Chapter 9

Epov

My whole life, I thought that I would be alone, destined to wander the streets alone. I didn't saw life (or what you may call it) positive.
But then my Bella came into my life and the dark world lightened up before my eyes. Everything looked so must better and brighter.

In the 2 month that passed, we became more and more closer. On every possible moment we were together, enjoying each other's company.
Classes were now even more torture then before. All the lessons looked more boring than ever and it seemed that there were longer than before. I just couldn't concentrated. I only could think of Bella, my beautiful Bella. Being away from her was so painful. But every day she would be waiting at the door for me, anticipating my arrival.

We did a lot together now. We went hunting together what was a lot of fun. She still wasn't the best hunter but the way she ran after her prey... It was really cute. Still she did a lot better than a few months ago. At least she could catch an animal now. Unfortunately her garments didn't have so much luck. Because of her struggles with the animals most of her clothes were ripped or unbelievable dirty. Alice almost had a heart attack the first time she returned with me.

Sometimes we would snuggle together and I would read her a story from one of her books. Usually she picked a Jane Austen story. Bella adored the books. Or maybe it was because I gave her that book. I preferred the second thought. That was one of my favorite times together.
Or we would go for a little run throught the woods, hand in hand.

I still taught her to play the piano every day. And she was a quick learner to my surprise. After a few weeks she could already play a handful of songs without the papers. All sort of songs, from Mozart and Tchaikovsky to Debussy. But her favorite song was the song I composed for her. On every end of a lesson I played it for her. She would sit close to me and lean her head against my shoulder, listen intensely to my music.
Life was finally smiling at me.

The family was sitting in the living room on a stormy evening. Jasper and Emmett were playing a game of chess, Alice and Rosalie were shopping online, Esme was sketching near the fireplace and Carlisle and I were sitting in the couch, discussing the sessions of Bella. My little darling was upstairs, reading. She preferred her room for her literary quest.

"I see that everything is going well with Bella and you?"
I smiled, thinking of our moments together.

"Yes, everything is fantastic."

"I'm glad to hear that… Edward, may I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I was just wondering if Bella ever told you something about her past? Maybe something about her life before us?"

I signed. I knew that Carlisle was hoping that my relationship with Bella would ease her a bit and that she would finally tell us what has happened, open the gate completely. But we didn't spoke about her past and I wasn't willing to try. It maybe would make her want to crawl back into her shell.

"No, she didn't mention anything. I'm sorry."

"It is not your fault. It's just… I assume that something has happen. Something terrible. And I thing that as long she keeps it inside of her, she will never recover completely. I just wished she would tell us what. What happened 25 years ago? Where are her parents? Who was her creator? Who did this to her?"

"His name was James." a timid voice said behind me.

I quickly turned around and was surprised to see Bella standing by the doorstep. Everyone had stopped with their activities and were also looking at my girl.

"Bella…?"

"It's oke, Edward. You've been so kind to me for all these months. I owe you all an explication."

"Bella, you don't have…"

"Yes, I do."

Bella looked very determent. She came into the living room and took her seat next to me. Immediately she grabbed my hand, squeezing it firmly. She was nervous, I could tell. I squeezed back, confirming her that I was there for her. All the other family members had also took their places and waited for Bella's explication.

"Bella, what happened?" She took a deep breath.

"Take your time. Don't rush yourself. If you want to take a break, that's not a problem." Carlisle said, reassuring Bella that she was in control.

"I don't remember many before my change. I just know that I lived with my parents in Phoenix. And one day someone kidnapped me. He blindfolded me and brought me somewhere, I don't know where. Some old house or an abandoned factory. There he kept me prisoner for a long time."

"He didn't directly changed you?"

"No, I wasn't good enough for him, not yet at least. He told me that later. I wasn't the ideal girl at the time. I was a bit overweight and he wanted the perfect girl. So he kept me inside for a while and let me starve. That way I would lose my weight and be the ultimate girlfriend for him."

"Do you know why he chose you?" Carlisle asked.

"He told me that he liked me. I smelled divine. 'You're so mouthwatering' he once told me. He could have killed me but he wanted to keep me. Other than that he never gave me an explication."

"What happened next?"

"He … bit me, several times. The pain… it… it was so excruciating. I felt like I was burning. My whole body was on fire and despite of what I did, it didn't stop. I screamed, screamed but it didn't stop!"

Finally the first tears appeared on her face. My girl had held her strong but now the pain was too much. I pulled her closer to me and Bella buried her face against my chest. It broke my heart to see her in so much pain. It took several minutes before Bella had calmed down.

" Are you alright, honey?"

Bella looked up and tried to give me a smile but it wasn't very convincing.
"Yes, I'm fine."

"Would you like to continue or…"

"No, I have to do this. I can't stop now."

She took another deep breath, stared me once again in the eyes and continued her story.

"After a long time; it seemed like forever; I woke up in a small room. I was laying on a wooden table. That was the only piece of furniture that the room contained. The walls were dirty and the wallpaper was torn. The smell… it was horrendous. I could smell rotten flesh, like a body that was in the stage of decomposing. There were no windows. Just one big door, made of some sort of steel.
And there he stood… James."

"What did he look like?" Carlisle asked.

"He was tall. I would guess almost 6 ft. He had light brown hair, short cut and generally bloody red eyes. Not very attractive for a vampire. Nothing special…
He just kept looking at me, smiling. It made me feel dirty. He just kept watching me. 'Yes, this looks very nice. You and I are going to have so much fun.' he said. And then he left. Just for returning months later, to have his… fun."

Bella needed a break after that.
I was so furious. How could somebody do that to her, to my beautiful girl? Abuse her so badly in every possible way. That was just monstrous. Jasper was sending calming waves to me which didn't help very much. It was just so much to take in. My little Bella, my love had been through hell and there was nothing I could change about that. Yes, there was one thing I could do. Keeping her safe and treasure her like the most precious thing in the whole wide world. And that was exactly what I would do.

"He would come back to me every night and sometimes… he brought someone with him. Offering me to his friends as a sort of present. He then would watch, enjoying the show."

"Why could you not fight him off? You were a newborn vampire. Normally you're stronger than that son of a b*tch ?" Emmett asked suddenly.
It was the first time somebody other than Carlisle or me had said something.

"That's why he left me hostage for several month. My newborn strength would die out and then he would be stronger than me. I tried to escape but this was no use. I couldn't get out. Also he fed me poorly. He gave me little animals; rabbits, rats and birds. He said I wasn't worthy of drinking human blood. I could smell them, the humans outside the building. And sometimes he brought a random girl with him. So when he killed her, I could smell her blood very closely."

'It almost killed me in the beginning. The smell was so strong, giving me this burning desire in my throat. I would knock on the door, literally begging for some blood. James never gave in. But then I turned my senses out every time I smelled a human. I didn't want him to have so much power over me anymore. So after many years, I became 'immune' for human blood and his tricks. . It wasn't easy but after a long while the smell didn't affect me so much anymore. I still can feel a burning at the back of my throat but now i can ignore it.
I didn't screamed or yelled anymore whenever he or some of his friends touched me or hit me. I kept it inside of me, not wanting to show him that he was hurting me."

"And I played that role for 25 years. Day in day out, I pretended that he did nothing to me. Although I cried every night when he was hunting, I never showed him any emotions. He already had taken everything away from me: my parents, my house, my dreams, my life."

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