CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀᴜᴛʜ

Glass fell down around Alice's feet as she punched through the window at the bottom of the stairs. I watched from the top landing as she kicked and smashed, throwing things from the top floor and down to the ground outside. I sighed- she'd been like that, angry and resentful- since she'd watched the video in the dance studio. Nothing I could say had made her calm, and instead she took her pain out on the window of the hotel we'd stayed in the other day.

"Alice, calm down," I said, floating down the steps to pull her back by the shoulder. "Smash any more glass, and it'll look like a car crash, not a slip on the stairs."

Bella had lived to see another day through human eyes, thanks to Edward's control and Carlisle's medical skills. The only believable things we could come up with to hide the fact that she'd been hunted down by a vampire, was that she'd fallen down the stairs in a hotel after leaving Forks. It was conceivable, considering that it was Bella.

"I just can't believe that's the reality," Alice said, dropping a wooden piece of the banister to the floor beside her.

I couldn't quite believe it was the reality either.

The video had said exactly what Bella said it would- James somehow knew about Alice's past. I stood with her, hands gripped in hers as she pressed play.

It first showed James setting the camera up upon the speakers, balancing it so Bella was in sight across the room, hunched weakly against the smashed mirror. He grinned maliciously, teeth curling around his face as he turned to face her

"Before we begin... I would just like to rub it in, just a little bit. The answer was there all along, and I was so afraid that Edward would see that and ruin my fun. It happened once, oh, ages ago. The one and only time my prey escaped me," he said, as he began to circle her like a vulture, knees bent and fingers curled like talons.

"You see, the vampire who was so stupidly fond of this little victim made the choice that your Edward was too afraid to make. When the old one knew I was after his little friend, he stole her from the asylum where he worked- I never will understand the obsession some vampires seem to form with you humans- and as soon as he freed her he made her safe. She didn't even seem to notice the pain, poor little creature. She'd been stuck in the black hole of a cell for so long."

I hadn't made the connection at all. Until he said his next line...

"A hundred years earlier and she would have been burned at the stake for her visions."

Visions. My eyes snapped toward Alice, watching as her face didn't flicker with emotion as I'd expected her to. She stayed motionless, staring at the screen as James threw his head to stare back at the camera, almost as if he was staring through the lense.

"In the nineteen-twenties it was the asylum and the shock treatments. When she opened her eyes, strong with her fresh youth, it was like she'd never seen the sun before," he explained. "The old vampire made her a strong new vampire, and there was no reason for me to touch her.I destroyed the old one in vengeance."

"Alice," Bella gasped out in shock, voice barely audible in the video.

"Yes, your little friend. I was surprised to see her in the clearing. So I guess her coven ought to be able to derive some comfort from this experience. I get you, but they get her. The one victim who escaped me, quite an honour, actually," James sneered. "And she did smell so delicious. I still regret that I never got a taste..."

It was at that point that Alice finally snapped the video camera shut and placed it back into the table with a smack. She groaned, holding her head in her hands as she tilted toward me, falling into my shoulder. I'm sure she would have cried, had she been able to.

Once again, Alice's voice brought me back to the hallway that was littered with shattered glass. She stared at the floor, lip bitten.

"It's strange," she began, shaking her head in thought. "I don't remember anything, even after watching the video. But it's like I know, at the back of my mind that I lived through everything he described. It's like it's locked up somewhere."

"Maybe that's good, that you don't remember. You said sometimes it's better not having anything to compare with," I said.

Alice frowned. "But aren't there things you miss from your human life? Things you would give anything to be able to keep the memory of?" She asked. "Hearing James just made me want to know what those things were for me. Even if they were small and insignificant."

For me it was my family, no matter how distant that memory seemed to be. And even Thomas, to a certain extent.

"I understand."

"Do you think it looks believable?" She asked, glancing to the broken window once more and changing the subject.

I stepped forward, glancing down to the blood- splattered concrete below. "Throw me out and let's test it."

Alice rolled her eyes, suppressing the smile that tugged at her lips as she began to descend the long winding stairs of the hotel. It was still dark, and she slipped into the shadows effortlessly, leaving me behind.

"It wasn't a joke, but okay," I said, pausing before I followed her back to the car.

The agitated growl of the engine as we drove to the hospital made me think of the first time I'd talked to Alice. Though the blacked-out Mercedes was far from the hobbled, orange van that she drove the first time, her speed was almost exactly the same, wheels gliding easily against the wet road. This time too, she spoke first, urging the words from me.

"Where did all that rage come from?" Alice said, eyebrows furrowed as her hand lay loosely on the wheel. "You're normally so calm, but since we met James and his group on the field..."

I sighed. "I don't know," I said, shaking my head. "I just felt it bubbling and growing and-"

I stopped myself, turning to her accusingly. "You stopped me from going after him! What if he'd gotten to Bella again? I never could have lived with myself, being so close and not doing a thing."

Alice's face dropped into a soft, sympathetic look. "You didn't see what I saw."

"No I didn't. But you didn't tell me what you saw, Alice. How could I have known anything?" I pressed. "What did you see?"

"You'd decided long before we got to the studio that you would be the first to attack James. I saw it all. You raced in without thinking, he ripped you to shreds," she snarled. "You'd put your life last in what matters."

"What life?" I huffed. "This isn't living, Alice. If I could save Bella at the expense of myself, I would."

"But that isn't why you did it, is it?"

The wheels of the car screeched as her foot lay like steel on the accelerator.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Don't act so ignorant," she bit back. "I care about you Elide. I stopped you from attacking him so that I could protect you. So don't lie to me. Please."

My whole body stopped as still as a grave. I sighed. I care about you Elide. Those heavy words struck me too hard and I felt my sight shift. With swiftness, Alice pulled into a parking space and got out, slamming the door behind her. I followed, leaning against the door, stopping her from waking further toward the hospital.

"It's all too familiar," I muttered, shaking my head. "I told you about William." Alice nodded. "He was fixated on me, just as James was with Bella. I didn't want a repeat of my own sad story."

I said nothing else, and instead, filling up the rattling quietness, Alice shared her own piece of truth. "I was angry too. That I found out... about those things in my past," she said gently. "But I realise that I could never hold the pain of the change like you do, or Rosalie or Edward or anyone for that matter. And I'm thankful. But I will share your pain with you."

"I will hold the burden of it," she began, her voice quietening into little more than a whisper. "If it helps."

Her arms wrapped around me quickly, pulling me in before I could push away. Her familiar scent flooded me. Like flowers and fresh raindrops on grass- nothing vampire like, and I wondered if I'd imagined it, made it up against her beautiful personality. Her hands wrapped further around my body, pulling me close enough so that her hair tickled the edges of my lips.

I let my eyes close, before I quickly pulled away. Taking another step back, I looked toward the hospital, toward anything that wasn't her bright, curious eyes.

"We should get back to Bella," I said, before leading her through to the reception.

I left Alice at the door to Bella's room with Rosalie and Jasper. He must have sensed it on me, as he glanced over as I left, eyes narrowing. I couldn't be annoyed at him- it was my fault that worry radiated from me like a bad smell that wouldn't waver.

"You're Elide, right?"

I turned away from the vending machine toward the woman who spoke. It was clearly Bella's mum, who'd been called by Alice before we'd left to the hotel. Her hair was the same dark colour, her eyes a similar round shape, filled with a natural curiosity. And though it was strange, I could smell her on the woman too- a scent that could only be shared in a motherly kind of way.

"I just wanted to ask about Bella. She's alright, isn't she? In Forks? She has friends?" Her mum asked.

"Good friends, if I'm allowed to say that about myself and Alice," I said with a wide smile.

Her shoulders sagged in relief. "I'm glad, you're all so lovely. She was lucky that Dr Cullen was there with you all too."

"They're all amazing. I wouldn't worry about Bella. Edward and his family care about her very much," I explained. They wouldn't be here otherwise.

"Thank you."

"She's awake," the declaration rung out from the bottom of the corridor.

My eyes flashed to Bella's mother. "Go."

She was already hobbling down toward her room, the next thing I checked, patting Alice on the shoulder with a grateful glance.

☾
I did warn you this was slow burn
Also, another chapter will be out today x