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Bloodlust by kalejay
Chapter 1: Ethan
Bella's POV
As I watched the grey cloaks of the Volturi vanish into the mist, I was hesitant to
breathe a sigh of relief. The sickening sound of Bree's body crunching and
snapping wouldn't stop echoing in my mind. Edward continued rubbing my
shoulders as I shook beneath his arm. From the corner of my eye, I could see the
smoke rising from the smoldering remains of the newborn vampire; the merciless
fate delivered onto her by the Volturi. I fought against the impulse to look directly
at it for fear of recognizing any distinctive body parts. I had blacked out once
already and it wasn't something I needed to have happen again. The incense
smell scratched at my throat, forcing me to cough.
Edward kissed my temple in another attempt to comfort me for all the horror I
had just witnessed, but something about his action wasn't quite right. It seemed
distracted; unsure. His hand suddenly tensed, becoming motionless against my
upper arm. I looked up at his face, and his golden eyes were narrowed into slits,
staring off in the direction where the Volturi had disappeared.
Before I could question it, a guttural rumble rolled inside his throat. "Damn it!
Why didn't I hear him before?" he snarled worriedly.
Sucking in a sharp breath, I scanned the perimeter of the clearing nervously.
"What? Who?"
"I have to get to him before they do," Edward answered cryptically, ignoring my
question. He released me as Alice approached us, her expression ambivalent.
"Stay here!" Edward instructed, and before I could object, he took off running.
"Edward!" I called after him, panic heavy in my voice, but he had passed beyond
the trees before his name had finished spilling over my trembling lips.
A small cold hand slipped into mine, causing me to flinch. "Stay here," Alice
repeated Edward's request. She avoided my frantic gaze and stared in the same
direction Edward had fled. Her expression suddenly became vacant, and I knew
she was experiencing a vision. I was almost too afraid to ask...
"Alice? What do you see? Is Edward –?"
"He'll be... fine," Alice answered ominously, and squeezed her hand around my
fingers.
Wide-eyed, I stared at her face, trying to search for answers. She finally turned
to look me, probably in response to my quivering hand. She nodded once, a
single crease breaking across her forehead, disrupting her perfect porcelain face.
"He'll be fine, Bella," she repeated, her angelic voice lacking the conviction I
desperately sought. There was something she wasn't telling me.
My heart thudded furiously. Had my instincts been right? Was the horror far from
over? It didn't matter that I had seen more than enough terror to last a lifetime;
I should have known better than to think it would just vanish along with the
Volturi.
"What's going on, Alice? Please tell me," I begged. "Who didn't Edward hear
before?" I demanded frantically.
A soft breeze made her dark pixie-length hair dance around her face as she
returned her solemn gaze toward the trees with a heavy sigh.
"Ethan."
Edward's POV
Running back through the eastern forest toward the campsite, I knew it wouldn't
be long before I found him. It was a young male's voice that rang in my mind. He
was scared, and he was also running. He wouldn't be hard to find; not with his
heart pounding ferociously and his breath rough and ragging. I could have heard
him from miles away. And if it wasn't for that, the scent of his fear was pungent
in the air. He was an easy target for any vampire. My only hope was that I was
the only one that would find him.
I should have noticed his presence earlier, but a human boy was nothing close to
resembling a threat... not when I was protecting Bella's life from that fire-haired
psychopath that wanted to tear her to shreds. If I could have slain Victoria any
more brutally than I already had, I would have. Over and over. I'd create an
eternal inferno to incessantly blaze around her ashes to ensure the greatest
defense for my love. Nothing would ever threaten to harm Bella again. I would
always see to that.
And this was why I had to find him. He had seen everything; the violent brawl
between Victoria and I that ended in her evisceration, Seth in his werewolf form
helping me pile together the butchered body parts to burn... The horrific scenes
looped in his mind and it was making him go mad. This boy had witnessed more
than any human was supposed to know, and if the Volturi found him first, it
would be another excuse to punish me for it.
Careless. Sloppy. Negligent. These words would be on the kinder end of the
spectrum of the castigation I'd receive, and Jane wasn't known to be "kind" for
long. She played by the rules, that was certain, but she'd never fail to catch our
mistakes. That, and she didn't give second chances. What happened with Bree
was example enough. I wasn't about to try her patience, for she was nothing but
ruthless, and the only way around this was to make sure she never found out
about him.
It was approximately halfway back to the campsite where I heard leaves being
rustled and twigs snapping loudly underneath hurried strides. The only goal in his
mind was to run away from the madness. It didn't matter where he was going, as
long as his feet carried him far from where his mind could not escape.
I broke through some heavy brush and finally found the boy who appeared to be
no more than fifteen years old. His disheveled coffee-colored hair pasted to his
forehead which dripped of perspiration. He gasped as I appeared in front of him,
sounding as if he was choking on his air. I realized it must have looked like I had
materialized out of nowhere. Stumbling backward, he tried to catch his balance
but failed and landed roughly in the dirt. He held his hands out in front of himself
toward me with a pleading desperation in his eyes.
Oh no, not you!... What are you?... Please don't kill me...
"Don't hurt me. Please," he begged, shuffling his feet against the earth until he
had backed himself up against the base of a large sycamore.
I was at him in a flash, pressing my palm against his mouth to silence him as I
crouched over his trembling body. His crystal blue eyes paled and widened in
horror as he uttered a muffled scream from beneath my hand.
"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," I assured, keeping my hand pressed firmly
over his mouth. The boy's pulse was racing, and instead of Victoria, it was himself
that he imagined having me decapitate.
Taking a second to listen, I determined that we were still alone. Still safe.
Fisting the sleeve of his jacket in my other hand, I gave him a slight shake and
looked intently into his glistening eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you, but there are
others out here who want to," I spoke slowly and clearly, never breaking my
stare. "If they hear you scream, they're going to find you just as easily as I did.
So, when I take my hand off of your mouth, you're going to press your lips
together as tightly as you can and not make a single noise. Do you understand
me?"
A petrified tear slipped from the corner of his eye and slid over my fingers. I
could already feel his lips pressing together as his head nodded quickly behind
my palm.
I won't say a word. I promise. Just don't kill me. Please, God, don't let me die.
I let go of his jacket and slowly lifted my hand from his mouth, keeping my gaze
sternly fixed on his. As I stood up, I offered the boy my hand. He stared at it
hesitantly for a few seconds before eventually accepting it, but avoided my eyes
as he stood back up onto his shaking legs.
"Follow me," I uttered, softening my features. It seemed to calm him a little and
he trailed me as I began to walk toward the north. Getting this boy out of the
forest was of upmost importance to his survival, not to mention the more serious
ramifications that would surely follow. I still wasn't completely sure what to tell
him or where to take him, so for now, the complete opposite direction from Jane
would have to do.
We didn't take ten steps before the forest suddenly took on an eerie silence. The
branches of all the trees drooped as the wind held its breath, and even I could
feel a chill creeping across my icy flesh. I stilled my footsteps and the boy did the
same. He turned to look at me questioningly. Nothing moved but my eyes as I
scanned the woods. I saw nothing, heard nothing... until a single solitary crow
flew in and perched on a low branch right across from us. It glared at me before
giving a portentous caw, but by then, its warning was already unnecessary. The
next moment I was on the ground writhing in agony.
She was back. I was too late.
Groaning through my tightly clenched teeth, I clawed at the ground and curled
into a ball, suffering silently until the crippling torture was too much to bear. I
screamed despite my determination to hold myself together. My muscles tensed
and I flipped over, arching my back and slamming the soles of my shoes against
the soil. I fisted my hair in both hands and let another holler rip from my throat.
Shutting my eyes tightly, I silently begged for the anguish to end. I couldn't
stand feeling so powerless.
Just as suddenly as it began, the pain stopped and I rolled back onto my stomach
as I took a moment to recover. As I opened my eyes, the hem of a dark cloak lay
flush against the ground only inches in front of me. I lifted my head to glance up
the entire length of the figure standing above me, and clenched my jaw in
anticipation of another possible wave of pain.
Jane's smug grin peeked out from beneath her dark cowl which kept the rest of
her face hidden in its shadow. She tilted her head upward slightly to reveal her
crimson stare. "I knew I didn't come all this way for nothing," she uttered.
Keeping her eyes fixed on me, she motioned with a small nod of her head in the
boy's direction and smiled wickedly. "Who's your friend?"
I turned my head to look at him, surprised that he hadn't tried to make a run for
it. The boy was frozen in a petrified stupor. I almost wished his body would take
pity on him and shut down on its own before Jane could have her way with him.
Jane didn't wait for me to answer her. Instead, she turned her attention to the
boy. "What is your name?" Jane asked him, almost sounding kind if not for her
dead eyes.
Her question didn't penetrate his terrified state. He continued to stare at me, my
screams echoing in his mind, adding to the horror he'd seen that seemed to be
multiplying by the second.
I propped myself up onto my palms. "Answer her!" I shouted, startling him out of
his oblivion. Better I scare him than having Jane torture it out of him.
He licked at his dry lips and stared at Jane, wondering how such a small childlike
girl could inflict such monumental fear in him. "Ethan," he answered shakily. He
blinked once, then looked from Jane to the four cloaked guards three times her
size that stood not far behind her. His eyes widening in disbelief as he noticed all
of them had blood-colored eyes.
"Ethan," Jane repeated, and he nodded, swallowing hard. She looked him over
and shook her head slightly. "Why do we always have to kill the cute ones?" she
asked herself. "Such a waste," she added with a sigh, feigning regret.
The mention of his fate sent tremors through the boy's body. His terror made his
mind a buzz of overlapping thoughts that dizzied me. This definitely wasn't going
to end well for him.
"And Edward, you really must be more vigilant," she scowled. "We don't need our
secrets being revealed to everyone now, do we?"
I frowned curiously, sadly. "How did you know about him?"
"A little birdie told me," she replied. A slight twinkle of humor lit up her eyes
which confused me until I realized that she meant her statement literally. My
gaze landed on the tallest of the four guards that accompanied Jane as he
grinned at Jane's remark. I had heard about Aquila before, the Volturi guard that
was able to use animals as spies and messengers. He sneered at me and the
same crow began to caw noisily again before flying off its branch and
disappearing deep into the forest.
My face fell. There was never the opportunity to hide from the Volturi. Their
members were powerful and proficient. To think I could fool them was ludicrous.
My efforts were all for naught.
"There's no reason to kill the boy. He won't reveal to anyone of what he has
seen," I said as more of a command to Ethan, and I stared at him with a knowing
glance. He nodded vehemently as he understood, hoping for the minute
possibility of his survival.
"You know the rules, Edward. There are no exceptions," Jane's expression was
hard and resolute.
"Then turn him instead," I offered, unsure I had ameliorated Ethan's fate.
A sharp laugh exploded from Jane's mouth which she quickly stifled and replaced
with an irritated growl. She looked offended. "Exactly what makes you think you
can tell me what to do?"
"He's just a boy," I tried, not expecting sympathy.
Again, I was forced to the ground as Jane claimed me with her torturous grasp.
My cries tore from deep within my lungs. Thankfully her hold on me was brief.
"You're really starting to irritate me, Edward," she rasped, and began walking
circles around me as I lay face-down on the ground, fisting the damp earth into
my palms. Her little girl voice gnawed at my mind. "Have I not been lenient
enough with you, being patient until you keep your word and turn Bella?" Her
voice was shrill and a calculating smile suddenly crept across her angelic face.
"You know, I think I'll make Bella my snack before heading back home. I do feel
a little hungry now that I think about it."
I lifted myself back up into a crouch. "Bella will be taken care of. We assured you,
the date has been set," I replied, struggling to keep myself from losing control
and tearing her to shreds.
Jane looked bored and uninterested in hearing what I had to say. "I've been
generous enough. The boy dies or Bella does," Jane concluded, coming to a
stand-still in front of me.
There was no use trying to argue. I stood up slowly and looked grimly over at
Ethan. His pulse almost stopped right then as my choice was clearly written on
my face. It came down to either saving my love, or saving a stranger. My
decision was simple enough.
Too simple...
"I'm sorry, Ethan," I uttered softly, unable to keep eye-contact with the boy. I
just prayed that Jane would finish him quickly.
The boy sensed that it was fruitless to try and escape, and his legs gave out from
under him. He crashed onto his knees in the dirt and sat back on his calves, his
mouth gaping with silent pleas.
Jane nodded once. I braced myself as I expected Felix to break from the line to
take care of the boy as he did with Bree, but the shrouded guards remained
motionless as if they had become stone statues. Not even their cloaks fluttered in
the light breeze.
Jane cocked her head and looked at me expectantly. "Carry on, then," she said,
motioning toward the boy with a small wave of her hand.
I stood horrified as she insinuated that I kill the boy myself.
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