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I'm still getting used to writing, with this being my first fanfiction, so please excuse my wonky writing style. I'll answer any questions you have that I can about the story or anything else if you leave them in your reviews.
OOOOOO
Bella found herself wandering toward the tree line as she pondered recent events.
Laurent had turned her. Unintentionally, maybe, but Bella had been given what she'd been asking for since she first started things with Edward.
Immortality. A chance to stay forever young and beautiful with the man of her dreams.
Bella's thoughts spiraled inward, her hands dragging along the rough bark of the first tree as she passed. The usual ache in her chest that she felt when she thought of Edward was still there, but it almost seemed…less, somehow. Like she had healed a part of the festering wound that had taken up the space where her heart once rested. Maybe being turned into a vampire had given her some semblance of comfort, now that her vampires were gone. Still, even if it hurt a little less, the hollowness inside her was impossible to ignore.
Mentally turning away from that depressing line of thought, Bella noticed a small path, worn down by years of foot traffic to and from the little cliffside that she had woken up on. She couldn't really blame the mysterious travelers. It was a hell of a view. She quickly made her way over to the path. As she followed the winding dirt trail, Bella wondered where it could possibly lead. She'd woken up, disoriented and a vampire in the middle of nowhere, and was still completely stumped as to how she could have gotten there.
Did Laurent come back to finish the job? Did he have a sudden change of heart when he saw her, lying there on the forest floor writhing in pain and already in the process of turning?
Carlisle had mentioned once that makers and their children have a strong bond that connects them to each other. Maybe that bond had already started to form.
Did he pick up her spasming body and take her to some sort of private jet that flew her to this sunny paradise so that she might have some comfort when she woke up in her strange new body? Did he have to gag her on the plane to cover up her screams?
Bella recalled the aura of sadistic glee that had oozed from Laurent as he spoke of killing her, and crossed that possibility of her metaphorical list. The look on his face when he'd pulled away from her gave her pause, though. When he'd turned toward the trees—toward the sound of that howling—genuine fear had taken him over. Whatever the source of that sound was, it scared a vampire enough to make him stop mid-feed and run so fast that Bella could imagine a cartoon afterimage standing in his vacated place.
Bella hoped to god she never had to meet it.
That aside, Bella was back to square one. She just hoped that wherever this path led, she would find someone who could tell her which direction to the nearest airport, or at least where the hell she was.
Bella saw an opening in the trees up ahead, and darted forward in excitement, reaching it in a couple seconds as opposed to the half minute she had expected. She halted her pace at the edge of the path just before she exited the safety of cover in the trees. The clearing opened up to reveal what looked to be a small log cabin.
Bella could hear repetitive 'thumps' coming from inside, and she found herself drawn toward the source of those enchanting sounds. Her feet made no sound on the soft moss that surrounded the cabin, leaving no footprints in their wake to mark the passage of a predator closing in on its prey.
Her black eyes remained fixed on the window before her, seeing no glass, nor screen, to hinder her view. As she crept up to the opening, crouched and graceful, Bella could determine three separate sources of the sound inside the house. One racing fast, frantic and small. One thumping along regularly at an even pace. The third seemed almost sluggish, falling behind the other two with brief bursts of speed, like it was trying to catch up, but it couldn't help but fall behind.
Peeking over the ledge into the house, Bella discovered the source of the sounds.
Two people stay low to the ground inside a one-room cabin, huddled around a third. At the far end, an older man—the grey sprinkled throughout his hair—lay on some sort of furry blanket on the ground, his hair sticking to his face with his sweat. Next to him sat a younger man, probably nearing his mid-twenties, that faced away from the window. All Bella could see of him was his long dark hair that was pulled back and tied low on his head by some sort of string. Even held back, his hair reached far down his back. The third sat at the older man's feet, huddled into the blanket that was tossed over him and looking as small as a person can.
The girl was maybe five years old, but the look in her eyes betrayed the old soul that hid inside. Her black hair matched the boy's in color, though hers was much shorter, having not had the years to grow it past her shoulders. She was wrapped up in a long dress that reminded Bella of a bed sheet and reached past her ankles to tangle her feet from her position on the floor. Bella trailed her eyes back to her face—much too thin for a child her age—to see that her presence had gone unnoticed by those deep blue eyes that stared worriedly at the man.
Bella couldn't seem to look away from the child, her small, adorable hands clutching at her dress, but some of her attention was pulled back to the man as he started to have a coughing fit. The boy lunged forward with a cloth in his hand and helped the man hold it to his mouth until the fit ended. Even as he pulled it away, Bella could smell it. The man had coughed up blood.
Bella held her breath.
She sunk down to the ground, her back pressed against the wood of the cabin and the window just above her head allowing the smell to waft down to her. The burn from earlier had returned with a vengeance, and saliva pooled in her mouth. No, not saliva, venom. She swallowed, trying to soothe the burn, but it only waned for a second before flaming back up.
She was hungry.
Even in her state of teetering control, Bella felt for this little family. Their father didn't seem like he was going to get better any time soon. With increasing concern, Bella recognized the sluggish thumping as the sound of his heartbeat. It was falling behind. Giving up.
She didn't know what to do. Her emotions were at war with what she knew to be the more logical choice. Bella was just a newborn, she couldn't control her bloodlust enough to change a human, and more than that, neither would the man be able to once he was turned. Add to that the fact that she'd be exposing herself to a bunch of humans, when she'd been told quite clearly that if there was one rule that the Volturi did enforce, it was that one.
But to hell with the Volturi.
Bella had meant what she'd said earlier to Laurent, even if she'd been a little bit stressed at the time. A government that rules just for the sake of ruling isn't one she subscribes to. Bella had never been able to just sit around and watch someone suffer. If there was anything she could do, she would do it. And Bella could save that man.
No sooner had she made her decision when a sharp voice began speaking. Bella couldn't recognize the language. It was all just Greek to her. Wait…was that actually Greek? Shifting from her position on the ground to kneel in front of the window, Bella took in the sight of the younger man yelling in that foreign language to the little girl who, up until this point, had remained silent. Now, however, tears rolled down her face as she scooped up the excess length her dress and ran for the door.
No sooner had the door shut behind her did the younger man let a small grin take over his face. Bella watched, more confused than anything, as the boy peered down at the man before standing and making his way to the left side of the house. He began to search through the pile of cloth there, digging deeper and deeper until he got an excited gleam to his eyes as he pulled out a bundle that had been hidden inside.
Bella was just waiting for this man to leave the house for a bit, maybe take off after his sister, before she could sneak in and grab the man on the floor. She would give him a choice, when it came down to it. She could pretend to be some sort of hallucination and give him the choice of immortality as a vampire, or the death that was rapidly creeping up on him. Sick people have hallucinations all the time when their dying, right?
The boy went back to his position by the man's side, laying the bundle down next to him and slowly beginning to unwrap it. From within, he retrieved something that looked almost like a pipe, but something about it was strange.
The boy turned back to the man, and Bella couldn't see what he was doing anymore, but a sudden cloud of smoke appeared around the man's head from his prone position, and he was thrown into another coughing fit. Blood was flying out of his mouth with spittle as more and more smoke was released onto his head, and Bella started to panic.
What was going on? Was this some kind of alternative healing method, or something? Was the boy trying to kill him?
Bella heard the patter of small feet approaching the cabin again, and sighed with relief as the little girl called back to her brother. She doesn't know why she felt so worried about her, but little girls just should go running off into the woods by themselves. Hadn't these people ever heard of Little Red Riding Hood?
While Bella might have been relieved to hear the girl returning, it was clear that the boy was definitely not. As soon as the girl shouted, the boy turned toward the door with a panicked look on his face. He started shoving everything back into the bundle roughly, before wrapping it back up and taking it back to its hiding spot into the large pile in the corner of the room. He quickly rushed back to the man's side, just in time for the door to open and the girl came stomping back in, tearful as when she left. She looked at her brother for a moment, before he opened his arms and she fell into them, clutching at him like a lifeline. The boy looked down at the girl with a soft look on his face, that slowly started to morph, and Bella's expression morphed similarly.
Oh my god. Bella thought with dawning horror as a smirk played out on his face. He is trying to kill him.
Bella didn't have much time, then. She needed to get into that house, and now, consequences be damned. She could take the wrath of the Volturi to save that man and that innocent little girl from that twisted kid.
The edges of her vision blurred.
What the hell? Vampires can't get bad eyesight right?
Her hands started to tingle, and it slowly spread up her arms as the world tilted for a moment, before setting itself right again.
What is going on?! I don't have time for this!
Bella could hear the man's heart slowing down even further, and lurched forward to grab the ledge, wanting to pull herself through the opening and save him before it was too late, but she couldn't move. She could only watch, feeling simultaneously numb and tingly, as the boy turned back to look at the little girl in his arms, his face now almost fully facing Bella.
Strange. Bella thought in a detached sort of way. He kind of looks familiar.
And the world went white.
OOOOOO
Bella stepped forward into the clearing.
That's the best way she could describe it. She had been standing at the window, ready to burst in and scare the living shit out of everyone there, and then her hands started to tingle and she stepped into the clearing. Like it was all some crazy dream, or hallucination.
Bella stood there for a moment, completely overwhelmed by the last few hours. Was that some kind of vision? Did she see the future, like Alice? If she did, can she go find that family and save those two from that creepy kid? Bella dismissed this almost immediately. Alice had told her a lot about her visions, due to Bella's constant questions—who could blame her? Seeing the future is so cool—and Alice doesn't live through them like she'd there. She doesn't smell salt and fish when her vision is at the ocean, and she can't move around in them like Bella did.
Then what the hell was it? She had been in the meadow with Laurent, he bit her, then she was in Greece? Bella's pretty sure that's the language they had been speaking in. Then she's back off to the meadow the second she want to interfere? Did she fucking teleport?!
Bella looked around the meadow, tuning her ears to the forest around her. Nothing. Laurent was long gone, and that thing that scared him off went with him. Can't exactly ask him any questions, then.
Suddenly, a loud ringing sound erupted in her ears, and Bella winced from the volume. She tried to discern where the awful noise was coming from, and recalled that she'd had her phone with her when she'd hiked up here. Gently reaching into her back pocket, Bella pulled out her still ringing phone, and stared at the screen with a blank look on her face.
Charlie.
Caller ID had never been so useful as it was at that moment, and Bella didn't know which this would go. She could answer the phone, deal with Charlie's undoubtedly righteous anger, try to explain what happened to her in a way that let her say her goodbyes without him knowing about vampires, or putting his life at risk. Or, she could ignore it, ditch the phone, and start looking for some answers, never speaking to her father again and leaving him with the impression of a zombie-like daughter that probably went off into the woods to kill herself.
The phone kept ringing.
Bella pressed accept.
There was silence for a moment as she tried to figure out what she could say to him that could possibly set this right, but she didn't have long to think before he spoke.
"Bella?" he spoke hesitantly, like he was not expecting anyone to actually answer. "Bella, is—is this…Bella, is that you?" Words failed her as she heard her father sobbing over the line. "Bella, please. Kid if this is you, please answer me." He pleaded, and Bella couldn't take listening to her father break.
"Hey, Dad."
"Oh my god."
He didn't speak for a while after that, crying into the phone while Bella spoke as soothingly as she could to him to calm him down. When he'd finally stopped crying, he only said one thing in a broken, scratchy voice.
"Come home."
So she did.
OOOOOO
Bella didn't expect it to be an easy reunion, but the greeting she got as she opened the door nearly toppled her to the ground, even with her strength. Charlie refused to let go of her as they stood out on the front porch as the sun started to set, his tears soaking into her already blood-stained shirt. After a few minutes of this, he dragged her inside by her hand, and she had to remind herself to let him because she knew that if she didn't, he couldn't move her.
Oddly enough, Charlie's scent didn't appeal to Bella the same way her own blood did. He smelled nice, but not overpowering to the point of a loss of control. Bella had held him in her arms for at least 10 minutes out on their porch, and she had barely felt a tickle in her throat.
Charlie moved to occupy his favorite seat, and he motioned for Bella to sit on the couch. After a near full minute of silence, words started to pour out of him like they'd been a barely restrained river and the last thread that held it back got pulled away by the current.
"Where have you been, Bella?! It's been weeks! I'd had my guys down at the station setting up posters everywhere before those La Push boys came up and told me they'd found your jacket in the woods, torn apart like some wild animal had gotten you! We've been coming through the woods and we found tracks! Huge prints that led to where those boys found your jacke—is that blood?!"
Charlie jumped up from his chair and ran toward her, grabbing at her torn shirt collar—even more evidence of what happened earlier having been real—and brought it up to his face. Or, more accurately, tried to before realizing she wasn't budging, then bent nearly in half at the waist to get closer.
"Bella, are you hurt? Is this your blood? Kid show me where you're and we can take you to a hospital. I know a little first aid myself to hold you over until we get there but—"
Once again he cut off mid sentence, but this time he was staring directly into her eyes. His gaze switched back and forth between them, seemingly searching for something, and it took Bella embarrassingly long to figure out what was going on.
"Dad, I can explain—"
"Why are your eyes RED?!"