A young girl stood outside a large building holding her sides together and breathing heavily. The girl was dressed in a dark blue bell tutu, with matching dark blue pointe shoes. She couldn't have been older than fourteen; she had a thin frame, and was no taller than five foot one. She had long curly auburn hair that was, at the time, tied into a bun at the top of her head. She had pale white skin, and large dark blue eyes with rather long eyelashes. And she was crying. "I can't do this, I can't do this." She mumbled over and over to herself leaning against the red brick wall for support, eyeliner running down her cheeks. The wind blew a mess of litter towards her direction in the ally. There hadn't been any need for street cleaners during the Great Depression since the city hardly had any money to pay them. A pamphlet stopped at the young girl's feet, it read THE NUTCRACKER: FIRST NIGHT OPENING STARING THE BEAU BALLET DANCE SCHOOL BALLERINAS. Her stomach lurched. She looked at the cast list and found her name Ava Mercier typed neatly and plainly. Ava wanted to throw up. The door to powder rooms opened and one of Ava's fellow ballerinas stepped out. Hattie looked at Ava with brown disapproving eyes and said, "Bernard wants all the ballerinas to be inside the powder rooms getting ready, just because you are the star of the night doesn't mean you have any exception." Ava didn't reply, she stared and Hattie rolled her eyes and slammed the door shut.

Just as Ava was about to go in the Powder Room she heard to voices appear as if out of nowhere. Ava took refuge behind to large trash cans and listened.

"This is your test tonight, Emmett," the first voice said.

"I don't know, Carlisle, it just seems too hard," The other voice, Emmett's, replied in a deep husky voice.

"It will be, but if you can do this there will be no more need to keep you in the house while we go out, you could be with Rosalie wherever she goes," Carlisle's voice tempted.

Emmett didn't reply immediately, he was thinking.

"But what if I can't, what if I fail miserably and. . ." he stopped suddenly, "is there somebody here?"

Ava held her breath. Oh God, she thought, they know I'm here.

"Hello," Carlisle called, "Could however is out here come out?"

Ava didn't, she pressed herself against the wall, and held her breath.

"Let's go," Carlisle murmured, "I don't think it's safe to be back here, something might slip."

Ava heard footsteps, and sighed with relief, they were gone.

The powder room doors flew open again.

"AVA!" It was a man this time, "It is 7:25, five minutes until curtain and I can't find my star performer!"

"Sorry, Bernard," Ava mumbled picking herself up from the ground.

"Oh, look at you sitting on the garbage ally floor, getting your tutu dirty," He hissed, "we paid good money to come here and you decide to get dirty!"

Ava sighed and plopped in an armchair in the powder room.

"Nope, no time for rest and relaxation, missy, you have the opening act, which means you need to out there and ready to go when the time is right! None of this lazy star stuff." Bernard pulled her by the upper-arm to the stage area.

"Sorry, Bernard," Ava said robotically. They stopped at the beginning of stage. Ava was first in line.

"Alright, ladies, and gentleman," Bernard added nodding towards a boy with a large nutcracker mask upon his head, "tonight is opening night, I expect everyone to be perfect we have been practicing for months! Let's leave the audience dazzled!"

"So, do you think Bernard is going to hyperventilating the entire time?" a voice asked behind Ava, it was Annie Ava's only friend.

"Well, if he isn't, I know I will be," Ava whispered back, both girls giggled.

"What is so FUNNY?" shrieked Bernard his beret falling slightly.

"Nothing, sorry" Ava mumbled looking to the ground trying to stifle another laugh, behind her Annie was trying to do the same.

"Okay, ladies, and gentleman, it is 7:30, time to open!" The curtain pulled back and Ava was introduced the sea of people waiting for her to perform, Ava stopped breathing.

"You'll do fine," Annie's voice came from behind Ava, "You are our best performer, you've only started seven years ago, yet you are the best ballerina we have, I have faith in you."

The music started opening to a Christmas party, and Ava graced the stage.

"Oh, thank the Lord above that's done," Annie said throwing her overcoat on.

All the girls in the room were changing into regular clothes preparing to head back to their school.

"I hear you there," Ava agreed, running a brush with her messy curly hair, and then retying it into a bun

"I'm going to go now, see at the dorm," Annie left through the powder room door.

"Bye," Ava said, putting a brown shoe on her foot.

Ava left the theatre a few minutes later, saying farewell to some of her fellow ballerinas. The temperature outside had dropped several degrees and Ava tightened her overcoat around her. She walked a little ways to a bus stop waiting for the late night bus to pick her up and take her home. Ava didn't understand why Bernard didn't find a safer way to travel back to the school. The night busses were dangerous and it wasn't safe for a young girl to be travelling by herself. Just as Ava was thinking about this she noticed a young man standing near her that she hadn't noticed before, apparently waiting for the bus too, had he been there the whole time? He gave off a creepy aura and something deep down told Ava that she should walk away and find another bus stop. He wore a black trench coat with a fedora hat low enough to hide his face. Ava shifted uncomfortably. She cleared her throat and the man didn't budge.

Okay, she thought, he's creepy; I'll just walk to the school. Ava walked the opposite direction of where the man was at, going at a pretty fast pace. She got to the end of the block and looked behind her, the man was following her! Ava's heart rate speeded up, and she walked even faster. Ava walked several blocks with the man still following her, finally at the end of 4th and Main she whipped around and yelled, "What do you want from me?" but the man wasn't there. Ava swallowed, was he really gone?

"Ava?" a small voice asked behind her, Ava turned; it was Annie looking worriedly at Ava. "Are you okay, who were you yelling at?"

Ava took in a gulp of air, "there was a man following me."

"A man following you," Annie repeated looking skeptical. Ava nodded.

"He started following me when I left the bus stop. And I don't where he is." Ava whipped around several times to see if she could spot the man, she couldn't.

"He must have left," Ava explained her breathing shallow, "he must have seen you and left."

Annie looked at Ava through furrowed eyebrows. Annie sighed, "Ava, you had a long night, maybe you need to go home and rest. The man was probably a part of your imagination."

"I wasn't imagining things!" Ava exclaimed, staring intensely at Annie.

Annie shook her head, "come on Ava, let's just go home." Annie and Ava turned to go to the next bus stop and Ava's stomach gave a nauseating lurch. The man that had been following her was standing right in front of them.

"Hello." He greeted in a deep scratchy voice.

"Good evening." Annie replied, Ava didn't say anything; the aura the man had been giving off earlier was stronger than ever.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help but overhear, but would you two young ladies like a ride home? My car is just around the corner."

"No thank you," Ava responded coldly, "we'll just catch the late bus home"

"Oh, I guess you haven't heard." The man said a dark grin spreading across his face, "the busses aren't running late tonight, the driver . . . took the night off. My name is Alva, by the way"

Ava stared at Alva, "then we will walk home, but thank you anyway for trying to assist us." Ava grabbed Annie's arm to leave, but Annie tugged it back.

"Annie what are you—" Ava began but Annie silenced her with a look.

"Look, Ava, I've no idea what has gotten into you tonight, but this kind gentleman is just trying to help us, and I have no problem about leaving you here if you are just going to be rude."

Annie's comment stung, but Ava shook it off and followed closely behind the strange man and Annie as he led them to his "car".

They walked for a while, and several times Ava tried to say something to get Annie to leave Alva, but each time Annie ignored her. Finally they reached the edge of a forest, and the man moved a tree limb out of the way and motioned to enter with his hand. "This way," he said slyly. Annie walked in mouth half opened in amazement, and Ava gave the man a dark look.

"I didn't know one was allowed to park cars here." Annie said looking to see where the man's car was at.

"That's because you can't" Said the dark man, walking towards the girls.

"So, you were lying." Annie looked alarmed, but Ava remained cool and composed, her eyes locked onto the man's. A glint of red appeared through the gap of the fedora, and Ava expressed her thoughts.

"You're not human." She whispered to herself. "What are you?" Ava called out, her hand re-clamped around Annie's arm.

The man still smiled.

"What am I you ask?" He chuckled. "Why I am the figment of your darkest nightmare, the ghost that haunts your favorite memory, and your happiest dream."

He then stepped out into the moonlight, letting the moon's glow wash over him. Ava's eyes grew wide, and her mouth dropped involuntarily.

He was frighteningly beautiful. His skin, whiter than the newly fallen snow, glistened in the light. His hair was raven black and cut to his chin. His body was lean and elegant; his face was that of an angel's. But it was his eyes that Ava was most drawn to; they were crimson red, and catlike, a thick rim of eyelashes graced his eyes. Ava would've fallen in love with him in an instant had it not been for the demonic aura that surrounded him.

"Oh my God" Ava mumbled. "We need to go."

Annie, next to her nodded.

The two girls turned towards the exit, but with a sudden gush of wind the man was already in front of them.

"Why leave so soon?" he began walking to them menacingly. "The fun is just beginning!" He let out a low hiss, and Ava got the feeling that he wasn't even breathing.

"What are you?" Ava repeated, looking cautiously at the man.

The man let out an ear screeching laugh, like Ava's query was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

"You ask what I am, but if I tell you, I will have to kill you."

Annie let out a small scream, and she began to run away.

"Finally." The man chuckled and left to chase her.

"NO!" Ava yelled, she tried to run after Annie, but her legs wouldn't move. What's going on? Ava asked herself, why aren't my legs moving?

"Annie!" Ava called out hoping if she called her friend's name out it would somehow save her. She screamed, frustrated at her legs. She heard shrieks coming from the deep woods, and what sounded like ripping. Ava began to heave out sobs

"Annie!" Ava repeated, letting the tears fall from her small face. The screams subsided, and Ava knew that Annie would not return. Ava banged her fist on the ground."This is my fault!" she yelled out. "Why did you kill her? It was me who led you to us in the first place!"

Ava looked around, her dark blue eyes red from crying, he wasn't there. Ava let out an aggravated howl. "WHY. WON'T. YOU. LISTEN. TO ME?" She shrieked, voice cracking from pain.

"Oh, don't think that I have forgotten about you." A cool voice said from a dense fog. Ava looked surprised.

It was Alva.

"What did you-" Ava began, but stopped, her stomach turned a thousand somersaults inside her. Blood encircled the edges of the man's mouth. Ava put her to her mouth, frightened by the sight. "You spider!" she yelled, "You monster!" Ava's head begin to spin as her realization of what the man was manifested in her head. "You're a, you're a vampire!" The man smiled, maliciously. "Very good, girl. At least you are not a completely incompetent human. You figured out my secret."

Ava stiffened.

The vampire ran his hands through his raven-black hair. "It's a shame, though." he said dismissively."I have to kill you now, you know."

Ava's heart stopped.

"I wouldn't have minded turning you into a vampire, I'm sure you have been beyond the normal beautiful, but three days of screaming and after that newborn babysitting. Too much of a hassle." He shook his head accordingly.

Ava wanted to get up and run away, but her thoughts ran to Annie.

"So, do you want to do this the hard way, or the easy way?"

Ava whimpered. She took a step back, wrong move. A million things happened at once. The man grabbed Ava around her neck, squeezing tightly; Ava began to choke for air. Then, the vampire was thrown off by a force Ava didn't see. She stumbled back leaning against a tree, gasping for breath. Two men, both just as pale as the vampire they now had pinned against a tree, were talking in hushed, hurried voices. One appeared to be in his mid-twenties, he had pale blonde hair, and burning topaz eyes, he had to be about over six feet tall. "Make sure she's okay." He ordered, nodding his head towards Ava.

His partner gave him a Do I really have to? look. The blonde one gave him an annoyed look as if he was saying yes.

The other one sighed, and turned. At that moment Ava thought she had died and gone to heaven. He had beautiful bronze colored hair, he had the same topaz eyes as the blonde one, but upon further notice, Ava had made one mistake, he wasn't a man, he was teenage boy. "Hey, are you alright?" his angelic voice rang, rudely.

Ava's mouth gaped open. "Edward!" the other man snapped.

"Yeah, Edward, is that your name? I'm perfectly fine! My best-friend has just been slaughtered, I'm being hunted by this murderous monster, I was almost choked to death, found out vampires do exist! Best day of my life, til you and your friend there had to come and ruin it!"Ava shouted sarcastically, scowling harshly at Edward, the blonde guy, who was now holding the struggling, snarling vampire by his neck, looked like he was fighting back a smile.

"Well, I'm sorry to come and ruin your party. You know, we were just coming to rescue you and everything. But I guess that was a total waste of my time!" Edward threw his arms in the air theatrically.

Ava and Edward both glared at each other.

"Edward, I need help here!"

Edward glared at Ava and went to help the other man. Ava watched as they held the vampire pinned against the tree.

"Who are you?" The blonde guy demanded, angrily thrusting him to the breaking tree.

"Why should I tell you?" The vampire snarled.

"We may be able to help you!" The man replied.

"Help? HAH! As if I need it! I love who I am, and there's nothing you can do, Dr. Carlisle!"

Carlisle and Edward both stopped using brute force to keep the man against the tree. "How do you know my name?" Carlisle asked. The vampire only grinned wickedly and threw Carlisle and Edward away from him. Edward smacked against a tree, and Carlisle smacked into Edward, it sounded like boulders crunching, Ava cringed.

Ava then felt a very cold hand seize her arm squeezing it too tightly. Something cracked, Ava screamed.

The vampire was snarling and growling. "Decided to bring some friends?"

"No!" Ava screamed, tears streaming down her face from her broken arm. "I don't know who they are!"

"Liar!" The vampire threw Ava down in the dirt. "Do you take me for an idiot?" He screeched.

"No, I don't!" Ava replied.

He growled. Ava looked around her, she noticed a loose thorn bush, and she grabbed it with her good arm. Twenty thorns dug into her skin instantly. Ava didn't notice the pain and threw into the beautiful face of the vampire. She got up and ran away.

The vampire yelled out angrily.

Ava ran. Twigs from trees smacked her face, but she didn't have time to worry about it.

Keep running, she told herself, feeling a drop of hot blood curl its way down her face, just keep running.

She nearly tripped over a giant tree branch, but she still kept running. She leaped across a small creek, passed a giant sycamore.

When she got her foot caught in a tree root the vampire caught up with her.

"Filthy human clumsiness constantly getting in the way of a good chase." He bent to where Ava's foot sat stuck, grasped and then crack. Ava shrieked.

"Oops, did that hurt? I must have forgotten you're just a stupid, naive, repulsive little human." He smiled a cruel smile.

"I'm more than you'll ever b-be" Ava threatened, teeth chattering.

"Hmm, you seem cold." The monster said cruelly ignoring Ava's warning. Ava tried to get up, but her foot was still stuck. Oh, God. She thought, still trying to wiggle her foot out of the evergreen root, the pain was incredible, Ava could have threw up

"You know what I can't believe?" He asked pacing back and forth. Ava's teeth chattered some more, she didn't reply.

"I can't believe that some measly little human thought that she could run away from a vampire." He laughed, Ava groaned from the pain, her foot was pulsing and her wrist had swollen more two times its size. "Do you know how insane that thought is? Do you?"

Ava wanted to dig a hole in the ground, crawl in it, and never return.

"Well, now I've got you, you've teased me for far too long and now you must pay for it in death." He began to walk closer towards Ava, a ferocious smile on his all-too beautiful face. Tears began to bubble in Ava's eyes.

"Oh, don't you cry now. It will be quick and semi-painless"

He opened his mouth and bent closer to Ava's neck, she felt his ice cold breath, and Ava's eyes grew large. Here it goes, she thought, my turn. A tear fell from her cheek to her small hand that was gripping the earth.

The vampire was about to bite Ava when a sudden gush of wind pushed him away, and another gush of wind threw Ava down the hill behind her.

Ava screamed, covering her face was nearly impossible as the force acting on her made her roll too fast to think about protecting her face from the twigs and rocks.

Twigs and limbs stabbed Ava's sides as she went down. Animals chattered angrily as she ran over their nests. "Help me stop!" Ava shrieked as if someone could hear her. No one did.

Ava was still rolling fast when she heard the sound of rushing water. Oh no! Ava screamed in her head as a twig cut her face. Ava finally got her hands over her eyes when a large rock stabbed her side, knocking the air out of her.

Ava rolled more awkwardly, gasping for breath. Ava moved a finger away from her eyes long enough to notice the only that would probably be able to stop her was a large cliff looming closer to her. She tried to grab onto nearby shrubbery, but all attempts were at fail.

Ava waited for the fall and got it. She was tossed into the air and was flipping around like an oversized rag-doll, then she rocketed down into the creek below.

She landed with a crunch, splash, and a crack into the shallow creek, her head had cracked against a rock.

Everything began to go very blurry. She could hardly make out the person watching her over the creek.

"She's down here!" The person called. "She fell into the creek, Carlisle!" The man jumped down, landing perfectly on his feet. He ran towards Ava, and she realized that it was the boy who had saved her before.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a velvety voice, it was much nicer than the way he'd talked to her earlier. Ava put two and two together and realized that he, and his friend, were vampires.

Edward began to fade away from her sight, everything around seemed to be growing dimmer.

"No, no stay with me. Come on, no blacking out yet, not until Carlisle gets here." He tried to assure her, lifting her head from the rock.

"Stay with me, Ava. It's going to be alright." He looked at his hand, it was covered in Ava's ruby red blood, and he gulped nervously, and washed it out in the creek. "Carlisle!" He yelled. "Hurry up! She's losing too much blood, she's going to die soon!"

"Are you going to k-kill me?" Ava asked, her eyes began to shut.

"What? No, of course not, what gave you that idea?" Edward demanded. Ava felt her eyes roll. She let out a small groan.

"I'm in so m-much p-pain, I w-would have appreciated it if you d-did." Ava let out a small, sharp gasp, tears racing down her cheek. "E-Edward, I'm s-sorry I y-yelled at you."

"You don't have to apologize." Edward said quickly."It was my fault, I was rude. But you won't have to worry soon, because Carlisle's going to come down here and save you. I promise."

"Pinky. . .promise?" Ava held up her small right pinky finger.

Edward took his pinky finger and wrapped it around Ava's, his finger felt like ice. "Pinky promise." He assured.

"Where is she?" Another voice rang, it was Carlisle's.

"She's right here, Carlisle!" Edward called, smiling apprehensively at Ava.

"Okay, Edward, thank you. I can take it from here. Alva took off, but a few humans heard the commotion and showed up, please go keep them at bay."

Edward and Carlisle switched places.

"Y-you're a v-vampire, too? Like E-Edward?" Ava asked, taking in short breaths.

Carlisle looked at Ava, but he didn't appear surprised. "Yes, I am. But you really shouldn't talk, it's exhausting you. Could you look me in the eyes, please?" He held Ava's chin gently. He stared intently at her for a second, as if he was looking for something. Carlisle then smiled. "You have very pretty eyes." He complimented.

Carlisle went blurry and Ava felt herself fall back. "Oops, none of that." He said. Ava grimaced; she was beginning to have problems breathing. Carlisle lifted Ava out of the cold creek and laid her on a patch of grass, he looked concerned.

"I'm not going to lie to you; you don't have but two minutes longer to live." Pain surged through Ava's body. She didn't doubt him."You've lost too much blood, and your breathing is much too shallow." Carlisle was so blurry, Ava couldn't see him. "You do have another option rather than dying." Carlisle took a deep sigh in. "You know what I am. I could bite you, and you'd be turned into a vampire, it's painful though, it worse than the pain you feel right now. But you'll live on forever."

Ava's breathing patterns began to skip. "D-do i-it." Ava muttered.

Carlisle nodded, and took Ava's left wrist, and stared at it sadly. He opened his mouth to reveal venom covered teeth, and bit into Ava's tiny wrist.