Wow. Thanks for all the reviews. The response I have had to this story has been great.
Enjoy.
Two and a half years had passed since arriving in the UK and to Bella it felt as though she had been there forever and yet no time at all. University had been everything she had hoped it would be. The classes were interesting, she was enjoying learning and had made many friends among her classmates. She had thrived, she loved the place, she loved the people and she loved her life. Now in her final year of her degree she was no longer the shy, reserved but excited eighteen year old that had arrived on the plane. Having grown up emotionally Bella had grown into herself, she was confident, vivacious and happy. She was popular with her university peers and staff as well as her neighbours.
Bella had grown physically as well, she was taller, still slender but with a more mature shape. She no longer stumbled and tripped over air, she was also frequently seen in high heels. She had an air of self-assurance and confidence which was attractive, garnering quite a lot of attention from the opposite sex. Looks wise Bella hadn't changed a great deal. She still had the long, dark brown hair, it was just cut more fashionably. She just looked more comfortable in herself, a little more mature perhaps, settled. She had pierced ears (twice), and belly button and a tattoo on the small of her back.
Getting those done had been an experience, finally after months of psyching herself up to it she had gone into a shop to enquire. The girl who dealt with piercings looked Bella up and down and smiled. She had long black hair with purple tips. Black eye makeup, lipstick and nail varnish. She wore black jeans and a black t-shirt with black Docs. A ring through her nose, eyebrow, and tongue. Yet her green eyes were warm and friendly as was her smile. After Bella explained what she wanted and how she reacted to blood the girl, 'Becky', laughed and told her to go to the chemists and buy some 'VICKS' then come back. Confused Bella had done so. Upon returning to the salon Becky had opened the jar and put some of the menthol rub under Bella's nose.
"There you go, can't smell the blood now. I do it all time when I have to clean up sick." Becky had cheerfully announced while marking the spot on Bella's ears. They had become firm friends after that, Becky had done her ears again and the belly button. Becky had introduced her to the joys of going out "on the lash", something Bella found she very much enjoyed, and could often be found in Bella's spare bed, hung-over on a Sunday morning after another good night out around town. She had also recommended a tattooist when Bella finally decided to go for that as well.
The tattoo was special to Bella, it was simple Latin text in a cursive script. It read:
Liberum aerem spiramus
Breathe the free air.
Bella felt that that was what she did every day. Since leaving Forks and cutting her mother loose, it was as though the weight of the world had lifted from her shoulders. Bella was in no hurry to bear that burden again.
In the last two years she had travelled widely. Following her intention to see everything she had gone on weekend excursions all over the UK. She loved Scotland and the Lake District. London and Edinburgh were also hit. She loved the castles that could be found almost everywhere, scrambling over the ruins and walking slowly round the rooms of those still standing. She visited churches, cathedrals, museums and forests. In essence as much as possible.
This Christmas however had led her back to Forks for the first time since leaving. Jake and Jess were getting married so she had to attend. She had really enjoyed the visit and seeing everyone again but was pleased to leave. The sad but true fact was that Forks just didn't feel like home any more.
Over the years Angela had visited a couple of times but that was all. She phoned Emily and Jake about once a month, they e-mailed more. As for her mother or the Cullen's she had heard nothing. Jess had said that someone had called the house a couple of times to ask for Bella but they just hung up when told she had moved. No one ever mentioned where Bella was and she was grateful for that. It did feel a little like she was hiding sometimes but on the whole it felt like she had just made a clean break and cut the shit from her life.
Tonight was Bella's first night out since returning to the UK. She was meeting Becky and some other friends at seven in a pub around the corner. She was looking forward to letting her hair down. The last weeks had been great but a little too heavy, lots of emotion. She exited her flat to walk to the pub while munching on a bar of chocolate. Becky had introduced her to English chocolate as well. It was, in Bella's humble opinion, orgasmic. She admitted to herself she ate quite a lot.
"Must be all the sex that keeps me slim" she thought with a wry chuckle as she walked to the pub. She had had a couple of boyfriends that didn't keep her interest long and a couple of one nighters, but no one had really captured her attention. Shelving the depressing thought of her almost non-existent sex life Bella glanced skyward and noticed the full moon. It was the first full moon of the year. The Wolf Moon. That always made Bella smile, she had discovered the fact in some random internet search she had done for an essay a couple of years ago. The Wolf Moon always felt special to Bella, it reminded her of the pack and somehow made her feel close to them. It was a nice, warm feeling.
Alistair walked grumpily along in the shadows of a random street in the latest town he was passing through. He was always grumpy these days. He remembered when he used to smile, when he felt joy and happiness. But it had been a long time since anything made him smile with joy. He had spent over seven hundred years wandering the earth and this country in particular. He almost prided himself in his disinterest. He no longer cared where he was, what he did or who he ate. Well, no that wasn't quite true. He went where he was drawn, his gift guiding him where ever he was needed. He could direct it if he chose, to find someone but he rarely bothered. He simply wished to stay away from other vampires most of the time and his gift allowed him to do that easily. He had very few friends within the vampire world and that was just the way he liked it. Thinking about it he supposed that Carlisle Cullen would be considered his closest friend and he hadn't seen him in years. The last time Carlisle had had that irritating brat of a son with him. Alistair hated that boy on sight. He was a self-important little prick, who deserved to lose his head. He got on ok with the rest of the 'family' usually but Edward grated on his nerves.
As for what he ate, he never, under any circumstances ate children. His one redeeming feature, or so he felt. Perhaps it was the centuries of being alone that had turned him into an uncaring, unfeeling creature of the night. Or perhaps that was just his way. No wrong again, he had cared once, He had been loyal and would have died for his beliefs. But that was long, long ago, now he only believed in staying alive.
Thinking of the past made him even grumpier. It served no purpose and did no good at all. Yet for some reason his thoughts had been in the past almost constantly for the last few days. It infuriated him that he couldn't control his own thoughts. He snarled and in a fit of petulance that would put a child to shame, flicked a stone on the path with his foot. It pinged away straight through a shop window a couple of hundred yards ahead.
"Shit"
Looking around he noticed no security cameras so he shot off in the opposite direction. Rolling his eyes heavenward he berated himself angrily. As his eyes looked toward the sky he noticed the moon. The Wolf Moon. He could remember growing up in his village and listening to the wolves howl at night. The eerie, chilling sound they made. He shook himself out of his reminiscences. It doesn't do to dwell on the past. His village, family, even the wolves were long dead.
Scowling up at the sky Alistair walked onwards, his mood not improved by the rhythmical thumping of the music coming from a nearby nightclub. He hated modern music. He hated the writhing sea of people he found in nightclubs. When watching the dancers it seemed the only way you could get closer to your partner was to take their clothes off, and one regularly led to the other he found. It made hunting easier though. The lights hid his eyes, alcohol made them not notice his skin and drunken fools often had accidents.
Feeling that this was as good a place as anywhere to get a meal he decided to go in. After watching the humans entering the club for a few minutes he checked his reflection in a shop window. His eyes were black enough to get away with, his hair messy but not too bad. His clothes didn't look too scruffy he thought. Not quite as polished as the other males entering the place. But he didn't care. He didn't need to preen and strut like a peacock. But then again he wasn't trying to impress a prospective mate. He was simply himself, take it or leave it.
Without giving them a glance he walked past the bouncers and into the club. It was heaving, filled with wall to wall gyrating humans in varying states of intoxication.
"Easy pickings" he thought to himself as he slowly made his way around the crowded dance floor to lean against the wall in a darker corner, to find a prospective meal.
Bella had been dancing with her friends for hours, when she spotted him. She had seen vampires before of course, other than the Cullen's, twice since leaving forks. Both times in London when she had seen one in the store she was in. In all honesty now she knew about them, they were difficult to miss. Stupidly attractive, pale, very often with sunglasses on, Red eyes stood out to much she supposed. This one was about six foot, maybe just under. He was incredibly attractive, with messy dark blond hair and stubble. He looked like he had been living in a field for a week before he was turned. His clothes were untidy, in fact his whole appearance was scruffy. It made her chuckle, she could suddenly see Alice's horror and insisting on giving him a makeover. To Bella he looked sexy and dangerous, a bit like the blond guy from that TV show with the dragons and sex Becky liked so much, game of something. Looking at his eyes she saw they were dark, he either had contacts in or was thirsty, her instincts told her thirsty.
Bella looked around the club, someone here was going to die tonight of that she was certain. Surprisingly the thought didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. Obviously she didn't want it to be one of her friends but she knew there was little or nothing she could do to stop him if he decided on one of them. Then an idea occurred to her.
"I could get him to go for me." She mused.
Then she realised " I must be drunker than I think because that was the stupidest, bloody idea, in the history of stupid bloody ideas." At least she had some idea of self-preservation then. Going back to her friends she decided not to worry about it. She was going to have fun, dance, flirt and get another round in.
Alistair saw the sea of humans as most people see a take away menu. He was taking his time before placing his order. He didn't know what he fancied yet. Then he saw her. Brunette, slender, beautiful, well for a human. Maybe he would get dinner and desert. Although he did tend to enjoy the desert first. It was rare that a human female survived a night with him. He would like to claim it was his prowess between the sheets that killed them, but no. He usually just lost control and drained them. Making his way back around the dance floor he followed her to the bar, catching a whiff of her scent along the way. It was mouth-watering, so good in fact he doubted he would get desert. It wasn't that Alistair couldn't control himself. He actually had very good control, he could even stop himself feeding if he so chose. He just never chose to. Why should he?
He watched the girl buy drinks then head back to her friends. He watched her knock a shot back then move to writhe against some boy on the dance floor. He could see the boy she was dancing with struggling to control himself. He would probably have to head off to the toilet in a bit to relieve himself. Alistair chuckled at that thought. Boys today. No staying power. A while later the boy adjusted himself, breathed deeply and headed off to the bar instead.
"Mmm. Got that wrong." Alistair thought. Human watching was one of his favourite pastimes. He liked to watch them interact and play their little games. The cheating spouse was so easy to spot, even when they thought they were so clever. The love struck, best friend and the oblivious other friend. Sometimes he wanted to knock their heads together. That would make something of a mess though. Watching the humans scurrying about in their own little worlds was fascinating and to him endlessly entertaining. It appeared that tonight he was getting dinner, desert and a show. Sitting on a stool at the end of the bar and ordering a double scotch whisky he settled down to watch the entertainment unfold.
Bella was getting more and more drunk. Becky was plastered so she had decided to go home about fifteen minutes ago. A couple of the others had left with her. Bella tried to subtly look around and see if the vampire was still there. At first she couldn't see him and started to worry, what if he was waiting outside for her friends. Moving toward the bar she saw him and breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't after Becky at least. Saying bye to her remaining friends as they left, she decided to have one more for the road.
"Rum and coke please" Bella asked the girl behind the bar as she stepped up next to the vampire. Looking at him out of the corner of her eye she could see he was rugged, very handsome and incredibly sexy. He looked mature, maybe thirty or so. But there was a rawness, a wildness that had her almost melting on the spot. Bella never thought that she went for bad boys. They were Becky's province. Becky always teased her that she liked the pretty boys who cared more about how their hair looked than whether she had an orgasm or not.
"Maybe that's why my sex life was so dissatisfying." Bella thought briefly then looked at the vampire again. Her heart jumped into her mouth. Her throat ran dry and she started to pant. Was she drooling? This was a bad, bad man and she was knicker wettingly attracted to him in a way she had never been attracted to anyone before.
"I'll get that." She heard in a soft Scottish accent as the girl handed her the drink.
"Thanks" Bella said with what she hoped was a warm, confident smile. She hoped he didn't have some freaky gift like Edward and could read her mind.
"Alistair." He said with a smile. His nostrils flared imperceptibly. She was turned on. This was going to be so easy.
"Humans" he thought with a fond smile. "So easy to charm."
"I'm Isabella" She said with a smile. Not really sure why she gave her full name.
"American? " He asked.
"Afraid so." Bella answered with a chuckle. "I consider here home though. I've been here over two years now and don't want to leave."
"What the hell am I telling him all that for?" Bella thought furiously to herself. "He will think I am a blithering idiot." She could feel herself blushing.
Alistair smiled at her. She was more drunk than she realised. This would take hardly any effort at all. The blush was charming though, it made her scent even more potent. He could just imagine her with that flush everywhere, spread out for him on a bed. He took a long sniff. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. Fuck she smelled good.
As she reached for her drink he caught a glimpse of something on her arm that would have made his heart stop, were it beating. A scar, a bite mark. He was certain that it was a bite mark and yet that was impossible, right. How could she be bitten and still be alive and human? It was not possible and yet there she was breathing, human and drunk with a scar on her arm.
Grabbing her arm swiftly, too quickly for a human. He ran his thumb over the scar, yes it felt like teeth marks.
"How did you get that?" he asked looking her straight in the eye.
Bella blanched. Did he know what it was?
"Fuck" she thought mentally slapping herself. "of course he does, he's a fucking vampire, probably got a few of his own."
"Some psycho attacked me and bit me a few years ago." She answered deciding she was far too drunk to make up a convincing lie. "I probably got rabies off the bastard, it never properly healed right." She continued.
She could have sworn she heard a quiet growl. That sound almost buckled her knees. Bella couldn't quite believe she was getting turned on by a clearly thirsty, vampire who was probably hunting, growling at her. Putting it down to being pissed she hoped she would regret it in the morning. She hoped she'd still be here in the morning.
"What happened to him?" He asked silkily, while still running his thumb over the bite.
Bella smiled evilly. "Not sure, he knocked me out, but I hope someone smoked his ass."
Pulling her hand free. Bella winked at him, downed her drink and left. She remembered the estate agents claim that she could fall over twice and be home. Bella silently prayed that she would stay on her feet. Making it to her flat she locked the doors and windows. She knew it wouldn't stop him but hoped he would not want to take the time to break in. She stripped off and climbed into bed completely sure she wouldn't sleep, waiting to hear the sound of his footsteps on the landing outside her door. But eventually the alcohol in her system took over and she fell into a fitful sleep.
Alistair sat on his bar stool dumbfounded. Could it be possible that the human didn't know what had bitten her? She didn't seem to be lying. And why did the thought of someone biting her make him growl? He was so shocked he didn't get up to follow her.
"Smoked his ass!" what the hell did that mean? Was she playing games with him? Had that slender, beautiful human girl managed to kill a vampire?
That thought pulled him up short.
"Beautiful! What the fuck?" Humans weren't friends but food. He was going soft, clearly.
Leaving the night club he followed an extremely drunk man from a nearby pub. The man had blood on his hands, probably been in a fight. Before he knew what was happening Alistair had the drunk's neck broken and was draining him. He dumped the body in the river where it wouldn't be found for a month or so.
Alistair then made his way slowly through the shadows back to the night club. Picking up Isabella's scent he followed it to what he assumed was her building. He wasn't in the mood to disturb her now. He was disturbed by her, curious even. This wasn't good. Getting involved with a human was stupid. He should just go up there, wake her up, fuck her then kill her. But instead his feet turned him the other way. There was however one thing he knew for certain as he walked out of the town.
He would be back.