The Random Vampire Story [1]

James-

I blinked as Bella suddenly burst into tears. Then i realized that the look i had given her had not been as i had intended. I bit my lip.

Why can i do nothing right? I asked myself silently. I'm always screwing up something, be it from people's lives to magic spells? I don't mean to make people feel bad, it just, happens...

I sighed and pulled Bella into a hug. At first she tried to tear away from me but after a moment she gave in and sobbed against my chest.

"Bella, I'm sorry, I don't hate you. It's just, these last few days haven't been the easiest for me, or any of you, I'm sure. I'm sorry. My expressions don't always go the way i want them to. I'm sorry. I don't hate you."

Bella~

I cried into James chest, wishing for the tears to stop. Curse my emotions, always showing more than I wanted them to! I leaned back, looking James in the eye.

"I know you don't hate me," I said slowly, trying to place my words perfectly. "But you're afraid of me...." I resisted the new tears that were forming. James shook his head. "You are, you've said so yourself!"

"I know, but I can't help it!" he replied.

"Perhaps...if I told you...how I was changed...it would change your view a bit?" I suggested quietly.

"Perhaps..." James agreed, still holding me close.

"Well...quite obviously, I was about 17 when I was changed. It was autumn...the wind was just beginning to get that cold bite to it." I shuddered innerly, and James held me closer. "I was out walking, far too late at night for the normal girl to be out. I was never normal, per say. I had been sitting on my bridge, watching the water below.

"A few men came along, began bothering me. Telling me how pretty I was, beckoning for me to come closer. I ran, trying to get home to father, and protection. I made it home, but the men followed. Broke down the door, attacked my family..." I was crying again, but let the tears flow willingly. "They killed...everyone...then came after me." I let the gruesome details of that night stay hidden. I had the feeling James could figure out what they had done by the way I had shivered.

"I stayed with them for a while after they changed me. They were cruel...biting me all the time, just because they could. Even as a vampire, being bitten can be quite painful if they want it to be." To prove this, I pulled back my hair, which hid my neck. All around it were the scars of past bites. The largest one was the one taht changed me; all the others were 'playful' as the men called it.

Then I rolled up my sleeves, reavealing more scars.

"There are more, but I doubt you'd want to see all of them. Finally, I got up the gumption to leave, and did.They didn't follow. Instead they found anotehr girl, dooming ehr to the same horrid fate. I hated what I was. I would go weeks without feeding, until the urges became too much. Then I realized that I could live off of animal blood...." I let my story trail off, not really sure what else to say. I waited for James to speak.

James-

I listened to Bella while she spoke. I looked at her scars. And i pitied her. She would never have a chance at a normal life like mine. Er, mortal life. Mine wasn't normal either, and her standing before me was pure proof of that.

I hugged her tightly. "Bella, your story hasn't changed my views on vampires." i said softly. I felt her stiffen against me.

"But it has changed my views on you." i whispered. "I understand. I understand what you went through, even though i could never begin to understand it, if you take my meaning. I know what you went through, and yet i have no idea what you went through. But what i do know is that you suffered from a loss greater than one i have suffered or probably ever will suffer.
"You had to watch your family die before your eyes. I had to watch as my father was beheaded by a thief and my mother was torn from his dead body and sold. I went to an orphanage, being only six at the time, but luckily i was adopted by a kindly magician soon afterwards. But my mother's fate was not as lucky as mine. Just the next year i saw as her body was carted to the nearest cemetery. She had been worked to death in the mines and had probably less pleasant things done to her there than swinging a pick-ax."

I held her at arms length. "I know some of what you went through, Bella, and i feel horribly for you. But the rest remains a mystery to me. No, i don't want for you to explain exactly what happened to you; i can already picture it, but those experiences are ones i cannot comprehend. And so i cannot lift some of the burden from you."

Bella~

"James, love, I don't want you to lift the burden. You've done enough by listening to me. I've never told anyone any of that. I hardly even talk to men, normally. As you can see, there are a few scars inside to. I just want to find a way to show you--I don't kill humans. I won't even bite a human unless someones life hangs in the balance and I am sure there is nothing else I can do to fix it. It is not fair, nor is it right. No one should be damned in this way." I leaned forward, and kissed James lightly on the lips, hoping he didn't mind. I wasn't too sure of his feelings, but it was about time I shared mine. "Thank you," I whispered.

James-

I smiled and kissed her back softly. "You're welcome. It was all i could do to help."

I gestured down the black staircase. "Shall we join the others? I think they'll be needing a bit of light."

A small burst of flame flared to life in my palm. I smiled again and plunged into the darkness.

Bella~

I followed James into my basement. The others were crowded below, waiting.

"Took you long enough," Slade commented slyly. I ignored him, grabbing the key from my necklace. I unlocked the door.

"Please don't touch anything wihtout asking me. Some of these things are very rare, and I'm quite fond of them," I requested before opening the door and allowoing everyone to enter my weapon room.

James-

I looked around the room, giving a low whistle.

"Jeez Bella, how long you been collecting?" I asked.

"A while now" she responded, smiling. Slade's and my own light gave the room a faint glow, the firelight dancing in our palms flickering off the various metals that made up the weapons that lined the walls. I walked over to examine one that caught my interest.

"What about this one?" i called, pointing at the short sword that seemed to be made out of glass and a blue stone and silver metal.

Bella~

I smiled, walking over to James.

"You have splendid taste in weaponry," I commented softly, lifting the sword. "This is one of the best swords I own. Tis also one of the oldest." I handed it to him. "It is yours now, if you would like it." he took it, spinning it a bit.

"Don't you have anything....newer?" Colt asked.

"Yeah, like guns, perhaps?"

"No, I do not...except for this," I took another key, unlocking a small drawer. Inside it was a small, designed hand gun. "This is a normal hand gun, apart from the bullets." I handed a bullet to Slade to show him.

"It's silver," he commented.

"The best way to kill a werewolf," I replied, pocketing the handgun.

Caiden was awed by the amount of weaponry she had. Two weeks ago she would have thought her pittiful collection of stakes and daggers would pass as frightening. But this...wow...The only thing that kept her in there was the fact that it looked more like a musem for weapons, and not a storage room.

"I don't think I know how to work any of these..." she said slowly, "not without losing control."

"Maybe she should have the gun," Colt said.

"No," Slade said quickly, "I know how she shoots. Trust me, its safer if she doesn't have the gun."

Caiden stuck her tongue out at him and wished she had a pen cap to throw at him. But trying not to be TOO childish-a battle well lost as soon as her tongue exited her mouth-she turned away and kept looking at the weapons.

"Geesh," she groaned, "I'll hurt somebody with any of these."

"Thats kinda the point," Colt whispered in her ear.

"Not what I meant." she shot back.

"What did you mean then?"

"I meant that I'd hurt somebody I wasn't supposed to."

Bella~

I walked over to Caiden, handing her two silver daggers.

"Try these," I suggested. "They're enchanted, giving you a hair more skill than you would normally have."

"What if I already have practically no skill?"

"Then they will give you a hair of skill."

Caiden laughed, she was decent with daggers, she couldn't put on any beautiful displays or anything, but she could angle them right and kill vampires with them. Wasn't that enough?

*short I know*

Looking around the room, i found one similar to James, but with a red and gold tint in the glass.

"It lookes like fire." I whispered, enchanted by the beauty of the sword. Slowly, i stretched out my hand and picked it up. It had the feel of being used in previous and harsh battles, but, it appeared that it generally won.

"What is this one, Bella?" I called over to her.

Bella~

I looked at the sword Slade held.

"That was my father's," I replied simply. "It's a fairly decent weapon, if you know how to use it. If not, it's said to take over your soul..." I chuckled when Slade rolled his eyes.

"Can I use it?"

"Of course, why else would I bring you down here?"

"I don't know how safe we'll be, Bella, not when she has daggers." Colt smiled teasingly at Caiden. She stuck her tounge out at him and he smiled looking over some of the guns. They all fit nicely in his grip and he shifted them around. He put a shoulder strap on one and put it over his shoulder and put some ammo in his pockets. He walked over to Caiden and stood behind her looking over her shoulder at the daggers. "Those are nice," He smiled, she jumped just a tad not having relized he had walked over. "Whoops sorry."

Caiden

I jumpped when I heard Colt behind me and dropped the daggers instinctively. I jumpped again as the clatter sent me into a jumpping fit, I ended up falling backwards into Colt's arms.

"Maybe I should attach magnets to my hands so I won't do that anymore," I smiled.