Blacklight

- A Twilight Revamp -

"De ligno autem scientiae boni et mali ne comedas in quocumque enim die comederis ex eo morte morieris."

— Genesis 2:17 (inscribed beneath the insignia of the Venatorum, a flowering fruit tree with a sword on one side, and a serpent on the other.)

Full Description:

"There were exactly three things I was certain of now.

First, Edward Cullen, and his four supermodel siblings, were all vampires.

Second, there was a part of him — a big part, that I'd been trained to fear since before I could walk — that thirsted for my blood specifically.

And third, there was nothing more I wanted to do right now than cut him into teeny-tiny pieces, set the pieces on fire, and then watch them burn to ashes just to make sure."

~ Ω ~

Isabella "Izzy" Swan is no wilting violet, and never has been in all her seventeen years. That ship sailed long ago when she was born into Venatorum, a highly secretive society of vampire hunters, who's sole purpose is to defend humanity from the monsters who prey on them from the shadows. They have laws, strict ones too, and they don't take kindly to those who break them.

There's just one problem.

Izzy just broke the biggest law of all: Never reveal yourself or your fellow hunter's existence.

Now faced with either the Venatorum's trail and punishment as an adult, or retreating to the safety of her childhood home in Forks for a year, Izzy choses to taste-test life as a normal teenage girl. Go to school. Make some "normal" friends. Maybe even go to prom. What could go wrong?

Only five vegetarian vampires on the school roster, one of whom seems intent on taking a bite out of her, one over-protective father ignorant of the fact his daughter is a professional monster hunter, and one death penalty hanging over her head if she so much as steps a toe out of line again.

Oh yeah, there's no way this could go wrong.

[A Twilight revamp. Rated T for language and moderate depictions of fantasy violence. Not a romance-centred story.]

A/N: Ok, before anyone starts foaming at the mouth with horror, let me explain. This all started when I heard someone mention the idea (and I quote:) "I'm really hoping one day some enterprising young fanfic writer decides to re-write the entirety of Twilight. Only instead of Isabella Swan being a wet blanket, she comes from an old family of vampire hunters, spends 20% of her time trying to appear normal and boring, and the other 80% attempting to kill Edward Cullen and make it look like an unfortunate accident."

Now originally I thought this was just a fun little idea that might make a good crack-fic, but the more I thought about it, the more I saw the potential for something kinda cool. With Twilight I think the framework for a good story (lore and setting-wise) was always there, but it was rather spoiled by a lacklustre teenage love story, the characterisation, and of course the glorification of an unhealthy, controlling relationship. I feel like a serious re-do is a challenge waiting to be taken up, and once I started thinking about all the possibilities, I not sure I can make myself stop.

Now a little advanced warning to those of you who are original lore purists (though honestly, fans of the original book and "love story" probably won't like this fic much) — while I try to stick as closely to the lore as I can, there are some things about the whole sparkly vampire shtick that I feel badly needed remedying. I know full well Meyer's original vampire lore makes them all out to be these perfect invincible apex predators with whom no other being can compete — beautiful and damn near flawless in every way. *insert nine years worth of head-desks here*

The thing is; flawless unstoppable creatures aren't real, or believable, or relatable, or even all that interesting. In a story with more to it that just a forbidden romance, they're invincibility makes them kinda boring. Even the biggest toughest predators in nature can and are taken down by smaller "weaker" animals who simply use what they have more wisely (see fire-ants taking down a scorpion, or wildebeest trampling a lion). So despite the fact that the vamps in this rendition will indeed be more or less the same as the original, they will have a few extra cracks in their armour, and are in no way invincible. Given the right tools, the right training, and a good plan of attack, they can and are brought down by plain old vanilla humans. Because lets face it, if they didn't, the planet would be over-run with the buggers by now.

So in summary: If — like me — you read Twilight as a teenager, and you enjoyed some aspects of it while absolutely loathed a whole lot more, see if this rendition of the tale floats your boat. I can't guarantee it will be perfect. I can't even guarantee it will be any good. But I can promise that I don't stand for door-mat heroines, control freak boyfriends (no matter how pretty), damaging messages to young readers about relationship standards, or feeble 'love conquers all' plot devices.

And neither does "Izzy." You have been warned. ;)

I'm posting the first three chapters as a (currently un-Beta read) taste-test for now, and because of time restrictions I'll continue with it only if a reasonable number of people show they're interested in reading it — though Rávamë's Bane currently takes first priority. Either way, I hope you enjoy the revamp, and don't miss the terrible double pun.

Much love,

~Rella

- Preface -

I've always known how I was going to die.

Not the exact method, granted, but I knew enough to be sure that when death finally came from me, when my time on this world drew to an end, it wouldn't be peaceful. Or painless.

I stared with grim determination and raw disgust at the monster across the room, my adamantite sabre gripped tightly in my right hand. His smile was pleasant, almost friendly, but his dark eyes glittering with sadistic malice behind the inhumanly perfect face.

I wanted to slice that sick smile right off his mouth.

Regret wasn't something I felt often, but dammit, staring at him like this, I felt it now. If I hadn't chosen to go Forks in the first place, if I had just faced my punishment instead of running like a coward, none of this would have happened. Still, I wasn't running now. That had to count for something.

The vial pendant of Elixir brushed against my upper chest, and I felt the warm dark metal as a reassuring weight against my breastbone.

Just one sip left.

It would have to be enough. There was no way in hell the red-eyed monster opposite me would give me time to swallow all of it. He would be across the room with his teeth at my throat before I even got the stopper out. Then again, if he did that, he'd be close enough for me to bury my sword in his face — and he knew it.

His smile widened, almost cheerfully as he took one easy step, sauntering forward to kill me.

He would try.

My hand tightened on the hilt of my blade, my knuckles turning white, and my entire body coiling like a spring, ready to strike.

Like I said, I'd known for a long time that when death came for me, it wouldn't be pretty, or quiet, or kind. I wouldn't be tucked up in bed as an old wrinkled lady, with the faces of my children and grandchildren standing around looking sombre and sad.

No.

When death came for me, it was going to be a spectacular, flaming mess.