and I the spider. You're just food".
"Then eat me".
"So eager to die?"
"Just not interested in giving you the satisfaction of dragging whatever this is, out."
"Patience pet. I have big plans."
Bella shivered. That did not sound good at all. Keep her talking She heard him say.
"Plans?"
"All in good time".
Well that was frustrating. Bella decided to take Mind Edward's advice and try and keep her talking. Maybe if she was busy explaining her evil plan, she wouldn't remember to hurt her, and Bella could have time to try and figure out a way to get out of this. She took a deep breath.
"So...Riley?"
Victoria rolled her eyes and checked her nails with an air of disinterest. "I like having someone to do the heavy lifting."
"You certainly seem to move on quickly. How long after James did you take up with..." Bella's sentence was cut off when Victoria moved again, and Bella's body erupted with paralyzing pain coursing through her. When the pain stopped, she took deep breaths to try and calm herself down.
"Handy little device isn't it? Technology has come a long way since I was human." Bella wearily lifted her head up to see a smiling Victoria holding up a small taser. "I had to figure out a way to hurt you without...tempting myself. Wouldn't want to spoil all of my fun. This is perfect. And travel size." Victoria fiddled with something on the side, then held it to Bella's skin again. Another scream ripped through her. There was a moment where she must have briefly blacked out, because she saw Edward looking at her with a sad look, as if he wanted to hold her, but knew he couldn't. When she opened her eyes again, instead of seeing Edwards warm eyes, she was met with Victoria's, which turned cold. "You don't get to talk about him pet. Not ever" Her voice had a deadly tone to it.
"Noted" Bella rasped. The voice in her mind told her to tread carefully. She wanted to live, and had to find the balance between fighting, and inviting the end all too soon. The realization that Victoria's goal was not to kill her sent a chill down Bella's spine.
"So really now, where are your friends dear? it seems unwise to leave their pet with no protection." Bella glared silently for a moment. Mind Edward was telling her to lie, to threaten her. To do anything she could to get her out of this.
"They're around. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they popped by soon" Victoria hit her with the taser again.
"Don't lie to me child! I know their trail is cold." Victoria yelled after Bella had stopped screaming.
"Maybe you've lost your touch. You're not really the tracking type are you?" Another hit, another burst of electricity tearing her apart from the inside out. His voice was calling to her, begging her to tell her anything. Tell her they went to Alaska, or Canada, anything. Try to appease her in some way. But Bella ignored him. She wouldn't start bargaining with a psycho.
"My plan does not involve killing you, but I will,you insolent child; and I won't think twice about it."
"What is your plan?!" Bella shouted out, exasperated.
"Well, first it was to keep you. torture you for a while, and then kill you in front of your friends. But, as time passed, and I saw that you were here, all alone, crying in your sleep like a pathetic fool, I realized something. You are the root of all of my suffering. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be forced to spend forever alone. Since I'm doomed to eternal loneliness, you will be too."
"What?" Bella's heart started to beat faster. Victoria moved closer, and leaned in to whisper the rest of her plan to Bella.
"I'm going to turn you. I'm going to force you to feed on your family, and all of your friends. And then, when you've become the monster I know you are, I'm going to hunt down every member of your coven, and I'm going to murder them in front of you."
Bella couldn't suppress the anguished cry that escaped her. She squeezed her eyes shut and regained control of her breathing. "What makes you think you could even control yourself enough to change me?"
"I've been practicing."
"Practicing?"
"Again, all in good time pet".
She filed that statement away. "You'll never get near them. Even with Riley, they're too smart for you. You won't get near them."
"Oh no? I may not know everything about your friends, but I do know that the little one's visions are based off of decisions. And that your lover's mind reading has a distance limit. And that they're apparent love for each other is a tool I can use against them. Besides, I've got help."
"Help?"
"Are you a parrot? My goodness! Well, I was hoping to enjoy this part a little longer, but I'm afraid if I spend anymore I will end up killing you. I can see why everyone you love leaves you. You're quite insufferable." Bella lifted her head and spit at Victoria, hitting her on the cheek, earning her one last hit with the taser. When she recovered, Victoria had one last thing to say. "I'm going to save your love for last. The last thing he will see, apart from the corpses of his family, will be your red eyes staring back at him".
With that Victoria once again moved closer and bared her teeth. She was saying something, but Bella wasn't listening anymore, She was staring at the corner of the room, where a boy with bronze hair was telling her to be calm, to stay strong, and to not give up. Then she felt the flesh on her neck rip open and she screamed as she was consumed by flames.
Authors note (Again): Sorry for the cliff hanger of sorts, I'll post the next chapter within the week, I promise!