Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or anything related to it.
Beauty/Pain
Over the long and lonely course of hundreds of years, a man eventually learns to appreciate the beautiful things. Sunrise in the mountains still took Laurent's breath away sometimes, as well as the moonlight on a lake and a rainbow in the grey, cloudy sky. And pain. It was a beautiful thing that he had not felt in a very long time, since that night in Haiti, when the witch-woman Ayida stole away his blood and replaced it with ice. Her fangs piercing his neck was the last bit of pain he remembered feeling. After that, there was only hunger, and even that faded. Now there is nothing.
He had wandered the world, searching for beautiful things: the innocent, natural grace of a doe as it bends its neck to graze, the fierce and vicious magnificence of the cougar that pounces upon it, the bright, but distant cold of a diamond. He had taken them, spirited some of them away to treasure in his hands in the dead of night. Even now, in his pocket rests a smooth blue stone, polished by its mother, the river. Veins of a darker blue run across it and the tiniest hint of red smears across one side. Next to it is an eagle's feather, white and fragile. It fell from the sky as its master passed by above him. And lastly, is a palm-sized shard of mirror, its jagged edges wrapped in leather. He found it on the edge of a highway, drawn by the scent of blood. There had been a car crash, with only two survivors.
One was a golden retriever puppy. She was clawing desperately at the window in the back seat of a blue minivan, barking madly. Laurent punched through the fragile glass and carefully scooped her out, checking her for injury. Her soft golden coat was free from bloodstains, and her brown eyes showed no pain. But they did show fear. She knew what he was. He had not fed in a week. He was dangerous, and her instinct told her so. She squirmed to get out of his reach, barking even louder. He contemplated drinking her blood, but then realized that if she were not the source of blood, then it was coming from somewhere else. Laurent set her down, looking forward to a less hairy meal.
His dinner came in the form of a tan-skinned human girl. She was sitting in the driver's seat of the van, her sweet, sticky blood dripping from a wound in her forehead. As he ripped open the door, he saw that her legs were crushed in a mass of twisted metal. Like an old housewife untangling a knot in her knitting, he untangled the girl's legs from the teeth of the vehicle and pulled her out of it and into his lap. She was waking. Laurent smiled as she opened her eyes and looked up at him. Her eyes, clouded with pain, were beautiful. For a moment, she smiled too. Before he lifted her broken body and bit down hard on the exposed skin of her neck.
He left the sack of skin and bones on the side of the road and continued on his way back to Forks. Back to pretty little Victoria.
**************************
Bella stood, alone. All the trees around her looked the same. The sky was overcast. Not a breath of wind stirred. No bird called, no rodents rustled the underbrush. It was as if every living creature on earth had died, except for her. She was alone. And just as dead and empty on the inside.
Edward.
He was never far from her thoughts. But every time she thought of him, a white hot arrow of pain shot through her heart. The pain of knowing that he had left her. It consumed her mind. She hardly thought of anything else but his lips, his eyes, his voice. She had thought that, maybe, coming here to their meadow would help ease the pain, but it had only made it worse. His skin. That memory flashed through her mind, and she closed her eyes, wishing that when she opened them, he would be there again. With her again. Near her again. His lean, sculpted, manly body. She shivered at the memory, then again at the pain. His eyes. His mouth. His hands. His ice cold touch.
Edward.
"Bella."
The girl jumped at the voice. She spun around to face dark-skinned Laurent, who stood at the edge of the meadow, just past the tree line.
"Laurent."
He had only just remembered her name and blurted it out. Looking a little closer, he did vaguely recall seeing her before, when he, James and Victoria had passed through this area. Irina had told him of James death at the hands of the Cullens over this girl, but he could not see why. She was a human. Ugly. Weak. Inferior. Fragile. Vulnerable.
Bella stepped toward him, desperate to wake up from her nightmare. Edward haunted her every step, every dream, every breath. His lavender eyelids. His diamond skin. His fragrant breath.
"Do you know where Edward is?" she asked him, voice breaking. "Please tell me if you know."
Her scent wafted past her, to Laurent's sensitive nose. He inhaled. It was delicious. How could he have missed this morsel before? Keeping his thirst under control, he shook his head.
"I'm afraid I don't know, my child," he said. "Victoria told me he had left. His entire family, in fact."
Laurent's words pounded into Bella's heart, each one the swing of a hammer driving a nail into her skin. The skin that Edward used to touch with his strong hands. Bella lowered her head. She felt like crying, but she had long since run out of tears. The world around her felt like it was shrinking, getting smaller and smaller until there was only her and her pain. Laurent stepped forward gracefully, fluidly, like Edward used to step.
"Why do you seek him, child, when you know he left you willingly?" Laurent's voice was soft, seductive, floating to her through her haze of pain. She answered him mechanically.
"Because I love him."
Laurent laughed. The sound reminded Bella of Edward's chuckle.
"But he does not love you, child. How could he love you?" he asked her, circling around her, never looking away from her. "He left you here. Unprotected."
Laurent continued circling her, coming closer and closer each time. His thirst tore at him, begging to be sated, eager for violence. But there was something about this girl he didn't notice before. She was different from when he last saw her. It wasn't the way she looked. She was just as pale, sickly and mousy-looking as he remembered. It was something inside her.
His superhuman senses caught every movement she made, voluntary and otherwise. He heard each of her slow, tired breaths and every single beat of her heart. He saw the corners of her eyes wrinkle and her pale lips frown slightly. He could taste her disappointment, her sadness. Then her brown eyes looked into his black ones, and he knew what it was that was making her so irresistible.
Her pain. The pain of being abandoned. It was exquisite. Her eyes let him see deep into her heart, deep into the remnants of her existence now that her boyfriend had left her. Her body was nearly empty without her boyfriend to fill her. Her soul had been ravaged, ripped out, and now she was left with only memories. There was so little of her left it was as though she had never existed. It was beautiful.
Bella stared into Laurent's coal black eyes dazedly. Eyes like Edward used to have when he was hungry. If she focused only on the eyes, she could almost pretend he was there. With her. And that she was whole again. Alive again.
"Victoria told me to leave you to her," Laurent said, stopping in front of her. "But I can't help myself. You're just so…"
Bella felt a rush of wind and those black eyes suddenly very close to her. So close she could feel the ice cold radiating from the body. She closed her eyes. Edward had been cold like that. She felt Edward's cold marble fingers trailing down her cheek, tracing her face. Her temperature rose, coloring her skin. Edward touched a strand of her hair and leaned in close. She could smell his heavenly scent, and her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest.
"…mouthwatering."
His icy lips touched hers, and everything around her faded away to white as a wave of heat crashed into her. She grabbed Edward's chiseled biceps and pulled him closer to her, pressing his body against her, kissing him back passionately. He responded in kind, wrapping his strong arms around her.
Laurent could taste her anguish, her agony, her sorrow. It was in her warmth. Her very blood was screaming in pain. Her sweet, human blood. He resisted the urge to break her in his arms and drain her dry. It was so incredible, the beauty of her pain. The sheer intensity of it nearly knocked him off his feet. He didn't want to shatter it. When her pink human tongue suddenly ran across his lips, he stopped, releasing her immediately and jumping back to the very edge of the clearing.
"Edward!" she cried, falling forward to her knees. "Please don't leave me again! I need you!" She slumped to the ground and sobbed, tears finally falling.
It took everything Laurent had not to pounce on her and… do something to her. Her sorrow was so beautiful, so astounding. His hands trembled, venom rushed in his ears and his breath was ragged. He wasn't sure if he wanted to slurp up every single last drop of her blood or teach her how a real vampire kisses a woman. His bloodlust had nearly won over his control when he heard a pack of animals approaching. By their scent, they were werewolves. Cursing his luck, Laurent turned and fled into the forest, the sound of Bella's cries echoing behind him.
"Edward! Edward, come back!"
Maybe I shall, he thought. Maybe I shall.