Disclaimer: SM owns all Twilight characters and I'm just making them play and bend to my wishes.
Many thanks to:
- PetersSugarTits for helping me add depth to this.
My Friend and Mate on a few accounts, but my most favorite one being our Peter and Charlotte.
My eyes closed for the briefest of moments and I could still see the terror that ripped through the camp. Pieces of my comrades were flying by me and I was dodging each of them while fending off my own attackers. A well placed strike dislodged my attacker's head and sent it flying from his body. I wasn't hated but I wasn't adored so in the midst of my defending myself, I found several of my own troops having switched sides vying for my ass, turncoats, the lot of them. I trained them, I knew each of their weaknesses and exploited every one to save my skin.
"Where is the Major?!" someone screamed as their head was then torn from them. I didn't know, no one did. I had lost sight of him and no mattered how hard I listened for his voice, the crashing of bodies drowned out almost everything. I was up in the branches of a barren tree looking for the Major but it was no sooner brought to the ground and more hands were at me to rip me apart. More limbs flew and the sounds of pain that accompanied them; I was ruthless, I didn't care who I needed to go though to get out of this, I just wanted the one person who had become my greatest friend at my side.
Our numbers were dropping faster and faster, the demise of our army was at hand. Maria's head was being paraded around in a preemptive victory celebration. "I need to get out of here." I mumbled to myself as another fell to pieces at my feet. I had made my decision, I wasn't going to be killed, not like this; not like I never existed at all. I saw a break in the fighting and I made my escape through a thick stand of trees to my freedom. I was free. I ran as fast and as far as I could and after several hours I turned to look to see if I was being followed. I hoped to see the Major behind me but after a few days, I assumed the worst.
A loud blast from a car horn broke the spell of memories taunting me and my eyes opened to a busy street before me filled with humans bustling about. Over a hundred years later, after those dark times, I still felt like I was running from the fight. I hadn't seen or heard of any survivors from that day, but didn't dare go back to check. I could only hope that Jasper got away, he was one of the better ones I met. He was now Jasper to me and not the Major, those times were long gone now. As for the rest, I didn't give them any further thought, they were nothing to me now. Now was a far cry from what those days were to what they are now for me. The chaos of war was replaced with this busy city and the few million humans that inhabited it. I must have been crazy when I decided to settle here, but then it wasn't as big as it was then either. It grew up around me in time, and in time I learned what it took to live around humans rather than wanting to slaughter them in a blood lust madness. It took years, decades but I managed to curb the monster that craved to pull on every vein in sight. It was easy when I came here, there was so much growth and migrants passing through that the ones I took were not missed. No one ever came looking and the local crime lords took all the blame for missing members of the other side. I pegged them against one another for years and it served to hide me well. It was a good thing I bothered to practice my restraint as I did because now, with a camera in the hands of nearly every human around, one misstep and I'd be discovered and the others, the ones I was keeping away from, the ones I ran away from could easily find me and I'd end up like my fallen comrades.
I took a deep breath in and the smell of the street entered deep within me. It reeked of the heat that scorched thought the daylight hours, the sweat of the humans around me, and the mustiness of the setting evening sun. It stank badly, but a bustling city was where my best and easiest hunting took place. A few glances around through the dark lenses of my sunglasses, and I saw all that I needed to see. There was a group of humans I was familiar with, heading down the street and they were known to the locals as drug pushers. Wherever they went, there were always easy pickings. I wasn't the lazy sort of vampire but hell, food is food and even though my methods were more of a scavenger, it worked for me. I pushed myself off from where I was leaning against, appearing as if I was done resting and ventured out onto the streets with the crowds.
Who was it going to be tonight? I thought to myself, a banker, lawyer, a bum. The menu was endless and it always varied from day to day, year to year. Illegal aliens were always a treat; they even hid from their own families. Months could go by before anyone would raise a red flag to their whereabouts, but by then, if I did a good job in getting rid of what was left of them when I was done, they were truly lost. I lived to find them as they usually stuck to those of their own kind in order to avoid the authorities. I was also on the constant lookout for illegal massage parlors that offered the additional services of young women who were forced to pay offset their passage to the free world. Nothing was free, nothing worth having anyway. When those girls went missing, no one asked or ever sought them out.
My light steps echoed off the surrounding hard brick and stone walls, but only I was privy to hear them. I needed to find my meal, and quickly, but the group I was following separated and went into different directions. I wasn't amused with my plan failing so quickly. My eyes were dark, I could feel them now and the circles underneath them were a bit too sullen for my liking. My throat called to me, prickling away at my control over the monster that was begging to be released. Keeping my sunglasses firmly affixed, I moved swiftly through the light crowd of people and scoped out my possible prey.
"No. No. Maybe. Too old. Looks like they have too many friends." I had to be careful, and choosing a body to feed from in this way was risky. Picking the wrong person would mean a lot of press and talking on the streets. Last thing I needed were humans reaching out of their comfort zone, daring to look and remember me in places where bad things happened. I needed to keep them oblivious to the dangers on the street, I needed them to keep listening to that little voice inside their heads that told them to not notice me, the predator among them.I needed to stay the enigma in their minds when recalling any details to the authorities that might link them to a missing person they know and were with before they ended up as my meal.
Seeing the situation for what it was, was getting harder.
I was debating going to a seedier part of the city when I caught sight of a set of the purest blue eyes. They caught my attention for just a moment, and a moment is all I needed. I noticed how weary they were around the edges and then, they were gone. I felt a soft bump from behind as I was stopped for that briefest of moments. My meal selected itself for me as I grumbled low and turned to follow the woman, the memory of her scent locked in my mind. The bleach blond, whose roots could use some touching up, offered no apology in inadvertently striking me, and neither would I when I struck at her neck with my teeth.
I followed her from a distance and watched her take a few steps down into a rundown tavern. The place was somewhere I've been before and even with the renovations through the years, I could still find my way around. I followed her down into the darkness and cornered her easily enough. When I determined that she was looking for her next hit of drugs and needed an extra forty dollars for it to happen, I pulled out a little wad of bills. Flashing a hundred dollar bill made her completely compliant and willing to do anything for it. A moment of privacy and my well placed teeth was all I needed to finish the girl off. She didn't scream, didn't struggle and welcomed death.
I found my way out of the place through the back door, the secondary fire escape, that was required for places like this and deposited her slumped corpse down into the sewer through a dirty street grate. I wiped my hands down and pulled out my little compact mirror and checked my face for any smudges of blood.
"Not a drop spilled. Well done Charlotte." My eyes glowed brightly in their ruby splendor and the circles underneath them were gone. I looked up to the sky, it was lightening up and I needed to find shelter from the sun soon. The man with the blue eyes was still on my mind and there he would remain there for eternity.
Notes: Yes we are seeing this though Charlotte's eyes, surprise! That's the AU part of the story and I hope it was a pleasant surprise.