Twilight: Betrayal

Chapter 3

My eyes snapped open to see a dark figure looming over me. Laurent. He hadn't changed since the last time I saw him, so long ago it seemed.

His presence provoked fear, but not like the fear Charlie taught me. He gave me a pleasant smile and looked me up and down. "Oh my. What has happened to you?" His Jamaican accent tinged with faked worry.

I was shivering violently, my teeth clattered together and my jaw tightened. I was physically and emotionally in a state of shock. Partially because of Laurent and the rest was from blood loss.

"I went to the Cullens house to find it empty. Where have they gone?" His red serpent eyes bore into me, willing me to answer.

I panicked, not knowing his intentions.

"Lie."

I swallowed hard. "They left town for a few days. They're coming back soon so..." I wasn't sure what else to say. I felt pathetic and vulnerable. Here I was, lying on the forest floor, bleeding to death and I was trying to preserve what life I had left? What was the point in lying? In a matter of moment I would be dead. Did it really make any difference if it was from a stab wound or being drained by a vampire? In the moment, it mattered.

Hopefully he'd understand that if he were to lay a finger on me, Edward would tear his arm off. I'm not a very convincing liar but I prayed he'd fall for it.

I coughed, sending a shower of blood into the air that fell back on my face. Laurent leaned away to avoid the spatter.

His thick eyebrows knitted together. "Surely you will not survive long enough to see their return." He looked deep in thought for a moment.

I was gulping blood. He was going to kill me, this was the end. I'd never see Edward again. I closed my eyes and envisioned him, smiling and beckoning me closer.

"I will change you."

My eyes snapped open. "W-what?" I stuttered. Wasn't he trying to kill me?

He nodded. "You're bleeding internally. Even if I were to get you to a hospital now, you'd be dead in a matter of hours if you were fortunate." He smiled down at me and it seemed almost...friendly. "The Cullens did me a kindness. I can do them this favor in return."

He sat beside me and lifted me onto his firm lap, not wasting any time. He ran his cold tongue up my neck, from my collar bone to my ear. A shiver ran up my spine and my stomach churned.

He inhaled deeply through his nose. "Forgive me for indulging. You are quite delectable. I may enjoy this." I finally escaped my muddled thoughts and found the courage to speak but his teeth had already sunk into my neck.

The pain, so familiar and unwelcome, shot through my veins like an open flame. My eyes screwed shut. Laurent stayed attached to me for a moment or two longer than was necessary. He finally released me and set my burning body against the cold ground.

He breathed heavily from the effort it took to ignore his nature and let me live. One second he was sitting beside me and the next he was standing. He gave me one last smile and began burying me in branches, leaves and nearby moss, ignoring my shrill screams.

I was trying to speak. They don't want me anymore. Get it out of me before its too late. THEY DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE. The words wouldn't come out. I couldn't speak around my gutteral screams.

Before enclosing me completely in the makeshift casket, he peered down at me, uncertainty clear on his face. "We can't have someone finding you in this state." he paused. "I'm not sure how much they have told you about this process. In three days time you will rise as a newborn. It is of vital importance that you stay away from humans. We don't want the Volturi getting involved now do we?"

The Volturi faintly registered in the back of my mind but I was too busy writhing in pain to care.

He sighed. "I must leave you now. Have a long life Isabella. Give my regards to the Cullens when you see them again." and with that he was gone. And I was all alone.

NO. Come back, please!

A frustrated tear escaped my eye. I tried to call him back but I could only manage a shriek.

It must have been nearing midnight. The stars overhead winked through the cracks of my stick coffin.

The fire burned through my veins, consuming me. I soon found it more and more difficult to struggle, my cries becoming nothing more than soft whimpers and my eyes fluttered shut despite the horrible pain I was in. I was trapped in my head for what felt like years before I felt any relief.

Before I knew it, the pain started receding, first from my fingertips and toes, moving inward. I soon noticed that the fire wasn't disappearing, it was moving. Up my legs and arms, down my scull. Up my torso and down my neck. It met up exactly where I expected it to, burning a hole through my heart. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, everything stopped.

The fire, the pain, everything. It was eerily quiet. I realized that I could no longer hear my heart beat, when only minutes ago it was all I could hear, drowning out everything else around me.

I began to feel tired. The cold no longer bothered me, I welcomed it. My eyes felt heavy with sleep. I was being enveloped in darkness, wrapped in the thick comfortable blanket of oblivion.

When I was able to find my voice, only one name sprang to my lips.

"Edward..."