A/N: Okay, there's one thing I need to tell you about this chapter. Edward's reaction to Roxanne's actions may not make sense to you yet. The don't even make sense to Edward. Alice will, however, explain it to him in the next chapter.
ROXANNE
I watched as Bella clung to Edward's chest. Listened to the poor girl's heartwrenching sobs. I couldn't believeKyle had the nerve to go after her while she was surrounded by eight vampire, with a wolf pack prowling around her, that could rip him to shreds if he hurt her.
I vaguely wondered if he knew I was part of the family. I wondered if I was the reason he was torturing Bella like this. If the was the case, I was prepared to turn myself over to him. I couldn't deal with watching another inoccent girl go throught he same things that I went through. I had to know what he wanted. If I could stop Bella's pain, I would.
I hoped Edward was too focused on Bella to pay attention to my thoughts. I waited until the family was distracted with thinking of ways to help Bella before I left. I knew he had to be somewhere close by. His [pwers wouldn't work out of a certain range.
"Kyle!" I yelled as I ran through the forest. "Kyle, I know you're around. If you knew what was good for you, you'd come out."
I myself knew that I would never have the guts to do anything if I found him. I prayed with all my might that he didn't know that. It would ruin the whole point of my coming here. I heard a chuckle from behind my back. When I spun around to find the source, I found myself face to face with my worst enemy and the love of my life. It had been five years since the last time I laid eyes on him.
He was as handsome as ever. His brown hair was a little shorter than it was five years ago. His eyes wwre a very deep crimson. I ignored the nausea that crept into my stomach at the thought of his latest victim. He had an evil grin spread across his face. My breath hitched. I wasn't sure if it was fear or excitement. I felt disgusted with my self for feeling the latter.
How could I possibly still love him? After all the horrible things he's done to me? And with all the things he's doing to Bella? God, only knew what else he had planned for her.
"Rox," he sneered. "It's been awhile. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"What do you want with Bella?" I asked trying to keep the shake out of my voice.
"The same thing I wanted with you, of course?" he smirked. "Only I'm looking for more of a challenge. And a girl protected by eight vampires and pack of werewolves is perfect."
"So this has nothing to do with getting me back?" I questioned.
"Nope." he replied. "Unless, of course, you wanna join me then we can arrange something."
"I'd never join a monster like you. And if you get anywhere near Bella, I'll rip you apart myself." I stated sounding braver than I thought.
I had to keep reminding myself that I was doing this for Bella. The thought of her crying and screaming in her sleep was the only thing keeping me from running or giving him what he wanted. I knew it would be easier for everyone involved to just hand Bella over to him but it wouldn't be right. I couldn't do that to my new sister. She already meant too much to me for that.
He started laughing loud and hard.
"Give me a break." he responded. "You couldn't kill me if you wanted to."
"And what makes you think that?"
"You still love me. Even after everything that I put you through. I still have you wrapped around my finger. If I told you to kill Bella, you'd do it out of fear of what I'd do. Even when you were my captive, you still did everything I said with the hope that things could go back to the way the were. You were never afraid of me, just afraid I'd leave you if I got bored. And I did. Now, we're back where we started and you're trying to get back in my good graces. But you'll always be the pathetic and stupid human who fell for every trick I played. You brought what I did upon yourself." he explained.
He hit a nerve. How could he possibly tell me it was all my fault? I was just a lonely fifteen year-old looking for a friend. He offered me that friendship because he knew I was vulnerable. Yes, I did fall for everything that he told me but I needed someone I could trust. I trusted him with every fiber of my being and he betrayed that trust. If this was anyone's fault, it was his.
Still, everything he said was making me feel stupid and worthless again. It was like we were back at the warehouse and I was powerless to stop his attacks. I thought laying on the floor listening to his verbal abuse and not being able to defend myself. I knew if I opened my mouth he would hurt me. At some point my memory shifted, it was no longer me on the floor but Bella. That's when I remebered why I came here.
Bella was now the defenseless one and it was my job to protect her. Kyle and I were on a level playing field now. I was just as fast and strong as he was. If he tried to hurt me for speaking my mind, I could fight back. Bella, however, couldn't. I needed to do what I could to protect Bella. I knew killing him was the only thing that would stop him.
I sank down into a crouch letting out a low growl.
"I really don't have time to play this game with you." he sneered. "Besides, I could have you in a pile of ashes before you could even attack."
I snorted. I knew he could abuse me all he wanted but killing me was a completely different story. He had his chance and proved that he cared for me too much to actually go through with it. Feelings like that just don't go away. I knew that for a fact.
"If you couldn't kill me five years ago, what makes you think you can do it now?" I questioned. "You loved me too much then and feelings like that just don't do away!"
Before I could even finish, he had grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. I let out a small whimper of pain.
"Let's get one thing straight." he whispered dangerously. "Any human feelings that you got out of me five years ago are dead." As if to prove his point, he squeezed my arm until I felt and heard the bone shatter. I let out a samll cry of pain. "And if you get in my way, I won't hesitate to kill you.
He then shoved me to the ground and was gone before I recovered. I cringed as I felt the bone in my arm repair itself.
KYLE
I ran away feeling pretty good about that meeting. I had put Roxanne back in her place and realized how much she truly cared for her new family. I could use that to my advantage. All I needed to do was plant a simple suggestion inside Roxanne's head. It would be easier if I could just get to Bella but the Cullens were on constant alert around her. So I'd just get Roxanne to do it for me. That way I could have both.
All I had to do was find a way to get Roxanne alone again.
ROXANNE
"Damn it!" I yelled to the trees.
I was counting on him wanting me back. It would've made things so much better. I had no idea how we were going to protect Bella now. I knew, from experience, that Kyle didn't stop until he got what he wanted.
It was only a matter of time before the mental attacks stopped and the physical ones started. He'd kill everyone of the Cullens if he had to. There was no way to stop him. We didn't know how many powers he had. Or even how he gained them.
We could only guess how strong he was. Which meant we could only guess the ways we could fight him. We couldn't gamble Bella's life on guesses. We had to be sure we could win before we tried anything. Kyle would be able to use our unsureness against us.
I ran back to the house, lost in my thoughts. I hope everyone had been too distracted to notice my absence. If they had, I could get away with lying to everyone except Edward, Alice, and maybe Jasper. I'd just say that I had to go for a run to clear my head.
Unfortunately, it was Edward on the couch when I arrived. He had his arms folded over his chest and he looked livid. To tell the truth, I was a bit scared of the look in his eyes. It was the look Kyle always had before he would hurt me. I was too emotionally spent to deal with talking about what I had just done. Especially with someone who looked like they wanted to kill me.
I tried to run up the stairs before he could say anything. Sadly, Edward was much faster than me and blocked the stairs. He stood in front of me with his arms crossed and refused to budge.
"Where were you?" he asked breathing heavily.
"I went for a run to clear my head." I tried to keep my mind blank as I said this. He gave me an I-know-you-better-than-that look. I knew I wasn't getting away without confessing. "Fine, I went to see Kyle, okay!"
"Alone?" he pressed.
"I knew he wouldn't've come out if someone was with me." I explained.
"You shouldn't have gone! He could've killed you!"
"I'm well aware of that! I'm also away of the defenseless girl upstairs! She needs someone to save her! I'm the only one who even has a small idea how!"
"You're just like her." he replied with a forced chuckle. "Always trying to protect others with no regard to yourselves."
"We're just trying to do what's right by the ones we love." I stated trying to calm down even though he wasn't.
"Is it right to make the ones you love worry about you?! Is it right right to put yourself in a position to where you could be taken away from us forever?!"
He began to pace in exasperation. I was shocked by his outburst and reaction to what I had done. I wasn't use to having someone worry about me. It had been nearly six years since anyone really gave a damn about me.
I was so used to being alone and not having to think about the effect my actions would have on others. I just acted on impulse like always. I knew I had to try and protect Bella but I forgot about my new family. They wanted me to be safe as badly as I wanted Bella to be.
"I'm sorry, I worried you." I said placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off still seething. "It's just, I'm still not use to having people who care. I saw Bella as the poor defenseless human that I used to be and knew I couldn't let that happen to her. I did the first thing I could think of. I went to find out why he wanted her."
"I understand Roxy." He replied still sounding angry but not as much as before. He turned back to me. "It's going to take you awhile to get used to having a family. I get that but you just can't go out looking for a sadistic vampire. Even if you think it's going to help Bella. What if he had killed you? How do you think Bella would've felt about that?"
His anger was returning and I still couldnt' figure out where it was coming from. You'd think that I was the one he was hurting Bella. All I did was try to help her. Why was I being yelled at for that?
I didn't even understand why we were having this conversation. I did not even get hurt, that badly. There was no permanent damage to my arm. And Bella didn't even know I had gone. She didn't have to find out so there was nothing to be fighting about. Edward was blowing this way out of proportion.
"Look Edward, nothing that bad happened and I'm fine. Bella doesn't even know I was gone. You're overreacting." I stated as calmly as I could in my already shaken up state.
"Overreacting!" he yelled. "You could've been killed!"
I didn't understand why he was so upset but it was scaring me. The look on his face was the same one Kyle and my biological father had whenever the hit me. I felt another one of my vampire panic attacks coming on. I had to get away from him or I was going to break down in front of him. It was a reaction born from what Kyle and my father had done but I wasn't going to let him see me like that.
"But I wasn't!" I said my voice cracking slightly. "Now, I'm going to take a shower. If you wanna talk when you've calmed down, I'll be in my room."
With that, I ran up the stairs. When I reached my room, I collasped on the bed and tried to force out the tears that would never come.
A/N: I'm not sure if vampires can break each others bones or not. There are too many different ideas out there for me to be sure so please just go with it. Special cookies to anyone who can figure out what power Kyle is planning to use on Roxanne. Well, I guess that's it. And just as an extra aside, I went to see the Unborn {with Cam Gigandet (not sure if I spelled that right)} this afternoon. It was one of the better horror movies I've seen in awhile. And it was the first time I saw Cam as something other than a antagonist. It was a nice change. He really is a very versitile actor. I recommend it for anyone who wants a good scare or an excuse to cling to their boyfriend. I guess that's it. I hope you enjoyed. Please review!!!!!!!!!
