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I open my eyes and the world comes flooding back to me. The ugly white walls of a hospital room blind me and I squint in order to keep my sight. I turn my head and see Charlie sleeping in a guest chair and wonder how long he's been there. How long have I been here? My sight becomes less blurred and I begin to notice the little things in the room; glasses of water next to a matching jug, a foldable table at the end of the bed, a door leading off to what I assumed was a bathroom and then a worn out coat that belonged to Charlie. I begin to feel a throbbing at the back of my head and move my hand up to touch the area when I feel a sharp tugging on the thin skin on top of my right hand. I look down and sigh in frustration at the multiple needles and tubes wired into me. It's not that I'm afraid of needles, I'd been in hospital before and been fine with them, I just hated the feeling of them inside me when I moved and the large ugly bruises they leave afterwards. I think of the last time I was in this hospital and my stomach flips. The Cullens had just destroyed James and I had been brought in after breaking my leg. I absentmindedly stroke the scar on the inside of my wrist and search for the 'help' button that patients always have access to. When I find it next to my heart rate monitor I push it and wait for the nurse to come. She didn't take long. My nurse is an older lady with a plump figure and extremely chubby cheeks. Her makeup is smudged under her eyes and the light pink paint on her fingernails is chipping away. She rushes over when she sees I'm awake and begins taking notes on my rates.
"How are you feeling, Miss Swan? You gave us all quite a scare!" I try and answer her but my throat is dry and my lips cracked and the nurse realises this after a moment. She pours me a small glass of water and holds it to my lips where I take a few small sips and then lie back against the pillows. The nurse takes a seat next to me and begins attaching a blood pressure monitor to my arm.
"My name is Cathy and I'll be looking after you for as long as you're here – which I hope isn't too long!" Her cheerfulness makes me want to role my eyes but I don't. I do try and be polite. When the machine is on Cathy presses a button and the fabric begins to constrict my upper arm.
"Do you want me to wake your father up?" I look at Charlie and contemplate waking him up. Would he be angry at me? I can't even remember how I got in this state. I decided it would be best to wake him. Cathy eagerly shuffles over to where Charlie is and gives him a few light taps on the arm. He shoots up instantly and reaches for his non-existent gun and stares Cathy down.
"Calm down now – your daughter is awake" Charlie looks to me and I instantly feel terrible for whatever I put him through. The look of pain on his face is obvious but there is also relief.
"I apologize...can we have some privacy for a moment?" Cathy nods along knowingly and removes the blood pressure monitor from my arm. After making sure I have everything I need to leaves the room and closes the door behind her. We are alone. I turn back to Charlie expecting to see that relieved look but I almost flinch at the anger I see. His arms are crossed in front of him and his mouth is set in a hard line. He pulls his chair to the very edge of my bed and takes a seat. Nothing is said for what seems like an eternity until he lets out a deep sigh and rubs the side of his face.
"What the hell were you doing Bells"? I lick my lips before answering and even then my voice was rough.
"I don't know Charlie I don't remember anything" He stares into my eyes for a moment before accepting the information and nodding once.
"They found you out in the woods by the Cullen place...Sam Uley...said you were curled in on yourself in the dirt" I took the information in and suddenly it all came back to me. The birthday party, the Cullens leaving, the heartbreak and the pain of what Edward had said. I let out a choked sob as the wave of emotion washed over me again and Charlie leans in to comfort me. He rubs small circles into my back and after a while I calm down. When he knows I won't have a break down he sits back in his seat and pats my leg.
"Tell me what they did to you Bella" I frown.
"They didn't do anything" Okay that wasn't entirely true, they did abandon me, but I chose to stay in the woods. Charlie slammed his fist onto the bed and I jump in surprise.
"Why are you still protecting them Bella? I always knew that Edward kid wasn't right...too old for you...that family of his were always odd ones. Who adopts that many kids!" He begins pacing the floor and I have to ask him to stop as it makes me dizzy. He rubs his face again and looks at me with pleading eyes.
"Bella honey if they did something to you then you have to tell me. Think of it from my point of view – your only daughter becomes infatuated with this guy and spends all her time with him and his family then all of a sudden she get broken legs and weird scars and such. Then just as things seem to be going normal the family disappears and your daughter is left freezing to death in the woods right next to their house. Tell me how that sounds Bella" I look down at my hands in my lap. I can't answer him, how could I? It sounded exactly like they Cullens had been mistreating me but in all honesty they hadn't.
"That's what I thought" I look up and finally see the bags under Charlie's eyes. The way his skin was sagging on his cheeks and how his hair fell greasy into his eyes. He mustn't of had any sleep or any sort of wash.
"You need to go get some sleep dad" I rarely call Charlie dad but I felt like this was a good time to start. He gives me a pitiful smile and shakes his head.
"You died Bella...God you died! They had to bring this machine in and shock you..." It was easy to see how painful it had been for him and it broke my heart how much pain I must of put him through since meeting the Cullens.
"I'm sorry. I really am...I didn't realise how this affected you" He nodded and waved his hand to show it didn't matter even though we both knew it did. There was an awkward silence as Charlie stared at the floor until his phone began to ring. He flipped it open and put it to his ear.
"Yes?" There was a pause and then he looked at me.
"She is...do you have to do it now?" The other person spoke and Charlie let out an irritated sigh.
"Sure. Don't be too long" He hung up. I gave him a questioning look and he suddenly looked annoyed.
"Some FBI guys came into work yesterday and started asking all these questions about the bear attacks. Well it turns out that they think it may not be bears and they want to talk to you – see if you saw anything out in the woods last night" I scrunch my nose up and frown.
"Why would FBI be interested in this?" Charlie shook his head and held his hands up.
"No idea but they've been poking around the station asking weird questions" I nodded and bit my lip. I'd never spoke to FBI or anyone that important before. Well...that wasn't entirely true. I remembered vaguely about speaking to 'death'...but that was probably just a hallucination. Right? It appeared Charlie was waiting for some sort of reaction so I shrugged my shoulders.
"It's probably nothing to worry about. I'll tell them the truth – that I can't remember much – and then they'll just move on" Charlie didn't seem to buy it but he nodded along anyway and told me the FBI guys would be along shortly. He warned me that they looked too young to be FBI and began grumbling about talent and experience. Eventually he began to give me a headache and I asked him to get me some coffee to which he replied with a grunt and left me alone in the hospital room for the first time since I woke up. I took another look around and saw a small clock hanging on the wall that read 5:44pm. It wasn't dark outside yet as there was still some sunlight creeping through the dusty blinds. I thought back on death. It had all been too real or it to have just been a hallucination...yet how could it of been real? But vampires are real...surely there could be a death? If that were true then I shouldn't be alive right now. The thought made me feel sick and I placed a hand at my throat to ease the feeling. I should be dead right now. But someone saved me...a guy in a trench coat of all things. Why would my mind create that? Why not a buff hero or even Edward? No, this had to have been real. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't even noticed the person standing in the doorway. A light knock on the door made me twitch my head in that direction to find two young men walking in. They were not FBI.
It had been a long morning at the station and none of the dim-witted officers knew anything about the 'bear' killings. There were no witnesses, no evidence and no bodies found at any of the scenes other than a few spatters of blood. I had begun to give up hope on the case when Sam had told me about a girl that had been rushed into hospital. It sounded as if she might know something and from the story her dad told she might of been hanging out with the wrong crowd. I flicked through the pages of dad's journal and found the area I was looking for – vampires. Me and Sam had added a few extra pages of information we had found along the way and I compared the notes in the journal to the description Garth gave us. I snorted and shook my head in disbelief.
"Sparkling vampires, huh?" It would of been funny if people weren't being killed. I skimmed over Garth's description and tapped on the edge of the desk.
I didn't get much from the 'anonymous' tipper but she did say that they looked like normal people. They don't even have fangs! But they sparkle (apparently!) in the sunlight. They're fast and strong and there's a whole bunch of 'em in town.
** Be careful boys, these aren't like the vampires back home.
I folded up the paper and placed it back into the journal as I saw Sam come in through the crappy hotel door. I turned in my chair and watched him as he spoke on the phone to someone, most likely some ass from the station. My brother had changed a lot since we started hunting, I suppose we both have, but I think were both better off for it. We've learnt things about the real world most folk don't ever learn and we protect those that can't protect themselves. Still...I wish Sammy could of been left out of it. Sam hung up the phone and put it in his pocket.
"The Swan girl is awake – told her dad we would head up and question her" I grunted in response and stood. Sam was taller than me now and it still shocked me sometimes how little he looked like my little brother.
"Grab the bags and put 'em in the back" We took everything we owned from the room and threw them into the Impala: we most likely wouldn't be staying in the hotel again whether the girl gave us any information or not. We slid into the seats, me driving of course, and made the half hour drive to the hospital. After receiving a few flirtatious looks from some of the younger nurses we found ourselves walking into the Swan girl's recovery room. I went in first and knocked to get her attention as she seemed to be deep in thought. Her head snapped up to us and I was grounded for a moment by how beautiful she was. Not the kind of beauty you'd find on a runway or in a nightclub, the kind of beauty you'd want to settle down with and see with a kid on each arm. As I stood staring at the girl Sam cleared his throat and walked around me to stand beside the girl. I shook my head slightly and followed after him.
"Hello, I'm special agent McGarry and this is my partner special agent Kristoff. We're here to ask you a few questions about how you came to be here" We flipped her the badges and she eyed them up before giving us a bored look.
"You're not FBI" I blinked down at her before placing a smirk on my face and taking a seat beside the bed. Sam followed.
"Listen kid..."
"I'm not that much younger than you by the looks of it" Her interruption left me at a loss for words and once again Sam had to step in.
"I apologise for my partner" He gave me a warning look before pulled out a small pencil and notepad. The girl raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
"Your partner? You mean your brother?" Sam and I shared a look before turning our attention back to the stubborn girl.
"What makes you think we're brothers?" The girl let out a short laugh.
"You two look alike and speak alike and the way you carry yourselves makes it obvious" I scratched at the stubble on my chin and thought over ways to shut this girl up. She was trouble and she could see straight through us.
"Look will you answer these questions or not?" She seemed to think this over before narrowing her eyes at me.
"I'll answer yours if you answer mine" I looked to Sam, who nodded, and we began the questioning.
"Have you seen any strange activity in the area lately?"
"Yeah...two strange guys have been walking around in suits asking a lot of questions" I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and instead gave her the best smile I could.
"Any strange smells? Burning? Any voices or shadows?" The girl did roll her eyes and shook her head.
"No smells or noises. Look I don't know why you're asking me all this – I just got lost in the woods and a local guy found me" Sam jotted all this down in the notepad and I'm pretty sure if I looked at it later I would see words like 'liar' and 'suspicious' written on the page.
"Okay. Tell us about the family your dad hates so much" The girl visibly froze and glared at me and my brother.
"What did Charlie tell you?" I thought it odd that she didn't call her dad 'dad' but didn't mention it.
"Not much...only that bad things started happening to you after you became friends with this family" The girl was clearly getting emotional over this and her features kept changing rapidly from pissed off to sorrowful. I looked out the corner of my eye and saw Sam watching the girl too. Whatever's going on in this town she knows something. She cleared her throat and pushed her chin out in an attempt to look in control.
"There's not much to tell. I moved here and got a boyfriend and his family were very accepting of me. Charlie never liked Edward and I suppose that means he didn't like the Cullens either" Sam froze in his writing and looked at me. He tilted the pad where he had made notes from Garth's description and one word was written in capitals and underlined. Cullens. We turned back to the girl and for the first time noticed the scar inside her wrist. I nudged Sam's leg with my boot and discreetly tilted my head in the direction of the scar. His eyes widened slightly and then he nodded in understanding. I cracked my knuckles to continue the questions when the girl held one small hand up.
"I think I should get some questions in now" Sam gave her a kind smile.
"Okay go ahead"
"Who are you guys?" I smirked and leaned back in the seat.
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you" She gave me a sharp look and it was becoming clear she didn't like me. Oh well plenty of fish in the sea.
"I'm very open minded, try me" We both stayed quiet and after a moment she frowned and let out a long sigh.
"Alright. Whatever it is your doing here go on and get it over with but do me a favour? Just leave me and Charlie out of it. We've both been through enough crap without whatever you two are up to on top of it" And all of a sudden this girl seemed very tired and used and broken. I don't know what made my brother do what he did but I had a good guess – she sounded like we did. Might as well give the girl a try.
"My name's Sam and this is my brother Dean" He gestured to me and I gave the girl a nod.
"We're hunters, we keep people safe from monsters and demons, and we had a tip off that there are some monsters in the area" The room was silent for a few minutes and I was starting to believe we had broken her when the girl took in a deep breath and looked at us.
"Ok" I blinked a few times.
"Ok?"
"Ok" I looked at Sam and he seemed to be confused as I was.
"I've seen some stuff that I never used to believe could be true. If you guys say you hunt down bad things then I believe you" Sam ran a hand through his hair in relief and I found a new respect for the strange girl. From that point on it was easier to get answers from her without any attitude. She told us about Forks and the people in it and what she knew of the killings and in return we told about hunting. Then came time for the real questions. Sam had just told this girl, Bella, about the time he had lost his shoe from walking down a road and she was trying her best not to laugh. I decided then was a good time to butt in and I cleared my throat.
"So Bella" She turned to look at me and the hostility had almost completely vanished.
"Tell me about the Cullens"
