Chapter 8

Rate M for Mother Fuckin' language

BPOV

She couldn't understand why the red eyes were familiar. Familiar and foreign. Terrifying. Her instincts took over and she crouched down. A low growl erupted from her chest and the dark skinned vampire lifted his hands in submission. He had long thick dred locks that fell to the middle of his back and as he stepped from the shadows his medium frame seemed less imposing though still equally frightening.

"I'm not here to hurt you child," he cooed. Bella detected an accent but couldn't pin point where it would have been from. She did not withdraw her stance though her growling ceased.

"You are marvelous." His Scarlett pools sized her up and down, appreciative as if he were a painter viewing his masterpiece. Bella became uncomfortable and put her weight into the balls of her feet. She would either launch herself at him or run away, depending on exactly how much self-preservation she had bottled up inside her.

Right now, it seemed as if she had very little.

"Who are you" she said, her own voice a stranger. Had she always sounded this way? Melodic and alto. She couldn't remember but it felt wrong. More wrong but right. Familiar and foreign. Her anger and confusion spiked and she bared her fangs to the man.

He smiled tightly taking a cautious step forward. "I am Laurent and I am your sire. Consider me family mon Cher."

Family? She didn't lower her guard. She had no family. No, that musn't be true. She just couldn't remember them. Were they family if she had no recollection? She grew anxious though her muscles uncoiled slightly.

"I don't remember you." Is all she said.

He nodded, "That is normal young one." He paused, as if calculating his next move. "I have some people you should meet. Would you come with me?"

Bella froze. Her instincts were screaming to run away but his eyes held her in place. They were familiar. She tried desperately to remember something, anything, about her past but was met with a hazy fog. People without faces, memories with no names. The red eyes. She gasped as she remembered red eyes. Laurent's? No. Maybe? She wanted to scream and pull out her hair, she felt the world closing in around her but her only response was a breathy. "Ok." to which Laurent smiled grandly. "Wonderful!" He put his hand out and she slowly, cautiously, methodically, took it.

Zero preservation.

*Unwelcomed Accidents*

The trip to Laurent's cabin was silent. Not trusting her decisions or her sire Bella calculated exit plans, wondering if it was too late to grab her self-preservation and run for it. But where would she run? And who would she go to? And did she really think she could get far from Laurent if he chased her? No, she was committed now.

The cabin was beyond rustic. It was dilapidated. The door hung from its hinges, rusted with pieces of the frame missing. Vines and weeds crept through the floor boards while the walls had large holes where Bella was able to see into the other room equally in disrepair. Broken furniture, glass from a lamp, crumpled beer cans and trash were all littered throughout the cabin.

Bella took cautious steps, worried she would find herself knee deep in the soggy mold-infested floor. "This is home?" She looked around curiously, trying to suppress her shock and disappointment.

Laurent let out a low chuckle, "No Cher, we are nomads. This will just suit our needs for today."

Bella couldn't imagine what needs this cabin could possibly meet and now she was certain she had made the wrong decision.

That feeling was only amplified as two figures emerged from the broken doorway.

JPOV

Jasper looked around; he had been tracking Bella for most of the day. Her trail wasn't too hard to follow though he could see how Emmett and Rose lost it so easily. Her trail was illogical. Most newborns instinctively ran for civilization, she was running away from it. He didn't know if this anomaly was worth noting, or just a random occurrence. Either way, he launched himself forward, trying to close the distance between them.

Come on Bella, just slowdown already.

Jasper had been trying to focus on tracking but his mind kept drifting to Alice. His frustration with the pixie's aloofness was now pure rage. He understood her power, better than most. Choices indicate the future she sees so it's important to stay on the "correct", or most beneficial path. But whatever future she saw sounded like it was far from beneficial. It was hard not to put blame on her for the hell he's had to endure lately and the hell it sounded like he was going to endure yet.

Goddammit Alice…

Jasper stopped abruptly amid a clearing. The scent was heady with blood and deer but that wasn't what stopped him, it was his smell.

Jasper bared his fangs and growled, it was Laurent. Bella had left with him, was it by force? Jasper was frantic as he sped up and leapt over the shrubbery and loose branches. He was no longer going for stealth, he was just trying to be fast.

Oh no.

He hadn't gone too far before he smelled at least two other vampires in the area. Jasper was feral, teeth barred and eyes wild and that is when it hit him.

He felt Bella.