There mysterious girl

Chapter 23

The scenery flew by her as she raced ahead, defying the laws of physics with her enhanced speed and strength. Instead of the landscape of Italy becoming an incomprehensible blur, Bella could see everything around her in lurid detail. The night sky stretched out above her, an inky velvet backdrop to billions of twinkling diamonds. The trees and grass whipped by her, outlined in such vibrant color and amazing detail that she had never noticed before.

Vineyards, plant life, tall grass, small animals, all were laid bare to her increased eyesight. Her hearing had improved as well. She could hear the thrumming bass of a car on the highway, five miles west. A couple was fighting in a house a half mile south, something broke and the yelling increased. Small animals- cats, rodents, a rabbit- they all took cover as she passed. Her senses were heightened almost to the point of pain.

She tried to recall what she was running from- but had trouble remembering things from before the inferno. The fire that had killed Bella, the naïve human girl, replaced her with something else. Something stronger, unbreakable, deadly.

Someone had hurt her. She remembered that much. A woman with red eyes and flowing blonde hair had wanted her to suffer, but Bella couldn't imagine why.

Despite the comforting scents and voices that surrounded her as she burned, the room she opened her eyes to was the very one she had been assaulted in. Her instincts had screamed at her to flee, and her new body had reacted to that demand before she'd fully considered it.

Bella felt like she should know the three men she had run from, but she struggled to recall their names. The further she got from them, however, the more she felt compelled to go back. It was like a magnetic field, stretched to its capacity. Their shocked, beautiful faces swam in her memory as she flew.

The newly minted vampire came to an abrupt halt, recalling their beauty in perfect detail. She wasn't sure where she was. Somewhere near the sea- she could smell the salt. It was almost dawn, too. The horizon was lightening, the atmosphere a lighter shade of indigo blue where the land met the sky in the east.

Bella ran a pale, perfect hand through lustrous hair, brushing it over one shoulder and out of her face. It should have been quiet in the pre-dawn lull- but she could hear everything. She had never known how teeming with life the world truly was until now. Funny, how it took death to notice how alive the world truly was. For that's what had happened. She had died in that room. Her human life had been burned away one cell, one breath, one-millionth of a second at a time as she had been dragged through the fiery depths of hell.

The burn was gone now, but it hadn't completely left her. It had retreated from every part of her body except for one. Now it settled in the back of her throat, a dull pain- bearable but obnoxious. Certainly, it became more persistent the longer she stood there thinking about it.

Bella looked down at her disheveled appearance. She was wearing a sheer nightgown which had been torn as she flew through the countryside. White hot fire licked her throat, making her snarl.

Quenching the flames and finding something to wear were immediate requirements.

The sound of a car skidding on gravel and knocking something over grabbed her attention. On silent feet, Bella crept towards the noise. There was a darkened house with a running car parked cockeyed in the driveway. Garbage cans were strewn about, rolling into the garden from where they had been hit. A man, perhaps in his early thirties, pushed the door of a sedan open and stumbled out. He was obviously just getting in from a night of drinking. There was a strong stench of stale drink about him, but that wasn't the only scent that drew Bella's attention.

Without thinking about what she was doing, she sprung. His yell of surprise was cut short when her razor-sharp teeth sunk into his neck. The hot, sweet blood poured down her throat, momentarily extinguishing the burn.