Daylight
Prologue
Raising the hood of my cloak with slightly shaky hands, odd for a vampire - normal for me, I waited. Alec lingered too long and I was nervous that we weren't as inconspicuous as we thought. As I watched him sink into a crouch and prepare to grasp the oblivious young girl, I felt a pang of regret. It was the same feeling that seeped into me whenever I witnessed one of them hunting for me – I'd refused to hunt myself, to kill an innocent. I'd convinced myself that if they were already dead, I needn't feel guilty as I was just ensuring that their bodies did not go to waste. I studied her hair; the elegant bounce of each ginger curl, the slight frizz framing her healthy blood-stained cheeks. Her hair looked glossy, and so soft that I imagined it would slide between her fingers easily as she sat at her dresser day after day to brush it. It only made it worse when I imagined their life. So young, so new...like me.
I was a child - in every sense I was a newborn. I relied on my creators, my parents, for sustenance. I couldn't leave alone, I was not trusted, and I was still avoided like the plague by Jane. I would never truly belong here no matter how warmly Aro offered his cold and ancient hand. I wouldn't belong anywhere, it seemed: neither mortal world or otherwise. It left me feeling utterly useless and I felt myself slipping into a deeper depression every day. It certainly didn't help that the days began to mold together, and I now couldn't recall how long I'd been like this.
Interrupting my mental fretting, Alec turned back to nod to me. I sighed as I slowly approached him and the now silent girl draped lifelessly across his lap.