~Bella~

Ow...ouch, ouch, ouch...ouch, that fucking hurts!

What's going on? Why can't I talk? Why can't I move? Why's it so dark? Oh, fuck, everything hurts so much!

Ugh, can't open my eyes... my lids feel like they weigh a hundred pounds each. Why is this so hard? Oh, there's a sliver of light, they're opening! My mouth, finally, I can wiggle it a bit.

"Ugnnn. Ugnnn. Hello? Edward? Where am I?"

It had taken me every bit of strength I could draw from to open my mouth and eyes. I could talk now and see that I was in a shack of some sort.

It was like the time I'd woken up in the hospital from my drug overdose; everything was coming to me very slowly.

After a couple moments, it occurred to me to lift my head and look around.

"Oh, that hurts!"

One little movement and it felt like I'd been hit with a hammer. I couldn't help shouting out.

Slowly, very slowly, I looked around. It was an empty room, like a small shed or outbuilding of some sort. I could tell from the windows on all four walls that it was a one room structure.

"How did I get here?" I asked, hoping someone was around to answer me.

My memory was super fuzzy; the last thing I remembered was making breakfast and waiting for Edward.

"Edward, are you here?"

Nothing, I must be alone. There's something... some reason I shouldn't be alone. Why can't I remember?

"Hello, Isabella. Very nice to see you again. You're looking absolutely scrumptious." A sinister voice whispered behind me.

Forgetting the pain in my head, I whipped around to see who had spoken.

"Ow! That fucking hurts!" I grabbed at my head, trying to sooth the pain pounding behind my eyes.

"Language, Isabella, language. I do not appreciate the way you young ladies speak these days. I know it hurts; I hit you a bit hard when I grabbed you. Don't worry, pretty soon you'll be in much more pain, and this will seem inconsequential."

Everything came back to me then—vampire—the vampire that had killed my mom, not the one who was supposed to be protecting me. Where was Edward? How had he let this happen to me?

Unwilling to look at my captor, I kept my eyes down on the floor and tried to block out his words. I didn't want to think about his plans for me; hopefully, it would be over quick.

Fuck, I wish I'd never met Edward. I'd let myself think that maybe everything would be okay. Maybe I'd be safe. Now, here I was, exactly where I thought I'd be all along, until he had let me think he could protect me from this. I hated him, hated him for giving me hope, hated him for letting me get taken this way.

Tears poured out of my eyes, and I let them fall, not wanting to make any movement at all while the vampire was watching. I was angry—angry at Edward, angry at the one who had taken me. I wanted to scream and cry and punch the walls. But I had to stay still, because what else could I do? I was only a human, a weak insignificant human. My head hurt so bad I thought I would vomit from the pain, and, according to the vampire, I only had more to look forward to.

More tears. My body shook from the force of my crying; no matter how still I tried to stay, I couldn't stop the shaking.

"Sweetie, I see what you're trying to do. I'm sorry, but keeping still is not going to change anything. Please, feel free to cry out. Scream at me, hit me, anything you want. Your fate will remain the same. Although, maybe if you provide a little amusement, I'll be inclined to a bit of leniency. We'll have to see."

Nothing he said mattered, I wasn't going to move, scream, or anything he mentioned. Touching him of my own free will, even to hit him, was the last thing on earth that would ever happen.

"Well, I guess it was a bit too much to hope for some entertainment from my new pet. That's okay, I'm sure I can find ways to amuse myself with you even without your assistance."

I was going to kill Edward if I ever saw him again. This was all his fault. Why wasn't he here?

"Okay, dear. I need to go find Victoria and Laurent. I've got a lovely little cage for you over here. See how it hangs from the ceiling? This way, if you need to do any of that nasty human stuff, it will fall right to the floor. I don't want you soiling that beautiful skin of yours. Speaking of skin, go ahead and take your clothes off before getting in the cage. You won't need them anymore."

Edward! Where are you? Please! Save me!

"No, please, no. No. No. I don't want to. No!"

"Two choices, Isabella. Either do it yourself, or I'll do it for you. If I do it, I can't promise I'll be able to keep myself from taking a taste in the process. There's not much that's more painful to a human than a vampire bite. Are you sure you're ready for that?"

Edward! Why? Why did you let this happen? Please! Come save me!

I had no choice; I didn't want that creature anywhere near me for as long as I could manage. Making as little movement as possible, I took my clothes off and set them aside. Keeping my back to where the voice was coming from, I tried lifting only my eyes to find where this horrible cage was.

I couldn't see it.

Lifting my head as little as possible, I tried to get the cage in my line of sight, but it was no use.

I heard chuckling behind me.

"Little human, I guess you can cross one worry off your list; compared to the beautiful vampires I normally share my attentions with, you're about as attractive as a pile of excrement. Put your clothes back on if you like; I've lost interest in using you as a sex toy. I'll just need to keep you as some sort of farm animal, I guess, kind of like my own personal cow."

He laughed. Laughed at the horrible plans he had for me. Crying harder, I quickly put my clothes back on and then crumpled back down to the floor.

"Oh, no, little cow. You still need to get in your cage. Unless you can manage to pull yourself up to climb inside, I'm going to need to lift you in. Hmm, I think I will go ahead and take that taste now."

He spoke as if the things he were saying to me were no more consequential than discussing the weather or a TV show. Didn't he realize I was a person? I was a person exactly as he had been before someone had changed him.

"Please, you were human once, why are you doing this to me?" I cried.

"Yes, I was human once, a very long time ago. Do you want to know how I spent my time when I was human? Shoveling shit and living in disgusting barns taking care of rich people's animals."

He was angry now, and I wanted to slice my own throat for thinking I could reason with him.

"That's right—my human life was miserable. I hated every person who thought they could own me, control me. The first thing I did when I had my wits about me again was hunt down and kill every one who had ever issued an order at me like I was a slave. Every person who thought I was lower than them fed my new beautiful body with their blood. You humans are miserable, weak creatures."

He spat on the ground behind me, and then, before I could blink, was in front of me, holding me up in the air by my throat. My legs kicked, and I fruitlessly tried grabbing at the hands crushing my wind pipe. I couldn't breath.

His face was right in front of mine, snarling at me. I could see something that looked like spit, but darker and thicker dangling in strings between his unnaturally sharp, white teeth. He was repulsive, and I felt myself wanting to vomit again.

"Listen to me, my little cow. You now serve one purpose and one purpose only. I think even you, with your insignificant brain, can figure out what it is. So, unless you're going to start pouring blood out of your mouth, keep it shut. I've changed my mind; you're not allowed to scream after all."

He threw me on the ground, and I could feel one of my ankles bend the wrong way and crack from the force of the landing. I screamed, the pain in my head forgotten now that my ankle was broken.

"Shut up, cow!" He screamed back at me. "I don't care if you're in pain. Stay silent, or I'll rip your tongue out of your throat."

Barely, I managed to stop screaming, but uncontrollable retching took over, and I dry heaved onto the floor. Desperately, I tried to keep quiet, the noises I was making sounding loud and horrible even to my own human ears.

He spoke again, his voice back to his normal, calm tone. "You'll have to forgive me. I'm sure this little misunderstanding is all my fault. After all, I was pleasantly conversing with you all along; I imagine it seemed like a reasonable conclusion that you could talk, too. Now, you know better. No talking. Your screechy human voice makes me regret having ears."

I looked up at him then, not sure what was going to happen now, but wanting warning in case he decided to hurt me again.

He crouched down next to me, and brought his face within an inch of my own. "Your delicious smell more than makes up for the sounds you make," he whispered.

Bringing his nose to the base of my throat, he used his hand to cover my face, blocking my mouth, which I'd still been wheezing from.

"Mmm, yes, you do smell divine, little cow. I think it's time for a snack."

I thought he'd bite into my throat then, but instead, he grabbed my right hand and brought my wrist to his mouth. I whimpered, and his other hand tightened over my face, making it hard to breath.

"Hush, now. Ruin this for me, and I'll drain you immediately."

Somehow, I don't know how, I managed to stop making any noise. For a moment, I considered screaming in his ear, forcing him to kill me instead of accept his plans for long, drawn out torture. I couldn't do it, though; I knew Edward was searching for me: him, his family, and the wolves. If I could hold out, maybe they'd rescue me. I only hoped by that time, there was something worth rescuing.

"Good girl. I'm going to move my hand now. Remember, you're nothing more than this wrist I hold in my hand and the blood pumping through it. I don't want to have anything to do with any other part of your body unless I say so. Stay absolutely still no matter how much it hurts."

How could he ask this of me? He knew I was human; how could he expect so much?

I had been already watching him, and now was afraid to look elsewhere as it would mean moving my head. In vain, I tried to let my eyes unfocus, but it was beyond my control to do anything other than watch what he did.

Slowly, he brought my wrist to his nose. He inhaled deep, breathing my scent in and holding it. His eyes closed while he hummed in satisfaction.

Opening his eyes again, he locked his gaze with mine, and then lightly licked the skin on my wrist. His tongue was soft and silky, just like Edward's, and I hated that he felt the same.

For what seemed like forever, he licked at my skin, the same spot over and over. Gradually, his soft tongue started to feel abrasive, like sand paper instead of silk. He was licking harder. The skin where he licked started to get red, like a rug burn, and hurt. I braced myself, knowing any moment he was going to bite and that I needed to somehow stay completely still.

Instead of biting, he only kept licking, over and over. It was really hurting now, and I wanted to pull my hand away, but I was frozen solid with terror over what he would do if I tried.

He looked up at me after several more licks. "We should start to see some blood soon. I'm going to start licking a bit harder now. Stay still."

Tears were flowing again from my eyes, and I could feel my control giving way. Pretty soon, I wouldn't be able to keep in one place any longer. My ankle was killing me, and I was so scared about what would happen when the blood started to flow. The spot on my wrist felt like it was being held over an open flame. Then he started to lick some more.

As he'd said, he was licking harder now. Each pass of his tongue felt like hundreds of needles being driven into my skin.

After five more passes, miniscule droplets of blood started to seep through tiny little scratches his tongue had made on my skin. He stopped licking and brought my wrist to his nose again, inhaling even deeper than before.

Without warning, and while still holding onto my wrist, he swept his leg under my body, making me fall onto my back. The movement jarred my ankle, and I cried out at the pain. His hand came over my mouth again, and he slid his body on top of mine, lying on top of me like I was a bed, chest to chest.

"I figured you might need a little help keeping still. Don't worry, I'll let you breath. Just enough to keep you alive and awake. After all, we wouldn't want you to sleep through our first feeding, would we?"

I said nothing, figuring his question was rhetorical as his hand still covered my mouth. There was only the smallest amount of air I was able to take in due to the weight of his body on my lungs. Each breath was short and shallow, and I could feel myself getting lightheaded. I had a brief moment of hope that I'd faint after all. He must have been able to tell because the bastard let up enough for deeper breaths.

He brought my wrist back to his mouth and swiped his tongue on my skin once more, this time, with much more force than he'd used previously. I cried out, the sound muffled by his hand, as the pain on my wrist intensified far greater than before. What had felt like a brief moment of fire, was now a constant flame on my skin. Even after he lifted his tongue from my wrist, it burned hotter and hotter. I was screaming now, and my body was trying to writhe and twist, but he was too heavy for me to make any movement.

"Ah, yes, that's the venom seeping into your wounds. Don't worry, I'll bite you soon and suck it back out. I only want to draw this out a bit longer. You're doing fabulous, my fine bovine; your blood is every bit as delicious as I'd hoped. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep you alive. Even now, it is almost impossible not to tear into you and suck you dry."

His words barely entered my consciousness through the burning. Vaguely, I knew what he meant; if he didn't suck out the venom, I'd turn into a vampire. I didn't really care; I only wanted the pain to stop.

He licked several more times, each one increasing the flame on my wrist, while the burning sensation traveled up my arm. My screams were now nothing more than horse groans as my throat couldn't sustain them anymore.

"I'm going to bite now. This might hurt a little."

A little? What the fuck did he think I'd been feeling? Could this really get worse?

"I'm going to enjoy this. I'll say goodbye now in case I can't control myself and this is your last moment on earth."

He then gave a sick chuckle before sinking his teeth into my wrist.

Fuuuuuck! Noooooo!

Screams tore through my ravaged throat, the pain impossibly worse than before, like my skin was getting ripped off my arm while burning.

He was sucking on me, and each pull felt like my arm was being shoved into a wood chipper. Instead of fire, shards of ice were being drawn down and through my arm, the pain completely different, but no less intense.

With a scream of his own, he ripped his mouth away from my wrist before grabbing me from the floor and throwing me across the room. I smashed into the opposite wall feeling more bones break, this time in my arm. Thankfully, as soon as my body fell to the ground, and I landed on the broken arm, everything went dark.

I don't know how long I was out, but by the time I woke up, it was night outside. No longer lying in a broken heap on the floor, I was in the cage I hadn't yet seen before now. It was like an oversized bird cage, with a circular floor and the bars tapering up to meet at the top where it hung from the ceiling by a chain.

The barred floor was horribly uncomfortable as the bars dug into my skin. I attempted to sit by pushing up with my right hand. Moaning was all I could manage when I was brutally reminded of the torture inflicted on my wrist by James before it had been broken from the throw.

Before moving again, I did a quick mental inventory of my body. It felt like every inch of me was in pain, but I eventually narrowed it down to the broken ankle and right arm in addition to the mother fucker of all head aches.

Trying again, this time with my left hand, I managed to push myself to sitting on my butt, the bars a little less punishing that way, thought not great since I'd never had much meat in that area.

"Oh, look, James. She's awake." A new voice, female. I could barely make myself care.

"What do you think of my pet? I call her, little cow." James replied.

A pale, feminine hand appeared in front of my face, grabbing my chin and tilting my head up. "This—thing—is what you went through all this trouble for? She smells no better than any other human to me."

The female staring at me, another vampire, was a horrendously beautiful woman with long, curly red hair and crimson eyes. Her voice was oddly very high-pitched, almost painful to listen to.

James appeared next to her in a flash, yanking her arm out of my cage.

"Then you have no reason to go anywhere near her. Stay away from my pet." He snarled at her.

She pouted at him like she was a teenage girl instead of a vicious killer, her bottom lip sticking out while she looked up at him through her long, auburn lashes. "James, that's not very nice. You won't even let me have a taste?"

He grabbed her arm again and drew her away from my cage. "Never. Don't even think it. She's mine. She's mine until the day I drain the last drop of blood from her body."

"All right, James," she said. "I bet there's something else you have that you'll share, though." Her voice had changed from whiny to seductive, and I prayed that he'd take her up on her offer; despite what he'd said before, I was still terrified that he'd want to do more with my body than drink from it.

"Hm, there was something I wanted to try." I heard him say as he approached my cage again. "Come over here and get on your knees. You suck while I drink."

Before I could stop myself, I started crying out loud. "No! No! No! Please! It hurts too much, please!"

He grabbed the cage and shook it violently making me fall all over. "Silence, cow. You should be grateful I'm making Victoria service me and not you."

Even though I knew it was stupid, I tried reasoning with him anyway. "If you take too much in one day, I'll die, and you won't have me to drink from later. I haven't had anything to eat or drink yet since the last time."

For a moment I thought he was going to shake the cage again, but then he dropped his hands and looked at me appraisingly.

"You're right, little cow. I am neglecting the physical needs of my pet and risking losing you for good."

He turned away from my cage and spoke to Victoria once more. "Call Laurent. Instruct him to get some some bottled water and snacks. He can go to the vending machines outside the shopping center."

Victoria laughed. "You want me to send Laurent to vending machines? He won't even know how to use them."

He flashed across the room and backhanded her across the face.

"Do not laugh at me, female," he snarled. "Laurent is a vampire—he'll figure it out. Do as you're told before you find yourself cast out of my coven."

The playful look had fallen from her face with the slap, and she looked panicked instead. "Please, no, James! I'll call Laurent. He'll get the food and water; I promise."

He didn't reply, only waved his hands at her in dismissal.

I sat watching them, wanting to know if either seemed like they were going to approach my cage. It was awful; I actually felt grateful for the bars surrounding me. As ridiculous as it sounded, they gave a very tangible, if false, sense of security.

"Well, now, little cow. What shall we do while we wait? Oh, yes. We must see to your broken bones. Can't allow those to remain as they are or infection will set in and ruin my blood."

I whimpered; I'd rather risk a blood infection than have him anywhere near me.

"I have to admit, while your screeching is decidedly unpleasant to listen to, your whimpers are a pleasant sound." He laughed. "Awful of me, isn't it, how much pleasure I get at your pain?"

I was crying harder and almost missed the most welcome voice in the universe.

"It's nothing compared to the pleasure I'll have destroying you."

Edward!

End Note: Sorry for the intrusion, especially as I know some people may be a bit agitated right now at that cliffie...I wanted to let everyone know that I'm going to be submitting a contribution to the Fandom for Preemies compilation. I know you can't tell from my writing, but I turn into the sappiest mushiest pile of goo around babies and love them fiercely. I'm hugely excited to be able to contribute to the good works done by the March of Dimes. The contribution will be an out take from my fic, "Letters." For those that are reading the story and are familiar with it, the out take will be written in story form and not as a letter and will cover Edward's surrender and trial. It's coming along great and I know readers of the story will really enjoy it! Since I can't put a link here - please Google "Fandom for Preemies" to locate their blog to donate if you'd like to get the compilation. There's going to be tons of great stories from lots of excellent authors - well worth a small donation of $5, though feel free to send more if you're able! All those tiny babies will be very grateful.