Eyes Errant
Never before had Bree been so confused. What was happening to her? She felt so strange…
She had felt it growing in her for the past month. She hadn't been exactly sure what it was, but she had begun to feel a strange warmth, bubbling up inside herself. At first it had made her happy, as if she was friends with a dozen people. But then the eyes appeared. She felt like there were a dozen pairs of eyes fixed on her, watching her every movement with a judgmental eye. It got so bad that she could hardly eat; she could feel a deep sense of disapproval coming from inside herself every time she set her teeth at someone's neck.
Even when she went to Riley for help, it only worsened, and what he said would fix it didn't change anything at all! But one bed was just as good as another for someone who couldn't sleep. He taught her a lot, in the end. It was during one of these…sessions… that he let slip the words that somehow came together in her mind to reveal that sunlight wouldn't burn her skin.
For some reason, she never quite got around to telling him about her discovery. Every time she tried, the eyes seemed to burn into her, until she wanted to scream.
And then, one day as she came home from a kill, (sloppy, because of the eyes that never stopped) Diego had asked her a question—and the world had detonated. It had been like everything was made of liquid crystal for an infinitely long moment, and then she was…inside. Looking outside. She had been so confused and she screamed and screamed for help, but no-one responded…until suddenly the entire world shook, and she found herself staring into Diego's eyes.
More importantly, however, the Eyes were gone! Her Eyes were gone! For a brief moment she was so happy that she could have kissed him…but instinct quickly took over in her surprise. She groused at him, just like the normal Bree, a Bree that never had the eyes, would have done.
Unfortunately, the feeling didn't last. Just a few minutes later, the barest hint of being watched crept back into her mind…by the time Diego returned, she was once again lying on her bed, clutching her head in purely mental pain, which she knew wouldn't fade until the fullness of her body did.
Oddly enough, however, the instant Diego knocked on her door, the pain faded; it was like a few of the eyes were distracted, and as her mind flitted over what little she knew about Diego, she simultaneously was wondering why she was doing this; when had she become so analytical? All she wanted was blood in her throat and she would be happy! Sure, she had a faint twinge in her stomach when she looked at his lonely eyes, but surely that was just pity, right?
Don't joke with yourself.
She looked around wildly for the origin of the words, but found nothing; she jumped as the knock sounded on her door once again. Silently, she flitted to the door, and spoke a few words before opening it. Everything seemed fuzzy, distorted, like her vision was being broadcast through an ancient TV set. What was happening to her?
A moment later, the warmth inside her exploded…for the second time.
But this time, she wasn't quite as alone. She still felt the eyes, but this time she was one of them. She had taken one of their places, while they stole her body. What was happening to her!
Outside, she faintly heard words being spoken, and thoughts blurrily worked their way into her befuddled brain, and left with equal blurriness. Her memories disappeared and reappeared in flashes of light, like little bolts of lightning flashed between The Eyes and her. Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, as her memories were turned over one by one, she was released again, and once again instinct kicked in. She yelled—yes, yelled! At Diego…how could she have done that? She yelled at him!
And he left.
Those eyes never saw him again.
The fight was different from what she expected. It was nothing like anything she had seen in the fights that had broken out amongst their group back in Seattle. Little fights. Meaningless fights. This fight was deadly serious, she knew that the instant she entered the meadow and saw their eyes; they weren't angry eyes, or dejected eyes, they were eyes filled with only determination. Cold determination.
This information fed into her mind without conscious thought; she knew that All of her was fighting together the moment she entered the meadow. The instant she saw those eyes, The Eyes inside of her froze, disappearing with a shudder.
The Scarred One, the voices whispered, Danger!
The words were instantly confirmed when one of the boys ran straight at him with a feral roar, and almost before she even knew what was happening, he was torn into pieces and scattered across the meadow. Instantly, a replay of what had happened played before her eyes, and she saw in that moment exactly what she was up against.
A split-second later, the voices whispered urgently in her ear; Behind you!
Without a thought, she dropped to the ground and thrust her arm into the air, fastening her grasp around the arm that was where her neck had been a moment before. With a grunt of effort, she tossed the person across the meadow, where he—a brown haired male—crashed into a tree, sending a shower of pine needles down on his head.
Oddly enough, he began to laugh, its deep note rolling out of his mouth and across the meadow.
"Looks like you can fight, after all!"
She leveraged her arm and threw herself to the side, dodging the kick that came from the side, before she kicked off the tree, cracking it and sending it flying into the woods, and her flying across the meadow towards the small black-haired female; surely she could handle her, right?
Oddly enough, the small black haired girl didn't even turn around as she flew through the air toward her; at the last moment, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw something she hadn't seen before; a moment of alarm on the Scarred male's face, and then, an instant later, she felt something hit her from the side, sending her crashing into another tree, making it fall slowly into the forest behind her.
In the silence that followed, she looked down at the battle…or ex-battle. She stared, stunned, at the broken remains of the vampiric army that had seemed so invincible. When had that happened? How…?
In a flash, she found herself surrounded by the vampires, none of them with so much as a scratch on them; she pulled back into a battle stance, ready to fight for her life. If only she could survive until the second wave arrived! If only she had some sort of weapon!
The leader took a step forward.
Where was the other wave! They should be here by now!
The leader took another step.
Suddenly, Bree's blood froze at the noises she heard in the distance; the metallic rending of vampire skin, and a quiet, victorious howl.
There was something else out there. The second wave wasn't coming.
She was doomed.
The Leader took another step, but to her astonishment, salvation came from the most unexpected corner; the scarred one reached from the leader's shoulder, "Carlisle—wait."
The leader—Carlisle?—paused to turn to the scarred one; he was looking at Bree curiously, "Don't kill her, not just yet. This one is… different from the others," he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "She's got something I only saw rarely, even in the South. A fire in her."
Carlisle glanced back at him, surprised, "It must be quite rare, if even you are surprised. This is your area of expertise; I will follow your lead." He stepped back, letting the scarred blonde take point.
With a half-grimace, Jasper said, "I'm surprised I'm saying this, but… I think we should test her."
Carlisle, surprised, twisted to look at him for a long, pensive moment before looking back at Bree, "You …could be right. That she hasn't attacked us while we've been talking is nearly proof enough. Perhaps…yes, it's possible." He laughed, "Who would have thought that our family would expand so soon? But she doesn't know what we're talking about!" he abruptly said, turning towards her apologetically, "What's your name, young one? We can let you live, if you are able. All we ask is that you stop drinking blood."
Stop drinking blood! Why would she? Blood was everything to her!
But her inner eyes drilled into her with more power than ever before, until she wanted to scream; finally she simply nodded, a swift, jerky movement. Immediately, the group of vampires relaxed. She hadn't realized how tense they had been. She forced herself to drop some of her tension as well, even managing to force her lips out of the perpetual snarl they had been forming.
"My name is—"
She almost finished her sentence when, suddenly, the tiny dark-haired female nearly fell to the ground, clutching her head, "They're coming."
Carlisle appeared next to her in a flash, instantly distracted, ""They'? The Volturi?"
The female nodded, "I see...three of them. And Jane is with them."
Carlisle nodded calmly, immediately beginning to plan, "If you can see it, then our allies will be gone by the time they arrive. Bella should be here when they arrive, to avoid any confusion—yes, come now."
Bree stared on in confusion. He seemed to be talking into empty space.
Carlisle's eyes fell on her again, "No, I doubt she will be a problem. But warn her before you arrive." As he finished talking, he noticed that the scarred blonde was also watching him incredulously, and Carlisle raised his eyebrow, "Yes, Jasper?"
The scarred one—Jasper?—shook his head, "From the way you do that, you would almost think that you can read his mind, too."
Carlisle smiled easily, "I just know him well. Right now he will be focused exclusively on keeping Bella safe; his choices are limited." He paused, and then chuckled, "But I must admit, it is probably good to disabuse him of his belief that only he is omnipotent."
Jasper simply shook his head.
While outside her mind one type of preparations took place, in Bree's mind a far more frantic argument was taking place. How could they expect her to stop drinking blood? Blood was all she had, all she cared about. Her body ached for it for every hour it was not on her lips; she needed it! Even the smells of the forest creatures nearby brought a pool of venom to her lips.
She froze as that thought flew across her mind. Was it possible? Could she just eat animals to slake her thirst? It would be crazy to think so, but she'd seen crazy before…
But she could feel the burning in her throat building once again. She needed blood, and she needed it now, regardless of where it came from.
Her body moved almost as if of its own volition; before she knew what was happening, she was a dozen feet away. Her hands seemed to work on its own as they pulled a shivering and silent rabbit from its hiding place, pulling it to her lips, her teeth breaking the skin… and she spat in disgust as the liquid inside touched her lips. It tasted like sour A1 steak sauce or something! Never mind that, then.
And just then she heard a noise from the other vampires; they had gathered at the other end of the field—and Bree jumped in fright. There was a human here! How had she not smelled it! A girl, only a few years older than she had been!
The Eyes chuckled, satisfied, and she knew that somehow they had been blocking her senses; she groaned in disgust and dropped the rabbit, where it hopped into the grass, leaving a tiny trail of sour-smelling blood behind.
"What do you want with me, anyway?" she muttered, "Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"I'm sorry."
Bree jumped literally six feet into the air, snapping her head to the side. The black-haired one was next to her! When has she gotten there?
The Eyes giggled this time, as Bree growled in frustration, "What do you want with me?"
The black-haired one looked at her pensively; the look didn't seem to sit well on her face, for some reason. "It shouldn't be possible," She finally muttered, barely loud enough to be heard, "Rosalie would kill her if it were!" she shook her head angrily, "But…" She glanced back at Bree, again pensive.
"What's going on!" Bree demanded, "What are you talking about!"
The Dark Hair sighed, "And even though it's completely impossible, everything still keeps going." She rested her face in her hands, "Maybe I'm just going crazy, finally."
"I don't have any idea what you're talking about, you know."
Through her hands, Bree saw a small smile crack the Dark-Hair's face, "Yeah, I know. And I don't have much time, and Jasper's curiosity will overcome his common sense any moment now…"
Jasper?
The Scarred One, The Eyes murmured, feeding the information to her instantly, along with a quick flash of the Dark Haired one standing near the Scarred…near Jasper? The Eyes nodded in satisfaction, and receded back into her head.
"The next few minutes are going to be an incredible blur to you," the Dark Haired one said, suddenly, "So you need to listen very carefully." She paused, staring off into the distance for a moment, then slowly said, "This is the part where I say… 'This is the End, Bree.'"
She glanced back to Bree's uncomprehending face, then smirked, "Oh well, you'll get it eventually."
"There is One thing you need to remember. You were once Human, Bree. Remember that!"
"What are you talking about? Wait—How do you know my name!"
"No time to explain, they're almost here! Remember!"
With a rush of wind, the Dark Hair dashed to the group of vampires, and Bree was left standing, thoughts in turmoil.
And four cloaked figures walked out of the smoke.
The Next minutes were a blur. Words flew from one party to the other, interspersed with bursts of pain nearly as bad as when she was Changed. And then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over. The one named Jane turned away from the group, and gestured at Bree, "Take care of that, Felix. I want to go home."
Across the clearing, Edward murmured "Don't watch…" into Bella's ear.
And as the teeth closed, ever so slowly, around her neck, Alice whispered urgently, "Remember!"
In a brilliant instant, every memory of her time as a human flashed before her mind, Eyes amplifying every second of it into the ultimate form of movie. Every instant of embarrassment, of pride, of shame, or grandeur, they all flashed in front of her mind in that final instant. And with all the power and all the effort of 14 combined Bree, she Pushed, with all her might!—
And the teeth closed.
And everything went black.
I opened my eyes, and saw only darkness. Darkness that was never-ending. And that was when I realized the truth;
I was dead.
Inside my mind, I screamed.
But it was as if a great weight was pressing down on my body, and I could not even draw breath. And I faded into the darkness.
I smelled something; a sickly sweet odor. It smelled powerful incense. It washed over my senses, and I fell back into the darkness again.
Suddenly, from the midst of the darkness, a deep sniffing noise. It drew closer, and closer, before being joined by a second noise. A heavy heartbeat. And I stared up, and ever so faintly saw the silhouette of a huge creature. Heavy panting, and warm breath washed over my face; it's eyes seemed, for a moment, to glow a malevolent red.
Without a sound, Bree fell unconscious.
And a faint howl echoed from the clearing, into the smoke-filled sky.
And, without a comment, I resume the story after years of downtime…