Chapter 1

First Thoughts

Pain. Unimaginable pain. It cascaded through me, engulfing my every sense. I couldn't cry; I couldn't move, I couldn't feel. All there was was pain. Terrible, mind breaking pain. And it had been there for so long. I couldn't sleep. "God, help me," I whispered. "Please." I wanted to cry. I knew it would be all over soon, but it seemed like it was never ending already. All I wanted was for it to end.

Bella… The name meant something. I had heard it before, but it meant something else. I had heard it so many times before, in my human life. Someone had spoken it a lot when we were both human. When I was new, and near death. Edward… He had been Bella's lover, I knew that. But his name meant something else too. Something evil.

I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me

I still feel your touch in my dreams

Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why

Without you it's hard to survive

Oh, how I longed to be human again. To be able to go out in daylight without getting weird stares. To see my family again, to have them not be afraid of me. Please, God, I thought, please help me..

'Cause every time we touch, I get this feeling

And every time we kiss, I swear I could fly

Can't you feel my heart beat fast?

I want this to last

Need you by my side

"Edward." The name sounded so familiar. Like I myself had known him. He seemed important, like he would have something to do with my life, whether it have been in the past, or be in the future.

'Cause every time we touch, I feel the static

And every time we kiss, I reach for the sky

Can't you hear my heart beat so?

I can't let you go

Want you in my life

With a sigh, I crawled out of bed, turned my MP3 Player off, and put on a comfortable pair of jeans. It had been seven months since my transformation. My skin was pale, bags had formed under my eyes, and in all honesty, I looked much better than I ever had. And I was only sixteen. I was stuck like this forever. "Thelisa!" yelled my somewhat adoptive father, Alexander.

"What?" I yelled back, tying my hair back in a ponytail as I stared into the mirror. I had been so close to death, and Alex had saved me… at a price. I had become a vampire. A vampire with no life.

Graffiti decorations
Under a sky of dust
A constant wave of tension
On top of broken trust

The lessons that you taught me
I learn were never true

"Come on! You know what today is!"

"I know," I called back, sighing. "Today is the day we go to the hospital, where I have to practice my self restraint just so he can visit a dying patient, pretend to be family, and save them from dying. Just so I won't be lonely. As if I'm lonely," I muttered to myself.

"I heard that," Alex stated, appearing in the doorway. I snarled at him, angry that he was in my room. His blond hair was wavy, shoulder length, and shiny. His smile was warm, and his eyes were a light topaz.

"Yeah, well maybe you wouldn't have if you had of stayed out of my business," I snapped, turning back to the mirror. My eyes were black.

"Maybe you should feed before we go, Thelisa. It might be easier for you to resist, considering you haven't eaten in a week."

"I don't want to go, Alex," I told him, resisting the urge to jump out the window at attack the cat on the sill. My stomach grumbled slightly, and I realized I was hungry.

"Thelisa, I'm doing this for you. You're still sixteen, and you always will be, in appearance, at least. Me, on the other hand, am thirty-two in appearance. You know how old I am, Thelisa."

"Two hundred three tomorrow, Alex," I murmured. "And I'll be seventeen in human years tomorrow, eight months as a vampire. I'm not stupid."

"Thelisa, I never said you were. I know you're smart. Ever since you started going back to school, you've been making straight A's."

"Because I can't forget anything I hear, Alex," I said, pushing him out of the doorway with my inhuman strength. Now, please. Can we go? I want to get something to eat right quick, before we go see who there is around my age that's about to die."

"All right, all right," Alex sighed. "Let's go." Within a spilt second, the house was empty.

"Yes, Miss Atkinson, I need to visit a patient. Please step aside." Alex's voice was sharp, his eyes glaring. I myself was slightly annoyed at how long this was taking.

"Sir, Thelisa isn't allowed on the fourth floor," protested Miss Atkinson. "Only nurses and doctors are allowed up there." I muffled a groan at how stubborn this woman was being. We had been standing here for the past fifteen minutes arguing.

"She wants to be a doctor when she grows, up, Miss Atkinson," Alex stated. "She needs to see this. I can have you fired if you argue anymore," he added when Atkinson opened her mouth to argue. She nodded silently, and opened the door for us to go through.

"Well?" Alex asked an hour later. We had visited every patient that was close to my age, and near death. Two of them were my age, and suffering of some illness called Vibrio vulnificus, whatever that was. They were twins, if I were to be completely honest.

"What about those twins?" I asked. "Whatever they're suffering of, it looks really bad."

"But there's a chance they'll get better," Alex frowned.

"They're dying, Alex," I said. "Really. Let's just get them. Their parents are dead anyway, correct?"

"Yes, but –"

"Then all they have are each other. Might as well save them."

"All right," Alex sighed. "We have to get them both at the same time. And it'll look like they're in pain because of the illness, not the venom…"

And that's how I got a brother and a sister.