Midnight Sun (Twilight #1.5)(196)

I could feel it slowly burning in my pocket, I placed my free hand over the letter. It would be a keepsake, a reminder of how close this angel got to death.

I should have known...Alice tormented.

"How romantic, a last letter. And do you think he will honor it?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm marring his polite tone.

"I hope so."

Bell was a fool to think I would honor that letter. Of course I would kill him. I would probably play golf with his appendages just for fun. The surge of savage pleasure rippled through me.

Sometimes she is so blind, Alice stifled a small laugh, understanding exactly what I was thinking without reading my mind.

"Hmmm. Well, our hopes differ then. You see, this was all just a little too easy, too quick. To be quite honest, I'm disappointed. I expected a much greater challenge. And, after all, I only needed a little luck."

Silence.

"When Victoria couldn't get to your father, I had her find out more about you. There was no sense in running all over the planet chasing you down when I could comfortably wait for you in a place of my choosing. So, after I talked to Victoria, I decided to come to Phoenix to pay your mother a visit. I'd heard you say you were going home. At first, I never dreamed you meant it. But then I wondered. Humans can be very predictable; they like to be somewhere familiar, somewhere safe. And wouldn't it be the perfect ploy, to go to the last place you should be when you're hiding -- the place that you said you'd be.

"But of course I wasn't sure, it was just a hunch. I usually get a feeling about the prey that I'm hunting, a sixth sense, if you will. I listened to your message when I got to your mother's house, but of course I couldn't be sure where you'd called from. It was very useful to have your number, but you could have been in Antarctica for all I knew, and the game wouldn't work unless you were close by."

Oh course, Carlisle practically shouted in his head. Realization hitting him like a ton of bricks.

"Then your boyfriend got on a plane to Phoenix."

I wanted to hit myself for my stupidity!

"Victoria was monitoring them for me, naturally; in a game with this many players, I couldn't be working alone. And so they told me what I'd hoped, that you were here after all. I was prepared; I'd already been through your charming home movies. And then it was simply a matter of the bluff.

"Very easy, you know, not really up to my standards. So, you see, I'm hoping you're wrong about your boyfriend. Edward, isn't it?"

Memories flooded me as I remembered our pointless and rambling journey to Canada, Victoria's odd behavior. Each second she was searching...looking. I became instantly angry at myself. Why didn't I see this? I should have known. I read his mind. He never failed...his special gift was tracking.

Bella stayed silent. Secretly I wished she would have taunted him, called him names...at least argued with him. Put up a fight, even if it were a feeble attempt.

"Would you mind, very much, if I left a little letter of my own for your Edward?"

Sick, Alice thought angrily.

His hand reached out to grab the camera. He was going to gloat...to show her that he was doing this to get to me. I didn't want to murder him anymore, I wanted to slice him into pieces and cook them one at a time. Feed it to the furry creatures of the forest.

He readjusted the camera a few times.

"I'm sorry, but I just don't think he'll be able to resist hunting me after he watches this. And I wouldn't want him to miss anything. It was all for him, of course. You're simply a human, who unfortunately was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and indisputably running with the wrong crowd, I might add."

The camera moved closer to Bella...he moved closer to Bella.

"Before we begin...I would just like to rub it in, just a little bit. The answer was there all along, and I was so afraid Edward would see that and ruin my fun. It happened once, oh, ages ago. The one and only time my prey escaped me.

"You see, the vampire who was so stupidly fond of this little victim made the choice that your Edward was too weak to make. When the old one knew I was after his little friend, he stole her from the asylum where he worked -- I never will understand the obsession some vampires seem to form with you humans -- and as soon as he freed her he made her safe. She didn't even seem to notice the pain, poor little creature."

There was an audible gasp from Alice, as she realized he was talking about her.

"She'd been stuck in that black hole of a cell for so long. A hundred years earlier and she would have been burned at the stake for her visions. In the nineteen-twenties it was the asylum and the shock treatments. When she opened her eyes, strong with her fresh youth, it was like she'd never seen the sun before. The old vampire made her a strong new vampire, and there was no reason for me to touch her then." He sighed. "I destroyed the old one in vengeance."

Alice's thoughts were running wild. Her mind trying to reach back into her old memories to try to find her human times. There was nothing but velvety blackness.

It all makes sense now, why she was left alone. Her creator was killed before she awoke! Carlisle was fitting the puzzle pieces together in his mind.

"Alice," Bella gasped, sadness in her tone.

A rush of affection came flooding out of Alice as she realized how much Bella loved her, too.

"Yes, your little friend. I was surprised to see her in the clearing. So I guess her coven ought to be able to derive some comfort from this experience. I get you, but they get her. The one victim who escaped me, quite an honor, actually."