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Chapter 4 – A Shocking Revelation
"Extraordinary," Carlisle murmured. Well aware of Alice burning twin holes into his back, he quickened up his examination on Bella. The brunette was devoid of any injury; the bruises that tattooed her knuckles and marred the skin around her eye were gone, the various cuts around her body, previously looking like demented smiles, had all but disappeared. The bite marks that littered an ugly path down both arms had also ceased to exist. Carlisle's confusion increased tenfold when he gently turned Bella onto her side to examine her back. The whiplashes were gone as if they never existed; not one scratch nor line was to be seen. Bella's back was as flawless and unmarked as if it had never been kissed by the end of a whip.
"Impossible," the doctor muttered, almost to himself. His voice was awash with bewilderment, his scientific mind unable to comprehend the sudden turn of events. He moved limber fingers down to the human's casted ankle and gingerly began removing the cast, tearing slowly at the fabric with his hands. Carlisle frowned at what greeted him; the skin was still slightly speckled with mismatched bruises of yellow and green but it was blatantly obvious that the bone had healed. "Impossible." It seemed to be the only word that trailed through the patriarch's confounded mind.
"Carlisle." Alice's anxious voice floated over to sensitive ears. She peered over her adopted father's shoulder and traced eyes, dimmed to a brownish black from lack of blood, over Bella's now unblemished face. "How is this possible?" The petite vampire breathed out quietly. She ran a lone finger down Bella's cheek, silently marveling at its warmth and softness.
Carlisle tugged a baffled hand through his tousled hair. The feeling of dread that had taken up residence in the pit of his stomach upon witnessing the bite marks on Bella's arms now began gnawing at his gut with urgent intensity. "Do you remember the bite marks on her arms, Alice?" His voice was muted, heavy with trepidation.
A jerk of a head sent spiky strands of inky black hair to shudder in all directions. Alice turned her gaze fixedly onto Carlisle's face, a question and demand for an answer stark in those murky eyes.
"I don't think she was meant to escape," Carlisle theorized. He knew he was treading on thin ice by simply voicing this opinion to Alice. He watched his adopted daughter carefully, ready for the impending explosion.
"Escape?" Alice's voice cracked and pain flushed across her face at the thought of Bella being kept prisoner by some sadist vampire who took immense please in torturing the brunette. Then just as quickly, fire hot rage chased pain into a corner and lit up Alice's eyes so radiantly that they seemed to burn. "I'll kill them." It was neither a threat nor a promise. It was simply fact.
Carlisle placed a steadying hand on Alice's shoulder. "Remember who you are, Alice." The hand bore down on the shoulder it gripped, hard enough to drive the doctor's point home but not hard enough to hurt. Carlisle was almost afraid to admit that the tone in Alice's voice had very nearly caused him to shiver, so drenched it was in hatred.
Alice took a deep steadying breath, pulling an abashed expression over her face, though her insides quivered against the fumes of rage. She forced herself to focus on Bella's face, memorizing the dips and planes that made up the brunette's striking features. The human sure was beautiful; a sort of quiet beauty that did not realize it had the power to bring men and women to their knees. The pixie haired vampire made a mental bet that Bella had a shy personality. If only she were awake to put that bet to the test.
"Is she human, Carlisle?" Alice could hear Bella's heartbeat, still slightly sluggish and somewhat erratic but definitely stronger than the previous days. If she concentrated hard enough, she could hear the blood washing down the various veins in Bella's body. She could also detect the brunette's pulse point on the side of her neck; it drummed out a beat that made the skin above it jump to its tune. These were not characteristics of a vampire but Bella's rapid healing did not help in the assumption that she was human.
Carlisle shrugged, puzzled. "If you would permit me to do some tests," he began slowly. "The bite marks on her arms are a complete mystery. They are obviously made by a vampire but there was no trace of venom in her blood."
"The bastard could have sucked it back out," Alice surmised, pushing down the wall of animosity toward Bella's torturer.
Carlisle shook his head. "Not many vampires have the ability to draw back from the frenzy of feeding. Besides, some of the bite marks differed from others, almost as if more than one vampire was feeding on her. This again, does not make sense, because vampires don't share their meals."
Alice pounced in on the implication that more than one sadistic bloodsucker had tortured Bella. "More than one?" the pixie vampire spat out. She bit her lip from growling when Carlisle shot her a warning look and dug her nails into her palm in an attempt to remain calm. "Are you suggesting that Bella's immune to our venom?" It seemed an inconceivable notion.
Again, Carlisle shrugged, having grown increasingly frustrated from his lack of being able to answer of their questions. "Let me do some tests, Alice." The doctor was asking as much as he was stating the fact. "I promise not to hurt her."
Alice nodded. "I'm going to go hunt." It was a simple peace offering. She knew Carlisle worked best on his scientific experiments when he was undisturbed. She heard Carlisle release a near silent sigh of relief and turned to bestow her father a soft apologetic smile. With a last lingering look at the still slumbering brunette, Alice took off through the study's balcony.
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Six hours later
Alice paced the length of the living room, shooting sporadic anxious glances up the stairs. What was taking the doctor so long? The petite vampire wondered if she would make it through the rest of the week with her sanity intact.
"Alice, sit down!" A guttural growl emanated from the end of the couch. Alice turned and fixed a heated glare at the owner of the voice. Jasper returned the look, his golden eyes pulsating with irritation, the book in his lap forgotten in favor of staring his sister down. "Your anxiety is driving me crazy." A severe understatement. As with the rest of the family, Jasper was filled with apprehension over the latest development concerning Bella. Nevertheless, Jasper did not need the added weight of Alice's anxiety to fuel his own and the result was burrowing a hole through the ex-soldier's normally calm demeanor.
"Then why the hell are you here?" Alice scowled. She resumed her pacing, intent on wearing down the carpet.
"Because you're my sister." The reply was simply enough but it halted Alice in her steps. She spun around, delicate and graceful as a well-trained ballerina and bequeathed Jasper with a sheepish look. "Sorry, Jaz," she offered meekly.
Jasper's lips twitched into a smile. "It's ok, Ally," he replied. He patted the space next to him, inviting the pixie vampire to sit. "I know, we're vampires but even Carlisle can only work so fast."
Alice sat down with a huff, collapsing her head against Jasper's firm shoulder. She plucked imaginary flint from Jasper's jeans as she allowed the empathetic vampire to wrap her in waves of soothing calm.
"Do you resent Carlisle?"
Alice's head bounced up with a start, spiky stands springing up and down in response to the sudden move. "How can you ask me that?" Alice spluttered in disbelief. She stared incredulously at Jasper.
He flung an arm around his sister and drew her close, lest she bolt. "I'm sorry to assume it was directed at him." Jasper's eyes conveyed his apology. "But I feel a tendril of resentment from you, Ally."
Alice's brow burrowed, creating a deep groove between her eyes. Sometimes living with an empath meant that no secrets could be kept. "It's not toward Carlisle," she replied softly, embarrassment and guilt coloring her voice.
"Bella," Jasper guessed and bussed Alice's forehead at her nod. "Oh Ally..."
"I know she didn't ask for this, for us to find her, for me to get a vision," Alice stammered quickly. "But I just can't help but feel that suddenly she's here and everything and everyone is thrown into chaos." She threw her hands up in the air. "And now I feel guilty for feeling this way which makes me somewhat mad at her!"
Jasper doubled his efforts on soothing a now agitated Alice. He snaked out a tangle of soothing waves, curling it around Alice until her shoulders drooped and her head dropped back onto his shoulder. Nestled against him, Jasper held her close. "It's only natural to feel that way, Alice." He intoned wisely. "You have nothing to feeling guilty for."
"She'll hate me for it," Alice mumbled into his shirt.
Jasper chortled. "No she won't." He believe this wholly and made sure that his voice communicated that. He wrapped another layer of calm over Alice, almost sending her into a meditative state between sleep and wakefulness. It was the closest they could get to actual sleep. It seemed to have worked because Alice did not stir when Carlisle trotted down the stairs, a pinched and tired expression marring the features of his face.
"Carlisle?" Jasper inquired, careful not to let his curiosity transfer to Alice.
Carlisle ran a hand over his face, smoothing away some of the tiredness. "Bella's awake."
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