Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Based on characters created by Stephanie Meyer in her Twilight series
Done By Dawn
Chapter 10
"Let her go," Jenna stopped Edward from following Bella. "She has a lot of information to process. Give her the time she asked for."
Edward sat and watched as Bella walked slowly to the front door, then out into the front yard. His concern for her bordered on panic, but he knew that Jenna was right; he needed to give her some time to process everything. He decided to give her that time, but there was a limit as to the amount of time he felt safe letting her out of his sight.
"I'll give her a couple hours," he told Jenna, as he turned back to the table.
Bella walked out the door into the early evening. To the west, she could still see some pink and orange streaks along the horizon. To the east, she could see the stars begin to twinkle in the dark of night. She slowly walked out to the corral next to the barn. There were three horses standing, half asleep, near the center of the enclosure. She watched them for a while, as she leaned against the split-rail fence. She twisted the heel of her boot into the dirt, as she studied the three.
"Sample the DNA," she whispered to herself.
Bella tried to relax, and let her eyes gently close. All the information she had been given, swirled around and made concentration difficult.
"Focus," she whispered.
She felt the wood in her hands. Felt it's roughness. She worked to see it with her hand, and alter it into a smooth surface under her hands. Her hands slowly slid along the surface of the rail. Wherever she touched it, it became as smooth as glass.
"I can still do it," still whispering.
She let go of the fence and bent to slip through the rails. She slowly approached the grouped horses. As she got closer to them, they began to wake fully from their relaxed state. One, a rather large black horse, began to toss his head at her, as if to warn her away from them. Bella thought back to the last time she had come to Nevada, to meet her biological mother.
"She told them that we wouldn't hurt them," she worked to remember what Jenna had told her. Snippets of conversation that seemed to mean nothing before, she grasped at with a furious need.
Bella was within ten feet of the nearest horse, the black. She stood still and again, tried to relax and focus. She raised her arm and held her hand out in front of her. She felt the air. With the knowledge she had acquired form Jenna, Bella stretched out her thoughts. She felt for the horse. She had healed one before. She had helped to heal several. She focused on that memory, and remembered the feel of the horses she had touched.
"Sample the DNA."
She felt for the horse in front of her, and captured the memory of one of those she had healed. And she felt it! She found the place where the memory of the DNA lived in her. It was there, hidden in a finger, as if the small tip of one held all the information of that memory. She brought it into her, and felt it grow. She felt her body react to the horse DNA, as it began to replace hers. It was slow, too slow. Bella looked within her body and saw how it grew. She saw how to increase it's speed, and she did.
She felt as though she had been standing in the corral for hours, but in fact it had only been minutes. She felt the change as it began to slowly happen, and felt it suddenly burst into full fruition. Bella looked down at her front hooves. She turned her head and saw her powerful hind quarters. Then she saw her clothes torn to shreds and scattered around her, on the ground.
Shit, she thought to herself.
She felt the power of the horse that she had become, as she worked to control the four legs that she suddenly had. She walked along the side of the barn to the back of the corral. There she found several open entrances to the barn. She walked into one of the roomy stalls and looked around. She lifted her head over the top of the stall door. Connie had just left with Tony, and she watched them hold hands and walk toward the house.
Where? She thought, as she looked through the barn. Then she saw what she was looking for.
Bella focused on the horse DNA. She felt for the difference between the horse DNA, and her own. Then, she forced the horse DNA back into the place where she had found it. As her own DNA began to replace it, she became human again. It was a slow process, and at some points, a painful process, but before long it was complete.
Bella found herself on the floor of the stall, naked, on all fours. She collapsed into the fresh straw on the floor, and tried to relax her heavy breathing. She was exhausted, but knew that now was not the time to rest. She used the boards of the stall, to pull herself up off the floor. She opened the door, looking all around, then closed and locked the stall door and ran to the small office in the back of the barn. On the outside wall of the square office, Bella found a pair of overalls. She grabbed them off the nail that held them, and slid them over her bare legs.
She checked the office door, and found it unlocked. Inside she found a flannel shirt thrown over the back of the desk chair. She dropped the straps of the overalls, and put on the shirt, then pulled the straps back up. The clothes were several sizes too large, but Bella didn't care. She sat down in the chair, with a grin so large, her face hurt. She let her head fall against the high back of the chair, and tried to relax. She let her mind explore the place where she had locked away the horse DNA. She felt for the vampire DNA she knew had to be somewhere close by, but found nothing.
Bella began to panic, and took several breaths to calm herself. Jenna said that she had worked this out on her own, and Bella was determined to do the same. She had the advantage of knowing that it could be done. She had found the DNA for the horses in one of her finger tips.
"Finger tips?" she breathed.
Bella stared at her hand and ran the pad of her thumb over the pads of the fingers of her right hand, as she tried to puzzle out the answer she needed. She closed her eyes again and reached in to search her body. She searched the area around her heart, but found nothing. She finally began at her head, and stated an extensive search from the top, down.
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Near the end of Edwards allotted two hours, he began to pace the large dinning area. Jasper had been drawn to his unease and watched Edward carefully as the last minutes drew to an end. At the two hour mark, Edward was out the front door and searching for Bella. Jasper followed out of concern for his brother, but was soon more concerned for Bella. Edward was at the corral, holding the shreds of Bella's clothing when Jasper caught up with him.
"Shit," Jasper whispered between clenched teeth.
Edward could only stand in the corral, with the three horses crowding to the far side against the fence. His eyes searched the landscape for any sign of her, or any possible attacker. But, there was nothing for him to find.
"Alice," Jasper called quietly, and she was by his side in less than a heartbeat.
"I was just-" then she noticed the tension between Edward and Jasper, "-looking at clothes." She finished slowly. Alice noticed Bella's torn clothes, in Edward's hands.
"Can you see her?" Jasper pleaded with his wife. She was quiet and still for only a moment.
"She's in the barn?" Alice seemed confused. "But-"
Edward was already moving, with Jasper and Alice close behind. They entered the front of the barn and worked their way back.
Alice looked around, then pointed toward the back.
"There," she said. "In the office."
And Edward was already at the door. He calmed himself enough not to pull the flimsy door off its hinges, in his haste to enter the room. There he found Bella so deep in thought that she had no idea they had come looking for her. Edward watched as the level of her concentration was evident by the sweat rolling down her face. He noticed her ill-fitting clothing and the way her right thumb moved over her fingers but the left hand clutched the arm of the chair.
Edward turned to Jasper and Alice, and smiled at them. He nodded and they turned to leave, small smiles on their faces. Once they had left, Edward knelt silently next to Bella and watched her as she worked through whatever it was she needed to do. He refused to disturb her, choosing instead to wait for her to rejoin him.