From the Ashes we rise
Authors note:If your a team Jacob or a team Edward this isn't the fic for you. if however you like strong women and thought Bella could do better than this is what your looking for. forewarning there will be tears and there will be loss such is the nature of tragedy.
He left her I couldn't believe it. They seemed so in love or so I thought. I watched from the shadows because at the moment that's all I was. If I had eyes right now I would have cried. The expression on her face was heart rending as he lied to her and walked away. I wanted to plead with the vampire walking away from her. Can you imagine it. Me one of the most vicious fighters to ever climb there way out of hell, literally. Wanted to beg someone else's love to stay.
Had he effected me that badly or was what I was feeling an echo of my own pain. I watched him speed away and silently cursed his name and the name of my own lost love. I moved closer to her falling in line behind her as she foolishly tried to catch her lover. She might as well had tried to keep up with a speeding train on foot.
I blended with her shadow and watched her collapse into the firmament and sob. She sounded so dejected that my chest ached even though I had no physical heart to break. I knee-led beside her and gently touched her hair. I whispered things like
"it'll be alright and you aren't alone" to her curled form.
I heard the searchers well before they even got close. I used a very small part of my power to gently blow her scent towards the wolf. The boy came through the trees and picked her up into his arms. He paused for a second as if he somehow sensed my presence. I froze were their senses strong enough to detect me? Then he shrugged and walked towards the shouting voices. I followed slowly I had found what I was looking for. Now all I had to do was find away in.
they took her to the doctors white building. I knew this place I had been here many times looking for someone. I stood in the shadows by a cabinet and watched as doctors checked over the girl. The other vampire doctor never came in even though I expected him to appear. The girl was fine and seemed agitated about being in this place.
Her father was trying to get her to stay though. I slid closer to the man and inserted into his head that it would best if he took her home. The father complied and I watched the girl flinch when the doctor's name was mentioned.
Pity swelled in me and it made me uncomfortable because it wasn't something I was used to feeling. I followed them to his vehicle and slipped into the trunk. Fortunately he had parked beneath a tree and it hid my shadow form well. He opened the girl's door and she woodenly climbed in. I slid slowly forward and through the cracks behind the vehicles back seat.
I listened intently as the father chided her and she sat woodenly and took it. They pulled up in front of a house and the father parked in the shade again. I silently blessed him for his unexpected grace as I slid free of the vehicle.
They went into the house through the front door so I went through a window on the upper floor. I heard foot steps and disappeared into the shadows under the bed. the girl walked in a few minutes later and collapsed onto the bed. that was the beginning of both our tortures. She sobbed for days on end like a whipped animal. Any moments of peaceful sleep were interrupted by dreams that brought her screaming awake.
The father would come in and hold her while I looked on. Somehow this girl had become my project and oddly I actually cared about her. On the days she refused to eat I would niggle her mind and sometimes outright take over her just to get her to eat.
The deeper she sank into depression over him the easier it was to take her over. Oddly a part of me felt guilty for this action but I learned to push it aside we needed each other in a way I couldn't even begin to describe. She began to slowly listen to my soft voice of reason. He tried to cause her visions of him every time she started to do something remotely dangerous. So I began shutting him out. The last thing she needed was to see his face while she was learning to ride a motorcycle.
The boy Jake was useful but I got the weird impression that he could somehow sense my presence. So all I did during these excursions was block Edward. it was getting close to time and I wanted to make that last step in our relationship if you will. When the boy told her about the red haired vamp I knew I needed to move quicker or I would loose my future body. I saw no choice in the matter if she died I would as well. I had already tied myself to her as irrevocably as I could it was time for the last step.
I slid into her that night while she had another nightmare and I pushed the images back and twisted them to suit my own needs. Yes I know it was cruel to send her images of the father being torn apart by the red haired vampire and of the Cullens laughing at her while she begged for help. Even the wolves walking away from her because she smelled of vampire was probably too much. I didn't want her to take her own life after all.
I wanted her to trust me I was her friend after all and I couldn't desert her even had I wanted to. Needless to say it was I who walked down the stairs the next morning. Grabbed a muffin said good morning to the father's dumbfounded face and told him I was going out shopping. The man dropped his fork and eyed me like my wings were showing in this form.
I almost laughed but kept it inside. Instead I crossed the room gave him my first hug as a human and reassured him that this was my way of moving past ed. He did what most dad's do when you tell them your going to the mall and pulled out his wallet. He handed me some money and told me to drive carefully. I smirked at him of course I would Bella was my responsibility now too.
i noticed he didn't tell me not to do anything crazy and I wondered exactly what would qualify as such in his book. I walked out the door with a noticeable bounce in my step and a confidence Bella had never shown before. I was grinning like a Cheshire cat when I started the engine.
The drive was boring and the vehicle went exceedingly slow so I found myself talking out loud to Bella. She was amazingly calm and somewhat surprised by my presence. I felt her panic somewhat when she realized she couldn't throw me out of her body.
*so am I possessed* her soft voice echoed in my mind.
"sort of I'm more of a rider than anything" I answered out loud
I knew she could hear me because we shared the senses at the moment. I had yet to enhance my host yet.
*so what are we going to do* said Bella
"buy some new clothes you dress too closely to his style, it's time to be you" I said
I felt her literally wince inside of me.
*don't you mean you* she said
I sighed and said "no technically it would be us"
*what's your name?* said Bella
I frowned at the unexpected question
"it has no pronunciation in your language" I said
then thought about it
"you may call me Rhyder if you like" I said again
she was silent for a few minutes as she mulled this over. I glance to my side to see some kid staring at me like I was crazy from another car. I stuck her tongue out at him and heard her giggle in my head.
*i like you Rhyder* I heard her say and felt her relax in my head.
Then I felt her go to sleep.
"good cause were stuck with each other" I murmured
I made the turn into the city and let my instincts guide me where I wanted to go. I stopped in front of a tattoo parlor and eyed the facade.
"she's going to kill me" I muttered.
I got out of the truck and walked in. the goth girl behind the counter eyed me like I was a new species. I firmly resisted the urge to snarl at her and slam her through the counter. I spotted a book on the counter marked body mod and opened it. Inside were pictures of some odd places for jewelry and some other pictures that caught my interest. They were burns made to resemble art.
"can he do roses?" I asked
the girl's eyebrows went up in shock
"yes but they take longer" said a man's voice.
I looked up and met the eyes of a man who could have easily passed for Laurent's brother.
Bella cringed inside my head and I pointed out the very normal brown eyes of our tattooist. She calmed enough so I wasn't shaking along with her.
"what about tattooed vines with it" I asked.
The design only needed to be on my skin once but I found the idea of doing something so deliciously bad and out of character for Bella to be a rush.
"yes of course but it will take time" he said
"how long?" I asked
"eight to twelve depending if you can handle the pain" he said
I smirked oh yeah pain and I were old friends.
"very well lets get started" I said and followed him behind the counter.
The goth girl made a scoffing noise and said "aren't you even gonna ask what it costs?"
I smiled or at least Bella did.
"I'm not worried about that" I said
I met the artists eyes and I swear the guy moaned. Goth girl closed the curtains with a huffing noise and I sat on what looked like a massage table. He asked me to remove my top and offered a towel to cover my breasts. I did mostly because I truly didn't want him distracted while he worked on me.
i watched as he laid out the tools he would be using on me. a tattoo gun some bottles of ink, a needle and some numbing agent. Two scalpel like knifes and a Bunsen burner. He reached for the needle
"i don't need that" I said calmly
he looked shocked and then dropped it.
"are you sure it hurts a great deal" he asked
I nodded smirking Bella protested inside my head. I quickly reassured her that she would feel none of it. The pain was for me I wanted to feel it. I hadn't felt anything in so long. I just wanted to feel this.
"where do you want me to stop?" he said.
i thought about it for a few minutes and then pointed to a spot on my neck, ankles and wrists.
"a vine?" he asked
"exactly" I said
he sighed and then began working. The hum of the needle was lulling and the pain wasn't much more than a scape Six hours later he pronounced the vine portion done and reached for the knives. Bella shrank to the back of my mind.
*courage* I said and watched with morbid fascination as he heated the knife.
A second later it was touched to my flesh. I almost jumped at the shock of feeling something so exquisite as that burning sensation. I was ready for the rest of his touches and remained perfectly still as he worked.
He fell into a bit of a trance as he worked and I encouraged it. By the time he was done I was standing in the nude while he completed the last bits of the design. He came out of the trance slowly and whispered "wow"
she smiled at his shock and then slowly redressed.
"ah I would normally charge about six hundred for that but I've never done anything like it so I'll settle for three if you let me photograph it for my book"he said.
I raised an eyebrow. Six hundred was more than I had on me and three hundred would still leave me some money for clothes. I nodded and he went to get his camera. I took my clothes back off and stood there while he took pictures of me. When he was done I paid him the three hundred he had agreed to and then headed for the door.
"hey what's your name?"he asked
"Bella" I responded and left.
The mall was quite boring and Bella was fashionably illiterate. So I ended up choosing most of the clothes. I wanted to remake her style. To move her away from the Edward mindset. She was strong she just needed to see that and if others saw her as such she would eventually as well. The sun was going down by the time I left the city.
I called and ordered a pizza then called Charlie and told him what I had done so he wouldn't be surprised by the delivery man. I wouldn't let him question me about the rest. I pulled down the sleeve of my shirt. Some things I would wait to tell him about.
