Love Bite

Chapter 28

I DO NOT OWN CHARACTERS OR TWILIGHT

When Bella eventually resurfaced from blissful unconsciousness, it was to Alice stroking her hair gently away from her face.

All the pain and exhaustion from before seemed to have disappeared after her impromptu rest. Bella knew the moment she opened her eyes that she felt physically fine as she peeled her eyes open to see Alice gazing down at her with golden eyes, watching her.

"Alice," Bella mumbled, a slight smile curving up the corners of her lips.

Alice did not return the smile and suddenly everything came rushing back.

The smile dropped off her face. Bella sat up immediately upon remembrance and Alice drew her hand back hesitantly as the brunette brought her own hand up to rub at her face, thrust back so quickly into turmoil.

Goddamn, she thought as she gazed around at her surroundings, immediately recognizing that she was sitting in Alice's bed. The pixie was sitting next to her Indian style, and when Bella looked into those beautiful eyes she adored so much, the previously forgotten anguish came back, intensified.

There was guilt, concern, sorrow and something else reflected back at her from Alice's face and it cut Bella immediately to the quick. Bella wanted to cry at the sight of it, at the reminder of what had occurred before she passed out, wanted to scream in frustration at all of it, that they'd been attacked by werewolves and the Volturi in the same day, but somehow more painfully that Alice, of all people, had done what she'd done.

Just... Goddamn.

Bella licked her lips and turned in the bed, away from Alice. Alice shifted as well, turning to face her, but their bodies were angled away from each other. It was such a stark opposition to their normal body language that it physically hurt Bella inside her heart, but one flashback of Alice kissing Jasper was enough to fill her with anger as well.

To keep from losing it, right then and there, Bella took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall, gazing at Alice, trying her hardest to come off emotionless but knowing it was written all over her face how she was really feeling.

It's not like it would matter even if she were capable of hiding it. Alice always read her so easily.

"Are you alright, Bella? Do you feel okay?" Alice asked softly after a long moment of just watching each other. The concern was clear in her eyes, but held back more so than usual.

"Yeah... I think so. I feel fine, at least, which usually seems to be a good sign," Bella replied, trying to keep her tone neutral as Alice nodded slowly, the concern giving way to barely noticeable relief, that Bella only picked up on because she knew her so well.

They were silent again. Bella rubbed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, waiting anxiously.

"How long have I been out?" Bella finally spoke when Alice did not seem forthcoming, just kept watching her with those big golden eyes.

"About a full day," Alice answered quietly.

The sound of her voice made Bella swallow forcefully and close her eyes. When she opened them, all she could see was how pained Alice looked, written in the lines of the furrow of her brow, the ever so slight sheen of wetness across her bright irises.

"Did I miss anything?" Bella murmured, trying to contain the urge to cry, to forget what she'd seen, to lunge forward and wrap her arms around Alice's neck, bury her face in it, where it was always safe, always a cool haven from the rest of the world.

But she couldn't. Not anymore.

"Not really," Alice said, still in that quiet tone, as if the silence around them were glass she didn't want to break. "We managed to fight off the Volturi this time, but I think it goes without saying that they'll be back... With reinforcements. Nobody's ever survived a full out assassination by them before, so of course they're going to be furious. We should've been more prepared though. We just didn't think they'd attack so quickly..."