Chapter 9: The Ally

Mr. Marsala sat across from Bella, a tall figure with a plain face. His thinning brown hair and clean-shaved face gave him an unremarkable look, like a man straight out of the eighties with his puffy brown ski jacket and horn-rimmed glasses. They were both in a seedy dive bar in the Central District, hoping to draw the least amount of attention, yet he wore a jovial expression, hands clasped on the table in front of him, and didn't seem bothered by Bella's inconspicuous outfit of sweatpants and a baseball cap. They had both ordered a beer and a basket of tortilla chips, both untouched as they stared at each other nervously.

"I'm so pleased you decided to meet with me, Bella," he said with a friendly tone. "I apologize that I didn't respond sooner. I, uh, I had some urgent matters to attend to."

Bella waved off his apology. "Right, sure. Thanks for meeting with me so soon after Christmas." She grimaced, unsure how to start, but the news article she had read after his first email bothered her. "I hope this doesn't sound too weird, but I looked you up when you first contacted me and found out about what happened to your son in UW. There was a mention of a woman."

"Ah, yes." Bella waited for him to continue but Mr. Marsala just looked at her expectantly. "Are you alright? You don't look so well."

She hesitated. "No." Christine's head in the duffel bag, Jasper's scarlet eyes gleaming in the dark forest, the mind fuck under the bridge, the manic expression on Jasper's face when he realized he could use her family against her. "Some unusual things have been happening in my life recently."

"Unusual things?" Mr. Marsala released his clasped hands and twiddled his thumbs, his interest piqued.

"Your email—the creatures with the red eyes—vamp—"

"Be quiet!" Mr. Marsala scolded. "Do not speak that word carelessly. You do not want to attract their attention." His eyes swept through the bar to see if others were watching.

"Okay…sure," Bella replied awkwardly. "That thing has been following me."

"You mean to say…."

"He could be watching me right now for all I know." Bella looked around the bar, as she had done when she had first sat down. No ethereal beauty or blond hair.

"Watching? Are you sure?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously, his breathing becoming slightly shallow.

She nodded. "Yes. The creature with the red eyes. He's been watching me."

"A male? What does he look like?"

"Um, well, quite spectacular…" There wasn't a great way to describe Jasper without sounding like she was complimenting him.

Mr. Marsala leaned forward. "How do you know each other? Does he know that you know?" His questions came rapid-fire.

"Well, yes, he knows." What's wrong with this guy? "Sorry, let me go back and—"

"He knows that you know?" Mr. Marsala gawked. "But you're still alive?"

Suddenly, he grabbed her face, lifted her eyelid, and shone a pocket flashlight into her eye. Before she could yelp in surprise, he grabbed the side of her face and pulled her mouth open with his thumbs to examine her teeth.

"You're human!" he gasped, amazed.

Bella shoved him away from her, alarmed by how easily he had intruded on her space, spitting out the taste of his salty fingers in her mouth. She wiped her lips vigorously with a napkin that she pulled from the dispenser on their table. "What the hell? Are you crazy? That's not how you tell if someone's a—"

But Mr. Marsala was undeterred; his demeanor shifted to amazement as he clasped his hands again. "How did you find out he was…one of them? It's difficult to tell if they're one of them just by looking at their eyes. You see all these kids out there in all black wearing contacts. Goths. Satanists. What was it? Was there something else?" He must have seen the terror on her face. "Something you can't say?"

One person a week.

Bella felt a surge of frustration. "Let's slow down. I just want to know how to escape from a vampire."

"Be careful saying that—"

"Please, just tell me. Tell me what I need to do to escape from a vampire—"

"Shut up! I told you not to say that word!" He groaned, exasperated, like a parent dealing with a difficult child. "I warned you to be careful using that word." He scrutinized her appearance, assessing her carefully. "So, you want to escape. You seem to be in an unstable state at the moment though; I'm not sure I should be telling you."

Her eyes widened comically. I'm in an unstable state? Bella thought incredulously.

Mr. Marsala's eyes bored into hers. "The person you refer to could be a human."

"Then why did you email me in the first place?" she asked impatiently.

"Can you prove to me that he's that? Then, I'll tell you how to escape."

"What? No, that's –"

"Show me he's one of them, and I'll be the one to judge," he demanded.

She couldn't think of a way how. Jasper had fooled everyone so far—people were calling him an angel. Bringing Mr. Marsala to him wasn't going to prove anything. Bella shook her head, feeling a sense of unease and disappointment creeping in. He's insane. "Nevermind. Thank you for meeting with me, but you don't seem to be of any help," she said sharply. Gathering her things quickly, she left their table and headed for the exit.

"Wait!" he called from behind her.

She waved without turning to look at him and stepped out into the cold air. Getting into her Corolla, she thumped her head against the headrest.

What a waste of time.

If she were to take Mr. Marsala to Jasper, there was no telling what the ending would be—a bloodbath, maybe. She clutched her chest, feeling a sense of panic take over. She had hoped meeting with Mr. Marsala would be like grasping at a few straws to save herself—that somehow, a weak human like her would finally have a weapon against a vampire. But if she took him to Jasper, even just for a look, he would inevitably become another victim connected to her. As soon as the police—now probably the FBI—saw their email exchanges, it would be the end for her.

She was still caught in his trap.

For a moment on Christmas, she had hoped it would end. Either he would finally release her—for why else would he have sensed the sadness within her when she stood in front of Edward's empty room and then suggest she see and touch Alice's belongings, as if he wished to comfort her—or he would kill her.

She was stuck. My friends and family are all caught in the same trap with me.

Bella tossed and turned in her bed that night, trapped in the grip of a nightmare. Christine's white floating head watched as Bella shoved a screaming Jason Ventas into a black figure with bright red eyes that wrapped itself tightly around the man like a snake until his body shattered like glass and burst into thick smoke. She then found herself in a dark, desolate room, the air thick with a suffocating miasma. She blinked rapidly and saw her desk against the window, moonlight streaming through and illuminating her bedroom. It was still, quiet, though she felt paralyzed in her bed.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the shadows—a woman with fiery red hair that seemed to be aflame when the moonlight struck it. It took Bella a second before she recognized that it was Victoria. Except, her once beautiful face was now twisted into a grotesque mask of agony. Blood streamed from where her eyes should have been, dripping down her porcelain cheek. Her mouth was open emitting low, agonized sounds slipping out and Bella noticed that she had no teeth. She was shuffling forward, facing away from the bed. Bella was unsure if she was still having a nightmare.

"Get away from me," Bella whispered weakly, her voice barely audible over the pounding of her heart. Victoria froze and turned her head quickly to where Bella was laying, her empty eye sockets fixed on Bella with an intensity that made the hairs on her arm stand up. She began to shuffle towards Bella, who couldn't move.

Just as Victoria poised to strike, there was a deafening explosion that rocked the room. Bella's half-lidded eyes snapped open as she jolted upright in bed. The sound of shattering glass echoed through the room as a gust of wind swept in through the broken window.

Frantically, fighting the fits of coughs as she inhaled the dust, Bella searched the room through the haze to figure out what the hell was going on before she caught Victoria's frame, illuminated by streetlights through the gaping hole in her bedroom wall, toppled by another figure—Jasper, his features contorted with rage as he launched himself at Victoria with an animalistic ferocity.

His expression anchored Bella to her spot. All the times he had expressed displeasure towards her paled in comparison to the raw ferocity he displayed now. Jasper didn't spare her a glance as he overpowered Victoria, who was screaming and thrashing on the floor, splintering the wood beneath her hands, and dragged her through the large hole in the bedroom wall. For a moment, Bella was frozen in shock, unable to comprehend the events unfolding before her.

But then reality crashed down upon her with the force of a tidal wave, and she scrambled out of bed, tiptoeing and failing horribly at avoiding the broken glass, to rush to the window to peer out into the darkness below. All she could see was the empty street, bathed in moonlight and bits of drywall and glass.

Jen burst through her bedroom door in her pajamas, frantic. "What was that?" she screamed. She looked at Bella kneeling in front of the hole in the building and the scattered wood, brick, and glass all over the floor. "Did a bomb go off in here?"

Bella could only shake her head, her throat tight, as she watched Jen dial 911. Bella watched Pacific Street residents in the building next to and across from her come out to see what all the commotion was. Slowly, she got up and walked back to her bed, where she sat gingerly, eyes fixed on the gaping hole where her window used to be, until the red and blue lights bathed the street.

"The material was poor quality; the building was going to collapse at some point," she heard the firefighter explain as someone placed a heavy blanket on her shoulders. "Ma'am, do you have someplace else to stay?"

She shook her head. "I'm a student." She searched the crowd for Jen, but couldn't find her. The firefighters suggested she get a hotel for the night and that tomorrow she would need to look for another apartment to live in. They told her she was "lucky" to have had this happen before school started. Jen pestered her for more information as the firefighters and police officers had, but Bella stared blankly ahead, unable to answer. After several hours, the firefighters allowed the tenants to go to the garage and retrieve their vehicles.

Bella drove aimlessly for hours around the city, needing desperately to keep moving to stave off the panic threatening to consume her. She needed to see daylight. She eventually found herself at Seacrest Park, the sound of crashing waves pulling her into the present.

She shuffled along the pier like a zombie, her gaze fixed on the horizon as the first light peaked through the darkness. And as a ship in the distance blared its horn, Bella screamed.

Fear. She thought she had known it before, but now it consumed her every moment. A twisted knot seemed to bounce in her stomach, her heart racing at the slightest provocation, constantly looking over her shoulder. Her instincts commanded her to flee when someone with bright red hair entered the same space as her. She was crumbling.

Bella had gone to Precious Promises and the church multiple times that week in case Jasper had shown up so she could confront him but eventually Gina told her that she'd get a phone call if Jasper visited. She never received a phone call.

The cheapest apartment Bella could find was in Belltown. Jen had kindly refused to step anywhere near her apartment and instead opted to live in a luxury apartment next to campus in Rupa's spare bedroom. "That neighborhood is way too dangerous," she explained. But she had a difficult time meeting Bella's eyes and that was more than enough explanation.

The building didn't have any elevators and nearly every wall had peeling or chipped paint. Her heart sank as she spotted a cockroach scurrying across the hallway floor on the way to her new home. Inside was a cramped, one-bedroom apartment that felt more like a studio with extra walls. She stared at the sparse living room with its lumpy couch and a tiny cube television perched on a TV tray table before unpacking her groceries.

Afterwards, she immediately went into her bedroom and opened her laptop to watch the spy cam footage, as she had every time she entered her bedroom. She watched Victoria open her window and crawl in, her arms reaching out in front of her to feel her environment. She saw herself wake up and Victoria lunging towards her. There was only a single frame of Jasper outside her window before the wall and window exploded and he was tackling Victoria to the floor before dragging her out.

Each time the video ended, she found herself looking up to stare out of her new windows with its squeaky hinges, to see if Victoria's empty sockets and mouth were hovering there, staring at her. And then, exhausted and utterly overwhelmed, she'd topple on her mattress on the floor and cry herself to sleep.

The start of the spring semester was eventful. People supposedly heard screaming from The Haunted House on Fox Hill, but that rumor was nothing new. The student housing on Pacific Street collapsed. Three more people went missing over winter break, though they weren't UW students. Though, this didn't stop people from casually stating that UW was cursed.

In result, a feeling of despair pervaded the campus as images of Christine and Jason were plastered everywhere. Based on a note discovered on Jason's computer, the current rumor was that it was a murder-suicide. Although Bella still expected others to blame her—her friends had done so with ease prior to winter break—all doubts about her were virtually eliminated. Bella was in Florida and Forks during break when the three other people went missing.

Jasper or Victoria—either or both could have been involved.

Her one inkling of a bright side was that Jen was speaking to her again.

"Are you mad at me for not living with you?" Jen asked her one evening at a sushi restaurant near her apartment.

"No, of course I'm not," Bella promised. "If I were you, I wouldn't want to pay to live in Belltown either."

"I can't believe our apartment collapsed." Jen shuddered. "Is this school cursed?"

Bella paused for a moment before asking, "Are you mad at me?"

Jen sighed. "Bella, I'm not mad at you. But can I be completely honest with you?" When Bella nodded, she continued, "I'm totally freaked out. The craziest things have been happening this year and whether or not it's a complete coincidence, they seem to be happening around you."

Bella's lips twitched as if ready to defend herself but she had nothing to say.

"You know I love you and that I think you're the nicest friend I've ever had. I got a little freaked out because Stephanie mentioned something about your ex's brother and well, I never told you this, but he asked me to get a note from your room, and I don't know why I did it, but I read the note and gave it to him. We chatted for a bit and I told him about your mom's wedding—"

"You told him about my mom's wedding?" Bella interrupted. Jen nodded. "Jasper did?" Bella had assumed he had broken into her apartment and stolen the note and pried through her stuff. It was the reason she had gotten the spy cam in her bedroom.

"I'm sorry…I know you said he was bad news, but I got a little swept up by the whole Prince Charming thing he's got going on." She smiled apologetically. "Anyway, then Jason goes missing near the Diner, which was what was written on the note, and then our apartment quite literally explodes from your room…I'm going to be a thousand percent honest, but I really thought something shady was going on. But now that we know what happened…I just want to say sorry for ever doubting you."

Bella blinked and forced a smile. "It's okay, Jen. I get it."

Jen reached out to squeeze Bella's hand. "Are you okay Bella? I'm so worried about you. You seem so stressed out." Bella began to disagree but Jen immediately cut her off, "Don't tell me you're not because your leg is shaking hard enough for me to feel through the table."

"Um…trauma, I guess. From the building collapsing," Bella lied. "And maybe missing you and the girls."

"We're still friends, even if we're not living together." She gave Bella a reassuring smile before frowning. She seemed to be thinking hard when she blurted, "Um, also, I don't know if you knew, but Andrew Walton's back in school."

Bella drew back her hand quickly, her arms immediately circling around her abdomen. Life couldn't give her a fucking break.

"You don't have to engage with him at all. He can be his own loser self all by himself. I'm with you. Everything's going to be okay."

But as the week went on, she could tell Jen was growing increasingly tense as the weekend approached, just like Bella. Both Christine and Jason had gone missing over the weekend and the whole school waited with bated breath to see whose face would be on the next missing poster.

The next rendezvous point was in the Industrial District and Bella didn't know how she was going to convince someone to follow her to an empty warehouse, especially since Victoria and Jasper crashed through her room, she looked and acted too frazzled to not be suspicious. She toyed with the idea of not following through with it—she had withstood James's physical torture; she could deal with Jasper's emotional torture, right? But Jasper had been audacious enough to follow her to Renee's wedding. Vile enough to threaten Charlie's life on Christmas. She couldn't risk her family's safety by refusing to comply. Then again, Jasper wasn't the only vampire she needed to worry about. She wondered every night whether she would wake up the next day.

Bella returned home from the UNICEF meeting Friday night to her dinky old apartment. In the hallway of her floor, she was met with a chaotic sight of several boxes scattered haphazardly around.

A short, middle-aged woman emerged from an apartment two doors down, huffing and puffing with her hands on her hips. She grunted as she struggled to lift a heavy box with her back.

"Hey, do you need any help?" Bella asked.

Startled, the woman nearly lost her balance, the box teetering precariously in her arms. "Oh my Lord no, thank you so much. I just have a few boxes left," she gasped. She had a thick Minnesotan accent and large poof hair, looking like a character straight out of Fargo.

"Let me help you," Bella insisted, picking up one of the lighter boxes and carrying it into the apartment. "I just moved in recently too."

"Thank you so much, dear. I assume you go to the university?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm a sophomore."

"Oh, that's great! My daughter Leela goes to the university too; she's a freshman. She lived in that apartment on Pacific Street that collapsed like the Tower of Babel." The woman groaned. "She's got the flu so she missed her whole first week. What bad luck. I hope she can come to you for advice," the woman said with a warm smile.

"Yes, of course she can," Bella assured her.

The woman beamed at Bella. Suddenly, the woman's phone rang, and Bella overheard a man's voice on the other end. "Oh, darn," the woman said. "Oh, buckets." She hung up the phone and bit her lip.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, my transport to the airport just canceled on me," the woman explained. "I bet I can take the bus…"

Bella shook her head. "The bus is going to take you two hours and a taxi is going to cost you about fifty-bucks. It's only a twenty minute drive from here so I don't mind taking you."

The woman gazed at her, her eyes shining with tears. "I'm so glad my daughter gets to live next to you. My husband was scaring me saying how terrible west coasters can be but I can tell him he's wrong!"

Bella laughed and led the woman to the parking lot. They got into Bella's car and as soon as Bella turned on the engine, a horrible thought entered her mind. If she went the long way, she could drive through the Industrial District and pass the warehouse. Her hands shook on the steering wheel as she pulled out of her spot, trying to push aside the unsettling thoughts about the woman's daughter living two doors down, her husband's prejudice against west coasters, and her genuine gratitude towards Bella.

"I'm really lucky today," the woman remarked from the back seat, breaking the tense silence.

Bella stared ahead, unable to fake a smile. "Right."

As she drove down I5, her mind raced. Can I really do this? Am I really doing this right now? It's either my own family or a complete stranger, isn't it? A stranger is better. She looked into the rearview mirror. The woman was still chatting away, now talking about her goat named Bertha. Bella's fingernail went to her mouth. Better? What am I even talking about? No, don't even think about it. Just do it. With a shaky breath, she took the exit ramp and veered off the highway.

As she approached the warehouse, her anxiety intensified. She glanced at all her mirrors nervously. If she turned back now, the woman would surely be suspicious or upset. But if she continued, this woman might die. Grinding her teeth together, Bella felt as though she were moving at a snail's pace despite driving the speed limit. It's going to happen. She rolled to a stop in front of the dark warehouse. She felt lightheaded. You're a monster. Bella, you're a monster!

"What are you doing?"

"AH!" Bella screamed and jumped in her seat, whirling around to find the woman looking confused in the backseat.

"This isn't the airport. Did you get the correct address?"

Bella's mind raced for an explanation. "W-What…?" she stammered, her heart pounding fast in her chest.

"Do you need me to look at the map? Are you okay?"

Why didn't he take her?

"Uh, honey, my flight's in an hour so…we should keep going, I think, right?"

Turning back in her seat, Bella resumed driving again, her mind reeling with confusion. How come she's still alive in my car?

Bella drove quietly to the international airport and this time, the woman was silent too. Bella felt a strange relief wash over her as the woman thanked her and nervously laughed at Bella's lack of response before waving goodbye. Bella remained in her car, unable to move, doubts gnawing at her.. Did I do something wrong? "I did what you said," she whispered to herself. Maybe there was a mistake with Jasper. There's no way I made a mistake.

But something is wrong.

Then, Bella heard the unmistakable sound of a camera flash. She froze, her heart sinking.

Bella scanned the parking lot through her rearview mirror until her eyes locked onto an old red sedan parked just one row away. Its windows were rolled down, and the driver seemed oblivious to their bright headlights illuminating the area. She watched as the figure in the car shifted, fiddling with something inside.

With her pulse racing, Bella pulled the hood of her jacket, carefully opened her car door and stepped out, her movements slow and deliberate. Crouching low to the ground, she began to maneuver between the cars in the row ahead of hers, using them to conceal her body.

As she reached the large vehicle adjacent to the red sedan, Bella laid herself flat on the ground, feeling the cold asphalt beneath her. She rolled underneath the SUV, gagging at the smell of some dead animal underneath the car until she was in earshot of the sedan. With bated breath, she peered out from her hiding spot and looked up at the sedan.

Her heart sank as she recognized the figure inside—it was Mr. Marsala.

He was muttering to himself in harsh whispers, berating himself. "Where'd she go? You bonehead. Idiot! After days you haven't gotten a single thing…can't make mistakes like this again."

Bella closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, her mind racing with frustration and defeat. How many psychopaths needed to stalk her before she met her life's quota? She rolled out from underneath the car and pressed her back against the SUV. Time seemed to stretch endlessly as she remained motionless. When she got up to look through the SUV's window, she watched Mr. Marsala snap pictures of her car, his frustration pouring out in muttered curses. Each click of the camera felt like a punch to the gut.

After an agonizing ten minutes, Bella finally heard the sound of the sedan's engine revving to life. Relief washed over her as she watched Mr. Marsala drive off, though a sour bitterness remained in her mouth.