16

Blaize POV:

We take a plane to Phoenix, then a cab to the dance studio. Tension crackles in the air as we stop outside. 'Wait here,' I say. Edward opens his mouth, but I glare at him. 'Please. I don't want to make a wrong impression.' The words sound strangely funny out of context, but eventually he nods. Worry flashes through their eyes as I turn my back to them, slumping my shoulders slightly before walking inside.

The lobby is dark and empty, and real fear begins to crawl its way up my spine. Suddenly, I hear my mom's voice again. 'Bella? Bella?' As I sprint into the long, high-ceilinged room, my mom says, 'Bella! You scared me! Don't ever do that to me again!' I'm about to say, 'I'm not Bella...' when I realise the sound is coming from a TV. I watch the last few seconds as she laughs in relief rustling Bella's hair. This was after one of Bella's ballet performances, when we thought she disappeared all of a sudden, only to find her behind the stage, rubbing her ankle. She had tripped.

Then the screen goes blue.

I turn slowly. The tracker is standing very still by the exit, the remote control in his hand. 'Sorry about that, Bella, but isn't it better if your mother didn't really have to be involved in this?' His blood red eyes stare intensely at me, amused.

He's playing with me.

He thinks I'm Bella.

But my mother isn't here. She is safe is Florida. On vacation. With no bloodthirsty vampire holding her hostage. I sag in relief. 'Yes,' I sigh.

'You don't seem that angry,' he comments.

'Mm-hm.' She was safe. Dad was safe. Bella was safe. Just me and him here.

'You really mean it,' he says curiously. 'Does your boyfriend know you're here?' he adds, if not a bit hopefully.

'No,' I snap, backing into the wall behind me. The cool surface of a mirror meets my palm instead, and ire flashes across his face before it's replaced with a large, humorous smile.

'How disappointing.'

There are so many mirrors. I can see my unnervingly-calm gaze in the opposite mirror - and the back of the tracker as he advances.

Noticing my staring, he gives a small chuckle. 'I chose this place specifically because of the visual effects. Absolutely stunning - every detail is captured. We wouldn't want to miss a single thing, would we?'

And then I notice the red flashing dot in the corner of the room. He's filming everything.

'You're pathetic,' I spit. 'Coward.'

His face may have gone red with fury if there was any blood in him, but all the tracker does is cock his head and smile. His crimson eyes are cold, cold like a black, starless night yet writhing with raging flames.

'You're going to regret that,' he growls.

'I don't think you'd find much satisfaction in killing a mere human girl.'

'You have some cheek, and tongue in you,' he says, though his smile twitches slightly - he's fighting a snarl. 'But you know, this is all bait. After watching this, your boyfriend simply won't be able to resist hunting me.'

He darts forward in a moment my eyes do not track, slowly lifts his hand to cover the mere foot between us and wraps a stone hand round my radius.

And then his grip tightens, crushing and splintering and fracturing the bone.

My mouth opens in a wordless cry. I yell for Edward in my head. 'Looks like it's going to take a little more than that to make you scream,' the tracker smiles. But there's nothing friendly in his eyes.

Then he lunges forwards, and I hear a crack as I fly into the mirrors, the glass shards tearing into my skin. The smell of blood fills my nostrils; I can't imagine what it must be like for the tracker.

Screaming fills the silence, and I realise the noise is coming from me. 'There we go,' James smiles again in approval. 'But let's make it really hurt.' The last words come out in a snarl. He lunges towards me.

Then Edward is there, knocking James aside, but not before his teeth clamp around my wrist.

Suddenly everything is hazy. I hear multiple snarls and cries and shouts as the world rages around me, but I find myself limp like a doll, unable to move. A small figure flits in front of me. Alice. 'She's losing blood fast!'

I feel another presence beside my left arm. 'Splint.' Carlisle's voice rings through my head, loud and clear. I try to form words with my mouth, to say something, but all that comes out is a croak. The place where James bit me seems to have caught on fire. It's burning with unspeakable pain, and it feels like I'm wearing a fiery glove. 'Edward,' I whisper.

A shadow falls upon me. 'Yes?'

'It's burning.'

'Yes, we know. We're fixing you up now.'

'No!' My voice comes back to me all of a sudden. 'Left hand!'

I hear Edward's sudden exhale. 'No.' The life drains from his voice, turning bleak and cold. 'He bit her.'

I hear Carlisle suck in a breath. And then he said the words that I feared would come. 'We're too late.'

'No,' Edward snarls. 'No!'

I hate for Edward to be so upset, so distressed. My arm twitches to brush his hand lightly. His eyes lock onto mine, helpless and defeated. 'Your choice, Blaize,' he murmurs.

After a heartbeat, I shout my answer wordlessly to him.

The only reply I get is the sound of teeth cutting across my skin.

*

Time slows. Time stops. Time flies. I don't know where I am, only that there's an endless torrent of fire seizing my body. I can't seem to move, and I'm burning up silently from the inside out. My fingers, my toes, my chest, they're all on fire. Blazing. And it doesn't stop.

*

I didn't know that my choice would lead to this. Maybe it would have been better to die. But there's Bella. There's Charlie. There's Renée. Jacob. Seth.

I would not die now. And so the endless fire rages.

*

There's something wrong. I didn't think there could be such thing as hotter until now. But it was. It was like molten iron filling my veins; it was everywhere. The pain and pressure built, higher and higher, till I feared I would be incinerated into ash. It shouldn't be like this. Should it?

*

I feel it instantly. Relief. The pain is dragged from my fingertips, and in that brief bliss, I am able to focus. My eyes are squeezed shut, so I listen. And I hear the sound of footsteps, nothing like I'd ever heard before. Soft, and rhythmic. And another pair. Swift, and... thoughtful. And finally, a rapid pacing to my side. Strange how I could distinguish these different sounds. As I indulge myself in my senses, my chest suddenly starts to get tight.

*

It's like having the boa constrictor winding round you, squeezing, tightening. That's what it felt like. But it wasn't a scaly tail holding me. It was the flames. They weave around my chest, and the pressure builds up. My heart starts pumping madly, trying to get rid of the obstacle. The pain has left my fingertips, only to gather around my heart. It's thrashing and beating inside of me, refusing to let the fire snuff the beat out.

And then it's silenced.