Cold. That’s the first thing that came to mind when Bella woke up on the soggy, wet ground.

The next thing Bella registered was the faded buildings. All looked like something out of a western movie. All looked abandoned.

Well, clearly I’m not in Forks anymore.

Bella tried to remember how she got there, but all she could remember was sitting in her room, feeling nothing but emptiness and depression, when she smelt this smell, kinda like sulfur, and blacked out, waking up in Creepsville.

In fact, Bella was sure this was the first time in a long time she’d actually paid attention to where she was and what she was doing.

She groaned as she realized she didn’t have her phone, meaning she couldn’t call anyone for help. She couldn’t see anyone about and she was getting a bad vibe, like this place was evil or something, but that couldn’t be right. Then again, with all she had witnessed in her short life, Bella was open to the possibilities that something strange, and possibly supernatural, was amiss.

“Hello?” Bella called, knowing that was probably a stupid thing to do but, then again, Bella had always been stupid when it came to danger. In fact, some said she was addicted to it because she always found herself doing something or being somewhere dangerous, but could never seem to stop herself from seeking danger out because, for her, it was the only way she really felt.

Bella heard a noise behind her and turned around, startled to see a man in army uniform and a woman with long, straight blond hair who was wearing a long, thigh-length, black leather jacket, grey jeans and black boots.

“Erm, hey, er- who are you?” Bella asked, wincing when she thought of how her dad would totally reprimand her for being so stupid. Then again, he wasn’t there at the moment and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

“I was just about to ask you the same thing.” The dark-skinned man said, his tone suspicious.

“Erm, Bella.” Bella said, her eyes flickering between the man and woman in question.

“Jake.” The man said, stiffly.

“Lily.” The woman added, moving her arms to hug around herself. “Look, do you know what’s going on?”

“No, do you?” Bella answered.

“No.” Jake said, looking around. “Come on, let’s check out one of these buildings, see if we can find out where we are.”

They went the nearest building, looking around, finding nothing but debris and, if it wasn’t already obvious before, it was definitely clear now that this town was abandoned and, by the looks of things, a long time ago.

“Do you think we’re the only ones here, or, are there others?” Lily asked as they walked back out.

“One way to find out.” Jake answered before loudly calling. “Hello, anybody there?”

 “Hello?” They heard someone call and looked to each other before going around the side of the building.

 “Hey!” called, seeing two men and a woman coming up to them.

 “Hey, you guys alright?” A brown haired, brown eyed, man with a questionable hairstyle asked. He was wearing a tan jacket, white shirt, a light blue undershirt, dark denim jeans and boots.

 He looked to be the leader of the trio.

 The other guy was wearing a black jacket, a light gray hoodie, a blue top, jeans and worn out, trainers as well as two guy necklaces and silver ear cuffs. He had short cut, brown hair and brown eyes.

 The girl also had brown hair and brown eyes, only hers was shoulder-length with bangs. She was wearing a light khaki green jacket, a purple top, dark jeans and fading dark-washed jeans.

 “Think so.” Jake answered.

 “I’m Sam.” The man said, his eyes asking them what their names were.

 “I’m Jake.”

 “Lily”

 “Bella”

 Sam looked past them and asked, “Are there any more of you?”

 “No.” Jake said, shaking his head slightly.

 “How did we even get here?” Lily asked, “A minute ago I was in San Diego.”

 “Well if it makes you feel any better, I went to sleep last night in Afghanistan.” Jake answered, turning to face her.

 Guess that explains the army get-up.

Bella thought as Sam said, “Let me take a wild guess, you three are all twenty-three.” Jack and Lily looked at him in question while Bella’s eyebrows furrowed, she was only nineteen, then again, Renee always said she was born twenty-three and grows more middle aged each year. “We all are, and we all have abilities.”

“What?” Jack asked while Bella looked at him in shock, not even the pack knew about her abilities, no one did, so how did he?

“Started a little over a year ago you found you could do things, things you didn’t think were possible.”

Jake and Lily looked at him in wonder and question while Bella was just confused.

What did he mean by, ‘we all have abilities’, I thought my abilities steamed from James’ venom? Have these people been bitten by Cold Ones too?

“I have visions, I see things before they happen.”

“Yeah, me too.” The woman said quietly, looking down.

“Yeah and I can put thoughts into people’s heads, like make ‘em do stuff.” He must have seen guarded looks on our faces because he quickly rushed on, “Oh, but don’t worry, I like, I don’t think it works on you guys.”

He started walking up the steps, turning his head back to say, “Oh, but get this, erm, I’ve been practicing. Training my brain, like meditation. Right, so that now, it’s not just thoughts I can beem out, but images too. Like anything I want, just like BAMN, they see it.”

“Great, another mind raper.” Bella muttered under her breath, earning an odd look from Lily as the guy went on to talk about some guy who he made see gay porn.

There was an awkward silence before Lily said, “So you go Simon says give me your wallet and they do. You have visions, I’d kill for something like that-“

“Lily listen, look, it’s ok-” Sam interrupted.

“No, it’s not. I touch people, their hearts stop. I can barely leave my house, my lives not exactly improved. So screw you. I just wanna go home.” Lily said, turning around to leave.

“And what, we don’t-“ Jake asked her, rhetorically.

“You know what don’t talk to me like that, I-“

“Wo, guys, you know what please, whether we like it or not. We’re all here and we all have to deal with this.” Sam said, interrupting the argument.

“Who brought us here?” The other guy asked.

“Yeah, that’s what I’d like to know.” Bella asked, reminding them of her presence.

“It’s less of who, more of a what.” Sam said.

“What does that mean?” The other girl asked.

“It’s er,” Sam paused the said, “It’s a demon.”

“A demon?” Bella asked, looking at everyone’s disbelieving faces before looking back at Sam, “What like a Cold One?”

“You know about Cold One’s?” Sam asked, surprised.

“Er, yeah, I er, dated one. Ripped my heart out, said I was too fragile, too weak, and then, few days later I can do all of this crazy stuff. I thought it was because of some leftover venom in my system, but it’s not, is it.”

Sam looked at her and was about to answer, but Jake butted in before he could.

“Hold on wait, I’m still stuck on the demon part.”

“What’s going on?” Bella asked, looking directly at Sam who sighed before explaining all he knew.

—(‹•›)—

“So we’re soldiers in a demon war to bring on the Apocolypse?!” Jake asked, angrily while he paced back and forth.

Sam had just told them all about how he and his brother hunts demons and how this yellow-eyed-demon fed them his blood when they were each 6 months old, giving them powers now, and how they were to be used in some kinda, as Jake put it, ‘Demon War’.

“When you put it like that-“ Sam started.

“An-and we’ve been picked?”

“Yes.”

“Why us?”

“I’m not so sure, ok, but look, I just know-“

“Sam. I’m sorry, psychics and spoon bending is one thing, but demons?” The girl, who’s name Bella had learned was Ava, said.

She had also learned that the other guy was called Andy and that he had met Sam before, Sam had had a vision of someone mind controlling people to kill and thought it was Andy when it was actually Andy’s twin brother, who he never knew about, and then the brother tried to kill Andy’s crush and then Sam and his brother, Dean, had to stop him and, well- you get the picture.

Ava had met Sam before too, only this time it was Ava who had had a vision of Sam dying and wanted to stop it so she went to find him and warned him and, well he lived but then Ava disappeared and, apparently, she thought this was only a few days ago but was actually five months ago and-

Er! I sound like Jessica, or worse, Lauren.

Bella shivered slightly and looked up as she caught the tail end of what Sam was saying.

“-all gathered here together, that means it’s starting and that we go-“

“The only thing I gotta do is stay away from wackjobs, ok? I’ve heard enough, I’d be better on my own and, FYI, so would you!” Jake’s voice got louder and angrier as he spoke then stormed off, ignoring Sam calling to him.

They just stood there in silence, each wondering the same thing- What were they going to do now, and how are they going to get out?

“Well, I don’t think you’re crazy.” Bella put out there.

“You don’t?” Sam asked, looking at her with hope in his eyes.

“Nope. Well, I do,” Sam looked away, the hope leaving his eyes, “But then again, I think we’re all crazy and, well, let’s just say I’m used to crazy.”

“What do you-“

“Tell you later.” Bella said, hurriedly getting up and running in the direction Jake went in, “Jake needs us.”

Leaving no time for questions onto how she knew this, she ran off, Sam not far behind. They saw Jake in what looked to be the old school building, a little girl who was definitely not human in front of him, a blackboard with the words ‘I will not kill you’ written over and over again behind him.

Sam acted quick, grabbing a long, black iron poker and, as the iron went through the girl’s waist, she turned into this black, smoke-like, substance and went out through the door- Lily, Ava and Andy, who had just got there, ducking to miss it as it went flying past.

“And just so you know.” Sam said, panting slightly, “That was a demon.”

—(‹•›)—

 “Well, that thing. I’m not sure, but I think it was Acheri, a demon who disguises itself as a little girl.” Sam stated, matter-of-factly.

 “Cool!” Bella said, earning odd looks from the others, “What?! It is! Well, aside from the whole trying to kill you part but, I, er, I mean, I-“

 Bella faltered as the others were looking at her like she was crazy, which she supposed she kinda was.

 Sam sighed, “Still doesn’t tell us where we are. Andy, you with me or what?”

 “Give me a minute, still working through ‘demons are real’.” Andy said, looking, and sounding, freaked out.

 “Hey, it’s ok, I was a little freaked out when I found out about Cold Ones.” Bella said, reassuredly.

 “You were?” Andy asked in that I’m-totally-not-the-only-one-freaking-out voice.

 “Well no, but I-“ Bella cut off, seeing the looks on Lily and Ava’s face, “Er, I’m gonna go over there.” She said, pointing towards Sam and Jake and hurrying off.

 “I’ve seen that bell before.” Bella heard Sam say as she drew nearer. “I think I know where we are now. Cold Oak, South Dakota, a town so haunted, every single resident fled.”

 “Swell. Get to know somewhere so historical.” Ava said, looking like she was trying to find something positive in this whole ordeal.

 “Why in the world would that, demon, or whatever, put us here?” Lily asked.

 “I’m wondering the same thing.” Sam answered.

 “You know what? Doesn’t matter, clearly the only sane thing to do here is get the hell outta dodge.” Lily turned and started walking away.

 “Wait, hold on, Lily the only way out’s through miles of woods.”

 She stopped but said, “Beats hanging out with demons.”

 “Lily, look we don’t know what’s going on yet. I mean, we don’t know how many are out there right now.”

 “Yeah, he’s right, you should ju-“ Jake tried to say but was cut off by Lily whirling around and shouting,

 “Don’t say we, I’m not part of we, I have nothing in common with any of you.”

 “Look, look, I know-“ Sam started.

 “You don’t know anything.” Lily said and Bella could tell she was five seconds away from exploding, “I jus- I accidently touched my girlfriend.”

 Everyone looked at her in shock and pity, all knowing what that meant.

 Poor girl, she’s a danger to everyone. Ha, guess we have more in common than she thinks.

 Bella thought as Sam said, “I’m sorry.”

 Idiot, don’t you know that’s the last thing she wants to hear?

 “Whatever, I feel like I’m in a nightmare and it just keeps getting worse and worse.” Lily said through gritted teeth.

 “I’ve lost people too. I have a brother out there right now, I, he could be dead for all I know.” Sam said, empathetically. “We’re all in bad shape. But I’m telling you, the best way out of this is to stick together.”

 “Fine.” Lily said, almost silently.

 “I’ve got a crazy, psycho bitch after me.” Bella put out there. ”Been going on for about one and a half years now. Around the time I got my abilities. Around the time that my boyfriend and his family skipped town, leaving me behind. For, every day that I live, someone else dies.”

 “Wow, ok, that’s er-“ Andy stuttered as they started walking back into town, Sam leading them, holding his iron poker firmly.

“A real Debby Downer? Yeah, kinda why I just want to hand myself over to the bitch and finish this but some friends of mine won’t let me, real annoying if you ask me.” Bella said, nonchalantly, as if she wasn’t talking about her own death.

They all stopped to look at her, each wondering if she was entirely sane or not.

“What?!” Bella asked, obliviously.

Sam just shook his head and went back to walking, the others falling back into step behind him.

“We’re looking for iron, silver, salt, any kind of weapon.” Sam told them as they got closer to the buildings.

“Salt is a weapon?” Jake asked, disbelievingly.

“It’s a brave new world.”

“Well, hopefully there’s food in your world cause I’m freakin’ starving.” Andy said as they went into one of the houses.

“That makes two of us!” Bella added.

No one noticed Lily hesitate at the door. And no one noticed as she walked away.

—(‹•›)—

“Hey, guys! I’ve found something!” Bella heard Andy call from the kitchen and went to investigate.

When she got in there she saw Andy holding up to sacks of something, a big grin on his face.

“It’s salt!” He said, his smile going impossibly wider with happiness and pride.

“That’s great Andy, now we’ve all got s-“ Sam cut himself off suddenly and looked around, “Where’s Lily?”

They all looked around but Lily was, indeed, now where to be seen.

“Lily?” Bella asked.

“Lily?” Ava called.

“Lily?!” Sam shouted, almost giving Bella a heart attack at the sharpness in his voice.

They suddenly heard the sounds of a child’s laughter, one that sent chills down Bella’s spine, and they rushed out of the house only to see Lily hanging up on a noose, high up in the sky, on the turning, wheel thing (Bella didn’t know what exactly it was).

“Lily.” Bella whispered in shock.

“Oh my god!” Ava cried, clamping a hand over her mouth then going on to cry, “Ok that’s, that’s officially, de, Sam, she’s dead, she’s dead, you said we were chosen for a reason, that’s not chosen that’s killed! Ok, you know, we have to get out of here.” Ava said but was blocked by Sam.

“Yeah, I second that motion.” Andy added, still staring at Ava’s hanging body.

“Not sure that’s an option.” Jake stated.

“What?” Ava asked.

“Lily was trying to leave, the demon’s not going to let us get away that easy. We might want to gear up for the next attack.” Sam said, looking back at Lily.

“Oh, yeah, gear up? Ok, well I’m not a soldier, I can’t do that.” Ava told them, desperately.

“Well if you want to stay alive your gonna have too.” Sam told her. He looked back up at Lily, mournfully, then said, “Let’s go.”

Ava walked past them and went back into the building, probably to calm down.

“I’ll get her down.” Jake told them.

“I’ll help.” Bella added, finally tearing her eyes away from Lily and going to help get her down.

—(‹•›)—

As night fell, the group found themselves in a room in one of the houses, all of the entrances salted up.

Andy was asleep at the table, Ava was sitting at the end of the table looking off into space with a blank expression, Jake was standing guard at the door, Sam was asleep by the window and Bella was sitting in the corner of the room, looking on at the scene with watchful eyes.

At some point, though, she must have fallen asleep as the next thing Bella knew she was waking up to Jake telling her Ava was missing.

As soon as they woke Sam up, Jake and Sam left to search for her, telling Bella and Andy to stay there.

“I’m gonna go check throughout the house.” Bella said once she heard Sam and Jake leave the building, “Stay here.”

“But, what, no, Sam said to stay here.”

“Er, hel-lo.” Bella said in a sing-song voice, “No self-preservation and danger seeker here, after what I’ve faced? Puff, a haunted town full of demons who want to kill us or worse? Yeah, I’m totally fine. See you in five!”

Bella walked out, keeping her shield up around her as she went through the house. It was as she entered the living room that she felt a dark presence in the house and rushed upstairs, just in time to hear Ava screaming and see Andy’s dead body on the floor.

Bella was about to go up to her and ask what happened, but something held her back, like a warning. Bella had had these feelings before, always when something evil was nearby but, that didn’t make sense, Ava was a sweet, if slightly scared, girl- she wasn’t evil. Then again, Bella remembered what happened last time she ignored these feelings.

Ava still hadn’t seen Bella, so she stuck into the shadows and kept her shield up, which helped her stay invisible to the naked eye as well as protected, just as Sam came stumbling in, looking towards Andy in shock.

“Sam! I just found him like this.”

“What happened, where’s Bella?”

“I don’t know.” Ava said and Bella had to give it to her, the girl was a good actress, she genuinely seemed sad, but the darkness Bella felt from her said otherwise.

“How’d they get in here?” Sam started looking around, doing his best to ignore Andy’s bloodied body on the floor, when a thought occurred to him. “Where were you?”

“I just went to get some water from the well. I was only gone maybe like two minutes!”

“You shouldn’t have gone outside. Ava, we have to stay in here.” Sam stopped as he saw the brake in the salt. He pointed towards it, “Who did that.”

“I don’t know, maybe Bella or Andy-“

“Andy wouldn’t do that and Bella doesn’t really strike me as that stupid.”

Aw, really? Thanks!

Bella thought, sarcastically as she watched Ava and Sam like a deadly game of tennis.

“Ava, that line wasn’t broken when I left. Ava.”

“What you don’t think that I-“

“I’ll tell you what I think. Five months, you’re the only one with all that time you’re gonna kill for. And that headache you got, right when the demon got Lily.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“What happened to you?”

“Nothing!” But then, suddenly, her whole demure changed and she stood up straighter, her tears stopping, “I did go on though didn’t I? Yeah, I’ve been here a long time, and not alone either, people just keep showing up, children, like us. Batches of three or four at a time. You know I was actually surprised that there was five of you, this time, one of you must be a latie from the last load.”

“And you killed them? All of them?”

“I’m the undefeated heavy weight champ.”

“Oh my god.”

“Oh, I don’t think God has much to do with this Sam.”

“How could you?”

“I had no choice. It was me or them, after a while it was easy, it was getting kinda fun. I just stopped fighting it.”

“Fighting what?”

“Who we are Sam, if you just quit your hand ringing and open yourself up you have no idea what you can do. The learning curve is just so fast it’s crazy, this switch that just flips in your brain.” Ava laughed. “I can’t believe I just started out just having dreams. Do you know what I can do know?”

“Control demons.”

“Ahuh, you are quick on the draw.” Ava put her hand to her temple and this black, fog-like substance started coming in under the window and through the gap in the salt. “I’m sorry Sam but, er, it’s over.”

Just as Bella was about to a move to stop her, she saw Jake enter the room and snap Ava’s pretty, little neck with one, swift, SNAP.

The demon left instantly and both Bella and Sam looked to Jake in shock.

“So, I guess she’s dead then?” Bella asked, stepping out from the shadows, making the boys jump and look at her in shock.

“How long were you there for?” Sam asked.

“Long enough.”

—(‹•›)—

“I think we can make it out of here now.” Sam said as the trio made their way out of the house.

 “But the Acheri demon-“

 “No, no, Ava was summoning it, controlling it, it shouldn’t come back now that she’s dead, we gotta go.”

 “Not we Sam. Only one of us is getting out of here, I, I’m sorry.”

 “What?”

 “I, I had a vision, a yellow eyed demon or whatever it was it, he talked to me, told me how it was.”

Bella knew who he was talking about, she had a vision of a yellow-eyed-demon too, the only difference was that Bella had decided not to act on the demons words, trusting her instincts, which were telling her she could trust Sam, instead.

“No, no, Jake you, you can’t listen to him-“

“Sa, Sam, he’s not letting us go, only one, now we don’t play along, he’ll kill us all. Now, I, I like you man, both of you, I but do, but do the math here, what good it do all of us die. Now I can get out of here, get close to the demon, I kill the bastard.”

“You come with us, we can kill him together.”

“How do I know you won’t turn on me.”

“I won’t.”

“I don’t know that.”

“Well, I definitely won’t.” Bella put in, “I’m loyal to a fault, hell, I waited two years for my boyfriend and his family to come back, even when it was clear they wouldn’t. Always defended them, no matter how much danger they put me in, still loved ‘em. Hum, what does that say about me?”

“That you’re loyal, trustworthy, we both are, come on Jake, you really don’t want to do this.” When Jake just stared at him, Sam said, “Ok, look.”

Sam moved his jacket and carefully took his knife out and lowered it to the ground.

“Just come with me Jake, don’t do this, don’t play into what he wants.”

Jake lowered his weapon to the ground too, and, just as it looked like he was going to agree with Sam, he punched him, sending him through a fence.

Bella screamed and started towards Sam but Jake stopped her, pushing her back against the house.

From where Bella was, she could vaguely see Sam and Jake fighting but couldn’t see properly thanks to the black spots in her vision.

Bella shook her head and managed to see just as Sam was about to hit Jake with an iron bar.

“Don’t.” Bella called, getting up and ignoring the pain along her back as she walked over to him, “It’s not worth it.”

Sam looked at her and nodded, dropping the bar. Just as he went to say something, they heard a noise and they looked over, only to see two men coming down the path, both holding a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

“Sam!” The younger one called out, relief evident in his voice.

“Dean!”

“Friends of yours?” Bella muttered, weakly.

But before Sam could answer, Dean shouted, “Sam look out!” and Bella scream, once again, as Jake drove a knife through Sam’s back.

The very knife that Sam had put on the ground to show Jake that he could trust him.

“NOOOOOOOO!” Dean screamed as him and the other man rushed over while Bella used her abilities to push Jake back, away from Sam.

The older man ran after Jake while Dean clung onto Sam, calling his name, and Bella just stood there, trying to understand what had just happened.

“Look at me, it’s not even that bad, it’s not even that bad, alright?” Dean told Sam, desperately, even though both him and Bella could see the blood and knew Sam would be dead in a matter of  seconds.

“Sam! Hey, listen to me, we’re gonna patch you up, ok? You’ll be as good as new. I’m gonna take care of you, I’m gonna take care of you, I’ve got you. That’s my job right, watch after my pain in the ass little brother. Sam? Sam? Sam? Sammy?!”

Bella had tears streaming down her face as she watched Dean cling to Sam. She flinched as Dean screamed, a single tear falling from his eyes.

—(‹•›)—

“Erm, er, thanks, er, thanks for the ride.” Bella said as they stopped in front of the police station in the nearest town.

 Dean and Bobby, as Bella found out his name was, reminded silent as she sighed and opened the door.

 “Look, I know this is the last thing you want hear right now but, I’m sorry. Sorry I didn’t see, sorry I didn’t try harder I mean I should have-“

 “Stop, just stop kid.”

 Bella looked at Dean in surprise.

 “Yeah, I know your just a kid, your what, 17, 18?”

 “Try 19.”

 “Ok, 19, you got your whole life ahead of you. Just, I dunno, go do whatever it is teenagers do, get drunk, hang out at parties, go to collage, be normal- just don’t get dragged back into all of this.”

“I make no promises.” Bella said, slightly teasing but on seeing the serious, deadpan expression on Dean’s face she quickly added, “No, I, just, I, I mean, wherever I go, death and danger seems to follow, it’s like I’m addicted to it, I just… I can’t keep doing this, putting people in danger, not being any help. I.”

Bella looked out of the car, tearing up a bit.

“You’ll be ok, kid.” Bobby said, “We all will.”

“No, I won’t.” Bella stated.

She looked back at Sam, the tears falling from her eyes, then looked directly into Dean’s eyes, “But we can sure as hell try.”

Dean smirked a bit but Bella could see he just wanted her gone so he could get out of there and mourn in peace.

So with that, Bella left, not really sure what else to say or do. She watched the black Impala drive away until it turned a corner and was out of view. She sighed and turned, walking into the police station and up to the desk sergeant.

“Hello Miss, can I help you with anything.”

“Yeah, erm, yeah- I need to get back home, I should be on the missing person’s list?”

“Ok then love, what’s the name.”

“Swan. Bella Swan.”

—(‹•›)—

“Daddy.” Bella cried as she hugged her father close, her tears wetting his jacket.

“Hey kiddo.” Charlie Swan said, holding his daughter tight and not letting her go.

It was in this moment that Bella decided that she would no longer wait for Edward Cullen. That she would no longer hide away and watch the world pass her by. She would spend the rest of her life protecting and caring for her loved ones, she would tell them she loves them every day for as long as she lived.

And even if this experience would change her life in ways she did not know back then, even if fate would make her break her vow- she would never forget the events of Cold Oak. And Bella certainly would never forget the man named Sam Winchester.

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