*** 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 Eighty Three: Part II: The Dungeon Sorrows

Audrina didn't want to show me the way to the dungeons. In fact, she tried several times to persuade me not to go into that "hellish abyss" as she called it. Then, she almost refused to show me the way, thinking that she was saving me by denying me access to it.

But in the end, she reluctantly agreed to take me to the entrance, and I was glad that I didn't have to relent and tell her that Dimetri was down there. I didn't want to upset her if I didn't have to, and besides that, I didn't want Audrina behaving irrationally—and when it came down to Dimetri something just told me that she'd be rather difficult to calm.

We left Dimetri's study and walked cautiously down the hall and across the catwalk, and to the old stone stairwell. From there, she led me down to the dimly lit antechamber, and then to the Chamber of Knowledge.

It seemed reasonable to go this way since the entrance to the underground tunnels was down here. But as we glided down that elegant staircase to the marbled floor, Audrina didn't turn to the far wall where the mechanism opened the secret passageway; instead she walked straight ahead to the mosaic angel.

The ghostly-blue web of lights criss-crossed the chamber floor waiting for one of us to brush it and set the alarm off, but we skirted to the right of the path to the mosaic angel where it was clear of the blue lights.

"Wait right there," she said, pointing to where I stood at the foot of the outstretched angel. Then she nimbly picked her way through the maze of blue lines around to the back of the staircase.

I waited motionless, my eyes drawn to the angel's face—the ferocity and determination in those burning topaz eyes…

I would need that degree of strength if I hoped to survive this night, I thought, a Hell-blazing strength that would not accept defeat. I would have to give everything, every ounce of strength; because nothing would matter anyway if I didn't succeed in bringing Alice back. I wasn't leaving without her. I owed both Alice and Jasper that loyalty. And there was Dimetri… There was no guarantee that the Volturi wouldn't hunt us down and make gruesome examples of us. Dimetri would be the first. I had felt Aro's barely suppressed rage underneath the coaxing whisper. He was itching to tear Demitri apart; between them, it was very personal. I stared at the angel's face, burning it into my memory.

The alarm's blue lights reflected off the angel, turning the white wings ice-blue, blurring the lines. The wings seemed to tense and draw upward. I held my breath, thinking that I saw the individual feathers arch slightly and ripple as if they ached to take flight.

There was a loud clink, and then the sound of a motor whirling to life. Then began the grinding sound of gears turning and straining under weight…as the marble tile that the large mosaic rested upon suddenly began to slide back underneath the floor revealing another narrow set of stone steps.

Audrina turned to me. "Last chance to change your mind…"

I didn't hesitate to shake my head. Audrina didn't know how far I'd come in the past weeks; back then my weak knees would've been knocking together. Now, I felt a close kinship to the mosaic angel, ready to do what must be done.

She sighed then, and looked down into the inky darkness of the subterranean stairs. She stared for what I thought was much too long. She really dreaded going down there, I realized.

"You don't have to go along with me," I told her. "I can see this to the end, now."

But she gave an abrupt shake of her head. "He'd never forgive me if I let you go down there alone," she said, grimly. She held out a pale hand. "Don't pay any attention to what you hear—they'll say anything to get you to…well nevermind. Just ignore them; that's the best advice I can give you."

"Them?" I questioned curiously. "Do you mean the prisoners?"

But she just held her finger to her lips and shushed me. Already she was descending down the steps into the darkness and gently tugging me along behind her. I looked back into the library one last time. They would've surely heard the great motorized gears roaring to life—as quiet as the entire castle had become.

I obeyed the tug of my hand. Just as we disappeared into the void between the angel's arms, I reached out and touched the smooth mosaic of the angel's curling lip.

**

The surrounding darkness didn't last for long.

After we'd walked down the stairs, there was a greenish glow that seemed to settle on every surface. When I looked at Audrina, the dark purple half-moons beneath her eyes that all vampires seemed to inherit, was unusually stark against her pale skin. It made her eyes appear sunken. And as I caught her profile as she stared down the narrow corridor, it was as if two large empty sockets stared out, causing the hairs along my arms to stand on end.

I knew I looked just as sickly under the green light. Maybe worse, as my eyes were dark brown and must look as empty as two bottomless pits.

I squinted, trying to peer down the corridor. The irregular and uneven stones underfoot were glistening and dark. Along the walls, heavy steel doors shut out the world within the dungeon as well as outside.

"If anyone gets unruly, let me handle it," Audrina whispered as she started for the corridor.

"Unruly? They're locked up." I said. "Maybe if we're quiet, they'll think we're a guard or just someone passing through."

She snorted at my ignorance. "They already know we're here. They're not idiots, Bella. Don't ever mistake these monsters for idiots."

"They can't all be monsters…" I said, thinking of Edward's brief stay down here. Besides, Alice and Demetri were down here as well—and they weren't monsters. It was the Volturi that were the monsters.

She caught my wrist in her hand. "These creatures are the worse of our lot." She shook her head as if not sure how to explain it to me. "They…aren't normal." She shook her head and strived again to explain. "Somewhere down the line something went wrong with most of them. They couldn't cope with the baggage that comes along with being a vampire…eternity is a very long time when you were once mortal." She pressed her palm against my shoulder and lightly squeezed, trying to make me understand. "Not all of them are down here for disobeying Volturi law." Her voice fell to a hushed whisper. "Most violated all laws, natural or otherwise—and their insanity is beyond anything you've ever witnessed."

My skin was crawling again, goose bumps dancing over goose bumps. It was strange to hear a vampire speak of violating natural laws…since humans believed that vampires were unnatural.

"Even now, they're waiting on us. Actually, it's you they're so eager to sense. You've become some sort of savior to them—simply for thwarting Aro. You know what they say…He who is my enemy's enemy is my friend…or something like that. But you can't let that lull you into believing they're harmless. Unlike the Volturi, there is no rhyme or reason to their madness. You can't fight insanity." She craned her head and looked intently at me. "Understand?"

"Yeah." And I thought I did understand. But did she? Audrina likely didn't know just how horrible Aro was—maybe he threw some of these poor souls in the dungeon just for disagreeing with him. But I understood that perhaps some were initially insane—and some were made insane by their prison. Audrina was trying to tell me that these creatures were highly unpredictable—the worst type of foe one could have. I understood loud and clear and didn't want to waste another second. I wasn't as concerned about Demetri being amongst them—he could protect himself—but Alice was another story. Someone like Alice, dainty and pixie-ish, didn't belong down here among the crazies. God…if Jasper only knew where she was…

I didn't wait for Audrina, but began walking down the dismal corridor which resembled a sewer tunnel in its damp, dark isolation from the rest of the castle.

"Alice—" I whispered, hearing my voice carry beyond the walls into the cells.

It was instantly answered with moans from the other side of the steel door and the mingling of whispers that seemed to mock my calls for Alice.

"Down the hall"

"Down the hall"

"One Two Three"

"One Two Three"

"Bella!" Audrina admonished me. But I paid no heed and kept walking.

The cell blocks were low and squat, a slap-dash mixture of stone and cement, except for the rusty, thick steel doors.

I stopped and turned, letting the voices echo along the walls.

"Where is Alice?" I whispered.

"March March, One Two Three" the sibilant voices answered in tandem with one another. "March March One Two Three.

I sighed at their lunacy. March. March. One. Two. Three. It made no sense at all…unless…

I took a long stride forward. One.

"Yes Yes Yes One Two Three" they muttered, clearly excited that I'd solved their riddle.

I took another step. "Two."

There was laughter coming from behind the multitude of doors as they began to stomp their feet to their words. "Yes Yes One Two Three.

I took the last step. "Three. Three. Left or Right?" I said looking at the two doors across the corridor from one another.

There was silence for a second, and then the accusations began as each voice declared that it was the left door or the right.

But it didn't matter; at that moment I saw Alice's dirty fingertips wedge into the vent slats of the door near the bottom where the stones met the cold steel.

I immediately forced my own fingers through the vent slots and felt her cool, birdlike fingers grasp them.

"I'm going to find a way to get you out of here," I told her.

"You should get away while you can…" Her voice was drawn, spiritless, definitely not the voice I was accustomed to…and there was something strange about the way she grasped my fingers…

"Bella?" she asked, her voice low and raspy as if it took extreme effort—just as Demetri's voice had sounded outside in the courtyard.

"Yeah?"

But I didn't hear her reply. There was a thud behind me and I turned to see Caius draping Audrina's slack body over his shoulder. I opened my mouth to protest, then took a step back…right into Aro's imprisoning arms.

***

(Not much editing on this chapter, no time. Please forgive the errors. Thanks for reading-- I appreciate you guys. OTM)