Stabilize.
Chapter One: Unstable.
"Do, do you know my name
Do, do you know what I've shamed
Do, do you think I'm lost
Do, do you think I pray
Everything bleeds."
- Gary Numan.
The Swan kid ended up being in the hospital for three and a half weeks. And while her injuries had been pretty extensive, requiring stitches and many blood transfusions, it was actually her mental health that kept her in for so long.
The doctors worried about the catatonic state she had fallen into and the bouts of hysteria that overtook her of a nightlight. Clawing at her arms, well one in particular, and face. Often howling herself awake only to be sedated not long after.
Needless to say, Charlie was not in good shape. Spending all day at work, only to knock off and spend the nights sleeping lightly in the visitor's chair by his daughter's bed in the hospital. Her screams of agony would wake him in a state of crazed panic, helplessly watching as nurses and doctors filed into the room, needles in hand.
It eventually got to the point where they had to restrain her after eight PM and hook up feeding tubes since she was still flatly refusing food.
Paul knew this because after having scoped out the Swan's house, and yes, it had meant breaking in of a night while Charlie was visiting Bella, he'd ended up lurking around Forks General, worried she'd turn while under their care, and tear the doctors and nurses limb from limb.
Which, for obvious reasons, was not what the Pack, or the Elders, wanted.
Obviously, Paul reported all activity to Sam, who in turn relayed it to the Elders, but thus far, the girl remained human. If not a bit deranged.
However, Paul suspected the girl must have always been a… 'special snowflake' to have knowingly hung around and even dated a life-sucking leech. Regardless, he kept his judgement to himself, and did as he was told. It was boring, tedious work. But now and then one nurse would spot him loitering in the parking lot and ask him if he wanted a 'coffee,' which always led to a quickie in an empty examination room.
That part wasn't so bad. The nurse in question, while older than him by at least ten years, was a total fox and willing to try almost anything.
During the end of the third week, leading into the fourth however, Doctor Gerandy had politely approached Charlie and suggested that rather than keeping Bella in general population, he admit her into their psychiatric ward. The doctors wisened face, aged with smile lines and happy eye-creases, drawn up in a concerned frown, hand shakily carding through greying hair.
"She's unstable, Charlie, she needs professional help. This isn't normal. It's too much for you to handle alone. Let us take care of her."
Understandably appalled, and if not a bit angry, Charlie had refused and checked Bella out by that afternoon. Paul had run ahead, getting to the Swan residence a whole five minutes ahead of Charlie and had flicked himself up into the tree and slunk into the Bella's room. After a quick, customary search over for leeches, he slid himself into the girl's tiny wardrobe and readied himself for a long night.
Bella followed her father like a zombie, tottering into the room and laying in the bed under his direction without a word. She was asleep by the time he'd finished tucking her in. Rather than immediately leaving the room, Charlie sat down on the edge of his daughter's bed, head in his hands, and wept. His shoulders shook and Paul could smell the tears on him, yet the man never made a sound.
Paul shuffled uncomfortably in his hiding position at the tender display, images of his mother doing much the same springing to mind. Quickly followed by the face of his father, dark eyes blazing dangerously as he cracked a belt along Paul's head and uplifted arms.
The images faded when Charlie sniffled softly and stood from the bed. Paul watched him bend to tuck a tuff of wild brown hair behind Bella's ear before kissing her forehead. Not long after he exited the room quietly, closing the door behind him with a barely audible 'click.'
Paul waits until he can hear the Charlie's footsteps disappear down the stairs and the TV switch on before emerges from the dark of the closet. It's a good thing Sam and Jared weren't there to see it, the jokes would never have stopped. Careful of his every step, Paul slinks over to the bed, feeling ridiculous and like some sort of creepy stalker.
The thin stream of blue-hued moonlight that spilled in through the open window makes the Swan kid look ashy and grey. With her slightly gaunt cheeks and the dark circles under her eyes, she almost looks skeletal. Even though he can see the pulse in her neck and hear the erratic 'thump-thump' of her heart, Paul still touches two fingers to her throat.
She is cool to the touch, but not inhumanly so. Reluctantly, he leans down and inhales the scent of her, rearing back in disgust not seconds later. To the untrained nose, the girl smells sweet, and like strawberries. But Paul can detect what lurks beneith that. The undeniable stink of vampire. Only… it doesn't seem to come from her. It's isolated to one point. Frowning, Paul follows the unpleasant smell to a silver crescent scar on her arm. It's completely healed and when he touches it, it's hard like stone and as cold like ice.
She whimpers in her sleep as he brushes a thump over it, and for a second there is a crackle of energy between the small areas of their connected flesh.
Horrified, Paul yanked his hand back and shivers in disgust, feeling the wolf in him begin to stir as he trembled with barely contained rage.
The bite had to be a year old, maybe slightly less, but still, old. How fucking long did it take someone to turn? He could see it trying to spread. Invisible to the human eye tendrils of silvery venom spider-webbing out from the mark. But… it was so faint, so slow, it was like something had stopped the change. Or tried to at least.
Paul was still studying the mark when he felt the weight of eyes on him.
Flicking his gaze away from the sickening sight of the vampire bite, he looked up and was instantly pinned by sad, doe-brown eyes, peering at him curiously in the dark. Within the molten chocolate of those irises, hid the secret truth. Tiny, almost invisible flecks of topaz surfacing around the pupil. The colour of the leech family's eyes. So called 'vegan' vampires.
Her eyes were beautifully unnerving in their abnormality. And they pulled him in and drowned him in their pain.
The breath Paul had been holding left him in a great gust of panic. He'd been spotted.
Ah, shit.
"Who…?"
But Paul was already gone, throwing himself out of the open window and scrambling down the tree in the blink of an eye. He'd disappeared into the cover of the forest by the time he heard her pull up weakly from the bed and move to look out the window. Panting and shaking, Paul peered out of the shadows and watched her search for him.
How could one person look so… empty? He thought and then frowned. Why the fuck did he care? He was here to do a job, not coddle her, damn it.
The Swan kid leant out the window, face expressionless, and peered into the darkness. But Paul knew she couldn't see him.
She was no more vampire than he was. The change hadn't stopped, per say, but it didn't seem to spread particularly quickly either. Whoever had bitten her was either a genius, or a fucking retard.
But it meant there may be a chance to save her. Maybe. He'd have to talk to Sam, and… ugh, by default, the Elders.
With a quick glance back at the abandoned window, Paul turned and sprinted off towards the Rez.
This was so above his fucking pay-grade.
Fuck.
And worse, he thought to himself with concern, he may have just imprinted. Only Sam would know for sure though, as the only Pack member to have imprinted thus far.
Double fuck
Pain.
Pain like fire and acid.
Bella's eyes flicked open in the gloom of her barely illuminated room. For a second she merely lay there quiet, and unmoving, wondering what had woken her. And then she felt it. Like liquid lava and electricity. Burning hot agony radiating from the 'scar' on her arm. Frowning, she slid her eyes down to stare at the limb that had not ached like this since the… incident, with a sort of detached curiosity. And promptly froze when she spotted the massive, even while hunched, silhouette of someone bent over said arm.
For a second her heart thundered against her ribs. James? Was he back? Could he have survived… that night?
Or maybe it was Victoria.
Fear lanced through her and left Bella chilled to the bone.
'Oh my, what's this? Edward's little human plaything, all alone and defenseless?' A flash of too white, too sharp teeth. 'How fun.'
No!
No, she realised, and squinted at the person. The barely there moonlight would have lit up a vampire like polished marble encrusted with diamonds. Whoever this was, was no vampire. The touch was too warm and she could feel their breath against the flesh of her wrist.
As if sensing her scrutiny, the stranger tipped their head and a heavy gaze locked with hers. Bella felt her heart clench, tears prickling her eyes when, in the darkness of their eyes, she caught a perfect reflection of her heartache mirrored back to her.
"Who…" she tried to ask, but her voice was hoarse and came out weak and scratchy. Talking felt like razor-wire being pulled out of her throat. In the blink of an eye, the person was gone, and it left Bella startled and blinking, wondering if it had been her imagination. Or maybe a trick of the light?
Well… the doctors had wanted to commit me, she mused idly, pulling herself from the warm confines of her bed with a weak groan.
Holy crow, everything hurt.
Even her hair hurt. She didn't know was even possible.
Careful of the mending flesh under her gauze-pads and bandages, Bella reluctantly lifted herself onto shaky legs and hobbled over to the window. The night air was crisp and bitterly cold when she stuck her head out of the window.
It was both affronting, and oddly refreshing.
Whoever, or more alarmingly whatever, it was that had been in her room was long gone. No sign, trace or track for her to follow. Swallowing down her fear, Bella took a deep breath and turned her attention to the thick tangle of pine that loomed in the distance.
Other than her own screams and Victoria's mocking laughter playing on a loop through her head, no sign of anyone, vampire or else wise could be spotted through the gaps in the darkness.
'I don't need to kill you, Bella. Not yet, at least. But I'll see you soon, real soon. and we'll have some more fun 'girl time' then. Or maybe… maybe I'll visit that handsome father of yours. Would you like that? Made to watch as I ripped his still beating heart from his chest and feed it to you, fresh and bloody.'
Victoria's promise echoed through her mind and Bella pulled back from the window gasping, hands flying to cover her ears in a vain attempt to block the sound out.
Don't hurt Charlie! Not him. Never him. He's innocent in all this.
Though she hadn't spoken the words, she'd wanted to.
Sobbing, Bella curled up on the floor and let the drugs pumping through her veins whisk her away into blissful oblivion.
End Chapter.
Hope you guys like it. Again, I know it's a little slow, but once I get all the preamble out of the way I can actually focus on the action and lay the groundwork to build up their relationship.
As you can probably tell, this will be a Paul/Bella imprint story, a slow build with... *coughs awkwardly* lots of hate-sex and fighting. Also, I am pretty sure Jared shifts before Paul, but I have swapped it so I hope you don't mind.
Let me know what you guys think so far, all feedback is welcome, and I'll see you in chapter three, where we see how the Elders and Sam reacts to Paul's news. This is un-beta'd so all errors are my own.
Peace out,
Kinky ~3
