Disclaimer: Twilight was written and created by Stephanie Meyer.

If the devil offered you a drink, would you take it?

…Only if it promised to be as sweet as you.

EDWARD

The sun went down faster than usual for a spring day in Forks, but I thought nothing of it. When time is all one has, it becomes harder to remember that there's a natural order for things in the world. I played with a few keys on my piano as everyone settled in for the night. I tried to find the next few notes for the composition I was working on. Esme was sketching a lovely garden path, erasing what she didn't like after every few minutes. The vision of her new garden in her head was beautiful, with peonies, irises and rose bushes covering wrought iron fences, and pretty marigolds lining the light brown cobblestone bricks of the pathway, leading to a vine covered pergola with a white bench underneath. Unconsciously, my fingers started playing Flower Duet, and Esme smiled at my choice.

Do you like the garden I have in mind?

"Yes," I mumbled, as my fingers stroked the keys gently up to the crescendo of the song. "Tulips would look lovely between the irises." Esme mused over my words, bouncing her pencil off her jaw with pursed lips before slowly sketching in some tulips. I don't know what color would be best…

"Ask Alice," I said, still playing. "She has a nice eye for color." Alice looked up at me from where she was seated on the big white couch in front of the TV, watching Jasper and Emmett play their video games again. She was slowly running her fingers through Jasper's unruly blonde hair, calming him as he sought to win yet again in his match with Emmett. How nice of you to think so highly of my opinion, Edward. She grinned at me and I grinned back, changing the song I'd been playing to Für Elise. Alice giggled, and I smiled softly as I looked down as the keys, changing the tempo to one I deemed fit for Alice's personality. Alice had once implored me to play my piano for her when she first joined our family, and I finally obliged, titling the evening Für Alice. Ever since then, she considered me her own court musician. Alice detangled herself from Jasper, plopping herself down next to Esme and wormed herself into her arms as Esme laughed at her antics. Esme showed Alice her sketch, and they murmured quietly about how each flower complemented each other, while varying shades of reds, pinks, purples and yellows were suggested. Rosalie sauntered by, stopping to look at our mother's sketch, and murmured that white peonies with pink tulips would look wonderful. Esme and Alice agreed with her assertion and Esme wrote a few notes on another page. As Alice and Esme deliberated the positioning of the new garden, Rosalie moved to sit behind Emmett on the couch. He looked up at her presence and smiled softly, his grin widening when she kissed him on the forehead, and turned back to the screen with a newfound vengeance against Jasper. Jasper groaned at this, and leaned forward towards the TV, a look of hard concentration on his face as his thumbs tried desperately to fight against Emmett's sudden burst of confidence. Rosalie leaned back against the couch and cracked open the books she had in her hand, one a textbook on car mechanics, and the other the manual to her BMW.

I could hear Carlisle pull up into the long driveway leading to our house, and listened as he hummed softly to the seventies radio station he had on. I smiled as he glanced towards the small bouquet of roses - vibrant red petals with long green stems - sitting next to him in his car. I hope Esme likes these, she was in such a good mood about a new garden earlier, he thought, and the fragrant smell of roses filled the air. Esme looked up in surprise as Carlisle walked through the door, smiling sheepishly as he walked towards her and presented her with the roses. "Oh Carlisle…" Esme said quietly as she stood up. "They're so beautiful." We all looked on as our parents moved into the kitchen, smiling shyly and joining hands.

"They are so cute," Alice proclaimed, straining her neck to see the both of them walk out of the room. "Why aren't we all that cute?"

"Hey, we're all pretty cute in our own ways, except for Edward." Emmett snickered. I growled lowly, changing over to the Funeral March on the piano. Alice and Jasper laughed loudly at my own joke, while Rosalie rolled her eyes, a smirk beginning to form on her face. Emmett stared blankly at me. I can't die, dumbass.

"Doesn't mean I don't want you to." I chuckled darkly. Emmett grinned finally, turning back to the video game while Jasper was distracted. "Hey!" Jasper cried, fumbling with his controller. Shit shit shit he thought, struggling to catch up while Emmett cackled.

"I got a call from the Denali clan while I was at the hospital," Carlisle said, strolling back into the room with Esme on his arm. Her eyes looked dazed with love, and from her thoughts I could tell that she had made…plans with Carlisle tonight. I grimaced. I would have to make sure that I'd be out of the house by then, but I usually was these days. Besides Alice, my family didn't know where I'd been running off to most nights these past couple of months. They thought I was going to my "special place" as Emmett liked to so eloquently put it. My nightly outings started by just taking a walk around the central area of Forks late at night, frustrated with a few things. I ended up catching the scent that I'd come to dread and desire for, and my curiosity got the better of me. I followed my keen sense of smell to her house, and in my foolish daze watched her prepare dinner for herself and her father. By the end of the night, I had seen her entire nightly routine, from finishing homework on her bed to witnessing her fall asleep, books strewn everywhere. I had only done it once before I realized what I was doing, and had been at the meadow every night since.

I shook myself out of my reverie to listen what my family was saying. There was enough time to worry about that later. "Oh really? What's up?" Alice asked. Emmett and Jasper finally paused their game long enough to look up at our father, and Rosalie marked her pages before looking up as well.

"Tanya wants us to come and visit for a week. A family reunion she called it." Carlisle grinned, his white teeth gleaming off the lights in the room. The joke got a few laughs out of all of us. Esme looked at me slyly, or what she thought was slyly as she pondered Maybe this time…

I grimaced at her thought of Tanya and I embracing in a romantic hug. Esme caught my gaze and her face turned downward. I'm sorry, Edward. Habits are hard to kill. I nodded my head, letting her know I'd forgiven her. If habits were hard to kill with humans, they were even more difficult with vampires. She smiled, and glided over to me while Carlisle discussed specifics with the rest of the family about going up to Denali over the summer. She rested her arms on my shoulders as she leaned on my head gently, kissing my hair. Her caramel hair brushed past my face as she sighed, leaning her face on my head. Through her mind, I saw the back of myself. My messy bronze hair and the cowlick I could never smooth down, my fingers still flitting past on the piano keys. Sometimes I forget that just because you can read our thoughts, we never seem to ask about yours.

Instead of giving her a verbal answer, I started playing the song I'd written for her as a mother's day present years ago. She sighed, closing her eyes as she soaked in the music. She understood that while I had my off days, wishing for someone to understand my burden, that I never held it against her or my other family members. May you find all the happiness in the world, Edward, Esme thought. I glanced at her and smiled wryly. She gave me a knowing look. Despite what you may think, you do deserve happiness. I knew she wanted me to find a mate, and was becoming increasingly concerned over my lack of a romantic life in recent years, but I'd yet to convince her that love just wasn't in the cards for me.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Alice stiffen as her eyes glazed over with a vision. I tried to pay attention to what she was seeing in her mind, but the vision flashed with so many images at once that it was hard to keep track of what she was seeing. Men and women flashed through Alice's mind, a brilliant blur of red hair gone with the wind. I glanced upwards to see Esme looking towards Alice with worry, and saw that everyone else was waiting for Alice to snap out of it. Jasper looked at his wife intensely. This is an unusually long vision. Edward, what is she seeing? I shook my head at him, indicating that I couldn't make sense of what she was seeing. I was starting to feel anxious, but whether that was on my own accord or Jasper's, I could hardly tell.

"Maybe it's nothing." Carlisle murmured, running his hand through his blonde hair, and shrugging off his cardigan.

"Or maybe she sees me winning the Powerball this week. I got to win that money for my baby." Emmett joked, grinning up at Rosalie. Rosalie rolled her eyes, but gave Emmett her hand for him to hold.

The jokes aside, the mood once again turned serious as Alice started shivering. Jasper stood up and made his way over to where Alice sat carefully. "Alice, sweetheart…" He whispered. What the hell is she seeing? An image of a young woman with long brown hair screaming entered my mind, and I jumped, accidently slamming my hand on the piano keys, creating a horrible dissonance. I was horrified.

"Edward, what's wrong?" Esme murmured her gold eyes wide with worry as she tried to take my face into her hands, but I wouldn't budge. All I could do was gawk at Alice in horror. "No…" I muttered. Rosalie shared a glance with Emmett, both of them at me giving me a peculiar look.

"Edward…" Rosalie started.

Suddenly, Alice snapped out of her vision and gasped for breaths she didn't need. Jasper tried to take her in his arms as she cried out horribly. "Alice, what happened? What did you see?" Jasper exclaimed. Alice looked at me with dread.

"We have to go, we have to go now!" she shouted. "There's a group of nomads in Forks." She struggled to get the words out of her mouth.

"Are they hunting humans?" Emmett asked, dead serious. Alice could only shake her head yes, trembling from the aftershock.

"Who? Who are they hunting Alice?" Carlisle asked, taking Alice's elbow. Alice looked at me sadly while I shook my head, begging for her vision to be wrong. Don't say it…I thought.

"…The Swans." Alice choked out.

BELLA

Cold air blew in throughout the room, penetrating through my warm comforter and taking hold of my body. I shivered, trying to fight off the cold, and brought my knees up to my chest as if it would help lull me back to sleep. Just when my eyelids started to feel heavy was when I heard a sudden clang across the hallway. Groaning, I sat up slowly and cracked my sore muscles, yawning loudly. As I blinked rapidly for my eyes to adjust to the dark, I was filled with a sudden dread. Goosebumps rose on my arms, and fear tickled down my spine.

Something was wrong.

I sat up in bed for another minute, trying to hear something and listen to my surroundings. I got up quietly, making sure not to step in certain places in my room where the floorboards creaked. My hand was shaking as I noticed that my window was wide open, letting in the cold March air. I breathed in deeply, trying to calm myself as I got closer to my door and reached for the doorknob. I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself. Maybe Charlie was trying to get some water and fell. That thought certainly didn't help me. My eyes opened suddenly when a sudden shout was heard from Charlie's room, and I opened the door with a grace I could never muster even on my best days.

"Charlie!" I yelled out, turning my head to where his room was, but I was greeted with the site of the three strangers in the hallway, turning to look at what commotion I caused.

There were two men and a woman standing in front of Charlie's room with the door open. One of the men smirked as he saw me, looking me up and down as if he liked what he saw. I gasped when I saw his eyes were crimson red. I took a step back, taking note that they all had crimson red eyes, and a dangerous, inhuman beauty to them. The man staring at me had a malicious grin on his face, his brown hair just covering the top of his forehead. The other man was slightly smaller and tanner in appearance than the other one. He raised an eyebrow at me, as if I'd just interrupted a serious meeting. The woman was deathly pale, and had long, unruly red curls and bright red lips that turned into a grin. A sticky like substance covered all of their mouths and in horror I realized it was blood.

"Who are you?" I whispered, backing away from them, ready to bolt into my room and block the door.

"Oh dear, did we not introduce ourselves? We came to dinner just like that!" The woman laughed, getting a few snickers out from the man with brown hair.

"I-I'm calling the police," I said quietly, and turned to run back into my room. I had no chance however, as the brown haired man appeared right next to me. I yelped, jumping backwards as he leered at me and grabbed my elbow, crushing it in a tight vice. I screamed at the shooting pain and I doubled over in tears. "Dad! DAD!" I screamed for Charlie, tears falling from my eyes. The man who had my arm chuckled, and grabbed my face, forcing me to look up at him. He stared down at me, his face devoid of any emotion.

"You asked us who are we? Well, I'm James," He gestured towards himself, and pointed towards the other two. "That's Laurent and Victoria."

"It's so sweet of you to offer yourselves to us," Victoria laughed. The man they called Laurent rolled his eyes.

"Can we stop playing with our food please?" My eyes widened at them calling me their food. I tried to shake myself out of James' grasp but I was only causing myself more pain. James kicks me suddenly, bringing me to my knees. I howled at the sudden contact. It felt as if my knee had just been shattered. As I gasped for breath, I noticed that Victoria and Laurent had moved closer to me, allowing me to see into Charlie's room. What I saw shattered my heart. Charlie, lying lifeless on the floor, deathly pale with multiple bite marks around his neck. If I hadn't known any better, if I hadn't seen the bite marks, I would have assumed he might have fallen down and had a heart attack. I sobbed at the sight of him, salty tears falling into my mouth as I gasped for breath.

I never thought I'd die like this.

An ice cold hand covered my mouth, pressing hard. I thrashed against it as I was being pulled to the floor, trying to kick wherever. All I succeeded in doing was kicking my foot against Laurent's shin, and a sharp pain went through my heel. I tried to scream for help as James held my arms out, my left arm crooked at the elbow. "Shhh," Victoria whispered into my ear, smothering me. "It'll be over soon." It was strangely soothing, and at that moment I knew there would be no escape for me. This was the end of my life. I'd never been a crier, but in those last moments as I looked upon the faces of the people who'd kill me, all I could do was lament at my fate.

James breathed in deeply, closing his eyes as if to take in the moment, exhaling with ecstasy. "God, you smell wonderful." He looked down at me and grinned, his sharp teeth dripping with blood. "Your father was nothing compared to you." He leaned in closer to my neck, and brought his hand to stroke the side of it. I shivered in fear, hoping he would just get it over with. As if he read my mind, he looked me in the eye. "I'm going to savor every last drop."

A sudden crash from inside my room startled everyone. Laurent and Victoria left my side to protect James' flank. In the confusion, James takes one last look at me and smirks, sinking his teeth into my neck. I scream, and try to push him off of me, but he was too strong. He sucked eagerly at my blood. My chest heaves with panic, and I feel faint very suddenly. My body burns with a painful fever and I thrash on the floor, trying somehow to get it to stop. In a moment of lucidity, I noticed that James wasn't at my neck anymore, but being choked at his neck by a man with short blonde hair. He was tall, and he looked strangely familiar, but the pain started again. My voice went shrill with the agony. My neck was slick from my blood, and I tried to raise my arm to stop the bleeding, but I could only hit myself from the lack of focus. All around me were sounds of fighting. Two other men were standing off with Laurent, cornering him. Another man with bronze hair was circling Victoria in the doorway of my room. The fire in my veins would come and go in waves, only getting stronger each time it returned. I was shaking, suddenly freezing from the last wave.

Another crash got my attention. I was breathing hard, and it was difficult to see what was going on, but the bronze haired man and the blonde man were now ganging up on James. The blonde man threw James into a wall, crushing the plaster and cracking the foundation. A giant with curly brown hair walked into my vision, looking at me curiously. He was saying something, but I couldn't hear what. He turned towards the other men, running to join them in their fight.

"Isabella? Isabella, can you hear me?" My eyes tried finding the source calling my name, and another blonde man appeared. He looked concern, and moved to stop my limbs from flailing. His face looked pained as he scanned my body, and made a face at all my open wounds.

"Why are you here?" The bronze haired man said to James. He had him in a chokehold. James struggled to choke out an answer. "You're a tracker, aren't you?"

James grinned. "Maybe so."

"You knew there was a coven here. This is OUR territory." One of the men growled. A ringing started in my ears as the intensity of the pain came back tenfold. I could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation from my own screaming. The next time I opened my eyes, I saw the giant man chase Victoria out of the window, disappearing as quickly as they had come. I turned my head, watching as the other men tore an arm and a leg off of James. James roared and stared down the man who with reddish-brown hair. His eyes widened as he realized something, and he gave something of a grin to him.

"You smell it, don't you? Her blood? You want it just as much as I do." He taunted. "She's your singer." He whispered towards the man, laughing.

"You don't know what you're talking about." The man growled.

"Yes you do. Your eyes were gold, and now they're black as night. You're shaking with desire right now!" James laughed. The man struck him across the face. James looked up bitterly then. I whimper suddenly as the heat overtook me once again. The blonde man sitting with me put his ice cold hands on my face, trying to cool me down. Everyone else looks at me, glancing at my sudden outburst.

"You better go have a taste boy, while you still can." James muttered. The man holding him looked back at me with such concern. I could almost recognize him. Who are you? How do I know you? "Do you remember what butter tasted like? What it felt like? Her blood is so much smoother than that." James taunted. "Since her blood is turning into venom, I'll give you a small taste of what it was like." James then spits my blood all over the man's face. The man lost control then, pummeling James. The blonde man who'd been by my side joined him as they fought against James. Finally, they both succeed in ripping off James' head. The man with my blood all over his face roars, and through my bleary eyes I could see the bloodlust and uncontrollable anger all over his face.

One of the men took him by his shoulders and shook him, only stopping so they could both breathe. "Edward, you have to calm down." The giant man who escaped through my window climbed back in at that moment. "Emmett, what happened?" The blonde man asked.

The giant man shook his head. "She tricked me and escaped. I'm sorry Carlisle."

"It's alright; we'll deal with it later. Emmett and Jasper, take care of the bodies and the scene here. We may have to come back later, but for now take care of these two. Edward, go hunt."

"I'm fine." A velvet voice contested, but he struggled to get the words out.

"You're clearly not. I won't allow you to be anywhere near her while she's so bloody and vulnerable. Take Emmett and Jasper as well, you all need it from the looks of it."

"I-"

"This is not up for debate."

"…Carlisle...what happens next?"

All of these names were so familiar, but I can't focus, I can barely speak. I tried to think of where I knew them from, but another wave of intense pain shot up my arms. There was a burning in my lungs as I struggled for breath. I felt my burning body being lifted into someone's arms, and as they carried me down the stairs I tried to open my eyes enough to get a good look at them. One of the blonde men was carrying me, and I narrowed my eyes trying to remember where I knew him. Short blonde hair, tall and light gold eyes were all I could make out as the man placed me in the back seat of a car. Another wave came for me, a thousand needles pricking at my veins and nerves. I tried to grab onto something, anything to keep me from passing out. The car started, and we were suddenly moving, away from everything I'd ever known. I tore at the soft leather seats with my nails, wishing for it all to stop, begging myself to wake up from this nightmare. I was losing my bearings, but when the man met my gaze through his rear mirror, I realized who my saviors were.

The Cullen's.

AN: I previously published The Devil's Tears around 4 years ago on , but I had only written and published 4 chapters before I deleted the story altogether. I hope this time, with a more fleshed out plot and better writing skills, that I can complete this story in my true vision.

Story title is based off the song 'The Devil's Tears' by Angus & Julia Stone. Check it out! It's a gorgeous song.

Thank you so much for reading. Please take the time to write a review. They are very much appreciated.