In a ballet studio in Phoenix, Arizona, nobody would think anything out of the ordinary, apart from beginner children learning the art of ballet dancing. However, no one would have thought a girl no older than seventeen would almost be killed by a psycho, and that psycho being that someone would have thought to be a myth; vampire.
Inside the studio, the teenager that went by the name of Bella Swan, was running frantically from the psychotic vampire, who only smirked at her fruitless attempts of reaching the doors. Bella took a second to look behind her to see if the vampire was following her, but he wasn't there. A little confused and relieved, she turned back around and froze; there was the vampire, less than a metre away from her, standing with a feral grin. Before she had the chance to start running once more, he reached out, grabbed her by the throat and threw her away in a blink of an eye. She flew backwards until she hit a wall of mirrors, her head snapping back and smacking against the surface; hard enough to split her scalp open. She landed on the ground in a heap, a dazed look in her eyes, her face scrunched up in pain as she felt her warm blood flowing down into the back of her shirt.
A chuckle from the vampire made her head turn, which made her head throb even more, and she felt terrified when she noticed the predatorial gaze he gave her; it was apparent that he smelt her blood, if the black eyes were anything to go by. He tilted his head slightly with a smile and held up the camcorder he had been using to record her torture for the past ten minutes.
"Tell me, Bella, what would you rate the pain you are currently in, hm?" he asked in a breathy tone, sounding rather innocent. Bella only gritted her teeth and didn't reply. This response wasn't good enough for him, though, so he calmly walked forward and crouched beside the girl's legs; her legs were sprawled in front of her due to her landing after her flight. He rested a hand on her leg as he maneuvered the camera to her face and, before she could comprehend the situation caused by the loss of blood, he squeezed tightly, and grinned maniacally when he heard a loud crunch. After a second, the rush of agonizing pain flooded throughout her body and hazy mind, screaming and tears rolling down her face.
The vampire continued to grin, the venom pooling in his mouth from the delicious scent of her fresh blood beginning to pool under her. Oh, his control was wavering and it wouldn't be long until he could taste it. Her screaming was annoying but he was more focused on imagining her mouth-watering blood moving down his throat, tasting like sweet heaven and filling his body to the brim.
He was so caught up in his wild imagination that he didn't notice a small shape heading towards him at an incredibly fast rate until it was too late. He felt the breath being knocked out of his lungs and the short feeling of flight before ramming into a wall, destroying plaster and wood. After lying on the rubble, downed, for a second, he pulled himself to his feet and growled at the figure that stood in his way of his meal, annoyed.
However, he tilted his head at this stranger; with his advance eyesight, he could easily see his feed's saviour was a girl, who looked no older than sixteen. She had long black hair that went down to her waist, and her eyes were a sapphire blue, which were narrowed in a heated glare, straight at him. He was confused; this girl couldn't have knocked him through a wall without receiving heavy damage to herself, she was tiny, barely standing to his chest at 5"1' and, sniffing at the air, ignoring his meal's appetizing smell, she wasn't a vampire; she was human, or seemed human. The want of knowing who or what this girl was hard to take no notice of, so he took a step forward.
"Stay away." He blinked, staring at the girl once again. She was extremely tense, he noticed, her stance was stiff and her shoulders straight. Yet, he could hear her heart beating fast; whether she didn't want him near her or his dinner, he did not know, but he paid no heed to her warning.
"I said: Stay. Away." Her voice was forceful. Her hands were curled into fists and her glare was twice as strong than before; he looked closely and saw a hint of red building up in the middle of her pupil. She was amusing, he thought to himself, and he decided he would humour her. For now.
"And why should I?" he asked. Her gaze steeled and with his heightened eyesight he saw the hairs on her arms prickle.
"I don't know what you are," he looked somewhat surprised at her deduction, but she continued, "but you will not hurt her anymore." He could hear the strength in her voice, and it made his interest in her double.
They just stared at each other and it was then he noticed his meal wasn't screaming blue murder anymore. He diverted his eyes to the crumpled teen who was staring at his temporary opponent with a relieved look with dazed eyes.
"Lettie," she whispered, almost inaudibly, but the younger girl could, somehow, hear it and turned her head. 'Lettie' gave her a small yet happy smile, and this distraction was all that the vampire needed. He sped toward her in a blur and rammed into her; the force of his body hitting hers caused her to crash into a pillar. He smirked; he now has two humans he can feed off tonight. However, his smirked faltered when she got up, the concrete rubble and dust sliding off of her, with not a single cut or bruise to be seen. She snapped her gaze to his, an intense hatred being filled to the brim, and she almost seemed to disappear from his sight, if it weren't for his advanced senses. He felt a sudden punch to his gut and, for a quick second, his body curled around the girl's fist before he soared back and skidded into the wooden floorboards for a few metres, splinters and wood fragments flying everywhere.
If it wasn't for Lettie, Bella would've been hit with the wooden projectiles. The girl had stood in front of her, flicking each fragment away when they got too close for comfort, like one would do to flies on a hot day. Not wasting one minute, James, the vampire tracker, got up and raced towards Lettie. She mimicked him, zooming across the floor and they collided in the middle. The sound of their collision wasn't as loud as when two vampires do, because of their granite skin, but it was still audible to Bella's human ears. They both ricocheted off the other, bouncing back and destroyed the floor even more; digging their feet into the wood to gain traction before moving towards each other once again.
Bella's vision of the two battling blurred every now and then due to her blood loss, but was adamant to see if Lettie would win. She continued to watch as they dealt blow after blow at speeds too great for the human eye, twitching whenever the girl was hit rather hard. She jumped, however, when a cold hand rested on her shoulder. It's Edward, she thought, as she watched his face turn into that of confusion and hatred while he spectated the fight. He only watched for a moment before he turned to Bella, his eyes tearing up with venom when he saw the fatal injuries on her body, and then looking into her eyes, his hand caressing her face ever so gently. Bella gave him a tiny smile, leaning into his hand and breathing a small sigh of relief, knowing her love is here with her.
Looking back at the fight, they watched with belated breath as Lettie caught James' fist with her hand and, with her other hand, punched him away, causing him to skid once more. She turned to Bella to see how she was holding up and had to do a double-take; another vampire was right by her side. Why didn't she call out for help? Lettie began to stride over to their side, ready to get Bella to safety, but was knocked off her feet when she was speed-tackled by James. He landed on top of her, straddling her small waist and, with one hand wrapped around her petite neck, began to hit her repeatedly in the face.
He was extremely frustrated; why isn't she bleeding already? Scratch that; why isn't she dead? His blows became more vigorous, his teeth bared in an almost feral grin, hoping to hear a crunch or crack of her skull breaking.
She was out of choices; his hand was clenched so tightly around her neck, blocking her airways, it was difficult to muster up the strength she needed to push him off, and he wouldn't stop his onslaught of punches. Growling, her eyelids took on a red glow as she clamped her eyes shut. Then she quickly snapped open her eyes and two bright red beams of light shot out of her eyes, hitting James squarely in the chest. The reaction was instantaneous; eyes wide, James shouted in surprise and pain as they – lasers? – burned into his skin. He immediately released his hold on Lettie and rushed off her, covering his burnt, sizzling skin in an attempt to sooth it.
Lettie got to her feet with her eyes clenched tight until the beams died down to nothing and, when she opened her eyes once again, leaving her eyes as they normally were. She was deciding whether to attack him while he was down, even though to her it sounded terrible and against her morals, or not when the other vampire beside Bella cried out the said girl's name in horror. Snapping her head towards them, she noticed what had him screaming; Bella was almost unconscious from blood loss, her eyes fighting a practically losing battle by staying awake. Lettie wasn't sure if she should help her or finish off James; her want to help the girl was greater than the vampire's demise, but she didn't want him to have a second chance at murdering Bella.
However, she did notice four people jumping down from the second floor balcony as James recovered, looking ready to pummel Lettie to the ground as he did before. Unfortunately for them and Lettie, he rushed to her, a ferocious snarl leaving his throat that sent chills down her spine, but she readied herself and, as he was less than a foot away, she sent her strongest punch yet towards his chest.
Everyone in close proximity would have been knocked off their feet by the wave that occurred from the blow, and the sound was deafening to both vampire and human ears. Mirrors and windows alike rattled, though some that were closer to the two shattered, and people outside the vicinity could only wonder what the sound was and what made it. The wooden floor underneath their feet cracked from the unrelenting force and an outline of a crater formed. For James, though, the girl's fist felt like swords and knives piercing through his chest, and his whole body was aflame. Though only for a second; he was then catapulted backwards, crashing into the back wall; luckily the others had time to move out of the way of the flying vampire.
Nearly everybody held a look of disbelief, amazement and a little fear as they looked back and forth from James and Lettie. But a pain-filled groan from the wall had everyone's necks snapping to the noise; Lettie just narrowed her eyes. He was struggling to stand, even to move a finger ached.
Lettie's mouth twitched; she knew it would be a while for him to get up from that hit, she's surprised the blow didn't kill him, since it would've done to anyone else. She turned on the spot and moved to Bella, who was practically swimming in her own blood by now; a worried look plastered on her face. The man next to Bella glared at her, and she could hear an almost inaudible growl rumble in his chest, and he scooted closer to her, as if he was protecting her from Lettie. She held back an eye roll and watched as Bella shakily raised a hand and rested it on Edward's chest; he immediately turned his head to her and covered her hand with his own.
"'S okay, Edward," she mumbled tiredly, blinking rapidly, "she's okay." Edward frowned and looked up at Lettie and down at Bella again before giving a miniscule nod. Lettie walked the rest of the way, as she had stopped when he began growling, and crouched on Bella's vacant side. Ignoring the man for now, she looked at Bella's face and smiled worriedly.
"Hey, Izzy," she greeted softly, holding Bella's hand gently. Edward gave her a confused look.
"Hey Let'," she slurred, giving an almost drunken smile. The man opposite her snarled quietly.
"How're you holding up?" she asked absentmindedly, as she looked over the girl's body. No one knew she was looking at her bones to see if any were fractured; x-ray vision came real handy.
"You kno', a bi' sore an' all." Her words were becoming even more slurred, never a good sign. The snap of wood was heard in the background and the smell of smoke began to waft throughout the room.
"She needs a doctor; Carlisle," Edward finally spoke up, staring at Bella's face. After a second, a cool breeze went over them and another man with blonde slicked-back hair joined the three with a briefcase.
"Her right tibia is broken almost in half and fractured in three other places and she has two small fractures in her fibula," Lettie concluded when she looked upon Bella's leg. Moving up near her head and disregarding the two astonished men, she looked over the girl's head. "Thankfully her skull only has minor fractures. You'll have a hell of a headache when this is over." A crack and scream filled the room; Lettie didn't look, believing the scream was enough to get her imagination running.
Carlisle cleared his throat. "I think it would be best if we leave now." After a moment, Edward nodded. Turning to Lettie, she too gave an affirmation.
Answers were needed; very, very soon.