SKIN DEEP
eighteen | fear

Imogen was barely holding on, the pain filtering throughout her body. She was writhing and very close to blacking out from the pain. She knew what was happening and she knew that the pain would be over soon, but it seemed as though it never would, that this pain would be all she would feel for the rest of her life, a black bottomless whole with no escape.

"IMOGEN!" came a shout-scream seconds after the door slammed shut, echoing throughout the whole ballet studio. Imogen turned her head slightly in the direction the scream of horror came from, but could barely make out the girl rushing towards her and falling on the floor besides her. 

She writhed, choking and coughing, eyes tearing up. She felt the touch of something on her hand and saw a hand come towards her face. She managed to choke out, "Bella?" while continue to cough up, pants escaping her mouth just as sweat was pouring down her, falling into her eyes. 

Bella just sat silent, her hand on the girls head, cradling the writhing girl in her hands, tears falling down her own face at the horrific display of what was happening before her. She saw the bite, and only assumed that the bite was the cause of the pain that Imogen was going through.

Laughter echoed around the ballet studio, alongside sharp cries and pants from Imogen. That's when Imogen felt Bella leave her quite forcefully. Her hand reached out and scraped across the wooden floor, but she couldn't move, could barely speak. The pain seemed to be slightly dimming, but it was still excrutiating and she couldn't move.

She could barely hear what was happening, but knew that James was frightening his prey due to sharp cries from Bella every other second. The cries would get closer before once again fading away. Imogen could see through her blurred eyesight that a shadow would continuosly try to run towards her before being thrown back by another. 

Bella was trying to get to Imogen and James would throw her back, letting her get closer to the girl each time before putting out the hope both Imogen and Isabella shared at each girl reaching each other. 

As the pain continued to dim, feeling continued to come back to Imogen and she could move a tiny bit more. But she knew that it was too late, too late for her to attempt to even do anything she possibly could to help Isabella escape the monster, when she heard Bella let out a scream, before she seemed to start panting herself.

Imogen turned her head as far as she could, managing to turn onto her stomach to see the crouched figure of James and the hunched over figure of Bella. He had bitten her. She was sagged against the mirrors, her body seeming to writhe, and pants continuously escaping her accompanied by groans.

"No!" Imogen attempted to shout, but it came out as a whisper. James turned his head suddenly in her direction, and Imogen just knew he had a grin on his face. 

"I honestly thought that you wouldn't survive. But, look at you already gaining strength," he tilted his head and stood, leaving Bella behind and taking slow steps towards Imogen, who was dragging herself towards him, towards Bella.

Imogen saw red, quite literally. But she had next to no strength and her arms gave out on dragging her body across the floor. She dropped her head to the floor with quite a thump and groaned, bare, dirty feet in need of a good manicure, came into her line of sight. Turning on her side, she looked up at the blonde, grinning vampire. 

He crouched besides her, but seconds later, he disappeared in a blur. Imogen's eyes became confused, losing focus on what was happening. She fell back onto her stomach and continued to try and reach Bella who was now writhing and letting out sharp cries. 

She saw someone suddenly crouched besides her, lifting Bella and attempting to escape. But, James knocked them both to the floor, Bella coughing her guts up and letting out an even louder cry. 

That's when she witnessed even more blurs, all directed to one thing...James. It was the rest of the Cullens. They had somehow known where to come, where both Imogen and Isabella were, where the monster was. 

She saw all of them throwing themselves at the vampire and the rage continued to build within Imogen when she saw that James was taking a lot longer to go down than he was supposed to. The pain had disappeared from her body now, but she was still weak and could barely move. 

However, she sprang into action when she heard Bella's continuous cries and the smell of her blood in the air. She somehow knew exactly what to do and she knew that she had it inside her all along, know only amplified by the vampire she had become. 

Fear. 

She could smell his fear. 

It was as if she knew everything about the vampire the Cullens were fighting. Knew every hope and dream he had ever had, and knew his fears, his worst fears. 

And that's what she imagined. She imagined the red-haired vampire, Victoria, being ripped to pieces, projecting it into James' head. She saw his head flash in her direction for one second. 

And that's all it took. One second of hesitation. One second of distraction. One second of fear. 

And he was dead. His head separated from his body and flung across the room. 

She sagged, her head hitting the floor, her vision starting to blur again. As she faded into unconsciousness from the drain on her body, she heard the cries of Bella echoing throughout the ballet studio and someone moving in a blur in her direction. That's when she welcomed the darkness.

***

Her ears perked, hearing whispers from down the stairs, in another room separate to where she was. Her eyes opened, the canopy to the bed she had at the Cullens coming into view. She spread her arms out across the sheets, stretching her body. 

Turning her body onto it's side, she lay there for a few seconds. That's when she noticed something was missing, something that was supposed to be there, something that would always give her a slight tug whenever she moved suddenly. 

Bringing her hands up to her face, she felt for her nasal prongs, but couldn't find them. Sitting up, she took deep breaths, before it dawned on her. She didn't need them. She hadn't took a breath for the last minute.

And her hearing was enhanced. Her door was shut, yet she could hear whispers and knew exactly where they were coming from. And she could smell. Smell everything around her. Scrunching up her nose, she lifted her arm slightly before putting it down and holding them tightly together. She stunk like sweat, worse than she had ever smelt. Worse than what she smelled like after days of not showering when she had time off school and had just sat in her bed all day.

She cautiously stood from the bed, hearing the wooden floorboards creak beneath her, causing her to bring her hands up to her ears in slight pain. Then she noticed that the whispering she had heard before had now silenced. 

Taking an obviously necessary deep breath, she made her way towards the door, feeling unbalanced and shaky. She made her way down the bright, open hallway, and down the stairs to where she had heard whispering. She found herself in the kitchen, staring at the Cullens. Edward was missing. 

"How are you feeling?" Carlisle asked. Everyone was staring at her with cautious eyes, as if they were about to pounce were she to take another step. 

She frowned, "Fine." She looked at them all in turn, before settling her gaze on Jasper who was staring at her intently, but looked the most relaxed she had ever seen him. "But, I shouldn't feel fine."

Carlisle was the one to speak again, being the boss of the family. "What are you feeling though?"

She knew what she was. She had been bitten and she remembered them pulling James' head off. She stated everything she already had discovered about her new-found self, "I don't need to breath. My sense of smell and hearing are heightened." She then scrunched her nose up slightly, "I really stink." Then she placed a hand on her stomach, "And I'm hungry."

Jasper's head fell to the side, in a similar way that James' had when he still had a head. "Not starving?"

She shook her head, "Just hungry."

Esme smiled slightly. New-born vampires were ravenous and Imogen seemed anything but that. She walked towards the fridge and opened it, causing Imogen to scrunch up her nose at the metallic smell she found emanating from said fridge. And then out Esme pulled a blood bag. 

Imogen just stared at it before her eyes caught the gaze of Esme. Her eyes fell back to what was in her hand and let out a groan. "Ew." 

Emmett chuckled at the girl. Imogen, a new-born, was not acting like a new-born at all. The second she smelt the blood, she should have made a dash for the fridge and bathed in the many blood bags they had in there. They weren't the blood of people of course, but the blood of animals just in case they couldn't find the time to hunt or needed a quick drink. 

"Don't you want it?" Carlisle asked curiously. 

Imogen shook her head, her face scrunched up in disgust. "Not really," she sighed, "But I have to, right?" Carlisle simply nodded his head, while Esme threw the blood-bag suddenly at the girl. Imogen's reflexes were magnificently fast and she caught it between her hands, somehow managing to not burst it open with the strength she used to grasp it. 

She licked her lips slightly, wetting them. Staring down at the blood-bag, she let out another sigh before looking at each of the Cullens individually. "What happened to Bella?"

Carlisle stated, "She's fine. She's in hospital."

Imogen scowled, "Hospital doesn't sound fine." She then thought back to that night, however long ago it was she didn't know. "But, she was bitten, correct?"

Carlisle nodded, "Yes. But, unlike you, the venom hadn't reached her heart." He then coughed awkwardly and stated, "Edward sucked the venom out."

Imogen once again stated, "Ew." Then she took a few seconds before she asked, "But how did he control himself?" 

Carlisle smiled, his whole face seeming to brighten, "He managed to think through the ravenous hunger once the venom had escaped her system."

Imogen just nodded, grateful to Edward for saving Isabella from becoming a vampire. She sighed once more and glanced down at the blood-bag in her hands, passing it between either one nervously. Then she asked, looking down confusingly at the bag, "Can I, maybe, have a glass?"

Carlisle chuckled, "Of course." He took the blood-bag from her and poured it into a glass, every vampire in the room watching the liquid with slight hunger on their features. Carlisle looked up once he finished emptying the blood-bag to see the looks of hunger and stated, "Maybe we should give you some privacy."

Everyone understood and left quietly, passing by Imogen and all giving her taps of encouragement, Emmett basically punching her as he did. 

Jasper went to leave too, but Imogen caught his hand before he escaped. He stood besides her, looking down at her. He looked like a shining angel to Imogen. His skin pale white, his eyes and hair a magnificent, shining golden, as though they were the sun themselves. 

"Stay?" 

He gave her a tight-lipped smile and nodded, his hair bouncing slightly at the movement. It looked very soft to Imogen and all she wanted to do was run her hands through the golden locks, but decided it was best not to. "Okay."

She frowned, glancing over at the glass on the kitchen island, waiting patiently for her to consume it's contents. She then looked back at him, unbeknownst to her, red-eyes meeting golden. "Always?"

He blinked down at her, the tight-lipped smile changing to a pearl white smile. He nodded once again and stated back in confirmation, "Always."