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Prelude	By : belladonnacullen Category: Twilight Series > Het > Bella/Edward Views: 5838 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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Chapter List
- 14
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- 16
Sakhmet eyed me, and a warm and gentle wave of desire washed over my body. I could think of nothing else. I lusted for a mouth, a body, any mouth, and any body. Her mouth.
No.
Breathe. Breathe.
In order to dispel the desire that Sakhmet threw at me, I had to project feelings outward. I conjured the strongest feeling that I knew, my love for Alice. I thought of Alice's eyes, her face. There was no one else for me except Alice. Alice. She filled the room. I breathed deeply and started to settle back into my body.
But then I gasped. Lust cut like a dagger to my core, coming from outside myself, from across the room. This was no gentle wave; it was sharp and painful. I squeezed my eyes shut again. Alice. Alice would see this, she would know. I didn't want Sakhmet to torture her too. And with that thought I was overtaken with anger, and venom filled my mouth. Sakhmet could hurt me all she wanted, but I didn't want her fucking with Alice. I pictured myself across the room, ripping Sakhmet, tearing her to shreds, sinking my teeth into her granite flesh.
But then I heard a low hiss, and emotions from outside my body joined the anger. And then it flashed through my mind; me sinking my teeth into her granite flesh and anger and lust intermingling with one another. Something I hadn't felt since Maria.
Breathe. Alice. Lust. Damn it! Anger. Anger. Intense anger.
I was on my feet, panting. I didn't know I had gotten up. I opened my eyes and Sakhmet stood ten paces from me, grinning.
"I am winning." She took another slow step in my direction.
I couldn't say anything. I needed to keep my mouth closed to keep from acting on these warring emotions. I was shredded into too many pieces, barely holding them together. But walking toward me like this she was asking for a fight. I would not let her chase me around the room for two days. I would attack. Again anger flared, venom pooled in my mouth and I heard a snarl catch in my throat. I would take my hands and wrap them around her neck and . . . Desire struck me. No, I would not bite her breast while I wound my hands around her throat. Sakhmet bared her teeth, my anger easily flowing toward her.
She took another step in my direction.
Oh God, Alice. My brain begged for her. Alice, I want you here to make this better Alice. I want to hold your hand, just hold your hand right now.
I told Emmett I'd been through worse. I don't know if I had been in greater peril, but worse didn't begin to describe what I was before I had Alice. Alice accepted me, loved me, and was the only thing in this world that understood me completely. But I was holding onto my resolve by a thread here, just a thread holding me to what I wanted to be. I wanted to be rational, compassionate, and safe, together with my love forever. Alice grounded me. But now I was like a compass needle missing its true north. I was dangerous. I was unstable without her. I was violent, physically strong, and yet emotionally weak.
I thought about Alice and pushed this feeling across the room with all the force I could muster. I thought of her face, the way it fit in my hands, the way her small mouth fit against mine. I thought of her delicate hands, her tiny waist, the way she danced when she walked. I thought about how I could never surprise her, and how that made so many things easier and more annoying all at once. The way my life had fallen into place after she was in it. I breathed deeper and felt my muscles relax, no longer at war.
There was no anger now, no lust. I looked up at Sakhmet and her eyes were wide and soft. As soft as violent bright red eyes could ever be. She blinked. I wondered why, there was no earthly reason she would have to blink in front of me. But then it hit me, my love. No, this wasn't right. But I needed Alice to get me through this. I couldn't let go of her. I swore I would never let go of her.
Damn Bella and Edward for this. What the hell had I been thinking, leaving Alice like this? Travelling half way around the world and running around the desert like some nutty vampire with a mission. Who the hell did I think I was, Tom fucking Cruise in a new Mission Impossible movie? This was disgusting. I just wanted to go back to my happy life. I wanted to find Alice and take her in my arms, then take her in other places. Alice.
I felt my arousal and there it was again, lust hitting me hard so that my body shuddered. If love was inappropriate and anger was out, then maybe we would have to settle on lust. I just had to keep my mind on Alice. Sakhmet couldn't read my thoughts, just my feelings. I thought of Alice. Alice, Alice, until she filled the room again. Would Alice know this already? Would she mind?
So I let my mind go, embracing the feeling from within and without, and focusing it on my mate. I thought of Alice and her small, slender body. I conjured up the way she felt under my hands, and the way it felt when she touched me. I was on fire and groaned. I was being helped along by outside forces. I opened my eyes. Sakhmet seemed overly pleased with herself, her lids heavy and an evil smile playing at the corners of her mouth. I had to force my eyes shut again and intentionally switch my mind back to Alice. How Alice would stay by my side, in my bed every night, all night. Her sly smile when she would know what I was about to do a millisecond before I did.
The emotions in the room were escalating. I felt like the lust was palpable, it had a physical presence, I was suddenly going to choke on it. I could no longer concentrate on what was mine and what was Sakhmet's and it didn't matter. My body was at war with itself. The lust for blood and sex that pervaded the room was staggering. It took all my strength to keep me seated across the room from her, to keep my eyes off of her, and to keep me from getting up and just walking over to her.
That's when the door opened and a small thin brown man stumbled into the room. He fell to his knees, catching himself with his hands, shaking and covered with a thin film of dust and sweat. He had scraped his knees falling, and I could smell his blood. I tasted the venom in my mouth before desire registered in my brain. But when the desire hit me, it was from without and I realized it wasn't my emotion at all. I could feel the anxiety roll off of the man in waves as he scrambled to his feet and struggled to get his bearings. His eyes worked to adjust to the dim light, his heart pounded wildly, until he saw Sakhmet across the room.
*
OK, so here's the thing. I was right. I was right all along. I said that nothing good would come of this Edward and Bella thing. I said it from the beginning. I said it was putting all of us in danger, and that it could ruin our way of life. And here we are: prisoners in isolation in the desert, waiting to desperately fight a bunch of other vampires that we have nothing against.
And really, this isn't the worst of it. It started with James. Don't even get me started about facing an army and fighting with dogs. And there was the whole six months in Denali episode. That was the worst, because it tore my family apart. Edward was gone and wouldn't even answer his phone, Esme was miserable, and Alice was always fighting with Carlisle. I knew that if Alice found Bella dead she wasn't coming back. I knew it. She would send for Jasper and that would be it. Our family would be finished. But she wouldn't go if Edward came back. That's why I called.
Anyway, now the Volturi is after us and we've got the wolves breathing down our necks waiting for Edward to change Bella. None of this chaos is ending anytime soon.
But no one steps in to say, "You know Rosalie, you were right about Bella." I get it though. I'm not dense. She is Edward's. But I didn't see that at first. I mean Edward didn't want her to be a vampire and he didn't seem to have any physical interest in her except to eat her. What am I supposed to think? I wouldn't want to exist for a day without Emmett - and I don't just want him around to talk to, if you know what I mean. But of course, Edward's actions are supposed to mean that he loves her so much more. Leave it to Edward to do things all backwards like that.
Like I said, I get it now. Bella is his. It clicked for me when I noticed how happy Edward was even in the midst of the whole newborn army uprising last month. He was freaking overjoyed. And he stayed with her. Not one other time in all the years we've been a family has Edward not stood by us. Bella is his.
And I'll admit it. I feel somewhat responsible for all of this. If I never called Edward in Rio he wouldn't have gone to the Volturi. It's the only reason they care about us right now. I did that. And I don't even want to think what would happen if Bella died now. It would be the end of the family. I saw that first hand last year. So, I'm going to deal with it. I may have been right, but sometimes that doesn't matter, I guess. And sometimes you have to be big enough to let that go. That's what I'm going to do.
So I will do whatever it takes to get Emmett, Jasper and I out of this intact. I will do whatever it takes to make the Volturi leave Bella alone. I will do whatever it takes to make sure Bella is alive, happy, with Edward. I know no one will believe that, and that's fine. But it is what it is. I just want a happy existence. That may be kind of gone for now, but it would be worse if Bella were out of the picture. So here I am. Doing whatever I can.
I saw the way Chun-Tao and Dong-Mei could move. I can do that too. They said it took a woman to fight a dragon, well I don't know anyone more womanly than I am. I can do this. So I'll meditate like they showed us. I can do this better than either of the boys. And I'll get us out of this and get us home.
*
This wasn't so bad. Sure, there was a grim, menacing vampire that I had recently attempted to kill staring at me, one that obviously wanted me dead. I wondered if he would try. I would have to keep my guard up, that much was obvious.
But this really wasn't too bad. I just had to focus and center myself and try to get into that state of heightened awareness. I hadn't even known we could be more hyper-aware than we already were, until just recently. I was pretty pleased, all things considered, that I'd met up with Chun-Tao and Dong-Mei. I felt so absolutely strong and in control of my body. I couldn't wait to get back to Edward and Carlisle and show them this.
I thought about what a mess Edward was the day we had to leave Forks. How could a guy be so happy and be such a mess all at once? Only Edward could do that, I think. I came into the family just a few years after he gave up feeding on humans. The guy was plagued by guilt, and hated himself for what he'd done. I figured it would fade with time, how could you blame him, right? And while he didn't think about it night and day anymore, he never seemed to like himself any better.
I never minded what I was. I never thought better or worse of myself. I didn't want to die, and now I was alive, sort of. And I had Rose too, which was better than anything I could ask for. I could take anything if I had Rose.
But I remembered what Dong-Mei asked, "Did I know myself?" Because clearly I wasn't doing all this for Rose. And then the ferocity of the love I had for all of my family hit me like a ton of bricks. Of course, I had known it was there. But the protective feeling I had for Edward, and for Bella, was suddenly unleashed full force on my consciousness. I guess I had been acting under it all along without understanding why. I would lay my life on the line for them, for Bella, a human. That was weird.
Again my mind flitted to Edward. He was so troubled that day before we left, he actually groaned. I laughed then, but I'd do just about anything to erase that trouble. Alice hinted that this trip was necessary for that to happen. I hoped she was right. I hoped this worked.
I sat and tried to meditate. I was the strongest vampire I knew. I had mad fighting skills now. I was the best vampire to do this for my family. I wouldn't fail them.
I heard a snarl from across the room. My eyes shot open and I was on my feet. Valentino was across the room in seconds and with a backhanded swipe to my neck I was knocked against the wall before I could move. Well, I wouldn't fail my family unless Valentino stopped me.
*
Sakhmet stood slowly, and I felt desire hit me again like a tidal wave. This time though, the lust for blood was matched equally with physical desire, and I shuddered. I hadn't felt desire to feed off of a human like this in many years, long before Alice and the rest of my family. I worked to stay rooted to my spot, but the man was already in motion, walking with urgency toward the vampire.
I wanted to stop him, to get in his way, but I knew that if I moved I would just try to take him for myself. It's something Sakhmet suspected as well. That's why I was here. I knew it now. She didn't believe I could change. I don't know if I believed I could change, or if anyone in my family believed it either, for that matter. Well, no, Alice always believed in me. Had we all been betting against Alice, then?
I grounded myself, using a technique Dong-Mei taught to make sure I stayed rooted to my spot. I kept my breathing deep and even, knowing that what I was attempting was most likely impossible.
I don't know if the prisoner had even seen me. He wouldn't see me coming. He wouldn't know what killed him.
Nerve endings danced to life along my arms and legs, I swallowed the venom that filled my mouth and I held my breath completely. I wished I couldn't hear him walk across the room to meet her. I wished I couldn't hear the sounds of rough cloth against skin. Then moans, whimpers, a breath caught in a throat. I felt like I was boiling, like I would scream. But instead I was sitting cross-legged, allowing the qi to flow through my body in the pattern that I had been taught, one hundred and eight times, then over again, then over again.
Licking, kissing, shuddering, scratching, I tried to breathe and let it go. I could feel energy boiling underneath my skin, but as I moved it in a circuit, it would calm and become even. Thoughts floated into and out of my brain. Alice, Carlisle, the mist on the ledge above the Straight, the way the damp heat of the Gulf clung to my face as a human, each thought left to drift on a river as I let it go.
But then I smelled blood, and there was a cry of fear and pain. My mouth was awash in venom, my fingers curled into a fist. I was on my feet without thinking; quicker than even I knew was possible. My eyes were open, and the picture in front of me took up the entirety of my vision. Two naked figures, one was dark ebony, one was chalky white, a neat puncture wound, blood trickling onto the floor. But it was his look that froze me, the wild look of desire mixed with dread in the human's eyes. And the emotions of Sakhmet hit me again, no longer desire, or pleasure, but boredom. Here eyes were dead as she sated her thirst.
I was overwhelmed by the physical desire to join her, to lap up the spilled drops of blood, to push her away to get the last of the warm flow from the human's veins. But stronger than physical desire, was a revulsion that had set root and in my mind. And searching myself I realized that I felt empathy, perhaps. Not as much for the human that had never had a chance, but for Sakhmet, confined to this lonely wasteland, playing god with humans.
I sat again, sad for the loss of another human life, but relieved, and stunned. No one had to stop me from drinking blood but myself. I was not this monster, not this time. We had all bet against Alice.
Again, I let the qi move through my dead body, faster, more effortlessly, changing from dark red, to blue, to gold, spinning faster white each revelation through my body, opening my head to heaven, and rooting my body to the earth. I centered myself, centered my body, kept myself on the floor in the corner and refused to meet her glance, no matter how much my body commanded me to do it. There was nothing she could do to me now.
*
I was back on my feet instantly and Valentino was moving towards me again. I didn't have to think, I just stepped out of the way an instant before he would have struck me. Instead he hit the wall with such force that one of the beams fell from the ceiling.
He turned, his nostrils flared and his eyes were an angry red. This time his approach was less predictable and so was I. Again he hit the wall. I was in the opposite corner.
I smiled a little reflexively. This was a real fight, and I was really getting the chance to use what I had learned. It was amazing and I felt completely alive.
But my smile didn't lighten the heart of my combatant. This time he lunged for me. That actually made things easier, because you can't change your trajectory in mid- leap. I stepped out of the way almost calmly, grabbed his body in mid-flight and flung it into the wall. Another beam fell from the ceiling. If we kept this up I imagined I would eventually be able to leap through the roof.
This time he moved slowly to get up. He shook himself, and turned to face me. "It's too bad you won't be able to see what I do to Rosalie after you are dead."
Something popped in my head. I would kill him. I'd done it once before. I would tear him to small pieces and burn this goddamned room. Now we were running toward each other. His hands met my throat and I jumped, using his body as leverage, and we were airborne. Then I kicked my feet underneath me, so that they hit his chest and we fell to the floor with force. I was standing on top of him now, and he was lying on his back.
This was the end for him. I put my foot on his neck and bore down.
But then, the door opened. Jane walked in and ran her eyes between myself, and the vampire pinned beneath me. She didn't react. "It is time." That said, and she stepped back so that I could leave.
With one quick kick to Valentino's head I was out the door and running for the main courtyard. It was empty, no one, nothing was there. My thoughts ranged wildly. Where were Rose and Jasper? Had something happened to them? Was this a set-up? I spun around, panicking; half waiting for the three Volturi vamps to come and try to finish me off.
But then, from behind me, I heard Rose. "Emmett!"
I spun around and she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was like I was seeing her for that first time all over again. Her golden blond locks were streaming behind her as she ran towards me.
"Rose!" I caught her up in an enormous hung and found her lips with my mouth. I had never been so happy to have her with me before. Time stopped as we held onto each other, pulling our bodies into one another, relieved and excited all at once.
Rose pulled away too soon. "Emm, where's Jasper?"
I hadn't thought of my brother since I saw Rose. We looked around, suddenly frightened. Anything could have happened with Sakhmet. "Jasper!" Rose called. "Jasper!"
"What?" We turned to see Jasper standing calmly just behind us. Instead of the withdrawn shell I had come to expect, Jasper was grinning from ear to ear. "What's up guys? You ready to fight some baby vampires or what?"
"Oh my God. Jasper what happened in there? You actually look amazing."
"It would take a long time to explain. More time than we have. Are you guys ready?"
"Let's do this!" I was startled by Rose's enthusiasm. Rose was more gung-ho than she had been this entire trip. It looked like she was savoring the idea of this fight. Huh, that was a new turn of events too.
"Well, they're not here in the courtyard. Why don't we check out the surrounding area from the top of the wall?" I suggested, still holding Rose's hand. She grinned up at me, and Jasper still had a smile plastered on his face. "We can do this," we all seemed to scream silently at one another. Then this would all be over and we could go home.
The three of us took a running leap and landed easily on the wall that separated Sakhmet's compound from the surrounding desert.
And then we saw them. We saw them all. They were surrounding the compound, waiting as if for some command. They wore rags, torn and dirty tunics. A communal snarl rang out as we looked down at them. There weren't six, or seven or ten vampires in front of Jasper, Rosalie and I. Fifteen vampires looked up at us and crouched, waiting for a fight.
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Prelude