Pre Edit Count – 2,556 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter:  My Immortal by Evanescence

Previous:

Edward snarls, “No!  I want to drink her!  It is my reward for dealing with all this bullshit!”

Mordred soon has him up against the wall.  “You will get what we give to you.  Do not make me end you!” He is tired of the pettiness of the child before him.

Alice sighs musically.  “Right now, everything is up to Emmett.  It depends on what he does if it goes our way or theirs.”

Mordred glares into Edward’s eyes. “And you better hope that it goes our way, Mason.”

Now:

Bella slowly opens her blue eyes and lifts her hand to her head.  She winces as the pain pounds away, and she searches for her bonds with her Mate and her brother.  There is nothing more urgent as she wakes and, for a second, doesn’t feel the Bonds to which she had become so accustomed.

She then feels both of them flooding her with love, the feeling settling over her like a blanket.  Both are pulling the pain from her so that she can do what she needs to do, but at the same time she can feel their worry.  Her time as a human is coming to an end, and there is nothing more that they can do to extend it.  The knowledge is like a sharp knife to all of them.

She moans; even with both of them pulling the pain, it is just too real, to immediate.  There is no question that whatever was used to knock her out has accelerated what her Mate and the Goddess had worked so hard to slow down.

A tear falls from her eye as she comes face to face with her mortality.  She can feel both of them comforting her, showing that they are here for her.  She knows this, and had been planning to turn when Godric indicated that he was ready for it.  But to have the choice stripped from them…it hurt.

Her eyes clear, and she moans at the pain stabbing into her eyeballs from the bright light. She hears a sound, and the light is finally dimmed.  She blinks again, and makes out the shape of a familiar outline.  Narrowing her eyes, she snarls, “Cullen.”  She should have guessed it would be one of them that robbed her Mate and brother of the time they had wanted for her.

Emmett eyes widen as he hears the hatred in the voice.  “Bellsy?” This can’t be her…this hatred can’t be from his Jelly Belly.

Bella sits up, a little fast for a human, but then, she is not human any more.  She can feel the presence of her Mate coming closer, and knowing that he is coming to her rescue makes her braver.

“Why,” she spits out at him.

Emmett is just shocked.  He finally says, “Th-they must be right.  Those bloodsuckers must have brainwashed you. Why else would you react like this?” He talks to himself, low enough that she wouldn’t hear him if she were still as she had been.

However, Bella is not the same human he had known and she hears him quite plainly. She sneers at him, “Oh yes, the bloodsuckers.  They are the ones who abandoned me without a goodbye. They are the ones who drugged me to the point that I am literally dying now.  But no, that was not enough.  No, you had to pull your stunt and now there is no more fucking time!” She pushes at him, yelling at him.  He is here before her; he is the reason she and her Mate cannot wait anymore and proceed in an orderly fashion.

Shaking his head as he allows her to push him, he asks, “What are you talking about?  We never drugged you!  And who said you’re dying?  And I just used chloroform to knock you out. There is nothing we did to make you run out of time!  Why do you say we left you?  Edward said you didn’t want to see me.  That we disgusted you and you just needed time to deal with everything.” He is trying to make sense of this, but what she says is impossible.  Him poison her?  Never!

She shakes her head, confused by his words. “What?  Edward left me in the forest to be found by whoever happened to be there.  I was fortunate to be found by my Mate and Sam Uley.  My Mate realized that I was acting oddly and called in someone, a doctor, and they are the ones who found that Charlie and I had been drugged.  He only had a small dosage.  But me?  Mine was lethal. And it is all you Cullen’s fault!” She gains her ground back as she remembers those days.

Emmett shakes his head. “I don’t know what they told you, but only our venom is poisonous.” This is what he had been taught and it just makes sense.  It’s how they are turned.  Being poisonous in other ways?  Preposterous!

Bella shakes her head as she glares up at the gentle giant in front of her. “No.  After you left, they did a study.  Mrs. Cope died soon after you left.  Also, when we looked up the places you had been, similar deaths had been noted.  Emmett, grow up.  The world is not what you thought it was.  Did you bother finding out anything on your own, or did you accept the lies of the Cullens?” She places her hands on her hips, the strength being pumped in by her Mate and Eric helping her as well as feeling how close they are.

Emmett is completely confused.  “I don’t understand what is going on.  Your eyes, your body, shit, even your face has changed.  Your hair too, but that could be colored.  You move faster than you should.  You don’t really act like a blood slave.  But you are accusing me of stuff I never heard of.  What is going on?” He is upset and things are not making sense.

A wave of pain envelopes Bella just then and she falls to the ground.  At the same time, the skylight above them bursts and Emmett is knocked over as another blur lands above Bella, snarling.

Emmett looks up at Jasper and his eyes widen as he sees his red eyes.  His brother has him in a hold where if he moves, he will be decapitated.   He looks over to Bella and sees the ancient vampire who had danced with her first snarling at him as he crouches over her in a protective stance. “What the hell is going on here?” He is so confused – he has no idea what to believe.  Why did she collapse?

Eric quickly lands beside his sister, and gives the Cullen a look of pure disgust before kneeling to tend to Bella.  He helps her with the pain, but when he gets her to open her eyes, he blanches at the most obvious sign of the pain being too much. One eyes is almost completely red from the veins bursting.

“Godric, you need to take her to ground now.  I have no idea what is going on, but whatever this idiot used to drug her has made her worse.” His words are harsh, but there is nothing but pure love in the comfort he sends her as he tries to absorb her pain.

A raven is next to land in between Emmett and Bella.  As it nears the ground, it bursts into another vampire.  He looks over at Bella with her brother and Mate.  “Eric is right.  Godric, you need to turn her.  Unfortunately, you need to do it now.  And before you leave, Eric needs to give her some blood.  It will ensure that their Bond will remain.” He is angry, and he knows he will have a chance to expel the anger on the brute sitting under Jasper’s hold.  However, Bella needs to be taken care of first.

Godric snarls, his eyes black with rage.  This is not how this is supposed to happen.  He was supposed to celebrate tonight with his Mate, then, when she was ready, he was going to turn her and go to ground.  He had planned the event as a ceremony to celebrate their Mating, but now…now it is all gone.

He has to drain his Mate here in this warehouse, then go to ground with her.   There will be no ceremony, no candles lit around them as he eases his Mate into her new life.

Bella hears the conversation, and feels Godric’s anger and pain.  She reaches her hand out to him and whispers, “Do it. Please.” She knows him, and knows he would have made it something beautiful to remember.  He can do so later, but right now, he needs to be quick and dirty.  “You will get your chance later, my love.”

A blood tear runs down his cheek, “Mo ghrá, a thaisce. Is breá liom tú. Beidh mé ag do thaobh ó anois go dtí deireadh an am. Tá tú go léir de dom. I gcónaí agus go deo. (My love, my treasure.  I love you.  I will be by your side from now until the end of time.  You have all of me.  Always and forever.)

Bella smiles up at him, “I gcónaí agus go deo. Is é sin go léir a iarraidh mé. An bhfuil chun tú a shealbhú mo lámh tríd na blianta.” (Always and forever.  That is all I ask.  Is for you to hold my hand through all those years.) Her own tears stream down her face.

Godric shakes, then roars out to the sky above him.  He pulls her to him and places a tender kiss to her lips.  Then he kisses her neck, drops his fangs, and sinks them into her vein.  The entire time, tears of blood run down his cheeks as he drains the life from his Mate.

Emmett struggles, screaming out, “No!  Stop him, he is killing her!” This is not what was supposed to happen! No!  He will change her!  She will not die! She cannot…

Jasper jams his head up higher.  “No, you killed her.  He is changing her.”

Emmett looks up into Jasper’s eyes and tells him, “There is no way I killed Bella!  I wouldn’t hurt a hair on her head!”

Eric growls, his eyes staying on his sister as he watches his Maker drain her. “Her pain was manageable.  It was taking daily doses of our blood and the two of us to pull the pain away from her, but was manageable.  Whatever you used to knock her out accelerated the drug in her brain.  So, my Maker is changing her.” He is snarling at the Cold One, but his eyes never leave his sister.  However, because he can hear the pain in the other’s voice, he decides to give him that information.

Godric senses the moment Bella is at that cliff, the one where he will either give her eternal life, or true death.  He pulls back and brutally rips his wrist open to make sure she will have enough of his blood before it closes.  He watches her and as the wound closes he removes his wrist, and Eric is immediately there pouring his own blood down her throat, massaging it as her body dies. By the time Eric is done, Godric is there with his bloody wrist ripped open again, and they both make sure she swallows.  Godric sighs when he senses the Maker Bond starting to form and the need to take her to ground for their death sleep.  He looks up at Eric who nods, then takes to the air with his Mate held tenderly in his arms.

Armando looks up and tells the rest, “I would get some answers from the lug.  I’m going to follow them and make sure they are covered in time.” With that the Dark Prince leaps into the air, becoming the now familiar cloud of smoke before the raven flies out of it.  He will ensure that they are protected.

Eric watches them, and holds a hand up when someone tries to talk as he tracks them through his blood.  Since all involved right now are daywalkers, they can wait until he is sure that the two people he loves most in this world are in the ground.  He waits, and then his shoulders hunch as he feels Bella actually die before the magic steps in and starts its work on her.   This is only possible because of the pull they feel, otherwise the vampire-to-be would die and it would be touch-and-go for the Change.  He feels his Maker’s grief as strong as his own, but he manages to stand as he waits for the tingle that announces that he has his sister back.

Finally as the first rays of sun shine down on his blond hair, he feels the anxiously awaited tingle.  His eyes open, and he cares not for the bloody tears that have been running down his face, before in grief, now in joy.

Jasper had held Emmett still, even as the giant breaks down and is dry sobbing in his arms.  He had carefully watched Eric, and when his eyes open, he raises an eyebrow.

Eric glares at the one who had killed his syrra, but, knowing that he had been as worried as the rest, he tells Jasper, “It has started.”

Jasper relaxes a slight bit at the news.  He then looks down at his former brother and tells him, “You are a lucky son of a bitch, you know that?” His voice is hard, harder than the young Cold One has ever heard it.

Eric snarls as he paces up to them, “Not so lucky.  I think it is time to find out what he knows, and what the hell he used on Bella!”  His beast is demanding satisfaction from the one who had hurt his syrra, and here he is!

Emmett shakes his head, “You fuckers just killed Bella and expect me to help you?” He won’t.  HE cannot.  They had killed her and claimed he had done so even as he had watched the fuckers drain her!  He isn’t sure what the blood given to her by them both was for, but she had to be dead with the volume of blood the one had drained from her.

Eric’s face relaxes, “Oh no, I don’t expect you to help us at all.  In fact, I am happy you won’t.  You see, I am now feeling my Maker’s rage from you making him kill his Mate before she was ready.  I also felt Bella’s rage as she realized who took her and what you did to her, and her rage about the time you robbed from them both.  And then there is my own rage.  So yes, please don’t help.  That will be just the thing that I need for the next three nights before I have to help my Maker with Bella since you fuckers managed to mess with my lillasyster to the point that she cannot drink from anyone but us!”  At the end, Eric is in Emmett’s face with his fangs dropped and ready to tear into the son of a bitch who hurt his syrra!

The pure rage vibrating through the Viking is one that Jasper respects and one that actually makes him feel sorry for Emmett.  Eric will take the pain and anger that he and Godric are feeling out on the Cold One.  Then there will be Peter, Andrew and Armando’s rage that will need an outlet…not to mention his own.  Emmett has a rare chance to survive it all.

He looks up at Eric, “Here or do you know of somewhere else?”

Eric turns his head slightly, his fangs are down, and there is no way he will be able to retract them for quite a while.  He smiles, a cold smile showing the side of him that his enemies had learned to never provoke.  “I think for now, I will start here.  But have Peter ready the holding cells.  It seems they are going to get their first visitor.  Once they are ready, we will continue this there.  I have tools there to help.” His grin is pure evil as he thinks of all the toys he can use

Emmett just stares at the tall blond in front of him.  He swallows, then relaxes slightly as he considers that unless Jasper helps him, he will live through this.  But that thought is quickly gone as Eric strikes at Emmett’s throat with his fangs and rips it as though it is nothing more than paper.

Emmett’s scream ends abruptly as Eric’s fangs slice though his voice box.  Eric leaves on just enough of his skin to allow his head to remain attached. He wants the idiot to repair quickly to be able to feel anything and everything they do to him.

Turning his head to the side, he spits out the venom and mentally thanks his Goddess for allowing him to do this with no side effects.  He asks Jasper, “He can still feel everything I do to his body?” His eyes never leave the object of his wrath.

Jasper chuckles.  “Oh yeah.  He will feel every single thing you do to him, even if you didn’t leave the head attached.  Even if you burn parts of him, he will feel it for the rest of his life.” His face looked like his ancestors as he contemplates all the ways to make the idiot below him suffer for Bella’s pain.

Eric has a matching evil grin on his face.  “Good.  He deserves to suffer for leaving her, for not caring enough, and for calling himself her brother and not honoring it.  He will suffer, then we will get answers.  If he doesn’t cooperate, we will repeat as many times as necessary until he does.” His eyes leave Emmett and stare into Jasper’s, knowing he will agree with him.

Jasper looks down at the Cold One he still restrains.  ‘You poor sucker.  You are getting the revenge that Edward deserves.” Then the thought occurs to him, “Eric, while I have nothing against what you have planned, don’t you think it would be better to see if Emmett might know where Edward is?  That way you may have a gift for your sister when she rises.” His eyebrow lifts up as he looks at him.

Eric growls, but he reluctantly nods.  Jasper grins with delight, and then spits on Emmett’s neck.  He holds the head back in place on the body, and grins as he senses the pain of the joining from the Cold One below him.  He takes a stronger hold of Emmett as he feels the Cold One’s venom finish the join.

Emmett’s black eyes open to the blond Viking’s face.  Eric lifts an eyebrow. “Well, wasn’t that fun for an opening?  I suspect you thought that I couldn’t really hurt you.  Now that we have dispensed with proving that you have plenty to fear from me, answer me these questions, and I will allow you the freedom of a night.  If not, then Jasper and I will work you over until you answer the questions anyway.  There is no chance of freedom.  There is no chance of rescue.  In fact, I would welcome it.” He glares down his victim.

Emmett growls at the man, but Eric backhands him hard enough to make his head loosen from the injury he already has.  He might have joined back together, but the wounds are still there, making it a weak spot until he feeds again.

Staring down at the giant, Eric asks him, “Where is Fuckward?” He growls out the name, feeling all the hatred he has for the fucktard.

Emmett again defies him, and Eric looks at Jasper.  “Why can’t they ever just answer the question?  Why must I prove that I am right?” But inside, he admits he is glad that the idiot isn’t giving in. The more pain he can exorcise, the better.  He knows there are many others who want a piece of him, too.

Jasper shakes his head. “I have no idea, but we need to get to work.  I figure Edward will be expecting him soon, and we don’t want to risk him escaping.”  He can’t help the growl coming from his chest, but feeling Eric’s spike of rage at the idea tells him he is not the only one.

Nodding, Eric leans in to start. A scream rings out from the abandoned warehouse and startles the birds who will not return due to the noise that continues for a long, long time. Grief is one thing a being over a thousand years of age is only too familiar with, a being who has felt his family dying around him one too many times.

Final count: 3,510 words.

Fairfarren~Wendy