CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
(BPOV)
My head was pounding as my eyes flitted open.
There was nothing but choking darkness.
Ropes dug into my wrists and ankles.
The road noise beneath me, the only thing I could hear as I tried to move.
Panic filled every part of me. It was suffocating.
Where the hell was I? What happened? Whose vehicle was I in?
Without warning, our movement came to a jolting halt and within seconds, there was light again.
"She's awake. Would you look at that."
Caius crooned, his sinister look making my blood run cold as he reached down and untied the rope from my ankles, forcing me out of the trunk to stand on my own. I stumbled forward and caught sight of Emily laying in the back seat through the tinted window. Her motionless form making me fight against his firm hold.
He tore the duck tape harshly from my mouth and I yelled for her.
"Emily!"
"Shhh!" He snapped. "Don't make me put you under again. Cause I will."
"What did you do!" I demanded. "Tell me!"
"What Aro asked us to."
"Us?!"
"You really don't remember anything do you?"
The second familiar voice stunned me then.
Demetri exited the driver side of the sleek black Mercedes with a victorious smirk in place.
"How the hell could I? You drugged me!" I snapped. "What did you give Emily! Is she breathing! You have no idea what you've done. Sam will destroy you all for this!"
"We're counting on that. And when they come, both he and your Jacob, will face their own demise. We'll be more than ready. Chelsea and Sulpicia thought they already had the upper hand in their plan. Too bad Aro smelled their deceit a mile away." Demetri laughed.
"You're all monsters."
"Guilty." Caius snickered. "Come on! We don't want to keep Aro waiting. He'll grow impatient."
I watched as Demetri hauled Emily up out of the back seat and motioned for me to follow behind them.
Voltera was just as I remembered it from before.
Hauntingly cold and terrifying to the core.
The echo of the screams from my time here with Alice and Edward filled my memory and made walking difficult.
My knees were weak and my head spun as Caius shoved me onward into Aro's large temple.
The stone walls mirrored that of my nightmares from before and I cringed when Aro turned around to greet us, his eyes the crimson shade of blood red that I had feared the most ever seeing again.
"Isabella." He nearly sang with mock delight now. "How wonderful it is to have you finally join us again, and fully human too I see."
I couldn't speak, all words leaving me as Demetri laid Emily down on the floor by my feet and untied my hands.
"Capturing them was a thrill." Caius stated. "We left them with the note you asked us to. They'll find the clue and come. I have no doubt."
"Splendid." Aro hummed our way. "Such a shame really. That all had to end this way. If only, immortality was still your intent."
"I don't want it." I forced out, motioning to Emily. "But it's clear I won't be given a choice. You don't need Emily. She is of no use to you."
"She belongs to the leader I hear. Sam, is it?"
"Yes."
"Then she is of great use to me. You see, Isabella. I need better enforcements for my guard. Something unexpected and just as deadly as we are. The wolves will prove to be the perfect addition to us. Their skill for tracking and speed alone will give us so many more advantages. Sulpicia will see what her double crossing will lead to. I'm going to order that they destroy her first. Then Chelsea and then I'll turn you, just as I promised."
"I'd rather die." I quickly admitted.
"That can be arranged too, of course. However, I am certainly opposed to wasting such gifts like yours. As I've seen from Alice Cullens visions before, you will be of great use to us as well."
"If you change me, I'll make it my mission to end you. I swear it." I threatened, not knowing how far it would go but trying anyway.
"I don't take kindly to threats." Aro hissed, quickly closing the distance between us then, his ice cold hand touching my face and making me flinch harshly away from him. "You will comply. After all, we had a deal and you didn't keep up with your end of the bargain."
"Because I no longer want that life."
"There isn't a choice of want here. The Cullens should have warned you better of the consequences from making such a poor decision. Not going through with the wedding to dear Edward and then turning your back on the promise you made was your first mistake. Trying to outsmart us was your second. At least with Edward, you could have transitioned more comfortably, shall we say. Could have had the luxuries of the finer things in life that immortality has to offer."
"I don't love him." I sternly stated. "What is a life without love?"
Aro narrowed his speculative gaze at this with a disbelieving smirk touching the outer corners of his mouth.
"Love?" He mockingly questioned. "You think love has any part of immortal choosing? Foolish."
"-but every part of a humans choice." I pointedly told him.
"That is the trouble with you humans. You're, shall we say, fickle. To and fro- never making up your minds. Always changing-"
"I was under Edwards spell!" I vehemently argued. "From the very beginning. He said so himself with a warning I should've taken more seriously. Everything about him invited me in. His look, his voice, even his smell."
"Uh- yes. Of course there is that at play, but I have to ask, I suppose out of mere curiosity, what kind of spell does your Jacob have you under? Must be something with the ancestry of the wolves."
"There is no spell." I corrected.
"Nonsense-"
"Just the heart."
Aro looked at me with a genuinely puzzled and annoyed expression at this.
"Tell me Bella, do you love him enough to sacrifice your own human life for his?" He toyed then.
Memories of Jacobs face, his sunny laughter, his warmth, all filled my mind as I opened my mouth to give him my truthful answer.
"In a heartbeat."
"You seem to take on the role of the sacrificial lamb in all our encounters." He mused.
"No, not this time." I countered. "I know what real love is now and I owe that to Jacob. My best friend. Unlike the lamb you refer to, I know what fate is ahead of me, and I'll take it if you're offering it in exchange for his safety."
"I assume Jacob has turned out to be a lot like his mother?" Aro darkly questioned, the mention of Sarah causing my eyes to snap back to his in an instant.
"How do you-"
"That terrible accident she had- dying so young. All because she knew too much."
"Wha-" I breathed, feeling my lungs constrict painfully as he went on.
"Jacob was only a boy then, right? A small child like you were at the time. He had no idea the kind of monsters and magic that lay around his life. Sarah was unlike any other threat to our secret existence. Her visions of the future were entirely human, unlike that of Alice or a mind reading capability with that of Edward. She was a mystery to me, but nonetheless, she had to be silenced. The road was wet that evening from the rain, her speed was fast enough to throw off any suspicion of outward foul play. Perfect opportunity for me to pay a visit to Washington again."
Tears hastily welled in my eyes and spilled over from his cold words and I struggled to stay upright.
"You-you-... you killed Sarah." I somehow managed, feeling my throat grow tight and my stomach churn as the words left me.
"She knew too much." He repeated.
"You took her from them. From her family. Her children. Her husband."
"The Cullens knew this all along. I am surprised they didn't fill you in before now in all your time with them. Edward must have had his reasons for not sharing such details with you."
The room spun and I swayed on my feet as Demetri roughly grabbed my arm to keep me upright. Whatever they had drugged me with was wearing off and my body was drained from it.
"How could you-"
"Jacob knows the truth now. Thanks to Chelsea. She showed him the final moments of his mothers life. A gift she has."
I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces as Jacobs face came back to my mind.
The sound of Emily's gasp from below soon halted the conversation.
Caius reached for her, and I threw myself down to cover her.
"No! Please! You have me. You don't need her." I begged.
He hauled me away, tossing me aside hard enough that I hit the ground with breakable force. I winced on impact but quickly stumbled back up.
"You'd be wise not to test Caius. He doesn't have a good temper. Neither does Demetri."
"Please! Take me and leave her alone. Please! She has nothing to do with the promise I made you to be turned!"
Emily looked my way then, her eyes wide at the recognition of my voice.
"Bella?" She weakly questioned.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Emily." Aro greeted.
"Where are we-"
"Voltera. My home. Bella is familiar with it, but I'm sure we can arrange a full proper tour after dinner for you." Aro hedged.
"Sam-..." She half cried, her tear filled gaze meeting mine as he continued to look on with a sick thrill.
"Oh yes, he will be here I am sure. Given that we have you."
"There was a fire?" Emily questioned, the mention of it triggering a memory to come back to me.
The flames were the last thing I could recall before feeling the needle in my neck. I screamed but no one heard us.
I wasn't even supposed to be there with her.
"...-and the elders." I added, recalling the snarls and the whines that faded away before I lost consciousness. "Did you kill them!?"
"Maybe one or two." Caius chuckled, "but not all of them."
"What do you want with us?" Emily frantically asked. "Why are we here?"
"We took you to send a message." Aro hissed to her in reply.
"What are you gonna do with them!" She yelled in return, her fierceness matching my own now. "Sam will kill you, if Jacob doesn't get to you first. So whatever plans you have for us, you best know what you've started."
Aro smiled and waved his hand to Demetri then and in the next second, we were being hauled away.
"I'll send for you at dinner. Meanwhile, Demetri here will escort you both to your room."
The far quarter of Aros castle could only be described as an eighteenth century palace, the irony of the beauty mixed with the promise of death was not lost on me while we walked the damp halls.
"You will both stay in here. When dinner guests arrive, Aro himself will come for you."
"Guests?" I questioned.
"Yes, our meals of course." Demetri replied.
I swallowed hard at this and flinched away from him as he closed the heavy door and locked us in.
Emily took my hand then, her words full of conviction, as if she already knew them to be true.
"They'll come for us, they will, and when they do, Sam and Jacob will burn this place to the ground."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter update. Please review.