Metamorphosis

Summary: A collection of one shots describing the transformation from human to vampire of some of the secondary Twilight characters.

Tanya

Circa 1099 A.D.

Tanya let go of the slackened hand that she held between both of hers. Carefully, she drew the threadbare blanket up to his chin and closed her father's lifeless eyes, gently placing one last kiss to his forehead. Crossing the room slowly, she stopped at the door. Looking over her shoulder, Tanya took in the sight of the man who raised her, lying in his final sleep, one final time.

"God rest your soul, my Otec." Turning her face away, she shut the ragged door solemnly. She frowned as she regarded the aged wood. The changing of the seasons over the years had warped the slats, and now the bitter wind passed easily through the planks. Shivering, Tanya pulled her worn woolen shawl more tightly around her shoulders and made her way to the main room of their cabin.

The three-room shack was not much to speak of, but it had been her home for as long as she could remember. The main room had a small sitting area, but it was mostly used to cook. Near the window, there were two wooden stools that offered little comfort. They were rarely used, as she and her father were too busy with the upkeep of the land to have much time for rest. A simple dining table, crafted from the firs surrounding their land, took up most of the space - she and her father would drag the stools over to it when it was meal time. There was a large cauldron and a pile of coals beside it - Tanya and Otec regularly ate stews made from the root vegetables they grew and the unwanted cuts of meat usually discarded by the town butcher. Two bedrooms branched off of the main room - the larger one was where her father lay, growing colder by the minute. The smaller room was Tanya's, furnished only with her straw cot and her dressing chest. The declining state of the structure offered little comfort, and the dirt floors were freezing in winter, but it was home. A place filled with the love and security her Otec had always provided. Now the old, ramshackle cabin had never felt so small.

Tanya was totally alone. She had no siblings; her mother died when she was young. Her mother's sister, Aunt Sasha, teta, would come around a lot, and she had been like a second mother to Tanya. But she had disappeared nearly 8 years ago. No one ever found her, so it was assumed that she was dead, either by a wild animal, or from exposure, as it had been wintertime when she went missing.

Since Sasha's disappearance, it had only been Tanya and her Otec. They were tucked away on a small plot of land, with few neighbors. Tanya's father had been stricken ill some years before, and so it fell to Tanya to care for the crops and run the household. She had no time to meet men. She had dated one man for a time, but the demands of her father got in the way, and the man moved on to another, more available, woman. She was twenty now, and was considered an 'old maid' in the village, so it was unlikely she would ever marry.

Now her father was dead, and she was alone in the world. She should sleep - in the morning, she would have to dig a grave for Otec, and it would be an arduous task, as the ground was still half-frozen from the cold winter. But she couldn't wrap her mind around the concept of sleep, not when Otec lay on the straw bed in the other room, his body rapidly cooling and stiffening in the aftermath of death. Tanya wished she had someone, anyone to help her place him in the earth. And then what? She had no one to turn to, and little experience with anything other than farm life.

She walked into the sitting area, and took her rest on a stool by the window. Sighing heavily, she peered out into the darkness of the night. Amid the trees, a few hundred yards from her home, Tanya thought she saw the figure of a woman. The long, flowing blond hair was familiar to her, although her pale skin seemed to glow ethereally. Aunt Sasha. Teta. She looked like an angel.

Tanya blinked, and the apparition was gone. Her eyes searched the trees, scanned the fields, but there was no sign of Sasha. Her heart was racing. She was certain she had just seen the ghost of her teta. Perhaps she was coming to usher her Otec's soul into death.

And then, Tanya felt a whoosh of cool air behind her. She scrambled to her feet and whirled around on her heel, stumbling backward and upending the stool, alarmed and awed at the same time.

Sasha stood before her. She was not, in fact, a specter. Her skin was the palest white, as a ghost's might be, but her body was not a mist. She looked hard - solid, like stone. And she was beautiful. She had not been ugly before by any means. But now, every feature was perfect and symmetrical and somehow magical. In fact, she looked no older than she had when she went missing all those years ago. Entrancing.

Tanya finally met the woman's eyes and recoiled in fear. Blood-red, that of a demon. She began to hyperventilate. A demon had stolen her teta's body and come from Hell to take her Otec's soul, and likely Tanya's soul as well. She cowered in the corner as Sasha came closer, slowly, but with an unearthly fluidity.

"Do not fear me, draha." Her voice was like a tinkling bell. Although she was afraid, the sound soothed Tanya. Before Tanya could register the movement, Sasha was kneeling beside her. Tanya turned her face to meet Sasha's eyes, and behind the mask of red, she saw the woman she knew and loved.

"Draha, I've come back for you," Sasha explained calmly. "I wanted to come for you a long time ago, but your Otec needed you. Now that he is gone, you are free to come with me."

Tanya's voice was shaking as she asked, "Come with you where?"

Sasha rose and offered her hand to help Tanya to her feet. "Don't worry about that. I will take good care of you, like I always did."

Tanya knew something had happened to Sasha, something very strange. But she loved her teta. She missed her, and she trusted her. Besides, where else would she go? Tanya nodded and accepted her hand. She flinched a little at the icy temperature, but she did not pull away.

With Tanya's hand in hers, Sasha swiftly pulled Tanya flush with her body in a fluid motion, startling the girl. Her nose trailed up Tanya's neck, breathing in deeply. Tanya registered that her teta was sniffing her, and it made her apprehensive. Instinctively, she tried to push Sasha away, but her meager strength was nothing compared to the steely cage of her teta's arms around her body.

Tanya's confusion was replaced by a paralyzing fear as she felt teeth press against the pulsing artery in her neck. Again, she tried to struggle away, but Sasha's grip was too strong. Tanya was trapped. Her heart raced and her chest heaved.

She thought she heard Sasha whisper 'I'm sorry' before teeth tore into the flesh of her neck, and an excruciating pain began to spread through Tanya's bloodstream.

Slovak translations

Papa - otec

My dear - draha

Aunt - teta