Author's Note: Hi everyone! It's great to be back. It's been a long time since I've written anything more than a one shot. I'm really looking forward to writing for this. To all my orignial readers. Thank you so much for all your kind reviews. To all my new readers I hope you will read the first fanfic in this series. It's title Blood Moon. The link to it is on my profile page under Stories. Oh and for those of you who asked about my trip to Austrailia/New Zealand. It was great. I went in July, which is when I finished Blood Moon, and I stayed in Sydney. We stayed for about a week before going to Auckland Austraila, and than (and I probably will butcher this, so I'm sorry!) Rotoroua. It was beautiful. I wish I could have stayed there longer! Maybe someday I'll go back. But for now it's only a mere dream.
Now without further stalling, you guys voted and all of the votes were a yes, so I bring you now, Armageddon's Wake.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the D'Amico coven lol. But all the others characters and the setting and all that is Twilight belongs to the genius Stephenie Meyer.
Bella's POV
Hell could never be as bad as the pain I had experienced for the past three days. Whether it had been only 3 days or not was something that was still open for debate. It had felt like an entire eternity. But finally the pain was over. It could have been evening or morning and I wouldn't know at this point, the pain had stopped. It was the most amazing feeling and that was all that mattered. It was as if someone had finally noticed that I was burning and had thrown me into an ice water bath. As I refocused myself, I realized this wasn't the truth at all. My transformation was complete. I was a whole knew person. The things I could hear, and smell were absolutely astonishing. Someone's hands ran across my arms, it was an unfamiliar touch. But just the same it was complete phenomenal. It sent sparks down my spine. My eyes opened at once, as my curiosity to find out who the person behind the touch was became unbearable. I was not disappointed. My eyes locked on Edward' beautiful golden ones. They were filled with worry, and above them his brow was furrowed. I knew at once he was waiting for me to speak.
"Edward, stop worrying I'm fine." That was interesting. My voice was so foreign to me now. It took on a whole new quality. Is this what I had sounded like to Edward's vampire ears?
"Bella…" He whispered. His whole body seemed to relax at once. He took me into his arms and held me close. "Are you alright?" His voice was soft and gentle, even in his worry. I loved it, and I loved him. This was right. All the pain in the world was worth this moment.
My answer was confident and sincere. "I'm even better than that." Another new feeling suddenly became aware. It was very unwelcome. My throat burned, not as intensely as the fires that had consumed me only moments ago, but still it was enough to irritate the heck out of me.
Edward must have seen the irritation flash in my eyes. He chuckled and cupped my face in his hands. "Thirsty, love?"
"Yes."
"Let's get your first hunt underway than. This will be interesting." His eyes were full of teasing as he pulled me to my feet. I could have easily gotten up, but he wanted to do it.
"Wait…" There was something missing. Where were the others? Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie, were nowhere in sight. I couldn't even hear them, and I could hear everything. Including the feeding doe, which were miles away. They weren't home. They weren't anywhere near the house. "Where are the others?"
Edward's eyes went from their happy warmth, to something dark and scary. He must have realized, because he quickly composed his face into an emotionless mask. "They didn't want to leave you. They all had been looking forward to being here when you finished your change, but they had business to tend to."
Something was wrong, very wrong. "Edward, what happened?" My gentle voice was now laced with demand. The burn in my throat could go on for hours, even days, but I wouldn't leave this room until I knew what happened to my family.
"Bella, please. Let's just go hunting."
"No. Not until you tell me what's going on."
He shook his head. He didn't want to tell me now. I could see it in his eyes, but he knew he had to. "I'll tell you after you've had your fill of blood. Please don't make me do it now. It'll be easier for both of us this way."
"Fine." This was serious but I knew what he was saying was true. "Quickly."
He nodded stiffly and took my hand before he ran off with me through the house. We were in the yard in a mere second. It was amazing how quickly we could run. But as quick as we were running, nothing was blurred. I could see every detail and I had a new appreciation for this life. But I didn't dwell on any of this. There was still a matter of what was going on now.
When we came to a stop, I recognized the area at once. We were in our meadow. Edward, whom up until now had been silent turned to me and gave me a weak grin. It was enough to melt my heart. When all I heard from my body was silence I froze. Where was my heartbeat? But I quickly remembered that it was one of the things that I had lost.
"Are you ready?" Edward asked as he suppressed a laugh. Could he finally read my mind?
"Can you read my mind now?" I blurted out in embarrassment.
He shook his head in response. "But I've become a professional at reading your expressions. I don't need your mind anymore, love." Thankfully my ability to blush was also gone.
"Let's hunt." He heard the annoyance in my voice. That much was apparent when he smirked.
"All right." He turned to face the west. "Bella, do you smell that?"
I focused my thoughts. I heard rapid heartbeats, and I smelled something warm, but it was only vaguely appealing. "Yeah. What is it?"
"A mountain lion. He's young and perfect for you."
I tossed him a look. How dare he try to make this easy for me? I was much stronger than he was right now. Nothing could harm me. He grinned in response. "Well, aren't you going to go get him? Just follow your instincts. I'm right behind you."
At once I broke into a run. I felt myself shift into hunting mode. The mountain lion was in sight within a mere second. When he saw me, he let rip a feral scream. It would have been enough to make a human cringe into a corner. I was no human. I was the top predator now. His screams cut into a gurgle as my teeth sliced into his neck, and tore his jugular open. The blood gushed into my mouth to the rhythm of his quickening pulse. The blood should not have been anywhere near satisfying. But strangely enough I enjoyed every last drop. I couldn't understand why Edward and the others didn't care for this blood. It was delicious.
When he was drained, I tossed him aside. Edward was there at once. He lifted a large boulder and kicked the mountain lion's empty corpse into the small pit that the boulder had created, before he placed the boulder back where it belonged. Once he had finished the clean up, he walked towards me. He was beaming with pride. "That was very good, Bella. You should be proud." He ran his fingers along my pale blue cashmere sweater, and than to my excitement, my jean covered thighs. "Not a drop of blood on you." His voice grew husky as he leaned forward to kiss me. I kissed him back willingly.
It took me a moment before I realized what he was trying to do. He was attempting to get me to forget about what he was supposed to tell me. With supreme willpower that I did not know I could possess, I pulled away from his kiss. Immediately I wanted to go back to his lips, and his touches but I knew there were more important things. "Where are the others? What happened to them, while I was…changing…?"
Edward sighed. He didn't look me directly in the eyes. "Our family is fine, Bella." He announced and relief immediately consumed me.
"But?"
"The same cannot be said for many others, that we know." His voice was weak and torn up. He looked at me once again. His eyes were dark with hate and fury. "The D'Amico Coven knows what we are preparing to do. They've wasted no time in sending out warnings." I gasped, but he didn't let me interject. He kept going. I knew what he was going to say would upset me. He studied my expression and took my hand. Mike, Jessica, Ben, Angela, and Eric were found in the woods last night. They are all still alive. But they are so badly injured; the chance that any of them may survive is slim. That's where Carlisle is now. He's trying to save them." He was angry now. "Mike Newton's injuries are so horrendous, they had to identify him through dental records to ensure that it was in fact him. He lost a lot of blood. But he was not bitten, none of them were. Whoever did this, had a great deal of self-control. This attack was premeditated. The intention was not to kill them. Those children were meant to be found in that condition. The humans are attributing this to a mountain lion or a bear, but the smell of vampire is everywhere in that area. We know now that there were at least two involved."
"No!" I gasped. This time I wouldn't let him stop me. " Why would they go after them?" Mike, Jessica, Angela, and Ben were nothing but human. How could attacking them serve any purpose? The anger I felt was uncontrollable. Deep inside me new feelings of hate began to form. The D'Amico Coven had to be stopped immediately.
He was quiet as he tried to come up with an answer. But when he couldn't he shook his head. "I've been wondering the same thing. Carlisle's best guess is that they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They would have taken any humans they came across, as long as we got the message. They think that they won't be stopped." He brought his fist to a tree, shattering it immediately. "But we will stop them!" His eyes burned with a new fire, and his expression contorted with fury. "I promise you. We will destroy them!"
His intense anger surprised me. I wanted them dead too, but he never really cared this much about any of my human friends. "Who else, Edward?" I asked quietly. There had to have been other casualties. Friends that were close to the family. There was a very strong part of me that didn't want to know. But I had to know.
"Washington wasn't the only state they visited. They were in Alaska as well. Tanya and Irina are dead. Carmen, Eleazar, and Kate had been hunting at the time, otherwise they too would have been destroyed, by those monsters."
My heart sank, and the rage over took me. For a moment I wondered why it was this intense. Yes, they were family. Everyone I knew was family to me. But this rage was strange, it seemed to be swallowing me whole, and constricting me at the same time. Suddenly, I felt as if couldn't breathe and even though I didn't need it, it was still troubling. I fell to my knees. All of a sudden I was shrouded in darkness. The trees, the floor, the sky, Edward, and everything else were suddenly gone from view. I screamed out Edward's name, and I got no reply. The anger was immediately replaced by fear. Once I had begun to think that I would never see again, a dinosaur skeleton appeared in front of me. I recognized it as the one I had seen at some museum in Los Angeles, when I had gone to California with Charlie. It was a Velociraptor, one of my favorite dinosaurs. But this skeleton was different. It began to change. It was growing internal organs, a network of veins, muscle tissue began to form, and almost instantly scaly skin tissue covered it all up. The whole process took a mere half a second, and I found myself stariing into the amber eyes of the Velociraptor.
For a moment, I forgot who I was and I tried to run. But it was no use. I was stuck it was as if my feet were covered in glue, or I was stuck in a tar pit. But I didn't have time to figure out how to escape because the Velociraptor unexpectedly charged at me.
Was this some kind of nightmare? Was this the work of the D'Amico Coven? Were they dismembering and burning Edward as I stood in the darkness, being assaulted by a phantom raptor. My fear was replaced again by anger, which seemed to only increase the raptors speed. He collided with me in an instant, and suddenly there was light. I could see again. I whipped around to find Edward, but something was different. My body did not feel right, my feet and backside especially. Before I could figure things out, I found Edward. He stood there still as statue. His eyes were no longer angry. He was both shocked and alarmed. His mouth hung open awkwardly. I would have laughed if I wasn't so scared. What was wrong with me that made him look at me that way? I tried to ask, but all that came out of me, were a series of clicks, snorts and growls. What the hell was going on?
I looked down at my feet, and what I saw petrified me. My feet were longer, covered in dark brown scaly skin, and a large hooked claw took over each middle toe, the remaining toes were clawed but those claws weren't nearly as long. The Velociraptor came back into my mind. Was there more to that apparent hallucination? No. No way. I ran to the river. I looked back over my shoulder only for a moment to see the long tail. This only caused me to run faster. I had a tail! What had I become?
I came to stop at the river's edge and stared at my reflection. I had transformed into a dinosaur. I was in deep trouble.
Author Note: I know I went WAY off the chart different, but I hope you all can keep an open mind. I promise you this is all crucial to the plot. You'll see in the end if you can just hang on. As always please review! Thanks for reading!
