Chapter 17: A Change
"Edward!" I exclaimed, and I turned to hug him, he hugged me back but never took his eyes off Demetri.
"You are quite the pain aren't you?" Edward asked him.
Demetri's thoughts were blank. Edward was focusing on whether or not Demetri would make a grab for me, he was also thinking about the call Alice made to him, and he was happy about getting to me in time.
"Who are you?" Demetri asked him.
"He's part of our family Demetri." Alice said. Her thoughts were all over the place, of course Demetri didn't look different but this was the first time in 17 years that she had seen the boy that had once thought of her as a mother like figure.
The feel of tension turned to one of an everyday mellow environment. Jasper was thinking about how Demetri never responded to their last letter, the letter that asked him if he would like to leave the Volturi for what they had done to him.
"Then surely you will all die." He threatened, despite the calm environment; Demetri was still out for vengeance, Jasper couldn't change his thoughts.
"Why do you want to hurt them?" I asked him.
He looked at me still with my arms around Edward's waist. He thought to himself "They hurt me when they gave me away, vengeance should be easy. They are here now I should just kill the girl. If they kill me then I could finally be happy."
"You'll be killed first." Edward answered his thoughts.
"You read minds?" Demetri asked him.
"He's not the only one." I told him. He was not accustomed to being surprised.
"All this time you've been reading my thoughts?" He asked. I'm sure his anger would be more evident if it wasn't for Jasper's presence.
"Yes, and you killed Renee and James, after I was secured in Volterra you were going to track Victoria and the friend that they picked up along the way. It gets more elaborate, I know, but you planned on me being defenseless. What did you think would happen when I became a newborn and was strong enough to fight? Not the entire guard I'm sure, but once they killed me wouldn't you resent them more?" I asked him.
He was utterly dumbfounded. It took him a while to process that information. "Shut up!" He roared at me, once he had thought through what I had said. Then quicker than I thought possible and he had not thought about it, he grabbed me and held me so his mouth could easily bite into my jugular, and so I couldn't move.
Jasper could no longer control his anger. Edward didn't make an immediate move to take me back. I was too breakable, and Demetri had no plan on letting me go.
"You don't have to do this." Alice said. She saw one of two possible futures; one where Demetri runs away and takes me as his prisoner to forever be running until I change and kill him myself. The other is where he tries to kill me on the spot knowing that he would never succeed.
"Yes I do! You tricked me into the guard, how was I supposed to know that being a replacement was rare. You knew and you didn't tell me. You told me that you would let me meet her, that you would take her to me. You lied to save yourselves and this girl. They still want most of you dead; they would like your talents, but can do without. They have no reason to kill you, but they want to attack."
He wasn't nearly done when I interrupted him. "But I never knew they existed up until a week or so ago, I'm like you. I thought I was only human with a terrible life. They saved me, how do you know that they had no intention of getting you back from the Volturi, on letting you meet me?" I asked him.
He was trying to find the lies in my words, but he couldn't. He slightly loosened his grip on me.
"Is that true?" He asked them.
"Yes" Jasper said to him. Demetri looked to Alice and Edward who both nodded.
With a look of utter disbelief he asked. "Why did you never respond to my last letter?"
"We did, even though you threatened us." Alice told him "We thought you refused to write back."
Reading his mind I saw that he never received the letter, reading Alice's I knew she never had a vision of their final letter being intercepted or lost.
"Liars, you never wrote back, I was a trade and that's all I'll ever be to you, just a tool for your own safety." He yelled at them.
He pulled my neck back, he was going to kill me, and they were going to stop him.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins. This was about to get bloody. And then the pain hit. I screamed loudly as the fire spread throughout my body. I became dead weight, not even Demetri could hold me up, and I noticed that Edward caught me before I hit the ground. The last thing I saw was Jasper grabbing Demetri, and Edward's face.
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The fire started to subside, first in my fingertips and toes, then progressively throughout my body until it was only in my throat.
When I finally opened my eyes, I noticed that I was in a house, a small one, but it had an expensive feel to it. There was no sound of any thought around or any person. I had to strain to hear a faint thought, but I could only sense the thought not read it.
I looked around the dark room. The bed I was on was comfy. The room had a bamboo smell that lingered from a scented candle; I noticed a huge window that was draped in a thick curtain. Since there was no clock in the room, I had no idea whether it was night or day.
I wander over to the window and threw back the drapes. It was the break of day. I looked out the window and there was Edward standing in the grass near the edge of a forest.
He turned to look at the window and saw me, he motion for me to meet him down there, so I did. Faster than I have ever been before, in mere seconds I was beside him.
"Hello love." He said to me.
I smiled brightly at him and was going to lean in for a kiss when he ran into the forest saying "Follow me."
So I did. When we finally stopped, we were in the meadow. I smiled at how beautiful the flowers looked now and the sounds and smells of the forest. I closed my eyes and turned my face up towards the sky and felt the mist, it felt completely different from what I was used to. I had truly become a vampire.
"Our meadow!" I exclaimed. Edward didn't respond so I opened my eyes to look for him he was standing in the middle of the meadow smiling at me.
"What?" I asked him moving so I was right in front of him. His thoughts were blank, so I couldn't read his mind to find out the answer.
He said nothing just dropped to one knee and pulled out a small black velvet box.
"I love you Bella, do me the honor of spending forever with me by marrying me?" He said.
An: Chapter 17 is done, and this story is almost done!
Cheers all around, I love every last one of you who have stuck with this story, or have just recently started reading it. You guys seriously kick some Ass!
SM, owns every last character (unfortunately), and please forgive and spelling / grammatical errors.
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