Running from vampires is not fun. Running from shifters is worse. Running from newborns… well that just tops the list of things to avoid, which makes it only natural that I be put in the position of running from a surprisingly large scouting party of them.
Marvin stopped me dead for a split second and a male newborn went soaring through the air in front of us, allowing me to keep running instead of getting tackled.
"How the fuck did you miss her?" Another male shouted in extreme aggravation and I pushed myself faster. There were to many to fight, I'd win because I always win, but I'd pay for it.
Maybe I could do one at a time. Let's see, two on my right, four on my left, and three behind. Best to get rid of the four on my left first.
I went for the furthest one, leaping off a tree and over their heads until I landed behind my target. He spun to attack me but I was ready and decapitated him with ease. The female that was beside him screamed in outrage and I felt a pang in my chest at the thought of separating mates, even if it was only for a moment. She ran at me, untrained and enraged. I allowed her three hits and a bite in recompense for her mate, feeling the cracks in my left shoulder, right hip and sternum. I spun her around, arm across her face as I prepared to twist off her head and she managed to bite down, injecting a decent load of venom into my arm, causing me to hiss as I tore her head off.
Great. Another scar.
Two came after that, one male from the front and another from the right. I stayed solid, Marvin appearing at me side, and we watched the brutish body language of the male immediately before us, calculating. At the last moment Marvin grabbed my arm and shoulder, spinning me around to violently kick the attacker's head with as much force as I could, separating his head from neck, not fully but enough that he went down and didn't get back up. Marvin released me into the air and the momentum carried me to the attacker on our right. My legs moved to grip his torso as I removed his head, causing us both to fall to the ground but I was the only one to roll to my feet.
I flipped open the lighter in my pocket and tossed it on the semi-decapitated vampire, lighting a pyre that would allow me to get rid of any others that attacked.
One leapt from my right, but Marvin deflected her into the flames. Another managed to slam into me, wrapping his arms around my torso and squeezing but leaving his head open as he sunk his teeth into the junction between my breast and my ribs. I growled and sent my fist slamming through his skull and ripped out his throat, my ribs ached from the bite and I had to pry his mouth open before throwing his head into the fire but I ignored the inconvenience. The throat quickly joined the head in the fire, along with the rest of the body.
The last three turned tail and ran. I heard their footsteps retreating to whoever had created them and finally allowed myself an agonized grimace, clutching my ribs as they began to heal.
"Are you ok?" Marvin asked, darting over to me and opening my shirt, checking my wounds, poking and prodding various places. I growled and cuffed him lightly, my irritation vanishing as he fixed me with his kicked puppy expression, looking up from beneath his messy ginger hair with his bright green eyes wide and pouted lips.
"Ya. I'm ok." I hissed through clenched teeth, tying my shirt in the front. It made me look like some sort of sexy redneck because of the green and black plaid shirt, my form fitting jeans and thick leather belt. I didn't really appreciate the look but Marvin had ripped the buttons off the bottom of my shirt in his haste to check my ribs.
Dick.
Marvin straightened with a wide smile on his face as he reached forward and ruffled my hair.
{He was my 'special ability', that sounds strange but it's true. I think it has to do with my large imagination as a child. I have characters; pieces of me that split off and help me, though not many people can see them and the few who can end up dead so… problem solved. They're definitely a tangible presence though; I've sent vampires screaming for the hills because ghosts were attacking them. It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Marvin's my companion, almost constantly. I have several others but they rarely come out.
Alexa is a warrior but she only comes out when I feel threatened or if I call her to help me. She's the soulless version of me. She doesn't care what she has to do to get things done, and she's efficient and purposed.
Magnolia, or Mags for short, is down right insane, adorable, but definitely insane. She is the one who is foolishly reckless but massively lucky, she's also the best at soothing and comforting other people, she and Marvin get along really well.
Alicia, she's the wounded one. Any emotional or physical pain I go through she takes on, she screams for me, cries and looses her sanity for me. Her sacrifice keeps me collected and alive.
Ishmael. He's crazy, like actually crazy. He comes out as an interrogator or assassin. Much like Alexa, he's ruthless, but he has a tendency towards cruelty. He hears people scream and cackles with glee. He's the most deadly of us all, deathly afraid of spiders though, like that makes any sense at all.
Then there's me, Zaiden, or Zai, the combination, or rather the binder of all the others. I think the term, should I have been human, would be multi-personality disorder. But I'm not human, which makes me feel a lot saner.}
It was easy cleaning up the six dead vampires; Marvin and I tossed them into the fire and left them. Everything in the area was wet from nearly constant rain so I didn't have to worry about the forest igniting. Marvin ran beside me as we headed towards Forks, where I'd heard there was a coven of vampires that were bunny munchers, something that piqued my curiosity. Alexa wasn't comfortable with idea of suddenly approaching a strange coven and it had taken Ishmael, Mags and Marvin to get her to let us, but eventually she'd relented and we'd been on our way.
{That's the tricky thing about having personalities split from you, they don't necessarily HAVE to help you and Alexa is fairly important so I try to keep her happy.}
Marvin and I skirted the territory just outside of Forks that reeked of wet dog, fully aware of the vicious abilities of the shifters, searching for any trace of vampire scent.
When we found it I stopped dead in my tracks for a moment in order to piece together the various scents. Each vampire had his or her own scent and obviously every coven had a few members, but what I'd discovered? It was simply ridiculous. There had to be seven of them (a fairly large coven unless they were known friends of the Volturi), and though the scent was stale at that moment, they had to have stayed for several years, which was dangerous and outright dumb for any coven, even bunny munchers.
One scent seemed vaguely familiar and I heard Magnolia squeal in excitement in the back of my mind but I dismissed it, tracing the scents back to where they would originate. Alexa definitely felt better after noting the lack of fresh trails.
I didn't get very far before a fresh scent caught my attention, this one different from the others though it still seemed like the person it belonged to had been around the coven a lot. I followed it; Marvin quietly sticking at my side, and we silently approached a large clearing that I suppose would be stunning in the spring, though it looked fairly off-putting in the fall.
There were two figures in the field, one a small human girl, her heart hammering as she struggled to keep a calm façade, and a male vampire with a black complexion which was fairly intriguing.
"Protect the girl." Ishmael's voice rung in my head causing me to dart into the clearing, ignoring Alexa's growl of irritation and my own confusion. I grabbed the girl, spinning her behind me and crouching defensively, snarling at the threatening vampire before me.
"Why am I protecting a human?" I asked irritably, clearly my subconscious had noted something about the girl that hadn't really clicked in my conscious mind yet.
"Just do it." The fact that is was Ishmael, of all personalities, to demand the girl's protection kept my mouth shut. Alexa appeared on my left, Marvin on my right, not that the vampire could see them.
"I would greatly appreciate if you would walk away." I snarled, feeling the girl's heart rate quicken and I ignoring it. Mags appeared and drew the girl into a comforting hug, not that the girl would know what was hugging her but it would still feel comforting.
The girl's scent was easy enough to ignore; she smelt like those squishy strawberry candies that so many people liked. I'd always preferred the more salty dishes to sweets so I didn't really feel bothered.
"I do believe I saw her first." The dark vampire stayed foolishly calm and didn't even crouch to defend himself.
"Idiot." Ishmael snarled from inside my head.
A twig snapped and I let Alexa check for what was in the trees.
"Shifters." She stated and I just barely managed to keep in my verbal reply to her, Marvin didn't need to worry about it though.
"Fuck."
Fuck is right my ginger friend.
"I do believe I don't care." I straightened up a bit, blocking the girl from view. He cocked his head to the side, scanning me and I saw his eyes widen when they found all of my scars.
"That's right fucker, be afraid." Alicia's snarling voice startled me but I pushed my surprise aside.
"Why should you care? She's nothing but a snack." I snarled and flicked my fingers behind me to signal Mags to keep on her guard, both for the girl's security and mine, Alexa's watchful eyes keeping me away of the shifter pack slowly circling the clearing. The shifters wouldn't like me very much and it didn't matter if all of my personalities helped, a pack of shifters would beat me in a fight.
I wasn't sure why Ishmael felt protective of the girl he did which probably meant she was important somehow. I wasn't going to question him, after all, the personalities in my head usually interpreted information in my subconscious a lot faster then I did. Marvin sensed my confused irritation and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Call me a guardian demon." I sassed, more to assure the shifters that I meant no harm to the girl then to answer the foul creature in front of me. He looked me over again, his posture relaxing and predatory smile lighting up his face. Alexa stiffened, her eyes narrowing and her teeth bearing into a sneer. I tensed a little, mind flicking to Mags. My tiny blonde self wasn't too happy with her job but she accepted it, relaxing a bit more when Ishmael joined us, standing guard just behind Mags and the girl.
Having all of them out to play was going to drain me quickly and I sent a quick prayer to the stars that the need for them wouldn't last long. The human's heartbeat was calming down a little, which was helpful; a calm human was a more pliant human.
The dark vampire lunged just as the shifters exploded from the trees and Alexa redirected his path towards the wolves; causing him to loose his balance and slow him down so that the wolves would catch up to him faster. Mags tugged on the girl's arm and led her quickly out of the clearing, the rest of us providing a protective circle around the odd girl.
A very large, red-furred wolf stopped to snarl at me and I held up my hands in a surrendered motion, keeping myself between him and the girl. I knew that the shifters were meant to be protectors but accidents happen.
"I'll keep her safe." A harsh yelp from the second largest shifter, a black-furred wolf, caused the debating wolf in front of me to grumble and follow the pack in the chase. My pixie-cut, auburn hair and smaller build didn't really give much to the innocent look when coupled with my bright red eyes and body littered with scars from past battles but for some reason people and vampires generally trusted the words that came out of my mouth. Part of me wondered if it was another secret ability. At that moment I wasn't about to question it.
I ran after the girl, Mags and Marvin were with her; Alexa more concerned with my wellbeing. Ishmael had disappeared, though he didn't seem all that happy about it, I needed to keep up my energy, which would help me avoid getting hungry.
"Who-?" The girl went to ask something but I cut her off, grabbing her up, tucking her head into my neck and running, following her scent trail to her truck. Alexa jumped into the back of the truck, Marvin grabbed the girl, carting her to the passenger seat and seating her safely on his lap while Mags jumped into the middle seat, providing a strangely calm atmosphere as I jumped behind the wheel and drove, heading back to town.
"Sorry sweetness, we can do the whole 'question and answer' thing after I've gotten you home." I tried to explain, very aware of her irritated look, though she seemed generally calm for a human in her situation. Mags gave me a nod and disappeared, aware that I was starting to feel drained.
"Who are you?" She shouted, looking between Myself, Marvin, Alexa in the bed of the truck, and the place where Mags had been.
"Where'd she go?" The question surprised me and I swerved a little before getting control of the truck again, my eyes wide and all three of us stiff in surprise.
"You can see them?" She looked at me like I was stupid before sliding off of Marvin's lap and into the center seat.
"Of course I can see them! Where'd she go?" The girl was looking around, as if Mags had somehow squished into a strange place of the truck, to be fair to the girl Mags was the type to do that but it was still amusing to watch.
I was silent for a few seconds, my brain catching up with the fact that a human could see my companions. Humans had never been able to see them, ever, and I'd been a vampire since halfway through the First World War.
"What's your name?" Her void adopted a demanding tone and I rolled my eyes.
"It's not like I'm going to leave now that I just risked my ass for you, we've got lots of time for me to explain, Sweetness." My statement had the odd effect of her body slumping in relief, causing both Marvin and I to look at the girl like she was a piranha or something. Humans weren't supposed to be relaxed around vampires; their instincts recognized the apex predator in their presence, similar to if they were swimming and a shark passed them by or if a person pointed a gun in their face. It was just weird.
"I'm Bella Swan." I snorted in amusement and she shot me a look.
"Bella makes you sound delicate, I'm assuming you aren't all that delicate since you were busy facing down a homicidal dick when I found you." I defended, Marvin and Alexa snorting in amusement.
"I'm Zaiden, or Zai, Bitch, Hey-You, I answer to a lot of things." I told her with a mock serious tone, turning to look at her for a second with a cheeky grin before looking back at the road, noting we were just entering Forks.
"I don't know where you live, Hun, you're gonna have to tell me, and while you're at it, why you aren't a quivering mess of terror right now."
"Turn left." I obeyed the order, noting that Bella seemed pained by something.
"I guess I'm just weird." I cocked an eyebrow, my expression telling her how obviously unsatisfying her answer was.
"I knew the Cu- a coven that lived here." Her voice broke as she cut herself off and I was instantly intrigued but I figured I shouldn't press her. A girl as young as Bella would have at least one parent, I could ask them for the basic details.
" Go right." I turned again, debating whether or not it would be safe for her to stay in Forks.
"No it wouldn't, the Volturi will find her eventually. Came Alexa's flat toned reply.
"You'll have to turn her." Ishmael stated.
Are you fucking insane? Don't answer that, of course you are. I'm not turning a teenage girl!
"Hypocrite." Ishmael sing-songed.
I was a month away from being twenty when I was turned, dick head, and it wasn't my choice.
"You really shouldn't insult yourself, apparently that's not healthy." I growled at Ishmael's words, sending an apologetic look to Bella when she looked at me with a startled expression.
"Sorry." Bella shrugged off my apology.
"You're a vampire, it makes sense. I don't know what everyone else is though."
Ah yes, that matter. Naturally none of my personalities were vampires, though Alexa acted like one sometimes and they all possessed my strength and speed. I chuckled a little, trying to think of how to explain my ability; I'd only had to do it once before and even then the fucker requested a demonstration that he hadn't even needed.
"They're characters, I guess, parts of me put into a tangible form. Most people can't see them though." Bella cocked an eyebrow and I smirked. Whoever this girl was, she was special.
"Turn right, I'm the fifth house. But he picked me up and the blonde girl was comforting me-." She listed off. She looked like she was going to continue but I waved off her rambling with a slight chuckle.
"I said people can't see them, not that they aren't there. People with a really strong sense of imagination seem to be able to see them for some stupid reason. You're the first human to actually see them, supernaturals have an easier time believing in crazy stuff then humans do." Bella lapsed into thought, her brow furrowing and her eyes fixing on her hands, which fidgeted in her lap.
I pulled her truck into the driveway, noting the police cruiser. Marvin handed me my contacts and I smiled, putting the irritating things in as I waited for Bella to get her head wrapped around everything. Bella's eyes widened when I opened my door to get out, like she'd never even considered the possibility that I might enter her home, but she didn't argue. Alexa jumped out of the back and Marvin opened the passenger door, hopping out and extending a hand to the baffled teenager.
The three of us followed Bella inside while I let my mind run through possibilities that might give Bella a fighting chance at survival, because apparently she was important.
"Just accept it." Ishmael's voice rung out, Mags giggling away in agreement with him, causing me to suppress an irritated growl. I didn't like having drama in my life, adopting a human meant lots of drama, especially this human. The coven she'd known had exposed vampires and had left her behind with a very broken heart, she had to be changed but not where there was any memory of them that could set off her newborn rage.
Maybe Peter and Char will help? That would make everything so much easier.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I took it out, confused for a moment since I hadn't given my phone number to anyone.
We'll come up in a few days, get her used to proper vampires. –Yoda
Fucker knows too much. Peter's ability to 'just know things' was both frustrating and amusing in equal measurements.
You love me for it. Char says, Hi. –PW
I rolled my eyes at the show off, Marvin snickering beside me and we made our way up the porch steps with Bella. She opened the door and instantly a man was walking out of the living room, his eyebrow cocking as his eyes landed on me and flicked behind me to my companions. Interesting. Like father like daughter I suppose.
"Dad, this is-" I stepped around her, Marvin and Alexa darting up the stairs to pack everything as quickly as possible.
"Mr. Swan, my name is Zaiden Mann, I just moved into town and your daughter tolerated my presence at the coffee shop, figured I'd see if we could test out a friendship." Bella's dad looked stunned for a moment, his eyes flicking up to Marvin and Alexa, who were still flanking Bella.
"Oh, sorry, that's Marvin Mann and Alexa Knight, we have two more sisters and a brother who aren't here at the moment."
"You're all siblings?" I shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring Bella's accusing stare and covering my bases.
"Marvin is my brother, the rest are more friends but we feel closer then that, you know? Alexa and the others all lost their parents at some point and we all homeschool so we figured we might as well stick together. Our parent figures, Peter and Charlotte, bought a house just outside of town, said we should have experience living in a nice town like Forks so, here we are, they'll be here in a few days, just patching some things up back home." Mr. Swan looked a little dumbstruck and blinked for a few moments before politely extending a hand in greeting.
"Well, welcome to Forks, I guess. I'm Sheriff Swan, but call me Charlie. Would you mind having your parents contact me when they get here? I like to know the people in my town." I nodded, plastering a beaming smile, worthy of Mags, onto my face and shook the man's hand.
"Of course, Charlie."