His hand reached out and grabbed a strand of her hair; he sniffed it and patted it back in place. At this, I stood, letting go of Bella's hand. Fury was bursting out of me. I wanted to inflict a punishment so brutal, so horribly unthinkable that he would have to suffer for years in horrid pain.
He reached up to stroke her cheek once quickly with his thumb.
The hospital cup that was lying next to Bella's bed was suddenly in my grasp, crunched like it was a soda can and slowly crumbled into little pieces. Choice swear words came shooting out of my mouth.
"No," he murmured to himself as he dropped his hand, "I don't understand." He sighed. "Well, I suppose we should get on with it. And then I can call your friends and tell them where to find you, and my little message."
Absolutely revolting, Carlisle's thoughts were almost incoherent with disgust.
Slowly I could see the camera backing away from her face. Her body was quavering in fear. I brought my hand out in mid air, like I could soothe her; tell her everything would be okay, though I knew any minute that the pain would be inflicted, that she would be violently hurt and bitten by a vicious and cruel vampire. Every particle of my body was screaming in protest.
The camera was circling around her...he was circling around her. The movement of the camera was almost like I could tell he had just crouched, preparing to spring. Her pupils dilated in terror.
She bolted. In all my anger I almost laughed at the comical move. It was humorous for two reasons. One, trying to outrun a vampire? She knew better. Two, she actually feared a creature she should be afraid of. So, her braveness did have a limit. I sat back down, holding Bella's hand again.
I closed my eyes, knowing the next little bit was going to be rough. I might not even make it through it all.
He flew in front of Bella, where there was then a loud thud and the camera whipped around to show Bella almost slowly sliding down the glass mirror as it rippled and broke, falling to the floor.
Anger throbbed through me as did sadness, pain. I wanted to make him...suffer. The fury that was pounding through my body was so violent it was shocking me like a jolt of electricity, each time burning me.
James walked slowly towards her; the camera bringing Bella's dazed expression into view.
What kind of creature...Carlisle was full of despair.
A growl ripped up my throat, long and feral.
"That's a very nice effect. I thought this room would be visually dramatic for my little film. That's why I picked this place to meet you. It's perfect, isn't it?"
Bella began crawling on the floor. Without thinking I slowly propped myself up on her bed, lightly tracing the features of her face which was now only inches from mine. How could I ever let her out of my sight?
What happened next burned me so much that I begged that we could trade places, or that I could suddenly go back in time.
The camera lowered, to show what his next move would be. He lifted his foot, and stomped on her leg. There was a sickening snap as Bella's scream came flying out of her mouth.
I could feel an exertion of force or power slowly brewing inside me as violence pulsed through me.
"Would you like to rethink your last request?" A smile obviously in his voice.
With a light flick on his foot he nudged her leg while another piercing scream echoed through my brain.
A cry echoed through all our thoughts at once.
"Wouldn't you rather have Edward try to find me?"
I would have found you, James. If I would have just arrived a little earlier I would have pulled his eyes out of his sockets and chewed them, spit them out and stomped them into the dirt.
"No!" Bella barely croaked. "No, Edward, don't--"
Before Bella could finish her plea she was being thrown into the broken mirrors.
Through Alice's vision I could tell she had flinched, and suddenly her hand went up to cover her eyes.
Not Bella... Alice sighed a lament as her hand slowly slid back down her face.
Each torture continued to hit me relentlessly.
When my vision was restored I watched as each second the darkness ran down her face and flooded her white shirt, staining it red. Blood. Beads of blood were trickling at an alarming rate through her hair. I could remember the outrageous flavor floating on the air around her when I arrived at the studio. It was easy to ignore the thought as explosions of agony possessed me, like I was bursting with the pain of it all.
I brushed my fingers lightly over her face again, a reminder she was still here, safe...protected.
"It's entirely my fault," I whispered to Bella.
In the video her eyes began to close as James dropped the camera. The angle was not good, so the view was distorted, but that was a good thing. Bella slowly melted onto the floor, bringing her hand up to her face as protection. There was a guttural noise, the sound of flesh breaking.
That's when he bit her.
Seeing this, knowing how close she was to death felt like I was being pierced with scalding hot knives. This video just made it that much more horribly vivid. Each blow felt like I had been fatally wounded.
As if it were my own hand, Alice reached out and pressed the stop button. I was thankful, I didn't think I could watch those painful moments when I thought she was possibly dead or dying, the memory was clear enough, no need to add to the agony...though I deserved it.
Alice and Carlisle began talking with each other about what they just saw. I pushed their thoughts and their conversation from my mind. I couldn't think about it anymore. It was bad enough she was lying here, broken, mangled...bruised...unconscious. Grief began weighing on my heart.
I wished, prayed, even that this was all just a horrible nightmare; that I could sleep so I could wake from this. My stance around Bella was a continuance of looking like a body guard in hostile territory, even though she was safe in this hospital. I felt the ripping of my heart, slowly being shredded.