The Beacon -Paul Lahote 2-

Chapter 25

OCTOBER

The Volturi weren't backing down from their position. They knew the Cullens would not kill Mavis. They believed they would turn her. That was not what Mavis wanted. She did not want to live forever. She never had. As much as she loved her family, living forever with the Banshee curse was not something she wanted.

Planning a future with Paul became nothing more than a dream. Mavis fully believed she would have to die. The Cullens didn't want that. Paul didn't want that. He would rather Mavis become a vampire than lose her forever. That amazed her considering how much he disliked vampires. Paul was an entirely different person now. His anger was controllable, and he didn't hate vampires like he once had.

Mavis tried not to think about it. So, she didn't. That worked for a while, but with every passing day, the idea of dying started to bother her. Mavis didn't fear death. She never had. But she did fear what she would leave behind. Unaccomplished dreams and broken promises.

Standing in the elevator, she waited for the doors to close. "Come on," she muttered. She repeatedly tapped the Close Door button. The doors finally closed. "Thank you." The elevator began moving. Mavis was getting her cast taken off. After weeks of healing, it was finally time to say goodbye to the ugly blue cast. 

The lights above her start to flicker. Mavis glances at the ceiling, slightly confused. It was an older elevator. Most likely, it needed a new bulb. The doors in front of her opened, but they did not reveal the hospital.

It looked like a tunnel. Dark, cold, and damp. "H-hello?" Hesitantly, she began walking through the tunnel. "Hello?" There was old piping and exposed electrical wires everywhere. It was hard to navigate. "Hello?" There was nobody around. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. There wasn't a basement in the hospital, at least not that she knew of. "Carlisle?"

What she saw next scared her. It was blood, a lot of it. "You think you can save them?" A voice echoed down the hall. "You can't save any of them."

"Mavis," Carlisle put a hand on her shoulder. The girl spun around, eyes wide with fear. She was standing in the hospital, people walking all around her. "Are you all right?"

She blinks a few times, trying to comprehend what had happened. "What?"

"Are you all right?" He can see the fear in her eyes and hear the racing of her heart.

Mavis isn't sure how to answer that question. "Fine. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Carlisle isn't convinced.

"I think," she stutters. "I guess not really."

"Okay." He set down his clipboard. "What happened?" Carlisle guided her into an open exam room and closed the door.

"I'm not-" she rubs her arms. "I'm not really sure. It might not have been anything."

"But it might have been," he says. Carlisle had learned from past mistakes that assuming it's nothing doesn't work. It was always something. "It's okay. You're safe here."

"Right." But Mavis's wasn't safe from her own mind. "Yeah, totally safe."

Carlisle smiled faintly, "take a deep breath. Tell me what you saw."

"I'm not sure," Mavis began. "It was dark, like a tunnel." That alarmed him instantly. "It was cold. There was blood." For some reason, she didn't tell him what she heard. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it.

"Okay," he processed the words quickly. "We'll figure it out." That's what they always said, but they never did.

"Okay."