A/N: This is my longest chapter so far (6,000ish words) I don't know exactly how good it is, I think that's for you all to decide. Well without anything else – Read and Enjoy.
Chapter 21
Another night, another dream.
I was asleep on the beach; the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, casting brilliant orange light across the ocean. The sun hitting my back was warm and comfortable. Slowly waking up I pulled Alice closer to me, only she wasn't there. She must have been hunting or something. I shifted in my sleeping bag going back to sleep.
It wasn't long before there were soft footsteps crunching along the beach. I shifted again enjoying the warm comforting sleep. The steps grew closer, if Alice was bringing me breakfast; she was going to get a big reward. The steps crept along the tarp, until they stopped completely.
A cold hand softly rubbed my shoulder. "good morning," a sweet voice chimed, "did you sleep well?" The voice completed the perfect morning. Just like Alice said 'sunny and warm'
"Alice," I smiled not bothering to open my eyes. I gently brushed her hand with mine. This morning could only get better with pancakes.
Then the sun disappeared, leaving a muted grey light in its wake. A cold north wind picked up as soon as the clouds rolled in. Even in the safety of my sleeping the cold wind seeped into every part of my body. The hand on my shoulder clamped down, I could hear my bones protesting under the extreme pressure.
"How dare you call me by the name of that…Whore!" Katherine? Where the hell was I? It didn't look like Lake Michigan. Katherine shouldn't be here. I broke free of her grasp and crawled backwards out of the sleeping bag.
She was wearing the last thing I ever saw her in, the day I killed her. A flowing silver dress matching the shade of her hair, perfectly. Her eyes were glazed over, completely white. She loomed over me, her hair whipping around in the wind; she looked terrifying. I tried standing, but the wind pushed me down before I could get my feet under me. I didn't have any way to fight back.
"You will never forget me, not now, or a hundred years from now. No matter what!" She shouted the wind gusted for a moment before dying out. "And there is nothing your little bloodsucking whore can do about it." She spat with every ounce of venom she could muster.
Anger began boiling inside of me. She has every right to hate me for what I've done to her but she was not going to drag Alice into this ugliness. I shot to my feet ignoring the wind around me it pushed against me trying to throw back down. Even without a focus I could call up enough raw power to end this. "I love you, Katherine. But this is over."
Katherine's face softened, the wind died down to barely a breeze. "Aaron, take me back. I'm tired of being cold, help me." She begged me, I wanted to agree, but I couldn't. Faeries cannot lie, but that doesn't stop them from trying to trick and manipulate everyone and everything around them.
"I'm sorry, I can't." I said bringing my hand up, the magic surged through my hand and fingertips leaving a slight tingling sensation. "I think this is goodbye." I said as coldly as I could.
"Levitas!" I shouted. The clouds and forests around me seemed to darken as a bolt of lightning left my hand. The flash was blinding, but it was over in an instant, save the roar of thunder. Peace settled down along the beach, the wind was all but gone, the sun was back.
Katherine was gone, no body, no trace, no scorch marks; she was just gone.
"Aaron." A new voice called.
I dropped to my knees, crying. Why dear god why did I have to kill her again.
"Aaron, wake up, it's me." The voice came back, but not strong enough for to break out of my dream.
Katherine was gone, now and forever, my love, my light, my angel. I love you Katherine I always will.
"Katherine," I said without realizing I was awake. The sun was just coming over the green tree tops. The remnants of a fire still smoked gently.
"No, just me." Alice said standing over me carrying none other than a plate of pancakes.
"I'm sorry," I said sitting up; I ran my hands through my hair. "Bad dream," was the best explanation I could give. Alice handed me the plastic to go box along with a fork and knife.
"Want to talk about it?" She asked sitting beside me looking at me with her tarnished gold eyes.
I nodded pouring syrup on my pancakes. I started relating the events of my dream to her while I ate. My dad used to say, 'heavy conversation and food don't mix.' It was one of many pieces of advice of his that I neglected. She never took her eyes off me, like a statue that nodded at appropriate times.
I finished both the pancakes and the story at roughly the same time. When I finished she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me closer. "I knew it was bad, I heard you scream three miles away. Are you okay?" She said pulling me closer.
"Ya, I think." I said noticing for the first time that she was sparkling in the sunlight. On Edward it looks kind of creepy, on Alice it was unbelievably beautiful, like a million small diamonds dancing at night.
The memory of the dream started to slowly fade, leaving just a vague memory of the horror that unfolded in my head. After a few minutes the only thing in my mind was the beauty of Alice in daylight.
This was about the best morning I had in years. In about ten minutes it will be the best morning of my life. Alice and I just sat on the beach all morning, neither of us speaking; we both just sat watching the ocean. The waves were calming, regular, rhythmic; they were order in a life of chaos.
"I'm sorry but we have to cut this getaway short." Alice said looking apologetically. I guess that's part of dating a seer.
"What did you see?" I asked still staring out at the ocean. If it was incredibly urgent I think she would have grabbed and ran.
"I didn't have a vision; I grabbed a newspaper when I picked up the pancakes. I don't think it's something right up your alley." She said holding out a small front page clipping from the Redding Record Searchlight:
"Fifth Body Found: Work of a Serial Killer says FBI"
(AP)—The fifth body in what the FBI is now calling the 'Ice pick killer' has been found near the Green River. Authorities have been reluctant so far to give any information to the media so far. The identity of the fifth body has not been confirmed at this time. But sources within the FBI have alleged that the latest victim to be Lieutenant Cliff Evens, 43. A fourteen year veteran of the Seattle Police Department Evens was reported missing three days ago. He was last seen leaving SPD headquarters after his shift late Thursday night. The authorities have been reluctant to make any comment on the work of this killer fearing panic that the Seattle area hasn't felt since the Green River Killer.
Police have confirmed that the Ice Pick Killer, or IPK, is responsible for four other deaths in Seattle and Tacoma. It is believed that the IPK is responsible for at least seven other deaths in Seattle, Tacoma, and Port Angeles; a port town approximately ninety miles west of Seattle.
According to a joint statement given by SPD and the FBI each of the victims were "blitzed" and stabbed four times in the neck with an ice pick. The FBI has denied allegations that six other open missing persons cases are in any way related to the IPK. At this time all witnesses are urged to come forward with any information that would lead to the arrest of the IPK.
The four other victims were all missing for five days before their bodies were discovered, so far that is the only evidence that the fifth victim is not Lt. Evens.
Below the article was a color photo, showing a diagram of one of the wounds. There were four, perfect puncture wounds, each approximately four inches deep, according to the diagram; and arranged in a trapezoidal pattern.
Shit! Shit! Shit! "Damn it," I shouted crushing the newspaper in my hands. Here comes the real world to destroy the little slice of happiness I found. My hands were shaking in anger. It was my fault, I should have acted sooner. I should have done my job, gone to Seattle, investigated. There is no way in hell that those people were killed by a human with an ice pick. These murders were committed by at least one Red Court Vampire. "Wonder-fucking-full!"
This wasn't going to end well, the Red Court picks off innocent people, in order to get the White Council to respond with force. Then they would claim that we violated the ceasefire agreement and reignite the war.
"It's worse than it looks isn't it?" Alice asked after reading all of the obvious signs. "There trying to make an army aren't they?"
Shit, it's even worse than I just thought. They were making an army. The dead bodies were rejects; people who refused to make their first kill. "I think so. We need to get back now." I said slamming my feet in my shoes. This was going to be bad. I needed to prepare, and I'm going to need some serious backup. Some powerful and quiet backup.
I started rolling the sleeping bag up looking around at the other things in our makeshift camp. "Just leave it." Alice said standing up. "Hop on; the Porsche is three and a half miles way."
I silently cursed myself; at least I have the option this time. I sighed before jumping on her back piggy back style. We were gone in a blur, it's a good thing absolutely no one was around; I would have had to kill them.
It would have taken me at least ten times longer at a dead sprint to make it to the car. These are the times when I'm absolutely thrilled that my girlfriend is a vampire with extremely inhuman speed. I hopped in the passenger door and slammed my seat belt home. Alice started the car, putting it into gear and started driving back to Washington.
"We should make it back home before four this afternoon." Alice said turning to me, completely taking her eyes off the road. She couldn't really open the car up on the back roads, the best she could do was eighty-five. Once we hit Interstate-Five she completely floored it. The needle zoomed past one hundred, one ten, one twenty, on thirty, one forty, one fifty, one sixty, one seventy, one seventy-five, before resting comfortably at one eighty.
The look on her face was priceless, I almost expected her to stick her tongue out in concentration. She kept one eye on the road and one seemingly in her visions looking for cops, traffic, and road closures.
I didn't dare say anything; we were going way too fast for light conversations. This vacation turned out to be a complete bust. I think about Katherine all last night and this morning we have to run out to chase murdering vampires. I was rather hoping for a romantic weekend away after getting completely shanghaied into going.
Okay, four hours to come up with a plan. I can't go it alone, if Alice is right, and they are making an army, it would be suicide to go to Seattle by myself. Whoever was creating this vampire army had at least six. In all likelihood there are more, only six were actually missed, the others were probably runaways, homeless, junkies, prostitutes, all the people who aren't reported missing very often. I could probably get Harry to come out West; I could ask Captain Luccio for a favor, she may be willing to help; if Ramirez had been acting normal the last time I talked to him I would ask for his help.
I just need to do this without letting the majority of the Council know what was going on. I suppose that there's a family of vampires that can help, I'm sure Alice would be willing and I know how persuasive she could be. If everyone agreed we would have three maybe four wizards, plus six vampires. There are nine or ten, maybe eleven if Harry's vampiric half brother Thomas comes. Is that enough? Where could I get some other muscle if I needed? There was Kinkaid, but he's a mercenary that doesn't come cheap.
I can worry about man power later. Where was the best place to fight them? If I go to Seattle then I have the benefit of corners, alleys, narrow streets, and hiding places. Of course I don't know the layout and there are a lot more innocents that would get mixed up. If we fight around Forks, they have more angles of attack, more space to feign retreats, split the group up, and pick us off. Of course we would have to figure out a way to lure them to us if we try to fight closer to Forks. Either way we have the advantage, we have a seer, an empath, and the White Council's tactician. They have one or two experienced fighters, and a bunch of fresh vampires who don't know what the hell they're doing.
Red Court newborns aren't necessarily stronger, or faster, than an older vampire, but they are one hundred percent expendable. I'm surprised that there haven't been more people turned yet. It's only a matter of time before they attract a lot of attention. If something isn't done within the next two weeks Seattle and most of Washington will turn into a giant battlefield. That means a lot of bodies, both good guys and bad, but mainly people that have no way to defend themselves.
I leaned back against the leather head rest, resting my eyes. I had to let my mind do the work, I couldn't think anymore; it was becoming counterproductive to think. I needed to just allow all the possibilities to work themselves out. I'm able to do this through an extremely and magical process known as, 'sleeping.' I started falling asleep when it hit me.
Blood! Blood! It was as simple as spelling it out in big red letters. I'm going to fight it out in Seattle. We are going to fight it out in Seattle. All we have to do to gain the upper hand is salt the area with blood. Then they wouldn't be able to use our scents, all they could smell would be the blood. We would have the advantage, they wouldn't be able to see or smell the Cullens. I have seen the Red Court in battle, there faster than people, but there not faster than the Rose Court. This might be easy; but since nothing is ever easy…
It's a good plan, but it's too double edged. Blood would have the exact same effect on the Cullens. They too would be distracted by the smell of blood, and if they weren't too distracted then they wouldn't be able to use their sense of smell. How much do they rely on their sense of smell? Can they fight without it?
I suppose for now it doesn't matter. I have a plan in the works, it may not be great, but it is the best I can do without real planning. Damn it, I'm much better with tactics once I'm in battle, strategy and I haven't always gotten along.
"Are we almost there?" I asked still concentrating on all the problems that were coming towards me like a tank.
"Silly, I told you ten minutes ago we were." Alice said playfully. Damn, we either made good time, or I dozed off, maybe both.
Checklist: one, call Harry; two; call Captain Luccio; two-a request local maps of Faerie; three, call Ramirez, see if he's back to normal; four, figure out a plan before the other wizards get there, five; get a final plan; six, fight them.
That shouldn't be too hard. That's going to be my mantra for the next two weeks. The power of positive thinking, right? Of course I had to convince at least one high ranking wizard to fight alongside vampires, instead of just fighting vampires. I don't think I'm going to be sleeping much for a while.
The soft hum of the car's engine stopped. I guess Alice did a good job wizard proofing her car. I was still expecting the car to suddenly burst into flames or something cool like that.
"We're here!" She announced like it was something absolutely miraculous. I opened the door, careful to not hit the red convertible we parked next to. I slowly made my way to the door to the house. I took a couple of deep breaths, setting up my game face.
Alice led us straight into the dining room where the rest of the family was sitting around the dining table that was covered in newspaper clippings, a large map of Washington, and a smaller map of just Seattle. Stuck in the maps were a ton of tiny needles, in various colors. The tension in the room was palpable, only Carlisle and the stuck up bitch were sitting, everyone else was standing around, still as statues; the only movement in the entire room was Bella pacing around the large table. Edward was sitting off in the corner with a blank stare on his face.
"I can see we're late," I said stating the obvious and announcing our presence. "What do we know?"
"Not much," Carlisle began not taking his attention off the map, looking for some pattern to appear. "The green pins are missing persons, the yellow are the last place murder victims were seen alive, and red are where the bodies of the IPK where found, blue are bodies matching the MO of the IPK." There were over twenty green pins, combined with five yellow and red, and ten blue. I still studied the map; most of the pins were concentrated in Seattle and Tacoma. Then there was an anomaly, three lonely pins in Port Angeles.
"I'm sure that that you know by now that the IPK and the missing persons are the work of vampires." All eyes turned on me like I had just said the dumbest thing in the world. Mainly because I did. "How much do any of you know about Red Court Vampires? That's what we're dealing with."
No one volunteered to answer the question. Silence answered another question. "Vampires of the Red Court are not people once they make their first kill. They turn into a giant bat creature with four inch canines and a mess of nasty venom. They look human because they hide behind a flesh mask. They are incredibly strong, and heal incredibly quickly."
"How do we kill them?" Slabs asked turning his attention to me.
"Cut their head off or cut their stomach open. The reason they heal so fast, is because of the reserve of human blood they have in their stomach. Once they lose it their dead, and not many things can live without a head." I said to the room more than to him.
"We're not dealing with your Red Court," Edward said from his perch in the corner, "there are also vampires like us." He had a dejected look on his face, Bella stopped her pacing and went to him. I think that was the longest I'd seen those two in the same room so far apart.
"He's right," Esme said still standing over Carlisle's shoulder, "The people that haven't been linked to the IPK have bite wounds on their necks."
Of fucking course! I couldn't just have to worry about a death squad of Red Court running around. There had to be another group of Rose Court running around too.
"Someone needs to fill me in on what it is your kind can do? I know how to deal with that many Red Court, but I've only known about your kind for two weeks." I said trying to adapt my strategy on the fly.
"You mean Alice hasn't told you everything." The stuck up bitch snipped.
"No she hasn't." Alice said coldly. "But I'm going to now. Our kind the condensed version, we have super speed, strength, we don't sleep, we only feed on blood, and the only real way to kill our kind is to tear us apart and burn the pieces. Happy Rose." Alice said taking the seat next to her father (I'm getting good at this family thing.)
"Okay do we know if their linked or are the fighting each other?" I asked trying to gather all the facts.
"We don't know." Carlisle said, "It is possible that this is a war between the two Courts." He sounded unsteady as if wondering whether he used the term 'courts' correctly
"The Red Court has some powerful influence in Seattle, it's the main port for their west coast smuggling operation. If the Rose Court is trying to move in it could lead to a war." I explained taking a seat at the opposite end table looking over some of the other newspaper clippings, trying to find something they missed.
"Rose Court?" Rosalie asked for once without at trace of bitterness.
"It's my nickname for your kind. The other vampire species are broken up into political factions," I explained using my hands to make my point, "there are three factions, the White Court, The Red Court, and the Black Court. I've explained the Red Court to you, the White Court feeds off of human emotion, and the Black Court are the kind out of Dracula. Rose Court is a nickname the few wizards who know about your kind. I'm one of about four people who use it. But that's beside the point." I went back to the newspapers scattered about the table. Outside of the fifth body, none of them were anything out of the ordinary, a housewife, a banker, a college student, and a tourist.
Occasionally vampires of the Red Court will turn people high up some place to get access to big companies, government, or police. Outside of Lt. Evens there isn't anyone here who fits the bill.
There's a connection between these attacks in Seattle and what's been happening around here. "Dr. Cullen, I need to speak with you in private." I said figuring out the connection. This is definitely not good.
"Yes, of course follow me Warden." He said getting up from the table.
"I'm only a warden when I wear the grey cloak. Any other time I'm just Aaron." I replied following him out of the room.
"In that case I'm only Dr. Cullen when I wear the white coat." He led me through a twisting maze of a house, past the bowling alley, the basketball court, the movie theater, three flights of stairs, and a partridge in a pair tree. We finally made it too a room that looked somewhat familiar, it was where I called Harry the first day I met these lovely vampires.
"I have a theory." I said searching for the right words and the right tone. I was shooting for confidant, but it came out more nervous. "I think this is all connected. What happened with Jasper, Victoria attacking two days later, and now with what's going on in the City."
"How is it all connected? Everything seems like a series of unfortunate, but random events." He said taking a seat at a large and ornate wooden desk. He gestured for me to sit in another chair, I politely declined. I think better on my feet.
"It's a long story," I prefaced "so bear with me."
"On my first night here I couldn't sleep, it's not new problem, but that's neither here nor there." I wasn't off to a very good start I have a terrible tendency to ramble when I'm trying to piece things together. "Anyway, I started to read from a book called 'Vampyre.' I ran across a passage, less than ten lines long, it was a prophecy about something called the dhampir. I don't know what that is, but I think it's a half human half vampire."
"It didn't mean a thing at first, but the longer I'm here the more I think that the prophecy is referring to Edward and Bella. Normally I take prophecies as serious as I take horoscopes, but this one is different. It doesn't mention either of them by name, but it does mention: 'the cold one who hears what shouldn't be heard.' Open to interpretation, of course, but thoughts are one thing that shouldn't be heard. The next morning I was attacked by Jasper less than a mile from Bella's home, I think he was on his way there. I don't know why yet, but I did find the same book in his room missing the prophecy."
This was actually coming across somewhat intelligent even with my excited ramblings. I was slowly wearing a tread in the carpet with my constant pacing, "Then Victoria tries to attack Bella the very next day. One attempt on your life in a week is bad luck, two is something bigger. I think that someone is trying to keep the Dhampir from being born. I think that this army, is the third attempt, if assassination doesn't work they are going to try overkill."
"That's an interesting theory." He said quietly when I finished. "I'm not sure though."
"If only you could see it from my perspective. It's as clear as it could be. I can see it; I just need to prove it." I said continuing to pace around the room. "I just had to tell someone rational about all of this."
"I don't doubt your conviction, but there needs to be proof." He said coolly.
Proof, proof; I need proof, how can I get proof that someone is trying to kill Bella to stop a mythical birth. Then it hit me like a bad prop comic hitting a watermelon. Someone's been trying to kill Bella for years. I overheard something when I first got her; she said that she had terrible luck, that she was clumsy or something. I didn't quite remember, but the luck part. There's only one thing I know that tries to hurt people using bad luck: an Entropy Curse.
An entropy curse is literally killing someone with bad luck. If the spell is powerful and immediate, then it will kill someone in a bizarre way. I've seen Harry use one that caused a frozen butterball turkey to fall out of the sky (presumably from a plane) and hit some poor idiot square in the head.
A less immediate version tries to kill people over a long time with a series of unfortunate accidents, tripping down a flight of stairs, a blowout on a winding road in a rainstorm, a car skidding out of control. There are a hundred different things that a low energy entropy curse can do.
"I think I can prove it. You just won't have a way of seeing the proof." I said not facing him. "I think someone's been trying to kill Bella since she was born."
"What do you mean; I won't be able to see the evidence?" He asked looking a bit confused.
I spent the next five minutes explaining the workings of an entropy curse, and how there is a good chance that she is affected by one.
"There must be people that just have bad luck, or are clumsy." He said, perfectly rational.
"Of course your right. Some people are just unlucky, but how many people are named in a prophecy that a whole lot of creatures want to stop." I replied, "If you still doubt me bring Bella and Edward up here, I'll use my third eye on Bella, Edward will make sure I tell the truth." I finally stopped pacing around the room and took a seat across the room.
"Is the process invasive? I don't know much about a wizard's sight." He said casually drumming his fingers on his desk.
"Only in the same way looking at a person is invasive, it's not as invasive as a soulgaze. She won't know what's going on." I explained briefly, letting my eyes wander over to the clock on the wall; it was closing in on six. I'd been talking with Carlisle for close to an hour and I haven't made any real progress.
He didn't respond, instead he stood up, walked to the door, he opened the door and in the same tone he'd just been talking to me he said "Edward, could you bring Bella up here please." He turned back to me and casually said, "Don't worry the room is completely sound proof. No one heard a word of our conversation."
A second later there was a soft knock at the door. The door opened slowly and Edward and Bella came in. Bella looked slightly confused by this, but of course Edward knew exactly what's going. He just wasn't sure what it all meant.
"Okay, here's the deal." I said before taking a deep breath and explaining an even more condensed version of what I spent an hour telling just Carlisle. I explained everything I could about the attacks, the army or armies, the prophecy, the curse. I told them absolutely everything as quickly and efficiently as I could. They both needed to know exactly what the prophecy, I told Edward only a small piece earlier. Neither of them tried to interrupt during the entire speech, which was definitely a good thing. "There is absolutely everything," I finished, with an exasperated sigh.
"So unless there are any questions I think it's best we figure out if Bella is cursed in a completely literal sense." I quickly added.
"What do I have to do?" Bella asked timidly. What the hell was it with everyone? I never thought that magic was really that complicated. I just told her that I was going to look at her with my magic glasses. If that wasn't enough I told her I looked around her room with my sight.
"You are going to sit right here, I'm going to do the rest." I said trying not to sound too sarcastic, but I added a big cheesy smile and equally exaggerated thumbs up. I motioned to the chair right next to mine.
She quietly nodded, sitting in the chair. I rose quietly and faced her. Carlisle sat back casually observing me like an anthropologist observing the kinship and marriage practices of a rainforest based tribal society. Thank you Discovery Channel. Edward was visibly uncomfortable, if he could read my thoughts he would know that I was completely intent on seeing an entropy curse. I'd never seen one before; I only knew that a curse of this kind was theoretically possible.
"Don't worry this isn't going to hurt." I reassured her. I closed my eyes focusing on the space between my eyes. There was the familiar pinching sensation between my eyes. I opened my eyes the familiar bright blue overlay. I started slowly trying to avoid seeing anything that would haunt me for the rest of my life, I have enough of that.
I noticed two things at first: first an old wound above her heart (something I'm completely familiar with,) the other thing was that she was completely normal (psychically speaking.) Every person has a different psychic image; the image is a reflection of their psyche. With Bella though there was no difference. None. None! It makes absolutely no sense.
It took a while before I saw anything else. Not because it wasn't there, but because I had no idea what I was looking for.
"I found it," I said mostly to myself. Wrapped all the way around her was something that resembled a thin gold chain, so thin that I couldn't really see it at all. It was too ornately carved to be the work of any mortal. This chain was the visual manifestation of the curse, the size was a clear indicator of the kind of power, and the ornateness of the carvings was a sign of longevity – I think.
There was no way for me to tell just how long the chain had been wrapped around her, it could have been, days, weeks, months, years, or it could have been her entire life. "I need a pair of forceps and wire cutters…" they were both in my hand before I could finish, "I think."
I know that if I can see it, I can remove it. The only problem is a spell this serious and complex is more than likely going to be booby trapped. If it is booby trapped there should be some warning sign. I moved pieces of the chain around gently, seeing if the trigger was obvious. I opened my mouth to speak again holding out my left hand and a magnifying glass appeared in it before I could make a sound, "Thanks," I muttered trying to make it seem like that was my plan all along.
The carvings around the chain were even more ornate than I thought. The links were about half an inch long and in the shape of miniature dragons in flight, why I don't know, but they are.
"It's now or never," I mumbled gripping one dragon link with the forceps. I took a long deep breath, trying to calm myself. I gently snipped the chain where two links met, holding my breath. If something went wrong, I was going to be splattered across the room one way or another.
Click. Nothing happened. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was going to live at least a little bit longer. Snip, click. Still nothing, I was getting more confident. Snip, click, again. Snip, click. Snip, click. I had to stop, if something went wrong now I wouldn't be able to cast a counter spell.
I shut my third eye looking around the room, Alice had joined the others standing still as stone. "This is going to take a while." I said to all three of them in general.
"How can we help?" Sparkles asked never taking his eyes off of a clearly shaken Bella.
"Umm, it would be easier if she was lying down; the chain is tangled all around her. It's going to take hours for me to remove it all." I said not really answering his question.
He went to Bella and picked her up and carried her, bridal style, out of the room. I slumped down on one of the chairs rubbing my eyes and forehead. Using my third eye for long periods of time creates one hell of a headache.
"You okay?" Alice asked sitting next to me gently rubbing my shoulder.
"Tired." I replied leaning my head on her shoulders as best as I could. I wanted nothing more than to sleep right now. Not long, just until my headache went away.
"You can either finish with Bella now, or go back down to the war room." She said sternly. She was right, but I still didn't move.
"If I stand up right now, I'm more than likely going to throw up." I lied trying to buy myself some extra time.
"No you're not. Now stand up." She commanded; anyone would be lucky to have a friend like Alice.
"Okay, let me get something to eat and I'll start trying to decurse Bella." I said standing up.
A/N: You know the new drill by now…If your muse descends drop me a review, if it doesn't tell a friend.