Twilight: blood & brimstone

The night bled into silence.

The Cullens remained frozen in the ruins of their shattered home, the weight of Bella's departure pressing down on them like a suffocating fog.

No one spoke.

No one moved.

Because for the first time, they weren't just mourning her.

They were afraid of her.

Edward stood among the wreckage, his breath unsteady, his hands still trembling from the ghost of her presence.

She had been right there.

Close enough to touch.

Close enough to destroy him.

And yet, she had let him live.

The realization chilled him more than anything else.

Not because she had spared him.

But because it meant she no longer saw him as a threat.

The Demon's Prize

Elsewhere—deep within a realm not meant for mortals—Bella stepped through the veil of shadows, her presence warping the air around her.

She had returned.

Not to Forks.

Not to Edward.

But to him.

The demon was waiting, his obsidian eyes brimming with amusement as she emerged from the darkness, power radiating from her like heat from an open flame.

"You left them shaken." His voice was silk and fire, a whisper of approval beneath the words. "Good."

Bella exhaled, the weight of the moment settling over her. She had gone back. She had stood before them.

And she had walked away.

She met his gaze, her own unreadable. "It's done."

The demon stepped closer, the space between them electric with something unspoken.

"Not yet."

Bella arched a brow.

He lifted a hand, his fingers ghosting over the curve of her jaw—but not touching.

Just close enough to remind her of what she had become.

"What do you feel now, little sinner?"

Bella closed her eyes, the echoes of her encounter still seared into her bones.

Edward's desperation.

Alice's terror.

Jasper's dread.

Carlisle's disappointment.

And underneath it all—her own dark, intoxicating satisfaction.

'I feel free.'

The demon smirked, pleased.

"And do you regret it?"

Bella's eyes flickered open, the abyss staring back at him.

"Not even for a second."

The Cullen Divide

Back in Forks, the Cullens had begun to recover.

Barely.

The house was ruined, but that wasn't what unsettled them.

It was the emptiness.

The gaping absence of the girl they had sworn to protect—who no longer needed them.

Jasper sat rigidly, his mind trying to untangle the storm of emotions Bella had left behind.

Edward was silent, his expression carved from stone, but the war raged in his eyes.

Alice… Alice was shaking.

Not from fear.

But because her visions—her gift—had been ripped from her the moment Bella had changed.

She could no longer see her.

Bella had become unpredictable.

Rosalie was the first to break the silence.

"We can't get her back."

Edward's head snapped toward her, his expression dark. "Yes, we can."

Rosalie's gaze was sharp, unwavering.

"You don't get it, do you?" Her voice was low, filled with something between frustration and pity. "That wasn't Bella. Not anymore."

Edward's jaw clenched. "She's still in there."

Jasper exhaled, rubbing his temples. "Maybe. But whatever else is inside her now?" His golden eyes lifted, filled with something rare. Fear. "It's winning."

Alice's voice was barely a whisper.

"She's lost to us."

The words hung in the air like a death sentence.

And for the first time, Edward felt something foreign slither into his chest.

Doubt.

A New Purpose

Back in the demon's domain, Bella stood at the edge of an abyss. The darkness stretched before her, endless, bottomless.

The throne she had taken still pulsed with life, the weight of her power anchored to it.

This was her world now.

And she was ready to wield it.

The demon watched her, eyes alight with something dangerous.

"Are you ready?"

Bella turned to him, a slow smile curving her lips.

"Always."

She stepped forward, and the darkness bowed before her.