CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
ᴠᴇɴᴏᴍ

"There!"

The tyres screeched as Alice threw the car around a tight corner, cutting across the street and toward a sharp stop in front of a short building. Jasper had located the dance studio quickly, pointing us in the right direction from the minute we'd left the airport. Everything was quiet- an eerie stillness- the kind in horror films when death was near. In fact, it hung in the air, a sharp stench that we could all recognise easily. Blood.

"She's hurt," Jasper growled, his blonde hair brushing across his brow as he sprinted toward the door way.

We slowed only to track Bella's exact location, cringing at the metallic scent that coated the gusts of wind that sped through the open windows of the dim corridor. Almost in sync, we stiffened... a haunting screech shattered through the rooms, breaking toward us.

"Let's not rush into things, we can't let Bella get hurt," Alice whispered, taking the lead as we neared the door to the mirrored room.

The perspective was just as Bella had described. From the tinted glass of the double doors, we could see the full space: the distorted warping of the wall of mirrors, the stereo that stood limply on top a corner table, and the dark wood panelling of the floor ways that were now stained a crimson red.

The pain in my throat grew heavier. I couldn't tell if it was hunger or fear, but either way, it was the sight of the wine-red blood spilled across the floor that evoked the feeling. Such a familiar sight. Such a long time ago...

"Bella," I hissed, my eyes drawing to her slumped figure in the corner, hunched against the cracked mirror of the left wall. And toward her, James was now prowling, looking more like a sloped snake than the inhuman creature he was.

Something snapped. Bella let out a whimper as she dripped from consciousness. Then, without another thought, I was bounding forward, arms flying past my sides, feet kissing the floorboards with grace. James was in my line of sight, and I knew I had the benefit of surprise as I'd prepared to jump on him with immense speed.

"No, Elide!"

But I didn't have the advantage. With a flash of blinding rage, James turned on me, casting his attention to Bella aside. I didn't stop, my legs blurred as I ran. Only, a second later, I wasn't. The hard sensation of my body meeting the floor shook through my back, as I kept sliding, the weight of another on top of me, until my shoulder connected with the wall.

Alice's hands wrestled with my own, somehow managing to pin my wrists against the floor despite my desperate struggling. But no matter how hard she pushed, I could concentrate on nothing other than the scene that'd almost unfolded moments before.

The look on the hunter's face was all too familiar, the lusting glare, the want- no- the need for the blood that stained the floor. I'd once been Bella, crouching against the wall with enough fear in my body to paralyse me forever, the lurking form of a vampire ready to pounce. And further, I knew the feeling of being hunted. But I was alone. Bella didn't have to be alone.

But Alice was holding me back.

I screamed out in anger, finally ripping my hands from Alice's grasp, turning us over so I sat on Alice's stomach, her back firmly on the floor. Her hands moved to grip my waist instead, keeping me in place. Another shout rang out from behind.

"Why would you do that?" I said, the betrayal in my voice evident even to me.

"Not now, come on," she said, pushing me off and behind her.

"Oh no! Bella no!" Edward cried out as he slid to his knees by her side, trousers soaking through. He'd appeared sometime in between my attempted attack and Alice's intervention. "Bella, please! Bella, listen to me please. Carlisle!"

Dr Cullen was by their sides in seconds, his hands dipping under her head and lifting her, brushing dark tendrils of hair out of the way. Alice dragged me to stand beside them, and she dipped down, leaning on her hand, the other moving up to cover her nose. The stench of blood was unwavering- sickening by the fact that my feet twitched to move me in its direction.

I staggered back, my own body shaking. James was still living, or at least in the sense that vampires were. My head snapped toward him, eyes meeting with Jasper's enraged stare. He too was effected by the blood, maddened by the smell as if it heightened his abilities. Like an animal's claw, his hands ripped across the hunter as he struggled against Emmett's iron grip. Then he stopped, sensing my attention, his wild gaze turning to me, grinning manically.

Alice wasn't there to stop me another time. I lunged forward, darting toward him until my feet were half way in the air, crashing down on him with such force that he crumbled toward the floor through Emmett's hold. Grappling with me, James took the absence of the two boys as a chance to fight back, reaching his paws toward my face. I slammed down, shouting out as my fists connected with his face. With a switch, I was on my feet again, arms scratching around his body and toward his neck and face.

"Stop, Elide! You won't kill him like this!" Emmett shouted.

Though his voice was loud and my ears clear, the words sounded distant, my mind being the blockage. I could concentrate on nothing else than the predator that I'd caught in my net, and as I battered him forward, glass shattering around us like rain, it wasn't blonde hair that ripped through my fingers but thick, black hair that reached the length of my hand to my wrist. Dark, venomous eyes scowled back at me, and for a moment I dropped still, staring back at him, mouth agape.

But it was James that pounced back at me, taking the moment of weakness by stride. Not William. But I attacked him again, bringing my hands to push him backward, sending him flying toward the opposite end of the room. Emmett was right. I couldn't kill him like this- no punches or kicks would ever end a vampire.

And yet I growled. "I don't care."

I needed this fight as much as I needed blood. The two Cullens shared a look before zipping toward the edges of the room, piling the furniture into a bonfire in the middle. A grand blaze of orange flames erupted into the air, somehow staying contained within the great pile of wood.

"Elide!" It was Jasper who shouted.

He caught James by the arm, Emmett latching into the other, positioning him for the kill. I watched them both turn to nod. They let me do the honours. A foul crunch echoed through the room. My hands twisted his head at unthinkable speed and dropped it into the fire.

I fell back as his body dropped to the ground at Jasper's feet. His face twisted, other senses now coming into control as James was out of the way. With a grimace, he began to back away, pushing out of the room and away from the heavy smell of Blood. Bella groaned from behind, and suddenly I was back in the room, staring at the broken glass, bloodstained floors and roaring flames.

"She's lost some blood, but the head wound isn't deep. Watch out for her leg, it's broken," Carlisle said to Edward as I met their side, hands clamped over my nose. "Some ribs too, I think. My bag, please."

The smell tickled my throat, and I held my jaw square, watching as Carlisle pulled his bag to Bella's side. He glanced up to me momentarily.

"Hold your breath, it will help," he said. I looked to see Alice doing the same.

"Elide? Alice!" Bella shouted, her eyes squeezing shut.

"They're here, they're here. Alice saw where to find you."

"My hand hurts," she moaned, gripping it toward her body as she rocked back and forth. "The fire! Someone stop the fire!"

My eyes sped toward the blaze that James now rotted in, but Bella seemed unfazed by the glowing grave. Instead, her hand gripped her shirt, the blood-crusted fingers of her other clutching at Edward's marked shirt. And then I remembered the pain of the bite, the scorching of veins as venom slithered through the body, etching a way to the heart. It felt like fire.

"Edward, you have to do it," Alice said, removing her trembling hands from her face to reach and wipe the wetness from beneath Bella's swollen eyes.

"No!"

"There may be a chance," Carlisle said. "See if you can suck the venom back out."

"Will it work?" Alice asked, her voice strained from the stress of her hunger.

"I don't know, we have to hurry," Carlisle said. "Alice! Get me something to brace her leg."

"Edward, you must do it now, or it will be too late," he shouted, moving down to Bella's leg to strap it with a belt.

Bella writhed in pain, crying out as she turned even an inch in the wrong direction. Edward sobbed as he watched her, the pain of contemplation being matched with agonising, tearless cries. Then he stopped, lifting his head with a silent determination. His slim fingers glided down toward her wrist, taking it in his careful hold. She gasped as his head bent, lips pressing against her wounded skin.

A short, sudden screech filled the room as Edward removed the venom infected blood. My hands crossed over Alice, holding Bella's shoulders back as she thrashed against the pain.

"Shh, Bella. It'll all be over soon," Alice tried to sooth her, calm words floating from her chewed lips.

Bella slowly stopped, her back arching against the floor as she headed in a breath.

"Is it all out?" Carlisle asked.

Edward nodded bleakly. "Her blood tastes clean. I can taste the morphine."

"Bella?"She hummed out in response.

"Is the fire gone."

"Yes."

"Bella?"

"Where is your mother?" Carlisle asked.

"In Florida. He ticked me, Edward. He watched our videos," she said, the resentment in her voice clear despite the weakness she held herself with. She tried to open her eyes, hand reaching out. "Alice! Alice, the video- he knew you, Alice. He knew where you came from."

Alice's eyes widened, her lips opening to ask a question as Bella's head dropped back against the floor, her body falling limp as she slipped from consciousness. Edward let out a cry as he lifted her frail body, stepping through the blood and the grime as if it were nothing. I held my jaw, mouth still covered by a hand. Beside me, Alice was still, her eyes trained in the video camera that'd clattered to the floor sometime during the fight. The room was now empty, except from us.

"Would you like me to leave?" I asked, stepping forward to her side.

She shook her head. "No," she whispered, voice croaky. "I don't think I can watch this alone."

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes. I don't want to be in the dark anymore," she said, walking toward the video camera so I would followed.

"I understand."

I dropped down, turning the camera over so it flicked over to the smudged screen. Handing it over, I watched her face, such soft yet sad features. My hand folded into hers, holding it tight, ignoring the blood that crusted our skin. All that'd happened in the past hours were unimportant for a moment.

"I guess this is it."

Alice nodded, biting her lip as she pressed play.

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