Chapter 1: Edward

As we walked through the large corridors, I held onto Edward like he was life itself. To me, he may have been. I stared at a large set of double doors as the one Edward called Jane stopped in front of them. She turned, and smirked right at me. Edward hissed and put me behind him, his body blocking mine. Oh, I do love it when he gets all over protective even if it is a little irritating. I breathed in his scent and sighed in happiness, pressing my nose to his back. Irritating? Who am I kidding? He could never be. He was the very embodiment of perfection. Jane's grin just grew as Edward watched her warily.

She turned back to the doors and knocked. The huge doors seemed to open by themselves. We followed the angelic little vampire into a sunlit room. It was perfectly round, and there was a raised platform towards the back. There were steps leading up to the platform. Or was it a stage? I really didn't know. I didn't really care. Edward was here! Oh my Edward . . . He pulled me closer, his body tensing as we walked into the huge, sunny room. It was obviously stressing him out. I don't understand why, I thought it was beautiful and welcoming. And we were together! Nothing could hurt us now! I kept pushing to walk beside Edward, he kept pushing me back behind him. His skin shimmered in the sun. My eyes kept being dragged back to his face. His gorgeous, enchanting face. How I had missed it. He looked back down at me and smiled. I loved his smile. God I loved him. How had I ever lived without him? I had even missed that smile. The smile that meant that he was going to . . . not that that matters. He was here! My Edward, my god. He was gone for so long . . . I had missed him so much.

The hole in my chest had just been filled. It had hurt so much. But he was back now, and everything was better, just as I knew it would be.

We had reached the centre of the room, facing the platform. The vampire in the middle stood up, his black hair framing his face in a way that could have been attractive, but his skin was papery and thin looking. He looked ill, and he was nothing compared to my Edward. His bright crimson eyes had a milky film over them. To be honest, it scared me a little, but not much. Edward was here to protect me, to save me. He clapped his hands delightedly. "Ah, Edward, you're back! And Bella is alive and well, I see" His happiness threw me off slightly, and I looked up slightly to Edward for reassurance, but he wouldn't even look at me.

I twisted in an attempt to get a better look at the vampire on the stage, but Edwards grip kept me in place, so I had to settle with peeking around his shoulder. I didn't really like it, but it was Edward, I'm sure he knew what was best. "Now, now Edward. We won't hurt your mate. Share your toys, there's a good boy." He started laughing maniacally. "Aro, your promises mean nothing to me." Edward hissed out between clenched teeth. Even that sounded musical. God, he was beyond perfect, my Edward. Aro glared at Edward. I wanted to know what was going on! I frowned and decided that Edward was already annoyed at me and so I could go against him once more today. He was a God, and would punish me of my sins, and I would then be clean. I stepped all the way behind Edward and stopped moving to get free. His sigh of relief was audible, even to my human hearing. I then made a break for it as his grip loosened.

I skittered to Alice's side, hoping that she was willing to help me. She looked at me, some kind of deep sadness in her eyes as I smiled up at her dreamily. She smiled back at me, and gave me a gentle shove in Aros direction. I hesitantly took a step towards that platform, trying not to think about what Edward was going to say later. I ended up in front of the group, in front of Edward, Alice, and even Jane. That's when it happened. Well, a few things happened actually, but it was almost simultaneous. I felt someone else's eyes land on me. I'm not sure how I felt it, but it was a definite feeling. A warm slow burn that originated by on my right shoulder and spread throughout my body. I let out a shocked gasp and felt myself begin to turn in that direction, almost involuntarily, my body acting of its own accord. Yet before I could turn enough to see who was causing this . . . this intoxication, I heard a small choked sound from Alice, and then Edwards snarl filled the room as he lunged past me, just a pale blur at vampire speed. His scent washed over me and my eyes rolled back into my head for a second before I determinedly shook my head, clearing my mind enough to focus on the scene in front of me. Suddenly, all I could see was him.

A god with blond hair almost as white as snow. It was long and looked as soft as silk. A god whose black eyes should have terrified me, but instead, they were his most captivating feature. A god snarling as one long arm clothed in robes as black as night ended in a pale hand that was wrapped around my lovers' neck. Managing to look completely relaxed and deadly at the same time. A god that was terrifying and beautiful and I never wanted to look away. Completely ignoring Edward, I began to shudder as my gaze slid over his form, venom dripping off of his white teeth as he tossed Edward toward the group of guards and gestured with a small nod of his head before turning and walking at human pace back to his throne and sitting down again, a magnificent and dignified King on his throne.

I shook my head, then frowned, snapping out of it. He just killed Edward! My Edward! I gasped in shock, and stumbled backwards, managing to keep from falling over. Alice came over, laying her hand on my upper arm and whispering comforting words I couldn't hear. I gave a small choked sound and wrapped my arms around myself, concentrating on breathing.

My Edward, he was gone. Gone! I only just got him back! My Edward! My God, My perfection! I let out an incoherent scream and looked up at the Kings, tears of both anger and sadness blurring my vision as I ran at him, the blond kind who killed him! My Edward! I made it up the steps and launched myself at him, much in the same way that Edward had. But my Edward, he had failed. He never failed! He was my light, my oxygen and without him I would die. But first, I would succeed where he had failed. If I was going to go to hell, I was bringing this King with me.

I launched myself at him, doing a rather pathetic version of a vampire snarl. Thinking back on this scene later, I was never quite sure why no one stopped me. I was moving at human speed and everything. I guess they were all too surprised. I ended up on top of him, my hands scraping uselessly as his marble face. My momentum tipped the throne over and it landed with a loud crash, I ended up on top of him, furiously attempting to cause some type of damage, anything! I was seething, my eyes mad as I pulled on his hair and beat at his chest, sobbing wildly.

Eventually, he caught both of my hands in his, and trapped them together, both of his hands encircling my thin wrists. He held them together effortlessly as I struggled against them for a moment and then slowly sagged, losing the energy to fight anything. I let my head drop down, my hair covering my face as my tears slowly trickled to a stop. I raised my head and sucked in a surprised breath to find my position with the blond king. I was straddling his thighs; he was sitting up with our joined hands at about waist height. But the most surprising thing was our faces. His gorgeous eyes were only centimetres away from mine, I could feel his cool breath brushing my face.

His grip on my wrists loosened and he let them drop. I curled my arms around my midsection again, my hands beginning to shake as I realised how close I was to this man, this king, this murderer. I wanted to move away, to stop looking, to do anything! But I could not. He slowly reached up one of his hands and brushed my hair out of my face, staring at the small bit ok skin that this action had revealed. I found my gaze drawn to the delicate skin on his wrist, blue veins prominent through the pale skin. I unconsciously inhaled deeply, breathing in his scent. I moved my gaze slowly back to his face, my eyes tracing the contours of his jaw and cheekbones, an act so intimate it almost felt as if I was touching him. The hand holding back my hair shifted as my gaze finally reached his eyes, his cold fingers touching my chin and angling my face up, freeing me from the curtain of my hair. It felt like a reveal, as if I was showing his much more than my face, something exceedingly intimate and I felt it. Deep in my core I felt it. A twisting warmth, a coming alive after such a long death. I felt vulnerable, this man had calmly reached in and dismantled all of my shields and I knew I didn't like it.

My body began to shake as our faces continued to inch closer. I was drowning in his eyes and I couldn't breathe and I needed air and I couldn't breathe and I couldn't stop! Then all of a sudden it was over and he had looked away and it was all gone. I felt as if I was naked, as if he had had his way with me and now I was alone after he had thrown my clothes at me and told me to leave. I felt cold and alone and angry, so unreasonable angry. I moved off of him, shaking so hard I could barely move. I managed to stand, and caught a glimpse of the room full of people. The guards and Alice were all staring at me open-mouthed, shocked into stillness and silence. I turned towards the steps and noticed the two other kings, both standing as Aro gazed at me, his mouth open and his face one of absolute shock. The king with brown hair was standing, his eyes different to the rest as she looked at me in great interest, as if I was a rare gem he had not seen before.

I stumbled my way down the stairs off of the platform before attempting to make my way to the large double doors.

"Wait!" A clear voice rang out and I hesitated before continuing on. There was nothing for me here. Edward was dead. Dead. My Edward. My beautiful Edward. My perfection.

Then a cold hand touched my elbow.

"Bella." I jerked away as the cool touch and the name, the name hat he always called me caused physical pain to knife through me.

"Isabella. Please, do not leave. You are of vital importance. You may not understand it just yet, but you are needed here. I refuse to stop you using force if you wish to go, but I beg you, do not." I turned to face the vampire speaking and was shocked to see the king with brown hair.

"But I must." I said with a final, sad determination. "You killed him. You killed my Edward. Without him . . . without him there is nothing. I am nothing." I heard a small sob from Alice, as the king looked at me with kindness in his eyes.

"Ah Isabella, you are worth more than you believe. Your importance here is not one that you yet understand but it is still important. You have lost Edward, yes. However, there is so much more to life than him. Stay here, learn to live again. Let us help you, and in return, you can perhaps help us." He smiled at me, The King with Kind Eyes.

It felt as if we stood there for an age, me and the king. Until I made a decision. I remembered Jacob, and how he was going to be my sun, to burn away the clouds and make every day a good day. I remembered Charlie and his gruff love, and his complete and total dismay at my state at how I was after Edward left. I remembered the Cullen's and I felt my heart ache and in that moment I decided to live again. To live a good and complete life with no more pain or shadow where the only reason for rain is to make a rainbow.

"Yes." I whispered. "Yes." I nodded and let the king turn me around and lead me back toward the platform.

I saw the blond king still sitting on his tipped over throne, his head in his hands as if he were in pain. I saw Aro sit down heavily, looking as if he was about to faint.

"Caius," said the king next to me quietly, "Come, show Isabella to a room. I think the turquoise room, next to my chambers will do perfectly."

Caius, the blond king, lifted his head, showing a face contorted in anguish.

"Marcus," he whispered brokenly, "You must see, I cannot, I have already- "

"Yes you can. And you will." Marcus said firmly from next to me, interrupting Caius.

"Marcus," I whispered, "I do not think that he would be- "

"Isabella, we must learn to trust each other, yes? Do this for me, please. Caius will not hurt you. All will be explained in time, I promise."

I chewed on my bottom lip but nodded, against my baser instincts, or maybe it was those instincts saying that I should, I don't know anymore.

I left the room, trailing behind Caius as he walked in front of me, at a slightly faster speed than I could keep up with. At first, I just jogged to keep up but this castle was big and we were going a long way.

"Could you please slow down? I can't keep up." I said quietly, knowing that he would hear me with his vampire hearing. He whirled around to face me in an instant, his teeth bared as I jumped in shock, pressing myself back against the wall as he advanced towards me, looking very much like a predator hunting its prey. He reached out and leaned against the wall with one arm, his hand next to my head.

"Listen, human. I do not want you here. Do not push me, because I will kill you. Although…" here he trailed off and reached out with his free hand and ran a single finger down my neck. I shuddered at his touch, both from fear and something else. "You do smell quite delectable. Perhaps instead of just killing you I will drink to slake my thirst as well. How do you people say it? Oh yes, killing two birds with just one stone."

Part of me wanted to stay silent, and just die but that part of me was pushed down unfortunately.

"Go ahead." I said defiantly, tilting my head to bare the pale length of my neck to him. "I don't think you will, Caius." I spat his name, but inwardly I savoured how it felt on my lips. "I think that you're too much of a coward. I think that there are more . . . delectable things that you'd prefer to do to me." I poked out my tongue and ran over his wrist, before turning my gaze back onto him, raising my eyebrows in challenge.

He bared his teeth at me and let out a snarl, leaning in to run his nose up my neck. I gasped, my eyes shutting and my head falling back to hit the wall with a thump as his tongue poked out and licked right over my thudding pulse point.

"Do it!" I gasped, pushing my neck into his mouth, one of my hands coming up to push on the back of his head, my fingers entwined in his hair.

I felt his sharp teeth scrape my skin and let out a moan, god this man, this vampire, this king. He made me feel.

Then all of a sudden I was alone. He was on the other side of the corridor, glaring at me.

"I do not cater to the whims of stupid, suicidal, little girls. Follow me, idiot human."

I followed him through a few more corridors until we stood outside of a beautifully carved light wood door. He gestured to it and then just disappeared, leaving at vampire speed. I sagged against the wall of the corridor next to the door, berating myself. What have I done!?

Hey guys! This is the new chapter one! I'm redoing the whole story, and then continuing. Please review and let me know what you think.

Hopefully the new chapters are all going to be about this length, and the plot should remain basically the same but with some added side plots and I'm trying to make the whole abuse side-plot a bit more believable.

Izzy out!