Chapter 23: Ashes to Ashes
"It all makes sense now," Alice beamed, seeming relieved. I wished that I had felt some comfort from someone else's voice coming from my lips.
"What makes sense?" I demanded. "I'm being possessed and you are happy about this?"
Alice rolled her eyes, "Oh, Nessie, don't be so dramatic." I scoffed.
"Yeah, okay. Well as soon as you are ready to let us in on your little secret, I'm sure that we will all feel so much better." The words were harsher than I had meant them to be. I regretted my outburst as Alice's face twisted in pain and she stormed out the back door. I stared at the table, determined not to make eye contact with any of the remaining members of my family. "I'm going to bed."
I stomped up the stairs ignoring the pleas that fell lamely on my back. I retreated to my lavender walls and soft bed, throwing myself heavily on top of the pillows. I stared up at the ceiling. A snarling feeling churned inside of me. I groaned, irritated by my hunger. A burning sensation entered my throat as I heard the tread of Jake's feet falling like thunder on the stairs outside my room.
"Come in," I said wearily before he could knock. He smelled so good and despite the night's events, I was glad to be in his company.
"You okay, babe?" he said, plopping lazily onto the bed beside me.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's all just a little overwhelming, ya know?"
He nodded. "I'm right there with you. I mean, wasn't it just a couple days ago that we were falling in love for the first time and finally getting to enjoy the inevitable? And now here we are with all of this shit on our plates. Geez, what the hell happened?" His eyes didn't meet mine, he seemed lost in memories and a time that had slipped so easily through our fingers.
I understood his strife. Everything happened so fast. One minute I was finding about the imprinting and before I could even enjoy it, BAM pregnant. So typical. I rolled over and curled into a ball. Jake's arms closed around me and his breath was hot on my neck. His body felt wonderful wrapped around mine and for a second I lost myself in his embrace. I closed my eyes and let everything else fall away. I flipped around in his arms and found his lips. The heat generating between us was enough to burn human flesh. I had just begun to lose myself in the moment when his lips pulled gingerly from mine and our eyes met.
"That voice," he said seriously, "what was the voice?"
"I don't know Jake," I tried to continue push my lips back to his, but he resisted.
"The baby? Was that our baby?" he said pulling away. I would be lying if I said that I hadn't considered it, but something just didn't feel right. I wished that I hadn't told Alice off. She could have explained everything. I rolled back from Jacob, staring into the vastness of the night sky in his eyes. He seemed a million miles away suddenly. "Cuz, you know, I don't want the baby to..." he trailed off.
"To what, Jake? You don't want the baby to what?" I said, suddenly irritated by his presence.
"You know," he said breaking my gaze, "know what's going on."
"Well, lets put it this way, if that was the baby, speaking through my voice, then I'm sure it already knows what's going on." I leaped to my feet, flew the window open in an angry fury and found myself speeding into the depths of the forest.
The coolness of the night air rushed all around me, tantalizingly refreshing on my air felt clean and empty filling my lungs. I let it cool away the burning heat of the anger from mine and Jake's fight. I drifted east, away from the sea and sought refuge in the cliffs above. The gift of solitude was all I could hope for at this point. They all thought I was crazy, possessed by my own child. Fools.
I sprinted on, tearing through the foliage with the wind licking at my face. I easily scaled the rocks before me and slowed to a walk as I neared the edge of the mountainside. I sat on the hard earth and pulled my legs up into my chest, noticing it to be difficult due to my now protruding stomach. I sat in silence staring out at the billions of flickering stars that seemed to be knowingly winking at me, mocking my misfortune. I turned away from them and scanned the tree line admiring how the pines seemed to clump together for protection. And noticing how every so often I would see one lone tree that had broke free from the others-- holding its position, steadfast and true, away from the others.
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. Could the voice have been from the child inside of me? I spoke aloud, "Are you my child?" It sounded foolish, even as I said it. There was no answer. I shook my head at my own stupidity. "I'm really out here all alone in the forest talking to myself, no wonder they think I'm crazy." A tiny laugh illuminated in the darkness. I spun around, searching for its source. It sounded again, it was like Alice's laugh, like a tiny bell, but something struck a more bitter note. "Show yourself!" I shouted to the darkness, willing my eyes to find the source that was mocking my private thoughts and conversations.
A trickle of soft lavender, not unlike the wall of my room seeped into my mind, "As you wish," I heard myself say. "I shall be with you, in the physical form shortly." I was astounded by the sensation of speaking without being the one to form the thoughts behind the words.
"What is happening?" I said, beginning to panic. I instinctively shielded my belly with my arms in fear. I stepped backwards, away from the edge of cliff. A sharp pain gripped me and I stumbled back into something rock hard and solid. What felt like steel wrapping around me was the arms of my captor. The arms quickly enclosed me, catching my fall. Wisps of a soft substance fluttered over my skin. I struggled in the grip but to no avail. A slender hand clasped over my mouth and the shimmering voice sounded in my ear.
It was the same voice, but this time it was not coming from my lips, "Be still, I have much to tell and very little time to deliver my message." I felt her pull away from me and heard the gnashing sound of her teeth ripping flesh, I cried out in fear, thinking it mine, but quickly realizing I had felt no pain. The distinct scent of blood filled my senses, the familiar itch in my throat began to burn, and not a moment too soon. She pressed her bleeding wrist to my lips, "Drink."
I closed my lips over the wound and began pulling roughly at the steady stream flowing into me. Waves of soft lavender mixing with vivid blue and muted yellows cascaded over me. The sensation soothed my fears. My eyes closed and my mind opened. I could hear her moans of pain, but they were distant, not in the same realm that I inhabited. The colors subsided, swirling away from a center picture forming from the haze.
Dark, river-like streams of hair drew away slyly from his ghastly features. His eyes burned scarlet and his lips curled up in a menacing snarl. The sunlight from a nearby window shown lightly on his shimmering skin as he ordered the others into the overgrown garden ahead of him. He followed slowly and cautiously looking behind him warily. I did not recognize the three ahead of him, all about of the same accord, strapping vampires who seemed poised and obedient. "There, you fools," he growled motioning to a trap door that lay adjacent to the brickwork of the house before them. The first of the vampire servants obeyed and lifted the wooden door by it's rusted cast iron handle.
Aro peered around stealthily watching for those who may observe their entry. The first two silently descended into the cellar as the third held the trap door open. My vision followed as Aro slipped in behind them. Glass jars on dusty shelves and rows of ancient unkempt wine bottles littered the walls of the cellar. A heavy wooden door stood on the right wall, "Through there," he hissed. The three sturdy vampires pried the door from its hinges casting it aside. They tore recklessly through one more door and found themselves in small chamber containing three over sized coffins. They lay in a neat row against the back wall. The room was damp and bare. I could see Aro's eyes glisten in the darkness. "Open them," his eyes continued to gleam as he watched intently.
The first of the three moved to lift the lid, but it proved too heavy. The others moved to join him. As they slid the lid back, a beautiful creature became visible. Lovely auburn locks framed her face as she lay deep in slumber. Her hands lay lightly folded over her chest just as if she were prepared for a viewing at a funeral.
"Take her," Aro's ugly voice commanded. The first of them moved in to lift her from her place of rest. He reached into the casket and shrieked in terror as she swiftly caught his arm in one fluid motion bringing his throat to her still slumbering lips and tearing the flesh sending spurts of blood in every direction. The other two vampires leaped back in horror. Her hands crushed the vampire in his struggles, pulling him on top of her. His blood formed thick pools around her satin dress. He struggled mindlessly trying to break free. But she drained him, letting his body fall limp over hers.
The other two were making for the door, but Aro sat calmly observing the death of his servant. "Cowards," he snapped, "don't even think about leaving. She is ours for the taking and as soon as her flesh meets the sun it will all be over! Don't just sit there, get him out of the way and pull her out of there!" His two servants were frozen in utter terror, but slowly fought to obey his wishes. They inched nervously toward the mutilated corpse of their former colleague. One roughly pulled on his sleeve and flung him away from the coffin and into the dark corner of the room. The sleeping beauty inside, lay perfectly still, the only sign of her recent murder was the blood spewed over the silk lining of the casket. No blood had even stained her face.
They moved carefully, but managed to lift her from the coffin and hold her arms flush to her body as they dragged her back to the cellar. Her flesh began to sizzle with the coming of the daylight. Her eyes snapped open, crystal blue orbs of realization. She screamed and tore at her captors, but it was too late. The rays of the sun sent spiderwebs of ash through her veins. The blood was burning her from the inside out. Her flesh was merely in the way of the engulfed blood. It was a horror to witness. Her face froze, fangs exposed as the sun silenced her screams. The ashes held their form for a fraction of a second before disintegrating into a heap on the cellar floor. The two remaining servants shrunk away in fear, their faces were twisted in disgust. Aro only smiled. "Now the other two."
His servants reluctantly moved to do his bidding. They pushed the lid of the next casket open. An equally beautiful creature lay inside, much like the first, only male. His stunning features, and curling locks made an exquisite scene for a funeral. Aro's vampires sought to capture him how they had the first, but in their efforts, the male reacted more quickly than the female, seizing the one closest to him and sinking his monstrous fangs into the exposed flesh of his arm. The vampire thrashed in his grip, sinking his teeth into the slumbering beasts neck. Aro recoiled in loathing as an indisputable exchange of blood took place. The two of them were locked together, the life force pumped steadily into his slave's mouth.
"Filthy demon!" He shouted and pulled him away breaking the union. The vampire who lay in the coffin quietly fell back into his slumber as if nothing had happened. The other vampire lay crumpled in the corner, his chest heaving wildly, the wound on his arm had already pulled shut and blood trickled from his lips. Aro stood back infuriated with the situation.
"Get up! I command you to rise!" But the second vampire made no move to obey. His body jumped and twisted in pain, his joints contorting into strange poses. Aro and the remaining servant shrunk back, blocking the exit. "I said, GET UP!" Aro's voice boomed off the low ceilings and catapulted across the room. The vampire slowly stood, fighting to regain control of his limbs. A crooked smile grazed across his face. As he staggered slowly toward the door, his eyes shut. They flashed open revealing grotesquely green eyes, that glistened like emeralds burning in flames. A hideous laugh pulled from his twisted lips. He smashed the wall beside Aro. Bricks crumbled under his strength, reduced back to the stone that which they had been made. The collapse in the structure sent beams of raw sunlight jetting into the tiny room. Aro and his remaining servant watched in horror as the sun set fire to the blood within the green eyed monster before them. He crumbled into and unrecognizable pile of dust. A cry of terror jumped from the mouth of the statuesque male still lying in his coffin as the sun ended his immortal existence.
A swirl of yellow blurred the last of the vision that seemed burned into my mind. I gasped for air and fell back into the icy arms around me. I lapped at the last of the blood still clinging to my lips and tasted the sight of vampires reduced to ash. She steadied me back onto my feet. I fought to speak but the words would not come. I turned and through her wavy brown hair I saw two crimson eyes staring back at me, "Athenadora," I whispered.
Just then, two enormous black paws plowed into the chest of my previous captor. She fell heavily to the ground, caught off guard and probably weakened from the loss of blood.
"Jake!" I screamed, "No!" His huge black figure turned in my direction. His eyes catching light from the setting moon. He looked puzzled, but stepped away from the snowy white figure lying before him. I walked over to him stroking his fur, "It's alright, she has come to warn us... I think." He whimpered in apology.
"I know, its okay, come on, help me get her back to the house."
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