Rhyne

Prologue

She never gave much thought to how she would die,even if she had enough of a reason to do so.

Isabella Marie Swan is a careless girl, clumsy without fault —one quick enough to slip over the unassuming air around us. She was a beauty, even if many never cared to look closer.

The girl possessed a modest beauty, her features delicate and yet memorable. With chestnut brown hair that flowed in loose waves, framing a heart-shaped face, it would shine a deep red in the sunlight of her mother's current residence —Pheonix, Arizona. Her chocolate brown eyes were so evidently expressive and held a depth of emotions, each feeling she felt would run through her eyes violently like the wild ocean. A slender nose and softly curved lips completed her understated charm, her lips red and always pulled into an awkward little smile.

Bella stood at an average height, her frame was graceful, with an air of quiet confidence. Bella's complexion, pale and flawless, seemed as if it was hinting at her future of immortality.

She sighed, the weight of sadness palpable in the gentle exhale. Her eyes, clouded with contemplation, stared into the distance as thoughts of immortality played on the edges of her consciousness. The heaviness in her chest mirrored the eternal struggle within, a silent yearning to connect with her destiny beyond the boundaries of mortality. She'd like to believe she wasn't a daft person, and so — she dislikes the thought of denying how she craved the allure of being a vampire ever since meeting him.

Edward Cullen, so evidently a boy despite being over a century old, was a narcissistic boy. She hadn't realised when they'd been together that he was controlling, keeping her confined to himself even from his family at times. He was a heartless thing, ironically since his dead little heart doesn't even beat anymore.

Unconsciously, her thoughts drifted towards immortality, of how much she craved it, how she'd be safer if she was to become like his family. Bella sighed, this time in a slight impulsiveness of anger, at the thoughts and realization how he wanted to keep her human. To keep her fragile, each and every opportunity of human death and fatal injuries thriving at every second as she breathed.

Immortality danced in her thoughts like a tantalizing yet mysterious waltz. The concept, both enchanting and daunting, painted a canvas of endless possibilities in her teenage mind. Forever young, free from the clutches of time—such allure resonated in daydreams. Yet, the shadows of eternity cast uncertainties. Would it mean missing out on the fleeting beauty of mortal firsts? An eternal existence, a double-edged dream, beckoning with promises while whispering the potential loss of the transient magic woven into the tapestry of youth.

Bella was glad her thoughts were safe, glad that whatever silence Edward heard in her head was all he could hear. She had at least one aspect of privacy, her own little way of rebelling against his control.

It was harsh. Harsh, with how her thoughts took her back to that evening when he left her behind like an unwanted dog.

She thought her world crumbled when Edward left, leaving behind a void that echoed with the haunting whispers of abandonment. Days became a monotonous blur, each moment weighed down by the heavy burden of loss. A pervasive numbness engulfed her, and the simplest tasks felt like navigating a dense fog of despair. Her nights were haunted by dreams of a love that slipped through her fingers, leaving her waking in the cold embrace of an unforgiving reality. The emptiness within her echoed louder than the constant rain in Forks, a somber melody of heartbreak that seemed to stretch into an endless, colorless abyss.

Edward broke her sacrificed heart with a breakup that felt like the shattering of fragile glass. His words, though seemingly filled with love, carried the weight of an unavoidable goodbye. Each sentence was a carefully measured blow, creating fault lines in their once-unbreakable connection. As the reality of the breakup sank in, her world crumbled, and the ache of loss became an indelible part of her. The air hung heavy with the residue of unspoken emotions, and the wounds inflicted by the breakup would linger, leaving scars that time alone couldn't erase.

Bella hummed, silently as her eyes glazed over — replaying the events that'd happened after Edward had finished his loving speech and zipping away with his vampirism speed. She had stumbled into the woods after him, tripping over the stray branches and tree stumps; walking in an unguided direction as she muttered and whimpered after a boy she thought loved her.

Ultimately, she tripped over a rotted tree branch that led to a little picnic clearing —the ground covered in an unforgiving amount of moss and long grass. She cried herself to sleep, shivering under the coldness that the night brought out. Not more could be remembered as she woke to her dad hugging her body to his chest in her bed, her father's face red with cold tears as he slept.

Bella hummed again, a sound emitting this time, a soft sound. Fragile, and human. She sat up from the chair she spent months unmoving in a depression, her joint clicking in protest from its stationery position.

With a curious wrinkle of her nose, she tentatively raised her arm, catching a whiff of her armpit before swiftly retracting her head in evident disgust. Bella could only imagine her breath was in the same state, her lips pulled into a grimace.

She tittered, unsure for a moment before she walked towards the bathroom she shared with Charlie, her father, and showered — brushing her teeth as she jumped into the warmth. She dressed in some washed out jeans and a rogue shirt that seemingly smelt decent before moving to sit at her computer, fingers hesitating over the keys.

She had emailed obsessively to Alice, each one sent with hope that dwindled when there was no response. She blinked away the tears that started to form in her eyes before making her way downstairs. She decided against going into the kitchen, food would not disagree with the fluttering inside her stomach.

Caught in a moment of hesitation, she stood by the front door to her house, glancing at her worn trainers uncertainly. After a brief pause, she decided, slipping them on. Grabbing an old coat, a thin relic of past winters, she impulsively ran outside —drawn to the woods that bordered her backyard as she ignored how she was rejected between the very trees.

It seemed like hours to Bella, sweat sliding down her back as she breathed uneasily, feet trudging tiredly through the grass on her little trail. The sky has darkened only by a slight, a half hour evidently passed, as Bella stumbled into her clearing.

It had once been a vibrant little field of meadow flowers and yet it now wore the cloak of dullness as the seasons had metamorphosed. The foliage underfoot, once lush and green, had succumbed to decay, forming a carpet of rot that crunched under each step. The skeletal remains of trees loomed overhead, their barren branches etching desolation against the sky. Nature's cycle had painted this clearing in muted hues, a melancholic portrait of transformation and the passage of time.

Bella gritted her teeth, irritated but saddened how something she had seen thriving was now rotting beneath the empty skies that imposed from above. She sat in the centre of the clearing, neck bared as she tilted her head to feel the gentle winds caress her cheeks. Her hands held her weight as she leaned back, her hair fluttering around as it glowed the deep red it'd used to when she was with her mother.

As an hour unfolded in the tranquil clearing, the silence enveloped the girl like a comforting shroud. The play of sunlight danced on leaves, casting a serene tableau. A rustling noise intruded upon the quietude, disrupting the stillness. Her head snapped in the direction of the sound, breaking the peaceful reverie with an unexpected jolt of anticipation. Her heart picked up an unnatural pattern, like a hummingbirds wings —unrelenting as it beats within her chest.

Her human eyes blinked quickly, unnerved and afraid to miss anything. She sat up, wary as a female slowly walked through foliage, red hair bouncy with its ignorant vibrancy. The female walked with stealth, with the moves of a predator that made Bella's breath quicken as she slowly raised to her feet in fear.

The redheaded female continues forward to Bella, feet bare and brown with mud —hands intertwined in front of her thighs. The female was humming a tune, a song old and lost in time; she stopped a few steps away from Isabella as she gazed at the human.

Her scarred lips stretch into a friendly smile, canines peaking out and pinching slightly into the plump skin. She opens her mouth, a voice breaking the tense silence as she greeted the human who'd occupied the space.

"Hello, little human."