Chapter 9 ~ The Plot Thickens

The darkness doesn’t frighten me this time.  It feels welcoming, like an old friend taking me home. All the anguish and pain I felt moments ago begins to diminish. I roll on my back, staring at the ceiling slightly giggling as it tickles my senses.  I breath in a sigh of well needed relief, push my hair out of my face, I feel the darkness trying to pull me deeper. It whispers the most amazing things, gives me promises I know it can fulfill. I was about to surrender to it completely when a knock on the door interrupts my perfect moment. 

Angrily I rush up and whip the door open readying to scream at whoever was behind the door, but he was always an exception.  “Edward, I will be down in a moment.” I go to shut the door when he abruptly stops it with his foot.  “I’m sorry Bella, but I think its best someone stay with you, if not me perhaps Alice or Maggie?” I roll my eyes, tired of feeling like a child that needs babysitting, “Whatever Edward come in, but I can’t deal with all those,” squinting my eyes, “What are they anyway?”  He takes a seat on the end of the bed, “You know what they, I, and to a certain extent you are Bella. “I bite my lip, and nod, “Vampires right?” He doesn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to I knew I was right. “Every night I have these dreams, but something tells me they aren’t just dreams because they feel like memories, am I right?” His eyes shift ever so slightly but are back on me in a second,” Most likely, would you like to tell me about your dreams?” I shrug, “sure, I guess if it will help.” He pats the bed beside himself, “have a seat, relax and tell me what you can, hopefully we can make sense of it.” Without over analyzing it like I so often do I just sat, dangled one foot off the bed and tucked the other under me. “Usually they just start out in a field of sunflowers, I am running through them arms wide touching every flower  I possibly can, I am so happy, never felt so happy, but as I get further in the field the flowers begin to die, and suddenly as I run they crumble and turn to ash.” I glance up at him, he is watching me intensely, and I have to look at the comforter to keep myself focused. “When I finally stop and turn to see what has happened, I notice the entire field is ablaze, and there are screams in the distance, but I am frozen unable to move to search any further, on  the top of a hill far from where I am I see the shadows of what looks like a hundred people standing in a line, and one by one they shatter like broken mirrors, I yell but there is no sound, nothing, I am a silent paralyzed vessel unable to undo the wrong.”  This time when I look at Edward he doesn’t meet my gaze, he is far from this room, like he is remembering something, “You know what it means don’t you?”  He places his hand on my knee and when he speaks its calm, collected, it’s like the lullabies Maggie hums to me. “You need to understand that no matter what you remember it is in the past, never changing alright?” I shake my head,” OK, but please tell me what it means.” He brings his face closer to mine and is staring into my eyes, looking for what though? As he pulls away his face tells me that what he was looking for was me. “You are summoning the darkness Bella, Why?” I shift back further from him, “Why would I do that, I hate it I don’t want it, I want none of this.” He stands up paces for a moment, “You didn’t do it on purpose, but I remember the way you were then, I know what the darkness looks like and I see it peeking through.”  Angrily I stand and push Edward; shockingly he slams against the wall leaving a large hole. “Oh my God Edward I am so sorry.” 

In seconds Jasper, Zafrina and Alice are all in the doorway, at first they look at Edward then me. “I didn’t mean it Alice I will pay for it.” Alice doesn’t move she doesn’t smile she is emotionless, “Bella, you are strong again.” Zafrina pushes past Jasper grabs my neck crashing me into the bed and the frame collapses. “You fucking bitch, why would you summon it back?” Without thinking I kick Zafrina off me she fly’s across the room, out of the door and through the wall at the end of the hallway. I stand bracing myself for Jasper or Alice to attack, when Edward is suddenly between them and me. “Enough, the more angry you make her the worse it will be, Alice call Aro, Jasper go do crowd control, we are fine here.” They just stare at Edward unmoving. “I said Go, NOW!” Jasper and Alice slowly exit the room, keeping their eyes on me until we are no longer in each other’s sites.

 I go to leave the room when Edward grabs my arm. “Let go Edward, I am leaving, this isn’t working.” Pulling my arm away Edward grabs it again, “ No Bella, not again, not ever if you go I go, but believe me or not they want to help you.” I turn to face him, “Why Edward, why do you claim you love me, you are married to Tanya, happily ever after in your Executive mansion, lifestyles of the rich and famous existence.” He places both hands on my arms, intensifying his grip. “Bella, I have been doing just that, existing, waiting, the only time I ever lived was when I was with you.” His words are full of passion, but I can’t believe what I am hearing, “When were we together?” He shoots me his crooked smile, “Many years ago, we had what Maggie likes to call a forbidden love, you and I are like fire and gasoline Bella, but we never cared what anyone thought.” He releases one of his hands, and brushes the hair from my eyes. “ I worked for Ciaus, My gift of reading minds was to help him keep an eye on Aro, who was no longer sharing with Marcus or Caius anything about you, He himself wouldn’t go near you in fear, so he made me watch you, read your mind, but I can’t read your mind Bella, and the more and more I watched you the more I fell in love with life, and so I lied to Caius and told him what I knew he wanted to hear. “ I swallow, grasping every word Edward spoke. “ I told him you were not this evil he thought you were, that you would bring great power to this family, an so he asked me to get even closer to you, to watch you when you turned eighteen to see if what Alice saw was still in the cards.” I inch closer as he speaks, magnetically drawn to him. “ We would just talk for hours in the garden, nothing really fascinating, and we fell in love, you were two weeks from your eighteenth birthday and because I had no idea what that would mean I told you how much I loved you, you reciprocated every feeling, word, and thought, I was never so happy, we were never so happy.” His eyes fall slightly. “What happened Edward?” He places his hands in mine, stares at them.  “The night before your eighteenth birthday we made love, for the first time in a hundred years I felt truly alive.” He lifts my hand to his lips, and gently kisses my palm. “That sounds amazing Edward, why is that bad?” His grip is stronger, like he is trying to stop me from pulling away. “The next morning, on your birthday guards came to your room, they pulled me from your bed, tore off my arms, Felix one of the head guards, told me I was sentenced to die, but you Bella, it was a sight, you rose from the bed, your hair turned into night, your eyes were an inferno, you shredded Felix into pieces and with a touch liquefied him.” 

I see now why Edward was gripping me so tightly I was crumbling inside hearing what I was. “You saved me, but the trilords felt that our love was a cancer, and ordered us to separate, Caius wanted you destroyed but Aro would not have it, so Aro took you and ran, and Caius told me to stay by his side and if I strayed he would kill you slowly.” My head began to spin, I felt nauseous, “I remember Edward, I searched for you for a lifetime, tore apart towns, I killed thousands to find you.” He nods, “Yes and your dream was in Tuscany, it was toward the end of the war, when Caius cornered you, destroyed most of your army atop a hill, knowing you would see it.” I close my eyes picturing it all, “He wanted me to come to him, hoping when I saw you that I would falter and he would be able to kill me.” I look into Edward’s eyes, “But I never went to you, I knew he would kill you before I got there, that was when the darkness began to slip and Aro was able to drag me away, we went to Spain, and I remember Alice was there and she told me that I wouldn’t be in pain anymore.” Now Edward was clinging to every word I was speaking. “They took me to a Gypsy I can’t remember her name, she made me forget didn’t she?” He shakes his head, “Yes, and she planted memories for you, Bella, you can only fight magic with magic it was our only way to save you.” 

“What did Caius do to you?” He just shrugs, “Forced me to marry his sister Tanya, so she could watch me and make sure we never saw each other again.” He chuckles, “But two years ago this squirrely little intern comes in to her company looking for a job, So Aro planted Zafrina there, Tanya hired you most likely to torture me, and we waited, but you never faltered you were perfection Bella, so Caius let you live.” 

“Then who tried to kill me that night on the bridge?” He raises his brow, “We don’t know but we suspect it was one of Caius’s idiots.” I smile at Edward, “Thank you for this, I am remembering, and even if it’s bad I am glad I know.” Edward goes to speak but is interrupted. “Edward, why must you corrupt my daughter repeatedly?”  I turn to see Aro glowering at Edward, “He only did what I asked Aro, you will leave him be.” Aro laughs boisterously, “Or what my child?” I smirk in slight satisfaction, “Or I will destroy you.” He stares at me for a long moment, throws his hands in the air and storms down the stairs. I look at Edward; he is suppressing a laugh, “Bella, perhaps that wasn’t the best thing to say?”

 “It would have been uncomfortable for all parties if he were here for what I am about to do.” He has a genuine look of confusion on his face, I chuckle and pull him to me, crashing our lips together, Edward grabs my lower back pushing me closer to him, and we fall on the bed. At the same time we land a huge explosion tears the side of the cabin apart, we rush to the window to see every car ignited in a tornado of fire. “What the hell?” Edward grabs me, “We need to get downstairs now!”  We rush down the stairs everyone backed against the wall staring at a withering Maggie on the floor screaming in pain but there is nothing I can see that indicates she had been harmed; I immediately rush to her side, “Maggie!” 

Then two figures stepped closer, a small blonde girl and a brown haired boy, no older than twelve I would say, I remembered them, they were known as the twins, and they possessed amazing powers.