A/N- A big hug to my beta acrosstheskyinstars.
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Chapter 8-
The Story of an Enigma
Isabella Swan
"Holy mother of- grrrr!"
It had hurt, of course. I knew it would. Death by vamp was never anything less than painful, but what made it worse was the sick sense of humor the powers above had.
My new body had appeared not too terribly far from where I parked my truck, and though I didn't know what I looked like yet, I did know that my new body had come with clothes that were definitely not appropriate for the woods.
High heels.
I didn't realize I had been wearing them until I spotted James' soul running toward me and attempted to take a step forward. The stupid heel got stuck in the mud and I fell face first into the forest floor.
The growl of annoyance coming from my own lips was only interrupted occasionally by James attempting to attack me. Apparently he wanted dessert. I could see his form coming back and forth through me as I worked at freeing the stupid heel. He shouldn't have even been feeling the blood lust any more so I wasn't quite sure what his problem was.
"How are you doing that?!" he yelled in an almost menacing voice after the third dive.
I was sure it would have sounded menacing to others, but when he couldn't even mess my hair, it made him about as scary as a butterfly.
It wasn't until his tenth dive through me that I started to get really aggravated. There I was, laying at the edge of the forest covered in mud, wearing heels of all things, and the freaking soul I had popped before being thrown into this mess was attempting to attack me.
"James, you're dead! Not undead, just dead. So can you stop playing around long enough for me to figure out my next move?"
This was the part I hated, back in the early days I would simply send the soul on their way and walk back home, not worrying about leaving evidence behind, because one more dead body didn't raise flags when there was a war taking place. Today, I couldn't just leave my old body in the forest to be discovered, so I knew I would have to return and clean up the evidence. I quickly patted my pockets uselessly wishing I still had my cell. I knew it wouldn't be there, but it didn't stop me from searching for it out of habit.
With a squelching noise I managed to pull myself up and tossed the useless footwear away. I wish I could say that I managed to get the filth off my hair and exited the forest with my head held high, but that would be a lie. No, instead I merely spread the murky brown junk, that rich women actually pay to bath in, along my arms as I rubbed them up and down to warm myself while climbing back into my truck.
A quick glance in the mirror had me doing a double take. This was the closest I had ever seen my features come to looking the way they did when I was alive. Besides on Halloween.
I drove the truck home knowing it wasn't the wisest move.
I knew if any of the kids from school saw me behind the wheel and questioned where "Marie" was, I would be opening up a whole new can of worms, but quite frankly by that point I really just didn't care. My heart was still pounding from the rush of everything, it was actually pounding faster than I was used to; perhaps this body came with one of those hummingbird hearts I've read so much about in poems. Was it not only a few hours ago that I thought my biggest problem was the annoying vampire who sat next to me in biology? It seemed so insignificant now.
James wasn't behaving any better. His hands kept ghosting right through my neck as he tried and failed over and over again to strangle me. I had learned patience over the years when it came to waiting for a soul to move on. Now I was losing it all. The bright, pretty lights were overdue in my opinion.
"What happened to you?" Charlie asked as I made my way into the house.
My eyes flickered once towards James who was now attempting to grab Charlie's gun, without success, of course, and then back to my surrogate father. "I really don't want to talk about it."
"Got a straggler huh, Bella?" Mike's annoying tone asked in a way too perky voice before dropping to a semi-normal level, "Is this why Vicky disappeared?"
I just nodded my head, too exhausted to talk about it, as I made my way up stairs towards the much desired shower. Mike's voice was the last thing I heard before I shut the door to wash away the stress of the whole day.
"Shame, she was kinda hot."
Showering did not give me the relief that I was hoping it would. I spent the first half screaming at the top of my lungs. After James made yet another attempt at, 'not letting me get away', Mike came bursting into the already crowded room wanting to save me. I had never appreciated the invention of shower curtains as much as I did at that moment.
The last couple of minutes were spent quickly washing off and then redressing as fast as possible. When I finally emerged back downstairs it was to see that James had finally settled down enough to listen to Mike and Charlie as they explained the fact that he had died to him, in much more detail than I had taken.
"So you see, once you're ready, your soul will move on to he- well, wherever it is you're going to go," Mike stuttered out.
I could tell from his triumphant smile that he was proud of himself for his explanation. I was sure he had practiced it several times in the past, for the impossible chance that Alice would actually give him a soul to reap. James' eyes darted back and forth between the front door and the kitchen, as if he actually believed he could escaped his death.
I glanced at the clock before quickly calculating how long I had been stuck with him already. It didn't take long to realize that something was keeping him here. One deep, calming breath and a small stride later,I found myself sitting across from the jittery soul trying to pry whatever his issue was out of him.
"She was supposed to be mine!" he hissed nearly a half hour later as his story came to a close.
James had apparently been the vampire responsible for Alice's change, not directly, but his actions had lead to her being turned. Even Mike's usually cheerful demeanor began to crack as he heard the plans the twisted soul before us had made for the tiny undead woman. I would never know what he was like as a human, but as a vampire, he was evil. Pure, undiluted evil.
From where I sat, it was clear that if James had ever been able to meet his reaper, they would have gotten along perfectly, if she had been able to handle him draining her constantly, that is. Mike's jaw opened and closed several times before he finally managed to squeak out her name, only it came out as a question.
"Alice?" He seemed to grip the sides of his seat tighter in preparation for his actual question. "You wanted to do that to her, to Alice?"
James' eyes lite up in a way that made him look like a demon. His tongue swiped across his bottom lip in either habit or a useless attempt to wet them. He looked hungry, not in the usual sense, in a way that even made me feel cold.
"I always win, and I like to enjoy the game along the way. If he hadn't changed the rules of the game by turning her, then she'd have become a pile of ash decades ago. I've found her again though, it's taken awhile, but I found her."
"So?" Mike replied this time. I could actually hear the anger in his voice.
I was once again reminded of the difference between him and me. I had always wanted to move on, until recently. Now I would accept whatever happened, Mike had never wanted to move on. If Alice died, his current existence was over. James' threat may have been about Alice, but as far as Mike was concerned, it may as well have been directed at him.
"So, I can finish it! I can-" He was interrupted by a growling voice I didn't even know existed inside the blonde haired boy beside me.
"You're dead! You are DEAD! D-E-A-D! Dead, dead, DEAD! You lost, you sick monster! You lost, and the game is over!"
It took a moment to realize that the sudden darkness in the room wasn't in my head. Mike's words had done it. Even if it was only for a moment, James had realized that he had nothing left he could do on earth. Instinctively, my legs pulled up onto the chair beneath me as the dark creatures resembling a black mist encased the room, ready to take their newest brother home.
There would be no magnificent light show for James. I had seen this before, of course, but not nearly enough to keep the chill from running down my spine. I should have been used to this part by now as well, not all vampires simply did what their instincts called to do. Some were just more demented than others. Some, like James, were nothing but pure evil.
I could feel all the goodness, hope, and love from the room being sucked out as it was filled with fear, loss, lies, despair, and gut wrenching cries from the eternally damned. My teeth bit into my tongue as my eyes closed tight. It didn't matter if I saw what was happening, I could see it all playing in my mind.
Shadows, dark, black creatures would flow from the ground like spilled ink, claiming one of their own with no sympathy. I resisted the urge to cover my ears as he began to uselessly plead with them. He cried the way I imagined some of his victims had in the past. He would know exactly what he put each of them through, but unlike his victims, his torment would never end.
"Noooo! I'm not ready! It's not over! Noooo..."
The sound of James' voice faded away along with his existence. All I could hope was that when it was my time, I would not be met with the same fate as him.
The rest of the night in the Swan household was much calmer. Charlie and Mike made plans to spread the word about how Marie returned home to Phoenix. First, of course, we had to dispose of the old body. We couldn't risk being seen, so it was just after two in the morning that we found ourselves searching the forest with flashlights.
"Are you sure this is the right area?" Mike yawned out, he was exhausted.
We had been out looking for...well, me, for over an hour already. My new body, like my old one, was no more graceful in tennis shoes than it had been in heels. I had fallen twice over raised roots and managed to get so turned around that it wasn't entirely too unrealistic to suspect I had actually managed to get us lost. My mouth opened to reply but it was Charlie's voice I heard before my own.
"Isn't this your phone?"
Two sets of lights were redirected to join the one that had first landed upon my sad looking iPhone. The screen was cracked beyond repair, but the back seemed to be still clinging on. I was sure my sim card would be in one piece and was grateful that no one had managed to find it since my failed attempt at destroying it.
The elation at knowing we were in the right place was quickly replaced with confusion and panic though. I swung my arm to shine light on the place where my body should be lying. It was not there. I swung my head from left to right, sure I had to be mistaken. Finally a fourth person was revealed by my searching, sadly it wasn't my old form.
"Nessi?" The red curls bounced around the young girl's head as she skipped towards me with a couple of deer and a bear following closely behind her.
It was obvious the animals were already deceased, yet I had the odd feeling that they would have willingly followed her even before their hearts stopped beating. She looked like a miniature princess straight out of a fairy tale book. Her head cocked to the side as she examined the three of us before a small giggle escaped from her lips.
"Did you guys get so bored that you're trying your hands at my job now?"
Charlie guffawed at the young girl's joke. Whether it was sincere or out of politeness I wasn't sure, but upon seeing how her eyes lit up, I couldn't help but join in. Vanessa was good at her job, of course, and didn't crave human contact the way most of us did. So running into her was a very rare occurrence.
"Nessi, we are looking for my most recent body. Have you seen it?"
"Hmmm," the young looking girl replied as she scrunched up her eyebrows in concentration, "I don't think I have, though..." she trailed off as her eyes darted to the bear behind her. I couldn't see what kind of look she gave it, but the creature lowered it's head in almost a guilty way.
"Though what, sweetheart?" Charlie prompted in that a very paternal tone.
Her eyes fluttered and refocused when she turned back towards us. It was almost as if she forgot we were there. Finally, after what felt like decades of awkward silence, she explained what was going on in her mind.
"I think it may have been eaten?" The statement came out as more of a question, but explained the odd looks the curly haired girl and the beast had been sharing.
Our trio headed home as the first rays of the morning sun began to break through the darkness. We had searched high and low for anything that might suggest my previous body had been moved, or eaten. Nothing was found. No one left the house the next day. Charlie called into work citing "personal" reasons and recited the vague excuse when the school called.
We needed a plan, but before we could plan, we needed answers.
"Let's just report her missing and be done with it."
"It's not that simple Mike, there would be an investigation, and none of us need that right now."
"Let's just say I went back to Phoenix."
"And if 'you' turn up later?" Charlie asked with his eyes narrowed.
It had been his main argument this whole time. Regardless of whether we could find it or not there was still a body out there, somewhere. The fact that my "father" and "step-brother" failed to report me missing would put them high on the suspects list if it ever turned up.
Sighing in defeat, my eyes traveled the room as if the answer would be sitting right in front of me. My eyes seemed to become unfocused as they casually grazed over one useless object to the next before finally stopping on a pen and a pad of paper. The unusually bright sun that had made its presence known on this day shown through the window, causing the seemingly common items to glow. It was literally like someone was trying to tell me they were my answer, and because I became so intent on finding a use for them, that's exactly what they became.
"I'll write a letter!"
Both Charlie and Mike stopped whatever conversation they had been having and turned to me. Apparently I had spoken a bit enthusiastically. My mouth doubled back before my mind could properly decipher what I was attempting to say, causing me to stumble over my next sentence.
"I mean... Marie... I... she... we... ugh!"
My head fell forward into my open palms in frustration. My fingers began to rub at my temples. The fact that none of us had gotten much sleep the night before must have finally been catching up to me. After what felt like an eternity, but was most likely only a few moments of silence, I took a deep breath and forced myself get the idea out of my mind and into the open.
"We tell everyone Marie went back to Phoenix," I quickly held up a finger to calm down Charlie since I could see he was getting ready to interrupt, "but we tell them that she left without a word, leaving behind only a letter. We won't provide any more information than that. Let them all think what they want. Then if my body turns up, it's just a tragic event with no one suspecting you two."
Charlie's eyes scrunched together in concentration while I waited with bated breath for his response. Surely he had to see the logic in this plan. It would work, it had to. Finally, after he must have scrutinized it from every possible angle, he brought up the one thing we hadn't discussed yet.
"And what are you going to do, return to Phoenix?"
Upon my arrival if I had been asked that, I would have instantly agreed, but for some strange reason my mouth wouldn't form the small, single syllable word. How hard was it to answer in the affirmative? Apparently very.
It hurt. It felt as if a knife was twisting in my gut when I even thought about leaving. I tried to reason that I must have missed Mike and Charlie more than I originally thought I could, but it wasn't either of their faces I saw behind my eyes as I pictured myself leaving. It wasn't the hurt expressions they would make that bothered me.
"No," I muttered out in what must have sounded like a half whimper.
If the guys noticed my change in attitude, neither of them wanted to find out what caused it because they both steered the conversation onto the next topic, my new identity.
"She can be my out-of-town girlfriend, Francesca!" Mike explained excitedly while going into details about how I could speak with an accent and tell everyone that we met online.
Only the bile rising in my throat kept me from parting my lips to respond to that unique identity. Charlie was kind enough to come to my aid, by stating that no one would believe that radical tale. Unfortunately, his suggestion wasn't much better. Back and forth they went, and with each name my mind brought forth an unwanted image of Edward saying them.
They felt wrong.
"Isabella," I finally stated, stopping their unwanted suggestions. "I'll go by Bella, and I'll be Marie's...sister. It'll help with the story. People will assume Marie left because I showed up."
"But you haven't used any variation of your actual name in years. You said it made things difficult. Why do you..." Mike trailed off as Charlie glared at him.
"Your name is beautiful, and I think it's good that you have other people, besides us, call you by it for a change." With those final words, Charlie wished the other us a good day and left the room to take a much needed nap.
It took one well placed phone call and another day to get my new identity on paper. Charlie and Mike both returned to their "normal" lives while I was stuck inside on yet another sunny day. The extra day, though, worked wonders. Charlie was able to confirm that no one had found my old body, and between the two men, they told enough people about the new sister's arrival that I was already expected the next day. Mike said most of the students were so excited about yet another new student that they didn't even dwell on Marie's sudden departure.
Try as hard as I might, I couldn't deny that I was excited about the new school day, and even a bit giddy to see if I would still have the same biology class.
Edward Cullen
My family and I sat around wondering just how to handle the upcoming investigation over the missing girl. Of course we knew she wasn't missing, but that had to be kept under wraps. Carlisle suggested that since I was closest to her, I be the one to answer any questions that came our way.
No I haven't seen her.
No she hasn't called.
We just talked in Bio. I have no idea what her family situation is like.
We spent all night planning and preparing our stories and responses for the police and guidance counselors. It was the first time in a long time that we had new things to discuss as a family, and if it hadn't meant the loss of the only friend I had made in decades, I would have said it was fun. That was also probably why Alice let it go on so long before she told us that we were in for two sunny days. I didn't even have it in me to be upset at her, I had seen the vision through her head thirty minutes before she let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.
Time didn't move the same way for vampires as it did for people. With an infinite clock, we tended to be much more patient. However, when it came to the safety of family, forty eight hours was nearly tortuous. What started out as fun, quickly became worrisome, none of us wanted to have to move from our home so soon.
The first morning I spent hunting alone, but when I found myself sitting by Marie's grave, I knew I was in trouble. I placed my hand on the soft ground and went through my perfect memories. I could see each moment that I shared with Marie. The thoughts ran me through the mix of confused emotions she had always brought out in me.
"You're still doing it to me." I chuckled humorlessly.
After a few hours I headed back home, stopping quickly to feast on a deer. My family had not liked how I had spent my day. The less tracks near the grave, the better. They had a point but I hated that once again she was being taken away from me; like a petulant child I sulked in my room.
The next day was spent looking through the local papers and watching the local news. The whole family rarely sat around the television, and when we became aware at how silly it was for all of us to sit and watch, we took shifts. We were all a little surprised that nothing was reported yet, but it wasn't uncommon to wait a couple days when teenagers went missing, even if Marie didn't appear to be the type to run away. Of course her father was the Chief of Police and he could be keeping things on the down low for the sake of the investigation.
Alice gave us the all clear for school the following day and I spent the early morning in my room, humming a new song that I had yet to put to the piano. Emmett opened the door without knocking and I shot him an annoyed look.
"What?" he said. "I knew you weren't doing anything private."
Not wanting to fight, I just shook my head and replied, "Time to go?"
"Are you sure you don't want to stay home another day, man?" he asked. "I know she was your friend."
"People die, Emmett, it's not like I didn't know it was going to happen," I pointed out. "Besides, I can't miss more school, we can't do anything that might seem suspicious."
He just nodded and I followed him out the door. I prepared myself for the onslaught of images and questions that would be running through my schoolmates heads. I was ready to handle anything that came my way.
Anything but this.
...so weird, she just left?
...I wonder if her cousin is just as hot?
...her outfit is hideous.
The thoughts that buzzed around me weren't of Marie's disappearance but of a new girl. And what was even more strange, everyone seemed to think that Marie had gone back to Phoenix.
"Alice?" I said, looking at her, wondering if she had seen anything strange. She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, showing me nothing with her mind that clued me in.
We made a quick stop at our lockers, and by then the halls were buzzing with students, giving me enough to listen to in the conversations that I learned several interesting facts.
Marie Swan had not been reported missing, instead, people were under the impression that she had gone home. And now, in her place was her cousin, one Isabella Swan, who, through the thoughts of my fellow students, I learned went by Bella. It takes a lot to stump a vampire, but I was truly bewildered.
I searched through the thoughts of everyone as I passed them on the way to class. A few people had seen her, and while she shared the same hair and eye color as Marie, I didn't really see any resemblance. This face was much rounder and her eyes were more wide set. In fact she looked closer to the Marie that I saw than the one everyone else saw. But her appearance didn't matter much to me at all, what I wanted to know was if I could read her thoughts.
There were only two people in school that could give me the answers I wanted, and that meant if I couldn't hear Isabella's thoughts, I was going to have to pick through the idiocy of Mike's mind.
Unfortunately it was Mike who I ran into first. He had his hands in his pockets and his head down as he walked briskly down the hall.
Stupid other guys...leave her alone...fresh meat...should have been Francesca.
I shook my head, wondering how to put his words into a coherent thought. That was the problem with reading minds, sometimes people didn't finish their own sentences for themselves. If they knew where they were going with the thought, sometimes it just stopped.
I turned to follow him, hoping that I could fish something useful out of his head when I saw her. Just a brush of brown hair as she turned the corner, and the scent. It was mouthwatering and familiar. I sped my walk but by the time I reached the hallway, the bell rang.
My mouth was salivating, coating itself with venom. It had to be Bella, and yet she smelled so much like Marie. Was it possible to have two people that affected me so? If they were cousins, then it was possible they shared blood, and I was beginning to think this was the tastiest family I'd ever met.
I watched Bella pass through the minds of most of the students throughout the morning, but I had hoped to get another glimpse of her myself. I had not been actively seeking her out, worried that I'd have a similar reaction to when I first met Marie. Of course Alice hadn't had a vision of me attacking anyone so I assumed that was good. But when I heard Mike's thoughts in class that he was meeting her after the period, I took my chance.
I kept my distance behind him, watching him turn down the science wing. At first Mike blocked my view, standing directly in front of the girl, but then he shifted to the side and I came to a halt.
The heart-shaped face.
The expressive chocolate eyes.
The full bottom lip.
Marie.
She caught me from the corner of her eye and looked at me. She raised her eyebrows as I studied her face. I felt my mouth fall into a frown and I stormed toward her. It took her a moment, but then recognition came across her face and she shot Mike a panicked look and fled down the hall. Mike's mind went blank as I passed him, chasing after the ghost. How had she faked her death? Whose body had I buried? And why had she thought I wouldn't recognize her?
Again she was messing with me. I felt elated that she was still alive but frustrated about what had happened. We buried a body and now I wasn't sure whose it was.
Students seemed to come out of nowhere to get in my way as I chased Marie down the hall, but what stopped me was seeing her in their minds. It was Bella, at least it was the same face I'd been seeing in thoughts all day, but I had still seen Marie.
I was certain that Marie was Bella, but how she'd changed bodies was a mystery to me. I had never known of a creature to have that ability, but I was sure that Marie was not human.
But typical with Marie, knowing what she wasn't brought me no closer to knowing what she was.
