Many thanks, as always, to my beta, CoppertopJ. And I'll let you get on with it! I'll see you at the bottom.
We had been driving for a while. I stared out the window trying to work out where he might be taking me. We didn't seem to be headed back towards the house. It seemed strange, with Victoria still on the loose, that he would be taking me far away from his family without at least telling them where we were going. I had asked a few times where we were going but he just kept saying it was a surprise. Maybe the boys were in on the surprise and knew where we were going to be or maybe even be close by to keep an eye on us.
"Are we almost there?" I asked, still staring out the window, watching for any sign of where we might be going, "We've been driving for almost half an hour already."
"Nearly there," he replied, keeping his eyes on the road, not even glancing over at me, "Just a few more minutes."
We turned down a small lane, which consisted of just a dirt track for a road, winding down towards an old dilapidated-looking farmhouse. I glanced at Edward who was still just staring out the window at the road, which wasn't like him. I usually had to tell him to look at the road instead of me and I wondered if I'd done something to make him mad at me.
"Is everything okay?" I asked while wracking my brain for anything I might have done or said. He was never angry at me, but there definitely seemed to be something up with him.
"Everything's fine," he said, finally glancing over at me, but I could see there was still something wrong.
He pulled the car up outside the old farmhouse. I opened the door and climbed out of the car and looked around the yard. It didn't look like anyone had lived here in a while. There was rusted farm machinery on the overgrown grass, broken fences and a few tiles missing from the roof. Edward had never taken me anywhere like this before and I was very confused as to why we were here.
"I don't understand," I said, walking around the car to stand beside him, "Why are we here?"
"You'll see," he answered cryptically, "Let's go inside." He opened the creaky door and gestured for me to walk ahead of him. It was fairly dark inside, but I wasn't scared, not with Edward right behind me.
Walking into what used to be the living room of the farmhouse, I squinted to see in the low light, noticing the silhouette of a person on the other side of the room. As I got a little closer I saw the wild mane of bright red curls that often haunted my nightmares.
"Victoria!" I screamed, stepping backwards into Edward's arms. Edward's arms wrapped around me, but not gently like I expected. They grabbed me roughly, digging into my upper arms as I tried to turn around. I looked up, expecting to see Edward's beautiful eyes, amber or even pitch black in anger, but instead, all I saw was bright red.
It wasn't Edward whose arms I was in, it was a random vampire I had never seen before. I began screaming hysterically, not sure what had happened to Edward as he had been right behind me a second ago.
"Edward?" I squealed, trying to spin around to search for him, but to no avail due to the vampire holding me still.
"Oh, dear sweet girl," Victoria said, in her sickly-sweet voice, "Catch up, will you! Edward was never here."
What? Of course he was. I had come with Edward. He was right behind me a second ago. Shit! What if they had killed him already? Vampires were so fast. They could have dismembered him in a flash before he'd even realised it was a trap. Though I didn't understand how he wouldn't have heard their thoughts before we walked in.
"She still doesn't get it," Victoria laughed cruelly, "Edward. Was. Never. Here. Meet Riley." I looked up into the red eyes of my captor again, only for them to magically transform into Edward's amber ones right before my eyes. In just a few seconds, I was once again in Edward's arms. But I wasn't. It wasn't Edward. It had never been Edward. This Riley could change his appearance to look like him.
My vision began to blur around the edges and then the world went black.
~~~TTOGILB~~~
My eyes fluttered open; my nightmare still vivid in my mind. The bright red eyes, the mane of curly hair, the cruel laughter, the Edward that wasn't Edward. Once my eyes were fully opened, I realised it wasn't a nightmare at all. It was real and I was lying on the cold, concrete floor, staring up at my two red-eyed captors.
I pushed myself up into a sitting position, scooting back on the floor until my back hit the wall. My head throbbed. I reached up touching the tender bump from where I'd clearly hit it when I passed out. I took a quick inventory of the rest of my body, but thankfully that seemed to be my only injury, so far at least.
I looked around. Victoria was pacing the floor, unusual for a vampire, but she seemed agitated. Riley was sitting a few feet from me, looking ready to pounce if I dared to move. As though I would try to run from a couple of vampires. I knew my only chance of escape was for Edward and his family to somehow find me. If I lived long enough for them to find me, that is.
I wasn't sure why I was still alive at this point. Victoria could have killed me easily by now, so she was obviously keeping me alive for some reason. I could only hope that whatever that reason was would last long enough for Edward to find me.
Just then another vampire entered the farmhouse, a familiar vampire this time, but unfortunately, it did not give me any hope. Laurent smiled creepily at me as he walked into the room.
"Bella," he drawled, "We meet again. Sorry, it's not under better circumstances."
"I thought you were staying with the Denalis," I said quietly. The last I'd heard he was with Irina, one of Edward's 'cousins' from Alaska, and trying out the vegetarian diet. His red eyes said that his change in diet had not worked out.
"Ah, yes," he said, "I very much enjoyed Irina's company, but I couldn't stand that vile diet they keep. I left a while ago, meeting up with my old friend here again." He gestured towards Victoria as he spoke.
"I'm surprised your vampire has kept you human this whole time," he continued, "I really don't see the appeal of keeping a pet. Especially one that would taste so delicious." He lifted his nose to the air, taking a deep breath and savouring my scent. I flinched, worrying that his bloodlust would overtake him.
"If anyone gets a taste, it's me," Riley growled, "I had to sit in a car with that delicious scent all the way here. I nearly took her a couple of times, even if it was just to shut her up."
"No one will be having a taste," Victoria screeched, "We need her alive... for now."
She grabbed a bottle of water from the table at the side of the room and threw it towards me. It hit the wall beside my head so hard I thought it would have split, but it was still intact when I picked it up. I drank it down quickly. I was parched. I had no idea how long I had been here, not knowing how long I was passed out, but I imagined it had to have been a few hours at least, since it was now dark outside the small window. My stomach was beginning to rumble too, not that I would ask her for anything.
Suddenly, a thought came to me. I tried to move inconspicuously as I felt along my jeans, hoping against hope to find my cell phone still in my pocket.
"Looking for this?" Victoria sneered, holding my cell phone up in her hand, "Don't worry, we'll be using this to contact your precious Edward soon enough. For now, though, we will let him sweat. Let him wonder where you are or if you are alive. Then we'll lure him here to watch you die before he meets his own end."
My heart sank. As much as I wanted Edward to come and save me, I didn't want to risk his life. The only way he'd be in any danger was if he came alone. He and his family could easily take the three vampires in front of me, but I had no doubt Edward would come alone if he thought it was the only way to save me.
~~~TTOGILB~~~
Every part of my body ached. I had been sitting on the concrete floor for about twenty-four hours now and there was nothing comfortable about it. Victoria had provided me with a couple of bottles of water during that time but no food, so I was feeling weak. I had refused to ask for any food, but I had begged to be allowed to use the bathroom, which thankfully she allowed, but only with a vampire guard.
I'd spent most of the time twisting the ring on my finger and picturing Edward's face. I wondered if I'd ever see it again before they killed me. It was so unfair. We had lost so much time and only just found each other again. We were supposed to have our happily ever after. Our lives were all planned out. Get married, become a vampire and then have forever together. All we had gotten was a few months.
Victoria had left, gone hunting somewhere, I supposed, but I tried not to think too much about that. I was left here with Riley and Laurent, both of whom looked bored out of their minds.
"So, Irina isn't your mate, then?" I asked Laurent, unsure where my confidence had come from.
"Ha," he laughed, "Hardly. She passed a bit of time. She seemed to think we were mates, but I was more interested in a little action with both her and her sisters, but she wasn't into that, unfortunately. She became too clingy, and their lives bored me, so I left. But not before I'd gotten a lot of information about the Cullens. Enough to help Victoria with her revenge plan."
God damn Irina! In her desperation to find a mate, she'd unwittingly given our enemies all the information they ever needed to know about the Cullens.
"You hardly seem overly thrilled at the minute," I said.
"Well, maybe..." he said, "Babysitting humans isn't high on my list of things to do, but it'll get more interesting soon enough."
"What about you?" I said, looking towards Riley, "What are you getting out of this?"
"Victoria is my mate," he replied, Laurent rolling his eyes behind him, "I'd do anything for her."
"Wasn't James Victoria's mate?" I asked, looking towards Laurent, "Isn't that why she's doing this?"
"No!" Riley shouted, "James was just a good friend. She promised him she'd get revenge for him. She's my mate!"
"That's a lot of effort to go to for a friend," I commented, knowing that I probably shouldn't have been trying to provoke a vampire, but unable to stop myself.
"She's my mate!" he growled again, as he leapt towards me.
Laurent intercepted him before he reached me, reminding him how angry Victoria would be if he killed me now. He continued to glare at me over Laurent's shoulder, the fear making me unable to tear my eyes from his angry glare.
Just then I heard the sound of the door slamming, the two vampires in the room quickly returning to their previous positions before Victoria came tearing into the room, her red eyes even brighter than before she left.
"I think we've waited long enough," she said, a dangerous twinkle in her eye.
"Say Cheese!" she sneered as she picked up my cell phone, snapping a picture of me staring wide-eyed at the phone.
"Hmmm, I can't say it's the prettiest picture of you," she smirked, "But it'll certainly do for this." She quickly typed a message, a small beep indicating that she had sent it.
"It won't be long now boys," she said, turning to Riley and Laurent.
"What if he brings the rest of the family?" Riley said, glancing towards me.
"He won't," she said, confidently, "And if he does, she'll be dead before they get anywhere near her. Either way, he suffers."
I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my head in them as the tears flowed. Edward would come alone and, despite his strength and mind reading, he would be no match for three vampires. I only hoped that I would at least see his beautiful face one last time before I died.
Okay, so pretty much everyone realised that it wasn't our Edward. Everyone except poor Bella! I clearly wasn't as subtle as I thought lol. I'll be back next Wednesday with our Edward (the real one this time!) to see what's going on with him. Please review. I love hearing what everyone thinks :)