Bella.
My pounding heart was a dead giveaway for my position. I was tempted to rip it out myself and deny that pleasure of those dancing on the edges of my vision. The underground tunnels were, if possible, growing colder the deeper I travelled. I had to find a way out of here. The candle that was my love for Edward was burning dimly in my heart, urging me to keep going. I was desperate to defy the inevitable – to try and see him one last time...
The soles of my shoes were wearing thin from the rocky terrain beneath. Water tricked down the cold stone walls either side of me, and a low fog made everything beneath knee-height disappear in an ethereal mist, only disturbed by my cautious movements.
And then behind me...I heard a light footfall.
Spinning around, my eyes urgently drank in the eternal blackness that I'd left behind. I could see nothing except the immediate outline of rocks a few feet beyond. I was being followed. They knew that I knew it. They were counting on it.
And then, a cold, dead voice floated with terrifying beauty through the chill.
"How enchanting your body will be," it said, "lying limp in my arms... cold, pale and smeared with that sweet, sweet blood."
"Like out of a fairytale," another voice agreed, child-like and musical.
I started backing away, my lips icy cold from my freezing breath
There was a laugh of deepest mirth. "The fairytales would never welcome our kind into their story..."
"And with good reason."
"We have no talent for putting dear children to sleep, you see."
"At least not a sleep that they will wake up from," agreed the other.
Before I could take off in a run that would prove utterly useless, I tripped over a rock and landed in a mess over the earthy ground. A loud, fraught hiss cut through the easy taunts, and I knew by that noise before I saw the proof, that I'd cut myself again. A white blur launched at me, only impeded by a second white figure – the sound of which was like two boulders slamming together.
"No!" the smaller shape shrilled. "You mustn't, Felix!"
He whimpered in thirst. "I did not count on her spilling blood so soon... It makes my head spin, Jane."
She scoffed at him. "Control yourself. Will you be beaten so easily?"
With a loud, swallowing sound, Felix apologised, and Jane sneered. I was trying to crawl away as silently as I could while they were distracted, but Jane's high pitched giggle made my body lock again.
"Run, run..." she advised. "But don't run too far – be back before supper."
I dove to my feet and took off. The dark rocks whirled past me, and I grazed my elbows on them on more than one occasion, ripping my jacket in several places. Alice was going to be so disappointed that I kept destroying her presents.
Laughs I did not recognise sounded as I found myself in a large, low-roofed area that split off into four directions. My head whipped from side to side as I tried to decide which path to take. Would one get me out of here?
Behind me, taunting calls drifted slowly through the air. My fear made the atmosphere thick and suffocating.
I could hardly keep count of the amount of times I'd faced death since moving to Forks. It seemed inconceivable, how often I happened to attract danger like this. Yet here I was, in some underground part of Italy, running for a life that was long lost. My death had already been written – I was just going the motions that had been scripted in order for the big finish.
All I could hope for now was that Edward would be safe... I knew it was ridiculous. If he was anything like I knew, my death would make him furious beyond all fury's previous capability. But I had to pray that somehow, he'd survive it, even if I wouldn't have been able to. He always had been stronger than me though. It made me want to be a stronger person. That was the only reason I kept running – at least I could die, knowing that I'd tried to hold on to my life... I could not curl up and hide like a coward.
This mental decision was certainly put to the test when I felt a violent weight thrash into my back, pitching me forward into the rocky wall before me. Pain exploded all down my shoulder and then secondly in my right leg as I fell down on it awkwardly. My bloodstained fingers scrambled to grip some rocks so I could right myself.
From the three other possible tunnels, vampires began emerging from the darkness. They leered at me, their faces tilted in curiosity. Jane stood before them, looking mighty put out. She seemed to be concentrating very hard on me, but got frustrated again and pouted at her twin brother.
"She still doesn't react," she scowled with bitterness.
"Hah," was all I said. Stupid as it was to goad them, it made me feel like I still had some power. I pressed back against the rocks, panting. She'd tried to cause me pain again. At least the weird immunity my brain seemed to have still held – a small mercy that I had to focus on if I was going to maintain any sense of victory throughout what was about to ensue.
Alec comforted her. "My gift does not work on her either, sister."
A tall, raven-haired vampire crept forward, inhaling the air deeply. "Such a scent..." he commented. "Such warm blood..."
The presence of this member of the guard seemed to make Jane brighten. Her pout turned into an ominous smile as she turned back to me. "Ah, Nathaniel," she purred. "Introduce yourself to Bella. And please - make an impression."
The vampire edged closer to me, and I retreated even farther back, my jacket unable to cushion the skin of my back from the jagged rocks anymore. I glared at him hatefully. His crimson eyes were sunken and sharp, but his flesh was pearly and new – he was definitely not as old as his fellows. He knelt before me, his head cocked to the left.
"Aro was kind to give us such a pretty little pet," he said in what he thought must have been kindness – but it came out just as lascivious as ever. As he raised a long, bony finger to my face, I jerked away – only soon his hand was suddenly gripping my chin, making me look at him. I wanted to show any kind of defiance... spitting at him crossed my mind, or insulting his mother. However, he didn't give me the chance, for he started speaking again.
"All that running..." he drawled. "It seems you're quite feverish. It's not healthy for humans to be so hot...perhaps I can help?"
And then... an icy plague began seeping from his hand into my body. I arched in pain, gasping beneath his grip as it permeated my skin, froze my limbs and contorted my veins into unnatural twists. The coldness spread, reaching my feet and circling around my chest.
"Not so resistant now, are we Bella?" Jane derided, her arms crossed smugly.
My muscles screamed in protest as they hardened beneath the vampire's touch. It was so agonisingly slow.
His other hand slid around my wrist. Lifting my arm up, he smiled at me and dangled my flaccid, numbed fingers over his mouth, letting a drop of blood from the wound on my hand descend onto his awaiting tongue. There was the tiniest sizzle, and he sighed in luxury.
"Exquisite..." he moaned.
Through half-closed eyes, I saw Felix and Demetri twitch in discomfort. They obviously did not appreciate having to watch another devour blood they'd been reprimanded for showing weakness toward earlier.
My skin was prickling horribly from the icy wave of his power. It was getting a little more difficult to see past him; my vision was being uncooperative. I parted my lips to say something cutting, but no such wit swarmed into my mind. Instead, I just closed my eyes. It was almost peaceful, to be so coldly numb... I imagined I was in Edward's arms, that we were far away from here. He was whispering spontaneous, soft lyrics in my ear as I drifted off to sleep...
"Pull back a little, Nathaniel!" Jane warned. "We still want her to be able to feel pain, after all."
Demetri scowled. "Pathetic human."
I was jerked out of the anaesthetic stage, back into the part where I teetered dangerously over the edge of insanity from the biting cold. I writhed beneath him, and Jane laughed. "There we go...now our fun can begin."
That was when my sharpening senses detected something I would not have expected in a million years.
...A howl of an animal.
My eyes snapped open again as I flirted with the notion of insanity again. Had I gone mad? Was I imagining a saviour?
If so, why...why this saviour?
But I certainly wasn't imagining the way the vampires were parted viciously down the middle by two monstrous dogs, barking in utmost rage. Nathaniel in particular was caught in an unruly snap of enormous fangs and was pulled cleanly away from me. I did not care to watch as two dogs tore him in half...
"No!" screeched Jane. I couldn't tell if she was angrier at the interruption, or at the thought of not subjecting me to the torture she seemed to enjoy so much. Either way, the single word that was wrenched from her throat was drawn out into many syllables, each more furious than the last. She stamped her foot, and cracks snaked across the ground from the force.
Demetri and Felix flanked her, growling murderously at the two wolves that were already ripping Nathaniel apart into smaller pieces. His head was still intact, swearing in violent Italian until the smaller wolf launched his open jaw at the vampire's eyes, silencing him completely. The larger wolf turned to me abruptly, and whined at his friend. With a brisk nod, the little one slid beneath my fairly weak form. He grunted, in what I could only interpret as, Hold on.
Oh, I did.
We were off, racing down one of the tunnels at a speed that rivalled the vampires who pursued us madly. I gripped his neck harder, screaming as we almost collided with a flat wall of rock that appeared to be a dead end. The werewolf, however, just growled, retreated a few paces, and then sprung himself upward, running with such brute force that we were travelling vertically. He lost momentum just in time for us to reach the horizontal again. We could hear the dreadful sound of vampires clawing up the rocks behind us. My hand was bleeding profusely, staining his fur a dark red colour. I'd apologise for that later, if we lived through this...
But I had other things on my mind.
"No..." I wheezed. "Seth, what about Jacob? We can't just leave him there. We have to go b-"
He tossed out a snort of irritation. While I knew that my proposal had been ridiculous - for us both to go back - I could tell he wanted to. He hadn't liked whatever orders he'd received from Jacob any better than I did.
A snarl from behind us sent him running into overdrive. I buried my face against his soft fur, my interlocked arms aching from the strain.
Only one vampire was following us.
That meant...the rest had stayed behind to deal with the intruder.
"Seth!"
This time I screamed, yanking on his fur. "There's got to be at least thirteen vampires back there! He's going to get killed, probably more than once!"
He whined beneath me, indicating he was plainly aware of this. My heart, if possible, slammed against my ribcage even harder.
Jacob...what have you done?