Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Dark as Night
Chapter One
Edward's POV
Swiftly and alone, I walked the darkened city streets that I knew by heart, navigating through the rain-soaked, concrete maze that was my town as I searched for something that I knew would probably find me first.
It had been seventeen years since it happened – that dreadful night when I had been fourteen years old and watched my parents being savagely murdered in front of me in our downstairs parlor.
Surprisingly bright colors of crimson had been splashed all over our suburban Illinois home, that horrendous color only being visible to me whence the lightening from outside had streamed across the sky and illuminated their immobile corpses lying next to my shaking body.
My parents had been brutally attacked while I had somehow survived, their bodies drained entirely of blood…
…and I knew why.
Rounding another brick-laden corner to head out onto the nearest road from the outreaching alley behind me, I heard it.
A woman was screaming…about ninety-three…make that ninety-five yards northeast from my position, and I did not hesitate in the least before sprinting in the darkness towards the direction of the strangled cries.
The collected puddles of murky water sprang up from the chilled streets as I ran down the adjacent alleyway, turned left down another main road, my steps hurrying slightly upon noticing that the woman had stopped screaming as I quickly ducked into another alley, blending into the surrounding, evening ink as much as the very shadows themselves.
The ground-length flaps of my opened, black trench coat whipped across my calves as I moved, my heavy breathing muffled by the dark-blue scarf I had covering my mouth and nose, as I hurried down that passageway, unforgiving buildings on every side of me, before I made a sharp right onto the side-lane for additional apartment complexes I knew were there.
Suddenly stopping dead in my tracks, my emerald green eyes widened in revelation as I beheld the heart-stopping sight of a young woman, dressed in a flower-patterned dress and a beige raincoat, hanging limply inside the pale, sheet-white arms of her predator.
Despite the transition having only amounted to a few seconds, my sharp eyes slid up from the blood-spattered woman to the tall, slender vampire holding her; his simple, white dress shirt matching his skin tone perfectly and almost glowing amidst so much velvety black atmosphere as he kept his blonde, curly head craned down to her gushing neck whilst he drank.
I opened my mouth to speak, to say something, anything, the thought more than prominent inside my mind that I needed to shout something to the vampire to get his attention, but that notion easily faded away from me as I watched how the golden-haired vampire carefully detached his lips from her throat before slowly lowering her frail body down so that she was still propped up by the building in front of them.
My gaze stayed on the glowing, ethereal vampire as he straightened back up to his full height and tipped his blonde head back, seeming to genuinely savor the rejuvenated sensations that came with feeding on human blood, as he closed his eyes that I had yet to see and remained in his certain state of bliss.
His expression looked that of a sensual high, a truly euphoric pleasure coursing through his systems that brought him effortless peace, as the pallid, beautiful creature before me brought out his tongue and slowly licked at his blood-stained lips.
I felt my leather-gloved hands hesitate at my sides, physically refusing to obey the order that my brain was trying to give them, as I realized in some corner of my mind that I did not want to disturb such an unabashed moment of this gorgeous being experiencing pleasure right before my curious, unwavering eyes.
However, before I could ponder another thought, the white-and-black-clad vampire suddenly snapped his eyes open, looking right at me with his intense, scarlet gaze, as he took a visible step away from me and lifted his arms defensively.
Acting on pure, learned reflex upon, effectively, seeing another vampire being on his guard in front of me, my hands finally complied with my instincts as I rapidly reached to the front of my modified, leather vest, pulling out multiple, silver spikes in between my fingers, and launched them at the blonde-haired, red-eyed immortal.
His reaction time and senses far beyond my own, the lovely but guarded vampire dodged my initial onslaught with incredible speed, rendering all four of my solid silver weapons to lodge uselessly into the brick of the building beside him, as the vampire curled his luscious, ruby-red lips back and bared his deadly fangs at me.
Then, in the next instant, he turned his back to me and fled the scene, his wheat-colored curls, damp with the rain that had pounded down upon this city only a few hours prior, bouncing alluringly behind him as I took a bold step forward so I may see the way he sped down the shadowed alleyway before leaping high into the air so that he could continue to flee via the rooftops.
I stood where I was for a moment longer, watching the area where that vampire had just been, before I quickly stepped to the side of the injured woman and knelt down beside her.
Old blood ran down from the right side of her neck, covering her skin completely and staining her otherwise cheerful dress until the trail stopped around her waist.
"She hasn't lost that much…"I mentally noted as I lifted a few fingers to her neck to check her pulse, feeling a bit more relieved when I found it beating weakly there against my probing fingertips.
Standing up from my crouching position, I reached out and wrapped my fingers around the silver stakes that were still sticking out from the brick wall, yanking them all out in a short burst of strength, before calmly walking away from her and that alleyway.
In one hand, I simply held the four stakes at my side rather than replacing them inside my vest at the moment, as I slipped my other hand into my left pocket of my black coat to retrieve my cell phone.
Dialing an all-too familiar number, I placed the device by my ear, not even bothering to lower my scarf from my mouth as I was sure they would be able to understand my simple message well enough.
"9-1-1; what is your emergency?" a female dispatcher answered my phone call.
"Corner of 11th and Riverview…you'll find a woman there," I stated curtly before nonchalantly hanging up and dropping my cell phone back inside my coat pocket.
I took a deep breath as I continued walking, feeling more than ready to merely call it a night, as I darted my eyes left and right and left again, checking every available corner and eye-tricking lane in between buildings as I directed my steps towards my own apartment which was not far from where I was.
In such unyielding silence, where my inevitable solitude is only accompanied by the sounds of my own footsteps, I let my mind wander back to my latest clash with the supernatural, and the unexpectedly gorgeous vampire with which it involved.
"When he was just standing there, when he had no idea that I was watching him…he looked so beautiful," I reflected somberly, my olive-green eyes watching the street as I glided over its surface with knowing ease in my stride.
"…his face was…" I continued to muse to myself, trailing off even inside my own head as I sifted through my own internal thesaurus before finally coming across the one word I knew would satisfy my contemplative mind, "…perfect."
Twenty-three minutes and eleven seconds later, I quietly opened the door to my apartment, my green eyes continuing to survey every angle and shape that I was met with as I maneuvered inside the living space and promptly closed to the door behind me.
My apartment was located on the west side of town, one of the many newly renovated complexes that used to be ancient buildings that had once occupied these streets, but were now rather expensive lofts for the unquestionable wealthy to utilize.
I was one of them, so I tried to live like one of them.
However, I was fairly certain that no one else in my building spent their nights as I did.
My apartment door locked, I bent over and brought my hands to the laces of my thick, leather boots, prying the durable, interweaved strings apart before I lethargically pulled the heavy boots from my feet by the door.
With a tired sigh, exhausted by much more than just normal, human fatigue at the moment, I straightened my long, strong form back up to my full height, my hands already picking off my leather gloves from my hands and stuffing them into the corresponding pockets of my coat, my thoughts having slipped into a sort of repetitive loop of fresh memories and bizarre realizations as a result.
"…never seen lips like his before…unbelievable…" my traitorous mind continued despite my best efforts to quite my thoughts down and try to relax, my hands pulling my thick trench coat and scarf off of my slumping, melancholic form to be hung along the nearest, golden coat rack fastened to the plain wall.
"Get it together, will you…" I voiced the command aloud to myself, not bothering on switching on the light to the short hallway as I entered into the main living room, purposefully navigating straight to the master bedroom and, by proxy, the adjacent bathroom.
The walls of the living room and connecting hallways of my apartment were kept a pleasing white, trimmed in dark, chocolate-colored wood that contrasted nicely with such a light color, prompting my conscious decision to buy dark, wooden furniture to match.
Accenting my living room, however, were the random splotches of black and red, found coloring the pillows along my black couch, the rug beneath it, and various decorative things around the neat, barely touched area.
Not being amidst such an expanse of space, however, were framed pictures of friends, any signs of previous accomplishments, or anything even relatively personal.
That had also been a conscious decision on my part.
Transitioning from my unlit, navy-painted bedroom, I entered into the master bathroom and only then clicked on the lights, myself not particularly favoring the relentless, bright shine cascading over me from glowing bulbs that much anymore.
Placing my calloused, work-hardened hands on top of the white-marble countertop, I lifted my head up and peered at my own reflection in the mirror before me.
Beside the large, oval-shaped mirror, the walls were a burnt peach color, highlighted by gold specks and trimmed in a clean white; I truly had a beautiful bathroom but all of that was totally lost on me as I frowned at my own forlorn expression.
My skin was pale, touched only but the slightest hint of pink on my cheeks, and my naturally copper-colored hair looked an absolute wreck as it stuck out in a number of different, gravity-defying directions, and I knew that my being out in the horrible weather all night had not helped the situation.
"What's the matter, Edward?" I asked myself in my own thoughts, staring at my reflection as if the man in the mirror was someone else entirely and I was able to mentally communicate my every, deepest idea to him, "…why is…that vampire bothering you so much?
"Nothing…" I spoke aloud quietly, lowering my eyes away from my reflected likeness as I studied the long, golden handles adorning the sink, "…but I can't help it…why did he let that woman live…?"
With a shake of my head after I closed my eyes, I pushed myself away from the sink and mirror, perhaps in rejection of what I was thinking, as I brought my hands to the bottom hem of my black, knit sweater and easily hoisted it up and over my arms and chest.
I let my expensive clothes crumple forgotten on the tiled floor below as I slid out of my dark jeans and black boxers as well and sluggishly stepped into my spacious, glass-encased shower, sliding the door closed behind me upon doing so.
Adjusting the water temperature to near scalding hot, I turned on the shower and sighed the moment the heated liquid began to rain over my body, warming up my chilled flesh and foggy thoughts with almost crystallized clarity.
I inhaled deeply of the steam from the hot water, letting it also clear my senses a bit, as I brought my hands to my face and scrubbed them against my features, wiping the water out of my eyes as well as trying to feel a little more grounded with reality.
"Curly, blonde hair…high cheekbones…a strong jaw… puts any Renaissance painting I've ever seen to shame…" I caught myself thinking upon tonight's vampire once more, able to see the immortal male still standing there in front of me, licking his lips with that little, pink tongue and closing his eyes as if in utter peace with the world and everything in it.
"It was magnificent to see, really…"I affirmed to my own inner musings, opening my eyes as I reached forward for the orange bottle of shampoo so I may gather some of its smooth, glistening white contents into my palm, "…I've only seen vampires who get instantly aggressive; always cocky and arrogant; never…so calm and…stunning…"
As I massaged the perfumed gel into my penny-colored locks of hair, I could not help but ponder a bit more about my last idea, my own inner statement running over and over again inside my mind as I chewed on it, dwelled on it almost ruthlessly.
Leaving my tresses full of bubbles, I reached for the green bar of soap, routinely working it in my hands for a moment to create a rich collection of suds with which to wash over my lean, muscular form.
My soap-covered hands ran over each of my scarred, strong arms, washing away the tension there, before coasting down my toned abdomen and down my sculpt legs where only a few scars marred my snow-kissed skin, my thoughts taking an odd turn in terms of remembering how I had gotten such blemishes over the years of doing what I did.
The jagged scar that ran across the top of my left thigh had been from a hand-to-hand fight with a vampire who had raked his joined nails hard across that area in an effort to stagger me so I could not follow whence he had fled.
The small but deep scar that marked my right forearm had been from an instance where a particularly enraged vampire had broken my arm, making the ulna snap in half and slice right through my skin until it poked out an a truly terrifying angle.
I swallowed down the spit that had collected in the back of my throat upon recalling that specific encounter, practically able to still hear my own bloodied screams that had erupted from a place deep with me as I had cried out in unspeakable pain to the rest of the empty warehouse I had been in at the time.
Rinsing the soap and suds from my body, I turned off the shower at once and pushed aside the glass door, ready to close my eyes and forget everything currently plaguing my mind this night.
From the towel rack located by the shower, I sighed through my nose as I pulled a large, dark-green towel down from the fixture, immediately bringing the soft material to my legs to dry the cooling water from my skin.
"…I should just forget all about that vampire…I'm just…torturing myself, thinking about him," I said to myself, perhaps just needing something stricter than my own thoughts to wash upon me as I ran the length of the towel down my arms and across my broad chest before bringing it up to my unruly, dripping hair.
"…but what if I did see him again…it is possible…" my thoughts battled against what I was able to say aloud, my own internal war with myself making the movements of my hands slow down in their task as I scrubbed the dark-green material through my copper-colored locks and then pressed the textured folds to my face.
"I do want to see him again…he was…too gorgeous just to see once," my thoughts were beginning to win the war, rendering all of my counters, all of my excuses and worries, to slowly but surely disappear, as if they never existed in the first place.
Never mind that the man in question was a vampire.
Never mind the fact that that vampire could kill me in an instant if he saw fit.
The only fact that I could not shake off…was that he was enthralling…absolutely enticing to me in every way.
"Damn…"I cursed aimlessly, tossing the moistened, heavy towel onto the bathroom countertop before striding out of the bathroom and into my aesthetically pleasing bedroom which I remained un-illuminated.
Without needing the lights on, I knowingly padded across the room to the solid oak bureau, pulled open the top drawer, and retrieved a clean pair of grey boxers to slip on before bed.
Having now been properly cleaned, dressed for bed, and feeling more than drained of any kind of stamina or strength whatsoever, I stepped to my impressive, white-decorated bed, and promptly collapsed on top of the cloud-like comforter that pushed soothingly against my muscles and frame.
Far too exhausted to even maneuver any further onto the mattress and place my head amongst the many, varying pillows along the headboard, I simply remained as I was lying haphazardly across the middle, my arms slung out in front of me as I dared to open my weighted eyes, resisting my own sleep for a few moments more.
"I've already made up my mind that I want to see him again…but…" I thought solemnly to myself, feeling my body melt even more against the rumpled charms of my impossibly comfortable bed and blankets, "…I still have a job to do; I won't forget that…"
My eyes closed, feeling as if they had sealed against the sensitive skin underneath, as I realized I could not move my limbs even if I had truly wanted to, for the warm, comforting embrace of sleep was quickly wrapping around me, cradling me into its depths with the most endearing symphonies of stillness.
"…my name is Edward Cullen…and I am a vampire hunter."
Author's Note: fufufu. Uh-oh…I'm DOING IT AGAIN! XD More is on the way with this one while I think of what should happen next in Soul and the Sun lol. Leave a review at the door and tell me what you think, yeah? I thank you kindly, folks. XD