A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/followed this so far. I hope that the next few chapters live up to your expectations!
It was as if every fiber of my being became molten lava. I could feel my body, arms, legs, fingers, toes, head, so I was pretty sure I was still alive somehow. Every single inch peeled away in burning slivers. I wanted to shout, to thrash, but something in the dim memories of the time before the blaze told me that wasn't a good idea. I resorted to moans and twitches instead.
Inside my head I prayed for the pain to end, not sure if my pleas went to a God I'd never had much exposure to or the vampires who had destroyed James. I wanted them to destroy me, too. I had no idea why they spared me so far. At one point I managed to beg in a whisper around the lump of fear and agony in my throat for them to kill me. To my surprise, a high, excited voice answered me.
"I'm sorry, dear one, but you will just have to hold on a while longer. I have high hopes for you, my dear," the voice replied.
I wanted to scream in rage and fear at that, but the feeling that something bad would happen if I did held me back. I had to control myself for…whose sake? Someone. Someone I loved but whose face or faces I could no longer make out through the inferno destroying me. Still, I knew that to keep quiet was to keep that important person safe, so I did my best. It felt as if I had ground my teeth to pieces. Relief came once the flames reached my head. I could no longer feel the pain in my mouth .
The flames consumed my body for what must have been years. As I became convinced that I would soon be ash, they began to recede from my fingers and toes. I wanted to sob at that small amount of relief until I realized that the pain in the rest of my body had increased in equal amounts. I entered a new level of hell. Inch by inch my arms, legs, and then my head cooled, but the lava inside of me grew white-hot. I'm sure I was screaming by that point, but I couldn't care. I begged for release from the torture, but endless silence answered me. I heard only my own cries echoing back.
The firestorm drew back into my chest, hotter than ever as it devoured me. My heartbeat boomed faster in my ears, vibrating my entire body and lifting me off of whatever surface I laid on. As the beats increased in frequency the remaining fire seemed to pool in the center of my chest. One final loud thump and my heart was silent, my body completely cool and free of pain except for a dull ache in my throat.
I was so surprised by the lack of my constant companion that I drew in a deep breath. No relief came with the air, but the myriad scents which assailed me distracted from that disturbing realization. I could smell…everything! My swirling mind registered a dry, musty scent. Surrounding that was a richer, wet aroma that might have been soil, if soil contained minute particles of iron and clay. I recognized both, although I couldn't say how.
My eyes flew open, and I stared up in wonder. Tiny feathery spheres that reflected the dim light and created amazing shapes and patterns swirled in the air. Panicked by what must have been a hallucination, I jumped up. I expected to fall on my face, but instead I landed on my feet within less than a second between intent and movement. The specks, still visible, became just a layer hovering over gray stone walls. A single candle illuminated the small bare room I found myself in.
I swung my head from side to side, trying to determine if I was alone. A thick metal door was the only entryway. A drain in the middle of the stone floor interrupted the rough gray surface. I realized that I could detect the flecks of quartz in the stone surrounding me. I identified thousands within one square foot.
A soft swishing met my ears. It was rhythmic, mesmerizing, but it couldn't drown out the sound that now made itself known. A quick thumping, a rushing of liquid through tiny channels. I could smell it from where I stood unmoving in my small room. Salt and honey with a slight metallic tang that was oddly appealing. I could feel the heat of it through the door as the soft sounds stopped but the pounding beat kept going, sped up. The ache in my throat flared as I raced towards the door, moaning in eagerness. The liquid I smelled could ease the ache. I knew it could.
"Isabella, please stand back from the door," a formal, accented voice demanded in a whisper. How had the woman known where I was? Who was Isabella? Me?
I managed to drag myself away from the door, desperate for the scent I detected on the other side of the door. I had no idea how I was able to smell it, or hear the woman for that matter, through a solid metal door.
The door creaked open with agonizing slowness. A pale woman of medium height with dark hair and red eyes wearing an ankle-length black dress walked in. She was a vampire, and my new senses told me that was dangerous. I crouched, hissing, but she just stared at me, unmoved, until I straightened at the sight next to her. The woman held the upper arm of a man, a human, who would have towered over her if he wasn't cringing away in obvious terror. One look at him told me that he was the source of the appealing aroma. It filled the room with every beat of his heart, thudding as his fear increased upon seeing me. I rushed towards him but stopped short when the woman raised her hand.
She lifted her chin, lips pinched together. When she spoke, her thin voice filled the room. "My name is Renata. I have brought your first meal. You should say thank you first, Isabella."
Isabella. She called me that for a second time. Was that my name? It didn't sound right. I was too thirsty to argue, though. I needed the man in front of me in a way I'd never felt before. Nothing could hold my attention, not the beauty of the candle behind his dark head, not the satisfaction I saw in the woman's eyes when I whispered, "Thank you."
She released his arms, and I gathered him into mine with shocking ease. Something told me that I shouldn't be able to do this, but the veins bulging in the man's throat distracted me. I knew what to do.
My teeth split his skin like a hot knife through butter. The rich liquid I desired filled my mouth, exploding on my tongue with even more flavor than I expected. I gulped it down, desperate to quench the fire burning my throat. The first few sips cooled my thirst a bit, but then it returned in full force even as the man tried to struggle against me. I tightened my arms around him, hearing something crack but not caring as I continued to drink down the ambrosia he offered. At one point his movement stopped, and then I no longer heard his heart. I let out a soft whine when I realized that there was no more liquid to be had from him.
"Let me take him now, Isabella," Renata's soothing voice commanded. I saw her reach out for him out of the corner of my eye and growled, trying to keep her away. I surrendered him to her when a glimpse of her face showed her mouth tightening once more. I didn't want to make this woman, the only other person I had seen in this place, angry with me.
"Are you still thirsty?" she asked me as she took the body from me. "Would you like more?"
"More?" It wasn't quite a question, more of a request, but the sound of my own voice astonished me so much that I was unable to force out any other words. If there had been anyone else in the room, if I hadn't been looking straight at my companion by then, I wouldn't have believed that the sweet, bell-like sound came from my own mouth. I didn't sound like that! At least, I didn't think I did.
A small smile of approval curved Renata's full lips upwards. "Of course you can have more. Let me take this one away, and then I will return with another as well as a change of clothes for you," she informed me.
When she mentioned a change of clothes I looked down at myself in dismay. Blood and bits of skin covered the dark gray dress I wore, little more than a hospital gown. My eyes returned to the man's body, his ravaged throat, and I keened in horror at what I had done. Vague memories told me that I should at least be light-headed at the sight. Instead I wanted to lean down and lap up the few remaining drops. I refrained, although I did lick my fingers a few times before I could stop myself.
Mistaking my unhappiness for eagerness, the woman chuckled. "I will be right back. Remember to stay away from the door, Isabella," she scolded me as she left and closed the door behind her.
Small streams of blood ran along the stone from just beyond my feet to the slight indentation where the drain was set. Its purpose was now clear to me, and I wanted to retch. Still, the memory of the taste, the smell of that delicious liquid coursing into me, easing the burn that seemed to exist without end in my throat, kept me from attempting to disgorge it completely from my system. I needed more, even if I couldn't stand the thought of hearing another heart stop.
This time I could differentiate the woman's footsteps from the sound of her dress moving around her legs as well as the stumbling steps of another. The sound of a new heartbeat caused me to throw myself against the wall across from the door, hissing, and I heard a loud crash like the sound of thunder. In a panic I looked at the wall next to me and noticed a long crack radiating from my body. My fingers dug into the stone behind me as I burrowed back, creating finger-sized holes.
The heavy door swung open once more and the woman walked in with more confidence this time. I hung my head when she frowned at the damaged wall. Her cool voice chided me, "Isabella, you must be careful. You do not know your own strength. Now look, see what I have brought you."
Faster than I thought possible, the woman was by my side, dragging the latest offering with her. I tried not to look, but the blood of this one smelled even sweeter than the first, if that was possible. The aroma brought to mind dim memories of hot chocolate with a sprig of mint, and a thick liquid poured over my teeth and pooled on my tongue in reaction. My eyes rose of their own accord, the burn in my throat increasing once more to a painful intensity. I growled at the site before me.
She was younger than my first meal, perhaps my own age, but thin with haunted eyes and dirty hair and clothing. A part of my mind reasoned that she must have been either poor or homeless, and I wanted to cry for the defeated look in her dark eyes before she tore them away from mine. Her increased heart rate revealed her fear, but she did not struggle against the woman as the man had done. Instead, she seemed to expect this, the death that would soon be hers at my hands.
I tried to deny the craving to taste her blood, to see if it was as sweet as it promised to be on my tongue. I wasn't a killer. I couldn't even swat spiders. How was I supposed to kill someone, eat them? It was horrifying, barbaric. Wasn't that cannibalism?
The dark vein under the girl's throat seemed to pulse in time with the other part of my mind telling me that I needed the blood, had to have it. It would taste so good, would ease the fire in my throat, make me strong. How I knew that last, I couldn't say, but I was sure it was true nonetheless.
My hands reached for her of their own accord, and under Renata's approving eye I brought the still girl's neck to my mouth. She made no sound which unnerved that part of me crying that I shouldn't do this, but the part that desired her blood purred in pleasure, relieved that there would be no struggle. I did not waste a single drop of the precious red liquid this time. When my teeth pierced her neck, the relief overwhelmed the despair until all I could do was revel in the taste of her.
This time when I finished the woman allowed me to drop the girl's body to the floor. There was no blood running to the drain. I consumed every drop. It made no sense, went against the laws of gravity as I vaguely remembered learning them, but I knew that she contained no more blood in the fragile shell that had been her body.
Renata drew my attention by holding out something. My head whipped around from where I was staring at the girl's body, and I saw a package of wipes in the woman's outstretched hand. With shaking fingers I took it from her, opened it, and began to clean the blood and bits of flesh off of my hands and face. I could feel that whatever strange fluid my mouth now produced had washed away the pieces of skin from my teeth. For a moment the thought of the blood that must be in my hair upset me. When I ran a hand over it I realized that someone must have braided it for me while I burned. I was sure it wasn't a style I usually preferred, but given the mess the rest of me was in I could only be grateful.
"Here," my companion offered quietly, next holding out a bundle of dark gray clothing. I dropped the bloodied wipes onto the body on the floor, wondering if Renata would dispose of them along with her. I reached for the clothes with a hand that should have been shaking. She gestured that I should step away from the drying blood on the floor to change, and so I did.
There was a soft gray dress, more like proper clothing than what I was currently wearing, as well as leggings and socks. I wondered that she bothered. The chilly temperature of the room did not bother me at all. I could analyze it, determine the exact degree, and yet no goose bumps appeared on my skin. I changed into my new clothes with my back to the woman in air as comfortable as a warm summer day.
Finally dressed, I turned around. My thoughts swam in a million different directions. Who was this woman? I knew her name but nothing else. Where was I? What had happened to me? In my mind I saw blurry images of a dark alleyway, many pairs of bright red eyes. Where—where were my parents? Did I have parents? I struggled to remember. I could quote to the tiniest detail every single thing I had seen, heard, and experienced since I woke up with no heartbeat. My past, on the other hand, remained jumbled. And why wasn't my heart beating? What was going on?
The only word that escaped my lips was, "Why?"
Renata pursed her lips as if she was considering if she would answer. "A vampire attacked you," she said reluctantly. "We would have killed you when you did not die in the attack, but two of our guard discovered that you were a rather unusual human. They decided to allow your transformation to continue and brought you home with them. Our leader is extremely curious about you, Isabella."
A hysterical laugh filtered through my lips, an insane peal of bells. "Curiosity? Are you serious?"
Renata's lips drew together in a frown, making me cower back a little. I didn't know if she was stronger than me, but I remembered more about the confrontation which had led to this as she spoke. I could see in blurry memories my attacker's head ripped from his shoulders. For now I didn't want that. Maybe someday soon I would.
"Do not take that tone with me, Isabella," the woman snapped. She drew in what must have been an unnecessary breath and continued, "Do you understand what has happened to you?"
I looked down at the floor, at the slight body lying between us. "I'm—I think I'm a vampire?" I hadn't intended for that to come out as a question. I had never even given a thought about whether vampires and other bumps-in-the-night monsters could be real. Perhaps I should have.
Renata's mouth curled up in a slight smile. "Yes. That is exactly what you are. Really, since all these books and movies have come out in the past century it is much easier to explain to newborns," she murmured as if to herself. "This will be your chamber for the next few months. Young vampires are…unpredictable. Until we are sure you will be able to interact in a safe manner with the rest of us, we prefer to keep you isolated."
I opened my mouth to protest, but she raised a hand and frowned again. "You have no choice in this. If you want to keep living, you will do as I tell you."
My expanded mind latched onto that thought. "What if I don't want to keep on living?"
Renata's eyes widened then narrowed. "We have obtained information on your loved ones. If you become difficult or refuse to obey, they will suffer the consequences," she informed me, her tone once again formal.
I stared at her. Love ones? At those words memories from my former life flooded back, disjointed and not sharp enough but all too real. Renee and Phil, my mother and her husband. Charlie, my father. How could I have forgotten them, even for a moment? Then I realized that I hadn't. During my change I stayed quiet for their sakes, my brain confusing James's warning with the need to protect my mother from the evil young girl whose hate-filled red eyes were the clearest memory of all for me.
Keening, I dropped to my knees. Tears would not come, but I sobbed silently anyway. Renata must have taken that as my agreement to be obedient. I heard her retrieve the blood-covered gown, lift the girl's body, and then leave. The thick metal door slammed shut behind her, locking me irrevocably into my new life.