Adult-FanFiction.org : Books

Prelude	By : belladonnacullen Category: Twilight Series > Het > Bella/Edward Views: 5838 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
The council's orders were clear, at least to our captors. We were to stay at Sakhmet's compound in Rub' al Khali until the newborn army came to us. And they were on their way. Bedouins came to Sakhmet's camp daily with offerings and stories detailing mysterious deaths and frightening flashes of light glancing off the dunes.
Without our cell phones, it was easy to feel separated from the world as we knew it. It was easy to believe that Sakhmet was the goddess of war, that the dark robes the Volturi guards took to wearing were normal, that there was nothing else in this world except sand and sky. So each day we put effort into keeping true to our purpose in this place. We were here to show our allegiance to the Volturi, and to keep Bella alive.
Each day we would don traditional desert coverings as we ran southwest to the highlands of Asir to hunt, so that we could maintain our peak strength for the fight ahead. With Sakhmet's fighters Chun-Tao and Dong-Mei as our guides we would race through the ever-changing desert landscape, drinking in new desert flavors. I quickly learned that ibex was a giant mountain goat and that it was revolting. There were no bears, but Jasper and I enjoyed the wild cats and Rose had a particular penchant for hyenas.
After the hunt we would practice fighting techniques. Our goal was to obliterate the army as quickly as possible. We learned to take into account the give of the sand, the shifting of the dunes in the wind. We'd take off our desert coverings to get used to the unusual shadows the relentless sun would cast as we sparkled in its glow. It would be a quick fight, we were sure.
We were all eager for this to be over as soon as possible, but no one as much as Jasper. Sakhmet tortured him with her desire and bloodlust whenever he was in the compound. At first Jasper tried to project compassion in the hope that this would mellow her aggression. But this only made her more bewitched with him, and her desire increased exponentially. Then he tried his best to diffuse disinterest into the situation. But Sakhmet would simply turn back to her harem and select another victim for the evening. It was not exactly the outcome that Jasper wished for.
Jasper didn't like to talk about any of this and bore it stoically. Eventually he just shut down. Rose and I were afraid he might come unhinged. We saw less and less of the Jasper we knew, as he had to close off to protect himself. Rose thought that he must be at least flattered, being courted by the goddess of war. Sakhmet was certainly beautiful and willing, waiting for any sign that he might give in. But Jasper wasn't like Rose this way, and I knew it did nothing but cause him pain. In this land of intense sun, without Alice there was no light in Jasper's life.
Our Volturi guards were true to the council's wishes. They remained in the background, observing. At first they would accompany us on our daily hunts and training exercises, but they quickly grew tired of these outings. They knew us enough by now to realize that we would never leave and endanger the rest of our family.
While accompanied by the Volturi, Chun-Tao and Dong-Mei were aloof and would not to let us out of their sight. Their perfunctory duties done, they would run with us back to the compound. But after the Volturi left us alone, their curiosity won out.
I had just finished up another meal of ibex, after searching unsuccessfully for anything else. I grimaced as I wiped the blood from my face and hands.
"Why do you bother?" Dong-Mei asked me, a slight smirk on her face. Dong-Mei seemed to always be suppressing a smile.
It was a good question, I thought, as bitter stinking goat blood coated my throat and sloshed uncomfortably in my stomach.
"We all have different reasons."
She smiled at me. Suddenly she looked as good-natured and playful as a puppy. "What are they?"
"Well, Rosalie never wanted this. She has no desire to act like a vampire. Jasper could feel the emotions of the people that he was feeding on. It became unendurable."
"And you?"
"Rosalie chose this lifestyle. I would do anything to stay with her."
"So you're here for Rosalie."
"Well, no. It's the other way around actually."
Don-Mei knitted her brows together, but then smiled. "Then there must be another reason. Don't you know yourself?"
No one had questioned me so bluntly before. I never really stopped to consider my motivations besides Rose. I didn't know that I had any others. But being here in Rub' al Khali things were clearer to me. I wasn't the same monster as Sakhmet.
I didn't answer Dong-Mei and perhaps she took my silence as an admission that I indeed had no self-awareness. "What does it taste like?" She asked nodding toward the wiry-haired carcass at my feet.
"Well that tastes vile. There isn't the same satisfaction with animal blood, but it's adequate."
She looked slightly repulsed. "A true life of denial, like the yogis in India, or the Monks in Tibet."
I saw Rose running over to join us and smiled. "No, not exactly like the monks."
But the next day the girls hunted with us. I can't say they found it satisfying, but they were interested. I heard them murmur something about playing monks. They mentioned that they had never met another coven that remained in one place for long, and they didn't know the feeling of a family, not as vampires or as humans. As humans, both were reared in an orphanage.
They came with us each day to hunt, and I noticed them watch us carefully as we fought in the desert sands. Night after night they declined Sakhmet's invitation to feed with her. And gradually I could see subtle changes in their eyes, turning from bright red to the color of the dunes, and then to the color of the cloudless desert sky at twilight. Sakhmet might have had an objection to this, but she was otherwise occupied with trying to crack Jasper.
"How did you two end up here with Sakhmet?" I asked as Rose and I were hunting with Chun-Tao one day. They were obviously not from the Middle East.
"We were bored with our job, and we wandered here. Sakhmet asked us to stay because of our fighting skills."
"Your job?"
"We were dragon slayers."
Rose and I stopped what we were doing to stare. My mouth hung open for more than a second.
"Dragons?" Rose was dubious.
"Of course. Women were always picked to be dragon slayers. Dragons have so much yang energy, only a woman could put out that fire."
Rose made sure to correct Chun-Tao. "I wasn't implying that a woman couldn't fight a dragon. I'm just surprised to hear that they exist."
"Thee are no dragons in your world?"
"I don't know." I could see Rose's mind working.
"Dude, how did you get that job?"
"We were chosen, of course." And that was all Chun-Tao would say on the matter.
Jasper caught the end of the conversation as he bounded back in our direction with Dong-Mei at his side. "What are dragons like?" he asked, a palpable edge of excitement in his voice. It was the most emotion I had seen from him in days.
"Well, each is different, much like our kind. Some can shift shape, becoming as small as a silkworm, or growing to fill the sky. Others can fly. They all enjoy water. They rule that element, causing rain and flooding. They can turn into water sometimes, or fire too. Some can just disappear."
"How do you fight that?" I couldn't have pulled Jasper away from this conversation if I tried.
"It takes great concentration and skill. You must understand your own qi before you can even begin to try."
"Why are vampires fighting dragons in the first place?" Rose asked.
Dong-Mei jumped into the conversation enthusiastically. "Dragons don't like vampires. Our existence challenges their supremacy."
"So a class of warriors was raised," Chun-Tao added. "And we were good."
"The best!" Dong-Mei laughed.
"We fought them close to extinction. We followed them to Japan, and chased them over the Himalayas. Everywhere we travelled we studied new forms of fighting. But with only a few dragons left it wasn't fun anymore."
"After all, we'd been fighting for about one thousand years."
"So we travelled, and when we found this place we decided to stay. There's no water, so there are no dragons either. It is an easy life, the break we needed."
"You really don't need us here at all, do you?" It wasn't so much a question as a realization that there had been more to this trip than a simple fight from the beginning.
"No." Dong-Mei giggled.
Jasper was inspired. "We have time on our hands and an army that we have to fight. It may be an easy battle, but all of us must return home. We need to make sure that we have every advantage. Will you teach us?"
Chun-Tao looked reluctant, but Dong-Mei didn't skip a beat. "Yes. It's an honor to teach. First we must harness your qi."
I was suspicious. "This qi, vampires have it too?"
"Yes, of course. It is the energy that animates everything. You do not have to be alive to have energy. If a rock has qi, surely a vampire does as well. You'll see. When you learn to move qi, the control you have over your body will be more fluid and intuitive. You will be quicker, deadlier and more powerful. Let's show them, OK?"
Chun-Tao didn't need any more prompting. She was on her feet in a split second. Dung-Mei was all smiles. I watched the quick decisiveness of their movements and marveled at the unique control they seemed to have over their bodies as they deftly danced around one another, looking for an opening to strike. It defied even what vampires were usually capable of. It seemed as if they moved with an effortless energy suffused with joy.
I was floored, Rose was envious, and Jasper was sold. From then on we would sit for hours as the sand rained on us and the sun moved overhead, finding a way to utilize our otherwise useless breath to grow stronger, learning to move energy through meridians and connect to the earth and the sky. Before long they added the basics of kung fu, judo and karate to our regimen. I felt more centered and sure of my abilities than ever. Despite a diet of slimy mountain goat I felt at the top of my game.
Dong-Mei and Chun-Tao became giddier as we learned their fighting techniques, clearly proud to be the masters. We made teams and then mixed them up and fought again, long hours into the night, coming back before the sun rose on the next day.
"And you've been alone all this time?" I asked one day as we ran back toward the compound.
Chun-Tao looked confused. "We have each other." And with that she playfully tackled Dong-Mei and they somersaulted down a dune.
"I mean as mates?"
Dong-Mei giggled again as she picked herself up and dusted the sand from her abayah. "We have mates."
I thought of the two servants that hovered around the compound. It seemed unlikely. I had never seen any affection between them. I always assumed that Sakhmet kept them there using her powers. But as far as I could tell there were no other vampires here besides us. "The servants?"
Chun-Tao rolled her eyes and seemed exasperated. "We are each other's mates. Do you think Sakhmet would keep two women around otherwise?"
I thought of the way Sakhmet looked at Rose. Probably not.
"Sorry," Rose apologized. "Emmett can be a little slow sometimes." Rose nudged my ribs with her elbow.
"You guys should come back with us. We would love you to meet our family. Meet our brother and his fianc�, see why we are doing this. We would love for you to teach them to fight like you taught us."
"We can't leave here." Dong-Mei didn't seem troubled by this. It was stated like a simple fact.
"But how can Sakhmet keep you here?"
"After the incident with the Volturi she fears for her safety, and always makes sure she has a guard. If we tried to leave she would track us down. They don't call her the goddess of war for nothing. It would be a battle that we would prefer to avoid. We will have to be dismissed without prejudice. She will let us go once she finds someone better qualified. We've been here for a while; no one was better qualified than us. Until now, maybe."
Chun-Tao kicked Dong-Mei in the shin. We all cast a quick look in Jasper's direction. He pretended not to notice.
"We don't mind," Chun-Tao assured Jasper. "We would never want you to leave your family. I don't know them, but admire them. I didn't know there was another way of being. Compassion is a teaching of the Buddha that I didn't think applied to our kind. We need your coven to be strong and intact, so that we can spread word of your existence. Eventually we will be able to leave, when we do, we will find you. We must thank all of you for the enlightenment you have brought to these parts.
"Yes," Dong-Mei continued, "and we will happily fight alongside you when this army arrives."
"I don't think you can do that," Rose said. "They want us to do this. It has to be us."
"We'll ask. Let's go." Dong-Mei was on her feet, smiling and ready to run back to camp.
"No." It was Jasper. "Thanks, but we can do this alone."
The next day on our return to the compound a small figure in black waited for us at the front door of the main building. We all slowed down at the sight of her, and I saw Chun-Tao cast a disapproving glance in Dong-Mei's direction. "It doesn't have to be bad news." Dong-Mei said to her, a bit defensively.
"Hello Cullens, and friends." Jane's eyes were menacing as they flashed toward Dong-Mei. "It appears that a conversation is in order." Her lips were set in a sinister scowl as she began walking slowly and purposefully into the courtyard. I heard the main gate close behind us. The desert wind kicked up as it usually did in the evenings, and sand swept over the grounds and into our faces. Jane's hair whipped around her small head.
"I've had a request. It seems like the Cullens are quite irresistible. Who wouldn't lay their life on the line for a Cullen?" she sneered. It was clearly a rhetorical question. "I'll tell you who wouldn't. I would never. Not a single one of the Volturi guard would ever try to save the life of a Cullen. Your family is on its' own in this world, and don't you ever forget it. There will be no help for the Cullens during this next encounter. No matter how friendly you are. No matter how irresistible you might be. From now on you will be confined to this compound. If you need to feed, I'm sure you can find a rat or a roach. This will be over soon enough. The army will be here in two days time. Then we will see how far your good natures can get you. We will see what your consciences can do."
"We have been somewhat lax in our duties as observers. To make sure that we adhere to the council's instructions, you will stay here and we will observe you one- on-one for the next two days."
"But that makes no sense. If you want us to be successful, and if you want to observe our combat, we need to be prepared. Or is this a plan to kill us one at a time?" I countered.
"You are wrong. And you have no choice." And with that Felix, Valentino, the two servants and Sakhmet walked quietly into the courtyard. Jane snickered, watching us squirm under her new edict. Looking at the gathering before us, it was clear that we should play by the rules. This fight would be too close, with or without martial arts skills.
Dong-Mei cast her eyes to the ground. "I'm so sorry."
Jasper, Rosalie and I stood shoulder to shoulder, not giving in anything in our gaze.
I heard Chun-Tao behind us. "Exercise your qi. It's OK. It's what masters do before battle," she said quietly enough so that her voice was only barely audible to the five of us. No one else gave any indication that they heard anything.
Jane continued, pleased with her new plan. "Rosalie will stay with Felix, Emmett with Valentino, and I will personally keep an eye on Dong-Mei and Chun-Tao. We will make sure you are assembled for the attack before the newborns arrive."
Jasper wasn't accounted for. We looked at Jane and she appeared victorious, as if she had won something here. That's when Sakhmet walked gracefully forward. "Jasper, you are with me."
All eyes were on Jasper now. For an instant he looked so fragile I was afraid he might shatter. But then he closed his eyes, and breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. I knew what he was doing.
I grabbed his shoulder. "I've been through worse," was his only reply.
He looked at me with his wide golden eyes, so much lighter after days of feeding. I arched my eyebrows to challenge his assertion. "Well, it will be a close call, but she won't break me."
I pulled Rose in and held her in an enormous bear hug. Her arms closed around me just as ferociously. "Two days," she said. "Be good and I'll see you in to days."
"Yes ma'am," I replied, kissing her full and hard on the lips.
- 11
- 12
- 13
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Prelude