Chapter 17: Monster

The scent of humans hovered in the air densely. Its mouthwatering aroma circulated around Bree, tempting her to follow it as she strolled timidly across a grassy field.

Her crimson eyes were locked on a faintly familiar house. It looked old and worn out. Part of its roof had fallen, like it would have given up attempting to stay whole when its owners had abandoned it. The bright yellow paint hanging on its wooden walls was now dull and colourless, emanating the same sadness rest of the house seemed to embody.

The stars twinkled on top of the newborn as she walked the rest of the way to the old residence. Her hands fidgeted anxiously as she came to a halt.

She was home. Well, kinda. The rough-looking house was where she had grown up, but she wasn't sure it deserved to be called her home after everything she had gone through inside of it.

The dirty doorknob under her hand felt fragile. She was afraid of breaking it if she were to hold it any stronger. Her fingers stayed in their place, concentrating on rounding around the knob.

She gulped before finally getting enough courage to open the door. It creaked from reluctance, not wishing to let her inside the house, feeling like it was almost sensing her anxiety and wanting to protect her.

"Are you okay?" Fred's voice spoke from behind. "We can always come back at a later time."

The newborn turned to the boy. "I'm fine."

"If you say so." The blond vampire didn't look convinced. He had a concerned glimmer in his red eyes as he stared silently at the girl.

"I promise," the young teen said, hiding her shaky voice. "Really, I'm truly fine."

"Why aren't you then stepping inside?" Fred raised his chin challengingly. His gaze swept over the worn house's exterior, calculating it subtly.

A lump formed in Bree's throat. She was aware of how she was purposely prolonging stepping inside but didn't feel like she was fully ready to go into the house. There was something stopping her from doing so. She wondered that perhaps she shouldn't go inside from the front door but rather climb inside from her window. She hazily remembered it. The small, white-framed hole that she had sneaked out of to get some much-needed alone time from her horrible father.

She let the idea sit in her head for a blink of an eye before spinning back face-to-face with the open door. It was cleverer to just go through it; after all, she didn't want to have opened it for nothing.

Her steps echoed as she stepped into the house. An eerie silence hung in the air, pressuring her lungs to stop breathing. With a hint of alcohol's stench mixing with the quietness, she stopped moving her lungs altogether. The smell of it brought unpleasant memories to her mind that she rather just wished to forget.

She was greeted with the sight of a filthy living room. The dark green couch was covered with disgusting food stains. They laid on it careless of the impression they left on the once clean surface. The rest of the room wasn't much better. It seemed like a hurricane had gone through the area, scoured it fully, and left items broken and screaming in despair.

The newborn walked further into the house, trying to bribe her memory to reveal where exactly her room had been. She concentrated on her mind, not wanting to have to search for it in the small house. How hard could it be to find the space she had lived in for twelve years?

Spider webs led her way as she fingered her hazy memories. Their delicate strings travelled bravely along the yellow walls, only stopping at a dimly familiar door. This had to be it. The door must have led to her room. She barely was able to remember the door but was now sure of it.

She froze, taking a deep breath. Oh, what a horrible mistake it had been! Her mouth got filled with dust particles. They infiltrated her mouth and throat, making her couch in despair. She scrunched her nose in disgust as the dust tingled inside her body.

This was not how she had envisioned her quick visit to her old home. Getting attacked by dust certainly had not come to her mind.

The sixteen-year-old girl pushed the door open and walked cautiously into her old bedroom. It was horrific. She had thought the living room had been in bad condition, but she guessed she had been very wrong. Her room was so much worse than it. Her former bed was broken in the middle, like someone had chopped it with an axe. Her dresser and bedside table were not in any better state, barely recognisable by the mysterious weapon used to break them.

What had happened to the small space?

Crawling made her shot from her place. She hurried to the furthest wall from the sound, pressing herself alarmed against the material as her eyes searched for the maker of the noise.

A growl came out of her lips.

Fred's footsteps walked guardedly to her room's door. "Is something wrong?" the boy asked, puzzled. His head peaked from behind the corner.

Bree kept her gaze locked on the wall. She stared at it, eyes wide, refusing to look at her friend's way. There was a creature close by. She didn't know what, but she couldn't risk letting it attack her. She was scared it would take her distracted attention as a sign to strike.

Fred stepped inside the room and crossed his hands. "I can't detect any danger."

She slowly turned her head towards him. "There is something here," she swore. "I heard it!"

The blond boy gazed around as his red eyes narrowed slightly. He looked to be highly concentrated on his search until a wide smile came to his face. "Bree? What do you think is in the room exactly?"

"Well, I- I'm not sure. I just heard crawling." She gulped, staring at her dirty shoes. The newborn must have sounded stupid and illogical for getting scared of crawling noises.

"I think I can safely say the crawling didn't come from anything dangerous." Fred grinned.

He had certainly found the maker of the sound; she was sure of it. What other reasons were there for that huge grin to form in his face? His smile also indicated she must have embarrassed herself. The creature she had heard had to be humiliatingly harmless.

"What did it come from then?" She raised her gaze to Fred's irises.

The boy chuckled, but as soon as he noticed Bree's wild expression, he stopped. "Sorry. You only heard a spider. Look, it's there, behind that small painting. It might be a bit hard to spot."

The young teen focused on the painting, detecting the small, hairy creature calmly sitting on the wall. Its scary, hairy legs moved as it created a web between the painting and the wall.

She let out an unintended growl. She disliked spiders. No wonder her senses had warned her about it. The creature was disgusting. She couldn't look at it for long. When she had turned into a vampire, all the bugs had turned to look even more horrifying than when she had been a human. The mortals were lucky to not have as good eyesight as the immortals. She was now terrified by how scary the bugs really looked. She even saw some new ones every once in a while that bare human eyes couldn't spot.

The spider let out a low sound.

Horror formed on the brown-haired girl's face. She didn't want to stay in her room any longer. The monster had invaded it, and what was once her room now belonged to it.

She rushed out of the door, passing quietly laughing Fred in the process. Her friend didn't seem to understand her fear of bugs. Notably, spiders.

"I thought you wanted to get things from your room," he reminded the girl.

She stopped. Yes, she was meant to do that. However, her plans had been changed due to the monster residing in it. Her room was no more. "I can't. The spider could come from behind the painting."

"And do what?" The blond boy snorted.

She rolled her eyes. She wasn't glad he found this funny. The spider could be a real threat to her welfare.

"It's just a spider."

Precisely. They were horrible and scary. Bree wasn't going to go near it. Her shelves and wardrobe were both close to the painting. She couldn't even imagine what horrors she would face if she went to them. What if the malicious spider decided to torture her by attempting to settle on her head?

She shuddered.

Fred sighed. "Tell me what you want. I can get it for you."

"Really?" The newborn's eyes widened. He would do that for her? He'd go face the murderous creature hiding in the shadows of the painting?

"Yes." The boy nodded. "Just say what you want fast, or otherwise I might change my mind."

The girl stood up straighter. She pressed into her memories gently, afraid they would abandon her. Her human memories were too fragile and fleeting. "Umm…Get me a shirt and jeans from the wardrobe. Oh, and, uh, can you also try to search for my mother's necklace? It might be on one of the shelves."

The silver star necklace the young teen's mother had owned had gathered dust in her room for a long time. At a time when she thought her mother had abandoned her, she refused to touch it. Her father hadn't wanted it either, but still, for some reason, brought it with them to their house here in Idaho. But instead of him putting it on a shelf in his room, he decided to force her to take it. The small toddler she had been was not happy about it after hearing her father's demand. So naturally, she had been beaten up for disobeying him. She had not dared to bring up removing the necklace from her room after.

"Sure," Fred agreed. He started rummaging through her wardrobe.

Bree positioned herself close to the door, peeking inside carefully. She didn't want the spider to notice her.

Her stare inspected the room further, making sure she would be able to remember the tiniest details of it if she wished in the future. Even if the area belonged to the spider, she wanted to be able to memorise her old room.

As both Fred and Bree were close to finishing their tasks, a heartbeat interrupted them.

The newborn's irises darkened from hunger. She cut the oxygen from her lungs, refusing to breathe. She wasn't ready to kill a human. Not yet. The mammal's scent slithered inside the house's cracks, raising a panic inside the girl.

She felt her brain go foggy. She hadn't fed for a while, and the human they had met in the gas station had certainly not helped her thirst.

Fred let out a thrilled sound. "A human? Perfect timing."

The sixteen-year-old girl pinched her nose desperately. She took a huge step away from the mortal's whereabouts before beginning to run. She bolted out of the house in a hurry. She couldn't turn around and go to the other side of the rundown residence, no matter how much she wanted to. Otherwise, a human's life would end.

The chill night air hit Bree's face as she ran. She moved beneath the trees, only slowing down when she felt like she was far enough from the ominous house.

Her body relaxed as her fingers touched her throat. She needed to eventually feed, but something was stopping her from doing so. She needed to be brave and just attack a passerby. Why did she make it such a big deal to kill one of the mortals? She had happily done so a few weeks ago.

Living with the Cullens shouldn't have affected her this much. Did the animal blood in her system make her dependent on it? A memory of its taste flew into her mind, putting its vivid flavour on her tongue. No, she doubted that was the case. She scrunched her nose in disgust. She hadn't yet gotten used to its odd taste.

Fred's outline came to her mind. Her head snapped back towards the house.

In her rush, she had forgotten the blond boy's existence. He had to be confused, wondering where she had gone. Guilt hit her like a truck. She hadn't meant to abandon her friend like that. What type of friend was she if she left so unannounced, not even bothering to tell her friend where she was going?

She frowned. She needed to get back to her father's house as soon as possible.

The sound of footsteps carried to her ears. They had to belong to Fred.

The young teen took three itching steps onward. Her legs twitched to go further to meet with her friend. She felt unsafe without him closeby. If the Cullens had appeared from somewhere, she would have been captured by them fairly quickly. Therefore, it was safer to stay close to Fred. With him, catching her wasn't as easy as before. His and her powers were unstoppable together. There was no need to be nervous about getting ambushed.

Doubts cluttered her mind. What if he had decided to want to go his own way? Perhaps her abandoning him had been enough for the boy, and he had realised she wasn't worth his attention.

She winced.

She wasn't even ready to hunt humans yet. How was he supposed to have a companion who starved themselves? She would eventually go crazy with thirst and become dangerous to be around. She was already able to feel some of her sanity disappearing. Who was to say the rate at which it was going away wouldn't quicken abruptly? She could be a huge danger to Fred in the future if she were not to get her things together soon. The faster she drank from a mortal and got it over with, the better.

A familiar boy appeared from a distance. Fred's eyes went past her like he hadn't seen her.

His strange action caused her thoughts to become louder. She had been right. He didn't want to be with her anymore. She was sure he was going to stop in front of her and tell her he was going to head to Canada alone.

What was she supposed to do, then? Go back to the Cullens and die? No, she would figure something else out. She wasn't ready to get killed.

"Fr-" She called for the boy but got interrupted as his form flashed past her, smacking a wind in her face. Her panicked body started to follow him. "Stop!"

Fred halted, looking around puzzled. "Bree?"

"Don't leave me! I promise to kill a human. For an unknown reason, I haven't been able to do so yet." The girl cried out.

"It would be a good thing if you'd feed." The curly-haired boy agreed, "But where exactly are you? And why do you think I'm going to leave you?" He turned around, attempting to locate her.

She tilted her head. "What do you mean? I'm right here." She stared at her baffled friend, confusion now drawing to her expression. She closed her crimson eyes. "And I thought you decided to ditch me because…you know, I haven't really drank anything yet."

"That's a ridiculous claim. Why the hell would I leave you just because you haven't fed yet? You will do it eventually." Fred searched for her with his eyes, skimming right through her.

Bree's mouth opened in realisation as her concentration went to her lower abandonment. It was invisible. No wonder the boy had not seen her. She should have thought of her power sooner. It was idiotic to not have considered she might have turned see-through. Her friend's reactions should have been a dead give-away to what her gift had decided to do. It truly had a mind of its own.

"I'm sorry. While with the yellow-eyes, I discovered I had a gift too. Invisibility."

"Wait, really? That's great," the curly-haired boy said. His words held fascination in them. "How does it work? Are you able to turn it off?"

The newborn shook her head regretfully. "I never learned to. It just kind of happens, and before I know it, I'm invisible. Carlisle, one of the yellow-eyes, tried to help me with it."

Fred's eyes glimmered. "That's so cool…I mean, sorry. It must suck you cannot control it." He hesitated before continuing, "Maybe I could try helping you?"

"Yes!" She answered enthusiastically.

Her shoulders shrunk as embarrassment washed over her. She hadn't meant to sound so excited. She had to have sounded like a young child. With a more steady voice, she added, "If you're sure you don't mind helping me, of course."

"I'd be glad to. It would be nice to not talk to an air" Fred grinned. He focused on the direction her voice came from. "It'd be a shame to never see you. We only reunited a day ago."

The young teen gave him a short smile, stopping it when the reality of her still being invisible dawned on her. "Thank you."

"Don't worry. I'm sure we will figure your gift out." Fred nodded. He paused, looking calculatively around. "So did you and the yellow-eye make any progress?"

"Well, umm, yes. Partially," she said, unsure of what to say. They had made some progress, she supposed. It hadn't precisely been much, but something had at least transpired from the practice sessions. Her gaze found its way to the forest behind Fred.

As she studied it, the blond vampire opened his mouth. "Partially? Bree, I need you to be a bit more specific than that. What exactly happened, and how did it occur?"

She sighed. "I managed to turn invisible once. But only once. It hasn't worked after that particular time." Her power loved bullying her. She was sure of it. Why else was it so mean to her and hid her from her friend?

"And how did it end up working?"

The crimson-eyed girl returned to look at Fred. He had raised his eyebrows, waiting patiently for her answer.

"We used my emotions. The invisibility gets triggered the easiest when I get anxious or scared." She played with her hands nervously. She was hundred percent sure the development of her gift was because of her father. Carlisle had explained different reasons for why some gifts developed, mentioning how some got their gifts from recurring occurrences where they had to develop a certain skill. She had attempted to hide from her abusive father often during her childhood in fear of getting hurt. It had taken a while, but eventually she had learned a couple great hiding spots inside the house. There was no other explanation for where her power could have manifested.

"You seemed pretty tense inside the house, and when the human approached…" The curly-haired vampire noted delicately.

Bree didn't say anything. She didn't want to give any hints to the boy about her past. She wasn't comfortable enough with him to share them with him. Then there was the frightening idea of him leaving her if she spurted it out. He might not want to hear her tragic backstory, and by telling him it, she might scare him off. He didn't look that confrontational to want to hear something like that.

Fred stepped closer to the invisible newborn. "I'm not going to ask why, because it seems a bit touchy subject to you, but you might need to tap into it. It could help with controlling your gift."

"Maybe." She agreed silently.

"How about we then start from the basics of your special ability? In other words, your emotions. Relaxing yourself could be a key to making yourself visible. Think happy, nice thoughts." He suggested.