Title: Shadow Stained Mirror
Genre: Supernatural, Drama, Thriller
World: Twilight - Books
Rating: MA - Graphic violence (including sexual violence), language, adult subject matter and sexual situations involving teens *No Lemons*
Changes to Canon: See some details in my Author's Notes

Twilight is owned by a bunch of people and corporate entities that are not me. I fully acknowledge that I am using those characters without permission, but with no intent to distribute for profit. In other words, no Copyright infringement is intended!

Chapter One: Taken

Isabella - 1999, 5 Years Old

Seattle, WA

I can still remember that final dream, the last one I had before he took me. The sun was bearing down on me, and it was hot. The clingy fabric of my dress fell around my calves and stuck to my skin from sweat and a bit of moisture from the dew laden grass. My dark auburn hair fell around my face, and I had to keep pushing it back around my ears in frustration. Yet despite the discomfort of my clothes and my irritating hair, I was laughing. I distinctly felt happy and safe.

The great oak tree that took up most of the back yard threw shadows over the house. Dangling below it was a tree swing my father had hung up that morning. Lexi was spinning around, giggling like a fool. She kicked at me as I rolled underneath the swing narrowly missing her feet which were several inches off the ground. Dad scolded me, but I didn't pay attention as I crawled past her. She lost me as I snuck up behind her and pulled on her hair, as she spun towards me I flashed her a look that dared her to catch me as I ran towards the house.

I heard her jump off the swing, making an umph as she landed haphazardly yet still managed to land on her feet. Then she took off after me. We ran around to the back of the house, were an the picnic table sat on a concrete patio. We circled around it, trying to repress the laughter until I ran off towards the jungle gym in the back corner of the yard. I got about three steps up the ladder to the slide, when she finally caught me, and we collapsed together in a pile of exaggerated exhaustion.

Dad appeared out of nowhere, and came lumbering over and stood over us looking deeply displeased. We both looked up at him in unison, our identical faces mirroring the fear and sadness in his disappointment. Then his face twitched, and a big smile cracked his stony features. He picked us both up in his powerful arms and gave us kisses. The warmth of his skin made me feel safe and content. I had my daddy, and my sister, and everything was right in the world.

Then something woke me up.

Movement made me open my heavy eyes and I yawned as they brought the world into focus. At first, I was confused because I wasn't in my bed, then I thought maybe dad had me for some reason, because I was being held in a set of thick muscular arms. Yet when I looked up into his face, I found nothing there. Where a face should've been, I found nothing but an inky unnatural blackness that covered whatever features this stranger had. I tried to scream, but no sound escaped my throat, at the same time I started to struggle, but it was no use because his arms felt like coiled steel, and he was holding me tighter than my dad had ever held me before.

That's when I realized where I was, we hadn't even left my room... our room. Lexi was barely ten feet away from me and sleeping peacefully. Blissfully unaware that she was in danger. I knew she was going to be next, and I knew I was the only one that could possibly protect her. So, I started clawing at his blank face, hoping he had eyes or something vulnerable. My attack didn't seem to bother him as much as irritate him, and he quickly positioned me so that my arms were pinned. Yet somehow, my attempt worked as he turned away from Lexi rather abruptly with a small sigh.

Then we were through my bedroom window by the time my heartbeat once. We started to tumble through the air, but somehow, he righted us, and we were upright as we landed without causing him any noticeable strain. Such simple motions tickled at my young mind, and it occurred to me that something was wildly wrong with the world. It was like he was Rumpelstiltskin, or some form of demon come to claim me as his mortal bride. I wanted to scream; in fact, I did. Yet again there was no sound. I couldn't really comprehend what was happening. Without much else to do I tried to peer up into his face again. Through little gaps in the shadows, I could see that he almost looked ordinary. Not some hideous demon or monster, just a random man. A stranger. The kind that my parents always warned me to stay away from.

Compounding this eerie nightmare was the speed we moved across the grass, onto the sidewalk, and down the street to a large black car. As we moved my hair was blown back over his elbow, and occasionally a tuft of it would whip around and slap me in the face. As we arrived at his car he moved quickly to the rear passenger side door and with a slight creek of hinges, he pulled it open and then set me onto the hard leather matte-black bench seat. He looked down at me for a second, and then shut the door like the bars of a prison cell slamming shut. I twisted around so that I was sitting up, and then I tried to gain my bearings. I tried to lift the chrome door handle, but it was too heavy for me to open. I felt helpless, and that feeling pushed my confusion into terror.

I've read that there is a moment in every person's childhood where they wake up to the outside world. It's not usually a strong memory, but there's always a point where we begin to think outside of ourselves for the first time. For me, it was right then. Sitting there on that car seat, with the high bench seat-back towering above me like a black wall, and the dark unknown world outside the windows that felt vast and dangerous, I suddenly felt cold. Nothing about that world was warm or inviting. Nothing about it was safe. Everything I had ever known was a lie my parents told me. While most of that existential realization came as a struggle later on in life, in that moment, all I really understood was that I had no chance of escape. So, I just cried. Deep endless sobs, albeit silent ones because my voice was still gone. I remember those tears more than the drive, or the conversation I had with the stranger. Because they were the last tears I've ever shed.

The monster twisted his head around unnaturally and the amorphous shadows pulled away a little to reveal his devious smile, and the close-set blue eyes that went with it. But the rest of his face was still missing, it frightened me so badly that I cowered in the seat. That fear built slowly over the silent seconds, until without turning back he started the engine. With one final wink he turned around, and then we were gliding through the eerily dark night towards a place I couldn't imagine.

The classic engine roared like an angry tiger as we drove through the night swept city. I watched as familiar houses quickly fell behind us, and soon we were in places unknown, where tall buildings loomed above us like silver teeth jutting up from the earth. Yet, even those monstrously large structures were eventually fell behind us, ending up as tiny dots on a horizon of twinkling lights. Replacing the towers of glass were trees that seemed to stretch up into the sky.

After a while he opened his window. Then he pulled out a black cigarette from a silver case. He put the gold wrapped filter in his mouth, and then opened his hand, palm up, near the tip. Suddenly a small flame appeared over the center of his palm, which he then used to light the death stick. He took a deep drag, which produced a thick white smoke. The smoke curled around his face and quickly blew back into mine. I coughed and gagged at the smell. It was bitter like some horrible spice that mom had burned in the oven.

He looked back at me again, twisting his head like an owl, and then he smiled softly, and his expression was strangely kind. That's when I realized that the shadows were finally gone. Even though I had caught glimpses before, I was still surprised that he looked so normal. He was very pale, and his long face was drawn and thin, as if he hadn't eaten in a very long time. He pulled the cigarette from his lips and tossed it out the window without a looking where it went.

"This is between me and your father Isabella, and after he's gone, I promise to show you all the things you would never have seen." His voice was calm, and a little soothing. This all confused me, so I found myself blinking at the strange man, while struggling to understand what he meant. After a few seconds I knew I had to make it clear I didn't want to go with him, no matter what he could show me. So, I leaned in close, and spit in his face. His features twisted into anger for a second, and then he spun his head back towards the road. A second later he started to laugh.

"You are definitely Charlie Swan's daughter." His voice suddenly took on an unnatural quality to it that sent chills down my spine.

"Let me go!" I screamed at him. But he just shook his head, chuckling. I searched frantically for an escape, until I found his eyes staring me through the rear-view mirror. Then without any warning from his posture, he reached back a hand and tapped me gently on the forehead with a single finger. Instantly the world faded to black.

When I awoke, I found myself in the center of a circle of light, emanating from a harsh light bulb hanging above me. I was sitting on a cold concrete floor, and my head and neck hurt badly. I tried to yell for help, but my throat was scratchy, and I couldn't form words right away. As I swallowed hard to get rid of the dryness, I noticed that beyond the light was an inky darkness. Somehow, I could hear the vastness of the space, from the tiny echoes produced by the wind to the soft skittering of insects and rodents crawling around the abandoned space. It took a moment, but I discovered that I was in the middle of a massive empty shell of a building.

The kidnapper was just outside the circle, pacing around it with a nervous gait. Occasionally I could see his foot enter the light, and I wanted to time his movements so I could run the other way. Yet I knew that it was pointless, because I'd seen how fast he could run. I could tell he was using the shadows again, since I could barely make him out.

I watched and waited, hoping that something would change, and I could get away. And then I felt something strange, and my heart started to beat furiously. In a flash I could feel him, not just his presence, but his mind as well. Before me was his seemingly endless history. I knew that he was old, very old. He was also very tired, and desperately needed a companion to soften his loneliness.

His name was Dominic, and he was a vampire. But with that came the knowledge that there was more than one kind of vampire. His race was the oldest, and arguably the most powerful. But there were only a few of them left. They were masters of things unseen, with light and shadow being the pinnacle of their power. Yet it wasn't his age, or power, or the need for companionship that forced him to take me. He was here because of my father; he was here to make a point. Even at the cost of his own life. If he survived I knew he would take me as his daughter, and raise me as his own.

As I pondered things too large for my small mind to comprehend there was a sudden change in the room. A bright beam of moonlight flooded in from an open door, and in the same instant I heard a hard clank and thud of a metal door being thrown open. My father had come, and he made his way over to me nearly as fast as Dominic could move. Then he quickly and carefully wrapped my up five-year-old body tightly in his coat, and then scooped me up with one strong arm.

Then methodically he surveyed the massive room like a predator searching for evasive prey. In his other hand was an automatic shotgun held tightly and pointed down towards the floor. I felt waves of relief to know that my father had come to rescue me. Yet the words I was trying to say were a warning, except my mouth couldn't form the simple syllables. After trying a few times, he put a finger to my lips. I shut my eyes and tried to obey him.

"You're getting predictable old man." Dominic said somberly. His voice was no longer kind, instead it was a powerful voice that had a creepy quality to it. It also seemed to be coming from all around us. Dad closed his eyes and stopped breathing. "Tisk, tisk, Charlie! No cheating." He spit out, with a disdainful tone. I wanted to scream, because I knew that dad didn't know what Dominic was doing, and that nothing was what it appeared to be.

But Dominic had no intention of letting my father in on that secret, so he rushed us. He came so quickly that I almost didn't catch his movement. Dad narrowly dodged the attack and brought around the gun, firing once at close range into Dominic's back. The loud round was followed by the dull sound of a bullet impacting flesh. Dominic flew forward and slammed into the concrete sending up dust. The lingering cloud of it could be seen drifting through the light, but although my brain registered that, I couldn't help but stare at my kidnapper. He had stopped moving as soon he hit the ground. Then a different kind of white smoke began to rise from the new hole in the back of his shirt. Dad took careful aim, and then emptied several more rounds into the prone figure before setting me down.

"Stay here sweetie." I looked up at him and listened to his command. He reloaded the weapon primed the action once. Then he started towards Dominic, keeping the weapon trained on his still form. Once he got close, he kicked a foot under his left side and forced him over. Dominic's face was still, and there were no breath movements in his chest. I took a tentative step forward, trying to get a better look.

"Close your eyes Bella." I shut my eyes obediently, but I didn't realize what that meant until it was too late. I opened eyes and drew in my breath to shout no, when I saw a shiny golden blade slice through Dominic's neck like a hot knife through butter. The sickeningly sticky sound was accompanied by a short, and painfully loud scream of agony. I closed my hands over my mouth, unable to see what I was seeing. Dad pulled a dark cloth from his pocket and used it to wipe a deep red stain off the over-sized knife. After it was clean, the golden hue of the blade caught my eye and kept it. But out of the corner of my eye I could see Dominic's head rolling to a stop a few feet from his body.

My father looked at me then, and I could see the realization in his eyes that I had seen him kill. Then his eyes drifted down to my neck, and they suddenly went very wide. He dropped the blade he was just being so careful with, and with a few simple movements slid to his knees in front of me. He grabbed my shoulder with one hand and the top of my head with the other. Then he bent my head to the right, which made the pain in left side of my neck flare up. It felt like he had passed a red-hot poker across my neck, and it sent a shiver down my spine.

"Oh god." He said as he lifted me into his arms and ran from the building. He paused only long enough to pick up the golden blade. Then he was strapping me into my car seat and taking off through the darkness in our station wagon. Through the back window I could just make out the massive building. It was poorly lit and seemed ominously encased in the same shadows Dominic used. Those shadows seemed to pull away from the building and followed us as we drove away.

Occasionally out the window I could see the unnatural black shapes of that shadow as it paced us. Then the cityscape rose around us, and the darkness seemed to slow down to avoid the lights that were popping up everywhere. Then we pulled into a large parking lot, with pools of heavy artificial light created by nearby lampposts. Dad stopped the car in the middle of one and got out without turning off the engine. Then he un-belted me, and lifted me out of my seat and held me up to the light. Strangely the pain in my neck seemed to react to it, and I felt it flare angrily.

"You bastard, you can't have her!" His hands were gripping me tightly, and I could hear the fear in his voice. But the defiance in it gave me the courage to face the pain that was only getting worse.

"Daddy!" I heard myself scream again and again. Then something strange happened, stranger than all the night's events combined. The pain seemed to leave my body, and as it left it screamed as it flew through the light to combine with the rest of the shadow just beyond the edge of the light, whirling and writhing like a thousand snakes trying to feed on the same mouse. Dad pulled out the blade and held it against my neck for a moment which burned nearly as bad as when he tilted my head. Then he threw it into the shadow, which seemed to scream with a thousand voices.

I fell silent and watched in horror, as the shadows coalesced into a solid form for a moment, and as it took shape I saw a dark reflection of my face. Then it was gone, and my dad was holding me. Although the pain was gone, I felt different. I felt stronger than before. I tried to remember what happened, but all I could recall was his name, Dominic. As I pressed into my dad's chest, I felt an odd surge run through my body. Then a sudden thirst took a hold of me, and I smelled something just below his skin. I knew it would be easy to bite into his neck and release what I wanted. But something inside me knew that would be a mistake. I pulled away and investigated my dad's face, and his relieved expression soured.

"Oh Isabella, I'm so sorry." He set me down and stared at me for a long moment. I couldn't quite tell, but it seemed like he was considering what to do. I wanted to help, I needed him to know I wasn't different even if it was a lie. So, I ran into the darkness to get his blade. I found it embedded into the asphalt a couple of meters away. I pulled it from the ground easily, and touched the blade with curiosity. Even touching the broad end stung as though I had run my finger along the edge. But after a second, it was just a cold metal blade that was not really all that different from the butter knife I was just beginning to be allowed to use. As I turned to go back to him, I realized he had followed, but had frozen in place as I lifted the blade towards him.

"I don't understand, how are you holding that?" The confusion in his voice was clear even to me. I shrugged and walked as steadily as I could towards him. It was odd, because the coordination of walking, that had always been a little difficult before, was suddenly very easy. He took the blade from my proffered hands and sheathed it quickly. Then he pulled me back up and stared into my face for a long moment.

"I'm gonna take us home, but you can't tell your mom or sister about this." He said softly, but I could tell he was tense about something. "Tell me you understand." I nodded a couple of times, which caused him to smile and brush a loose strand of hair from my face.

"Okay daddy." I said as brightly as I could, then I buried my face in his neck again. But as soon as I did, I could smell his skin, and the blood just beneath the surface. In my soul I needed that blood, but I also knew I couldn't have it. I mumbled my frustration, since it seemed so unfair. Then as if he heard my barely spoken words, he pushed me out to arm's length and forced me to meet his eyes.

"Never bite, is that understood. If you get too hungry, let me know." I smiled at him nodding emphatically, and then I hugged around his neck as tightly as I could.

"I'm hungry daddy." My father nodded, and a moment later I felt a tear fall on my cheek. At first I thought it was mine, but after a moment I realized I no longer had any tears to shed.

Author's Notes: This is a wildly AU story. It will not follow any of the story lines from the books, and the characters are mostly in name only. The Vampires in this story are my own creation, and the rules are complex and diverse. I will attempt to get a chapter up every week, although that may slow down depending on how the next chapter flows. There are no Volturi and the Cullen's are... different. Magic exists in this world, and so do creatures beyond vampires and werewolves.

Please take a moment to review, and thank you for reading! As always check my profile for upcoming release dates for all my stories.