Bella

I didn't want one. I repeatedly expressed my desire for anything but a vampire for my 18th birthday. It was custom for girls my age and in my station to receive one but the thought of it disgusted me. It wasn't like receiving a kitten when you were seven, at one point those creatures had been human. It just didn't seem right to me. What they were used for didn't seem right for me either; sex or violence. You could torture one when you were upset or sleep with it. I maintained rather dated views on virginity, unlike most of those around me and I was not a fan of beatings.

When I stepped into the grand hall of our estate I could see him. He was on all fours wearing nothing but filthy rags and chained in Nosferite. It made vampires weak, it burned them. Michael was kicking him shamelessly. He had always been especially cruel in my opinion. The thing hadn't eaten in a long time; they starved them before presenting them to make them less likely to fight. Truthfully most of them knew better than that but vampire sellers didn't seem to care. The punishment brought onto a vampire who fought back was a most terrible thing.

My father looked at me "He is a virgin." He stated point blank. "Cost more than he was probably worth from the looks of him but they are so hard to come by." I suspect he thought I'd be more comfortable if he was as inexperienced as I was but truthfully I was never going to use him for anything. I moved closer to get a better look at him and then my heart stopped. Vampires were all beautiful but he was beyond so even as dirty as he was. His liquid amber eyes met mine and he looked angry and frightened, the poor thing. He didn't know I wasn't going to hurt him especially now as Michael was trying to hand me a Nosferite club. I shuddered. I pushed his offer away "Send him to my room." I said trying to sound authoritative but failing miserably.

He trashed violently against his chains in protest and Michael struck him with a heavy blow. He fell to the ground and snarled like an animal. Michael struck him again even harder and he screamed in pain. It was too awful to look at. Michael struck him a third time for spite and his body heaved with agony. "That's enough Michael!" I shouted. "Jessica," I addressed our maid "Take the gift to my room." She nodded and yanked him by his chains and he followed defeated. He could barely move and when he stood up I could see welts from multiple blows.

The rest of my birthday went rather uneventfully. The cake was absolutely divine but deep down I couldn't enjoy it. I was sure Jessica would not feed or bathe the vampire and of course applying ointment to his burns was out of the question for she found these things beneath her. I did not see Michael at the party so it was safe to assume that he and Jessica had snuck off together which even further supported the theory that the creature was dirty, hungry, and in pain. I excused myself at the earliest time it would be appropriate and went upstairs.

Jessica never returned from her frolicking with Michael. When I entered my room the creature was on the floor shaking with sobs. I would be crying too if I were in his position. A bath had been drawn in my bathroom by another servant too oblivious to care for my gift. I helped him up slowly and led him into my bathroom. He looked confused; he knew enough to know he was not allowed in there. Vampires were bathed outside with the animals typically. It would be unheard of for a vampire to wash in a marble bathtub. "It's alright, I won't say anything if you don't." I said softly. "I'm Bella, what's your name?"

"Edward." He croaked. I could feel his intense hatred for me even in his weak state. I can't say I particularly blamed him. He looked like the type that had fought back initially; he certainly had the scars for it. It would take time but he would learn that I was not a threat to him.

"Edward, I'm not going to hurt you. Do you think you can bathe yourself or do you need me to wash you?" I blushed at the thought. I was probably the only 18 year old girl in the world embarrassed by a naked vampire. He looked offended and wretched himself away from me when I said that. I took that as my cue to leave him.

Alice, my dressing maid had left a lovely nightgown on my bed. Though a vampire's pleasure was considered irrelevant in the act of bedding it was still customary for young women to wear very erotic nightgowns for the act. I bribed Alice with a jeweled bracelet in exchange for something less scandalous. It was a floor length gown of peach silk trimmed with ivory lace. The neckline was too low for my taste and it was practically backless but such things were minor compared to some of the red and black lace atrocities I have seen in the shops. I fidgeted in the nightgown striving to obtain maximum coverage suddenly I heard a loud thud and a painful moan come from the bathroom. Without thinking I rushed in to make sure Edward was alright.

Edward

She was a vision. The way the stunning nightgown fell over her delicate curves, her hair cascading down her back in gentle mahogany curls, the way her fair skin glowed in the moonlight streaming through the window. My breath hitched. No, no this was wrong. She was my captor I could not feel like this about her. Humans were our enemies. But she was different; I could see it in her eyes.

She blushed when she saw me naked in the tub. I did not want to admit it but I needed this human's help. Initially I simply soaked hoping that would relieve my pain but when I tried washing myself my arm slipped and hit the side of the bathtub. It shouldn't have been painful but the Nosferite had done a lot of damage. I could barely move. I waited for her to say something snide or laugh but instead she simply picked up a washcloth and dipped it into the warm water. She began gently scrubbing my face, then my arms, and shyly moving across my torso. I had not felt such caring touches in many years. Not since I was a human child and my mother cared for me. Unwillingly, I shuddered with pleasure as she moved across my chest. She blushed furiously and I was struck again by her soft beauty.

I had not seen a human woman who was not a guard in years. The guard women were large and rough always too eager to strike a blow. My seller held out on a high price for me and I stayed in his stalls for what seemed like an eternity. I watched everyone else be sold but he insisted I was going to sell for more and it would be worth his time to keep me. He spoke of Charles Swan the legendary industrialist nonstop for weeks. When I was first captured I fought back. Every excruciating punishment imaginable was brought onto me and finally he broke me. Still a cautious man he made sure I was near my second death before presenting me to Mr. Swan. He told me to behave myself or I would be punished more severely than I could ever dream of, I didn't know there were punishments worse than that I had received.

There were vampires that had been recaptured who told me stories of going to the homes of wealthy women. It was better than being sent to a factory but not by much. They were cruel and violent and when they were not beating us they force us to sleep with them. Bella seemed so unlike the women they talked about, she was shy and gentle and I could not picture her being wrathful or lusty. I wondered what my future at this estate would be like.

I knew better than to trust a human though. She would surely turn on me, maybe not now and maybe not tomorrow but she would. Perhaps she would tell her father to put me to work in one of his factories. She smiled at me and I could not tear my eyes away from her face. There was so much loveliness and kindness in it. "You're all clean now." She whispered "You dry off and I'll get your ointment, it seems the maid forgot about it." A huge sigh of relief came from me. My burns were so painful it was getting difficult for me to see straight.

I wrapped myself in a towel and stepped out into her bedroom. She stood before me with a little white bottle seeming apprehensive about what she was about to do. I begged fate that she would go through with it and much to my surprise she did. Her childlike white hands smoothed the rich cream across my skin. It should not have felt as good as it did. I felt something completely inappropriate stirring beneath my waist and tried to think of things much less pleasant than her soft hands touching me. "There," she said "All done." I sighed. "You may go to bed now." She told me. I blinked with surprise. Did she not wish me to pleasure her? Did she find me unappealing? Why was I hurt by this? She read the confusion on my face "I shall not require your services tonight or any other night. I must confess you were a gift I did not wish to receive. I wish to maintain my purity until I find someone who I love, someone who loves me. It is a rather old fashioned view I realize but I hold on to it fiercely. You may spend your days as you wish, you are welcome to wander the estate as long as you do not get into trouble. Please let me know if you should need something." I nodded slowly and she smiled "Goodnight Edward."

"Goodnight." I echoed as I let myself into my room. It was bigger than the cage I was kept in but not by much. Unlike the cage however it was quite clean. There were Nosferite chains in the corner, a lower grade I presumed and a shelf with burn ointment and night pills. Vampires naturally did not sleep but humans felt unsafe with us awake at all hours so we forced to take drugs when they slept. We could not wake on our own and they woke us when they felt like it. I had not taken night pills before. It was too expensive to provide all of us in the stalls with them so they had guards watch us in shifts. The recaptured vampires warned me that they gave some of us terrible nightmares. There were clean clothes on the mat; pajama pants and a set of day clothes. I donned the pajama pants and took the night pills. The fabric of the pajama pants was much softer than anything I had been given in the stalls and while the mat was not exactly comfortable it had at least some padding unlike sleeping on the floor of a cage. I found myself drifting off to sleep quite easily.

They finally found us in the mountains. Over 80 years we had been hiding, since I was changed in that hospital. I was struck with a Nosferite club. The first time is always the worst, the pain seared through me. It only took the hunter a minute to snap on the chains. I was screaming and I couldn't stop. He laughed at me "You'll fetch a decent price." He told me. The others had been loaded into the car already but I had hid at the back of the cave. He didn't like that I did that. He struck me again for spite. Oh god the burning! Again, and again, and again he came down on me still laughing. The pain was indescribable. It takes a lot to draw blood from a vampire but I was bleeding all over the floor of the cave. I couldn't even form words.

"Edward! Edward!" I felt something soft against my skin. Someone was pulling me out of wherever I was. I grasped frantically and the pain in my arms nearly sent me over the edge. But there it was, I found them. The body crashed against my chest. "Shh, shh it was a nightmare Edward. It's alright." I opened my eyes. I wasn't in the cave anymore, I was in a small sterile room with a woman holding me, rocking me back and forth slowly and rubbing soothing circles on my back. I began to cry, it was something I never wished to relive, my capture. It was dark in the room, morning had not come yet. "Why did you wake me so early?"

She pulled back from with wide eyes "You were having a nightmare. I heard you screaming in your sleep."

"I apologize if I woke you." I said. My voice was far harsher than it ought to have been "Do you wish me to take more pills?"

"No! Absolutely not! Not if this is how you will be sleeping." She exclaimed. Now my eyes were wide. Did she plan on not going to sleep? Would she send me away? I panicked. I heard stories about the factories they made our kind work in. I wasn't sure if they would be better or worse than the nightmare. "You may stay awake." She assured me "As long as you do not go wandering about. I can bring you some books if you get bored."

"And you are not afraid?" I asked her coldly. Is this how I responded to her kindness? I was unworthy to say the least.

"Your desire for self-preservation will keep me alive I suspect. I'm sure you know the punishment for killing a human." She was right. "Do you need anything or may I go back to bed?" I shook my head. "Goodnight Edward." I stood in amazement. I couldn't even thank her or say goodnight. Was this even real? I lay on the mat unsure what to do with myself or what to make of my current circumstances. I desperately wanted to understand Bella, what made her who she was and why she did what she did.

I stood up and opened the door that connected her room to mine. She lay on her bed like an illustration from a fairy tale, like Sleeping Beauty. She was breathtaking. A beautiful girl, yes, but there was more to her. There was purity in her face that I had never seen on anyone, sincerity, innocence. I moved closer to the bed to look at her. Her full pink lips were slightly parted in an unintentionally enticing manner. I wished to be the prince that woke her but I was less than the lowliest servant. It took every bit of willpower not too touch her. The sun had risen completely, I didn't know what time it was but I heard a knock on her door and quickly retreated into my room.

"Miss Bella!" A high voice called "Miss Bella it's time to get up. I have your dress for the day."

"Come in Alice." I heard the knob turn and then light footsteps. "Oh Alice it's a lovely dress!" She exclaimed as though she were instantly awake.

"Well let's get you into it then." I was bombarded with images I had no business conceiving of; her slipping out of that peach nightgown, her slender legs and round breasts bare in the sunlight. I was ready to slap myself for thinking such things about a virtuous girl.

Bella opened the door to my room. Indeed it was a lovely dress, much more lovely than I would have liked it to have been. It was a champagne colored heavy linen with jeweled buttons. It cinched at her waist and the skirt belled out which emphasized her feminine figure. I could not stop staring. "Edward, shall I have artificial blood brought up for you?" I remembered the burning in my throat and nodded eagerly. "I shall send up Jessica. I'm sure she wouldn't mind taking a break from serving the rest of breakfast."

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