Hello to new readers and the ones who are nice enough to come back…
A note to everyone who hasn't read Evening Stars:
This IS a re-write… It's better than the original, or will be once I get it done.
OK, so this idea IS clichéd and over used, I know. BUT!!! Give it a chance! I actually think that I did a pretty unique job in writing this… At least, other people thought so… And I got tired of Bella living in Denali for like 2 days and then being shipped off to the Cullen's… Also, I like to stalk the Lexicon, so this is as accurate as I can make it with editing it once by me, and then once by my Beta… If you see any issues, let me know, I will change it if you plead a good enough argument… Thanks for reading!! Oh, and don't worry, my AN are totally not this long usually… Unless I have to rant, or tell you all something important…
A note to Evening Stars fans:
Thank you for having enough patience to come back!! I appreciate all the reviews and hits (20, 000!!!) I received and would be honoured if I even broached that level of success with this re-write… This one is only slightly different for the first few chapters but, to help you guys out if you don't want to re-read stuff you already know, I'm going to put a star beside the chapters that are new or severely edited… Thank you for re-reading!!
Preface
Phoenix, Arizona, December 2002(Bella is 15)
I sighed again and pulled my jacket closer to myself. It might have been Phoenix, but it was still cold in the evening. Which was exactly what time of day it was. About 7:30 to be precise. I was supposed to be walking to my friend Annie's house. We were working on our mitosis lab which was worth 5 per cent of our total grade. We agreed to meet up tonight so that we didn't completely fail.
So I here I was walking on my way there. Well, actually my mother was supposed to be driving me. She forgot, again, and made plans with her new boyfriend, Phil. I love my mother and all, but would it kill her to at least once think about prior commitments before agreeing to everything? And doing things in a completely random, non priority order at that?
So here I was, walking, alone, on the streets in Phoenix at night. Is it just me, or does this not sound safe? I could get raped. But, no. Phil's 'big game' was tonight, mom just "couldn't miss it". She told me to take the car. I reminded her I was only 15. Gosh, I just wish that she was a little more responsible.
My mom is weird. And difficult. My mother is weird and difficult. I still love her though, I really do, it's just difficult acting as the parent while you're still not even legally allowed to drive. My mother is irresponsible and usually leaves me to clean up her messes.
Sometimes I really wish that I just lived with my father Charlie. Things would be a lot simpler and less complicated. I would be able to do normal teenaged things… No worrying about the bills and groceries…
But Renee was my mother, and I loved her. No matter how much I hated taking care of everything for her, I didn't truly mind doing it for—
Something moved in the alley close to me.
Wait, no… I was probably just imagining things. Over-active imagination working again… I sighed, continued walking and started to search through my pockets for my iPod. I started to hum to through off my freaked-out thoughts.
Something moved again. No, wait…
Something moved towards me.
I froze. It was a guy. No, a man…. He looked… Lurk-y… And he was wearing a large trench coat. And a hat. Seriously, he looked like one of the bad guys from some cheesy 40s movie. He continued to walk towards me, moving faster as I tried to walk at a quicker pace without tripping.
He could walk faster then me, and managed to step in front of me to face the street lamp. He tipped his head back and I could finally see his face.
He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen… His face was angelic, and his hair looked as soft as silk… But his beautiful features were completely ignored. All I could see when I looked at his face was his eyes.
They were hungry… And they eyed me in a lustful way. Not lustful like "I am going to rape you" but lustful like "I am starving and you are a nice juicy hamburger"…
This night was just getting better and better, wasn't it? This guy practically had the word "pedophile" stamped onto his forehead. I found it disturbing that he looked me over like a piece of meat or something, yet still managing to efficiently inject a leer into his (most likely well practiced) look.
"Hey there, baby… You wanna come and have some fun with good Ol' Felix here? You know you want to… Felix is just so hungry and alone…" He started to lean towards me, shooting his arm out and snagging my jacket in his hand.
"No… Let go…" I whimpered, trying to sound confident while I clutched at my arm and tried to pull away. Damn, this guy was strong… He laughed, and just pulled me closer to me, wrapping his arms around me and leaning down towards my ear.
"You really think you could get away from me, little one?" He whispered menacingly to me, starting to stroke my hair and… sniffing it…? Once he had started sniffing my neck, he moaned.
It wasn't just then that I noticed something was wrong… Obviously I had figured this out a while ago, but there was something different about the way this creepy rapist guy was acting...
Something was very, very wrong. Oh, way more wrong than the situation was already. This 'Felix' was all wrong… There was just something not right about him…
It hit me when I finally realised what I had missed about his eyes….. It was then that I started to scream.
They were red. His eyes were blood red.
And he was cold, ice cold, and as hard and smooth as my newly-installed granite counter top at home.
As the horror started to fill in me, I started to thrash harder against him. He smiled at my obvious distress, and I started to scream louder. His teeth were…. Indescribable…
"Scream all you want, my darling… No one will hear you…" He breathed in my ear, leaning down to inhale along my neck. I started shuddering.
"W—What do you want with me?" I stuttered, and he chuckled.
"Ahh….Well, small Isabella, I want something very precious to you… In fact, one of the most precious things you have…" He breathed. I shivered, and tears trickled out of my eyes.
"W—What is that?" I stumbled out stupidly.
"Your blood…" He whispered, and bit down painfully into my neck. The feeling was… Odd at first. To feel someone forcefully draw blood from you and then suck it out is an odd experience… You can feel the blood rushing out… You can feel yourself growing weaker, yet you cannot do anything to stop it...
I could faintly smell the blood, or knew that there was blood in the air, and felt queasy at the thought. I chuckled in my deranged way in my head. I was clearly dying, yet I was worried about how nauseous I would become upon smelling my own blood!
It was then that I knew I was going to die. And I accepted that, strangely enough. Kind of sadly, the only reason I was sad to die was the affect I knew this would have on other people…
My mom would be completely alone… No one to take care of her and to make sure she didn't fall asleep in the bathtub by accident again… I hope she would marry Phil. He seemed like the kind of guy who would take care of her…
Charlie would feel guilty that he never got to truly know me…
All my responsibilities and requirements would be abandoned… Who would lead the kids at the library in story time on Saturdays now? How would Annie complete the lab on her own?
I tried to push aside the guilt; I wanted to just float on the light, happy feeling of blissful nothing-ness. I sighed, content and accepting that I was about to die, perversely thankful to this beautiful stranger at killing me in a kind way.
I then felt it. That is what jolted me back to reality and what was going on.
I felt a burning sensation creep up my head, and I started to cream again, even louder. I cursed now this man. I was blissfully content, and now I was in pain!!!
Just kill me… I begged in my head, for what was most likely taking a few moments felt like hours in my mind. What was taking so long?! Just kill me already!!!
Felix chuckled at my screams which had now turned into whimpers, and bit down harder. Slowly, ever so slowly, things were starting to click into place as black seeped into my world.
As I started to finally die, my delusional mind pieced together a story and came to a ridiculous conclusion about my attacker.
As I felt blessed unconsciousness take over, one word flashed into my mind…
…Vampire…
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Ooooh-Kayyy……….
So, yes. This is re-written, slightly. There are tiny, wee, little changes. Umm… Yeah. So… There. Leave a review if you want (I appreciate hits more than reviews, but reviews are always nice too!!) but please do not flame me. My friend Harry from my Twilight Fan Girls account (yes, I am Voldie…) gets angry at flamers and sends them messages that make them cry. Just a warning, but please don't flame. Its not nice…
Oh, and don't worry… I will never ask for a certain amount of reviews for chapters… That's just not cool in my book… And updates should be popping out along pretty fast… Unless I get writer's block. In which case, it sucks. Sorry. I ramble.
Xxoo
--Smurf