AN: Just a few things. As you might've suspected from the summary, this fic is sort of an action/romance, and to suit the story I've made a couple changes to the vampire mechanics of the original novels. It's nothing major and it'll all be pretty much self-explanatory in the fic, but I thought I'd put a quick list here as a reference.
Firstly: vampires don't sparkle in the sun.
Secondly: vampires are still super-strong, but they don't move at the speed of light. A vampire could outrun a car but you could still see them moving.
Thirdly: vampires do NOT have any special gifts. Which means Alice can't see the future, Bella has no shield, and none of the Volturi have their special powers either.
Fourthly: vampires are still most vulnerable to fire, but they can also be killed by blood loss or physical trauma. Which means tearing the head off a vampire will kill it rather than just disable it.
Fifthly: when vampires are killed they turn to ash. For simplicity's sake their clothes burn up too. If you've ever seen the Blade movies you'll know the effect I'm thinking of.
Sixthly: vampire venom can be transmitted with diluted effects via saliva.
Anyway, that's about it. Here's the first chapter, hope you like it.
Hearts of Darkness
Chapter 1: The Huntress
Bella was leaning on the railing of the bridge as they passed behind her. The water below was pure black, like a river of ink. The stars reflected in the opaque surface rippled in the current. The bridge was low and the river was narrow and she could see her own reflection trembling in the water too.
She could hear them behind her. The vampires. There were two of them, a male and a female, and they had a woman with them that they were planning to take under the bridge and drain and throw into the river. Bella didn't turn around. She gazed down into the oily water. The vampires and their prey passed, casting glances at her. She knew what she looked like. A pretty young woman in a tight top and short skirt. Long wavy black hair. Alone. A backpack slung over her shoulder, a runaway perhaps. The vampires shared a glance. The male called to her.
"Hey baby," he said in a silky smooth voice. "What's a pretty thing like you doing out here all alone?"
Bella turned to them. The vampires watched her with their crimson eyes. The male was tall and handsome with chocolate hair that fell messily about his face, and the female was a blonde with large breasts. Their prey, the woman, was drunk and she seemed quite put out that the male had stopped to speak to this stranger.
"My date stood me up," Bella said.
The female giggled. "Well don't worry, honey," she said, stepping forward to take Bella's arm. "The night's young. We'll keep you company."
The group of them continued across the bridge, passing under the yellow glare of the streetlamps. The air was cool and damp. A car passed in the street. The woman clung to the male vampire's arm, and the female vampire had wrapped her arm around Bella's waist and she was whispering seductively into her ear. Bella said nothing. She adjusted the strap of her backpack. It hung from her shoulder as if it were weighed with something far heavier than clothes. The vampires directed their prey down the concrete steps that led to the riverbank and they continued down the catwalk until they were underneath the bridge.
"Where's the hotel?" the drunk woman asked, looking about.
The male vampire only smiled. He took her by the shoulders and pressed her up against the brick wall and started kissing her. She didn't seem to mind. She wrapped both her arms around him and a leg too and started kissing him back.
The female vampire turned to Bella, her red lips curving into a sultry smile. "Tell me," she said. "Have you ever kissed a girl before?"
Bella didn't answer. She had unzipped her backpack and now she was reaching inside it.
"Oh, don't be shy," the female said, brushing Bella's cheek with the backs of her cold fingers. "You'll like it, I promise."
But Bella's charade was over. As the female leaned in for the kiss Bella bought out from the backpack a shotgun which she held at the waist and aimed upward so that the barrel touched the underside of the female's chin. The female froze, her lips perhaps an inch away from Bella's, the shotgun standing vertical between them. The shotgun was fitted with a plastic pistol stock and it had a black parkerized finish. It was fully automatic with a twenty-round drum magazine so there was no need to pump it. Bella dropped the backpack and put the other hand on the weapon. Her finger curled around the trigger. The female smiled and took a step backward to the edge of the catwalk. Behind her the river trickled past blackly.
"Silly girl," she said. "I don't know who you think you are, but I'm afraid you're in for a surprise. That weapon wouldn't even tickle me."
Bella leveled the shotgun at the female's face. "Incendiary rounds," she said, and then she fired.
She'd seen the doubt come into the female's eyes at the last moment but it came too late. Her head was blown off. The shotgun roared and a burst of fire licked out from the barrel like the muzzleflash of a cannon and then her head was blown off. No blood, no brainpulp, just ash. The female's headless body flailed there for a moment in a cloud of gunsmoke and then it pitched over backwards. Her skin went from a brilliant pearl to an ashen grey and before she'd even touched the water the carcass had flaked away in a fluttering of ash like sparks rising from a campfire.
The male and his prey were staring at Bella with wide eyes. Bella turned to them, the shotgun held loosely at her side.
"It's you, isn't it?" the male asked in a quavering voice. "The one they call The Huntress. It's you, isn't it?"
Bella didn't answer. She raised the shotgun.
The male sprung into action. He seized the drunk woman and grasped both her wrists and held her against him. He took a handful of her hair and wrenched back her head to expose her throat. The woman gasped and cried.
"Drop the gun," the male said. "Or I kill the girl."
"Kill her," Bella said. "She'd be infected anyway."
The male frowned in doubt. Then he threw the woman into the brick wall and charged at Bella. The woman collided into the bricks with a thumping sound and fell to the ground groaning. Perhaps Bella hesitated to fire because she thought the woman might get caught in the blast but the vampire closed the distance instantly and made a wild grasp for her throat. Bella swung the butt of the shotgun and knocked the hand away. The vampire recoiled and hissed in fury. Bella made to raise the shotgun but he grabbed the barrel with his hand and pushed it aside just as she fired and the burst of fire went into the water and sent up a large cloud of steam. She swung the shotgun toward him but he thrust the barrel into the wall. The blast blew a hole in the bricks and showered them with shrapnel. The vampire held the barrel away from his body and hissed viciously right into her face. Bella hadn't made a sound. She dropped the shotgun and seized the front of his shirt with one hand and the back of his head with the other and she pulled him toward her as if for a passionate kiss but what she did was sink her teeth into his neck and tear out his carotid artery.
The shotgun clattered to the concrete. The vampire reeled backward clutching at his neck. Black blood was seeping through his pale fingers and his eyes were wide and shaking. He gurgled. He looked about. He seemed unable to comprehend that he was about to die. Bella picked up her shotgun. He took a step toward her but she didn't flinch. He fell to his knees and slumped against the wall and sat there as the black blood soaked his clothes. He looked up. During the fight Bella had lost one of her contact lenses and the pupil beneath was red like a vampire. She raised the shotgun.
The drunk woman was just a moaning heap a few feet further along the catwalk. She was sniffling and tucking one of her tits back into her top. She put a hand in her hair where her head hurt and she looked up just in time to see the huntress fire three loads into the vampire slumped at her feet. The whole underside of the bridge lit up in the brilliant muzzleflash and the drunk woman's tear stained face flared three times and she watched opened mouthed as the vampire disintegrated into ash as his mate had done before him.
Bella lowered the weapon and regarded the crater in the bricks. Then she flicked the safety on the shotgun and turned and knelt at her backpack.
The drunk woman scrambled to her feet, smoothing down her skirt. "W-what," she stuttered, "what the hell were they?"
"Vampires," Bella said. "They were going to kill you."
The woman stared at Bella where she was stowing away the shotgun. "You saved me," she said. "Who are you?"
Bella didn't answer. She took a silenced pistol from the backpack and rose, slinging the pack over her shoulder. The woman looked at the pistol fearfully.
"Turn around," Bella said. "Face the water."
"Why?"
"Do it."
The woman swallowed and raised her hands even though she hadn't been asked. She turned around and looked down into the black water that was flowing by. She glanced over her shoulder. "Please," she said. "I don't—"
Bella shot her in the back of the head. The pistol jumped in her hand and the gunsmoke rolled. The woman fell forward and splashed into the water. She drifted downstream, facedown in the blackness, nameless and never to be remembered. Bella lowered the pistol. She bowed her head.
When she was climbing the concrete stairs that led back up to the sidewalk her cellphone buzzed. She took it from her skirt pocket and flipped it open. It was a text. I'm waiting in Forks, Washington, it said. I'm a vampire.
Bella frowned at the screen. Then she flipped it shut and stuck the phone back into her pocket and continued up the steps.
# # #
Alice rolled over and pulled the covers up over her shoulder. She gazed at the alarm clock. The aqua LED read 6:58. She didn't look like she'd been asleep but she didn't look tired either. Finally the alarm went off—it was tuned to a rock station—and she reached out and turned it off. She sat up in bed. She was wearing pink flannel pajamas that had a bunny rabbit print on them. She looked at the window where a grey light filtered in. Her short black hair was mussed from laying down. She sighed and hopped out of bed.
First thing she went for a shower. She made the water very warm and she took a long time, sponging herself down with a big purple loofa, washing her hair with vanilla scented shampoo. Humming to herself some pop song. When she got out she dried herself and wrapped the towel around her torso and went back to her room. She spent ten minutes pondering an outfit and decided on designer jeans and a black top and a black suede jacket. She sat on the edge of the bed and laced up her boots. There were textbooks on her desk from where she was studying last night and before she left she put them all in her bookbag. Already the light in the window was brighter.
She went downstairs with the tancolored satchel slung over her shoulder. In the kitchen she turned on the electric stove and set a frying pan on it and cracked some eggs into it. In a separate frying pan she fried a couple strips of bacon and she put some bread in the toaster and when the kettle was boiled she made some coffee with cream and sugar in a huge ceramic mug. When the food was done she arranged it all on a plate and set the plate on the kitchen table by the coffee. She looked at it all for a moment and cocked her head. She watched the food steam gently. Then she picked up the plate and took it over to the sink and flipped on the garbage disposal and scraped it all down the drain. She washed the dishes and tipped the coffee down the drain too and by then it was time to leave.
Outside it was cold but calm. The sky was overcast but it didn't look like it was going to rain. Alice lived in a house on the edge of town and it took quite a while to drive to school. She drove a silver Volvo, brand new and still fresh smelling. She had some pop albums in the CD player and as she drove she sang along. Songs of love and happiness, all the things she longed for. She sang along softly and gently and not without a certain sadness.
When she pulled up in the parking lot the place was already full. Kids were grouped around certain cars and trucks, standing about with their bookbags slung over their shoulders. Talking idly. Alice got her own bookbag from the passenger seat and got out the car and made toward the main building. There was a group of boys hanging around the entrance to the front office, five or six of them, and each one of them paused in their conversation to look at Alice. She was the prettiest girl in school, most would agree, and one of the nicest too. She had short black hair that she wore in feathery spikes and her skin was perfect white and very smooth looking and she carried herself with a lively grace that most girls could only dream of. Out loud the boys would exclaim over her tits and her ass but in truth it was her smile that was her most striking feature.
"Hey Alice," they said.
Alice flashed them a pretty smile. "Hi guys," she said. "Say, why don't one of you boys be a gentleman and get the door for me?"
She paused at the glass doubledoors, waiting, hand on the strap of her bookbag. The boys looked at one another. Three of them rushed forward but the one who pushed open the door was Mike Newton. Alice giggled and stepped through while he held it for her. "Thanks Mike," she said. "You're a doll."
Mike nodded awkwardly. "No problem."
Alice gave them one last smile and a little wave and then she went on down the corridor. The boys watched her go.
Homeroom was a dusty little classroom on the second floor. When Alice walked in she was chatting animatedly to her friends and they all took seats and continued chatting. When it was time for first period they were still chatting, strolling down the hallway with their books propped against their hips, chatting away. They only quieted down when the actual lesson began and even then they would be whispering back and forth at every opportunity.
By third period Alice had noticed that Jessica was acting a little weird. She'd snot at certain things Alice said and she didn't seem to be speaking to her as much as normal. They were in calculus and Alice was sitting next to Angela. Angela was bent over her textbook concentrating, mouthing the equations as she worked, and Alice leaned in and whispered: "Hey Angie, what's wrong with Jess? She's been giving me the silent treatment all morning."
Angela hesitated. She looked over her shoulder where Jessica was sitting in the row behind them, scribbling in her notebook. She leaned to Alice confidentially. "I think she's jealous," she whispered.
"Jealous? Of me?"
"Yep."
"Why?"
"You know how I always said that Jessica likes Mike?"
"Yeah."
"Well, Mike likes you. So…"
Alice rolled her eyes. "Oh come on," she whispered. "Mike's like that with all the girls, he doesn't like me in particular."
"No, no, no," Angela whispered with a schoolgirl's gravity. "That's just it, he does like you. He told Tyler that he does, and Tyler told Eric, and Eric told me…"
"Mmhm. And who told Jess?"
Angela bit her lip. "Me," she said guiltily. "Sorry. It slipped out, I wasn't thinking."
Alice shook her head, smiling. "Wasn't thinking," she said. "You're such an airhead, Angie."
Soon it was lunchtime. Alice stood in line with her friends as they shuffled along with their trays, selecting their sandwiches, chatting. They all sat at their usual table and Alice was making a special effort to be nice to Jessica. "Hey Jess," she said. "You want my chocolate milk? I don't feel like it anymore."
Jessica eyed her suspiciously. "You sure?"
"Of course. Here, take it. I want you to have it."
"Whatever," Jessica said. She took the carton and jabbed a straw through the opening. She nodded at Alice's untouched tray. "Why do you even bother ordering lunch when you never eat it?"
"I don't know," Alice said. "I just like to order it."
Angela watched the tray over the top of her sandwich. "Can I have the chips?" she asked, already reaching.
They had PE after lunch. They played volleyball, and Alice and Mike were on opposing teams. They were all wearing their PE clothes, white t-shirts and navy shorts, an outfit more flattering to the girls than the boys. Somehow the t-shirts were tighter on the girls, the shorts more short. Alice was bobbing on the balls of her feet right up close to the net so that she could spike anything that came her way and it was Mike's turn to serve. He stood at the edge of the court with the ball in his hands. He went to hit it when his eyes fell on Alice through the black nylon net. He got distracted. He hit the ball but his hand glanced off it and the ball went caroming sideways. It didn't even clear the net. His own team sent up a loud groan and the other team laughed. Alice only smiled.
When the class was over Mike and Alice were assigned to take down the nets and pack them away. They folded them up like bedsheets, stretching them out with Mike at one end and Alice at the other and then they walked toward each other and bought the two ends together folding it in half. When they had finished packing them all away in the storage closet they wandered back out into the gym.
"So, uh," Mike said. "You know, I was thinking that maybe me and you could go out sometime. After school or on the weekend or something."
Alice turned to him. "You mean like a date?"
"Sure," Mike said. "Like a date."
Alice thought about it. She thought about Jessica's jealousy and she thought about her duty as a friend. She thought about how smitten Mike was with her and how disappointed he'd be if she said no. She thought about how much she'd like to have a boyfriend, someone to hold hands with and laugh with and go to the movies with. Then she thought about everything else, her past, her future, her ultimate destination in eternity, and she knew a relationship with the boy in front of her was impossible. Disguising her true sadness, Alice put on a cute but apologetic face. "Sorry Mike," she said. "I'd love too, really, but I don't know how much longer I'm going to be in town. My dad's been talking about this job in Oregon…"
Mike seemed disappointed but eager not to make Alice feel bad. "Oh, that's okay," he said, forcing a smile. "Don't worry about it, I just thought it would be fun."
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright. Well, uh, I guess I'll see you later."
"Okay. See you, Mike."
When Alice walked into the girl's locker room she found a fresh batch of girls already there getting dressed for the next class. Nobody bothered showering this late in the day and neither did Alice. She hadn't perspired anyway, nor had she at any moment run out of breath. She stepped into the locker room and wove among the stripping girls to where she'd left her clothes folded on a bench and started to get changed. She stole a glance at the blonde beside her and watched her pull off her top. Underneath she was wearing a skyblue bra that looked wonderful against her peachcolored skin and Alice looked away quickly. Anybody who'd seen her glance might've thought she was jealous and they'd be right. But it wasn't the girl's bra-size she was envious of. It was her humanity. The visible softness of her, the warmth. Alice's own skin was snow white and smooth like marble, so perfect it looked as if it were painted on. She would've given anything to look healthy and vibrant like other girls. That's what she wanted more than anything. To be like other girls.
There was only one more class after PE. Alice sat through it with a growing feeling of foreboding. She sat by the window, gazing out. There was a tree out there with a bird idling upon a branch that turned to her and cocked it's head and blinked its little black eyes. Alice smiled and it flew away.
Out in the parking lot she said goodbye to her friends. Angela was her bestfriend and before they parted Alice gave her a hug. A wind picked up and tussled their hair.
"So we still on for Saturday?" Angela asked.
"Of course," Alice said. "I can't wait."
Jessica was waiting for Angela over by her car. "Angela!" she called. "Hurry up, we gotta go!"
Angela started walking backwards. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Alice?"
"It's okay. See you tomorrow."
"Are you sure? You can come if you want."
"It's okay. Bye, Angie."
Angela smiled and waved a hand. "See you, Alice."
Alice watched them. Angela turned to Jessica and the two of them started bickering playfully. Angela got into the passenger seat and Jessica got into the driver's seat and the car started and pulled away. Alice watched them go. She had the feeling that she'd never see either of them again but she got that feeling a lot.
.
It was dark when Bella drove into Forks. Dark and starless. She pulled in at the motel and got a room. On the bed she dumped out the contents of her backpack. She picked up the shotgun and took it into the bathroom with her and left it resting on the sink while she showered. She left the shower curtain open, water spraying on the tiles. When she got out she wrapped herself in a towel and took the shotgun back into the bedroom.
She spread a green cloth on the bed and laid her weapons on it, the shotgun, the pistol, a hunting knife, a few other things. From a side compartment in the backpack she got out a cleaning kit and arranged the instruments and bottles of oils by the side of the cloth. She was still dressed in only the towel, her black hair hanging wet and limp. She sat cross-legged before the cloth and started dissembling the weapons. She cleaned and wiped the bores. She checked the cartridges. She refit rounds into all the clips. She sat with her back straight, holding the components to the yellow light of the bulb in the ceiling. She reassembled the pistol and flicked the safety. She held it out in one hand and squinted down the sights. She swung her arm, taking aim at various objects in the room, the potted fern, the lampshade, the bathroom door. She pulled the trigger. It made a dull clicking sound.
By now there was a grey light behind the lace curtains of the window and her hair was dry. Bella had been wiping her hands on the towel she wore and it was smeared with blacking. She rose from the bed and shed the towel and left it on the carpet. Then she unzipped a secret compartment in the floor of the backpack and took out a thin stainless steel box about the size of a pencil case. She laid it on the bed and flipped it open. Inside was a set of syringes and a vial of serum. Bella took out the vial and one of the syringes and bought them to the bathroom and set them on the rim of the sink. She washed her hands and shook them dry and then she slipped the needle of the syringe through the vial's seal. The serum was a pale pink color and she watched the glass barrel fill. When it was full she set aside the vial and depressed the plunger slightly until a bead formed on the tip of the needle. Then she flicked it twice with her finger.
She gripped the syringe in her fist with her thumb over the plunger. She positioned it over her chest, just above her heart. The skin puckered against the needle for a moment before it pierced. Bella closed her eyes and depressed the plunger all the way. Her naked chest rose and fell in one big breath. When she opened her eyes they'd gone from their usual chocolate color to a vampiric red.
When she set out in the grey morning she left the truck in the motel parking lot. She went on foot dressed in jeans and a hoody with the backpack slung over her shoulder. The sun was rising bleakly beyond a skyline of trees and she went down the sidewalk with her head down and hood up, casting her crimson eyes from side to side.
According to her information the vampire lived in a house on the edge of town. It was noon by the time Bella got there. She came around the bend in the road and she could see the house in the distance. It was large and stately, cited on a rise overlooking the road, silhouetted against the grey sky. Silent. Isolated. Behind it nothing but woods. Bella adjusted the strap of her backpack and crunched up the gravel driveway. She paused at the mailbox and looked inside. Empty. She went up the to front door and knocked. She paused. She knocked again. She tried the doorknob but it was locked. She went around the side of the house and tried the back door but it was locked too. There was no evidence of a security system so in the end she simply broke open one of the back windows with her bare hand. The jagged shards of glass didn't even scratch her.
It was dark inside. She climbed in and closed the window behind her. She was in the living room. In the gloom she could make out a creamcolored sofa and a plasma TV and a glass coffee table. A fireplace. An oilpainting over the mantle depicting a scenic sunset. She went upstairs, climbing the carpeted steps silently, the shotgun held loosely at her waist. She went down the hall and checked the rooms one by one. There were lots of bedrooms but most of them were bare. The master bedroom was at the end of the hall. Bella turned the doorknob slowly and eased it open with the barrel of the shotgun. There was no one inside it.
She stood in the doorway and surveyed the room. The bed was queensize with a lace canopy. A set of pink flannel pajamas was laid over the covers. The closet was open and there were clothes hanging in there. Bella closed her eyes and inhaled. She could smell the vampire. Vanilla and lavender. She stepped into the room and approached the bed. She pulled back the covers. The sheets were slightly rumpled underneath. It appeared slept in. She picked up the pillow and smelled it. The vampire had slept in the bed. Or at least lain there. Bella thought about that.
The closet was polished walnut with a pretty inlay. Bella opened both doors and held the shotgun in one hand at her side while she rummaged through the clothes with her other hand. They were all girl's clothes. She took down a pair of jeans and examined the label for a size. She put the jeans back and took down a yellow sundress. She held the dress up and smelled it and then she held the dress against her own body to try and get an idea of the vampire's physiology. Then she put the dress back.
She went over to the vanitytable and laid the shotgun on it with a soft clatter. Strewn over the tabletop were more cosmetics and makeups than she knew the uses of. Perfumes, skincreams. A whole colony of little nail varnish bottles. She picked up a couple and examined them. Rose pink. Toxic green. She put the bottles down and opened the top drawer. There were socks in it. Hairbrushes. Hairclips. She closed it and opened the next one. It was filled with underwear. Mostly plain cotton. There were some lace articles in the back, bras and panties in matched sets. Black lace, white lace, purple lace. Bella sifted through them. She closed the drawer and glanced up at her hooded reflection in the mirror. She might've looked like any burglar or stalker if it wasn't for the lethal looking eyes that glowed redly under her hood.
The bathroom was white tile and spotlessly clean. Marble bathtub with a gold swanshaped faucet. The shower was a glass cubicle in the corner. Bella slid open the glass door and looked inside. There were shampoos and conditioners sitting in wire racks. A loofa hanging from a cord around the tap. She looked down and saw that the tiles were wet around the drain. Someone had showered recently. She touched the loofa were it dangled and held it to her nose briefly.
She went downstairs and into the kitchen. She placed the shotgun on the breakfast counter and opened the refrigerator. A bright light inside. Shelves of food, fruit and vegetables. Nothing rotten. No meat. She took a carton of milk from the top shelf and opened it and sniffed. She took a sip. It was still fresh. Which meant the vampire was buying regular groceries. For some reason. She put the milk back and closed the refrigerator door.
One by one she checked all the other rooms. Wandering through the house with the shotgun at her waist like some homicidal housekeeper. Finally she went back into the living room and put her backpack on the coffeetable and laid the shotgun beside it. She sat on the sofa and pulled her hood down and flicked her hair out. Then she lay her head on the armrest and curled up and closed her eyes.
There was a grandfather clock against the wall that she could hear ticking loudly. She didn't sleep. When she heard a car pull up in the gravel driveway outside she opened her eyes. The roman numerals of clockface read quarter till six. She rose and took up her shotgun and went over to the front door. She saw someone small moving behind the frosted glass window. She heard keys rattle in the lock. She lifted the shotgun. She left her hood down.
The door opened and the vampire seemed surprised to see someone standing there with a shotgun. She blinked. "I thought I smelt something nice," she said.
The first thing Bella noticed was her eyes. They weren't red. They were amber. But the rest of her looked vampiric enough. "Get in," she said. "Close the door. And don't make the mistake of assuming this weapon can't hurt you."
The vampire came in and shut the door. She looked at Bella. Bella looked at her.
"Who are you?" Bella asked.
The vampire smiled. "My name's Alice. Mary Alice Brandon."
"Who are you?"
"I'm just Alice."
Bella raised the shotgun to her face. "Do you know who I am?"
"Mmhm. You're the one they call The Huntress."
"How did you get my phone number?"
"Someone told me."
"Who?"
"What difference does it make?"
They fell silent. Neither looked away from each other's eyes.
"Aren't you curious why I sent you the message?" Alice asked.
"I know why."
"Why?"
"Where are your friends?"
"What friends?"
"The one's you called me here to meet. The one's waiting in ambush."
"You think I'm trying to set you up?"
"Yes. I do. Why else would a vampire send me a message like that?"
"Maybe the vampire had a proposition she wanted to discuss."
"Or maybe she's only saying that to buy some time."
Alice smiled. She tossed her keys on the sideboard. "You know," she said. "I'm surprised. For some reason I didn't expect you to have long hair."
Bella didn't reply.
"Or red eyes."
Still no reply.
"I didn't expect you to be so pretty either."
Bella's eyes narrowed.
Alice cocked her head. "Am I what you expected?"
"I expected a vampire and that's what I see," Bella said. "Now for the last time. Who are you?"
"I told you. I'm just Alice. And all I want to do is talk. Okay? You can keep your shotgun thingy, if you want."
"You want to talk, huh?"
"Mmhm."
"Okay. Start talking."
"Can we sit?"
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"You better start talking, or this conversation—"
"Shh!"
Alice raised a hand for silence and Bella almost shot her at the suddenness of the movement. The vampire stood with her face averted, listening to something in the distance. Bella couldn't hear anything.
.
Outside it was almost sunset. In the woods behind the house there was a unit of redeyed vampires weaving fast and low among the trees, ten of them, a dozen, leaping over upturned roots, darting across the rocks. They were all dressed identically in black suits with white shirts and black ties and they all had the letter V burnt into their necks like a brand. The birds roosting in the branches above fled at the sight of them, fluttering up into the orange sky and soaring away with thin cries.
.
"They've found me," Alice said.
Bella's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"Agents of the Volturi," Alice said. "They've found me."
Bella lowered the shotgun slightly. Alice moved and she raised it again but the vampire didn't seem to notice. She walked past Bella, Bella swinging the shotgun after her, and then she started up the stairs. Bella followed. They went up the stairs and Alice continued down the corridor till she came to the window at the end of it. The window overlooked the backyard and she bent to look out. A toolshed and a greenhouse stood off to the side and there were hedgerows out there and a birdbath and beds of well-tended flowers and the shadows were long in the sunset. Bella came up behind her just in time to see the blacksuited vampires emerging like shades from the darkened treeline beyond the yard.
Bella stepped back and put the shotgun to the back of Alice's head. "I knew this was a set up."
Alice didn't turn around. Her voice was curiously bland. "They're not after you," she said.
"So it's just coincidence that I happened to pop in?"
"Coincidence, fate. Call it what you want."
"It doesn't matter. The more vampires dead the better."
Alice turned to her. "We didn't get to talk."
"You'll get your chance," Bella said, lowering the shotgun. "I'm going to take care of your friends first, then I'm coming for you. I want answers."
"These aren't ordinary vampires. They're trained agents of the Volturi. I can help you."
Bella didn't reply. She took a few steps backward and then she dashed forward and leapt right through the window.
The vampires were crossing the yard when they looked up at the sound of the crash. Bella soared through the air in a rain of shattered glass, her long black hair flaring out behind her, and she landed on the cobbled garden path and rolled forward and came up in a kneeling position and raised the shotgun. The two closest vampires leapt the flowerbeds to get to her and she swung the shotgun and blasted them each in the chest and a third vampire leapt the birdbath and dove at her in a snarling of fangs and gnashing of teeth and she raised the shotgun and fired. The vampire's ashes sprinkled down upon her and drifted away in the wind. Bella rose to her feet and started sprinting toward the cover of the woods. The vampires glared at the house and then they chased after her.
Alice watched it all from the broken window. She laid a hand on the shattered frame.
Bella ran, the moss covered trees blurring past. She glanced over her shoulder and saw several hostiles in pursuit. She jumped over upturned roots and tumbled through some shrubbery and up ahead there was a tall rock bluff which she scaled in a series of graceful leaps, jumping from ledge to ledge, shelf to shelf, nimble and quick as a little doe in her going. At the top of the bluff she turned and opened fire as the vampires scrambled up the rocks behind her. She been hoping to kill most of them but they were quick and she didn't have the element of surprise anymore. She fired seven loads and hit three targets, each of them exploding in ash and fire, and she swung the shotgun at the first of them to leap up next to her but she wasn't quick enough. He tackled her to the ground and they went tumbling to the dirt, the shotgun skittering across the rocks behind them. The vampire held her down and hissed and bared it's fangs and then it tore back her hoody and swooped to her neck and bit into it.
Bella grimaced but made no sound. She had turned away at the last moment to avoid a lethal bite and the vampire's teeth sunk into the flesh at the base of her neck. She twisted violently and thrashed him off her body and sprung backwards. She dove for her shotgun and rolled over with it just as he leapt at her with his bloody mouth. She fired and blew him away and through the cloud of ash she could see the rest of the vampires scrambling over the edge of the bluff. She staggered to her feet and fired a few loads in their direction as she turned and sprinted away into the trees.
It was getting dark and she fought a running engagement deeper into the woods. She splashed through a stream and heard them splashing after her. She fired over her shoulder. So far she'd fired sixteen shells and killed nine vampires. There were still four left that she knew of and only four shells remaining in the magazine. She couldn't afford to waste any more shells and she could already feel the stinging of venom in her neck. It occurred to her that if these vampires had weapons like hers they might've killed her already. And after she thought that she thought that they might kill her anyway.
There was a clearing up ahead and she decided to make a stand. A doe that was grazing there looked up and froze as Bella dove into the grass beside her and whirled around on one knee and lifted the shotgun to the trees she'd emerged from. The vampires didn't follow. They'd been right on her heels but they didn't follow her into the clearing. Bella swept the sights of the shotgun along the treeline but she could see nothing. She sniffed. But she was upwind. She listened. A shuffle of leaves. A twig snapping.
The doe was frozen beside her but at the sound of the snapping twig it bolted. It scrabbled wildly in the grass and ran into the trees and then it screamed. There was a wet ripping sound and it screamed. Bella swung the shotgun to the sound but there was nothing there. Just shadows. She scanned the treeline again and now she saw them. A pair of red eyes glowing evilly in the gloom. She would've fired but the distance would thin the blast and she was waiting for a sure shot. The eyes lowered and rose again and then they crept forward. Bella knew that the others were closing in from different directions. She stood slowly and listened. Her neck was throbbing. The wind whistled in the leaves and then they struck.
The one behind her came first. She heard him darting across the grass and she spun around and shot him. Two more came at her from either side and she swung to the one on her right but he kicked the shotgun clean from her hands. Before she could react the one on her left took a handful of her hair from behind and pulled her back and punched her in the face. She went to the grass. They stomped on her head. They kicked her in the stomach. She made a strangled whimper and tried to raise up but they kicked her again.
When they forced her to her knees the third one came sauntering from the treeline. The other two were gripping her arms and holding her down. She squirmed and tried to get free but when she saw the third one pick up her own shotgun she stopped struggling. She glared down into the grass.
The vampire examined the shotgun and hefted it in his hands. He stepped up to the huntress and pointed it at her head.
"Hey," said a voice behind them. "You forgot about me."
It was Alice voice and when Bella heard it her eyes widened. The one with the shotgun spun around. Alice stepped slowly from the treeline and skipped forward a few paces and charged at him. The vampire snarled and raised the shotgun and fired. Alice went low under the blast and crossed the ground in the manner of a cheetah or a panther and before the vampire could fire again she leapt at him. She jumped onto him and locked her legs around his waist like a lover and then she grabbed his head and tore it off. She rode him to the ground and rolled aside as the body disintegrated in the grass and the head in her hands flaked away into ash.
Bella was staring. The two vampire's holding her down released her and turned hissing to Alice. Alice by contrast was smiling. They came at her and she fended them away with graceful evasion and artful dodging. They couldn't seem to touch her. Bella stared. She might've made for the shotgun but she was mesmerized. Finally Alice killed them. She took one of them by the hand and pulled him toward her like a dance partner, a deadly tango. She set her other hand at the nape of his neck almost tenderly and then she stepped onto her toes and bit into his throat as if she'd meant to kiss him there. An elegant kill. He fell away gurgling with black blood gushing and his skin already turning grey. The remaining vampire seemed frozen. Alice turned to him smiling a black smile. He turned to flee into the woods but Alice chased him and jumped onto his back and rode him to the dirt and straddling his back she took two handfuls of his hair and wrenched off his head.
Bella was still kneeling there staring. Something about what she'd seen had taken her breath away. Alice rose and dusted herself off and wiped her mouth. She turned to the huntress and smiled. As if she were glad to see she was safe. She walked over and picked up the shotgun. Wordlessly she held it by the barrel and offered the stock to Bella and Bella took it and rose to her feet.
# # #
They went back to the house. Alice sat Bella on the rim of the bathtub and cleaned and swabbed out the bite wound on her neck. Bella's hoody was tossed on the floor and she held the shotgun in her lap. Pointed away from Alice. All her other wounds had regenerated by now, it was just the venom that lingered. A pale pink fluid was still leaking from the torn flesh and every so often Alice would wipe at it with a handtowel. "Does it sting?" she asked.
Bella had her face averted. "No."
Alice smiled. As if she thought Bella was just being brave. "I'm almost finished," she said, bending again to the wound.
The first aid kit was open on the counter beside them. When Alice was done cleaning the bite she taped a medicalpad over the wound and then she unraveled some gauze. "Hold up your hair," she said. Bella gathered up her hair in both hands and held it up as Alice passed the roll of gauze around her neck and started taping it up nice and tight. Alice was watching her work and then her eyes flickered to Bella's. "Can I ask you a question?"
"What?"
"How come your eyes are red? You're obviously not a vampire."
Bella didn't answer for a moment. "I use a serum before missions," she said. "A serum that simulates a vampire's powers."
"Oh. When will your eyes go back to normal?"
Bella's expression hardened. "You mean when will the serum wear off? Don't worry. I'll be long gone before that happens. I'd rather kill myself then let myself become vulnerable in the company of a vampire."
Alice didn't answer. She wrapped her neck and tore off the gauze and touched the wound briefly with her hand. "There," she said. "All done."
Alice turned to the firstaid kit. Bella touched the rough gauze at her neck and frowned slightly.
When Alice turned around Bella was pulling on her hoody.
"Do you want to know why my eyes are yellow?" Alice asked.
"I know why."
"Why then?"
"Because you don't kill humans."
Alice smiled. "That's right. I don't."
.
Bella stood at the coffeetable in the living room. She hadn't flipped on the light and it was dark. She ejected the spent magazine from the shotgun and got a fresh one from the backpack and fitted it in. There was a draft in the room from the broken window. The lace drapes fluttering in the cool night wind. Bella turned the shotgun in her hands and checked the safety. She flicked it on.
When she went into the kitchen she found Alice standing at the sink chopping up vegetables on a cutting board. Fifteen minutes later Bella was sitting at the far end of the polished oak dinning table and Alice set in front of her a plate of vegetable stir-fry and handed her a fork. Bella sat holding the fork awkwardly, watching the food steam. The shotgun lay beside the plate like an monstrous dinner knife. Alice got a bottle of water from the refrigerator and filled a glass and set it in front of Bella. Then she pulled out the chair opposite and sat down and pushed herself in and smiled.
"Well go on," she said, gesturing at Bella's plate. "Humans got to eat, don't they?"
Bella frowned at the fork. She stabbed a piece of broccoli and put it in her mouth.
"It's nice cooking for someone," Alice said. "Usually I end up throwing it all out. I used to bake biscuits and take them to school for my friends, but I stopped doing that. I think they thought I was weird."
"Why bother?"
"Why bother what?"
"Pretending to be human."
"I don't know. I guess I just wanted to have a normal life. Even if I knew it wouldn't last. Wouldn't you like to have a normal life?"
Bella didn't answer.
Alice looked over at the stove wistfully. "I'd like to have a normal life."
Bella looked at her. She stabbed up a slice of carrot. "You said you wanted to talk," she said. "So start talking."
"It's simple really. I wanted to propose a partnership."
Bella paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. "What?"
"You heard me," Alice said, smiling. "A partnership. I want to be a vampire slayer just like you."
"I thought you wanted a normal life."
"I did. Or do. But, as you've seen tonight, a normal life is impossible for me. And since we share a common enemy I thought we might pool our efforts. It makes sense, doesn't it? The enemy of your enemy is your friend. I think I heard that on a TV show one time."
"What enemy?"
"The Volturi."
Bella looked at her. She shuffled the food about the plate. "Why exactly are the Volturi after you?"
"It's not important. Their grudge against me doesn't factor into my motivations against them."
"And what are your motivations?"
Alice gave a sad little smile. "It's a secret. But among my reasons is the desire to atone. I committed some terrible sins as a newborn. In recent years I've developed a mastery of my thirst but there was a time when I killed countless humans. Countless. More than the average newborn. Much more. I tried to forgive myself. I tried to tell myself that it wasn't my fault. That I never asked to be a vampire. But if I'm not to blame then who is? There is no one else. No one but me. I have no delusions of living happily ever after, but when I die I hope to at least die absolved. I hope to have removed more evil from the world than I bought into it. That's one of my reasons, anyway."
Bella tapped the fork on the plate. The vampire was staring down at the tabletop. Bella glanced at the shotgun. "A partnership," she said.
"Mm."
"You'd be a valuable asset."
"Is that a yes?"
"No. It's a statement. Who gave you my phone number?"
"I don't know. It was sent to me anonymously."
"Do you know my name?"
"No. But I'd like too."
Bella sighed. She put the fork on the plate and pushed the plate away. She hadn't ate much.
"What's the matter?" Alice asked.
Bella shook her head. Beyond the kitchen window was nothing but blackness. "It's Bella," she said. "My name's Bella."
Alice smiled. "Bella," she said. "That's nice."
Bella crossed her arms. She was practically glaring across the table, looking for anything false in the vampire's expression. But there was nothing. Alice simply smiled back with a girlish boldness, as if daring the other woman to think her anything but sweet and charming. This was a vampire that had saved her life. A vampire who'd handed her back her own weapon. A vampire who'd treated her wounds and cooked for her. There was no reason in the world to mistrust her and yet the fact remained that she was a vampire.
"Tell me something," Bella said.
"What?"
"Why would you trust me?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because. I've devoted my entire life to killing your kind. And, yellow eyes or not, it wouldn't take much for me to kill you too. The only reason I haven't done it already is because you may be useful to me. That's the only reason. I don't feel sorry for you and I don't care if you don't kill humans. A vampire is a vampire and the nature of a vampire doesn't allow for special cases. All of them are evil and unnatural without exception. Now, knowing all that, I'll ask again. Why would you trust me?"
Alice smiled and made a little shrugging gesture. "Let's just say I have nothing to lose."
Bella looked at her.
"Besides," Alice said. "I don't want to be alone anymore."
.
While Bella was showering Alice sat on the bed rifling through her backpack. She examined the pistol, the hunting knife. When she reached in again she came out with a white rosary which she held briefly to the light. It dangled in her hand and the beads rattled softly. Bella was using the adjoining bathroom and Alice could hear the water. She glanced past the rosary at the bathroom door. The water turned off. She tucked the rosary away in the backpack.
Bella wiped the bathroom mirror with her hand. She appeared in the blurry reflection naked with her hair hanging wetly. The shotgun lay across the sink and she had the thin steel box in her hands. Her eyes had faded to a pale pink during dinner and she paused for a moment. Thinking. Then she unlatched the box and took up a syringe.
When Bella came out of the bathroom her eyes were bright crimson. Alice was still sitting on the bed with the backpack. "You got some pretty cool stuff," she said.
They left that night. They didn't go back into town, they took the road north. On foot, down the darkened blacktop. Each with a backpack slung over their shoulder, Bella's a simple black nylon, Alice's a trendy tan suede. Bella in her baggy hoody, Alice in her designer jeans. It was dark and silent and they tramped along by the side of the road in just such silence themselves. A car passed them going the other way. Their eyes flashed in the headlights, crimson and amber, and driver swerved slightly. The headlights passed on and the vampire and the huntress once more dissolved into the darkness which so well became them.
# # #