*Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight characters. All rights go to Stephanie Myers.
Warning: If you were following the first My World (it's still up) This one follows the same lines but I have decided to change, a lot. I just didn't like the way the other one was flowing. I like this one a lot better so far. Let me know what you think of it, and most importantly... Enjoy (:
"What are you doing up here?" Alec questioned, watching the way I was sitting over the roof watching all the humans. He didn't get it. He didn't understand my fascination with them. He, like everyone else, thought humans were merely a source of nutrition and nothing more. He didn't see them like I did.
"Observing," I said without tearing my eyes from the wandering humans. I loved watching the way they would trip over their own two feet. I loved the way they would have bursts of anger. I loved the way the kids seemed clueless to everything. I loved to watch the features change. They grew old together.
"What's so interesting about them?" He questioned slowly, walking over to me and looking down. I rolled my eyes, knowing that explaining it to him would get me nowhere. "You know what they're celebrating, right?" He questioned, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow.
That's another thing I found fascinating about them; they weren't perfect. You could see flaws in their features that made each one unique. Vampires are breathtakingly beautiful. Nothing about them is flawed. Nothing about me is flawed, except my perception of humans, apparently.
"The extinction of vampires," I said, shaking my head. "They like being clueless," I let a smile cross my lips. "I bet you liked being clueless once too, Alec," I think somewhere along the line they just forgot that once upon a time they were human. At one point they were flawed, they aged; at one point they weren't monsters.
"They're naïve is what they are," he muttered under his breath. Like I said, Alec doesn't get it and he never will. "There's a vampire downstairs for you," he said, arching an eyebrow. He knew that I knew no other vampires; I was born into the Volturi. I only knew them and the occasional nomads Aro was friends with. None of them I took a particular liking to, though. "Someone named Peter. He refuses to let Aro read him, he says you're capable," he said, knowing there was something the vampire was keeping from Aro.
"So I read him and Aro reads me?" I questioned, moving from my spot for the first time. "Seems a little pointless. It's not like Aro actually needs permission to read them," I knew he could probably hear me as Alec raced me into the room with all the vampires standing around.
"There's the beautiful Bella," Aro said, removing the cloak from my arms and slinging it onto a chair. "What took you so long?" He questioned, seemingly slightly uneasy.
"I was observing," I announced with a shrug of the shoulders, walking into the middle of the room. "Peter, correct?" I questioned, giving my best smile. "May I?" I asked, motioning for his hand.
"Of course, my lady," he said, letting his southern accent draw out. You see, the thing about my gift is that it gives me the ability to take any gift I want once it has been used on me. Most vampires only get one gift; I, on the other hand, get as many as my shield can handle without snapping back and losing all the information. I grabbed Peter's hand lightly, not focusing on anything in particular while his life story started running through my brain. I wasn't really paying attention until I felt a pull to what was going on inside his head.
"Did you know there's more than one vampire here?" I questioned, not able to focus on Peter any longer whilst feeling all the other emotions around me. "I mean obviously," I motioned around. "I mean it's more than just him," I clarified, letting the annoyance trail out of my voice.
"Who else is here?" Jane questioned with a smile. "Come out or I'll find you," she said, her lips curving into a sinful smirk making me cringe along with Peter. Jane's gift was simple: pain. She could inflict the worse type of pain a person could take with just one look. It's not something you ever forget.
"What is this about Peter?" Aro questioned, now sounding more than slightly irritated.
"Carlisle's around here somewhere," he smirked, taking his hand back and making me realize I was still holding onto it. "Alice saw a vision of this girl with them. She knows her feelings towards humans, and thinks they can help her. We were planning on persuading her to come with us with more stealth, but what can we do when you've got a little guard dog?" Peter said, sounding rather cocky.
"Well, please tell them to join us," Aro said with a kind of annoyance I'd never heard in his voice. It was almost like he was jealous of whoever this vampire was. "My dear friend," Aro said, brushing past me and gripping onto Carlisle's hand for a few seconds before pulling back, pursing his lips unhappily. I was too distracted by the color of his eyes to notice anything else. They were unlike any other vampire's I had ever seen. Instead of being blood red like they should be when you're feeding off humans, they were gold.
"I just want to introduce her to our life style," he said, noticing that I was staring. "You said you let everyone here have a choice. If she wants to stay with you then she can, if not, she can come with us. We'll offer her a roof and she will be taken care of," he spoke directly to Aro, who was glaring at him.
"She's got a choice," he announced begrudgingly, motioning to me as Carlisle walked over.
"Bella, can we speak?" He questioned politely as I tore my gaze from his eyes, only shaking my head. "I wanted to speak with you about possibly leaving the Volturi," he said as I heard Alec give a defeated sigh.
"Why would I want to leave?" I questioned back at him, watching as a slight smile came over his face.
"I know you've got a respect for human life. I do as well and I do not feed on humans," he announced, making me narrow my eyes. I knew it was possible to survive without feeding directly from the vein; I survive off blood bags from donors. I've never drank blood right from the source. But even that gives you red eyes. "Not even blood bags," he said, feeling my hesitation.
"How?" I questioned in a voice no louder than a whisper.
"Animals," he answered, watching as I gave a distasteful scrunch of my nose. "It isn't the tastiest thing around but we can live off it without ever needing to drink from humans," he explained in a careful voice. I didn't like the fact that everyone was in the room staring at us. I knew no matter where we went they would hear, but they didn't need to be in the same room.
"Can you explain and walk at the same time?" I questioned politely, pushing the doors open and handing him a cloak of his own leading him up to the roof.
"So you feed off of animals?" I questioned, sitting on the edge of the wall next to him.
"Yes, my family and I," he said, letting the word sink in.
"Family?" I knew vampires didn't have real family unless they were all turned together. The Volturi weren't blood related, although they considered us a family.
"I live with six other vampires who also share the same diet as me. We live a fairly normal life; I'm a doctor, Esme acts as the mother figure, and the kids attend high school," he said with a smile. "I know it must seem strange to you, but we do our best to blend in with the rest of the town. The younger we start out the longer we can stay in a town."
"You can't go out in the day though," I immediately shot back at him, knowing that it was nearly impossible for us to go outside without being noticed. I assumed wearing a cloak around all the time wasn't exactly something that was normal.
"Cloud coverage. If we go somewhere like Washington then we can almost always go out during the day without calling any attention to ourselves." I found myself thinking about all the possibilities. I'd never fit in in this place anyway. I'd never belonged here with them; they were not my family. They were just the only thing I had ever known.
"You're telling me you'd take me in just like that? No questions asked?" I questioned, not exactly believing it.
"Alice saw you coming. We thought it might be easier on everyone if we came and got you for ourselves. If you don't like it, you can leave at any time," he announced, knowing he already had me hooked on the idea of not needing to feed off of humans at all.
"I'll need to announce my leaving," I said, looking down at the humans walking past the street. "I'm not prepared to be around humans all the time," I explained, remembering he said they had a 'normal life'.
"We wouldn't force you into going to school until you are sure you can handle it. For now the story will be that we took you in and you're being home schooled," he said, twisting the story in such a way that it made perfect sense. "There are some rules," he announced, sounding more strict than I'd heard him be.
"Go on," I said in a business-like tone.
"Alice said you won't be a problem, I just thought I should give you a warning about a few things. Fighting is off limits, human blood of any kind is off limits - if you feel like you're about to go on a killing spree, tell me and I'll get you a blood bag – and respect my house," he said shrugging his shoulders. "There aren't many rules but there are those," he said with a smile. "Why don't we go get your things?" He asked as we walked back into the castle-like home. I led him into my wing.
"You're going?" Alec questioned, raising both eyebrows.
"It's worth a shot," I said, my voice apologetic. "I know I must seem ungrateful. You gave me this life and now I'm not even staying with the family you let me be a part of.
"You just don't get it," I said as he shook his head.
"I understand, Bella," he said with a smile. "You need to do this for you," he said making me give a slight smile. "I'll be in touch," he said with a smile before walking away. "And I'll tell Aro," he called over his shoulder while I threw my clothes into a suitcase along with a few other necessities.
"Ready?" Carlisle questioned, tossing the bag over his shoulder. "We've got a ways to travel," he announced before we took off in a run at such a fast speed I doubted that it would be more than a fifteen hour trip.
I loved running like any other vampire did. It wasn't blurry; I could see every crack in every tree we passed. I could see things in front of me with such clarity that there was no point in worrying about crashing. Not that vampires ever really worried about crashing or being ungraceful. Everything about us invites a human in. The way we smell, the way we act, the way we look, the way we talk - we are perfection.
"Is this it?" I questioned, noticing Carlisle slow to a human walk.
"They're waiting inside," he said with a smile. "I have a question about your gift," he said looking over at me. "Is it hard to be around those who are gifted?" He questioned, pinching his eyebrows together.
"No," I said honestly. It wasn't for me, no matter how many gifted vampires were in a room. "Sometimes it gets overwhelming. But that's only if there are a significant amount of people in the room.
"Let me guess," I said, closing my eyes, stopping just before the house, "There's…" I trailed off, picking up on all the different things I was feeling. "There are about two, maybe three people in that room who have a gift?" I questioned, watching him shake his head. "I'll be fine," I said with a smile as he opened the doors. There were six vampires all staring at me.
"Quit staring," the small black haired girl said, smiling wildly at me. "Hi, Bella," she chirped walking over to me and embracing me. "You and I are going to be great friends," she announced and pulled me into a different room. "I'll introduce you to everyone," she said with a small giggle. "I'm Alice, and if you didn't already know, I can see the future," she said, making my mouth fall open slightly before I closed it, realizing I was standing there like an idiot.
"I'm Edward," the next vampire introduced himself with a crooked smile. "I can read minds," he said, making me bite down on my lip.
"Emmett," the next said nodding his head as the gorgeous blond rolled her eyes.
She would make even vampires take a second look at themselves. It was like she was perfection at its highest point.
"Rosalie," she just about sneered before leaving the room. She wasn't the friendliest person in the world, and she would probably take some getting used to.
"I'm Esme, sweetie," she said, walking over to me and rubbing my shoulders. "This must be a little strange to you," she said, shaking her head. "We shouldn't have ambushed you," she said with a slight laugh, watching the way I stood in front of everyone seemingly frozen.
"I'm Jasper," the last person announced with a southern accent like the one Peter had. That's when I felt a sudden wave of calmness hit me like a ton of rocks. In that moment, I wasn't nervous that I was standing in my new home, surrounded by strangers. I was at peace. The feeling made no sense.
"Are you doing that?" I questioned, tilting my head at him as he gave a slight smile.
"You were so nervous it was making me a little edgy," he announced, making Edward give a laugh. "We're not going to bite, you know," he said with a grin. "Well, I might bite," he said before giving a slight snarl with a laugh as Peter walked through the door.
"It was a pleasure helping you out," he said, walking over to Jasper. "I have to get back to Texas before Charlotte kills me for being away for a week without a word. Don't be a stranger," he said before taking off.
"So you can make me feel any way you want me to?" I questioned as Alice and Edward sat on the couch offering me a seat.
"Pretty much," he said, sitting in the chair. "I can push feelings on you. Right now calmness is what the room needs," he said, explaining what he was doing.
"You read minds?" I questioned looking over to Edward.
"Yours, I can't," he said, a little irritated, which made me smile.
"You can't unless I let you," I said with a smile. "Shield," I said, motioning around my head.
"I see the future. It changes depending on your path, though, so nothing is absolute," Alice announced, holding back a grin. "Explain your gift now," she said, sounding extremely interested. "It's by far the best," she said as the other vampires appeared in the room.
"I can take gifts once they've been used on me," I explained, watching confusion swipe over their faces. "I'm not sure if it would work with Jasper or Alice's gift because of the fact that my shield does nothing for them. But I could take Edward's gift because I need to grant him access to my brain." I said, trying to explain it in the right way. "It's hard to explain," I said, laughing slightly.
"So what do you have right now?" Carlisle questioned, sounding truly amazed.
"Right now I've only got Aro, Jane, and Alec's gifts," I announced with a slight smile. "I can only hold so many, and if I try to hold too many it snaps. It isn't painful to anyone except me. It's like being bitten by a vampire a million times, and it hurts," I said with a shudder, remembering the feeling. I knew the only one who would understand that kind of pain was Jasper, judging by the battle scars that made him look like a predator.
"Amazing," Carlisle muttered with a smile.
"You were in the war?" I questioned nodding to Jasper and making him shift uncomfortably in his seat.
"I don't talk about it," he said, automatically not letting me get very far with that conversation.
"Are you ready to try animal blood?" Alice questioned, a smile tugging at her lips. "Edward and I will take you. We need to hunt anyway," she said with a slight smile. "With animal blood you need to hunt more than you do feeding off of humans," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
"I've never fed off a human," I said automatically. "I've only had blood bags," I explained, knowing they thought I killed the way the Volturi did.
"Really?" Alice and Carlisle questioned at the same time.
"They tried to get me to feed off a human once when I was a newborn," I said, knowing they wanted to know the story. "They cut the vein of a human who worked in the office and told me to drink," I announced, closing my eyes at the memory. "The pure fear that showed in her eyes was enough to make me turn it down. When Aro tried to force me to drink, I threw a temper tantrum just long enough to let the human scatter away. Needless to say they didn't like that," I explained with a smile on my lips.
"You saw fear and just let her leave?" Jasper questioned, disbelieving.
"Yes," I said, not knowing why it was so hard to understand. "There are other reasons that factor into it, but that was the main reason I didn't rip her throat out. I was human once; unlike a lot of vampires I remember what it was like," I said, shaking my head.
"Truly amazing," I heard Carlisle mutter before leaving the room.
"Let's hunt," Alice announced, pulling Edward to his feet as Jasper got to his with them.
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