✔️Ambrosia (Edward Cullen) BOOK ONE

54-"Riley"

"Wake up!" Ambrosia groaned as she jolted awake, hearing a loud voice snap which was the thing she least expected. Peeling her eyelids tiredly upward, she was instantly aware that she hadn't been sleeping for very long, exhaustion was still very strong in her mind as she groaned again and as her eyes unconsciously shifted to the box window- it became apparent that it was very much night time outside. "Get up" the voice belonged to none other than Riley, the newborn leader of Victoria's army and when Ambrosia weakly turned her head in his direction, she was horrified by the devilish blackness in his eyes.

"What's happening?" the shy girl stuttered out as her arm was snared angrily in his iron tight grasp. Before she even had the chance to utter another word, Riley was dragging her along uncaringly through the white house where she had lived alone for the past two weeks with nothing but carelessly made sandwiches for food and bottles of water to drink. Ambrosia hadn't felt the cool breeze of fresh air within that time and so when Riley pulled her through the creaky front door, the human couldn't help but toss her head back into the air and bask in the way it kissed her skin. 

"Laurent, he betrayed us" Riley spat, shocking Ambrosia who hadn't actually expected him to answer. The vampire proceeded to continue dragging her along though for the time being at least, they moved at her pace, the mud soon found itself drowning her once more and Riley's hand on her arm was slightly painful due to the strength of his grip but she appreciated that it could be a lot worse.

"And I intend to do it again" a voice called out and Ambrosia froze simultaneously with her captor. Riley's eyes flittered around the area, in search of his traitor nomad vampire but Laurent was nowhere to be seen, he was hiding somewhere in the darkness of the trees and that much was clear to Ambrosia though her human eyes could not even see three feet ahead of her into the forest due to the absence of light. "Give me the girl and we will leave peacefully, no one needs to get hurt today, Riley"

"People have already been hurt today, Laurent! Show yourself, Coward or I will kill the pretty girl right here and now" he ground out like a feral creature and Ambrosia helplessly yelped as Riley dragged her close to him. The human's heart instantly set alight with a furious hammering as he held her there, her back to his chest and when something pressed against her neck- she froze. The sharpness was consistent with only one thing- A blade. Riley held the blade strongly against the warm beating of her pulse and Ambrosia's shattered breath flew in hyperventilation, swirling in a mist around her face due to the coldness of the night.

"Riley, let her go. She doesn't mean anything to you but you know Victoria will kill you if you hurt her. There's a reason why she is still alive, why Victoria has kept her here all this time" Laurent demanded and Ambrosia blinked in shock as he finally entered her vision a few feet away, the murky moonlight illuminating nothing but his silhouette but she would know it anywhere. Laurent was just another ghost of her past but he was different because Laurent was there to save her.

"I don't care! Our army has been obliterated because of you and those filthy Cullens, this girl is all I have against you now" Riley ground out and Ambrosia's heart seemed to leap at the sound of the name, they had come to help her after all. Ambrosia knew that she wasn't out of the woods yet and the next movement just proved that.

The human girl couldn't help but shriek out a muted, shattered groan as agony sliced through her. Riley's voice morphed into a brilliant, devilish cackle of laughter as he swiped the weapon down smoothly and shoved it easily into the warm, soft human body of Ambrosia Hatton. Groaning out in more shock than pain, the adrenaline pulsing in a single second, Ambrosia's hands clutched to her abdomen where a knife now lay. The tanned flesh of the human girl's hands was quickly soaked, painting in a hellish sparkling red beneath the moonlight as the rain drizzled down weakly and she clutched onto herself with all her strength as if holding herself together at that moment.

Laurent's anger was unexpected as he screeched out in a raged Battlecry and Riley cast Ambrosia aside effortlessly to steel himself for the attack that was on the horizon. Groaning, Ambrosia's hands clutched weakly at the hoodie she still wore, the hoodie that was now paining a gruesome red with her blood. 

"Get out of here Rosia, Run!" Laurent's voice was fuzzy in her ears as she stumbled to her legs and forced herself forward with all the strength she could muster. Ambrosia knew, as she entered the pounding, twisted darkness of the forest around the little white house, that her only chance of survival- was to find Carlisle Cullen before it was too late. The agony was unprecedented as it finally slammed straight into her and she rocked slightly where she stumbled, pushing herself to continue through the ferns and roots of the forest.

Ambrosia knew better than to remove the knife that lay within her stomach as she stumbled like a newborn fowl through the shadows but the blood dripped down her relentlessly and with every drop- she could feel her life slowly draining away.

Authors note: Laurent to the rescue! Who will prevail in the Laurent V. Riley fight? Where's little Bree and will Ambrosia be able to find the Cullens in the forest before her knifewound kills her?