A/N's : I have a few fanfic's to rec, they are seriously good and deserve checking out.

Malmo722's thriller "Not dark yet" is disturbingly cool. Bella is a heroine (reminds me of Lara Croft) and she is awesome. It's got all our favourite Twilight characters plus zombies. It freaks me out but I love it! Also check out the angsty and heart warming fic "Broken" by inside_the_disarray. It has such beautiful moments and I eagerly soak up all the Bella/Edward interaction like a sponge! The terrific "As Fate would have it" by is Twilight with a twist. We've all wondered what would happen if Edward had succumbed to his thirst and turned Bella on that first day and has taken that and run with it. She brings us the struggle for Edward, the actual event when he loses his control and Bella's change. It's brilliantly written and belongs on your favourites list!

My biggest and warmest thanks go to Acrosstheskyinstars for Beta'ing Spellbound for me. You do an awesome job, Tanya and I adore you. Which brings me to your fic "Last first kiss". This is set in Dartmouth where Bella falls for Edward but has to learn to deal with his past.

I've used up all my A/N's on rec's because their some of my favourites. All these have threads over at Twilighted dot net as does Spellbound. Come over and join us there, we have pictures of the day and these usually include oiled Kellan's and baseball capped Rob's! (sigh)

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ch2 Restraint

BPOV

The cloying temperature of the cells dropped dramatically and rapidly during the night. I nestled beneath dirty straw, piling it over myself in a bid to create a blanket of warmth. The putrid stench of urine and sweat could not be hidden by the dusty dryness of the aged grass.

It was difficult to succumb to the blissfulness of sleep; the events of the day had bewildered and frightened me. I didn't want to keep rethinking it all over and over again. My mind wandered to the fate of the other prisoners who were led outside. I could hear them through the small slither of a window, high on the wall above me. The dead weight of their hanging bodies swinging in the increasing winds.

A gentle breeze finally blew in through the slatted window, bringing with it the scent of clean air and the promise of a storm.

The ropes outside creaked and whined with the bounty it still held. The noise was vile and imagining what hung below my window made me feel nauseous again. There was no water, nothing fresh or drinkable at least, to help wash the taste of vomit away.

I stayed buried beneath my makeshift bed, and in a bid to drown out the noise from the gallows which invaded my sanity, I tried to listen to the other cell mates and their fears.

Michael was talking to an invisible friend. I couldn't make out the sentences but occasionally recognised the name of the other prisoner, Edward.

Edward.

He was captivating and looked as though the Gods themselves had carved him from stone then cast him to the earth. He was unique and he made me feel inadequate but at the same time, I was mesmerised by his beauty. Even chained, dirty and beaten he retained a grace that no mere mortal could ever hope to display.

I wanted to know his story. To discover what path had betrayed him and led him to a prison cell; to know who he was and what he wanted and the secrets behind those eyes. He had no place here, dirty and beaten and chained. It made no sense. It was like finding a rose blooming in a dessert; obscure, mysterious and yet beautiful.

I peeked out at him from under my straw and immediately wished I had resisted; Edward was watching me with a look of pure hatred.

The air in my chest lodged and I tried to swallow. I could not look away; wide eyed I continued to stare at him.

Licking his lips, he eventually turned his head away. He mouthed words to me and although I knew he had barely spoken, I heard his words as clear as if they had been whispered in my ear; his voice sounded almost musical, hypnotising.

"Look away."

I started to shake but as much as I wanted to follow his instruction, I couldn't. Edward bared his teeth and growled, "If you value your life –"

He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear. Dropping his chin forward, he moaned. He was breathing harder now and he pressed his entire body against the wall, as though he was trying to create some distance between us.

"Please help me," he whispered.

"What can I do?" I barely spoke but he heard me.

"Look away Isabella."

"What?" I didn't understand.

"I can feel you looking. You don't understand what it does to me!" He shuddered. "I don't have the strength to stay away from you."

Without thinking of the implications, I replied, "Then don't!"

Faster than humanly possible, Edward was unchained and across the cell. He crouched in front of the bars which separated us; his hands clenched around them, his face peering through at me.

"You don't know what you're saying to me," he moaned. "You can't possibly."

The speed at which he had moved frightened me and I sat up in shock. I scooted back into the corner, trembling. Edward made no more moves, he just watched me through the bars. There was so much fear in his eyes; he seemed so lost and full of anguish.

I felt my own fear dissolve and I dared to ask, "You could free yourself at anytime?"

He didn't answer me. Moving slowly, I pushed myself up onto my knees and faced him. I felt an urge to walk over to him and help him chase away his demons but I had witnessed something strange and that held me back.

Instead I watched him, watching me. His face was illuminated by pale moonlight shining through the small window. It was a face of sheer perfection; his jaw line strong and square, his lips full and pink.

I looked at his bottom lip and licking my own I imagined that lip caught between mine and his body pressed up against me.

I caught his eye and felt jolted from my reverie. They were as black and as bottomless as night; the eyes of the devil and I knew, somehow, this man was cursed.

He watched me react to him, my emotions shown clearly on my face; changing from captivated to terrified.

"Are you afraid?"

I didn't know how to answer him. He sounded like he wanted me to say no but I couldn't lie.

"Yes," I admitted.

"Good," he replied, but his face belied his words. He looked pained by my admission.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Edward Cullen." He offered me nothing more. I was disappointed for I had already known his name. I also knew that he had realised I was asking for more than that.

"Edward Cullen," I repeated.

"And you, Isabella, who are you?"

"Bella."

"Sorry?"

"My fr – I prefer Bella."

"Bella," he whispered.

"Edward," I said again, "What are you?"

I wanted answers.

Shaking his head slowly, he said, "I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?" I challenged him.

He frowned then rested his forehead against the bars. "Can't," he whispered.

I started shuffling a little closer towards him. He watched my clumsy movements but stayed clinging to the bars. There was strength in him that had been invisible when I first saw him but now as I watched, I realised he was not weak as I had first imagined.

"Why do you stay chained to the wall when you can free yourself anytime?"

He didn't reply.

"Does the Captain know?"

He looked away.

I lifted my hand to his; he was gripping the bars as if his very life depended on it. Slowly I ran my fingers over his white skin. He felt icy cold, and wanting to warm him, I covered his hand with both of mine.

Edward looked confused, as though he had never been touched by a woman before.

"I feel like I know you," I whispered. I blushed at my stupid remark, we had never met before. I was sure of that for no one could forget this man.

"Yet I know nothing about you except that you terrify me and that I'm drawn to you. Why is that?" I looked at him innocently. I desperately wanted him to answer me.

"I can't tell you," he said.

"Your eyes are black."

He lowered his lashes and didn't reply.

"Why is that?" I asked him.

"I can't tell you."

"Where are you from?"

"I can't tell you."

I dropped my hand and sat back against my heels.

"Will you warm the other one?" He asked me softly.

I wanted to tell him to go to hell but from the look on his face, I imagined he was already there. I enjoyed touching him so I nodded and curled my hands around his again.

"Bella," he sighed. "You're so warm."

Edward closed his eyes and I took the opportunity to stare at him again. I wanted to lean through the bars and kiss his eyelids.

His eyes popped open and I blushed again as he caught me admiring him. "What are you doing here?" He asked me. "You don't belong here."

"I was arrested on the charge of witchcraft," I confessed.

"Are you a witch?"

"I can't tell you," I joked. We smiled at each other and I felt some of his tension drain away.

"Thank heavens for these bars," he murmured.

"Why?" I wanted him to break through and hold me close, stealing my body's warmth.

"They protect you," he simply said.

"Protect me from whom? The people I should be afraid of can open those doors anytime they want to. And there's no one else in here with me."

He didn't respond, he just continued to watch me.

"Can't you break through these as you did your chains?" I rubbed my hand up and down one of the bars in front of us.

He smiled the most devilish crooked smile and I felt my breath catch.

"Why did they charge you with witchcraft?" He ignored my question and asked his own.

I lowered my gaze. I wasn't proud of the circumstances which had led me to this place and I still wondered if I was to blame.

"My boss was called Mr. York. I moved here hoping to find work and he seemed sincere. He was married and so I wasn't concerned about his intentions."

I recalled my naivety and felt stupid and embarrassed for trusting him.

"Did he take advantage of you?" Edward asked. The bar that he gripped creaked slightly and I looked up at the ceiling, wondering if it was groaning under the strain of the storm we could hear outside.

Feeling his hand warming under my touch, I let go and took hold of the other hand which had grown icy cold again. I rubbed his knuckles as I shrugged. "He tried. I pushed him away and told him I would tell his wife if he ever touched me again."

"And did he?"

I nodded. "It was a few weeks later and I thought he'd given up. I caught him watching me as I worked and it made me uneasy but he never spoke to me except to give instruction. I woke up one night to find him in my room. He had his hand over my mouth and his other hand on my –"

I blushed and looked away then continued. "Before I could do anything his wife came in and he blamed it all on me. The other workers could hear him shouting and Mrs. York knew that by morning it would be nought but idle gossip round town. So she blamed me; labelled me a whore and then a witch. She cried and told everyone that I had cast a spell over her husband. More accusations were thrown. Ridiculous ones like I was trying to kill her and then I was trying to kill them all and before I could flee, the Captain and his guard were called and I was arrested."

I paused, feeling upset. People I had considered friends had turned their backs on me. The accusations were ludicrous with no evidence to back them up. I was innocent but no one believed me.

"Did you plead?"

"Yes, but look what good it did. He isn't interested in justice."

I dropped my hands into my lap and started to cry. "Chances are I'll be burning by tomorrow night."

"That's not what he has planned for you, although I'm not sure which you may prefer."

Edward let go of the bar and pushed his hand through, stroking his thumb lightly over my cheek he caught my tears in the palm of his hand and lifting it to his mouth, he looked at me before licking the salty residue away.

I was entranced by the motion of his tongue. It was long and pink and perfect; the tip slightly pointed and with its momentary appearance, I found myself imaging what pleasures that tongue could do to me.

Swallowing with some difficulty, I asked him, "How can you know what he has planned for me?"

"It's not hard to guess."

"What are you hiding from me?"

I looked down at Edward's hand, I wanted to pick it up and put it back against my cheek. His palm had been cold but I'd liked him touching me. I thought back to earlier that day when James had stood behind me and had run his hands over my body and how I had fantasised it was another pair of hands touching my skin and his warm, sweet breath near my ear.

I blushed again and suddenly Edward took a deep breath and moved back so he was sat in the middle of his cell rather than pressed up against the bars.

"I wish you would trust me." I told him. "I'm just as alone as you are."

He didn't answer me nor did he move back to the bars. I felt loneliness sweep over me and looking down at my own hands, folded in my lap, I felt an urge to continue talking.

"No one out there will miss me."

He shifted slightly on his knees and tentatively edged forward.

"My family aren't near for which I am grateful. I'd hate for them to ever know my fate."

I lifted one hand and gripped the bar, I really needed a friend and for reasons unknown to me Edward was listening. I was taking advantage of that and hoping he needed a friend too.

He moved closer and carefully raised his hand till it was hovering above mine.

Yes. Touch me.

I watched his movements rather than his face, I was scared of what I'd see there, scared of frightening him with what he could surely see in my eyes.

Despondency, despair and desperation.

"And you – you're chained –" I motioned towards the far wall behind him "– sometimes anyway," Edward smiled as I carried on talking, "You're being tortured for something I know nothing about and you're alone, Edward. Like me. Maybe, we could help each other?"

"You shouldn't trust me."

"And you can't tell me why!" I sounded sulky but I didn't care. I didn't really know how much time I had left, but dawn was fast approaching, and with it my fears. The Captain and his guard would be here soon and I dreaded their arrival for with it, was surely my doom.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Edward. I just needed a friend. I thought you did too."

"I'm dangerous!"

"I don't see that!"

"That's because you see what I want you to see."

"Are you saying it's all a mask?"

He nodded.

"So all of this –" I gestured around us "– is an illusion?"

"No. This is all real, I'm afraid."

I sat back, pulling my hand from underneath his and crossed my legs in front of me. They felt numb from my sitting on them for so long. I sighed and looked over at Edward. He was frozen still, his fists clenched again and his eyes glinting with what looked to me like hunger.

"Edward? What is it?" I curled my legs back under me and sat up, leaning towards him. With a low growl, he scooted as far away as possible, and grabbing the hanging chains he turned away from me and stood with his head resting on the wall.

"Edward?"

"Leave me alone," he groaned. Before I could reply the dungeon door from outside banged open and footsteps marched towards us signalling the arrival of Captain James.

He was not alone and I watched in fear as half a dozen men surrounded the locked door to Edward's cell. With a movement so quick he appeared blurred to me, Edward's hands were back inside the manacles and chained to the wall.

I watched as the Captain instructed the door to be opened and then waited as three of the guards stepped inside, and surrounding Edward they pointed their bayonets at him, close enough to poke his skin and possibly puncture it if he dared to move.

James entered the cell with two more guards, leaving one in the doorway to the corridor that lead outside.

James held out his hand and addressed one of the guards, "Hale."

The guard named Hale walked over to James and placed a sack in his out stretched palm, Hale then stepped back towards the open cell door. Turning the bag upside down, James emptied its contents onto the ground and over Edward's lap.

"Dinner time, Edward," he chuckled.

I watched in horror as James bent down and picked something up. He stuck the object right under Edward's nose.

It was a dead rat.

Five others, their fat, grey bodies lay limp and growing cold on the ground.

Scooting back towards my corner, I wished I was invisible. I didn't want to watch the scene before me but was unable to look away.

Pulling the dead rat away from Edward's face, James knelt in front of him, tossing it in the air like a coin. Edward's eyes followed the motion of the dead animal. He looked disgusted.

"What's wrong, Edward? Do you not care for the menu tonight?"

The guards laughed but held their ground.

"I know you're hungry, bloodsucker! You have resisted all the food I've brought to you for weeks now. I don't know how long your kind can go on – living – if that's what you do – without sustenance, but I know you grow weak. Do your-self a favour, hmm? Take the food. I shall reward you with your compliance, Edward."

Edward shook his head, the movement exaggerated by the slow motion in which he moved.

"Never!"

"Is that so?"

"Find yourself another – victim!"

James tutted. He unsheathed his knife from his waistband and tilting it, he watched with fascination as the light from the candles outside the cell glinted on the shiny metal. Pushing the tip of the knife under Edward's chin, James lifted his face so Edward's eyes were level with his own.

"Victim? Is that what you call yourself?" James laughed. "I have never heard anything so ridiculous! You are never the victim, Vampire! You create the victims; you are not one of them!"

Pushing my hands over my mouth, I tried to smother the gasp of surprise before I could be heard.

Vampire?

Vampire?

Edward was a Vampire?

As preposterous as it sounded, I looked back at him and saw before me what I had subconsciously known from the first moment I had seen him.

I had recognised he was unique, magnificent even. He had even warned me of the danger of being close to him as well as his allure, and I hadn't cared. I had been blind to him. But rather than feel afraid or revulsion for his kind, I felt more intrigued.

James stopped laughing and pushing his face closer to Edward's he snarled at him. "I know you can smell her!"

Before I could blink, all eyes in the opposite cell were on me. The guards, the Captain's, the Vampire's.

"Maybe you'd prefer something sweeter than this, hmm?" He held up the carcass of the rat and glanced from me to Edward then back at me again.

James smiled and I shuddered, his eyes were deader than the inky black depths of the Vampire's.

Looking away from me, James continued to taunt Edward. I pushed myself further back into the wall in a desperate bid to camouflage myself. It was pointless; they knew I was here.

I looked around me searching in vain for an escape. I caught the terrified stares of the other prisoners. The man and woman clinging to one another, lucky that they had a companion in this nightmare. The old man appeared bored as though he had seen all this before. Michael had covered his ears and lay rocking back and forth on his floor, his back towards me and the scene unfolding in the next cell, the others feigned sleep in a bid to go unnoticed.

"Do you want her?" James asked. One of the guards smirked, his thoughts obviously obscene, but my focus was on Edward. What would his response be?

"I asked you a question, Leech! Do you want her?" James pointed back at me, as if there could be any mistake as to whom he was referring too.

Feeling hot tears fall down my face, smudging the dirt ingrained on my cheeks, I sobbed as Edward replied.

"Yes!" He nodded his head "God help me but yes! Yes! I want her!"

"Just as I thought." James stood and sheathed his knife back at his waist as he smiled down at his prisoner.

"But you know Edward, if you help me as I have asked you to – if you agree, then she –" He pointed back at me "– will be your reward."

Walking over to the bars that Edward had gripped earlier, so desperately, James looked over at me; hiding in the shadows and the straw.

"I know she must smell like amber nectar to you after the scum I have offered you. Even the blood of tortured men did not arouse you like she has."

"Stop it," Edward moaned.

"Does she smell warm, Edward. Can you hear her beating heart? I bet that sounds like music to your abused ears, hmm?"

"Please stop it." Edward begged, the words teasing his last resolve.

"You probably imagine her warm, sweet blood flowing through your mouth and pouring down your throat. The last feeble beating of her heart pumping her honeyed taste into your very being."

"STOP IT!"

His body shaking, Edward cried out with all his anguish shown on his face. Lunging across the cell before any of the guards could react he caught one of them by the throat and threw him against the stone wall. Edward's feet were planted solidly on the ground, his hands gripping the terrified guard and holding his face away so his neck was exposed. But instead of plunging his teeth into his artery and drinking his fill, Edward stopped inches from the jugular.

The other guards turned, looking confused and scared from the empty chains to Edward and the terrified guard he held captive.

James turned away from me slowly with the smile of a winner on his face.

"Drink, Edward," he encouraged. "You're so thirsty, my friend. Go ahead and drink."

The terrified guard tried to look beseechingly at his Captain, but the hand across his jaw was too strong.

"Siirrr –" He pleaded with his master.

"Shh Crowley," James soothed; his tone patronising. "It will be quick. You won't let him suffer, will you Edward?"

"You're happy to sacrifice your guard?" Edward growled.

Flapping his hand nonchalantly, James dismissed the man Edward held onto. "He is a means to an end, as are you. I need you for one thing only and I offer you all you desire and yet you continue to defy me! I am running out of patience, Edward, and I will find a way to get what I want. With or without you, my friend!"

Dropping his hold on Crowley and turning towards James, his fists now clenched at his sides, Edward stepped forward. "I. Am. Not. Your. Friend!"

With a slight flick of his head, James dismissed his guards. They edged carefully out of the door, their eyes on their Captain and on the monster. Crowley had crumbled to the floor and lay shaking in a puddle of urine. No one moved to assist him as he eventually found the strength to crawl towards the open cell door.

"No. I'm not am I? But I promise you, Edward Cullen, you will beg for me to treat you as a brother when your hunger is all you can think about! You're an animal and you can't resist your instincts for much longer."

Walking out of the cell door, James waited as one of the guards closed it with a bang and turned the lock.

I hoped for them to leave but instead, to my dismay, they unlocked my door, and marching over to my shadowed corner, two guards hauled me off the floor and held me before James, their grips strong as they pushed me to the ground; to kneel before their Captain.

"What are you doing?" Edward growled from his cell. "No! James, you leave her alone!"

Unsheathing his knife again, James lifted the weapon to my arm and pressing it deep into my soft flesh, his drew the blade from inner elbow to mid arm. The knife was sharp and so the pain was just the slightest sting, for which I was grateful.

I was shocked and didn't make a sound. I just stared in bewilderment at the gaping wound. It remained invisible for a few seconds before the blood spilt through the opening and trickled down my arm towards my wrist.

"Appetiser, Edward?" James laughed.

Letting go, they all walked away from me, leaving me kneeling and bleeding and metres away from a ravenous Vampire.

"Sleep well," he called as they walked away down the corridor and into the night.

I looked up at him, wide eyed and confused, then back at my bleeding arm. I couldn't think. I didn't know what to do.

"What do I do?" I asked Edward, holding my arm up and watching the blood trickle freely. It was vivid and dark against my skin, the contrast of red on white was dazzling.

"Bella!" Edward called. "Oh God Bella, I can't help you! I can't help you!"

Wrenching himself free of the chains he fell to the ground and ripped open the stiffening carcass of the rats, smearing his face with their blood and guts.

I stared in horror as he rubbed the entrails over his mouth and nose and not stopping until all six bodies were desecrated.

To my repulsion, he rushed to the door of the cell and reaching between the bars he grabbed a bowl from under the guard's chair. It was filled to the brim with a day's worth of excrement but without pause, Edward rubbed that over his face and chest too.

"What are doing?" I cried, the stench making me gag as it crept across the room towards me.

Rushing towards the bars again, he hissed at me, "I can still smell you!"

I covered my bleeding arm with my hand, it was a feeble attempt. The blood just continued to pump through my fingers.

"I don't know how to stop it. I don't know what do!" I sobbed as I clutched at my skirts. I fumbled with the hem and struggled to rip away any of the fabric. "I don't know what to do!"

"Come here!" He said, but I looked up at him, afraid that his desire for my blood had finally won.

"Your skirts; come here!" He was trying so hard to cling to his sanity; the last remaining part of humanity that remained within him.

I stood and walked over to the bars, standing far enough away that his outstretched hand could grip my skirts but not my legs. I ignored the fact that if he so desired, he could pull me towards him without hesitation.

Edward reached through and lifting the outer layer, he took hold of my petticoat and tugged until a thick row of grubby white material lay on the floor at my feet.

I picked it up and ran back to my corner as Edward went back to his. Ignoring his chains, he pressed his back against the wall and slid to the floor.

I stuffed straw between the cloth and my arm, desperate to try anything to stem the bleeding. The cloth alone would be soaked through within minutes.

"I'm so sorry," I mumbled, my tears still falling. I tasted their saltiness with my tongue. It was first moisture to pass my lips in days.

"What are you sorry for?" Edward sounded tired. His head was back and his eyes were closed.

"For pushing you."

"This is not your fault Bella. None of this is your fault. I should be apologising to you. I should be helping you, healing your wounds and offering you comfort, but I can't."

I lay down on the straw and listened to him, his tortured soul; such despair.

"You don't know how hard it is for me to resist. He has tormented me for weeks, hurting innocent men. Bringing them into my cell and cutting them; their blood splashing at my feet, over my face but I could resist them all. And then you come along and suddenly it's a fight for me."

It was my fault again, just like with the Yorks. I had tempted a man with my innocence and my trust and now I tempted a Vampire.

"I'm so sorry," I repeated. I buried my head in hands and sobbed uncontrollably.

I felt so alone. I lay bleeding in my pit of a bed and there was no one to help me. My wound would no doubt become infected for there was nothing clean in this room; the straw was as old as me and I had felt no choice but to press it over my gaping flesh to stop the blood flow.

I wanted to go home and I wept for the family I had left behind. Would they never know what had become of me? I didn't even know what was to become of me.

Would I die tied to a burning stake? My funeral pyre lit before I was dead?

Would I feel the heat of infection ravish my skin, numbing my limbs until eventually I would fall into delirious oblivion?

Or would my fate lie in the arms and teeth of a starving demon that thirsted for my blood?

I didn't know which death I preferred; but I knew it was coming.