A/N: Update, update. Shortish chapter, I'm afraid. I'm hoping to update again next week, but I'd like to finish at least another chapter first so that I can keep updating weekly. We'll see.

Thanks for reviewing, alerting/subscribing to me/this story. You're amazing, guys!

A very special thank you for my beta KayMarieXW. I'm so glad I have you!

Enjoy!

Recap: Bella has been caught by Craig. However, the future as originally foreseen by Alice didn't come true; something has changed but since Bella has been unable to contact Alice, she doesn't know what. She'll soon find out.

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing!

42. FEAR PART 1

BELLA

A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Once inside, I was immediately assaulted by the sickeningly sweet stench of mould and decay. The lingering vampire scents only made it worse and I had to force myself to breathe the moist and heavy air. It smelled of human too, and of blood—their victims', I thought—but my throat barely tingled when I inhaled. Mixed with the stench of decay, it held no appeal for me.

Again I noticed how silent it was. No crawling insects in the walls. No scurrying mice underneath the foundation. And outside not a single singing bird. Perfect silence, except for the sound of our feet on the rotten hardwood floor and a weak, irregular thudding sound that was so soft that it was barely a whisper. I must have missed it because of the yelling still going on outside; the vampires were discussing who should pay for a new car. For a moment, I couldn't place the sound because it didn't fit with a place as dead as this—then it clicked.

It was a beating heart. A human heart, beating dangerously slow. I could also hear laboured breathing, a horrible rattling sound that was painful to listen to.

Hope sparked although I had almost given up on finding her alive after all this time. Liv?

"If you're wondering if that's your friend," Craig said when I suddenly froze and stopped, craning my neck to figure out where the sound was coming from. It was so weak that I could barely hear it, which was not a good sign. "Yes, it is," he continued casually. He tone clearly said that he couldn't have cared less. "For some reason, Skadi won't let me kill her, though it'll make no difference in the end." He snorted derisively. "She's as good as dead." He gave me a shove and I started walking automatically, listening to the faint thud thud thud.

Liv was still alive. Only barely, but if her heart was still beating, then maybe I could find a way to save her. Quickly, because she didn't have much time left, but there was a chance. Liv being alive changed everything. I couldn't leave now, not without her. If I did, she would die and it would be my fault. She was in this situation because of me—I had to make it right. But how? I couldn't outrun eight vampires carrying Liv. And to get to her, I had to escape Craig and that didn't seem very likely. He wouldn't let me out of his sight again and he was too strong and too experienced for me to defeat him. Not to mention that the other vampires would come running instantly when they realised what was going on.

But I couldn't let Liv die. I had to find a way to get her out. Soon.

Are you insane, a voice in my head demanded. You know exactly what he's going to do to you. You should run as long as you can and forget about Liv. It's time to start worrying about yourself.

Clenching my hands, I shut the voice out. It was my fault that Liv was here and my responsibility to save her, no matter what.

But a flicker of doubt and fear remained.

The floor creaked ominously as Craig steered me towards the stairs that led to the second floor. A narrow hallway ran past the stairs and in the room it opened to, I saw precariously stacked suitcases, brand new by the looks of it. Even vampires needed fresh clothes occasionally. Several steps had rotten through, others were badly splintered. At the foot of the stairs, Craig hoisted me up and jumped, landing gracefully at the top. The heart beat became marginally louder.

Craig turned us right, growling impatiently when I paused to determine where the sound was coming from. The attic, I decided eventually. Behind us was another staircase. It was steep and very narrow and only the banister was still there, white paint flaking off it. The wallpaper hung down in strips, soaked through; water was leaking through the ceiling and dripping down the wall. I thought the wallpaper was yellow, maybe with a floral pattern, but it was hard to tell. On my right were two doors leading into adjoining rooms and both were closed. Another door, standing slightly ajar, was straight ahead and the room it opened to seemed to be our destination.

Stepping inside after Craig had pushed open the door with his shoulder, I recognised it immediately. It was the room from Alice's original vision. Seeing it with my own eyes, I thought that it looked even worse than it had in the vision. The ceiling had disappeared completely under a layer of thick mould and was pitch black. The mould was crawling down the walls, as if to reach for the floor that was equally black. The wallpaper had mostly faded, but there were a few spots that were still a bright blue and the effect was creepy. There was no furniture.

Craig finally let me go, pushing me away. I caught myself before I crashed into the opposite wall and spun around, facing him. It took every ounce of self-control not to look away. I forced myself to meet his scarlet eyes, listening to Liv's beating heart. Thud thud thud. I could do this. I had to do this. Maybe I'd be able to catch him by surprise. Jasper had said that a less experienced fighter was more dangerous than an experienced one because there was no telling what the idiot might do. Of course he'd mentioned it in a conversation he'd had with Eleazar about sword-fighting, so it probably didn't apply to hand-to-hand combat, but I could at least give it a try. Maybe I'd be able to distract him enough to buy me some time—I wouldn't need more than a second, tops—grab Liv and then get the hell out. And then, if by some miracle I managed to outrun the others and make it to the rendezvous point before they caught up with me, then Liv would be safe and I could take her to a hospital. I couldn't take care of her myself and certainly not without a fully equipped ER.

This is never going to work, I thought desperately. There are way too many ifs and maybes.

But what choice did I have? I couldn't let her die.

Craig was smiling the same polite smile he had worn before. It was hard to believe that someone who seemed to compassionate and kind and caring on the surface, not to mention handsome, was actually a monster—a true monster, the kind who preyed on others and hurt them for the fun of it. Had he already been like this as a human? How many of his victims had fallen for his civilised facade?

Suddenly the smile vanished and I flinched back as he bared his teeth, a growl resonating at the back of his throat. I heard the softest of footsteps in the hallway and then one of the females stuck her head into the room, her red eyes briefly settling on me before she addressed Craig. Again, she didn't meet his gaze. Her face was smooth and expressionless, but she was twirling the end of her blond braid between her fingers, a nervous habit that had survived her transformation. She was trying very hard not to betray how anxious she was and failing miserably.

I swallowed, fighting the urge to step back and get more distance between Craig and me. He'd only see it as a sign of weakness.

"Where's…" the female began, then she had to clear her throat and started over, "where's Skadi?"

"Out hunting with the imp," he replied impatiently and the hardness in his voice sliced through my mind like a knife. I locked my muscles, willing them not to betray me.

The female wasn't unaffected by it either; she swallowed visibly. It seemed like she was torn between leaving and staying to say something else. Then she looked at me again and that seemed to decide her. Squaring her shoulders, she straightened, but her voice was a strange mixture between despair and resignation when she asked, "Any idea when she'll be back?"

Craig turned around deliberately slowly. From where I stood, I couldn't see the expression on his face, but it must have been truly horrifying because the female recoiled as if he had slapped her. She cowered in the door frame submissively, eyes fixed on the floor. She was terrified.

What had he done to her?

My hands started to tremble. I clenched them into fists.

"Get out," he said very softly and she whipped around instantly and darted off.

Before he could return his attention to me, somewhere in the room a cell phone started ringing. Grumbling something I didn't catch, he reached into the back pocket of his pants and pulled out his phone. "What?" he snapped. "I'm busy! I have a guest to entertain."

I heard a vicious snarl and then an equally viscously hissed, "Shut up!"

"I take it you were successful?" Craig asked, his irritation gone. Instead, he sounded as excited as a child on Christmas Day and that scared me worse than anything I had seen of him before. I focused on Liv's heart again, counting its beats. Thud thud thud. Was she conscious? Probably not. Her breathing was too low and too even. Also, her body was in the process of shutting down and trying to preserve as much energy as possible to delay the inevitable. At least she didn't have to face the nightmare she was currently starring in as long as she was unconscious. That was the beauty of unconsciousness—no dreams, no nightmares, no nothing.

"Yeah," a woman's voice said on the other end of the line. She sounded exhausted. "Sorry it took us so long. We'll be there in ten minutes."

"Thank you, Sophie," Craig said pleasantly and snapped his phone shut, smiling giddily. "I have a surprise for you," he told me, beaming now. This couldn't possibly be good. "Something I'm sure you're going to love. And enjoy. Although I suspect that I'm going to enjoy it more than you, but who knows?" He shrugged and his smile widened. He hummed tunelessly as looked at me for a moment, deliberating. The he took a step towards me.

I moved back despite myself.

He chuckled, amused.

Another step and I came up against the damp wall. My breath quickened. Don't panic, I told myself, but I could already feel it come crashing back like a tidal wave. The sound of Liv's heart wasn't strong enough to keep it at bay.

I had to get out. Now!

He was still walking towards me and I pressed myself against the wall, my mind spinning. I had to act now before it was too late—but I hesitated for a heartbeat too long. There was barely an inch left between us now and I smelled his breath on my face. My stomach turned.

Get out get out get out get out.

But what about Liv?

Are you insane?

My breath came in ragged gasps. The panic was taking over and I didn't know how to fight it. I knew that I had come up with plan, one that included Liv, but I couldn't remember it. My thoughts blurred together in my mind until they were only a jumbled mess that made no sense. The knot of fear in my stomach tightened.

Craig grasped a strand of my tangled hair, holding it to his face and inhaling my scent. It was so intimate a gesture that, although he had barely touched me, I felt oddly violated. He had no right to touch me like that. Finally, he pulled back, his head tilted sideways as his eyes roamed my body. The look in them was calculating.

"I bet you're really pretty underneath all that dirt," he said slowly and reached out to catch the hem of my blouse between his fingers, rubbing at the half-dried mud with a slight frown. Then his eyes travelled back to my face, boring into mine. His voice was very soft when he spoke. "Take off your clothes."

For one terrible moment that was no longer than the fraction of a second but felt like forever, his words didn't make sense.

I started at him, unblinking.

Liv's beating heart was the only sound.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

"What?" I croaked eventually. My chest felt constricted. I couldn't breathe and I had to force the air down my throat and into my lungs. Panic settled over my mind like an iron blanket. There was no room for coherent thought, just wordless horror.

!

But I couldn't move. I stood frozen, completely paralysed. Any hopes I had had of saving Liv were gone now and seemed very far away. Seemed ridiculous. How could I save Liv when I couldn't even save myself? How could I have been so stupid to assume I'd stand a chance against him?

Craig raised his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, did that sound like I was making a suggestion?" He leaned closer until his body touched mine. I cringed away. "Take off your clothes."

Venom pooled in my mouth, but it tasted off. Stale.

It tasted of mind-numbing fear.

He's going to hurt you.

The thought pierced through the haze of panic as self-preservation finally kicked in and overrode my fear, turning it into rage and determination. Images flooded my mind, many of them badly blurred and nearly gone—human memories I hadn't tried to hold on to—but also others that were brighter. I remembered that night in Port Angeles, remembered how the men had herded me, remembered the squealing tires of Edward's car as he came to my rescue. I remembered my first days in the ER, remembered how shocked and sad I had been to learn what monsters human men could be. And my brightest memory was that of Rosalie telling me what had happened to her.

I didn't want that to happen to me. I wouldn't let it happen to me. I would fight him, even if it meant nothing in the end. I would not go down without a fight.

The atmosphere in the room seemed to shift. The panic was gone. Instead, I felt calm and focused.

I knew what I had to do.

I'm so sorry, Liv, I thought, but I have to save myself first before I can save you. With that, I pushed the sound of her heartbeat out of my mind.

"Screw you," I said between clenched teeth, pronouncing every word with cutting precision.

A fleeting look of surprise appeared on Craig's face, but it vanished almost instantly and he shrugged. "Suit yourself," he muttered, turning around. For a moment I thought he would just leave, then he swung back, his right hand balled into a tight fist, knuckles straining against his skin.

I saw it coming, but I still wasn't fast enough to get out of the way in time.

I dove to the right, but his fist connected with the edge of my jaw so hard that my head snapped to the side. Using the momentum I had left, I pushed myself off the wall. I flew across the room and the door was to my right now, just a few steps away. Craig was already there, blocking my path; he must have anticipated my move. He had shed his civilised, human facade. His face was a distorted mask of rage: his teeth were bared and snarl after snarl ripped from his throat.

I replied in kind.

As we circled each other, it became very clear to me that he wasn't an expert in fighting. His fighting stance was what Jasper would have called sloppy and he didn't seem to think before he charged—when he did, he came at me directly, arms swiping madly. His hands only clawed through air. I evaded easily, but so did he when I charged.

And then he suddenly didn't. As I launched myself at him again, he straightened out of his crouch, arms raised. He intended to catch me, but I was already airborne; there was nothing I could do. I landed directly in his arms, as if we were gymnasts who had practiced the move to perfection. He clamped them around me before I had a chance to scramble free. Flipping us around, he pressed me into the floor, using his weight to keep me immobilised.

"Let me make one thing very clear," he growled. "You will do as I say when I say it."

"You can't make me," I spat.

Growling, he freed his arms and reached up to cup my face in his hands. His fingers dug uncomfortably into my cheeks.

"I can to everything I want," he ground out and then he kissed me.

It was a brutal kiss. He crushed his lips against mine and forced them open and I felt his tongue in my mouth. His taste made me want to gag. I struggled, trying to break away, but he kept me pinned to the floor.

I bit him.

He howled in pain and cringed back, rubbing the back of his hand over his mouth over and over again. By the time his hand fell away, his lip had healed, but he kept running his tongue over it.

The venom remaining in his tissue stung.

"Let's set a few ground rules," he hissed viciously. "You'll behave and do as I say or your friend will pay for your stubbornness."

"If you think you can use Liv to blackmail me, you're wrong," I snarled. Craig wouldn't gain anything from threatening to hurt her. Liv was already dying, callous as that sounded. If she didn't receive medical attention within the next few hours, she wouldn't survive the day.

"I don't care about the human," he sneered.

I stared up at him, my mind racing. Minutes trickled by in which neither of us spoke. I knew that he was daring me to ask who he was talking about, but I wasn't going to take the bait. Besides, every non-human I knew was safe and sound at the moment, protected by overwhelming numbers. True, there were probably more of Victoria's vampires scattered across Montana—and the rest of the States—but my family would be able to handle them.

So what did he mean?

Outside a car rumbled up the road and pulled into the driveway, gravel crunching.

Craig relaxed visibly and finally managed to compose his face, giving me the same polite smile as before. "As always Sophie has perfect timing."

The engine was cut and doors opened and slammed shut again. Then a male voice demanded, horrified, "What on earth happened to that car?"

"She punched a hole in it," another male voice answered, annoyed. It belonged to the vampire who looked like The Thing in the Fantastic Four movies. "What the hell did you do with yours? Drive it through a swamp?"

"Shut up!" the other male snapped. "March," he said then, his voice harsh and impatient.

Footsteps sounded downstairs, the floorboards creaking under the weight. Then there was brief silence, followed by a soft thud. They had jumped up to the first floor.

Craig dragged me up and walked around me so that I was standing in front of him, my back to his chest, facing the doorway like he was. He kept his arms wrapped firmly around me the entire time; he didn't seem to want to risk a repeat performance.

A female vampire poked her head into the room, half-dried auburn curls falling wildly across her shoulders. Mud stuck to her clothes and her hair was full of leaves and pine needles. What had she been doing?

"Sorry it took us so long," she said again. She didn't meet Craig's gaze and her eyes settled on my only very briefly. Then she looked away. Her face was expressionless, but in contrast to the other female she had mastered the art of hiding her emotions. I couldn't tell what she was feeling. "If you don't need us anymore, Jackson and me would like to go hunting now."

"Yeah, sure." I felt Craig shrug. "Fine. Have fun. Just give me a minute."

She gave curt nod and disappeared. In the hallway, wood splintered, followed by muffled snarling.

"So," Craig said, returning his attention to me. His lips brushed across my temple as he leaned closer. "Here are the ground rules I mentioned. You will do as I say when I do that and I won't take your boyfriend apart and use the pieces to light a nice, cosy fire."

My mouth opened to ask, "What?" but nothing came out. The word stuck in my throat.

What was he saying?

But deep down in my heart I knew what he was saying. My mind simply refused to believe it.

"Bring him," Craig ordered and a moment later Edward stumbled into the room, his clothes drenched and caked with dirt and his golden eyes wide with terror.

A/N: So? Things don't look good, do they. Please let me know what you think. A teaser for everyone who reviews! ;-) (No, I'm not above bribery!)