Eva woke, screaming. For the past week she had been plagued by nightmares. To be more precise, one nightmare, repeated over and over again.
She was in a beautiful forest, surrounded by young trees and dappled light. There were a few rocks, lightly covered by moss, perfect seats. The sun was warm on her skin. Then she realised that she was not alone. She didn't know how she knew, but she did, as you so often do in dreams, that an unseen danger was right behind her. She bolted, running faster than she thought was possible, so that the trees became a blur. As she ran, the forest began to change. It was no longer a light, safe place of beauty; the trees grew, blocking out the sunlight, the woodland paths turned into treacherous forest undergrowth, and the branches caught in her hair and scraped across her face, as if trying deliberately to block her way. Then her legs gave way, and she was falling, falling down a long tunnel of oblivion, knowing that her invisible enemy would be waiting at the end...
She looked at her alarm clock and swore. She rushed to get ready for school and hurtled down the road to the bus stop. She was just in time, so she got on the bus, fell into a seat and let her mind wander. Not allowing her nightmare to revisit her, she went into one of her more controlled daydreams – Twilight; well, her own personal "fan fiction" of it, with herself as the main character. Not the same story as Bella's of course – that was ridiculous – but it did involve her becoming a vampire. Before she knew it the fantasy was out of control, and in her mind she was mentally screaming out to Edward to hear her and change her. As soon as she realised what was going on, she pulled herself out of her fantasy, mentally swearing and somewhat embarrassed. It was so long since she had allowed herself to daydream that she had forgotten her reason for preventing herself from doing it. It became too real; and the pain of readjusting to reality was hard to cope with when there was no way to let it out; she couldn't even tell anyone – not without being sent to a psychiatrist. It was stupid really; little kids did this, not 16-year olds. Sighing, she got out her iPod and tried to distract herself. By the time she got to school, however, the pain was beginning to set in, as she had known it would. It wasn't a sharp pain – more like a dull ache, but it was enough to send her mind veering off course for three days or more. Of course it would have to be mock week when she did this – how the hell was she meant to focus on her exams? 'Stupid', she cursed herself silently 'Stupid, stupid, stupid'. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she nearly missed her bus stop. For God's sake, how bad could a day be? And it wasn't even nine in the morning yet!
She crossed the road and headed to school, slowly so that she wouldn't be too early – the bus had somehow got here earlier than usual – it must have been on time, she thought dismissively. Just then, someone caught her arm.
"Hey – Eva – are you okay? You didn't seem to hear me calling you," He spoke as if he knew her, but when she looked up she didn't recognise the tall boy standing beside her.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked rudely, to cover up her fear. She tried to pull away, but the boy wouldn't let go of her – bloody hell, he was strong.
"Look closer, Eva," he said gently, and spun her around to face him. Then she realised. His face was perfect. His skin was pale white. His eyes were a beautiful gold.
"No way," she said, "Now I'm hallucinating, great. My day just gets better and better," She tried to pull away again, but again he persisted.
"I'm as real as you are," he said, and gently placed her resisting hand over his heart. Or over where his heart should be. But Eva couldn't feel a heartbeat.
"Yeah, clever trick, now please just leave me alone," she checked her watch, "I need to be at school in five minutes,"
"Eva, look, I'm so, so, sorry..."
"To have bothered me? Good, now you can let me go,"
Just then, another stranger appeared, materialising directly in front of her. The two of them proceeded to appear to be conversing too fast and too quietly for Eva to hear. Just like...but she forced her mind away from that – it would only hurt more the longer she held herself from reality. The pair appeared to come to an agreement, there was a sharp pain in her head, and everything went black.
When she came to, she was in a car, surrounded by strangers. The pair she had met earlier were in the front of the car, and there was a boy who looked older than the first on one side of her and a tiny girl on the other.
"She's awake, Edward," the girl informed the boy in front. Eva began to feel worried. Then it hit her – she must be in her daydream. And if that was the case...she tried to dig her nails into her skin, hoping that the pain would prove this to be a dream – or nightmare – but then her hands were secured in the firm, cool grip of the boy sitting next to her. She struggled but couldn't move her hands.
"Keep hold of her, Emmett," said the small girl, "She'll only try again otherwise, I don't think she realises yet..."
"She doesn't", said Edward, "She thought that she could prove to herself that it was a dream by trying to cause herself pain,"
"Alice," asked a voice from behind her, slightly anxiously, "will she draw blood?"
"No – she can't – but she'll try..."
"...so that she can see for herself whether we are vampires," finished Edward. Then, as if a signal had been given, Eva felt her eyelids drooping. Great, she thought, just great, and then everything went dark again.
When she next woke, she was lying on a couch, in a house like the one in Twilight. Crap, now she had thought it, and off her imagination went. Suddenly Edward was in the doorway.
"You're pretty close to the truth, actually," he said, thoughtfully, "You could have an interesting talent, you know..."
"You wouldn't dare..." Eva snarled, frightened of what these strange people – she refused to call them anything else - had planned for her. She couldn't help it now, he had confirmed her ridiculous suspicions, and now she believed him, whether she liked it or not.
"I'm so, so sorry, Eva," he said, apparently as upset as she was, "I know you've guessed what we are. You're going to have to chose – change, or death." Eva was silent for a long moment. Then,
"Why?" she demanded.
"Well, it's partly my fault, that's why we're helping – we...Ididn't want to feel responsible for your death. I was heading out to hunt one night, when I heard your thoughts, screaming at me – there was no doubt that on some level, conscious or subconscious, you believed what you had read. Twilight was written to make us seem less real, not more – most humans will disbelieve anything as soon as it appears in a fiction book – but it had caused the wrong reaction in you. I thought nothing of it; I was quite happy to live and let live, as it were – you probably weren't going to actually do what you said in your thoughts"
"So why didn't you just let me be?"
"I was getting to that bit. The Volturi became worried that we were plotting against them – another vampire had seen and misunderstood something – thought that we were making an allegiance with werewolves to overthrow them – and so they paid us an unexpected visit. Aro read my mind and heard your thoughts through me. He was all set to kill you immediately, but I persuaded him that we would...deal with you, as it was my fault that you had been discovered. It would have helped if you hadn't been thinking about hunting our kind down until your death..." His voice trailed away just looking at Eva's face, "Anyway, he agreed, and gave us a month. If you're not one of us by then, you die."
Eva stared at him, not sure what to say. Then the one she assumed was Carlisle entered. He looked at Edward, who nodded slightly, then looked at Eva sympathetically.
"So," Eva whispered hoarsely, "How much of the book is true?"
"Not much," Edward assured her, "Bella never existed, nor did Renesmee, and barely anything from the books happened at all. The shape-shifting mutts exist though,"
Eva moaned, and put her head in her hands. Why me? she thought.
"Eva," said one of the vampires (Eva shuddered involuntarily at the word as she thought it) softly, "We need a decision now – our deadline is near; it took time finding you,"
"I chose life," said Eva, too afraid of death to chose the other option, "Don't ask if I'm sure, please, just do what you have to," Perhaps sensing how hard it would be for her to think too hard about this decision, Carlisle just nodded.
"This will hurt," he warned, "and there's no way to prevent that. I'm so, so sorry. We all are." Eva trembled, and bit back tears of fear and horror at what was about to happen, as the vampire stepped towards her. Suddenly, her wrist was on fire, and the fire was spreading. Soon, her whole body was burning. She scorned her former self for thinking reality painful – this was true pain. She tried to lose herself in her imagination, but couldn't focus on anything but the agony. The she heard something screaming in pain, the inhuman sound hurt her ears, and her body was thrashing around out of control – was she having a fit? Then she realised – the screaming was her own, and she was thrashing about because of the pain. She focused hard, and managed to clamp her jaw shut. Good. The screaming had stopped. Then she focused on her body, imagining that it was pinioned down, chained at the wrists, ankles, waist, neck and head, so that she shouldn't be able to move. Then she was lying still. As Carlisle had predicted, though, nothing could be done about the agony. She focused on it, trying to pinpoint it and then she could feel where it was, could feel her veins as clearly as she could feel her hands. Could feel how close it was to her heart. Not even near, she thought, resignedly, as she allowed the pain to set in, more and more of her body catching fire. She wanted to die. Not so afraid of death now then? She asked herself. Then, from somewhere, she found the strength to say just five words through her gritted teeth:
"Talk to me. Distract me."
Immediately, there was a response.
"Eva? Can you talk more?" It was Edward's voice. No, she thought, Can you hear this?
"Yes," he assured her, "Does it help to talk?" Not so much to talk, but to listen.
"What shall I talk about?" Anything.
"Alice intends on being your friend, whether you like it or not," he sounded amused, "and Emmett and Jaspar are taking bets on ..." On how many people I kill, right? Great. "Ignore them – they'll get over it – they bet on everything. Rosalie's...unsure – she doesn't like what we're doing, but she's always like that – she is Rosalie after all, and as for Esme and Carlisle...well...I think they're just sorry for you," Hah – Funny "No, really." And what about you, what do you think? "Me – well – I guess I'm just sorry – this is partly my fault. But I'll help you – look after you. I won't let you...make mistakes..." In my head, I laughed again. The vampire is lost for words – the "perfect Cullen" (she quoted Twilight deliberately, scornfully). "Nobody's perfect," he retorted, not liking this, and they were silent for a while. Eva allowed the pain to wash over her, blocking out everything else, giving in and allowing herself to wish again for death. After what seemed like years, the pain began to fade. She heard voices around her, and wished she could hear minds too, like Edward. Then she could. Her eyes shot open and with a startled growl, she was positioned on the other side of the room with her back against the wall. She tried to turn off this startling new power, but found that she couldn't. So much for being careful what you wish for, she thought irritably.
"Ah," she heard Edward's voice, "I think we just discovered her power"
"Too right you did," she exclaimed in shock. The others looked at her in surprise.
"I'm sorry, did we miss something?" Esme inquired, curiously.
"No..." "Actually, you did," Edward cut her off, "She heard my thoughts"
"I thought all powers were unique," mused Carlisle
"Mindreading isn't her power – just part of it," explained Edward, "I think she can copy other people's powers – she just wished for mine..."
"Brilliant," breathed Emmett, "Let's take her to the Volturi, and then tell them after it's too late..."
"They're coming to us anyway," Carlisle reminded him, "and the first thing Aro will do is read her mind,"
"Too bad Bella doesn't exist – we could have used a shield," grumbled Edward.
"Grow up, you two," Alice interjected, giving hard looks in the direction of Edward and Emmett, "The Volturi will try to persuade her to join them anyway, Aro will find her fascinating, without you wanting to use her as a weapon as well,"
"You're right, but do you mind not using your power on me – it's catching," Eva groaned. Alice yelped in horror.
"Carlisle, she copied me..." Then she stopped and calmed down, and immediately Eva could feel everyone else's feelings.
"Jaspar," she growled, "did you just use your power on me? AFTER I SAID IT WAS CATCHING!?" Jasper looked slightly embarrassed. Eva launched herself at him.
"Haven't you realised by now that if you use your power on me that I get it too and I can't get rid of it?" she shrieked furiously, going for his throat. Then she was being dragged back by six strong pairs of hands. Calm down - oh shit - shouldn't have done this – poor kid – my fault – JASPAR – what did I do?
"Shut up!" she yelled, then suddenly everyone had left the room except for Edward, who hovered nervously near the door.
"Hear me out," he said in a pleading voice. Eva nodded once.
"I know it's hard," he began, "but you'll get used to it, learn to tune it out. For now, you need to hunt."
Eva nodded, resignedly. The burn in her throat was painful. She followed Edward outside, where they met up with Carlisle and Emmett. She heard from their thoughts that they were headed for a nearby wood, and immediately they set off. As they hunted, Edward instructed her through his mind, and soon enough they found a herd of deer. They would hunt further afield for better prey after the Volturi had come – they didn't want to be separate from the other Cullens for that meeting. Then on the way back, Eva saw the forest more clearly. It was the forest of her nightmare. She panicked, and stopped moving. Are you alright? She showed Edward her nightmare, and the fear that came with it. Just get out of here – go back to the house – we'll catch up. She began to run, and didn't stop until she returned to the house where, it appeared, she was going to have to stay. Alice was waiting to greet her.
"They're nearly here," she said, "The Volturi,"
The others arrived soon after Eva, they had already heard the news via Edward. But their guests arrived sooner than Alice had thought. Almost as soon as it was dark, they heard a knock at their door. Eva heard a mixture of new voices – definitely thoughts – not the sort of thing that would be said aloud – and snarled. Carlisle answered the door, and several vampires entered the room. Eva instantly took up a defensive crouch, and snarled again at the newcomers.
"I see you kept your word," murmured one , half-amused, "Is she of any interest?" Does she have a power? Would she be useful? Eva growled.
"You can see for yourself, Aro," answered Carlisle, "Eva?" Take his hand, he won't hurt you. Eva stood up and cautiously extended her hand. As Aro took it she let out a shocked yell and snatched it away. She could hear his thoughts hearing her thoughts at the same time as she could hear his thoughts – and not just his current ones. He clearly hadn't noticed the reason for her reaction.
"Perhaps she needs some persuasion to comply," he murmured, "Jane, dear?" Jane flashed a grin at Aro and focused her gaze on Eva. Eva immediately responded, before Jane could even use her power it was being used against her. Aro looked on in amusement. Oops thought Eva I'm in trouble...
"Fascinating," said Aro, "I wonder...Alec?" His attack had the same effect – it appeared to rebound. Eva glared at Aro;
"Do you mind not messing with me anymore? I would quite like to be normal – as normal as I can be..."
"So, you reflect powers?" he asked.
"Not exactly," she replied, "It's more like copying," Dammit, I should not have said that. Aro looked worried. Does that mean...?
"So, you have multiple powers as it were?"
"So you could say," replied Eva, suddenly unnerved by Aro's wolfish look. Don't tell him too much .That was Edward. Thank you, Captain Obvious...Bit late now, isn't it? She replied, somewhat irritably.
"So, is our work satisfactory?" Please leave now. asked Carlisle.
"We will leave," declared Aro, "The Cullens have kept their promise. Unless, my dear, you would care to join us?" So much power, such a waste...
"No." Eva said firmly, "I don't think so,"
"Very well," She'll come round eventually. And the group left. Eva waited until they were out of earshot before speaking.
"They won't come back will they?"
"Not soon," Alice said but someday, she added to herself, "Let's forget them for now. Come on, Eva, Let's go shopping!"
"Okay...what for?"
"Oh, fun, clothes, cars, anything!"
When Eva got back, she had acquired more outfits than she thought was possible, all of which Alice had insisted she "needed", and several which she knew that she didn't need. And her throat was burning - her thirst was strong, but her still-human fear of being a murderer was stronger. Besides, she was getting a vague feeling that it wasn't just powers she could pick up, but skills as well. If she couldn't still remember the pain of her transformation, she would believe this to be a dream. Immediately, Edward took over her education, showing her a mountain range where they could hunt larger prey. She copied Edward and went for mountain lions, finding herself to be stronger and faster than she had ever dreamed of - and it was only after she had drunk her fill of blood that she realised something. Where are we? Edward was slow to respond. Not entirely sure – somewhere in America – not Forks – other than that – well, it's remote, right? Yeah, remote. Eva thought. Lonely. Edward spoke out loud now,
"Let's go home – race you!" Eva forgot all her worries as she propelled herself forward as fast as she could move, but Edward still beat her to the house, which she couldn't yet think of as home.
"So, I guess I'm a Cullen now, right?" She asked, not entirely sure of her emotions.
"Yep," Edward said light-heartedly, "You're one of us," This statement did not give Eva the security it was meant to.
"So..." she started, hesitantly, "I guess...that means..." her throat constricted. Yes, I'm so sorry replied Edward, understanding now.
A sudden agony ripped through Eva's heart, worse even than the agony of becoming a vampire. She curled up into a tight ball on the floor, as it dawned on her that she would never see her family, or her friends, again. In her head she saw, as if from an old photo album of faded images, the faces of her loved ones. Her little brother, Josh, only six years old, with his bright blue eyes and adorable curly hair. Her mother, always busy, usually in the kitchen, with her dark brown bob and green eyes. Her raven-haired father, always joking, always kind. They had all been there for her, but now she could never return the favour. She curled up tighter, as she discovered how it felt to cry in this new body. She heard concerned voices around her, but couldn't discern the words, as she drowned in a red sea of loss. Her next emotion was fury. She was on her feet, screaming at Edward, at all of them.
"See what you've done to me? Do you see? My memories may not be that strong, but they're there. And I know how my family are gonna be feeling right now, now that I've disappeared. They loved me, you know, like I loved them. And now you've taken it all from me...from them...if I thought that my heart could break I'd say it has...but no, you've taken that too...I can't even die...I hate all of you with all my heart and I wish I'd asked you to kill me...I HATE YOU!" she stopped and just stood there, shaking, lost for words. Or just lost.
"I'm sorry you feel that way," said Carlisle, gently, "we can find another coven for you to join, if you want to leave us. But if you want to die, I'm afraid we can't help you..." I would be happy to help...Eva wasn't sure who'd spoken, so she glared at each of them in turn.
The agony was still there, cruelly beating her down. She felt Jaspar trying to help, and failing.
"It's too strong," she told him, "It won't work," Deal with it. Definitely Rosalie. Suddenly remembering that she could use Jaspar's power, Eva unleashed the full strength of her agony on Rosalie. Rosalie screamed, and suddenly Emmet was towering over Eva, furious.
"What have you done to her?" he roared
"She has to understand," replied Eva, "She has to understand why I can't 'just deal with it'."
