The New Assignment
She was alone. She had always been alone. No matter how many parties she attended; no matter how many people fought to be in her presence; no matter how many boys threw themselves at her, she was alone.
This was not a new realization. In fact, it was more or less a routine with her when her thoughts had time to wander. By now the anger had faded over this fact. She no longer resented her situation, but neither did she fully accept it. Instead she glided down the middle, emotionally detached from everyone else. A fate Isabella Swan was unfortunately stuck with.
"Princess Swan?" a voice interjected through her thoughts.
"Yes professor?"
"Could you please name the five elements that run within royal blood?"
"Water, Earth, Air, Fire, and Spirit, sir."
"Correct," replied the teacher and continued on with the lecture.
Isabella Swan, or Bella as she was more commonly known, glanced around the room with her brown eyes and brown hair fanning out around her head as she turned. Some of the students, the guardians, were paying attention to the lecture, while others, the royals, snoozed through Professor's lesson. This was usually how it went at the Twilight Academy.
Twilight Academy was one of four very prestigious academies in the United States. This particular academy was located in the secluded wilderness of Forks, Washington. In order to be accepted into the school you had to fit into one of two different categories: a descendent from a royal family with magic flowing naturally through their blood or a vampire guardian sworn to learn the ways to protect the royals they guarded.
Princess Isabella Swan fit into the first category. The Swan dynasty was one of the most ancient and powerful royal families in the world, hence the 'Princess' title given to Bella. Of course, there were hundreds of other royal families but only ten of those families, ones that can be dated back thousands of years, were regarded and addressed as Bella was.
Bella, due to the importance of her family, was considered to be at the hub of all royal social interaction in the academy. Everyone wanted to get close to her, become her best friend, become her boyfriend, all with motive of using the royal perks or just following royal society procedure. Bella's life was filled with endless parties, incessant gossip, and free flowing alcohol not to mention rampant sex. And Bella didn't really enjoy any of it.
The bell rang and Bella slightly jumped in surprise, but quickly recovered and gathered her things to go her next class. She walked into the halls along and was lost in the crowd of students flowing out from each oak door. The torches that lit the way gave a comforting and cheery glow to what otherwise would be a dark stone interior. Bella continued on her way a little further until she felt two of her more sincere friends come to her side: Angela Weber, a tall, quiet girl with light brown hair and soft brown eyes, and Jessica Stanley, a more outgoing girl with dark curly hair. Both girls came from royal families as well and a little ways behind them were their guardians, Eric and Tyler. Eric was very tall with a poor complexion and hair as black as an oil slick, but was a grade A guardian. Tyler was tan and had brown hair and brown eyes. Bella found him to be a little headstrong, funny, and cocky which made him a fun friend for Bella to hang around. Overall, Bella liked both of them.
"Are you nervous Bella?" Jessica began.
"Nervous for what?" Bella answered.
"Getting assigned another new guardian today! Don't tell me you forgot!" Bella looked down sheepishly. She had forgotten. Even though a guardian was an integral part of a royal's life, it completely slipped her mind.
"Not really… kinda… sorta," Jessica gave her a knowing look, "alright I did."
"How could you forget! You haven't had anybody with you for a day now. If I were you I would be nervous as hell without one!"
"Well truthfully," Bella started, "I don't give a damn about having one near me."
"I think the whole school knows that one. At this point, you have driven away seven guardians, and the new guy today will probably be number eight," Angela stated.
It wasn't a malicious act, driving away the guardians, it was just something Bella couldn't help. A guardian was a vampire which possessed certain skills that allowed them to be a perfect guard for the precious royals of society. Every royal was assigned a guardian to protect them. In order for a guardian to effectively protect the royal, a close bond was needed. But, ever since the accident, Bella found it mentally impossible to let anyone become close to her. Every guardian she was assigned became frustrated at her lack to connect with them. Also, they found her nonchalant attitude about the situation and her sometimes bitchy moments to be a combination that no guardian, yet, could seem to endure.
Bella shrugged her shoulders. Guardians coming and going didn't really faze her, so the fact that a new one would enter her life today just equaled them leaving it within a few months.
The girls continued to chatter as they entered their next class. Unlike other classrooms, this one was made especially for the subject which was taught in the room, Physical Defense by Professor Sam Uley. The ceiling was built high with wooden arches for support. The stone was packed even closer together in the walls to make it sturdier. Windows, with tinted glass of course, were rimmed with hard metal and the glass was several inches thick. The front half of the room contained a usual classroom setting, desks and a chalkboard. The back half of the rooms was empty with black mats covering the floor, outlining it as the arena area of the room. The students went to their desks. Angela and Jessica both took seats in the middle, their guardians sat behind them.
At this academy, royals and their guardians took classes together. This ensured that both would have adequate information about one another in order to create a stronger, lasting bond.
Bella took her usual seat near the middle of the classroom next to her friends. There was also a vacant seat behind her where her guardian would sit. The class continued to talk until the professor walked in. Bella was looking down, sorting out her things, while the professor began to talk.
"Hello class. I would like to introduce to you a new guardian at the Twilight Academy. His name is Edward Cullen."
The girls all around broke into quiet whispers, muffled giggles, and long sighs. Bella decided to take a quick glance at the new kid and see what all the fuss was about. She lifted her head and instantly met with piercing gaze. Edward looked at her with such intensity it felt as if his golden eyes bore a hole into her soul. She was able to tear away her eyes only to be met with the perfection of his body. He stood at about six foot two, with a lean muscular figure. His skin was as solid, pale, and undeniably perfect as marble. His face was also, once again, perfect and angular with high cheekbones, a strong jaw line, a straight nose, and full lips. His messy bronze hair only added to his appeal. Even the purple, bruise like marks that all vampires carried could not take away any of the beauty Bella found in Edward.
But immediately, she found his gaze a little extreme almost to the point where it was getting on her nerves. What did she do? Did she have something on her face? He continued to stare.
The professor, oblivious to the interaction, continued on.
"Mr. Cullen would you please take a seat behind Princess Swan. Princess, please raise your hand." Before she could make any movement, he started walking to her and with a swift and graceful movement, slid into the seat behind Bella. "Good, now let's take out our textbooks and begin where we left off yesterday. Please read pages 472 to 500 silently."
Bella proceeded to follow directions. She was on her third page of reading when her body began to tingle. She could feel his eyes on the back of her head. Maybe he forgot the pages they were suppose to read. She turned around so she could help him. But, when she turned she could see the book opened the right page but his eyes were only focused on her. Bella gave an involuntary shiver as if electricity of his eyes shocked her down to her core. She quickly turned back and tried to continue with the reading. But, she could tell his eyes never moved from that position. Now she was feeling a little pissed. What was this guy's problem? Did he have mental issues or what? Going against her better judgment, she checked on him one more time. Ignoring the spark she felt, Bella gave him a nasty 'what the fuck is up with you' look. In response, a small smirk tugged at the sides of his mouth.
'God, he is just fucking around with me. What an ass.' Bella said in her mind. She decided not to pay any attention to him for the rest of the class period. This proved to be easier said than done because of his unwavering gaze and the electric shock she felt when the gaze was most intense. Bella came to the decision that she was going to confront him after class.
The minutes ticked by slowly, but when the bell finally rung, Bella let out an audible breath she didn't even know she was holding. But, her body stiffened when Edward gave a small chuckle behind her. She turned to confront him there and then, already on her edge of her patience, but as most vampires were, he was quick and already on his way out the door.
"Jess, Angy I will meet up with you in a few minutes, just need to deal with…"
"That hot piece of ass who can't take his eyes of you," Jessica happily filled in.
"Yeah… something like that. See you in a few." Bella grabbed her purse and followed him out the door. She didn't have to look far for him. The halls were already thinning out and she could see him leaning against the walls waiting for her as the torch light danced around his beautiful heartbreaking face. Bella couldn't help but a sharp intake of breath. He really was so damn fine, but so damn annoying too, and after ten seconds of adoration, it was those feelings that made her angrily make her way towards him. A smirk found its way on to his lips and fueled Bella's emotions even more.
"Okay, I know you are new and all, but what the hell is your problem?"
"Nothing at all Princess Isabella," he calmly said his voice melodious and comforting like a faint spring breeze. Bella could feel his words wrap around her, pulling her in. She even took a small step towards him before coming to her senses.
"The name is Bella," she retorted in what she hoped was still an angry voice. "If you don't have a problem then why do you keep on looking at me? It is pissing me off. I didn't do shit to you."
"You haven't done anything," he confirmed.
"Then why do you do it," she urged exasperated.
"I find you… interesting," Edward smoothly replied and then gave her a sly grin. Bella was about to yell back, she hated smartass people who made smartass comments especially when those people knew how angry it made her and kept doing it.
"Well you can take your interest and shove it up your…"
"Bella!" Angela shouted. "Come on class is going to start." Bella gave one last menacing look at the grinning Edward while also inwardly appreciating how the grin made his face look handsome and wondering what a real smile would do to it.
Bella and Angela reached their class with twenty seconds to spare and lucky for them Bella could hear another student come in almost late as well making the entrance not look as bad. Bella took a seat and looked up at the front of the room only to have a déjà vu feeling come back to her as she stared into golden eyes.
'Aww shit,' she thought. And that was how the rest of the day proceeded. She learned that he had all the same classes as her and in every class his gaze never wavered. It was safe to say that by the time that school let out she was angry and feeling very bitchy. At least she had a few hours of night left to hang out in the common room and have fun.
Classes at the Twilight Academy took place at night because of the literally dazzling affect of vampires in the sun. Once the sun rays touched the skin of a vampire, the vampire would begin to sparkle as if they were covered from head to toe in diamonds. Thus, it was safer to hold classes at night. Therefore, classes would begin at ten at night and go to four in the morning. Students then had free time from the time the sun went down to their first class and from the time the last class ended till the sun came back up.
It was the middle of fall so the sun was not due to rise for another couple hours and Bella wanted to relax before going to bed. She left the classroom and was glad to find that he wasn't anywhere near her. She left the teaching building to head back to the dorms.
Twilight Academy was divided into three main buildings. The middle building held the educational classrooms and the library as well as a cafeteria. The left building was the student dorms also divided internally into a girl's wing and boy's wing. The right building was the teacher dorms and main office for all official school business. The three buildings surrounded a courtyard with intricate paths and gigantic old trees that hid many private benches. All of the buildings were made in the same style, old medieval structures made entirely of stone and built tall with high towers. Surrounding the entire school was a stone wall laced with different enchantments to keep away unwanted visitors and outside the wall a thick, dense and mysterious forest. To anyone else the school was gloomy, creepy, and downright weird, but to Bella this was home. She was placed inside these walls several years ago since her father could not stand to see her face after the accident. At first, Bella absolutely hated the academy. It represented her father's lost love and an imprisonment Bella had never before received. But, she learned to love the cold unfeeling stone, the harsh angles, and hidden corridors the buildings held. She loved it because the buildings were just like her.
Bella pushed open the door that led from the main building out into the courtyard. A soft wind pushed against her, lifting her hair up and swirling it around. The sky was dark and stars twinkled dimly as if to wink at Bella. She took a minute appreciating the beauty of it and then started out on the path that led to the dorms. She passed several groups of people, giving them polite nods and waves, as well as watched couples disappear into the darkness of the courtyard. The school was relatively lax on rules because the royals had so much power behind their names. They only had some occasional trouble with the heavy parties, but even then the administration would turn a blind eye. Guardians, because they stuck with the royals, were lucky enough to receive the same treatment.
Bella reached the short stairway that led to the dorms. She walked up and opened the door. Bella was greeted with two more doors. The door on the left led into the girl's common room and from there the dorms. The door on the right led to the boy's. Boys and girls were allowed to be in each other's common rooms during night hours but as soon as the sun went up all were expected to return to their respected wings. And at no time were boys allowed in the girl's dorm rooms and girls allowed in the boy's rooms. Dorms were heavily protected by charms and spells which made it okay for guardians and royals to be split.
Bella decided to go to the girl's common room tonight. She had enough of boys, one boy in particular, to last her the rest of the night. She pushed open the door to the girl's common room. The room was tastefully decorated with feminine touches here and there. On the left side of the room as she walked in was the kitchen. The kitchen had the basics: fridge, oven, stove, and cabinets stocked with an unlimited supply of food. The rest of the common room was very spacious. There were a few tables to one side for studying, a huge fireplace in the middle of the room, a widescreen plasma television on the far end, and plenty of couches and armchairs scattered throughout.
Bella quickly spotted Angela and Jessica with Eric and Tyler watching TV on the couch. They all starred very intently on what seemed to be the local news. Bella walked towards them and took a seat on an armchair.
"…in other news a string of killings have cropped up in Port Angeles of Washington. Six bodies were found in allies in different parts of the city. No wounds were reported except for small incisions on the neck and it was overheard that each body was drained of blood. So far no leads have been discovered or connections made between the deaths, but there seems to be speculation that these deaths are somehow linked to recent reports of missing people in the area…" The reporter finished the story and switched to a new topic. Eric turned off the TV.
"Who could have done this?" Jessica began, breaking the silence. Bella wondered the same thing. After several disastrous massacres a few centuries back, the Volturi, the high vampire council, made killing a human for blood illegal. Instead, they would find humans who were willing to donate their blood to the vampires and in return they were able to live out their wildest dreams so long as they didn't tell anyone about the arrangement. If they did, then they would not live to see another sunset. Over the years, evolution also helped the vampires acquire skills of restraint so they were able to feed for a little bit and stop themselves without killing the host, making the host reusable.
So, an attack, such as the one in Port Angeles, obviously done by vampires, is a huge taboo in vampire and royal society, a feat punishable by death.
"Probably some crazy psychotic bastard who has a death wish," Bella answered.
"Well, they aren't going to be caught by the Volturi soon enough for my tastes. I am just glad that we have guardians." Angela nodded in agreement with Jessica's statement. Both of their guardians puffed out their chest a little at the comment. Bella rolled her eyes. Typically teenage guardians and their egos, but that is when she froze.
"Oh shit, my guardian!" Bella exclaimed. "Damn, I forgot again! I'm already late!" Bella jumped up and ran out of the room with Angela, Jessica, Eric, and Tyler shouting comments of 'good luck' and 'poor new guy' after her.
Bella ran out of the dorms to the main office of the school in record time. She took a minute to catch her breath outside before entering. This building was no different in terms of design. Bella was in a main waiting room with a hallway to the left leading to the administration office and then to her right was another hallway that led to the teacher's rooms with a stairway in the back leading to other stories of the building. Bella entered the left hallway and went down to the end where the headmistress was located. Bella knocked quietly and heard a 'enter'.
Bella walked into an elaborate study. Here the stone was covered up by light golden wallpaper with alabaster moldings around the room. Old wooden bookshelves lined the walls filled with books from every century. An enormous work desk stood in the middle of the room with a soft plush carpet underneath it and two leather armchairs in front of the desk. A huge window stood behind the desk with a direct view of the moon.
"Princess Swan, how nice of you to make it."
"Sorry Headmistress Emily," Bella replied.
"Luckily, your new guardian is being shown around the campus at the moment and will join us shortly. Please sit down," Emily responded as she gestured to one of the two seats in front of her. Bella took the offered seat and faced the headmistress. Headmistress Emily was a youthful vibrant woman. She had a natural maternal instinct making her the perfect person to run the academy. Emily had copper skin, raven black hair, and three long disfiguring scars running down the right side of her face due to an accident no one really knew about. Emily was also the fiancée of the Physical Defense teacher Sam.
"Princess Swan," the headmistress started, "I do not think I need to remind you that this is your eighth guardian that you have been granted since your initial entrance into this academy. Most are only allowed a onetime switch but we have made several exceptions in your case. But, this is the end of the line. We cannot continue to provide you with a constant string of new guardians if you do not make the effort to try and keep one. Thus, this will be the last guardian you are given. If you cannot make the attempt to connect with your new guardian then will shall hand the matter of your protection over to your family." Bella sat mouth agape. Her father would never provide her with a guardian because first he detested her and second he was a very important man and needed several guardians with him at all times with barely any to spare. Although Bella was skilled in the art of magic and had taken several self defense classes, she needed her guardian. Despite her usual indifferent marks in regard to guardians, Bella had always had one and now they were such a stabilizing force in every royal's life that Bella would feel vulnerable as well as humiliated that she did not have a guardian.
"I understand Headmistress. I promise to do whatever it takes to keep this guardian. I will not fail you," Bella replied with determination dripping from her words. Bella was sincere in her statement and vowed not to let anything get in the way of keeping this guardian.
"I am glad to hear it Princess." Bella heard a soft knock and click of the door behind her. "Right on time. Princess Isabella Swan I would like you to meet your new guardian…" Bella stood up and turned around, wanting to shake their hand and make a good first impression, it was at that point she found herself eye to eye with golden orbs for what seemed like the umpteenth time for the day. "Mister Edward Cullen."
A grin formed at the edge of his lips and all Bella could think was 'Aww shit'.