The metallic smell of blood invaded her nostrils as she was tracking her prey, but it wasn't animal blood, it was human blood.
Vampires.
She herself was a vampire, the head of the local clan here in Forks, Washington, but th ones she smelled now were not her own. They were nomads; they drank from and killed humans, unlike her clan, which lived happily off of the blood of animals.
Following her nose she came across a disheveled camp site, looking around she noticed that much was in disarray-the tent had been flattened, the fire partially doused and food was strewn everywhere. She sniffed once and smelled the humans first, then the distinct smell of nomads.
But they weren't here. She honed her hearing to find voices but all that she heard were sobs of fear, then whimpering, followed by a scuffle.
She ran towards the sound at breakneck speed, determined to stop the nomads.
She was too late.
The scene before her was horror movie worthy.
There were three vampires standing, two of which were wiping blood from their mouths, the third was tossing a drained body on top of another drained body. Without looking at her, he spoke.
"find your own dinner, child" his voice was deep and dark, yet smooth. The wind whipped his hair which was pulled into a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck. He smelled like ice.
Her eyes moved to the last remaining human-a girl, no older than 18-on her knees with her head in her hands, sobbing. The wind blew her long blonde hair around her shoulders and the nomad took a deep breath, enjoying her terror and her scent.
"my name is Bella, Nomad, and you aren't to be hunting here." she spoke to the blonde one, the obvious leader of their small clan.
He turned to her, eyes black with thirst.
"No?" he snickered darkly, "Who says?"
"I do." Bella spoke with conviction. She swallowed the venom that pooled in her mouth and continued. "my clan and I live in this area and we quite like it, so I would appreciate it if you would leave the girl and be on your way."
He took a menacing step toward her, looking as if he was going to attack, when he turned to the human, and with his nails, cut her wrist open.
Her blood poured onto his hand and the forest floor under her. The wind chose that moment to blow again, sending the sweet smell of the girls blood to invade Bella's senses again. She felt her eyes dilate with hunger.
"Come on, Bella," the nomad whispered to her, licking his hand free of blood. "Human blood is so empowering, Bella. Free yourself from the inconsistency of feeding from pathetic animals. You know you want it."
She did want it, but she would never admit it, especially not to this monster.
"Leave the girl and get away from here." she growled as the venom dripped from her fangs.
"Not until she is drained." he said, his voice smug. He turned back to the girl, teeth barred, ready to feed.
Bella lifted her hands to him and with a twist of her fingers he went flying into the nearest tree, hitting it with a resonating thud. As he hit the ground, the tree cracked from the impact and fell on top of him.
The two bloodied nomads advanced towards her, but their fallen leader stopped them.
"STOP!" He barked, then said something in a language Bella had never heard. The bloodied vampires growled at her then turned to help their fallen leader, who was much too weak to lift the large oak off of him due to his interrupted meal.
After the tree was gone and he was on his feet, the nomad brushed himself off and stepped up to Bella.
"We will leave for now," He growled, "But know that this isn't over. I'll have her blood, followed by your immortal soul." He took a quick swipe at Bella, missing her face by only centimeters, and was gone with the speed of a vampire, leaving Bella and the bleeding girl alone in the forest.
Fighting the burning in her chest and the venom pooling around her tongue, Bella went to the distraught girl and kneeled in front of her.
"Are you okay?" her voice was tight, as if she were in pain.
And she was. It was excruciating.
And it got worse when the girl attacked her, throwing her arms around Bella's stone cold shoulders.
"Thank you so much!" She cried into Bella's neck, the sobs making her body shake miserably.
Bvella held her un-needed breath, not wanting to slip up and kill the girl herself.
Grabbing her arms firmly, but carefully, Bella pulled the girl off of her.
"We need to get you out of here." she said, looking around, trying to keep her mind off of the blood that now covered her sleeve and dotted her neck.
Bella realized that she would have to send someone to deal with the bodies later, but right now, her only priority was to help the frightened, bleeding girl.
Bella mustered up all the strength she could, and scooped the girl up into her arms and did the first thing that came to her mind.
She ran home.