Aurora - *FELIX V. PAUL*

Ch. 18

Victoria and Riley were dead.

Alice had received the message that Aurora had sent out, and in spite of the fact that Alice and Rosalie had written a fake note from Bella's sister describing her 'love sick' behavior and her quest to find Paul, Charlie had started a search party for his youngest daughter. He didn't believe a word from the letter that had been found in Aurora's jeep. They needed to get her back and soon before Charlie tore the entire town down looking for her.

Five days is what it took for the Cullens to team up with the Quilete shifters and train for the inevitable battle against the newborn army. In those five days, there was not a moment of peace for any of the party's of supernatural beings due to the disappearance of Aurora Swan. The pack had even less peace having heard the news of her being alive from the tiniest of their natural enemy's coven.

Aurora hung her head down still tied mercilessly to the post in the cavern. She had blood coming from her nose due to the cold and the small cut on her lip had yet to heal.

Riley visited her once since his outburst against her, and it was to give her a small ration of water to keep her alive until the battle ahead. He said nothing to her, afraid that she'd say something to enrage him and cause him to lay his hands on her again. If plan B of using the Volturi guard's mate against them went under way, then Riley and Victoria would already be in deep trouble with her lip being busted.

There was the sound of the door creaking open and the bright light outside shined through. Aurora didn't have the strength to lift her head. If it was Riley, she hoped he would just kill her and end her suffering. If it was Felix, she hoped he had killed Riley for doing this to her. In her mind though, Aurora truly wished it was Paul finally coming back for her.

Someone cut the ropes from top to bottom in one fell swoop, and Aurora began falling with them. She was caught in midair and felt warmth surrounding her. With the world spinning around her after finally being moved from that one spot in nearly a week, she did her best to focus on the person whose arms she had fallen into.

He was tan with black hair. He had no shirt.

"Paul?" She whispered out.

"Aurora!" He gave her some water and her vision focused more.

"Seth?" She asked as she finally saw him. "Seth!" She hugged him tightly glad to finally see someone she knew and thankful to be rescued.

"Eat this, Emily made it for you." He handed her a half sandwich that Aurora ate in 5 seconds flat. Aurora licked every bit of it from her hands and fingers. Seth chuckles lightly, just thankful that she was alive. "Don't worry, there plenty more," he said handing her a paper bag full. Aurora wasted no time eating as Seth walked them out of the cavern.

Waiting outside had been Edward and Bella. Bella rushed over to them. Seth held her up with his arms and Bella embraced her tightly before letting her go and examining her. She wiped the blood from her nose and inspected her lip.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Aurora was far from alright. She had been abducted and held captive for days with no food and very little water. All she had done was sleep and attempt escape over and over again.

Yeah, Bella. Excellent service, top of the line hospitality, overall I'd rate this experience a -5 out of 10. At least that's what she wanted to say, but all she could manage to get out between bites and gulps of sandwich and chugs of water was "Better now."

"It isn't over yet." Edward cut in. "The Volturi's guard are heading this way to see what's come of us and the army. We should be getting down there." He turned to begin the trek but stopped immediately having heard Seth's thoughts of disapproval. Edward turned back around. "I'm glad you're okay, Aurora."

As they began to descend the mountain top, Seth watched Aurora with a half smile on his face. The fear that had overwhelmed the pack was finally resolved and their missing piece had been rescued.

He smiled and shook his head. "What is it with you and vampires, Rora?"

"Believe me," she said through a mouth full before swallowing. "If I knew, I'd be preventing it."

Seth chuckled. She was still the same girl. "Oh hey! I have to tell you something pretty strange!" Aurora cocked a brow at him and listened. "We think your bloodsucker was trying to impersonate you to get to Paul."

"What?"

"Oh yeah, it was crazy! Like two days after you went missing this letter gets sent to Sam's, says it's from you. It was something about 'being in danger' and 'needing help', but you had already gone missing and we knew you were somewhere with snow because of the little vampire feeling cold or whatever, and you wanted to meet us in the forest clearing a few miles from your house. It didn't add up right, and it was addressed to Paul?"

Aurora blinked with her mouth open. "Addressed to Paul and sent to Sam's?"

"Yeah! And you, of course, already knew Paul wasn't there. It was just creepy."

"Did you find out who it was?"

Seth gave her a dumb look. "No way! It was clearly a trap and we weren't getting set up."

Aurora nodded in understanding. She bit her lip gently and built up the courage to ask him. "Have you heard from Paul?"

To this, Seth took a misstep in the snow and nearly dropped Aurora. When he recaptured his footing, he murmured an apology and looked to his left. She did not beg or plead, she just stared at him and knew there was something he wanted to share.

"Sam thinks that Paul may have phased sometime recently."

Her heart skipped a beat.

"Why does he think that?"

"...Because he heard Paul's thoughts when he had shifted too."

Aurora sat in silence and thought of everything that had occurred over the past few days and just simply the past few hours. "Oh my gosh."

Seth nodded.

"He's coming back?" Aurora whispered.

Seth nodded. "And he's pissed."