𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔 𝙀𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏
ミ★ ( bewitched, act two ) ★彡
Ten hours is a long time to not speak, and Lilith realises she could still do longer because after a ten hour flight of complete silence, she was in the passenger seat of a yellow Porsche, and she still had no desire to speak to the person beside her. The blonde hadn't said anything to her for the entire trip over to Italy. She had her earphones plugged in on the loudest volume and ignored Alice's presence as much as possible. Alice was speeding through the streets towards Volterra trying to get to their desired place; waiting until they got any sight of where Edward would be so they could stop him.
"Can you say something, please?" Alice begged, keeping her eyes on the road even though her reflexes would still be quick even if she wasn't looking.
"Can you please cool it on the corners? I'm still holding back the urge to vomit." Lilith snapped lightly as she gripped onto the dash, trying to hold back the urge to vomit on Alice out of spite. As much as she was appreciative of Alice's eagerness to help her help Edward—even though she knew that Alice wanted the same thing—it didn't mean that they were friends again because she was helping. Lilith didn't think she would be able to forget the pain that they had all caused her when they left and they would have to work a lot harder if they wanted her forgiveness.
Alice didn't respond as she she should've figured that that was going to be the best she was going to get out of her for the time being and turned another corner, the tires screeching loudly as she did so, "And I'm guessing you didn't rent this car either." If it was her car, she definitely wouldn't treat it as Alice was at that moment. But, then again—she's set her last two cars alight, so she couldn't judge too much.
Alice turned her head to face the witch, "I figured you wouldn't be opposed to grand theft auto." She responded.
"I guess you're right, not today." Lilith nodded agreeably. The girl's phone buzzed in her hand and she looked at it suprised that she still was able to receive calls and texts, looking at it seeing how she had a dozen messages and texts from both of her parents and Bella, "Oh, man." She groaned seeing how angry her parents were. The blonde began to respond to the messages when the phone decided to ring mid typing, her mother was calling. She brought the phone to her ear with a sigh, "I know you're mad—"
"Mad? You think I'm mad?" Her mother snapped, interrupting what Lilith was going to say, "Lilith Amara Bailey, I am furious! Good thing your father and I have been keeping an eye on you ever since Phoenix, imagine the heart attack we got when we saw your location was all the way in ITALY! You said you were with Bella!"
Lilith clenched her eyes shut as she pinched the bridge of her nose, lightly pulling the phone away from her ear from how loud her mother was screaming, "You can ground me for the rest of my life when I get back home." She told her, "I can't turn back now and let him go through with this."
Lilith heard Sierra take in a large deep breath as she tried to control her anger, she had gotten an explanation from Bella once she noticed that her daughter was in another country and she understood why she had done what she did, but, that didn't meant she wasn't any less angry that there was no communication. She was angry that her daughter was so caring and compassionate that she would drop everything to save someone who has broken her heart. "Baby, he's not your responsibility. He left you." She responded with a softer tone.
"That doesn't make what he's about to do to himself any less okay." Lilith whispered, "If the roles were reversed and I was in his shoes, you would want him to come stop me, wouldn't you?" Sierra didn't respond. If the roles were reversed and Lilith was about to do what Edward was planning on doing, she would want Edward to drop everything and try to stop her because that was her daughter. Edward was Carlisle's son; he was someone's brother; someone's friend. If Edward died, he would be leaving behind a lot more than just his life, "Exactly." Lilith finished, making her point known.
"Just... don't do anything irrational in front of the Volturi, we don't want a target put on us." The mother sighed, "And you are definitely grounded when you get home."
A ghostly smile played on Lilith's lips, "I wouldn't have it any other way." She said and then hung up the phone. She then turned her head to look at Alice, who's eyes glazed over and a blank look covered her face, "What? What do you see?" She questioned, reality settling in on the situation they were in.
"They refused him." Alice told her, with a look of shock on her face, "He's gonna make a scene. Show himself to the humans."
Never let a human know of your existence, never make a spectacle of yourself, she remembered. "That'll really provoke them if he does that." Lilith thought out loud. "When?" Would they be able to get there and stop it from happening in time?
"He's gonna wait until noon, when the sun is at its highest." Alice answered her again and Lilith looked at the time on the dash, feeling like she was going to puke once again.
"Okay, you can go hard on those corners again, we gotta hurry up." Lilith gulped, preparing herself to try and hold in the car sickness in order to prevent the worst thing from happening.
Alice looked up, noticing the familiar city. "There's Volterra." She said and Lilith looked up at the old Italian city as Alice stepped on the gas and letting them go surging forward towards it so they could get their faster despite the narrow turns and streets.
The vampire continued to drive recklessly, honking the horn and warning pedestrians of their presence so they could get out of their way as they made their way through the town.
Alice honked the horn viciously as they made their way towards a group of people all dressed in red robes walking on the streets, the lot of them moving without hesitating to glare and curse at them slightly for their rudeness and being impatient.
"Why are they all in red?" Lilith asked, trying to distract herself slightly, rocking a little in the chair to hold down the vomit that was coming up again. They didn't have time to stop for a break like they had done previously, in fact, Lilith believed that her breaks were the reason why they were so short on time and if she had to give up her plan on ignoring Alice to help distract her so they could get to Edward in time, then she would just have to do it. And Edward better be grateful for it, she thought to herself.
"San Marco's Day festival." Alice responded, "They're commemorating the expulsion of vampires from the city."
"Oh, man, the Volturi are going to be really pissed then." The blonde gripped at her hair, panting loudly as she felt the panic attack coming on as her mind rushed with different thoughts of how everything could go wrong so quickly, "It's the perfect setting. They'll never let him get far enough to reveal himself without killing him beforehand."
"Lilith, just breathe." Alice told her, placing a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her while the girl moved her body out of her reach, leaving Alice wishing she had Jasper's gift to try and relax her and get her to trust her again.
"We have five minutes." Lilith reminded her, looking at the clock, "I'll breathe when Edward isn't about to do something stupid." Alice didn't respond, knowing it was no use and Lilith was too stubborn to try and argue against her, she turned another corner when she had to stop when multiple police offers stepped in front of the yellow car to stop her from getting any closer into the festival with the vehicle. Lilith shot out of the car and looked at Alice who hadn't moved, "Are you coming?" She questioned with urgency. She had no idea where to go or what to do, or even how to speak Italian, and as much as she didn't want to admit it; she would need Alice's help.
"Lilith, you're the only one he can't see coming if you shut your mind off to him. If I go, he'll read my thoughts. He'll think I'm lying and rush into it." Alice told her, ignoring the police officer who was knocking on her window.
"Where do I go then?" She questioned, she would just have to try and get to him herself and hope that she could conjure up the last bit of strength and fitness she could to get to him and hope she doesn't puke on the way.
"He'll be under the clock tower. Go!" Alice informed her and Lilith immediately shut the door and took off running, pushing through the crowds of red robes towards and hoping that the direction she was going wasn't the incorrect one.
She ran as fast as she could, looking around and hoping that she was going with the crowd and not against it and that they were going towards the clock tower and not from it. She took a short cut through an alley way, running up the steps towards the red robed people she could see walking from above, trying not to trip.
She eventually got to the top of the stairs, her heart dropping as she saw the large clock tower ahead of her and the hundreds—if not thousands—of people standing in front of it, cheering loudly. Lilith continued on, shoving through the crowds and hoping she wouldn't lose the direction that she was headed as some of the crowd members pushed her back or wouldn't let her through.
She finally got to the edge of the crowd, stopping at the fountain in front of her, her breath catching as she saw the clock strike noon and Edward making his way towards the sunlight, unbuttoning his shirt slowly. The girl didn't hesitate as she shoved her way up and through the fountain. She had to stop him. The fact she was puffing and panting from being out of breath being the least of her worries.
The witch jumped over the fountain's edge and continued to run through the water and jumping off once she got to the other end—she wouldn't stop, she couldn't stop. The fear in her eyes glooming as she saw him take the step into the sunlight, the crystallised skin making its presence known.
Once she got close enough, Lilith leaped and with her body, using her figure to shield him from the sunlight as she yelled out, "Don't!" Edward smiled into her neck, smelling her scent and running a hand through her hair. Heaven. He simply thought. There could've been no other explanation. He had hoped that she would meet him on the other side of the afterlife—that was his idea of a perfect heaven.
"We have to move." She panted, the running catching up to her and the adrenaline wearing off quickly, "You have to get out of the sunlight." She persisted, getting onto her feet as she grabbed his face in her hands and seeing his eyes still closed, "Look at me, I'm alive. You have to move."
Edward slowly opened his eyes, expecting to be surrounded by a bright light and his Lilith wearing angel wings, only to see a worried Lilith in her normal clothing and still in Volterra. He was alive and so was she, "Lilith." He realised, pulling the both of them back under the clock tower and closing the door behind them as he gripped onto her for dear life. Edward was still trying to get over the shock as he rested his forehead against hers, "You're here. You're alive."
"I'm here." She confirmed, noticing the sunken look on Edward's face, the deep hollows under his eyes and how pale and weak he was compared to normal. He hadn't been feeding or looking after himself at all. The thought made her mouth salivate quickly, a sign that she was going to vomit, "And I'm going to be sick." She panted, lightly shoving him away and running to the corner before gagging up the vomit of blood she had been holding in for the last hour.
Wiping her mouth away before turning around to see Edward walking towards her to see him looking empathetically at her for what he had just watched her do, the girl putting her hand up, "Don't." She said sternly and the vampire stopped in his tracks, "I'm only here because you had to know I was alive, so that you didn't have to feel guilty anymore." She explained her reasoning as to why she was there, "Nothing has changed. I'll let you go now, just like you always wanted."
Edward tried to get back into her mind, sighing to himself when he realised she still had her walls up. He shook his head lightly, "I don't want to live in a world where you don't exist."
"Unfortunately that's not what you said to me all of those months ago... and I no longer believe anything else." Lilith argued softly. She'll never forget that day and how his words felt like a knife going into her chest. She'll never forget pain that spread across her body when he left her either.
"I lied. I had to lie." He told her.
"You've lied about a lot of things then." She sniffled, remembering all of the things he said to her and her mind trying to figure out what was a lie and what was the truth, "And what hurts is that you were able to make it so believable to the point that it didn't make sense for it not to be true. I felt like no one could be able to love someone like me for months; and that is all your fault. Because I still feel that way and I don't think it'll be able to change."
Edward could only shake his head, feeling her words eat him up inside knowing he was the cause of her pain. "Lilith... you're everything to me. You have no idea how much those things that I said to you aren't true—it couldn't be any further from the truth."
"You certainly have a strange way of showing your beliefs." She expressed, crossing her arms. The girl then turned around to go and walk out of the clock tower doors and find Alice's 'rented' car and go home. She had done what she came to do—the rest wasn't her responsibility anymore. The vampire grabbed her arm before she could get any further and Lilith turned back to glare at him before ripping her arm out of his grip, "Don't touch me."
Before Edward could argue further, the sound of a door opening was heard and their heads snapped towards the source, Edward immediately placing the girl behind him once he saw the two vampires with glowing red eyes walking towards them, shielding her from them, "I won't be needing your services after all, gentlemen."
"Aro wants to speak with you again." The large one stated.
"No rules were broken." Edward tried to argue.
"Nonetheless, we should take this conversation to a more appropriate venue." The other one said, motioning his hands around the place lightly as he referred to how close they were to the human eye.
"Fine." Edward agreed, turning to look at Lilith, "Lilith, why don't you go and enjoy the rest of the festival?" He suggested.
"The girl comes with us." The large one said.
Edward immediately shook his head, "No, you can go to Hell." He disagreed protectively, he wasn't going to serve her up on a silver platter for the Volturi to take advantage of her and her powers.
The doors opened and Alice walked in, taking her headscarf and sunglasses off, "C'mon, guys. It's a festival." She stated, leaving the door wide open for everyone to see inside on purpose, "You wouldn't want to make a scene."
"We wouldn't." The large one agreed, not missing the move made by Alice.
Another girl began to walk towards them, her eyes red and her skin as pale as ice. The girl took her black hood off, "Enough." She ordered.
"Jane." Edward greeted, his eyes looking down and not meeting hers.
"Aro sent me to see what was taking so long." She said looking at the guards before turning on her heels and walking the way she had come, the guards following after her knowing her words meant 'Hurry up, and follow me'.
Edward slowly began to follow them, his hand reaching out for Lilith's who didn't grab onto it in return, only looking at Alice for what to do, "Just do as she says." She muttered, not wanting to disobey knowing the extent of Jane's powers.
The large guard handed Edward a robe as they followed Jane down a stairwell that lead downwards, the girl stopped and told them to continue on with her, Edward looked up seeing the blonde witch's hesitant look, "Don't be scared." He told her, trying to get her to hold onto his hand.
"Are you scared?" She retorted back lightly as she continued to follow after Jane, hoping it would somewhat distract her from the fact that she was definitely scared.
"No." He answered, hoping it would comfort her knowing that he wasn't scared and that they would be okay, ignoring the small scoff that came from the blonde vampire girl in front of him.
The girl then lead them to an elevator and Lilith hesitantly got in to it with the rest of them, thinking to herself how stupid she was for getting into such a confined space with several vampires and she was the only one with blood running through her veins—even though it might not be as tasty to them; it was still blood nonetheless.
It was an awkward two minutes as everyone awkwardly gave side eye to each other during the ride down and the horrible elevator music didn't do much to help the weird tension in the small area, Lilith couldn't help but make a small breath of relief as soon as the bell dinged and the doors opened. A woman sitting at the main desk stood up and greeted them with a smile in Italian, Lilith gave her a small smile in return as the rest of them ignored her presence, the witch didn't miss how her eyes were a bright baby blue colour. She was a human, working for a bunch of vampires. Either she didn't know or she did and she wanted to be like them, otherwise she wouldn't be so eager to work for people who could have her for dinner.
Jane finally lead them to two large doors and opened them up, and that's when Lilith finally felt her breath catch into her throat once more, now nervous more than ever as she stepped inside.