Prey No Longer: Chapter 1, Unbroken

Bella lounged on the roof of one of the many skyscrapers that dotted the New York City skyline, the last embers of the day fading over the horizon. The city was alive with the sounds of millions of humans going about their daily lives.

She had gone through quite the makeover since the Cullens had abandoned her. A year had passed since she was torn away from her ordinary life. Her once unruly brown hair was now an inky black that fell in flawless curls. She wore a black bodysuit that looked painted on, a leather jacket, and fitted black combat boots. It reminded Bella of Natasha Romanoff from the Avengers comics. She'd always liked superheroes.

She kicked her legs back, humming as she listened to a new song on her MP3 player, "Maneater, huh?" she mused. "Nelly Furtado is a babe. Everyone loves a Canadian. Maybe I should track her down and introduce myself..."

It wouldn't be too difficult to score a date with the famous singer. Who didn't love a bad girl like Bella? No matter what kind of crazy shit they got up to in those circles, she was sure she could teach the starlet a thing or two.

Her life had certainly been turned upside down by maneaters of a different sort, more bloodthirsty, ageless and beautiful. Soon enough, Bella would be one of those monsters, if she had anything to say about it.

Bella stroked the single scar that adorned her right wrist. It was such a delicate thing. If you didn't look at it in the right light or at the right angle it almost couldn't be seen. The same couldn't be said for the scars covering the rest of her body. She had avoided her face, but the rest of her body was littered with silvery bite marks that took up more space than her original skin. Bella looked like Jasper, but she was still human.

It brought her mind back to a time she desperately wanted to forget. A time of endless pain and suffering.

Victoria gently bit down on Bella's shoulder, marking her with another bloody bite mark. She made sure not to suck any blood, focusing solely on injecting her venom into the helpless girl. Victoria smiled sadistically. The more blood that stayed in her body, the longer she would live and the longer she lived the more she would suffer.

Victoria had never been capable of being gentle with her meals, but her desire to inflict suffering on her mate's murderer allowed her an iron-clad resolve that resulted in unprecedented control for the red-headed immortal.

Bella wailed in agony and writhed on the ground of the forest, uncontrollably. The venom that raced through her veins burned like the flames of Hell. What sins had she committed to deserve such suffering? She wasn't sure how much more she could take. Already, she could feel her sanity slipping away in the face of the overwhelming pain.

Victoria leaned down close to the struggling girl and taunted, "The only reason I'm not destroying your pretty face is because I want your precious Edward to be able to identify your corpse. It would be a pity if I went through all this and didn't get to see his reaction."

She slapped Bella across the face before grabbing her head and forcing her to look her in the eye despite the venom's burn.

"Before I kill you, I'll be taking your right arm with me. That scar is the last remnant of my dear James. Those damn Cullens didn't even leave a drop of his venom behind. All that's left is what's trapped under your skin..." Victoria stroked the lone scar adorning her right arm with a look of wistful yearning.

Victoria lowered her head to the latest bite and began to gently suck her venom back out of the wound. Bella screamed as the burning heat traveled through her veins in reverse, leaving nothing but raw nerves in its wake.

Victoria leaned back and shook her head mockingly, "Isn't this a wonderful method of torture, Bella?" she asked, "And to think, I wouldn't have ever learned about it if your Edward hadn't stopped your change. Who would have thought? Sucking the venom out through the wound like venom from a snake bite. Ridiculous, but it works, apparently."

Bella lay on the ground, panting. She had no energy left in her body to fight back. This had been going on for hours and she wanted for nothing other than the pain to end. Death would be a relief at this point.

As Victoria continued to taunt her, Bella felt something besides fire or pain. A delightful cooling sensation radiated from the scar left by James. The cold washed over her, numbing her wounds and sharpening her senses.

The world slowed down around her and she could see every speck of dust floating through the air in perfect detail. The scent of her own blood overwhelmed her as did the sound of Victoria's voice that grated on her sensitive ears.

When Victoria leaned down to bite her yet again, Bella shoved her hands at her torturer and pushed. Victoria's eyes widened comically as she was sent flying backwards through the forest.

Bella wasn't sure what just happened, but she could feel a surging energy leaking from her body in a torrent. She could assert some control, but only barely. She swung her hand out in an arc and the energy followed her movement. A tree she motioned towards was uprooted and sent flying with awesome speed. Bella was in awe at this new change.

Before she could experiment further, Victoria raced back towards her in a frenzy. Her eyes were pure black, her teeth pulled back in a snarl, and a look of pure fury on her face. Bella could see every movement the vampire made. Before Victoria could come close to touching her, Bella poured all of her concentration into directing her new power.

She reached out with her hands in a clawing motion and Victoria froze, mid lunge. Her feet scrabbled uselessly as she floated in the air, held aloft by Bella's gift. With a roar of fury, Bella pulled her hands apart in a tearing motion.

Without a hint of resistance, Victoria was ripped in half down the middle and thrown in opposite directions.

Bella collapsed to the ground, exhausted. She was still losing blood and could barely stay awake. Her vision blurred and darkened as she heard heavy footfalls and howls approaching through the forest. Her last memory before she lost consciousness was of a russet-brown, horse-sized wolf bounding around a tree, snarling.

The day that Victoria had killed her father and stolen her away from her own home was the day Bella was reborn. She was baptized by her pain and suffering, coming through the other side with a deadly will and powerful abilities to match.

Bella was some sort of telekinetic, but that was almost an oversimplification. Her power normally took the shape of a shield. By default, it surrounded her and protected her from all harm, but when she exerted her will over her gift, it manifested in a variety of ways.

When she concentrated her gift inwards, she could apply a powerful body augmentation, granting her increased speed and strength. She could control objects at a great distance, exerting fatal levels of force with but a thought.

There were many other applications of her gift that came in handy, especially with her current occupation.

Speaking of work, Bella checked her watch and, noticing it was almost time for her to act, rolled over onto her stomach. Her music roared in her ears as she lined everything up. She hummed under her breath as she slotted perfectly against the sniper rifle that was nestled at the edge of the roof.

She looked through the high-powered scope at the sprawling city below, her finger resting on the trigger. Her target had just walked out the back door of a club, right on schedule.

The pale vampire stalked through the shadows of the alley, avoiding the last rays of the setting sun. He always came out of his lair a little bit early to enjoy the sunset. Bella thought it was a little romantic that the bloodsucker had such an endearing, human tendency.

Without hesitation, her finger compressed the trigger and a high caliber, armour-piercing round exploded out of the barrel of her gun.

After much experimentation, she'd found the effective range of her gift to be about five kilometers. Within that radius, she could exert force on anything and everything. This included the bullet that she guided, angling it with precision so that it struck the vampire directly in his eye, blowing through it and into his brain.

Vampires weren't completely immune to human weaponry. They still had weak spots, the same as any other creature. The eyes were the most obvious weakness. An arrow or a sword might not have enough force to hurt a vampire, even if pierced directly into an eye, but a modern tank buster?

The male vampire dropped to the filthy floor of the alley like a sack of potatoes. Bella examined him through her scope. Only after she ensured that her target was out for the count did she get to her feet and pack up her equipment.

She disassembled her rifle with practiced ease, breaking it down into its components before storing it in a duffel bag. She slung the bag around her shoulder and stepped off the roof of the skyscraper. With no hint of fear or hesitation, she walked out into the air three hundred meters above the ground.

She fell like a rock until she was about ten meters from the ground. She formed a shield under her feet and slowed her descent until she softly landed on the ground, breathless.

Bella walked up to her target and wrapped him in a shield, levitating him until he was upright and level with her. She eyed him critically before nodding, satisfied. She had the right bloodsucker.

She had searched for this vampire for months, as he had something she needed. A unique gift that would help her achieve her dreams. With this vampire, she would finally be able to achieve her perfect immortality, beyond any ordinary vampire.

Once she was immortal the world would become her playground. She was already at the top of the food chain as a human. The Cullens had better run to the ends of the Earth, because Bella Swan would soon be coming to tear down their lives, just like they had hers.