-Chapter 13: Once Upon A Time in A Vampire Lair-

"Angela Weber?" I asked.

The memories were somewhat dim, but I remembered the shy girl as Bella's best friend – or, at least human best friend. I mentally chuckled at the oddity of two meta-humans befriending each other without knowing what the other could do. I scrunched my nose in thought. Did Angela know what she could do when she was in school with the Cullens? Edward would have said something, wouldn't he?

The girl's heart beat stuttered as she gasped and jerked her head up, squinting in the darkness.

How does she know my name?

"Who…?" Angela tried to ask me who I was, but her voice cracked and failed. She swallowed and took in a deep breath.

I sighed. They obviously hadn't been feeding or watering the humans that were to be used as meals, and Angela looked very dehydrated. Her eyes were sunken in with deep bags under her eyes, and she looked to be only half awake. Just so I wouldn't forget, I bent down and picked up the newborn's head. With focus that was all but effortless, I shattered the head into hundreds of pieces and smiled as the flaking remains disintegrated under my will.

Satisfied, I returned my gaze to Angela, who was still having trouble breathing correctly.

I closed the distance between us and bent down slowly, so as not to frighten her. I cradled her long body in my arms and lifted her up bridal style. Her legs hung over my arm several feet, and I'm sure to anyone who would have seen our positions would have found it awkward, if not funny looking. The girl struggled feebly in my hold, her pounding heart making her skin pulse with each thump.

"Close your eyes," I whispered. "I'll get you out of here and get you something to eat and drink." She relaxed in my hold and I sped out of the building and into the forest, cursing the sun as it began to rise.

Angela's body heat flooded through my arms and chest like an inferno as I ran away from the carnage I needed to clean up. After I changed myself, I had only ever been this close to a human when I was feeding; I had never held one for an extended period. It was soothing, like lying in front of a space heater or a crackling fire.

Not all of it was comfortable, though. My throat was absolutely killing me from the proximity to a potential meal, even after I stopped breathing. In my human life I had eaten when I wanted, and as a vampire I was no different, so my self control was weak from the start. I really needed to hunt.

Finally, I came upon a small gas station that was shoved up against the tree line, facing west. The sun wouldn't be able to shine through the forest for another half hour, so I could get what I needed for Angela without risking exposure. I set her unconscious body down on the forest floor and ran at a human pace out of the tree line and toward the gas station.

There was only one human inside – a middle-aged man who watched me from behind the counter. From his thoughts, I could tell he had his hand on the shotgun he had to ward off would-be thieves. He could tell I was dangerous.

There were distant thoughts on the far edges of Edward's ability, more than three miles away, but no one else here to worry about. I did a quick visual check for any security cameras – there were none. Well, it looks like this pit stop could be useful for both Angela and me. I grinned at the man, watching his Adam's apple bob up and down.

I had gotten lucky at the gas station. Not only was I able to take care of my thirst and steal some local currency, I got water, a few granola bars, a hoodie, and a pair of flip flops for Angela. I wasn't sure why a gas station was selling any sort of shoe or clothing items, but then again I had seen some that sold crystals, statues, and flavored cigarettes, so I wasn't going to question my good fortune.

From her heartbeat and active thoughts, I knew Angela was awake as I approached. She was sitting up and resting against the trunk of a tree, her eyes were still half closed and though she was awake, her thoughts were muddled and her reactions were slow. She probably wouldn't have lasted another day in that dreadful place.

I made sure I stepped on a few twigs and leaves so that she would hear me coming, but she still flinched as she caught sight of me. Her form blurred and faded, blinking out of sight for a millisecond, before settling back into full visibility. Her heartbeat sped on as she dug her fingers into the earth and tried to crawl into the tree behind her. I tried not to smile at the effect I had on her – who knew my appearance could be that terrifying.

"I brought you some water," I reached into the plastic bag I had used to carry the items in and waved the bottle at her. "I have some granola bars in here too, but it's important you get some water in you before anything else. You've got to be thirsty."

Angela flinched at the word 'thirsty,' remembering a vampire dragging humans out of the 'pen' to their doom. There wasn't a solid door covering her cell, and so she could always hear the screams. Since I didn't want to scare her any more by moving closer to her, I slowly levitated the bottle of water and it floated slowly over to her and hovered at her eye level. She stared at it in shock, her eyebrows shooting into hear hairline.

"H-how," Angela rasped out, obviously trying to ask me how I could make objects float without touching them. I shook my head and pointed to the bottle that I was making rock back and forth, trying to draw her attention.

"Water first," I said simply.

Hesitantly, she reached for the bottle. As she wrapped her fingers around it, I released my hold and it nearly fell to the ground as she flinched again. She licked her lips and eyed me, wondering if this was some sort of trick. I rolled my eyes and sat down across from her on the ground, crossing my legs and leaning against a tree in a casual pose. She shakily unscrewed the cap and took a sip of the water.

The relief and pleasure she felt as she drank half the bottle and satisfying her thirst made me smile. I could remember how that felt; drinking a cold glass of water – or Mountain Dew in my case – always tasted better if you were exhausted. From the state she was in, that Mexican bottled water was sure to taste like ambrosia to her. And from her thoughts I wasn't too far off the mark.

When the water was gone, Angela dropped the bottle on the ground next to her and licked her lips. She dragged the back of her hand across her mouth to remove the residual wetness, but her hand came away a dark, deep brick color – blood mixed with dirt and filth. She let out a sob, her heart was starting to race again and it felt like a panic attack was about to surface. I gritted my teeth against the onslaught of emotion and pushed as much calm and peace toward her as I could without knocking her out.

"He's gone…" Angela whispered. Her voice was soft, but had an unmistakable edge of hysteria and loss to it. "They…he. He's gone." Images of a boy who she called Ben flashed through her head. They were in love and on vacation when it happened.

Ah, yes, Ben Cheney. I remembered him distantly from Bella's wedding. Angela was with him then, as well, and had been for quite some time, I understood. I reached into the bag and took out one of the granola bars, but hesitated as I glanced at Angela. I wasn't even sure she remembered I was here with her. In her mind, she was reliving the day the vampires took Ben from that cell – from her.

I pulled out of her thoughts, feeling, for the first time, like I was intruding in someone's mind. I placed the bag on the ground beside me and stood up.

"Angela," I called softly, slowly walking toward her and crouching down so that I was at her eye level. I touched her arm, trying to bring her back into reality, and she flinched away – her form shimmering again, but not able to completely fade. "I'm not going to hurt you; I've told you this. But you need to eat this and then I'll take you to a hotel room to get you cleaned up."

"Home," Angela whispered. If I had had my old, human hearing I wouldn't have heard it.

"We'll get there, Angela," I opened her clenched fist and deposited the granola bar into it. "I'll take you home."

She looked at the still-wrapped bar for a few moments in silence before she attempted to open it. The package slipped and fell into her lap as her shaking fingers tried to pry apart the gentle plastic wrapping. I raised my hand to take it from her and open it myself, when she finally managed to break the seal.

With vigor, she shoved half of it into her mouth and chomped away at it. I grimaced at the visions of her choking as she inhaled large chunks of the granola. "Slow down," I said sternly, as to a child. After she was finished, she leaned further into the tree and her eyelids drooped. I suppose to a starved person, that small snack was the equivalent of a well-fed person's Thanksgiving dinner.

I picked up the bag of clothes and looped my right arm through it before placing the empty bottle inside and scooping up Angela from her spot on the ground. I turned, surveying the area, but it looked as though I remembered everything. I adjusted Angela's body in my arms and took off running through the forest toward, hopefully, a cheap hotel.

As I rocketed through the trees that made up Mexico, I thought back to the enormous mess I had left. Unburned vampire parts, baby hybrids, and a slaughterhouse-full of human bodies were not something I could just forget about. Well, except for the newborn and Felix – they were just particles by now; dust in the wind.

But maybe I could leave things as they are. Well, not the other two newborns that were still in pieces, and probably not Santiago. But their little outpost full of mad science and human corpses I would leave for anyone to find. I would just destroy the vampires and hybrids and leave everything else.

The Volturi wouldn't know it was anything serious yet. Maybe they would assume a coven discovered what they were doing to those poor human women and killed the lot of them, or maybe the blame would fall to the newborns – maybe a gifted one destroyed two of their guard. I smiled into the wind at how unsettled Aro and Caius will feel when they discovered what had happened.

My smile grew as I considered what to do to put even more fear into them.

I slowed my pace as I caught the thoughts of a multitude of humans in the city. If my sense of direction was intact, which it was, then I was somewhere near the north side of Mexico City. It would probably be a good idea to burn the vampire parts that needed to be destroyed and get the hell out of town, but it was still daylight and I had to worry about Angela's wellbeing as well.

I hissed aloud as I realized there was no way into the city at this time of day. It was about ten in the morning and there wasn't a cloud in the sky to mask my metallic vampire shine. The buildings close to my tree cover were small shacks and gas stations – I couldn't detect a single hotel. I started to move again, deciding to circle the city to see if I could find some place to allow Angela to recover for a while.

As a highway came into view, I sped up until I was impossible to make out to a human eye and jumped over the pavement in a graceful arc. Angela's eyes opened and she looked up into the canopy, though from her thoughts her vision was blurred. I gave another sigh, which was becoming something of a habit, it seemed. I'd have to pick her up some eyeglasses since her own were probably long gone by now. Would she have to get an appointment or did they sell glasses to anyone? I couldn't remember, never having to get them in my human life.

I hadn't noticed how wide my circle was getting as I moved further and further from the city until I detected the thoughts of another person besides Angela nearby. I let my tracking senses guide me, and soon my ears could hear the thump-thumping of an old heart – its rhythm was irregular and each beat differed slightly in volume.

As I broke through the tree line once again, I took stock of the house before me, surrounded by a eight-foot-tall metal fence. The first thought that crossed my mind was of the Cullen's mansion. Though the house before me was not nearly as large – only two stories – it had the same stark white coloring and large yard. It also contained a multitude of shrubbery, cut into fancy and rigid structures like in the movies. If not for the thudding heartbeat coming from inside, I would have believed this property belonged to a Cullen.

There wasn't anyone around for miles.

This would be simple, then. I could kill the unfortunate human in the house and allow Angela and I the space and luxury to clean up and rest. I leaped the fence, flitted to the front door, and gently set the tall girl's body down on the covered porch. She groaned and mumbled something incoherent in her sleep before going silent once again.

I reached for the curled doorknob, but was stopped by a vision that suddenly overcame me.

It was a video of me, moving at inhuman speeds and snapping an elderly man's neck before drinking his blood. The caption under my speeding form – which repeated over and over on a loop – read: "Are Vampires Real?"

I growled lowly as I immediately decided not to kill the inhabitant of the house, hoping that Alice hadn't caught that possible future. I hadn't banked on video surveillance, but looking back at the immaculate yard and high fence, I should have known better. Maybe, now that I knew there was video recording me, I could kill the occupant inside and then destroy the evidence. Before I could make a solid decision, the front door swung open.

It was an odd thing, being snuck up on when you're a vampire with super senses, telepathy, and clairvoyance. The old man before me wasn't stealthy looking and from his thoughts, he hadn't even meant to surprise me. He was Hispanic looking, of course, with sparse silver hair haphazardly thrown about on the backside of his otherwise bald head. His wrinkles and loose skin were substantial, but his pose was solid and without the outward signs of weakness that was so apparent in the elderly. He looked to be 70 to 75 years old.

Apparently he had installed silent alarms that lit up specific lights in the house so that no one could sneak up on him – which was what I had tried and failed to do. I stood there looking at him as he looked at me with wide eyes – a trickle of fear sizzled through his spine as his instincts told him I was dangerous. I held still, considering what to do and clenching my fists together.

As my mind began to settle on the kill him now plan, the old man's brown eyes broke contact with my silver ones and he inclined his head, staring at Angela as she continued to sleep on the concrete porch. He gasped as the grime, scrapes, and blood registered in his mind. She was definitely a mess, but to a man who lived in such a nice house I imagined she looked like some sort of sewer dweller from another planet.

"Mi dios!" the man exclaimed, stepping onto the porch and holding himself against the wall with his hand to steady himself as he bent lower, trying to get a closer look at Angela. "¿qué ha pasado?"

"I found her in the woods like this," I said quickly. It wasn't exactly a lie – not completely, at least. "La encontré en el bosque como esta." I quickly translated to Spanish.

"English?" the man questioned. "Americana?"

"Yes," I nodded and bent down to lift Angela into my arms again. The man's eyes widened again as I effortlessly picked her up. I would have to be more careful if this man was to stay alive. "We need a place to stay for a day or two to clean her up."

"Si," the man said quickly. "Come. You can have the guestroom."

I quickly followed the man over the threshold and into the house. The area we stepped into was bare, much like the Cullen's mansion, but it was not the open, inviting space. The several doorways that surrounded the space were all closed, leaving only the large staircase available immediately upon entering.

"Come," the man repeated as he gripped the handrail and ascended the stairs. I quickly followed, allowing my feet to hit the ground harder than I was used to in an effort to keep the old man from freaking out too much. I remembered all too well how silent a vampire's footsteps were. He opened one of the doors in the hallway on the second floor and gestured rapidly to the bed before disappearing down the hall.

I set her down on it, cringing from the knowledge that the pristine white sheets would be ruined from the filth that Angela's body carried. I set the plastic bag I was still carrying around on one of the two armchairs that were in the room and took out the empty water bottle. Ensuring the old man couldn't see me, I flitted into the adjoining bathroom and turned on the tap. The damn water bottle wouldn't fit between the faucet and the bottom of the sink, so I grabbed the stream of water with my mind and redirected the flow to the mouth of the bottle.

I walked back into the room at normal speed, as the man had returned and was currently in the room with Angela. His thoughts were methodical, cycling through the medical training he had received as a surgeon a long time ago – decades, probably. I scoffed at that. What are the odds that the one place I look for help is the home of a doctor?

As I got closer, I could see that the man wasn't as able as Carlisle or Dr. Stein. His hands shook slightly as he rubbed the plastered grime off Angela with an alcoholic wipe and Angela stirred as the sting of the foul-smelling substance found one of her numerous open cuts. The man looked up at me and I shook the bottle and gestured to Angela. He nodded, and went back to cleaning and doctoring her up.

I brought the bottle to Angela's mouth and her eyelids opened halfway, her glazed eyes watching me. "Drink," I urged. I tilted the bottle slightly and allowed a small trickle of water to flow out of the container and into her mouth. I remembered how difficult to drink something while lying down, so I poured very slowly and allowed her the chance to swallow before each tilt of the bottle. The old man placed his wrinkled hand on Angela's forehead and sighed, packing up his supplies back into his bag and taking a step back.

"Your amiga has a very high fever," he said, looking into my eyes. He was only a few inches taller than me, but in his youth I imagined he stood over six feet tall. "It would be best to take her to a hospital."

"No," I said immediately. "No hospitals. I'm sorry, but that just isn't an option." Besides the obvious risk involving someone who knew about the supernatural world roam free to expose vampires to the public, there was also the issue of her connections to Bella and the Cullens. If she went back to Forks after being missing for so long or made a decision that triggered one of Alice's visions, my family could discover I was alive after all. I fully intended on reuniting with them – hopefully with all the dramatic flair I can muster – it was not the time to do it.

Caius and Aro had to die first. Since my resurrection, I had reexamined my stance on the Volturi. Killing them all wouldn't solve much, but making a public display of beating the two corrupt leaders to death would be a step in the right direction. There was no way I would accept Stephen and Vladimir's offer, either – not that I would even need it. As vampires, they were better people than the three Volturi leaders; but their plans for the world were far more sinister.

Call it a weakness or a lingering part of my soul that survived through my many decades, but I wasn't too keen on being responsible for the extinction of the human race.

I placed my hand on Angela's forehead, soaking up the blazing heat that radiated off her skin. She sighed in her sleep and a deep relief waivered through her. I allowed myself to fall into a vision, checking to make sure Angela would be safe here while I went and disposed of the vampire parts that were still scattered about the forest. She wouldn't wake up for another nine hours, and the man – who would tell me his name was Henry – would look after her while I was gone.

I removed my hand and moved to the doorway, intent on speaking to Henry before leaving. Angela whimpered from the loss of contact with my cold hand as I closed the door behind me and followed Henry's scent downstairs to the kitchen. I found him sifting through a clear container of medical supplies as he sat at the kitchen table. I took the seat across from him and waited for him to look up. When he finally found what he was looking for – pain reliever – I gave him a friendly smile.

"I'm Emily," I introduced myself and nodded my head toward the ceiling. "And that's Angela. Thanks for helping us."

"De nada," he said, nodding at me. "I am Henry Ramirez. I do wonder why you do not wish to go to the hospital." He looked at me expectantly. His mind was circling around the state Angela was in when we arrived on foot from the woods. He was suspicious, but he wouldn't ask about it until Angela was better. I clenched my jaw slightly but I was somewhat relieved; at least he wouldn't push for information yet.

"I can't really say," I said, but quickly amended, as I saw he would question our avoidance of hospitals. He assumed we were on the run. "But we mean no trouble, Henry. The situation is just…complex." I cringed and hoped he wouldn't press for information. It wouldn't do to kill him now, when I needed him to watch over Angela. Henry nodded, but he didn't buy or completely understand my non-answer.

"I hate to do this to you after you've helped us so much," I said. "But I need to go take care of a few things. Would you be able to make sure she's alright while I'm away?"

"Si," Henry nodded, grabbing the pain killers and standing from his chair. He said nothing else, but continued to stare at me as his mind sped on ahead of his slow and withering body. He knew I was different – and dangerous – and he was determined to understand what made me so strange and intimidating.

"I'll be back soon," I said. Henry nodded again and I stood out of my seat as well, walking toward the front door. Henry followed me to the front room, where he parted ways with me to climb the stairs. I opened the door and stepped outside, sprinting at a human pace toward the tall fence. "I'll make it worth your while." I whispered to myself.

End notes: Pardon my Spanish, as I used an online translator.

I've added Angela as one of the two characters I can use for the description since she's going to be one of the main characters from here on out.

I had originally planned for Angela to be another original character, but then I realized that would kind of limit the number of Twilight characters used in the many chapters ahead. Angela's character was there, and she's so infrequently used, so I decided to just go with it.