Hello everyone!! This is my first fanfic! I tried to stay true to character. Hopefully I accomplished that. Obviously I'm not Stephanie Meyer and own nothing! Please read and review. Constructive critisism is welcomed! Thanks! Enjoy!
Chapter One
It's dark out. I would guess about 3:30 am, but I can't be sure, as I have no watch and I am in the middle of a forest. I can't be positive but I think that I'm in the middle of a dream as well. But since I'm here I might as well enjoy the change. The peace that I'm able to feel here, I haven't felt since four years ago, before he left me.
I can hear a voice in the distance, though I can't make out what it's saying. I can, however, tell that it sounds heavenly. Like the voice of an angel. It sounds almost just like my angel. Why would he be here, in the middle of nowhere, and so near me. It's getting closer. The angel's voice. I can hear it clearly now. Calling my name, searching for me. But, why? Why would he be looking for me? He didn't want me anymore. He didn't love me. Why now? And that's when I saw it.
I saw the most beautiful creature that has ever existed. It was Edward, my Edward. I have to run away. I can't let him find me. I can't be hurt that way again. At that moment I could feel the fault line rippling in my chest, ready to burst open at a moments notice. As soon as he left me again, the pain would be back. Edward, Edward came back to find me. Maybe he loves me after all. I have to stay, and find out. This may be my last chance to know for sure. It's too late. I took too long to make up my mind, now he's here. Standing in front of me, with his deep topaz eyes burning into me.
"Bella," he breathed. "What…how…why..what are you doing here?" I couldn't answer. Is this really happening? Is that really him standing there, or my sick mind playing games with me again. "Bella! Answer me!" I couldn't. I stood frozen, in front of the man-vampire- that I have loved every day for the past four and a half years.
"Edward," was all I could manage to whisper, not trusting my own voice. "Bella! What are you doing here? How are you here? I have to tell you so many things, Love. We have so much to talk about. Could you please come back to my house with me and we will talk about any and everything. I have to apologize to you for so many things!"
'Love'? Did he just call me that? My breathing sped almost to a pant. I can't believe what I'm seeing, what I'm hearing. "Ok, sure." I said. More assured than I would have thought my voice possible. And with that he picked me up and carried me to his new house here. Who could believe, living in the same town..again. Four years later. When we arrived at his house, it was the most beautiful and most familiar house. Almost, actually, identical to the Cullen house in Forks. We walked through the front door…
Everything is black. I open my eyes and I see nothing but the wet trees of the forest. I knew it. More mind games being played. These are the worst ever. They feel so real. Almost like a dream, but when I 'wake up', the pain doesn't subside, it engulfs me. Then I'm dying again. Always worst than the first time, when he first left me.
My name is Bella Swan. I live on the out skirts of Juneau, Alaska and I have a small house out here in the forest. I was lucky in finding it, the previous owner had just passed away, sadly he had no known relatives. It immediately went up for sale. It's nothing amazing, but it suits me just fine. I am currently attending college at the University of Alaska Southeast majoring in English. I'm only a year away from graduation. I'm 20 years old and I will be forever. It's a long story. I am working at a small book store about 30 minutes from my home. It's cozy and helps to pay the bills. I have been living on my own for two years now.
After Edward, and his entire family left me only days after I turned 18, I was a hollow shell. I was there in body, but not in mind, nor soul. I went about life in the most normal fashion I could force on myself. I kept hoping Edward would return to me, but he never did. Time passed and before I knew it, it had been one year since he left. I was 19 now and still as hollow as ever. I worked at the Newton's sporting goods store for a while to keep busy and in my spare time I made sure I had plenty to read and clean. I had to always be doing something or the pain would come back. I would always feel the giant hole in my chest, begging to rip wide open. I couldn't let it. I had to be sane, for Charlie if no one else.
It's September 11th now. Two days before my 20th birthday. There definitely won't be a party, or cake or gifts. Maybe one from Charlie and Renee, but other than that, nada. That's a good thing. I don't want any big production. I hate birthdays and I hate parties. The next two days go by and it's my birthday. Like I said, nothing's happening. Renee sent me a card with forty dollars and Charlie gave me a card with forty dollars as well. After the card opening I went to my room to start my nightly reading. Always around this time after I'm done with dinner and the dishes. When I got to the top of the stairs I smelled something. Something…sweet. It was very familiar, yet not something I could recognize easily. When I got to my bed and sat down I saw a piece of paper, folded laying on top of my night stand. I can't imagine Charlie leaving me a note, but couldn't think of anyone else that might have been here. Curiously, I quickly pick up the note and read:
" I've come back for you. When Charlie is sleeping, open your window."
Oh, God. It's impossible. He's come back for me. Edward has returned for me, finally! With that I sat around impatiently waiting to hear Charlie's snoring. Finally, what seems like hours later I heard him. I ran to the bathroom and quickly yanked my brush through my tangled hair and put on my cute cotton pajamas. I walked back into my room and closed the door. I stood back against the door, trying to slow my breathing and my heart rate. I bet he can hear it from wherever he is right now. I quickly walk over to the window and throw it up before I could have a heart attack. Nothing. So I waited. Five minutes, ten minutes fifteen minutes and when it had been almost 20 minutes, I heard something. Had I not been listening closely in complete silence I would have missed it. But it was him, he was finally here. That's when I saw the flames. The bright orange hair, that could only be a horrible nightmare. Is this really happening? This is it. She's come to kill me. Victoria.
"Hello sweet Bella," She said in her baby-like voice. I couldn't breathe. My heart had stopped beating as soon as I heard her voice, I could only stare.
"It's been too long, Bella." Said the flames. "I've been waiting for the right moment, and now, just feels right, don't you think?" I couldn't control the fire of words that rushed from my mouth in that instant, "Just kill me already then! What else do I have to lose?? You would be doing me a favor!"
"Ah, Bella. I don't want to kill you, Darling. I simply want revenge for what your dear Edward did to my James. Now Edward has left you unprotected and you have nothing left to save you."
"Then what do you want Victoria? If not to kill me, what revenge do you seek?" I spat. "Dear Bella, you will soon find out. Now is daddy safely sleeping then?" "Leave Charlie out of this! He has nothing to do with it!"- "I suppose you're right, however, after I take care of you, I can't very well leave him alive." She said with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. I could feel my stomach rolling with the nausea. She was going to…'take care' of me and then kill Charlie, and there was nothing I could do about it at all. I could only hope that it would be quick for Charlie, that he wouldn't have time to feel anything. I can't believe this is happening. I hate Edward for leaving me here. For letting this happen. I will hate him for as long as possible.
Victoria then started edging closer to me and even though I know it's useless, I back away, matching her steps. When she finally reached me, she put her hand on my throat and her lips to my ear and asked, "Is there anything you would like to say, for your little Alice to see?"
"Yes, I would like to say to ALL of the Cullens, I hate you. I hate you for leaving me and I hate you most of all Edward Cullen. You tore a hole in my chest and I've never been able to fill it. Now, I never will. I loved you, and this is what you left me for, if you even get this message."-"Alice probably won't even see. If she would have known you were coming here, she would have come back, she's not looking for me anymore. Just get it over with." With that she looked at me one more time and smiled. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, ready for what ever was about to come to me, then I felt it, and I knew.
I felt her razor sharp teeth sink into my skin and felt the blood running down my neck. So she is going to kill me. Why didn't she just say that in the first place? After about thirty seconds she released her hold on me and yanked her mouth away from my throat. With my blood streaming from her lips she smiled the most evil smile I've ever seen and probably will ever see. And that was the last image in my mind when I collapsed. I fell to the floor and was both conscious and unconscious. I felt the burn first in my neck and I could feel it quickly running through the rest of my veins into my blood. This was her punishment. I should have known. Death for me, would have been too easy. Instead she was going to make me suffer in pain, without Edward for the rest of my existence. Then it hit me harder. The burning was excruciating. I couldn't feel anything else. I couldn't feel the rest of my body…I could only hear my own mind. I blacked out, and when I woke up again the burn was a hundred times worse and I was in his meadow. How did I get here. Why would I be here. Am I dreaming again. No, the burning is evidence of that. A dream could never hurt this much. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth determined to black out again and hopefully when I woke up next time the fire would be gone. How long had this been going on. It felt like days, weeks maybe. Who knew. Oh, God. Charlie. Just when I thought I couldn't endure anymore pain, it suddenly got worse. Charlie, my dad. He was dead. I knew he was. I could feel that over anything else. I can't believe this. Then I blacked out.
I could feel myself waking up, but I couldn't open my eyes. I was scared. Where was I? Why do I feel so weird? I could tell it was night time, but that was about all I knew. I took a deep breath, knowing I couldn't lay here forever, and I opened my eyes. I was in a meadow. It was dark and although it looked cold, I felt….warm. Not like I should only wearing jeans and a t-shirt in September, in Forks never-the-less. I sat up and looked around, taking in all the sights and strange smells around me. That's when I knew what had happened. The burn in my throat, the sight, the smell. There could only be one thing. I am immortal, a vampire. First, I have to hunt. The rest, I'll figure out later. I have no idea how to hunt, or what to look for, or even how to go about looking for anything.
I thought about standing up, and as quickly as I had thought it I was standing straight up, waiting for my next move. This was pretty cool. I took a step forward and felt pretty sure of it, so I took a few more, faster and faster, until I was running. I was running faster than I have ever even driven. Amazing, so this is what it's like. Now to find something to quench this thirst. As I was running through the forests I picked up a scent. It wasn't very sweet, and had an almost woodsy smell to it, but then I heard a heart beat and I could hear blood pumping through the veins of some animal that was about to be my first meal. As I moved closer, it started to smell a little better, not good, but hot and wet. Finally I saw what I was after a large bull elk standing at a stream. Then again as quickly as I could even think it I was soaring through the air launching myself onto it's back. The elk tried to get away but I quickly sank my new sharp teeth into the large throbbing vein in it's neck. The blood was hot and felt amazing running down my scorching throat. After I was done with that one, I found another, and another, even to my surprise a mountain lion. It's blood tasted much sweeter. After I'd drank as much as I could I went back to the meadow I woke up in and sat beside a large evergreen. It dawned on me that this day would never end, and though I didn't feel physically tired, I didn't know how to go about this new life or mine. I felt drained for the moment, yet I still had tons of energy.
Then as I sat there I started to remember things from my human life, I could only assume. I could remember my father and my mother. Then I started to remember him. I started remembering Edward. I could see him. Telling me he loved me. I could see Alice and Jasper, all of the Cullens. My other family. I sucked in a sharp, ragged breath, that brought no relief, when I realized, remembered, rather what had happened two years earlier. They left me. I had no idea where they were. Then another realization hit me, hard. So hard that if I could have I would have been sick. Charlie. He's dead. I got up and I ran towards what used to be my house as fast as I could.
When I got there it was pitch black and there was bright yellow tape around the entire front yard. 'POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS' repeated along the tape. Then I knew it was true. I wasn't imagining things. He's gone, he's dead. I ducked under the tape and went into my old front yard. The door was locked so I lifted the door mat for the hidden key. It was gone, they must have taken it. I grabbed the door knob and gave the door a firm push and popped it open. When I entered the house it was empty and there were a lot of different smells. But there was one in particular that caught me off guard and essentially hit me in the chest with brute force, even for me, now. It could only be human blood. Charlie's blood. I ran up stairs and looked to Charlie's room. The door was closed, so I walked up and turned the knob to open the door. When it opened the scent was even stronger and made my throat burn like there was a war of fire battling inside of it. I saw Charlie's bed, covered in his blood, and I almost lost my mind. She couldn't have made it quick and painless. She had to hurt him. That bitch! I would have shed a thousand tears in that second if I could. All I could feel inside me was rage, sadness, emptiness, nothing. It felt as though my body was being ripped apart inch by inch, yet I was still physically, whole. I knew what I had to do. I had to find her. I have to kill her. She will pay for what she did to me and to my father. I sat in the floor of my father's room, shaking with dry sobs for hours. Thinking about how I was going to find her. How I would end her for good.
It has been about a month since I found Charlie's house, and his room and learned what had happened to him. I have been trailing Victoria ever since then. I'm very close to her now. I can sense her and I can smell her scent, it's very fresh, which means I'm very close. It's dark now I have no idea what state or even what country I'm in. I'll worry about those details later. I can hear her now. I can hear her breathing. Only about a hundred feet away from me now. I keep gaining on her running as fast as I can and the time for her death is nearly here.
Then I see her, about 30 feet in front of me. How can she not know I'm here. She's just standing, very nonchalantly. If she knew I was here she would be running or acting defensive. She isn't. She has no idea that I'm here or how close I am to killing her. This must be my gift. My shield. This is great. She'll never see me coming. With that she's only about 5 feet from me now. Right in front of me with her back to me. "Hello Victoria," She spun around as fast as she could, but continued looking past me. She can't even see me. This is going to be too easy. "Who's there?" she growled. Spinning, looking, and waiting to see she had found the most elusive of vampires.
"Say goodbye, Victoria. It's over for you" She spun again, away from me this time. Just as she started to run I jumped at her. Landing on her back and holding her with all of my newborn strength I tried to let myself be seen, and smelled. It worked. When she saw me, the look in her eyes was pure fear. She knew it was over. She just snarled and growled at me right before I released her body long enough to rip her head away from the rest of her. Her body fell to the ground and I tossed her head aside to work on the rest of her.
Victoria is dead. Never to hurt anyone again. And I am alone. Forever, I always will be.