Chapter 2: Caught by the senses
Bella sat on her floor for an hour, coming to terms with the supernatural realm that just seemed to follow her. A chill ran down her spine as her flight or fight instincts kicked in. She would not run. For the past month, she's been safe. This is where she needed to be. Bella got up off the floor rubbing her sore bottom and kicking her shoes off. Taking off her clothes one by one she hopped in the shower hoping to wash off the fear of the night. After eating a bowl of cereal Bella called it a night trying to not let this night plague her dreams.
Her morning routine was spent brushing her teeth, combing through her tangled mess of hair and cautious job hunting which consisted of no luck. Every place was either closing down or had no place for newbies. Bella's worries came back ten fold as she was aware of her apartment complex evicting people just that morning. It was brushing just on the sun set and Bella was out longer than need be. She rushed past that dastardly alley and speed walked to the complex making a sharp left towards her area of the hall.
She skidded to a stop seeing her land lord with all her things by the door, which was just a suitcase and 3 pairs of shoes. Bella rushed forward. "Hey. What-what are you doing?" The short bald man looked at her with his wide eagle eyeballs. His glasses were pushed on top his sweaty head. "You Miss are being evicted. We simply have no room and tomorrow this whole place is being torn down." He bent down picking up her things. "Now, you need to run along-" Bella interrupted him with a glare. "No you listen here buddy, you can't just evict people without any notice. I've been here for a month and now you tell me this has been scheduled for demolition? Fuck you." Bella grabbed her things and his chubby hand grasped her wrist.
She looked up and once again her night was replayed. "Not again." Wrenching herself from her grasp, Bella took off at a sprint, forgetting her bags. Making a left she ran down the street, and one by one each street lamp went out. Her breathing was raspy and her heart beat ferociously in her chest. "Oh not again." Her lungs burned and legs ached. Bella could hear them behind her. It was like a pack of them.. a nest. A man jumped down in front of her. He was dressed from head to toe in black and his hair was blonde and white in some places. His face too held that of the others. Bella screamed and turned around only to run into a broad chest. She recognized his voice from the night before.
Angel. "Hey.. you're okay." He soothed. Bella looked back at the man who gave her a smile and a wink. She peered around Angel seeing no sign of the vampires that she was sure was chasing her. Did she imagine it? "What happened to the others?" Angel frowned letting go of her. "Others? There were more after you?" Bella nodded shuddering. "Yes. My land lord and I could hear them. They popped out the lights." Bella indicated to the lights that were out except for the one they stood under.
The one behind her walked around her surveying the area. "Angel, she's right. There were at least 10 of them." He then turned to her. "I'm Spike. Sorry if I scared you. " Bella nodded shakily and she noticed he was quite handsome without his whole vamp face. "What's your name luv?" His British accent ran thick and Bella looked between the two monitoring their movements. Bella stuck her hand out and Spike reached for hers. "Bella. Bella Swan." She then shook Angel's. "Angel. Do you have any family here that you can stay with?" Bella shook her head. "No, my family is back in Washington." The three started to walk, the men quite vigilant of their surroundings.
"I'm assuming that you're vampires?" Bella asked looking at each of them. "Well, have you heard of The Cold One's?" Spike snorted. "Those pansy vampires? Of course they're a bunch of sparkling pus-" "Spike." Angel cleared his throat shooting him a warning look. "Yes we do. How do you know about their kind?" Angel was quite curious. This woman seemed to draw danger at every corner. He noticed her heart stuttered and beat faster. "I'm being hunted by one. Since I was 17, this vampire has been hunting me for revenge for her mate. Me, being stupid enough I fell in love with a 17 year old vampire well trapped in a 17 year old's body." In a span of a minute Bella retold her story to the two vampires that apparently saved her life. "They left you by yourself to fend her off?" Angel shook his head. He was confused really. Why would they first of all take in a human without turning them? Second, why didn't they kill this Victoria?
"Well, I can offer you a place. We might be vampires but we have a soul. Meaning we actually feel regret for our kills, we feel humanity at it's fullest. We protect people and we want to help you. You shouldn't have to deal with this on your own. My friends and I own a Law Firm, we can help you. When this is all said and done you should be free to have your life back." Angel proposed. He watched Bella's face change into different expressions finding it amusing. He could tell she was going to be stubborn. "Just say yes Bella. You can't kill us so easily." Spike chuckled getting the inside joke. "Fine, but please I don't want to be a burden and since when did vampires own a Law Firm?" The three walked down the street towards the large building informing their new guest what there was all to see.
AN: So next chapter Bella is introduced to the AI Team. She also get's to see first hand what lurks around in L.A. In my version Fred does NOT DIE. I hated that episode, but until next time.
