Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my characters. Alec, Bella, Jacob and any other Twilight character you recognize belongs to Meyer. Oh! And The Secret History of Vampires is a real book by Darrell Schweitzer.
A/N: This is just an idea I came up with after I decided that I didn't like the other Twilight story I started working on. Anyways- I hope you like my first try at a Twilight story.
Chapter One: The Hunt
I had been running for days now. I was weak and I had no idea where I was. I hadn't simply ran because of family issues- I had none, and it wasn't because of the normal reasons why people ran. No. I was running from vampires.
Yeah, call me crazy, but I'm not lying. I had always been the outsider at my schools and my foster parents were always scared of me. I was different from everyone else. I saw things others didn't and when I was curious about something, I looked it up to know more about it. And that's what had gotten me in trouble.
I remembered the day I ran like it was yesterday. How could someone forget something so terrible. It had happened the day before my sixteenth birthday. This model-worthy, gorgeous teenaged boy had walked into the book store. As soon as he had closed the door he had tensed. I hadn't missed it as he looked at me with coal black eyes. To say I was scared was an understatement- I was terrified for my life. The way he looked at me as if I was a piece of meat made me stay away from him for as long as I could. But that didn't last long. I did work there and at the time I was the only one in the shop. My co-worker had gone out to pick up something we needed.
"Excuse me. I was wondering if you had an older book about different beliefs and traditions." His beautiful, melodic voice asked.
I looked up and made sure to make eye contact, I didn't want him to know I was scared, "Yes we do actually. They're all in the back bookcase. Were you looking for anything specific?" My voice had faltered a bit, but I was surprised it hadn't completely given out on me.
"Yes, but don't worry about it. I think I'll be able to find it by myself Aveline."
I gave him a look, not many people called me that. In fact most people didn't know my middle name, even though I preferred to be called Aveline instead of Evelyn. My parents liked both names, even though they were practically the same. I remember when they were still alive they said just because one may appear to be the same as another, doesn't mean they really are. When they had died, I was absolutely mortified. I made everyone call me Evelyn instead of Aveline because even though I liked Aveline better, it had also been my parents' favorite.
"What did you just call me?" I asked.
The boy smiled knowingly, but walked away into the back section ignoring my questioning look. The rest of the time he was in the bookstore I found myself looking up at him, or what I could see of him, every few seconds. I didn't feel comfortable around him, especially since I was alone, but there was something intriguing about him.
"I'm back." I heard a familiar boy's voice yell out when I heard the little ringing of a bell letting me know that someone had entered.
"Did you get the stuff?" I asked Zach, my co-worker and the owner of the store's son.
"Sure did, lucky thing too because most of the copies were all gone." He told me, as he set down a huge cardboard box on the counter.
"How many copies were you able to get?"
"About thirty. Should be enough to last a couple days before I can get out and order some more."
"Alright, I'll start stocking them on the shelves now." I lowered my voice. "And just so you know we have a customer in the back looking at some books, I'd keep my eye out for him."
"You're always suspicious of someone." He laughed.
"I'm not normally wrong about them either, am I?" I asked.
"No, you aren't." he said. We had a couple shop lifters when I first started working here, but after awhile when I kept catching people stealing our books because I was suspicious, they had stopped coming. Of course, we still caught some people trying to steal but not as often anymore.
I gave Zach a smile and grabbed the cardboard box and walked towards the shelve that had been cleared for this exact reason.
I heard someone behind me and quickly turned around to find myself face-to-face with the beautiful boy. This time I didn't feel as scared knowing that I had Zach with me now, but he still creeped me out.
"Can I help you?" I asked, my breathing becoming unsteady.
"Actually, yes you can Aveline. I found the book I wanted and your friend is not at the counter." He said, looking towards the cashier. I followed his gaze and saw that Zach was indeed nowhere in sight.
"Oh." Was all I was able to say as I clumsily made my way to the counter to bring up the three books the boy had in his hands. As he handed them off to me I realized they all had something to do with vampires. I thought this boy had to be crazy, he was too gorgeous and amazingly dressed to be like the others who normally came in for the books concerning with vampires.
"It's for a school report." The boy told me, almost as if he could sense my curiousness.
"That's cool." I told him, not knowing what else there was to say. When I handed the last book to the boy in front of me (he hadn't wanted a bag) the title caught my attention. The Secret History of Vampires was the name of the book and honestly I was feeling more and more uncomfortable around this guy. Zach was still gone then that's when I saw it.
When he grabbed the book from my hand, I saw some red liquid on his and then as I looked up at his eyes I saw a huge red stain on his shirt that certainly had not been there before and being the idiot I was, I decided to tell him.
"Uhm, you have a stain on your shirt and…" I paused for a second, his eyes were now a dark red color. They had certainly been black when he walked in, "And, uh, well and something on your hand." I quickly looked away from him and went back to putting the money he handed me into the cashier.
"Thanks for telling me." He said, but I could sense a dangerous tone in his voice.
"Yup, well you, uh, better get working on that project of yours. Looks like you have a lot of work to do." I told him, the sooner he got away from me- the better I would feel.
"Why are you so nervous?" he asked.
I looked up at him, shocked, "I'm not nervous!"
"I can hear it in your voice." He said, putting the books down. "And I know you're curious. You know that something isn't right about me. My eyes- they aren't a natural human color." I picked up the human in his sentence, but ignored him. "You've noticed that you want nothing to do with me, but you find me fascinating at the same time. My voice, it draws you in. My features- you find them very attractive. I know all this, not only because I've had it happened many times before, but also because I've found my tua cantante." I gave him a puzzled look. "I don't know how I was able to resist your smell- I still don't know how I'm doing it- seeing that I'm so hungry. Thankfully that friend of yours- Zach right- helped me out."
"What did you do to him?" I yelled.
"Don't worry about him. He's in a better place now, I guess. He quite liked you, too bad he couldn't last long enough to tell you."
"What did you do to him?" I asked again. My jaw clenched and I was furious with this guy.
"So, you shared his feelings? I'm sorry, but I sort of want you to myself."
"You don't even know me! What are you? Some crazy stalker?" I shouted.
"Shush, darling, shush. Not so loud, others might hear you." He started to reach his hand out towards me, but I slapped it away.
I gasped when our skin touched though, he was absolutely freezing. "Just leave me alone."
"Well, if I do that now- they might think you killed your little boyfriend over there."
"He's not my boyfriend!" Then his words sunk in. "You killed him?" I shrieked.
"Dear, I didn't want to kill you so suddenly. I'm quite attracted to your weakness and vulnerability." He said. "I've been watching you for awhile- thinking of what good prey you might be, but when I actually came in here and smelled you- that all changed. I've got a game for you."
"I don't play games with freaks like you."
"But I'm sure you've never met a vampire before love. We may be everywhere, but I doubt you have. You'd be too aware of everything about them. You aren't like most humans. I quite enjoy the chat we're having now. Too bad you'll have to die."
I couldn't move. I couldn't even talk to defend myself. I had never been in a situation like this before. I would know what to do if it had been any other sort of criminal. But school and parents didn't exactly teach you how to defend yourself against a vampire. And I had read too many different things on vampires and there were always different stories telling you how to kill one.
"I know you are much too athletic to just stand there and gawk. How about this- I'll give you two hours to pack up and start running and then I'll meet you wherever you decide to go?" the boy said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"How could of you." I told him being sarcastic, "But I'd rather stay here."
"Oh Aveline, we all know you don't want to be here. You hate your foster parents and all the other kids they have with them and you hate this small, little place."
I glared at him. I did not hate all the kids that I lived with, most were as close to family as I could get. "Stop calling me Aveline." I told him.
He simply laughed at my command, "I know you prefer that name. You aren't going to fool me. I've watched you for far too long. I'm surprised you didn't think anyone was following you. Although, I did notice you were always looking over your shoulder and staring people down. Too bad you couldn't stare at me like that."
"You're an obsessed, crazy freak!" I told him, grabbing my bag and trying to get pass the weird, smirking boy.
"I'd rather be called Alec than an obsessed, crazy freak- which I am not." He said.
"I honestly don't care what your name is. Just get out of my sight."
"I'll give you three hours. That's an extra hour that I'm going to give you. I'll see you then." He said and before I could say anything, he grabbed the books and then he was gone.
I stood still for a mere second before I grabbed my shit and rushed out the door to the place I slept, ate and did my homework. When I arrived to the decent sized house, I quickly opened the door and ran up the steps to the room I shared with little Anna, ignoring everyone as I did so.
"Evy?"
Speak of the devil.
"Evy? What are you doing?"
I turned around and looked at little Anna. She was wearing her Cinderella dress that she had gotten as a present for her birthday a month ago. She stared at me with her bright green eyes and her light brown curls bouncing up and down as Anna kept moving around.
"Something come up- I've got to go. Don't tell anyone, you never saw me. I'll be back as soon as I can." I told her, stuffing clothes in my duffle bag. I then grabbed my pillow and grabbed the money I was saving up from inside.
"Okay Evy. You promise?" she asked me, sitting on my bed and still looking at me.
"I promise Anna." I said and kneeled down in front of her, "I will always be with you- always. No matter what anyone tells you." I told her. I always felt more of a duty towards her, than most of the other kids in the house. Little Anna was always being picked on and then when I had come and stood up for her, she was the sweetest thing that I had ever met.
"I'll always be with you too Evy!" she told me. "Do you need anything else?" she asked me, as I started to throw a few random items into my bag that I thought might come in handy.
"Could you maybe grab some food for me?" I asked. I didn't want to risk anyone seeing me.
"Of course!" She said in her little sing-song seven year old voice.
I smiled as I watched her walk out the room and down the hallway to the stair to grab some food for me. I felt bad for leaving her here without someone to chase away the bullies, but I was sure most of them were too scared now to even approach her- served them right for beating up on someone who was smaller than they were.
When Anna came back with an armful of everything and I thought that I was good to go, I kissed her goodbye and made sure there was no one around before sneaking out. After that I got on some train and rid it until an hour passed. When I got out I was somewhere in Washington.
"Alright Evelyn, time to run again." I whispered to myself, thinking I was crazy. I mean, there was no way in hell that this kid knew where I was. But I didn't want to risk it. I was sure he would find me eventually. I walked out of the station acting as normally as I could and when I was outside I ran for it. I hopped on the first bus I saw and got off on the second stop, where it was all woods around and dreary.
And now here I was, running for my life as I knew that Alec was not far off.
"Darling, you proved much more fun than I thought you would. I'm quite impressed. Too bad it'll all have to end soon." I heard his voice taunt me.
"Leave me alone! Please." I whispered, my breathe ragged from running so much, knowing that he could still hear me.
"There's no reason to be upset. It'll only hurt for a minute or so and then you'll feel nothing." He said, standing next to me suddenly. He was murmuring in my ear and I closed my eyes tightly, while holding my breath. I didn't want to smell him. I knew that I was weaker now and would definitely fall into his trap now.
"Get off that girl. We do not allow people like you to kill innocent humans like her." I heard a man yell only a few feet away.
"Jacob! What's going on?" I heard a female's voice ask, running up to the tan-skinned boy with short brown hair. He was very fit and he also looked very angry.
When I saw the girl I gasped. She was pale- as pale as Alec, but her eyes were a different color. They were a light golden color. I knew as soon as I saw her that she was one of Alec's kind. But when she saw Alec holding me the way he was she growled. Yes, she actually growled.
"Get off of her Alec." She threatened.
"Or what will you do Bella?" he asked.
"Don't test me. Let her go and you can be on your way." She said and then looked towards me, "How are you feeling?"
"Weak." I told her and before I could see Bella come and attack Alec, I fainted.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Please review and tell me what you think of it so far and if you happen to catch any mistakes- please let me know so that I can fix it. Thanks!
-Kathleen