Disclaimer: Of course, Twilight and Vampire: The Masquerade do not belong to me.

A/N: Well, I'm back! You all probably thought I completely forgot about my stories, but I totally didn't. In fact, I plan to post another chapter of Bad Moon Rising within the next week or so. I just gotta read over the chapter and edit it a bit. So, then why in the world am I working on something new? Good question! The answer is that I just need a fresh start to get back into that writing head-space. That being said, my two other stories are on hold for a while, at least until I finish Bad Moon Rising. In fact, Forgotten Brothers is going to be rewritten. I'm just not happy with where it went. Sorry, guys. The Act of Redemption will get a new title and a few changes, but will remain the same overall. Anyway, sorry about the long wait! It won't happen again, that I promise!


Get up, Isabella Marie Swan. Get the fuck up!

My thoughts jolted me out of the deep, fresh snow in the dark of night. I struggled to raise my head out of the coldness, wincing when the icy wind slapped my face. It dawned on me then that, even as a vampire, I could still probably freeze to death. Ironic, really. The thought itself would have made me laugh if it wasn't for my current situation. Get up, Swan!

"Ugh… alright, alright," I muttered to my subconscious, attempting to crane my neck and head up enough to take in my surroundings. My vision was slightly muddled, but I could get the gist of where I was. I was lying in a snowdrift in the middle of a dense forest. Soft blues and greens played above me, which I assumed were the Aurora Borealis. I had to be up north somewhere. That's where Victoria said to run to. She told me to keep running north, and she'd find me when she knew she wasn't being followed anymore. Vic, where the hell are you?!

I mustered enough strength to push myself up onto my hands and knees, still taking in my surroundings. I had no idea if I was in Canada or Alaska. I had been running for what seemed like weeks… or was it months? I had no idea anymore. My mind was hazy. It was all a whirlwind. My life, or rather un-life, was just starting to make some semblance of sense. And then, as per usual, the shit hit the fan. Nothing ever really remained well for me for too long. Something terrible always came 'round knocking.

My splitting headache and thirst brought me back to reality. I was in dire need of blood... and soon. I was weak, and I knew my self-control was waning quickly. There were no humans this deep in the wilderness with these severe temperatures, and I couldn't live off of animal blood. This whole situation was becoming worse by the second. I had to keep moving… somehow. There must be civilization around here soon, right? There just must be. "I can't… do this… gah… for much longer." My voice was raspy, and my throat was dry and cracked. I winced at the bitter pain.

I pushed myself up to my knees, catching a glimpse of the blues and greens of the Aurora Borealis dancing across the darkness. It was a clear night, the first one in what felt like weeks with this blizzard crashing down on me. Stars twinkled in the blackness, illuminating the night sky further in a brilliant display of natural beauty. I would have been mesmerized if it weren't for my dire situation. With a sigh and grunt, I forced myself to my feet, attempting to shield myself from the harsh wind with my arms wrapped around my abdomen. For a vampire without blood in her system, I could actually freeze in the harsh environment.

I began my slow, painful trek forward through the deep snow toward some sort of hope for salvation, praying to whatever higher power existed to guide me through this horrid nightmare toward relief, no matter how small that relief might be. I pushed through the snow, being mindful of my weak legs and uneven balance. I was definitely making less time now, but I had no choice but to be careful.

For what seemed like hours, I limped and struggled through the snow in the darkness. Wind slammed into my body, cutting through my clothes, and freezing me to my undead bones. I did everything I could not to scream out in the night sky due to the pain I was in. It wouldn't have mattered, of course, how loud I was able to scream. I was in a massively dense forest, in the middle of nowhere during a snow storm. I had to resort to fighting for my survival, no matter what.

To distract myself from the numbing pain, I reminisced about my time in college, powering through nursing school at Washington State University. I forced myself through high school, deciding to do some good in the world and become a registered nurse. After they abandoned me… after he abandoned me in that forest during my junior year, I fell into a deep depression. Eventually, I was given one hell of an inspirational speech by a nurse during my annual doctor's visit. It woke me up, and gave me the motivation to move past my former family. For the first time in my life, I put myself first, and got shit done for me and my future.

I graduated with high honors with my bachelors of science in nursing six years ago, and got my first job as an ER nurse after passing the NCLEX. My dad couldn't have been more proud. I put him through hell during my first two years in Forks. So when I finally got my life together, he was the most relieved and proud I had ever seen him. Then, four years later, I encountered a type of vampire I had no idea even existed… the Kindred. I was turned, Embraced as we call it, and the next two years were spent understanding my new life, complexities and Kindred politics abound.

During that time, Victoria had found me. Somehow I knew she would. But she wasn't out to kill me, not anymore… well, not after she found out that I was a vampire… a Kindred. We struck up a strange bound over our mutual hatred for them. Our equal disdain for the monsters that destroyed our lives somehow brought us closer. And life was good. My control around humans was so strong that I continued to work as a nurse. It was great. Right up until those same Kindred politics came crashing down, and I was caught up in the middle, which brings me to my current predicament. Yeah, I can honestly say that my life is extremely fucked.

I was brought out my subconscious by a familiar sickly, sweet smell, and it was strong. Vampires, Vicky's kind. The smell is too strong to be her, or someone with her. Better keep moving forward.

For a mile I pushed forward, still noticing that sweet smell. It had only gotten more prominent. It was surrounding me. I changed direction a few times to lose it, but nothing seemed to change. The smell was everywhere. And if I could smell what I assumed was a couple of vampires, I knew, instinctively, that they could smell me. Dread grew inside me, and my situation became even more real than it had earlier. Cautiously, I treaded forward.

It soon dawned on me that these vampires may have a residence nearby. Their scent was too strong to simply be nomads hunting in the area. This scent seemed more permanent. Again, I knew I was up north somewhere, but I had no idea where. No civilization for miles, as far as I knew. That meant nothing but bad news to me. I only hoped they were far too concerned with other things than a lonely Kindred wandering in their territory.

Snap!

The breaking of a tree branch startled me, causing me to lose my balance and collide face first into the bitterly cold snow. I yelped, hoping no vampire heard me. Maybe the snow swallowed my yelp…

I laid there motionless, listening to every sound around me. The sounds of a herd of deer caught my attention directly in front of me. A second after hearing them, they came crashing, panicking out of the snow covered brush, stampeding just a mere feet from my prone body. I knew that these deer were the prey of the vampires whose territory I was now intruding in. My time was undoubtedly short to get out of dodge.

After the herd passed I made a move to get up, hoping to have enough energy to sprint out of here to safety. I got as far as getting on my hands and knees before the slamming of a large body against a branch in front of me stopped my movements. There was the sound of a large buck, grunting in pain for a moment, before a sickening crack broke its cries of pain. That sweet smell assaulted my nostrils. At least one vampire was right in front of me, feeding off this large buck, obscured from my vision by the snow and brush.

I wanted to make a mad dash out of here, but I felt as though many eyes were suddenly upon me. I froze, terrified. I knew I had been spotted. There was no point in running now. I could sense that there were far more vampires than I could outrun in my current state. Fuck…

I let myself collapse back into the snow. The feeding I heard from the brush in front of me stopped, immediately followed by a startled feminine gasp. I sighed into the snow. This was it. Panic began to overwhelm me, and I remained frozen in fear. Twenty eight years on this earth, and this is what it comes down to? Being overwhelmed by a coven of vampires as I suffered from hunger and frostbite? How ironic…

I always heard about people saying that their life flashed before their eyes in moments like this. However, I found that to be bullshit. That didn't happen when I was Embraced. It didn't happen when I was forced to run for my life from the Kindred I thought I knew. And it sure as hell didn't happen when I was abandoned on that forest floor back in Forks. In fact, all that happened was that time seemed to stand still. Fear was all that consumed me in those moments. And this was no fucking different.

The sound of several pairs of feet shuffling all around me through the snow would have startled me if I wasn't prepared for what I assumed was about to happen. They circled around me, trapping me in what I gathered was the perfect wall of death. I had nowhere to go. In that moment, I knew two things. One; these may have been "vegetarian" vampires. And two; that fact really didn't matter, because I knew just how territorial the Cold Ones were. They were far more animalistic than my kind. In fact, we Kindred prided ourselves on our humanity. It kept us in control of our Beasts. We could live normal lives because we clung so hard to it.

So, yes, I was terrified now, more than I was of freezing or starving to death…

The shuffling stopped several feet from me, enclosing me, preventing me from even attempting an escape. "Well, well, what do we have here? Are you lost, Kindred?" An amused female voice taunted me from my right side.

"Katrina, let's not taunt the poor girl. I'm sure she has a perfectly valid explanation for violating our territory." A kind, but authoritative voice softly chastised this Katrina. Her voice had the tone of a leader. The coven leader?

"Hmm, what say you, little Kindred? We're waiting." Another female voice announced. This time from my left.

I sighed, gathered what strength I could, and lifted my head out of the snow enough to speak, catching a glimpse of the leather boots of the leader. I cleared my throat, wincing at the sudden pain, "I…gah… I'm, um, sorry for indru… intruding on your land. By the… time I realized it, I was too weak to… run around it. Frankly, I'm… um, lost."

"Aww, you poor thing," yet another woman spoke apologetically, "You got lost out in this storm? I'm so sorry." She cooed softly, the sound of worry edging in her voice. Her tone was relaxing, almost in a motherly sense. I felt almost comforted by her. "What do you say we assist her, Tanya? Surely, she's not an immediate threat to the human population?"

A sigh came from in front of me, "I suppose you're right, Carmen." The leader, Tanya, took a few more steps toward my head, and then I felt her kneel down to me. Her presence was almost overwhelming. "Well, little one, will you at least allow us to assist you, and then send you on your way, wherever that is?"

An intense form of relief washed over me in that instant. I gave the best nod that I could, "Absolutely. And… um, thank you for your ki…kindness." I would have sounded more excited if I had the energy.

She hummed in response, then cleared her throat, "So, what's your name, little one? I dare say that we're entitled to that bit of information, at the very least. After all, you heard most of ours." There was a little bit of mirth and teasing in the tone of her voice.

"B-Bella Swan," my throat hurt more with each word. It was raw now.

There was a collective gasp, frightening me. A spike or worry coursed through me. How would they know that name?! I couldn't really understand how that would've even been possible.

Tanya's hands grasped my face a millisecond later, raising my head slightly to face her. For a second, she stalled. Something I didn't quite understand flashed in her eyes. It looked like a great longing or pain mixed with relief. Why is she looking at me like that? However, even though those emotions were very evident in her eyes, her face remained that of a confident leader, and strongly focused, "Did you say Bella Swan?"

I'm sure I looked utterly confused. I swallowed the pain in my throat, gazing into those golden orbs, "Um, yes? Wh… why?"

"Shouldn't you be in Forks or something? Not in the middle of Denali National Park?" Katrina's voice was dripping with sarcasm, but I heard her wonder and confusion.

"How would you… know about, um, that? Wa… Wait. Did you say Denali?" There's no way that I'm in Denali, and this is… is… just no!

Their fucking cousins! No fucking way this is happening!

I froze and went rigid as fear clinched my entire body. I knew Tanya felt me tense up, because she both looked hurt, and then confused. She briefly stroked my face with her thumbs, sending a nice shiver down my spine. It was oddly comforting. Her touch was almost sensual, almost a deeply personal kind of touch. I stared into her eyes, mesmerized for some strange reason.

A male clearing his throat softly seemed to break whatever hold she had on me, "Maybe we should get Bella out of this storm?"

Tanya seemed to shake herself out of her gaze, "Of course Eleazar. Come now, little Bella, let's get you into a warmer environment."

She reached down, silently asking for my hands. Hesitantly, I took them. Her thumbs briefly caressed the top of my hands before she helped me stand up. Weakly, painfully, I stood, leaning on her for support. My head began spinning once I got to my feet. Tanya must have noticed this, because she wrapped an arm around my waist, steadying me. She turned her head to look behind me, "Irina, help me support her? I doubt she will be able to walk for long."

"Of course, sister" Irina announced, and another arm wrapped around my opposite side, stabilizing me. I smiled weakly, "Th… thank you."

I'll never forget this. Mia Salvatrice. My savior. I mused to myself, likely due to mild hysteria settling in. A smile ghosted my lips again. "Mia Salvatrice," I whispered, barely audibly. My grandmother had taught me Italian when I was young. I rarely used it, though. The memory made my smile grow for a brief moment. Of course, I completely forgot that the vampires around me could hear that.


This idea has been running through my head for a while now. Thought I'd actually write it, and see what happens. So far, I really enjoy it. Let me know what you all think! And be kind to me :) It's been a while since I actually put in a lot of effort into writing stuff like this! As usual, if there's any grammar mistakes, please let me know, and I'll fix them. Thank you all in advance!