Dancing With Fire (Edward Cullen x Male!Reader) (Hiatus)

Chapter 6: Life Marches On

"I long to lay by your side once more my love... you were my entire life.."

After being discharged from the hospital, James sat in the car with Dad as he drove them back home. His arm was still in a cask, something about light fracture damage...

His Father was speaking but his words never reached his sons ears. His mind was gone. Not even he knew where he was anymore.

Time passed in his eyes almost like a rock skipping across a river. He found himself laying in bed. He tried to see anything but it was all too unfocused. Everything was just grey... the harder he tried to focus, the more it hurt. His mind could only wander while his body was brokenhearted...

<downstairs>

"Jacob listen... he isn't up for a visit right now. I get that your really concerned, but he isn't there... something has broken my poor boy. He hasn't spoken in 3 days since he was discharged. The doctor said he might be suffering from extreme depression and a form of PTSD. I guess whatever he went through really did a number on him..."

Charlie blocked him from going up the stairs. His hand held him back and Jacob started to feel tears swell up in his eyes.

"This was Edward... it has to be! He almost died and he wasn't in this bad a shape."

Charlie sighed and wiped away his own tears.

"Blame is irrelevant. He's hurt. Badly. I don't care who did it, I'm just trying to make sure I don't loose my son after everything he's been through. Bella is already planning to move back down to make sure he doesn't try anything..."

Jacob was about to respond when he felt something... a brief moment... for a second he felt like someone was outside watching them. Jacob shuttered and offered Charlie a hug.

"Look. This isn't on you. This is on the Cullen's. We can only hope James can find his way back to us from wherever he's hiding in there. Probably somewhere dark and warm knowing him..."

*a unknown amount of time passes*

James stared at the ceiling with bloodshot eyes. He'd cried so much recently that it hurt his eyes... he still couldn't make out shapes... or voices... nothing made any sense anymore. Sometimes he'd hear the soft voice of a female... at first he thought it was Bella... but he couldn't make out the distinct voice but the orange color gave her away. It was Victoria... he'd feel her sometimes. She'd pop in... and not kill him. Instead she'd hold his head to her shoulder as he cried. He couldn't understand why she acted like this all the sudden. Honestly he didn't care. She'd snap his neck at any moment... yet she didn't. If anything her calm and cold touch help ground him slowly back into reality.

Eventually, as time went by... days turned to weeks. It was December... probably. Victoria still kept coming by, mostly at night. She'd hold him as he cried and talked to her. She'd never reply... just listen as his darkest hour unfolded around her.

She wasn't the only one to visit. Jacob would drop by during the day sometimes. He couldn't see that handsome face but he knew that Jacob couldn't bare to see him like this. Eventually, Bella moved back in. That night she spent by his side as his unfocused gaze and nonresponsive nature led her to cry before walking back downstairs.

Victoria dropped in a few seconds later, she pulled him up to craddle his head on her arm as she sat on his bed. At her touch, the color began to bleed back in and his vision cleared a bit.

Neither of them said anything... the vampire just craddled him as tears fell once more. He sobbed into her arms for the 30th time or something. They stayed like this until his body began to feel weak from tiredness. Victoria wiped away his tears and she leaned down to speak.

"salve nefas est cor tuum usque sanguinem"

Her voice was strange and foreign, he felt like he should understand her words... but he didnt.

"Sorry... what?"

Victoria laughed and smiled slightly, she looked at him with a mix of concern and a slight bit of... fear?

"Nevermind, I was just... you remind me of something I once knew. So... are you strong enough to stand yet?"

Victoria asked as she got to her feet, brushing off her cloak.

James took a second to lean up and tried to stand, just to fall back down.

Victoria caught him and just carried him in her arms.

"I want to show you something. I'll bring you back safely I promise..."

James looked at her confused and sighed.

"First you wanted me dead, then you tried to kill me, now... your cradling me and helping me through my break up. What do you want...?"

Victoria's smile turned dark.

"Perceive as always. I may want you dead but something much greater concerns me. Something that I think... relates to you. So until I know we all won't be brutally hunted down and butchered... I'll agree to a temporary alliance."

They were out the window, into the wind. The sensation reminded him of that night... the one when Vamp James attacked them. It was refreshing... exhilarating.

"So why do you want MY help? I'm just a human guy Victoria... you might want the Cullen's help instead."

Victoria laughed once more and rolled her eyes.

"The Cullens have abandoned you. They are not here. You may yet provide some... assistance. Do this for me and I will consider my blood feud settled. I might even invite you into my own new Coven. Then we'll have our duel on equal footing."

James looked at her in shock.

"Wait... what happened to Laurent, you guys were in the same Coven right?"

Victoria looked down as she slowed her pace as they reached a scene straight out of a book...

"No. Not anymore."

James stood in the middle of a meadow, a tree had been uprooted and slammed deep into the ground, trees from all angles were broken in half. The grass itself was frozen... like crystalized. Something happened here...

"I found out that something attacked, tortured, and butchered Laurent... I found the remains of his head right under that broken tree. Now I don't know about you... but even we Vampires aren't strong enough to uproot a entire tree... let alone bury it 10 feet under... that kind of strength... its unheard of."

James looked around the tree. Victoria wasn't kidding... this thing was buried deep in the ground. And poor Laurent was murdered? He might not have cared for him, but Laurent was at least a decent vampire. One of the rare nice ones too... but why bring him here?

"So... why am I out here?"

"Oh. It's because I saw you talking to the thing that did this in the hospital. It lurked around you while you were unconscious for... hours. I believe it made Laurent a example in case any other vamps or creature decided to come close to you. Namely, Laurent was going to try to warn you."

"Wait hold up... I talked to the thing that did this!?"

"Yeah. He was a doctor or something. Kept making weird ancient latin phrases around you while you were unconscious."

Wah... Doctor?

"... oh my god..."

He was tended to by a murder...

"Caelesti killed Laurent..."

Then they heard a voice from behind them...

"Correction. I killed a parasite. Hello my Beloved... and you... LEECH."