DISCONTINUED- A Cure For Death (girlxgirl) || Twilight Fan Fiction ||

Chapter Three:

Gotta Love Family

When I wake up it's not to the sounds of nurses starting their morning rounds, the steady beeping of machines or a crying patient. It's not even to the sounds of my own screams, as nightmares overwhelm me. Instead, I wake up as white-hot pain flares in my hip, thanks to someone rolling onto me. I let a small shriek of pain, and my eyes fly open. Bree jackknifes into a sitting position, and her eyes widen with horror. "Oh crap, Bella!" she squeaks, leaping away from me. "Oh god! What did I do? What's the damage? Crap, crap, crap! Do you need a doctor?" she babbles, all in about one breath. I can't help laughing.

Laughter... I haven't exactly done much of it, these past few months. Having your family slaughtered in front of you by vampires, then been tortured into a coma by said vampires, then when you wake up two months later having people think you're traumatized because, of course, vampires don't freaking exist and you keep insisting they do so, tends to make one cry, not then laugh.

"I'm fine, Bree," I tell my cousin, when I manage to stop laughing like an idiot, "you just kinda rolled on my hip for a second." Bree face-palms.

"I am the world's worst carer!" she whines.

"How come you're in here anyway?" I ask, and I take in her appearance- she's dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, not exactly pajama wear. Bee yawns, and looks down over herself.

"I think I dozed off." she muses, and I roll my eyes.

"No, you went to sleep in someone else's bed, fully dressed, on purpose." I say, sarcastically. Bree pouts and lightly flicks my nose with her forefinger.

"Bad Bella!" she scolds me, before she gets out of my bed.

"So, cuz, brekkie time!" she announces, cheerfully. I sigh. Eating... something else I hadn't done a lot of recently. Because how was I supposed to eat when the part of my brain that sensed hunger had been permanently crippled by the weight of depression? How, when my stomach was probably the size of a quarter because my lead-weight heart had smashed it flat?

I could distract myself as much as I could, with my happy cousin and her smile and laughter, but it was still there, it was always there- the knowledge that my family had been killed by vampires, who would never be brought to justice, and the knowledge that my days were numbered. I could play 'normal' for as long as I needed to, always telling the shrinks exactly what they wanted to hear, but the truth was, my nightmare was far from over.

I'd been given twelve months. Over four months had already passed by. In less then eight months, I'd be running and hiding from three mystical creatures that I couldn't seek help from, because how could anyone help me? I'd be locked up in a room with padded walls, where I'd be a sitting duck for James and Victoria and that dark skinned stronzo whose name I never learnt.

In eight months, though, I'd be eighteen. I'd have graduated high school, and have sold the family home. I'd have the money to disappear, the best I could. Because I was not going to just lie back and let them kill me. I was going to fight until my very last breath.

"I'm not that hungry yet, Bree," I tell her and she gives me a sympathetic look and sits on the end of my bed.

"I know it's not like anything you've gone through, but I suffered from a bout of acute depression, last year." she tells me, shuddering slightly at the memory, "I couldn't eat anything, I just had no appetite, whenever I slept I woke up screaming, I just felt crippled all the time, like there was this hole in my chest," she spoke softly, and her sparkling eyes looked dull, flat, as she spoke about it. "Bella... it will get better. I promise." she says, her voice uncharacteristically fierce as she looks me straight in the eye. "Say it Bella! Things will get better!"

I decide to pick my battles, as Bree looks very determined right now, and repeat, what she told me to.

"Things will get better." I say, and I try to smile as I say it. Bree gives me a nod of approval.

"Good girl. Now I'm making you toast and I'm bringing it up here and you're going to eat every bite!" she threatens.

"Yes doctor." I say, sarcastically, saluting her awkwardly, wincing slightly at the jolts of pain the movement creates.

As Bree goes down to make me breakfast, I manage to stand up and hobble over to my cupboard without the help of my cane and with minimal swearing. Bree wasn't kidding when she said she had unpacked my clothes- every single item of clothing I owned was ironed and either folded or hung up on coat hangers. "Dios!" I mumble, surprised. I don't spend hours choosing an outfit, I simply grab the first things I get my hands on- a pair of jeans and a baggy T-shirt.

Maneuvering my body into the clothes was harder then I anticipated, and I ended up on the floor, cursing loudly in Italian, as I tried to pull my pants up over my injured hip. "Want some help?" I hear someone ask, and I blush as I turn to face the young woman in the doorway.

She's beautiful, with dark russet skin, sharp brown eyes and short, glossy black hair cut short, just reaching her chin. At over six feet high, she's one of the tallest girls I've ever seen, and has an unusual lean, yet muscular build. "I'm Leah," she introduces herself, as she strides over and gently helps me to my feet. I'm surprised by how warm her skin is to touch- almost like she has a fever.

"Um, I'm Isabella María," I blush, "but I like being called Bella."

"Isabella María... that's pretty." Leah smiles. "But so is Bella."

I try not to gulp as Leah kneels in front of me and she gently eases the jeans up over my hips. "You're going to need a belt," she notes, with a slight frown, "you need to put on some weight." I flush deeper, and Leah's expression becomes slightly guilty. "I'm sorry Bella, I didn't really think." she apologizes. I just shrug, and stand in place as she goes and digs around in my cupboard and comes out with a belt. I am too thin. The jeans that used to cling to my legs, on the verge of being too small, are now loose, baggy. My hip bones look sharp far too sharp, and my stomach is concave.

Leah helps do up the belt, and I can't help my hiss of pain as it tightens against my poor hip. Leah shoots me an apologetic look. Bree walks into the room, balancing a tray of buttered toast and orange juice. She stiffens slightly seeing Leah, and Leah gives her an unfriendly look that surprises me. "Enjoy your breakfast Bella." she tells me, before giving Bree another stony look that I can't quite decipher, before sweeping past her.

Bree gives me a sheepish smile. "Sorry Bella, Leah and I... don't exactly see eye to eye on some things." I raise an eyebrow.

"Really? What things?" I can't help but ask, curious.

"Um... Leah doesn't really approve of my boyfriend." she explains.

"You have a boyfriend?" I ask, sitting down on my bed. Bree sits next to me, and places the tray between us.

"His name is Edward," she says, beaming.

"Edward... kind of old fashioned name." I muse, "what's he like?"

"He's so gorgeous and such a gentleman!" she gushes, and I start picking at my toast, listening as she goes on about her Edward. He doesn't seem that bad, but the whole old fashioned thing can get annoying quick.

I manage to eat one piece of toast and drink a bit over half of my juice. Bree relents when she sees I'm not going to be able to eat much more. "So... what's the plan for today?" I ask her, as she picks up the tray.

"Ooh! I'm definitely taking you to meet Edward," she says, "And like I said, his mum is the one who designed your room," she adds, smiling, "she'll be really pleased to know that you like it!"

I don't really want to go meet her boyfriend's family, but I get the feeling Bree's very close to them, so I relent. Bree pulls my back coat out of the cupboard and I pull it on and force my stiff, awkward fingers to do up the buttons. Bree then makes me sit down at the vanity so she can brush my hair and pull it up in a ponytail. I want to cry when I look at my reflection. Despite having a good night's sleep, my face is still shadowed and gaunt, and as I look down at my hands, clasped together on my lap, I can't help noting how they're starting to look skeletal.

My hair done up well enough for her rather low-standards if I'm taking her messy ponytail into account, Bree yells a farewell to Charlie, and leads the way out the front door. I grip my cane hard, and limp as fast as I can to keep up a normal pace. Bree owns a horrible rusty Chevy, that I think might have been red at one point- I'm not entirely sure. She has to help me up into the seat, as the step up is almost too much for my hip. "Cazzo!" I swear, biting back a pained moan.

"Crap, are you okay?" Bree asks, her face slightly pink from hauling my ass up into her truck.

"Been better." I grumble, glaring at my hip. "Fottero heal already!" I snap at it. Bree giggles and closes the door, giving me a few seconds of silence, before she jumps in on her side, and turns the keys. The trucks engine roars to life, the loud sound giving me a shock. "Dios!" I gasp, in alarm.

Bree giggles, as she stomps down on the accelerator. I gulp. I'm not sure that my clumsy cousin should be allowed to handle such heavy machinery. As she starts driving down the road, I literally clutch onto the sides of my seat with a grip tight enough that my physio would be proud. "Sweet baby Jesus! I'm going to die! MERDA!" I scream, as we nearly swerve off the road when Bree turns a sharp right to make a turn off that she almost missed. Looking slightly sheepish, she pipes up, "I love listening to you speak in Italian! What does 'merda' mean?" she asks.

"Um, it means a bad word." I tell her, blushing slightly. She raises an eyebrow.

"Come on! Tell me!" she whines. I sigh.

"It means... s-h-i-t." I spell out to her.

Bree giggles, and turns to face me, opening her mouth to say something else, and I desperately point to the windscreen. "Bree please watch the road!" I beg her, "I don't want to die yet! Not before I key my physio's car, at least!"

"Oops, sorry." she says, not even looking the slightest bit sorry. I scowl, and she laughs. "Where are we?" I finally pipe up, upon realizing that we're not in the town anymore- at least not the parts with houses or shops or actual concrete roads.

"The Cullens live just around the corner up here." explains Bree.

"Very secluded. God, this place is so different from home... well, my old home. Chicago." I mumble, my voice drifting off as I remember papa swearing at the traffic, while mamma laughed at him. My heart begins to ache painfully.

"Look! Here we are!" Bree says quickly, obviously attempting to either change the subject or distract me. I let it, having no desire to wallow in painful memories, and examine the house at the end of the mile long driveway. It's a large, graceful house, with a well-proportioned, rectangular design, three stories tall, with a deep porch wrapped around the front of the house and painted a faded white.

"It's beautiful." I can't help but remark, then I blush slightly, embarrassed. Bree just smiles at me.

"It is, isn't it? Esme restored it- can you believe it's over 100 years old?" she gushes. I can't help but laugh.

"You sound like a fan girl." I tease her, and this time it's her turn to blush.

"Shut up!" she grumbles, before parking the Chevy. She jumps out and I undo my seatbelt then wait patiently for Bree to come help me out. I stumble slightly as I hit the ground, even with Bree's help, and I bite back a groan. Bree gives me a sad look.

"Do you know how much longer it's going to be like this?" she asks. I sigh.

"The doctor said it could take up to seven months to properly heal, so I've got another three months of basically been an invalid." I tell her.

"God, that sucks." she remarks, before tugging me forwards by my shoulder. I try not to wince, and I shoot her a withering glare.

"Ouch?" I remark, sarcastically, as I grip my cane tight and starting limping forwards, cursing my frail body.

"Sorry." Bree winces.

I think it annoys Bree how long it takes us to reach the front door- I don't blame her, it annoys me, but she doesn't say anything, and sticks to my side, a silent, steady support. When we reach the front door age knocks, eagerly, and the door is almost instantly whipped open, as if someone was waiting right beside it. And an inhumanely beautiful young man with snowy white skin, purple bruises under his eyes and strange golden eyes answers the door. And I scream, stumbling back frantically. My hips sends sharp, white hot bolts of pain through my body, and I can't help the tears that run down my cheeks. Flawless, white skin. Refined and perfected physical features. Purple shadows under the eyes. And unusually colored eyes.

Vampire.

There was no doubt in my mind. This creature standing before me was a vampire. "Bella, what's wrong?" Bree shouts, and I realize that she's in my face, lightly slapping my cheek. I can't talk to her, can't even breathe, my whole body feels like its frozen in terror. "Carlisle, I don't know what's wrong!" she says, frantically, speaking to someone I can't see. Another vampire crouches beside me, and I realize somehow I've fallen onto the ground. I don't spend much time worrying about this, concentrating further on the two very important facts that there's at least two vampires here and I can't breathe. Literally. It feels like a ton of bricks are sitting on my chest, crushing my lungs. Black spots are starting to appear in my vision.

"Bella, can you hear me?" the blonde, older vampire asks, over and over. I manage to nod, somehow, and my hands reach up, and I scratch helplessly at my throat. Ice cold hands with the texture of marble grab mine, and a honey-jasmine scent washes over me. I turn to face the third vampire and I resist the urge to gape. All the other vampires were inhumanly beautiful, but this girl put even them to shame.

The first thing I noticed was her large eyes, with irises the color of buttercups, shining like jewels in her face. The second thing I noticed was that the vampire girl reminded of a pixie, with her tiny build, height of easily less than 5 feet and her inky black hair, cropped short and pointing in every direction. As I looked at the pixie vampire, my chest loosened and I eagerly inhaled gulp after gulp of precious oxygen. And the pixie vampire smiled, a sweet, excited smile that made my heart want to dance. "Hi," she beamed, her voice sounding like chiming bells, "my name's Alice." Alice... Alice the pixie vampire.

Vampire... deep breaths, Bella, I order myself, before I start freaking out again and end up having another panic attack. They obviously don't know that you know, I reason. Maybe they're pretending to be humans, they haven't hurt Bree, after all, and she's acting like she knows them. I brace my arms underneath me and push myself into a sitting position. Tears spring in my eyes, fresh tears to further dampen my blotchy red cheeks. I'm pretty sure I've re-broken one of the bones in my hand, judging by the sharp spikes of pain it's sending out.

Bree wraps her arms around me, carefully helping me stand up. "Are you okay?" she asks, frantically, and I realize that her cheeks are wet too. I hold up a shaking hand, while almost fully leaning on her, my hip refusing to hold any weight.

"I think I re-broke my pinky." I tell her, my voice kind of croaky. Blondie steps in my path.

"I'm a doctor," he says, "How about we go inside and I take a look at it?" he suggests.

Fear latches onto me, sinking in its claws, as I look up the white mansion, this time in fear, not admiration. Images of the red eyed vampires flash through my mind, and I cling to Bree as my legs threaten to give way. Go in the vampire lair? Do I dare? I wonder. "I... I can wait..." I mumble, looking back at the Chevy. What are the chances it can go faster than a vampire? I wonder- less then zero?

"Don't be ridiculous Bella!" Bree scolds me, and she tugs me towards the house. I hesitate, resisting for a few seconds, then I give in- and almost fall flat on my face when Bree trips over.

"Merda!" I curse, and hard, cold arms swoop in, grabbing me before I can hit the ground.

Bree gives me a sheepish look from in the arms of the bronze haired male vampire who caught her. "Oops?" she offers.

"Brat." I grumble, still leaning heavily into my savior. And I breathe in honey-jasmine. Alice. Mixed emotions war inside me, as I turn to look at my vampire in shining armor. "Um thanks." I say, hoping my voice doesn't sound to breathless as I stare into those golden eyes- and then I start trembling slightly as the black of the pupils expand, darkening the gold.

"You're welcome." Alice says, and I wait for her to let go of me, but she doesn't. "I'll help you inside," she says, and I start to protest, but the little pixie is even more stubborn then I am, and before I know it, I'm using her as a walking stick.

She leads me inside the lair, which I have to admit is quite nice. It's very open, bright and modern, with a wide central staircase to the left, and a raised platform with a grand piano in the centre. Alice leads me over to a living room with black leather couches, and gently lowers me on one. I sit down, gratefully, but when she moves away, for some insane reason I immediately miss her touch. Bree sits next to me, on my left, while the Blondie doctor kneels beside me, on the floor. His icy cold hands gently pick up my sore one, and I shiver, instinctively flinching away from him, into Bree. "It's okay, Carlisle is really nice." she assures me. It doesn't help much, and his hard, icy fingers are bringing back memories of other hard, icy fingers, with a much more malignant intent.

I try to push back the memories, but it doesn't work and it's without a conscious decision that I yank my hand away. I take deep breaths, trying to hide how harsh my breathing has become and how fast my heart is beating in my chest. "I just need some ice," I stammer, looking down. Carlisle looks at me, his expression unreadable, before he nods.

"I'll go get you some ice and some painkillers." he says, rising to his feet and walking away. I wonder how obvious my relief is, and I hope not too obvious.

"Bella, what was all that about?" Bree asks, looking both worried and confused.

"Are you alright, Bella?" Pixie vampire, sweet little Alice who could snap me like a twig if she so wished, asks me, sitting down beside me.

"Just a bit of a flashback." I say, looking down at my hands.

"Liar." chimes a voice, with a heavy Irish lilt. I look up, turning slightly over to the left, to see the speaker. Another vampire, a young looking girl with bouncy bright red curls, whose thin build and height reminds me of to Alice, but cold look in her eyes, and slight curling of her upper lip make her look worlds apart from my pixie vampire- oops, I mean the pixie vampire, I hastily correct myself.

"Maggie!" scolds Bree, looking anxiously at me. I feel my cheeks go red, and I look down. I had been lying, but how did she know? I thought, then I mentally sighed- apparently lying to vampires doesn't work.

"I don't have to give you a reason!" I snap, letting some of my anger leak into my tone. Maggie tilts her head slightly, and her nostrils flare slightly as if she's sniffing me, even from across the room. I cringe back, not even noticing that I've edged closer to Alice, until her cold arms wrap around me, calming me, soothing me.

"Bella, what happened?" Bree pleads, her eyes frantically, "you just dropped to the ground screaming, and then you weren't breathing, and it freaked the hell out of me! Please just tell me what the hell happened?"

I close my eyes, my breathing quickening again. Does she even know? I wonder. Does she know that her boyfriend is a bloodsucking monster? "Your boyfriend looks like one of the monsters who attacked me." I say, flatly. I open my eyes to see Bree's eyes widen to saucers. She glances back at her vampire boyfriend, and he shakes his head, the movement almost imperceptible. And it's then I guess that Bree does know. Well, at least I'm around forty five percent sure she knows what kind of animal her boyfriend is.

"You know, don't you?" I ask, my voice somewhat bitter. Bree jolts, her eyes widening impossibly.

"I don't know what you mean!" she squeaks.

"You're a merda liar, Bree." I sigh, and I look her straight in the eye, my gaze stony. "Your boyfriend and his family are vampires, and you fucking brought me to their house!" I spit out, before letting out a somewhat bitter laugh. "Thanks cuz!"