Bree's Story

7. Secret

Bree's POV

Alice and I had been shopping all day. Literally, all day! Not one break; not even a quick stop for us to sit down, put our feet up and watch the gruesome coloured storm clouds roll in towards the city. There was no shining sun in New York today – just as Alice had predicted – only storms and heavy downpour. We both knew that New York was in for an intense beating from the wind and rain today, but that wasn't going to prevent Alice from shopping. She was like an unstoppable force of nature. A tornado.

It was nearing twilight, although the think clouds blocked out the sun, making the exact time of day difficult to tell. Alice had dragged me to the shops at dawn and we'd been here ever since. Not that I objected to shopping – my only concerned was that Alice's idea of shopping varied distinctly from mine. My concern proved to be correct. We had been to so many different shops that I'd lost count sometime after the eighty-seventh.

Of course we had already been to Alice + Olivia's, where I had bought Alice the dress she'd known I was going to buy her since the day we had meet. She cherished it unconditionally and had bought the perfect heels to go with the silver satin fabric of the cocktail dress earlier today. Alice was planning to wear the ensemble to Bella and Edward's wedding.

We now roamed through a small privately owned store that – remarkably – we hadn't yet been in. Alice was chatting animatedly with the owner – a short man, wearing a nametag identifying him as Joe – about the new range of Jimmy Choo's. I was at the opposite end of the store, waiting outside the only dressing room cubicle to try on a cute, hot pink mini dress. A middle aged lady currently occupied the cubicle, arguing with herself about which dress she should wear to her best friends 40th. Nobody else was in the small shop, but many people still crowded the streets.

I waited patiently, occupying myself by trying on some knee high black boots. I twirled around in front of the mirror, getting a better look at the boots. I was only half paying attention to the reflection in the mirror, though. I was predominantly listening to the lady in the dressing room – wondering idly how much longer she would take. Apparently she was having some trouble with the zipper at the back of the dress. I could hear her yanking at it, trying desperately to squeeze into a dress that was clearly too small for her.

So I heard when the zip pinched at the skin on her back. I heard the sound of her skin piercing. I heard Alice's face whip up – much too fast – to stare at me with a horrified expression. But mostly I smelt the scent of fresh human blood oozing from the tiny cut the zipper had made in her back.

And then I couldn't think. I just acted. It was a compulsion; I was compelled by the scent. I didn't have a choice – only one option lay before me. With great restraint I could resist the scent of humans, but blood – fresh human blood – was an entirely different story. My mind turned into one of a deadly predator and as I spun around, in a blindingly fast movement, I heard Alice gasp in realisation of what I was about to do.

I burst through the cubicle door – breaking it in the process – and grabbed the startled woman inside. With a swift jolting movement of my hands I snapped her neck, preventing her from screaming and attracting attention to the disturbing scene. My lips parted at the neck of the lifeless body and I began draining the woman's blood.

It felt so good. My itchy throat felt absolutely cured from the burn I endured when in the presence of humans for the first time since I had joined the Cullen family. The blood warmed my body and I was sure that my usually icy skin would feel almost the same temperature as a humans would. But this action – the action of feeding naturally – felt completely wrong. I couldn't dislodge the image of Alice's horrified face from my mind. It was like it was engraved in stone – showing her disgust with what I was doing.

I dropped the bloodless body and it hit the ground with a gentle thud. As I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and licked my lips – trying to remove all traces of blood – I felt the blue contact lenses, which hid the startling colour of my ghoulish eyes, disintegrate. In the small cubicle mirror I saw my red eyes, glowing just slightly brighter than they were this morning.

Alice sprinted over to stand at my side in less than half a second. She firmly gripped my shoulders and stared deeply into my eyes. "Bree, what have you done?" she whispered furiously.

"I… I was… she… I didn't mean…" I stuttered, unable to find the right words.

Alice's face went blank for a very long minute, while I wondered desperately what she was seeing. Some life returned to her face and then she groaned quietly. "I can't see properly," she explained. "There are so many decisions that haven't been made."

"Alice, I didn't mean to." I was beginning to find my voice. "I was fine and then I caught the scent of the blood. I didn't think after that. The next thing I knew, my mouth was at her throat."

"I understand, Bree," Alice answered solemnly. "It's my fault for thinking you were ready for this. I shouldn't have been

so careless."

It had been a few minutes since my sudden lapse in control. The shop owner, Joe, had become a statue from the moment he'd seen me break down the door. He unfroze now, and stared at us with fearful eyes. His face went pale and he looked terrified. He stood just a few metres from the door and before Alice or I had a chance to stop him, he bolted towards the door.

Joe dodged the cars, which were beeping their horns at him, making his way to the small traffic island in the middle of the road. Once he had reached his destination he paused to catch his breath, and then he cupped his sweaty hands to his mouth. He glanced back into his store – staring deeply into my glowing eyes – and then turned away with a determined look on his face.

"Vampires!" he shrieked.

Everybody walking in the street stopped to turn and stare at him. Some of them giggled and looked at him with sarcastic faces. They looked like they were thinking, "Yeah, sure. Do you know what century we live in? I bet you're going to tell us about the boogieman next." Others jumped a little at his sudden outburst, but reacted much the same as everyone else. The entire street of people seemed to be laughing at Joe.

He realised that nobody believed him, but continued. "I'm not fooling around," Joe begged. "They're in my shop and they just killed a woman!"

People payed more attention to him after he'd mentioned "death" and the curious bystanders became slightly more interested. Some came running over to look through the large glass windows. Most just looked like they wanted another reason to laugh at poor Joe, but a few people's smiling faces had been replaced with the same distressed expression that Joe wore.

A swarm of people began crowding around the windows of Joe's shop. They looked in and I knew what they would be seeing. Two petite girls, standing frozen next to a broken cubicle door, with a bloodless woman lying at their feet. I also knew what they would be feeling. I could remember for myself what they would think of the beautiful girls who looked more like angels. They might be alarmed by the disturbing colour of my eyes, but I would still look dazzling to them.

Every person in the crowd continued to stare, but their faces looked just as scared as Joe's. Nobody laughed anymore. They all believed Joe's story. It would be very hard not to believe his story with the proof standing right there in front of them.

My body unfroze and I glanced sideways at Alice. She looked into my eyes and I understood that we were thinking the same think. The only rational thing to do was run, and that was what we would do. It didn't matter if anyone noticed the incredible speed in which we moved – they already knew too much.

Alice darted through the back door of the shop and I followed. We exited into an alley way and the only logical escape was to go up – unless we wanted to go back to the crowded street and mingle with our admirers. I shuddered at the thought, then jumped to the rooftops and began running alongside Alice – our only destination being anywhere but here.

As we made our escape I wondered how this day had gone so horribly wrong. This morning the future had looked good – a day out shopping with my sister. Now the outlook was bleak. We were running away from a horde of horrified humans, who knew our secret. A secret that had to remain a secret unless we wished to die. I had just broken the one vampire law that was unforgivable. The Volturi had already given me my second chance and now I'd messed things up again. What would become of me this time? And for that, I had no answer.

Thank you everyone for the kind, encouraging reviews. I hope you're all enjoying reading about Bree as much as I enjoy writing about her. I'm sorry about taking so long to update. I've been busy with school lately and haven't had much free time to write. Please review this chapter and tell me what you think of the story so far. Remember, the reviews inspire me to write more, so if you want more chapters REVIEW!

Love you all,

AshleyGreeneIsAwesome.