Thanks for your patience, and the many kind reviews and follows! I'd love to hear how you'd like this story to end--thanks again for being part of the journey. -Redeyewriter
"MIke? What the fuck are you doing here?" I demanded. When it was clear he wasn't forming any words any time soon, I scanned the tight space rapidly for any hidden assailants. Only when I was reassured that it was just me and a trembling Mike Newton alone in the room, I took a moment to take in the details of the room. It was much narrower than the testing lab I woke up in, it couldn't have been more than a 14"x12".
Two office chairs were pushed into a low set desk, they sat before a monitor that took up the entirety of the wall with twenty black and white split squares. A large motherboard and CPU was nestled into the corner of the room, along with a wide filing cabinet, labeled, "CLASSIFIED."
My attention was called back to the massive computer screen displaying various subsections of Volt from different angles.
The screens periodically switched between live streaming of individual testing labs housing half breeds or eradicators, and the hallways, where a guard dressed in white would be "patrolling." I took a second glance at the guard who was indolently pacing in leisurely circles on the sixth floor.
Looks like he hasn't noticed that there was a breech...
Which means Mike hadn't relayed the information yet.
A mug of dark coffee sat precariously on the desktop that housed a multitude of controls, a plethora of buttons, speakers, and a microphone. I noted a red button with a plastic cover on it, but didn't allow my eyes to waver on it for too long, lest Mike know what I was after.
He still sat on the floor on his haunches, his watery blue eyes fixed on me like a fish above water. Based on the puffy bags that hung beneath his wide eyes, he was clearly the owner of said coffee. I raised my eyebrow at him wordlessly, giving him a chance to get up.
When he didn't, I prompted him, feeling pity for Mike, who looked as if he pissed himself.
"Get up, Mike." I sighed. For as long as I'd known him he was always either irrationally short tempered or hiding with his tail behind his legs. I supposed today would be the later.
He began stammering poignantly as he rose on unstable knees.
"L-look Cullen, you don't have to hurt me--this is a huge misunderstanding.. Why don't we just w-work s-something out."
My instinct for suspicion immediately rose at his strangely apologetic tone, expressing not only regret but some sort of vague attempt at atonement.
Why is he so nervous?
What does he think I think he did?
When his eyes began shifting everywhere but my own, that was when I knew. He was hiding something.
This wasn't about what I think he did, no.
This is what he did, in fact, do.
My eyes narrowed at Mike as the truth suddenly became the elephant in the room, suffocating the both of us with its presence.
"It was you." I breathed, finally having registered the wrongdoings that Mike was trying to confess to. He hadn't confirmed, yet the silence was all I needed to know to feel the guilt rolling in waves off of Mike's quavering spine. I continued, making more connections as I spoke aloud.
"You were the one who was spying on Bella in school. You broke into her locker to place the note. You were the snitch." I scoffed, holding my jaw together with a cupped hand as I shook my head ever so slightly in disbelief.
Unbelievable.
Who would've thought he had the balls. He's the perfect spy that no one would begin to suspect.
Cowardly and seemingly incapable Mike.
That part of it would make sense.
But what was his motive?
What would drive Mike Newton to work for Volt?
He continued stuttering, holding his hands up in surrender. He looked terrified, as if he were a fox with its tail caught in a snare.
"Look, you don't understand-"
"Oh I don't fucking understand?" I seethed. "You endangered Bella! On multiple occasions!" I advanced towards him and he stepped back with his hands pathetically up by his chest. Mike bent over backwards, as far as the desk behind him would permit, and squeezed his eyes shut as I raised my hand in the air.
Instead of striking him, I swiped the full mug of stale coffee that sat on his dashboard with the back of my hand. It shattered in smithereens against the corner of the monitor. The dark liquid seeped into the control system with no vessel to hold it.
Multiple error messages began popping up on his computer screen and Mike groaned, whirling around to attempt to blot it with the edge of his white sleeve. He mumbled something about his not getting a promotion now.
No shit, Sherlock!
Mike turned around slowly and glared at me. His bottom eye lid was twitching and he looked on the verge of a mental breakdown. He stared at me accusingly as if I were the sole culprit to causing an avalanche, or an apocalypse.
That was when I realized sheepishly that I must've uttered the sarcasm out loud. I cracked a smirk at my own misdoing, and as if that was the last straw, he blew up, like a volcano that had waited a millennia to erupt. He let Pompeii rain on me, spitting his words at me like fire spewing from its crater.
Oh boy. Here it comes.
"I've slaved at this job and watched 1906 since my freshman year. That's over two years, Cullen! I loved her long before she started calling herself 'Bella'!" He professed angrily, he twitched his fingers into air quotes as he rambled at full speed. I didn't like the way he did that, invalidated Bella's name.
Even if it was a name she chose name for herself, it was still her rightly her name.
"Is that so? If you loved her so much, why did you assist in plotting with Volt to trap Bella?" I asked evenly.
I will not give in.
I'm better than that, better than him.
Mike looked furious at my questioning him. He knew his actions contradicted his previous declaration. His small face turned a reddish color that reminded me of an overripe cherry tomato in its color and sheen.
"That's none of your fucking business, Cullen."
The anger must've given him a infrequent boost of adrenaline, enough to emit a rare surge of bravery into his system. He pushed a finger into my chest with force, jabbing it in emphasis with his words.
I raised an eyebrow at the exertion that was more annoying to me that anything. In all my years in elementary, middle, and high school in Forks--where it was normal to see Mike pout and puff from childish tantrums--I'd never seen him attempt to a lay a finger on anyone, especially me. He seemed always instinctively afraid of me, until now.
I debated breaking the spindly finger on my chest with a single crunch of my fist or taking the higher road, like I'd promised myself earlier. He ignored my inquisition and continued chattering, not allowing me any time before I could decide.
"I finally had my chance, too, before you stepped in and ruined everything. You, Emmett and Jasper take everything like you already own it, you entitled bastards."
My patience for Mike's dramatics was finally waning. I was no longer entertained, nor was I feeling generous enough to give him any more benefit of the doubt.
Not when my Bella is involved.
I remembered the "chance" Mike was likely referring to, the fated day that Bella sank to the floor in front of the biology building. Mike was rough and obnoxious with her, unsure of how to help Bella, who was collapsing in slow motion to the concrete.
Even when she was green-faced from nausea, with a sheen of sweat across her brow, she was more faultless than anyone I'd ever seen in my life. She looked like a fallen princess.
It was the very first time Bella and I had touched.
The only reason I was picking her frail body up off of the ground, aside from Mike's denseness, was because Bella would rather faint there than be touched by Mike.
"Your chance?" I seethed. I swatted away the finger that was still pushing incessantly into my sternum with my forearm, and in the same movement grabbed the collars of his white shirt, slamming him hard into the monitors behind him. He yelped as his blonde head bounced off of the screen like a bobble head. I let my voice drop to a hiss beside his ear.
"Listen up, fuck face. Bella is not a thing and she's certainly not a fucking object!" I jeered. "She makes her own choices just as much as you and I do. I didn't take anything, anyone for that matter." I corrected sternly, now stabbing my finger into his bony chest. "Bella made a choice. And you know just as well as I do that even if she had been given a choice, she still would've chosen me."
Mike's eyes widened as if he couldn't comprehend the truth that had been spoken. I couldn't tell if he was terrified or hysteric; he looked as if he were about to cry. I continued mercilessly,
"In any other life, shape, or form, I would've been the one to win Bella." I growled, feeling suddenly possessive over the nature of our relationship.
I realized only after saying it aloud that I'd probably gone a little too far to come back. Mike's chin trembled. But I didn't care abut how smug I sounded, I was blinded by rage.
Even in his state of shock, Mike surprisingly found a retort to throw back at me.
"If you hadn't gotten in the way that godforsaken day at biology, you never would've seen her again!" His spiteful words shocked me like cold water did, my facial expressions faltered as I processed his veracious intent. Mike took notice and chuckled darkly, continuing sadistically.
"That's right, Cullen, I would've contained her. If you hadn't arrived in time." I froze, my hands around his collars loosened only slightly, as I suddenly realized I might have underestimated Mike.
That's what he was trying to do that day? Assassinate Bella?
Wasn't he earnestly trying to help her, woo her like I was doing?
Had I completely misunderstood what I'd seen that day?
Mike would've...
As if Mike had somehow read my mind and my deepest fears, he confirmed in a suddenly quiet, dark voice.
"If I can't have her, no one will." Mike said with a sudden murderous glint to his eyes and I realized at once that I had severely underestimated Mike.
It took me only milliseconds to realize not only how fallaciously twisted Mike was, but how Volt had succeeded, all these years.
Jesus Christ.
It's not just Aro.
Everyone here is mad.
They're all mad for power. They're all capable of being murderers, tyrants. They'll go through any lengths, do whatever it takes to maintain the secrecy and the quiet monopoly that Volt possessed over every human, creature, otherwise.
Mike says he loves Bella. Yet, for years he'd witnessed the abuse she suffered and turned a blind eye anyway, in hopes of being the one to be close to her in the end?
I shook my head to myself, still in utter disbelief, unreservedly awe-struck.
I may not understand much, but I know one thing for certain.
That's not love.
I saw rage, any sliver of mercy and kindness abandoned my body, as a carnal rampage brewed within me. I'd only felt this instinctive way twice before, once when Bella lay poisoned in the alley, and again, when Bella was in danger of being hurt by the Volturi. Every cell in me wanted to protect Bella, by any means necessary.
If Aro spoke any truth at all in his riddles, it was one thing.
I was bred to protect Bellawith everything I had.
"Contained? Contained?!" I roared. "You didn't love her. Someone who loved her wouldn't let her rot in a steel fucking cage!" I was louder than I'd ever been, fury took over like a new identity.
"You don't deserve to love her!" Mike scoffed at me and rolled his eyes. He acted shamelessly, as if I was the one who was incompetent and as if I didn't have my fists against his neck and wasn't half a head taller than him.
I was baffled by the nerve of this prick.
Clearly the bravery adrenaline rush hasn't worn off of him quite yet.
"Easy for you to say. You're a fucking eradicator."
The revulsion in his voice was clear as he uttered 'eradicator', he made it sound like I was diseased.
My face again, reflected surprise I couldn't contain and curiosity flooded my insides like a tidal wave.
How did he know about me?
He'd only been working for two years, long after I was gone.
"I could smell you from a mile away, even on my first week on the job." He said accusingly, his narrowed eyes held a piercing amount of hate. "I know how you all are. You're all so entitled, thinking you're special. Eradicators get everything they've wanted since creation. All the benefits of being a half breed without the label of being a monster. Tell me how it feels, for the tables to be turned. For things to not go your way for once?" He spit the words out spitefully. I snarled at his sheer ignorance and the audacity he had to spit it in my face.
You don't know me, Mike.
You don't know me, or Bella.
Do not underestimate us.
"The tables haven't turned just yet. I would put my foot in my fucking mouth if I were you." I growled brusquely.
I roughly released my hold on Mike, and pushed him aside with the newfound rage and surplus of strength within me. He flew, airborne for a moment until he landed hard into the file cabinets lined along the wall. I heard a pathetic yelp being let out and watched his eyes roll up and close before he hung his head limp as a rag doll.
I used the opportunity of his unconsciousness to my advantage while I could. I didn't hesitate to open the cabinet above him labeled classified, opening it to find thousands of manilla folders all in numerical order.
Geezus... Volt did more "experimenting" than I'd imagined in any of my previous notions.
I was pilfering through the categorically sorted then numerically organized files, flicking through impatiently until I found exactly what I was looking for. Two manilla files with two familiar serial codes labeled on the tabs in a type writer font.
1906-Half Breed
1816-Eradicator
I grasped the files in my hand and tucked them into the inside of my shirt before stealing a quick glance at Mike. His head was still bowed with his chin against his chest, but he was stirring awake. I had to move with urgency.
I used the momentum in time to take long strides to the desktop and struck my fist down on the covered red button. The plastic broke beneath my flesh and the button was depressed.
There's no turning back now.
A siren sounded from overhead and the emergency alarms began flashing a bright white light.
"Manual system override. Manual system override," a monotone mechanical voice repeated a pre-recorded mantra that I easily ignored. I glanced up at the multiple monitors instead, that displayed the mass security camera footage.
The monitors reflected instant pandemonium, a complete uproar of half breeds began as all of the bulkhead doors on each test lab opened. Every single halfbreed took the first chance they could take to flee their steels cages.
I could hardly see the figures of the halfbreeds on the screens, they moved so quickly that the only evidence that they were ever there were the metal doors that swung on their hinges or were completely broken down, falling into the hallway like dominos.
At once, the elevators and stairwells were flooded with a blur of a mass of half breeds pouring down from every floor as if they were a living waterfall. I glanced at the other two floors where the eradicators were kept; they too, had escaped their test labs.
Mike suddenly appeared beside me, fully conscious. Once he realized what was happening, he began wailing, his hands were on either side of his head. He was a spitting likeness to Edvard Munch's The Scream.
"No!! What have you done?! They're all escaping!"
Mike tried to undo my actions, his fingers flew over the keyboard but it was evident that it was too late, the damage had been done. Chaos had ensued and there was no turning back. Though Mike had managed to lock the doors once more, from what I could see, it was a useless action. Everyone has already escaped.
Good.
The security staff and the white uniformed staff attempted to use the emergency tranquilizers they had on them to stop them as they swarmed towards the stairs or elevators, but the half breeds were too fast. They were taking the weapons from them before they even realized they were gone. Any guard that tried to stop them by physical means were cornered or flayed alive.
Go, team half breeds.
I felt an immense sense of pride bubble up within me from living their vicarious rebellion. The half breeds finally wreaked havoc back at the institution that had ruined their lives. With no one to chase them, and nothing to trap them, there was little stopping them now.
Mike was having a full blown melt down at this point, and answered his phone yelling with one hand, as his other hand spastically tried to control the motherboard.
My instincts detected motion near my body and I whirled around, immediately on guard. I was stunned when I was face to face with the barrel of a large riffle, pointed directly at me.
Shit... the security guard from earlier must've woken up from his nap.
I gulped. Amun was suddenly very awake and looming behind me, a full head taller than me. He was still armed, with a massive rifle cocked and at attention in his arms. It was pointed directly at my forehead. I flinched and closed my eyes as his finger twitched to pull the trigger. Time seemed to slow down as I questioned if this was it.
Is this the end?
As if to brace myself for the moment, I pictured Bella's face in my mind, her lips curved in a soft smile, amber eyes gentle and full of warmth as she gazed at me.
My angel, I love you.
The rampage within me quivered, as if it reminded me gently of its presence. It quaked harder now, hardly able to resist its own strength and I realized my body was countering this attack.
I didn't have to die.
Either you change now or Volt wins.
What's stopping you?
I tapped into the surge of strength, accepting the torrents of energy before I released it in its entirety. When I did, it felt as if I was dropped in an ice bath. Every cell in me felt awakened; the world around me moved exponentially slower and strangely, brighter.
My entire life I'd lived with clouded lenses on that were removed at once, and my vision was suddenly, almost painfully, high definition. I could count each dust particle in the air, witness the collision of the ions blasting in the fluorescent tubes above to emitted light, smell Mike's split coffee and even the oils in his greasy hair under his cap.
The echo of Amun's finger as it pulled the trigger on his gun reverberated painstakingly slowly.
I was reacting at speeds that were unfathomable to me before. I was powerful, in nearly the same way Bella was. As if I was using a vast extension of my brain that was undiscovered, I suddenly had the potential, capacity and awareness for so much more.
I watched eagerly as Amun's gun reacted, exploding in slow motion. It felt surreal to watch the kickback of the gun, causing Amun to stagger back at the same time that I dodged the inching bullet with a single step. I now understood the grace that Bella exuded without effort, how slow time must've been for her to live at a human pace when she was changed.
That's a thought for later.
I passively observed the bullet hit one of the levers on the control board, the sparks that glittered off of the metal when it ricocheted. The angle of the bullet changed and now sailed towards Mike. The bullet went through Mike's hand before coming out the other side and I heard a howl from Mike. He began cursing in slow motion as blood spattered out.
I turned my attention back to the rifle that was still on me.
I grabbed the neck of the gun and jerked it from Amun so quickly he likely didn't see me at all. His eyes slid closed leisurely in what must've been a normal paced blink. By the time his eyes had reopened and widened as the gun had disappeared from his hands, the barrel was pointed at him and my finger was hovering over the trigger. This was all before Mike began to really feel the pain, he was slowly stamping his foot on the ground obtusely as he cradled his bleeding hand tenderly with a shirt sleeve.
I squeezed my eyes closed as I willed the quake within me to quell itself. The waves calmed down and time reversed to its normal speed again.
When I opened my eyes, everything was back to normal, as it was once more. Mike was shrieking a piecing note, incomprehensibly screaming about his missing fingers. Two of them lay on the ground, an untimely obstacle in the unforgiving bullets way.
I ignored him as I would ignore a mosquito on a beautiful summer day, without so much as a swat, keeping my eyes locked on Amun and Mike. This was a small, (granted annoying,) obstacle in our plan. Amun still had his hands up, eyes wide with fear.
I wouldn't shoot anyone of course, but they didn't need to know that.
"Lay face down, hands on the ground where I can see them." I said, keeping my face cold and voice even. Both Amun and Mike were quick to lay on the ground. I wasn't surprised to see Mike was now laying on the ground, trembling with a wet stain on his white pants. It took all I had not to roll my eyes, and I mentally tsked at the state of him.
Where's your heroism now, Mike?
"Stay on the ground." I demanded, and cocked the rifle for emphasis. Both of them, impossibly pressed themselves flatter against the ground.
I was convinced they were paralyzed with fear. Only then did I divert my energy on searching for Bella through the monitors, rolling the trackball mouse ceaselessly.
Bella... Bella... where are you?
My eyes rapidly scanned each monitor while using the trackball mouse. My heart began racing wildly when I located her on the screen, exiting an elevator on the top floor. Even pixelated and in monochrome she was still strikingly graceful as she took long strides down the hallway five floors below me.
She moved swiftly through the hallways on the top floor, ducking into shadows when a guard would run past. It was incredible, she seemed to disappear, melt into the dark corners of any corridor. Amazement filled my every cell as I watched her navigate the labyrinth that was her natural habitat.
She's incredible when she's determined.
Bella ducked into a stairwell and ran up the stairs, taking long strides three steps at a time. I blinked and nearly missed her exit point, three floors above, within milliseconds.
Her lithe figure slid out of the stairwell door, she cocked her head as if she sensed a presence and began hugging the wall as if she were a tapestry. A guard passed her in the hallway as if she were unseen, as if she were a specter. I had to keep my jaw from dropping at her hidden talent.
Bella tiptoed her way into the elevator as the doors closed, cloaking her once again, in darkness.
Every part of her reflected a well trained weapon. Moving on instinct, swiftly and sleekly like a machine, unlike any animal I'd ever seen. I was filled again with a sense of wonder and awe at this incredible creature that was uniquely Bella. I wished earnestly that we'd make it out of here, but the thought made me too nervous, and I shook myself of it. I needed to stay focused.
Bella exited the elevator to the right, and stooped down to fit into a smaller door I'd hardly noticed, labeled "employees only." It was much smaller than the conventional metal doors here and I couldn't help but wonder what the space was hiding.
I struggled to zoom to see the interior of the space once Bella stepped in. The image took a moment to clarify from a cluster of pixels to the moving picture, as the picture loaded, I turned around to check on Amun and Mike. Both were still obediently laying on the ground.
Good. I thought smugly.
I turned my attention back to the screen. The picture finally caught up to my zoom, and Bella stood with a daunting stance in a hallway-like room, narrow with thick copper pipes lining the walls, connected to massive gas tank vats.
Bella shuddered once, dropping her head down to her chest. Once she arose, her eyes were distinctive coals in her face, adorned by harsh shadows beneath her eyes. Bella's chest rose as she drew in a long, single breath, then pinched her nose close as she held it. My palms began to sweat, knowing if Bella couldn't hold the other side for long enough, she'd be breathing in gas.
I didn't need Carlisle's advice to tell me that could lead to lifelong complications.
Bella knelt down to the first vat and began turning the knob on the valve counter clockwise, releasing the gas into the open. With each valve that she unscrewed, I clenched my jaw involuntarily at her actions, sucking air through my teeth as I did when I saw Jasper and Emmett do anything risky.
Oh god, Bella. Please be careful.
After a minute, Bella had double checked her work on all six valves, ensuring no knob was left unturned, all while holding her breath. She nodded to herself, tipping her jaw delicately as if she were satisfied with her work. Bella exited the room, leaving the door ajar in her haste, and I scampered with the trackball mouse that was surprisingly difficult to maneuver along with her fast pace.
She visually teleported from the stairwell to the floor right beneath mine and circled the hallway fearlessly until she reached an unlabeled room.
This door was the same airlock door that had been unlocked by my red button, yet, when she stepped inside the inside looked vastly different; it looked like it belonged to another world. Even Bella drank in the strange interior decoration with curious eyes, I took it she had never been here before, either.
Suddenly the curiosity in her eyes morphed into the expression I'd seen the most on Bella's visage. It was undeniable fear.
Everything was strangely medieval in decor, and grandiose to the extent of wastefulness. A useless yet superlative dining set was decorated at the end of the deceptively large room, complete with gilded silverware and linens. Archaic tapestries hung from the walls, animals that I was certain were extinct for centuries were displayed as taxidermy decor. It gave an eerie feeling to the room, as if eyes were watching from everywhere. I even saw a tiger skin for a rug. A knight's armor suit relic guarded the room with an oversized double headed battle axe.
I realized Bella scoped out the space and had moved on to the next room. I scrolled furiously to see where she was.
My fists clenched when I found her, staring horrified at the wall before her. Her face was cast acid green by the large aquarium that took up the entirety of the wall.
She appeared as if her breath were taken away, I could've sworn I saw her trembling.
God, Bella. If I could hold you now, I would.
I realized I'd been so taken with worry with Bella that I'd failed to see the centerpiece of the space that petrified my Bella.
Within the ostentatious, archaic decor, was a macabre modern collection nestled within it.
Nestled between polished cherry wood bookshelves was a grotesque floor to ceiling collection, a large tank, filled with glowing green tinted liquid. I recognized it from Carlisle's medical manuals as formaldehyde.
The large was subdivided by the size of content, tubes of all sizes displayed the various dismembered body parts individually within the large tank.
I was caught in a paradox between awe and disgust and precariously zoomed in on one of the tank. It appeared to be a child's foot that was severed, greyed bone stuck out of it, a metal identification tag was still looped around the ankle. I nearly gagged and zoomed out immediately.
The left side of the tank had the smaller dismembered parts, they were meticulously organized by size. It began with eyeballs, then hands, feet, full heads, and torsos.
Finally, on the end, were three larges tubes at the end of the tank had fully formed bodies in there. I double took at the lifeless bodies that floated there, only to realize these creatures weren't human.
Of one of the three tubes was a hybrid between a fish and a man, he had mossy scales covering his body, and gills over his neck. His face lacked a nose, yet his half mast eyes were clouded, but clearly human.
The creature floating beside him was mammalian, it looked like it had a soft, velvet fur covering its massive body. He made Emmett look dainty, it must've been at least seven feet tall, but with wide, pointed wings. His head was smooth, earless, it's nose was flattened against its face, like a bat.
This must've been the vampire. I realized.
It finally hit me, the only person who would've collected the bodies of past experiments for their viewing pleasure.
We were standing in Aro's room.
My eyes glanced from the fish man, the vampire, to the last creature that floated beside them. It's massive form could only be described as some sort of a Minotaur. It was a grown man's naked body, with a massive head of a bull attached, complete with horns. His blank black eyes were, too, that of a human's.
I thought this was stuff out of mythology.
Even through the video, watching the huge preserved bodies float lifelessly was eerie to say the least, I couldn't tear my eyes away from it, so I forced the video to turn away.
The camera swiveled to the wall opposite of the tank. When it reflected a king sized bed, adorned with iron embellishments, I realized with disgust that Aro either positioned the bed intentionally before the tank, or the monsters before his bed.
I shuddered at the thought of Aro sleeping in front of the lifeless creatures, waking up to bloated bodies and blank eyes each day.
Disgusting.
He got what he deserved. I thought with spite.
In my peripheral vision, Bella finally shivered, breaking out her trance before the cryptic tank, and walked with a determination out back to the entry room.
I followed her as she twisted the double headed battle axe from the knight suit's fingers, struggling with the decoration until she finally broke it out of its hands.
Taking strong strides with the double headed axe tightly gripped in both hands, her hellbent eyes never left the center of the huge tank. She focused as if there was a flashing red target that I couldn't see.
I'd seen Bella angry, but she looked ready to kill now.
She glowered with a tangible hatred in her blackened eyes as she tightened her grip on the wooden handle of the antique axe. She braced the weapon behind her shoulder for a moment before she released, throwing all of her body weight forward, into the axe as it hit the tank.
I raised my eyebrows, genuinely impressed.
She would be great at baseball.
Coach would've killed to have her bat instead of Mike fucking Newton.
The head of the axe merely etched the glass, but not to the extent of cracking. Bella withdrew the blade, and swung again with a grunt, hitting the exact same spot. I watched anxiously and swore to myself silently that if we made it out, I'd teach Bella baseball after this because there was no way I could let this talent go to waste.
On the third swing, the noxious liquids burst out of the case, Bella quickly stepped out of the way of the draining tank, but didn't stop swinging.
She carried on relentlessly, continued to break each jar unilaterally until the glass case was destroyed, and the effervescent liquid was spewing out.
She didn't stop until the entire room was flooded, leaving Bella knee-deep in formaldehyde as the tank emptied itself irreversibly into Aro's room. Bella held the edge of her sweater sleeve to her nose as she dropped the forgotten axe and bolted out of the noxious room.
I found Bella 4 floors below where she accessed a storage closet. It was filled with multiple waist-high blue barrels.
Figures. The whole building is so sterile they probably have barrels of alcohol on every floor.
Bella kicked over the barrels, letting the clear liquid run freely across the floors, spilling into the hallway. I watched anxiously as she went down a floor and repeated her actions.
There's twenty floors here. No way Bella is going to try to flood each room...
What if the formaldehyde finds something else to explode on, before she sets it off?
As I trailed off into the black hole of my anxiety, I felt a quiet presence loom from behind. I turned and narrowly missed a swing from Amun, he caught me in my oblivion and swung for my head. I narrowly missed his lunge, but my shoulder took the impact instead.
I jarred from the reverberations of the contact and winded, but immediately made use of my other arm to swing back at him, hitting him effectively in the side. When he recoiled, I brought him down by the neck and pushed my knee into his face. He grunted and grasped my foot, making me topple my balance.
"Fuck!" I grunted as the combined instability of his body weight and mine dragged me down to the ground. Simultaneously, my alarm sounded on my watch, indicating I only had three minutes left before the building was going to be ignited. I ignored it quickly when Amun's thick hands wrapped around my neck and began tightening. I immediately felt the effect of being cut from oxygen, within the first few seconds.
I'm fucked.
From the corner of my eye, a massive figure barreled into the room, prying Amun off of me.
"Get off of Eddie, only we can fuck with him!" A familiar voice growled and Amun's hold on my neck suddenly weakened. I'd never been so grateful to hear such a sadistic sentence.
Emmett.
Emmett growled as he pulled Amun's arms behind his back. Jasper's lithe figure was suddenly beside me, pulling me up off of the ground before turning to Amun and I allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief.
Thank god.
"I've never been so glad to see you guys," I groaned in relief. Jasper took Amun from Emmett as if he were a toy, he pulled the crook of his strong forearm arm around Amun's thick neck, securing him into a tight chokehold.
Amun struggled relentlessly against Jasper, tapping his hand against Jasper furiously to indicate his surrender; not that his oxygen deprived, beet-colored face denied that. Jasper's face was even, he looked as nonchalant as ever, not a single blonde curl on his head moved despite the seven foot tall man in his arms that struggled against him. He didn't budge, and stood as still and graceful as a marble statue.
I still can't believe they're-
Amun lost consciousness and was dropped to the floor. I was still catching my breath, as Emmett clapped a burly hand onto my shoulder.
"You alright, Ed?" I nodded twice, still gasping for breath.
"Yeah. I think so." I could hardly believe they came for me, with less than 3 minutes to spare to exit the building.
"Come on, then, we have to get out of here."
My heart was beating loudly in my ear as I nodded my understanding. I looked down at my watch with intense worry as Jasper pulled my arm out of the room. I glanced at the multiple monitors anxious to locate Bella one last time. My heart rate was immeasurable in my chest when I couldn't find her.
You have two minutes, please hurry Bella. I sent a silent prayer to her.
"Come on!" Jasper shouted to me, he jerked my arm towards the door and my eyes were ripped away from the screens. I realigned my focused on the door, escape.
Jasper and Emmett seemed to do the same, and broke out into a sprint in the rounded hallway. I took off running towards the elevator but Emmett stopped me, snatching the back of my shirt as if I were a child roughhousing. It jerked me back immediately.
"No way in hell Edward, we didn't rescue you So you could die in an elevator. Grab onto me now, close your eyes."
When I hesitated, Emmett looked furious and snapped uncharacteristically,
"Hurry!"
I jumped onto Emmett's back; there was no time to joke about it now. As soon as I interlocked my arms and feet around Emmett's torso, his body reacted instinctively.
His abdomen trembled under my chest as he snarled. As soon as the change took over him, he released himself like a spring, leaping down a flight of stairs as if he merely jumping off out of his truck. Everything around us was chaotic as a white light strobed to the sound of the high pitched alarm that screeched and echoed ceaselessly within the steel building.
The winding stairwell with the strobing emergency lights ranged from a blinding, colorless white to pitch black with no transition. The visual blindness made me clutch onto Emmett tighter, hoping he could see in the darkness.
In the half second the emergency light illuminated the flat, Jasper had followed suit, and landed abruptly beside us. I startled to see his eyes were bottomless black holes, and he too, was well equipped for speed.
At the speed Emmett and Jasper flew down the spiral staircase that wound around the building, it took only a matter of seconds for the numbered placards on the floors decrease from twenty to three.
I foolishly didn't take Emmett's advice and left my wide eyes open, only to have them dried out and stinging. We hit floor two and my head was spinning as if I were concussed in the black and white stairwell. I'd never experienced such speed in my life.
Except when I changed, of course.
"Almost there--" Jasper gritted out through his teeth, calling me back into the present. His voice echoed twice in the stairwell, a ghostly call that answered itself.
"What the fuck!" Emmett's low voice sounded garbled from his enlarged teeth but his curse was warranted. It was pitch black, and I waited for the emergency light to come on again, for me to see what Emmett was referring to.
Only when it did, the steel stairwell was full of people.
What in the actual fuck.
A sea of half breeds were on the bottom floor of the stairwell, still leaving the premises. There was at least twenty of them in the tight stairwell all trying to fight their way out, blocking the exit.
The moment Jasper and Emmett's feet landed on the steel floor, all of them twisted their necks to stare at us.
I gulped as the room went dark again. I was sweating in the darkness, and I realized another complication on top of the blocked exit.
Fuck. They can smell me.
When the exposed light angrily glared at us again, half of the half reeds were lunging towards me, their onyx eyes all lasered on me. I cowered behind Emmett's huge body, knowing his body was the only barricade I had. One leapt onto Emmett's shoulders and began clawing at me.
Before I could even react, had pushed them off, lightning quick to push them off. Another one came out of nowhere, grasping onto my exposed ankle. I kicked it off of my leg, wincing when I felt razor sharp teeth go through it. It burned and felt another searing bite go through my shoulder.
I'm going to be eaten alive.
I barely heard the warning before I was airborne.
"Hold tight!" I don't remember who shouted it, but suddenly I was flying over the half breeds and thrown through the ajar door. I rolled three times before I slid to a stop on polished marble floors.
The world was spinning at me now, as if it were laughing at my impairment. I rolled my head to the side, in my vision the floor was slanted, and the army of half breeds had broken the door hinge off in their desperation to fight to get to me.
Jasper and Emmett dove in front of me, and were fighting the remaining half breeds tirelessly before they could get to me.
I closed my eyes in a blink. The sirens were still ringing ceaselessly, reminding me of every second that was fleeting past.
Please Bella, please be okay. I rolled my head and looked down at my watch. One minute. We only had one minute left. I found myself subconsciously counting down as I struggled on shaking knees to stand.
Sixty seconds. Fifty nine. Fifty eight...
I used the deserted reception counter beside me to aid my balance as I stood, waiting to feel sweet equilibrium.
It smells like some kind of gas...
I heard an earth-shattering crash and turned to see that many of the half breeds had crashed through the glass doors of the entrance at full speed, not bothering to wait for the revolving doors or the automatic sliding doors. There was a gaping hole where the double glass doors used to be, shards of glass still framing its bones.
Icy wind and cold bodies brushed past me, both from the door and the half breeds that rushed past me. I heard them speaking, it was nearly too fast to comprehend—it sounded like fragments of a voice that carried whispers through the wind.
Do you smell that? Noxious. This place is going to blow.
Leave the human. He's not worth it.
Did you hear, Aro and Demetri are dead.
If we run towards the mountains they won't find us.
We need to move now.
It was dizzying listening to the ghostly conversations that whistled past me and disappeared as randomly as they came. I nearly questioned if it were a figment of my unnerved imagination. I turned over my shoulder towards the elevators, the stairwell hoping for Bella to materialize.
Thirty nine, thirty eight, thirty seven...
Bella, where are you?
"Come on, Edward!" Jasper shouted at me over the whistling wind, jerking me from my mental prayer. He pulled hard at my uninjured elbow, urging me towards the open space where the shattered glass door used to be. I whipped my arm back from him and I shook my head with fervor.
"I can't leave without Bella!" I shouted furiously, pointing to the elevators for emphasis. Jasper tugged at my arm again anyway.
"She's fine. I'm sure she is, come on Edward, move it!" He pleaded to me as persuasive as I'd ever seen him. I held my jaw set, firm on my decision. Jasper huffed and began to drag me, towing me across the floor against my own will with an insurmountable strength. I could feel Jasper's characteristic calming effect trying to take place in my mind, it was like a fog rolled in, commanding my thoughts and stubborn will to step aside.
"No!" I insisted. I resisted his pull with all I had, both physically and mentally, as hard as I could and even used both hands to try to pry myself away from Jasper, in the opposite direction of the exit. I didn't care that it smelled distinctly like gas. The only thing on my mind was Bella. I could see her face in my mind, feel her icy hand touching mine.
I don't care if I don't make it.
I'm not leaving until I know Bella is safe.
Emmett's large figure materialized out of nowhere, pouncing at me from behind and shoving me with inhuman strength in the direction of the exit, so hard my feet that left the ground and I was airborne for the second time in two minutes. Jasper and Emmett took off alongside me, hurtling towards the only option of escape.
The three of us escaped through the shards of glass that formed a threshold, a delicate château around the steel prison. While we were still airborne, the alarm on my watch went off, beeping a double chirp incessantly. Suddenly, except for the ringing of my watch, the world became silent, the second of calm washed over the land before the storm encapsulated us in its glory.
Immediately after the silence, the loudest explosion, the loudest sound I'd ever heard in my life sounded and I felt the sharp gust of burning hot air from behind me. Along with it, terror and denial seized my body.
My watch kept ringing, uselessly.
The building is exploding.
It was too late.
I was too late.
My heart sank in my chest, I felt as if I couldn't breathe, like I was choking—no—it was as if there was no oxygen left to breathe in the world. My life was over. There was nothing without in it, not without Bella. I should've never left Bella's side. I could've done something, should've...
My thoughts became incoherent, jumbled with shards of words and memories.
Bella... my angel... I'm so, so sorry.
Just as her visage appeared in my mind, was when ice cold arms wrapped around me from behind, protecting my body from the intense heat of the building.
When I caught the glimpse in my peripheral vision of an unmistakable tendril of dark, shining hair, I was whole again again. It was her. Her hold on me tightened, as if to reassure me of that.
I breathed a sigh of relief even though I was being catapulted out of a building—I knew we'd be safe.
Bella covered the entire backside of my body with hers just as the building blasted behind us again, propelling us farther into the distance with its power. The blast sent shards of glass and debris flying everywhere and she tackled me to the ground with a harsh urgency. I held out my arms to soften the fall.
The moment we touched the ground, she covered my face, wrapping my head in the shield of her arms as I felt hot air sweep over us in an intense gust of heat. I held my breath as I waited for the worst to pass. Two more explosions sounded, combusting within the building somewhere. Even with the barrier of Bella's cold body, I could feel the immense wave of heat and more pieces of metal being sent over us and the wind that blew my hair and hers in a gale.
I squeezed my eyes closed, my ears began ringing a high pitched frequency, and I instantly felt blind and deaf. I waited anxiously for something, anything and kept as still as I possibly could.
I became hyper aware of sensation as I felt Bella move against me —it was only an inch but it brought me back to awareness and I tried to strain my ears to hear over the siren in my ears.
She must've sensed it was safe, and I could feel through her movement that she had slowly lifted her head.
I finally peered through my lashes to see Bella's on mine, before I opened them. Bella gazed at me tenderly, her amber eyes looked like they could swallow me whole. She placed a feather light palm against my cheek, and gently swiped a thumb over the dust and debris that caked the small portion of my jaw that was left uncovered.
I sat up on my elbows, shocked to see the entire building behind her was ablaze. The sky glowed an eerie orange, and cast a otherworldly red glow to our surroundings. Even the bare tree trunks around us was dyed red.
The fire in the night sky illuminated her hair, casting a remarkable scarlet glow to her black mane. It made her look as if she was outlined by fire herself. She reminded me of a goddess, from ancient legend... perhaps Pele, the goddess of fire . It was as if she had reincarnated herself perfectly into the shape of Bella. I saw faultlessly shaped lips form the semblance of the words to me,
"Are you okay?"
I couldn't hear her familiar voice over the ringing in my ears that didn't seem to cease. I managed to nod, still in awe of her incredulous timing, and that we made it out of Volt alive.
I can't believe you're okay. I said, although I couldn't hear my own voice. The small smile that crept onto her face affirmed to me she heard it. She mouthed something I couldn't read.
What? I shouted at her. She stooped down to speak directly into my ear, I heard a faint,
"Mission accomplished." She pulled back with a lopsided smile.
It was my turn to bring a hand to her face now. I wiped a streak of debris off of her cheek and she held my hand to her face. She interlaced her slender fingers with mine.
"We did it." I managed weakly, my hearing came back just enough to hear a watery echo of my own voice.
"Are you okay?" I finally heard a faint replication of her cantabile repeat, always worried for my well being over her own. I nodded, still gaping in disbelief that we both survived.
"Jasper, Emmett?" I asked, just remembering that they had been in the building with me due to my own stubbornness. I rolled up onto my elbows, surveying the scene around us.
Did they make it out safely, too?
Everything was burning, it didn't help that the forest was dry and dead to begin with, now all of the fallen leaves and trunks served as tinder, igniting the flames.
There were a few scattered bodies near us, none of them appeared to be half breeds in the way they were burned, beyond recognition. It suddenly hit me that Emmett and Jasper were not beside us. My mouth was suddenly cotton dry.
Did my stubbornness cause my friends to perish in the fire?
I was scrutinizing the size of the bodies, trying to tell myself none of them looked like my friends when I heard a rumble from behind me.
I heard a low groan over the faint frequency in my ears and saw Emmett roll over onto his back, only a few meters away from us. He threw an arm dramatically over his face, but aside from a few cuts and scrapes, he appeared to be fine.
Jasper popped up beside him, animatedly. He tenderly touched a spot on his curly hair and grimaced when he drew back a bloody hand. He caught me staring and grinned with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head, signifying to me that it was nothing.
I was relieved. Stunned. Shocked. Still trembling from the adrenaline that rushed through my veins.
I was definitely still in denial about the new knowledge that my two best friends were vampires.
I mean, how could I not have noticed, after sharing eight years together?
"So, you guys are half-breeds too, huh?" I asked sarcastically to Emmett and Jasper.
"In case you haven't noticed by now, yes." Jasper rolled his eyes.
"Do you think anyone normal would've befriended you? Someone had to do it." Emmett jested, and we all laughed through dry throats. The action was probably more out of pent up relief than it was anything else. The crackling of the flames behind us sounded loudly, and our moods returned somber.
"We have to get out of here." Bella said, her amber eyes were wide with fear.
"Rose is just over the clearing, waiting by the border." Emmett piped up and we all stood up. I wavered as my vision spun and Bella steadied me.
"That was a mile away." Jasper said, and all three pairs of eyes were suddenly on me. Emmett grinned at me deviously.
"Close your eyes Humanward." Emmett teasingly raised his eyebrows twice. I knew better than to ask or disobey, sighed indignantly and closed my eyes obediently. I heard the crackling of bones, felt a quick jerk on my arm so light before a gust of cold wind fanned me with a single draft.
When I opened my eyes, I was balanced on Emmett's wide back again, and we were back at the top of the hill, along the fence overlooking the valley. I gasped when I saw that all that remained of Volt was a wilted silver building that was still aflame. It looked pathetic from this distance, like melted tin foil.
The van was in front of us and Jasper and Bella were suddenly beside us, hardly even breathing heavily. I was the only one softly hyperventilating, still incredulous still of the inexplicable events that preceded us. I climbed off of Emmett's back shakily, nodding my thanks at him.
Without warning, Jasper and Emmett both locked eyes at each other in alarm. I noted how their heads were both cocked at the same angle, their movements synchronized, something I'd ask them about later. I tipped my head, asking the question that didn't need to be vocalized.
"We can hear police sirens." Jasper confirmed. It must've been many miles away still, but it was enough to scare the four of us witless.
I turned to Bella and offered her my hand. She placed a pale hand in mine, and walked away from Volt without a look back. I gazed at Bella as she advanced with her head held high. Her hair seemed to sway from a wind that I couldn't feel. The fire that was still ablaze made her hair glint maroon against the night sky, and her amber eyes looked hopeful, for once. I found myself unable to tear my gaze away.
You did it Bella.
You're free.