Once again thank you to everyone who reading, reviewing, favouriting and story alerting. It warms my cockles to know that people are a) reading and b) liking, so thank you all so much.

Just to answer a common question that's cropped up a couple of times: at this point in the fic Bella is 13, but she has a birthday soon and she will grow older pretty fast.

Love and thanks to my amazing beta ms_ambrosia who turns my rubbish into a beautifully written story. I own nothing but the plot, but I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't try to steal that (it's all I own).

Enjoy

Sinking Deeper and Deeper

BPOV

The nightmares came swarming at me out from the darkness.

Subconsciously, I think I realised that I was safe and warm, the pain gone. But still the images came.

My mother's neck, bent at an unnatural angle that no living person could possibly mimic. Her face as she crawled towards me. The desperation that strained her eyes giving way to looseness as her mind stopped sending messages to her muscles. We had learned all about muscles and nerves and brain signals at school; seeing it actually work in real life was completely different, like a puppet with its strings cut.

My father's chest, clawed open, exposing ribs, lungs, intestines. I never knew that if you ripped someone open their insides would glisten and shine in the light. My father, the abstract puzzle. It was like I could only see what he truly looked if I scrunched up my face and squinted at the image the right way.

I whimpered softly to myself.

Mommy... daddy... mommy... daddy....

No. That wasn't right.

Dead mommy. Dead daddy. Vampires.

I could hear a sharp noise resonating through my body, cries of pain which got louder and louder. I wanted to clap my hands over my ears and squeeze my eyes shut so I couldn't see the ragged remains of my family anymore.

But I could still see their faces. Laughing. Smirking. Sneering. Their gums pulling back over their teeth. Vampires were supposed to be very good looking. I saw no beauty in them.

The cries in the background turned into blood-curdling screams and I wished that it would stop. The sound hurt my ears, constantly growing louder and louder.

The vampires...

There was something I was supposed to remember about the vampires.

My eyes bolted open. The screams continued and I idly noticed that they seemed to be emerging from my chest. I was frozen; curled up sideways in a ball – protect yourself as much as possible – shaking violently. I tried to shut my mouth, tried to stop the wailing, but I couldn't. And there was another voice which joined my own; not wailing with me but calling my name, and I fought to hear it over the screams.

"Isabella....? Isabella, can you hear me? You're safe now, Isabella. I promise you. You're safe now."

Safe...

I clung to that word. According to the voice I was safe. Please god, let me be safe.

I could feel the screams inside my chest dying back down to whimpers again, and I tried to focus on this voice, this saviour who promised me that I was safe.

"That's right, my darling," a female voice chimed in. "We won't hurt you. You're far from harm now, sweetheart."

I relaxed slightly as a soothing hand began to rub my back, only to tense a minute later upon realising that the hand was frigid in temperature.

The vampires...

I had remembered the ones who had murdered my parents, but now a new image came to me. Another vampire. Male. Black eyes. He had loaded me into a car and driven off. I bemoaned my stupidity at passing out. I now didn't know where I was or what kind of creatures I was with.

Slowly, I slid my eyes round to survey the room I was in. Well, at least they had given me a comfy bed to die on rather than just a ratty floor like the other vampires'... House? Home? Lair, I decided. Lair was a good vampire-y word. The room that the bed was in was also quite posh looking; decorated in pastels with solid oak furniture. And at the end of the bed were the vampires.

There were five of them, all beautiful as I expected, and all looking a bit scared of me. That I did not expect.

There was only one woman out of all of them. Presumably she was the one who had tried to soothe me with her touch. She had wavy caramel-coloured hair and the kind of look on her face which suggested that she wanted to do nothing else but mother me. I snorted inwardly; she'd probably rip a baby to shreds rather than take care of one.

Out of the four males there was one who appeared slightly older than the other three, who all could pass for high-school students. The elder vampire had the kind of golden hair and movie-star good looks that reminded me of the old Hollywood films that my mother loves to watch.

Loved to watch, Bella. She can't love anything anymore, can she? She's dead.

The three younger vampires looked like they had been in a competition to see who could be the tallest; an accolade awarded to the wiry one with messy blond hair. I briefly acknowledged in my mind that the second tallest, the skinny one, was the vampire from the car – Edward – before turning my attention towards the last of the three.

I gasped. This vampire was huge and scary and looked like he could possibly crush my skull with just one finger. I stared at him in shock and fear, before noticing that whilst the others were watching me cautiously and hesitantly, he was grinning wildly. It wasn't even a malicious grin, like the ones which had frequently crossed the faces of Victoria, James and Laurent when they looked at me – their snack.

As I eyed him carefully, I suddenly felt my body relax as a strange wave of calm washed over me.

"Jasper...," the older blonde vampire warned.

I swivelled my head to see who he was talking to, following his gaze to that of the younger blonde, who shrugged sheepishly in response before leaving the room. Why was he leaving? Maybe he wasn't hungry. I wasn't that big really. I probably wouldn't go that far between four, let alone five.

The giant took the opportunity to step forward, still grinning manically. "Hi Isabella. I'm Emmett. It's great that you're here to stay, little sister. Let me know if anyone pisses you off and I'll take care of them for you. We..."

"Emmett," the blonde vampire cut him off sharply. "Go downstairs. Both of you. Esme and I would like to talk to Isabella privately, if you don't mind."

The giant – Emmett – waved happily, not at all perturbed by this admonishment, before exiting the room, followed by the bronze-haired vampire from the car, who hadn't stopped glaring confusedly at me.

Then the room was quiet. Just me and the two older vampires. I wondered if perhaps being older in physical age meant that they got first pickings. They exchanged a glance, before turning to face me.

"So Isabella, my name is Doctor Carlisle Cullen and this is my wife, Esme. You've just met our three sons Emmett, Edward and Jasper." He paused, as though waiting for me to say something in reply to this. I kept my mouth shut.

Another glance. "I'd first like to reassure you that whilst in our care you will come to no harm and ..."

"We're not going to hurt you, sweetheart," the woman interrupted. "You're perfectly safe here and we're going to take good care of you." She took a step forward, arms reaching out slightly as if she wanted to hug me, but then thought better of it.

They were both looking at me as if I was supposed to say something and I almost remained quiet just to spite them – force them to keep talking, 'cos I wouldn't be listening.

But what if they hurt me because I wouldn't reply to them? As much as I wanted to provoke them, I didn't think my body, or my mind, was up to much more abuse. I debated this inwardly for a moment before deciding that it couldn't hurt to keep them talking. Surely they wouldn't speak with their mouths full? I giggled softly to myself.

They were still watching me, so I tried to focus on what had already been said. "Doctor?"

I almost laughed again at the look of relief which crossed both their faces at the sound of my voice before the male, Carlisle, rushed to reply. "Yes, I'm a doctor at the local county hospital in town, about thirty miles from here." I immediately gave up my escape plan to get into town at the phrase 'thirty miles'. I would probably have accidentally killed myself by the time I reached two. "I've set your wrist for you and sewn up the gash in your leg." I looked down, registering for the first time the plaster and bandages which covered me from head to toe – another reason not to move.

"May we ask you some questions, Isabella," the female vampire interjected.

"Bella."

"Sorry?" Great, now they both looked puzzled again.

"I go by Bella. My mom and dad only call me Isabella when I'm in trouble." A sharp pain seemed to stab through my heart at the mention of my parents and I almost gasped out loud at the force of it.

"Well, Bella then," the doctor conceded. "May we ask how old you are?"

Although I knew I should probably answer them, I decided to keep my replies as short as possible. I didn't owe them anything. "I'm thirteen."

"And when's your birthday?"

"September 13th." Three months time, nearly exactly.

"OK, good." The doctor seemed pleased by this information, but I couldn't work out why. Maybe it was like eating lamb or something – the younger the meat the better it tastes.

The woman's soft voice interrupted my thoughts again, "Do you know what's happened, Bella?"

I scowled at her – did she think I was stupid, like those other vampires did. "Yes. I know what happened," I answered succinctly.

The two vampires exchanged another glance. I wished they would stop doing that – it was beginning to get annoying.

As I shifted in the bed slightly, I noticed the pain that shot up through my leg, setting off the tandem throbbing between that and my arm again. The vampires noticed my wince, of course, and the doctor disappeared quickly only to reappear a second later with a needle in his hand.

"What is that?" I was beginning to panic, I didn't want to go to sleep again. I didn't want to see the pictures in my head, the nightmare, only to have to wake up to discover that it was all real once more.

"It's just something for the pain, to give your body a chance to heal." I shook my head frantically, trying to wriggle away. I managed to get one foot on the floor, only for it to give way beneath me when I tried to put weight on it. Of course, it had to be my injured leg didn't it.

"Esme."

The female vampire was immediately by my side, lifting me up, and I clawed frantically at the arm which banded across my chest, holding me upright. And then there was a sting in my elbow and I was suddenly grateful for the support for my now heavy body.

I didn't even feel myself being placed back on the bed. I was too busy drowning in my nightmares.

When I regained consciousness again, the male vampire, the doctor, was gone and only the female remained. I watched her surreptitiously out of the corner of my eye as she rocked gently back and forwards on a chair placed by the bottom of the bed, staring into space. Quite frankly I was amazed I had even woken up at all. Wouldn't it have been easier to drain me whilst I was completely out of it? My grief over my parents was still there in the background of my mind, but it was beginning to be overshadowed by anger. What the hell were these vampires playing at?

Every part of my body felt cramped and achy after my medically-induced sleep and I stretched out as much as I could in an effort to relieve the tension in my back. My head still felt groggy from whatever the doctor vampire had given me earlier, and I shook it slightly in an effort to clear it. I looked back at the woman, only to flinch when I found her eyes meeting my gaze curiously.

"How do you feel Bella? Is your wrist or leg hurting? Can I get you anything for the pain?" Her words were rushed and I found myself struggling to understand them.

Wriggling my body up the bed until my back met the headboard I stared blankly at her. Both of us fully engaged in staring at one another.

She obviously had more patience than I did as I felt compelled to break the silence. "How long are you planning to keep me alive?"

This time it was her who flinched back from me. "Darling, we aren't going to kill you. You're perfectly safe here."

I nearly cried in frustration; these vampires had kidnapped me, brought me to their house and now they weren't planning on killing me. Why was I still here then? Why wouldn't they take me back home?

But then, I didn't have a home to go back to anymore did I? Dead daddy... dead mommy...

Even so, surely if they weren't going to murder me then they could take me back to town. Someone would take me in; my parents were popular and had lots of friends, and even going into care didn't seem too bad. I just wanted to get away from all these creatures that shouldn't exist, back to human civilisation. Too late, I noticed that fat tears were now rolling down my face as I sobbed quietly. Why can't I go back?

I didn't even realize that I had asked the question out loud until the female replied, wringing her hands and looking almost as distraught as I felt. "Bella, sweetheart, you have to understand. We did it to protect you." Her voice was wavering now and I'm sure that if she could have cried too, she would have. "Bella... People think you're dead. We had to make them think that you were dead. It was the only way to protect you. If they'd known you were still alive they would have come for you, they would have killed you."

The tone of her voice must have alerted whoever was in the house to her distress, because the next I knew the younger blond was in the room, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and visibly calming her down.

Why should she be calm? She had no right to. My emotions were now hurtling me from anger to grief to frustration and back again as I processed her words. "What do you mean they think I'm dead?" I screeched. "Who thinks I'm dead? What are you going to do with me? What's going to happen to me?" I balled my fists up on the comforter, wanting badly to hit one of the vampires in the room, but recognising that I would probably do more damage to myself than them.

The blond – Jasper, I recalled – answered my questions this time. "Bella, the vampires who killed your parents were judged and executed by the law-makers of our kind. Our laws state that humans are not supposed to know of our existence and if they do they are to be silenced."

He waited for a moment as I tried to dissect this information within my already throbbing head. I knew about vampires. Which meant that I would also have to be executed.

And in that moment I wanted it. I wanted death. I didn't want to have to deal with vampires and dead parents and the mess that was inevitably waiting for me in the future.

Blondie interrupted my thoughts.

"In order to keep you safe from their judgement you will have to live separate from human society. Everyone thinks you're dead, and if you're going to stay safe no one can ever think that you're alive. From now on you'll be staying with us and we'll take care of you, Bella. We just want to protect you."

This speech was punctuation by a wave of relaxation cresting through my body and I realized that this vampire had apparently done a similar thing earlier. Shrugging off the calm, I felt my tidal wave of emotions rising at the situation again. People thought I was dead. No one was coming to look for me. If people knew I was alive I would be in danger. Panic welled up in my throat, almost choking me in its intensity, and Blondie shot a worried look at the woman. I was suddenly sick at the sight of them. I didn't want to stay here. How dare they!

Previously, in the back of my mind I hadn't really cared what would happen to me. Death seemed unavoidable whilst in the presence of these vampires, and the end was more a question of when, rather than if. Obviously, if I could avoid pain before it happened that would be good too, but I had made my peace. I had welcomed it; if my family was dead, what did I have to live for? And now these... these vampires... were denying me this certainty. They wanted to keep me, to take care of me, to make sure I stayed alive... And I hated them for it.

"Get out," my voice was barely a whisper but I knew they would hear it.

"Bella, honey..." the woman began.

"Get out!" I screamed. "Get out! Get out, get out, get out!" My breath was hitching now as the rage and screaming began to make an impression on my body.

The woman took a step towards me, but stopped dead at the force of my glare. "I want nothing to do with you. Get. Out."

The blond stared severely back at me, but the woman seemed to be trying to control her grief once more. "Ok, Bella. We know this is a lot to take in. I'll be just down the hall if you need me, alright?"

I didn't reply, rolling over so my back faced the door. I held it together until I heard the click that signified that they had left and then I let it all out. Great, heaving cries racked my body, making my chest hurt and my throat sore. The tears just wouldn't stop as I contemplated the sheer hopelessness of the situation.

My parents were dead; vampires would hunt me down if they knew that I knew of their existence; and, other vampires wanted to take me away from everything I knew, apparently to look after me (so they said!), but more likely so they could kill me themselves.

As my tears slowly dried, I noticed that same lightheaded feeling that I had gotten in the car taking over me. Then, I had assumed that it was making everything seem fuzzy to shield me from the physical pain, now I wondered if it was here to shield me from life itself. It was as if I was detached from my body, but could still look down and see everything that was happening to me. It was better than everything else I was feeling.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and let the numbness drift me away. Hopefully, I would never return.