A/N: Hey all, just wanted to warn you about some things before you start to read:
-this fic has alot of dark content, ranging from description of gore, to violence and it may escalate to other things as it progresses
-Bella is OOC; when i said twilight with a Laurell K Hamilton twist, i meant that the main character in twilight, Bella, was hamilton-fied (a.k.a. she swears now).
-There will be no lemons; sorry, im just not that kind of writer!
- This story will be very cryptic at the beginning; you won't find out what happened to Bella right away.
-Don't shoot me for my grammar mistakes please!
Thanks! Happy Reading!
Some pronuncation: Aloisia- Al-oy-see-ah, Gareth- Gar-ith, Aloysius- Al-oy-see-us, Caliste- Cal- east
playlist-
Latika's theme by A. R. Rahman
Choke by Hybrid
The Beginning is the End by Smashing pumpkins
Chapter 1- The Beginning is the End
"You can't avoid it forever you know."
"What?" He just smiled. I looked back over the balcony railing to my newlywed brother and his wife. They were dancing alone below us, unaware that the musicians had stopped playing, that the guests had gone inside to sleep, and that the tables and chairs were being cleared away. No one dared disturb them from their blissful reverie. I watched as they swayed back and forth as he cradled her in his arms and she clung to him earnestly. Occasionally she would smile at him, and his face would light up in return. Watching them so happy made me glow inside.
"Love," he answered. A frown tugged at the corners of my mouth. I looked down uncomfortably, and pretended to smooth my skirts then I looked back at Gareth. He was staring at me. "I see the way you look at them," he tilted his head towards the dancing couple. "-almost wistfully. You believe in it."
"Yes, I do. But if I believe in it, how could I be avoiding it?" I smiled and grabbed his hand, interlacing our fingers and pulling him towards me. He grabbed the other and brought it to his lips, kissing it softly. He looked down at my hand, rubbing it with his thumb, and when he looked back up at me his eyes were sad. He tried to smile, but he couldn't hide the pain in his eyes. My heart sank. I wrapped my arms around him and he did the same, holding me tight. He kissed the top of my head.
"You don't love me," he whispered into my hair. I cringed, but had nothing to say. He was right. I enjoyed being around Gareth; he made me laugh, and smile and comforted me when I needed it, but that was all. But Gareth felt more- he loved me, and it hurt that I didn't feel the same way about him.
"I'm so sorry, Gareth." I started to cry, but kept my face buried in his chest to hide it. He gently grabbed my chin and brought my face from hiding. He smiled. "It's alright. I understand." I wiped away the remaining tears staining my cheeks, and kissed him lightly on the lips.
"Someday someone will come for you Gareth, someone who is worthy, although I doubt anyone really deserves you," he chuckled.
"And you too, Aloisia? Will you ever be caught like your older brother?" I laughed rolling my eyes but looking down at them again. I longed to find love like theirs.
"You know, it's not wise to avoid the attentions of Aphrodite, remember the plight of Myrrah?"
I looked at him incredulously, "So you believe in the Greek gods now?"
"I was raised in a time when they were particularly popular," he said in mock arrogance.
"And I was raised during the crusades but I'm certainly not a Christian!" I giggled at the absurdity of someone worshipping Greek deities in the middle of the 19th century. Gareth laughed at my giggling, and I was glad to see he wasn't greatly upset.
But almost as suddenly as he started laughing, it was gone. His face blank; I started at the sudden seriousness of it. "Gareth...What's wrong?" He titled his head upward, smelling the air, then turned and scanned the horizon.
My father's attendee, Mr. Gibson suddenly came from within the house onto the balcony looking perturbed. "Sir," He nodded towards Gareth, then turned to me, "Miss Aloisia, your father requests that you and Mr. Gareth come inside, immediately." I looked at Gareth worried, something was wrong. He leaned over the balcony and called to my brother, "Aloysius!" My brother and his wife looked up to Gareth; Aloysius met his gaze, a certain understanding passed between them, then he nodded and led his wife towards the house. I was confused and growing anxious. "Gareth," I asked again; he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the house, Mr. Gibson following. "What is wrong?" I asked more forcefully. Gareth didn't stop moving, but said coldly, "Vampires."
I woke up screaming, and someone was shaking me. My eyes snapped open and I immediately grabbed the person who was touching me. I threw them to the ground by the cot, twisting their arm behind them.
"Bella, get the FUCK off of ME!" I wasn't quite coherent yet, but I recognized Rick's muffled curses. I let go of his arm, and helped him stand. I sat back down on the cot covering my face with my hands. My heart was beating wildly; I tried to slow my breathing. When I brought my hands away from my face, they were wet; id been crying again. I quickly wiped my eyes, embarrassed. Rick just stood patiently by the door, waiting for me to collect myself.
"Rick…don't ever do that to me again," I hissed. My hair came loose from the pony tail I was wearing before I went to sleep, and was hanging, haphazardly in my face. I searched around the mattress on the cot and found my hair tie. "How long was I out?" I asked, as I pulled my hair into a bun.
"Three hours." Shit. Three hours of sleep to make up for the past two days of no sleep. It wasn't enough. "Did it talk yet?" I stood up, and Rick walked out of the small room- very small; one cot, white walls, one light bulb dangling on a chain from a ceiling, and no windows. It was used as a place to detain prisoners, but seeing as our prisoners didn't sleep, I used it.
"Not yet," he said, leading the way down a hallway, into the kitchen, and stopping at the top of the basement steps.
"Well, we'll just give it more incentive," I said, and walked over to the kitchen sink. I dampened a towel and held it to my face. My hands were shaking. I breathed in and out through the towel and tried again to calm myself.
"Bella, are you ok?" Rick asked, waiting patiently at the top of the steps. I didn't answer him, he knew better than to ask. I just put the towel in the sink and walked over to one of the kitchen cabinets and opened it to find a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I grabbed the pack and hit the top against the heel of my palm, packing the cigarettes inside. I turned around and leaned against the counter to look at Rick while I took one out and lit it. He had that look in his eyes again; worry, and pity. I wanted to fucking slap him. Rick was the only person who knew about me; what happened, who I really was.
I took a long drag, and brought it from my mouth. Then I reached behind my head, down the back of my jacket and grabbed the flat hilt of my sword, unsheathing it from its thin holster between my shoulder blades. I turned the hilt of the blade over in my hand, and twirled it. "Let's go," I said taking another drag from the cigarette. Rick turned and descended down the dark steps. The bottom landing led to a hallway lit by florescent lights. I could hear growling from a door at the end. As we got closer to the door, I could hear high pitched female screams.
I was growing angrier as the sounds got louder. Suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore and wielding the blade in my right hand, I put the cigarette in the corner of my mouth and charged past Rick. When I got to the door I reared back and kicked it open. The growling and screaming stopped. I looked in from the doorway; Tom was sitting in a metal chair and Wilson was standing across from him. They looked at me, exasperated. Between them, chained to the wall was a female vampire. I glared balefully at it, and it looked back at me. "You know what?!" I yelled, addressing it. It raised its eyebrows in a smirk. I walked over to it, taking the cigarette from my mouth and shoved the tip of my blade just below it's chin. I crouched down so that we were at eye level, and blew smoke in its face. "I've had it up to HERE-" I put sharp pressure on the blade,"- WITH YOU, YOU FUCKING LEECH!" It tried to shy away from the blade, but still smiled up at me.
"Sleep does you well, Bella. You look much better. However, your manners haven't improved. And here I thought you were just bitter from the lack of sleep."
"Where are the other members from your coven?!" I hissed, through clenched teeth, putting even more pressure on the blade. It raised its chin, as much as the chains draping it would allow.
"Now, how can you expect me to answer like this?" it managed to chuckle.
"WHERE ARE THEY?!" this time it let out a squeek when I pushed harder on the hilt.
"Bella," Rick warned from the doorway. I paused, turned my head to the left to look at him, then turned back to looked at the vampire. He was right; this would get me no where. I pulled the blade away from its throat, and glared at it through narrowed eyes. I looked at the little wound my blade left; it was pink, and raw. There should have been some blood when I cut it. I smiled. It meant the vampire hadn't eaten for a while. I straightened up from my crouched position. My cigarette was spent now, so I threw it on the ground and smothered it.
"Wilson?" He looked at me.
"Yea?" His voice was hoarse, he was just as tired as I was.
"When was the last time Caliste fed?" I used it's name. It looked up at me, curious.
"At least five days ago."
"Hmm." I murmured. "She must be hungry," I addressed it with a pronoun; the closest form of flattery I could give a vampire. I looked down at it still smiling, making sure the blanket of chains were secured properly. Then I brought my blade to my wrist, and the vampire's eyes went wide. I could smell the venom already pooling in its mouth. In one quick motion I cut through my skin, drawing swelling rubies of blood.
The vampire went crazy. Growling, and screaming, thrashing against the chains with such great force that I swear it could've bowed the stone wall. Rick came behind me and Tom stood from his chair , ready in case it would somehow break free. I stood there, letting my blood run down into my palm, pool at the tips of my fingers and fall, in little scarlet drops to the floor, waiting for the vampire to calm a bit. Tom and Wilson didn't know it, but the vampire wouldn't react the same way to their blood. Slayer blood was always more alluring to vampires.
When it stopped thrashing and fell silent against the wall, I brought my wrist to my mouth and slowly licked the blood away from my wrist. Making small 'mmm' sounds, as if I was savoring it. "Where are the other members of your coven, Caliste?"
It growled at me, deep loud and resonant in the small stone room. I squeezed my wrist, making the blood flow faster. It bowed its spine groaning, and let out a loud scream,"YOU BITCH!"
"WHERE?!" I screamed right back at her. It started laughing, darkly.
"You'll never catch them in time! They'll kill every! Last! One of them!" It let out a high pitched cackle. That did it. I ran at it, winding back and kicking it hard in the face. It's head snapped to the side from the impact, making the loud crack of bone breaking. When it turned back to face me, the left side of its face had sunken in, where its cheekbone used to be.
I couldn't take it, I turned to walk out of the room to cool off, before I beat the living shit out of it, and we would never find the vampires in time.
"You think you're so tough." The vampire said, slightly slurring its words. I balled my hands into fists, my left hand slippery with blood. "I heard you screaming, upstairs."
I stopped, but didn't turn to face it.
"Shut up!" Tom screamed at it.
"Having nightmares again, Aloisia?" My heart skipped a beat.
"What did you call me?" I whispered. A deep, frightening chill ran down my spine.
"What are you dreaming about, Aloisia?" I turned slowly to face it. "Or should I say, whom?" It smiled at me.
"I said SHUT UP!" Tom ran at it. Rick stepped between us, blocking it from my view.
"Bella, leave!" He said. I pushed past him to get to the vampire.
"How do you know my name?!" I asked forcefully. I was starting to panic, how could it know my name? It just smiled. I ran over to it, and grabbed its shoulders, shaking it. It giggled. "ANSWER ME!" I slapped it where I had kicked it before, hard. It took its time, recovering from the blow.
"Donatus will be thrilled to hear that you still dream about him," it taunted. "He misses you so." This wasn't happening; it wasn't happening! I broke my hold, and fell backwards. My hands started to shake as everything came into comprehension.
It was all a trap. He was probably on his way here right now, tracking the vampire. I looked at Rick, and his expression mirrored my horror. "Of course you could tell him yourself, soon enough!" It cackled in a shrill voice. Then it reached out through the chains and grabbed me, pulling me close enough so it could scream into my ear, "Ill show you mine if you show me yours, Bell-La!" Tom was there to intervene, but it pushed me away before he could do anything. It grabbed the long sleeve of its shirt, ripped it off, and raised its forearm to show me- carved into its skin, a D and an S.
I gasped and its laugh came to a shrill crescendo, when finally Rick picked up my sword slit its throat. The laughs became gurgles and died off completely, as its head fell forward. But I could still hear them ringing in my head.
I was completely paralyzed with fear. Wilson and Tom looked at me, confused by the whole circumstance. Rick grabbed my arm, and tried to pull me to the door, "We need to get out of here, now!" He shouted at Tom and Wilson. I was still standing, frozen. "Come on!" Rick all but picked me up to get me moving.
"Rick, what the hell is going on?" Wilson asked.
"Vampires…" I whispered, realization of the impending danger finally kicking in. "Run."
Without any further explanation we darted out of the room into the hallway; Rick handing me my sword while unsheathing his own. When we made it to the bottom of the steps, a loud crash came from above us. They were here, I could already smell them. We were too late. I looked over to Rick, and back behind me at Tom and Wilson. Most of us would make it; most. But I would not be taken again, at any costs. I would rather die. And with that final thought, I ascended the stairs.
next chapter: Bella moves to Forks
Please tell me if you want me to continue!