"This used to be my favourite place when I... lived around here," Leila says eyeing up a building on the outskirts of town. To Isabella, it looked shady but she didn't want to hurt Leila's feelings when she gave off the impression that she was just starting to trust her.
Isabella couldn't find any words to say to Leila so she simply nodded with a small smile on her face but it quickly drops.
"They'd do anything for me, plenty of things have happened here that never got revealed" Leila adds with a sadistic, fear inducing smile.
"It's good that you have friends like that" Isabella forces out despite her mouth being so dry, each word is like chewing on sandpaper
They both walk through the door of the small cafe, although the exterior of the building is dirty (Dirty enough to cloud the window so that you had to get up real close to see through them) the interior was much cleaner and more welcoming - much to Isabella's relief. There were around 10 square tables with two chairs at each, they each had a flower in the middle and condiments scattered around.
"You sit, I'll order" Leila commands
"I don't know what I want" Isabella mutters feeling like a child, a feeling she knew all too well. There was a sick feeling in the pit of Isabella's stomach that had been rising throughout the time she had woken up till now, she wasn't sure if it was because she didn't trust Leila or because she was nervous about revealing things she would much rather stay in the past.
"You sit, I'll order" Leila repeated, Isabella thought it easier not to argue so just complied and went to sit down at a table next to the windows. Isabella's jaw dropped in amazement, from the inside she could see outside of the cafe onto the small, empty street with perfect vision - there was no cloudy sight like there was from the outside of the cafe. Despite this being something that amazed Isabella, the feeling of unease grew as she wondered what type of cafe would need this feature.
"It's just a simply spell by a witch" a voice says making Isabella's head spin round so quick she was left momentarily dizzy, it had only come from Leila but Isabella was so on edge, everyone and everything had become a threat.
"Witches? Here?" Isabella asks her eyes widening
"No, in this country they mostly reside in Scotland, don't ask why. Must be the highlands and stuff but one particular witch owed the owner - Charlie - a favour so we managed to... persuade her to do as we asked" Leila grins, Isabella was starting to wonder whether she herself was going crazy because every word that fell out of Leila's mouth sounded like a threat.
"Oh" is all Isabella could manage to splutter out of her mouth
-
The two girls had been sat in the same spot for an half an hour before Isabella knew she had to bring up the past, she had to tell Leila what Finn was really like, she had to make her understand that the person she should love and trust most in the world could not be trusted. To do this, Isabella would have to share her darkest secrets with a girl she scarcely knew or trusted.
"Okay, so... I was abonded as a baby - we never figured out why my parents did this but they did, luckily the Alpha of the pack house doors I was left at was a kind and loving man. A man who had always wanted a daughter to match his three sons, one of whom had be born not 3 months before, his wife also welcomed me with open arms and raised me as one of her own, even I could barely tell that I didn't truly belong by blood because they treated me so well, I was brought up with a mother and father who loved me and three brothers - they all had some kind of jealousy towards me but for the most part it was normal. One brother would be the Alpha once his father died (The eldest) one would - with the right training - would be a pack warrior and the final and youngest son - Finn - would rule by his brothers side, not with a beta title but close enough" Isabella starts, Leila who she suspected to be interesting in wanting to know what she had to say looked as though she couldn't care less
"Anyway, my.. father died when I was a teenager, at first I was treated like I always had done - as an equal but the second the eldest son became Alpha I was kicked, literally, to the bottom of the pile. Nobody helped me or pitied me even though I had always done my best to be friendly and kind, I think this was mainly because they were scared, they had been threatened by the brothers that they themselves or their closest loved ones would be hurt if they gave me any kind of help but within 3 months this was normal practice, it was like a switch - suddenly everyone hated me even though I'd done nothing wrong. I could live with this, though, I could live with being the pack cleaner, with not having to talk to anyone, I could do it all but the final brother, the youngest brother - Finn - he was the thing I couldn't live with. He had always been the most jealous because of our small age difference so he made up for all them years of jealousy in a short amount of time just because he could. Daily, I was kicked, punched, and even stabbed - in a human case I would be lucky because I would die, I was wishing for death but I have always had even faster healing than normal so it was constant... it was always happening and there was nothing I could do to stop it" Isabella pauses to glance up at the slightly more interested girl across from her. Leila had reached out and taken the rose from the slim vase in the middle of the table and was proceeding to rip each petal from it.
A/N Triggers for rape coming up - just a warning
"One day, about four months after my father had died I was in Finn's room, cleaning. I had just finished making the bed and doing one final glance around the room when he suddenly appeared as if from nowhere. I had kept my head down, grabbed everything I needed and headed out of the room, I was inches - INCHES - from the threshold of the door when he called me back - he didn't like the way I had positioned the pillows even though it was the same as I had been doing it for a month. He punched me so hard in the stomach that I was completely winded, I couldn't breathe but he didn't care, he grabbed me by the hair because I couldn't even stand up straight and he dragged me to the bed, he ripped the pants right off of me... I was screaming and crying and he didn't care - nobody cared because nobody came to help me, they continued with their day to day lives like they couldn't hear me pleading for help. They did it every time, they didn't come and help no matter what happened, they didn't even care that he took out his knife and carved shapes onto my body that will never leave - hell they didn't even care when he thought he'd finally done it, when he thought he'd finally killed me and do you know what he did?" Isabella yells noticing that her voice level was rising and the stream of tears falling down her face were coming thicker and faster, Isabella had never talked about this with anyone and she told herself if she ever did it would be with someone she loved and trusted, something she didn't feel either about for Leila.
Leila however continued to looked bored, she had nearly pulled off all the petals from her red rose and Isabella couldn't help but think it represented the time she had left to convinve Leila what a bad person Finn was.
"What did the bad man do?" Leila asks pouting, faking concern about Isabella's past
"He took my deep into the forest and left me there, hoping that some animal would come and take me away - luckily I managed to heal, of course, this isn't everything but you need to understand just some of the bad things that Finn has done and I know you don't think that is his name but it is, I will never, ever forget that face. I know we haven't known each other long but you need to trust me on this Leila" Isabella pleads reaching out to take Leila's hands in her own but Leila quickly moves her hands away, there are less than 10 petals left now
"Why wouldn't you leave?" Leila asks shaking her head in disbelief, totally disregarding what she had just been told
"Where could I go? I struck lucky as a baby because I was innocent so a pack took me in, most packs these days are so nervous about rogues that they would rather kill someone on the spot without getting to know what they are doing, sometimes I thought it would be worth the risk to get out of there but then I got to scared of the uncertainty - I sometimes thought it must be my fault because they had turned so suddenly, maybe I had done something and if I stayed a little longer then they would be okay with me again - that's how he will make you feel"
"Maybe it is your fault" Leila shrugs looking up from her now almost empty rose
"What..?" Isabella says clearly taken aback
"Maybe - it - is - your - fault" she says clearly pronoucing every single word
"So you're saying you believe what I say about it being Finn but yet you question whether it could be my fault? I don't need to stay here and listen to this. Your brother saved me from something I was sure to be the rest of my life, I was there because I had to be, because I forced to be - don't you willing walk into that because you will end up dead" Isabella says and with that she stands up and walks towards the doors but as she reaches out to open it she notices that it is locked, spinning back around she see's Leila throw the stem onto the floor before stepping on it, she walks slowly - like an animal tracking its prey - towards a frightened Isabella. Well, one thing was clear, Leila was using the same tactics as Finn.
"I brought you here today because I needed an excuse to get out of the house so I could leave but I also needed to leave a message with someone for Hunter, that's if he finds you first" Leila cackles walking across the room until she is in front of Isabella
"Leila, you don't need to do this - please don't put yourself in danger" Isabella pleads
Leila's fist quickly connects to Isabella's jaw making her crumple to the floor clutching it as pain throbs through her whole skull.
"Finn is outside, he's waiting for me so tell my brother dearest not to follow us" Leila grins sending her foot into Isabella's ribs, she couldn't help but thinking no matter how many times this happens the feeling of broken ribs never gets easier as she hears her ribs crack.
As if by magic the front door to the cafe opens and as Isabella is about to fall out of consciousness (The lack of abuse since being with Hunter had certainly lowered her pain tolerance). Despite the black spots filling her vision, Isabella screams and crawls slowly away from the door as stood there is non-other than Finn holding a gun.
"What are you doing?" Leila shrieks looking from the gun to Isabella's curled up body
"Giving the bitch what she deserves. I'm going to kill her then take her body and put it on a pole and wave it around like a flag for her mate and the rest of the world to see" he smirks pointing the gun at Isabella but Leila quickly jumps in front of it
"No! I won't let you... I mean we don't need her - if you do something like that then my brother is going to come after us" Leila panics, breathing heavily as if she had just ran a marathon
"Good, I want him to come after us," he says his smirk growing before pushing Leila to the side, the sharp bang of the gun happens but then everything seems to go in slow motion, Isabella watches the small bullet, then a second come towards her small body. As they end her left thigh and stomach no sounds come out of her mouth, she seems totally incapable of sounds but she does hear muffled sound from the direction of her shooter.
Leila - screaming
Finn - laughing
As Leila runs towards Isabella, Finn scoops her up in his arms and drags her out of the cafe, he is on his way back to collect Isabella when someone Isabella noticed from the pack as one of Finn's closest friends comes running into the room with bright red cheeks.
"He's here, we need to leave, leave the girl!" he yells before they both run out of the cafe.
The last thing Isabella see's before her world goes dark is Hunter skidding onto his knees beside her body, even then she couldn't help but force a small smile on her face despite the small trickles of blood leaving either side of her mouth.
"Bella... Isabella, please don't leave me" he pleads as tears fall from his face, he leans his head down onto Isabella's chest as if praying for her to be okay but she see's no more as she falls into unconsciousness.
The last though Isabella had was: Is Leila good or bad?