Found
Finally, I land on both James' and Victoria's trails and miraculously I find that I'm gaining on them. I seem to be getting distracted easily though, unable to concentrate for long on their scents. It feels like the harder I push myself, the more disconnected I become. After stopping to feed on a sickly doe in her twilight, I find several broken trees, almost resembling the aftermath of a fight between the two nomads. This confuses me, but also allows me to gain a little ground.
They are rushing toward something, but I cannot figure out what it is, but they are getting sloppy. They seem to be eager to meet something with the rate they're traveling; they've not stopped to feed since I picked up Victoria's trail days earlier.
Assuming they've learned about my gift and are blocking me, I rarely catch their thoughts. When I do, I hear James, who has an almost possessive quality about him that I had originally seen in him about only Victoria. While their bond while is still strong, it is not as it once was. His affections are split now. I cannot pinpoint what it is though. I just know they are heading toward something, and I am heading toward them.
On the second night, I finally reach them. James is thinking about Laurent, but when I try to pinpoint the French bastard I get nothing. He's off my grid and I am frustrated, more focused on the couple. Victoria is happy to be with James now, but when I get flickers from her mind, I can tell she's pensive about something as well. He gave her news she's not happy about and I hope to use her preoccupied mind against her. Just off to my south-southwest, I make my move hauling toward the nomad couple.
I will not be late this time.
Within a mile of Victoria and James, I know they must hear me. They both react in defense, but Victoria is ready to fight, James ready to flee. James grabs Victoria and begins to run, saying that they cannot fight us all thinking that I've brought my family and that they have to get to the others. What others? I see in his mind Laurent and a female, it's a mere millisecond then they're gone, beyond my grasp. They are both extremely quick and the images I get cause me to falter and lose their trail for a bit.
I track them through Victoria's protesting. She is thinking about how they can take me, but when he explains how he knows there are many in our coven, she realizes her losses and runs with him harder. They are so preoccupied they don't realize I'm alone. The redhead is much faster than him, but he is also quite fast. His tracking abilities allow him to maneuver the terrain that I've never been on; he knows every rock and hill and valley and they make significant distance quickly.
My footfalls are loud within the bright forest, the sun came up hours ago and thankfully we're in a remote enough area that I don't have to worry about anyone seeing. I don't even think Victoria and James care if they're seen. They'd probably just feed off of the people then run on. I realize that they are too busy evading me to care about covering up their minds.
I see a flit of brown hair and blood in James' thoughts. He wants the brown. He wants the red.
Then I stop running.
I see an image of my soul, my beautiful Bella, lying prone on a ratty, dirt-caked floor screaming like death is consuming her.
The image is startling and terrifying and confusing. My legs just stop working. I crash to the ground near some fallen trees, the greenery shrouding me.
"Bella."
She was so real, so scared, and in so much pain. I felt her pain.
I brush myself off of the dirt and leaves. My heart that never beats is broken yet again by the thoughts of my Bella in agony, but it's so confusing since the ballet studio had clean wood floors. He must be trying to use my extra sense against me by showing me these false horrors.
My resolve is hardened against killing James. He must perish.
Over hills, through forests, over a large lake area, I stay close, waiting for them to falter. I push hard until I come across a new trail. Victoria and James have gone off to the north, following the trail of two other vampires. One trail is Laurent, of that I am certain, but the other, I'm not sure. I just can't pinpoint why I know it, it is familiar only not someone I can recall. Has Laurent taken a mate? I don't know what to make of it and I try to catch of glimpse of any of their minds, but I can't filter in anything.
Then I hear men. Laurent's thoughts move in and out of range even though I know he's not too far away and I hear him thinking about stalking poachers with a newborn. He's giddy to see what will happen. I try to figure out where the camp is, but the images are coming and going almost like in a fog, like a cell phone that keeps losing signal. This can't be good. Did he learn how to close off his thoughts from me?
I again try to focus on James and Victoria; I don't want humans being slaughtered. I can pick up their thoughts as they close in, mostly Victoria is focused in on the hunt. James is coordinating a rendezvous.
In Laurent's mind, I catch a glimpse of him running behind a girl, the newborn is female. All I catch is brownish red flecks of hair, well ahead of him and then him salivating over the smell of at least a dozen men. As I finally near the camp area the screams begin.
My first instinct is to immediately find one of the nomads and kill, but I stop dead. I am flooded with a vision from James' mind. He is standing still, just staring.
An amazingly beautiful newborn, dark auburn and chocolate hair shining in the sunlight, her porcelain skin sparkling and shimmering, not only am I struck still by the gorgeous sight, but I'm shaken to my core to see her ripping open a large man by the throat. As she drains him she turns lifting him off of her legs and I see her sated face as James' sees it. My Bella.
"No, no, no! God, no!" I scream as I lunge forward into the clearing. The smell of blood is everywhere; at least five men are already drained. My own thirst is biting and nagging at my throat.
Laurent is clearing a body as we meet and he smiles like I'm an old friend. "Care to join our little coven for lunch, dear boy?" he says with a cat-like purr.
I know the others now know I'm here. The other three are further away having chased down fleeing victims, slaughtering them as they ran for their lives. Slamming Laurent against a tree, I am surprised at how easily I gain the upper hand. He is strong, but having just eaten, he's sloppy and slow. I try to rip him apart, but then I hear Bella cry out.
"Mine!"
I'm too late for the men; most of the dozen are dead. I'm torn between trying to help the last few who will die and my vision of Bella, bloodied and snarling.
My mind returns to the vision of Bella as I see and hear James speaking to her. "Sweet girl, let's go." He brushes his hand over her cascading dark hair and she smiles at him. I hear him coo, "My little pet" then my vision goes black.
I panic and run forward toward where they should be.
There was so much trust in her gaze, like you would have looking upon a sage parent. "I'll take care of you." I hear James say, "Are you still thirsty, my lovely one?" She whimpers pitifully as I crouch behind a large tree where I can see them.
"You cannot be serious, James." Victoria snarls. "You took the little bitch and made her your pet? What the fuck are we going to do with this?" Victoria waves at Bella dismissively who growls back without words. I step cautiously toward the far end of the clearing near where they are, trying not to alert them to my ever encroaching presence.
Bella wanders aimlessly near a drained, flannel-clad body, looking as though she's contemplating trying to drink more. Her body shows me she's completely enthralled in her task of finding more to drink. My thoughts go back briefly to my own newborn time. The memories of the all-consuming thirst burning me from the inside, the barrage of thoughts, smells, feelings are fuzzy now, but still, I remember. The feeling like my body was on overdrive, humming with new strength and the sheer terror of all the confusion. Not knowing anything as it was, not remember who I was or where I belonged. If it hadn't been for Carlisle reminding me of whom I was and helping me through that transition... would I have ended up like this?
I look back toward Bella as she looks down at her sparkling fingers, wiggling them slightly in the rays peeking through the trees.
"She's mine, Victoria. I made her! I made her for us!" James calls out like a petulant child. I hone in on their thoughts. Of course I can't hear Bella, but James is thinking disgusting thoughts about having both Victoria and my Bella. I can't help the snarl that comes through my body at that point; it rips through the clearing echoing a cry from a man dying about quarter mile away.
Bella's head snaps toward my direction, but she can't see me from where I'm standing. I can barely see her and I cannot see James at all because of the tree line. James and Victoria bicker back and forth for moments as Bella creeps closer to where I stand. I silently will her to me, but right before she gets to the trees where I'm hidden, James calls her back to him. Sadly, she obeys, like a trained puppy. He is training her.
I focus back on Victoria. She's gone, running away. She is angry and hurt that her mate has taken a second even though she is also attracted to Bella. Struggling to wrap my mind around what I'm seeing and hearing, it processes slowly. James has taken Bella. He's made her and he wants to keep her as well as his mate. Being a master over two mates is unheard of and revolting, not just because he wants to do this with my Bella. Polygamy just doesn't work in our world.
James' thoughts push into my head. He's hedonistically hopeful Victoria will change her mind as soon as she sees how wonderful of a hunting addition Bella will become. He sickeningly refers to her as his Isabella in his mind.
He ravages her with his eyes while she is still enthralled with her new skin. Starting at her stunningly dark, nearly garnet colored eyes, he lingers along her neck where a bite mark, his mark, sparkles in the sunlight filtering through the trees. He brushes his gaze along her collarbone and then lands on her pert breasts lying in wait in a blood stained bra.
Moving quickly, he stands in front of her and drags a finger from her jaw bone to her left breast then dips his finger into his mouth, sucking off the collected blood. My stomach nearly revolts and empties, but I'm able to calm myself enough to keep watching. She's covered in spatters of maroon and crimson, her hair messed and wild, moving slightly with a soft breeze. Her beautiful face looks so calm as she looks upon the bastard. I just cannot understand what I'm seeing. My heart was broken before, now it feels like it is slowly being pulverized.
"We must go, my sweet girl. We are not safe here. People want to hurt us and we're finished with our food. We should go seek out more elsewhere." His voice drops into a seductive baritone. "Would you like to hunt with me?"
She nods, her eyes wide with wonder and blood red. He leans down and I think he is going to kiss her, but instead her runs his tongue from her collarbone up to her jaw. "Mmmm… delectable."
My gut reacts without my brain and I snarl, pushing forward. He grabs her hand as I step clearly into view. "Get away from her, James." Bella cowers behind him like a scared child. "Bella, please wait." I step closer, but James puts himself between us, growling like a rabid grizzly.
"Fuck off, Cullen. She is of no interest to you. She is bound to me, I'm her maker. You abandoned her!" I hear Bella whimper again like she's in pain. The screaming is too intense for her, her newborn senses are overwhelmed on top of the usual feeding frenzy that's similar to an adrenaline high. Her body is on overdrive. I take another step, trying to keep my eyes on both James and Bella.
"Bella…" I start cautiously, "I did not abandon you. I didn't think you were alive! You don't have to kill. Come with me. We can fix it. I can fix you," I plead. She still won't look at me, her head dipped, still standing behind James.
James leans toward Bella, but still turned mostly toward me. He puts his hands on her cheeks and brings her eyes to his. "He only wanted you as a human. You were merely a toy, a distraction to pass the time. Understand me, Isabella. He does not want a vampire mate and especially not one who enjoys killing pathetic humans. He doesn't want you as you are, my love. I do. You are mine, Isabella." He grasps her hands and tugs her a bit. "Let's go."
Her legs move slightly and I cry out feeling as though I'm being ripped apart from the inside, again.
"Please, Bella. I love you." My mind is screaming to fix this.
She makes eye contact with me, as James whispers to her that I am dangerous and that I want to hurt them. He tells her she needs to do as he says to stay safe. Her beautiful brown eyes gone, in their place the red, striking eyes of a newborn who has just feasted. Instinctively, I reach my hand forward.
Even though her eyes are no longer of the Bella I remember, she is still my Bella.
"Stay away from me." Her pristine alto voice floats on the air quietly, just enough for me to hear. She turns and takes off running in a similar direction as Victoria.
James turns to me and smiles. "You heard the lady. She wants nothing to do with you."
As I make to charge on James, I'm struck from behind and thrown yards into a fallen tree. A loud crunch and crash radiates throughout the trees as my body breaks through the wood like toothpicks. I quickly right myself and try to keep my mind on James as I prepare for Laurent who is nearly atop of me. Don't bother following little boy, she's mine now and she wants nothing to do with you or your shitty, pathetic existence.
I run headlong at Laurent and leap just as he does. Meeting in the air I use all of my strength to strike him with my legs. He's propelled backward, flipping and landing on his feet. "You'll need to do better than that, enfante'," he taunts. I seem to have lost my connection to James as he approaches Bella's speed and begins speaking to her. It's like she's a cloak or something. She may have some kind of talent like us, but I just don't know.
Repeatedly, we flip each other and roll in midair. He's a good match, similar in size, but I have the benefit of knowing what he's doing next and I use it to my advantage over and over much to his exasperation.
Laurent lunges at me again and I shift and parry away from his assaults. He's getting more and more frustrated, but speed and knowledge are my advantage. I wait for a mistake in his attack, when his step falters along the large log that broke my fall previously, I take my chance. I grip his arm tightly as I use my legs to push his body away, ripping his arm from his body. I throw the limb behind me and while he's stunned, I jump into a flip, grabbing his head as I go over him, pulling as hard as I can and twisting it off of his body with a whip-like crack. His body falls to the ground without animation. I breathe a sigh of relief as I light his body on fire, knowing this is one less enemy to deal with. As soon as he is ash, I focus back on my tracking, back to Bella.
Victoria is easier to track, but she also continues to change her movements and thoughts rapidly. She seems to want to stay far ahead of James and Bella, who now appears to be tracking Victoria.
Although I cannot read her thoughts, I focus all my attention on this new scent of Bella's. The scent of the beautiful, vicious newborn who does not know me, of the young vampire who could kill us all if she knew her new strength. It is the scent of the girl I sat and read with for hours on end, of the girl who could trip on air, of the girl who stole my heart without even trying... my Bella.
E/N- Soooo….? What do you think?
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