The Hunt for Blood
Summary: Isabella Swan is a part of an organization of vampire hunters and is placed undercover as the personal assistant to the notorious, playboy CEO of Twilight Industries, Edward Cullen, who is suspected to be a vampire running the underground vampire world in San Francisco. Her mission is to kill, but when the time comes, will she be able to do it?
Chapter One: Bella the Badass
She ducked, dodged, and sidestepped every attack thrown at her. It was becoming tiresome, boring to a certain point. She wasn't even countering back. She was playing with her attacker. Another slow punch came for her head. Bella could've recited the alphabet backwards and moved out of the way before the punch would even land on her. She visibly yawned to express how much of joke she thought her attacker was. And that only made him mad – well not just him, but them. Three guys, much bigger and much taller than Bella, rushed her at the same time. Okay, play time was over.
Bella let the first guy come in with his punch. She grabbed hold of his arm while dodging to the right and locking up his hand. The guy immediately went down on his knees. Bella then brought the arm bar down to her knee and slammed her knee against his elbow, pushing it the opposite way an elbow should bend. She relished the sound of the snap of bone and the howl of pain. In a very fast, well-practiced movement, Bella grabbed a stake-like dart from a belt around her waist, and slammed the dart into the man. The dart was filled with red paint, and the paint exploded all over the chest of the man. Bella used this man as a springboard and jumped, stepped, and pushed off of him with a round kick into the face of another assailant. She heard another crack as the man spit blood and teeth from his mouth. She came up in front of him as he was slightly bent over looking at the loose teeth in his hand, and used her knee jamming straight up and her hands slamming down on the back of the man, so her knee went as far and hard into his stomach as possible. In another simultaneous and quick movement, she slammed a dart into his chest. He fell unconscious to the floor next to his partner. The third attacker stopped as he watched with horror as his two allies were swiftly dealt with. Bella turned and smiled eerily as she stalked towards her last prey, pulling out a third dart from her belt.
"Enough! Simulation completed, Miss Swan!" a booming voice rang throughout the room.
Bella stopped her attack, placed the dart back into her belt, and ran to the edge of the room, standing at attention, with her hands clasped together behind her back. The dimmed lights in the room brighten to an almost blinding white revealing a large training room. Three out of four sides of the room had glass walls with rows of chairs behind them filled with observers. All of the men and women were either frantically talking to one another or filling out a clipboard with scribbles.
She surveyed the room. The third 'attacker' was standing at attention at the opposite end of the room, clearly relieved he did not experience the same as his two comrades. One was knocked out cold in the middle of the room, while the other was still writhing around in pain, holding his broken elbow, both splattered in red paint where their hearts were located. She smiled, proud of her work.
The automated metal doors at the one side of the room without observation walls slid open. Two groups of paramedics rushed in, attending the fallen. Behind the paramedics were a man and a woman. The woman, like the observers, was taking down notes as the man quietly whispered to her. They both headed towards Bella. The man stopped his dictation to give a look of disgust towards the two on the floor before addressing Bella.
"Miss Swan" began the man, "if you continue to fight like that, we are going to have to find ourselves a whole new fleet of recruits." There was a general chuckle around the room. "You have passed our test with flying colors and if these two men, though I would hardly consider them men after that poor display, were vampires, I dare say you would have destroyed them without even breaking a nail."
"Only doing my job, sir." Bella gave a small smile.
"Yes, well done. You may go to your room and clean up. We will be in touch, shortly."
After being dismissed, Bella followed her superiors out of the room. She began walking in a different direction down a maze of gray hallways, each looking the same as the one before. Everything was constructed out of metal, no adornments, no decorations. She finally stopped in front of a door with the number 126 etched into it. She walked into a small room, constructed out of the same gray metal, with a twin sized bed on one side, a small nightstand, dresser, and vanity with mirror, all gray, all drab, and all lacking any kind of warmth. There were no posters on the wall, no clothing strewn around. Everything was organized in its proper place, embracing the cold sterile environment. And to Bella, this room, this facility, this bunker the facility was encased in, was home.
Isabella Swan had not lived in this bunker her entire life. She was once a normal child too, doing normal children things, in a normal house. In extremely lucid dreams, she could even recall that house, a small two story, white house, with a tiny porch in the front with a swing. She spent all her time playing on that swing, either creating elaborate make-believe plots with her dolls or just swinging all day watching cars drive by or people walking their dogs. She could remember glancing back into the house and seeing her mother's beautiful face smiling and watching her through the window as she prepared a meal or washed dishes. And every day around 5:30pm, Bella knew to get off the swing and wait at the top of the steps to watch her father come home from work. After parking the car, he would climb up the steps to the house and ruffle her hair as he said 'hey kiddo'. Those were the happy days. It's been a very, very long time since then.
After a while, her mother stopped smiling and her father stopped remembering to say hi to her as he came home from work. Instead he went straight into the house and started yelling at her mom. Bella was too young to understand at the time, but the argument was the same.
Charlie Swan was a member of an elite group of people who spent their lives protecting humans from vampires. To most, vampires were made up glorified boogeymen to scare their children, but in reality they were not fiction at all. Sure things like vampires being afraid of garlic were completely made up, but these creatures of the dark who feasted on human flesh were not.
Vampire hunters and vampires had been around since the beginning of time. Mummified remains sealed in coffins in ancient Egyptian tombs – vampires. Warriors of the Crusades – vampire hunters. Terra Cotta sculptures – vampires. Leaders of the Salem witch trials – vampire hunters. Every century was the same battle of humans versus vampires, just under a different name. And each group also underwent different name changes. Creatures of the night, bloodsuckers, Dracula – but finally they it was decided just to call them vampires. And the ones after them liked to also give themselves extravagant names such as Order of the Sun, Light Bringers, and it goes on and on, but eventually they just decided on Vampire Hunters. Capital V and capital H.
Charlie had been a part of the Vampire Hunters since he was a child, and one in many in the family line of Swan to battle vampires. Charlie grew up an obedient member of the Vampire Hunters. He learned their ways, he did his part, but while on mission he met the beautiful, free spirit of Renee Dwyer. She was carefree and lived a life Charlie never knew he wanted. They fell in love fast and hard, and against the wishes of the Vampire Hunters to be with one of their own, he married Rene. They had a few wonderful years together. Despite the initial shock of Renee learning about the true nature of vampires and hunters, they still loved with force and Charlie swearing up and down, work would never come home with him. Little Isabella Swan eventually came along. She was a blessing to them both, but soon she would become the focal point of dissent. When Bella reached the age of 5, Charlie approached Renee about putting Bella in the same training he had at her age in the Vampire Hunters. Renee was completely against it, reminding Charlie about his promise to separate work life and home life. But it was too hard to separate his personal upbringing from the one he wanted his child to have.
The fights became worse and the yelling louder. Until one day, during the worst argument they had ever had, five year old Bella retreated to her closet inside her bedroom to hide from the noise. She endured the worst of the shouting by covering her ears and holding on to her stuffed bunny as tight as possible. Renee burst into Bella's room. Bella could hear Renee frantically searching through her room. Renee finally opened the closet door and found her daughter huddle in a small ball with tiny tears leaking from her eyes.
Renee broke down in tears and crumpled to the floor, lifting her daughter in her arms. Renee looked into those tiny, wet brown eyes and spoke the hardest words she had to ever speak in her life.
"I know you don't understand, babygirl, but Mama has to go."
"Why?" Bella questioned, rubbing tears from her eyes.
"I can't explain right now. I will tell you when you're older. But I want you to know something…" there were footsteps in the hallway. Renee glanced back and saw Charlie standing at the doorway with members of the Hunters standing behind him. Renee held on to Bella even tighter.
"I love you babygirl. I love you with all my heart. I never wanted to leave you, but I have no choice. I will always be here for you. I will always be your Mama." Renee produced a tiny gold cross from her pocket, and placed it on Bella's neck. Sensing she was going to leave, Bella dropped her bunny and held onto Renee with all the strength her tiny arms could muster. Renee sobbed heavily, gave Bella one tight hug, and placed her tiny body on the ground, then began to back away.
"Mama no. Where are you going? Mama? Mama!" Bella's heartbreaking cries haunted Renee as she was escorted from the room into a waiting car in the driveway. Bella tried to follow Renee, but Charlie stopped her.
After a year of fighting, Renee finally gave up. She was receiving pressure from every side, Charlie, his family, his friends, to let Bella join in Vampire Hunter training. She finally conceded, but decided if her daughter was going to have her childhood ruined by this training, she would not be there to watch it happen. Renee decided to move out.
Bella's continued to cry as sobs shook her body. Charlie came up to her and held her in his arms.
"Where did Mama go?" Bella asked.
"Isabella, your mother is going away. You'll see her soon, but you are going to experience something new. You are going to grow up the way I grew up. I know you feel sad now, but trust me this is for the best. You will grow up big, strong, and smart." Bella's tears began to stop flowing comforted by the sound of her father's voice but not exactly understanding what he meant. Charlie wiped away the lingering wet marks on her face. "And Isabella, today will be the last day you cry."
Soon after, Charlie packed up only essential items and moved Bella into the main Vampire Hunter training bunker in Forks, Washington. It was rough at first. Bella was surrounded by cold, harsh people, a complete opposite environment than the one she was used to. She began educational training and advanced to physical training. She learned the ways of the Vampire Hunters. She was still able to see her father and mother every once in a while, but her life had a new meaning and purpose now, one dedicated to the Vampire Hunters that didn't have room for frivolity of familial obligations. And Charlie was right. Bella had not cried since.
Bella could not recall that day, the conversations she had, or the emotions that went through her. The only thing she could recall was a slight ache in her soul – an ache that tried to explain the emptiness felt when you had love removed from your life. But it was an ache Bella did not want to decipher, and one she pushed to the back of her heart many years ago.
Bella walked into room number 126 and to the vanity mirror. While standing up she appraised herself. She was 22 years old, the most physically fit she had ever been and in her prime. She was wearing a black sports bra with black shorts, black fingerless gloves on her hands, and black workout shoes. Her body was built fantastically. She had muscle everywhere, but was able to give it a feminine flare, making her look still like a woman, just one who could kick anyone's ass. Bella let down her high pony tail letting her wavy brown hair fan out around her. She stared into her own brown eyes as she mindlessly fingered the edges of the cross necklace she always wore and never took off. She was proud of herself. She did well in the test. But she always did. This was only one of many tests they had been recently putting her through. It made her think they were gearing up to send her out on a big mission.
It was not her first time in the field. Bella had gone on many assignments. She had killed more vampires than most twice her age. So to test her often and in many extremes both physically and intellectually, she must be under consideration for a mission unlike ones she had done before.
Bella took time to brush knots out of her hair from the practice and put on regular long pants and black tank top, which was considered casual clothing for trainees. She placed her hair back into a high pony tail. She stood up and took the gun/stake holster and wrapped in around her waist and under her shirt. She also attached a knife/stake holster around her ankle and place a small ornamental stake disguised as a clip into her hair. While there had never been a vampire attack at the bunker, it was ingrained her head to always be armed and prepared for anything. After neatening up her appearance and her vanity table, Bella heard a knock. A man dressed in all black entered her room.
"The Council requests your presence in the conference room in ten minutes."
"Understood," Bella acknowledged.
The guard left and Bella wasted no time in responding to the request. She briskly walked through the same gray hallways leading to giant metal double doors. Bella took a moment to compose herself and knocked on the doors. Two guards opened both doors at the same time. Bella entered the conference room.
The room was nothing special, made of the same metal, but with whiteboards on the walls and a projector set up on the far side of the room. There was a long oval table in the middle of the room with twenty seats, nineteen of which were already filled by every top supervisor Bella had both met and only heard about in whispers. The Vampire Hunters liked to think of themselves as well meaning group doing the work of the Light. They were headed by the Council who decided the big actions and missions for hunters to take on. Smaller missions did not need the approval of the entire Council, so to see them all seated at the conference table gave Bella a heads up at the level of importance of this meeting. One seat at the head of the table was empty.
"Miss Swan, you make take a seat."
"Thank you, sir."
Bella sat in her seat as nineteen pairs of eyes looked back at her. Near the projector screen at the far end of the room, Bella's main training supervisor stood up. Stefan was a middle aged man, notorious for being a hard ass. But Bella never ran into any trouble with him. In fact, Bella was more of a teacher's pet when it came to Stefan.
"Miss Swan, you are our most successful member of our current recruit fleet. You excel at every test we put in front of you. You're number of vampire kills is extremely high and you could put most people to shame in regards to intellect. In short, you are the best of the best in the Vampire Hunters and that is exactly what we need for this upcoming mission. We believe San Francisco has been recently overrun by vampires. More and more human bodies show up every day. We believe the ones at fault for this belong to a local business. We have been given the unique opportunity to infiltrate a company we believe is run by one of the most powerful vampires the world of darkness has to offer. The mission is to place our agent undercover into this company, find out if the CEO is truly a vampire, find what connections he has in the vampire scene and if he is responsible for the recent deaths, and then kill him. Should you accept and succeed in this mission, you will be bestowed the highest honors and placement the Vampire Hunters have to offer. Your name will go down in history. But do not be fooled, this is a highly dangerous mission, and more often than not you will find yourself in unwanted vampiric company, but you must use your intelligence, wit, and in the right moments brutality to destroy the vampire base. What are your thoughts?"
All eyes turned from Stefan to Bella to gage her reaction. Bella did not dawdle in her response.
"Vampires are the most unholy, evil creatures to walk this earth. They are not human. They are damned to an eternity in Hell, and I would love nothing more than to do my part to take down those sinful beings."
"Wonderful!" Stefan responded enthusiastically. "See! What did I tell you about this one?" Stefan chuckled to a nearby colleague. The man nodded his head in agreement.
"In front of you, you will find a folder with detailed information on your mission." Stefan pointed a remote at the projector screen and a huge image popped on the screen of an overview of a city. Stefan went into some key information about San Francisco, safe houses in the city, location of the apartment, and finally he flipped to the final picture in the slideshow.
Bella's mouth almost dropped open. It was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. He had illustrious thick blonde hair, golden eyes that held so much warmth, and a smile that radiated happiness. Bella was no expert by far on the opposite sex, except that they could usually not keep up with her, but she never had an experience like this. Just looking at his image made her want to look away and yet stare straight into it. She wanted to fall into those eyes forever. Bella forced herself to stop and pay attention to Stefan.
"This, Ms. Swan, is your target. Billionaire Edward Cullen, CEO of Twilight Industries, the leading researchers and developers of solar energy products."
Bella couldn't believe it. He was the alleged vampire. He was the enemy. He was supposed to be the source of her hatred. Even if he was drop dead gorgeous, she could not compromise this mission because of her hormonal reaction. Bella tried to recalibrate her feelings, so she felt nothing but disgust when looking at that face.
"We have secured you an apartment in the city, and you will begin working at Twilight Industries as the personal assistant to Edward Cullen. You leave tonight."
"I understand. I accept this mission and look forward to being successful."
"I have no doubt you will be," Stefan gazed upon his star pupil. "Your father and mother have already been notified of your new assignment, but no one outside of this room knows the true nature of what we have given you. You will speak of this to no one. I do not need to remind you that our greatest asset.."
"is our anonymity." Bella completed the well-known phrase that had been drilled into her head since she was young. Stefan smiled again.
"We have prepared your things for departure immediately. Is there anything you must complete before you leave?" Stefan asked.
"No, sir." Bella was a lone wolf. She had no friends here in the bunker. You were taught not to attach yourself to anyone emotionally because one day they could go out on assignment and never come back. She was a trained solider and ready to complete her duty as one.
"Wonderful!" Stefan exclaimed again. "Well then Miss Swan, good luck and may Light watch over you."
Everyone stood up from their chairs and took a minute to walk over to Bella and tell her how proud they were, how much they were expecting, and to wish her good luck. Bella regarded them all professionally, but couldn't be happier when guards finally came to escort her to the jet. She didn't like the claustrophobic feeling of being enveloped in a crowd. Bella followed black-clad, gun hoisting men to an elevator holding the debriefing folder with her mission details in her hand. One guard punched in a secret ten digit code, gave both a finger print and eye scan to open the elevator doors. The elevator climbed ten flights and finally reached the surface, opening out to the inside of a barn. The barn doors were opened to a small landing strip. To an unsuspecting eye, it looked like a harmless farm, with a small landing strip for the airplane to crop dust the acres of farmland.
It was night out, but even in the darkness, Bella's trained eyes could see tiny movements where guards were securing the land. A ten passenger plane waited on the landing strip. The guards walked Bella over to the plane and closed the door once she climbed the steps into the plane.
The plane was small and occupied by only herself, the two guards, and the pilots. One of the pilots mentioned it was going to be a couple hours before they would reach San Francisco. Bella was fine with that. It gave her time to think.
It was a fast an efficient process of securing the plane and climbing up into the air. Bella watching the barn become a tiny spec in the distance and finally turned her thoughts onto the mission in front of her.
She opened the case files and was greeted with the same picture of Edward Cullen clipped to the front. Bella reminded herself that despite his warm appearance, he was a vampire; a demon from the depths of Hell who lived off of drinking and killing innocent humans. The first thing any recruit is taught, it is that vampires are cunning, deceitful, evil creatures. They can look normal, but in reality they are nothing like humans. She had first-hand experience with fangs thrust into her face as vampires tried to drain the life from Bella. But she destroyed the vampire easily with a stake to the heart. She loved watching their ugly faces crumble and fall into ash as they realized a human girl was their demise.
Bella's life was simple. Vampires are bad. Vampire hunters are good. Kill the vampire. Mission complete. And Bella had not had an unsuccessful mission yet. She was not going to start now. And yet, while imagining how great it would be to see Edward Cullen die at her hands, she couldn't get the picture of those handsome golden eyes out of her mind. Bella brought her hand up to her necklace and fingered the familiar edges of the cross.
A/N: New story! I hope you like it, and if you do review, review, review!