Chapter Twenty-Five: Amber and Red
Cullen Residence, February 1st
Leah quickly caught up with Eliza and Brianna as they were walking towards the house. "Who's this?"
"Leah, I'd like you to meet Brianna. She'll be staying with us." Eliza smiled with a look that said there was more, and then mouthed, 'I'll tell you more later' without Brianna noticing.
"Well nice to meet you little one, I'm Eliza's… are we official?" Leah asked, looking at Eliza with hope for something more.
"I told mom this morning, so yes. Brianna, this is my girlfriend. She is like one of those wolves you were with but not homicidal." Eliza took in a bright sigh as she said 'girlfriend', a very very faint blush coloring her cheeks.
Brianna just gave her a small smile, then kind of shyly hesitated before responding, "can I ask you something?"
"Anything." Leah said easily.
"You don't eat people?" Brianna asked in a small timid voice, and it made Leah almost gag in response.
"That would be cannibalism, so no." Leah gave her a sad smile, but didn't stop keeping pace with the two of them.
Brianna didn't respond, she just tucked her head down and tried to hide her confusion. Eliza wasn't even sure why they were following the Cullens, but a debrief and strategy meeting felt like a good choice. They were able to handle this threat, but neither of them had any illusions going in that they would survive that melee. She knew it was unfair to Leah, but it was for Leah's sake that she did it. So the pang of guilt she felt when Leah stepped next to her and intertwined their fingers with her free hand hurt just a little more acutely.
"Where's Isabella?" Leah asked without looking over.
"With Alice, supposedly to calm down, but they have a lot to talk about." Eliza's sigh wasn't entirely voluntary, but she was happy that things were finally moving forward between the two of them.
"Like what?" Edward said as he ran up next to them, also keeping pace while rubbing his throat which still had a hairline crack at his Adam's apple.
"None of your business." Eliza shot back, trying to hold in her irritation but not entirely succeeding.
"No, it is my business if it has to do with Isabella. Alice has no claim on her." Edward shook his head slightly, clearly holding in his own irritation. Eliza just stared at him agog, blown away by his continued insistence that Isabella was in any way a part of his life anymore.
"Claim, you arrogant…" Eliza turned to attack him, but Leah got her attention and shook her head once. Eliza sucked in her cheeks and frowned, glaring at Edward for a second before continuing, "she will never be yours. Hell, she was never yours to begin with. When will that sink in through that thick skull of yours?"
"You claim to be her daughter, but you don't seem to know what is best for her. If you cared, you would help me figure out how to repair our relationship." He said with surprising earnestness, but it was the flash of disgust on his face when he glanced down at their hands clasped together that made the truth about him click into place.
"It isn't about Alice is it? Is it because she's a girl?" Eliza said in shock, momentarily forgetting she was talking to a man who was born before the gay rights movement and even women's suffrage. He was probably taught casual misogyny, bigotry, racism and homophobia as proper social norms.
"I don't know what you mean, and that is hardly relevant to this situation. We're talking about a very troubled woman who just attacked me for no reason. Given our previous connection, I have every right to be upset, aggrieved and ultimately worried about her sanity and well being." Edward sounded as upset as his words implied, but he was also keeping a polite tone. Then he motioned inside before continuing. "There are things to discuss outside of Bella's wellbeing, you and the Quileute are welcome inside."
Eliza glanced at Leah and realized this wasn't something that could be settled by her. Isabella had to be there. "Fine, I guess you have a fair point." Eliza said with a fake nod of understanding.
Edward's expression softened and he happily turned towards the house as they closed the last twenty feet. The argument inside was already starting to become heated, and Edward rushed forward to join his family. Eliza looked at Leah who shrugged as the pack filled in behind them along with Jacob and Tekali.
"Never thought I would step foot in this house." Jake said with a small chuckle.
"It's very pretty." Tekali committed, admiring the way the house was blended into the forest like it belonged there, despite being a great example of creative modern architecture.
"I know every nook and cranny of that house, but I've never been inside. It feels a bit surreal." Eliza said as she crossed the threshold. Everyone paused briefly to check out who had entered, but most just went back to their conversation.
Emmett was sitting on the couch looking moderately frustrated. Rose was next to him, clearly bored and out of the fight. Jasper and Adara were standing next to Carlisle, and Esme was nowhere to be seen. Garrett, Eleazar, Carmen and Laurent were all standing towards the back near the fireplace and the three sisters were standing barely a foot away from Carlisle, Jasper and Adara. Kate was clearly furious, clenching her hands into fists and Irina was wide eyed and baring her teeth. Tanya looked the most composed, but the anger in her eyes was visible and threatening.
"... No right to that girl." Irina said through gritted teeth.
"Will this be a problem? I thought we were going to talk strategy, because this is clearly not over." Eliza said as she entered the room, motioning towards Brianna who was now hiding behind her.
"Not at all." Carlisle said with a wide smile, but Brianna shrank away from his greeting, putting Eliza entirely between them. Carlisle looked a bit confused and motioned his head upstairs. "Please let me finish this conversation with my sister and we'll join you in the upper living room in a few minutes."
"Right, we'll be up…" Eliza started when there was a sudden thud behind her. She spun around to find Brianna on the floor convulsing, her eyes rolled up and her teeth bared in obvious pain. Then she began to moan little whimpers as she flailed about like a dying fish. "Carlisle!? Something's wrong." Eliza was a bit surprised that her first thought was to call for her estranged would-be grandfather but she did it without hesitation. Carlisle was there in a flash, motioning for everyone to back away.
"Let this pass, give her room." He said quickly, crouching nearby but far enough away to not get in her way if she thrashed in his direction. It took several minutes but eventually Brianna seemed to calm and stop moving. Somehow she had lost consciousness, which made Carlisle's brow furrow in clear concern, shifting to a puzzled scowl as he touched her forehead and gasped. "I need to examine her, I'm taking her upstairs to my office." He glanced at Eliza once, who nodded permission, before he scooped her up and ran out of the room. Eliza and Leah followed immediately.
They watched helplessly as Carlisle laid the girl down on a long couch in his modestly appointed office. The girl looked almost serine, but the blue veins that lightly covered her skin had darkened considerably and thickened after the seizure. Carlisle checked her over and used a few odd instruments that Eliza had never seen, including one that seemed to drill into her shoulder a quarter inch and took a small chuck of the girl's flesh like he was taking a deep core sample from an arctic glacier. He put the sample under a microscope and his breath halted.
"This is impossible." Carlisle leaned back from the microscope and glanced over at Brianna briefly before looking at the sample again with an intense and deeply worried expression. He examined it for another minute before sitting back with pursed lips and a furrowed brow.
"What do you mean?" Eliza asked worriedly.
"Whatever has affected her, it is degenerative. The substance is traveling through her internal fluids, basically attacking every cell and disrupting cellular integrity. That substance is literally eating her alive." Carlisle's impassioned delivery of the news was devastating, and Eliza sat back on her knees feeling defeated. She couldn't understand, they had just found her… and now, was she about to die before they even had a chance to get to know her?
"Is it fatal?" Esme asked unexpectedly, worry and fear dominating her tone. Eliza looked around and found three others had entered the room somewhat silently. Jacob, who stood towards the back stoically with his arms crossed over his chest. Esme, who was almost fidgeting with worry. Then finally the last person she expected to find, Rosalie, who was staring at the girl with such compassion that Eliza was taken aback.
"Possibly, I'll have to run more tests to be sure. One thing we can be sure of is that clean blood should help stave it off some, due to how our bodies regenerate." Carlisle hedged, not willing to confirm a fatal assessment… yet.
"Let me make a call." Eliza pulled out her cell and dialed Henry.
"Ms. Eliza, to what do I owe…" Henry started but Eliza couldn't wait for manners.
"We need blood down here at the Cullen house as soon as possible." She didn't care if she sounded demanding or like this was an order this time, she would apologize later.
"How much?" He replied without thought of complaint, her tone and urgency pushing aside his need to rebut failed manners with snark and irritation.
"Ten, maybe fifteen. We might need more." Eliza did a quick calculation of the size of the girl and what would be needed for constant healing to fight whatever was coursing through her.
"Transfusion or consumption?" Henry asked, which made Eliza tap her foot a couple of times with impatience, she didn't know why that would be important.
"Consumption." Eliza replied quickly, hoping that was it.
"It'll be there soon." Henry said somewhat distractedly, as he started to sort through the bags of blood they had in storage.
"Thank you." Eliza said, closing her end of the call.
"Is she going to be okay?" Jacob asked quietly. The worry and concern wrinkled his eyes in just the right way to betray his true age. "Also, who is she?"
"My sister." Eliza said absently, moving forward to sit next to Brianna on the floor by the couch.
"Um… what?" Jacob said with absolute confusion, looking to Leah for explanation.
"Alice had a vision a long time ago, and it featured Brianna as her daughter." Eliza explained without looking back at Jacob, although she did glance at Leah, whose eyes were wide and blinking in shock.
"That's not what I expected. Wait… Isabella and Alice?" Leah asked, shaking her head slightly to recover from the news, moving over to Eliza and sitting next to her taking her hand in hers. Eliza looked over at her and pressed her forehead against Leah's.
"They were supposed to be together." Eliza whispered, pain creasing her eyes and threatening tears again. Then she looked back to Brianna when the girl began to whimper again, her eyes fluttering open briefly. "Is there anything we can do right now?" She asked the room, although mainly directed towards Carlisle.
Carlisle chose to ignore the drama with Alice, and focus on Brianna. "I wish there were something I could do for her."
"What good are you then!" Eliza snapped, throwing a deadly glare at Carlisle, then flinched as she realized what she was doing. "Sorry, I'm leaning too much into this, emotionally speaking. Plus mom is going through something right now."
"Oh?" Leah asked, wondering what she meant.
"Mom and Alice are having it out, and mom is relating her story finally. I have no idea how it will go at this point." Eliza admitted somewhat reluctantly, she didn't really want to share her mother's business in mixed-company. But if it went the way she was expecting, the Cullens were going to have to play a part in their lives in some capacity.
"Will Alice be okay?" Esme asked worriedly.
Eliza shrugged, trying to make it seem like it was no big deal. When in fact she was starting to feel this ball of nervous energy and overwhelming emotion from her mother. "Um, well. I'm honestly not sure. If you had asked me a few days ago I would've said that Alice is probably going to die out there. Now, I don't know if mom is going to hit her or kiss her."
"That's comforting. But death is off the table?" Esme almost cracked a grin with joy, but held in the potential for happiness given the dire situation in front of her.
"I think so, she didn't kill Eddie, so Alice is probably safe." Eliza gave her a sympathetic smile. She hadn't given much thought to Esme yet, but there were nothing but good memories associated with her. A real mother figure in Isabella's life, could she be that again? Eliza pushed that down, she couldn't consider her family yet. There was way too much to figure out first, but the idea of a grandmother was not just tantalizing, it was almost euphoric.
"Why would she want to kill Edward?" Carlisle stepped up and shook his head in confusion.
"His lies and manipulations, he told the family an outright lie in order to force you to abandon my mother. Insinuating that she choose to stay here in Forks, instead of going with you. He made a threat against her life to press the issue. There's more, but I don't think it's my place to say." Eliza wanted to lay it all out, shove Edward under the train once and for all. But if they couldn't put two and two together about the vision, it wasn't her place to explain it.
"Why would he do that?" Carlisle asked a bit defensively. He knew there was drama associated with the family leaving Isabella that he wasn't fully privy to and never wanted to dive into the facts that had divided the family. His hope was that time would heal the wounds, but now the family seemed to be fracturing right in front of him, and there didn't seem to be any thing he could do.
"You'll have to ask him, and I get it is all hearsay, but your son has not been honest. He seems to be obsessed with rebuilding a relationship based on lies, and he is pushing her into a corner when it is very possible it will cost him his life." Eliza frowned, she didn't like giving what felt like threats, but Carlisle didn't seem to take it that way and just nodded thoughtfully.
"I will need to hear his side of things first." He said with a touch of resignation, but this seemed to set off Rosalie whose eyes widened and her hands clenched at her sides.
"Bullshit Carlisle, you were there. You heard the threat, and I know you had doubts about his story just like the rest of us." Rosalie was almost yelling, she was so angry, and Eliza couldn't help but sit back and smile at the most antagonistic Cullen coming to her mother's defense. Any doubts about Alice's description of that original fight where Edward bullied them into leaving were thrown out the window.
"Honey, Rose is right. Most of us felt forced into making a choice we didn't agree with, even Jasper and especially Emmett. There was clearly some kind of miscommunication here. Maybe Edward interpreted Isabella's reaction poorly. He has always said he had trouble reading her." Esme said trying to calm her daughter indirectly, it was a smooth action and Eliza respected it even though she vehemently disagreed with the token attempt at defending Edward's actions.
"Mom was pretty explicit, but think what you want." Eliza said drolly, not looking over at Esme and letting her anger come through as dismissive.
"How can you be sure?" Esme asked, drawing her attention again. Eliza stared at her for a moment before answering.
"She shared everything with me." Eliza replied simply, keeping the associated emotions out of her voice.
"Alright, nothing is going to be accomplished right now, we need to prioritize. First we figure out how to fight what is happening to this girl…" Carlisle started.
"Brianna." Leah interrupted, making Eliza squeeze her hand just a little tighter in silent appreciation.
"Right Brianna, then we need to clean up the mess outside. After that, maybe we can figure out this conflict and work out whatever issues are still lingering. Including making amends with Tanya and her family, because Brianna will be a sore spot until that is resolved." Carlisle looked somewhat satisfied with this breakdown, but Eliza just stood up and began to shake her head, staring him down.
"Remember I'm not a part of your family, so you cannot order me around like you do with them. Secondly, I don't give two shits about hurt feelings. Tanya can go suck on a rock for all I care. Lastly, our conflict with Edward is not going to be settled until he makes some kind of apology and reparations. Even then, I doubt mom will ever forgive, let alone forget what he has done to her. We're working through our issues with the rest of you, but that will take time." Eliza managed to be civil, and only let out her exasperated sigh at the end. Movement forced her to turn away and back towards Brianna. She began to writhe around again, before her body went rigid for a second.
"Mama!" Brianna shouted, her eyes flying open and black mucus spraying from her mouth.
"It's okay Brianna, you're safe." Eliza took the girl's hand and squeezed it softly. Brianna looked around as if she had no idea where she was, until clearity washed over her expression and she nodded.
"Eliza? Hurtssss… so much" Brianna's voice was weak, and came out in a long drawn out hiss.
Eliza winced at the pain, and looked around for Henry impatiently. She glanced at Carlisle who had moved down to the girl's legs. "I'm a doctor, is it okay if I give you a brief physical examination?" Brianna nodded timidly, and then he motioned for Esme to remove the remains of her shoes. She then very carefully tore away the shredded denim almost plastered to the girl's legs, exposing more thick gray lines that extended all the way down to her toes.
Carlisle looked up at Bree's face and said gently, "I'm going to apply a little bit of pressure against a few points on your leg. Let me know if it hurts." He waited until Bree nodded in acknowledgement, though she didn't look up at Carlisle. She kept her eyes locked on Eliza's face.
She didn't react when Carlisle lightly set his hands on her feet, just letting his skin contact hers, but as soon as Carlisle squeezed with any force she flinched, pulling her foot away, and whimpering in pain. He immediately stopped and shifted his hands, repeating the test in different places. After checking several areas getting the same response, he stopped.
"Sorry about that." He pulled a thin fleece blanket out from a storage box behind the couch and laid it gently over her legs. Just as Isabella and Alice came rushing in each carrying a large blue cooler. Alice took the coolers and set them on Carlisle's desk, while Isabella rushed to Brianna's side. Alice immediately removed a bag of blood and tossed it to Eliza.
Eliza bit down on it to create a hole and then looked to Brianna, "can you drink or do you need some help?"
"Help, I can't lift my arms." Brianna said, sounding audibly upset and confused. Eliza nodded, and held the bag up to Brianna's lips. She began to drink greedily, and by the time she was finished with the first one the lines had begun to fade and shrink noticeably.
"Brianna, this is Isabella, my mom, and Alice… who is complicated." Eliza grinned and looked back at Alice and gave her a quick wink. Alice gave her a small smile back, but her gaze was focused on Brianna. The worry and fear in her expression was clear, she had a mother's love for the girl. Eliza didn't quite know how to unpack that, but given the proximity to Isabella and the complex feelings radiating from her in waves, things had clearly gone well between them.
"Hel.. lo." Brianna managed, her expression cautious but not quite as afraid as before. Isabella met Brianna's eyes and managed a warm smile, pouring some of the love she had for Eliza into her expression. If this girl was going to be a part of her family, she had to get herself mentally prepared for it.
Although that difficult emotional obstacle course was hampered by the idea that Brianna might not survive the night, "Nice to meet you Bree, or is it Brianna now?"
"Bri… anna. I like it more." The girl stuttered out, and Isabella attempted to smile but seeing her in such distress was almost physically painful. How could she care so much? She had literally exchanged four words with this girl. She glanced at Alice who was clutching the end of the couch so hard her fingers had burrowed into the cushioning.
"Feeling better?" Carlisle asked, but the girl just nodded, not looking up at him.
"Still hungry?" Alice added, and not waiting for an answer, reached into the cooler and pulled out another bag, tossing it again to Eliza who didn't hesitate and prepared the second one and brought it up to Brianna's lips. She was a bit slower with the second bag, but drained it within a minute. The third and fourth followed directly after, at which point it was no longer affecting the gray lines which were now no wider than a pencil line.
Isabella glanced at Carlisle who was quietly watching Brianna, a puzzled look of contemplation on his face. He caught Isabella's questioning glance and shook his head slightly. Isabella shut her eyes tightly for a second, holding back the pain. How could she tell Alice that the daughter they just found was about to die?
"How're things downstairs?" Eliza asked, looking over at Isabella.
"Things are… crowded." Isabella sighed, and rolled her eyes for effect. "Tense at best. Tekali and Rebekah and the rest of the pack are waiting to talk to us. They're in one corner of the living room. The Cullens and the Denali are on the other side of the room, pressing themselves into furniture and walls to get as far away from each other as possible."
"I should get down there. There's nothing more I can do up here for now." Carlisle said, and excused himself.
"Me too." Jacob muttered, and left as well. Leah just looked at Eliza and tilted her head in question. Eliza smiled and motioned slightly with her head to go. Leah leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and took off after Jacob.
"Mind if I stay?" Esme asked, and Isabella nodded easily.
"I'd like to as well." Rosalie asked, and Isabella raised an eyebrow but nodded at her as well, with a bit of hesitation.
"I think I need to check on things downstairs too. Eliza, you should probably come with me." Isabella said, looking over at Alice who nodded slightly in understanding. They both knew that compassion and sitting bedside was not something she was very good at doing.
"No!" Brianna said shaking her head in terror, and everyone was taken aback.
Eliza sat forward and pressed a single finger to Brianna's chin to get her attention. "Why don't you want us to leave?"
"The amber eyes kill my kind. Drink our blood." Brianna said with obvious fear pulling her head away from Eliza's touch. She searched around the room, but she couldn't look at Alice, ashamed of accusing her of something so vile when the raven haired woman had done nothing but defend and protect her, despite having no idea why.
"What? No…" Was all Alice could think to say, so caught off guard by suggestion that she wasn't ready with a coherent response.
Eliza squeezed Bree's hand gently, getting her attention again, in turn Brianna seemed to relax when she looked into her eyes. "I promise you sweetheart. No one here is going to hurt you or kill you."
"Those others wanted to kill me before you stopped them." Bree countered, her voice wary. Her arm spasmed slightly while she talked.
"I helped… I was the first. Bree, please don't reject me." Alice said, sounding a bit broken, causing Eliza to look over at her. Then her eyes widened as Isabella took Alice's hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Is that what I think it is?" Eliza sent through the link, and nodded almost imperceptibly "I'm definitely gonna need details later." Eliza elation could be felt clearly through the link, her enthusiasm almost made Isabella smile. She was happy that she had given her daughter any measure of joy, and then looked over at Alice and saw such impossible concern on her face that she immediately turned her focus back to Brianna.
"Tell me why you believe the 'amber eyes' will hurt you?" Isabella asked softly, giving Brianna a reassuring smile.
"They drink our blood, natural predators of the red eyes." Brianna said with growing confusion, her eyes wide and wandering again.
"That's not true, who told you that?" Rosalie said with such a light tender voice that Isabella glanced over at her in surprise.
"Hard to explain." Brianna swallowed, returning to look at Eliza and Isabella.
"Please, tell us what happened if you can." Eliza urged, and Brianna nodded.
"Okay." Brianna said softly, but seemed to rally a bit and forced herself to sit up. "Like I told Eliza, my name is Bree or Brianna Tanner." Eliza smiled and nodded her head a bit in encouragement. "I… ran away from my dad." She looked around guiltily as if she expected a scolding for being a runaway. When she didn't get any reproving looks, she sighed slightly in relief. "I took a bus with the money I had, and ended up in Seattle. I was between living on the streets and staying in whatever shelter I was able to grab a space in, especially on the really cold and rainy nights. I really did try to find a job, but no one wants to hire a sixteen year old under the table. So I learned to scrape by." She made a disgusted face but didn't go into details on needing to steal and scavenge for food anywhere she could find it, simply to survive.
"One night a few months ago, I bumped into this guy in an alley. I thought he was like me, he looked young and was a bit… rough around the edges. His clothes were tattered like mine, and he had the look of someone who had been on the streets. I was panhandling, and he offered to buy me a bite to eat." She looked sheepish for a moment, "Then I remember the fire, and when it stopped, I was…. this." She looked down at her hands and at the four empty bags of blood that still rested on her stomach.
Isabella nodded and reached out and took the empties off her stomach, handing them to Alice who deposited them into the biohazard trash can set near Carlisle's desk as discreetly as possible.
Bree looked around. "I don't… I don't remember those first few days. They were all kind of a blur. But I do remember the impossible thirst and feeding from bags like those."
"Exactly like these?" Alice held one up and passed it down for Brianna to examine.
"No, different. No label, and they were darker. Like, oil or something." Brianna was picking at the label and holding it up to the light to see the color, frustration and fear twisting her expression. "This is blood, so we are vampires?"
"We are, and that's okay. Please, go on sweetie." Eliza encouraged and Brianna nodded.
"So when my head finally cleared up I found out there were ten of us. We were living in the basement of this condemned building, you know, because we were only able to go out at night at first until we drank enough from those bags." She stopped when she realized they were all staring at her in confusion. She bit her lower lip and then continued, "we spent most of our time down there, but once a week this polite but kinda smarmy guy would show up and give us more bags of food, saying it would make us stronger and eventually protect us from the sun. Every so often, after we fed, he would ask us to spit into a cup."
Isabella kept her voice very rigidly under control, her eyes darkening involuntarily, "do you remember the guy's name?"
Bree frowned a little bit, "everyone called him Doctor Tepes. Although the last time he showed up, he brought a couple of friends with him. I overheard some of their conversation and I think one of them called him Joham."
Isabella sneered but managed to keep her composure. Eliza on the other hand backed up and started to shake her head in horror.
"No, no… not you too. No! Is he still in Seattle, tell me where!" Eliza was on the floor in front of Brianna again, her eyes wild. Isabella wasn't doing much better, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. The shape was familiar, and the scent confirmed it was Alice. This gave her enough clarity to reach out and pulled Eliza to her, holding her tightly.
"It's okay, we'll get him." Isabella whispered into her daughter's ear and Eliza shut her eyes and began to sob uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry." Brianna said meekly, which brought Eliza out of her crying jag and she pulled away from Isabella and knelt in front of Brianna again reaching out towards her. Brianna flinched, and recoiled in fear mumbling the apology a few times as her body trembled and she clutched the blanket to her chest like a terrified child.
"Shhh, it's okay. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled." Eliza touched Brianna's hair which was matted and hanging about her face, pushing it behind her ear. "Sweetie, none of this is your fault. That man, Joham, is evil and I can almost guarantee that everything he told you was a lie."
"What did he say about amber eyes?" Alice asked, drawing Brianna's attention away from Eliza for a moment and she finally met Alice's gaze.
"It wasn't him, it was Aliyah, she told us it's because they kill and feed on red eyes like us, that's why their eyes are amber and not red. She told us they were coming for us, but that it didn't matter because she had found the house they were hiding at. She pulled together our group and a few other groups like ours that were also being hunted by the amber eyes. She also said she had friends who were wolves that wanted to help too. She said we could stop them once and for all." Brianna bit her lip again, hoping they would understand.
"What changed? Why didn't you join your group and attack?" Alice asked softly, careful to keep any kind of implied accusation out of her voice.
"I… I realized what we are. We drink stuff that looks and tastes like blood, our bodies are different. I had scars and they're all gone. We can't go out during the day, it all just added up. So the day before we were supposed to go north to attack the amber eyes I decided to split off and go back to the house. I heard Dr. Tepes… Joham talking to his friends. They said some stuff I didn't understand, but I did catch two things; 'we're running out of time with this batch,' and 'someone has already disrupted our chances at getting at the Olympic Coven, probably the Volturi.' I didn't really understand what they meant but it frightened me."
"Dr. Tepes agreed, and said 'I've only seen failure in this batch, it isn't working and only a couple seem to have gifts, none of which we can exploit.' It wasn't long after when the rest of the group got back. Aliyah started to rile us up for the upcoming fight, chanting 'kill, kill, kill' until it was all I could think about. About halfway there her voice faded, and I didn't know what to do. My group was so violent and seemed to intent and I didn't want to let them down. But when we blew up that beautiful house, I knew they were all crazy. Thankfully that family escaped, I came with hoping I could help or warn them. But I'm so slow now." Bree glanced up at the amber eyes of Alice who was smiling with pride at her, something she had only seen once from a teacher. It was suddenly so clear, they were telling her the truth. That her entire second life up until a couple of hours ago had been a lie. She was nothing more than a disposable weapon, and it made her stomach tighten into knots.
"I'm so sorry. We didn't know." Brianna's voice quivered from the nearly overwhelming emotions.
"I have to admit, that's a brilliant deception. Brianna, sweetie, a vampire with amber eyes only feeds off of animals, not humans, and definitely not vampires." Eliza's voice was gentle.
Brianna just nodded, her chest shaking with tearless sobs, before she looked at Alice with such guilt. "If we had… Gina and Tommy wouldn't have attacked if they knew. They were like me, we never killed like the others."
Alice raised an eyebrow, and somehow her smile grew even wider. "You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear that Brianna, and you have nothing to feel sorry about. From what you just told us, we owe you a massive debt for at least trying despite what you were told."
Brianna managed a small smile that brightened her face. "So I can live off of animals?" Alice nodded happily, until Brianna's body began to shake violently again. It lasted for only a few seconds and afterwards she let out a whimper of pain that spoke to the amount of pain she was suffering. She looked around in fear and asked, plaintively, "What's wrong with me?"
"Joham is a scientist, I think he added something to that blood you drank that moves through you like a poison. I'm not sure what the purpose of it is, but we'll do everything we can to stop it from hurting you more." Eliza tried to guess from her own time as one of his test subjects.
"Okay, but I… I don't understand. Why would they lie to us?" Rather than answer, Isabella just squeezed her hand gently.
"We wish we knew sweetie, but from what we know of him he is sadistic and he has some goal for his experiments. Unfortunately we have no idea what those goals are." Isabella sounded almost sweet, making her sound almost like the Isabella that Alice still held in her memories.
"So he just used us?" Brianna's face twisted into one of shock and horror, and Eliza could only nod in response. Isabella flinched and Rose and Esme both looked frustrated, as they stood in silence towards the back of the room watching patiently to see if they could help in any way. The gesture wasn't lost on Isabella, but her focus was on her family, which seemed to be growing by the minute. If Alice panned out, and if this girl survived the night.
Dearborn Tower, Chicago, February 1st
Zoey gasped as the hand flashed through the closing crack in the door and held it in place. In the next instant three other hands joined the first and then there was a small battle with the hydraulics which eventually lost. With a loud pop, the sliding door was rocketed along its rails slamming into the wall alcove with a deafening thud. Zoey was ready, and aimed the shotgun at the first one that came through, and with one well placed shot took off half of his head.
The vampire screamed in fear and confusion before collapsing onto the ground lifeless. His partner yelled, and started towards Zoey. She managed to get off a second shot, but it only tore a chunk out of his shoulder. She scrambled backwards, drawing a short sword from a nearby rack, and in an arc slicing at the monster approaching her. It smiled smugly, holding out a hand to catch her blade, but found its fingers missing instead as the mono-filament edge moved through them like butter. Screaming in horror and disbelief, Zoey pressed the advantage and chanced a slash at his neck. But the angle was wrong and she ended up with the blade embedded in his clavicle.
The vampire screamed in pain again and bared his teeth at her, which didn't even make her flinch. Instead she dove over a small work bench in the center of the room to get some space from him. He followed over the table after her, his anger blinding him to her trap, as he was coming down from the table top she pushed the shotgun under his chin, pulling the trigger as he tried to grab at her shoulders. The top of his head blew off with a sickening sound of tearing rock, that exploded like shrapnel hitting her in the cheek. Zoey started to turn, when the third vampire appeared behind her and wrapped his arms around her so tightly she could barely breathe. Then he pulled the weapons from her hands one by one.
"That was a mistake." He whispered in her ear, and then hit her in the head knocking her out. She knew time was passing, and hoped that when she woke it would be in the safety of her Mom's arms. Then she started to feel heavy as consciousness began to come back in waves. Her head throbbed, and angry voices were being exchanged above her, meaning she wasn't with her mother after all.
"... two of my guys. You will find replacements, understand!" She didn't change her breathing like Angela trained her, listening for information first.
"She will be one!" Ryan said angrily in response.
"Hardly, she's a snack now. Do you think we would take her after what just happened?" The voice was the same as the one who had gotten to her, a vampire leader maybe? She wasn't sure but it didn't sound like things were going her way.
"She's my sister." Melanie pleaded from close by..
"Then you should've had her stand down. I will not work with someone…" The leader vampire started, but something made him pause.
"Who what, kicked your ass as a human? Don't you think she might just be an asset?" Melanie said with some obvious pride in her sister.
"I doubt she'll play along. Ryan says she grew up with vampires, and she's clearly had training. There's no way it'll work." The leader vampire replied with doubt in his voice, but it was lessened. Perhaps Melanie and Ryan could talk him into it.
"Is that so? I think you might be undervaluing this one." A woman's voice joined suddenly, and there was a deep intake of breath from the leader vampire. "You know she's awake and listening?"
"No she…" He started, but Zoey frowned and opened her eyes, lifting her head slightly, fighting a wave of dizziness to look around the room.
Zoey took a second to scan the room. It was small and windowless, the walls were unadorned and there was only a single lumpy couch as far as furniture. Ryan was against the far wall, glowering at her. Melanie was only a few feet away, standing between the two stranger vampires and Zoey. The leader vampire was tall and had sandy blonde hair. His red eyes were examining her, but his expression was hostile. The last was the woman, who gave her a slight smile. She had blonde hair and a very pretty face that was mildly familiar.
"Well hello there." The blonde stepped forward but Melanie stepped back and kept herself between the strange woman and Zoey. "Mel, I mean her no harm."
Melanie looked between this stranger and Zoey a couple of times, and even glanced over at Ryan who shook his head slightly as an order. Melanie sighed in defeat and stepped aside. The blonde woman moved forward and crouched down slightly so that she could look Zoey in the eyes.
"Would you like to join your brother and sister?" The question was almost impossible to answer. Zoey wanted nothing more than to rejoin her siblings, but there were so many obstacles in the way of their happy reunion. The least of which was the fact that neither of them had bothered to spend much time with her over the last decade. Even Melanie who had tried some, but was wrapped up in her own life and drama.
"You killed Erica, right?" Zoey asked plainly.
"The blonde bimbo?" The woman asked, and Zoey nodded. "Well, not me personally, but yes."
"Good job, she was a spoiled monster." Zoey said with as serious an expression as she could fake. She knew her only chance to survive was through, even though she knew her mom would be upset, vampirism was already her choice and she knew it was going to happen anyway.
"Really, well then are you ready to join us?" The blonde asked with a pleased smile.
"I don't know what you're asking of me." Zoey asked, hoping to gain some information.
"We're a global initiative, we're going to rid the world of vampires." The woman said with wide excited eyes. Zoey held back a comment on the obvious, assuming this was all some sort of plan where the lower level soldiers were told nothing. Then the smile triggered a memory. Scanning through yearbooks and articles from Forks to create a memory book for her mother. She tried not to gasp at the recognition, but she couldn't quite help it. The blond raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Where's Victoria?" Zoey asked knowing this might lead to her death.
"Everyone out NOW!" The blonde practically screamed. Ryan and the leader vampire left immediately. Melanie lingered for a second, until fear got the best of her and she ran after her brother. The anger in the eyes of the woman staring at her was palpable, and terrifying. But Zoey met her gaze unflinchingly.
"She made you right? After kidnapping you from your life?" Zoey said, hoping some variation on her mother's story would apply.
"How do you know that?" The blonde sneered, leaning in closer.
"Your name is Lauren Mallory." Zoey said calmly, using a simple technique to keep her breathing and heart rate even.
The blonde stood up and turned away, as she began to pace back and forth, "you know one of the survivors. Let me guess, Jessica?"
"Jessica is alive?" Zoey responded in surprise.
Lauren chuckled with a touch of manic energy, "she might be, but honestly I don't know. I haven't seen her since I was human. Vicky made it a point to tell me all about her plans, making sure I knew who to blame too. She killed Tyler and Mike in front of me, then dragged me home and slaughtered my parents. All because of fucking Isabella Swan. I know she was going after Bella's family and the rest of us who dared call her a friend. Not that we were close. To be honest I kind of hated her. Course, I got off easy compared to her. Hahaha…" Lauren trailed off her crazy laugh, furrowed her brow and opened her mouth while staring off into the distance. When her eyes focused again she glanced down at Zoey with a wide yet terrifying smile.
"Where was… oh yeah. Eric Yorkie and Ben Chaney were next on her list. I think maybe Jessica and Angela got the special treatment like me. I can't be sure though." Zoey kept her face neutral, even at the mention of her mother.
"As for where the cunt that ruined my life is lurking, fucked if I know. But little girl, you got the super special prize. I like you. So, unlike Icky Vicky, I'm not gonna hurt you. However, given the associations… how can I not pay it forward?" Lauren smiled again, her eyes cold and dangerous. Then in a flash she was at Zoey's side, pulling her up to cradle her almost like a child, and then she quickly bit into her neck injecting her venom. Zoey tried to hold in the scream as the venom hit her veins, but failed miserably as the pain started to burn its way down into her heart.
Author's Note:
This was a fun chapter to write. It also marks where the original scope of this project was supposed to end. A Short Sad Life which this chapter roughly corresponds with, was the first chapter I helped work on way back in the day. Obviously this story is now so different in a number of critical ways that there would be no way to simply end here. Things will continue forward, although the next chapter may take longer than a week or two to post because it is very, very long right now.
Hope you liked this one, please drop a comment if you did. Thank you for reading!
