Remedy

The Pale Hand

"I can hear your heart beating, Sophie."
He was at the foot of my bed. His feet on either side of mine. "It's beating incredibly fast. That's excitement."
"That's fear." I corrected him.
"Nope. It's excitement." He leaned in closer, his face moving closer and closer to mine. I leaned back until the back of my head touched the mattress putting myself in a very vulnerable position with him on top of me.
'It's excitement. You like the thrill of having the unpredictable knock at your door all the time. You like having me around." His cool breath hit my face.
"Y-you pull my focus." I continued with the list of reasons he should leave me alone.
Those gold eyes bore into mine.
"You pull my focus too, but in a good way-"

"Earth to Sophie!" I was brought out of my thoughts by Monica.
I looked up at her just now realising that I had been holding my breath.
Monica was holding up a dress for me to examine while looking at me expectantly.
"It's cute." I replied absent mindedly as I tried to push the memory out of my head and stabilise my breathing.
Monica didn't seem to notice my breathlessness. She had turned to face the mirror, placing the dress against her body.
"You think so?" She asked.
"Yeah, totally." I encouraged her with a smile. Now that I had really looked at it, I saw that the royal blue colour would really compliment her skin tone. "You should try it on."
She nodded feeling more motivated before disappearing into the dressing rooms.
The minute she left, my face dropped and I rushed to my bag which sat on one of the plush chairs of the boutique.

"You keep me sane, Sophie." His voice continued.
No! No! No!
"When I'm around you, I have to be careful all the time because you're fragile."
"Yeah but-wait I am not fragile!" I complained.
He let out his deep throaty chuckle.
That chuckle that always made my knees go weak.
No! Why was I letting this happen.
"Of course you aren't." He started leaning closer and closer.

Arg! No!
Why was I doing this to myself? Its been a year, Emmett is gone. He left and he is not coming back. I need to stop thinking about him. It only reminds me of the reality that he left a hole in my heart. I need to get him out of my head.
I need to get him out of my head.
I looked at the little pill bottle that stuck out of my bag.
A voice in my head told me; No, Sophie, you've already had two today.
But another told me; one more won't kill you, it'll help you. You need to forget about him and this will help.

The latter seemed more reasonable.
I opened up the bottle and put a pill on the palm of my hand. Without hesitating, I tossed it in my mouth and swallowed.
I shut my eyes and took in a deep breath.
Much better.

Monica stepped out of the dressing room.
"Wow!" I told her. She did actually look gorgeous in the knee length long sleeved dress that hugged her supermodel body.
She rose a brow at me. "You like?"
"I love!" I exclaimed. "You look hot."
She walked up to one of the full body mirrors and examined herself.
"Do you think Dylan will like it?" She asked shyly.
I don't know how long Monica has had a crush on Dylan but I began to notice at the beginning of senior year when we all started hanging out together.
"Why don't you just ask him to prom already?" I told her.
She gasped seeming outraged by the suggestion. "You want me to ask him out?"
I shrugged. "Why not? It's the twenty first century, girls can ask boys out. Besides, you know Dylan, he would probably be too shy to do it himself."
Monica suddenly lost eye contact with me and focused on the mirror. "That's not the problem." She muttered.
"What is it then?" I asked her.
She started fiddling around with the sleeves of the dress. "Well, I thought Dylan... He umm.... Oh come on Soph! How can you not see it?" She asked in frustration.
"See what?" I asked in confusion.
"He's so into you!" She yelled.
I rolled my eyes. Monica wasn't the first person to insist this.
Dylan and I have been friends since we were like five years old. That's why we have such a close relationship. He has always been such a good friend to me. Especially now, he has been by my side ever since the incident. Honestly, if it wasn't for him bringing me back into the social circle, I wouldn't have any friends.
"He is not, Mon." I told her.
"Soph, everyone sees it. Heck, even Ryan knew."
I hesitated when answering. Ryan was my boyfriend who died last year, ironically he died at the hands of James.
Anyway, Dylan, Ryan and I were best buddies when we were kids.
Monica seemed to notice my hesitation but before she could apologise, I spoke up. It's not like I had forgotten about Ryan, I had truly loved him when he was alive and I still loved and missed him now, it's just that I had moved on with my life since his death.
"You are being ridiculous. Dylan does not have a thing for me, he loves me like a sister."
Monica still seemed skeptical. "So you wouldn't mind if I went to Prom with him?"
I shook my head firmly. "Not at all. In fact, there's nothing I would want more."
Monica smiled in excitement making her heart shaped face look prettier than it already was.
"So what are you going to wear to Prom?" She asked.
"I actually haven't had time to look for a dress yet." I told her.
Prom is six weeks away, I have more than enough time to look for something to wear.
Unfortunately, for a girl like Monica, such a thing was outrageous.
"What? No! You have to start looking for the perfect dress now!" With that she hastily started looking through the clothing racks.
I wanted to tell her that it was no big deal but that's when I caught a glimpse of the snow white skin.
It was nothing more than a hand but I knew that a hand that pale could not possibly belong to a human.
The hand was sweeping against some fur coats before disappearing out of my view
"Sophie." Monica called me. I turned my attention back to her. She held up a sparkly blood red dress with a long slit going up the side. "What do you think?"
Before I could respond she answered her own question. "You're right, too tacky."
She went back to going through the dresses.
I turned my attention back to where I had seen the hand.
I moved closer hoping to see the proprietor; secretly hoping that it was Alice's or Bella's or Esme's. Heck even Rosalie's.
But there was no one in that roll.
Was I hallucinating? Was the excessive intake of the pills finally taking its tow?
I shook my head as if to push the drugs out of my system. I was about to go back to Monica but then I saw it again, sticking out of a black designer hooded coat.
The person was short but definitely taller than me by the looks of things. I couldn't tell who she was because her back was to me.
She walked with grace towards the exit. I instantly followed, my curiosity getting the best of me. Could it be Alice?
She's the only one I could think of who fitted the mystery lady's appearance.
I was walking out the door mesmerised by the mystery back when-
Omf!
I looked up at the person I had bumped into and saw that it was Dylan.
"Really Soph? What's got you distracted this time?" He asked with a chuckle.
"Er..." the hand was making a turn down one of the streets.
"You should go talk to Monica. I'll be right back" I told him quickly before jogging down the street after the hand. I turned down the street she hand turned into.
Empty.
I ran down it until I reached the T-junction at the end.
I looked both sides and caught a fleeting glance of the hand turning into another corner.
I quickly ran after her.
I came to a stop when I reached what I realised was an alley way.
I froze at what I saw. The lady had her back to me. She was talking to another person with pale skin in an expensive looking coat. The boy noticed me first. He lifted up his sunglasses to show blood red eyes. He smirked at me.
"Told you she'd take the bait."
The girl turned around and lifted her own sunglasses to show her own blood red eyes. She narrowed them at me.
"Well that wasn't very smart of you."
I started backing away slowly. From my little experience I knew that vampires with topaz-gold eyes like the Cullens fed on animals; they were the good guys. But people like James with blood red eyes fed on humans; they were not only the bad guys but they were dangerous too.
"Leaving so soon?" The male spoke. He was as beautiful as all other vampires I had ever met. But those burgundy eyes told me all I needed to know. He was dangerous and I needed to get out of there.
As if reading my mind, he sped towards me at lightning speed and before I knew it, he was behind me holding my shoulders. He pushed me forward towards the girl.
He didn't use much strength but I still stumbled before regaining my balance.
I was standing right in front of the girl now. Her red eyes studied me curiously.
"I don't see it." She spoke.
The boy appeared by her side and rolled his eyes.
"Of course you don't, you don't have the gift."
She eyed me with scrutiny. I had seen that look before, it's the one Victoria, Jame's girlfriend had given me when James said that I was beautiful.
It was jealousy.
But what would she have to be jealous of? Now that I had seen her face properly, I saw how extremely pretty she was with her blond hair tied back.
The girl scowled at the guy.
"That doesn't mean I can't see insignificance when I see it."
I had no time to feel offended, I had to find a way to get out of here. Outrunning them wasn't an option. The only thing I could do was find a public place with a lot of people. I knew for a fact that they wouldn't dare attack me in front of other people. But the thing is that they had cunningly lured me into a fairly abandoned area.
The guy looked at me with those sharp burgundy eyes.
"Forgive my sister, she tends to get jealous when she sees beautiful humans." He smiled at me.
He was indeed handsome and good looking but I knew better than to fall for that. James was dare I say, incredibly hot and he called me beautiful on numerous occasions but he still wanted to kill me.
"Stop flirting with it." The girl scolded him.
It?
The guy smirked at me. "I can't help it. She looks and smells so delicious."
I saw his eyes darken as they eyed me hungrily.
My heart beat accelerated as I waited for what would undoubtedly be my demise.
The girl smacked him in the chest which I could tell really hurt.
"That is not why we're here."
The guy rubbed the spot where he had been hit. He muttered something incoherent.
The girl stepped forward.
"Excuse my brother, he tends to act barbaric when he's away from home. My name is Jane and the idiot standing beside me is Alec. We have been sent to retrieve you."
"Retrieve me?" I asked, my voice had suddenly started working.
The Alec guy groaned. "You have always been terrible at delivering news sister." He stepped forward and smirked at me. "We are with a little group called the Volturi and it just so happens that our leaders have developed quite an interest in you. We are here to take you to meet them in Italy." He cocked his head to the side. "Didn't you get our invitation?"