A product of quarantine and the Twilight Renassaince.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, plot points, and backgrounds do not belong to me. This chapter mentions stuff that was sort of in the Twilight Illustrated Guide, but a lot of it was altered in my brain to serve my ~purposes~.
Sorry for the incredibly long delay! Life really got in the way for a bit. This chapter is much longer than the others, though, so hopefully, you won't be too mad at me.
Chapter Three
The gist is this:
Bella had been hunting.
She'd taken a bus to the closest city to the cabin she'd rented. It arrived late in the evening, just after the sun had set. The darkness made it easy for Bella to distance herself from the other passengers once at the station. When she was far enough away that no one would see her, she ran.
Her route to the cabin was already planned, the image of a red line marked in sharpie on a guidebook clear in her mind. She'd needed to hunt properly for a while and decided doing so en route was the best option. Bella had purposefully changed her sleep schedule during the week prior so there would be no chance of her getting tired. Camping had been a necessity many times before, but she preferred sleeping in a bed to a sleeping bag when she had the option.
A few decent-sized caribou and one big bear later, Bella was feeling strong. She enjoyed the wilderness and solitude. She loved the smell of the trees, the light from the full moon as it marched its way across the sky.
It had been her personal ritual over the last five years to go off into nature during the first week of September, a different place every year. Last year it had been salt flats, the year before that, hot springs. This year she'd decided to go less touristy and go somewhere more remote. Somewhere she could stay for a few weeks with fewer people around so she could explore without worrying someone would get suspicious of a young girl trekking by herself with nothing but a backpack.
It was on the way back to the cabin that she'd heard the noises of wolves fighting. Howls and growls and whining. She'd almost made it out of earshot when the first very human scream broke through and sent Bella careening toward the source. She sprinted toward the sound hoping she'd get to the unlucky human before a horrific ending.
When she found the source of the noises, Bella froze. This wasn't some lost hiker fending off a wild animal. Instead of the wolves that one might typically find in the Canadian wilderness, there were two creatures. They were enormous, reared back on strong hind legs. One was standing at full height, easily surpassing 7 feet. While covered in fur, there was no mistaking these creatures as dogs. Their hands, complete with fingers and thumbs, ended in long razor-sharp claws. Their faces were a terrifying combination of human features with deadly teeth and bright yellowed eyes.
Bella knew enough about the supernatural landscape of the world to know what werewolves were. Given the dramatic name of "Children of the Moon" by vampires, they are reminiscent of the myths created by humans. Except that, just as vampires aren't burned by the sun or repelled by garlic, the real world werewolves are a lot harder to kill. Silver bullets would be better used as a distraction than as a tool to actually harm them. True things about werewolves: their condition is like a virus passed on through a bite, they change only during the full moon, and their meal of choice is a nice tasty human. And they absolutely reeked.
They also aren't susceptible to one of the most powerfully harmful substances in the world: vampire venom. That's part of what makes them mortal enemies, although in all likelihood there's also an evolutionary distaste in werewolves since the supernatural watchkeepers in Italy hunted them to extinction.
Near extinction, apparently.
"Alice!"
A woman was standing mere feet from the creatures. She bent in front of another woman's immobile body on the ground. That was all Bella was able to notice before one of the creatures sprung toward them and she made the instinctive decision to throw herself onto the creature's back.
From there, things were still blurry in Bella's memory. She had taken the thing by surprise and managed to send it to the ground before it got to the women. She brought her hand down hard on the creature's shoulder and heard a bone snap with a thunderous crack. But as she was pinning the first beast to the ground, the second had come to help its friend and grasped her entire calf in its jaws. Blood covered the creature's teeth as it forcefully dragged her away.
Bella fought the thing off, using every ounce of strength to kick the wolf from her leg. She'd stood up on her good leg, the pain radiating from the other giving Bella her first introduction to the feeling of dizziness. That dizziness made it easy for the first creature to tackle Bella to the ground. It crouched over her, its giant clawed hand coming down on her chest. Bella grasped the thing's wrist as it began to sink its claws into her sternum, holding tighter until she once again heard the snapping of bones.
She brought the foot of her good leg to the shoulder she'd already snapped to prevent the thing from using the other hand. Her body started shaking from the struggle, the strength she had left now completely focused on holding the creature away. The creature suddenly became fuzzy, and Bella had known that she likely wouldn't be conscious much longer.
The wolf on top of her let out a wrenching howl and leaned into her, its teeth only an inch from her face. It panted hot breath into Bella's face. Despite being only moments away from sure death, Bella could only focus on one thing. It wouldn't surprise me if one of the circles of hell was just smelling this thing's breath. And that was the last thought Bella had before she passed out.
This was the series of events that led to Bella sitting on a shockingly white couch in a house full of vampires.
After she'd been informed that the women she'd been trying to save had not been humans but in fact good-natured vampires who then brought her back to their home in an attempt to save her life, they'd moved their little supernatural party to a more inviting space. The tiny vampire with the smile, now introduced to Bella as Alice (who'd apparently almost been decapitated just before Bella had launched herself at a werewolf) had offered to carry her downstairs.
Bella said no, opting to limp with excruciating pain down a flight of stairs. Bella was formally introduced to the male vampires. Jasper and Carlisle, the latter of which being the main reason Bella was currently alive. She was given a rundown of the events from Alice and Esme's perspective as well as what happened after she was brought to their home.
"So what I'm hearing is," Bella started, trying to push through exhaustion and pain to string the information together in her still fuzzy mind. "You got my blood type from the folder in my bag, stole bags of said blood type from the hospital where you work, despite being a full-blown vampire, and then basically performed mythological medical magic to keep me from dying."
The blonde vampire now known as Carlisle gave her a reassuring smile. "I wouldn't have worded it exactly that way."
"But basically," Bella insisted. "That's what happened."
"Basically." Carlisle pursed his lips, a failed attempt to hide the amusement that radiated from his response.
Bella nodded slowly. All of the vampires, the Cullens, were currently positioned across from her in a variety of, she assumed, what was meant to be non-threatening positions. Carlisle, the obvious leader of the group, sat in a chair, leaning forward with elbows on knees to meet her eyes. Alice sat on the floor directly in front of her, still smiling in that strange way. Esme was on the couch with Bella, but a couple feet away. And then there's Jasper, standing a few feet away, arms crossed over his chest staring at her extremely perceptive eyes.
Bella was still nodding, her head bobbing and bobbing until she started shaking her head. "Okay, listen, I am extremely appreciative of the opportunity to not be dead right now, but what the fuck?"
Alice giggled. "I know it's really confusing," she said, her voice trilling like bells. "And there's a lot from your side of things that we don't know." Bella shifted uncomfortably in her seat, meeting the very curious eyes of Carlisle before turning to back to Alice. "But the important thing is, you are safe and we are so happy to have you here!"
"I wouldn't take it that far," Jasper muttered under his breath.
"Jazz," Alice chided, head tilting toward the man but her eyes never leaving Bella's.
"No," Bella said, pointing her finger at Jasper. "That response makes a lot more sense to me at the moment than acting like I am a kooky house guest in your vampire sit-com."
Esme leaned forward slightly, her eyes shining with sincerity. "Isabella, you saved our lives." Bella scoffed. "No," Esme said. "If you hadn't been there, one of us, if not both of us, would have died." Bella noticed both Jasper and Carlisle stiffen. "We can't thank you enough."
"That feels backward," Bella said, but her resolve to fight with them was dying. She was so tired. Her body was aching and she still couldn't think straight. At this point, they would have killed her had they wanted her dead. And even if she wanted to fight, she was weak and exhausted and broken. She supposed there were worse things than being treated like a guest in someone else's home, even if those someones were a family of vampires with strangely colored eyes.
She sighed and finally let her body relax against the couch. Her eyes bounced from Carlisle to Alice to Jasper to Esme and back again. Finally, she asked, "So what now?"
Now it was the family's turn to shift uncomfortably. Except for Alice, still smiling and unblinking in a way that was really starting to freak Bella out.
"I think you might understand if we are a bit curious about you," Carlisle said after a pause.
Bella quirked an eyebrow. "You're a vampire doctor with what you call a family rather than a coven with eyes like I've never seen," she replied. Then she grinned, if weakly. "But I guess you haven't seen everything."
The vampires seemed to relax with her smile, and a tension that had been present in the room began to ease. Bella let her eyes shut as her head lolled on the back of the couch.
"And I'm sure there are things you'd like to know about us," Carlisle continued. "But you seem very tired. And I'm guessing by the way you came down the stairs that you are still in pain." Bella nodded, though it was getting progressively more difficult to move her head. Carlisle smiled. "Then the questions can wait until you have rested some more. I can hold off my curiosity until then." He paused, seeming to consider his next words carefully. "Isabella," he started.
"Bella," she corrected him quietly.
His smile widened. "Bella," he said. "I have to ask you a rather odd question, but considering the circumstances, I think you'll understand. When I say that you should rest, in your situation, does resting normally involve . . . sleep?"
Bella gaped at him before letting out a loud laugh, startling her audience. The others in the room joined in, everyone seeming to fall into the same realization that Bella had come to - that when the circumstances were this weird, you just have to roll with it.
"Oh doc," she said after she'd calmed down. "I sleep like a champ."
Someone was shouting.
Bella blinked slowly, once again trying to remember where she was and how she got there. This time, however, her memory came back to her much faster. She knew she was in a bed in a guest room in the Cullens home, although why vampires who never slept had a guest bedroom was still beyond her comprehension.
The shouting was still happening.
"I don't understand why she is still here! You're endangering the entire family!"
"Would you rather us just turn her loose injured? She saved Esme and Alice's life, Rosalie."
Bella didn't recognize the first voice, but she recognized Carlisle's softer reply. He was obviously trying to take the conversation to a lower decibel, but this Rosalie was not having it.
"You don't even know what she is!"
As quietly as she could manage, Bella limped from the bed to the door of the guest room. She opened it slightly, her ear to the crack.
Another voice, deeper. "Rose, she obviously can't hurt any of us right now-"
"That isn't the point Emmett!" She was really screaming now. "We don't know what she is or how she knows about what we are! Do you really think anyone would believe us if we explained that the human who seems to know everything about us isn't completely human, so it's fine? Even though we don't even know that she's not human?"
Now Alice, frustrated. "That isn't something we need to worry about right now, Rosalie."
"How would you know? You can't see her Alice! You can't see anything related to her! Or have you suddenly gotten a clear vision while we were gone?"
"No, I haven't. That doesn't mean my judgment is so skewed that I can't tell she isn't a danger to this family." Alice's voice had taken on a more menacing tone, one that Bella didn't think quite fit her lilting voice.
"But you can't know that Alice." Another male, not as deep as the one Rosalie called Emmett.
Bella opened the door more fully, the hinges creaking as she did. The voices fell silent. She limped into the living room, seven pairs of eyes watching her approach.
Bella's eyes met the furious gaze of the blonde woman she assumed was Rosalie, followed by the intrigued eyes of a giant vampire standing directly behind her with short brown hair and a wide grin. Next to him, a slighter male, tall with auburn hair and a dark brow, currently pulled tight over vivid eyes emoting what Bella would call concentrated annoyance.
All three stood across from the four vampires she was familiar with, seemingly standing off over the topic of, well, her.
Her head spun. She didn't know how long she'd slept, but she knew it hadn't been long enough to deal with whatever this was. But as she looked at three more golden-eyed vampires that seemed to have sprung from the never-ending vampire clown car of the Cullen house, she also knew they all needed answers. Starting with:
"Just ballpark, how fucking many of you are there?"
...
Next, more explanations . . . from both sides :)