Chapter 9.

The phone rang once and I was surprised at how soon she had called.

"Hello, Bella," I said in my most pleasurable voice. I didn't want to scare her yet; all her pain was needed for later. "That was very quick. I'm impressed."

"Is my mom all right?" Oh, I guess not all of her pain could be used for later.

"She's perfectly fine." More fine than Bella could possibly imagine. "Don't worry, Bella, I have no quarrel with her. Unless you didn't come alone, of course," I could frighten her a little. It's all in good fun, for me at least.

"I'm alone," And I could hear it in her voice. This was the most she had ever been alone in the entirety of her life. She had never experienced this kind of thing. To feel as though you would never see the one you loved, to be without that person you so desperately needed to be with.

"Very good. Now, do you know the ballet studio just around the corner from your home?"

"Yes, I know how to get there." Of course she did.

"Well, then, I'll see you very soon." And I hung up. That was that. Now, all I had to do was wait.

Soon was an understatement. That girl must have sprinted. I was joyed by her enthusiasm, though I was sure she was not enthused. I played the video as she walked in, so she would still think her mother was there.

"Bella? Bella?" Her mother's voice cried out, and I could hear Bella running to the sound. "Bella you scared me! Don't ever do that to me again!" Her mother's voice laughed, and at this point Bella realized what was happening. The screen turned blue and I made my entrance.

"Sorry about that, Bella, but isn't it better that your mother didn't really have to be involved in all this?" The apology wasn't necessary but I felt I should give her something before I took it all.

"Yes," Her voice sounded at ease, she loosened a bit.

"You don't sound angry that I tricked you."

"I'm not," I was astonished by her bravery. Well, that's not the right word for it, her idiocy. She knew what I was, and my abilities, yet she seemed… happy that I did not involve her mother. What a strange creature.

"How odd. You really mean it." Something with in me groaned. I was taking to long and my thirst was growing every instant. This Bella did smell quite good. "I will give your strange coven this much, you humans can be quite interesting." But so much more satisfying as a meal. "I guess I can see the draw of observing you. It's amazing- some of you seem to have no sense of your own self-interest at all." When I said this, I realized two things. One being that I was moving closer to her with every word.

The second was that I felt, almost, sorry for Bella. She was risking her life to save the ones she loved. I would do that for the ones I loved… Victoria.

My head immediately hurt after thinking of her. What was she going through? I knew that something had happened between us, something that hadn't been there before. What was that feeling?

"I suppose your going to tell me that your boyfriend will avenge you," Which was just what I wanted. He was an idiot to love a human, when so many more beautiful and wonderful vampires were available to him.

"No, I don't think so. At least, I told him not to." Bella gave me a bemused look. Her eyes spoke of something that I could not decipher. Was it love?

"And what was his reply to that?" Of course he would be angry with me for killing his darling. How did she expect him to react?

"I don't know. I left him a letter."

"How romantic, a last letter." I tried to put sarcasm into my voice but, truth be told, I really did think this was romantic. It showed Bella's compassion and how much she cherished him and his existence. "And do you think he will honor it?"

"I hope so." That was her response, I hope so. What a stupid, stupid child. You don't hope for things, because those things never come true. I hoped for so many things over the years, and what I always desired most slipped thru my fingers, no matter how hard I held on.

"Hmmm. Well, our hopes differ then." And, once again, I hoped. I was just as stupid as Bella. "You see, this was all a little too easy, too quick. To be quite honest, I'm disappointed. I expected a much greater challenge. And, after all, I only needed a little luck."

Bella just gave me that same, puzzled expression. "When Victoria-" and my heart wrenched again- "couldn't get to your father, I had her find more about you." Of course I didn't have Victoria go to Bella's house, that was just to scare the girl, to make it more fun for me. "There was no sense in running all over the planet chasing you down when I could comfortably wait for you in a place of my choosing. So, after I talked to Victoria, I decided to come to Phoenix to pay your mother a visit. I'd heard you say you were going home. At first I never dreamed you meant it. But then I wondered. Humans can be very predictable; they like to be somewhere familiar, somewhere safe. And wouldn't it be the perfect ploy, to go to the last place you should be when hiding- the place you said you'd be."

Bella looked angry and confused at the same time, two emotions I did not want. I wanted fear, cold, hard, unforgivable fear. Bella couldn't possibly be this strong a person, she was far too childish.

"But of course I wasn't sure, it was just a hunch. I usually get a feeling about the prey that I'm hunting, a sixth sense, if you will. I listened to your message when I got to your mother's house, but of course I couldn't be sure where you'd called from. It was very useful to have your number, but you could have been in Antarctica for all I knew, and the game wouldn't work unless you were close by." My game, as you have seen, had gone completely according to plan. It was simple, to say the least, almost too simple.

"Then your boyfriend got on a plane to Phoenix. Victoria was monitoring them for me, naturally; in a game with this many players, I couldn't be working alone. And so they told me what I'd hoped, that you were here after all. I was prepared; I'd already been through your charming home movies. And then it was simply a matter of the bluff." I enjoyed telling my story to someone, especially when I knew she would die soon. At that moment, I had a feeling that I should tell her all of my wonderful thoughts about Victoria, and those terrible memories about Aro, and everything I felt was bottled up in me. She would be dead soon, wouldn't it be good to get it out of me?

But I couldn't. She was my prey. If she had any sympathy for me, my plan would be ruined. "Very easy, you know, not really up to my standards. So, you see, I'm hoping you're wrong about your boyfriend. Edward, isn't it?" Bella didn't respond, I could tell it was all soaking in. She knew this was the end, and I just had to put the finishing touches on.

Remember that video camera I picked up from Bella's house, this is where it comes in.

"Would you mind, very much, if I left a letter of my own for your Edward?" Not hers for long. I stepped away from where I'd placed the camera and pressed the button to turn it on. "I'm sorry, but I just don't think he'll be able to resist hurting me after he watches this. And I wouldn't want him to miss anything. It was all for him, of course. You're simply a human, who unfortunately was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and indisputably running with the wrong crowd, I might add."

"Before we begin…" I couldn't start the video yet. I realized there was something I wanted to tell Bella so she could take my secrets to the grave. It was something I'd never told anyone, not even my Victoria. My Victoria, didn't that sound strange, but strangely fitting?

"I would just like to rub it in, just a little bit. The answer was there all along, and I was so afraid Edward would see that and ruin my fun. It happened once, oh, ages ago. The one and only time my prey escaped me…"

I'm so sorry if this was a slightly boring chapter. I needed to get through that part of the book and put it in James's point of view. I swear the next chapter will be much more exciting. AND it will have something from waaaaay before all this. Yay flashbacks, right?