I don't own Twilight.
Chapter VIII — "As I Feared"
"This is my territory and if you do not leave at once, I will be forced to call on the Volturi," the old man vampire said from across our covenant.
Victoria smirks and walks closer to him, lowering her eyes below her lashes. The old man is neither tempted nor fearful of the red goddess and she approaches. "Now, now," she purrs into his ear. This is how she takes in the humans, I think, and, indeed, this man is too much like a human.
"I keep a permanent residence nearby," he explains, staring at me straight in the eye. Laurent is standing in front of me, the leader, but this man knows that I am the real leader. "If you do not leave, I shall be forced to call upon the Volturi – and I like them as much as you do."
I sigh. "We shall not hunt near here," I speak up. Laurent turns to me, confused, because I told him the day before about her. The true soul mate of mine. The girl trapped in the asylum. Alice Brandon her name is. Even her name brings unshed tears to my eyes.
"Stay away," the old man insists. "I do not want your kind here."
"Our kind?" Victoria asks. "What do you mean, our kind? We are all the same, old man. You cannot change who you are or what you are. We are no different from you. The only difference between us is the fact that you hide behind your human life; we embrace our true nature."
She smiles wickedly. "It is only time before you embrace yours."
As I feared, it will not be as easy to approach the one I need as quickly as I need her.
Alice
Two weeks pass so quickly.
I don't have another vision within that two week period. Finally, it seems like I am somewhat normal once again. When William comes in and asks what I've seen I can shake my head and smile, knowing that I don't have to look at that disappointed look in his eyes when I mention how crazy I really am.
Sometimes, it makes me wish for Jasper. Jasper doesn't care that I have visions. In fact, he's a freak himself with his ability to control people's emotions. But Jasper isn't here and maybe the fact that I haven't had visions for such a long time means they're over for good.
Maybe my craziness was just a spell.
I can only hope.
William walks inside the room with a plateful of food. He walks over to my bed and sets it down on my lap. Eggs and bread sit before me and I am quick to eat them. He brings me fresh from the kitchen now instead of the stuff that Grandfather has to bring me.
The other doctors think that he is eating it himself before he goes into my meeting. What they don't know is that he never eats any of it; just like his grandfather, he's convinced that I am too skinny and need to eat more. So I do.
He sits back on my wall and pulls out a book. He reads it quietly to himself. When I asked him to read out loud and he started speaking French, I realized he was studying and told him that it was fine with me if he wanted to read silently. He had laughed at the time.
"Alice," he says my name quietly.
I look up from my breakfast.
"I want to try to get you out of here," he says seriously, closing the book. "You haven't had any of those dreams for over a week. I think that if you at least two more weeks, I can get you out of here and you can come live with Father, Grandfather, and I."
He looks me in the eye after his statement and I try to hold his gaze. Eventually though, my eyes sting and I look down to my tray. He reopens his book and taps his index finger on the spine.
After a long silence, I reply with, "Will I not be a burden for you?"
I don't want to take away this life. Even if I leave here, I will still be the crazy girl, the girl with the visions, the one that can see the future. I don't want him to feel ashamed of me even if he can somehow get me out of here.
While deep in my thoughts, he comes closer to me and rests his hands on my cheeks. He squeezes slightly, making my cheeks puff out. I bunch my eyebrows together and he smiles at my face. "Alice," he says my name again and I can feel the words on my skin.
"I think I'm in love with you."
My heart stops beating for a second. He sees the confusion and the hope written all over my face because I can't keep my feelings on the inside of me. I look at him and I can feel his hands shaking slightly. "I don't know why," he says, "but every person who gets close to you can feel something … and I've never felt this much before, Alice."
He releases my face and watches me.
For the longest while we sit in complete and udder silence. I can feel pressure building on my shoulders. I have loved William for so long and now to hear the words scares me. I can see Jasper's face in my head, staring at me in the diner with the expression that I have watched for such a long time.
I see the woman William is really going to end up with. Whatever happens to me, I don't want to hurt him. So, do I say the words now or save him the pain? I see him hang his head slightly and watch as he stands. He walks slowly towards the door.
Then I realize how much I do care for him, do love and want to be with him. Let the future come, I think to myself. But I don't want to miss him. I don't want to regret the one that got away for the rest of forever. Let the future come. I will be waiting. But here, this is what matters.
He reaches the door and grabs the handle.
"William," I whisper, staring at his hand. He turns around and the muscles on his knuckles loosen slightly on the doorknob. I look up into his eyes. I get up slowly and walk to the door. He lets go of the doorknob and leans back on the door.
I reach him and stand on my tippy-toes because I can't reach his face unless he bends down. He stares at me with wide eyes, still not saying a word. I brush my lips up with his, feeling him unresponsive.
"I love you too," I tell him against his lips.
Our eyes lock and I feel like we are in a romance novel, two star-crossed lovers, unable to be together but falling in love anyway. Or, I suppose fallen in love is more appropriate. He leans down and captures my lips with his own and I feel like I'm flying.
"Thank you," he tells me. "I'll get you out of here, I promise."
I look up at him and nod. "I know and I trust you."
William
"I know and I trust you."
It really wasn't supposed to happen like that. I really hadn't thought about telling her that I loved or even thought about the fact that I did love her in the first place. But the moment was just too perfect and I it slipped out. When she didn't respond, I didn't know where I was going to go but it was going to be far away from this hospital.
"I have to go," I tell her and she nods sadly.
I leave her standing at her doorway. When I close the door behind me I finally allow myself to grin. I'll get you out of here, I had told her. Now I just had to prove to the Boss that she was not actually crazy. She hadn't been having visions for the last two weeks.
Maybe it was just a phase, I told myself, and all the nightmares went away.
Grandfather and I walk home together.
He knows something has happened but I don't want to tell him what it is. I am far too embarrassed. After all, a month ago I didn't even know Alice Brandon existed. And now I'm in love with her? What kind of person falls in love with someone so crazy?
I smile. A crazy person, I answer myself.
"Grandfather," I say, "why were you gone all night a couple of weeks ago? The day I was late and Mrs. Brinkmen nearly ripped my head off? What a bloody pleasant day, I reflect with the Old Man takes his precious time to answer me.
"I was dealing with something," he finally answers. "There were a few kids messing around by the bar, trying to cause trouble. They have bright futures, like all children, and I didn't want them to have the sheriff breathing down on them for the rest of their lives."
He's lying, I think, but I don't say anything out loud. My grandfather is one of the most honest human beings that have ever lived. He's lying for my own protection. I shouldn't interfere. "Always looking out for all of the children," I reply nonchalantly and he nods.
"Always."
We walk in silence for the rest of the trip. When we reach the house, my father is already inside making dinner. I smell fresh bread and meat cooking over the stove. It smells so good that I nearly start drooling before I even say hello.
"Edward," Grandfather says seriously, "I need to speak with you about a private matter in the kitchen. Come, I shall help cut the bread and fix myself a cup of tea." He walks past my father without looking at him or back at me.
My father glances at me, looking for an explanation, but I just shrug. My father shrugs back and then turns around, heading for the kitchen. I do the opposite and head toward my room on the other side of the house. After washing up, I sit at my desk, studying.
Glancing out the mirror I look at the line of trees about twenty yards away from where I am sitting. Then I notice three figures, like shadows, watching me. I feel the temperature in my room drop twenty degrees. I breath out and try to look away but I can't.
They have me captivated.
I sit there staring until something touches me and brings me back to reality. I jump and turn around expecting it to be death coming to take me, but it is just my father, nervous and wide-eyed. "Come, William, let's eat dinner. Your grandfather will not be joining us."
All through dinner, my father watches the door, like he's waiting for the second Grandfather comes back. I watch him nervously, wondering what the hell is happening. What has got my father and grandfather so jumpy? I wonder as I eat.
So, after my father stays up in the living room, reading my candle light and waiting for the Old Man, I wait as well. I watch the door, unmoving. I have a bad feeling that something horrible is going to happen. And I have another related feeling that it has something to do with Alice.
Finally, after a quarter past twelve in the morning, long after my father has gone to bed, the door opens quickly and quietly. My grandfather comes in and shuts the door, locking it behind him. I watch him. He turns around and doesn't even act like he's surprised.
"William, I need to speak with you," he says.
I rub the sleep from my eyes and he appears in front of my, fast as lightning. "William," he starts and looks at me straight in the eyes with his golden orbs. They frighten me so; I look away. "William, you need to look into my eyes because that is the only way you can understand."
I am confused but follow his directions.
"William, do not speak," he starts again. "I am a monster. Two years ago when your mother and grandmother were killed it was not because they were being robbed. It was because there were two monsters in the city, hungry, and they chose them as victims.
"Those two monsters were vampires. They were supposed to be mythological but they are real and everywhere, William. I am one as well. When I was attacked and bitten here," he showed me the half moon scar on the inside of his palm, where he told me he was stabbed, "I was in horrendous pain for three days. And finally, when I woke, I was different. A monster too."
He stops while I breathe.
"But I am different than the others," he tells me. "I do not drink the blood of humans but that of animals because, though I am a creature that does not die, I still want the face of God to be merciful when I do finally get to rest in peace."
I stop him. "Why are you telling me this?" I ask. "What does this have to do with anything? Why are you saying these things?!" I shout and he shushes me immediately.
"Do not wake your father, William Pierce," he tells me sternly. "I am telling you this because the girl you have fallen in love with is in great danger. She has been spotted by a tracker vampire, one of three new in Mississippi as of two weeks ago.
"I told him that if they did not leave, I would take measures to make sure they never see the light of the next day. And I plan on doing so now. His name is James and his accomplices are Victoria and Laurent. James has become infatuated with Alice and her blood."
He looks at me straight in the eye.
"William, he wants to kill her. He is going to kill her. Within the next two days. I have spoken to him tonight and he says he will kill me if I stand in his way. He is stronger and younger than I am, even as a vampire. But I will not let him harm Alice. She's family and will not touch her."
I nod.
It dawns onto me then that everything Alice has told me is true. Monsters were real. They existed even today when the world seemed to finally become modern and advanced in more ways than one. But now … I realize that I have been wrong all along.
And perhaps everything she has said is true. And everything she has seen is possible.
And I realize that I have to put her first, above anything. Because if she is meant to be apart of this horrific world she needs to have allies. She needs to be put above everything. Grandfather's life is second to hers. My life is second compared to hers.
"Tell me what I have to do," I say to him, bending forward.
He nods and smiles in just the slightest bit.
"William, we have to change her," he says quietly. "We have to bring her here and change her then take her somewhere where James won't find her. If she is smart, then she won't come back. And she won't have any reason to." I look to the ground.
"Because she won't remember this at all. She has seen future, William, and she does not even know we were once a part of her life. She will find the one she has been dreaming of for the longest time. And it will be as if we never existed."
A/N — DUN DUN DUN! XD.
Haha! This chapter I wrote pretty much within the last two hours. It's pretty late here and I am exhausted so I don't really know what to say. There aren't many chapters left, I am afraid. This story is a lot shorter than I intended because of my lack of time. I want to complete this story but I don't want it to drag.
So, it's going to be a bit shorter than it was originally but I like it this way. =]
Thanks for reading! And, like always, please review!
-Liz
