Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
Chapter 7
Reckoning
"Find me." She texted from the back of the taxi. Bella had to remind herself to breath. Focus, Bella. Focus. Her life was depending on it.
"First time in L.A?" The taxi driver asked warmly. A rosary hanging from the rearview mirror swung to the side as they made a turn. "Beautiful weather as always. Could time to visit."
"No. I'm hear to meet some friends and show them around." Bella exhaled. She kept eyeing her phone, waiting for the small script "read" notice. "Can we take the 405?"
"Sure, but it's almost 8 o'clock. The traffic is going to be a nightmare."
Bella laughed. What some people think of as a "nightmare" is truly sad. "I don't mind." She glanced up at the sun. The rays painted streaks of highlights on top of all the shinning cars. "I have time." But eventually the sun will go down. And then there would be no more time. "I'm going to try to take a nap, if that's alright. I had a long flight and can never sleep on planes." She lied.
The taxi driver waved. "I'll wake you up when we get close."
As Bella settled in to the soft seat with the sweat stains of thousands of passengers, suddenly her head racked with a pinging pain. She inhaled and shut down. Slowly she relaxed, accepting it. Finding something else in the pain. In the headache. Trying to see something she never let herself to before, because she didn't know there was more to it. For so long she had been brainwashed into believing everything was normal. That this was ordinary. That she was ordinary. This was the delicate balance that the brothers had to keep her in.
She relaxed into the headache, opening up, showing her vulnerability, in return, the pain revealed itself back to her. A darkened corridor. A long robe. Shadows of others. And then the pain subsided. It had taken her too long to realize. They weren't grooming her to be part of the family. They were grooming her to be a weapon, but they made error in their plans.
"Find Jane." She texted Demetri again. "Come sun down I will be the red in her eyes."
Then with her eyes still closed, she shared her location to the only person she trusted with her life.
"Alec?" Sulpicia called as she made her way up the staircase. "I thought we told you not to come up here any more."
Alec nodded. His fingers lingering on all the story books in the shelf, leaving a clean strip free of dust. A weird smile graced his face. "Have you ever wanted to sleep?"
"Is that what it feels like?" She tilted her head. "I've always wondered."
"I can show you." He lifted his hand. A white milky haze gathered on his palm like mist.
"Alec. Alec, no." She backed away.
"She could do it in her sleep. Did you know that?" He walked over to the bed, a trail of white mist behind him. A barrier between him and Sulpicia that couldn't be crossed. "She was an ugly thing." Alec leaped up onto her bed. "But some nights I would stay with her. I'd lay down here." He settled himself onto the bed. "And she laid there. And I'd make her do it."
"Alec." Sully frowned. Her eyebrows knit together. She didn't know these things and she didn't want to know them know.
"And I'd pretend." He closed his eyes. "I'd pretend we were both sleeping, but I only felt nothingness." He grimaced. "I hated it. Every time I hated it. But I kept coming back. I became addicted to that feeling." He started laughing. "Punishment. Absolution. The closest thing to death that I will ever feel. One night she woke up and her startled expression made me hate myself even further. She trusted me. I never wanted to hurt her." He opened her eyes and stared at Sully. "I never wanted to hurt her. I just wanted her to know death. Even just a little bit. To feel it the way she made me." He rolled back up to a seated position. "She was afraid of death. She tried to act tough, but she was afraid. If Aro had just listened to me. . . why couldn't I just keep her?"
"Alec, we've already discussed this." Sully tried to reason, but the mist grew further, building higher onto itself.
"I gave her a second opinion." Alec sighed. "In case of emergencies, I gave her another way out."
"What have you done, Alec?"
"It was more for her peace of mind." Alec shrugged, then climbed off the bed. "If she had listened to me, then none of this would have happened and she would be alive right now. But I don't care any more." He threw the bedding onto the floor and knelt next to a floorboard.
"Alec. What do you mean? Alive right now?"
"Aro ordered Jane to kill her." Alec shrugged as he pried open the floorboard. "While she had the chance, Bella should have taken my offer-" He paused, the floor board still in his hand. Then Alec started laughing. "She did." He managed to get out between chuckles. The compartment below his foot in the floorboards was empty. "She did." Alec laughed hysterically.
"Alec. What are you talking about?"
The white mist vanished.
"Plan B." Something like hope shined in his eyes. "She may be ugly, but she may have some sense in her."
"No, Alec. Aro's order. What do you mean? When did Jane leave?"
Alec shrugged. "I don't really ask questions, madame. I thought you would report me. That you would try to send Felix in to rip open my head. That's why I told you all of this. I mean. I thought the only one who could bring me death is gone, but, Instead, change is coming. I'm sorry, Madame. Please forgive me."
Sulpicia fell to the floor, completely blindsided by the mist traveling in her direction from under the blanket he threw down.
"Just take a rotation of Tylenol and Advil every two hours to help with the pain. It'll also decrease the swelling as well. Keep it lifted as much as you can and ice it for ten minutes every hour this evening." Carlisle explained, finishing up the notes in the patient's file. "He'll be fine, Mrs. Clemmons. It's just a sprain, but it could have been worse." He reassured the ten year old's mom who was fretting in the side chair. "Be careful, son. The woods can be dangerous."
"What do you say, Adam?"
"Thanks Dr. Cullen." The boy said obligingly.
A knock came at the door. "Dr. Cullen?" Nurse Ramsey poked her head in. "Esme is on line one. Said it's urgent."
Carlisle didn't even blink or change his expression. "Excuse me, Mrs. Clemmons-Adam." As he exited the exam room, Carlisle calculated his pace to his office. A hurried walk for a human, but unbearably slow for his own kind. A pace he had gotten used to, but burdensome in this moment.
"Love, is everything alright?" Carlisle closed the door behind him. "I see."
Carlisle pulled off his white coat and threw it on the desk by the lobby. "Janet. Cancel my appointments. Call Dr. Reeves to come in early to cover the remaining hour of my shift. I have to go."
"But, Dr. Cullen." Janet tried to reply, but her words were wasted.
"How strange this residence is. An odd life you lead." Caius's hand slid down the glass wall, inspecting the shimmering light of the midday sun on his palid skin. It wasn't nearly as reflective as the more modern of his kind. "Living within a human community but letting light in. Odd." He turned towards the front of the house, his dark robe swung by his feet. Five vampires stood watching him, but soon turned towards the front as well.
The door opened and Carlisle stepped in. "Old friend, how good to see you." Carlisle smiled and reached his hand out. Caius eyed it like the glass wall. Curiously, but with a certain level of disdain. "Carlisle. It's always a pleasure."
"I'm sure introduction have already gone around, but I'd like you to meet my family."
"Yes, I've met you coven."
Carlisle winced slightly before collecting himself again. "So what do I owe the pleasure of your company? Is there-"
"Who all is yours?" Caius eyed the rest of the "coven."
Carlisle tilted his head.
"You're venom ties." Caius clarified.
"Ah, well. My wife Esme." Carlisle answered genially and went to her, wrapping his hand on hers and gripping her back comfortingly. "Then Rosalie, and I changed Emmett for her."
Rosalie bowed graciously. Emmett nodded stoically.
"Then Alice and Jasper joined us, but we're changed from others."
Caius eyed Jasper over with crimson eyes. "So you're not responsible for anyone else. There is another that lives with you, if I'm not mistaken?" He turned back to Carlisle.
"My son, Edward. He was my first. . . venom tie. He has left us to visit our friends up north." Alice had texted him on the car ride over, informing him of Edward disappearance. It was her idea for the cover story.
"Ah." Caius nodded. "Well. I have been wondering how you were doing. I would say we would love to have you again, but you seem to have all the company you need." There seemed to be some double meaning.
"Just passing through then?" Carlisle asked.
"Yes. Sorry to interrupt on such a sort notice. But yes, I won't stay much longer. I have more pressing matters to attend to. A bit of an errand."
"Oh, can we help you?"
Caius shrugged and pulled out a picture. "I just came to collect on some of our property we left for safe keeping. If you've seen it, I'd greatly appreciate it. Unfortunately, our tracker is no use on this one." Caius handed Carlisle a picture of Bella at the age of fourteen, sullen and demure, a book clutched in both hands.
"Surely she must be important if you're not sending someone else on the guard in your place. If you're searching personally, this must be something special."
"It's a delicate situation. " Caius sighed, his eyebrows arched. "Well, do you know the girl?"
Carlisle blinked out of habit. Esme squeezed his hand. "I don't know where she is." Carlisle started. "But she came into the hospital a few weeks ago." He answered as honestly as he possibly dared.
Caius scowled. "Was she hurt?"
"No." Carlisle answered. Hiding his own confusion. Was he worried about her safety, or was he asking if his job had already been done?
Caius stared out the glass window at the setting sun. "If you have any information on her whereabouts, let me know." His voice was distant. "It's better if I find her before. . . Well, let me know anything new."
"Johnny, hold hands with your sister. Johnny. No. Get out of the street!" A mother pushing a stroller yelled as they neared the red pillars of the Chinese Theatre. Bella sat in plain view, letting the high sun sear her skin. She called the number again. And again. And again.
The little battery sign went red. Bella took a deep breath and called the number again.
When a woman's voice answered Bella almost laughed in relief. "KAREN! Oh, sorry. Uh, Vorrei prenotare un tour." Bella bit her lip, remembering the pass code. "Il sole sta sorgendo e non ho chiuso occhio."
"I'm sorry Bella." The woman replied. "You've been deactivated."
"What?" Bella hissed. "I need to speak to Marcus. Karen, or whatever your name is, I need to speak to Marcus. It's urgent. Please."
"Goodbye Bella."
"No!" She yelled into her phone. "No, no. Karen. Karen. Please. They're lying to you. They're going to kill you. I've seen it. I've been with them for over ten years and I've known six iterations of humans that are in your position. They're not going to change you."
"Nice try, Bella. But Felix-"
"Felix likes to flirt with his food. It turns him on. I love the guy too, but they're all murderers and they don't care at all about you. They don't care about me either. Most of them. Listen. If you can help me. I can help you. I can hide you."
"Demetri-"
"Do what I ask and you won't have to worry about Demetri. I promise."
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"You can't Karen. You can't. I'm on the other side of the world right now and when the sun goes down I will die. I know that. But you don't have to." The sound of the battery dying tickled Bella's ear.
"I don't have much time. My phone is dying. Listen. Find the wives. Tell Felix that I have a message for them."
"I don't take orders from you."
"Please. They need to know. Get the message out. It wasn't the Romanians. It w-" The phone went black.
Samantha Codswell stared at the phone in her hand giving out a dial tone. "What wasn't the Romanians?" She sighed. The girl was on the bad side of the Volturi. She was probably lying. She struggled for a moment on what to do. Eventually she shrugged on wrote down on a post it note "not the Romanians" in case it ever came up. She thought again about Felix. Of course he was a flirt, but there was something special there. Right? She was special wasn't she? They promised.
They promised.
Bella sat on the steps and watched as the horizon filled with warm colors. Orange and red. People milled about. Taking photographs with dressed up characters. Families tugging around tired toddlers. Couples who couldn't get their hands off themselves. The occasional cop talking to the churro vendor and walking away with a treat.
Bella smiled and looked up. Jane was standing across the street, under the awning of a coffee shop.
"It's a beautiful evening." Bella commented in a regular voice.
Jane tilted her head.
"You knew." Bella sighed and leaned back on her elbows. A passerby would have thought she was talking to herself. And in a sense she was. It was a one way conversation. The mouses last monologue. The cat, jaw wide, waiting to strike. "This whole time you knew. No, no. Did you do it? Is that why he favors you so much. At first I was jealous. But I understand now. You're obsession with Aro. Because you did the unthinkable for him. A secrete that would tear the Volturi apart, but her intrusted that to you. That power. You loved it."
Jane stood motionless. A family crowded around her at one point and took a picture. She didn't move. Her eyes were trained on Bella.
"Or maybe you didn't know. I'm not good with time. Perhaps it was before you're admission into the Volturi. You see. I was supposed to replace you. Is that why you hated me? Because he loved me more than he needed you." Bella laughed a dead man's laugh. "But now he needs me dead more than he loves me."
Bella stared at the orange horizon, growing dimmer and dimmer. "While I was away, I met another coven of vampires. Isn't that ironic? I can't escape you lot. But there was one who found me curious. I knew he was in my bedroom the moment he opened up the window that first night. But that night, instead of nightmares, I felt him. So eventually I asked him to stay. These nightmares. Always the same but every night a different angle. But he kept them at bay. I thought it was just his presence. But last night, I changed the tone, testing something I had been suspecious of for quite some time. I was right. I wasn't comforted by his presence, I was reading him mind. That's it, isn't it. I confirmed it again with Demetri. You haven't tried to hurt me yet. Which tells me you know it's true. Come on, Jane. Hurt me. Make me feel pain like I know you want to."
She paused and breathed in. Waiting for a pain that was never felt.
"Do you want to know what my nightmare were? It took me 13 years to figure it out. I started having them the night after Aro held me in his arms for the first time. But you already know, don't you. You know what plagues my mind. You see, the years of Aro's life, can't be contained in my human brain. So I've only been getting pieces and scraps in my subconscious. And I've finally put the puzzle together."
The last rays of the sun lowered behind the horizon.
Bella pulled out a syringe and injected it into her thigh. She winced and gritted her teeth. "I was never having nightmares, but I was seeing Aro kill his own sister, Didyme. Over and over and over again. How he planned it. How he did it. Over and over again. And for what? Caius was in on it. He knew. He gave Aro the information about the relationships that Aro needed. His own sister. He destroyed more than one life. He destroyed his best friend. He killed one of the brother's wives. He betrayed his own coven." A tear ran down her cheek. "Aro kept me because of my potential. But he sent you here now, because I'm a liability. I know too many secrets. Secrets he didn't want me to have. And now I will have to die for it."
The sun set.
Jane stepped out from the awning.
"Come on, Jane. Hurt me. Do your worst." Bella taunted. "Make me scream."
A cold hand grabbed Bella's elbow. "Walk away, Jane. She's mine." He said possessively.
