The Dream

General POV

A lightning storm was approaching. The thunder rumbled in the distance. The calm before the storm.

Bella walked out of the woods just as soon as the first lightning bolt came into view. For a moment the whole forest was bathed in light. She held her breath. It was beautiful and eerie at the same time. She flinched at the boom of thunder that followed.

Bella headed away from the trees. Earlier that week she had watched a special about lightning storms with Edward. She remembered that it was dangerous to be beneath trees. The last thing she wanted was to be caught in a wild fire.

Why the heck did I come out in such a bad storm? Washington got its fair share of bad storms but this one looked worse than any others Bella had seen. There seemed to be a specific reason of her coming here, but Bella couldn't remember. It has something to do with Edward, of that I'm sure. Though the more she thought about it, the less she could remember.

She gave up after a while. Something else had caught her attention. In the middle of the meadow was a small black pond. Bella had never seen this pond there before. She looked down at the water and then up to the sky. The clouds were a dark gray but not nearly dark enough to make the pond jet black. Maybe it is some kind of oil.

Bella knelt down a brushed her fingers over the surface. It felt cool and wet. It was not thick or slimy like most oils. She took her fingers out and looked at them. They were dry and had none of the liquid on them whatsoever. Furthermore there were no ripples. It seemed to just flow back to place like fabric often does.

The storm was getting closer. The lightening forked the sky and the thunder rumbled loudly above her. Whatever Edward wanted me to do will have to wait until later. He will be more upset if I was hit by lightning than if I left the errand for a little later.

Just as Bella turned to leave, the pond was struck by a bolt of lightning. The force with which it hit knocked Bella onto the ground. She lay still on the grass for a moment. The light had momentarily blinded her so she waited for all the black dots she was seeing to minimize. She sat up and took a shaky step forward. Though she couldn't see everything, she felt a small pain in her knee and a more pronounced one in her wrist.

She focused on her wrist. It was bleeding. Her stomach did a painful twist at the site of the ruby droplets. She looked back and saw that she had fallen on a thorny root that was now covered in her blood. At least there aren't any vampires around to go crazy. As she stared down at the root it started to retreat into the earth. It disappeared so quickly that Bella wondered if she had just imagined that it had been there. She turned around to see what had happened to her knee. Her jeans were torn but there was no blood.

Bella looked over at the pond. It was bubbling like tar and had changed color to a creamy complexion. Four thorny roots like the one she had fallen on were slithering into the water. She noticed that there were still no ripples on the water. So strange.

Suddenly the roots burst out of the center of the pond and started twining around each other. To Bella it looked like they were forming a large, thorny mass of muscles.

The roots stopped twisting but kept rising. The tips could now be seen a few inches above the water. They hovered there for a moment. Bella just sat there staring in wonder.

The roots started sucking in the water. The creamy liquid had turned a pale white color. It spread over the wood and thorns. In a few minutes the liquid had enveloped everything like a layer of skin. It looked amazingly humanoid.

Bella decided not to stick around to find out what it was. She turned to leave but she could no longer see the forest. A thick fog had covered the meadow and obscured all the trees. Bella started walking. At least it led away from the pond and the creature that hovered above it. It probably wouldn't find her if she hid in the fog.

As Bella continued walking into the fog, she felt a growing sense of fear. The back of her neck tingled and her stomach kept doing flips. Shouldn't I have reached the trees by now? The fog was so thick that she could barely see her hand when see put in front of her face. Her skin was getting goose bumps and her brain was on the verge of panic. She started to run. Anything to get out of here! I'd do anything! Her foot snagged on something and she fell. Well, at least I know which way is down.

A million thoughts seemed to have crowded in her head that it took her a while to realize that she was gasping for breath. The air seemed to be getting thinner.

Bella crawled across the grass. She couldn't breathe at all now. To make matters worse it felt like all of the air in her body was being sucked out. Even the fog was swirling around her. Above her, Bella heard the violent winds howl and the thunder boom. She shut her eyes and put her hands over her ears. Her lungs were screaming for air, her stomach was churning, and her head felt like it was being compressed under a big hammer.

Then, it was over. Bella hesitantly opened her eyes. She could see a group of little violet flowers that had been crumpled under her weight. She sucked in a breath and inhaled their sweet aroma. Her head had finally stopped spinning. She stood up carefully so that she wouldn't fall back down. The fog had cleared, only the dark gray clouds were drifting over her head. Everything looked so calm. It was as if the storm had only been a bad dream.

Bella turned and found herself staring into to large crimson eyes. She stumbled back. The figure was covered in a black cloak. The hood hid most of its face, all except the eyes. If only the mist could envelop her again and hide her from those blood-colored orbs.

Vampire! Run! Vampire! Hide! Her mind kept repeating those four words but her body was unable or unwilling to obey. All she could do was stare into the eyes. The whole world seemed to turn that dark shade of red. If her body could have moved she would have shivered. I'm going to die now. Where is Edward? Had he given into the thirst for her blood but didn't want her to know it was him? No. This was a different vampire entirely. Oh Edward, where are you?

The vampire started walking slowly toward her. It almost looked like it wasn't even touching the ground but floating over it. In an instant it was right in front of Bella. She felt hot tears slide down her cheeks. The vampire extended its cloaked hand toward her neck. It wore a black leather glove with a white rose that twisted around the index finger.

As the hand reached out for Bella's throat, the glove disappeared. It looked alike smoke drifting back into the black folds of the cloak. The hand was now visible. It was white and felt smooth to the touch. The nails were clear porcelain. Bella felt it pierce her skin. Death!

The hand retracted and the glove covered everything except the index finger. There, on the tip, was a small drop of blood. The white rose wove its way to where the blood was and dipped the top of its petals in it. Then it settled on the top of the nail. There was still a bit of her blood left on the finger.

The hand moved up. The vampire opened its mouth and Bella saw the two large fangs shine in the dim light. The vampire licked the blood off of its finger and closed its eyes as if savoring the taste. Bella's knees felt weak. She was no longer in the vampire's hold but her legs felt like limp noodles. She fell to the ground.

After a long pause the vampire reopened its eyes, but they were no longer red! Instead they were a deep purple with a slight grey outline. It turned and started walking away. As it walked parts of its cloak fell off. As it reached the center of the meadow the entire cloak had fallen. Bella's jaw dropped. There, in the field of purple flowers where Bella had lain, stood a beautiful girl. She looked like she was in her twenties. Her hair was as black as midnight and fell loosely over her bare shoulders. She was wearing a black tank top that revealed two tattooed wings on her back. Her pants were long black jeans and she wore high heeled black boots.

A beam of sunshine broke through the clouds and illuminated her. Her arms rose up as if trying to defend she was trying to defend herself from the beam. The tattoos burst off of her skin and turned into real wings. They too were black but some had white tips.

The girl lowered her hands and turned to face Bella. The sunlight momentarily blinded her but she was sure that the girl had flashed her a smile. When Bella's eyes had adjusted to the light there was no one there. It was as if the girl had never existed.

Bella walked over to where the girl had been standing. A bunch of her cloak was still lying there. Bella reached down and tugged at it. The texture was silky and moved easily. Bella saw that she had uncovered something. It was pale white but looked like skin. Maybe she is under here! Bella grabbed a handful and pulled.

The cloak fell and exposed a body, but not the body Bella had expected to find. Around a boy wound a large white snake with black stripes. It turned its head around so that it could take a better look at her. It hissed threateningly as it sized me up with its deep blue eye. It was a strange color but Bella wasn't looking at the snake. She was staring at the boy with the auburn hair and dead liquid-bronze eyes. A scream tore its way up her throat and out of her mouth.

"Edward!"