Disclaimer: I do not own Edward or Bella, all of those rights go to Stephenie Meyer or their respectful owners. I, however, do own the plot line of this one shot :)
The Night's Cloak
It was a calm night in the forest; owls were hooting as they flew from tree to tree, hunting for their prey as they were the predator, small animals scurrying around the bushes, within earshot but still out of sight. Branches swayed silently in the wind that was sweeping through the forest and in some areas, blowing leaves off of the thin twigs and branches that were attached to the wooden, mossy bark. Everything seemed normal and even though the forest showed a typical night – the sky over head told a completely different story.
Tonight was a new moon, meaning that there was nothing to guide her path throughout the night's cloak. As calm as everything seemed, she could feel pressure and tension building in the air around her, and when she really concentrated – well, as much as she could possibly in this situation – she could feel a faint electrical charge stirring around her and tingling in the palms of her hands. And sure enough, when she looked up into the night sky, she could see the outline of clouds invading it. They were moving fast, faster even than an average cloud would.
But instead of focusing on the weather as she would have done on a normal night, she pushed herself forward, knowing that any second now, any minute, he could catch her. Thus, she forced her legs to move even faster, knowing that she was pushing her boundaries and that she would hit her limit sooner or later, though the former seemed much more likely.
She hoped and prayed that he had not seen her and that her running as soon as he glanced in her direction gave her a head start and he would not even pursue her in this vast jungle like zone. However, even if he had not seen her, he would have smelled her, because after the act she had just seen him perform, she knew he was not human.
He was a monster.
He was something that came out of Hollywood, books, television programmes and in the occasional nightmare, but not in real life.
She thought that if she kept telling herself that she was in a dream – a dream that portrayed all of the emotions and adrenaline that was pumping through her veins – she would wake up nice and warm in her small cosy bedroom, listening to her father's shouts to get up for school that he was bellowing from the bottom of the creaky staircase.
Yet another part of her mind, at the very back was telling her that this was not a dream, this was reality, and was screaming at her not to let her defences down for a single moment, or he will catch her and do what he did to that poor girl who she had only seen in passing around school. Maybe that is why he likes spending time with me, she thought frantically to herself, he was preparing me for the on slaughter that awaits me.
She could not get that girl's face out of her mind; turning slowly pale as all of the blood and life was drained from her and into his mouth, the look of uppermost pure terror upon her face as she realised what was happening, and yet, because Bella was an onlooker and frozen in place, she could not do anything to help her.
An owl hooted above and swept over Bella's head, barely missing her hair, making Bella scream out loud. As she was concentrating on the owl, Bella wasn't looking where she was going and she tripped on a root that branched off of a massive, old oak tree. Her foot twisted painfully and was trapped under the root then she cried out again as her knee smacked against a medium sized rock, tearing holes in her jeans and grazing her skin, with little droplets of blood oozing out of the small cut.
She winced when she stood back up again after untangling her foot from the offending root, realizing that she must have sprained her ankle on the floor. Her small cut stung as well as she got on her feet, as the skin was stretching from this newly found position.
Not letting her injuries get in the way of her escape, she carried on through the endless wall of trees, wondering if she would ever find a road or even if she was running even deeper into the forest. Christ, I hope it isn't the last one. If I had to choose over dying out here or going back to him, I would immediately choose this option. However, if I had the choice, I wouldn't even be facing death at all, Bella thought, tears leaking from her eyes at the thought of never seeing her family again - the same family who she had recently fought with over him, the very same family who had been right about him all along. She brushed her tears away, determined to get out of there alive.
At that moment, the heavens burst open drenching her in its release of rain. Sure enough, as she had nearly predicted earlier, this was the beginning of a storm, a fierce one by the looks of the dark clouds looming over head.
A new owl swooped by her again, picking up a small rodent in its claws before flying up high into on the trees, seeking shelter from the leaves. Bella screamed again, what normally would just be seen to her as nature's course, tonight it said to her that evil lurked everywhere, even within the purest beings alive.
Only this morning she had been a normal seventeen year old teenage girl with good grades, a reasonable family life, and excellent social life and the most loving boyfriend in the world. It was almost laughable how much her life had changed in the past twelve hours; this morning she was worried about the trig tests that was coming up, but now she was worried about whether she would even live to see the morning.
Lightening tore through out of the sky, ripping it apart in two, with a loud and ominous bang and then only a second later, the land vibrated with the roar of the thunder, signalling that because there was only a second between both of them, it mean that the storm was a mile away if she wasn't already underneath it.
But that wasn't what her attention was drawn to. Because when the flash illuminated the sky, it filtered light onto her path and also him – her boyfriend.
She froze in place, her limbs screaming at her to move as the adrenaline controlled them, but her mind was paralyzed, completely shutting down, blocking all of her instincts to move out of the way.
How did he find her so fast? How was he able just to stand there, completely calm and just, not even with a look of anger upon his face, especially since he had been caught in the act? But as soon as the flash came, it was over, leaving her in complete and utter darkness again.
Her breathing became erratic as she heard his footsteps move closer to her, his shoes cracking the many twigs that littered the forest floor. She was positive that he could hear the thumping of her heart as it threatened to escape out of her chest, breaking a few ribs along the way. Heck, he could probably even smell her fear.
He stopped right in front of her, their chests pressed together as he had backed her against a tree. His breath was sweet smelling as always, but she knew what those lips had last touched and drank. Their foreheads were pressed together and he placed each arm on either side of her head, ensuring that she could not escape, not that he wouldn't catch up with her if she even tried.
Bella repressed the urge to scream out loud as she stared into those bright red eyes, completely unlike the golden ones he usually had.
"You shouldn't have run," he whispered, his breath washing over her face, their lips barely brushing against each other.
She opened her mouth to try and form some kind of reply, instead, she could feel the bile rising in her throat, so she closed her lips and swallowed back her sick, not trusting herself to speak.
"You have nothing to be afraid of," he whispered again.
Bella tried to get away from him, but there was nowhere to go. Edward sensed her trying to move away from him so he pressed against her even harder, rendering her immobile. Pushing his luck, he leaned his head forward and pressed his lips to her, revelling in the warmth that flooded throughout him whilst doing so.
Bella on the other hand somehow managed to tear her lips away from him and leant to the side, retching and vomiting all of the food that she had eaten that day that had yet to be digested. She could smell and taste the blood that was still on her lips and she fought against the lethargy that was threatening to pull her into unconsciousness.
"You make me sick," she gasped, still bent over on the ground, watching her pool of sick on the mud.
Edward stepped away from the tree and knelt in front of her. Another flash illuminated his face and Bella eyed the mop of bronze hair on his head and the paleness of his skin, contrasting with the bright red lips that he bore on his face. "I'm very sorry," he murmured and stood up, walking twenty meters away, and then stopped, watching her patiently as though he was waiting for something.
Bella stood up also, and kept her eyes on him anticipating his next move.
All was still for a few minutes until finally Edward slipped into a crouch, his gaze penetrating and fixed on her.
Realising what he was about to do, Bella opened her mouth and screamed, letting everything she had felt tonight out - the terror, the anxiety, everything. It was high pitched and made her blood run cold; she even winced at the sound of it, mildly surprised that her eardrums hadn't burst, as well as he vocal chords. Birds flew out of trees and into the storm. Then throughout the sheeting rain, Bella saw Edward pounce towards her and then she remembered no more...
AN: Just a little one shot to try and get myself over writers block. I don't know how well this turned out, but yes it was based on my end of year exam - which I didn't get a very good level on in case you are wondering. But because I had more time to write this, I have edited it loads - the joys of not having to write on paper- and I hope it was OK.
I will edit it more thoroughly tomorrow, because I'm sure I'm about to get kicked off of here in like half an hour, and I want this up before I go to sleep, because I am impatient like that :)
REVIEW!
:)