Disclaimer: I own nothing but the general plot and OCs

IMPORTANT AND QUITE POSSIBLY ONLY WARNING:

This is not an extremely dark story but nor is it all light hearted and fluffy. I haven't got the details of the plot fully fleshed out yet and thus can't say for certain what may or may not be within it.

I will say this: If it can be perceived for a person to do something/have something happen to them it may well be in this story

This may or may not include: Pairings of all genders and ages. Non consensual and dubious consensual content. Violence. Abuse. Character deaths. Angst. Plot holes (sort of inevitable with twilight). discrimination and prejudice. excessive fluffiness and icky romance. Much more.

That's not to say it will definitely have all this in it, however I'm not too interested in flubbing over a scene or pussyfooting around a topic because it's uncomfortable if it's relavent to the plot. Having said that though, I try to avoid excessive over dramatising of something by using these devices. If it's included I will try to do the topic genuine credit and treat it with the seriousness it deserves as long as it's not a parody or a character being politically incorrect.

Along that topic, the plot and characters do not necessarily reflect my own views and so if you are horribly offended by what's coming out a characters mouth/mind or their actions chances are I disagree too, but that doesn't mean they'll get punished for it because the world doesn't always work like that either.

ALSO:

I have no beta. Please forgive grammar, punctuation, spelling mistakes, plot holes and general mistakes- don't hesitate to point them out to me so I can correct. This definitely includes cultural mistakes I've made because I'm British writing pretty much all non-brit characters, as well as characters who have formed their identities in countries and times I've never lived and learnt little about.

This is my first fanfic I'm allowing anyone to read ever that's not myself. Also it's twilight. I'm not a hater but I'm not a lover either. I don't like mushy romances and I wrote this chapter and the bones of the plot quickly (for me) out of frustration at the lack of bamf Bellas that didn't have an attitude problem, an addiction to drugs/drinking/leather/black outfits/smoking/motorbikes/delinquent behaviour/swearing/massive libido, and no brain. So it's definitely not my best work by far.

I don't promise regular updates. But I won't abandon this. Even if it's to do a shitty hurried job and bosh it out. This is me metaphorically blowing the dust off my creative writing, so I can focus on writing what I'm more passionate about and do it justice.

So... here you go. Enjoy my dust.

LONGASS A/N OVER!

*** (taken from New Moon. Not mine) ***

"She won't be happy about this."

"About what?" I said eagerly, inviting him to continue. He was glaring into the trees, away from me. I took advantage of his diversion, taking a furtive step back.

He looked back at me and smiled–the expression made him look like a black-haired angel.

"About me killing you," he answered in a seductive purr.

I staggered back another step. The frantic growling in my head made it hard to hear.

"She wanted to save that part for herself," he went on blithely. "She's sort of… put out with you, Bella."

"Me?" I squeaked.

He shook his head and chuckled. "I know, it seems a little backward to me, too. But James was her mate, and your Edward killed him."

Even here, on the point of death, his name tore against my unhealed wounds like a serrated edge.

Laurent was oblivious to my reaction. "She thought it more appropriate to kill you than Edward–fair turnabout, mate for mate. She asked me to get the lay of the land for her, so to speak. I didn't imagine you would be so easy to get to. So maybe her plan was flawed–apparently it wouldn't be the revenge she imagined, since you must not mean very much to him if he left you here unprotected."

Another blow, another tear through my chest.

Laurent's weight shifted slightly, and I stumbled another step back.

He frowned. "I suppose she'll be angry, all the same."

"Then why not wait for her?" I choked out.

A mischievous grin rearranged his features. "Well, you've caught me at a bad time, Bella. I didn't come to this place on Victoria's mission–I was hunting. I'm quite thirsty, and you do smell… simply mouthwatering."

Laurent looked at me with approval, as if he meant it as a compliment.

"Threaten him," the beautiful delusion ordered, his voice distorted with dread.

"He'll know it was you," I whispered obediently. "You won't get away with this."

"And why not?" Laurent's smile widened. He gazed around the small opening in the trees.

"The scent will wash away with the next rain. No one will find your body–you'll simply go missing, like so many, many other humans. There's no reason for Edward to think of me, if he cares enough to investigate. This is nothing personal, let me assure you, Bella. Just thirst."

"Beg," my hallucination begged.

"Please," I gasped.

Laurent shook his head, his face kind. "Look at it this way, Bella. You're very lucky I was the one to find you."

"Am I?" I mouthed, faltering another step back.

Laurent followed, lithe and graceful.

"Yes," he assured me. "I'll be very quick. You won't feel a thing, I promise. Oh, I'll lie to Victoria about that later, naturally, just to placate her. But if you knew what she had planned for you, Bella…" He shook his head with a slow movement, almost as if in disgust. "I swear you'd be thanking me for this."

I stared at him in horror.

He sniffed at the breeze that blew threads of my hair in his direction. "Mouthwatering," he repeated, inhaling deeply.

I tensed for the spring, my eyes squinting as I cringed away, and the sound of Edward's furious roar echoed distantly in the back of my head. His name burst through all the walls I'd built to contain it. Edward, Edward, Edward. I was going to die. It shouldn't matter if I thought of him now. Edward, I love you.

**End extract**

Through my narrowed eyes I barely caught the split second movement between Laurent's pounce and the black blur that brushed past me to slam into him millimetres in front of me.

My mind scrambled to catch up with the pace of events which had occurred between the space of two heart beats and resulted in the vampire's lithe form smashing through three trees in quick succession.

Despite my mind's insistence on its impossibility, my eyes were seeing a muscular animal the size of a horse, with a tail resembling that of a canine, which had been fast and powerful enough to both catch a vampire off guard and knock it clear across the meadow, pulverising multiple trees. I was frozen in shock that I was still alive and fear that it may not be for long; whether death by vampire or by beast.

"Wolf," Edward's stunning voice warned me, "don't move an inch".

I noticed then that that despite being the far easier prey, the black wolf hadn't shifted its gaze toward me for a moment. Laurent was on his feet as fast as I could comprehend the situation, he was staring at the wolf in fear, shifting backward carefully further into the tree line.

A brief inhale had his head snapping toward where the wolf had come from, 'I don't believe it,' he breathed in horror.

Almost simultaneously, Laurent spun and ran, the black wolf gave a deep rumbling growl, leaping after him, and four more horse sized blurs raced past me across the meadow after them, snarling and snapping so loudly that I covered my ears from the sound.

And then I was alone. I distantly noticed my knees buckling from shock and a sob ripping its way out of my throat as I fell onto my hands. The whole thing had taken seconds to occur but it felt like a life time and I was still not out of danger.

*** (taken from New Moon not mine) ***

It didn't make any sense. I knew I needed to leave, and leave now. How long would the wolves chase Laurent before they doubled back for me? Or would Laurent turn on them? Would he be the one that came looking?

I couldn't move at first, though; my arms and legs were shaking, and I didn't know how to

get back to my feet.

My mind couldn't move past the fear, the horror or the confusion. I didn't understand what

I'd just witnessed.

A vampire should not have run from overgrown dogs like that, *no matter their speed and strength*. What good would their teeth be against his granite skin?

And the wolves should have given Laurent a wide berth. Even if their extraordinary size had taught them to fear nothing, it still made no sense that they would pursue him. I doubted his icy marble skin would smell anything like food. Why would they pass up something warmblooded and weak like me to chase after Laurent?

I couldn't make it add up.

A cold breeze whipped through the meadow, swaying the grass like something was moving through it.

I scrambled to my feet, backing away even though the wind brushed harmlessly past me.

Stumbling in panic, I turned and ran headlong into the trees.

**End extract**

At first I paid no attention to where I was headed, focused only on what I was running from.

Eventually, the burning feeling in my chest, which had steadily been getting worse over the past few minutes, made itself known to me past my adrenaline fuelled panic and I collapsed onto my knees when I reached a river.

I had no idea where I was, having not thought to check my compass. I crawled forward, toward the cool water source, with sharp shallow gasps that were on the wrong side of hyperventilation.

I splashed my face and upper chest from the river, hoping to cool my over heated skin, however, after a few moments I realised that the pain in my chest was not going away. It was in fact getting exponentially worse.

Looking down on my self and tugging my damp top away from my sweaty skin, it took me a second to notice the spot from which the pain radiated its way through my chest. It was a relatively small nick on my skin, just deep enough for a light trickle of blood to curve its way over the top of my left breast and down the valley between them.

As though waiting for my notice, the pain flared up suddenly, flickering its way through my flesh and skin like fire. I bit my lip to restrain the scream that wanted to scrape its way out of my throat. Despite the invisible fire heating it's way through my blood, I recognised that I had felt this before; in a ballet studio, barely conscious, with Edward about to save my humanity by sucking venom from my wrist.

My heart stuttered at the realisation, and my breath caught in my throat. There were no Cullens to save me this time. Edward was long gone, and although I loved him with everything I had, I recognised that it was not reciprocated. I had wanted to become a vampire to spend the rest of my immortal life with the person I loved most in the world. Now I was going to become a vampire to spend the rest of eternity knowing I would never be enough.

My mind shied violently against that thought and the agony in my chest that accompanied it came from both the venom that was about to end my life, and the hole in my chest that had been my unwelcome companion for months.

Fire licked its way deeper and hotter into my chest. My arms collapsed underneath me and I curled up on my side, gasping with the torture of it. I resisted the wails that were desperate to escape my mouth, biting almost clean through my bottom lip.

The smell and taste of my own blood made me gag and dry heave into the damp soil below me. My thoughts cast desperately for a distraction from the numerous unpleasant sensations.

They jumped frantically inside my brain and were discarded just as quickly; oh god what would Charlie think? I had no real understanding of what I was about to go through. No one was going to help me get to grips with being a vampire. Was I going to kill people? Edward wouldn't know what happened to me. Would he care if he did? I was never going to see Jacob again, maybe I wouldn't have anyway, he had left me behind as easily as the others. Victoria was coming for me. I was more alone than ever.

My internal panic was stopped suddenly by a familiar and beautiful voice, "Bella, you have to keep moving. You're not safe here."

Edward's velvet, worried tone reminded me of the wolves and Laurent. Either one of them could be coming for me at any time. It wouldn't be difficult to track me by scent.

But could I move fast enough? Far enough? The fire was spreading unhesitatingly through my upper torso and getting hotter as it went. Could I do this? Where would I go?

"Follow the river. It will dampen your scent. One step at a time," Edward stated, an urgency in his voice tempered by his soothing encouragement.

Taking a deep breath that snagged multiple times in my chest into a wheeze, I shakily made my way onto my feet and shuffled gracelessly into the shallow river. The water came up to below my knees, and I stood there for a moment, swaying in the pain.

"Downstream Bella. Stay quiet," he whispered in my ear. I had a fleeting thought that his voice was marginally clearer than before, before I pushed it aside and focused on my feet.

I knew if I fell I was not getting back up again. I couldn't afford a clumsy mistake. I whimpered in my exhale before I bit my lip once more, and began a slow awkward stumble forward. My stomach rolled in nausea from the physical torment and the taste of my blood but I kept moving.

I had no way of measuring the time as I dragged my feet forward continuously. I didn't have the mental capacity to do more than keep breathing carefully, keep going forward, don't stop.

Everything else was painpainpain. It seemed to increase with every beat of my heart, but I tried not to think about that.

Tried not to think about how each heartbeat brought with it a new level of agony I had never experienced before. Both lips were bitten shut between my teeth to prevent my screams.

Every second was filled with regret; regret that I hadn't heeded Charlie's warnings about the forest. Regret that I hadn't gone to Jessica's like I said I would. Regret that I had ever been taken to the meadow. Regret that I had ever met Laurent, or James or Victoria. Regret that I had not been worth the Cullen's protection.

As the fire in me got hotter, it became regret that James hadn't killed me that day. Regret that I had ever been created with the ability to feel pain. Regret that I had been born.

I was almost surprised, and yet not, that I never felt regret for meeting the Cullens, for Edward.

Because as I trudged onwards in increasing suffering, he was there with me whispering almost constantly.

When I stumbled, he coached me in where to tread, making up for my mind's inability to understand and make decisions on what my eyes were looking at.

When I faltered, he urged me on.

When the pain had me convinced that I should give up, he plied me with encouragement and when I wanted to scream until my throat was shredded he whispered affectionate words in my ear.

Just keep moving. One step at a time. Don't stop. Don't ever stop. Stay quiet. I'm here. You can do this. I love you so much. I'll be here every moment with you. Next foot Bella. Breathe, don't scream. You're doing so well. I'm so proud of you.

And when that was not enough in the face of the inferno that was creeping its way through my body it became; five more minutes and I promise you can stop. Just five more minutes. I'll keep track and tell you when to stop. If you stop the pain will get worse. They'll catch you if you scream, don't make me watch you die. If you let them catch up to you and kill you I'll kill myself Bella. I'll leave if you fall, I'll leave again and never come back. Just five more minutes and you can stop, I'm keeping track of the time for you and you have five minutes to go.

I knew if I started screaming I wouldn't be able to be quiet again, and had bitten through most of both my lips.

I thought at some point the light had started to grow dim, but I couldn't tell if that was due to pain blurring my sight or the passage of time.

I didn't have the capacity to care. Couldn't think past the next step. Wouldn't lift my eyes off the river a few feet in front of me.

I knew if I did, my brain would try to make sense of whatever I was looking at and then it would be free to fly off in directions out of my tight control - like any way to stop the flames burning me from the inside out and crawling through my limbs.

That way led to madness.

The water was up to mid thigh, and freezing cold. I barely noticed beyond the fact that it did nothing to cool the raging flames inside me.

Hours and hours must have gone by, feeling like eternity from when I had first entered the river.

My clothes had begun to drag me down and I thought I might be shivering but I couldn't tell.

If I wasn't vaguely aware of the water level rising and Edward's continued encouragements I wouldn't even be sure I was actually moving at all.

There was a disconnect between the commands coming from my brain and my body's response.

I had no guarantee that it would continue to listen to what I wanted it to do for much longer. I didn't even know how it was still moving.

Almost all of my attention was taken up by the burning of my entire body. Even my brain was on fire.

I didn't understand how I was still conscious. Didn't understand how I could even form the fleeting half thoughts I was still capable of.

Even thinking hurt. But I didn't know how not to think. How to end this. So I just continued breathing, moving, burning.

And always, Edward whispered. I couldn't understand him anymore, but his voice reminded some part of me that I couldn't stop, couldn't scream.

At some point I became just aware enough to realise, in the space of a few seconds - that it was pitch black.

The water was up to mid chest. It was much more forceful now and yet somehow I was still on my feet despite the fact that I was sure the speed of the water should have knocked them from underneath me.

I could hear hundreds -maybe more- little living beings around me that I was sure should be too quiet or far away for me to hear.

But most importantly, I could hear the padding paws and rasping breath of five heavy four-legged beings making their way toward me at a jog.

I froze for less than a second, as my mind floundered through the fiery pain that dominated it to figure out why this was important, what it meant, what to do.

"Run!" Edward shouted desperately, clearer than ever before. I lifted my leg up and pushed through the fire in my limbs enough to make three water-slow steps at a run.

For the first time since I got back on my feet however, I slipped.

My feet lifted off the ground and my head submerged in the frigid liquid, the breath rushing out of me in shock.

The current dragged me along at a much faster rate than I had managed to move previously.

In a matter of what felt like seconds the water had gotten dangerously rough.

My scorched body and mind, untouched by the cool temperature surrounding me, prevented me from being able to discern between air and water.

I knew I was likely inhaling as much water as oxygen, coughing and spluttering loudly and attracting attention with the noises, but it was a distant knowing, and the pain of half drowning didn't touch me.

Or if it did it mixed in too perfectly with the rest of the pain eating it's way through me. I was likely drowning and burning at the same time.

Each time my head lifted above water I could hear the approaching wolves, too disorientated and agonised to do more than notice their decreasing distance.

A sharp pain in my head made itself known above the rest for just a moment as my skull smashed against a rock. My breath escaped my lungs entirely in surprise.

"Don't breathe in Bella. Don't breathe in for as long as you can," the dulcet voice commanded, the anxiety somehow making it all the sweeter.

I latched onto the voice and its command in my complete disorientation, as my body sank and the fire charred my body -sinking into my bones, splitting open my veins, destroying my flesh.

Still I was dragged along the current, knocking into rocks occasionally to remind me that I wasn't burnt to ashes.

I held my lack of breath for an instant and an eternity, before my instincts kicked in. Somewhere in my suffering mind I needed air, and my body responded.

Water filled my lungs, my body jerked, and thrashed automatically.

Water exited my lungs briefly, and then it filled them again. My body jerked and twitched with less energy each time this occurred.

I knew I could not scream now even if I wanted to. I saw nothing but pitch black. I heard nothing but the water flowing past me, and my rushing blood raging in my ears. I smelt nothing. Tasted nothing but the water in my mouth, throat and lungs. I felt nothing but the hellish fire within me, and the heaviness in my water logged chest.

I drowned more with every breath. I was torched hotter with every heart beat. But I kept breathing, and my heart kept beating and I kept drowning and burning and living.

This was my existence as the current dragged me, faster, and then slower. Always moving. I didn't know how long for, but at some point I vaguely tasted salt on my tongue, and then more of it. Somehow I knew I sank deeper, and deeper still. But I didn't move. I closed my eyes and let the water take me as I drowned and burned continuously.

Until eventually I settled at the bottom, too heavy to be pulled gently by the water any more.

And then my lungs no longer pulled or expelled the liquid -my heart beat faster and harder and hotter, as though to make up for that fact though.

The heat raged through my entire body and left no corner unmarked, no cell in my body was not throughly wrecked by the unbearable heat. No one section hurt less than another.

Gradually though, very gradually, the fire pulled back.

First from my finger tips and the tips of my toes. Then to my knuckles, and the arches of my feet and my wrists.

Each millimetre left feeling free of the maddening burning seemed to make my heart burn that much hotter.

So slowly I wanted to moan, and yet couldn't help but observe with avid desperation, the fire pulled free from my brain, and arms and legs, and then my head entirely, leaving my neck, my shoulders and up to my hips, my waist, almost my entire torso.

My heart though, was so hot and painful as to eclipse any of the suffering I had felt before in my whole body. Hotter still it flamed, and faster it beat. I was sure it would break through my ribs and burst out of my chest.

As the last remnants of the inferno that plagued my body rescinded into my heart, it gave a few last frantic jerks, feeling as though I contained a second sun inside me, before it gave up and lay still, suddenly as refreshingly cool as the rest of my body had been the moment it was free from its inferno.

I felt, acutely, the water in my lungs still. Highly uncomfortable, and yet not painful in the slightest.

I did not breathe. I didn't open my eyes. I was consciously aware of every single muscle that I didn't twitch.

Instead I marvelled at vibrations carried through the water and caressing my skin.

I was quickly able to discern a pattern within them, and realised that the vibrations carried messages within them.

My ears received sounds which were catalogued instantly; the soothing swish of water and seaweed. I could detect incremental differences between the strength of the water going past me one way and another to tell me which way the tide was pulling.

The various sounds I heard under water told me of a vast ecosystem all around me.

I knew they told me of movement underneath the water, however it was like a language I didn't speak and had no reference for.

Furthermore I couldn't tell how far the sounds travelled to reach me, only that some were further away than others.

Each soft grain of sand and brush of seaweed against my face, my hands, my neck and collar bone, the exposed sliver of skin on my lower back, was as obvious to me as a finger swiping across me.

I distantly noted that the water felt warm to me, like stepping into a slightly tepid bath.

Besides the trailing of my hair in the current, I knew that not a single part of me twitched or shifted.

I was utterly still, perhaps for the first time in my life.

My thoughts too, were settling across my mind with a speed and clarity I had never experienced before.

Receiving and comprehending information from my senses with an efficiency I would never have imagined possible.

My mind kept track of every second, and so although I spent what felt like a leisurely eternity tracking and registering input from my new senses -due to the sheer awareness I had of every single fraction of a second- my inbuilt time keeping informed me that slightly less than 38.62 seconds had gone by.

Finally, I opened my eyes.

The sheer kaleidoscope of colors that met my gaze startled me for a fraction of a second - a noticeable pause now that I had the capacity to notice each millisecond as it went by.

I didn't have the words to accurately describe the sight I saw, even in my own mind. It was almost overwhelmingly beautiful.

The murky blue grey green that I had expected, if any color at all, was instead a stunning array of blues, some in shades I had never seen before, and certainly never so vividly. There were tones of blue greens and grey greens, and dashes of pink and orange even, from where rays of light darted through the water.

The starburst of light piercing the water from above was not just white like I would have expected, but instead I could correctly identify colors of the rainbow within it.

The rolling waves above me held exquisite detail, and to my surprise I could see with some clarity to the sky above the water.

Tiny particles of sand filled the water around me, swayed by the moving sea, and although I could spot them all and see their individual shapes and flaws, they also reflected the light like tiny specs of glitter.

With some surprise I identified that the sun was still rising, and that visibility under the water was likely a hundred times clearer and brighter for me than it was for any human being.

I lay on the sea floor for minutes that stretched onwards, revelling in the rolling water above me, the colors that cradled me and the liquid that brushed past me smoother than silk on my skin.

I couldn't remember why, but it seemed to me as though I was feeling peaceful for the first time in a long time.

I felt as though I could contentedly lie there forever, surrounded by sensations, color, and the unfamiliar sounds of life.

Eventually, though, a cluster of sounds made their way to my ears which immediately caught my attention.

Initially it started a series of clicking noises that quickly became so loud it felt as though the noises were slapping me in the face.

Accompanied by that came whistles, squeaks and whines, followed by the sounds of multiple large objects moving through the water using what I guessed to be tail fins to do so.

What had my mouth filling with a semi-viscous sweet tasting liquid though, were the throbbing vibrations that seemed to captivate me like nothing I had ever experienced before.

My thoughts narrowed down on the regular beats and all I could think about was chasing the source down.

Something about the sound ignited a fire in the back of my throat that I had somehow previously ignored.

My previously closed mouth opened slightly and a rush of tastes chased across my tongue.

I could detect the briny taste of the water, and within in it lay a thousand different complexities that each told me of a different story, which came together to form a whole picture of life underwater.

Including something that set the fire in my throat roaring. Between one fraction of a second and the next, my body reacted.

It was a minute amount that flickered across my tongue. Barely discernible.

But it was enough, and in the space of a thought, I was flying through the water toward that sound.

My limbs seemed to move on automatic. My legs and arms cutting through the liquid with a power that would have astounded me if I wasn't so focused on the throbbing that drowned all else out.

I vaguely noticed my walking boots and socks fall off my feet one after another as I powered through the water.

I was in a single minded pursuit, barely recognising the dropping temperature of my surroundings, and the light struggling to reach me.

All I noticed was the strengthening taste.

It got more and more concentrated across my tongue- more delicious- and despite it dissipating immediately into the water I knew I was producing more of the sweet tasting liquid in my mouth.

Within a few minutes, my instincts dictated that I dive further into the depths.

The pressure of the water pressed down on me, but it was an almost comforting weight around me. I felt as though I was being held securely.

Despite the decreasing light, I had little trouble picking out the cluster of prey above me.

I waited with anticipation, identifying the origin of the delicious smell. It was one of the slower large ones.

It was clearly wounded slightly, and I bared my teeth in vicious enjoyment.

I allowed myself to sink to the depths, crouching and craning my neck to eye the injured prey.

My stomach heaved suddenly, as I prepared to go in for the kill.

My mouth opened automatically and felt the jarring sensation of water travelling up my throat and out of my mouth at speed.

It continued convulsing and expelling water until there was nothing left.

And then I pushed off the sea floor beneath me with immense strength, rocketing up underneath the prey.

With only a few kicks to maintain my velocity, within seconds I met the prey I had identified, reached out and grappled on.

Before it could react more than an attempted manoeuvre away from me, my teeth latched on, biting through an unexpectedly thick skin and flesh like butter.

Rich warm liquid filled my mouth quickly, with a brackish and fatty flavour to it. I adjusted my grip as the prey began to thrash and squeal.

It dived suddenly in an attempt to remove me from it. I dug my teeth in further, a new rush of blood into my mouth, as its thrashing movements gradually slowed.

I could hear, distantly, the distressed shrieks of the other prey, but they were wary enough not to approach.

The warm fluid in my mouth slowly petered to a stop just we sank back onto the sea bed, my stomach full of liquid once more.

My teeth detached from the now lifeless body in my grasp, and it settled onto the sea bed fully.

It took a second for my mind to clear from the predatory fugue it had been clouded in, but when it did I was dismayed.

In front of me was a dead and mauled orca. It's underbelly having been torn to shreds and evidence of my mess floating in the water around me.

It wasn't so much the fact that I had just killed that threw me, it was the brutal nature of it.

I could tell, despite it having lasted no more than a minute, that the death had to have been a painful one.

More than that though, were the clear sounds of grief assaulting my ears from the other orca as they maintained their distance, but showed reluctance to leave their family member behind.

I didn't like that I had caused emotional and physical pain to multiple intelligent beings.

I didn't know much about killer whales- didn't even know if they were endangered or not- but I knew they were emotionally intelligent.

The burning in the back of my throat was largely sated, and my belly pleasantly full, but I was perturbed by the actions required to reach that state.

I didn't think I ever wanted to do that to a human being.

There was nothing I could do about the dead being in front of me though, so I turned back to the direction I knew I had come from, and began to swim through the water.

My clothes had become torn and wrecked even more than they had been before my hunt, so I ripped them from my body and continued to swim naked.

Without the same urgency that had driven me before, I lazily made my way back, passing my abandoned boots along the way.

It wasn't long before I noticed the shallowing waters and knew that I was getting closer to shore.

There was a niggling in the back of my head about going onto shore but I dismissed it and continued swimming, speeding up slightly.

I reached the cliff edges, near a beach, with the intention of climbing them and entering the trees without being seen.

Finally my head breached the surface of the water for the first time since I had become aware again.

My attempted breath was aborted immediately, as I coughed up water that spurted unattractively out of my nose and mouth.

My lungs protested the mixture of liquid and air in them by convulsing in a similar way that my stomach had done before.

It was a few moments before I could take a proper breath, but when I did, the niggling in my head became a voice.

"Wolf," it whispered in a velvet warning, labelling the slight stench in the air that I could detect emanating from land.

It was the unpleasant scent of a predator that could match me, and there was clearly more than one.

I vaguely remembered fuzzy dim flashes of overgrown beasts the size of horses and shrank back until only the top half of my head was above water.

Perhaps I should go further along the coast before I left the sea.

Following this plan, I let go of the air in my lungs and dived back under water, occasionally coming back up to smell the air for the pungent scent of wet dog.

Reaching an area of beach, a gust of wind blew a mesmerising aroma into my face. My mouth filled with sweet venom and my previously quenched throat roared with fire once more.

Instantly I slipped through the water toward the beach to drink my fill of the delectable ambrosia.

My feet touched the sand, my head breached the water along with my shoulders, and I hid behind a rock, waiting as I heard my ignorant prey approach.

My head was swimming in the scent, and I snarled silently as I waited.

A high pitched scream knocked me from my hunting mindset momentarily, and I ducked back underwater until only my eyes and the top of my head remained above.

Without the sweet smell of prey in the air to distract me, I came to the horrified realisation that I was hunting a child.

Between one second and the next I was back underwater and swimming as far away from the land as fast as I could, least temptation lure me back.

It wasn't until I was far out enough that land was a distant blur that I stopped swimming.

I didn't know what to do.

How could I go on land if every time I did I slaughtered people for my own unnecessary fulfilment?

I would rather die than become a killer for eternity.

I didn't know how but I knew that it was possible to be killed.

"Don't even think about it, Bella. All you need to do is wait until the worst of your thirst has died down and then practice," the voice reprimanded me, with stressed undertones peaking through.

"Bella," I murmured in reply, "right. That's me."

I had almost forgotten that I had a name at all. I had certainly forgotten a lot more than names though.

Every time I thought back to before the burning however, it was largely dim and difficult to push past the cloudiness.

I gave up quickly, and focused on my more immediate problem.

How would I ever practice enough to become used to the scent without killing each time I failed?

The idea of slipping up again and again filled me with a choking dread.

"I'll remind you," the voice assured me, "if I see you begin to hunt I'll remind you to swim away."

I nodded to myself, unquestioning of its ability to protect me from facing that sort of horrific situation.

I intrinsically trusted the voice to keep me safe, although I wasn't sure why.

"In the mean time, keep moving," the voice suggested. I got the sense that it was telling me this for a reason.

"Am I in danger?" I asked with some trepidation.

"Maybe," the voice replied with slight hesitation, "Don't stay in one place for too long."

It felt strange talking to a voice in my head that held no identity.

I wondered on its distinctly male tones, utterly different from my bell-like sound.

Mentally shrugging, I dubbed it Teddy, for its comforting quality and the irrationally safe feeling it gave me.

Then I ducked back under the water and continued South.

As I continued swimming, spending hours in which I wasn't hungry indolently exploring my surroundings. Through trial, error and exploration, I taught myself the language of the ocean; the meaning of the sounds and vibrations which constantly tickled across my skin and into my ears, how to judge size, distance and direction correctly from the mixture of that and taste long before I needed my eyes.

I stuck to my diet of sea creatures- whilst preferring the red blooded ones- the smaller blue blooded creatures were sometimes easier to find depending on where I was.

I had little way of telling how far out I swam, only that fairly often, it was deep and dark enough that I came across creatures I had no idea existed.

Many avoided me, and it became something of a challenge to out manoeuvre the most agile and speedy ones.

For all my flexibility, speed and strength, my body was designed to perform best above ground.

I was often caught off guard by unexpected directions and speeds.

However, it wasn't too long before I learnt how to use my assets better overall than any other creature I met.

I had my fill of underwater predators from small to large, to almost intimidatingly large - and got used to vomiting up water before each hunt to make room for blood.

My main focus however, was in the overwhelmingly delectable smell of human blood, and my desensitisation to it over time.

Despite initial repeated failures, Teddy interrupted me each time I began to hunt them, allowing me to flee back into the depths of the sea before I could hurt anyone.

Initially, I believed it would take a long time before I could safely expose myself to human beings without becoming a predator hunting prey.

However, within a few weeks, with practice multiple times a day and an almost consistently full belly beforehand, I learnt to restrain myself.

The red hot poker in my throat did not go away and dominated my attention the first week, nevertheless gradually I began to ignore it, until it was a secondary concern.

I didn't want to test myself whilst starved just yet, but I had hope that I could at least risk my presence on land and around people, and perhaps gain some mental stimulation after increasing boredom in the water.

Without the ability to sleep, the hours stretched onwards and days became meaningless, as well as dull without a book or someone to talk to.

The water and weather had become increasingly warm as I traveled further South.

The fish and plant life changed too, becoming more vibrant and colourful.

Despite my boredom it still continued to mesmerise me and I enjoyed each new discovery of color, shade or movement that I had never seen before.

When I was sure of my ability not to initiate a massacre at least for a few hours, I cautiously approached land.

I waited until the sun went down, however there was no one nearby to see me even if had chosen to leave during the day.

I knew the sight of a naked glittering woman with near unparalleled beauty would catch a lot of attention, and so chose to err on the side of caution.

I made my way forward until I was crouched, with only my head up till my eyes cleared of the water, before I sprung forward, up the rocks and toward the nearest tree line - which thankfully wasn't far.

I continued running for another half a minute until I was further into the trees, before finally taking a moment to hurl water out of my mouth and nose, with a complete lack of elegance, in order to clear my lungs.

I took a moment to orientate myself, during which I realised my mistake.

My sense of smell was one of my most powerful senses, and when clogged with water, it was very limited.

I had taken advantage of this during my time practicing human exposure, however, I hadn't accounted for how this limited my knowledge of my surroundings.

I had assumed that there was nothing out there that was quiet or well hidden enough that I wouldn't be able to notice it, but I had forgotten the most important danger; my own kind.

I took a fraction of a second to notice the unusually quiet animals around me, and the sweet smell that I instinctively knew belonged to one like me.

There was no time at all between noticing this, and the defensive crouch I slid into, a snarl on my lips.

There was a barely discernible pause, before I sensed a presence approach from my left.

I whipped my head around with a warning hiss, just as the other vampire came into view.

"Well hello. This is not a sight you see everyday," the vampire purred.

Red eyes clashed with mine and I prepared to attack.

Ooh, who do you think it is? Feel free to ask questions about the story, no promises for spoilers though!

Tadaa! Chapter 1 complete. Btw don't expect this to stick to the plot at all, as you can see from this chapter and mermaid Bella. Also if you're waiting with baited breath for Edward to get a look at vampy Bella you'll have to defer your gratification for some time I think.

I'm fairly open to suggestions about where to take this as long as the major checkpoints in my plot are reached to realistically get to the conclusion.

I'm not expecting this to be popular so I'm up for some really out there suggestions (if anyone reads this). Not really worried about meeting mainstream expectations. Also please point out if I accidentally slip into a super twilight fanfic cliche. I don't read much non crossover twilight fan fiction so I'm not familiar with them.