BIG NEWS!
'Alice' has been submitted (by me) to the 'What About Alice' Contest!
Title: Immortal
pen name: cakes4547
Pairing: Just Alice : )
Rating: T
Disclaimer:All recognizable character's belong to Stephenie Meyer. Not mine.
Summary: Long before she was Edward's sister, a Cullen, or Bella's best friend, Alice woke up in the woods alone in Mississippi in 1920. This is her beginning. V
OTE HERE on JULY 10, 2010!
www .fanfiction-challenges. blogspot. Com
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I give you Alice! She has been the most fun to write so far, but I wanted to add in an author's note just in case, just to explain my writing style on this one.
First, whoever changed Alice is a mystery. The first part of the story is supposed to be just that – a mystery. Second, when Alice awakens, she is confused, new, and also somewhat feral because she just doesn't know any better. I believe that she evolves eventually into the Alice that we all have grown to love by studying the people that she finds so fascinating.
Imagine the first time she sees people as something other than food; remember, Alice doesn't remember being human. I believe she would have some human traits and remember some things subconsciously, so that it how I have written her. I just couldn't picture the same Alice waking up in the woods as a vampire – I think she would be confused for awhile and maybe do some things we wouldn't like. Please bear with her; she is a fast learner; )
Enjoy!
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Alice - 1920
He pressed his cool lips to her cheek before setting her somewhat hastily down onto the ground. His speed worked to his advantage, and he patted her softly after pulling the syringe from her arm.
"Mary Alice…forgive me," he murmured, sweeping her sloppily cut black hair from her eyes. He wouldn't be able to give her the bite on her neck; the scar would be easily seen due to the short haircut that the asylum had hastily given her. With a shaky sigh, he lowered his mouth to her fragile wrist, biting into her soft skin. She inhaled sharply, but the morphine had already done its job – she was numb.
He looked around; he knew he was being followed by her stalker. Her blood had sung to the lost looking young man with the empty eyes and long blonde hair. He had recognized that right away.
James had gotten the job at the asylum so that he could have a food source that was readily available to him; patients whose disappearances wouldn't raise many questions. They were a hindrance to their families anyway, tucked into the state-funded Mississippi asylum. None of his victims would ever be missed. When he discovered that little Mary Alice was his singer, he had tortured her and stalked her for weeks. He had to admit, James had patience with his prey and the games he played with them.
"Where are you…g-going?" she asked, the morphine already finding its way into her veins. He smiled down at her sadly, patting her cheek as she slipped out of reality and into the deep unconsciousness that would change her forever.
"Sleep, little Mary Alice, sleep now…when you awake you will be free of all of this. They cannot hurt you any longer. No one will," he said gently to her. Her pretty hazel eyes blinked at him a few times before her eyes rolled back into her head, the venom starting to spread and take effect. He paused for a moment to look down at the frail little girl as she started to react to his poison.
Memories of watching the innocent, gifted Mary Alice suffer in the asylum flashed before his red eyes. For three years he had watched her suffer though shock treatments, getting dunked in ice water, jabbed with hot pokers, given pills that made her sleepy, shots that made her want to jump out of her skin. When James had begun to hunt her, he had to step in. And now here they were.
The little girl did not deserve to suffer anymore. He knew that Mary Alice would get her revenge in her new life; however it may come to pass.
He pulled her already limp body off to the side of the dirt road, behind the line of oak trees than ran along beside it. She was out of view from the road, and somewhat sheltered from the elements, but this was all he could do. Now it was his turn to run.
"Good-bye, Mary Alice," he whispered, before dashing off into the darkness.
x-X-x-X-x
Something grunted. Then growled. It tugged relentlessly at her shabby hospital gown as it tried unsuccessfully to drag her heavy little body from the ditch where she now lay.
She groaned as the fur tickled her arm slightly before she grasped its tail and tossed it away with a satisfied "umph!"
The ball of fur hit a tree twenty feet away and hit the ground with sickening crunch.
She opened her eyes.
She sat up, looking from side to side. The morning sunlight was just starting to beam through the trees, and a lazy breeze blew through the leaves, rustling them slightly. She frowned, her perfect eyebrows slanting downward as she looked around.
Where am I? Wait...who am I?
She jumped up, the water that had gathered in the muddy ditch where she sat splashing slightly as she stood. Her head whipped from side to side several times at lightning speed, her nose sniffing the air.
Was there danger near? Her senses told her no. But really…who was she? And why did she just wake up in a ditch?
With a light shrug, she stepped out onto the dirt road, where puffs of morning mist were still rising. She began to put one foot in front of the other, walking slowly. Her torn nightgown ruffled in the breeze, causing her to stop suddenly and look down. The dingy white fabric had little faded flowers all over it, and it was stained with mud and dirt from the ditch. She examined the faded fabric that was torn in several places, and a piece of plastic around her wrist caught her eye.
She frowned again at the tattered bracelet, the words and letters all jumbling together.
She tried to read it.
"M-m…M-a-rii…Mariii…Ma-rey…Mar-y…Mary…" she stuttered, frowning until the words made sense. She felt like she should be able to read them.
"Mary…A...Al-l-l…la-ce….Al-lace…A-lace…Alice. Mary Alice," she finally spit out, frowning at the tag.
I must be Mary Alice….either that or I have her bracelet! She thought with a tinkling giggle. She jumped slightly at the sound of her laugh as it echoed down the lane where she stood. Looking up, she saw that the dirt road was lined with old oak trees and it seemed to go on forever.
"Mary Alice…I'm Mary Alice!" she said happily. All of a sudden, she frowned. She wasn't so sure about the 'Mary' part.
Not sure why…I think I'll just be Alice. Alice? Alice. Alice! She thought gleefully to herself.
She looked at the slim, pale fingers that grasped the bracelet, quickly dropping it to hold her perfect, tiny hand in front of her face to look at.
"Oooh!" she cooed, looking at the pretty, pink fingernails and their white tips.
A bush rustled behind her, and she whipped around, landing lithely on her feet, her eyes wild.
Danger! What is it? Must get away…now! Her internal voice yelped. She dashed away, picking up speed rapidly. The thought of something stalking her quickly fell away as she blurred down the dirt lane, faster and faster.
"Eeee!' she squealed, skipping as she ran. And then, the tree line came faster and faster.
She collided with the old oak tree, and it groaned before settling to the ground with a crash.
"Oh!" she wailed, covering her mouth quickly. The tree branches rustled as she collected herself, standing up in a flash.
Oops.
That's when things got hazy.
Her mind churned and twisted as pictures appeared before her blank eyes and face. Fuzzy images blurred together - of trees, the dirty lane, and the ditch where she had woken up. The vision was hard to concentrate on and made her feel slightly sick to try to watch.
Suddenly, it was over. She straightened up, looking back over her shoulder from where she had come from. The empty dirt lane stared back at her as lifelessly as before. Taking a few shaky steps forward, she began to walk again, her body tensed and ready for it to happen again.
And it did.
The pictures continued to come, darting in front of her eyes and making her freeze in her footsteps, leaving her slightly shaken each time. This continued for several minutes; each time they got longer and clearer, although they weren't' showing her anything particularly interesting.
Then, it happened.
Her eyes glazed over slightly, her head coking to the side as the vision overtook her senses.
A short, dark haired woman cowered behind the two taller men as the three of them walked out of the lavish hotel. Once outside, the darker haired male turned to the other one and handed him a wallet.
"You can have what's left…it should help you wherever you go," he said softly, his red eyes sad. Her vision shifted to show the man he was talking to.
The other man was tall, lean, and beautiful. His skin was decorated with crescent shaped scars, all slightly raised in the hazy afternoon light. His eyes were red and sad, full of shame and regret, and his blonde hair hung over them as if to hide them from everyone around him.
"Are you sure you don't want to feed one last time before we leave you?" the small woman asked. Her crimson eyes matched theirs, although the darker haired pair had significantly fewer scars then the blonde, wavy haired man did.
"No…I can't do it anymore, Charlotte. I can't bear to…" he trailed off, his sad eyes falling to the ground as he tucked the obviously stolen wallet into his coat pocket.
"You're sure you'll be okay?" the other man asked him, putting his hand on his shoulder.
The blonde man nodded. "Yeah, Peter…I'll be okay. I just...needed to get away from there, experience something else. I couldn't live…with her anymore."
The man that was Peter nodded. "I can't say that I blame you. So you think you'll travel for awhile?"
He nodded. "Yes…I don't want to feed anymore…at least not like that. I don't know if I could handle it again. I want to just wander around, get a taste of the world like I wanted to before…before she found me."
Peter nodded again. "I understand. Well you know where we'll be. You're always welcome to join us. You saved our lives; we owe you, my friend."
He shook his head in disagreement. "No, you don't. I was happy to help. I'm only sorry you had to live so long like that."
"So we'll meet again?" Charlotte asked him hopefully. The blonde mad nodded, a pained smile on his lips.
"I hope so, Charlotte," he replied. "I hope so…" and with that, he turned around and walked away, the dark haired couple turning to look at each other worriedly. He was gone.
She sucked in a quick breath as her body slackened, her true sight coming back.
What on earth? What did those pictures mean?
She looked around, whipping her head from side to side in a blur, looking for where this longer, clearer set of pictures had come from. Who was the beautiful blonde man with the sad eyes she had seen? Where was he going? Who was 'she'? It was obviously someone important; he seemed to be pained when he spoke about her.
She looked around, still not sure what she had seen, although she wasn't really scared by it…just bothered. Something about the moving pictures she had just seen in her mind had been strange but familiar. Pausing, she pressed her lips together and tried to concentrate.
Now that she thought about it, she wasn't quite sure she could remember anything before waking up in that ditch up the lane with an animal gnawing on her. Retracing her steps, she returned in a blur back to where she had woken up. No, there we no clues there. Looking around, she huffed in frustration. There were no clues about her anywhere.
Then, it hit her. What she had just seen when she returned to the ditch had been something that the pictures had shown her! She grinned as her sharp mind put it together. The images she had seen were things that were going to happen!
Her body stiffened again suddenly, more pictures entering her mind, more vividly than ever before. A farmhouse sat in the distance of this vision, an enticing aroma coming from inside, cows grazing in the pasture nearby, a large barn, and people talking….
People! Her mind screamed at her as she regained control of her body. And what was that smell? It was delicious and mouthwatering…
She looked down at her stomach, rubbing it slowly. Was she hungry? She wasn't sure. She could remember food, and eating. No….
Licking her parched pink lips, her hand suddenly went to her throat. It burned. It burned awfully.
Looking around, she saw no trace of the farmhouse, the cows, or the people with food.
"Humph!" she growled, stomping her bare foot in frustration.
She stood there for several minutes, trying to decide which direction start running in. A beam of sunlight broke through the clouds, shining on her skin for the first time.
She jumped into a crouching position as the rainbow beams reflecting off the trees and leaves around her frightened her. Wide eyed, she looked down at her sparkling skin and realized that it was her that was shining like that. Holding her arm out into the sun, she squealed with glee.
Her arm was shiny. "Pretty," she purred, stroking her granite skin, admiring the way the light bounced off the facets. She began to jump up and down excitedly, her hospital gown rising and falling on her tiny body as she moved.
Before she knew it, she was happily skipping down the dirt land path again, this time in complete awe of her pretty arms and legs as they moved through the sunny day, shining and sparkling whichever way she turned.
It was wonderful.
She would have been completely ecstatic if it wasn't for the deep burning in the back of her throat that was growing worse with every passing minute. Continuing her run, she bounded, leapt, and skipped through the dusty countryside, still marveling at her beautiful skin.
Had she always been this way? Was it right to look this way? She wasn't sure that she cared. She was Alice, she could run and leap like a ballerina, and her skin was pretty. That was all that mattered.
Alice was almost so content running and skipping with her new speed that she didn't even realized it when the lane ended and she arrived in a familiar place.
The farmhouse. The barn. The cows. That smell.
"Food?" she pondered out loud, turning her head. The burn in her throat intensified, and continued to grow the closer she got to the farmhouse. The cows stirred in the pasture as she walked past them, running her fingers along the barbed wire fence. Alice looked at them strangely as they all mooed and galloped away from the fence where she walked.
She wrinkled her nose and stuck out her pink tongue at them in response. "Same to you!" she trilled, ripping up a handful of grass and launching it in their direction.
Putting her hand to her throat, she swallowed several times to help quench the sizzling burn that was getting hotter and hotter the more she walked. Her skin continued to glitter in the sunlight, dancing and reflecting off of anything near her. She smiled lovingly at the rainbows that danced all around in the sunbeams.
The screen door on the farmhouse slammed, and a middle aged woman emerged, carrying a bucket full of seed for the chickens. Her eyes rose up to look at Alice, who was still fifty yards away, meandering up the driveway.
"Oh my stars…" she mumbled, dropping the bucket with a crash. Alice's head whipped up, her ruby eyes instantly turning to black as her throat began to throb with thirst and fire.
"Hal! You'd better get out here!" she called through the screen door. Alice staggered at the scents that were rolling off of the sweaty woman; the alluring aroma permeated the humid air around them. She paused, unsure of what to do next. Why didn't the woman sparkle in the sun like her? Why did she call for someone else to come out ? Something didn't feel right…was she different?
Alice licked her lips at the smell that had come off the perspiring little farm woman, and tried to look down at her feet as the thrumming hearts inside the house seemed to call to her. Why did that sound entice her so?
The woman's heart rate had sped up considerably, and the sound was echoing in Alice's little ears. She began to sweat even more at the sight of the creature that couldn't really be a human girl. By the time she turned back around to look at the little girl that sparkled like an alien in her driveway, she gasped suddenly as she appeared not a foot in front of her.
"Oh! Dear, you scared me! How did you get all the way up here so fast?" she asked, her hand falling to rest on her neck in shock. Alice's hungry eyes fell to where her hand lay on her jugular, the artery that pulsed there igniting the burn in her throat even more.
The woman stared at her in shock, trying to decide what her eyes were showing her.
The frail looking, pale little girl stood in front of her, her skin glowing and sparkling like a diamond. Her pupils were dilated and black, slightly wide with surprise. Her hospital gown fluttering in the wind.
"What…what are you?" she stuttered, stepping backwards, nearly tripping on the bottom porch step of the shabby farmhouse.
Before her husband could join her, Alice had sprung, sinking her teeth into the woman's neck instinctively. The crimson liquid gushed from her broken neck, and the limp body sunk into Alice's strong arms as she ravenously sucked.
In a few seconds, the body was empty, and Alice dropped it to the ground with a soft 'thump'.
The man exited the screen door a few seconds later, gasping in horror as his eyes lay upon the body of his wife on the ground.
"What the-"
He didn't have time to finish his sentence.
x-X-x-X-x
Alice rifled through the meager selection in the upstairs closet, pausing slightly as she observed the dresses that the woman had hanging up in there. She shoved them aside, one by one as none of the frumpy dresses really appealed to her.
"Well I can't go on like this!" she said to herself, clicking her tongue against her teeth. She ran her tongue along them, feeling how sharp they were. Her head hung in shame as she thought about the act she had completed with those teeth a few minutes before.
Finally, she picked out a pretty blue one with a low waist and ruffled cap sleeves that was shoved in the back of the closet.
This would do…she thought to herself with a sigh. The woman's dress didn't really fit her, but it would have to suffice. She had caught a glance of herself in one of the mirrors in the house and had been horrified by her torn, shabby hospital gown and even more repulsed by her choppy, unattractive hair cut. Frankly, it looked like it had been done with a blunt blade by a drunken man in the dark.
Her eyes were also quite horrid. She wasn't sure if they had always been that color, but the crimson that glowed back at her in the mirror had both revolted and scared her at first.
The day had been confusing, to say the least. Waking up to have no idea who you are or what you were was a completely perplexing thought. However, Alice knew that she could read; she knew how to speak; she knew what things were. She just didn't have any memories or idea where she was or what she was. She knew enough from the look on the human's faces that she was indeed not human herself.
She fastened the too large dress around herself, smoothing it out carefully. Looking down at her bare feet, she selected a pair of black, beat up slip-ons from the floor of the closet. She was shocked to see that they actually fit.
Once back downstairs, she was careful to avoid looking at the dead bodies that were scattered around her. Alice wasn't sure how many she had drained in her wild thirst, and she never wanted to know.
As if he knew he was being thought about, the arm of the teenage dead boy fell off the table where he was slumped, swinging slightly. Alice started, her eyes going wide at the movement. Her eyes prickled and burned, a sob erupting from her mouth as she clamped her hands over it. His eyes were empty and emotionless as he lay draped over the table, dead and motionless.
She had to get out of there.
x-X-x-X-x
Her next mistake came a few short days later. It had only taken her a few tries to figure out that places where people dwelled were not good places for her to be.
The smells had changed as she walked through the forest that day; the burn in her throat increased, igniting like the sun above her. Not that she minded the sun; it made her warm, and most importantly it made her sparkle! She didn't think she would ever grow tired of watching the rainbows dance on her skin.
Maybe I can go where the people are…I can smell the people. Maybe I won't kill these people. Maybe...but...they smell so good...but I don't want to be alone…hmmm…
She leaped up into a tree, quickly scaling the side of the bark to perch in the top of the high limbs. Her eyes quickly scanned the horizon and located a small-looking town nestled into the swampy landscape.
People! She thought gleefully. More than anything, she ached to prove to herself that there wouldn't be a repeat of the farmhouse.
Suddenly, the flames in her throat ignited once again, making her eyes bulge and her hands fly to her small throat.
"Ulgh!" she moaned, looking around with a grimace. Her throat and nose had betrayed her before her eyes and ears did. She smelled them, and then she heard them.
Looking to her right, she noticed a dirty road that winded along the buggy bayou above the large tree she was perched in. The old car sputtered and rolled along the unpaved road, the open windows allowing her to hear her prey before she began her stalk towards them.
The voices of the adolescent girls as they drove down the lane did nothing to remind Alice of her promise that she had made to herself about people just hours before.
Oh…they smell so…so good…my throat hurts…and it felt better last time…just two more..just two more and that would be all. That wouldn't hurt, would it? Then I'll stop. That'll be it. Yes. Two more should do it, she thought to herself as she launched herself out of the tree.
Catching up with the car was nothing; it was a chase, but it was fruitless. She was through the car window and at the throat of the first girl before she even had a chance to scream. When she realized what was becoming of her companion, the second girl began to wail and flail her arms around wildly in the small car.
Alice groaned as she drank from the gash she had created in the driver's neck. It just felt so good.
After a few seconds, the car careened into a group of trees, sending all three of them through the glass windshield. Alice, so consumed in her meal, barely noticed being thrown from the vehicle. It sputtered after the crash settled, steam rising from the choking engine. Seconds later, the driver was drained and Alice found the second girl.
She had been thrown from the side window, and she lay on the ground unconscious. Her skin was bloodied from the glass window she had gone through, causing Alice's eyes to glaze over with delight as the blood seeped through her cuts and scrapes.
She paused a moment, looking at the girl as she lay in an awkward position on the ground. Her neck was bent at a strange angle, and she wasn't moving. Alice wasted no time as she pictured her meal cooling, the blood no longer as soothing to the flames in her throat.
She drained this girl even faster.
With a satisfied sigh, she sat back on her heels, licking the last remnants of her meal from her pink lips. The flames went away, but the guilt came roaring back ten times worse than any thirst.
Her large eyes widened even further as she looked at the scene around her. The old Ford car sat broken and dejectedly at the base of a large tree, having knocked over several smaller saplings before finally crashing. The inside of the car's beige leather interior was splattered with blood, both from Alice's sloppily taken meal and the injuries of both of the humans. Their two bodies lay splayed in front of her, growing pale, cold, and lifeless.
She stood slowly, wiping her chin with the torn sleeve of her dress. It would have been impossible for her to blink. Her two victims faces were both turned to her, and she had to look away as she realized that the first girl's eyes were still open in blank horror.
Biting her lip, Alice looked at the ground as a strange, tingling feeling rose up behind her eyes, almost stinging her.
They…they look kind of like me. Like we're the same age…
She crouched near the first girl, blinking several times as her small hands hovered above her still, lifeless body. Gasping the soft cotton of the girl's summery dress, Alice bowed her head as a strange sob erupted from her throat. Loneliness had consumed her.
These girls did nothing wrong to me…they did nothing wrong at all...they…
….they could have been my friends.
She lowered her head onto the cooling corpse of the teenage girl and let her cries overcome her.
x-X-x-X-x
She ran for a few days, trying to push the thoughts of both the farm family and the two teenage girls out of her mind. Alice didn't know a lot of things, but she did know that she certainly didn't want to do that anymore. The look on the young boy's face was burned into the front of her mind, his lifeless eyes boring into her own crimson ones.
No, that was not good to do what she had just done.
She remembered it anytime she skipped near a town or too close to the main road. Taking mainly country roads and cutting through the swampy woods, she managed to stay away from any more humans. When one did pass on the road, she knew enough to hide up in the trees, her hand clamped over her mouth and nose, just for safety.
She couldn't be sure, but she was fairly certain that she wasn't entirely human. No, her eyes, skin, teeth and diet were certainly not human.
Her method of hiding and holding her breath worked…for several days. Soon, the burning fire in her throat returned and she panicked, losing all control once again. Alice had no control over her targets; she felt more awful every time.
A lone gravedigger, a boy on his bike, a few teenagers swimming in a country pond. She left them littered in her wake, feeling more and more awful every time.
The pain of her mistakes haunted her; no matter how fast she ran or how high she jumped, it was as if they were following her every footstep. Until one day, when she was almost a month old.
She stumbled across a farmer out in the field, using a mule to plow. She had pounced on the sweaty farmer immediately after not having fed for almost an entire week. The farmer's blood had quenched her thirst only a bit.
Oh no, she thought with despair, dropping his body to the tilled soil. The mule bucked and brayed desperately to get away from the scary, glittering creature before him.
Alice cocked her head to the side, looking at it carefully. In its panic, the veins in its neck were standing up and throbbing as the animal strained against its binds.
She didn't pause. Pouncing, she ended its life quickly and drained it. When she was finished, she thought for a moment.
Well…that certainly didn't taste as good…but…it certainly didn't taste bad either. Killing things like this couldn't be as bad as humans, could it?
She thought a moment longer before having an epiphany. She would only kill animals! Yes! That was the solution. She squealed with glee, clapping her tiny hands in her excitement. Her problem had been solved. Skipping away, she made her way west. Things were going to change.
x-X-x-X-x
Alice had been doing research the past few weeks and had figured a few things out. She was nearly a month and half old, at least by her calculations. How she knew how to count the days was beyond her, and she didn't mind much anyway. Time didn't concern her.
But most importantly, little Alice had figured out that she was no human, and thus had to be careful around them. Holding her breath was key when she wasn't sure if she could control herself fully. Yes, not breathing was the trick.
Alice had also figured out that killing animals to drink from was her way of life now. As unappetizing as the taste had been at first, it did stop the wretched burning in her throat, but that was enough for her.
Animals didn't scream. Animals didn't mind dying quickly. Animals didn't make her feel as bad when she drained them.
So from now on, animals it was.
She had also guessed from the horrified reactions of the humans who saw her in the sunlight before they died that her skin was also not human. Her skin did not sparkle at night or on a cloudy day to her disappointment, but it did help her look like a human. So, Alice had had to wait until a cloudy day presented itself before she allowed herself to practically skip into the city of Baton Rouge.
She had spent most of her time hunting animals in the woods and over-sating herself in preparation for her second favorite hobby: people watching.
Yes, the small country towns on the way to Baton Rouge had given her many opportunities for people watching. She would peek into their windows, hide up in trees, crawl into attics…anything to be around people and watch their day to day lives.
People watching had taught her a lot. She had hidden in a hotel heating duct at one point to watch a cotillion class being taught to the teenagers of the medium-sized town, and that had been the most interesting and pivotal thing to her so far. Now she could blend.
Granted, she could only speak so much with a meager lungful of air, but she was working on it. Alice would stow away into houses during the day, try on their clothes, read their books and magazines, and listen to their radios. She was no thief by any means; she felt guilty enough that she had to break into their homes. She simply borrowed.
But what she wouldn't have done for friends. Several times she had considered talking to girls that looked about her age in town, but her mind had shown her pictures again…pictures of her doing awful things to those girls her age. Alice had to settle for an awkward, tightlipped smile when she did see people out on her nightly walks through town.
Alice had also learned about money. But how would she get money? She certainly wanted money, she knew that much. But how would she get it? She couldn't work. She had no skills…well, human skills.
If hunting squirrels, climbing trees, and skipping like a ballerina were skills…then yes, she had some real talent. Yet, none of these delightful new aspects of her life could earn her any money.
It seemed trite, even to her, to yearn for money so badly, but what else did she have to do? There was a void in her life that needed to be filled, despite how happy she was most of the time. She couldn't have friends, she didn't have a home, and she could barely control herself for long periods of time around people. Shouldn't she at least be entitled to a pretty dress?
All of her problems had been solved one night as she decided to hide in the upstairs of a bar to watch a poker game. Alice lolled around on the floor of the attic, peeking through the cracks to watch the games that went on below her. The cards fascinated her, the way they were shuffled and dealt and played with. She could always guess the outcome of the games as she watched through the crack in the attic floor. If she concentrated hard enough, the pictures came easily and showed her the outcomes in her mind. It was easy enough. But that still didn't solve her problem. How was she going to get money?
A fight had broken out over a debt soon after the last game had been won. She watched as the drunken men that stunk like liquor stumbled around, jabbing each other for their owed money. The man that had lost was completely cleaned out from the continuous rounds of poker and had no more money left. They fought and spat and kicked at each other until the poor man suggested that he go to Baton Rouge for another poker game – a winner takes all scenario. He was certain he could win the money back at the casino and then some if they would let him go that night.
This is what caught her attention. Baton Rouge? What is a casino? There are bigger poker games? You really can win money?
That was all she needed to hear. Visions of new dresses, new shoes, and a stylish cap danced in her head from the fashion magazines. She let her eyes glaze slightly, feeling the familiar feeling of the pictures coming together to swirl in her head. She saw a lot of outcomes and different plans, but nothing showed her what she wanted to see. With a sigh, she quietly stood and made her way to the window towards the street. Even though she hadn't seen the way to go yet, her mind was made up.
Her plan was set. She would go to Baton Rouge and go to a casino.
x-X-x-X-x
By the time Alice skipped into Baton Rouge, the summer heat had grown so unbearably hot that even she began to notice. It didn't really bother her, but she did notice. The swampy atmosphere of the south didn't do much to please her, and she quickly made plans to travel north after her work was done in the casino.
She had bounded and skipped through the back roads and woods all the way to the big city of Baton Rouge, and she couldn't have been happier. She straightened her dress and tried to smooth down her mussed up hair the best she could before emerging from the woods one evening after hunting. Alice had never drunk so much in her life! But it did help the burning, so she had complied with her conscience.
Alice began to wander the streets of the big city, her tawny eyes wide in amazement of what she was seeing. Tall buildings, automobiles, ladies in fancy dresses, stores, shops…it was almost overwhelming. She stood off to the side of the bustling sidewalk and closed her eyes, concentrating. The throbbing hearts and slightly sweaty bodies were hard to resist, but she was determined to find the casino. After a few seconds, the pictures in her mind swirled together and showed her what she was looking for – the way there. With a grin, she took a deep breath and continued her walk.
Although it was with difficulty, she silently walked the streets with her mouth clamped shut. It was hard to be in the close proximity with all these humans, but it wasn't as much of an issue as she had feared after all of her careful preparations – she had hunted almost twice a day to fully sate herself for this excursion. Her thirst was bothering her, but she was able to shove the need to kill down in her stomach as she walked the busy streets. The promise of a new dress and money was far better than the idea of killing someone.
Suddenly, she exhaled and smiled broadly, easily ignoring the burn in her mouth and throat. Nothing else mattered now. She had found her casino!
It was a tall building on the edge of town, several stories high with a light-up sign in the front. Men and women who were extravagantly dressed wandered in and out, their cigarettes burning and the smell of liquor rolling off of them as the wide double doors opened.
Once inside, she barely noticed the stares she was getting for her choppy haircut and ill-fitting blue dress that she had lifted from the farmer's wife. No, that didn't bother her a bit. She had one thing on her mind and one thing only: poker.
Meandering through the crowded casino, her eyes lit up at all the sights in front of her. Upbeat jazz music blared through the large room, which hung heavy with smoke from the fancy cigars and pipes the men were smoking. The ladies danced in their shiny, beaded flapper dresses and low heeled buckle shoes, their stylish haircuts fashioned in the latest styles. The cards on the dealing tables made a delightful whirring sound as they were shuffled and dealt to the players. The slot machines clicked and spun, their polished handles gleaming in the lights as the handles were pulled to reveal their winnings. And above all the noise, she could decipher the sound of the plastic chips that had been won, jingling in the hands and pockets of the patrons around her.
Plastic chips meant that you had won. Plastic chips meant that you could gamble more. Plastic chips meant money.
Alice tried to observe the things around her for awhile, but soon her curiosity got the best of her and she sat down at the table. She had busied herself during the past few hours in Baton Rouge by picking up dropped nickels and pennies on the street, and was delighted to know that it only took a small amount to enter into the game. The crowd at the table gave her a few strange looks as she sat down in her slightly tattered farmer's wife dress, but she paid them no attention.
Alice learned several things quickly. First, the men back in the small towns she had watched play poker were not actually very good at playing poker. She lost the first few rounds of the game due to her lack of knowledge before she decided to swing the game in her favor. She didn't really wish to mess around much longer with the silly game. Alice also learned that she did not like to lose.
She had learned that by concentrating, she was able to will her visions to come and show her things that she wanted. For instance, what cards she would need to win.
Of course, winning every game in a row with exceedingly better and better hands each time did earn her some curious and incredulous stares.
"Miss, you've already won nearly five thousand dollars. How'd you learn to play poker so good?" the gentleman beside her drawled after she put down her fourth full house.
She paused a moment, quickly coming up with what would be one of many lies she would tell while in Louisiana.
"Daddy liked to play cards with me and my brothers. Not much else to do on a farm, I'm afraid," she said quickly, averting her ocher eyes. He frowned at her, but didn't say anything else.
Three hours, two disgusting mint juleps choked down, and seven grand later, Alice skipped out of the casino, the pockets of her ugly blue dress full of cash.
The gentleman at the poker table was not the only person who would have something to say to her that day.
"Miss, these casinos are an abomination on our society! We cannot support them anymore!" a man yelled at her, shaking a thick book in her face.
She cocked her small head and looked at him strangely, her orange eyes wide. "What is that?" she asked, looking at the thick, gold lined book.
"This is the Bible my child! We cannot support these capers on society any longer! Can we count on your support to help banish these atrocities from the great state of Louisiana!" he half yelled in her face as she walked out onto the street.
"Why would you do that?" she asked carefully, her face showing her disgust. Casinos were marvelous.
"I am an evangelist sent from God to help dispel these evil establishments!"
She giggled at that man's serious face, her mouth breaking out into a large smile as she pulled out her huge wads of cash to make a fan.
"But why would we do that? They give me money!" she trilled gleefully in the shocked man's face, skipping away with a giggle. And so, Alice's love affair with gambling had been fashioned.
x-X-x-X-x
She had stolen away out of the city for the night to hunt when she got her next vision of the beautiful, blonde haired man from one of her first visions.
She was draining the deer gracefully when suddenly her body stiffened, causing her to drop its neck and nearly choke on the flow of crimson liquid as it dribbled down her chin.
It was dark in the alley where he hid, the stillness making the quiet blare loudly in his ears. It was too much as he licked his lips and waited. His eyes were nearly black, the dark circles under them pronounced and bruised. He was thirsty…very thirsty.
He winced and crouched back further into the shadows as a young man walked by, hands in his pockets, whistling to himself. The air in the alley where he hid stirred as he walked past, making him grab his throat and cringe. It was too much. Before the man could cry out in surprise, he reached out like a flash and pulled him into the darkness, snapping his neck quickly with a dull crunch.
He squeezed his eyes shut as the sound echoed off the bricks and the man's body went slack as he died. His blonde waves fell down into his eyes as he lowered his lips towards the still pulsing vein in his neck, recoiling slightly as he paused. He inhaled deeply and swallowed before sinking his teeth into the thin flesh. It had been too long.
Alice came back to reality, frowning as she wiped the blood off her chin that had slid down during her all-too-brief vision of this honey-haired, handsome young man. Her dead heart ached for him, even though she had no idea who he was. She certainly wanted to know though. It was something about his pained, lonely, crimson eyes that made her want to join hands with him and lead him away from all that was obviously troubling him. Alice felt awful that he appeared to be so miserable when the key to happiness was right in front of him: animal blood.
With each feeding he did, his eyes grew more and more somber and miserable. His eyes looked like the teenage boy she had killed that first day in the farmhouse: drained and lifeless.
She had a vision of him about once a week, indicating that he was obviously someone important, but she wasn't sure how just yet. But if she wouldn't have these pictures of him every week or so if he wasn't meant to be there, would she?
No, she thought, shaking her head to herself as she carefully finished draining the deer. She wished she could meet this man who obviously did not want to kill humans anymore either. In her mind, she tried to picture meeting him, becoming friends with him, showing him how to live without the guilt and murders.
Glancing down at the lifeless animal in her hands, she still felt a little guilty for killing something, but somehow she felt like the animals understood more. They were all hunted themselves, what difference did it make if it was her, or a bear, or a wolf? She wasn't sure, but she knew that she felt remorse for doing it period. Here, out in the wild…it just felt more natural to hunt them, rather than hide in an alley and kill a human. And it certainly helped the unpleasant burning in her throat.
She carefully hand dug a shallow hole, carefully placing the dead deer in it before covering it back up with care. Arranging the sticks and leaves over the top to make it look natural, she looked around for something to complete the picture. Plucking a few wild violets from the ground, she made a makeshift bouquet with a few dandelions that were around her and placed it on top of deer's grave. She picked one more to put behind her ear, brushed off her hands, and began to prance back to the hotel.
x-X-x-X-x
With money came opportunity. Granted, Alice wasn't sure what to do with her money, but she was very happy to have it. She did know that she needed a place to stay, so she wandered to the biggest, grandest hotel she could find after leaving the casino and bought a week's stay in one of its rooms.
The grand room gave her a view of the entire city and all of its activity, and she was absolutely thrilled. After retching up the liquor she had choked down at the poker table, she made her way out to the shops that lined the busy street of the hotel. There were endless shop windows full of dresses, shoes, purses, hats, coats…she clapped her hands in excitement, earning her a few pointed stares, but she didn't care.
Because Alice had discovered shopping.
It was wonderful; she could pick out anything she wanted, point to it, show the clerk her money, and the storeowners practically stepped on themselves to help her once they laid eyes upon her enormous stack of crisp tens and twenties. She didn't even have to speak! That was a good thing too…some of the young girls in the stores smelled delightful to her, so she was forced to hold her breath most of the time.
However, she quickly discovered that she was more interested in the beaded, shiny clutch in the window than murdering the store attendant that would sell it to her.
Yes, shopping and gambling had become her two favorite pastimes while in Baton Rouge.
x-X-x-X-x
She was returning to the hotel a few weeks later when she was suddenly stopped by the manager. The short, balding man had explained that they did not want people living in their hotel. She had refused maid service the entire time she was there, and he suspected that she was trying reside there permanently. As annoyed as Alice was, the last thing she really wanted to do was draw attention to herself, so she packed up her new, small suitcase and left. Even though she planned to run wherever she went to next, she had no intention of leaving her pretty new things behind.
One she left Baton Rouge, she wasn't sure where to go next. Biding her time in the woods, she was surprised one day to encounter a red eyed man whose skin appeared to be just like hers.
"I've been waiting for you," he said, leaning against a tree. She looked at him strangely, not sure what he was referring to.
"You have? Who are you?" she asked inquisitively, cocking her head to the side.
He paused a moment, ignoring her question. "What's wrong with your eyes? Are they…" he trailed off, stepping closer to her to stare into her now almost golden pupils.
"My eyes?"
"Hmmm…almost like Carlisle's…."
"Who is Carlisle?"
"I figured New Orleans would be your next stop…turns out Aro was wrong...My gift hasn't diminished over time like he threatened."
"Aro?"
He stepped even closer to her so that he was almost nose to nose. "You know, I had quite the time cleaning up that mess you left me in Biloxi, young lady. I didn't need to do that! Usually I am the one doing tracking!"
"Mess?"
"A vampire doesn't just go around, leaving a trail of drained bodies lying in its wake! You'll be executed for sure! Young…reckless…creating them and then leaving...Who is your creator? Didn't he teach you the ways?
"Wait…" she held up her tiny hand in his face, her golden eyes growing still. "I'm a…a…what?"
He turned away and laughed in disbelief. "A vampire! Goodness child! You are a vampire!"
"I am?" she asked, now thoroughly confused. "I'm a vampire?"
"Do you see any of the humans you cavort with draining bodies? Do they sparkle like a jewel in the sunlight?"
"No….but wait, how did I become a vampire?"
"Crazy to be talking to her…they'll see me and execute me for sure…"
She stamped her tiny foot impatiently. "You're not answering any of my questions!" she huffed. He looked up, standing close to her again.
"Who are you?"
"I…my dear…am Alistair. I am also…a vampire," he said dramatically, flourishing his hands around him. "And you must stop being so careless if you do not wish to be caught!"
"Caught?"
He laughed again, this time more outrageously and incredulously, as if he could not believe her stupidity.
"Yes! They will punish you for killing people and for drawing attention to us! You must be more careful. You must never let the humans catch on! Then it will be the end of us…yes…the end…."
"Wait, how am I a vampire?"
He looked at her strangely. "You mean…you don't know?"
"No," she said simply, frowning at him again. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
"You don't know anything about us?"
"No!" she huffed, stamping her foot again. "What do you mean?"
"You must learn not slip up. If you do kill, hide the body so that it will never be found. We cannot be linked to any murders…." He mumbled, stroking his chin as he turned to pace. His movements were fast and choppy, and he was visibly shaken. He kept looking up to glance at the trees around them, as if they were being watched.
"What about me? Why am I different?" she persisted. Alice had gotten an opportunity to get some answers and she was going to get them, damn it.
"You are very different," he said hurriedly, shaking his head at her, his red eyes wide. "You have stopped aging. However you look now, that will be it."
"For how long?"
He looked at her in amazement, his red eyes growing even wider. "Forever, dear, forever!"
He shook his head at her, and then looked around them suspiciously. "I've said too much. I must go now. Remember – keep it secret."
And then with a flash, he was gone. Alice let out a frustrated puff of air, stomping her foot for the third time in anger.
She made her way through the woods, meandering for a few days. How was she supposed to act now that she knew she wouldn't age, and she had forever? She couldn't decide.
As she approached the outskirts New Orleans, walking with a jaunt to her step and her suitcase swinging, a vision made her body stiffen. She smiled slightly in anticipation, silently hoping that it was going to be another picture of her blonde haired man, but this was different. There were several of them, and they were…different.
A tall, blonde haired man stood beside the bed of a caramel color haired woman as she slept, her body twitching and moving slightly as she moaned. Another, bronze haired man entered the room, his face drawn and stressed.
"Carlisle, I…I need to apologize to you," he said quietly, his eyes flicking up to look at the blonde haired man.
He sighed, fingering his locks as if deep in thought while he stared down at the young woman who looked like she was sleeping, but perhaps in the middle of an awful dream.
"I only wanted to save her, Edward. I remembered her from long ago, and I couldn't bear to see her die."
"And you're sure?" the young man asked, looking at him carefully.
The man named Carlisle looked up at him, nodding assuredly. "I am. She will be a wonderful addition to our family if she is still anything like she was back in Ohio as a girl. I've never forgotten her kind face," he replied.
"I just…never would have expected this," the other said, his lips pressing together tightly. "If you're sure…"
"I am," Carlisle said. He looked down at the woman, a faint, but pained smile on his face. "Sleep, dear Esme. It will all be over soon," he said, brushing his fingertips along her arm. His eyes, black with thirst and hallow looking, closed.
The younger man took his arm, pulling him towards the door of the small bedroom. "You need to hunt. It's been too long…go…I'll sit with her, I promise. She won't be awake for a few hours yet."
The blonde man left the room quickly, his body moving at vampire speed as he left. The young man sat down beside the bed in an armchair and opened a book to read while he waited.
She came back from that very confused about several things. First, why was the woman sleeping? She knew that sleeping was something humans did, mainly at night, and it was something she could not do…so the woman was obviously human. Two, if she was a human, why would she be joining two male vampires? She was lost deep in a reverie when she realized something.
The blonde man, Carlisle, had black, thirsty eyes, but the younger man had golden ones, just like hers now were.
They were animal feeders!
She clapped quietly to herself with absolute elation, delighted to have found someone else like her! But…where were they? All the pictures had shown her was a nice, cozy farmhouse. He had said something about Ohio, but he didn't sound like that was where they were anymore. She frowned. She would just have to wait.
Alice had also figured out over the past few months that the pictures sometimes showed her things that hadn't yet come to pass; in fact, most of the time the things she saw had yet to happen. This was confusing. It was a strange thing to watch something happen before it had actually happened.
When she arrived in New Orleans, she was glad to see that it was an even bigger city than Baton Rouge, and prettier too. Alice could definitely appreciate the aesthetics of the beautiful city and it buildings. A few days after arriving there, she watched the humans celebrate the coming of a new year; it was now 1921.
She sat, perched on a rooftop high above the city, fingering the party crown she had found discarded on the street a few hours before. The humans howled with delight and danced in the streets as they counted down to midnight. Oh, how she wished to join in the party.
Her curiosity had peaked at one point earlier in the evening and she had swiped a half-full bottle of champagne from an outdoor café after some people were done drinking it. It sat beside her on the roof, untouched. She glanced sideways at it as the people celebrated down below. She poured some into her hand, watching as the bubbles slid and fizzled over her smooth skin, laughing quietly to herself. She wanted to consume it and feel silly like humans often did, but her experience with the mint juleps in the casino had helped her learn that particular lesson.
She had tried to will a vision of her blonde haired, crimson eyed vampire several times that evening, but nothing had come. Alice wanted nothing more than to see him tonight, if only to ease her loneliness a little. Most of the time, she didn't mind being alone, but sometimes a companion would have been nice. She could only hope that 1921 would be the year she would find him, and maybe even her three potential friends in the farmhouse.
x-X-x-X-x
It was several weeks later on a humid night when Alice was walking through the woods, swinging her suitcase. She had grown tired of the humid air, boggy swamps, and sunny weather of the south. North was where she was headed. In all of her visions of her four potential friends, the weather looked cold and icy, which it certainly wasn't in New Orleans.
Her body stiffened, and she dropped her suitcase quickly, letting it take her. A sob fell from her mouth when she recognized the woman she was watching, and realized what she was about to do.
The caramel haired woman let her bare feet crunch on the icy snow and rocks as she walked forward, her eyes unseeing. Her hands shook slightly, the rest of her body soon following as she continued to walk forward. The cold wind whipped around her, tossing her curls around her face, but she didn't care. She just kept walking forward.
She approached the edge, her toes hanging over slightly, as if to test herself. Another sob from her mouth made her whole body shake again, her eyes clenching shut as if to push the rest of the tears out.
"Matthew," she murmured, clutching her chest tightly. A few more tears slid down her cheeks, and then she stepped off the edge.
Alice fell to the ground, completely horrified. After that, she mourned for several days at what she had seen, although she was confused. If the human woman jumped off the cliff, how did she end up in the bed in the farmhouse with the other two vampires? Did they save her? And how?
The more she replayed the scene she had viewed, the more she didn't understand.
She shook her little head, more confused now than ever.
x-X-x-X-x
The more time that passed, it got a little harder to keep the skip in her step and a smile on her face. While she adored her life of sparkly skin, super speed, shopping, and seeing the future, some of these things came with great disadvantages.
She had traveled away from the South not long after the New Year in 1921 when she decided it was too sunny and she didn't like the swamps. The shopping never got old and neither did gambling, but her solitary life was slowly wearing on her happy demeanor; Alice was lonely.
The visions had never stopped – once a month or so, she would get a glimpse into the lives of Edward and Carlisle, and their new family member Esme. She wasn't entirely sure how, but her visions of Esme had continued even after the woman had jumped. It had suddenly become clear to her. Carlisle had changed her into a vampire to join their family.
She had collected bits and clips of her visions of them and had combined them in her head to play like a picture show. It was a show that she had played for herself in her mind many lonely nights. She was certain that these people were meant to be something to her – her family, she hoped.
Alice stayed in hotels mainly, living along the Mississippi river. She had discovered gambling boats in her second year, and they delighted her. Never staying in one place for too long got tiring, even for someone who never got tired.
Her visions of the blonde haired, scarred man that still somehow seemed beautiful to her had slowed considerably. The first few years, she only caught five or six glimpses of him, which made her very sad. She almost felt like he was slipping farther and farther away from her as she watched him continue to struggle with not killing humans. He visited his two dark haired friends that she had seen him with occasionally, never staying too long though. It was almost like he was afraid to let himself get attached to anything.
Alice wanted to find this man more than anything, but it was almost like fate wouldn't let her. So, she busied herself with gambling, shopping, and perfecting her comfort around humans. She studied them more and more; she would order countless cups of untouched coffee just to sit in a diner and listen to their conversations and hear how they talked to each other. Fashion magazines, books, and radios enchanted her, and she spent much of her time studying them. The rest of her time was spent deciding where to travel next, where to invest her gambling winnings, and playing with the stock market.
She felt the fabric between her fingers, smiling at the feeling of silk against her skin. The shimmering fabric hung against her sides beautifully, bunching in all the right places. Stepping in front of the mirrors, she twisted and turned, a giggle escaping her lips.
"Oh! I'm so jealous….you've got such a great figure for these flapper style dresses!" the salesgirl chirped, resting her hand on her cheek with a sigh. Alice smiled and held her breath, ignoring the singed feeling in her throat as the young girl rushed up to her.
"Thank you," she said quickly, turning around to look at the back. It was an emerald green and hung down to her knees and was covered in beautiful silver beading. They gleamed and dangled with her movements, the fringe sliding over her knees as she walked back to the dressing room with a pleasant swish.
"I'll take it," she added, nodding at the sales girl. The young girl ran to ring it up, and Alice stepped back into her original dress. She had been living in an abandoned farmhouse outside of Lexington, Kentucky for several months, and had come into town to withdraw her money for the bank for a special purchase today– a car.
It was tiring to keep lugging her suitcases around, and her fancy dresses she kept buying were starting to look ridiculous hanging in the corner of the living room in her run-down shack of a house that she had been staying in.
Yes, today would be different. She was almost sure that the weather was colder wherever her future family was at the moment. Her determination to find them was almost palpable. She had convinced herself after many long hours of thought that these three loving people would help her find the strange, blonde haired man that apparently needed her. Many times she had seen Edward's gift, Esme's love, and Carlisle compassion – how could they not help her find him?
"Come again, Miss Alice!" the little girl behind the counter said, handing her the new, boxed up dress and matching handbag.
Alice took the bag, her gloved hand brushing with the girl's. She had discovered that gloves would help disguise her cold skin when shopping, and she liked the way the silk felt against it anyway.
She would be leaving Kentucky today and buying a car to travel to her biggest adventure yet – New York City.
Alice wasn't sure what she would do once she got there, or how she would find the four missing pieces of her future life, but she was determined to do it in anyway she could. She had hope that her special gift of foresight would help her, and her empty, lonely heart would drive her. It was sad for her to feel the emptiness, but the only thing that made her continue to put one foot in front of the other was the hope that it would someday be filled with love. Love for Carlisle, love for Esme and Edward, and perhaps even the honey-haired man.
"Thank you again," she added, giving her a wave as Alice reached for the door. "You have a nice rest of the day!"
Alice smiled, pulling her sunglasses down over her eyes as she pushed the door open further. "Oh, I'll be sure to," she said, flashing the girl behind the counter a smile. She stepped out into the overcast day, adjusting her hat over her choppy black hair. She smiled, remembering that due to lack of sleep, everyday was technically the same day. And although today was the same day that it would always be for her, she hoped that it would indeed be a nice rest of the day.
And she intended it to be just that. A good day.
x-X-x-X-x
Well there you are! I hope you enjoyed Alice. Remember, if you'd like to hear more of her tale specifically, you have to review and tell me! I am only going to write continuations of the characters that get the most response. If they all get a tremendous response, then I'll write a second part for all of them. If certain characters get more than others, then I'll just go that route. So please take a second and cast your vote!
These are getting more and more fun to write as I go, and the support so far has been phenomenal. I'm trying very hard to make these good, and I'm *thrilled* that people are digging them so much.
Please Review and let me know what your favorite part was! : )