The chill didn't affect Sadie in any way other than her sensing that the temperature had dropped. Her new skin was so difficult to get used to. It was almost as if her limbs were extremely sensitive, but numb at the same time. She no longer felt pain or cold. Her new steel-hard skin wasn't affected by anything that happened to it, and remained pristine and beautiful.
Sadie looked at herself in the mirror, at her new beautiful features, at her perfectly shaped face, and at her crimson red eyes that glared through the dark. It was a strange thing, to have such gorgeous characteristics paired with such horrific ones. If her eyes had not been that terrifying color, she would have considered herself almost a goddess. As it was, she was reminded of her monstrosity every time she looked in the mirror by the red gleam in her eyes.
Luckily, her bestiality wasn't as noticeable as it had been earlier, as she'd changed out of the blood-spattered clothes and into clean ones. They didn't quite fit her new frame, but they were flattering nonetheless. Their hugeness almost swamped her body, yet it still managed to make her look small and cute.
Sadie dried her face with a paper towel, wondering if her family would recognize her now, changed as she was. She knew that she barely saw any parts of herself in her new face, but there was something: the fuller upper lip, the straight nose, the slight turn at the edges of her eyes… and yet, she was completely different.
Sadie set the moist paper next to the sink, before stepping outside. Her improved vision now allowed her to see in the dark, useful, but yet another painful reminder of her transformation. She moved through the night gracefully, not noticing the way her long steps flowed the one into the other, as she headed back to the warehouse where her family was. As she'd expected, Edward and Bella were standing outside, where she'd last left them.
As she approached, they gave her sad smiles, but didn't offer any consoling words. They had nothing to say for her situation, and she had nothing to say to them. Sadie barely gave them a nod before stepping into the large building. She passed through the rooms, heading towards the loud heartbeats that were beating in her ears, telling of three people in the vicinity.
She stopped at a door, obviously locked, behind which the three heartbeats were located. Her hand reached out, almost of its own accord. After a slight hesitation, the cold fingers wrapped around the doorknob, effectively snapping it and unlocking the room. She froze, listening for sounds inside the space, but only one of the heartbeats quickened slightly. Only one of her family members had heard her forcing the door open.
The hinges barely creaked as the door slowly swung open, miraculously silent in the decrepit building. Sadie took a deep breath before stepping inside the room, not daring to take a breath of the blood-scented air, for fear of what she might do.
Three shapes were in the room, lying on the floor. Two of them were breathing calmly and regularly, obviously fast asleep. The other, the smaller one, was curled up on itself, whimpering slightly in fear as she saw the dark shape approaching her.
Sadie couldn't help it. As soon as she saw the girl in the room, her breath whooshed out of her, forming a single word: "Sarah".
The young girl cringed slightly, hearing her name spoken in a strange voice, but there was something in the intonation that was familiar to her. Hardly daring to believe, the girl stood up, all fear gone from her face as she peered into the darkness, struggling to see someone she'd thought lost forever. "Sadie?"
Sadie couldn't move. The quiet sound of her own name had effectively frozen her already cold body. Her name had managed to paralyze a potent and indestructible body as effectively as iron bands could have immobilized her.
The human girl approached Sadie tentatively, almost as if she was afraid that she was seeing only a vision. Sadie ducked her head down in shame, not allowing her younger sister to view her crimson-colored eyes, or the way that her skin looked rock-solid, or how her features had melded to form a beautiful copy of herself.
Sarah was not deterred by the subtle move, however, and she kept walking towards the shade she assumed to be her older, vanished, sister. Each step she made sounded loudly in Sadie's ears, although the ground was blanketed by a noise-smothering dust.
Finally, Sarah was standing right before Sadie. The vampire did not dare to look up, although she vaguely noticed that her sister had grown more, and was now taller than she was. It seemed sort of ridiculous now, since Sarah would obviously keep growing, while Sadie would be trapped in her teenage body forever. Forever…
Sarah was surprised by the sounds of weeping that suddenly came from the shadow, and she gently patted its back, trying to look into the face of the girl whom she loved the most. As soon as her hand touched her sister's back, however, she couldn't help but gasp quietly. It was so cold.
Hearing the gasp, Sadie stepped back, still sobbing, as she called out, "Stay away, don't come any closer."
Sarah couldn't believe what was going on. Was her sister dead? Was it a ghost that had returned to visit her tonight?
Sadie kept retreating, and Sarah couldn't do anything but follow. She left the room with her sleeping parents, and stepped outside. Soon, they were standing in the bleak desert. Sarah gaped as she saw where she was. She had suspected that they'd been taken far away from home, but not that far.
She then turned back to Sadie, who had her back to her. She was still shaking with sobs, and Sarah couldn't help but feel sorry for her older sister. It was obvious that a lot had happened to her, and she couldn't help but wonder what she'd suffered to get to this moment.
"Sadie, talk to me," she begged, acting as if not a day had gone by since she'd last seen her sister.
Sadie froze once more, hearing the words fall from Sarah's mouth. She couldn't tell her the truth, and yet, it was her sister. She deserved to know what had happened, especially because of what would happen even later that night. She had to know.
Slowly, Sadie turned around, keeping her face to the ground, shielding herself with her brown hair that shone in the moonlight. She could hear her sister's breaths accelerate, excited to finally see her face after so long. Sadie sighed, knowing that the sight would be unpleasant. Carefully, almost theatrically, she raised one cold hand to draw the hair away from her face before finally lifting her head. The little light that was in the darkness instantly reflected off her blood-red irises, and the cold and beauty of her face seemed emphasized.
Sarah couldn't help it. She bit back a cry of surprise and fear as she saw her transformed sister. What sort of mask could so carefully beautify her sister's features, and at the same time make her look so terrifying? She took a step backwards, unconsciously trying to protect herself from the predator she noticed in front of her.
Sadie, noticing the action, sadly lowered her hair back into place once more. "So now you know," she said mournfully, her musical voice sounding so pure and crystal-like it could almost cause someone to cry.
"What happened?" Sarah breathed out, trying to forget the terrifying gleam she'd seen in her sister's new eyes.
"I was bitten," the perfect voice cracked in pain as she spoke about what had happened to her. "I was turned into this." The disgust marred the beautiful sound, morphing it into something that brought chills to Sarah's skin. That did not sound like her sister at all, and yet it was. It was Sadie, and yet, like her older sister had said, she'd been turned into something different.
Unable to stop herself, Sarah gasped out, "Turned into what?"
Sadie suddenly tossed her hair out of her face, the care she'd taken to keep herself veiled gone in her grief of having lost her true self. "Into a vampire!" she shrieked, before collapsing to the ground and crying out in dry sobs. Even her weeping was transformed, as tears no longer left her eyes. She was truly destroyed.
Sarah only hesitated a second before kneeling next to her sister and enveloping her in an embrace. She resisted the urge to shudder as her skin felt the marble-like coolness of Sadie's new body. She tried not to think about how her sister now had to sustain herself. All she knew was that Sadie needed comfort, and it was Sarah's duty to give it to her.
"I don't want to be like this," Sadie's choked sobs were saying. "I never asked for this." Her tortured voice spoke on until she felt the grief of losing herself finally rise to such a peak that no words could leave her mouth.
Sarah said nothing, but kept rocking her sister back and forth in her arms. From what she knew about vampires, there was no way to reverse the state, and so her sister was doomed to an eternity of wandering the earth, taking blood from creatures to keep herself alive. It was a future too terrible to think about.
(A/N) Here, as promised, the next chapter! I do apologize that it took me so long to post this, but I was really crazy busy with college life. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, and I know that I said this would be the last chapter, but, it's not, as you might have noticed already. There's going to be one more chapter left, and that's it. This time I'm almost 100% sure, so unless Catty somehow forces me to write yet another chapter and leave you hanging for a while longer, this will be the last one.
Anyway, please read and review, and remember that I do not own Twilight. In this chapter, I only own Sadie, Sarah, and their parents.