Chapter Eighteen: Hell Has No Fury:
The following day, Carlisle ordered Aro to complete bed rest until the time of the planed c-section. Carlisle and Esme took a trip to the local food bank because Aro was low on blood supply and bid them farewell and would be back later that night.
Regarding Aro, it was now impossible for him to get up by himself, so he needed assistance from everyone. Bella carried him everywhere now because he simply did not have the strength to do anything else including walking. Carrying the hybrid took a serious toll on his body and it weakened him greatly. Though they discovered his food aversion early, the baby grew too fast for his body to handle and as a result he looked thin and ill.
His coven was wonderful because they spent time with him while Bella was in the throne room with her daily duties as master vampire. Felix and Demetri reported to Bella that they couldn't find any trace of Victoria in the country and Bella advised them to keep up the search. This news was discouraging to Bella, where could she have gone? She new that Victoria would not give up until one or the other was dead. It's been weeks since her last sighting and Bella had a feeling, she was biding her time.
In Aro's Room...
Heidi and Alice sat on the sofa by the fire together analyzing the ultrasound picture. They were arguing over the sex of the baby.
"I don't know what you are seeing Alice, the picture is so hard to make out." Heidi said as she squinted at the photo.
Alice giggled and helped Heidi to turn it in the right direction. "You got it upside down silly, it goes this way."
Heidi peered at the image unsure what Alice was referring to. "There, you see the legs there and there's a little something in between, see?"
Heidi finally saw what Alice was trying to show her and jumped up, "Oh my God Bella it's a boy!"
She grabbed Alice by the hand. "You and I are going baby clothes shopping for the baby right away!"
A son! Aro smiled to himself at the thought.
"We'll be right back soon, Bella!" Alice called as she was pulled out of the room by Heidi.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jane sat next to Aro looking at one of the baby magazines and Aro laid back against the headboard as he watched a scene where Emma almost hits Knightly's dog with an arrow because she could not aim due to the fact that they were urging. Jane looked around her magazine at the screen and watched the part with him, joining in the giggling. Just then, Aro's tummy growled in hunger.
He rubbed it smiling saying, "The baby's hungry again"
Jane got out of the bed and started walking towards the door. "What do you want Bella? A sandwich or how about a nice pasta salad? She asked looking over her shoulder as she reached the doorknob.
Aro sat up straighter. "No Jane, the baby wants chocolate ice cream. Oh, and candy, perhaps gum drops or starburst. Don't forget the blood! I want pickles Jane, to dip into the blood!"
Jane pulled a face of revulsion at the thought of the food combo. "Ewww, Bella, I know you are pregnant but holly crap, really!"
Aro had another idea and said, "Oh and some cake too!"
Jane stopped at the door and put her hands on her hips. "What! All that? It's junk food and not good for you!"
"Don't argue with a pregnant woman!" Aro put up his hand to dismiss her concerns.
Jane shook her head smiling at him as she raised her hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay you got it Bells, be back in a jiffy. Don't you move out of that bed while I'm gone."
Aro huffed. "Very funny, Jane!" I'll just roll myself around since I can't walk anymore."
Jane laughed as she opened the door to go to the kitchen. "Corin, come in and stay with Bella. I'm going to the kitchen to get her some food."
Corin nodded and stepped in and stood by Aro.
In the throne room....
Bell sat on edge in her chair. Her nerves were shot. She just couldn't focus on todays events no matter how hard she tried. She worried about Aro. This birth was going to be dangerous and she will be forced to watch as he suffered in her place. She hated the helpless feeling of dread. Bella kept going over terrible scenarios in her mind. It was driving her mad. If she lost him how was she to go on?
Just then, the double doors opened and in flitted Demetri and Felix. They looked urgent to relay news and dropped the formalities.
Skipping bowing and waiting to be addressed, they shouted out their findings. "Victoria sighted in the city. Just at her boarders, my kings!"
Caius stood up and joined them. "Lead me to the area! I want to kill this bitch myself!"
"Yes Master!" They bowed and flitted off together.
Bella looked at Marcus in alarm. "Do you think they will succeed? Will she be finally caught?"
Marcus nodded reassuringly. "Caius won't give up easily. He will search until the sun rises if need be."
Bella sighed. "I just want this to be over so I can focus on the birth of my child."
Marcus sighed too. "Soon, let's hope."
Meanwhile in Aro's room....
Corin sat next to Aro, watching the end of Emma with him. All was quiet except the small DVD player, playing in front of them. The castle for weeks now has been always bustling with activity and it was so strange to Aro that it was still and lifeless.
"Where is everyone?" Aro and my brothers should be almost finished for the day in the throne room. What could be keeping Jane?" He felt a strange nagging feeling something was not right, as if a voice of warning was whispering into his ear.
"Not to worry it's because many guards are out doing their duties and the Cullen's are gone too. All is well." Corin said soothingly as she used her gift on him to ease his mind and make him more content. He sat back feeling instantly better.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Corin moved off the bed to answer it. "Maybe that's Jane and she can't open the door with all that food."
She reached the door and opened it, looking over her shoulder at Aro nodding. A blur of activity occurred before his eyes so swiftly that he didn't get a chance to react. Corin was taken by surprise as she was grabbed and muzzled by a hand clasping over her mouth. Aro was suddenly lifted in someone's arms and a hand held his mouth to keep him quiet. Aro's eyes widened in fear as he focused on the person's face holding Corin, Sulpicia. Her face twisted in hatred mixed with shock as she subdued Corin. Aro glanced up in horror as he gazed in the smirking face, full of malice, Victoria.
They were both whisked away down the corridor towards the dungeons, deep into the bowels of the castle. Aro wondered how they got in undetected. The castle has been on full alert since the sighting of Victoria. He suddenly felt dread he never experienced before. Not only was his life in danger but the baby's as well. Victoria held him firmly in her iron grip looking not ahead to watch where she was going but into Aro's face, smirking insanely at him as if she were possessed by the devil himself. The woman came to a halt at the end of the corridor. Aro looked at their location in sudden realization. Now he knew how this breach in security was possible. The secret passageway. Sulpicia moved over to the wall and pulled on the only torch not burning. It opened a door that revealed a tunnel.
It's been over a thousand years since he even thought about it. He and his brothers created it as a safeguard. In the time of the Romanian war, the covens attacked each other for a hundred years and the castles were at a constant siege. Aro and his bothers worried for their wife's safety during the sieges and made a way of escape for them. Not many of the current members know of its existence. Ironic to him now that the very thing he created out of love for Sulpicia, she would use it against him to kill him.
They sped down the tunnel leading behind the castle out to the cave at the beach. Aro could hear the crashing waves and the seagulls crying overhead. The sounds echoed against the hollow rock as the wind howls at the entrance. In the mouth of the cave they came to a stop and Aro was deposited on the cold, wet stone ground.
In the throne room...
Bella sat waiting for news to come about the capture and annihilation of Victoria. It was just too quiet for her nerves to take so she got up and paced back and forth in front of Marcus. Just then, the door flew open and Santiago and Reneta flitted in, stopping in front of Bella.
"Master's come quickly; Jane has been dismembered!" They cry together.
Bella looked over at Marcus horror-stricken. They all flitted at record speed to the kitchen with Santiago leading the way. In the kitchen, they were horrified by the scene before them. Bella's eyes welled up with venom tears and she knelt sobbing. She tried to gather Jane in an attempt to put her back together. Pieces lay all over the kitchen, scattered about the room as if someone attacked with great fury. All her libs were torn off and head. Nothing was left intact but the trunk of her body. Marcus found her head and after picking it up, he spoke soothing words of reassurance that she would be alright. Marcus handed Reneta Jane's head carefully and stepped over to Bella.
"Let them help her, we got to see if Bella is alright!" Marcus said in haste as he pulled Bella from the scene and towards the bedroom.
Bella's eye's widen in fear. Aro!
As they came close to the room, a terrible foreboding gripped her heart. She couldn't hear Aro's heartbeat anymore or any sound of movement for that matter. She searched the room with Marcus and was relief slightly that there was no blood detected. The only noise came from the DVD player that was knocked to the side, still plying the end credits of Emma. Marcus grabbed her by the arm and ran down the corridor sniffing the air. The scent of Jasmine hit Marcus and made him growl in anger.
"Sulpicia has been here and another as well! It's leading down to the dungeons! Hurry follow me!" Marcus shouted over his shoulder to Bella.
In the cave...
Sulpicia grabbed Corin by the throat from behind and Victoria stepped up to her facing her with a terrible grin as she took her arms. Corin struggled against the females in vain, her strength was over matched because of the two combined strength. Aro agonized as he witnessed Corin in danger and was helpless in a human body to help her.
Sulpicia laughed at her pathetic attempt to fight her. "Oh, I got you now little bitch! You had me content in that fucking tower for centuries against my will. Now I'm going to kill you!"
Corin's eyes flickered over to Aro's. In the depths of her soul, she knew she was going to die. She gave him a look of complete despair as she felt her captors pull on her limbs. Sulpicia roared and twisted Corin's head off. Tossing it by her hair to the ground. Victoria laughed maniacally as she ripped her poor body limb from limb. She piled up the remains and pulled a zip o lighter out and flicked it to start the flame. Then she tossed it in the pile, and they watched as Corin was set ablaze with fire reflecting in their evil eyes. Purple smoke filled the cave causing Aro to choke harshly as his eyes filled up with tears looking on as she burned.
NO! Corin, my dear one! Aro cried in his heart.
Sulpicia patted her accomplice on the back and turned to Aro. "Well, well, well, Tori will you just look at this whore! She's pregnant with Aro's baby, isn't that just fucking rich? First she steals him from me now this!"
Victoria stalked forward and grabbed Aro by the hair harshly. "What! Edward wasn't good enough for you! You just had to steal another mate! Like your asshole ex-boyfriend stole mine when he killed him!"
Aro looked up defiantly. "He got what he deserved, you psycho bitch!"
Victoria yanked his hair so hard some came our in her fist. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"
Sulpicia grabbed Victoria by the wrist before she could strike him down with a deadly blow.
"Oh no fucking way, you promised me satisfaction! I got you in! I'm going to enjoy this moment as I hear her screams begging me to kill her!"
Down in the dungeon...
"The sent leads here!" Marcus said as he turned the corner leading to a dead end.
Bella could smell the beautiful scent of Aro and she moaned in worry. She was panicking inside as her gut twisted in anxiety. If he were harmed in any way, he would make the kidnapers wish they have never been born. Marcus growled as he realized where they had been taken him."
"What?!" Bella said looking around at the seemingly empty hallway, confused.
'The harpy used the escape route we made for our wives at the time of the war!" he flitted over to the torch on the wall and pulled it down. The wall separated at the invisible seems and opened to reveal the tunnel.
We're coming Aro! Please hang on!
Back in the cave...
Sulpicia put her nails to Aro's delicate skin and raked him down the chest once more. Victoria paced back and forth, irritated at her partners insatiable need for torture.
"Bloody waste of time Picia! Hurry the hell up!" Victoria hissed, anxious to get away.
Sulpicia waved her hand at her to be silent. "Oh, I'm just getting warmed up Tori, now shut it!"
Aro cried out in pain and fear as Sulpicia continued clawing at him, smiling in insane glee. She lifted Aro's head that hung in exhaustion to look into his face. She slowly licks his blood from her fingers, making him watch. Her eyes going black as her non-beating heart in blood lust.
Victoria suddenly hissed in alarm and walked next to Sulpicia. "Sulpicia, kill the bitch! Do it now! I hear something!"
Sulpicia didn't get a chance to respond as she was tackled to the ground by Marcus. Bella pounced on Victoria and wrestled with her getting the better of her with the advantage of Aro's body and ancient strength.
"You piece of shit, that my mate you're messing with!" Bella growled ominously soft near Victoria's ear.
Victoria hissed venomously and got free from her grip as she kicked out. Bella flew back sliding on the wet rock, staggering back. Victoria seeing her chance to get Bella by surprise crouched and lunged for her again. As Victoria ran full force at Bella, she tried to tackle her, but Bella recovered quickly and took a stance clenching her fist. Bella then punched Victoria in her feral face as she flew mid-air. Victoria went back sailing back and smashed into the cave wall, putting a hole in the rock, getting wedged between. Bella could see that Victoria's porcelain flawless face was cracked like a broken doll and before she could recover and heal, Bella moved to finish her.
Bella ran like lightning over and grabbed Victoria's hair and yanked some out while she was disabled. "Now you die!"
Bella tucked Victoria's head under her arm and locked her in a deadly hold. She roared in fury as she pulled Victoria's head clean off from her shoulders and dropped her head after spitting into her surprised frozen face.
When Bella looked up, Marcus had Sulpicia down on the ground, stepping on her neck. He reached down and pulled her by the hair. With a sickening sound of porcelain being crushed under boots, he yanked her head from her body as Sulpicia tried to grab at Marcus's legs to free her neck.
Bella turned her back from the gruesome scene and flitted to Aro. He was holding his chest as the blood seeped through his fingers, his face growing pale fast.
"Hold on baby, I got you!" Bella picked him up bridle style and flitted back to the castle to get him help.
Marcus stayed behind to burn the remains of their enemies.