CHAPTER ONE: LEECHES

"Bella?" Renee's pleased tone held undercurrents of surprise as she answered on the eighth ring. "I haven't heard from you in a while, how are you?"

My parents and I had never been very close but my mom's surprise still stung. Every time I called I felt as though I were interrupting some important moment in her life, which was why I only ever called when necessity dictated. Renee never bothered to call during the long stretches of months that would pass by in between our chats and I tried very hard not to let my thoughts wonder if I ever crossed her mind during our silences.

Shaking my head out of my thoughts, I flipped on my blinker to get into the right-hand lane of the road and tried to focus on driving instead of my non-existent relationship with my mother. "Busy as always," I told her, trying to keep my voice as light and carefree as possible. "I'm on my way to this new bookstore downtown – there's an author I like that's doing a signing. Anyways, I don't have much time to chat because traffic is awful, but I just wanted to check back and make sure you filed your taxes. I made you that appointment at H&R Block this morning at nine, did you go?"

The sound of Renee sucking her teeth came crackling through my wireless earpiece and my hands tightened reflexively on the steering wheel. "Oh dear, I'm afraid I forgot. I wish you would have called and reminded me yesterday, Cheryl invited me to breakfast over at this little oceanside café. Oh, they made the most wonderful sangria. You would have loved it Bella."

I could hear the alcohol turning her usual cheery self into a giggling idiot and I tried to take a deep breath to calm myself. My entire life I had been scheduling Renee's adult responsibilities but it never failed to stoke the embers of resentment in my stomach into raging fires. "I'll reschedule for tomorrow and text you with the details. I have to go."

With that I pressed the end button on my earpiece and let my head fall back against my seat. I was stopped at a red light and even though it was only ten thirty it felt like my entire day had been ruined. Now the gray thunderclouds didn't seem like a blessing promising the sweet relief of rain. Gloominess lurked heavy and sticky in the air, covering me in a layer of moisture that made me glad I had chosen to wear a sleeveless white eyelet lace top.

The bookstore was packed with fellow fans and a line of people waiting for autographs had already developed. Quickly I stepped in line and found myself surrounded by shelves of trashy romance novels. Their titles amused me as I waited and I flipped through them with condescending humor.

Dark Urges had a woman in a ripped colonial era dress being held by an obviously airbrushed, powerfully muscled man. He stood towering over the woman as almost every other man on the other tacky books. No doubt the story inside was just a shallow, recycled plot of innocent human girls meeting bad supernatural monsters.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes as the line moved and my position was relocated to the horror section. This was definitely a more pleasing surrounding and my fingers brushed over a decorated copy of Dracula. I loved the feeling of the thick, soft cover and the edges of the pages that were brushed in a shiny gold hue. Next to it was a similarly bound copy of The Turn of the Screw and my lips pulled up into a pleased smile. One day, my goal was to make enough money to own an entire bookcase full of books I loved in pretty binds. My own were tattered and thrifted from second hand stores – full of scuffs, highlighter, and coffee stains – that I picked up while I was in college.

"Who would you like me to make this out to?" The author asked me, smiling up with perfectly white teeth and sharpie poised at the ready.

"Isabella Swan, please," I smiled back happily and watched his permanent marker begin to write. His signature was quick and loopy – obviously it had grown into a work of art after so much practice. "Thank you so much!" I told him when he handed my book back.

"Of course, and thank you for coming, I love to see the fans."

I walked out of the bookstore with a large smile and tucked the book into my purse that was strapped across my torso. Without having to go work the day was completely mine – an unusual but not unwelcome occurrence. I wasn't going to waste it so I decided not to head straight back to my car and instead I chose to wander the streets of downtown Los Angeles. The buildings were huge and beautiful, the streets never failed to offer a humorous variety of crowd performers, and the sounds of cars and people rose to become a cacophony of white noise that lulled me to stop in a park. Pulling out my newly signed book, I decided to rest in a park and read for a bit.

They came out of nowhere. One minute, I was alone and so deeply immersed in the world the man with bright white teeth created, that the rest of the world had begun to fade away around me. The next, I could feel their gazes on me, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end and my entire body broke out into chills despite the humid, oppressive heat. When I looked up, there were three of the most gorgeous people I had ever seen dressed in mismatched, unkempt clothes.

Looking around, I realized I was alone except for these three exceptionally beautiful people. My gaze returned to them and immediately I was drawn to the curly fiery red hair of the woman who stood to the left. She wore ripped jeans that were so tight I almost thought they had been painted on and her Led Zeppelin t-shirt was torn to expose her flat, smooth stomach. She wore a large coat of white fur over her shirt and her feet were bare.

The man next to her, in the middle, was blonde and his facial hair was trimmed down but patchy. He was almost plain in comparison to his female companion and he wore a flannel button up with the sleeves torn off and the front of his shirt open to expose his chiseled abs. His jeans slung low enough to almost be indecent and I felt my cheeks flush.

Quickly, I averted my gaze to the other man to hide my staring. The other man was bronzed and his hair in long dreadlocks that were tied back and spilled down his shoulders, ending a few inches below his shoulders. He too, like his companions, was barefoot, but the strangeness of it was more pronounced because he wore dress slacks splattered with mud around the ankles and a black button up shirt.

All three of them were unnaturally beautiful and wild. As they came closer my instincts warred inside of me. Part of me screamed to run but the other part was so entranced by their graceful steps. I had never seen anyone move with such liquid grace that they seemed to almost glide through the air. "Um, hi." I greeted shyly once they were in earshot.

The woman with fire for hair smiled wickedly and I watched her close her eyes and inhale through her nose. "She smells delicious, James. Please let me have a taste."

The blonde man beside her, James, smelled the air and I felt my heart stutter in fear. Something was not right – my entire body was now urging me to run but I felt frozen as I watched the strangers. "Absolutely mouthwatering," he said as he opened his eyes and stared down at me with black eyes.

The man with the dreadlocks looked natural with inky black eyes but I had never seen such dark eyes in someone so fair haired – and I especially had not seen them on anyone with such vibrantly red hair. But it wasn't just the color – there was pure malice in those sharp, cold eyes. Something is wrong, my entire body screamed at me. "I – I have to go," I told them, finally snapping into a fight or flight panic. I began to shove my book in my purse and stand but the red head woman pounced like a cat.

Before I could register what was happening she was on top of me, sitting on my lap and straddling my legs. I could do nothing as her stony hands grabbed hold of my hair and pulled my head back. "No, stop – what are you doing?" My voice shook in terror and I tried to push her off as I felt her nose trail my throat from my collar bone to the back of my ear.

The two men dropped to their knees beside her and I felt my wrists being locked into stone cold grasps that I couldn't break no matter how much I fought. "Stop!" I was frantic and wild as I jerked and watched the men smell my wrists. "Get off of me! HEL-"

A steel vice closed around my throat and she grasped so hard that I wondered if my head would be wrenched from my shoulders. "Victoria do not play with your food."

A new wave of terror erupted inside of me like a volcano when the man with bronze skin and dreadlocks referred to me as food. I couldn't help but think these people were actually going to eat me and I struggled harder, to no avail. "Ah Laurent, you're no fun."

I did scream when I felt Victoria's teeth pierce my skin. I let out blood curdling cries as the men bit into my wrists and no matter how hard I struggled – their strong grips never wavered or gave an inch. But the trio weren't wrenching flesh from my body like drug induced zombie people I had heard about from Renee in Florida, no they were drinking my blood. I felt every pull as they drank and I could only think one word: vampires.

There was no other explanation for their ethereal beauty or inhuman grace. Their hands were ice cold and felt like marble on my flesh. The three began to moan and I felt my screams die and the world begin to fade. Just before my world went black I cried out as I felt the three vampires being torn away from me.

I awoke sometime later and let out a blood curdling scream as I realized my body felt like it had been set on fire. My arms and my neck felt as if they had been doused in kerosene but there was also fire inside of me. My brain felt like it had been dipped in acid and I was so feverish that the world around me was out of focus and blurry. The room swayed as I tried to figure out where I was. There was a fire crackling in a fireplace and there were herbs hanging from the ceiling, the walls were covered in bookshelves, maps, and charts. It was too dark for me to make out much else with my blurry vision and I screamed again – in fear and in pain. I had no idea what was happening and I had no idea where I was. Was I being murdered?

The door opened with a loud squeaking creak and I tried to see who had come in – who it was that held me captive. But it wasn't James, Victoria, or Laurent who entered – even though I couldn't see well I could make out the blurry form of woman with dark brown hair. "Please," I cried as my body burned and the woman stepped closer, a wooden bowl in her hands. "Please I don't want to die. Make it stop – it burns."

No matter how much I wanted to I couldn't move more than to writhe in agony. The woman sat down beside me and set the bowl on the table next to the bed I was in. "Shhh," I cried again, this time in relief as she pressed a cold washcloth to my forehead, "You are safe. I need you to be still."

Maybe it was the kindness of the cold rag to relieve the burning heat raging in my head or maybe it was the feel of her soft, warm fingers running through my hair, but I trusted her. My body stilled under her soft caress and I felt my sobs subside – I felt safe. I felt like I could trust her. "It burns – please – make it stop."

I don't know where she got it but the blurry shape of my rescuer held up a long thin looking worm that I could just barely make out in the firelight. She laid it on my arm, the length of its long cold body running half the length of my arm. "W-what is that?"

"Don't move," she stilled my arm with her warm, human grasp. "The leech needs to latch on so that it may draw out the venom. If you do not let it you will continue to burn until you die."

At that my body stilled and even though I cried from the pain I forced my body completely immobile. "What's – your name?" I croaked, my mouth dry as I watched another leech being lifted from the wooden bowl.

"My name is Lua," she told me softly as she laid the leech on my other arm. I couldn't move to see, thankfully, but I could feel the coolness of the leech as it latched onto my forearm. "I heard you screaming and found you being drained by vampires. You will live but you have lost a lot of blood."

Once she was sure the leech had latched on to me Lua turned to the table. "I need you to drink this." She told me as she pressed a small vial to my lips and poured its contents into my dry mouth.

"Oh god," I nearly lost my stomach as I tasted the acrid substance. "W-What was that?"

"Just a little something to help replenish your blood," Lua informed me as she lifted the cloth on my forehead and dabbed my face soothingly. "You lost a great deal and I'm afraid the leeches will have to take more to remove the vampire venom in your veins."

To my horror, Lua attached a leech to my neck. If I didn't know that these little creatures would prevent my death I would have hurled as I felt it latch on to my neck. Whether it was from pure exhaustion or the unbelievable pain scorching my veins, I began to cry again. I couldn't stop the tears from pouring down the sides of my head as I laid in the bed, shaking in pain. "Be strong, Bella," Lua whispered to me as she pressed the cloth back to my forehead.

I don't know how long I wavered in and out of unconsciousness as the leeches sucked the vampire venom from my body. It could have been hours or days, but I lingered in hazy awareness as the fire crackled in the hearth and the smoke of incense wafted thickly in the air. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the vampires who attacked me – the unmistakable red hair of Victoria chased me relentlessly through the forests in my dreams and I woke up several times screaming.

Each time Lua was there to calm me, offering me sips of water and humming as she gently carded her fingers through my hair. "Be strong, Bella," she would whisper to me as I drifted back into unconsciousness. Back to the red-haired vampire and her two companions who terrorized my dreams.

When I woke after hours of fitful sleeping, I found the fire had died into smoking embers and Lua was gone. The sky out of the window showed the early morning sun and the burning of the vampire venom in my veins had cooled. Sitting up, I raised my hands and found my wrists bruised so badly that my skin was black and purple. But just below the bruises, were twin crescent scars – bite marks. "I'm afraid they'll never fade," Lua said as she opened the door and found me staring in horror at my arms. "But you could consider them battle scars. Not many humans face vampires and live to tell the tale, you should wear them proudly."

"I – I didn't do anything," I was surprised to hear the gravelly crackle of my whispering voice. My hands lifted to my throat in shock and I winced when my fingertips brushed my throat. It must as badly bruised as my wrists. "You saved me – how can I ever thank you?"

"Don't thank me yet," Lua sat down on the bed next to me and set a tray of soup on my lap. "Eat, you are going to need your strength."

I took a spoonful of the delicious, homemade chicken noodle soup and nearly cried as it burned my mouth and exploded into flavor. "How did you stop them?" I asked her between mouthfuls. "They were so strong. How did you know what they were?"

Lua's face flashed with uncertainty and I immediately dropped my spoon with a loud clank that seemed to echo in the quiet room. "You don't have to tell me," I assured her, not wanting to make my rescuer uncomfortable. "I mean – I would keep it secret if you wanted me to, but you don't have to tell me. I'm just – thank you, for saving me."

"I'm a witch," Lua confessed as she grabbed the wooden bowl from the bedside and went to the burning coals in the fireplace. I watched as she began to lay the fat leeches full of my blood and vampire venom onto the coals. I had to look away as they began to writhe and curl. "I used a spell to banish them from the city but I'm afraid you only have twelve more hours before it wears off. They might come back for you – vampires are…obsessed with the hunt and the death of their victims. If a victim gets away most vampires won't stop until they finish the kill."

My entire body went cold at her words. "You mean, they'll come back for me?"

Lua nodded and her hair fell off her shoulder and tumbled down her back. "They could. What I did is sure to infuriate them. Los Angeles is not safe for you anymore. You need to leave, as soon as you can."

My whole life was in Los Angeles. I had graduated from UCLA and I had a decent job that supported me. Where was I going to go? I would sooner offer myself back to the vampires than crawl to Renee with my tail tucked between my legs. I hadn't needed her since I was sixteen and she married a minor league baseball player named Phil. They had a child of their own now and I couldn't imagine having to try to insert myself into their lives.

"Lay down, you need to rest a few more hours," Lua told me as she took the tray from me. "Worry about this when you wake up."

She was right, it turned out. I hadn't thought I could sleep with the fear roiling in my stomach but as soon as I laid back down the world faded away and I was lost in slumber. The vampires chased me in my dreams. I was running through the streets of downtown LA and stumbling over my own feet as the vampires chased me. They snapped and hissed as I ran – my hands and knees scraped badly from falling on the concrete. No matter how I ran or how many times I turned and changed streets I could never lose them. They just kept following me.

"Bella," my eyes snapped open and I found Lua standing over me looking concerned. "You were screaming, Bella."

"I'm sorry," I whispered hoarsely, "I had nightmares."

Lua handed me a cup of water which I chugged down greedily. My throat was parched and I had never been so thankful for water, not even after my worst hangovers. "Bella, do you have anywhere you can go? Any family you can stay with while you build a life away from here?"

I almost shook my head until I realized I did. I could go see my father, Charlie. He was the Police Chief of a small town in Washington called Forks. If the vampires tried to look for me, they'd never think to look in a town that was too small to even be on most maps. I didn't know what I'd do there but at least I would be safe.

It had been over a decade since I had decided to stop visiting Charlie in Forks. I had hated its dreary, cold weather and the lack of anything interesting when I was younger but right now, peace and boredom sounded wonderful to me. I had only seen Charlie twice in almost seven years when he had flown out for my high school and college graduations. Maybe it would be nice to spend some time with him and try to build some sort of relationship with one of my parents. I had spent so long being angry that Renee had reneged on her maternal responsibilities that I hadn't stopped to even consider my father.

"I think I'll – "

But Lua held up her hand to stop me. "It's better if I do not know," she told me seriously and my stomach dropped when I began to understand what she meant. They could come after her too.