Bella was unaware of how long she had been vacant and fallow. She was dead to the world. She stood in her state room, staring at the wall. Sometimes she sat, but mostly she just stood and stared. Then, after what seemed like years, brightness flooded her peripherals and she had to blink out the sunlight that filled her room. She jerked her head in the direction of the window. Pulling at the blinds, opening them, was Felix. Bella heard a low growl come out of her throat.
"What are you doing in here?" She snapped at him, her eyes black.
"It's been a month, Isabella. Aro wants to speak with you." Felix's eyes were a bright red, but it didn't deter from the coldness that lie within them.
"I do not wish to speak with him." Bella responded and turned her face away from Felix and the sun.
"No matter. I'll just carry you." He told her, smugness dripping from his voice. Bella turned to glare at him, but she barely had time to argue before he was upon her, lifting her around the waist and throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"PUT ME DOWN!" She screamed at him and pounded at his back. Felix was able to ignore the pounding. He was much stronger than her and it amused him—her behavior.
It wasn't long before they reached Aro's office. As was his custom, Felix knocked on the door, waited for Felix to invite them in, and then opened the door. He waited until he was through the door, and the door was closed, before he let Bella down. Bella's eyes burned with fury. They were the blackest they had ever been. She was in a defensive stance, waiting for Felix to grab her again. She was breathing heavily and scared.
She attempted to calm herself as she glanced around the room. Instead of just Aro, like normal, several people were in his office. Marcus, Caius, and even Kate. Felix was more than surprised to see Kate, but he ignored her. Kate and he didn't get along very well.
"Bella, darling, do you know why we brought you here?" Aro asked, stepping from around his desk to stand in front of her. Felix backed off and stood in the corner. He knew well enough to not try to stand between any of them and Bella. It would only cause him to get into trouble for being in the way.
"No, not really." Bella replied snidely.
Aro sighed, "Bella, you have been locked up in your room for nearly a month. It is time to get up and move on. You have not fed, you have not studied, and you have not tried to develop your powers. You have the potential to be extremely useful to us, Bella, but you cannot waste your life away locked up in that room."
Bella hung her head. She knew this already. The only reason she had stayed on without Edward was to be helpful. To help other vampires and humans. To protect people. She was not doing what she came here for.
"I understand that this has been hard for you. I did not expect you to just move on with your life, but things are different now. You need to step up and survive." Aro grabbed her hands and held them.
"Okay, Aro. I understand. I will start training my powers as soon as I hunt." Bella told him, pulling her hands out of his.
"Good, good. I have a proposition for you. Caius suggested that you may need motivation to get your powers to work for you. I have come up with a learning tool to help you with this." He motioned for Kate to come closer, "Kate is that motivation. You can block her powers from your mind, and you may be able to stretch this power to surround other people. Kate will use her power against Felix and you will try to prevent her from doing so. Does this make sense?" Aro asked her, without once glancing towards a very scared looking Felix.
"Yes. I will try my hardest, that is, if Felix is also okay with this arrangement." Bella hadn't missed Felix's terror-stricken face.
"Felix will be more than willing to help you. Right, Felix?" Aro asked, turning towards the bulky man in the corner.
"Uh..yes..of course." He answered, swallowing his fear. The reason Felix didn't like Kate very much was that she was always "practicing" her power on him whenever she felt like it. Having to subject himself to Bella and Kate's practicing was not something he was eager to do.
"Excellent. Bella, take a member or two of the guard with you when you go hunting. You have not fed in a long while and I don't want any accidents." Aro told her, effectively dismissing her from the room.
Bella nodded once and headed out. Felix followed her after a moment of glaring at Kate. Bella picked two random member of the guard with her out into the forests surrounding Volterra. She spent a few hours chasing and catching deer and elk, and with the help of the guard, she got her fill in a short amount of time. It had taken 7 deer, 9 elk, and one badger to quench her thirst.
Once she finished, she headed straight for her room to clean up. She glanced at herself in the mirror and was please with what she saw. She was much prettier than when she was human. Her hair was shinier, her face blemish-free. Her eyes were a very light gold. Her nose was no longer too big and her lips weren't lopsided. She smiled at her reflection and was rewarded with a straight, bright white smile.
She hurried to the shower, quickly washed off all of the dried blood. She wasn't a very clean predator yet…she was still working on it. She shampooed her hair twice, to make sure the blood was out of it as well. (Next time she'd have to remember to put her hair up in a ponytail before a hunt.) She glanced at herself in the mirror again, and saw almost no difference. Her hair was wet and in braided pigtails, but her face was still flawless.
She headed to the library, her new favorite place to be. She had agreed to meet Felix and Kate there to begin her first training session. She was a little nervous. It had been easy with Edward, he was always encouraging, and there were no repercussions if she didn't get it right. Now, though, she would have to
actually protect someone from pain. Even if she didn't really like this "someone", she still didn't have the heard to let him be in pain if there was something she could do about it.
She was the first in the library, so she picked up the copy of Wuthering Heights she had begun reading when she first came here. She had been through it twice since she was here, but she decided a third time wouldn't be bad.
1801 - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.
This sentence started the wonderful mix of flashbacks in Heathcliff's world. She was interrupted, unfortunately, a few pages later when Felix and Kate entered the library.
"Are you ready, Isabella?" Kate asked, her voice carried some annoyance, but she was trying to be kind. Bella glanced at the page number of her Bronte novel and set the book down.
"Yes." Bella responded, getting more comfortable on the floor. Kate and Felix joined her on the floor, Kate sat next to her and Felix across from her.
"Whenever you are ready." Kate said quietly, a small smile on her face as she looked at Felix. Felix looked like he was about to get a root canal, and his eyes never left the carpet of the library. Bella took a deep breath and wiggled around to get more comfortable. She placed her hands on her knees and nodded.
"Okay." Bella said, starting to push the bubble from her mind to surround her body.