The aftermath of her first kill had been a weird experience to Bella. It had been a whole week now and still she would not say she had perfectly adjusted. It was as if everything was in a juxtaposition. The new clashed with the old in her mind to create a mess of emotions and feelings. The weirdest for her was her memory compared to her actual perception. Her memories were like an old TV, the image was bad, often breaking up in places and yet perfect nonetheless, none of the information was lacking, it was just portrayed in a weak format. In contrast, her perception of the world was in perfect high quality, her eyes were the highest resolution cameras, taking in everything, even the most minute aspects and storing them in the 'new' memory bank. She could pull on both memory banks, could pull out a VHS from the old life or experience what had already occurred in pristine Blu-Ray.
Her movements were much the same, every recollection of her movements seemed painfully sluggish in comparison to her old self. Vampirism had not curved the clumsiness though, just the speed, strength and agility with which she could move. Instead of her getting broken the world around her got broken as a result of her lack of coordination. The worst had been the first few days when the speed had been new, when she had still gone to move as if she was still human. She had not moved as if she was still human, she had rocketed from one position to the next and as her brain caught up and told her to stop she was unfortunately crashing into a wall, or a cabinet, a tree anything other than empty space which would have been convenient.
On the third day of her reawakened life Peter had brought her a feed again. To Peter it had been strange that the request had not come sooner. Newborns were usually insatiable, feeding at least everyday, maybe once every twelve hours if they caught the slightest hint of blood. But Bella had shown no discomfort come the end of the first day, merely frustration at her ability to master simple tasks. Peter had noticed some signs of strain come the end of the second day, she had taken to rubbing at her neck every now and again, was a little more agitated. But even Peter could not have predicted as to whether that was due to the uncharacteristic lack of blood or that she seemed to feel she was making little progress with adapting to vampirism. Still though Peter left her, wanted to test her, test her limits. The longer she could last without blood the sooner he would be able to take her out on her own solo hunt, teach her the ropes himself.
Finally, the third day rolled around. And Bella finally cracked, she was rubbing her neck nearly constantly at this point, she had an inability to focus on even the most menial of tasks let alone the more delicate tasks she was trying to accomplish. It was around half way through the day that she finally relented, looking to Peter with a shred of desperation dancing in her ruby eyes.
"Please, Peter, I need to feed." He merely smirked at her. He'd spent enough time with her to know that she probably thought she was doing badly, that to ask for help, to feed would be seen as weakness.
"Of course Little Lady, you've done well to last this long. I didn't even see signs of irritation until the second day." She beamed at the praise, finally relaxing at the knowledge she was doing something right in all this madness of the new life.
The second feeding was no less messy than the first had been, a mass of blood pooling into the carpet, her hands a little too rough, tearing where it shouldn't tear, teeth two eager causing blood to squirt haphazardly rather than pushing into waiting lips. And again, as the first time Charlotte was there in the aftermath, a change of clothes and a gentle hand to manage the taps.
Like the first time, Bella felt no guilt, what was the point when she knew the crimes of her meals. She would feed with more respect with time, and before then there were truly evil people who deserved whatever became them. Guilt was for other, guilt was for people like the Cullen's who wasted so much time on other humans lives and had no time for their emotions.
The pattern repeated again through to the sixth day. On the first two she worked diligently on controlling all this power that was no wired into her granite muscles. Her progress increased, though accidents still occurred. Less things broke, and the crease of frustration started to unfold from Bella's brow. Of course, there were still much to learn and she was allowed no where near the China. Again she started to show signs of her hunger come the second day after her last feeding but once again she ignored it and soldiered on, determined not to be a slave to her baser instincts.
And come the sixth day she was introduced to her third feast. This time a man who beat his wife to death for chatting with male coworkers. He had already destroyed everything meaningful in his life, Bella was merely saving him the disgrace and misery that he was sure to experience when his atrocious actions finally dawned on him.
"Right Little Lady, this is your third meal, let's see if you can apply some of that restraint you've learned." Peter was always looking for ways to push her into the correct ways of this life, and without it being the Southern Wars he could use a gentler hand and a more covert approach. He could focus less on the fighting and more of the beauty and nuances of being a vampire. He could hone her skills rather than just training her to be canon fodder. He could give her the introduction that he had not being granted. She reminded him of simpler times, of being human in a way despite being so different. Despite only knowing her for barely a week he saw her as a little sister and from the stolen conversation with Charlotte she saw their new friend much the same way. They had made promises to each other that even when the girl had outgrown her newborn stage they would not just leave her like the Cullen's had.
Bella rose perfectly to the challenge. Instead of diving straight in like she had with the previous meals, she approached him at a sedate speed, she breathed in the air as his pulse increased. The scent of blood was heavy in the air, pushing quicker and quicker through the man's veins by his racing heart. Bella was sure that had she been human hers would have been too, the excitement of being the predator causing her heart to throb. But she wasn't so her eyes merely dilated in response, her body readying for the hunt, though there wasn't much of a hunt to occur. Her eyes flashed to Charlotte then to Peter, looking for some kind of confirmation she was doing okay. A nod egged her on.
She cupped the man's cheek. Monster looked into the eyes of monster. Still cupping his neck Bella leant down. Without context it may have looked like a loving embrace, a foreplay to something more. Bella let her fangs merely rest over the man's throbbing pulse point, her throat burning, screaming at her from within, desperate for some sustenance. She ignored it, smirking into the man's neck. The man shivered in fear at this action, pushing his neck closer momentarily to the teeth that he was so deathly afraid of.
"Now, now Little Lady don't play." Though the words spoke of reprimand the tone of voice was pure pride with a hint of amusement. Nonetheless Bella listened to Peter, finally letting go o her restraint, closing her teeth around the jugular. The restraint worked in her favour, the blood flooded from the four neat little holes to fill her mouth where she could gulp it back. This time there was no explosion, no blood coating carpets and walls. It was the most filling meal she had had do far, the flood long and constant for a few minutes, then as the blood drained it started to come in sharper bursts as his failing heart struggled to pump the remaining liquid through his system. He had long since fallen unconscious. And then finally he was finished with, drained completely of blood, no life left merely skin and bone and useless organs. The only sign of what had occurred was a drip of blood trailing down Bella's lip. With a flick of her tongue even that was gone.
"You did so well Bella," Charlotte's praise was full of pride as she stayed with Bella as Peter took the body to dispose of, "I think Peter will take you out to Seattle soon. Only the outskirts though. It's one thing to resist one human and another to resist a small group of them."
Bella almost wanted to sigh. With every obstacle she manged to defeat there was another to face. There was always another battle to fight.
"How long did it take you? To gain control? To hunt safely in the city?" She wanted to know how long this would take, put some kind of time frame on it.
"A lot longer than it will take you, Little Lady. I was brought up very differently. I wasn't expected to survive my newborn year. I was canon fodder. As long as I could fight I could feed to my heart's content. We ravaged towns and cities. Tore through the citizens with no care to their backgrounds or morality. But you're getting taught control. And even outside the newborns we've seen brought up outside the Southern Wars you have exceptional control." Charlotte hadn't missed the fear in Bella's eyes and what she had spoken to calm them fears had being nothing but the truth. She offered a hug to the newborn who gladly accepted it.
Charlotte was quite a bit smaller than Bella but still she rested her head on the girl's shoulder, accepting the offered comfort. Today had been a good day and she shouldn't let a tiny comment push her back. She could only continue to work on her control, both with handling thing and resisting the scent of blood. It'd be difficult but she knew it'd be worth it so she could integrate back into society rather than being cooped up in the house all the time.
As the next day rolled around Peter looked entirely too smug with himself. Despite how short a time they had been together, Bella knew that face meant that he had something planned. Something probably to help her control this new body. After the smirk he rose, reaching out first to his wife with a kiss to her lips, then to Bella with a kiss to her forehead.
"Whilst this isn't the Southern Wars no more, you need to learn how to protect yourself. If we ever run into trouble a team of three is gonna be better than a team of two." With that he pulled both girls into the expansive yard outside.
Bella was excited for this training at least. She knew she was both faster and stronger at the minute than her counterparts and she was sure it would give her the edge in a fight, and with their training she could hone them skills and be a real asset to her new family. Because they were, despite only knowing them a week, Peter and Charlotte were family.
"Right Little Lady, you're gonna fight Char for today and I'm gonna be on instructions." With that Charlotte got herself into a ready position and Bella got into what she believed to be a ready position too. It was nowhere near the right position which she soon learned from the guidance of Peter. And if that early guidance wasn't a sign for how the whole teaching would go, well then nothing was.
What edge she may have had from her excess speed and strength was completely eradicated by Charlotte's sheer skill and prior experience. When Bella thought about it, it made sense, Charlotte had been fighting for nigh on a century against newborn who would all have more strength and speed than the waif like vampire. Knowing that didn't make every defeat any easier. It seemed like every minute she was back on the floor, Charlotte's arm pinning her head to the dusty floor.
And every time she went down Peter would stand there, a smirk on his face, "Up," was all he'd say and it'd begin again. Well with a critique as well. Critique that were becoming increasingly annoying to Bella's fraying newborn nerves.
Finally, her control snapped just slightly, she surged forwards, pushing all her strength at Char, catching the more experienced woman by surprise. With a short growl she caught the woman's arm, twisting it behind her back with a crack.
A crack signifying she had ripped the limb straight from the woman's body. The growl died immediately, Bella dropping the limb into the sand in pure shock. She stepped back, eyes wide as apologies fell from her lips.
Peter sighed, somewhat amused but worried for Bella nonetheless. He knew Charlotte would be fine, he realised Bella might not be so sure. He went to Bella, letting Charlotte reattach her own arm, she sent him a smirk as she took her limb back, dusting the sand off, she knew Peter would look after it properly later, reattach it securely with his venom and a feed.
The couple's jovial attitudes died quickly though, Peter moving in front of the two woman facing northwards away from the house. They had company, company they'd only noticed when it called out to them.
"That's quite a feisty newborn you've got there, Captain."
Finally, I'm back to the writing board. Uni is fab, but also part of the reason why it's taken me so long to get this chapter out. Thank you so much for being so understanding about how long this has taken and I hope you enjoy it.