Made of Glass Chapter 29

A Chapter by Charlie

“You need to do something about that beard, dude. It’s totally at odds with your buzz cut. It’s bizarre and not in a good way,” James had returned and relieved Laurent of his duty of being absolutely silent. Luckily Victoria had been hanging around for the past couple of hours and it was clear she wasn’t nearly as comfortable doing nothing as the rest of these guys were. James was constantly having to stop her before she responded to me.

“I mean how old are you? You’ve had to be around for at least a century, yes?” I guessed “You think you could have learned a little bit about how to dress nicely in that time.”

I continued on comparing the messy attire of my captors to the flawless apparel of the Cullens. I suppose that wasn’t really fair because the Cullens had Alice but still they could at least try. That beard was really nasty.

“Ew gross, what happens when you’re like feeding? You probably have like hepatitis in there or something.”

“Dear Lord! Come on James! There has got to be some way to shut her up!” Victoria finally lost her cool.

“If it bothers you, you can go monitor with Jerry.”

So there’s a fourth. And Eddie had told me it was extremely rare for three vampires to spend any amount of time together. This James guy was clearly someone to reckon with if he could command three of them so absolutely. It was clear that none of them were going to be betraying him anytime soon.

I smiled sweetly at her as she gave me another evil glare. Thank goodness I had so much practice acting coolly in hostile situations from my sparring matches with Rosalie.

Before she had time to dart away James’ pocket started to vibrate. He had the phone up to his ear in a movement too quick for me to catch. He didn’t say anything into the phone just listened for a few moments before he shut it and headed toward the door.

“Stay with her. And please try a little patience. It will be good for you.”

I think if Victoria was a little less afraid of James she would have stuck her tongue out at him.

“Shut up or I’ll eat you,” she said to me once James was gone.

“I feel like you’re not going to do that.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, cause you’re little friend over there would eat you.”

Her hand clenched into fist for just a moment. That irritated her.

“So what makes James so badass that he has you all hanging off his every word. He’s not even polite about it. If I were you I would probably just snap his head right off the way he talks to you.”

“You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“He has a gift doesn’t he? There’s no reason otherwise that one vampire could keep three others in line. What can he do that has you all asking how high?”

“He has more power than you can imagine and we’re not frightened into following him. He’s going to take us to the top. Only first we have to get rid of those that are already up there,” from the way she grinned at me it was clear who she was talking about.

“The Cullens are a bunch of veggie heads who actually enjoy going to college year after year after year. They’re not a threat to anyone.”

“Ha! You know they’re one of the biggest covens in the world.”

“There are only seven of them.”

“Vampires don’t get along well. But it’s not just the numbers. The gifts they have. Just think of all the things you could do simply with your honey’s powers not to mention that little pixie girl. If they wanted, the Cullens could rival the Volturi.”

“But they don’t want to. They don’t want anything.”

“That doesn’t mean they won't ever. We’ve got big plans. I mean great big plans, and you’re friends have way too big of a conscious to just sit back and let it all happen. They’re content to let things lie the way they are now but they might decide to act against us once the blood starts flowing and we’re not going to take the chance that they might win.”

“If they’re so amazing why do you think you can win this time?”

“First, they’re off their game, thanks to you. Their first goal coming in here is to save you. Ours is to win. You’re simply a distraction for them. Also, we have the element of surprise. They’re cocky since they’ve gone for so long without any real challenges. They aren’t going to approach with the caution that they need to beat us. And finally we have James. And like I said, he’s powerful.”

“Powerful how?”

She hesitated. I was lucky to get so much information out of her so freely for this long, but there wasn’t a lot I could really use from any of that. She was just making me more and more nervous. But whatever James could do, this was big and I needed to know more about it. I needed to push her.

“You know I’ve seen the Cullens in action,” I didn’t know how good of lie detectors vampires in general were but I figured that my heartbeat was already so erratic from the stress of the situation that lying wouldn’t trigger any extra reactions. “James says he knows all there is to know about them, but I can't see how that’s true. If you guys truly knew what they could do you wouldn’t dare think that four of you could take them on. James could move the Earth beneath their feet and it still wouldn’t be enough. He’s just one guy and their powers are incredible.”

Victoria let out a long laugh in her cool seductive voice. “Let’s see them use their powers in the dark.”

I couldn’t get any more out of her than that, and it didn’t make any sense to me. Vampires had like opossum vision. They could see great in the dark. They were basically night time creatures. I can't see how fighting in the dark would affect anything. It certainly wouldn’t affect any of their powers. Maybe James could turn off their vision like how I was blind for a little while in my apartment but still Alice would see that coming and they had such great sense of smell and hearing . . . There had to be something else.

I was chewing over her cryptic words for quite some time. Victoria was especially thankful because I sat in silence for a solid length of time. I would have sat like that lost in my head for hours had my stomach not rumbled loudly letting any vampires in the vicinity know I was hungry. Then I realized that I had to pee. I hoped vampire cabins had bathrooms in them. I was not very successful at peeing in the wilderness.

“Hey there, buddy!” I called to Victoria. “I’m wasting away here and I’m about to wet myself. As far as kidnappers go you guys really suck at this game.”

“Humans are so disgusting,” she whispered under her breath but otherwise ignored me.

“LAURENT!” I bellowed at the top of my lungs.

“Jesus, what the hell do you want?” I had finally gotten Victoria’s full attention again.

“I told you I want to pee.”

Laurent walked in through the door, “What are doing to her, Vic?”

“Nothing! She just started screaming.”

“No I asked very politely for a little something to eat and a trip to the lady’s room, please.”

Laurent looked at Victoria who just shrugged her shoulders. Clearly not the brains of the operation.

“If you just let me out I can get some food myself!”

“Ha! Fat chance!” Victoria snorted at me.

“What do you think I’m going to do? Run away?”

Laurent walked over and cut the zip ties holding my hands despite Victoria’s protests.

“Don’t be trying anything," he warned.

It seemed pretty absurd to me that anyone in my situation would try anything but readily agreed, and I learned if I needed it there was a way to get out of my restraints and I could get Laurent to do things for me.

I skipped over to the bathroom while they “made” me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. At least that’s what I was promised. What it was in reality was two large crackers closer to manna than Ritz and a jar of peanut butter. I asked them for jelly but they apparently didn’t know what that was so I ate the crackers plan and had a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter before my hands were restrained again.

I tried to make jokes about how ridiculous it was to restrain me and how pointless it was but they would not be swayed. James said I was to be restrained so that was the end of it. I would stay in my chair with my hands behind my back till they fell off. It made sleeping especially difficult. I stopped complaining about that fact as soon as Victoria offered to help me “clock out”. I was sure I wouldn’t enjoy that. Eventually exhaustion won out though and my head slumped against my chest.

In my dream I was back in my apartment only I couldn’t see or feel anything. I just knew I was in the apartment. It was like all my senses were turned off again. The only thing I could hear was James’s voice saying guess again over and over again only I couldn’t turn to face him because there was only blackness around me. I couldn’t pin point where he was in my apartment. I couldn’t tell you where I was in my apartment. I was lost in the dark.

I woke up with a revelation.

My head jerked up as I remembered my situation. Two bright red eyes were staring at me intently. Apparently James was willing to lower himself to the position of babysitter this time.

It might have been because he was in such close vicinity or maybe just because of the experience I had when I was being kidnapped but I suddenly had a full grasp of what his power was. It wasn’t just sight, he could control other’s senses like Jasper could control people’s emotions. I hadn’t just been blinded like I assumed. I was just disoriented because that’s what I noticed going first but now that I thought about it all my senses had been shut off if only for a brief time because James couldn’t use his powers against me.

Yes, that could definitely be a problem for the Cullens. So it was up to me. I had to get out of here before they came to get me. Despite what I said to James they were coming to get me. There wasn’t a chance in hell Eddie wouldn’t come for me once he realized I was missing, and the rest of the family wouldn’t let him come alone. Except maybe Rosalie. She might be willing to risk them just to get rid of me. I wasn’t all that upset about that fact though.

So how was an average girl going to escape four vigilant vampires? I had to use what God gave me. And what God gave me was a vampire with an amazing power. What James could do I could do. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure but when Eddie was around I could read minds and when Alice was around I got a sense of the future so when James was around it follows that I could use his power too. Sure it was a long shot. I hadn’t ever tried to purposely to use any of them it just sort of happened. But if it sort of happened whenever I wasn’t trying maybe it really happened when I did try. I just didn’t have any idea where to start.

For the next couple of days I was the model prisoner. I stopped trying to annoy Victoria into giving me information and stopped manipulating Laurent into giving me other things. I politely reminded them three times a day to feed me and let me use the bathroom. They cut my bonds for that short period of time and then restrained me again. Then I struggled to get a good night’s sleep in my chair.

The only other incident was on the third day. After going through two nights of only getting a handful of hours of uneasy sleep in a hard wooden chair I began to get a little cranky. It’s understandable! I nagged James every time he was in the cabin to let me at least sleep on the hard floor but he wasn’t about to let me be a comfortable captive, and when I pushed him too hard he slapped me across the face again. This time a little harder so I tasted blood in my mouth. I realized I wasn’t going to get what I wanted and went back to being silent.

I needed them to believe that I was well behaved so that they didn’t feel the need to babysit me twenty-four seven. If I could only get a few moments alone in the cabin I’m sure I could find some way out. But it sure was taking a lot of time to earn their trust and the Cullens were due to return from their trip the next day. That gave me less than twenty four hours to develop a plan and carry it out and that’s if Eddie didn’t check in during any of that time and come back early when I didn’t respond which was another very real possibility. I felt my time slipping away like grains of sand in an hour glass. It made it very difficult to concentrate on stealing other people’s powers.

All day long I closed my eyes and let myself drift inside my mind. In the old days I would never have let myself spend so much time with myself but it was easier now and I had a goal in mind and it was something I no choice but to succeed in which was good motivation. At first absolutely no progress was made. It’s like trying to teach yourself how to fly a jet only all of the buttons and controls are missing from the cockpit.

But then I noticed a change. Just a little tingling in the back of my mind whenever James was in the room. I couldn’t focus on it for too long or it would slip away. It was like trying to remember a word that’s on the tip of your tongue but right when I thought I was about to get it, it would be gone. I decided I just needed to let it happen. Just feel and don’t think. It started to work and I felt I was getting closer and closer but right when I was about to tap into it he would leave the cabin I would be left alone with dumb and dumber which were impossible to practice on.

It was after dinner on the third day that I finally made some real progress. It was pretty customary for all three of them to spend the night in the cabin. Not that they were sleeping just being noisy so that I couldn’t. I would have liked to listen to what they were saying but I was too busy plus they weren’t speaking English. They weren’t speaking any language I recognized. Actually I think they were switching back and forth between a couple of different ones. I didn’t care. I needed to focus on James.

I let myself feel the tingling and just focused on my breathing until wham! I was inside of it. I could sense his power as if it was in my head instead of his. The shock of the success startled me so much that I immediately lost my hold but I put myself back in my trance and tried again. This time when I slipped in I held it there. It was one thing to be able to sense his powers and another entirely to get them to do what I wanted. I fell asleep that night before I was able to make any order out of the chaos in my head but luckily I woke up early in the morning when he was still there and got right back on the horse.

I wasn’t sure I was doing anything right until Victoria said, “James are messing with me?” out of the blue.

James didn’t look pleased with the insolent comment. He just raised one eyebrow and stared at her.

“It’s just I feel like I got water in my ears or something. Nothing sounds right. I thought maybe . . . or maybe it’s just all in my head,” she let it drop after that but it was all I needed. I had been concentrating so hard on blocking out her hearing I almost leaped for joy with my little success. But then I got a reality check. The sands were slipping down and muffling one vampire’s hearing was a far cry from completely blocking out four of them, one of which I had never met and didn’t have any idea where he was or if he was close by. Maybe there was no Jerry. Maybe that was just wishful thinking.

No matter how bad I was at it I had run out of practice time. My opportunity for my next step came later that afternoon. James’s phone buzzed and he had the same no word conversation with whoever was on the other end. His only response was a small smile that crept across his lips. He slammed the phone shut and looked at me intensely for a few short seconds. I panicked for a moment wondering if there was any way any of them could figure out what I was trying to do. He broke off the glare after a moment and barked out an order to Laurent

“Get Victoria, it’s almost time.”

“Yes, boss,” Laurent responded with a similar hint of excitement in his eyes. “What about . . .” Laurent looked over to me.

“She isn’t going anywhere this won't take long, right?” he said the last word addressing me.

I nodded my head cooperatively.

“Good.” With that the two of them disappeared and I set to work.

Removing the lace from my shoe was incredibly difficult while my hands were tied behind me but I thanked God that he had given me the flexibility of a circus acrobat. It was exhausting to hold my foot up in the awkward angle and twist my hands around as far as I could to reach it but I kept my goal in mind and managed to pull the lace out. Once it was free I slipped it between the loop holding my hands together and taking each end of the lace in one hand rapidly rubbed it back and forth across the plastic tie. The friction gathered enough heat that the plastic started to melt until it grew so weak with one hard tug I pulled it apart and I was free. Still I knew I couldn’t just make a run for it. They would catch me in no time and I didn’t want any more of James’ back hands. I set about searching the cabin for anything useful. I started with the kitchen which was the only room I hadn’t been allowed in. I searched all of the cabinets and drawers but everything was completely bare.

“I suppose it would be too much to hope for a drawer full of stakes,” I said gloomily to myself.

All there was in there was a microwave, stove, and the box of supplies they had brought for me. I fumed silently for a moment when I realized there was ramen, macaroni and cheese and little frozen pizzas that were now a melted into mush in there. They brought all of this for me and all they were willing to give me was crackers and peanut butter! They really were a*s holes.

I couldn’t stay distracted for that long. Macaroni wasn’t going to help me kill vampires. I was about to venture outside and see if there was anything of use out there. Maybe a century old rusty shed full of sharp tools that have since been banned for use in the United States but the stove caught my eye. It was an old gas one. I held my breath as I turned on the gas and let a squeal of delight when I caught the aroma of the flammable gas. I was sure Eddie had said something about vampires not being fire proof. So I was going to blow them up. That would totally work. Except for the fact that I was probably going to be blown up in the process. I still couldn’t get far enough from the cabin before they noticed. Still I was willing to cut my losses. If it saved the Cullens I was willing to be blown up. But then there was the problem of the smell of the gas. I cursed the forward thinker that put in that musty smell in the flammable gas. He may have had good intentions to alert people when there was a leak but what about us poor girls that wanted a leak to go undetected? The solution to this problem was pretty clear. I just needed to turn off their noses. All four of them. Immediately as they walked in the door. That wasn’t impossible . . . just . . . unlikely.

I needed to keep looking for another solution.

I had long ago searched the bathroom for anything useful and found only a plunger and toilet paper in there. Then another thought struck me. The cast-iron tub in there might be enough to keep me from being turned into a scorch mark. At least it was enough for people in the movies.

I ran outside searching for anything to add to my incredibly low chances of success and sent up a prayer of thanks when I saw my rusty old shed. Then I cursed God when all that was in there was moth eaten plaid blankets and an ancient wrench rusted close.

I grabbed the blankets and ran back toward the house. I noticed an old shovel leaning against the shed as I was running back. That would definitely be a useful weapon! I grabbed it and took a couple of steps back to the house before I stopped.

What was I thinking? A shovel wasn’t a weapon. Even if it was a stake I wouldn’t be able to use it. What was I going to do? Ask them if they could politely lie still while I hacked off their heads with this rusty blunt object? If it came down to hand to hand combat I was done for. I was basically already done for. This whole thing was wishful thinking. I dropped the shovel and continued into the house. I strategically placed the blankets beside the tub. I wasn’t sure if four layers of dusty old blankets would add any extra protection from a hopefully gigantic explosion but I felt a lot better about having something over my head just in case.

I shut the door to the bathroom tight to try and prevent as much gas as possible from leaking in there and placed a blanket along the crack at the bottom of the door. Then turned the gas on as high as it would go before grabbing a new zip tie and locking myself back in my chair.

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