Chapter 5

The burning sensation flowed through my body as I gasped for air, slightly relived that he wasn't here after all. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to keep from screaming for too long, but I would try. The burning continued to get worse even after I thought there was no way it could, the pain was too much for me to take. I clawed away at the sheets in my attempts to sooth the pain but that just made the fire worse.

***

I eventually gave up hope, waiting for death to take me away. There was no way this was how it was supposed to be, no one could go through this much pain and survive, not for three days. I tried to collect my thoughts but they were flying all over the place, something in the back of my mind told me that I really was going to die, wasn't that the point? There was no getting out of it now. Why hadn't I just let Aro kill me in the forest? I bit back another scream as a wave of fire hit me with even more force than before. I couldn't do this, please take the pain away, please kill me now.

***

Voices… I could hear smooth voices speaking in hushed tones right above my head. Were they doing that on purpose? Were they talking to me, or perhaps about me? It hurt to concentrate but I wanted nothing more than to find out what they were saying, had they too realized that something was wrong? Were they going to end my suffering?

I took another sharp breath and did my best to hold back another scream as I tried to hear what they were saying.

"Are you sure?" someone said, disbelief showing through his voice.

"Yes, of course I'm sure." A clearly annoyed male voice responded.

"But she's so quiet. She hasn't screamed once. Are you sure you did it right?"

"Are you questioning my knowledge of these things?"

"No master, of course not."

***

Little by little the pain started to withdraw from the tip of my toes. I focused all my attention to that part of my body, hoping I could block the pain filling the rest of it. I could suddenly feel someone close to me, watching. I continued to focus on my toe but the pain still managed to slip through despite my best efforts. A cool hand stroked the hair out of my face and ran its fingers down my cheek, soothing the pain for a fraction of a second before the hand disappeared, allowing the fire to return.

"You know, when Aro said you were going to be spared I actually got a little bit pissed… But now I can see why. You're absolutely gorgeous. Of course, you were already gorgeous as a human, but now… Yes. I can absolutely see why he made that choice. Even if you turn out without a spectacular gift of some sort I think you'll be his new princess. Everyone's talking about you..." There was a short pause, as if he didn't know what to say next. I simply lay there, trying to keep my breathing even and focusing on that lovely toe of mine that didn't hurt anymore.

"You're going to be fine Bella, it's almost over. And I'll be back when it is." He got up and left my room, closing the door softly behind him leaving me to deal with my pain alone.

***

I had no idea how long id' been laying here when the pain finally peaked in my chest. The rest of my body felt numb and thankfully painless, but my heart was working overtime, I could feel it struggle against the venom before it finally gave up, leaving me with my back arched in a futile attempt to get away from the pain. And then, nothing. Something was wrong, what was missing? I slowly opened my eyes, blinking furiously against the light that was flowing through the painted glass window. I was stunned; I could see the dust particles dancing around the room like snowflakes. They rays of sunlight left trails of sparkling colors all around the walls of the room, colors I'd never even seen before. I slowly sat up, noticing four shapes standing in the doorway staring at me while I did the same to them. My memory was foggy, I found myself searching for their names until they popped up in the back of my mind, Aro. Aro, Felix, Demetri and Jane all stood crammed in the doorway apparently waiting for me to say or do something.

I cleared my throat, surprised when I realized what had been missing: breathing. I smiled to myself at that discovery and took a deep breath before raising my eyebrows at the group in front of me, "Well, are you going to stand there all day long or are you going to come in?" I was surprised to hear my voice; it sounded nothing like it was supposed to. It was clear and, well, dare I say it, beautiful?

The group entered my room in a slow fashion, eyes alert but curious, as if wondering what I might do next.

Aro spoke up, "Isabella, how are you feeling?"

"Um." How did I feel? I thought for a second, "Fine I guess."

A slight smile spread across his face as he continued, "Would it be okay with you if we test your resistant to Jane's power right away?" His eyes were gleaming with excitement; after all, this was why I was here.

"Sure, give it your best shot, Jane." I replied, pronouncing Jane's name with obvious distaste, hoping that whatever it was that had kept me safe from her was still with me.

What happened next made everyone stare at Jane and me in awe. I could feel something almost poking me in my mind and without thinking about it I pushed it back to wherever it came from, causing Jane to fall down screaming, rolling around on the floor. I let the thing I was pushing away in my mind go another direction and she quickly got to her feat, staring at me with fire burning behind her eyes.

"What did she do?!" I flinched, her voice was so high pitched that it actually hurt my ears listening to her.

"My guess is that she gave you a taste of your own medicine." Demetri face was lit up, as if he had been waiting for this sort of thing to happen for a long time. He probably has, I thought to myself while grinning widely at everyone.

As Jane stormed out I turned to Aro and said, "Don't you want to try your thing too?" Innocence written all over my face as I smiled at him.

He shook his head at once, "No, I think that will be quite enough for one day. You need to get something to eat; you should be very thirsty by now. Demetri and Felix will go with you and supervise." A burning sensation in my throat that I hadn't noticed before suddenly got worse, but still not as bad as the last few days had been.

"But how, you said I didn't need to feed on humans, didn't you?" I thought back, no he hadn't actually said it out loud. He had said something about dealing with that when the time came. Well, the time is here now. I suddenly realized I would have no choice in the matter if he decided against my wishes. I could feel the smile slide right off my face as I came to that conclusion.

"Isabella, Felix and Demetri here are going to accompany you out of this town to a game reserve I've set up for you to hunt in." Aro sounded quite proud as he continued, "It's actually a fully functioning eco system in there, I think you'll like it."

I could do nothing but stare at him. Was he serious? The smile once again made its appearance on my face as I started to bounce up and down on my bed, almost making it bounce around with me. This was perfect, "What are we waiting for?" I jumped of the bed and ran into the bathroom out of habit, frowning as I realized I was in a completely different outfit than the one I got into bed in. Rushing out again the three vampires left in the room seemed startled as I pointed my finger around at them, "Who changed my clothes? I'm pretty sure I did NOT go to bed in something labeled Victoria's Secret." Even though the black cami and boyshort pajama is surprisingly comfortable, I thought, I would not let them get away with this too easily. I continued to glare at the three of them with as much fury I could muster.

Aro and Felix stared at the obvious culprit as he held up his hands with a worried expression on his face, "No no, it's nothing like that!"

So. I guess i could have continued to write about their first hunt now, but i think this is enough for this chapter. um. yeah.

Guess i've forgotten to put a disclamer in here, so here it is: I'm not responsable for Twilight, I only like to play with the characters every now and then.

Remember, reviews makes me happy, when I'm happy I write. Simple? :D