A/N: TGIF, seriously, because I have no class : ) and I love weekends. I'm probably going to post at this time (midnight my time) every week, because honestly, I have nothing better to do. There's no need to draw it out.
Major, MAJOR thanks to my beta Claire. You literally saved this chapter. My Monday sucked balls, but you made this what it is. It would have bombed if not for you. Jess, thanks for being a fucktastic beta too ;)
Enjoy.
Chapter Four: Diversion
"You're so good at stretching the truth
Into a sugar-coated lie
Everyone takes a bite
I have been dining with the enemy
It was a wolf in sheep's clothing"
-- This Providence: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
b.p.o.v
I found myself at a bar in Lincoln, Nebraska with my coven, wishing I were anywhere else. My earlier encounter with Edward made my dead heart ache. A dull throbbing tore through my chest but I knew it was all in my head. How could I feel such things when I had no beating heart?
"Come on, Bella," Angela said from beside me. "This isn't healthy. Here."
I glanced to her; long, brown hair, slender nose, and an encouraging smile, holding a shot glass out to me.
I shook my head. Angela was right.
This wasn't healthy. What I was doing, what I was feeling, it was stupid. I was being moronic for moping around over a ten-minute conversation. It was what it was. I couldn't do anything about it.
I took the shot glass with a dark, murky liquid spilling over the top. I could smell the Jager before it touched my lips. The alcohol didn't even numb me as it didn't have that affect on our kind. It merely served to dull the hunger, the need to feed. I would have given anything to be able to get drunk right now, to forget about him.
"Have I ever told you that frowning gives you wrinkles?" Kate asked in her beautifully thick, southern accent. I smiled involuntarily and turned in my seat, watching as Kate stood over my shoulder. Her right hand was on the back of my chair and her left was placed on her hip. Kate was the second to join me in this life, and next to Rosalie, she was my closest companion.
She knew me better than the others.
"Many times," I replied with a small chuckle, finding that she had lightened my mood significantly.
"But seriously," she said with a no-nonsense tone, "knock it off. Let's have fun for a change. We're always so...depressing." She waved her hand in disgust at how boring our lives had been lately and I had to agree with her. There was no excitement anymore.
"Okay," I said with a nod, tipping back another shot and slamming the glass down on the table. I was a little too forceful and cracked the base of it. "Any suggestions to how we can be – adventurous, again?" I asked her with a cocked brow.
She licked her lips and glanced around the bar, sliding her fingers into her long, strawberry blond hair and tossing it over her shoulder.
"Best conquest?" she replied, a cocky smirk playing around the edges of her mouth. It was a game we played when we were bored. Best conquest was exactly as it sounded. Whichever one of us left with the best looking man, and went all the way, won. Rosalie was usually the victor in this department because she was younger and more outrageous.
"You're on," I said, extending my hand and taking hers. "What are we playing for?"
She shrugged, "Bragging rights."
I nodded in agreement and we headed to the almost non-existent dance floor. A few extremely uninhibited people were moving horribly to the music and I had to stifle my laugh. They looked as if they were trying to perform an animalistic mating ritual. It was ridiculous.
Kate and I danced to the music and I closed my eyes, trying to find a rhythm and a beat with the song that was playing. I let my mind go, focusing on the words and the way my body moved, attempting to quell my emotions from my encounter with Edward.
I would just focus on the game for now. Nothing else was important.
"You look about as awkward as these people," Kate murmured under her breath. My eyes snapped open and I glared at her as she nodded her head gently to the side, motioning to the drunken couple a few steps away. "Why so rigid? Falling in love tone you down?"
I smirked at how she was challenging me. She knew just what to do to trigger my inner bitch. She knew which buttons to press.
"You wish," I muttered with a wink. I tried to loosen up, to sway my hips more and to feel the music. I knew we'd soon garner attention from the male population of the bar if we kept dancing like this, and a song and a half later, I was proven correct in my assumption.
A tall, dark-haired man wrapped his hands around Kate's waist, pulling her against him. She wasn't startled by his actions, just as I wasn't startled by the large hand that roughly palmed my left hip.
"Mind if I join you?" a deep, gruff voice asked. I angled my head and gazed at the stranger over my shoulder, taken aback by the intensity of his blue eyes. He had short blonde hair that was styled handsomely and a nice face, but it was his eyes that caught my attention; they were gorgeous.
I glanced back to Kate's dance partner and grinned. Mine was better looking.
"Sure," I replied with a shrug, feigning nonchalance.
"What's your name, sweetheart?" the man asked as he placed his other hand on my waist and moved with me.
"Bella," I replied, "and you are…?"
"James."
James and I danced to a few songs before he offered to buy me a drink. It turned out that James was friends with the other man – Garrett – who had been dancing with Kate. The four of us sat at the bar quietly as we did shots. I was confused when he barely spoke to me. Kate and Garrett were silent as well, and I found it to be such odd behaviour for humans in the presence of us.
I'm not vain, but I knew I was beautiful. It was part of the façade, to appeal to humans in every way possible. It usually worked, but in this case, they seemed to be immune to our charms. It was suspicious.
"So, Bella," James began, turning to me as he set his bottle on the bar top, "where do you live?"
I smirked at his forwardness. "That's extremely personal information to divulge to a perfect stranger," I commented, glancing up at him with a quirked brow. He smiled in return, taking a long sip from his bottle before slamming it down again, empty.
"I was merely wondering if there was somewhere we could – you know, be alone," he replied, shifting closer to me and placing his hand over my waist once more. "Your skin is cold," he observed.
"I have poor circulation," I lied. Well, it wasn't a total lie. Blood didn't circulate through my veins at all, so I suppose it was entirely accurate.
"Ah," he said, nodding his head as his hand trailed down my side. "So – can we get out of here?"
I wasn't sure what his agenda was, but his heartbeat was level. He wasn't nervous or scared, but seemed almost eerily calm. I was curious as to how he was so unaffected by us and figured I could hold my own if he turned out to be a psycho. I was ten times stronger than he was and I had encountered stranger people in my days.
Plus, it was part of the game.
I left with James, nodding to Kate as I passed, whispering under my breath to the rest of my coven that I was leaving and would be back later at the place we'd agreed. I watched from the corner of my eye as they caught my words and Angela replied, telling me to be careful.
"Always am," I whispered back, barely moving my lips. James didn't hear a word of our exchange as he led me down the road. The streets were virtually empty because it was after two in the morning, and it was deadly silent. He took my hand and we entered a dark, narrow alley.
I could smell something distinct and familiar just before I was pressed hard against the brick wall. James held my head back, pressing his palm to my throat as his other held the metal of a knife to my stomach. I simply stared back at him, wondering if he was being serious about this.
"This is – unfortunate," I stated, twisting my head against the rough brick. "You underestimate me, James."
He laughed, "I think it is you who underestimates me." His eyes met mine before he whispered, "I know what you are."
I took a deep breath, ceasing my movements as I tried to comprehend his words. That was the reason he was unaffected by my presence; he knew what I was. That meant…
"You're a hunter," I concluded, staring into his cold, blue eyes. They were now filled with hatred for what I was as he held the knife to me. "You should know better than this," I said, gesturing to our predicament.
The smell I had caught wind of was more predominant than before. I managed to hold my composure as I realized what it was; Werewolves blood.
In a swift motion, I caught his wrist in my hand and twisted quickly, snapping the bones so he dropped the knife to the concrete. He cried out and staggered back, cradling his broken wrist in his other hand as his eyes flashed to mine.
"I think you should be careful, bloodsucker," he warned, leaning back against the wall and taking deep breaths. I faintly heard Kate struggling somewhere close and clenched my jaw tight. It had been a trap.
"I think you should be careful, James," I growled, fisting my hand around his jacket and thrusting him hard against the wall. His back arched away from it and he grunted, knowing he was useless like this. "I thought I was supposed to underestimate you."
I heard him fumbling for his gun and cocked my head to the side. Did he honestly think he would be stealthy enough? And even if he did manage to get out his gun without me noticing, did he think it would do any actual damage?
I had to laugh. It was amusing.
"James," I shook my head, "you know your weapon is no good."
He pressed the metal to my stomach and pulled the trigger anyway, piercing my skin. It burned a little, but otherwise didn't affect me. I would pull it out and the wound would close. Nothing potentially life-altering would happen.
"Maybe standard bullets are useless, but mine," he said, waving his gun in my face, "are special."
His smile was dark and made my insides churn slightly. Something didn't feel right.
I growled because I was sick of his games and I could hear my coven struggling. I put my hand to his throat and knocked his gun to the concrete, knowing how easy it would be for me to just snap his neck. A twitch of my fingers, that's all it would take. He would fall limp to the ground, spinal cord severed, head hanging sickly to the side.
"I can't do it," I muttered in frustration. I wanted to kill him, but I couldn't do it. My body was mildly repulsed at the idea and I shook my head. It was times like these I wished I could stomach killing a human.
I couldn't even end the life of someone who was trying to end mine.
Instead, I let go of his throat and hit my fist against the side of his face. His skull smacked the brick wall and he fell to the ground with a 'thud.' His head lolled over his shoulder and blood fell from between his lips, staining the wet concrete as he surrendered to unconsciousness.
I stumbled out of the alley with his gun and knife, feeling a horrible wrenching in my stomach where the bullet was still lodged. I lifted my shirt, gazing down to the pale flesh.
I gasped at the horror.
The skin surrounding the gaping wound was dark, a mixture of black and red. It was infected. I swallowed harshly, tasting the copper of the Werewolves blood in my mouth as it circulated through my veins. His bullets were merely capsules, filled with the poison.
I should have known better.
I slumped down against the wall, trying to block out the commotion coming from my coven and the other hunters, as I took the knife to my stomach. I dug it in, twisting, trying to get the bullet from its place between my ribs. It was painful and agonizing and I bit my lip, tossing the knife to the side and using my fingers instead.
I had it free and threw it to the street, but the pain didn't subside. The poison was still spreading. I needed my coven. Venom from another was the antidote to my sickness. Without it, I would go into a coma, then after days without treatment, I would eventually die.
I wasn't about to let that happen. I wouldn't die; not like this.
The fight happening between my coven and the hunters was quiet now. I could only hear the gentle murmur of Mike and Ben's voices as I walked at a human speed to where they were. I couldn't go faster than that because the poison was hindering my abilities. I felt almost as if I were handicapped, almost as if I were human. It was frustrating.
I rounded the corner and staggered into a patch of light from a lamp post, catching sight of Mike and Ben, standing around the bodies of Angela and Kate. They were both breathing, so I wasn't worried. I was sure the boys had taken care of them if they had been infected.
"Bella!" Ben gasped, his expression panicked as he rushed over to me. "You're hurt?"
I lifted my hand from my stomach, showing Ben the blood that stained my skin.
"What was it?" he asked, taking my hand and examining the hollow gap I'd created in my stomach.
"Bullet," I replied, finding that the blood was starting to take over my body as it rushed through my empty veins. "Ben..."
He tilted my chin up with his free hand and kissed me, parting my lips with his tongue so I could taste his venom. The mixture of both was the cure and the fire in my body was slowly being extinguished. We parted and I swallowed repeatedly, physically feeling as the venom worked to numb the burn and overwhelm the poison. The wound was healing.
"You might want to clean that off too," he said, nodding to my stomach.
"Yeah," I replied, "and thanks."
He smiled and went back to Angela, sitting beside her as she recovered from whatever had happened. I bent down near a puddle and cleared the blood from my hands, and then took off my shirt. It was ruined and stained, so I dipped it in the water as well, and then cleaned the blood from the wound with the soft material.
I watched in fascination as the hole in my ribs slowly closed, the skin regenerating and patching together as the black, sickly infection disappeared. The pale softness of my stomach returned, smooth and unscathed, as if nothing had been there in the first place. I smiled at how quickly we healed, running my finger over the non-existent scar.
I turned back around to my coven but a potent aroma distracted me and filled my nostrils. It was blood.
I glanced about the darkness, finding two hunters huddled against the wall, their lungs still and their hearts silent. My eyes found Mike's and his expression was full of sorrow.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I had to."
I nodded my head, silently telling him he had done the right thing. If it saved their lives, I wouldn't have it any other way.
"Are they okay?" I asked, walking over to them and gazing down at Angela and Kate.
"Kate was worse off than Ang," Ben replied, stroking his wife's hair carefully. "Three of them were attacking her by the time we got out here. She was badly infected, but she's okay now. She just needs a few to recover."
I bent down and took Kate's hand in mine; silently thanking whoever was out there that she was okay, that she hadn't been killed.
"Angela only had a few cuts, but they were deep," Ben added, grazing his thumb along her cheekbone, "she'll be okay."
I smiled at the affection. Ben and Angela had been together for nearly seventy years and their blissful love was the sweetest thing I had ever seen. I was equally jealous and happy that they had found each other. He had been her donor before they fell in love and there was no question of whether or not he would refuse to be changed. He wanted it just as much as she did.
Angela came to a few seconds later, but Kate was still lethargic. Her eyes were opened but her limbs were stiff.
It was nearing four in the morning and I knew it wouldn't be long before sunrise. We had to get to the safety and seclusion of our hiding place before we were exposed to the sunlight. I told Angela and Ben to dispose of the dead and they did as I said, leaving with the lifeless bodies as Mike helped with Kate.
He carried her on our way back because she was still too weak to walk, and I peeked into the alley in which James had attacked me. A hollow, terrible feeling lodged itself in my throat when I saw that his body no longer remained where I had left it. He was gone.
I shook off the mild fear that stabbed at my chest and walked quickly alongside Mike as he carried Kate. We were silent as we neared the barn we'd chosen, walking through thick, uncut grass, leaving each other to our own thoughts. I was startled when Kate spoke.
"So I guess we tie then?" she asked, her voice hoarse and scratchy.
I laughed at her easy banter in a time such as this and smiled as she lounged comfortably in Mike's arms.
"Hell no," I replied, playfully tapping her leg. "Re-match."
She laughed and I ran ahead to open the door to the barn for Mike. He stepped in with Kate and I turned back into the night, watching as Angela and Ben walked hand in hand through the grass, still smiling even though our lives had been in danger tonight.
It seemed so easy for them, to be together.
Why couldn't it be easy for me?
A/N: Thanks for all the encouragement so far with this story. I humbly appreciate it. Feel free to ask me anything if it's confusing. I will reply : )
If you aren't yet reading an awesome story by m81170 called An Introduction to Swirl and Daisy, you really should be. Awesome, quirky, funny fic. Not at all angsty. Check it out on my profile under favourites, you won't regret it ; )
Teasers for chapter 5 for those who review.
