Venom-35

Venom

By BetterInTexas

WARNING

I don’t usually give warnings in my stories. I have yet to put a finger on what genre Venom is. It depends on the chapter. Humor, angst, tragedy. Romance, supernatural adventure. Sometimes all of them in the same chapter. But this chapter is dark. It involves the deaths of humans including many children. It doesn’t go into great detail because I didn’t like to write it but it is part of the story and part of the things that continue to shape Bella. If reading about the death of children bothers you do not read Bella’s second point of view when she goes into the cellar. Skip to the end or send me a message and I will give you a rundown of what happened.

Chapter 35:

Bella POV

Seriously? A board room? I come to commune with Ursalla and I get the whole damn lot of them and we are in a board room?

Apparently living in paradise for eternity does not make one less argumentative. My sisters were of mixed opinion on my recent decisions.

“We do not work with vampires! We kill them Bella! What the hell are you thinking?”

“Leave her alone! She is making the best of a bad situation!”

“Just banish the spirit of this Jasper vampire Bella. Then call the others for a meeting and kill them! They will betray you!”

“She can’t police the world alone! Even with the Pack!”

“We have done it for thousands of years and we didn’t need a pack of wolves to help.”

“And Irkalla still lived. Maybe we should have rethought that strategy?” Serena chimed in, finally.

“You are the one who brought these Indians into this battle Serena! Now our only hope is pregnant with puppies and having to rely on vampires for help!”

“Fuck you Danica!”

“Banish the spirit Bella. He is only trying to stay out of the lower plain. You don’t owe him anything.”

“He can help. Irkalla is alive!”

“We don’t know that! He could be setting her up. Has everyone forgotten what we do? We kill vampires!”

36 screaming women and I hadn’t said a word. Neither had Ursulla. She sat on one end of the long table and I sat on the other. Bitch winked at me.

I sat back and wondered if I could fall asleep in the spirit world. Apparently not. It could be the noise.

“Let’s bring some order to this room.” Ursulla said finally standing up. “Our baby sister has come to commune with us for wisdom and guidance, not for bickering.”

Thank you Ursulla.

“So Bella. Tell us what the hell you are thinking dear.”

Bitch.

“I can appreciate your concerns. But the world is different now. Irkalla changed the game so I had to as well. I need vampires’ dead and my Pack and I cannot be everywhere at once.” I calmly explained.

“You are the first of us to ever fly. Did you know that? It is why you were given this gift. To be everywhere!”

I ignored Beth’s comment and addressed the comments about my new spirit friend.

“The spirit of Jasper Hale can be trusted. I feel it. He is no longer a vampire. He owes no loyalty…” I tried to explain.

“He is loyal to those he left behind! He didn’t appear until his children approached you.”

I took a deep breath.

“I…”

“Banish the spirit Bella. He will confuse you. You can keep him away. Let him answer for his actions on his own.”

“Enough!” I screamed and stood up.

The room shut up at least.

“I am the one fighting. I am the one whose “puppy” is at risk.” I glared at Andrea.

“I’m sorry Bella. I shouldn’t have said that. I get worked up. I’m sure you are going to have a beautiful… witch dog wolf baby?”

Take a deep breath Bella.

“I am not banishing any spirits trying to help me. I trust him. He says I can trust these vampires I trust these vampires. I am the damn witch whose ass is on the line. I make the decisions!”

That shut them up. I noticed Serena and Ursula were smiling at me. A few of the other girls were. The rest just stared.

“Chris told me once on a cattle drive, that he didn’t believe all vampires were evil any more than all humans were all good. When I was going after Irkalla, I forgot that. I became wrapped up in the mission. But Chris was right as always. If someone is willing to help me then I will take it. This isn’t about who gets credit for what. We can’t kill all vampires. They make more too easily. Too quickly. A night on the town and one vampire can make fifty by morning. They have to be scared. They have to have a reason to stay low. We have been battling them for thousands of years and they are still here. They will always be here. I will always do my best to destroy the ones that harm humans. But right now… right now I have to take what I can get. So that is what I am going to do.”

“Then we support you Bella and will be here for guidance and comfort.” Ursulla said while gazing over the others. They wouldn’t meet her eyes. Ursulla supported me. That was enough. I felt proud of myself.

“Now Bella how are you feeling since you nearly unleashed Armageddon on your mother?”

There went that feeling of pride. Right down the drain.

“Uh… fine?”

“You did well by not losing control in the standoff with the vampires. You resisted the desire of the bracelet to destroy. But with your mother, you…”

“Yeah okay? I lost it. I screwed up.”

“We aren’t judging you Bella. It was an emotional time. You need to continue to focus on meditating. Working on magic not related to physical fighting. Staying in control at all times.”

I had to know.

“What happens if… if I lose control? I’ve come back before.” I pointed out.

Serena spoke.

“Bella the bracelet is a living thing. I know Chris told you that the weapon can be good and evil. It simply is what you make of it. If you become a creature ruled by your emotions, especially your darker emotions, well…”

“Well what?”

“After you save the world, who will save the world from you?” Ursulla asked.

It was a good question. One that scared the hell out of me.

“Stay in control. Love your family. You will be fine.” She finished.

“I will. So does…” Oh.

Wait. What is that?

“Bella? Are you okay?” one of my sisters asked.

“Yeah… I feel weird.”

“You are glowing.” Serena noted.

“How do you feel?” Ursulla asked.

“Warm… tingly. Down… there?” My body was not physical in this realm. I shouldn’t be feeling physical sensations.

A round of giggles broke out.

“Where did you leave your body Bella?” Serena asked with a grin.

“I was laying…”oh God. Oh damn that feels… I was being drawn out. This had never happened before.

“Have fun sweetie.” One of my sisters said but I could no longer see them. I felt as if I was falling. Flying back…

I sat up in bed screaming from the orgasm rocking my body.

When my heartbeat slowed to normal I gazed down at the familiar mane of black hair on top of the face buried in my pussy.

“J… Jake?”

He looked up from between my now spread legs and grinned.

“Good morning. Figured I would give you a special wakeup call this morning.”

I had woken up before Jacob and laid in bed to commune with the bracelet. Normally this wasn’t a problem. Jake woke up early this morning though.

“Felt good huh?”

“Yeah… uh yeah. Felt great Jake. Really… I was kinda in the middle…”

I glanced at him. That damn face.

Fuck it.

“On your back lover. Time for me to return the favor.”

Agent Levoi POV

This was wrong. Very, very wrong. I called the Director.

“Yes Graham?”

“Sir, I’m on scene. It’s bad as expected but wrong.”

“Explain.”

The FBI received an anonymous tip tonight that the small mountain community of Broken Bow Missouri, population 126, was dead. I had not called the Pack yet. I wanted to see for myself. I was also aware that this could be a set up. Surveillance drones flew over the area. No vampires were spotted. No bodies period, alive or dead. The community only consisted of a few houses, a post office and a general store.

“Something about the bodies. They were stacked in a barn. 115 bodies so far. But none of the blood has been drained. The kills appear to be clean. Necks snapped. That’s it. No property destruction. No sign of an attack other than a few broken doors. This vampire or vampires were very controlled.”

“Could it be a human?”

“I doubt it. No way a human could kill this many people by snapping their necks. Has to be a vampire.” I told him staring at the bodies piled like firewood in the barn. Forensics was taking photos that would never be part of a trial.

“Call her. She will want to come. I will send choppers to get them here quickly. Pre-established LZ.”

“Yes sir.”

I dialed the number of the sweet little pregnant scary dark witch and her giant werewolf fiancée according to Charlie.

“Graham.” Jake answered.

“Bella near you Jake?”

“Hold on.”

“We are all here Graham. You’re on speakerphone.” Bella’s voice was already worried.

I explained the situation quickly.

“No drained bodies?” Jake asked.

“Nope. Hard to say if everyone is accounted for but the official population is 126. There aren’t many missing if any, taking into account that they could be on vacation or out of town on business. The entire town nearly was employed at a local micro-brewery or were farmers. Probably why no one noticed and we found out from a tip.”

“Graham I hate to ask but how many children were killed?” Bella asked quietly. I imagined children would be on her mind…

They should have been on mine.

“We… we haven’t found any children’s bodies.” I said quietly.

“That makes no sense…” Jake started and stopped.

Oh shit.

“Graham, how long would you say the bodies have been there?” Bella asked, trying to hide the dread in her voice.

“Anywhere from 48 to 60 hours based on body temp and decay. Should I start searching basements? Wouldn’t we hear…”

“Not if the room was soundproof. Underground cellar. Graham get your people out of there. Get them out now and far away. Cordon off the town Graham. Go now! We are on our way.” Bella ended the call.

I had thirty six FBI agents here.

“Everybody drop what you are doing and get out now!” I yelled.

To my people’s credit they did as they were told. Perhaps they were just freaked out. I knew I officially was now.

We drove ten miles out of town and blocked the roads leading in. State troopers arrived and set up alternate routes when I explained the possible presence of a biological weapon.

We stood in silence. For hours.

Pizza was brought in.

No one had much of an appetite. No one here knew what was going on outside of myself. Everyone suspected vampires but no one was cleared to know about “the weapon.” I heard murmurs from some agents. Hushed conversations.

After ten hours I received a text from the director.

Send team away.

After my team had left, leaving only State Troopers miles away blocking the roads, I received the surprise of my life.

Okay I had a lot of surprises lately but this was up there.

“You Levoi?”

I pulled my gun out of habit, not used to anyone sneaking up on me.

Fuck, it’s a vampire.

No, it’s six vampires.

“Rest easy son. We ain’t here to hurt you. Bella Swan called us. We hadn’t left to go overseas yet.”

“Who the hell are you?” Bella had not mentioned this.

“Call us the overseas team. I believe she was going to speak to the President about us today but this has taken precedence. I’m Peter Whitlock. This is Charlotte, Garrett, Demetri, Jane and Alec.”

I looked over the assembled group. What the fuck were red eyed vampires doing here?

“You kill people.” I pointed out.

“Yep. Least we did. Your Bella Swan drives a hard bargain. Demetri you got them?”

“They are still asleep. A great many. Twenty soon to be immortal children.” The Demetri vampire said quietly.

This trio was beginning to freak me out more than I already was. I would have grey hair by the time I was 36.

Assuming I made it that far.

“Will Bella and Jake be coming?” I asked, planning on screaming at them if they didn’t.

“Should be here in a few seconds judging by the sound of the choppers from over yonder.” Peter replied.

I didn’t hear them for a few more seconds but they were there.

Ropes hit the ground and the Pack guys shimmied down to the ground. I didn’t see Bella. Jake walked up to me.

“Where is she?”

“Flying over the city. She will be here soon. She swore to me she wouldn’t land.” Jake looked nervous. Yeah… sure she wouldn’t land. Kid jumped in front of him to stop a bullet.

“Why do you sound so doubtful Jake? Don’t trust me?”

Bella landed in front of me. She was decked out in silver from the waist down. Her belly was bare and the metal up top did not cover much. Her shoulders were covered and her wings merged back into her shoulders. I don’t know if I will ever get used to seeing her in that armor. The way it moves was so… there was no words. Beautiful, deadly, creepy, awe inspiring, flat out frightening. And that giant glove on her right hand with the fingers that led down to what basically amounted to talons.

“Thank you for coming Peter.” Bella said turning towards the vampires.

“We had a deal. I keep my word.”

“Can Alec really do…”

“Yes. I can.” The boy answered.

“Then let’s go.” Jake finished. The wolves undressed and within seconds I was surrounded by lowly growling giant creatures with large teeth. Their eyes glued to the six vampires who had backed up a few steps.

“Calm down guys. We have work to do.” Bella said calmly. “Stay here Graham. We will be back.”

“You’re going? I thought you…”

“There won’t be any fighting. None of us are going to fight. Just relax. We got this.”

I watched the wolf pack race towards town, vampires following. Bella took to the sky again.

God speed guys. I knew what they would have to do. I didn’t envy them this task. Whoever set this up was a sick fucker.

Bella POV

Demetri led us to the basement. It was the basement of the only church in this community. I could hear the screams when we entered the building. Muffled but there. The door to the basement had been taped.

I was in back at Jake’s insistence. Alec was at the front. He opened the door and the vampires, Jake and I walked in, not saying a word. The Pack stayed in wolf form upstairs, watching our back.

Laid out on the floor were twenty screaming children. Rolling, scratching, clawing. The oldest one must not have been even ten. One was a toddler.

“Alec? Please?”

“Everyone will have to leave. If you are in the mist I emit you will lose your senses as well.” He whispered. He looked disturbed. I looked at his sister and saw she looked disturbed as well, surprising, considering her gift and what Edward had told me in Forks what she was capable of.

Jake wrapped his arms around me and pulled me out.

As soon as we were at the top of the stairs, the screaming stopped.

I waited to hear the sound of breaking marble. Instead I heard nothing.

“Hello?” Alec’s voice rang out.

“We are still here Alec. What’s the problem?” Garrett asked.

“I can’t keep them sedated and kill them at the same time. Someone else will have to do it.”

Oh fuck.

“I’ll do it.” Peter whispered.

“No! If a vampire or wolf comes down here, the room is so small, they will fall under my power.”

“So what are we supposed to do Alec?” Garrett asked. Jake held me tighter and whispered no in my ear.

“I don’t know. Felix used to do this… I…”

“I have to…”

“No Bella!”

“Jake I have to. I’m the only one who won’t be affected.”

I gently pulled his arms away from my belly. I had to do this. I would not let those children wake up in pain from a burning throat. I would not let them feel pain as their lives came to an end.

I turned and kissed him. He had a tear in his eye.

“Put a spell on me. Maybe you can protect me and I can…”

I turned and walked down stairs. When I reached the bottom I saw the children appeared to be sleeping peacefully.

Alec’s eyes were glistening.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You are doing well. Don’t let them feel any pain.”

The blade grew in my hand. I didn’t look at it. I picked the first child I approached up. Oh God.

They had not completed the change. Hearts still beat. There would be blood.

“Strike the heart Bella. It will be cleaner.”

My head whipped to the side and I saw Jasper. Alec of course couldn’t hear him.

He was crying. I didn’t know spirits could cry. Yes I did. The girl in the alley in Seattle. I suppose tears are a part of the soul as well as the body.

The child in my arms smiled.

I stuck a blade in her heart. She shuddered and sighed. Her heart stopped.

“I’m so sorry Bella.” Jasper whispered in my ear.

“Just stay with me.” I told him.

“I won’t leave Bella.” Alec replied, thinking I was speaking to him. I laid the child down gently. She had the most beautiful blonde hair. Taking a deep breath I stood up and walked to the next child. The toddler…

“Bella?”

Jake was standing on the bottom step behind Alec.

“Go upstairs Jake. I don’t want you to see this.”

“I’m not leaving you Bella.”

“Jacob find the scent of who did this. Find the vampire Jake. I promise you when I find him he will suffer like no human or vampire has ever suffered before. But I don’t want you to watch me do this. Please?” I begged.

He nodded and walked upstairs.

The toddler yawned. God forgive me.

Old Quil POV

I phased to my human form and walked towards the location of the bodies. I didn’t need to but I figured the closer I was, the better. I had spoken to spirits of course while visiting the spirit world. But I had never purposely attempted to speak to a spirit on the physical plane. I knew Bella spoke to spirits. I could feel a spirit near her lately. She hadn’t mentioned it but I knew she was aware and probably communicating with it. She would tell me when she was ready.

I whispered to my forefathers. Give me insight. Let me see beyond the veil.

“Who are you?”

Thank you spirits.

He was a slightly overweight man, who had the look of hard years. His hands were large and his mustache was prominent. He had dark curly hair. Still holding on to his self-image in life.

“I am Quil. What is your name?”

“Why are you naked?”

“I’m a bit of a free spirit. I chafe easily.” I replied.

“Are you dead? I’m dead. I know I am. We all are. Our children… they took our children. Do you know if they are dead? We can’t find them.”

“Your children are being set free.” I told him honestly. “What is your name?”

“I’m Tom.”

Behind Tom I saw the building the bodies were stacked in. New spirits were walking out. Hundreds of spirits. Some angry, some confused, all sad.

“Tom can you show me what happened here?”

“Show you?”

I reached out my hand.

“Take my hand and show me Tom.” I encouraged him.

Tom hesitantly reached out. The tip of his finger touched mine and I was surrounded in a vision. Tom had been watching the nightly news, his wife sitting next to him.

The front door opened. The living room was positioned so Tom could see the door. A vampire walked in. He was dressed well and actually smiled. This was no savage newborn. He had dark hair slightly wavy and a thick mustache. Behind him walked a beautiful woman of around twenty. I first thought she was Irkalla but she was not. Just a beautiful young woman as a human, turned into an eerily beautiful vampire.

“Who the hell are you?” Tom asked rising from his chair while his wife ran to the kitchen.

“Our names won’t matter. You won’t be alive long enough to need an introduction.” The male replied.

“You’re one of those vampires the President was talking about.” Tom said, fear seizing his heart.

“Right you are. You sir are a message.” The leech smiled.

“You… you want me to give a message? To who? I’ll do anything, just leave my family alone.”

“No. You are a message to a certain witch. You and your neighbors.”

The female vampire placed her small hands on Tom’s neck and twisted.

“This happened to all of you?” I asked the assembled spirits. Most nodded. Some just continued to look at the ground.

“Was anything else said?”

No one spoke.

They came in with barely a word, not to feed but to send a message. A message of dead bodies and children bitten.

“Your children will be with you shortly. When they arrive you must leave this plane. Take them to a better place. This world is cruel and you no longer have to suffer it. Bless you all.”

Tom nodded and the spirits walked back into the building through the walls.

“Who are you talking to Quil?”

I turned and saw Sam.

“Phase back Sam. Stay on guard. We must always be on guard. I have to be near Bella when she rises from the cellar. This will not be easy on her.

Sam nodded. He had to kill friends and members of his own tribe in La Push. He understood. But children…

Chris and I knew it would be rough. We knew the war would not be clean. I had done my best to prepare her for battle. For loss. For pain.

I never thought to prepare her for this.

That must be the message.

Irkalla POV

My two greatest creations were sipping the blood of a young woman. I was not in the mood to sip. I admit she was gorgeous. Only Herman and Elisabeth would have the control to keep this little morsel alive for so long. When vampires kept pets most did so for romantic reasons. Herman called her his experiment. She was 15 when he took her and 16 now. Kept in a cell in his basement he fed her and made sure she was always healthy enough to provide him the blood he so enjoyed. Elisabeth wanted to rip her to shreds but that was typical of any female she encountered.

I required full bodies after my long journey to Chicago. After only having a finger left, I boroughed into the ground to hide from that damn witch, enough of my essence remaining even in that lowly form to know I had to run.

I give the little bitch credit. I never expected that much power. She should have been dead. Too see her completely covered in black. I mistakenly thought it meant she was dying. I should have known better.

I grew. I formed my hand. My hand fed on vermin in the ground. An arm, a shoulder dragging itself across the country under foliage. When my skull reformed, my brain along with it, I began to understand who I was and what had happened. A skunk that got to close sped the process up. My teeth forming allowed me to grab rabbits.

I looked at the mirror in front of me and drew back my black hood. My face, my beautiful face was but a skeleton. My skin gone, only crystalized muscles wrapping around my bones.

I looked hideous. Fucking witches. But at least I was whole. I was weak. Nowhere near ready to launch my counterattack. But I could move. I could feed. I also had my two favorite creations. The perfect vampires.

I found Herman in Chicago in 1885. He was using the name HH Holmes and owned a lovely hotel. As a human he so impressed me. I had visited the Chicago World’s Fair prepared to be unimpressed at the cleverness of humans and their inventions. Instead I found a true genius.

While I stayed in his hotel, preparing to hunt my next meal, I smelt gas enter my room. I played along. He dumped my body down a chute in my room to the basement, believing me asphyxiated. The poor fool nearly had a heart attack when he found me waiting for him in his basement of horrors.

I showed him what I was and he showed me what he was. I was so impressed. An alpha human. One above the others. He had a nice run. Nearly two hundred young women in Chicago. His assistant and his assistant’s children. I was his guide and inspiration as he continued his path. The run in London was short lived but so fun. Such skill he had as a surgeon. It was my idea to have him write the letters to the police under the name Jack the Ripper.

Unfortunately my plan to let him continue killing well into his forties was interrupted by his own human weakness. His weakness for money. He was not as skilled at cons as he was at murder and found himself in prison. Investigations led to the hundreds of bodies he left behind.

He was too special to let die. I turned him and watched as he hung from the noose putting on a good show for the public. Rumors ran that it was not him at the end of the rope. It was. He just looked a bit improved. I had to control the venom in his body to make sure he did not go on a rampage and kill all those around him.

Since that time Holmes as he liked to be called had done well. The greatest killer in the world probably. A scholar of death.

Elizabeth I have known for a while. My closest child. I found her married to that pig Count Bathory at the age of 18 in 1578 Transylvania. I went by the name Anna Darvulia at the time and became her friend when I noticed several peasant girls enter the castle for service and never be seen again. She kept quite the collection. Already married four years, the young lesbian had been essentially raped by her pig of a husband, who had gone off to war. I came to her at night and seduced her. She was gorgeous. I planned to have my way and be done with her until she showed me her interests. The imagination she had astounded me. The tortures she inflicted on these poor girls. The perversions. I had never been as impressed with any human in my life. A true superhuman. Beautiful and deadly, she saw others as toys for her pleasure. I stayed on and encouraged her, guided her. We tortured together and devised new ways to cause pain and keep girls alive longer.

When she turned 21 I turned her into my true child.

I moved on eventually to let her grow and she continued to kill. When the killings were finally discovered she allowed the humans to believe she was captured, sneaking out at night at hunt. After a few years she realized she would never have the life she once had again and faked her death.

Now with Nergal gone, they were the only family I wanted or needed. They would help me. They already had.

“Mistress would you like a girl?” Elizabeth asked me. She had a sniveling teenager in her arms.

“Put her in the cellar for later, Elizabeth. Holmes has the news said anything about your excursion?”

Elizabeth walked away with the young girl and Holmes walked towards me.

“No. Apparently they only report on the witch’s successful outings.” He grinned.

“Do not underestimate her. I made that mistake and look at me.”

“You are beautiful. You are growing more beautiful every day. Do not worry, I will not underestimate her. When do you plan to draw her out Mistress? I would love to take a blade to her. I could make a beautiful skeleton for you to remember her by.” He had made a gorgeous specimen of the last witch’s skeletal remains.

“No. We will not fight her now. I need to know more. She is too strong. Possibly stronger than I am. My appearance is proof of that. Instead we are going to break her. Take away her will to fight. The children were only a start.”

“What next Mistress?” Elisabeth asked walking out of the basement, licking blood off her fingers.

“I need to know who she is. She obviously had a connection to the Cullen’s. They must have known her, for her to select them as a place to ambush me. This means she likely lived in Forks Washington. You my dear Holmes are going to Washington. Look around. She is young. Search school records, break into the hospital and look for medical records. Find out who she is. Once we know that, we go after loved ones. We take out her old friends. I want to hurt her. I want her to suffer. Find out everything Holmes.”

If a direct approach would not work, an indirect one would. A group of vampires killed Serena because she was more concerned about protecting her husband than defending herself.

The one sure weakness of any witch was human attachments. I planned to take advantage of that. She surprised me last time. I would not be surprised again.

Bella POV

Alec walked out ahead of me. Jasper had stayed by my side the entire time. He now disappeared as well. I wondered if my face looked as broken as his did even in spirit form.

I looked at the glove on my right hand. My pretty bracelet ready to battle the forces of evil. It was covered in blood. The children were dead, stabbed through the heart.

My glove was black. The stone was no longer glowing.

I walked slowly upstairs and Jake was waiting for me. I met Peter’s eyes and he had tears pooling. Charlotte was not there. She must have left. Jane had left as well. Garrett only looked at the ground.

“Did you or Demetri find a scent?”

“Yes, two. I will recognize them if we ever find them.” Jake assured me.

I would find them. If it took forever I would find them.

“You okay?” Jake asked.

“No.”

“You’re armor…”

“Fuck this armor! I’m sick of people looking at it. Want it silver? I can turn it any damn color I want!”

Don’t lose your temper Bella. He is just worried.

“Sorry Bells.” I looked up and he was so concerned. I walked upstairs and he followed me. I needed air. Outside I saw the Pack staring at me. Leah walked up and rubbed my cheek with her head.

It suddenly occurred to me that all eyes were on me. Pack, vampire. Old Quil was staring at me with tears in his eyes.

I was so tired of being stared at. I knew what I wanted to do.

“I have to go Jake. Go back to the Ranch. I will see you there tomorrow. I need some space.”

“No Bella!”

I took off into the air before he could grab me. I loved him. I loved him so much. I loved all the Pack. But I needed space.

I flew for hours. It was dark and I had no idea where I was going. I just spread my wings and let the wind take me. Eventually I saw a mountain range. I landed on a ledge near the top of a mountain. Off in the distance I could see the lights of a city.

Sitting on a nice flat rock I tried to clear my mind of what happened tonight. To clear my mind of everything. To just be. My armor, was barely covering me. There was no threat tonight. The night was cool but it didn’t bother me.

Just me and the silence.

No. Just my baby and me.

A cold shiver gripped my body. What the hell? The wind had not changed. But I was cold, very cold. My hands went instinctively to my belly. The gem on my glove glowed brightly. My body was vibrating.

“Calm down there little lady. No need to getting riled up.”

I turned quickly. Walking out behind a large rock was Chris.

“Chris?”

He grinned.

No. That was not Chris’s grin. I looked in his eyes and fear struck my heart.

“You’re not Chris.”

“Nope. You got me darlin.”

Suddenly my father was in front of me.

“This better Bells?”

I took a step back. He was not a vampire.

“How about Mommy dearest?” Renee’s voice asked softly from her mouth.

“Stop it!”

A man appeared in front of me now. Just a guy. Brown hair and brown eyes, around six foot tall, wearing a silver suit and red tie.

“Fine. Try to make a girl feel comfortable. I would appear as your alpha wolf but I know how those hormones of yours are. Quite the slut aren’t you? At least when it comes to him. I don’t mean that to be derogatory. I appreciate a girl in touch with her desires.”

“What are you?” I asked, knowing but not wanting to believe.

“I think you know. What is wrong? You wanted to talk to me in the Spirit World. Ask me about your arch enemy. The Indian said I didn’t talk to others so I never got the chance to meet you. Of course I wouldn’t want to talk to him. But you… you are fascinating.”

The guardian of the lower realm. The fucking devil itself.

“Do not worry. I am not allowed to interfere in human concerns. I won’t harm you or your children. I simply wanted to speak to you. Now I have the chance.”

“I know Irkalla is not dead. Jasper told me.” I said quietly.

“Jasper. Yes, I can’t quite decide if I want him. I thought he may be my kind of guy but he seems to be too noble. He is turning into quite the disappointment. I didn’t come to answer your question about Irkalla. I came to make you an offer. Are you willing to listen?”

“Do I have a choice?” I asked. He smiled a smile that made me want to whimper.

“We all have choices. Let’s talk about yours.”

Chapter 35