Chapter 11 – Consequences
Alice ran with a determination that would have made the most seasoned athlete green with envy. Her boots kicked up piles of dirt as she tore through the forest, acting as though the devil itself were hot on her heels. The seer ran blindly, beating a visible path through the vegetation as overhead branches and the odd creeping vine had the misfortune of dangling in her way. They shredded and snapped against the vampire's concrete body, falling limply to trampled shrubbery where they lay broken and resigned to a fate on the forest floor.
The seer paid her scenery no mind, so intent on running away the images that had burned its way into her mind's eye. Had she bothered looking back at all, she would have been startled to see the stark evidence of disaster she had so clearly left in her wake. Instead, Alice continued to score a path through the dark woods, running as hard and as fast as her body would possibly allow.
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The seer had lost track of time; time was of no meaning to a creature that did not sleep and never tired. However, the stillness of the night, the type of stillness that nature could only achieve in its twilight hour, brought the pixie vampire to a sudden screeching halt, inches shy from the Canadian border. For precious few seconds, Alice simply stood under the wash of moonlight, blank eyes unblinking. Then, with a force akin to a nuclear explosion, Bella's memories caught up to her, slamming hard and fast into Alice's skull. They detonated unrelentingly in her mind, churning out image after image of Bella being hurt, bruised, bleeding, broken, punched, smacked, thrown…
Alice dropped to her knees in the soft cold dirt and gripping viciously at either side of her head, she screamed into the onyx black sky. It was a scream so primal, so tortured and savage that the entire forest seemed to shudder and the few smatterings of stars that clung to the inky darkness that was the sky threatened to fall. What nocturnal animals resided in the forest scurried away frantically, seeking the protection of shelter from the hideous scream.
Alice fell onto her side and instinctively curled herself up to a fetal position, tucking her knees under her chin; her hands still entrenched deeply into her hair, nails digging painfully into her scalp. She sobbed drily, wishing for the power, the will, to dig deep into her head with her own fingers in order to wrench out those offending memories that threatened to disease her mind with its cruelness. The seer wanted to reach into her skull to pull and claw until there was nothing left but a hollow chasm. Alas, nothing Alice did would prove successful; even her instinctive outlet to this pain was to shed a flood of tears and this she could not even do. Vampires could not cry.
So the spiky haired vampire turned to the next best thing: she let her beast full reign, unlocking its cage and allowing it full control of her muscles. She watched, almost as if she were detached from her own body, as she unwound from her vulnerable position on the soft forest floor. She felt no emotion save for the rush of adrenaline and the excitement that prelude a hunt. For the second time in a row, the forest would watch as Alice terrorized her way through the foliage, bringing down the forest's resident creatures, leaving a slippery, slick ruby red line of carcasses and blood.
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Edward stood stock still, gauging the scene in front of him. Alice was in front of him. Alice who, under the silvery white moonlight, was to be seen covered head to toe in blood. Her hair was matted, plastered straight onto her hair and the sides of her face; sticky strands coated with blood stuck to her forehead and cheeks. Her face was painted a grotesque mask of red; streaks of the red liquid shooting in every which direction, some lengthening as it dripped downward, courtesy of gravity, others caking and rusting under the cool night air. Her mouth bore the brunt of this as full red lips, layered with several coatings of blood, glistened in the moonlight. His sister's shirt was an undeniable mess, its original color lost under the amount of blood that had soaked into the material.
It was her hands though, that made Edward's beast want to roar with wanton thirst. They were barely recognizable under all that blood. Alice's arms were dipped nearly up to her elbows in blood; truly, it looked as if the pixie vampire were sporting a pair of gloves, gloves made from liquid that was necessary to sustain life. Not one patch of deathly pale skin was visible under the sheet of blood. And blood was everywhere; the source of it lying still and un-breathing by Alice's feet. It was a large elk, or what remained of it. Its stomach was torn open, mercilessly ripped to its seams. The wound was yawning wide, exposing entrails and a jutting ribcage. The little blood left in the carcass, oozed out like dark chocolate, congealing onto the slimy forest floor in dark puddles.
Edward's stomach twisted, in equal parts hunger and revulsion. Hunting animals to sustain themselves was unavoidable, but they had always made sure the animal did not suffer. A quick snap of the neck ended life immediately but this, what Alice did to the poor animal was no act of mercy. She had deliberately tortured it, ripped it apart whilst it still struggled to breathe in one last breath. Its neck was bent at an odd angle and the messy haired vampire could see another gaping wound smiling from its throat, could hear the odd drip, drip of blood. His head began to spin, from hunger or horror, he did not know.
"Eddy…" Alice's slurred speech lanced through his fogged up skull. His eyes betrayed his relief that Alice recognized him but immediately clouded over with concern as the tone of her voice registered with him. He took a hesitant step forward, backtracking almost mid-step when Alice let loose a warning sub-vocalized growl. His hands shot up into the air, in a gesture of surrender.
"Easy, Alice," he soothed. He observed her posture slump from predatory back to...well back to almost drunk. Yes, blood kept them alive but consuming too much blood did not bode well for any vampire. The body can only intake so much, process so much and consuming more than was needed led to a serious case of being blood-drunk. The vampire's body would become sluggish, languid, as it struggled to digest the excess amount of the red liquid. Blood was their life source and energy source; having too much was akin to overcharging a battery; sometimes it would short-circuit the object it was powering. In this case, Alice.
Edward noted the way Alice struggled to stay on her feet, her face schooling into a half-hearted scowl as her momentum was severely being challenged. However, it did not seem to stop her from licking at her lips, where blood still clung abundantly. Again, Edward had to forcibly repress his hungry beast, though he was sure his eyes were now a hollow black. He tried again, making sure to stay stationary.
"Ally, can you hear me?" It was a deliberate use of the seer's nickname but Edward had to use what he had. Being blood-drunk meant that Alice's emotions were also heightened; she could swing rapidly from friendly to deadly in the blink of an eye. "Al?"
The vampire in question snarled suddenly and pounced, only missing Edward by centimeters as her reflexes refused to fully co-operate. Alice landed onto the earth with an undignified thump, skidding slightly before coming to a stop, leaving a slight groove in the ground. Dirt clung to her face and hands, stuck onto the stickiness that was the blood.
"Oh, Ally–" Edward decided to take advantage of his sister's sudden vertigo; he leapt onto her back and quickly grabbed at her arms, twisting them behind her back. Locking his fingers around her wrists, he yanked her upright, ignoring her spitting and growling as he battled against his thirst. From this close, he could practically feel the molecules of iron from the blood dancing on his tongue, jumping on his taste buds in a tantalizing manner. He held his breath, not wanting to aggravate his beast anymore than he was doing, being so close to Alice.
Edward was in the process of slinging Alice onto his back when something burst out from between the trees and knocked the pair sideways into the dirt. The collision was hard enough that Alice flew from his arms, thudding into a particularly thick tree trunk, which creaked and shuddered in protest. Edward himself slid along the ground on his stomach before coming to a stop, inches from the burbling brook. He immediately snapped to his feet, near feral eyes darting around his surroundings looking for his attacker. He moved to cover his sister, who lay against the tree with a confused look on her blood-streaked face when the same hard thing slammed into him again, throwing Edward to the far side of the clearing and into a tree with such force that he felt the back of his head crack open.
Pain bloomed behind his eyes as he sagged down the trunk to land ungracefully onto the floor. He clenched granite hard teeth together as he felt his skull knit itself back together and waited long enough for the curtain of pain to draw back from his sight before bouncing back to the balls of his feet. He looked up in time to see a figure saunter over to Alice and crouched, preparing to race over to his sister's aid when a shockingly strong hand wrapped itself around his neck, grasping so hard that he felt the foundations of his neck crack and his throat to close in on itself.
Edward instinctively reached up with both hands to attempt to pry the offending appendage away from his neck. For his stubbornness, another hand snaked out, yanking one of the bronze haired vampire's hands away and snapping it at the wrist before giving Edward's arm a violent tug. Edward howled in agony as he felt his shoulder dislocate and the skin covering it break open with cracks.
"You continue kickin' up a fuss and we're going to have a problem, son," a husky voice chuckled into his ear. From the corner of his eyes, Edward made out a flash of a moustache and glinting ruby eyes. A scared whimper locked his attention to the other side of the clearing where Alice was currently being strung up by another figure, held up in a similar fashion as Edward. Only Alice wasn't struggling; she was too weak to.
"ALICE!" Edward's yell was one of genuine fear and desperation. They were hurting his sister; Edward could see the terror in her eyes, under the pool of confusion. He did the only thing he could think of and kicked at his attacker's shins, hoping to shatter the kneecaps. Instead, he kicked at thin air; the body behind him suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of him, in a move that would rival Houdini. Edward found himself smashed up against the tree trunk he previously crashed into, feeling the skin on his back splinter and stars to fandango before his eyes.
"I see we don't learn," the new vampire said, calmly. He tightened his grip around Edward's neck, smiling in delight as another series of cracks outlined the edges of where his fingers dug into Edward's skin. Edward watched helplessly as his assailant turned his head to address his companion. "Honey, I've got a live one here! He wiggles like a snapper on a hook!"
The vampire's companion strutted toward the pair, dragging Alice along the ground like a rag doll, paying no heed to when Alice jarred her head on a rock resulting in a sickening crack thundering through the clearing. Edward flinched in response and the vampire who had a firm clutch on his neck, simply grinned maniacally at him, flashing a set of white teeth. His companion came to a slow halt in front of them; the now dim moonlight still strong enough to illuminate a womanly figure. She released Alice's arm; it flopped uselessly onto the ground. Something in the way the female vampire looked at Edward had him involuntarily pressing further into the tree.
The female's lips lifted in a saucy smile. She reached up and traced an imaginary line down the length of Edward's cheek. "My, but aren't you handsome," she cooed. Then she sent his head spinning sideways with a backhanded slap. "You took something that belongs to me." A disapproving cough burped out from the male vampire. "Oops, sorry darlin'. Us." The last word was dispatched to Edward's motionless body.
Understanding dawned on Edward's face, rising like the sun over the horizon until his blackened eyes shined with the new knowledge. He tongued his chipped lip. "You're Bella's parents," he choked. The fear that brewed inside of him intensified to a boiling point, bubbling up his crushed windpipe. Below him, he heard Alice mewl.
The female vampire knelt down, having heard the utterance as well. "Yes, sweetie pie." She grabbed a fistful of Alice's hair and whipped her head back with a nauseating snap. The smile she bestowed upon Alice was anything but kind though the disturbingly motherly fashion in which she touched Alice's dirt and blood stained cheek would argue otherwise. "I'm Bella's mommy. Renée." She rose to her feet, hauling Alice onto hers by the hold she still had on her hair. "And Renée–" Ruby eyes glittered with malevolent intent. "Wants–" She jerked her head at her husband, who obligingly moved Edward and himself aside. "Her daughter back!" She punctuated the last word by sending Alice careening into the tree behind her.
Alice moaned, her entire back feeling as though it had been split open with a meat cleaver. A shower of bark and leaves rained down over her, settling in her hair and latching onto the smears of blood that was painted all over her. She fell to the ground on all fours, arms shaking with the exertion of holding up her weight. Renée solved her dilemma by dropping a kick to her stomach; the sudden momentum sent Alice rolling through the air, landing a few feet away in a tangled heap of limbs. She did not move.
"ALICE!" Edward had had enough. Running on his last reserve of adrenaline, he head-butted Bella's father in the face. There was a rather satisfying crunch as Edward's mark hit home; he broke the vampire's nose. The vice around his neck loosened and he used this window of a scant few seconds to spin around and land a series of punches to his opponent. His blows were precise; deafening explosions echoed throughout the clearing as his fists collided with rock hard skin. Renée's husband was forced back with each hit and though he dodged and retaliated, Edward's arms flew forward so fast that they were virtual blurs. Just when it seemed as if the bronze haired vampire had the upper hand, Renée slipped up behind him and touched his neck.
"Stop." It was not a request. And Edward found himself freezing, his arms falling obediently to his sides as his muscles responded to the scolding tone. There was a corner of his mind however, that was screaming, banging against the base of his skull, asking him what the hell he was doing. He ignored it, needing to placate the vampire that had told him to stop.
Renée flitted around to stand in front of Edward. "There's a good boy," she trilled. She delighted at the blank look on the boy's face and blew him a kiss. "You're good to go, officer." She looked over her shoulder at her husband. He smirked and nodded, jerking his nose back into alignment as he made his way slowly over to his wife.
Tomorrow was going to be a very good day.
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A/N – I tinkered with the mechanics of how vampires function slightly. The whole "blood-drunk" thing is something I thought would be interesting. FYI!