Summary: Taken by men who are going to rent me out to strangers that will take advantage of me…Brilliant. This wasn't bad luck. It was my sentence to hell. Rated M for adult themes including rape and slavery.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING PART 7: GREAT….

"Hell no; I refuse to go to that…thing's house!" The disgust that washed over me was unbearable. Just the thought of that man made me want to pour bleach into my ears in hope that it would fry my brain enough to rid me of my memories of him. But the big curly haired goofball in front of me just pouted childishly.

"But we need to go," he stressed anxiously. "It's supposed to be the party of the year! If we don't go, we'll be the laughing stock of the medical world!" I sighed.

"Emmett, it's a small party for a few head doctors from the hospitals in Chicago. And the only reason we're even invited is because Royce King donated a fortune to help pay for the hospitals." He grimaced at me and opened his mouth to reply only to be interrupted.

"Don't bother Emmy. Though I do believe Edward is overreacting a bit, he's right to not want to go. I don't know. Something about Royce just puts me off." Alice looked deep in thought for a moment, her fingers lightly twirling a too short piece of inky black hair around her finger, her short frame only half way through the doorway to my bedroom…in my apartment.

"Guys, really, how do you get in here?" I questioned with a touch of awe and hostility. It wasn't that I couldn't very easily sneak into their apartments unnoticed but no matter how many times I reset the alarm code, it never works. Plus, I was tired of having to call the landlord to give him the new codes. He was trying out nicknames for me and he wasn't very creative.

"Oh please Edward. The security in this building is worthy of a public park. The head of security is an old guy that falls asleep whenever you speak a more than one word sentence," Emmett exclaimed, his hands above his head in strange gestures. "But that's beside the point. We need to go to King's party! I could care less if he's a jackass. But we're going, even if I have to hog-tie you and drag you via horseback." He looked at me challengingly.

"You've been watching those old west movies with Jasper again, haven't you?" He nodded happily. "Who wouldn't want to watch guys with handlebar mustaches pretending to shoot each other with bad effects and even worse acting? It's like watching those Kung fu voice-over movies," he paused briefly, looking thoughtful. "Except it's Texas. And we all know that Texas is the best damn country in the world." He sighed dreamily before shooting me a crazed grin. "So, we're going?"

Every time Emmett tried to battle me like this, I always lost. Sure, I could have refused to go and he probably wouldn't have done anything to me. Well, he probably wouldn't have done anything bad enough. But I worried. Emmett was always getting himself into trouble. He had no filter between his mind and his mouth. The only place he could be himself and not get into any immediate trouble was at the Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago. His childish nature and ability to understand the child patients helped him, as well as his immense medical knowledge (though nobody would believe he was a doctor if they were to see him). The large, grizzly-sized man before me was nothing but a little kid at heart that happened to have a medical degree.

I nodded reluctantly in reply and Emmett punched his fist into the air dramatically. Honestly, what was with this party? Every doctor that was going was getting excited over nothing.

Royce King was a pig, that which I was sure of. The way he handled his money was atrocious and annoying. His parents had died in an accident and he had taken full advantage of that. He took other's sympathy almost as fast as he took his parent's money and squandered it on useless and extravagant things, such as his mansion on the outskirts of the city. His family had donated so much money to the medical facilities of Chicago and was accredited with that. Before the deaths of the Kings, they had been humble and caring. But Royce was a spoiled child with no view of the value of a dollar.

"Jeez Edward, stop brooding. Look, that guy's a bastard but you were invited and it would be rude not to go," Alice reasoned quickly. She smiled cheekily before adding, "Besides, you might meet someone there…"

I rolled my eyes. Alice had been attempting to set me up with women since high school, unsuccessfully I might add. She had even gone as far as to set me up with a man seeing as I "didn't take to the scores she had set me up with". Emmett's words, not mine.

But it wasn't my fault! Quite honestly, I just couldn't see myself with these women and though I tried to like them for who they were, nothing worked. Alice was a great judge of character and would often set me up with wonderful girls with great personalities but they weren't what I was looking for. In fact, I had no idea what or who I was looking for. But whoever or whatever it was, Alice hadn't found it for me yet.

Emmett was doing a victory dance in the center of the room which greatly resembled the dance from Napoleon Dynamite. Knowing Emmett, he had probably memorized that dance.

"Emmett, stop dancing around like an idiot. You'll have plenty of time to do that when we go. So, was there any other reason you two were here or are did you just want to come into my home, mooch off of me, and then leave?" Both grinned sheepishly before bounding out of my room. I could hear the fridge being opened and plates clinking. Tired and a little worn from the day of work I had put in, I sluggishly made my way to my adoptive brother and sister.

Seeing them in my kitchen together was a sight. The huge man by the counter placing potato chips on the side of his plate, a big smile on his face as the small, pixie-like girl next to him jabbed him with her elbow as she spread mayo on a slice of bread brought up memories of when we were children. It was nice to know that, even though we were only siblings through adoption, we never really drifted apart over the years. In anything, our bond grew stronger. Just the thought made me smile…

"Dude, stop smiling like you're in love and come eat or you won't get any."

Way to ruin a moment, Emmett.

--

After finishing our dinner, we all relaxed by my couch, Emmett sprawled across the three-seater and Alice allowing him to put his head on her lap comfortably and me lying on the floor with my hands behind my head. It was nice, the calm, natural silence that washed over us when we had nothing to really think about. But the silence was interrupted by a gasp and a series of light thumps. I shot up from the floor and stared at Alice.

Her head was bumping against the back of the couch, her eyes wide open and glassy. Emmett and I stared worriedly at her, knowing there was nothing we could do about it except wait it out and hope it would be over soon.

As a child, Alice had been unique. I guess I would call her a Seer of sorts, otherwise known as a psychic. But, her biological parents didn't take to that lightly. They were an old-fashioned couple with great religious beliefs and thought that she had been touched by Satan. So, they resorted to more medieval methods of ridding her of her ability. Shock therapy had been a method used in earlier years of medicine.

Unfortunately for them, her ability kept coming back, more accurate than ever. She lost the memories of her childhood during these shock sessions and would have to relearn everything about herself but her parents wouldn't stop. Until Alice's doctor, Carlisle Cullen, called child protective services and put a stop to it. In the end, Carlisle ended up adopting Alice because he and his wife, Esme had taken a liking to her as they had taken a liking to Emmett and I some two years earlier.

But watching Alice now with that blank look on her face, I wished that she wasn't a psychic. It worried me that one of these days she would be crossing the street and have a vision thrown at her, causing some accident to occur and leaving her dead at the hands of strangers. She was my sister and for as long as I could remember, Emmett and I had been protecting her from the uncaring world. And we both knew that she wouldn't be accepted easily into this world we lived in.

Minutes later, she pulled out of her mind with a gasp, her expression now exhausted and confused. After a few deep breaths, she looked deeply at me, staring with abysmal puddles of grayish-blue.

"Edward, you have to go to Royce King's party." It took me a moment to realize what she was saying before I jumped up and glared at her. How dare she take something like her visions so seriously just for humor!

"Alice, this isn't funny. What the hell is wrong with you?!" I stalked off to my room, slamming the door behind me. I knew it was childish of me, but really, I felt betrayed. We had all been through so much together and the understanding we all had was strong and unwavering. So for her to just pull a stunt like that, it was upsetting.

It didn't take long for Emmett to come peaking into my room, his boyish curls bouncing atop his head and his hazel eyes watching me with a solemn look. Without another word, he walked into the room and sat on my bed. Another deep breath was taken before he spoke.

"Edward…Alice is taking it pretty hard right now. I didn't put her up to this and I highly doubt she would have done this for fun. You know how seriously she takes her visions," he paused. It had always been hard for him to take things so seriously. "She's crying. I have no idea what that vision was about but whatever it was, it involved you. So you better just get on with it and figure out why Alice was actually telling you about it. She doesn't like changing the future, remember? If she was willing to tell you, then it has to be serious." He stood up and stretched before walking to the door and turning around. "I have to go in for clinic hours, alright? You need to sort things out with Ali. You really hurt her, man." And with that, he left, a series of shutting doors echoing through the nearly empty apartment.

--

As I walked into the living room, I could hear the small sniffles coming from Alice's little curled up form on the couch. It broke my heart to see her like that again, exactly as she had been when she was a child. When she was younger, she didn't think her gift was strange. She just thought everyone had the same ability as she did, so she told everyone about her visions excitedly. Teachers called her a liar and children called her a freak and she would end up on the couch in tears every afternoon until Carlisle decidedly home schooled us all so she would feel somewhat normal.

"Ali," I called quietly, trying to gage her reaction. She stiffened for a moment before trying to control her tears and sniffles and sitting up a little straighter. I walked over to the couch and sat down next to her, reaching out a hand to pat her shoulder. "Ali, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I really thought it was a joke and –" She didn't give me a chance to continue before jumping into a hug and squeezing me until I was breathless.

"If you ever call my visions a joke again, I'll kick you where the sun don't shine." Instinctively, my knees pulled together a bit and Alice giggled. She pulled back slightly, a serious expression taking over her puffy red eyes.

"Edward, I was serious. I don't know why but you need to go to King's party. Something's going to happen but I couldn't see it. It was too blurry to tell. But there was someone there and they were with you. You need to go. You have to go." She spoke with an edge of authority to her voice, most likely gained from Esme. But the hint of anxiety in her tone made me believe that she was serious about me going.

I nodded in consent to what she said and hugged her again, wondering why this party was so damned important.

AUTHORS ARE FRIENDS, NOT FOOD! DON'T FLAME THEM (AND EAT THEM). THAT, CHILDREN, IS KNOWN AS CANNIBALISM AND IS FROWNED UPON IN MOST SOCIETIES.