A product of quarantine and the Twilight Renaissance.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, plot points, and backgrounds do not belong to me.
Chapter Two
The first thing Bella noticed when she began to gain awareness was that whatever she was lying on was hard. Like she was on a table. Am I on a table?
Her head pounded and there was a pretty intense pain coming from her calf. Bella wasn't accustomed to feeling much pain. On the two occasions that anything had managed to break her nearly unbreakable skin (the first an experiment conducted to see what would happen, the second a well-meaning accident) she'd healed within a couple hours of the injury. Even now she could feel the wound on her leg, feel the way the bandage clung to her skin.
Her eyes flew open. She didn't remember putting a bandage on her leg.
Bella scanned the room. From what she could see without moving her neck there were several books, huge windows. And yes, she was undoubtedly on a table.
Where was she again? She'd been on her way to a little cabin she'd found online for a couple of days, somewhere deep in the Canadian wilderness. Had she managed to get there? How? Her thoughts felt heavy and clouded, another first. She couldn't even remember how she had managed to crawl away from the forest after . . . after what?
Oh fuck.
Bella shot up from her prone position. She immediately regretted it.
"What the hell?" She hissed, hand to her head. Her heart raced and even the small movement felt strenuous. Her stomach turned. Is this what nausea feels like?
She tried to focus her mind on remembering how she got here. Her memory had always been perfect, infallible. It was something that would annoy Gran when they were having an argument and delight her when they watched trivia game shows.
"You'd make a killing," Gran would always say. "I'd be your partner of course, but only to throw them off the track when you get too many right in a row."
Bella's typically sharp mind couldn't produce anything beyond the memory of the moon, the feeling of fear, and a putrid stench. Oh, and trees. But considering she had been literally walking to a cabin in the middle of nowhere, that wasn't exactly helpful information.
Then, from below, a noise. Shifting . . . voices. She froze. Another noise. Footsteps, a lot of them. Coming her way. It sounded like they were walking up some stairs but . . . the cabin she rented was definitely one story.
Instincts kicking in, she swung her legs over the table she occupied and attempted to stand up. This, too, caused immediate regret as pain shot up her leg, flaring up from her calf. The footsteps were almost at the door, and in desperation, she launched herself across the room. She landed on her knees in front of the window as she heard someone grasp the door handle.
Pressing her face against the window she saw it was a pretty big drop. She prepared to break it and make the jump, thinking she could possibly land on her good leg. The woods were right there. Except when she pushed her palms against the window nothing happened. She hissed and pressed harder, her arms trembling under exertion she wasn't used to feeling.
The first cracks began to appear around her hands just as the door flung open.
Bella's heart stuttered. Her palms still pressed to the glass, she inhaled deeply. Multiple scents assaulted her at once. Not only was she not in the cabin, but that she was also in very deep shit.
She was weak. Injured. And apparently in a house filled with vampires.
Bella didn't turn to face them. She kept her face turned to the glass, heart thundering in her chest, brain working overtime to determine if there was any way she could get out of this.
She had only encountered two vampires in her 20 years of life. Considering the lessons she'd gleaned from those encounters, Bella knew that the likelihood of making it out of this house was approximately zero.
It was silent in the room aside from Bella's own breathing and heartbeat. She knew the vampires could hear both. She guessed based on scent there were four of them. Four vampires against one . . . Bella. One part of her mind was surprised that the vampires appeared to be in such a large group. What had she gotten herself into?
One of them began to shift. Slowly, much more slowly than vampires normally moved, the vampire began to approach. Bella clamped her eyes shut, shoulders tensing. Preparing for the worst.
As the vampire neared her, Bella noted that the scent was floral, like fresh gardenia. As the vampire's steps were mere feet from her, Bella tensed even further. The steps halted just behind her. Bella pictured it, an indestructible body looming over her kneeling figure, preparing to strike or grab or, for all she knew, push her right out the window.
It was silent again for a moment. Then, the sound of a body reaching the floor just behind her.
Bella felt a cool touch to the back of her shoulder. She cringed further into the window, her forehead now pressed to cold glass. Instead of letting go, the hand moved to more fully cover her shoulder, adding a bit of pressure. Bella thought the vampire was about to break her collarbone or yank her back, and she prepared to use whatever diminished she had to fight.
But the vampire didn't do any of those things. They gave her shoulder a light squeeze.
"Isabella?" The voice was so soft, barely above a whisper. It was warm and feminine. It was tinged with, or at least what sounded like, concern.
However, Bella was much less focused on the tone of the speaker than the fact that they obviously knew her name. If this is a nightmare, for the love of everything please let me wake up right now.
"Isabella, I am not going to hurt you," the vampire continued. "I was with you, in the woods."
Bella opened her eyes. Hesitantly, she turned her head slightly, glancing just over her shoulder.
She was met with a pair of vivid golden eyes, set like jewels in a beautiful heart-shaped face. The vampire dropped her hand from Bella. While the vampire's expression was open, all Bella could focus on were her eyes. Admittedly, she hadn't met every vampire in the world, she had a basic understanding of their physiology, and she knew that eye color ranged between two colors. Black, triggered by thirst. Red, signifying a well-fed vampire who has consumed human blood. What does gold mean?
Bella's eyes bounced back and forth between the vampires, confused.
"I'm Esme," the vampire said.
Bella continued to stare at the vampire, weighing her options. She definitely couldn't escape now. But, based on the way the vampire, Esme, was acting, she didn't necessarily need to escape. The bandage on her leg hadn't gotten there on its own. This vampire claims to have been with Bella in the woods and likely brought her back from whatever situation her brain hasn't pieced back together. Also, Bella was still alive. If any one of them had wanted her dead, she'd be dead.
In any case, Bella figured she had nothing to lose.
"I have to be honest with you," she said, voice scratchy. She cleared her throat. "We may both know each other's names right now, but I think I might still be at a bit of a disadvantage. You know, information-wise."
Esme's lips turned up slightly. "I think you might be right."
Bella pursed her lips. She craned her neck a little more to glance toward the other vampires still lurking in the doorway. A quick pass allowed her to see that it was two males and another female. Bella felt gratified that her calculation on numbers had been correct despite her abilities being . . . dulled for the time being.
Bella noted that all of their eyes were gold, like Esme's. The female, tiny and sprite-like, was smiling at her."In the spirit of getting on equal footing," Bella said, eyes once again meeting Esme's. "May I ask what exactly happened in the woods?"
Esme frowned. "Do you not remember anything?"
Bella shook her head. "Not really." She wrinkled her nose. "Actually, I do remember . . . a smell."
One of the vampires - one of the males - let out a bark of laughter. While she noted that both of the males were blonde, this one was more muscular than the other, more severe.
"Jasper," Esme chided.
"Come on," the male, Jasper, said. "It's been two days and we still haven't been able to get the dog smell out of your clothes."
"Dog?" Bella asked. Her mind reeled. There was no way the smell she remembered was a dog. She'd been around plenty of dogs and, sure, some had more of an odor than others, but none this bad. Even when she'd been around wild wolves the smell –
"Oh my god," Bella said. She rubbed her face with her hands, rolling from her knees to lay completely flat on the floor. She threw her arms out to her side, staring at the ceiling in disbelief. "Wolves."