Bella is having the worst day of her life. Edward is dead. Her body hurts almost as much as her heart does. Also, she's been kidnapped by the scariest person that she's ever met. Victoria is also there.

Content note for violence, domestic violence/abuse, implied sexual violence/coercion, implied suicidal ideation/intention, codependent relationship dynamics, and grief. James is darker than his canon counterpart, because it makes sense that he would be. If this is too much, skip to the last section of chapter 33.

Thanks again to goldengirlschildhood for her invaluable eyes and comments!

My head… hurts. My thoughts were full of wool. Something's… wrong.

I opened my eyes. Gray. I was lying on my side in the back of a strange car.

It started coming back to me. The forest. The fight. Running away. Edward.

Something yanked me to a stop. I twisted to the side. They lost their grip and my ankle gave out under me. I stumbled. Then—a punch to the stomach. I gasped for air, but nothing happened. Blindly, I struck out. My fist connected with something—but it was like punching a wall. I staggered back.

I was on the ground. Someone grabbed me by the hair and dragged me across the grass. My scalp was on fire. I snatched at their wrist and kicked out. They staggered.

Then—sparks of light. My ear exploded. I tried to scream, but I didn't have any air.

The world was fading.

They hadn't bothered to tie me up. No need, I guess, if you're a vampire.

There were only two of them in the car with me. My attacker and the investigator sat in the front. She was leaning toward him.

I tried to sit up, but my head swam. I put a hand to my ear, expecting it to come away covered in blood. Nothing.

"You're awake," she said. Her tone was not enthusiastic.

I met her eyes as squarely as I could. "I'm awake," I agreed. "Why?"

She turned away dismissively. "Don't try to run."

Why not? I was pretty sure I was going to die sooner rather than later. The thought didn't frighten me as much as it should have. Not running was just prolonging the inevitable.

Probably concussed, the rational part of my brain observed. I imagined another version of me standing over myself and looking dispassionately down at the situation. I suppressed a laugh.

Ow. My ribs were sore. So was my head. My ankle throbbed.

He chuckled. It was not a nice sound. "That's right, little girl. Keep your chin up."

"James," the woman snapped.

He turned his head and hissed at her.

She shrank back. "I just… hate it when you play with your food," she said meekly.

Still, no fear.

I can't jump out of a speeding car. I couldn't see much out of the windows, but it felt like we were going fast. Not unless there's no other way.

And not unless there were people around, just in case I survived.

There didn't seem to be any reason to keep quiet or cooperate. I was dead either way. I didn't want to go quietly. "Why not just kill me?"

"We're not going to kill you," James purred. "You're going to tell me and Victoria everything you know about your boyfriend's family, and then we'll let you go. If you're nice and polite, maybe you'll even be in one piece."

The woman—Victoria—shot him a dark look. She doesn't believe him, so why should I?

"Why do you want to know about them?"

He let out a little huff of air that was almost a laugh. "Call it curiosity."

Victoria grabbed his arm. "It's up ahead."

James turned to smile at her. "You're always on top of things, darling. Where would I be without you?" He raised her hand to his mouth for a kiss.

I saw her melt into his touch. Her eyes turned soft and dreamy. "I do my best, love."

James pulled to the side of the road. When the car was no longer moving, I could lever myself to a sitting position. I looked at the seatbelt, but it felt a little silly.

"Can you handle getting it by yourself, or do you need help?" James asked Victoria.

"I can handle it," she assured him earnestly.

"Are you sure? Someone has to watch her," he jerked his chin toward me, "but if you need me, I—"

"No, I've got it, I promise. But thank you." She used the frame of the door to pull herself out of the car. I wasn't used to vampires moving so slowly.

I thought that James' eyes looked cold as he watched her go. I wonder if he cares about her at all.

Then he turned in his seat. It should have been an awkward movement in such a small space, but he made it look—not graceful, exactly, but lithe. His gaze wandered over me for a long, leisurely moment.

He moves like a predator. I resisted the urge to shudder. "You don't really care about the Cullens, do you?"

He smirked. "No. Not really. Maybe I should thank them. This has been the most interesting chase I've had in a long time."

"Why?" I wondered if he was capable of smiling normally.

His gaze sharpened. "You're hard to track down, little girl. I can't get a feel for you. Had to do it with my nose, the old-fashioned way. They made that much trickier."

"You've been following me?" That made sense. Sort of.

"Of course. A challenge? Wrapped up in such a pretty package? How could I resist?" His smirk became a snarling sort of grin.

"You do this a lot, then?" Keep him talking.

"When I find the right girl." He leaned in closer. "You and I are going to have a lot of fun together, little one."

I doubt that. "And the Cullens?"

James waved a hand derisively. I noticed what looked like fresh wounds on it. "You'll tell me everything you know about them. You'll probably make things up by the time I'm done with you." The grin turned cruel. He reached his hand out toward me. Despite my best intentions, I shrank back, but there was nowhere to go. His cool fingers traced along my face from temple to jaw. Then, with a quick movement, he was choking me.

Reach for his face, Charlie's matter-of-fact voice told me. You can't break his grip, but you can break his nose. Or claw out his eyes.

But I couldn't reach him and even if I had been able to, it wouldn't hurt him. Instead, I forced myself to relax.

"Good girl," he purred. "Maybe I'll keep you around for a while. You can watch me kill them." He paused and rubbed a thumb thoughtfully against my neck. "Well, most of them. It's been a while since I've seen little Alice. It might be nice to get reacquainted."

I was starting to feel dizzy. Maybe he could see it on my face, because he finally let go. I tried not to gasp for air. Then he slapped me.

My ears rang. "Pl—"

He grabbed me by the throat again. I couldn't stop myself from snatching at his hand this time. It didn't make a difference.

"I like you." James gave me a little shake, then let go again. Instead of a second slap, he ran his fingers through my hair. It might have felt good, if it had been… someone else. He stroked the back of my head for a second, then tightened his grip. "Oh yes," he said, as I hissed in pain. "I like you."

There was a sharp rap on the trunk. James pulled his hand free and reached for the release. Victoria threw something heavy into the back, then slammed it shut.

The passenger door opened and she slid inside. "All good," she said to James, almost simpering. But the look she turned on me was scorching.

She's… jealous? I thought, gently rubbing my neck.

The car started moving again. "Wonderful," James said, turning a fond look on Victoria. "I can trust you with anything."

If she were human, Victoria would be blushing. Her eyelashes fluttered. "I did good?"

"You did so good, sweetie," James cooed. "You're my best girl."

I rolled my eyes. How does she not realize? He's so obviously lying.

His hand gripped my knee. I looked up and met his gaze in the mirror. He tightened his fingers until it hurt and arched an eyebrow. "Something to add?"

"No," I said.

Victoria glared at me. "James loves me."

"Of course, darling," James soothed. "You know how much I love you."

She subsided, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Of course I know. I would never doubt you," she promised fervently.

"Of course," James repeated. He loosened his grip on my knee and began to slide his fingers up the inside of my thigh. I jerked my leg away. In the mirror, he smirked.

I had time to think. Okay, maybe death isn't what I should be worried about. There are things that are worse.

Jumping out of the car was looking like a better option.

But… Renee. Charlie. My friends.

Edward.

I finally let myself think about it.

He's… dead. He must be dead, or they wouldn't have—

Tears pricked at my eyes. My throat ached. Strange how that hurt more than knowing that I was about to die.

It's my fault. He died… for me.

And his family would never know. Neither would mine. They would never get justice. The Volturi don't care about humans.

If I was going to die, I wanted it to matter. I wanted to hurt them. But how?

Thinking about the Volturi reminded me of something Edward (I swallowed the hurt) had said in the same conversation. What was it? If you surprise one of us with fire…?

I didn't have any fire. But there was the gas tank. If I could somehow light it?

I wish I had taken chemistry.

But if I had, I never would have met Edward. And despite everything, I was glad that I had.

Maybe I could make the car crash? Accidents sometimes caused explosions. But I didn't think I could wrestle the steering wheel away from James.

I craned my neck to get a view of the dashboard. The gas tank was about halfway full. They'll have to stop for gas eventually. Maybe I would get an opening then.

Nothing to do but wait.