Warnings: Nothing to report so far but probable Violence, sexual content, adult situations and more- deal with it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or any of the characters.
Spoilers: Possibly.
Summary: This is a Twilight spin off. I don't know where this is headed, but I have hope it will develop nicely as time goes on. Your ideas and in put are welcome.
A/N: Okay, sorry i had to remove the original story. it. It just didn't make sense to me.
Please read and review the new start. If you like it I will continue but I need some input. Please be kind. ;) The more you review the more likely it is that I will continue this story and more. Sorry for any errors, it becomes difficult after editing it so many times. It becomes a lot like a word repeated over and over again until it no longer makes any sense. Lol.
A Twist of Twilight
Chapter One:
Before the Beginning
Latium, Alba Longa hills, 475 A.D. The night the alliance of the five Clans ended.
~~~~A time before kings... and Two centuries before its ultimate fall. ~~~~
Isabella Marie Vitali lay awake in her bed staring up at the rafters that vaulted over her room like the rest of the structure she and her parents lived in. It wasn't any grand structure, but it was her home and it was perfect. Tomorrow was her thirteenth birthday. The day she officially joined her clan as a young warrior. Her training at home was getting her only so far and her father believed her ready to further her studies. She was so excited she couldn't settle herself enough to sleep.
The small leopard cub that was snuggled up to her side nudged her hand. Asking to be pet. Isabella smiled and ran her fingers through the cubs fur. Tomorrow was also the day Isabella and the leopard cub were going to finish bonding and become one. A bit late but better then never.
The cub wasn't very big at such a young age, but he was larger than most grown Leopards in their teens. As soon as they selected a name for the cub the bond will be complete. Until then, he was just known as The Cub.
Isabella has been stalling the choosing of the name and she didn't know why. She should have embraced it. Maybe having someone inside her head bothered her more than she thought.
Isabella listened to the cubs loud purring and sighed happily. Isabella was so at peace she started to drift off to sleep. Her mind floated away into a half-awake dream-state. Sleep tried to tug her under but something kept her afloat. Something nagged at her, prodding her back awake. The sound perforated her sleep induced fog.
What is that? Isabella thought groggily.
Finally, she opened her eyes and focused on the present. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the dark thanks to the ancient preternatural blood rushing through her veins. She saw nothing in her room. The leopard cub growled softly at the empty room. His ears pinned back, and his lips peeled away to bare some very sharp teeth.
Isabella listened closer to what had interrupted her sleep. The silence stretched straining Isabella's young nerves. She waited for several tense seconds. There. Isabella closed her eyes and cocked her head to listen harder. Her breath caught in her throat. Screams. It was screams she had heard. Loud, piercing, dying in agony kind of screams.
Isabella threw the covers off and ran for her door. The Cub on her heels. She didn't care that she was bare foot, or in a nightgown. Her instincts told her to get out of the room. Now. With clumsy hands she grabbed the large iron handle. Hot!
Isabella shook her hand out and grit her teeth. She braced herself for the pain, and yanked the door open with all her might. She was greeted by red, yellow and orange flames. A cloud of black smoke billowed into the room. Isabella shouted in surprise. She turned and wrapped herself around the cub and let the fiery flames engulfed them. They briefly bathing them in hot feral heat. It licked at her skin and hungrily grabbed at her hair but before any true damage could happen the flames were sucked back out the door. The fire started a new path up the wall and along the ceiling. Its fiery fingers crawled along the wood engulfing everything in its path turning the room into a turbulent inferno. Its smoky arms embraced her, wringing the air from her lungs, burning her throat.
"Mater?!" Mother?! Isabella choked. She stumbled out of the room, the cub by her side. Her fingertips brush against the fur on his neck letting her know he was still with her.
She fumbled in the hazy light as she stumbled down the hall. She blindly searched for another open doorway and tripped clumsily over something lying on the floor. She sat up and looked around. It was clearer down here, less smoke. She could breath better, and was able to see more, but she wouldn't be able to crawl her way out fast enough.
She glanced down at what had tripped her. She gasped. It was a dead worrier. She scooted back in surprise. Isabella had seen dead bodies before, but never so close or her own people. She stood up and stepped over the body, her cub doing the same, and hurried from the the small hall way that lead to another much larger hall of open rooms where her parents and others congregated each night before sleep. She needed to find them.
"Pater!" Father! Isabella coughed.
She covered her mouth with her hand, the other she kept in the cubs fur as they moved. The heat and the smell of burning flesh, wood and fabrics churned her stomach and brought tears to her eyes. She walked past more bodies,. She did her best not to trip over any of them, but she couldn't avoid all of the carnage. She stumbled and hit the floor hard. She looked back at what she had fallen over this time. It was a severed arm of a fallen worrier, a short sword clutched in his grip. The limb was stretched out towards the warriors choice of weapon, the pair to the short sword he clutched in his hand. She scrambled to her feet and covered her mouth with her forearm. More and more worriers filled the hallway, all dead, all missing pieces of themselves.
She wavered on her feet. The smoke was making her uncoordinated and lightheaded. Her throat burned and her lungs kept sizing. And, of course, the carnage didn't help her nausea.
Isabella tried to breathe through her fingers, to keep the smoke from hurting her throat and lungs but it wasn't helping. Something nudged her leg. Isabella looked down. Her vision blurred as the smoke assaulted her eyes in a fresh cloud of smoke. She blinked and the image of her bonded Leopard cub came into view. The cub shoved her towards the exit, nudging her to safety. Isabella paused. She glanced back at the swords. Mind made up, she bent down and retrieved the weapons from the ground. She had to pry one of the swords from the severed hand. His fingers popped and cracked as she bent them away from the hilt. She shivered at the sound. She clicked the two swords together, hilt to hilt, blade to blade. They sealed together, creating a fuller, thicker blade, and yet the weight was as light as a feather. Her father's invention. A rare art lost to time and ignored by history.
The cub nudged her again, hissing into the hall behind them. The smoke made it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead and the space was decreasing rapidly. The smoke was getting denser, darker and deadlier.
She looked around, trying to see where she was in the house. She recognized the paintings on the wall. Crude depictions of battles, both victories and defeats. She was close to the throne room. The designated place to meet when there was as siege.
The cub nudged her again. Isabella nodded her understanding. She picked him up and ran as fast as she could now that she knew the direction out of the room. She was young, and small, but she was strong, fast, and intelligent, and the weight of the cub didn't slow her down in the least. She relied on memory to guide her as she bolted through the hall. The Leopard cub clutched onto Isabellas dress. His sharp little claws dug into the soft fabric, anchoring him close. His nails scraped against her skin, but she ignored the sting.
"O Deorum, Amen!" Oh, Gods, Bella! A soft feminine voice hissed.
Renee, the Clan Leader, nudged her mate, Charlie, a vampire and warrior, when she saw a blur rush past. But he had already seen their daughter and gone after her. The scent of sea water on a hot spring morning was left in his wake. A calming scent that was unmistakably all her mate. Renee waited, her heart sized as she waited for their return.
A pair of cold hands latched onto Isabella and pulled her inside a small hidden nook. She started to struggle, squirming in the pale arms that trapped her without harming her cub but they were steel bars. She fought and clawed to the best of her ability. The cub mewled. Isabella bit down hard on the arm that entrapped her. Making sure she dug deep.
Charlie felt Isabella's sharp teeth puncture his marble skin with ease. "Heus." Ouch. Charlie hissed. It never failed to shock him how she was able to have so much strength for someone so little.
"Est Licuit, hellion meus, et tu non tempus ad bellum." It is alright, my little hellion, it is not time for you to war. Charlies ruff timber voice purred inside her mind, soothing her panic.
There was a whooshing in her ears before everything stood still once more. Finally, the scent of her father registered.
Isabella and the cub both stilled. Normally, Isabella could easily block a telepath but she was still very young, and she was terrified. With her mental walls all gone her fathers voice was a welcome intrusion. She didn't shy away. She melted into her fathers embrace. She took in a deep breath, savoring the scent of him and the safety he represented. That was his gift. Her father could read and project thoughts into others psyches, as well as calm and override a turbulent mind. Sometimes even rewrite memories. He was special, her mother had told her once. Isabellas father said most of his kind have gifts, but would never tell her what kind his kind were, only that he was not special, but feared. He wasn't human, but he wasn't A Bonded like the five clans either and that was what made people fear him.
Renee always said that Isabella and charlie were to be cherished and protected. Not feared or harmed, as the clan had originally wanted to do upon Renee and Charlies mating, and subsequently, Isabella's birth.
Once Isabella calmed, Charlie handed her over to her mother and stood up, his eyes searching their surroundings. He glanced around the corners for intruders.
Renee smiled at her daughter and caressed her cheek claiming back her attention. The cub jumped from Isabellas arms, circled them once before settling onto the floor next to them. Renee pet the cub, kissed her daughter on the forehead and shoved them towards a hole in the wall that led her out into the woods.
"Ite, amica mea," Go, my darling, Renee urged pressingly. She guided them to the escape hole, Isabella dragged her heels the whole while. The cub circled Isabellas' feet feeling her fear.
"Non, dico vobis non vis relinquere. Ego potest auxilium. Non possum pugnare, quoque." No, i dont want to leave you. I want to help. I can fight, too. Isabella pleaded.
Isabellas hands tightened on the hilt of her sword sword. She was not a full fledged warrior, but she knew how to maneuver a blade. It was a requirement to learn to fight and defend at a very young age. After all, Isabella was the heir of a hunted race. She was trained harder, longer and more aggressive than the rest. She was a hybrid. Something the clans detested. A watered down blood line with an unknown race. Isabella had better be ready for those that were going to challenger her claim to her future crown. And she was.
"Tantum enim mori nobis? No." Only for you to die with us? No.
"Shh, Aliquis accesserit." Shh, Someone approaches. Her father tensed. "Ego retrahatur. Celare Isabellam. Ego vestrum adprehendet vos et a vobis. Testor illum mihi." I'll draw them away. Hide Isabella. I will find you, both of you. I swear it.
Isabella shook her head frantically. "Nec: papa non potes!" No, papa, you cant!
She didn't want to be separated. In their world separation meant death, or worse. She wanted to help protect the clan, protect her family and what was theirs. She protested all the more, and shoved past her mother, she tugged on her fathers pant leg. She refused to let him go fight alone.
Charlie glanced down at her and Isabellas world started to tilt. She was terrified. Her limbs vibrated with her fear. Her fathers eyes were bright red bordered with a fine line of pitch black. The frightening color eclipsed his usually gold eyes. It erased her loving father and replaced him with a cold blooded monster. Someone she almost didn't recognize. She shivered. Though when Isabella thought about it, she wasn't afraid of him, but for him, of the men he would face. She knew her father was the same man even with his red eyes, he was just stronger. Deadlier.
"Ne dimiseris." Don't go. Isabella pleaded.
Charlie nodded to his mate to take up guard and knelt down to look at Isabella fully in the eye. "Fas est, Hellion parum, ego paraesidio necesse est domus mea." I must, little Hellion, I must protect my family.
"Te potest solum ire. Dimitte me alioquin interficiam te. Ego potest auxilium." You can't go alone. Let me go with you. I can help.
"Im' certus vos potest et non vult, sed non hic. Et non hodie." I'm sure you can, and you will, but not here. And not today. Charlie forced a smile. His red eyes took in every feature of his daughter. From her soft brown hair and pale skin to her strong soulful brown eyes. "Nunc vadam. Audi mater tua. Celare. " Now go. Listen to your mother. Hide.
"Age nunc, dulcis pueri." Come now, sweet child. Renee gently tugged her daughter away from Charlie. "Get venire intus et extra." Get inside and do not come out. Renee urged isabella and the cub inside the escape cubbie. "Nulla materia quid vos videtis, pr quæ auditis, st posuit manere." No matter what you hear, or what you see, you stay put. Her mother shoved them both inside and shut the wodden pannel compleatly hiding them.
Isabella waited for several tense moments. She felt cool air sneek throguh the cracks in the bords underneath her. She looked down and saw another escape hatch. Isabella took a step foward only to stop. What was that? She looked down at her cub, but tilted her head and listened for what made her tense. More screams. It probably wasnt her parents, but the thoguht that it could be them, and they needed her, tore her apart.
Iabella whirled back around and shoved against the pannel as hard as she could but it wouldnt budge. Her mother must have bared it. Hot fat tears rolled down her cheeks staining her innocent soul. She tried to pry the pannel back with the blade of her nelwy required sword. It still didn't budge. With a great cry she tossed herself at the wood, and with more strength than she thought she had, the wood splintered. She tumbled to the ground, the cub jumped out from behind her. She nudged Isabella again, pushing her head under Isabellas' arm to try to help her stand, and she accepted. Isabella grabed her swords and stabbed the tip of it into the floor and used it to help her stand. With the cub on her tail, she ran from the small room. She let the cries of her family and the screams of her people draw her in like a moth to a flame. To its inevitable death.
She bursted into the reception room, a place her mother and father had people wait before being admitted into the throne room, but before she reached the doors strong arms grabbed her from behind. One hand covered her mouth and noes, cutting off her air suply, and the other banded around her chest, purposfully smashiung his forearm into her gut and wrining the air from her lungs. The clatter of her weapon hitting the ground sent her stomach churning. He walked them back into the greeting room farther from the throne room doors.
"Hey, Zarél, me piásate!" Hey, Zarél, I caught me one! Her captor shouted.
Isabella jolted. Greeks! How did they make it this far inland? It wasn't much of a surprise really when she thought about it. Latium was a fading capital and the Greeks were taking charge creating a roman empire right on top of her home. What made matters worse was that the invading forces didn't understand her culture and hated her clan as much as the Italian Vampires hated the nomadic clans of both the Werwolves and Shifters. Only the Greek tribe hated the Latin clan because of a broken promise, not a difference in species or meal preference, but a different choice in mate, and the Greek and Latin, both Shifter Clans, were supposed to be allies. Isabella didn't know the gory details of what happened, when or why, but her family always seemed to be mixed up in the center of it.
"Ech. Eínai polý néos." Eh. She is too young. Another man jeered from across the room. Zarél her captor had called him. The language was foreign to her ears and yet familiar. The translation was fuzzy inside her head but she could understand it the more they spoke.
"Chto ty sobirayesh'sya delat', Dasher? Periménete méchri na gínei gynaíka?" What are you going to do, Dasher? Wait till she's a grown woman? Another man joked. Chortles of laughter joined the conversation.
"Giatí na periméneis, Maven." Why wait, Maven? Her captor, Dasher? Laughed sadistically. "Eínai órimi gia ti lípsi. Fysiká epísis." She is ripe for the taking. Spirited too. The man squeezed Isabella. She lost what air she had managed to save."Thélo na to spáso." I want to break it.
"Den boroúse na eínai páno apó dódeka." She couldn't be more than thirteen. Another man pointed out. He sounded unsure and scared to intervene with this man at all.
" Etsi?" So? Her captor snapped. Dasher, she reminded herself. They faced off completely ignoring the fact that Isabella still couldn't breath.
Isabella felt the blood drain from her face. She listened to each word with growing dread. A growling hiss came from below her. The leopard cub latched onto the captors leg, interrupting the stare off between the two brutish men, and wouldn't let go. Not even when he tried to fling her off by violently shaking his leg. He released his hold on Isabellas mouth only to peel the cub from his pant leg. The moment his hand was gone Isabella took in a large gulp of air. Dasher ruffly tossed the cub away from him. He landed with a yelp against a wooden pillar. Slowly he shook his head and got up.
The cub went to charge again but a large black tiger twice his size tackled him before the cub could harm the human. Isabella screeched when she saw the cub go down. Isabella latched onto the captors arm, sinking her teeth deep into muscle. She shook her head like a wild beast and tore a chunk of flesh from his muscled arm. The man dropped her with a howl. She landed in in a crouch, balancing on the balls of her feet. Ignoring her captors pained curses, she faced the large tiger poised over her Leopard cub.
"Nolite nocere." Do not harm him. Isabella shouted in Latin, not even sure he understood it. Still her command halted the tigers killing blow. Isabella's voice was no longer her own. It was the blood-rage. The vampire in her wanted to overtake her. For the very first time she wanted to taste blood. Almost needed it more than air. "Et non nocebit ei." You will not harm him. The tiger looked back at her. Curiosity shined from its intelligent eyes. The tigers dark, maroon eyes watched her with intense wonder.
"Ti eípe" What did she say? Another man asked. Isabella felt her captor shrug.
"Eípa óti min ton vlápsete, eseís to ilíthio fuck." I said do not harm him, you stupid fuck. Isabella spat at the feet of the man who asked.
Dasher grumbled something unintelligible and grabbed hold of Isabella's wrist. He ruffly dragged her to a secluded corner.
Isabella fought him. She tried to pull from his grasp but she was still too young to have the strength to fight them off like her father could have. Father. She looked around. Where was he? Her heart began to race out of control, her panic running wild. Where were her parents? She looked around for something to fight with, some way of escape, but could find nothing. She had foolishly dropped her swords when the man grabbed her and the walls had been devoured by flame, the furnishings destroyed and in pieces. She had nothing. No one, except herself and the cub.
She ripped her wrist from her captors grasp and ran, but before she could get far a pair of strong arms bound around her once more. He took her into the throne room. Easily holding her captive. He held the back of her body firmly against his chest, with his hand securely over her forehead deliberately anchoring her head in place as he walked into the other room. She was forced to take in the full grizzly scene of the once welcoming throne room.
Isabella struggled even harder, scratching, biting. Screaming. She cried until there was noting left. Until she was as still and unmoving in her captors vice grip as her mother and her people were scattered on the throne room floor. Blood was a red carpet that saturated the wood. Their eyes were glassy and staring at nothing. But she felt like they were all staring at her.
She let her eyes travel back to her mother. Blood was smeared across Renee's neck like a crimson scarf. Half her body was bare, her clothes ripped and torn.
Isabella slumped in Dashers grip. Unmoving. She felt numb. She stayed like that. Silent. Unresponsive. Cold and unfeeling. Her brain hasn't caught up with what she was seeing. Her emotions halted by the true horror of the situation.
That was until he showed up, Damien, a fellow clansmen. Ironically, his name meant sweet and harmless, and he was everything but.
Isabella's anger woke up igniting a rage that could only grow with time. A lightning rush of power surged to the surface. Isabellas lips twitched. Her teeth bared in an unflattering barring of teeth and an animistic growl tore from deep in her chest. She studied each man in that room, memorizing the men who destroyed Isabella's world. Dasher. Zarél. Maven. Damien.
Damien's black eyes assessed her, just as his bonded tiger had. She knew if she survived the night they would forever stalk her dreams and spur her nightmares. But that didn't stop her from what she was about to do.
Isabella lunged, trying to break free from her captor but her weakened state was nothing and no match for the monsters that surrounded her. She tossed back her head and screamed. And screamed and screamed until their was nothing left but an agonized moan. The sound of dieing from a broken heart.
"Orkízomai ston potamó Styx óti tha ekdikithó ton laó mou." I swear on the River Styx that I will avenge my people.
"O, anypomonó gia aftó." Oh, I look forward to it. Damien smiled, barring his teeth.
Suddenly there was a flash of searing pain across the back of her head and then there was nothing but darkness...