Cold As Ice

Chapter 12

*TW: violence, gore*

It was dark in her apartment when the sound of something crashing to the floor in the apartment directly above her jolted Allie awake. She shot up, her clothes crumpled and wrinkled, as she cocked a keen ear to listen. Her upstairs neighbor was an elderly woman who lived alone with a small chihuahua, and aside from the occasional yip of the dog, she was a quiet and unobtrusive neighbor. Allie held her breath for a few heartbeats as she listened, trying to hear the sound of crying out or the yip of the dog, signaling that its owner maybe fell and couldn't get up. Allie didn't hear anything, and after a few seconds she let out a shaky exhale.

She rose clumsily from the bed. Based on how unbothered her comforter looked, she must have slept deeply and for a long time. Her imprint was pressed cleanly into the powder blue blanket, and Allie felt a deep groove in her cheek from the seam on her pillow.

Flicking a light in her bathroom, she shuffled sleepily into the bright light and began peeling off her clothes, tossing them into a pile in the corner of the room as she turned on the shower. She set to work on removing the bandage. Her arm still ached, although it did seem to be getting better a little bit with time. She was somewhat disturbed to see that her arm was no less pale or hardened than it had been the day before at Carlisle's. There were two puncture marks in the meat of her forearm where James' teeth had broken the skin. The flesh closest to those marks was the coldest, and the hardest. Allie gingerly pressed on it, testing for pain. It wasn't uncomfortable, and the wound didn't look like it was at risk for opening, so she decided it was probably safe to wash the area.

As the steam from the shower began to fog up her window, she slid back the curtain and started to step in when she heard another crash from above her. This one was louder than the first, and Allie heard the sounds of her neighbor's dog yipping frantically. Allie cut the water off to listen.

"Missus Yarborough?" she called up through her ceiling. She wasn't sure if the woman would be able to hear her. There wasn't a reply, so she called again. "Missus Yarborough, can you hear me? Is everything OK?"

Allie heard the sounds of footsteps overhead, but they were far too heavy and quick to be her upstair's neighbors.

Grabbing her silky bathrobe off the hook from the bathroom door, Allie threw the robe on and slid into some slippers as she made her way to her front door. She grabbed her cellphone that she'd left sitting on her kitchen counter. She cursed silently as she saw it was dangerously low on battery, but she figured it had enough juice left in it to make an emergency call. Allie wasn't sure exactly what she was going to find in Mrs. Yarborough's apartment, although she felt it was probably someone breaking in trying to steal something. Allie felt her brain slip into nursing mode as she began inventorying her next steps.

Just as she was about to unlatch her deadbolt, Allie's front door burst open with alarming force. The door collided with Allie, throwing her backwards into the air. She slammed against the wall at the back end of her apartment. White hot pain blinded her as her skull snapped backwards into the wall. The air was knocked out of her lungs and her vision was blurred between pain and tears, but she managed to look up.

Framed in the doorway of her apartment was a tall figure, backlit by the lights outside her door. As he stepped across her threshold, Allie immediately recognized the man's sneer, lips peeled back over sharp canines, and red eyes. James.

Allie tried to suck in a breath of air to scream, but she couldn't manage to inhale. She felt a cold trickle of blood beginning to run down the back of her neck from where her head had hit the wall, and a familiar feeling of nausea was beginning to boil in her stomach.

"Strange little thing." James' voice was just as cold and chilling as Allie remembered. He advanced on her. His movements reminded her of the way he'd stalked her in the forest like a predator closing in on its prey. Knowing what she knew now about what James was, it made perfect sense.

"Always enjoyed a challenge," James continued. Allie had expected his red-haired companion to join him, but it seemed that it was just the two of them this time. Allie felt her thoughts turning to water as her grip on consciousness became slippery. The pain in her head was excruciating, and she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to hold on. Sliding across the floor, Allie clawed her ways towards her bedroom.

"That won't do you much good, kitten," James cooed. He stepped over her easily, coming to a crouch in front of her. Allie tried to return his gaze, but her eyes were having a hard time staying focused. Her hair felt heavy with blood and she could feel it trailing down her back and in the front of her chest.

Carlisle, she thought weakly. Where are you?

As if sensing her silent plea for aid, James chuckled and cocked his head at her. His eyes glimmered in the same way they had moments before he'd bitten her.

"Tsk tsk tsk," he tutted, reaching out and gripping her right arm between his frigid fingers. He squeezed too hard, and Allie squealed as she felt the bones near her wrist snap. The new pain in her arm pitched her closer to unconsciousness, and she felt her head come to rest weakly on the cold floor of her hallway.

"Well, kitten, what do you expect? I can't drink you, apparently, so I have to settle for other distractions," James continued. His words barely registered as Allie's thoughts came to focus on her breathing.

In and out, she willed herself. Inhale, and exhale.

James moved to stand, letting her broken arm drop with a searing thud to the floor. He stepped over her again. Allie wasn't able to turn her head to follow his movements, but she unconsciously braced herself for more pain.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice.

"If you're looking for a distraction, I'll give you one."

Emmett.

Allie heard the sounds of a scuffle intermingled with guttural roars as a heavy object slammed into the wall nearby. Her floor vibrated with the impacts of heavy feet.

"Edward, grab his arms!" she heard Emmett growl.

In and out, she continued to repeat to herself. The knowledge that she wasn't alone had pricked her awareness slightly, but she still didn't have the strength to turn her head.

"Carlisle, go!" Edward, she recognized.

Not a half second later, she had the familiar sensation of cold, stone arms like tree trunks wrap around her midsection, lifting her easily from the ground. Her head turned as Carlisle readjusted her in his arms. His eyes were pouring into her and the fear she saw there was enough to root her to the present for a while longer. She gave him a weak smile as she felt him step around the sounds of fighting. She managed to catch a glimpse of Edward and Emmett holding James' arms behind him as the spritely Alice wrenched his head from his neck with a sound like shattering glass.

"Don't look, Albrun," Carlisle said quietly as they exited her apartment. In the distance, she heard the faint sounds of sirens. Carlisle carried her quickly and purposefully down the stairs and into the woods at the back of her complex.

"Carlisle, where are we going?" she asked, surprised he hadn't put her in a car or waited until EMS arrived. She knew Carlisle was a savvy enough doctor to recognize that her injuries needed medical attention, more than what he could give her at his house.

"The hospital," he replied, his voice thick with an emotion Allie couldn't quite name. She felt her mind turning to static again as the pain in her skull began to throb.

"Wouldn't... faster.. in a car?" she managed to heave out. Carlisle shot her a glance before looking back over his shoulder. The lights of her apartment complex had faded into the dark.

"No, it wouldn't be," he replied. Effortlessly, Allie felt Carlisle launch forward with the same gut-turning speed that she'd felt when James had grabbed her from the overlook. She remembered vaguely that Carlisle had mentioned speed when he'd enumerated a few of the perks of being a vampire the other night in the midst of her questioning. Although Allie felt that there were many things about Carlisle's condition that she could get used to, as she tried to swallow down her sick, she felt sure that this terrifying speed wouldn't be one of them.