Chapter Text
My world had become a torrent of hellish agony. All I could focus on was my hatred for the mocking faces of those that did this to me. Their cold indifferent malice. Those monstrous red eyes.
oOo
“You shouldn’t let mom foist all of the responsibilities on you Bel, she’s the parent, remember?”
There was a sigh from the other side of the phone. “It’s fine Beau, just leave it. Not like I have much else to do.”
I pressed my lips together and frowned. I wanted to continue pushing, make her see the way mom’s flighty nature was stealing her childhood from her. But I didn’t want this turning into another fight over the same tired old argument.
“Fine,” I say, “I’ll drop it for now.”
“Maybe you should move back to Pheonix? You’re always complaining about the lack of sun down there.”
“Nah. Dad needs me too much. Family’s more important.” I fight to keep the tremble out of my voice. Her words strike a cord, I really do miss the sun. Forks is cloaked in near constant cloud and rain, eight years later and I still haven’t gotten used to it.
But I’d made my choice. When I was ten and Bella had just turned seven we were considered old enough to decide which parent we wanted to live with. I had seen how hard dad took the divorce and ten year old me couldn’t bear the thought of him living in such a depressing part of the country all alone while the woman that broke his heart went to her next fancy.
Bella made the opposite decision. Ever responsible, even at such a young age, she though mom needed someone around to keep her grounded. I doubt I’ll ever forgive the woman for separating our family like that.
“Charlie would be happy so long as you’re happy Beau, he has friends.”
“Dad, not Charlie,” I gently corrected.
“Right.” Another sigh and I’m familiar enough with her to recognise the signs of her mentally distancing herself from the conversation.
“Well, I should get going. I have a long drive to make. Oh, but before I forget, school lets out in a week so I’ve booked some tickets to come up to Pheonix to see you.”
“Really?” There’s genuine excitement in her voice now. “Won’t your friends want to hang out with you?”
“Yeah, but I’d rather spend it with you.”
“Thanks Beau. I miss you.”
“Miss you too little sis. See you in a week.”
“Drive safely, love you.”
I put the phone back in my pocket and turn the engine of my old girl on. She had already been getting on in years last century, a 1953 Chevy pickup. By all rights she should be getting turned into scrap metal. But through the mechanical genius of the Black twins she had been granted a new lease on life.
Billy had offered to sell it cheap, and I worked several weeks at the Newton’s shop to save up enough to buy it. Then when I finally had enough Dad swooped in and paid for it himself, told me he was proud of me and gave it as a gift. The memory brought a smile to my face.
I’m cruising down the road from Port Angeles to Forks, hoping I can make it back before midnight. There’s no curfew and dad trusts me not to stay out too late. But I’d rather not push that trust by staying out all night.
Around halfway through the drive, twenty minutes since I had seen the last other vehicle sharing the road, I saw something ahead through the darkness that makes my breath catch in concern.
A car has run off the road and collided with the trees, the front completely smashed. It’s a family car, I can see the four motionless figures of two adults and two children within. Three other figures are moving about outside the car helping the family out.
In the back of my mind I register that there’s no other vehicle nearby.
The thought is already forgotten as I bring the Chevy to a halt and jump out the door. “Is everything okay? How can I help?” I shout. The three figures have stopped and are staring silently at me now.
The first is a somewhat unremarkable man with light brown hair. Next to him is a wild looking woman that had leaves in her curled, fiery orange hair. The third stood a little ways off. An olive skinned man with long dreadlocks.
“Have you called an ambulance? I have my phone here.” I start to pull it out of my pocket.
Faster than I register something slams into my hand and the phone is flying, it smashes against the ground with a sense of finality. There’s a sharp pain in my hand which I barely notice. Because something else has my full attention.
The olive skinned man is standing next to me now. Somehow having moved faster than I could react. And I didn’t notice before, but now I see that his eyes aren’t normal. They’re a deep, dark crimson red.
All three of them have red eyes. And I dimly realise that the bestial part of my instincts has been screaming at me to run ever since I saw the crashed car.
“Well well, looks like another snack has offered itself, anyone want dessert?” The olive skinned man sneers. He has a distinct French accent.
“I’m already full from that family.” The woman’s tone is dismissive. I glance at the crashed car and realise with horror that these three weren’t helping the occupants.
“Same.” The man with dreadlocks responds. “James?”
The second man - James I guess - shakes his head uncaringly. “This isn’t a hunt. I don’t need him.”
“Well we can’t leave him alive, he’s a witness,” red eyes stare at me.
“Would be a shame to just kill him, he smells good.” The woman says, voice still dismissive but staring at me with a look that reminds me of a cat sizing up a mouse. A shiver runs down my spine.
I finally recover from the shock and turn to run back to my car, but before I’ve even gone half a step Dreadlocks grabs my arm and anchors me in place. His hand is cold and hard as stone. My arm is almost ripped out of it’s socket and I cry out in pain as the bone cracks.
“We can take him with us then and have him as a snack later. Reduce out need to go out hunting again.”
“Just make sure he can’t run,” James orders.
“Very well,” before I even know what’s happening he has his mouth pressed against my broken hand. There’s another sharp pain, though only for a second. Then he’s pulling away and a warm sensation begins to spread.
Three sets of eyes lock onto the drop of blood that drips from the bite wound. Two of them look to the man that bit me in confusion.
“I thought we were saving him for later, not turning him Laurent?”
“Oh we are.” Laurent chuckles. “This way he can’t run. We’ll just need to finish him off in a day or two before it finishes. And if we delay too long.” He shrugs. “Then the boy gets lucky. Either way he won’t be telling a soul what he saw tonight.”
The warmth in my hand is building to a crescendo now. It feels like fire seeping into my body. All thoughts of the pain from my broken bones are gone, all I feel is flames where my arm once was.
I clutch my wrist and let out a scream.
They’re all watching me with amusement. The woman laughs. “That’s right, scream for us. You’ll be begging us to kill you in no time.”
I’m filled with determination not to give them the satisfaction. I grit my teeth and bite back the scream.
“Fuck. You.” I spit out between breaths. There’s no waves of pain coming and going. It’s now spread from my hand down my arm and is seeping into my chest. The pain is still building.
They laugh. “We’ll see how long you can keep that strong face little rabbit.” James taunts.
“This might actually be fun to watch.” The woman adds with a cold smile. “See how long he can last before breaking and begging to be put out of his misery.”
“Indeed. But we should get out of here before someone else volunteers to go second,” Laurent says. He roughly pulls me to him and picks me up effortlessly. The movement and rough handling sends another wave of pain through me but I refuse to give in and hold back my scream.
“I’m going. To kill. You.”
Laurent rolls his eyes. “Shut up and pray the run makes us hungry, boy. Trust me, the pain will only get worse.”
Before I can respond there’s a thud of what I realise is James smashing the front of my car and making it look like it crashed into the trees next to the family. He sets the family’s car on fire but leaves mine smashed. Then the wind is rushing past as the three of them sprint through the woods faster than they should be able to, carrying me with them.
The car being destroyed fills me with more sadness than my own fate. Billy loved that car, and the twins had worked really hard on fixing her up. Now these monsters had destroyed it.
Thinking of Billy reminds me of dad. He’s going to be devastated when he wakes up and I haven’t returned home. I try not to think about his worry when he doesn’t know where I am. And his increasing panic when my car is found smashed without me. How long will it take him to stop looking for me? When they find my corpse after my killers are done with me?
The emotional pain of the thoughts is almost as bad as the inferno, which has now spread through my entire body and built to an agony. It hasn’t stopped building, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be capable of even feeling emotional pain, or rational thought.
With what might be the last bit of my effort I mumble what might be my last words. “I’m sorry dad, Bella.”
Then the agony becomes too much and I break. I scream.
oOo
I lost track of how long I spent in that agony. When the pain had finally ebbed and my heart stopped beating I seemed to take in everything at once.
I could feel the strands of fabric forming the sheets oft the bed I was lying in. Hear animals shuffling in the leaves in the trees nearby, as well as a rhythmic thumping in the next room over.
And the smells. I immediately reacted to the smells that assaulted me. Instincts driving me to two compulsions. The first was the two creatures in the room with me. In a few microseconds my brain flagged their scents as a threat. In a few more it made the decision to react.
I was crouched on top of the bed in an instant, no delay between the decision to get up and the action. None of the movement from point A to point B. As soon as I decided to move I was already in place.
Hunched over and teeth bared, I tried to keep both of the threats in view. They were on opposite sides of me. Both male.
At the same time as I was reacting to the threats my body reacted without my input to the other scent. It was the most delicious thing I had ever smelled. My throat is dryer than I’ve ever felt and the smell makes it worse. Fire coursing down my throat. An unfamiliar liquid fills my mouth.
Whatever is giving off the delicious scent is standing next to a third threat. I’m already making my plan. I’ll need to lunge at the threat to my right and kill it quickly so I can focus on the threat to my left without it being a two on one. Then I take care of the threat outside the door and whatever is out there will be all mine.
One of the threat - James a groggy memory provides - smirks as the third threat bursts into the room dragging a struggling figure with her.
I feel like throwing up as the realisation hits me. This struggling woman is the source of the scent that was so delicious. The thumping sound is her heart beating in fear. There are trails of tears running down her face, though she’s not crying now. And the third threat, the unnamed woman, is holding her with a hand clasped around her mouth to stop her screaming.
I’ve never been more disgusted. And yet I can’t keep my eyes off the struggling woman, watching her every movement with rapt attention. When she sees me she lets out a scream that’s muffled by the hand and struggles harder. Am I really that scary?
“Well Beau,” James says, “you lucked out. You get to live.” He moves to stand next to the two women. “And so I had Victoria bring you a little gift to welcome you into your new life.”
Everyone is silent. My three tormentors seem to be waiting for something, the woman stares at me in horror. I keep myself rooted in place. Fighting my instincts.
“Aren’t you going to dig in?” James raises an eyebrow at me.
I shake my head, not daring to speak as I know if I take a breath in I’ll get another helping of the scent and lose control.
“That’s a shame. After my darling mate went to all the trouble of fetching you dinner.” He gently strokes the cheek of the woman, prompting another muffled scream. Then without warning he punctures her skin with his nails. Four sets of eyes lock onto the blood that starts to drip from the wound.
And then the two throw the woman at me.
The next thing I know the burning in my throat has abated and I’m left with an after-taste of something sweet. I scream when I realise what’s happened and flee from the bed to the sound of three sets of laughter.
When I look up I notice a full body mirror on the other side of the room I hadn’t seen it before, too preoccupied with the monsters standing around me. What I see horrifies me.
The thing in the mirror looks superficially like me. Same height, same hair, wearing the same clothes I was wearing that fateful night. But in every way imaginable it is a monster that I share no resemblance with.
It has pale skin. Paler than even before where I merely never saw the sun. The face would almost look like mine if you squint, only now it is hard and angular. My blue eyes have been replaced by a piercing scarlet. Worst of all is the blood covering the monsters mouth and soaking the top of it’s shirt.
If my family saw me now they’d run in terror.
Panicking I try to wipe the blood of my face.
“Alright, let’s get this over with.” James leaps over the bed so he is face to face with me. I try to back away from his gaze and my back collides with the wall. I notice he’s shorter than me. Yet the primal fear of him doesn’t shrink at the knowledge. “Welcome Beaufort, to your new life.”
“How do you know my name?”
He threw my wallet into my hands. The money was gone, but he left my drivers license inside. Beaufort Swan. I feel like throwing up again, even though I’m starting to realise I can’t. Not any more.
“Here’s the situation. We took too long getting around to eating you. Best entertainment we had in years. After two days we decided to just let the transformation finish. Now that it’s over, lucky you gets to be a vampire like us.”
He said the word so casually. Like it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t know how I was supposed to react.
“Now don’t expect any favours from me. The only rule we have is to not draw attention. Do not let the humans know we exist.”
I nod numbly.
“Because of that rule you aren’t allowed to follow me when I leave. Four vampires in a coven attracts too much attention. Three is pushing it already.” He glares out of the side of his eyes at Laurent and Victoria. He looks back at me. “If you follow me, I’ll kill you properly this time.”
I don’t know how to respond, hope building. Are they just going to let me go?
“Now what are you not going to do?”
“Draw the humans attention. Follow you.” I respond automatically.
“Good boy.” He reaches out and ruffles my hair. I have to fight back the urge to knock his hand away.
He stands up.
“Victoria, Laurent. We’re leaving. Should get out of here before the owners of this shack pay a visit and discover the corpses.”
Corpses. Plural?
“Where are we?” I ask before I can stop myself.
James turns his head to glare at me, annoyed. “Some cabin in the woods East of Seattle we’ve been stashing you.”
I nod.
Finally, the trio leaves. I quickly wash the blood off myself at a sink. To my dismay there’s no change of clothes so I’ll be forced to continue in my bloodstained ones until I can find a change.
I exit the cabin and smell the crisp night air. Thanking my lucky stars there isn’t another human nearby I start to set out.
Part of me longs to head to Forks. To see dad again. But I understand I can’t.
If a monster appears looking like his son he’d be horrified, without factoring in all the blood. And if I catch the smell of another human I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop myself.
No, it’s better to avoid humans. I need to go somewhere remote. Isolated. I need to head North.
If I go straight North, avoiding population centres, I should hit Canada in a week. A few more months and I can lose myself in the tundra. Far away from everyone else. Miles and miles where I won’t be a threat to anyone. I’m choosing not to think about what will happen if I freeze to death.
oOo
Turns out it didn’t take months, but days. I ran into a few unfortunate hikers in the wilderness while making my way up. I felt horrible for each one. More motivation to get to where I can’t hurt anyone.
I hid from the sun during the day, fearing what it would do.
I reached the tundra much quicker than expected and immediately lost track of where I was. Just focused on getting as far from people as I could manage. After several weeks the hunger reached an all consuming height. I feared what was going to happen when I succumbed. Hopefully I’d just stop moving instead of becoming a ravenous monster. I didn’t like my odds.
I lost track of time under the intense malaise of my hunger. It felt like years had passed, but it could just as easily have been days. I secluded myself in a cave deep in the tundra and waited. Unwilling to enter the sunlight but just as unwilling to go near any humans.
Today I’m sitting in my cave clutching my knees to my chest when I smell them. Other vampires.
There’s three, all unfamiliar scents. Did I wonder onto another coven’s territory?
I stand up, tense and prepared to fight. Though I know it’s a slim chance. Against three my odds are slim. My odds wouldn’t be great in a one on one either come to think of it, half-starved as I am I’m in no state to fight. And even as a human I had never gotten into fights. I have no idea how much more experienced than me these likely much older vampires were.
Still, I couldn’t do nothing. I couldn’t run with them almost at the only exit to the cave. My best bet would be to run at them and claw my way past them, then make my escape. Hopefully they decide it’s not worth chasing me down.
They arrive and I’m startled by what I see. They’re all women, all with matching blond hair. Sisters? I suppose many would consider them beautiful. But none of that is what catches my attention. Instead of the scarlet eyes I was expecting, they all have eyes of purest gold.
I’m so surprised by the sight I forget to attack.
They’re all staring at me warily, eyeing my blood stained clothes with trepidation. Finally the one in the centre speaks.
“Welcome stranger, I’m surprised to meet one of our kind so far North. I’m Tanya, and these are my sisters Kate, and Irina,” She gestures to the other two. “Can I ask your name?”
I don’t answer, still crouched warily. Refusing to take my eyes off any of them.
Perhaps she can read the fear on my face because she tries a somewhat uneasy smile.
“Okay, you don’t have to share. Can we at least know what you’re doing so far North?”
I debate whether or not to answer. But they might decide to that makes me more threatening. And Tanya has already taken steps to diffuse the situation.
“Avoiding humans,” I respond in my new musical sounding voice, somehow not sounding gravelly from the dryness and lack of use.
They look surprised at my answer, and a little bit… hopeful?
“I don’t want. To be a monster.” I force out. “No humans. Means I won’t lose control.”
They glance at each other, and to my shock their wariness vanishes. They exchange smiles and look back at me. Still smiling.
“Perhaps you might be interested in hearing about our way of life after all.”
I let my confusion show on my face, though it would be easy to let my face remain a mask of wariness.
“We call ourselves vegetarian, it’s the closest word for what we do. We abstain from human blood, choosing to subsist on animal blood instead.”
My eyes widen at her words and I can feel the cautious relief pooling inside me.
“We can eat animals instead?”
Tanya nods and smiles warmly. “Yes, that’s right.”
I feel like my head is spinning. “I don’t have to be a monster?” I whisper to myself even though I know they can hear it.
Tanya steps forward and slowly kneels down to my level. She places a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“Would you like to come hunting with us? And then come back to our home? Once you’re filled up it should be a little easier to resist the smell of humans, but we’re far enough away from the nearest town that it shouldn’t be an issue.”
All I can do is quietly nod and shuffle to my feet. Despite it not being macho - I knew that if I was able to I’d be crying right now. For the first time since this horror began I felt… hope.