This Time Of Year
Written by: wizardtho
Story dedicated to: Bella MacLeod
Chapter 01:
I used to hate this time of year. Cold weather meant snow, which in turn meant fewer customers coming in at Newton’s. Inevitably, fewer customers turned into my husband drinking more, and the bruises soon followed. Every year, for the four years Mike and I had been married, it had been that way. Until he came along, that is.
Mike had been in the middle of another drinking spree when I came home from school. Instantly he started in on me, claiming I was cheating on him. That was always his first assumption, no matter that I had been faithful to him since day one. Problem was, you couldn’t generally tell -at first- whether he was in a drunk yelling mood or a drunk beating mood.
“Think you could sneak in without me noticing you’d been off fucking someone?” Mike grumbled into the mouth of his whiskey glass.
I sighed while placing my notebooks and plans for the next day on the table, hoping it was just a yelling mood after the day I’d had, “Mike, please… not this again. I’ve been in the presence of twenty 7-year-olds all day -who were too busy talking about Christmas break starting at the end of the week to pay attention. I’ve dealt with an hour-long false fire alarm, saw Angela for 30 minutes in the lunchroom during my break, and met with Eric Matthews -the vice principal- for 30 minutes on a fight between 2 kids. Each kid decided to make crying to their irate parents an artform in that meeting, which didn’t help their cases any. When, in all of that, would I have had the time or energy to cheat on you?”
He blatantly looked at his watch, then sneered as he stood, “It’s 5 pm, Isabella. Forks Elementary lets out at 3. Even if you had that meeting after school let out -and said parents were in attendance- you would have been done by 3:30, and home by quarter till 4. So explain, dear wife of mine, what you did with the other hour and 15 minutes!”
His hand snared into the hair at the back of my neck hard, making me cry out before I said in a rush, “Trying to get my car to start, calling you when nothing I tried worked, then calling Charlie to come get me when you repeatedly wouldn’t answer your phone. I swear, Mike, look! Please, just look at your phone!”
With a growl and a sharp backhand to the face, causing me to cry out in shock, he let loose of my hair to turn toward his phone… only to be met by the chest of a very tall, very red-eyed vampire, who happened to be wearing a black cloak and familiar-looking pendant.
‘So the Volturi have finally come for me,’ was my only thought as I wiped the blood from my split lip with the back of my hand. It had been a bit over 8 years since Edward’s departure from my life, but I knew this day would eventually come.
“You made a grave mistake in hurting the lady. I would insist you apologize, but without the use of your voice, how could you?” I noticed the hold the vampire had on Mike’s windpipe, and how he was struggling to intake air, let alone cry out.
“I have seen eyes like yours before… eyes with that much jealousy and anger mean only trouble for the lady… no matter how perfect a wife she is.” The vampire leaned in, scarlet eyes sparkling at me as his hood fell from his head, then he growled in Mike’s ear, “I had planned on going about this differently, but you being a spineless bastard has made my job immensely easier. Plus, I don’t have to look for takeout now; I’ve officially found my dinner.”
Even knowing this vampire could drain me -was dead set on draining Mike- I couldn’t help but let out a relieved breath. As vindictive as it sounded, I actually hoped the vampire took his time, so Mike would feel some of the pain he’d made me feel these last few years.
Rapidly darkening eyes snapped to mine, and the vampire said seriously, “Close your eyes. You don’t need to see this.”
I could only shake my head as I pointed out gravely, “Yes, I do… no matter the end result for me, I need to see his.”
With a slight nod, the vampire wrenched Mike’s head to the side with his free hand, then leaned in without breaking eye contact with me, his teeth slicing easily into Mike’s neck. Mike started struggling in earnest, but a well-placed kidney shot quickly halted any further protests.
For the next few minutes, though it felt much longer, my eyes stayed locked with sparkling scarlet. Then with a hum as his eyes fluttered, the vampire finished his meal, snapped Mike’s neck, and looked at me again while licking his lips. Mike’s lifeless body fell to the floor with a thud, his head facing me at an odd angle.
Instead of snatching me up and draining me, as I had begun to think he would do, the vampire stooped down to help me up, then asked with a knowing gaze, “You know who I am?”
I nodded, then winced at the pain in my lip as I said softly, “Not who you are personally, but I know what the pendant and cloak mean, and I know why you are here… at least I think I do.”
My eyes drifted to Mike lying dead on the floor in front of me. I went to wipe the welling blood from my lip with the back of my hand again, but the vampire licked his thumb before gently running it across the broken skin. My lip tingled fiercely for a moment as I watched the vampire suck his thumb into his mouth with a hum. After a second, he smirked, “Delicious, but then you’re a sweet little thing anyway, aren’t you? No, you aren’t going to be my second course, Isabella. I have been tasked with retrieving you for trial. The brothers are intrigued and wish to see you for themselves.”
When I didn’t move to run, the vampire nodded in appreciation, “Good. You not running makes things much easier.”
I shook my head with a sarcastic chuckle, “It would do me no good to run from you. I wouldn’t make it out the door unless you were spoiling for a game of cat and mouse. In the end, the mouse still dies when the cat’s through having his fun, so what’s the point?”
A raised eyebrow and chuckle was his only response -or so I thought- until he offered, “Fair enough. Since we’ve established there is no point in you running, perhaps I could trust you to sit at the table while I stage our departure?”
I nodded, then thought better and asked, “If you don’t mind, I have 1 small bag I would like to bring. It doesn’t weigh much, not that such a thing would be an issue.”
The vampire’s eyes darkened, then his nose suddenly trailed up my neck, “I will allow it… though if you should choose to run, Isabella, I will find you… no matter where in this world you try to hide.”
My breath hitched in my throat as I finally realized who this vampire was. Not only was he Volturi, but he was the famed tracker that never lost a target. Edward had told me about him after the James mess. The vampire’s name left my lips in a whisper, “Demetri.”
With a smirk as he pulled back, he chuckled, “Point to the lady for figuring it out. What gave me away?”
I looked around, not really wanting to have this conversation with my dead husband lying at my feet, but at the pointed look he was giving me, I answered, “You’re the Volturi prized tracker, from what the Cullens said. I had a run-in with a tracker, but he was sadistic… tried to play a sick game before eating me. As to how I knew you were their tracker, you sort of gave yourself away with what you said. Can we... maybe... go now? It’s a bit unsettling to have his eyes staring blankly up at me.”
With a raised eyebrow of my own at his snuff of, “You have no idea what sadistic is, Sweetheart,” I waited for his short nod of approval before dashing up the stairs to my bedroom. Nearing the closet, I threw open the doors, then grunted as I dug through to the back. When I felt the strap to the duffel bag in my hand, I yanked, causing a bunch of shoes and a couple of boxes to go flying.
Hearing a hearty laugh behind me, I turned while rubbing my bumped shin. Demetri was poised against the open doorway, one foot crossed over the other, an arm leaning against the doorway as the other rested on his hip. I shook my head after a second of admiring his form, “Got it. I’m ready.”
His grin fell a bit as he eyed the bag, though he asked, “Care to share with the class what’s in the bag, Teach? I don’t smell much other than plastic.”
I stuffed a few of my own favorite jeans and tees in the bag as I offered, “As long as I’m alive, I want this with me. It holds the reasons I have never said a word about vampires existing. A flannel shirt and fishing lure of my dad’s, a sundress and bracelet of my mom’s, an old baseball mitt and t-shirt of my stepdad’s, plus a set of baby booties and a onesie from my little brother Andy. There are also a few pictures in there. The plastic is because everything is in individual airtight plastic bags. As long as I kept my mouth shut, none of them could get caught up in this world. As long as I had these reminders, I knew they were safe. Also, if your bosses decide I’d make a better vampire than lunch, I’ll have a reminder of their scents… ya know, for after I’m in control of all my newborn instincts.”
Demetri hummed while leading me back down the stairs, then rushed me into the woods in his arms before turning back. As we watched from the cover of the forest, Demetri clicked a button on a remote, then the house exploded in a fiery blaze.
“Sometimes, Isabella… sometimes it’s best not to remember. Sometimes remembering hurts worse than forgetting.” His words were a bare whisper near my ear as we watched the house burn with Mike inside.
Thinking of Mike’s body made me wonder, so I looked up, seeing the flames reflecting in those scarlet eyes. “You planted a body for me, too, didn’t you? You had this planned before you reached the house.”
A slow nod was all I got in answer as he watched several neighbors come out into the street in a panic. Then, as if he was content with what was happening, he looked into my eyes, “I watched your routine and interactions for 3 days before I moved in. Now we must be going, or we’ll risk exposure. Just tuck your head into my chest until I stop running. It will be a short trip to the jet.”
Just as he promised, it was a short trip to the small airstrip the jet was waiting for us at. It was a long flight to Italy, though, so I was glad when Demetri said, “You look uncomfortable, Isabella, and you are not usually in your work clothes this late in the evening. Come, I’ll show you where you can change.”
He picked my bag up, then gestured for me to follow him as he left the main room and went down a short hall. Pressing a few numbers on a keypad, he opened the door to what I found was a nice sized suite. “The bathroom is through there, should you need it. If you wish to rest, you may do so here. I can’t guarantee when you will have another chance to rest after we land. The trial…”
I shook my head, “I know… and thanks. Back at the house, though. That thing you said about following me… it’s a bit stalkerish, don’t you think?”
He laughed, a full out belly laugh, then explained, “Part of my job is to gather evidence. I was making sure your pretty little mouth was staying shut to the townsfolk about us. If it wasn’t, they would have been eliminated before we left, I assure you.” I was given a pointed look before he left the room, closing the door silently behind himself.
I used to hate this time of year. Cold weather meant snow, which in turn meant fewer customers coming in at Newton’s. Inevitably, fewer customers turned into my husband drinking more, and the bruises soon followed. Every year, for the four years Mike and I had been married, it had been that way. Until he came along, that is.
Mike had been in the middle of another drinking spree when I came home from school. Instantly he started in on me, claiming I was cheating on him. That was always his first assumption, no matter that I had been faithful to him since day one. Problem was, you couldn’t generally tell -at first- whether he was in a drunk yelling mood or a drunk beating mood.
“Think you could sneak in without me noticing you’d been off fucking someone?” Mike grumbled into the mouth of his whiskey glass.
I sighed while placing my notebooks and plans for the next day on the table, hoping it was just a yelling mood after the day I’d had, “Mike, please… not this again. I’ve been in the presence of twenty 7-year-olds all day -who were too busy talking about Christmas break starting at the end of the week to pay attention. I’ve dealt with an hour-long false fire alarm, saw Angela for 30 minutes in the lunchroom during my break, and met with Eric Matthews -the vice principal- for 30 minutes on a fight between 2 kids. Each kid decided to make crying to their irate parents an artform in that meeting, which didn’t help their cases any. When, in all of that, would I have had the time or energy to cheat on you?”
He blatantly looked at his watch, then sneered as he stood, “It’s 5 pm, Isabella. Forks Elementary lets out at 3. Even if you had that meeting after school let out -and said parents were in attendance- you would have been done by 3:30, and home by quarter till 4. So explain, dear wife of mine, what you did with the other hour and 15 minutes!”
His hand snared into the hair at the back of my neck hard, making me cry out before I said in a rush, “Trying to get my car to start, calling you when nothing I tried worked, then calling Charlie to come get me when you repeatedly wouldn’t answer your phone. I swear, Mike, look! Please, just look at your phone!”
With a growl and a sharp backhand to the face, causing me to cry out in shock, he let loose of my hair to turn toward his phone… only to be met by the chest of a very tall, very red-eyed vampire, who happened to be wearing a black cloak and familiar-looking pendant.
‘So the Volturi have finally come for me,’ was my only thought as I wiped the blood from my split lip with the back of my hand. It had been a bit over 8 years since Edward’s departure from my life, but I knew this day would eventually come.
“You made a grave mistake in hurting the lady. I would insist you apologize, but without the use of your voice, how could you?” I noticed the hold the vampire had on Mike’s windpipe, and how he was struggling to intake air, let alone cry out.
“I have seen eyes like yours before… eyes with that much jealousy and anger mean only trouble for the lady… no matter how perfect a wife she is.” The vampire leaned in, scarlet eyes sparkling at me as his hood fell from his head, then he growled in Mike’s ear, “I had planned on going about this differently, but you being a spineless bastard has made my job immensely easier. Plus, I don’t have to look for takeout now; I’ve officially found my dinner.”
Even knowing this vampire could drain me -was dead set on draining Mike- I couldn’t help but let out a relieved breath. As vindictive as it sounded, I actually hoped the vampire took his time, so Mike would feel some of the pain he’d made me feel these last few years.
Rapidly darkening eyes snapped to mine, and the vampire said seriously, “Close your eyes. You don’t need to see this.”
I could only shake my head as I pointed out gravely, “Yes, I do… no matter the end result for me, I need to see his.”
With a slight nod, the vampire wrenched Mike’s head to the side with his free hand, then leaned in without breaking eye contact with me, his teeth slicing easily into Mike’s neck. Mike started struggling in earnest, but a well-placed kidney shot quickly halted any further protests.
For the next few minutes, though it felt much longer, my eyes stayed locked with sparkling scarlet. Then with a hum as his eyes fluttered, the vampire finished his meal, snapped Mike’s neck, and looked at me again while licking his lips. Mike’s lifeless body fell to the floor with a thud, his head facing me at an odd angle.
Instead of snatching me up and draining me, as I had begun to think he would do, the vampire stooped down to help me up, then asked with a knowing gaze, “You know who I am?”
I nodded, then winced at the pain in my lip as I said softly, “Not who you are personally, but I know what the pendant and cloak mean, and I know why you are here… at least I think I do.”
My eyes drifted to Mike lying dead on the floor in front of me. I went to wipe the welling blood from my lip with the back of my hand again, but the vampire licked his thumb before gently running it across the broken skin. My lip tingled fiercely for a moment as I watched the vampire suck his thumb into his mouth with a hum. After a second, he smirked, “Delicious, but then you’re a sweet little thing anyway, aren’t you? No, you aren’t going to be my second course, Isabella. I have been tasked with retrieving you for trial. The brothers are intrigued and wish to see you for themselves.”
When I didn’t move to run, the vampire nodded in appreciation, “Good. You not running makes things much easier.”
I shook my head with a sarcastic chuckle, “It would do me no good to run from you. I wouldn’t make it out the door unless you were spoiling for a game of cat and mouse. In the end, the mouse still dies when the cat’s through having his fun, so what’s the point?”
A raised eyebrow and chuckle was his only response -or so I thought- until he offered, “Fair enough. Since we’ve established there is no point in you running, perhaps I could trust you to sit at the table while I stage our departure?”
I nodded, then thought better and asked, “If you don’t mind, I have 1 small bag I would like to bring. It doesn’t weigh much, not that such a thing would be an issue.”
The vampire’s eyes darkened, then his nose suddenly trailed up my neck, “I will allow it… though if you should choose to run, Isabella, I will find you… no matter where in this world you try to hide.”
My breath hitched in my throat as I finally realized who this vampire was. Not only was he Volturi, but he was the famed tracker that never lost a target. Edward had told me about him after the James mess. The vampire’s name left my lips in a whisper, “Demetri.”
With a smirk as he pulled back, he chuckled, “Point to the lady for figuring it out. What gave me away?”
I looked around, not really wanting to have this conversation with my dead husband lying at my feet, but at the pointed look he was giving me, I answered, “You’re the Volturi prized tracker, from what the Cullens said. I had a run-in with a tracker, but he was sadistic… tried to play a sick game before eating me. As to how I knew you were their tracker, you sort of gave yourself away with what you said. Can we... maybe... go now? It’s a bit unsettling to have his eyes staring blankly up at me.”
With a raised eyebrow of my own at his snuff of, “You have no idea what sadistic is, Sweetheart,” I waited for his short nod of approval before dashing up the stairs to my bedroom. Nearing the closet, I threw open the doors, then grunted as I dug through to the back. When I felt the strap to the duffel bag in my hand, I yanked, causing a bunch of shoes and a couple of boxes to go flying.
Hearing a hearty laugh behind me, I turned while rubbing my bumped shin. Demetri was poised against the open doorway, one foot crossed over the other, an arm leaning against the doorway as the other rested on his hip. I shook my head after a second of admiring his form, “Got it. I’m ready.”
His grin fell a bit as he eyed the bag, though he asked, “Care to share with the class what’s in the bag, Teach? I don’t smell much other than plastic.”
I stuffed a few of my own favorite jeans and tees in the bag as I offered, “As long as I’m alive, I want this with me. It holds the reasons I have never said a word about vampires existing. A flannel shirt and fishing lure of my dad’s, a sundress and bracelet of my mom’s, an old baseball mitt and t-shirt of my stepdad’s, plus a set of baby booties and a onesie from my little brother Andy. There are also a few pictures in there. The plastic is because everything is in individual airtight plastic bags. As long as I kept my mouth shut, none of them could get caught up in this world. As long as I had these reminders, I knew they were safe. Also, if your bosses decide I’d make a better vampire than lunch, I’ll have a reminder of their scents… ya know, for after I’m in control of all my newborn instincts.”
Demetri hummed while leading me back down the stairs, then rushed me into the woods in his arms before turning back. As we watched from the cover of the forest, Demetri clicked a button on a remote, then the house exploded in a fiery blaze.
“Sometimes, Isabella… sometimes it’s best not to remember. Sometimes remembering hurts worse than forgetting.” His words were a bare whisper near my ear as we watched the house burn with Mike inside.
Thinking of Mike’s body made me wonder, so I looked up, seeing the flames reflecting in those scarlet eyes. “You planted a body for me, too, didn’t you? You had this planned before you reached the house.”
A slow nod was all I got in answer as he watched several neighbors come out into the street in a panic. Then, as if he was content with what was happening, he looked into my eyes, “I watched your routine and interactions for 3 days before I moved in. Now we must be going, or we’ll risk exposure. Just tuck your head into my chest until I stop running. It will be a short trip to the jet.”
Just as he promised, it was a short trip to the small airstrip the jet was waiting for us at. It was a long flight to Italy, though, so I was glad when Demetri said, “You look uncomfortable, Isabella, and you are not usually in your work clothes this late in the evening. Come, I’ll show you where you can change.”
He picked my bag up, then gestured for me to follow him as he left the main room and went down a short hall. Pressing a few numbers on a keypad, he opened the door to what I found was a nice sized suite. “The bathroom is through there, should you need it. If you wish to rest, you may do so here. I can’t guarantee when you will have another chance to rest after we land. The trial…”
I shook my head, “I know… and thanks. Back at the house, though. That thing you said about following me… it’s a bit stalkerish, don’t you think?”
He laughed, a full out belly laugh, then explained, “Part of my job is to gather evidence. I was making sure your pretty little mouth was staying shut to the townsfolk about us. If it wasn’t, they would have been eliminated before we left, I assure you.” I was given a pointed look before he left the room, closing the door silently behind himself.