Chapter Three

I opened my eyes to find Edward kneeling at my feet.

"Bella," he whispered urgently, "Bella! We have to go. Now."

"Wh- huh? Edward?"

"Shhh!" he hissed, "I'll explain later. We have to leave right now. Before Victoria comes back."

I looked down and realised that Edward had already unchained me and was standing by the door expectantly. Grimacing, I forced myself out of the chair and walked uncertainly over to Edward, feeling as though I might faint at any moment. But instead of telling him this, I smiled to myself. Because he had come back for me. Of course he had. And soon he would explain it all to me and we could go back to how we were before. Completely and irrevocably in love.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the door, signalling for me to be silent. Even in this awful situation Edwards touch sent shivers down my spine. But I could focus on that later. Now I had to focus. Soon we came across a guard, luckily (or unluckily for the guard) human and Edward quietly slit his throat. Although I knew it was necessary, the ease with which he did it frightened me: the old Edward would at least have hesitated. Would have closed the poor guard's eyes before we left.

After that we slipped along back passages, crept down staircases and tried not to make as sound. If it weren't for the worsening pain in my stomach I would have thought I was dreaming. Every now and then I stole a glance at Edward, just to make sure he was really there. But even though he looked the same, something about him was different. He seemed colder, more detached. But surely that was only because he was concentrating. When we were away he would be the same way he'd always been, of course. Wouldn't he?

All of a sudden I felt my legs buckle and my head start to spin and the next thing I knew I was lying on the ground.

"Jesus Christ, Bella!" he whispered angrily. "What the hell do you think you're playing at you-" then his smouldering eyes reclaimed their usual cool and he spoke soflty. "I'm sorry. I'm just… a little preoccupied. Can you walk? No? Great. I'll just have to carry you then, won't I!"

This was definitely NOT the old Edward. My Edward. But I was too weak and frightened to protest so I let him whisk me on to his back and he took off at his freakishly fast pace, pelting through a seemingly endless maze of corridors until at last we reached the exit. He slipped through the door, quietly killing both guards as he ran.

As soon as we were a safe distance away from the castle where I had been kept prisoner Edward stopped abruptly and put me down.

"Right. I'm going to take you to a hospital and then you'll never see me again. Trust me, its better this way. The less you know, the safer you are. I-. I just want to tell you how sorry I am. Sorry that I put you though this. And your eye- he lifted his hand as if to stroke my cheek and then forced it back down again. I'm sorry…" he whispered, "but at least this way you can be safe…"

Then, as Edward turned to leave, I felt a strange buzzing in my head and heard a distant screaming. As blood gushed down my face, I realised that the screams were coming from me.