Chapter Nineteen
Cassie clutched her head. She felt disorientated, dizzy and clouded, like a thick fog had settled across her mind. It took her a long while to realise where she even was, and then, all of a sudden, she remembered everything.
Sherlock was right. There were no windows and only one door, doubtlessly heavily guarded - but the grate, the one he had told her about, she now saw to her right, at the bottom of the wall.
The sewer, thought Cassie. Just super.
In her arm they had placed a drip, no doubt the method of her sedation, but the bag to which it was attached was now empty - no doubt the reason she had woken up. Common sense told her that it wouldn't be long before someone came back to check on her - and a summer spent with her cousin in England watching Holby City every Tuesday night told her that it would be a "sensible" idea to simply wrench the drip from under her skin.
"Son of a bitch!" hissed Cassie. She clutched her arm tightly, eyes starting to cross as blood, to the rhythm of her rapid heartbeat, spurted through her fingers. She stared, dazed, at the small pool of crimson forming by the side of her chair, and thought it rather pretty.
And then she fainted.
xxxxx
When Cassie awoke, several hours later, she found herself no longer bound to the chair. Her arm, where the IV had previously been inserted, was now bandaged, though a little sore to bend.
So much for the sewer was her first thought, her second being one of curiosity, for she wondered exactly what had happened between her fainting and that present moment, her third being one of panic, for she realised that she was no longer alone in the room - and that her companion was none other than Dr. Carlisle.
The doctor was milling about by a table at the opposite side of the room. Cassie could not see what was upon in but was struck with sheer terror at what her imagination promptly came up with. Was he about to turn her into a vampire? Chop her up and harvest her organs for one of his monsters? Beat her around the head with a paperback copy of Breaking Dawn until she confessed all her wordy sins? The possibly were endless, and each one more horrifying than the last.
What terrified her more, if that was possible, was that, in the next moment, the doctor turned on his record player and soft music (Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky) began playing inn the background. Cassie was now convinced, more than before, that something awful was about to happen; Carlisle always liked to hear music when he worked.
Cassie closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to see what was coming. She could hear him, coming closer and closer. She couldn't even bring herself to breathe, sure that this would be it. The end. Her death.
The was a jangling, jumbling, rumbling, grumbling. A scrape of a chair. A table? Perhaps. Something was set down in front of her. A box, cardboard maybe if the softness of its landing was anything to go by. He shook the box. It rattled. Something was inside. Hard. Not metal. Plastic? He opened it. She couldn't breathe still. He was taking something out. Something big. Foldable. It wafted past her face before it was splayed across the table. She thought she might faint. Carlisle clapped his hands together and she jumped. He rubbed his hands then, slowly and maliciously, it seemed. Cassie waited to die.
"Right!" he said suddenly, and it was all Cassie could do not to wet herself then and there. "I call dibs on the iron!"
An iron! thought Cassie, paling in her hysteria. She felt quite in need of some smelling salts.
"Are you alright?" asked Carlisle quite innocently. "If it bothers you so much, you take the iron. I'll have the wheelbarrow instead."
Cassie opened one eye by a fraction. She felt a little foolish and ever so slightly dramatic to discover that Carlisle had laid out a Monopoly board before her and apparently wished to play.
"Oh," said Cassie. She wiped her brow self-consciously: she had rather begun to sweat. "Well... if you don't mind, I'd like to be the car."
Carlisle grinned. "I must warn you though: I buy hotels. I'm rather ruthless when it comes to my investments, and I always collect my debts."
So it was that three hours and several fictitious dollars later, Cassie and Carlisle were still playing, quite furiously too. Cassie was five hundred dollars up on Carlisle, much to his obvious dismay - but he also felt a little delight in the presence of a formidable opponent, finally, after years of only the Cullens and his own monsters to play with, all of which were mindless cretins.
The doors to the room in which Cassie had been imprisoned suddenly blew open, and Bella, as glorious a sight as ever, breezed through them as though either the ground or her very person were made of no more than simple air.
"Keeping her entertained, Father?" she said sweetly.
Carlisle looked back at Cassie, and she could see that he was practically squirming in his seat. He didn't need to be told to leave the room, though Bella had brought with her a small entourage of her minions.
"Get them ready," Bella called after him as he left. He made no reply.
Cassie picked up her stack of Monopoly notes and began counting through them, much to the obvious disdain of Bella, who wrinkled her nose as she glared down at Cassie as though she had smelt sewage.
"Put them down," said Bella.
"Or what?" replied Cassie with a great deal more bravery than she was currently experiencing - in truth her stomach had begun to churn and her head to spin. "Will you put me down?"
Bella smiled, the corners of her perfectly painted, ruby red lips curving upwards - though her eyes remained as dead as ever. "I promise you I'm much more imaginative than that."
Cassie gulped.
"Nervous?" Bella asked.
"Does a bear crap in the woods?"
Bella frowned and looked blankly to her side, where Edward quickly trotted forward and said, "she means yes, Your Majesty."
"Perfect," said Bella. She cupped Cassie's chin and forced her to look into those deep, chocolate eyes that Cassie, for a second, almost lost herself in. "And you will be too, Cassie. I'll make sure of it."
"Why are you doing this?"
Bella smiled slightly. "When I was a child-" she stopped abruptly and frowned, as though she had forgotten how her sentence was going to end. "Once upon a time," she began again, "there was an ugly duckling. Turns out she wasn't ugly at all. She was just a swan. All she had to do was change, and then people accepted her. Because she learned how to scare the bejesus out of people, and they had no idea how to refuse her."
"And you're the swan?"
"Don't state the obvious, Cass," said Bella. "Makes you seem a little simple."
Cassie pressed her lips together to prevent from stating the obvious fact that she was not the simple one in this conversation - and then she considered her current situation, and decided that perhaps she was.
"When I was a child-" Bella started again, and once more stopped abruptly, this time with a sigh of exasperation. "Doesn't matter. Once upon a time, somebody told me to happy. And that's what I'm doing. Doesn't matter that I can't remember who."
"You don't remember?"
Bella leaned down with a tight smile. "That's the best part, sweetie. You won't remember any of the fuckers you left behind."
And then she kissed Cassie. Not a peck on the cheek or a brief brush of the lips, but a full on, fully locked smooch that felt almost like a combination of a hoover and an angry squid. Bella let her go when she was breathless, and Cassie sat back in her chair, speechless, eyes wide.
Bella touched the corners of her lips delicately, though she needn't have bothered: her lipstick was still as it was when she had first applied it.
"Nella will get you ready now," said Bella, and with that she swept from the room with as much grace, class, charm, majesticity, prowess, beauty, and... uh... grace as she had upon her entrance.
x
"When is it going to end?" Cassie wailed dramatically.
Nella, for the fourth time in the space of five minutes, whacked Cassie on the hand with her comb.
"Damn it, girl," she said, "I just done told you to sit still!"
"Sorry," said Cassie sheepishly, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. Nella had a mean swing; Cassie's hand would still be throbbing several minutes later.
"It ends when Bella's happy," said Nella. "Simple as that."
"It's not simple though, is it? I mean I hate to be such a Moral Mandy, but when you're happiness is awarded at the cost of other people's, there's really something wrong."
"It's never gonna end," said Nella softly. She set down the comb in favour of the curling iron, and Cassie made a rather severe mental note to never move again.
"It has to," said Cassie.
"Nope. You're not the first, you know. Bella likes what's different. She likes the unusual. Like me. I was you once - sort of... I ain't never seen anybody fight it like you have, but that don't mean you won't turn out like the rest of us in the end."
"The rest of you? How many more are there?"
Nella whistled low. "You're the tenth - so far."
"All vampires now?"
Nella nodded gently and rested her hands, as big as spades, on Cassie's shoulders. "If you could see the bigger picture, you'd see that Bella's doing us all a favour. People don't understand different, and that's why they don't like it - that's why they're afraid of it."
"You're wrong!" Cassie cried her words vehemently, but, even though Nella was now finished doing her hair, she dared not move for fear she might be beaten with the nearest object to hand. "The world is changing. It's already changed! Different isn't so bad now. It's practically normal. It's celebrated!"
Nella shook her head. "People like you, people who accept you for whatever you are, are not the majority. People like us can never fit in."
"What makes me so special?"
"You're the Mary-Sue, sugar. People don't like that. Google it. That shit's all over the Internet. "
Cassie growled lowly.
Nella laughed cheerily and patted her on the bottom. "Cheer up, sugar. Your time's almost here!"
Cassie closed her eyes and tried to breathe deeply. Why that thought would possibly cheer her up was beyond her; in fact, it did quite the opposite. Nella whipped her around in a flash to begin fussing around the skirts of Cassie's dress, and held a stern finger up to Cassie at the sight of her.
"Don't you dare," she said firmly. "You mess up that make-up and I'm gonna kill you - never mind Bella!"
Cassie forced a short smile and waited patiently. She felt so sick and dizzy, and could only wish that her author might have written her a little weaker - or, perhaps, in a different time period. Had this been a Jane Austen novel, no doubt she would have fainted at the very mention of vampires! Elizabeth Darcy would be practically hysterical in Cassie's shoes, never mind Lydia Wickham! There would have been no enduring of this ridiculous spectacle.
"There!" cried Nella suddenly. "As purdy as a picture."
Cassie liked the way she spoke. It was a nice distraction in a room in which everything seemed purposed to remind her of her fate. In actual fact, she was seeing things that were not there - being a bit of a drama queen, one might say - but to her everything, even the bland walls, mocked her.
It was a room designed surely for this one purpose: to prepare Bella's future pets. There were even restraints on the chair, though Cassie had insisted she did not need them. There was a cupboard in the corner filled with all manner of vials, which Nella had explained were potions provided in case anyone should have a sudden change of heart. Cassie did not ask exactly what that meant.
The room was large, but bare apart from the cabinet, the chair and a mirror the length of the wall. Even the walls were painted white, but in the centre, to be seen by anyone who sat in the chair and looked at for as long as Nella needed them still enough to do their hair, a great picture of a reclining Bella filled the wall. She was spread across a chaise longue, with an actual mountain lion, notably deceased, spread over her to cover her naked body. If that were not disturbing enough, her head was greatly out of proportion to her body, measuring at least three times what it ought to. Her eyes had been painted blacker than night, her teeth an unnatural white, a rich, scarlet smear spread across her lips. Cassie avoided looking at it as best she could. Cassie wondered if it was purposefully symbolic of how big-headed Bella was.
Is that what I'll look like tomorrow? thought Cassie. Savage? Beautiful yet entirely obnoxious?
Nella held her still by her good arm in front of the mirror. Normally the sight might have pleased Cassie, but today it was only a cause for depression. She wore a gorgeous black gown, fitted in a corset at the top and cascading down in ruffles at the bottom. Her hair was curled and pinned up in an intricate fashion, and her make-up, as dark as the rest of her outfit, was actually very pretty.
This is it, she thought. I've officially joined the Moody Brigade.
"Impressive" she said softly.
Nella beamed and ushered her out of the room. Truly she wished she could stay there forever.
The room led to another, this of a similar size but completely empty. Cassie thought this odd, and considered it as she was led through the castle - certainly a better way to occupy her mind. Since the room was locked and guarded by Jacob Black himself, Cassie decided that it was likely a decoy room - in case someone, meaning herself, should overpower Nella and escape, they would think that they would reach the stairs by going through the door, and be entirely put off by the unexpected additional room (since she had been blindfolded and shoved around quite a bit upon her entrance to Nella's little salon).
Bella greeted Cassie in the hallway, dressed in a rather dapper tuxedo and top hat. Her hair had been pressed into curls, and now framed one side of her face. Her eyelids, like Cassie's, had a smoky appearance, but where Cassie's lips were black, Bella's had been painted a deep red. She bowed as low as her back would allow it and her lips bent into a twisted smile.
Bella offered her arm. "Shall we?"
Cassie swallowed deeply, but only move forwards when she was pushed by Nella. She slipped her arm through Bella's and was led to the top of the stairs. Cassie heard a shuffling behind her, and turned in time to find herself face to face with one of Carlisle's monsters. She shrieked and tried to pull away, but Bella held her still with a terribly precise grip, and gave her a look which suggested she ought to stop at once.
Cassie watched, horrified, as the monsters, at least twenty pairs, began to file in behind herself and Bella, all dressed in black, the women in gowns and the men in suits. The vampires made up the rear. Bella and Cassie were the only ones present not in masks, all of which were black and feathered.
Jacob stood by the gramophone, and soon a tune that Cassie recognised as In the Hall of the Mountain King began to play. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for her excellent cultural awareness, but was not able to revel in her own achievements long: no sooner had the music began to play, Bella set off down the stairs, taking Cassie with her.
It was a slow march - no doubt because the monsters could not have dealt with any quicker. Their walking was slow and laborious. Cassie could only imagine the state of the appendages that they sealed so carefully beneath trousers and skirts and sleeves. She could not think how they might dance without falling to pieces; the idea seemed quite impossible.
Cassie and Bella stood in the centre of the room. Bella raised a brow and Cassie curtseyed, quite suddenly, entirely out of nowhere; one moment she was confused, the next, like some terrible musical from the 1970s (or the Disney Channel), she was just as knowledgeable as the rest when it came to what steps she should take.
They waltzed. She supposed that was what it was. It began slowly, as more of a tango, in time to the music. Every beat of the music was accompanied by a footstep and a sudden twist of the body. It was hardly enough to get the wind going beneath their skirts, but as the music quickened, so did their movements, and soon they reached a regular rhythm.
Before the tempo could reach its full force, Cassie was swapped between partners on several occasions. She danced with zombie and vampire alike, neither of which were more appealing - though she supposed the vampires smelt a great deal better. She was only thankful that the zombies wore masks. It was a distraction from their eyes, which, though half concealed by shadow, she could still see were of a milky white colour, eyeball, iris and pupil alike.
She knew what was coming before it happened. Cassie could only hold her breath as, somehow, she was thrust back into Bella's arms, and the music hit its full potential. She was spun around the room in a blur of skirts and black fabric. Bodies merged into one. Even Bella's face became unclear as they flew, every turn making her more and more disorientated - and the music could not have been louder!
She was suddenly thrown backwards and caught by a pair of rotting hands. Cassie looked down at them, and saw her dress now looked as though something had drained down it, from the very top right down to the bottom: a red substance that looked very much like blood. She wiped it away, but discovered that it was part of the dress.
She was pushed again, this time forwards, but before she could recover the monster pushed her back across the room, and then she was pushed again, again, and again, until at last she collapsed in a heap on the floor. She was crying, though she did not remember starting. Her hair had fallen out of place and now streamed down into her face. Her make-up was smeared, surely, her dress likely torn. Bella grabbed a handful of it and dragged Cassie up, not to stand or even sit, but simply so that she might hover somewhere in between in the most uncomfortable position possible.
Cassie's eyes widened.
She screamed.
Then Bella sunk her teeth into Cassie's neck.
