A/N: This is my first ever fan fiction so be nice…. please. Ha ha. Constructive criticism is good though. I have written fiction before but I've never finished any of the stories I've started however I'll try to finish this one. And oh yeah, I'll try to update as often as I can, and when school ends in 2 weeks, I'll be able to update more since I won't have school. That's about it, so I hope you like the story. And please REVIEW!!

Summary of Story: Bella is a slave in a world different from ours. All her life a dark shadow has followed her. A vampire/human war is ragging with not an end in sight. What happens when Bella meets the vampire named Edward.

Story is very AU. I changed some things about Bella and Edward so don't be surprised. And to me the story is very depressing so be warned. But there will be happy moments to.

Now enjoy the story……………….

I always knew that I was different. There was always something different about me. I was not different in physical appearance… no. In fact you would think me no different than anyone else…unless you heard my voice. It was not the sound of my voice though, but what I said.

When other people spoke, they sounded dead, like they had given up on life and living long ago. When I spoke, my voice was so full of life, and when I spoke, I could not stop. I could go on and on because I just knew so much and wanted to share to everyone everything I knew. I had so much knowledge, yet I do not know how I learned it all.

People used to come up to me and ask how I had learned all these things, and I would simply reply that I don't know. After all, it was the truth. I don't remember anything about my past. After awhile, people would stop coming up and talking to me, acting like I was the plague and, if they got near me, they would catch the disease too. I'm used to it by now though. And maybe I am some monster. I mean…. what else could I be?

The clanging of the bell started again, signaling another beginning of the same dreadful days that filled my life, well, if you could call it that. Slowly, I grudgingly pulled myself up and looked around me. All the other girls were pulling on their clothes quickly. They were not hurrying to go to the misery that was work, but trying to get warm as soon as possible. Clothes were thrown everywhere as they pulled on the warmest clothes they owned, as if there life depended on it. Maybe it did, after all, you could die from being too cold.

I looked out the window and saw a thick layer of snow on the ground, still growing, as the snow had not stopped. Someone else might look outside and see a snowy wonderland, but all I saw was the snow as my prison, preventing my escape. A beautiful white snowy prison, slowly enclosing me in, suffocating me. Well, it might be beautiful to other people but most certainly not to me.

Suddenly, the bell started clanging again, telling us that we must be at our work stations. Quickly looking around, I saw that all the other girls had already left. Day dreaming again, I thought to myself. This is what is going to seriously get me into trouble one day. It might already be too late. I'm going to be in so much trouble now for being late. After all, the food can't serve itself.

What should I do, though? Should I really go down there and face the wrath of that woman, known as the housekeeper? Stupid Bella, stupid, stupid Bella. How can I have so much knowledge but act so utterly dumb? My brain might be filled to the max with information, but it doesn't stop me from making idiotic mistakes.

An idea suddenly hit me. Since I already am going to be in so much trouble for being late, why don't I just skip work today? I haven't had time to explore this dreary castle that had been my home for a couple of months. Did I just say castle? I meant to say prison. That's what this place is more like, to me at least. It's definitely not a castle, and it's definitely not a home. In fact, I've never even had a place which I could call home. I know, depressing, but that's the story of my life. Moving from one household from another as my masters continue selling me. What other kind of life would you expect from a slave?

Quickly putting on my clothes, I ran to open the door, catching myself on the wall as I almost tripped. That's me, the clumsy one. I'm like a walking disaster. It'll probably be the death of me one day, if I don't get beaten to death for being so clumsy. Not that I would mind dying. Better then this miserable existence I call a life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suicidal or anything, however if I did die I don't think it would be that bad of a thing. At least, I'd finally be free. Isn't that what everyone wants, to be free?

Catching myself again as I almost fell again, I ran down the stone stairway, took a left and sprinted out into the bright sunny morning. The sun gleamed brightly, clearing out all the clouds. The weather here is just like that. One minute it's snowing, the next the sun is shining its rays down on the earth. The only thing that never changes here is the cold. It is always freezing. Never once since I have moved here has it ever gotten even remotely warm.

The snow crunching as I walked on the crisp, pearly layer of white, I looked around and walked over to a stone bench. Wiping the snow of the bench, I leaned back and looked up at the sky, watching the clouds as they slowly moved, taking their time as they formed shapes in the sky for the amusement of others. Clumps of snow fell from the trees making soft noises as snow hit snow.

"Miss Swan! What do you think you are doing out here?" a voice that sounded like the screeching of thousands of crows screeched at her.

A woman, known as the housekeeper, stomped over and looked like she herself had just crawled out from a crows nest with raven black hair with streaks of grey flickering through. Black, piercing eyes bore into me as I looked at her. The woman's eyes made you feel liked she was looking right through you into your soul seeing everything you had ever done wrong in your life. I quickly glanced away, not bearing to look into her eyes anymore.

"Um…., I was, uh…, se-se-se-seeing if the fl-fl-flowers needed to be watered!" I stuttered out as I stood up, praying that some how I would get out of this alive, or at least partially.

"Yes, of course you were. I don't even see how your brain got around the fact that all the flowers are dead, and there's snow on the ground," she said as she raised her eyebrow glaring right at me.

Crap, I thought. Why, why, why did I say that? I swear my brain likes to stop working at the worst possible times, just wanting me to do or say something stupid.

"Oh yeah, well I was um…" I stuttered back, fear weaving through my words as I spoke.

"I swear you're so useless, always off daydreaming. Why the Lord even bought you I will never know," she said, still glaring at me, her eyes tearing apart my insides with fear. "But maybe, there is some use of you yet," she added as she looked me over.

At that moment, I knew what she was thinking and terror slowly crept up my body, mixing in with the fear that already flowed through my veins. I had known for years that one day this day would come. As I got older, I noticed the way men would look at me with greed and lust in their eyes and dark images moving through their minds. Don't get me wrong, I am not a goddess, but girls today are not very pretty generally with there greasy dirty hair and the sweat that was always on them, rolling and dripping down there bodies.

With me, my hair never once got greasy but was a very thick brown. Not dirt brown, but the deep, rich color of the earth. As I got older, my body also started to fill out in all the right places while my skin was blemish-free and a pearly white color. Even when I was out in the sun a lot my skin remained as white as before, never once getting a tint of red or darkened. Other girls have never envied how I looked, knowing what would happen to me as soon as I got to the right age. After all, who would want to be that kind of slave? And at that moment, I knew I had finally reached the dreaded age where I could become that type of slave.

Clutching my arm and digging her nails into my skin, she dragged me up and across the garden.

"I'll have to talk about changing your position later with the Lord," she said, with a gleam in her eye. "Until then, though, go to the kitchens and get something to eat. After all, we can't have you loosing too much weight and becoming a stick." A wicked smile grew across her face.

"Think of how much money she'll earn. The Lord will reward me greatly for discovering her and changing her position," she muttered to herself as we went into the kitchens, and I felt that the dark shadows in my life that followed me everywhere were slowly closing in around me.

As I went to leave the madness that was the kitchen, a noise that sounded like the castle itself was grumbling suddenly erupted into the silent day. Dashing across the room, I looked out the window and saw men passing by. I need to get higher, I thought.

Running up the stone steps, I burst into a room and ran to the window. I saw what looked like a sea of armed men, all marching together, like they were all one body that had been copied to form this menacing army. My whole body leaned out the window as I watched the sea of armed men pass the castle.

Each step the men took, the whole castle shook. It felt like the castle would topple at any second. As the men kept passing by, I saw a group of men break away from the sea of men and gallop on their horses towards the castle as snow flew in their wake. Quickly going back into the room, I ran towards the Great Hall to see what was happening.

As I went running into the Great Hall, I saw that everyone in the whole castle seemed to be packed into the large space which suddenly seemed small now. A loud squeaking noise interrupted the hush whispering of everyone as the doors opened from the outside, and the men I had seen outside the window galloped in with snow flying behind them, landing on the gleaming tiles.

The horses cried out and snarled, baring their teeth as the men pulled on the reigns and dismounted. They were all fully armed and looked more like gleaming metal statues than humans. Each man pulled off their helmets slowly, just as the Lord came rushing down the stairs, his brightly colored cloak billowing behind him, with his advisors and guards all around him. People parted for him as he walked through.

"Do you have any news of the war?" the Lord asked as he reached the men. "I haven't heard anything in weeks," he added.

Oh, so this is why the army was here. It was because of the great vampire/human war that still raged on, I thought to myself. The great vampire/human war has been going on for years already with no end in sight. Many of the men from this castle had joined the war, cheering as they left the castle but never returned again. There were so many widows because of this war. There were so many deaths and even more to come.

"We are heading towards the lands of Sinanta, to head off the vampires. I am Lord Henry, leader of this part of the army. My men and I were wondering if we could stay and rest here at your castle. We also have a prisoner of war that we would like to keep in your dungeons until we head out from a couple of days from now," I heard one of the men say.

I did not hear what the Lord said back as I looked over and saw deep topaz eyes glaring right at me, anger seeping through them as they stared. Startled, I stepped back and looked right into the eyes of a vampire.

A/N: Please tell me what you think.