Temporal Tide
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, nor any of its characters or franchises, I am not making money for this, so please don't sue me.
A/N: In order to make this read as smoothly as possible, words spoken in Hungarian will be italicized but written in English. I want to avoid butchering anyone's native language.
Also, any misspelling of words in Tanya's dialogue was done on purpose to show that she cannot quite pronounce everything correctly.
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Chapter 03
Bella
I faded into existence in the woods behind the Greer home.
Since I could hear voices from inside the house I retreated further into the wilderness, more than a little shaken by the revelations the day had brought me.
Safely back in my familiar hunting grounds I let myself breathe.
My breath hitched and I involuntarily groaned as I swallowed a mouth full of venom. A sweet fragrance reminiscent of raspberries and almonds wafted from my clothes; two subtle and rich flavors blended into one perfect aroma.
Lifting the collar of my dress to my nose, I inhaled again, my eyes fluttering blissfully closed.
This had to be Tatyana's scent because I'd touched nothing other than deer all day. Surprisingly enough, despite being such a beautiful fragrance, I felt no more hungry than usual.
As a newborn, I was always thirsty. The craving for blood was as constant and eternal as I was.
Like any other human, Tatyana's scent incited my bloodlust.
Yet…
It also made me feel calm; euphoric even. Almost as if two separate parts of my nature were in intense conflict. At this point I'd almost gotten used to my body's desire to kill every human I ran across, but this was different and I had no idea why.
In fact, my whole experience with Tatyana was bizarre to the extreme. Not because of any action on her part, but how and why I'd ended up 'blacking out' and running into her in the first place.
Originally I thought that perhaps I had developed some sort of teleporting power, but now I was no longer certain that was the case.
Her crude clothes, not to mention the primitive construction of her dwelling were all strange and out of place. It all seemed more suited to something from the middle ages than the 21st century.
That didn't even take into account that Tatyana seemed to have aged at least three years in the few months since I'd last encountered her.
I didn't understand what was happening.
Closing my eyes I tried to sort everything out in a logical manner.
The first time I 'faded' I was under a lot of emotional stress. I was running on instinct. Perhaps something triggered it? A sound, a scent?
There was a winter forest, a burning village, fleeing families…
A little girl.
The second time it happened I was looking at Derrick. He'd broken his arm. Next thing I know I'm face first in a pile of snow; yet another wood, but no village.
So far the only reoccurring themes seemed to be winter, forests, and Tatyana. However, the first two could simply be coincidence, while the third seemed more than a little suspicious.
If Tatyana isn't also the product of coincidence, what is her significance?
Trying to puzzle the whole thing out was making my head hurt. Finally, I decided that I should wait until I had more information before jumping to conclusions. If and when it should happen again, I would deal with it then.
Meanwhile, there were things I could do to prepare, should I find myself in a similar situation. The first was crossing the language barrier.
Obviously I had no idea what tongue Tatyana spoke, but if I wanted to communicate with her, I needed to learn fast.
Decision made, I waited until the Greers were out of the house to make use of their computer. Being extremely careful not to break the keyboard or mouse I eventually found out that Tatyana and her family had been speaking a Hungarian dialect.
It was a little stunning because, although I'd had my suspicions, the proof that I'd magically crossed an ocean in the blink of an eye both terrified and intrigued me.
Leaving the house exactly as they'd left it, I ran back into the forest to hunt. Taking down an aged buck to slake my thirst, I ran back to what I was quickly coming to think of as 'my lake' to clean the blood and dirt from my skin.
Nearly half a year had passed since I first started stalking these woods and in that time I'd made leaps and bounds in my control. My eyes were now the honey gold that I'd found so captivating in the Cullens. My chest ached faintly every time I saw my own reflection, but I was slowly learning not to associate topaz eyes with the family that left me behind.
Refreshed from my dip in the lake, I concluded that it was time for me to try and brave town. Leavenworth wasn't large by any stretch of the imagination, but if I planned on furthering my education, I needed things I couldn't obtain in a forest.
After spending so much time becoming accustomed to the Greer's I was fairly confident that I could spend at least a short amount of time among a larger populace. Enough time to obtain a few things at least.
While over the past few months I'd been surreptitiously taking items from their house I knew that it would be a bad idea to try the same thing in town. There would be too many eyes and cameras to worry about. So I would have to procure money of some sort.
This was a real problem because I had no form of identification or a bank account. All of that was still in Forks.
A part of me was tempted to return to my home there, but I was afraid that Charlie would be put in danger if I tried to contact him. As far as I knew Victoria was still out there looking to put a permanent end to me.
Right now I didn't have the skill to protect my father from myself, let alone a homicidal red head.
Still, I could at least claim my legal papers from the house. I was eighteen, and undoubtedly posted as missing, but if I wanted to find a job the state wouldn't have any reason to deny me. Not that I would be capable of holding a job anytime soon. My bloodlust took care of that, but it was nice to think that I would have the option at some point.
Running to the edge of Leavenworth, I swiped a pair of sandals off the porch of an outlying home and cautiously walked into the business district of town.
Breathing shallowly I had to grit my teeth against the sensory overload.
The stench of exhaust, gasoline, rubber and concrete overwhelmed the natural aroma of pine and moss that I'd grown accustomed to the past few months.
Venom burned like petrol in my mouth at the multitude of human scents, and I had to close my eyes and lean against a building to regain my composure.
Every time a car passed me on the street I flinched at how loud it was on my sensitive ears. Frazzled and a little feral, I knew I had to leave when a concerned pedestrian tried to approach me.
Growling to myself, I fled the area before my instincts caused me to rip some innocent bystander apart.
Once I'd had time to collect myself, away from the noise and the people, I realized that I'd been foolish to try this in the middle of the day when everything was at its busiest. I needed to try again when things were calmer. Maybe early in the morning or at night just before the stores closed.
Unfortunately I was going to have to acquire some cash before I could buy anything. As much as I loathed the idea, I was going to have to steal to supplement my needs.
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Several stolen purses and wallets later (taken at vamp speed so they never even knew what happened) I managed to amass around five hundred dollars.
When it got darker, and the streets less crowded, I shored my courage and walked into the first sporting goods store I found. The moment I stepped inside a wall of scents washed over me. I twitched and froze as I tried to deal with the faint but lingering pheromones of hundreds of men and women. If I was still human I had no doubt I would have broken out in a sweat.
Repeating one of the meditating exercises I learned from Renee's 'yoga' phase, I held my breath and went around the store quickly gathering the items I needed. A small two man tent (to keep my things dry) and a few solar powered lanterns later, I was ready to leave.
Rushing to the register, I paid for everything and exited the store as swiftly as I could.
The moment I was outside I let myself relax slightly.
Stashing my stuff at the edge of the forest I went back three more times, in short intervals, to obtain new clothes, shoes, a CD player, books (and audio books) about the Magyar language, an abbreviated history of the Hungarian nation, and some light reading to help pass the time.
As I was leaving the last shop, a small bookstore that looked like it had seen better days; a newspaper advertised at the desk caught my eye.
'Death Toll in Seattle Rises! Dozens Missing due to Gang Wars!'
Without really knowing why, I felt a cold wash of dread. Before I knew what I was doing I added the news edition to my pile of books.
By the time I made it back to my favorite spot by the lake, it was already night. The air was damp with precipitation and I wanted to get the few meager possessions I had into the tent before it inevitably rained.
Fortunately the moon was out, and with my acute vampiric eyesight I was able to set up the simple abode with little hassle.
Since I was mostly sated from hunting only hours prior, I settled in the tent for the night and calmly popped an 'English to Hungarian' learning language disc into the CD player.
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As the days passed I split my time between testing the limits of my control and writing what I'd learned on any clear patch of dirt I could find.
It's really amazing how much of linguistics is memorizing words. As long as I took the time to understand how sentences came together in addition to past and present tense, my photographic memory took care of the rest. I didn't have to spend countless hours ingraining vocabulary into my head.
For the most part I had no trouble understanding spoken Hungarian. Writing in Magyar was more challenging, but even that wasn't too difficult.
If I'd still been plain ol Bella Swan, it would have taken me months if not years to make the same amount of progress. It didn't hurt that I spent most of every day studying.
I quickly found that not having to sleep for eight hours every night left one with a lot of free time; too much even. I studied just as much to relieve my boredom than I did because of an actual desire to learn.
When I wasn't reading I spent hours trying to leash my blood lust.
Meditation became a big part of my daily routine. Taking the time to police my impulses and keep myself centered went a long way. It was very useful when I tested myself by spending hours in the scent saturated home of the Greers. Smelling a human was no longer the agony it used to be.
It wasn't easy, I was still constantly tempted and endlessly thirsty, but I no longer felt like I would go on a berserk rampage if I breathed near another person.
My ultimate ambition was to someday be able to feed off animals without killing them. Taking non-fatal amounts of blood from several sources rather than draining a single deer.
Spending so much time in solitude gave me a lot of time to think, and I came to the conclusion that I (and any other vegetarian vampire) will eventually be unable to sustain our current lifestyles.
Wild game becomes more and more scarce with overhunting, destroyed habitats, and industrialization. If I was going to live forever, I was going to have to start taking responsibility for making sure there would be a future for me to live in.
Perhaps I could buy an animal farm, where I could raise my own prey without worrying about decimating the wildlife.
Or manage a blood bank.
If I really wanted to get creative, investing in a company working to mass produce clone blood would be smart.
Unfortunately, all of those things require money, of which I have little to none. However, I was confident that wouldn't always be the case.
In the meantime, while I lacked the control to keep from killing my prey, I had the ability to prepare for the day when I could.
As such, I bought a rust resistant knife and several animal anatomy books. Although the thought of practicing creating non-fatal wounds made me nauseous, I forced past my initial revulsion. It was bad enough that I had to kill on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis, further mutilating the poor animals only served to make me feel guilty and monstrous.
Still, I assuaged my conscience by reasoning that they were going to die anyway, and that even medical students needed to practice on cadavers before they could become fully fledged doctors. Hunters worldwide skinned and gutted animals every day for sport!
It only marginally helped.
However I discovered that although my teeth and nails were more than capable of creating a wound from which to draw blood; the injury was always too large or jagged to heal cleanly. That wasn't even taking into account the venom that would be injected into the creature if I bit them.
All considered; a knife seemed to be the best choice.
Time caused my skills to grow along with my confidence, but more and more I found myself yearning for human interaction. I'd spent over half a year in solitude and while I'd been grateful at first, now I was merely lonely.
To help alleviate the monotony of my everyday existence, I resolved to take a walk into town.
Changing into a pair of comfortable jeans and a casual long sleeved blouse, I was rifling through my tent in search of sneakers when I came across the newspaper I bought days ago.
Looking at it now, the same feeling of unease crept over me. Turning the page to read the full story, the article went on to describe the rampant violence that had started popping up in Seattle. What was unusual was that people were disappearing with little to no evidence of what happened, and the bodies that had been discovered were usually mangled and bloodless. The police were chalking the absence of blood up to the bodies being moved from the original murder site but something about it didn't sit right with me.
I wondered… was it possible I wasn't the only vampire in the area?
Disturbed at the prospect, I tossed the paper on the floor and prepared to leave once I'd put on my shoes.
Just as I was about to head out, I heard a sharp snap, followed by a squeal of pain to my left. Whirling toward the sound I crouched defensively, startled and on edge. I couldn't immediately spot anything, but listening hard I could hear something thrashing around the underbrush a ways away.
Walking towards it, the scent of blood reached my nose and my breath hitched. Swallowing my venom I eventually came across a snow white rabbit with its foot caught in a snare.
The poor creature was weakly thrashing around, frantically trying to escape and unknowingly making its predicament worse. Blood stained the snow crimson, and I could tell that the wire had already made it down to the bone.
Rushing forward, I pinned the struggling animal to the ground to keep it from flailing. Its little heart was beating a mile a minute as it stared at me with huge frightened eyes.
I wondered what hunter set snares this far out in the reservation and realized that the only ones who would were poachers. Not that I had a right to judge, I was hunting in a National Preserve too.
Stroking it's fur gently, I snapped the wire around its leg when I felt my chest pulse. My vision grew hazy and a loud ringing filled my ears. I'd experienced this phenomenon twice before but I still felt a shock of fear when my entire world turned white.
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Hungary – Spring 1007 A.D.
I came back to myself in the middle of a shallow stream.
Cursing, I leapt effortlessly to the bank, trying to shake the water from my sneakers. Thankfully the water had only been up to my calves, but I was a little annoyed that I might have ended up ruining the only footwear I had.
Taking off my shoes so they could dry, I looked around in an attempt to gauge my location. Once more I was surrounded by trees, but this time the area was bursting in vegetation. The air was warmer and there wasn't a hint of snow in sight.
Wringing the water out of the bottom of my jeans, I was still getting my bearings when I heard voices speaking in low tones on the opposite side of the brook I'd just appeared in.
Curious, I silently jumped over the water and landed quietly on the other shore. Moving seamlessly through the foliage, I listened harder and gradually recognized the voice as a man's.
It also happened that the gentleman in question was very definitely speaking Magyar.
With a flush of triumph I realized that I could understand most of what he was saying. Still, the dialect was different than what I was used to hearing on my CD player and I was a little uncertain about the exact translation in some cases.
His voice was rough and gravelly, like he spent a lot of time drinking and smoking, but retained a certain soft kindness.
" –ow you tie a knot. Place the loop carefully, and hold it in place with sticks. Make sure they are stuck firmly in the ground.
Damek, this is especially important for you to remember. A Korsak should excel at whatever he puts his mind to. When you have a family of your own they will count on you to bring in food and pelts."
"Yes, Papa." A boy answered dutifully.
"Tanya, one day you might have to help your future husband with this. Normally it would be wrong to teach a woman skills meant for a man, but out here sometimes this is the difference between life and death."
I froze, not completely surprised but taken unaware by a strange anticipation. I wanted to be closer; I wanted to see if little Tatyana had stayed the same. Creeping silently forward, I eventually got a clear glimpse of the trio.
They were all huddled up with their backs to me, bundled in fur and hunched over a snare made of leather and braided horse hair. The man's movements seemed sure as he instructed them step by step. I felt relieved to notice that neither Tatyana nor her brother seemed older in any significant way.
Again I caught wind of Tanya's raspberry-almond scent and had to shake my head to rid myself of the daze I'd fallen into. With an effort, I consciously tuned back into their conversation.
"Soon we shall have another mouth to feed, and you both must learn to take care of your new brother or sister."
Having finished the snare, the man slung a string of game over his shoulder, a detail I'd failed to notice earlier.
"Come. Let's go home. I'll teach you how to skin a rabbit without ruining the pelt."
Obediently the two children rose with their father and padded after his lumbering form. Letting them walk a ways away, I moved forward to examine their combined handiwork. I doubted I would ever have cause to use an animal trap, but I figured the knowledge couldn't hurt.
Prey would never be able to out run me, but there was something appealing about using ones wiles instead of brute strength.
Finished with my inspection, I followed the sound of their heartbeats back to the small dwelling I'd seen the last time I'd been here.
I caught sight of them just as Tanya's father began to gut one of the rabbits, spilling its intestines into a bucket as he slowly peeled back its skin.
Simultaneously, I discovered it was possible for a vampire to feel both extreme revulsion and bloodlust at the same time. Covering my nose and mouth with my hand, I averted my eyes as I tried to control myself.
It was easier because the animals had been dead for at least a few hours, but as a newborn easier didn't really mean easy.
When I managed to compose myself they'd finished their task and Tanya was ordered to dump the viscera into the nearby stream. That little girl scooped up that bucket without even blinking.
I don't know how she did it. As a human I used to feel faint at the sight of blood, let alone a pail full of entrails.
Still, I followed Tatyana to the brook and waited until she had finished washing her hands to step out of concealment. I was nearly to her when she finally caught sight of me from the corner of her eye. Startled, she jumped, tripped over her own feet; and would have ended up in the water if I hadn't shot my hand out to catch her.
Large sky-blue eyes fixed on my face as little Tanya's mouth dropped. Her expression was so priceless I couldn't keep my mouth from twitching in amusement. She only managed to pout for a moment before Tatyana's expression blossomed with excitement and she eagerly clutched at my blouse.
Before I knew what was happening I was being bombarded with rapid fire questions. All of it spoken so quickly it practically blended together. I only understood every third word or so, so without aplomb I simply covered her mouth with my hand.
Tanya's chatter instantly ceased.
"Slowly." I enunciated, trying to get her to realize that I was not a native speaker. A grin worked its way across her face, revealing a gap toothed smile.
"Hi." She said, her head tilted way back to look at my face.
"Hi." I replied, a little charmed by the simplicity of the introduction.
"You're back." A statement.
"Yes."
"Are you here to look after my little brother or sister?" I blinked at the unexpected turn in conversation.
"Why would you assume I'm here for your sibling?"
Now it was Tatyana's turn to be confused, as she cocked her head to the side and gazed at me consideringly.
"Isn't that what guardian angels are for? You protected me. Is it my little brother or sister's turn?"
I stared, nonplussed, before slowly shaking my head.
"I'm not here for your brother or sister, and I'm sad to say I'm also not an angel."
I considered letting her continue to make assumptions, but doing so might have disastrous results if she ever ran into another vampire. People claimed to see angels more often than vampires, and while doing so might keep word from reaching the Volturi, ultimately it wasn't worth putting Tatyana at risk. I had a strong compulsion to keep this girl from harm.
"Then why are you here?" she asked, innocently curious.
"I don't know. I wish I could tell you." Tanya peered at me as solemnly as any six year old could muster, her hands reached out to grasp my fingers.
"It's ok. Mama says that God works in misterous ways, and we all have a purpose." Smiling gently, I crouched to her level and affectionately rubbed her tiny hand with my thumb.
"Your mother sounds like a smart lady." I replied, and Tanya nodded like it was all very self-evident.
"What's your name?" she inquired; her face a picture of anticipation. I hesitated a moment unsure if I should give her my real name before settling on a half-truth.
"Marie. You can call me Marie." Since technically Marie was my middle name you couldn't say I was lying, but some instinct of mine warned that using my given name would be a mistake.
"Mari." Tanya copied, not quite getting the pronunciation right.
"Marie." I repeated, more slowly.
"Mari." Tanya said again, more confidently, a joyful gleam in her eye.
"Close enough." I muttered in English, to which she cocked her head.
Having gained a name to call me by, Tanya finally seemed to notice what I was wearing, and inspected my foreign clothes with fascination.
"What are you wearing?" Tatyana asked, rolling the fabric of my blouse between her fingers. "So soft," She murmured, apparently in awe at the quality of the fiber. It was a common cotton shirt, but apparently something she had never seen before. "Aren't you cold? Why are you dressed like a man?"
Frowning at the implications behind that last question, I glanced down at my apparel.
"I'm not dressed like a man; women wear this where I'm from." Tanya's face clearly expressed her skepticism. Affronted, I playfully tugged on a lock of her strawberry blonde hair. "What? You don't believe me?"
Tatyana giggled and enthusiastically shook her head. Standing up, I backed up a few paces and struck a pose.
"Now, try and imagine your father wearing these clothes. Wouldn't he look silly?" I asked, trying to do Alice proud by showing off.
She nodded shyly.
"Well if the clothes look good on a woman and silly on a man then they're not men's clothes."
Tanya appeared to consider my words before making a noise of affirmation.
"Where do you come from Mari?"
"Somewhere far away from here, across the ocean," I replied.
"What's an ocean?"
Pausing, I tried to think of a way to describe it so that she would understand.
"Have you been to a lake before?" Tanya nodded happily.
"Every year Papa takes the pelts to town for trade, sometimes he takes Damek and I with him. It's right next to Lake Golden Sands."
"Lake Zlaté Piesky huh?" I mutter to myself while making a mental note. "Try to imagine that lake, only it's so big that it stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction. If you can do that, you might be close to imagining what an ocean looks like."
"Whoa," she breathed; eyes wide with awe. "That's big. I bet even King Stephen would be afraid to cross that."
I felt a chill run down my spine. Something about that name tickled the back of my mind.
"King Stephen?" I asked. "As in, the first King of Hungary?"
Humming in acknowledgement, Tanya nodded, rocking back on her heels as she tried to make sense of my reaction.
"Oh God," I whispered, suddenly feeling the need to lean against something. The name was familiar because I'd read about him in the history book I'd gotten at the bookstore. Unfortunately, King Stephen's reign was over a thousand years ago.
I wasn't just in some forest on the other side of the globe; I'd somehow managed to slip through time itself.
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A/N: End chapter 3. I'm not too happy with how I ended it, but I couldn't think of any other way to go about it. As always if you find any mistakes let me know.
Also, I was unable to find any accurate data on the towns and geography of Slovakia in 1000AD, so I've been using Google Maps instead. As a result, it's entirely possible that any town or village that will be mentioned in this fic didn't exist at the time.
If any of you know a good resource to discover that kind of information, please let me know.
Otherwise, tell me what you thought in a review.