Bound || A Twilight FanFiction

Chapter 2

What happened to her during the late hours of the night one late April in 1933, Ruby Carmine could not tell. She had been lying in bed when all of a sudden, all she could feel was pain and fear. Her body trembled and whined, begging for something –anything– that would ease that pain.

Her body raised from her bed, clutching at the walls of her room in the darkness. With the flick of a shaking hand, the candles on her vanity turned on, their flames illuminating the area slightly. Ruby sat in front of her mirror, checking her body for any sign of a bite or scratch, for any external reason as to why her body was in excruciating pain.

But there was nothing. Nothing to explain why she felt an unbearable burning running through her veins. It was the sort of sensation that could only come from a freezing state. The scolding blaze that only the lowest temperatures could bring. She could feel it flowing across her body, no site of emergence she could determine.

There was a feeling of fear inside her that she couldn't explain as well. It called for death, tempting closer, its breath cold against her neck. She had never been afraid of dying. It had always been a fair spirit to her. Even if it had taken her mother at a young age, Ruby knew that it had been for a reason. But that night, she did not understand Her intentions or why she was seeking for her soul.

She tried to keep quiet. To hold in the scream that was boiling inside her throat. She wanted to release every ounce of pain throat her throat until it hurt from the wailing. Hard as she tried, sobs and whimpers escaped her, and the groans simply slipped out.

"Is everything alright, Ruby?" Her best friend, Bea, walked into the bedroom, rubbing sleep off her eyes. "I can hear you struggling from the living room."

"I don't...," the girl tried to speak. "I don't know –ugh– what's happening."

The groaning put Bea on high alert, scuffling toward her friend in an instant. "What is it, Ruby?" she questioned, her hands cradling Ruby's face. "Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere," she croaked breathlessly. "It hurts everywhere."

"Here, let's get you to bed," Bea cooed, wrapping her arm around her friend's waist. She helped her to the bed, partially covering her shaking body with a blanket. Ruby was trembling like she was freezing, but her body was sweating as if a fever was ransacking her body. "I'm gonna scan your body, okay? Maybe that'll tell us more about what's happening with you."

Bea left the room, and Ruby could hear her tinkering around the kitchen, gathering ingredients and items she could need. The girl stumbled in minutes later, her arms full of herbs, a mortar and pestle, a pitcher of water, a wooden bowl, and various vials that Ruby could not discern.

The raven-haired girl sat by the bed, placing all the ingredients and instruments on the floor. The smells from whatever paste Bea was making eased her body slightly. Scents of sage, rosemary, ginger, and moringa danced in her nose, letting her focus on something other than her hurt. The paste felt cold against her skin as Bea spread it on her arms, her chest, then her forehead, cooling everything that it touched. But it did nothing for the ache deep in her bones.

Ruby could hear her friend as she poured the water into the bowl, speaking an incantation she knew far too well but could not remember at that moment. Her hand governed above the liquid, turning counterclockwise with the fire-red light that left her body. Had she not been writhing in agony, she would have been so proud of how far Bea had come with her magic.

"I need your hand, Rubs," she said softly. Her hands took her friend's, holding onto the index finger of her left hand. "This might pinch a little."

In the midst of her pain, Ruby did not feel as Bea dug the point of a knife into her finger, letting the blood drip down the digit. What she did note was that instead of the water turning into black goo or simply a light pink, it made the liquid disappear in a small explosion.