*** This story contains some mild language, suspense, romance, and some frightening images and situations—13 and older, please.
In the Grip of Twilight
By:
Olivia Tannis Moore
Chapter Twenty Eight:
Into the Rabbit Hole
The policeman shined his flashlight down the bus aisle, first on Edward's face where the light lingered for a long moment, then briefly on my own pale face, before flicking the beam to the back seat where the elderly couple huddled together. He walked the short length of the bus swinging the flashlight beam from empty seat to empty seat. Then, apparently satisfied, he lowered the flashlight and left the bus.
He pulled the large ornate gates open and motioned the bus through.
"Tight security," I said to Edward as we rolled down the cobbled street.
"Hmm," he muttered thoughtfully as he gathered our bags together. His face was relaxed now, and I heaved a silent sigh of relief.
In these early morning hours the streets were empty. I could almost pretend that I was a tourist getting a private tour of the old world city. It was charming, which I hadn't really expected. The same ornate ironwork of the gates was found on the globed street lamps which illuminated the sidewalks and shops that lined the streets. It looked as if it had just rained as every surface reflected the lamps' golden sheen, adding to the magical atmosphere of the place. After the gloomy ride from Florence, it was a welcome site.
"Let us off at the clock tower, please," Edward instructed the driver. And the driver nodded curtly.
"Are they meeting us?" I asked Edward. Would they know when we arrived? I supposed it wasn't out of the ordinary with their highly developed senses.
"Demetri will be waiting for us beneath the tower," he said, taking my hand in his.
"Do you think it was the Volturi following our bus?" The image of Edward glowering out the bus window was still fresh in my mind.
"I don't think so. I kept getting an impression of anger, enraged words that were exchanged with another party, two others, maybe more. It was like a pack running alongside us, taunting, yet staying far enough back so that I couldn't identify them." He looked down at me intently. "The Volturi certainly know about it, though. Those orders to search the transportation into the city didn't come from thin air."
The bus shuddered to a stop across the street from the clock tower. Edward slung both our bags over his shoulder and we made our way off the bus. I turned and lifted my hand to the elderly couple in the back. They, too, seemed in better spirits now that they were inside the city's walls; they nodded and even smiled as we exited.
I stared up at the large clock face at the top of the tower; it had the same beautifully ornate trim as everything else in the city. Several crimson banners flew at its corners as if to herald the time. It was two-fifteen in the morning.
We walked the narrow passage underneath the tower where the streetlamp lights did not reach, our shoes slapping the wet stonework. Edward shifted our bags to his other shoulder and held on to my waist as we navigated into the darkness.
Near the end of the passageway Edward stopped and let our bags slide to the ground. My eyes were not yet accustomed to the dark so it took a little longer for me to see the shadow coming toward us.
"Demetri," Edward stated, greeting the shadowy figure. I could now see the floor-length cloak he wore, the hood over his head so that only the bottom of his face was visible.
He smiled dryly. "Edward, welcome. I trust your trip was pleasant?"
"There was a small disturbance in the countryside on our way from Florence. I suppose you wouldn't know anything about that?" Edward said, watching Demetri closely.
"Disturbance?" Demetri echoed. "What kind of disturbance?" but his voice was too theatrical, too practiced, it sounded more like an evasion of the question Edward had just asked.
Then, as if Edward didn't matter in the least, Demetri abruptly tilted his head so that I could see his eyes underneath the hood as he regarded me. "You must be Isabella." His eyes were an intense red-brown, and they flickered over me, appraising; then, his nose twitched and his eyes flew wide in surprise. He leaned in as if he couldn't help himself, his eyes locking with mine—not aggressively—no, even I could recognize the burn of desire in his gaze. Edward's arm tightened possessively around my waist in response.
He made an effort to compose himself as he straightened and the hood slipped back over his eyes. "There's an ongoing celebration in your honor in the east tower," he told me, his voice velvety and warm. "Everyone is expecting you." He held his cloaked arm out for me to take, allowing me another peek of his face as he smiled. I hesitated, not wanting to irritate Edward, but I didn't want to appear rude either.
However, Edward solved my dilemma by stepping in front of Demetri and taking my arm, his mouth tight and disapproving.
At the end of the alley, we stopped at what appeared to be a dead end. But then Demetri slid a grate from a water drain and slipped through, disappearing down into the earth. I gawked. I couldn't see an end to the hole. It could've gone on forever for all I knew.
"Send her down, Edward," Demetri's softly teasing voice rang out from below. And I watched as Edward's jaw clenched.
"Can't I just go down with you?" I asked, hoping to defuse the situation.
"Not enough room for the both of us—" he said tersely.
"Then lower me down," I said, impatient with the both of them.
He kissed my mouth, a quick impulsive kiss, as if branding me, and then he took my wrists and lowered my legs down through the dark hole.
"I'll be right behind you," he told me, an instant before letting my wrists go.
***
(See you tomorrow—thanks for reading—OTM )