Swan Diaries (crossover between Twilight and The Vampire Diaries)

F I V E ∘ Troubled

POV: BELLA VINCENT
Monday, October 30 2017

I've waited too long to start forming my plans. Maybe I thought I would wake up from this nightmare... or maybe I thought someone would have found me and brought me back home by now.

Klaus, probably, so he could enact his revenge.

What did he think about my disappearance? It happened right in front of him. Would he get Freya to help?

Or even Bonnie. She hadn't heard from me since I left. Would she be worried?

I got back to the house around six. I'd been roaming the forest after ditching the rest of school, trying to clear my head.

Aaron was watching television on the couch. I didn't pause to look at him as I headed to the kitchen. When I finally stopped to open the refrigerator door, I heard him getting up from his seat. I ripped my last blood bag off the bottom shelf, tore off the top, and practically inhaled it.

"Are you all right?"

I threw the dried-up bag in the trash before he could even see, then headed back outside to get more. "Never better. I gotta go."

"Hey, hey." He grabbed my arm and yanked me back to face him. I grunted softly. I was under threat of losing control again. "You can talk to me, ya know. You really worried me, the way you took off like that. Did something happen?"

I couldn't really answer. And I didn't exactly know what did happen. All I understood was the danger I felt.

I paused, then looked straight into his eyes. He blanked immediately. "What do you know about the Cullen family?"

"The doctor's family? Pretty decent people, from what I've seen. My friend is the police chief, and he's said none of them has gotten in any trouble with the law. Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity. How long have they lived here?"

"Around two years, I think."

"Have you met Dr. Cullen?"

"Twice, only briefly, when I broke my arm in a car accident last year."

"Did he seem odd to you?"

"Odd?" He tilted his head. "I guess he's a tad unusual, but it doesn't bother me. What's with the interrogation, Bella?"

I shook my head, then turned for the door again. "Don't worry about it."

I quickly got in Aaron's truck and drove to the hospital. Before stepping out of it, I whispered, "Invisique," and hurried inside.

The invisibility spell is the most convenient part of being what I am.

I ended up in the same room as before, grabbing five blood bags from each shelf. I drained another one before I left, which calmed me down.

No longer feeling in a hurry, I took my time going back to the car. Before I opened the doors to the stairwell, I heard a voice that stopped me instantly. Out of habit, my breathing stopped.

"Thank you, Dr. Cooper. I'll go check on him after I fill out his prescription."

I turned around to see Dr. Cullen. He was walking towards me with a pained look on his face.

He couldn't see me, of course, but I still felt nervous. He made me uncomfortable. Probably has something to do with the fact that his heartbeat was silent. As was his son's. Maybe even all of them.

He definitely didn't smell human, that's for sure. His aroma was sweet—almost sickly sweet. But if not human... what, then? It's not a scent I recognized at all.

He stopped walking as he passed me and looked over as if he sensed that I was there. My heart was beating rapidly.

What if he could? Did he know I was here, somehow?

I left quickly and was back at Aaron's in time for dinner. Not that I was eating.

I locked myself in my room, debating whether or not to go to school tomorrow.

I realized that the only way I'd be able to find out more about the Cullens is if I'm around them. Short of stalking them under my invisibility cloak—which I wasn't against—school was my only option.

This would delay me going home, though. The school was meant to be my distraction while trying to find my way back. But these people would complicate that.

Was it worth it?

I still wasn't sure.