Giving Way To Dusk By HelenahJay.pdf

Giving Way To Dusk By HelenahJay

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6995816/1/

"Mean it," I whispered. "Please."

Was it really such a loathsome idea? Would he rather die than change me? I felt

like I'd been kicked in the stomach.

"No." Edward's voice is low, dead. Final.

A sob is choking me, caught in my throat. Tears prick at my eyeballs. The room is

damp, and my clothes feel icy against my skin.

"I'll give you what you want," Edward says to Aro, stepping forward. The sudden

distance between us is like a chasm. I feel myself teetering on the edge. I would

give anything in this moment to be able to read his mind.

Aro's ancient face lights up in fascination; his maroon eyes glinting. Jane lets out

a hiss, glaring at us in dismay and open hostility. Alec reaches for her hand, but

she snatches it away.

"You let her go from here, safely," Edward continues. "You don't follow her, you

don't monitor her. You trust what I'm saying; that she will never reveal what she

knows."

"And?" Aro's eyebrow arches, his grin a rictus of cold delight.

"And I will stay here, and join the Guard."

No. No, no, no. What is he doing? I step toward him, but the tall vampire behind

me grasps my arm.

"You will serve this family?" Aro gestures lazily at the vampires gathered around

us. "You will pledge allegiance just as every other here in this room has done?"

Caius is scowling fiercely at Edward, leaning forward in his chair as if he might

pounce at any second.

"Yes," Edward whispers. "In exchange for Bella's life."

My sob breaks free as I collapse to the floor, kneecaps slamming to the

unforgiving stone. I cry out Edward's name, but he doesn't turn around.

Aro claps his ivory hands like a small child. I look up at him, almost blinded by

hot tears. I'd thought that nothing would surpass the heartbreak I felt when

Edward left me in the forest, but now I'd trade everything for that numbness in

place of this searing, shattering pain. He can't stay here. He can't choose these

creatures over his family, over me!

Aro gestures dismissively at my crumpled form. "Felix, deliver her to the outside.

Heidi should be back soon with the evening meal, and we wouldn't want anyone

getting...confused, now, would we?"

Before I know it, Felix has lifted me effortlessly to my feet as I struggle and

scream. His cloak tangles around my legs. One preternaturally strong arm closes

across my chest, holding my arms to my side. It becomes agonizing to draw

breath, but I continue to cry out. "Edward! EDWARD!"

Aro sighs, "Not like that, obviously. She'll frighten our guests."

Edward's shoulders are slumped, his hands balled in fists at his side. Why won't

he turn around?

Felix's cold fingers close around my throat. Already gasping through my tears, my

air supply disappears all together. My lungs burn; my heart pounds. I am still

screaming Edward's name inside my head, wishing with everything I have that he

could hear my thoughts. And then the fight starts to go out of me, and all I can

feel is the icy steel of Felix's grip as I get swallowed whole by the darkness.

~*~

"Bella! BELLA! Wake up. Come on, please."

I swim back up to consciousness, blinking my eyes in the low light, taking

inventory. Everything hurts. My limbs feel bruised and aching, and breathing

takes too much effort. It feels like almost drowning all over again. I recognize the

voice, but I don't want to.

"Bella, honey. Come on."

Alice is crouched over me, her expression painted with fear. She brushes my hair

back of my face, where it feels plastered with sweat and tears.

"I need to move you, Bella. Is anything broken, do you think? I don't want to hurt

you." There's an anxiety to her voice I've never heard before.

We seem to be in an alley, and I'm slumped against a stone wall, smooth

cobblestones under my hands. The noise of music and revelry filter through from

the square outside. Volterra. God, I'm still in Volterra. I try and push myself up

on weak arms. Alice immediately lunges forward to help, lifting me gently to my

feet and keeping her arm around me to steady me. I lean heavily against the

wall.

She runs cool fingers across my throat, and I can only imagine the bruises Felix

has left there. Swallowing seems an effort. Alice is aghast. "That thug just

dropped you here, at my feet. God, Bella did he do this? What happened? Where

is Edward? Oh, your throat. Bella!"

I feel a wave of nausea and gag briefly.

"Oh, I should have been there! I... was too slow, the car...and then the

police...I've only managed to see flashes. I've been going crazy. Bella, what

happened? Please, can you talk? Tell me you're okay. Please!"

The tears come back, welling up in my ravaged throat and burning my eyes. All

of this is real. Edward.

"Bella, he's still alive. I can see that! They didn't kill him! It's okay."

She draws me into a hug, and I collapse against her tiny frame, my shoulders

shaking with silent tears. Tiny Alice, still so strong despite it all. Holding me up

when nothing else in this world can. She lets me cry, rubbing soothing circles on

my lower back, and murmuring meaningless reassurances in my ear.

When I draw back, she smoothes cool fingers across my cheeks, wiping away my

tears and calming the angry, swollen flesh. She waits, with a patience I have

never seen from Alice, for me to regain my composure.

"He decided to stay," my voice sounds ragged, broken. Hoarse from screaming.

Alice's hand flies up to her mouth in shock, her eyes wide. "What...what do you

mean?" Her eyebrows draw together, and I can see she's searching for any vision

that could prove me wrong. Her expression moves from worry to horror. I don't

want to know what she sees.

"He...they made him choose, Alice. They wouldn't let me go unless I was

changed."

Alice nods, as if this is not news. "But you are going to be changed, Bella. I've

seen it."

I shake my head slowly, pushing back from her embrace. It's all I can do to stand

unassisted. I realize I haven't slept in days and my last meal was a mouthful of

rubbery eggs before the plane landed in Rome. All this way, all this effort, and for

nothing. Nothing. We still lost him.

"He chose to stay, Alice," I grit out. My mouth is dry, and my legs are still

wobbling.

Alice looks as if she is about to protest further, but then she takes in my fragile

state. She scoops one arm under and around me, lifting me lightly, and we move

swiftly out of the alley and through the crowd, my feet hovering just above the

ground. We must look like any number of other drunken festival-goers,

supporting each other home. The noise and the robes and masques surrounding

us in the square are jarring. In my exhausted state, my eyes keep sliding closed.

My nerves are jangling. I feel like I'm buried in a nightmare.

Alice steers me around a corner and unlocks the sleek yellow sports car, sliding

me gently into the passenger seat. With the door still open as cover, she kneels

and easily snaps a heavy metal clamp off the front wheel. "I had a disagreement

with someone about whether I was allowed to park here," she says with a scowl,

throwing the twisted metal up onto the footpath, and closing my door. Sinking

into the soft leather seat, I press my overheated temple to the cool glass and

close my eyes. Alice stays outside on her cellphone, and even though she's

whispering for all intents and purposes, I can tell her conversation with Carlisle is

agitated. I look out at her in the dark, pacing on the footpath and rubbing at her

forehead. She keeps gesturing frantically as if he can see her. Abruptly, she

hangs up with an exasperated hiss, and throws the phone at the nearest stone

wall. It cracks sharply, pieces flying in all directions.

I blink once and she's sitting in the driver's seat next to me. Her eyes are bright,

and she drums her fingers rapidly on the steering wheel, her jaw working in

frustration. "Carlisle wants us to come home," she says, staring straight ahead.

"He thinks we need to regroup, to plan. And he doesn't want to do it here, right

under the Volturi's noses."

She's not making any sense. Plan for what? I'm beyond tired, my eyes feel

scratchy and swollen even when I close them. Nothing makes sense. Not any of

this - Edward not beside me, Alice's concerned face, the tension I can feel

spinning around the interior of this stolen car.

Alice fires the car into life and weaves through the crowds, sitting heavily on the

horn. We are soon speeding through the Italian countryside. Alice changes gears

with vicious slams that make me think the car might not survive her wrath. I

want nothing more than to sleep. I close my eyes and hope.

~*~

In my entire lifetime, nothing has been more difficult than standing my ground as

Bella sobs my name. I don't take my eyes off Aro as Felix stifles her cries,

swearing to myself that when the time is right, I will tear both of them limb from

limb. And then a terrible realization crawls over my skin. Aro will know this. Aro

will touch me, and will know every vengeful thought. I'm not safe anywhere any

more, not even my own mind.

The heavy wooden doors swing closed behind Felix, and Aro turns back to look at

me. There is a long silence, all the more startling after the Bella's agonizing

pleas. Not one of the Guard move a muscle, waiting to see what will happen next.

"We'll get you settled in after the meal," Aro finally announces. His tone barely

masks his delight, as if I am a long awaited guest, an old friend come to join

them for dinner. As if my soul has not just been bargained away in front of them

all.

"I won't be partaking, for obvious reasons. I'll hunt, and join you after. I assume

there are wild animals outside the city limits?" My voice sounds exhausted; my

sarcasm falls flat.

Aro pauses, a cautious expression crossing his face as he appraises me.

I sigh. "You know I won't leave, Aro. You would have Bella back here before I had

time to even think about it. I'll keep my word; you keep yours."

"Like father, like son. Very well, Edward Cullen, I'll take you for a man of honor.

Heidi will show you to your quarters when you return."

It helps, immediately, to escape the stifling confines of the Volturi chambers.

Above ground the crowds are partying, turning from the day's traditional

celebrations to drunken revelry as the sun sinks below the city walls. It feels as

though an eternity has passed since I stood here in the piazza ready to end my

life. I wonder where Bella is, how she got here, how she got away. Part of me

wants to stalk these cobbled streets looking for her, chasing desperately after the

scent of her, but it will get me nowhere. I need Aro to trust me if this situation is

ever going to change.

Once clear of the city I take off at a sprint toward the Apennines. Hunting in Italy

isn't easy, but any further afield and I risk Aro's suspicion. There are wolves in

the mountains, and it doesn't take long for me to down several. I pause on a

rocky outcrop, wiping blood from my mouth on the back of one sleeve. The

temperature has dropped dramatically, and I feel so empty, even having just fed.

It seems overwhelming. To have believed in Bella's loss so completely and to

then have had her again in my arms, only to lose her once more. And now I'm

trapped. I've done what I can to save her, but being here, with these vampires?

With no respect for human life. The cruelty; the dispassionate enforcement of the

law. It feels like Chicago all over again. I've been a vigilante once, and I swore I'd

never go back.

I manage to surprise a boar, and it's enough to slake my thirst for a while. I take

off back toward the city at a run.

Heidi meets me in the waiting area on my return, and walks with me down a long

side corridor, decorated with priceless Renaissance art.

"You went hunting animals?"

I nod. Her eyes are an extraordinary color. She is objectively beautiful, I

suppose, but in a chilling way. There isn't an ounce of emotion in her elegant

features.

"What a waste of energy," she muses. "You should hunt a more challenging

prey."

She stops and opens one of the wooden doors on the left, waving me in ahead of

her.

"This is yours," she shrugs, looking around a tastefully appointed room. The

furnishings are rich and comfortable but, with no windows, I can't escape the

feeling that this is nothing more than a plush cell. "While you're here." She says it

in a way that suggests others have been here before me. Others that haven't

lasted very long.

I sink to the bed, and start pulling off my boots. Heidi pauses, waiting for

something. I don't look up. Her thoughts are vivid enough, and she doesn't seem

to need any encouragement. I watch myself through her mind's eye, naked above

her, thrusting, touching, and whispering her name. It is nothing new. Tanya's

imagination would leave hers for dead.

She waits. I still don't react.

"You're required in the Grand Hall tomorrow morning at nine." Her tone moves

from dismissive to icy, as she turns on her heel and stalks out, slamming the

door behind her.

By the looks of things, Heidi's not used to disappointment. I don't care. I'm more

than used to being the cause.

The shower in the small suite is cramped, but I stay in it until the water runs

cold, trying to sort out the events of the day in my head.

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