☯ + the ballet studio (twilight)
so this ended up just being a rewrite of chapter 23 of twilight, so enjoy 3001 words of EPOV in the ballet studio
I HAD DECIDED TO FORGO using the car Emmett had stolen at the airport. I knew my legs could carry me far quicker than any vehicle, and this way, I was uninhibited by the layout of the roads. Alice had given me the information I needed, and I was off.
Even as I ran, I panicked that I was too late. As I lept between buildings and down alleyways, I prayed that I would find Bella with her heart still beating, with life still in her eyes. So stupid, what had she been thinking? Why hadn’t she let us help her? I was angry, far angrier than I had ever been in my life. Did she not realise what she meant to me? How important she was? A part of me was furious with my siblings as well, although I could little blame them. Bella’s decision to escape them had been made too quickly for Alice to see and Jasper hadn’t known the layout of the airport as well as their charge.
Bursting through the doors of the ballet studio, the one Bella had identified from Alice’s vision, I saw found myself in a waiting area. One window showed a dark, empty room, similar to what my sister had seen, but not quite the same. The other, the one that truly had my attention from the thoughts within, was illuminated, and I could already smell the sweet scent that had called for me all these months. The monster within me roared with fury — who had dared take my prize? The man in me, however, despaired. What were the chances Bella was still alive if her blood had been spilt?
My time in that room was short spent, and I quickly shoved the locked door open like it were a piece of paper. My eyes trained on James, and a furious roar left my chest. Even as I rushed over to him, ready to grapple him to the floor, my ears heard the most blessed sound: a heartbeat. She was still alive. I didn’t glance at her, knowing that it would give James his chance to get the upperhand, that my distraction could cost both our lives.
I was not much of a fighter, having never had much need for more than playful wrestling with my brothers. It was Jasper who truly knew what battle was, and Emmett who had the strength to help. My gift could give me the chance to evade for as long as I could, and I knew they were on their way. All I had to do was keep him distracted until they arrived to help.
Almost as soon as I had knocked him off balance, James had kicked me in the stomach, sending me sprawling across the room. Glass from the mirrored wall I crashed into rained down on me, and I heard Bella cry out once more. Letting another snarl rip from my mouth, I dove at him, landing solidly on his back, one arm wrapped around his neck, my mouth at his throat, tearing at the flesh there with my teeth. My momentum had thankfully knocked us away from Bella, and James let out a roar of his own, his hands trying to snatch at my grip and body.
“Edward, move!” a voice called, and I obeyed before I even looked to see who had called me.
Jasper was on him then, Emmett close behind. The two of them would make quick work of ripping the tracker apart — the floorboards were dry, slightly lifting in places, and I knew they would make good firewood. James was taken care of, my brothers would see to that.
I had larger concerns.
“Oh no, Bella, no!”
I had finally had the chance to take in what kind of a state she was in. Her leg was bent at an unnatural angle, her shirt was covered in blood, quickly congealing and drying into the white fabric. Part of her face was concealed by it, and I tried frantically to brush her hair out of the way. Her heart, the sound that had given me purpose, was weak, fluttering hard to try and keep moving the blood she had left around her system. No doubt there were other injuries I couldn’t see — James had not merely wanted to find and kill her, he had deicded to play with her. A part of me felt satisified as I heard his destruction behind me.
Knelt at Bella’s side, my hands hovered uselessly over her form. I had been instructed in such matters, but I had never practiced, and I had little clue where to start. In my anxious state, all knowledge I had in medical matters seemed to go out of the window. All I could see was my love, dying before me.
“Bella, please,” I whispered, longing to take her hand in mine, but unsure as to whether I would be able to keep myself from hurting her further, “Bella, listen to me, please, please, Bella, please!”
I was almost unsure of what I was asking for. Her to wake up? Surely then she would just be in more pain. For her to live? For her to forgive me for putting her in this situation?
Finally, one mind shone through to me clearer than the others.
“Carlisle!” I shouted, needing my father’s help, his years of patience and expertise. Even I could hear the pain in my voice, my sheer panic shining through any words I spoke. My throat was tight, and a quiet sob left my mouth as I waited for help to arrive.
“Bella,” I said again, listening to her heart falter, watching her eyes flutter before stilling once more. The sobs were coming faster now, faster than I could swallow them back. “Bella, no, oh please, no, no!”
Carlisle was before me then, his manner calmer than I had ever seen him. His hands moved to her head, his mind making note of the extent of her injuries. He took in my state and assured me all would be well through is thoughts.
He probed at the wound on her head, and I stiffened at Bella’s cry of pain.
“Bella!” I called, desperately needing her to know that I was there, that she wasn’t alone, that it wasn’t James back to hurt her again.
“She’s lost some blood, but the head wound isn’t deep,” Carlisle murmured, pulling me away from searching her features for any more signs of pain. I had shuffled closer in my attempts, and he warned me, “Watch out for her leg. It’s broken.”
Even though I had already taken note of the injury, it was now I finally turned to properly look at it. A growl of rage left my chest as I just imagined the kind of agony that had to have caused her. If he hadn’t already been torn to shreds, I would have done it myself.
Carlisle had moved on from her head to pressing gentle fingers against her side. “Some ribs, too, I think,” he muttered, more to himself than to any of us. Alice was with us now, knelt on Bella’s other side, her thoughts full of apologies. I hadn’t the presence of mind to assure her in any way, especially not while Bella was in such a state, but I chanced a glance over my shoulder where Emmett had started a fire.
“Edward.”
My name had never sounded so sweet, and my whole mind was quickly back on the human girl who had taken my heart.
“Bella, you’re going to be fine,” I told her, even while I myself was unsure of it. Her voice had been weak, and her eyes remained closed, so I lent a little closer, spoke again. “Can you hear me, Bella? I love you.”
“Edward,” she said again, her voice a little clearer this time. If nothing else, at least she was conscious.
“Yes,” I told her, trying to make my voice steady. “I’m here.”
I focused on Carlisle’s mind for a moment as he went about cateloguing all of the injuries the tracker had inflicted upon her. I wanted to snarl, to growl, to rage, but with Bella conscious, I knew it would only serve to frighten her.
“It hurts,” she whimpered, and I swore my heart broke.
“I know, Bella, I know,” I told her, suddenly reminded of kind green eyes and a calm tone. Lifting my face towards my father, my voice was not nearly so calm, “Can’t you do anything?”
“My bag, please…” he said simply, holding out his hand for it to Alice. She grabbed it from behind her and gave it to him, her eyes fixed on the blood coating his hands. He noticed, and gave her an understanding look. “Hold your breath, Alice, it will help.”
“Alice?” Bella groaned, pulling my focus back to her once more.
“She’s here,” I murmured. “She knew where to find you.”
“My hand hurts,” she whimpered.
Why her hand would be her main concern, I didn’t know. But I also didn’t care. The mind was strange when in pain. I wasn’t really surprised that her brain had decided to focus on something small rather than the worse injuries she was suffering from.
“I know, Bella,” I told her gently, watching as Carlisle drew up a dosage of morphine from the bag he had brought with him. “Carlisle will give you something, it will stop.”
None of us were prepared for the noise that broke out from her next.
“My hand is burning!” she screamed, and I sat back in alarm. Her eyes had opened, but they were crimson from the blood that had flowed into them, and I doubted whether she could actually see.
“Bella?” I asked, fear coating my voice.
“The fire!” she continued, seeming to be unaware now of my presence. “Someone stop the fire!”
For a moment, I thought she had simply seen the blaze roaring behind my back. Emmett and Jasper had left by this point, needing to get away from the fresh blood now their job was done. I don’t think either of them had taken a single breath inside the building.
But as my gaze drifted over her, I put two and two together. The fire and her hand were one and the same. On the edge of her palm was a set of bite marks.
“Carlisle!” I called, grabbing his attention, barely able to comprehend what I was seeing. “Her hand!”
My father’s mouth turned down, a quiet anger brewing in his mind that I had so rarely seen in all our time together. “He bit her.”
My breath caught as his words confirmed my worst fears.
Alice placed a hand on my arm then, her mind flooded with the vision she had had of Bella, her skin a pale white and her eyes a bright crimson. “Edward, you have to do it.” Let her turn.
“No!” I bellowed, snatching my arm away. It was inevitable, I knew that — the venom must already be making its way through her system, beginning the transformation.
“Alice,” Bella moaned, and my sister moved her hand to rest against her arm.
Edward, Carlisle called mentally, his eyes meeting mine as I looked up at him. “There may be a chance.”
I didn’t understand what he was talking about. “What?”
“See if you can suck the venom back out. The wound looks fairly clean.”
His mind provided images of what he meant. My head bent over her hand, drawing the venom back out of her system and somehow managing to avoid leaving any of mine behind.
“Will that work?” Alice asked, using up the last of her air. She looked between myself and Carlisle, her gift providing no answers because I had not yet made a decision. Every second, her vision of Bella as one of us was solidifying. And yet…
“Carlisle, I…” I started, before swallowing to continue. “I don’t know if I can do that.”
There was no judgment in my father’s mind or words when he spoke again. He was working on her head wound now, fingers nimble and sure.
“It’s your decision, Edward, either way.” Almost as if guessing my next question, he continued. “I can’t help you. I have to get this bleeding stopped here if you’re going to be taking blood from her hand.”
Bella had been moving beneath us, and now she writhed and I heard a sickening noise to my left. It was the soft squelching of flesh moving against broken bone, and my stomach sank in horror.
“Edward!” she screamed, and my eyes were instantly on hers as she looked up at me. I bit my lip, knowing that the venom would fix all of this for her, even if she would be in agony for days. But it wouldn’t be worth it — her soul was far too precious. Her life was far too important.
“Alice,” Carlisle commanded, breaking through my thoughts. “Get me something to brace her leg.”
Alice was off, looking for a piece of floorboard she could shape into a suitable brace. Carlisle looked at me again.
“Edward, you must do it now, or it will be too late,” he told me, showing me images of a process he had never seen from the inside, but could well imagine. Soon the venom would reach her heart, and at that point it would be far too late. Would I be able to live with myself if I didn’t try and give Bella her life back?
I knew the answer without even having to think about it. My actions up until this point had been entirely selfish. I had dragged her into my world. I had to give her the chance at the future that had been denied to the rest of us.
I wrapped my fingers around her wrist, bringing it up slightly and keeping it firmly in place. There was no chance of her fighting against me, but I needed few distractions if this was going to work. I still held doubt that I would be able to stop when I needed to, but I knew I had to try. I sent her a silent apology as I bent down and wrapped my lips around the bite.
At first, all I could taste was the spice of the foreign venom. My nose wrinkled a little, but then it hit my tongue. The blood that had sang to me since that first Biology class we had shared flowed into my mouth, and I quickly swallowed it down. For a second I began to feel the frenzy building up in me, the monster calling for me to drain her, to drink as much as the honey sweet blood as I could. To fill myself. Nothing else would ever compare, I was certain of it.
But I heard Alice return with the brace. I looked up to see Carlisle move to help her set Bella’s leg. I focused in on my love’s face, and the pain that was slowly leaving it, and eventually, I noticed that the spice had left her blood, replaced by something chemical and foul. Even as every nerve in my body told me not to, I released her hand from my mouth, wiping my own over my lips, before placing a gentle kiss to the other side — an apology once more.
“Edward,” she breathed, so quiet no human would hear her. But we could.
“He’s right here, Bella,” Carlisle answered for me as I swallowed the last remaining blood in my mouth, taking a few breaths of fresh air. There was an intense pride in his mind, and I gave him a small smile.
“Stay, Edward,” she continued. “Stay with me.”
“I will,” I promised, intertwining our fingers.
“Is it all out?” Carlisle asked me, checking that I hadn’t pulled away for a break before needing to return to finish the job.
“Her blood tastes clean,” I told him quietly, the panic of the previous minutes starting to dispell now the worst was over. “I can taste the morphine.”
He gave me a nod, before returning to his patient. “Bella?”
She struggled to look at him, and her speaking was little better. The drugs were starting to work. “Mmmmm?”
“Is the fire gone?”
“Yes,” she sighed. “Thank you, Edward.”
“I love you,” I replied in answer, the simplest explanation for all I had done.
“I know,” she breathed, sounding exhausted. I laughed lightly at the response, knowing she had heard me. Now things were under control, perhaps she could sleep.
Before letting her drift off, however, a player in this story returned to Carlisle’s mind, and he stiffened. “Bella?”
The frown on her face was adorable. “What?”
“Where is your mother?”
Renée. She had been the reason Bella had slipped away from Alice and Jasper, the reason she had come to face James on her own. None of us could smell anyone else in the building, and I feared the worst for a moment. I knew what Bella’s mother meant to her.
“In Florida,” Bella sighed, and we all felt relief flood through us. “He tricked me, Edward. He watched our videos.”
I could guess at what she meant. I would need to get the full story later. For how exhausted she must be, Bella seemed to be fighting it. I went to calm her, but she was speaking again.
“Alice,” she said, and my sister’s head whipped around to face her. “Alice, the video — he knew you, Alice, he knew where you came from.”
All three of us looked at each other in shock. Alice’s past had always been a mystery, one she had come to terms with. It was hard to miss something you had never had. A part of me wished we had kept James alive a little longer, so he could answer her questions. Whether he would have complied, I didn’t know.
“I smell gasoline,” Bella whispered, drawing my attention back to the present.
The blaze was beginning to crawl closer to us. The whole building would likely be lost in the fire, which would help us conceal what had truly happened here.
“It’s time to move her,” Carlisle said softly, which gained noise of disagreement from Bella.
“No, I want to sleep,” she moaned, and my chest tightened.
“You can sleep, sweetheart,” I murmured, soothing her gently. The term of endearment felt sweet and right on my lips, and I brushed my hand over her forehead. “I’ll carry you.”
I made sure I was the most gentle in my movements that I had ever been. I slipped my arms under her shoulders and knees, cradling her against my chest as I rose from the floor. One look to my father and sister, and they were making their way towards the waiting area we had entered through, and I followed behind them. In my arms, Bella’s eyes slipped closed, and I heard her beath begin to even out. The scent of morphine was strong now as the drug took effect.
“Sleep now, Bella,” I whispered, and took her out into the night air.
