A/N- This story is written to go with the amazing banner Celesticbliss made for the banner-rama contest on Fanficaholics Anon. Her banner took first place and this story is her prize. So I hope you like it girl!

Thanks to Claire Bloom for pre reading this prologue for me and for Acrosstheskyinstars for her amazing beta skills.

If you would like to see the banner for this story, you can find it on the Facebook group Fanficaholics Anon: Where Obsession Never sleeps.

Pavlov's Bell

1901

There had been terror swirling around them before, but nothing like what Charles felt when the three men in long robes entered the room. Their very presence filled the air with something evil and foreboding.

"Charles Swan, is it?" The cloaked figure in the middle pushed his hood away to reveal a pale face, old and ashen looking. It appeared as though it would crust away if one touched it, and yet Charles could tell the power of this man was not only through his bodyguards but through his own hands. His presence wrapped around him like a coil, ready to spring.

"Please don't hurt my family," Charles begged, stepping half in front of his wife who held their sleeping babe. He didn't understand how his babe had slept through the abduction but he was grateful none-the-less.

"Mr. Swan, I see no reason why we cannot all leave this unpleasant situation with everything we desire. You, your family, and I…" His eyes slowly fell to the young child in her mother's arms.

Charles looked back in horror. "You cannot have my daughter," Charles stated firmly, but the crack in his voice belied his true emotion—fear.

"Oh." The man slanted his head to the side and smiled a sinister grin. "We do not want all of her."

Charles, in anger, threw himself at the man, only to be stopped short when a hand reached his throat before he could even take a step.

"Calm yourself, Mr. Swan, or there will be consequences you do not like."

Charles relaxed the fists at his side and his body slump in resignation. The hand at his throat was gone, and when he looked, there was no one around him. Confused and disoriented, he glanced back up to the man in front of him.

"What do you want from me?"

The man clapped his hands and the sound made Charles flinch. "Yes. Here is what you will do for me, Mr. Swan. You will give me a vial of your daughter's blood. Each month, you will return to me with another."

"My daughter's blood? What kind of monstrous villain are you?"

"The very worst kind, indeed. If my demands are not met, your family will perish. Do not test me, Mr. Swan, for I am quite serious." He turned to the young boy in the room. Charles had thought he looked young and out of place, but his eyes burned red like the others and he knew this sweet face was not to be trusted. "Alec, take the child."

Charles' wife cried out and held her baby tight.

"No!" Charles declared.

"I see you don't believe me at my word. Pity." The man took a step forward and reached out, snapping the wife's neck, grabbing the baby before the body could sink to the floor. The infant awoke and began crying as Alec took the baby from the man and fled the room.

Charles dropped down at his wife's broken body and sobbed.

"I trust we will have no more problems, Mr. Swan." Charles looked up in hatred of the man who had so easily stolen his love from him. "Hate me all you wish. Just bring the vials monthly and you and your child will live."

The boy was back as quickly as he had left and handed the baby to Charles. He looked down, suspicious, but could tell right away this was his little Bella.

"Leave now," the man commanded, and suddenly there were arms around Charles, leading him away. He cried out for his wife but he could not fight with the babe in his arms.

"You promised his child would live," one of the other robed men stated. "What we are doing will be a death sentence for the girl."

The man smiled. "She is a sacrifice. The key to our ability to control our thirst."

E/N- Hey Guys, I am entering/have entered this anon contest. Please go check out the stories...they've just started posting, and vote when the time comes!
http:/www . fanfiction . net/u/2217440/Spring_Squeezing_Contest