Mimic | Jacob Black

22. The Choice

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River was in darkness. He couldn't see anything. Then the noise of wind filled his ears, and everything came to him all at once.

The darkness disappeared, and he was watching everything in his vision speed past in a blur. Two things popped into his mind at first: One, he wasn't in control of his body. It was like watching through someone else's eyes, and it was fairly evident in this case, considering his body was running through this place, which he quickly realised was a forest. The speed at which he was going though... It was unbelievably fast. Which led him to point two; that this probably wasn't him. Whoever's eyes he was seeing the world through, they had to be a vampire. Who else could reach such speeds? They were running through nature, crowded trees all around, yet never running into them.

Suddenly, the person laughed, and River was surprised when the voice sounded familiar.

Like his voice.

He veered off to the right, not slowing down at all, and then glanced to his side once he saw something in his peripheral vision. Again, River was surprised when he saw Bella, running just as fast. She glanced at him with a large smile on her face as her–noticably darker brown–hair whipped behind her. Very quickly was River able to discern the differences in her physical appearance.

Her skin was very pale. All the features of her face looked sharper. And most notably; she had those signature golden eyes.

She was a vampire. Did that mean this person was River as a vampire?

Suddenly they came to a stop. River very quickly noticed Edward smiling at them from the other side of a small pond. River walked forward, and had his suspicions confirmed when the person he was seeing the world through looked down at the pond.

River's own face was staring back at him, with the same feature changes as Bella; super pale, more defined jawline and cheekbones. His hair was a noticeably lighter shade of blond, making his darker roots look closer to black than dark-blond. Even in the slightly warped reflection the water surface provided, seeing this version of himself–clearly made to be more appealing in the eyes of humans–was hard to believe. Those golden eyes seemed to pierce right through the vampire River and into River himself.

He realised this must have been Alice's vision, but that in no way explained why he was seeing it. This wasn't real, or at the very least, it hadn't happened yet.

The sun must have been previously obscured by clouds, because suddenly, the whole area lit up as sun rays beamed down. River watched in awe as his near–white skin exploded into a shimmer like thousands of diamonds. Bella came up to stand beside him, sparkling just as much. She leaned her arms and her head against his shoulder as they looked at their reflection.

The vision disappeared all at once and River had a sense of relief as power returned to his body, he could move it again. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around. Was he asleep? It felt like it.

He quickly realised he was in a car. It was dark outside. Alice was driving, and he looked back to see Edward and Bella huddled in one of the back seats.

"How did I get here?" River asked Alice.

"I carried you," she said. "We just left Volterra."

River looked behind him again and focused on the back window. The faint city lights of Volterra could be seen fading away in the night as they drove out into the open landscape, back towards Florence. He brought his gaze forward, resting back against the seat. They were leaving the Volturi. They had survived.

For now.

River couldn't tell what car they were in from the inside, but it wasn't the same one Alice drove them in with.