Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
The Debt that All Men Pay – Chapter 3
BPOV
In the drifting emptiness of unconsciousness, I found my relief. Memories swarmed me from times close together and far apart, mingling and merging into the one before and the one behind, but all were light hearted, the happiest times since my arrival in Forks, that arrival I had once dreaded. Visions of late nights spent with Edward; Jake and I racing our motorcycles down the back roads of the La Push reservation; just sitting in the makeshift garage, me in the front seat of the rabbit, Jake tinkering with something mechanical, just enjoying the moment, talking about whatever came to mind. Scenes pulled from the deep of my mind where they had been banished to, having proven to painful to remember.
But now, they brought the release I had been seeking as I had flown down the back road in my four wheeled wrecking machine. I felt the pain of the loss slip away into simple nothing, replaced by the pure joy of days past, days I would give anything to relive, to hear that voice, see that smile just one more time. But none of that mattered now. I was alone with my memories, and in that I was content.
EPOV
The world passed in a massive blur on either side, I was simply a chalky streak through the dark, blinded with fear and pain, and if my heart had been beating it would have stopped and fallen to the rapidly passing earth below me, shattering in to fragments, stabbing up at the world, shards of a broken love story, torn apart by the cruel hands of fate, the greatest meddler the living were forced to contend with for their happy ending.
Alice had tried so hard to hide it from me as we hunted in the dark of the night, unrelated thoughts bumbling their way through her mind. But even with her years upon years of practice she could not keep the sight of mangled metal and glass from her thoughts. The mangled metal of her truck. Then simply black nothing, all sight lost as she lost track of her senses, slowly making her way into the oblivion.
I couldn't let her reach it. I couldn't lose her. I couldn't lose Bella.
And so now I ran, back to the town of Forks, sight unneeded as I allowed instinct and senses to guide me safely through the trees. If the muscles in my legs could have burned they would have, they would have burned with the intensity of white fire searing at brittle stalks of dying life. But they did not burn, and I felt nothing but an overwhelming need to have her by my side, to breathe in her intoxicating presence.
And so I ran.
Unknown POV
Moving with subtle grace that now went unnoticed after so many years we glided over the earth, soft with fallen water, the moister suspended in the air a fine mist over us. The aroma of moist soil and rain did little to dilute the scents that clung to this area of land.
The lingering scents of animals that had crossed these paths, traces of exhaust and gasoline from passed vehicles still clinging to the particles of air and earth. All intermingling, all crisscrossing into a complex weave of patterns that would have driven anyone new to these senses out of mind and sense, but with age came experience and we were able to pick through the jumbled aromas without much difficulty.
One more intriguing than the others, singled out simply because it was what we had been searching for in the first place, although there had been nothing to hint to us that they would have found it so far from the township, much less from the coven that resided just beyond its borders. And yet there it was, overlaying the other fresh scents of burning rubber and steaming metal simply out of potency, fresh blood spilling freely out on the muck, to be absorbed without either ceremony, complaint or consent from either party, forever becoming part of the ground upon which the figure lay.
Without increasing the speed at which we seemed to almost float over the surface of mud and grime we came upon the figure within simple moments.
BPOV
Drifting in and out of consciousness, I was aware of the presences that now stood over me, feeling their stares as I lay still and unmoving upon the ground. In my mind I toyed with the idea of sitting up, speaking to those that stood before me now, getting them to take me to Edward, to safety. Perhaps I would have, had I not grown more and more conscious of potential threats since James and Victoria both had tried to claim my life. A feeling tearing away at my gut told me to lie still, call it an instinct, call it whatever you'd like, but it was there. And so I was still and dead to the world when the voices of the others first broke the silence, so heavy in the air.
"Strange, isn't it? Such devotion in the past to protect her life, and yet now here she lies. Dying, and alone." I could envision the kind of smug expression that must have been plastered to the face of the one the voice belonged to from the tone under laying each word. For a moment the voice registered in my mind as familiar, yet a name was implacable, although somewhere deep in my mind, it was there. Even as I grasped and grappeled with the vain search to remember, the other standing nearby stood, and although he sounded much closed than the other, I hadn't even heard him approach me so closely. Strange.
"Indeed. Still human, and dying. Intriguing to say the least." For a moment all was silent, no words passing the lips of those speakers. What did they mean, still human. My mind screamed at me to recognize the voices, to recognize them and run, to get away from the men standing not feet from my limp body. "And such a waste, such a waste of such a gift."
At the man words I stifled a gasp that rose in my chest, my breathing becoming irregular as I realized just who the voices belonged to, my subconscious clicking the pieces together in my mind. No, no it can't be. Impossible.
And yet it was.
"Perhaps not. She is not gone yet." Moments before I may have been puzzled beyond thought, but now it struck fear into the core of my soul, less at the words themselves than simply the reality of it all as I began to put two and two together. Again things fell silent and for tense moments I feared I had give myself away, until a voice cracked through a heavy sheath of quiet in answer to an unspoken question, a simple string of words freezing my heart even though I already knew who it was standing above me, simply hearing the name nearly sent me scrambling to the edge of oblivion just to get away from the vile man.
"Oh course, Aro. Of course." And in the fragile seconds before I plunged into the dark peace of unconsciousness, the one place they couldn't reach me, I could feel the lips cold as death come to rest upon my neck for a moment. And in the next, they plunged through the thin, papery skin above my throat, crimson blood rushing forth to meet the venom pooling, mixing and flowing.
And then the burning began.
Authors Note: Longer than the last chapter, but still not as long as I wanted. Oh well. Writers block is a curse x.x so please excuse the cruddiness. PLEASEEE review and thank you to those who have been reading my story!