Epilogue

Here I stand,
helpless and left for dead

Bella stayed crouched on a tree branch hidden in leaves and shadows overlooking a clearing that was in full bloom in the early summer sun. There was a look of resignation on her face and air of sadness surrounding her as she watched her father kneeling next to a body that could have been her twin. They had the same height, same hair, same everything, save one very important aspect; the body in the clearing was decomposing and smelled of rot and decay. She watched as a shaky hand reached out and moved the limp and dry hair from the neck and take hold of the golden locket that laid there. Eyes closing and throat tightening as she looked away from the sight of his tears, she bit her lip and whimpered softly so not to be heard.

Close your eyes, so many days go by.
Easy to find what's wrong, harder to find what's right.

It had been three months since she and her classmates vanished off the face of the earth and all but three had been found, her included until now. She would have been a liar if she said she didn't thoroughly enjoy the repercussions that Aro faced over that time by her father. Four times her father and the other officers flipped and tore the palace apart looking for anything they might have missed, never finding anything but never giving up the hope that they would. The past three months went just as she said they would, that her father wouldn't give up on finding her without visible proof that she was gone and her daddy didn't disappoint. She would have drawn it out a little longer just to drive the point home to Aro that he was a fucking retard, but she couldn't do that to her father. She wanted him to have closure, to have a body, even if it wasn't really her, to bury.

I believe in you, I can show you that I can see right through all your empty lies.
I won't stay long, in this world so wrong.

So, she asked Stefan to do whatever he had to; she didn't care what it was at that point, to give him that. It took him a little longer than he would have liked to see to the request, but seeing the sheer and full dedication of her father to finding her, Stefan had to make sure that the replacement he found was as close to her as he could find and then make her look like she had been dead for months and leave as little behind to find the real identity of the body as he possibly could.

He had no problem admitting that he was beyond brutal with the handling of the girl, both dead and while she was still alive. His mate had been gone for a very long time and if this was going to be believable, the body couldn't very well be in pristine condition. The pre mortem injuries needed to be consistent with massive trauma to explain blood loss and the post mortem injuries needed to be consistent with ill care, mistreatment of a corpse and more time than passed than there really was. Using every skill he learned over the centuries he had been alive he was able to make a body that was dead for just over a week look like it had been dead for months. Some of his best work if you asked him.

Say goodbye, as we dance with the devil tonight.
Don't you dare look at him in the eye, as we dance with the devil tonight.

Bella looked back at her father as he dropped back to his haunches, holding the locket she had worn every day for the last ten years but she wasn't completely sure he could see it. His eyes were glossy and distant, unfocused and flat. She bit her lip as a tremor ran her spine, the sight tearing at her black soul. She knew this was needed for him to move on, to go home and try to pick up the pieces of his now shattered heart but it didn't make it any easier to see or deal with. When she saw him look up, a gasp stole her breath as he seemed to look right at her, locking eyes and holding her hostage as she felt as if his feelings were hers as well.

Trembling, crawling across my skin.
Feeling your cold dead eyes, stealing the life of mine.

The emotions in his eyes were of disbelief, of sheer horror at finding his worst fear come to fruition. She knew that until the proof was staring him in the face, he wouldn't believe it, wouldn't give up the hope that she was still alive and he would get her back. She wanted to die all over again as she watched her father die before her very eyes. She hated that it had to be this way, that she couldn't give him more than she was but there was nothing she could do.

I believe in you, I can show you that I can see right through all your empty lies.
I won't stay long, in this world so wrong.

This was the way it had to be if he was going to survive past this, live beyond this day and see his life to the end that was meant for him. She knew he could if he had this one thing. She might not have hated her life as she was. She might not have hated being mated to the devil himself. However, that didn't mean that she would want this for him. This life wasn't her choice, wasn't the path she wanted to walk to the end of eternity but this was her reality now. This was her choice, the only one she had and right or wrong, she made it with no regret, no shame as she watched her father crumble.

Say goodbye, as we dance with the devil tonight.
Don't you dare look at him in the eye, as we dance with the devil tonight.

Bella watched her father close his eyes for the first time since he arrived on scene, holding the locket in a crushing grip to his chest.

Hold on.

She watched as his shoulders started to shake.

Hold on.

Stefan came slowly up to the tree that housed his mate, making no noise that would attract attention from the humans a quarter mile away or disturb his grieving mate. He leaned a shoulder on the truck and crossed his arms, watching as she watched the human that was falling apart at the seams over the discovery. He had done everything he could to give his mate this one thing, the closure that the man clearly needed over her death but wasn't dealing with well. He knew his mate was upset over the sight of her father but he didn't understand it. She knew the way things were, the way they had to be if she wanted him to live and die human. Call him an asshole if you choose, but this was nothing in the big picture. She was going to live to see many things worse than this. She was going to live to see him die, her mother pass, all the friends she ever had lose their lives to the humanity that hindered them. She had to know that the parents and friends of her victims went through this as well. He truly wondered what made this man worthy of her heartache when she never gave to this closure to the families of her meals. She was a monster with double standards as all vampires are. She wants for one what she will not give the next.

Say goodbye, as we dance with the devil tonight.
Don't you dare look at him in the eye, as we dance with the devil tonight.

Bella knew Stefan was there but chose to ignore him for the moment, wanting to have this time between her and her father that she was never going to see again, that she found herself wishing she had forgotten during her change. Her heart was breaking for the man before her. She wanted to remember him as he was, not as he is but all her memories were foggy, as if they were someone else's. Had she put more thought into this, she would have realized that that was far better than the vision she was going to have to look back on for the rest of her days.

Hold on.

Stefan cocked his head to the side as his mate's father climbed to his feet, the necklace still held tightly to his chest, listening as he confirmed the body as his daughter. Both he and his mate watched as the body was slowly and carefully moved onto a tarp to be transported overseas for burial under a headstone that wasn't hers. To be placed in the ground so that all that knew the name engraved on stone could come and visit her, to be close to the person they thought was there.

Hold on.

Stefan looked up into the branches at his mate, the same expression on his face of unbelievability and boredom over the whole thing. Voice showing his feelings over this spectacle, "You are aware that this is the way it must be. Do you hold regret?" Nodding as his mate shook her head, Stefan pushed off the tree and turned away from the goings on, "Then shall we return home? There is much that still requires our attention."

Bella nodded and twisted a bit, glancing over her shoulder one last time at her father as the body was placed on the back of a truck before leaping off the branch and taking off after Stefan.

Good-bye.