Author Note: Here it is, my first chapter leading on from the one shot I posted not too long ago, which I suggest you read before you read this since it wont make much sense any other way, though in honesty it's probably not that hard to pick up. Basically this is my attempt at a Twilight/ Van Helsing crossover in which Bella is a Van Helsing and it is her (or it soon will be) job to hunt down monsters, this is set after my one shot and shows the repercussions of Bella's failed test. I hope that you like it, please enjoy :)
Disclaimer: obviously I don't own either Twilight or Van Helsing, so any ideas or quotes taken from either of them doesn't belong to me.
Finally, I dedicate this first chapter to Immortal Obsession, whose review of my one shot had me getting this done so much quicker. So thank you!
Chapter one
Sitting in the cab of my new rust coloured truck on what was a particularly wet and dismal Monday morning in the small town of Folks Washington, I tried to convince myself to put the truck in gear and head off in search of the high school. I just couldn't bring myself to do it though, I really, really didn't want to go there and despite what I had told Charlie, I was not okay with this. I had been home schooled practically my whole life, I didn't know what to expect outside of the high school picture the movies painted and I didn't know how accurate they actually were. So needless to say I was a bit nervous, the idea of being trapped in a small and confined space with countless other students, none of which I would know, was a version of my own personal hell, I was so unsocial it was unreal but what did you expect, I'd never had the opportunity or the need to socialise until now. Come on Bella, I urged internally, you've been through far worse things than this. What could a couple of high school students do compared to what you have faced? Make my school life into a form of cruel and unusual punishment that I would dread like a trip to the dentist every day for the next two years, I thought in answer to my own internal question.
Sighing loudly I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel and looked up at the building I would be calling home for an unspecified amount of time, it was alright, not too big and not too small, cosy and homely in a very traditional way, I had to admit that I liked it here. But still, it wasn't my home it was my Uncle Charlie's and I was just staying here while the rest of my family travelled. Just like I should be doing, I added irritably but dropped that train of thought since it wasn't going to lead me to a very good frame of mind, though it might trip me into actually pulling out of the drive.
Charlie Swan, police chief in this tiny town, was my uncle on my mother's side and had kindly agreed to take me in while my family went off on their big adventure and I retrained for my second go at my entrance test. A pointless exercise since I was more than capable of being part of the Order right now and would have been had someone not interfered during my test, not that that mattered to the examiners of course. Anyway Uncle Charlie, who had loaned me his name in addition to his house as my dad didn't think it was safe for me to apply at school with my real name Isabella Van Helsing, had been kinda worried about me this morning before he left for work. Though he never showed his concern for more than a second of course. Charlie was just like me, the Swans had been monster killers too only he had given the job up in favour of a quiet life, and one of the very first things they teach you in training is how to divorce yourself from your emotions, a necessity really when you thought about it since it was hard to kill someone in cold blood if you had a conscience. Something both me, my brother and my mother (who gave us that gene) had difficulty with, it's also something that never truly left you and consequently Charlie wasn't good with emotions.
Now would probably be a good time to explain since surely by now alarm bells are ringing in-between your ears, killing people and monsters? It doesn't sound too good I know, but that's my life. As I already mentioned, my name is Isabella Marie Van Helsing, the youngest surviving child of the Van Helsing bloodline and next in line to enter into the family occupation, monster killing. It was never a choice, it was just expected that this was the path I would follow and it's the one I've been on ever since I was old enough to walk, which was pretty much when my training began. I had never really fought against this way of life either, why would I when it was all I had ever known? It was the norm to me and for the most part I accepted it, just not the killing, I had too much of a conscience to stomach that and unlike many people in my some-day profession I choice to bring my marks back to the Holy Order (when they let me go out with other more seasoned hunters) alive, which was what they asked us to do anyway, some of us just got too carried away in our hatred or else the monster was too tricky to bring in alive. I didn't necessarily like what I was going to do with my life but choosing not to kill meant that I could stomach it and accepted it more easily. However getting into the Order had been very important to me on a very personal level, that mission had been my goal for years now and I had just had my chance to reach that goal snatched away from me by some meddlesome bronze haired vamp. It had been a month or so now, but my failure still stung and my hate for the afore mentioned vamp had not diminished in anyway. It was his fault I was here right now, it was his fault I wasn't in the order and I wasn't helping my family when they needed me the most and for that I wasn't best pleased.
Basically that was my life in a nutshell, hunting, capturing, training, all leading up to the mission that I now was banned from going on and no, I wasn't bitter, not in the slightest.
Griping the steering wheel that much tighter I pushed aside that thought and instead began to think of Charlie again so that I would calm down a bit, I had perfected the art of putting a mask on in front of him. I had told my worried uncle, or as he would be called while ever I was here 'dad', that I would be fine and that I'd been in dozens of tougher situations than this and come out of them unscratched, but it had been all talk, I was terrified.
"That's it," I said aloud aiming for a strong tone but instead it came out meek and nothing but a whisper "I've had enough of this."
Taking a deep breath I threw my large red 'welcome home' gift (which I suspected was more of a 'so you didn't get into the Holy Order, oh well here's a car' gift) into reverse and backed off the driveway. Heading off down the street I found myself scanning the tree's surrounding me as I drove, keeping to a deeply running instinct that ensured that I was safe, though I didn't know what I thought I'd find lurking in the forests of Forks. Dangerous would be being with my father and my brother now tracking down our age old enemy to extract revenge, not driving though a diminutive town towards a couple hundred teenagers.
It didn't take me very long to find the school; in a town this size and at the speed I had been travelling (as fast as my truck would allow me to go anyway) I ought not to have been surprised. Pulling up in from of the first of several buildings on the campus I was relieved to find that all my vampire induced anger had left me in the wake of my speedy drive across down and I read the sign above the door that read 'front office'. Deciding this was where I needed to be I shut of the loud and rickety engine and got out of the truck, hitching my bag further up my shoulder I took one look at the bland industrial looking building, deciding that however much they tried to dress it up and make it seem friendly it still had the air of a prison about it, before walking up the little stone path lined with hedges and going inside.
The office was warm, not as warm or as comforting as my truck would have been but warm none the less, I looked around briefly at the small seated waiting area and potted plants before spotting the front desk I headed towards it. Behind the desk sat a red-haired woman with spectacles balanced on her nose as she read something balanced in her hands, a romance novel by the looks of it, probably not appreciating being disturbed the women noticed my presence and lowered the book.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"Erm, I'm Isabella Va…Swan," I said catching myself before I slipped up, knowing that introducing myself as Bella Swan was going to take some getting used to. Understanding swept across the red-head's face and she nodded in agreement, clearly I was expected, gossip having tipped her off to my arrival in town no doubt, the police chief's 'daughter' born out of state and out of passion, finally coming home. Or at least that's what everyone was saying.
"Of course," she said digging around in the drawers behind her desk for something as I wondered about my father's wisdom in sending me to live in a small town where even something as trivial as a new kid travelled the gossip lines like it was breaking news "here's your schedule and a map of the school." She said brightly as she found what she was looking for and handed it to me, before helpfully explaining the map to me (not that I needed help there) and going through each of my classes with me. She also gave me a slip to have all my teachers sign and to bring back to her at the end of the day.
My chat with the school receptionist mercifully killed some time and when it came to me saying bye and thanks to her and heading out of the office again, the distant student car park was filling up fast.
Hoping back into my truck I paused for a second in front of the office, taking the time to gather all my questionable courage before dropping my bag onto the seat next to me and taking a deep breath. I would get through this, I told myself as I gripped the steering wheel nervously, I would get through this and when I got home tonight Nick would ring me about any progress he and dad had made on the mission, they had been out there two weeks now surely they must have made some. Encouraged by the thought of speaking to my brother again I noisily started up the truck and drove until I joined the queue of traffic trying to find a space in the student lot. Absentmindedly scanning the car park any worry that I might get ribbed for driving this rusty (but obviously amazing) old dinosaur vanished, clearly Folks wasn't a very wealthy town and I could tell that my truck would fit in nicely. The most expensive looking car here being a shiny silver Volvo and I parked as far away from that as I could.
Deciding to linger in my truck for a little while longer, sooner that than aimlessly wandering around campus until the bell rang, I pulled the map the receptionist had given me from my bag and worked on committing it to memory, not a difficult task for a Van Helsing child to do and so when I came to get out of the truck a few minutes later I felt confident that I knew my way around the school. Pulling an umbrella out of my bag, preferring it to using my hood when I wasn't on a mission just to separate the two out a bit, I opened it up to intercept the rain that was now falling from the sky and praying that the wind wouldn't suddenly become strong and blow it inside out or something I set off for my first class of the day. I reached English only slightly late and although the entire class sat and gawked at me as I handed the teacher my slip I was pleased that I was late, it meant that no one had the opportunity to strike up conversation with me and I was safe for another hour or so. Reaching my seat at the back of the room I made as little noise as I could and attempted to fade into the background, not that that stopped anyone from staring at me of course. Seeing my obvious discomfort the teacher cleared his throat and a few sets of the intense staring eyes left me, I could tell that this was going to be fun.
I shifted and tried my best to ignore the nosy kids and listen to what was being said at the front of the class, but it was hard, all the staring coupled with how trapped I felt right now, since I was used to the freedom of the hunt or else to release of training and not the stifling rules of school, made for an unsettled mind. However I did manage to hear some of what was being said, like how according to my English teacher we would be studying Bam Stokers Dracula in class for the next few months, something I found particularly amusing given my family profession. Snickering in what was almost contentment I vowed to reread my own copy soon just to refresh my memory, maybe, I mused idly as I absentmindedly listened to the Dracula lecture and did my best to push aside the sense of claustrophobia, normal school wouldn't be as hard as I thought.
However I had forgotten to include the students in that assumption and they soon sought to rectify that. As I somewhat hastily gathered up my books and stuff so that I could leave English I was suddenly aware of footsteps heading in my direction, keeping to what I was doing until a shadow fell across my table I looked up innocently to find a tall boy standing there, he had black hair that was slicked back and if his complexion was anything to go by, skin problems. His breathing was also slightly laboured and he had a look in his eye that was far too eager for my peace of mind or comprehension, but he seemed like a nice guy nonetheless.
"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" he asked in a nasally voice his expression going for casually eager but only managing to hit the latter one, I assessed him quickly in terms of danger and found that there was none.
"Yeah," I admitted awkwardly thinking it felt odd to be addressed like that "but I prefer Bella." several students around me turned to look at us then, clearly marvelling that the new girl could speak, trying not to blush and failing miserably I wished that my dad had encouraged social interaction more because I was at a loss as to what to do next.
"Okay, where's your next class?" the kid asked, oblivious to the stairs of others and focusing only on me in an unnerving fashion.
"Government, with Jefferson in building six." I replied without having to check my timetable, having learnt it already. That caused a few mutters from those around me and I felt awkward and just wanted to get away, thinking I had just given them ammunition, how sad did I look, I had memorised my timetable. Big fearless monster hunter is afraid of teenagers, yeah I know, pathetic.
Significantly more people were watching now and I fought back the urge to scowl at them, didn't they have lessons to go to, did they really have nothing better to do than sit here and listen to me play twenty questions with this guy?
"I'm heading to building four, I'll show you the way," he offered and as I opened my mouth to tell him that that wasn't necessary and I knew where to go already thanks to the map, he held up his hand to stop me "it's no problem, really. I'm Eric by the way."
Disheartened and not really wanting to walk to class with company I simply nodded knowing that I should be glad that someone at least wanted to talk to me, especially after my pathetic disclosure just then. I wasn't though, glad I mean, I only wanted this day to be over with and quickly. "Thanks," I said working to make my voice sound sincere so that I wouldn't hurt his feelings.
Heading out of the classroom with Eric along side I was well aware of how several students made sure that they walked just within hearing distance, my instincts flaring as they got too close for my hunter instinct's peace of mind. Reminding myself that I wasn't hunting right now and that I was safe I forced myself to drop it, they were just nosy, that was all.
"So, this is a lot different from Phoenix, huh?" Eric asked suddenly startling me and causing my head to snap round to look at him.
"Err, I'm sorry, what?" I asked blinking as I failed to understand what he was talking about; frowning in confusion of his own Eric looked at me like I was mad before explaining.
"Phoenix," he repeated and when I still didn't get what he was talking about he added "it's where you used to live, isn't it?"
"Oh," I said in understanding "err yeah, sorry I erm, wasn't paying attention." In truth I had forgotten, not that I was going to admit to that, that would lead to some awkward questions. I had never in my life lived in Phoenix, Van Helsings were always on the move never staying in one place for too long, however it was the story that I did live there with my 'mom' Renee who was really my aunt. Though related to me because she married (then divorced) Charlie, Renee and I were still pretty close, she had been like a mother to me all these years and I probably had an email from her waiting to be replied to on my computer back home.
"Is it different then, from Phoenix?" Eric prompted questioningly and I nodded.
"Very," I said thinking about what little I remembered Renee telling me about where she lived; it was sunny in Phoenix, right?
"Must be weird for you coming to live here then," he said. Not really, I thought thinking in terms of weather still since I was used to running around and living in woodsy areas where it rained a lot because those places were favourites for the creatures I hunted to hide in.
"It is," I answered since it was really different here from the life I had known, it was much more structured, less by the seat of your pants and infinitely more boring, my old exciting life was a million miles away from this dreary town and I was just going to have to get used to that.
Mercifully we arrived at building six before Eric could ask me yet another question, I was somewhat worried to find that he had walked me right to the door of my classroom walking right past his own to do so.
"Good luck," he said a little too cheerily "hopefully we'll have some other lessons together."
"Yeah," I replied in an awkward tone, not sure if having another class with Eric would be a good or bad thing, sure I would have someone to talk to (did I really want that though since I wasn't looking to make friends?) but would it be worth the headache? I wasn't looking to make friends; hopefully I wouldn't be here that long. Besides, my life was too dangerous to bring any innocents into, who knew when my next test would be made available or what kind of monster might pop up for me to deal with. It would be selfish of me to put someone else in danger like that, since just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time someone could get seriously hurt because of me. It was best not to risk it. Hesitantly I waved bye to Eric as he turned and headed back towards his own lesson, my next teacher wasn't here yet and folding my arms across my chest I joined the queue of students lined up by the door, trying to ignore the way the all stared at me and hoping that it wouldn't be like this all day even though I knew that it would.
The rest of the morning past in much the same way, dull lessons and increasingly familiar faces and fortunately only one of my teachers made me stand up and talk about myself, my trig teacher Mr. Varner who earned himself a few scowls from me for that. After making a massive pig's ear out of that by tripping on my way to my assigned desk and cursing my clumsiness internally, nothing much really happened. Nevertheless I was still glad when lunch rolled around, walking towards the canteen with a short, brown haired girl, who introduced herself as Jessica who was in both my Trigonometry and Spanish class and wouldn't take no for an answer when she asked if I wanted to sit with her and her friends at lunch. Listening to her chattering away beside me but not really taking in anything she said, which seemed not to be a problem since apparently she didn't need any input from me to keep the conversation going, I shifted at the uncomfortable sense of dread and anticipation that was building up in my stomach. A bad feeling niggled at me at I found myself reluctant to enter the canteen as we reached it, the instinctive urge to flee pulling me backwards.
Fighting against my impulses and trying to quell the feeling that something really bad waited for me on the other side of the doors, I followed Jessica into the canteen unable to help myself as I looked around for the source of my dread, oddly I found nothing that remotely resembled a threat amongst the chatting students. Relieved I followed Jessica to the lunch queue and selected a bowl of pasta and a bottle of apple juice for my lunch before heading towards a table with her, still warily scanning the room and thinking hard as I went. My instincts never flared like that for no good reason, glad as I was that there was nothing obviously threatening here I wouldn't be able to settle until I figured out what had tripped them.
Still in my own world and frowning ever so slightly I sat down at a table with Jessica and her friends, a few of which I recognised, and set my tray down in front of me, I smiled politely in acknowledgement as she introduced them all but wasn't listening well enough to remember their names.
"Are you alright?" a girl sat across from me asked, looking genuinely worried about me and cutting across the gossipy conversations the other students were having around me and the interested stares they kept giving me.
Snapping out of my trance I realised how stupid I must have looked, scanning the canteen like I expected a mad man to jump out from behind the vending machine, even if I didn't really want to make friends this wasn't the sort of impression I wanted to be giving off. Creepy Staring Girl was not a nickname I favoured.
"I'm fine," I said meeting the concerned girls face and smiling, well aware that once again everyone around me was listening to what I said "I just drifted off for a second there, that's all."
Satisfied everyone looked away, including the girl sat across from me who smiled a small smile before returning to her dinner, by the looks of it she wasn't bothered for conversation either. Glad of as much I started picking at my pasta I wasn't really hungry anymore thanks to my unnerved state, but I ate the cold pasta anyway, knowing I'd regret not eating later and telling myself to calm down, that there was nothing in Forks that I couldn't handle.
Smiling to myself as my nervousness settled down somewhat and I began to feel less on edge, see, I thought with a slight smile, it was all in your head, you were overly jumpy because you were going to school for the first time ever and it made you overreact. Look, even school wasn't as bad as you thought it would be. Convincing myself of this fact I started to feel more comfortable where I was, looking up as a toyed with my food with the intention of talking to someone suddenly froze, feeling the plastic fork slide from my fingers and my eyes go wide as I spotted them. Across the room, sitting down at a previously empty table were four New Generation (as in not like Dracula) vampires, the overcast weather in Forks meant that they had lost their characteristic sparkle but they were definitely vamps. Each one of them had unnaturally pale skin and, as far as I could tell from this distance, the weird gold eyes I had seen on only one other member of their kind, not to mention they were all strikingly beautiful the likes of which you would never get on a normal person. To your average person that might not be enough proof to decide that these teenagers were vampires, but I have been dealing with this my whole life and would stake my life on the fact that these four were members of the undead.
My instincts having been proved correct I watched the four vamps from across the room, fearing for the lives of every oblivious human in this school, they didn't have a clue that four murderous monsters sat within reaching distance of them. What were they doing in a school? I wondered as fear made me breathing accelerate and my chest rise and fall rapidly in time with each breath, this wasn't normal vampire behaviour, how were they able to just sit there like that and not act on their own instincts, instincts to kill? There were too many humans here, they shouldn't be able to stand it and nor should they want to, they were vampires for crying out loud!
Looks like little old Forks isn't so dull after all, I thought as I picked my plastic fork back up and frowned at the four vampires from across the lunch room, I was going to have to deal with this. I couldn't just let these vampires run rampant around Forks, I was willing to bet that if I did a little digging then I would find that there had been a whole string of unexpected deaths around here lately and that they were to blame, it would be irresponsible of me to leave them be and would go against everything I had ever been taught. But why hadn't Charlie told me about them? I wondered as I speared a slice of cucumber without letting my gaze drop from the vampires, he knew everyone in town and surely he would know what they were if he saw them. Confused and mildly angry that my lunch had been bothered by vampires but still excited by the prospect of a vampire capture I thought about what I would do, I'd have to talk to Charlie obviously, but how was I supposed to capture four vampires on my own? I had never been given a job this big before and I wasn't sure I could handle it, but I had to, I thought as an idea hit me, if I could bring all of these vamps to the Order by myself or with very little help they would have to let me into the Order on the spot, not to mention fly me out to wherever my brother and father were stationed. That would be perfect, I thought a now slightly mischievous grin on my face even though I was still frowning, I would come up with a way to turn them over to the Order and then I'd be able to help with the mission.
Revelling in what a gift this situation was and hoping that I could get this done fast before any more innocents lost their lives to these monsters, I hardly noticed Jessica watching me.
"What are you looking at?" she asked turning in her chair to face the direction I had been looking, humiliated that I had been caught staring across the room and hoping she hadn't been watching me for too long I immediately looked down "ohhhhh," she said in understanding "I'm not surprised, most people stare at them." She said with a laugh before turning back to look at me.
"Who are they?" I asked sitting up now so that I could take note of what she said, I might as well do some fishing now and get as much information on them as I could since I was going to have to act fast, besides, it wasn't like they would be able to hear me over the noise of the canteen. Not even vamp hearing could best the volumes excited teenage speak could reach.
"They," she said with a nod in the vampire group's direction "are the Cullens, the big dark haired guy is called Emmett and the black haired girl is called Alice, the two blonds are Jasper and Rosalie Hale and the guy that's not hear yet is called Edward Cullen."
"There's another one?" I asked feeling even more confused and slightly more worried, five vampires to bring in, greeeeeeeat, just what I needed, I thought as I looked at the four excessively beautiful vampires, thinking that it was odd for them to travel in such large numbers, I'd never known a coven of New Generation vampires larger than three.
"Er yeah," Jessica said thinking that that had been an odd question to ask, and in hindsight I suppose that it was, but right now I was thinking like a hunter not a teenager so I didn't care too much "there's five of them and they all live with Dr. and Mrs Cullen just outside of town." Even stranger, I mused as I observed them from over my lunch, six vampires living together in apparent harmony, I hadn't thought that possible.
"They keep to them selves then, do they? " I asked before seeing her confusion and adding "I just mean that they look a bit separate, if you don't mind me saying." I fished thinking that the vampires did seem very distant from where they sat alone but for each other, away from all the other students and without even looking at one and other as they stared in opposite directions. I was guessing that the human kids here avoided them, which was instinctive of course on some primal level to ensure their survival and perfectly normal, however these large coven of vampires with strange yellow eyes didn't make sense, and who knows, the humans could have taken to them.
"Yeah," Jessica agreed before adding on a somewhat scorned note "they don't bother taking to any of us, you do know they're all together right?" she asked me though there was no way that I could have known since I had just noticed them, but I didn't think that was the point, she a look in her eye that was almost as though she was conveying something critical to me and I wondered just how much fun she got from gossiping about others before deciding it was beneficial to me and dropping the thought "I mean together, together, as in seeing each other. Emmett and Rosalie, Jasper and Alice, even though they live together, its not right." She said her disgust obvious in her voice.
"Wait, aren't they related?" I asked momentarily confused before I realised that it was unlikely that they were all from the same bloodline given the sparseness with which vampires are turned.
"No," Jessica said with a slight giggle "they're adopted, Dr. and Mrs Cullen just look after them, and they're way too young to have kids of their own, anyway, the two Hales are the only ones that are actually related, they're twins I think."
I nodded along with Jessica's explanation, taking the term 'adopted' to mean, turned by the head vamp and taken into the coven. Also something else that Jessica said caught my attention, Dr. Cullen, as in a doctor looking after patients or a PHD doctor? Surely it had to be the latter since there was no way that a vampire could stand to be in that sort of situation or have the control to be able to do so, unless of course that was how they all got their blood fix, by picking off the weak ones. No, I decided, Dr Cullen had to be the other kind of doctor, like one with a degree in history or something; it had to be easy to get a degree in history when you'd lived though most of it. Dr. Cullen couldn't work in a hospital, it was weird for a vampire to even have a job let alone work in a hospital.
"Have they always lived here?" I asked, thinking it unlikely since vampires moved a lot, even the ones that put down roots couldn't stay in one place for too long lest their blood pool become wise to what they actually were.
"Not really, they moved down from Alaska like two years ago," Jessica said with a shrug, looks like they were still outsiders, I thought observing them again and finding that they were still sat there looking off in different directions, well that proved my theory, the humans hadn't accepted them "look," Jessica said nudging me and gesturing towards the canteen doors "here comes Edward now."
Thinking it best to know what I was up against I turned so that I was facing the canteen doors and scanned the crowds, finding no one in that area that would match the vampire description my eyes drifted to the lunch queue where I spotted the fifth vamp. He had his back to me but his characteristic pale skin was still evident at the back of his neck and on his hands as he selected his food, food which I knew he would never eat since blood was his only energy source. He was tall and lean, though his defined muscles were made more prominent next to the humans he stood beside but I was sure they were nothing compared to those of some of his kind, he was dressed for warmer weather than we were having in his grey T-shirt and tight black jeans that fitted him perfectly, causing me to forget momentarily what he was as I appreciated the snug fit. Shaking myself out of it I carried on observing him as he paid for his 'lunch' feeling my face go somewhat cold when I spotted the shock of bronze hair atop his head that looked far too familiar for my peace of mind, no I told myself as he picked up his tray, there could be more than one vampire with that colour hair, it didn't mean anything. However I felt like my heart had stopped beating in my chest when he turned around and I caught sight of his beautiful face, it was more than familiar, it was the face I saw every time I went to bed and thought about the mission I should have been on right now.
Feeling my heart rate pick up again I quickly turned away as fury assaulted my calm expression and I felt my hands ball into fists, it was the vampire, it was THE vampire, the one that had interfered turning my test and had meant that I wasn't with my father and brother right now! Calm down, I told myself as I started to consider the dagger I had hidden in my bag, made out of werewolf tooth, one of the few things that would pierce his hard flesh, don't do anything stupid Bella, you cant do anything yet you haven't thought this through. I wasn't happy though, staring down at my hands as my knuckles went white at the pressure I was applying all I wanted was to get a hold of that vampire and make him regret the day he snatched my revenge from me. But, I reasoned with myself, wouldn't it be so much better to capture him, don't compromise your morals over this one vile vamp, it would be so much more satisfying if you captured him and his coven so that you could hand him into the Order like you should have done the one he saved weeks ago. Considering that I felt a significant amount of my anger slip from me, though there was still enough left to make my blood boil, I liked that plan, it was so much more ironic, it seemed to fit.
"Edward's the only single one," Jessica added, oblivious to my brief inner rage as she turned away from the bronze haired vamp, Edward, and looked at me again, of course I could only hope that no one else had seen it either, but with all the unwanted attention I was getting that seemed unlikely. "but I wouldn't even waste my time if I were you, Edward doesn't date, he thinks he's God's gift or something, I don't know, but he obviously thinks he's too good for us." I didn't miss Jessica's use of the term 'us', herself included I was guessing, nor did I miss the irate tone she used. Wondering if Edward had knocked her back I looked, considerably calmer now, to observe the vampire coven.
"Don't worry," I said as I watched Edward sit back in his seat "I know his type." New Gen vamps were all the same, egotistical and brutal; I didn't think that he could dish out anything I wasn't prepared for.
I watched them, most specifically Edward the interfering vamp, for a few more moments, noticing how they had acquired a few human gestures that most vampires abandoned after being turned, practice to help them fit in maybe, so that they didn't look so abnormal, not that it helped very much they still looked out of place. However I must have started staring or something as Jessica started waving a hand in front of my face, as if to snap me out of a trance.
"Yoo, hoo, Bella, is anybody home?" she asked with a laugh at my staring and I blinked, smiled at her though I didn't appreciate the treatment and turned back to her.
Edward however, as though acting on some invisible cue, looked up and over in our direction then, confusion and questions in his gaze. Turning away from Jessica I met the vampires gaze for the second time, the first being in a forest in Germany when he had swiped my mark out from under my nose. If I was being honest with you, I was pretty frightened that he would recognise me even though all he had been able to see that day had been my eyes, but what with his vampire abilities and quick mind that might have been enough, however it appeared not as all he did was look at me in confusion, as though he couldn't figure something out. I wanted to turn away, not liking the prolonged eye contact and well aware of the blush working its way up my cheek, I was a naturally shy person outside of the training ring and I didn't like people so much, however I wasn't going to look away first and I forced myself to hold his steady gaze. Arching an eyebrow in question I waited for him to do something, he didn't though, he just carried on staring for a few brief moments before turning away and staring at the untouched food on his tray.
Feeling as though I had won some small battle I turned away as well, sitting a little taller in my chair because of that. Jessica shot me a questioning look and I shrugged, turning back to the main conversation going on, on our table but not about to get involved, I was too deep in thought for that. It seemed that I would have both of my revenges, firstly on Edward Cullen for keeping me out of the Order and from my birthright, and then secondly of the Old Generation vampire I would be hunting down with my father and Nick when I handed him and his coven over. I was just going to have to be smart about this, I thought as I toyed with my bottle of juice, I'd have to come up with some sort of plan and of course talk to Charlie about why the Cullens were left to wonder freely around Folks without him so much as batting an eyelid. I wasn't troubled though, I just had to keep Edward from recognising me and everything would be alright, I could do this, I thought smugly as I sat back in my chair and took a sip of juice, no problem. Maybe living in Folks wouldn't be so dull after all.
Author note: so there it was, chapter one, what did you think? I'd love to hear any thoughts so if you wouldn't mind please press that review button and let me know!
Also, I'd like to point out now that my updates for this might not be very regular, I simply could not resist uploading this now but since I already have two other fics that I'm currently working on this fic might not be updated as much as I would like, but we'll see what happens. Thanks for reading! :) x