hey guys. before you kill me, im really really really reallyu really really sorry times one million and a half. i know i havent updated in like, ever, but ive been real busy with stuff and so , im really sorry!

now. welcome to el climax-o of the chapter was shorter than i intended it to be.

no song for this one. dont really know which song would work. xD

review please? so close to 600.

--

CHAPTER 30 – The Water Warehouse

EDWARD POV

It smelled weird.

Like gasoline mixed in with stale oatmeal. Something repulsive marred the surroundings. A cold wind swept through the air, lifting the leaves of branches and causing dry shrubs to tremble. The gravel crunched under my feet as I slowly made my way towards the entrance of the warehouse, hands clammy, heart racing.

I wondered why the warehouse was here, literally in the middle of nowhere. I knew it was in Vermilion, but somehow, as I stared hard at it, it felt like the warehouse stood on its own earth with its own inhabitants, and I was the stranger trespassing. Which, technically, I was, and I didn't think it was a good thing.

The sun was just falling below the horizon when my fingers curled around the cold, rusted doorknob. A second later, the door opened, and I stepped inside the building, being met by near total darkness. The only light came from the large window at the top of the eighty-foot tall wall. My heart was pounding wildly still, and as I squinted around in the darkness, my stomach churned over and over. Instincts kept telling me to turn back around, head home, and pull Bella into my arms again.

For a split second, the opportunity seemed perfect. I'd left Bella in Chicago, hurt and torn apart, and at the moment it seemed like the right thing to do. It was for her own good, anyway. It wasn't something I was proud of, and I couldn't get her sweet, heartbroken expression out of my mind.

"Please let me go with you," she pleaded, more tears staining her soft, pale cheeks. "Edward, please."

I had to do it anyway.

"You can't, Bella," I had replied. "It's me he wants, not you. Stay here and take care of Jasper. You're safe here." It was an order, and despite the fact that I hadn't wanted to leave without her, I stepped out that door with as much conviction as I could muster.

Back in the warehouse, I took a deep breath and slipped my hand into my jacket pocket, retrieving a small pocketknife. Holding it tightly and thanking God for letting Carlisle put me in karate classes, I cleared my throat and said, "I'm here."

For a moment, there was no response. Absolutely none at all. But then a shadow shifted in a corner to my left, and I jumped back in surprise, expecting Caius's cold, heartless face to appear. Instead I was met with bloodshot ones that were definitely not the gray I had expected to see.

"Hello?" I said, taking a step towards the figure huddled in the dark corner.

In the dim light of the shadows, I could vaguely make out the outline of the person's face and body. It was a girl … Alice, I realized with a jolt. Her hands were tied behind her back, and her knees and feet were bound together, the ropes stained with a red substance. A white cloth was knotted tightly around her mouth.

Alice only uttered a small groan in response, her eyebrows knitting into a frown as I approached her. Bending down cautiously, I reached to pull the cloth from her mouth, but a voice—bored but filled with command—stopped me.

"Don't do that, Edward," Caius said, walking slowly up to me with his hands crossed behind his back. He was clean shaven and wore a friendly mask, though he looked only a little wary of my presence. I stared hard into his cold gray eyes and stood, standing guard over Alice.

"I see you've come," Caius continued cheerily, as though we were friends meeting up at a bar. "Welcome."

I didn't respond.

"You've grown," he said, taking a step closer to me.

I instinctively stepped back, a movement that Caius had definitely noticed. From the tone of his voice, however, he seemed unfazed.

"You do know why you're here?" he said, his icy eyes staring into mine. He didn't give me a chance to answer, for with that same happy voice he said, "I lost everything I had ten years ago, you know. Your parents were such nice people."

My hands clenched into fists.

"Though your father"—Caius breathed deeply, as though this was a sensitive subject for him—"was a very intelligent man. Very clever. Ha ha."

I smiled stonily.

Caius looked at me for a moment, opened his mouth, and then closed it, as if rethinking his statement. Finally he said, "Quiet, are we? Cat got your tongue?" He laughed at his use of idiom, smiling pleasantly at me.

It seemed like a millennium before I was finally able to respond. "My father is dead." I stared him straight in the eye, struggling to fight back the anger that had begun to accumulate in my stomach. "You would know."

Caius's cheerful smile disappeared instantly, and the tone of his voice went from cheery to cold and menacing. "Yes, well, I was the brighter mind of my time."

I bit back a snort. "So, Caius, where's your friend?"

His expression was carefully masked into one of total confusion. "Friend?"

"Don't give me that shit," I said, my voice hardening. "The man you escaped with. Where is he?"

Caius grinned almost manically, taking two slow strides to the right while admiring a dusty box. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

But his tone, friendly but filled with threat, told me the opposite. Instinctively, my gaze trailed around the dark room, soaking in every corner, every crevice. Shadows occupied various regions, places where one could easily be concealed. Chills ran down my spine, and despite the coldness in the air, sweat trickled down my neck.

My gaze focused briefly on Alice, whose wide and worried eyes were surrounded by dark shadows. She hadn't slept in days, and what little sleep she had had not been satisfying.

"Let the girl go," I said, bringing my attention back to the man before me.

"Let her go?" Caius repeated dubiously, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Now, Edward, why on Earth would I do that?"

"You got me here. So let her go."

"Not yet," he answered. "We're not done here."

I sighed. "What is that you want, Caius?"

"Revenge," Caius said simply, his eyes darkening. "You, Edward, you ruined my reputation." He took four strides closer, his stance beginning to become menacing. I fought the urge to step back, knowing that the closer I got to Alice, the greater the chance of her getting hurt.

"You and your father ruined my reputation, my life," Caius hissed, eyes narrowed as he pulled something from his pocket. "You deserve this."

I had barely any time to withdraw the pocketknife completely out of my jacket before Caius charged at me, his eyes filled with fury. Struggling to maintain my composure, I launched the knife towards him. The instant the weapon left my fingers, I withdrew a second pocketknife and tossed it at the ground by Alice's feet. Then I spun around and met my adversary.

The knife, I noticed, had barely grazed his left shoulder and was at that point gliding across the ground with a screech. Caius chuckled darkly, his eyes crazed and psychotic.

"Years, Edward," he panted. "Years in that prison."

"Kill me and you're going back there," I warned him, stepping over a discarded box. My gaze slowly traveled from Caius's red, angry face to Alice, who was on the floor behind him. Her hands were awkwardly cutting at the thick ropes that bound her wrist, but her wary gazed darted between Caius and me. "Actually, screw that. You're going back no matter what happens."

"They will never find me," Caius said calmly, true confidence in his words. "They won't find you either. Or that little bitch over there." He jerked his head at Alice, who responded with a furious, "Bastard."

"Threatening me?" I said calmly, reaching into my jacket pocket.

"Only a tad bit."

"Perfect," I answered, and aimed the gun at him.

-E-c-l-i-p-s-e-

BELLA POV

The air smelled weird. Like rotting fish, or rusting metal. Something unpleasant.

Wrinkling my nose, I stepped out of the car and immediately felt a pang of wrongness.

I glanced around, forcing myself to ignore the dread that had accumulated in my stomach. Edward's Volvo was parked on the other side of the building, his car exterior gleaming in the barely visible sunset. It would have been a romantic evening, under other circumstances. The thought of Edward caused a pang in my chest; he wouldn't be happy to find me here, especially since I pretty much stalked him to my death bed.

I exhaled heavily, crossing the ten feet to the dusty door streaked with dirt and grime. I hesitantly reached for the doorknob, my fingers numb in the ice cold air. All I wanted was to go back to twenty-four hours ago, or even better yet, back three months, when Alice was still with us, bright and happy and safe, and when Jasper was smiling contently, not the broken and battered man I saw now.

The doorknob twisted.

It was rusty and stiff, but it worked with a little force. I stared at it for a brief moment, suspicion painted all over my face, before stepping inside. There was a stretching silence as I stood there, letting my eyes adjust to the thick blackness that seemed to swallow me up.

Suddenly, like the sudden blare of an alarm clock, a gunshot rang throughout the building, as loud and clear as a siren. Seconds later, another one followed. Instantly I was running, my feet carrying me across the dusty floor and my arms out, fingers grazing the dusty boxes and chipped cement walls.

There was a deafening crash that made my heart skip a beat, followed by a loud curse and then another collision, like two boxes being thrown together in midair. A sound like shattering glass echoed in my ears, and I imagined bits and pieces of glass raining onto the floor, their jagged edges slicing through skin. I bit back a shudder.

My footsteps were loud and unsteady, I realized helplessly, and I slowed to a stop, panting and sweating despite the wintry weather. I glanced around uncertainly, glimpsing shadows of figures that seemed alive, like they were watching me with invisible eyes. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of my neck.

Another gunshot. Then a cry of agony, in a voice so familiar. Edward.

I cursed and took off running again, and suddenly there was a scream and something was coming at me, something big and heavy and thick. I glimpsed a flash of silver before I was knocked aside by a small body, hair tickling my chin as I gasped in surprise. Glittering glass shattered on the ground beside my ear, its jagged pieces sliding across the floor.

Before I had time to process it, someone hauled me onto my feet. Even in the shadows, I recognized the small nose and mouth, defined cheekbones, and dark spiky hair.

"Alice?"

Her eyes gleamed with happiness, but her expression remained tense and solemn. "We need to go, Bella."

"What?" I said, panting and completely overjoyed at the sight of her. "But Edward—"

"Never mind Edward," she said instantly, her voice rising an octave. Her surprisingly strong hands gripped my shoulders. "We need to go. Now."

Without waiting for a response, her hand slid down my arm, locked tightly around mine, and yanked me forward into the darkness. In the blink of an eye I was racing after her, back towards the door where I had first entered. Suddenly I couldn't focus at all, not on the familiar hand around mine, not on the loud pattering of our uneven footsteps, not even the loud collisions that echoed throughout the building. My mind screamed, Stop! Go back! Help Edward—

"Edward told me to go," Alice said sternly, and I realized I'd been speaking aloud. "We have to listen to him, Bella!"

I was running carelessly now, and with my added clumsiness, I tripped over a heavy object, nearly crashing into Alice and pulling us both to the ground. She quickly caught a hold of me and urged me forward, her shaky breathing loud in my ear.

"We have to get out," she said like a mantra, more to herself than me. "We have to get out. We have to."

We were almost to the door now. I could see its vague outline up ahead, with its dull doorknob and grimy surface. As I stared at it, though, a shadow seemed to shift, and suddenly there was something in front of it. Something was blocking the exit.

"Going somewhere?" came a cold, amused voice.

Alice gasped and came to an abrupt stop, causing me to ram into her side. She barely seemed to notice, just swearing softly with her eyes fixed on the figure obscuring the door. Her hands were sweaty, but her grip on my arm was solid and firm. I noticed the little steps she was taking, backing away, slowly but surely.

"No, Marcus," Alice replied smoothly, not a single waver in her voice. "Just helping a friend, is all."

Why was there another man? Had he finished off Edward, and then decided to go after us? Then I gasped. Caius had a companion who had also escape. This had to be him, I realized with dismay.

Suddenly a wave of nausea crept over me as I fought back the urge to cry out for help. There were still resounding crashes in the other end of the warehouse, but to get there would include difficult maneuvering throughout the aisles. The darkness was not inviting.

Marcus took a step forward, exactly the same time that Alice shifted back a step.

"You don't expect me to believe that, do you, Alice?" said Marcus. Unlike Caius's voice, his was surprisingly smooth, persuasive. Cunning.

Alice faltered for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "We believe what we choose to believe."

One of her small pale hands reached out and secured a grip on one of the ragged old boxes. Glass clanked softly.

"Caius is psychotic," she went on casually, and had I not known any better, I would have assumed she was participating in a conversation about modern day technology. "Shame you are, too."

In the blink of an eye, Alice's arm shifted, and the box came tumbling onto the floor in front of Marcus. Another box followed, and Alice was pushing me back behind her, aiming box after box at him. Dust rose up like a steam from a clay pot, wistfully floating before drifting away.

I quickly mimicked her movements, and soon enough, the pathway was blocked with dust and boxes.

But Marcus only laughed. His arm shifted, and Alice gasped.

"Duck!" she screamed, pulling me towards the ground. A gunshot sounded, a bullet flying into the spot where I had been standing not a second earlier.

"Shit shit shit shit shit," Alice cursed loudly, dashing around the end of the aisle as another bullet sailed through the air. "He has a gun too!"

"C'mon, Alice," Marcus sang, his voice ringing in my ears. "Don't run. We know what happened last time you tried that."

There were a series of gunshots, either from the other battle occurring or from Marcus, and suddenly Alice gave a strangled cry and tumbled roughly onto the floor, involuntarily tugging me along with her. I slid away from her small figure, skidding my palm along the ground, and came to a rough stop when my back hit the hard wall.

Stars blinked in my vision, but Alice was already pulling me up again, just as Marcus came around the aisle, whistling cheerily.

We raced down the back of the warehouse, heading for an exit, any exit. My heart was pounding in my chest and there just didn't seem to be enough oxygen in the air for me to breathe.

"Up ahead!" I gasped dizzily, pointing at a door at the end of the aisle.

Alice seemed to be weakening by the second, and as I focused harder, I saw that her movements, often graceful and lithe, were now jerky and unstable. She was limping.

"You're hurt," I said.

"Don't mind me," Alice responded breathlessly, turning back to smile weakly at me. In the split second that I saw her face, I realized she'd become pale, paler than before, and that her eyes, rimmed with dark circles, were watering with unshed tears.

"He shot you in the leg," I cried, but Alice just shook her head at me. Her grip on my arm was loosening, and suddenly she collapsed against me.

"Alice!" I panted, struggling to keep my voice low as I caught her before she met the ground.

"Shit. This hurts," she whimpered, somehow managing small smile. "Keep running, Bella. Keep going."

I hesitated, then hooked her arm around my neck and ran towards the exit, which was so close that I could make out the chipped red letters painted above them. Telkins, it said. With my free hand, I twisted the doorknob. It resisted painfully, a sharp pain searing down my arm.

"Locked," I breathed, meeting Alice's horrified look with my own. "It opens from the outside!"

"What the fuck?" Alice said angrily, squeezing her eyes shut tight. She groaned softly, one of her hands scrambling for the doorknob. It was stained with dried blood, I noticed in horror.

Gasping, I shoved my shoulder against the door, sending another sharp pain down my arm. "Dammit! It—won't—budge—"

"Quite a dilemma," said Marcus in his soothing voice. I turned around to find him standing five feet away from us, knife in hand. I was pretty sure his gun was somewhere in his belt, easy to reach, easy to use. "Pitiful, I think."

He smiled at us victoriously, eyes glittering in the shadows.

-T-w-i-l-i-g-h-t-

EDWARD POV

"You psycho," I hissed, one of Caius's knives grazing his throat. "You murdered my parents. You kidnapped Alice. You escaped from jail, a place where you deserve to be."

I pressed the knife down harder, barely letting it brush his dirty skin.

The guns lay abandoned somewhere in the large warehouse, and all I'd been left with was one knife, a crazy murderer, and about forty-five bruises in forty-five different places. My hair stuck to my forehead, damp with sweat, and my sweater was torn in various places. The sharp sting in my left wrist told me I'd probably broken it and therefore I was unable to use it. My knuckles were scraped and bloody too, what with all the punches I'd thrown Caius's way. He very well deserved them.

Caius laughed manically, blood spurting from his broken nose. "You are very determined, aren't you, Edward?"

"Time to time."

"Kill me then. Kill me right now."

I blanched. "I'm not you, Caius. I don't go around slaughtering people."

"I never hurt your parents," he said matter-of-factly. Seeing the hard look on my face, he added, "Not directly, at least."

He pulled a fist back, but I caught it as it propelled forward. He was weakening, and I couldn't help but feel triumphant.

"You're losing, Caius," I said wearily, ignoring the pain in my cheek. "It's over."

Caius cackled, his teeth crooked and bloody. "There's two of us."

"What?"

"Marcus. He's after Alice right now."

At the sudden mention of Alice, my neck twitched, but I didn't look away from Caius. Suddenly, everything felt wrong, and either dread or fear coursed through my veins. "You bastard," I growled, sinking the knife just barely into his skin. "You don't deserve jail. You deserve death."

"Then so be it," he said seriously. But then he laughed, his chest shaking with a sickening humor, as though I'd just told a joke.

I stared at him with absolute disgust. "It's over for you."

I pulled back my arm, hands clenched in a tight fist, and swung it forward, letting it collide swiftly and easily with Caius's head. He was out in a second.

-N-e-w-M-o-o-n-

BELLA POV

I fell onto the dirt, Alice landing beside me, her expression contorted.

Marcus shut the door behind us, effectively letting us out of the warehouse, which had been our original intention. Unfortunately, Marcus was not supposed to be involved.

He'd broken the knob off the door as though he was swatting an annoying fly out of the way.

It was dark out now, crickets chirping and air bitingly cold. Marcus grabbed Alice by the collar of her dirty shirt and threw her against the wall, causing her to cry out. But even her outburst was weak. She collapsed onto the dirt ground, her shoulder at an odd angle, and didn't move.

I instinctively reached out for her, but Marcus was already standing before me, hands on his hips like an angry father.

"What do I do with you?" he said curiously, and he stared at me with icy blue eyes.

I glared at him. "You're crazy."

"Feisty. I like it."

His bulky hand came under my chin and roughly lifted my head up, his eyes searching mine. "You're pretty," he said with satisfaction. I reached up to swipe his hand away, but his left hand caught my wrists and held them together.

He let go of my chin and cupped the back of my head, fingers yanking forcefully through my hair. I bit my lip, fighting back a whimper, and channeled all my anger into my eyes, hoping he could see the hatred that burned in them.

"I knew a girl once," Marcus said suddenly. "She was blonde and had blue eyes. Cheated on me."

He lifted me off the ground and dragged me towards the side of the building, where no one would be able to see us. I struggled against his big arms, but his grip was steady and strong.

"You want to know what I did to her?" Marcus continued.

I didn't want to hear it. With a grunt, I kicked out my legs and got him hard in the knees. He was surprised at my sudden movement, enough to loosen his grip on my arms. I took advantage of the moment and scrambled onto my feet, but a large hand wrapped around my ankle, pulling me onto the ground again.

"I broke her neck," Marcus said breathlessly into my ear, as though his precious story hadn't been interrupted. He yanked roughly on my hair. "Or tried to, at least. Her roommate caught me about a minute before she'd have died. I was nineteen."

My eyes widened. You murderer! I wanted to yell. But I knew I was in no position to tell him anything.

"She was prettier than you," he said with a slight frown. He ran a dry finger down my cheek, and I cringed away, narrowing my eyes in disgust. "Her skin was pale, just like yours. Unlike all those tanned girls at the beaches."

He's crazy, I thought furiously. And I am so screwed.

His finger slid down my neck.

"Stop," I gasped, shoving against him with all that was left of me. "Stop it!"

Marcus smirked. "Don't think so."

"Stop!" I screamed, somehow managing to knock my forehead against his.

He swore, his expression immediately filling with rage. "You b—"

"She said to stop," said a cool voice. I gasped as Edward came into view, his green eyes sliding from Marcus to me. He stared at me for a moment, his eyes totally and completely unreadable. Then he glanced at Marcus again.

He was dirty, his bronze-colored hair clinging to his head, a sharp jaw swollen and bruised. His knuckles were battered along with his clothing, but he was standing before me, whole and breathing and alive. I couldn't hide my elation.

"You must be Edward," Marcus said, masking his previously shocked expression. His hold on me seemed to tighten, now that Edward was here. "Caius has spoken a lot about you."

"Caius is a douche," Edward said with absolute bluntness, his smile gentle, almost angelic. But his eyes didn't match his smile. They glowed with anger and hatred. "You're just a friend of the douche."

Marcus's grip on my shoulders was so tight, I knew that when I looked later, there'd be bruises in the shapes of his fingertips.

"Let her go," Edward said softly. He took four steps closer, now only three feet away from us.

Marcus seemed to contemplate for a moment, and then, in a movement so swift that it was just a blur, he withdrew a knife and slammed it roughly into my side.

My body jerked, and a scream escaped my lips. But it was cut short when Marcus rammed a large fist into the side of my head. Pain shot down my neck in hot bursts, my vision blotting.

Suddenly Edward was there, driving punch after punch at the adversary, rage and hatred and even sadness radiating off of him in thick waves. Marcus only chuckled casually, blocking a punch every now and then. He was so large compared to Edward, whose lean and graceful figure was throwing out punches and curses.

I tried to get up, had even managed to balance on my elbows, but the pain in my side was too much. With a cry I fell onto my back, wincing as the hot blood trickled through my shirt and down my skin. My hair was plastered to my neck, and consciousness drove in and out, in and out.

In the midst of all the fighting and agony, there was a single gunshot. Suddenly, Marcus's smile faded, and his grip on Edward's jacket seemed to loosen, weakening until finally, he collapsed onto the ground, blood sinking into the dirt and eyes open and blank.

I gasped as my vision blurred briefly, shutting my eyes as a wave of nausea swept over me. Blood. Too much blood. And the pain in my side was excruciating.

My eyes flew open, and I fought to regain consciousness. I had to stay awake, had to see Edward and Alice and make sure that they were okay. But I could hardly focus, barely thinking past the agony that ran through my body like lava. I blinked and clenched my hands into fists. Fight it.

When my vision focused, Edward was gazing at a small figure lying on the floor, whose leg was swollen and whose spiky hair was damp with sweat. In her left hand was the gun. The one that killed Marcus, I would learn later.

She was saying something to him and he turned to face me, and he too was saying something, alarm spreading all over his face. But I couldn't hear anything, not with the rushing waves of pain that suffocated me, not with the painful throbbing in my head and body. It was like I was surfing a too-large wave that brought me under. And as I struggled to the surface, all I saw was green—Edward's green eyes gazing down at me, sorrow and anger and pain chasing each other across his features. It was the last thing I saw before darkness came over me.

--

.......intense.

no? well. i tried. and i hope i didnt gross you out with all the blood and gore. tehehe. has anyone seen Saw? the movie stuff? that stuff is freaking bizarre. O.o

merry late christmas, btw. :)

so yeahh. i hope that was presentable, because it took me at least two hours to get it done. stuff like why she was stabbed will be explained in the next chap, unless you already figured it out. its not a huge thing or anything. but yeah, thats if your confused.

also, Fate of Shadows, i hope this was a good wheat bread bout the late Christmas present. AND ALSO. thanks so much to karamelka for translating You Asked Me to Love You into RUSSIAN!

anyway. REVIEW. por favor?