so, next chapter! yay! and it's much longer this time ;3 I hope you enjoy
She woke to the murmurs of Alice speaking with her, or rather, Bella's father. It only took a second of adjustment before her mind cleared and she could hear what they were saying properly. Of course, Bella was on the table for discussion.
Charlie, bless his soul had recognized the differences that had come over his precious baby girl in the time since she had taken control. She tuned out their whispers as she closed her eyes, searching deep within the recesses of her mind until she found the dimly glowing presence of Bella. Only just there, sustained by the fantasy of her love.
The same love that had called her spirit to this broken body in the first place. Despair, depression, confusion, heartache- when mixed they had been the perfect cocktail to summon her to the desolate body. Before she had intervened, Bella had already been balancing on a dangerous edge. If anything, Didyme had saved her.
Kept her from suicide and catatonia by possessing her body where the girl lacked the will ot live. It wasn't as if she had had to push too hard against the girl's will; she barely had any of her own unlike a handful of the previous hosts she had tried to inhabit. This girl's body had welcomed her, devoured her even as a flaming sign of life even in the form of a bloodthirsty vendetta. Anything to keep the body alive.
Survival of the fittest at it's finest. Darwin would be proud. Where the mind and spirit could no longer properly function, the body took control and held her fast, using her as a means to survival. The few times Bella had showed any signs of stirring was at the mention of her heartache or at a particularly strong reminder of him.
Since then, Didyme had taken to switching seats in biology, ignoring the forest where the meadow lay, avoiding most horror movies, and of course changing the subject when it came to near to the source.
Bella was a weak soul; far too soft to survive against Didyme's hatred. Occasionally though, the girl's depression had seeped into her own consciousness, frightening her with its intensity the very first time it had overwhelmed her. She remembered such feelings of melancholy herself, separated from her lover as she was. And that was ultimately why this body had drawn her spirit among the other hungry scavengers; their love made them kindred spirits of sorts.
By accident Didyme had become privy to a few of Bella's strongest surviving memories and she knew despite the human fragility of her, she had loved her mate as deep and true as any vampire couple ever had before if not stronger because of her limited time at his side. The inferiority complex that came with having a heartbeat; how the girl had ached to become truly one with her boyfriend and yet constantly denied.
It amazed her that this girl could have loved, and still loved in fact, this Edward so completely and without restraint while he had simply cast her aside. Could any true mate simply continue to exist without their other half? Bella had ceased to function as Didyme watched those cruel words fall from Edward's lips like stones, beating and battering the girl's mind and spirit until she finally collapsed inside of herself.
When she imagined Marcus in place of Edward she could think of nothing else to do but join the weeping girl on the floor and pour her heart out until she withered away.
So Didyme truly felt for the girl, and had they known eachother in another time she would have done all she could to cheer this inconsolable creature. It had never been in Didyme's nature to inflict pain upon others. Even as a vampire she had literally exuded an aura of happiness. She could not stand to see others in pain or misery and did all she could to cheer them.
But then Aro, vile brother as he was, took her own happiness from her. She had trusted him until the very end and he had betrayed her in the cruelest of ways. And so she was forced to cast aside her foolish happiness as her body was consumed by the flames.
It was that hatred for what had been done to her that had pushed Bella from the cliff. Living before them had been a joint effort between the two with Didyme pushing the girl along until she could gain absolute control.
The release of the jump had ripped Bella's soul from its remaining control and as they plunged deep into the biting ocean Didyme had felt her spirit settle into every nook and cranny of the new body before being dragged back to shore by the wolf.
Bella's desperate need to be with her lover would have driven her to the cliff eventually. Didyme had not missed the delusional voice of Edward within their shared mind whenever they were in danger. Jumping from the cliff was just another way for the girl to hear him speak to her once more as tender as if he still loved her.
The driving force of his voice had allowed Didyme to take what remained of the girl's conscience and lock it away, trapping it beneath layers of the sweetest dream she could imagine for the girl.
Beautiful vampire, standing proudly beside the bronze haired boy whose golden eyes could only gaze at her with love. A family of the same where she was welcomed and accepted. Grace and strength beyond which she could have ever achieved as a human.
It was a good dream, and far be it from her to take that away. She decided she had spent too much time thinking backwards and she sat up fluidly, moving from the nest she had made on the couch to the kitchen where Charlie and Alice sat.
It had been Bella's own mind that kept her from the easy flowing grace that Didyme now exhibited, moving as if in a dance as she hummed under her breath:
"Fratello brutale (Brutal brother)
Crudele dei re (Cruelest of kings)
Io vengo per te (I come for you)
Portarti inferno (Take you to hell)"
Of course she didn't use the words themselves, while she could get away with it around Charlie, as a vampire Alice no doubt knew her own hand of Italian and she didn't want to freak the child out just yet.
She saw Alice watching her in the glass though and her lips unfurled in an unbidden smile as her eyes widened and she startled, her glare burning holes through the door as the bell rang.
"I'll get it," she sang easily as Alice toppled her chair, restrained by the need to appear human before Charlie and unable to beat her to the door because of it. The door swung open to reveal a tense, and topless, Jacob Black. His gaze shot past her and landed on Alice as she froze in her advancement, locked in a battle for dominance against the shapeshifter.
Didyme found herself without patience though and nudged the boy to get his attention. He was solid muscle and alpha beneath the skin and it showed to someone like her. Such a cute little display between the two children that she would have liked to watch if she wasn't on a schedule but she was and so she cut them short by clearing her throat when her elbow went unnoticed.
Dark eyes met her own and she beamed up at him innocently. "Did you bring what I asked for?" she asked, her lower lip pouting just so. His eyes were cold as they met hers though and she shrugged. The shape-shifters had originated as warriors who could manipulate their souls between a human body and a wolf when the need arose.
It had taken but a single visit to Jake's home before the elders recognized her for the interloper she was. They'd attempted to exorcise her from the body but she was firmly rooted and Bella had had no desire to return to the cruel reality of her empty life.
Didyme in turn promised them the fall of the "Cold Ones" if they let her room inside her body for a little while longer. Jake had of course rebelled against the idea but was outvoted by the rest of his pack. Since then he'd been on a quest to reawaken Bella. He was one of the primary reasons she'd pushed Bella towards the cliff. Nearly every time he got close to her, Bella would stir.
Now though, she felt only a small twinge of awareness before it receded again; she might have missed it if she hadn't been waiting for some sort of response.
"Here," he said gruffly, shoving a sloppily wrapped package into her hands. Its weight was slight, but she wouldn't be using it as any sort of blunt object. From what she could feel of it inside, it was about a foot long from end to end and only about an inch and a half wide at its largest.
This time when she smiled it was for an altogether different reason and Jake didn't miss the sinister expression on her face. He felt his wolf shiver inside, sensing the threat of a greater predator. In her hands she held the one weapon sure to kill a vampire.
It had been passed down through the pack alphas for generations and this was the first time that it would not only leave their territory, but be entrusted to someone not of their pack.
A poignard styled bone dagger forged from the remains of fallen wolf warriors who wished to continue their war against the Cold Ones. In the right hands it could deal some hefty damage. And like it or not, he'd seen what she could do with the blade and he wasn't doubting her skill with it.
Before he released it to her though he glanced at the bloodsucker behind before giving a low snarl and yanked Didyme to him. He bent to her ear and his voice rumbled deep in her chest with a threat.
"Do what you came here for and then give Bella back to me," he snarled.
"What if she doesn't want to come back?" she hissed.
His body trembled with barely contained rage as she watched him. "Give. Bella. Back." He reached to pull the blade from her grasp and her fingers tightened around it as she met his gaze as blood beaded from the sharpened blade.
"Fine," she assented, "I'll get my revenge and then return our precious Bella back to you but I don't promise she'll be any better off than when I took over," she glared.
He stepped back and nodded. "Have a safe trip," he nodded before loping back to his still running car.
"What's that?" Alice asked, appearing at her side and trying to pry the package from her, pausing at the sight of blood. Even just fed, fresh blood was hard to resist.
"Nothing," she snapped, pulling it to her chest, "just a present," she smiled.
"Stay away from that boy Bella, he's bad news," she warned.
She tucked the blade away and flashed a deadly smile as she skipped up the stairs. "Considering the fact that it was your coven brother that made me fall head over heels in love with him and then broke my heart into a million jagged pieces that tore my soul to shreds when he tired of his game with the human girl and you and your coven disappeared over night without so much as a good-bye, you're not really in the position to warn me about anybody at all Alice," she winked, picking the words that would cut through the girl the most.
"So, let me pack a little bag and we'll go save your narcissistic little coven brother from his bruised ego and unnecessary guilt before he ruins not just my life but everyone else's as well," she shrugged. "Be right back."
Alice stood frozen at the foot of the stairs, unable to completely register all the words that had been tossed at her so maliciously. She might look like Bella, but there was no way the girl that had just hurled those words like daggers at her could be the Bella she knew.
She found herself chewing on her thumbnail in uncharacteristic nervousness. Now that she was inviting Bella along, she couldn't make heads or tales about what Edward was up to in Italy and she didn't know who to be more worried about. Her brother, or the girl parading around as Bella.
Whoo! Scary Bella, well, Didyme ._. To Volterra! Down with the Volturi...minus Marcus .3.; Aren't you excited to see what Didyme has to say when she meets Edward? xD Oh she's going to have some words for him let me tell you...well I will actually, jut not now. Reviews are loved, I'll try to the next chapter up soon~