This chapter is rated 'M' for references to torture, death, and dark themes.
Previously: Aro finds out Bella's deal through Santiago's mind, tensions in Volterra are high, Edward is being tortured in the South after Alice sends him there to try and kill Bella, Jean in released as Boss Swan's third, and Bella tells Aro she is on her way to Italy. (Holy crap, we were busy last chapter! lol)
Bella's P.O.V. (2262 words):
"Don't ever say that it's over. I kiss your feet, worship the air you breathe... You go, and I will follow... Don't leave me here so helpless." ~My Obsession by Skillet
.:!*!:.
I had just hung up with Aro. Everything was going as planned. I wasn't sure what to think about that. I couldn't help but wonder whether my luck would last. What if Maria found out what I was going to do?
Because I was going to do this. I had to.
"Boss, I have Stefan watching Maria. She's in my rooms, as you requested." Jack the Ripper told me. I slipped Santiago's cell phone into my right pocket and turned. "She is frantic."
"Of course she is." I muttered, face tight. "She thinks I remember everything."
"Do you?" Jack asked, looking worried.
"Yep." I answered, patting him on the shoulder as I passed him to go for a hunt. "Don't worry about it, Jack. As much as I'd like to roast Maria, I couldn't bring myself to do it. She would never fight back."
"You've killed many that haven't fought back." He replied, sounding confused.
"Have I?" I asked in such a flat voice that it didn't even sound like a question in my ears. I knew I had. Of course I had. I was Boss Swan.
.:!*!:.
I ran to the nearest town and found a woman in her early twenties. She reminded me so much of the innocent, young woman I'd been when I was in love with Edward. I normally tried to only feed off criminals or the sickly, but I couldn't help this one. If she was actually anything like I was back then, she was better off dead anyway.
.:!*!:.
"Stefan, how is she?" I questioned once I'd returned from my hunt.
"How do you think?" Stefan said, smiling and twirling a cigarette between his fingers. "Her panic is beautiful. I almost want to keep you away from her so that I can witness her break. I'm sure that would be a spectacular thing to see."
"You'll be able to see it. It will happen the moment I trade her to Aro." I replied, leaning against the dirt wall. "Is she still in Jack's rooms?"
"Yeah. Vlad's watching over her." Stefan replied, lighting up and taking a slow drag. Stefan then started to sing. "You're my only infatuation. Don't leave me stranded in my obsession. My purpose, my possession; live and die in my obsession... my obsession."
"You're in a good mood." I muttered, closing my eyes. I knew the song, and now that Stefan had planted it in my head, it wouldn't go away. "It's a bit of a dramatic choice of song, don't you think? Maria isn't that bad."
"Oh, but she is." Stefan replied with a laugh, handing me a cigarette. I raised an eyebrow. "You ever smoked?"
"No." I replied stiffly, closing my eyes again. I heard him return the cigarette to his pack.
"Maria is a complicated creature." Stefan said, but he offered nothing more. He simply took another drag before dropping his cigarette on the earthen floor, smothering it with his shoe, and walking away.
.:!*!:.
I got lost in a random memory on my way to see Maria. I could recall sitting with my mother in the sun one day when I was young. We'd been discussing the true meaning of evil. My mother had believed that evil was a strange thing. She had told me that to be truly evil, one had to believe evil didn't even really exist. I had disagreed. Even in my youth I had believed every living thing capable of great evil. I had just never thought the most evil person I'd ever know would be me.
.:!*!:.
When I arrived at Jack's rooms, Vlad informed me that Aro had let Jean and Richard go without complications. He left the moment I was through the door, leaving me alone with Maria. For a long time, neither of us said a word. I couldn't even look at her.
"You remember, don't you?" Maria asked, her voice as close to silent as it could be without actually being silent.
"Everything." I replied, unable to lie to her. "It doesn't matter though."
"Do you mean you still love me, mi Riena?" Maria questioned, sounding desperate. The hope in her tone was confusing and painful. I could say nothing but the truth.
"I care for you just as much as I ever have." My voice came out soft and calm, although I was anything but. "I'm sure you have questions for me."
"Only one, Isabella." She whispered. "Why did you ask Aro about wanting to recruit you?"
"I honestly couldn't tell you. Curiosity, maybe. Perhaps I needed the ego boost." I stated dryly. I licked my lips, staring the the floor at my feet. I finally lifted my head to look at her. Seeing the demented affection in her eyes made me uneasy. Perhaps it was time to find out if Stefan was right. It was time I found out if she really was completely dependent upon me. I held out my hand. She took it without pause. I pulled her close to me and hugged her.
"You have no idea how frightened I was." Maria whispered, sobbing into me. "I thought you were going to kill me. I would've deserved it."
"You're right." I whispered, tightening my grip on her. "You would deserve it."
"Isabella?" Maria whimpered, the fear practically dripping from her lips. It fed some part of me that I didn't understand. I pushed Maria from me, slightly afraid of myself. Maria looked into my eyes and flinched, sliding across the dirt on her ass to back herself into the furthest corner. In her eyes, I saw my own dark ones staring back at me.
"As much as I detest all you have done, I have trouble seeing that woman inside of you." I hissed out at her. "From the moment I told you my first name, 'Mistress Maria' has been missing. It is hard to hate her when I cannot find her within you. What do you have to say to that?"
"What do you want me to say?" She pleaded, moving cautiously to kneel before me, and she clenched the legs of my jeans in her tiny hands. I truthfully didn't know how to answer that.
.:!*!:.
Oh, how I wished Peter had been wrong! I didn't even know who I was. All I knew was that I was not worthy of Jasper. He had conquered everything that was thrown at him. Here I was, destined for him... and I was nothing more than a shadow of the woman I wanted to be. He deserved so much more. No matter what he thought, I wasn't worth it. I wasn't worth anything.
.:!*!:.
"Stop your whining." I told him.
"I'm so thirsty." He whispered, grasping his throat.
"Yes, well. Good for you." I commented, slightly annoyed. I was cleaning out the vacuum to the best of my abilities. Jack had been very thorough, just as I'd instructed. I had returned to my torture room to find that all of Edward's venom had been sucked from his frozen veins with the vacuum, and Jack had used his own venom to reattach Edward's feet. Instead of setting him on fire like I did to most, we fed him ten humans. He still wasn't recovered, but at least he was coherent now. I wasn't sure if he'd ever recover. I'd never let a vampire live after drying them before. It had actually been a while since I'd dried anyone. The last people I'd 'dried and fried' had been those two scouts of Maria's before Jasper had shown up.
Jasper. Aro had said he was there during that last phone call. If he had been, he would have heard me. He'd told me long ago that I was worth it, and I'd told him that he was worth it too when he'd found out about Victoria's punishments on me. I was telling him again, letting him know that I remembered him. I remembered his kindness, his brutality, his compassion, his thoughtfulness, his-
"Why, Bella?" Edward moaned, snapping me out of my thoughts. I rolled my eyes.
"Because I hate you." I replied. "I blame you for everything. I never would have been introduced to the South if you'd just told me about your connection to Alice instead of lying like a coward."
"But I didn't want to hurt you." Edward rasped out, flinching and rubbing his throat again.
"What the hell do you think you did, Edward?" I demanded, truly exasperated. "All you ever did was hurt me."
"I loved you." Edward insisted.
"Yes, and it's a shame that you did." I replied, standing and returning the vacuum to the corner of the room.
.:!*!:.
I shivered as I exited my quarters through the tent over my hole. I rubbed my right arm, trying to warm myself. It was stupid. It wouldn't do anything. I glanced up. It was a full moon already. It had been a whole month since Riley's death. It didn't seem real.
It was my fault, all of it. I took a deep breath and exhaled. I was sending one third of the army because I felt as if I needed to do something in Riley's name. I had a feeling he wouldn't have wanted this, but I had do something in retribution for my brother's murder. Personally, I would love to watch the castle burn, but I honestly had nothing against the Volturi. I knew enough about Aro to know he must have had a good reason for killing Riley. The only thing that confused me was that he hadn't killed Jasper. The Major had dominance. Of course, if anyone was to blame for Riley's murder, it was me.
There was a sharp stab on my shield, causing me to turn on my heel. Jack was standing there. He looked troubled, and I tilted my head in question.
"Do you ever hate the person you've become?" He asked in a whisper.
"All the time." I admitted softly.
.:!*!:.
Two days later found us in the Italian countryside at the base of a hill. Sitting atop the hill was a fortress. Small, yet mighty, Volterra was gazing down on us. Numb, I began to pace with my hands clasped behind my back.
"You are the strongest newborns the South has to offer. You are the frontline, the first of the three waves that will be the end of the Volturi's anarchy." I continued, and I spoke with conviction I no longer had. I delivered my speech with eloquence and strength, when in all honesty, I knew these people would never survive. With a battle cry and a wave of my hand, I sent them head-on into the backdoor of the fortress. No humans would ever notice them. I said a short prayer for their souls before returning to the remainder of the army ten miles away.
.:!*!:.
"Let's go! Move quickly!" I shouted one order after another.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Vlad asked me.
"Of course." I said back. "We will dig large tunnels underneath the castle that all end below the floors of empty rooms. When they are in the throne room burning the third of the army, we will break through their floors and come at them from all sides, overpowering them."
"It's fool proof, Vlad." Stefan reassured his brother. "Besides, this is just in case Aro doesn't take the deal."
"Aro will either take the deal, or you two will get to rule the vampire world. How does that sound?" I asked, smirking slightly.
"Fine." Vlad replied, smirking as well.
A few seconds later, the tunnels were done. I pulled out Santiago's cell and hit redial.
"Boss Swan, I accept your deal. Where do you wish to do this?" Aro questioned.
"I'll come to you." I replied. "Wait for me in the throne room."
"Very well." Aro agreed, hanging up. I returned the phone to my pocket and turned to address Vladimir and Stefan.
"This is it. Go get Maria and Edward." I commanded. They smiled at me and took off. I looked at Jack the Ripper. "Use your gift on the rest of the army. I'll light their fire."
"How do I know you won't kill me once I've done this?" Jack asked, his face hard.
"You'll just have to trust me." I told him. He watched me for a moment.
"Before we left camp, you said you hated the person you've become. Why?" Jack asked, surprising me. I told him the truth.
"I sent my True Second away which got him killed, I can't even bring myself to avenge my mate's suffering, and when I look in the mirror there is an unrecognizable monster staring back at me." I said, feeling tears of venom come to my eyes.
Jack the Ripper did not reply to me. He simply turned to face the army. Like something out of the Exorcism, they all began to scream and tear at themselves. Cries of agony and the metallic ripping of vampire flesh filled the night air. I pulled out my Zippo lighter and threw it in their direction. I hit one square in the chest, catching him alight. He fell to his right, knocking into two more, setting them aflame as well. They caught like prairie grass, fell like dominoes, and the purple smoke lifted into the sky like charmed snakes.
"Isabella, what have you done with the army?" Maria's scared voice came from behind me. Stefan and Vlad were still helping Edward to stand, but Maria was coming closer to me and Jack. "Why did you send the Romanians for me?"
"Hold her tight, Jack." I ordered in a dead voice. "She's sure to struggle."
"¡No, por favor! ¿Qué estás haciendo? ¡Yo te hubiera dado nada! " Maria pleaded as I lead the way into one of the tunnels. Maria says she would have given me anything. Of course she would have. I was Boss Swan.
A.N.: Wow! It's official. There will be 21 chapters in this story. Five to go. It's almost over! D=
PLAYLIST NEWS: Since I have the rest of the plot planned down to chapters, my playlist is finished and all 21 songs are posted on my profile.
UPDATE NEWS: I'm on track again, so my weekly updates won't fail like I thought they might. It's all good. Next update is on March 25th!