Bella and Edward will be a couple in this story; I just will not be putting a whole lot of focus on them because I want to focus on Bella's relationships with the rest of the Cullen family. There will be moments but it won't be my main focus.
Bella felt herself shaking violently as she crawled in her bedroom window. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something moving from inside her room. She sighed shakily as she hoisted open her bedroom window; only to have a cold pair of hands grab her wrists and violently tug her in through the window.
She landed in her room with a thud and found herself looking into Alice Cullen's furious gold eyes. Bella ordinarily wouldn't be intimidated of her but she looked absolutely lethal. She looked like she seriously wanted to kill Bella.
"Have you completely lost your mind? You can't just feed like that and leave them for anyone to find! Are you insane or just suicidal?" Alice screamed."Do you realize how reckless that is?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Bella nervously.
"Really! You're going to play that card. You're wearing the evidence on your face Bella!" Alice shouted.
Bella suddenly remembered the blood on her face and blushed. Not even because it was there; but because it smelled amazing and she wanted Alice to turn around so she could lick it away without her noticing.
"I thought you were at least going to clean your mess when I saw you but no... "
"You were there; but you're still alive?" Bella pointed.
"You're kidding right?" Alice shouted. "Seriously, not just once but two nights in a row. Don't you care about exposure! Do you want the Volturi to come for you? Are you even listening?"
Bella just stood there; not listening because of the overwhelming urge to lick her lips. She just stood there for the longest time debating it. Her throat burned for her to do it.
"Oh for the love of God, just do it Bella!" Alice cried. "You're giving me whiplash!"
Bella needed no further prompts as she licked the blood away, surprised at just how amazing it tasted. Then she stared at Alice and tried to figure how how she knew what Bella had wanted to do.
"Yeah, I get it! It tastes amazing," Alice cried, steering Bella towards the window the window. "Now let's go, Bella!"
"Where are we going?" Bella asked nervously as she fell from her window and thankfully landed on her feet.
"We are going to clean your mess!" Alice shouted, as she landed softly by Bella's side and took off running into the woods. Bella followed her but struggled to keep up.
"Could you slow down!" Bella panted, somehow keeping up.
Soon they arrived to the spot where all the bodies were.
"If won't be much work since they already have a fire lit," Alice whispered beginning to throw the bodies in.
"Well!" Alice shouted at Bella pointing to one of the bodies.
Bella picked one up and found it was almost like a feather weight. When they were done Alice turned her attention back to Bella.
"Look, if you are going to keep feeding from humans, you are going to need to show some discretion! You are going to get us killed!" Alice shouted.
"It's not like I have any control over this!" Bella shouted pointing to the raging fire.
"Really! You don't say!" Alice shouted, throwing her arms up in frustration. "You are going to bring the Volturi right to us…"
"Are you a vampire?" Bella suddenly asked, feeling really stupid since Alice had just watched her lick blood off of her face and didn't scared.
Alice just stared at her for a second and just blinked in shock. It was like she couldn't believe what Bella had just said. But quickly her whole expression seemed to soften.
"You really don't know what's going on, do you?" Alice asked quietly. "I'm sorry, I thought you knew… How don't you know?"
Suddenly Bella's head began to spin. The killings in Phoenix; waking up to an open window when every night she would close it. She had begun to register a pattern between the killings and the window being opened.
Bella let out a yawn and Alice let out a sigh.
"Look, why don't you get some rest. We can talk about this at school in a few hours," Alice whispered, putting a slip of paper into Bella's hand. "But promise me that if at any point throughout the day; should your throat start burning, you will text me immediately."
"Okay."
"Are you going to tell your family about this?" Bella asked.
Alice sighed again.
"Look, I can't keep this from them forever. But until I figure out what to do with you, I'm not going to tell them," Alice whispered. Alice had seen what would happen if she told them right away and it didn't exactly end well; but Bella didn't need to know that.
The next morning, Bella was a mess. She couldn't wrap her mind about what had happened last night. She had killed people and the taste of the blood on her lips was the most amazing thing she had tasted in her whole life. She had never tasted anything so intense in her life.
When she arrived to school, everything seemed different. First of all, Edward was gone. He didn't show up with his family the next day.
The biggest change was Bella found herself drawn to people. And not for their personalities. All day in class, she would find herself staring at people's throats, tracing the veins with her eyes. She could almost feel herself drooling...
No! Bella thought refocusing on her teacher... and that wonderful vein in his throat. For the first time since last night, her throat started to burn; badly. Worse than last night. What the hell was with the burning?
She remembered Alice had said to text her if her throat began burning but when she looked at her phone; no bars.
Bella could see the teacher's vein clearer now. She could smell his blood and hear his pulse in her ears. She could hear all of their pulses. Bella gulped and tried to stay in her seat but she was surrounded by so many scents...
Maybe no one would notice if she...
A knock on the door barely caught her attention.
The teacher's heart picked up slightly as he walked over to the door.
Does the man have a death wish? Bella thought to herself. Suddenly she could hear Alice's voice at the door.
"There she is!" Alice called as she shoved past the teacher and rushed over to Bella. She placed her hands on Bella's shoulders in a way that probably looked gentle but Bella could feel her fingers digging into her shoulders very tightly. "The principal just needs her to come and finish some paperwork and it needs to be faxed off in an hour."
The teacher nodded as Alice pulled Bella onto her feet and wrapped her arm around her; pulling her close so she couldn't move. Bella was sure it looked like a friendly gesture but it seemed to be restraining.
Bella's throat kept burning as they walked towards the entrance.
"Just try not to breath so much. It'll make it easier," Alice suggested.
When they got outside, Bella's mind seemed to clear just a little bit.
"What the hell was that?" Bella asked, her throat still burning.
"Up until now, would you say you did all of your...hunting while you slept?" Alice asked.
Bella nodded. "I never realized what I was doing until last night. I'd wake up in the morning to find my window open. A few times I'd wake up in the front lawn or a different part of the house."
Alice nodded.
"So would so say last night was the first time you've tasted human blood while you were actually awake?" Alice asked.
Bella nodded and frowned, very unsure of where this was going.
"My guess is until recently, this appetite was a subconscious thing but now by taking that one taste it slipped into your conscious memory," Alice guessed. "My guess is since you threw up the blood you had in your stomach last night, that probably made it worse."
"And what about the burning? When does that stop?" Bella asked.
"Honestly; never but you learn to manage it," Alice said. "Look, I can help with that but I need to know if you want to continue with human blood or do you want to try animal blood?"
"Is it the same?" Bella asked.
"Not even close BUT animal blood doesn't involve people dying," Alice said.
Bella looked at the ground and frowned. People were dead because of her; lots of people. It didn't seem right to her.
"Bella, it wasn't your fault. You didn't know what was happening. Now you do and we're just going to need to take precautions when you sleep," Alice explained. "But I'm going to need help. Is it okay if I involve my husband in on this?"
"Husband? You're married? How old are you?" Bella asked, staring at Alice who looked maybe sixteen.
As Alice sent a text off, she laughed and smiled.
"I was alive well before you were even born. I am old enough to be your great-grandmother."