A/N This story started life as an idea for The Haunted Twilight contest. I'm always late to the party so I decided to go with it anyway.
Seeing as its Hallowe'en tonight I'm going to post it. It's not finished yet... so there won't be an update for a while. I want to finish it all then I will post all chapters in quick succession. So if you like it, keep/add it to your alerts.
Thank you to my wonderful beta, Emmettgirl :) I own nothing bar the fangs... yes these vampire have fangs!
The Darkness Within:
Prologue
"No, Edward, please!" Bella took another tentative step back, feeling the loose rocks beneath her thin climbing shoes. Her hands were out in front, as if they could act as a shield and stop Edward coming closer.
"I can't say I'm sorry, Bella, because I'm not, not in the slightest." Edward's penetrating stare locked Bella's eyes to his. His voice was cold and determined.
He took a step towards her, his arms resting casually by his side. Nothing about his stance was threatening, but she was scared. In fact she was more than scared; she was petrified.
"Just stop and think about it, Edward: questions will be asked; people will notice I'm missing; what about Charlie? I'm all he's got!" her words were chipped and rushed. She chanced a look over her shoulder. Terror gripped her heart and every hair stood up on end. Slowly she turned back to look at Edward, her eyes wide with fear.
"Please, Edward..." Her plea was a murmur. Thunder struck a tree in the distance; the crack reverberated loudly in her ears and she winced at the sound. The dark grey clouds hovered menacingly over their heads, seemingly moving at super speed.
Bella let out a sob as she finally accepted what was about to happen. The full realisation that Edward was what they had all feared, what they had all gossiped about caused her lower lip to quiver. But hope kept her talking.
"I won't tell anyone we were up here; I will say that I fell. Nobody need know anything." She shook her head encouragingly, causing the trickle of blood on her forehead to change its course. She let out a nervous laugh. "You know how clumsy I am, always tripping over my feet." She stumbled a little as if on cue; she was too close to the edge.
She was trapped.
Edward looked at the girl before him. His face didn't alter. His mind was set. Her pitiful pleas did nothing to change his mind.
This was really happening.
It was the only way, the least obvious. Vultures would eat her dead, rotting flesh, and coyotes would carry her sun dried bones and scatter them across the canyon. Not that anyone would look this far eastward. She was home, yet miles from Forks
He wanted her.
He knew that he would have her the moment he set eyes on her. She would be his. He grinned ominously.
He took another confident stride forward. He could hear the pumping of her heart, and the sound of the blood flowing through her veins sang to him.
She had to die.
His fangs descended from their hiding place; he rolled his tongue around them, enjoying the sensation in his groin that the movement caused. He tongued the razor sharp tip of the incisors as his head lolled back and his eyes rolled to the back of his head so only the whites of his eyes were showing. This was what he had been waiting for. He was disappointed he wouldn't get to use his teeth this time on this girl, but he had to stick to his plan.
Bella watched Edward and froze. She hadn't seen his teeth before. Icy cold tears slipped silently down her cheek.
"No," she whispered as his hands came at her. She stepped back one last time. The hairs on her neck stood on end and a chill crept slowly down her spine.
Her foot met nothing.
Fear burnt her throat as she frantically looked behind her shoulder one final time.
Nothing.
There was no dirt, no ground, just the open space of the canyon below. Her arms came forward, frantically grabbing at nothing but desperately trying to hold on to something.
Her mouth tore open in a bloodcurdling scream that reverberated through the canyon below.
Then she was in free fall. The wind began whipping around her ears and her hair flicked in her eyes, which were frozen open in fright.
She was going to die, of that she was sure. She spread her arms open wide and let her head fall back, accepting her fate.
Down Bella fell, only managing one quick glance up to the cliff's edge; Edward's face dimmed into black before her unconscious body landed with a sickening thud onto the rocks below.