Chapter Eight

Bella

In the car Jane sat back and closed her eyes as if sleeping but she wasn't asleep, we never slept. How did I know that when I couldn't remember anything else? My head started to whirl with all the information it was receiving and trying to shuffle into a semblance of order. Slowly things started coming back to me in flashes as if illuminated by a camera flash, a man in a police uniform, a beautiful boy with bronze hair, a giant, a pixie smiling as she bounced over, pain, such pain, a pale skinned man with a video camera, but nothing seemed to tie them together. Was I part of some group? Some strange family? I tasted the ghost of blood in my mouth but not like the deer blood. This was thicker, sweeter, and made my mouth fill with venom. Venom? Not saliva but venom. I wasn't human then but something else. I looked down, I was dressed like a human as far as I could remember although my clothes were ragged and stained. I sniffed my hands, my shirt, a faint memory of the blood I'd tasted in my mouth. As I rubbed my thigh trying to remember I saw a mark on my arm, a faint silvery crescent which I could feel under my fingertips. I'd been bitten, yes bitten, I remembered the man with the video camera who had bitten me. His cruel smile, his laughter as fire raced through my body. I was a vampire, he'd bitten me and turned me into a vampire. No, the bronze haired boy had saved me somehow so what happened after that? Why hadn't he killed me? I was sure that had been his initial purpose, yes to kill me, to hurt the bronze haired boy...Edward...I racked my brains but I couldn't think of his surname or anything else about him, everything before the bite was so smoky as if burned away by the fire that turned me from human to vampire. Then a flash of red hair made me snarl, she had something to do with the vampire who had bitten me, she had...had...hurt me, I had vague memories of broken bones like the leg the man had broken then...nothing. I was frightened now and the burn in my throat started to rage once more. Jane opened her eyes as I groaned and smiled.

"Don't worry Bella you can feed soon, just be patient a few minutes more."

I heard her words but my attention was taken by her vivid red eyes. I seemed to remember something about golden eyes but it was gone as swiftly as it came. I struggled to control my rage that built along with my thirst until the car stopped inside a huge building housing a small jet, we were flying somewhere? I needed to feed not fly! As the car door opened I smelled blood and moved so swiftly no one could stop me. Standing in the centre of the hanger was a man and he looked terrified as I caught his arm before he could turn or run. The arm came off in my hand and with frustration I threw it away and pounced on him biting deep into his throat and enjoying the warm salty taste of his blood. It was gone too quickly and I looked round for another human but the hanger was empty except for Jane and the huge man who had driven the car and neither of them smelled good, they were like me.

"Felix I think we need another human for Bella or she's likely to drain the pilot mid-flight."

The huge guy, not the one from my memory, disappeared and I looked around warily for enemies but everything was so quiet I knew no one was hiding from me. He reappeared very quickly with a semi conscious woman in his arms and I smelled the wonderful aroma of her blood running over to rip her from his arms with a snarl and draining her too. Now my thirst was almost gone and I could concentrate on other things.

"Jane, where are we going?"

"Volterra Bella, you will be safe there, we run the city, plenty of humans for you to feed on and Aro will answer all your questions there."

That sounded good, I wanted answers, needed them. There were too many gaps in my memory and that unsettled me.

Aro

When I heard Jane was back with our latest guest I smiled,

"See brothers we have a new recruit to the guard, another one and I have to wonder what she will make of Edward with her new senses."

"I very much doubt he will make such a big impression on her now. She will know instinctively if he is the one for her."

"But will she recognise him? Will she attack? Intriguing questions Caius I'm sure you agree."

"Games Aro? More games? Bella will have a mate in our world I just feel it. I feel it is someone important"

"Feelings Marcus? Is this a new gift you've acquired? Who Marcus, who will this important person be?"

"That I can't answer but I have a feeling we have allowed danger into our very heartland"

"Marcus either explain or stop the craziness"

"You may call it crazy Caius but I know what I feel. Wasn't I right before? About Arturo?"

"That was different. He was a vampire with a past we weren't privy to."

"Well there is something about Bella or her mate, once they meet, that we need to be very careful of. I'm sure you don't need reminding that Arturo nearly killed all of us with his ungovernable rage and all because you coveted his gift."

"Yes, Yes, I remember, it was a mistake on my part but he's dead and for now she is here and only the guard will see her and be seen by her. She seems to trust Jane so perhaps we should let the friendship develop"

They both shrugged but neither were happy, Marcus and his nonsense, feelings? The last feelings he had were in the years before Didyme died, since then he had barely recognised his own feelings!

Bella

Jane was the only one I trusted and that was a qualified trust, I almost recognised her from my past, had I known her? Had she been important in my life before? That didn't seem right her face was familiar but last time I had seen it she was upset, annoyed, with me or someone else? I couldn't ask her, how would I know if she were lying to me? When she escorted me to see my new friends as she called them, the corridors were like a half forgotten memory, had I been here before? The chamber we went into was vaguely familiar too as was the man standing in the centre of the trio. Something told me we had never met yet I had seen all this before or heard about it. A painting flashed through my memory, a painting of these three but there was someone missing.

"Isabella, it's so nice to have you here. Are you comfortable in your rooms?"

I nodded looking at the other two men again they looked vaguely familiar, the taller sombre looking one seemed very interested in me as if trying to puzzle something out but it seemed he wasn't able to. The other looked as if the proceedings bored him and I had the strangest feeling that he wasn't happy about my being here but I could have been wrong, I just didn't like him and perhaps he could feel that? I remembered vampires sometimes had special gifts, was that his? No, I had known one who could read emotions but it wasn't this sour faced man. The empath was younger and had golden eyes that bored into my soul, who was he? Where was he and would I ever see him again?