A/N: I had this idea and felt inspiration for it, so I decided to write it. Edward and Jacob are not in this first chapter, because I want to introduce the storyline and my OC, Leighton. I hope you enjoy it! Don't forget to review if you do; if I get less than 2 reviews, I won't be likely to finish it. Thanks for reading!

April 20, 2009

Who am I? You sure you want to know? The story of my life is not for the faint of heart. If somebody said it was a happy little tale, if somebody told you I was just your average ordinary girl, not a care in the world… somebody lied.

Sorry, that's Spiderman. I really like that movie.

Anyway, hello, to whoever may be reading this. I have decided to begin this journal to document my life and my many adventures, because as far as the world and all legalities are concerned, I do not exist. But believe me, I do. If you are reading this, it probably means that one of the vile creatures I hunt somehow managed to get the better of me. A fact of which shames me. I had hoped to follow in the footsteps of my father, yes. But being killed on a job is the one footprint I would have preferred not to stick my boot into.

I am currently sitting in a library; a tiny little one in some small town in Oregon that nobody ever passes through more than once. It is one of those places that traps its citizens, a fact of which makes me feel sorrow for them. True, hunting the supernatural is a dangerous job. A job that could get me killed, that almost has gotten me killed. A job that did kill my father when I was fifteen; a job that killed my mother just weeks before my first birthday. Yet at least I have seen the world; traveled around the country and seen so many of the wonderful things it has to offer. I have seen what I am fighting for, and it gives me a sense of purpose. It makes it worth not having a normal life, one where I find love and have children and get the white picket fence. That whole package that everyone seems to want.

I am here because I just killed a Rougarou; you probably have no idea what that is, do you? It's this disgusting humanoid creature that has twice as much strength as a full-grown man and considers human flesh a delicacy. I have heard legends before where they have wolf heads, or they are average people possessed by evil spirits. I find it fascinating and somewhat humorous how people see supernatural beings such as this, and then add on even more frightening features as a coping mechanism to make their experiences somehow less terrifying. It reminds me of a game I would see other girls play when I was younger; I believe the game is called Telephone. I'm sure you know more about that game than me, though; I'm the strange nineteen year old orphan who wanders around the country hunting monsters, and you're the normal person who probably considers me delusional as you read this.

Excuse me; I just realized that I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Leighton; Leighton Singer. I'm like Buffy, but I hunt more than just vampires. And I am a little more badass, dare I say? If you were to look up the name Leighton Singer in a database or public records, however, you would not find anything. My father descended from a family of hunters, so he did not exist as far as the United States of America was concerned, either. My mother went "missing" when she met him while waitressing while he was in her town on a job; she joined him, and they fought together. I was born a few years later. It's a really sweet story, really, until it gets to the part where a ghoul ate my mother. But don't worry; I won't share that story with you. Maybe another time, if you're really that interested.

Sometimes I think it would be nice to give up hunting and go for that white picket fence. I would love to wear dresses and heels instead of boots and jeans; I would love to consider friendship drama the biggest issue in my life. Whatever else normal girls my age worry about. But then, who would there be left to protect the world from these evil creatures? There are only a small handful of us hunters. With me gone, there would be so many more evil things out there in the world.

Until next time,

Leighton

"Wow, I could write a fuckin' novel," Leighton Singer said quietly to herself as she slammed her new journal shut. She looked around the library as she saw small groups of kids around her age studying together in various places. She wished that she were not alone; it would be nice to have someone to sit with. She had been alone for the four years since her father had died; she had worked with a few other hunters here and there, but she didn't feel she truly had any family or friends. In some ways, however, that felt easier; it meant that she had nobody to lose, and therefore would never again have to feel the pain she had felt in losing her parents.

"Wow, Jessica, come take a look at this!" Leighton turned her attention to two girls sitting ten feet behind her at the library microreader machine. She had overhead bits and pieces of their conversation as she wrote in her journal; apparently they were students at Oregon State University, and they had driven forty-five minutes out of town to come to this library to work on a research project because it was less crowded than their local one.

"What?" the girl named Jessica asked as she turned her attention to her friend.

"Look at this old picture I found. It's about a lawyer in 1917 named Edward Masen and how well his law firm was doing. Not the important part, though. Who does this boy remind you of?" asked Friend-of-Jessica.

"Oh my god!" Jessica squealed. "He looks exactly like Edward Cullen!"

This caught Leighton's attention; she focused her left ear in on their conversation, tuning everything out. Chances were there could be some sort of coincidence here, but chances for her said that this means a possible next job. If someone from the past still looked exactly the same today, there were a vast number of possibilities as to what kind of supernatural being they could be.

"That's so weird." Jessica stretched the last word out into five syllables. "The Edward we know is paler, but otherwise, they're so similar!"

Friend-of-Jessica laughed. "It's no big deal, Jess. They're probably just distant relatives. After all, Edward did go by his adopted last name."

"Oh yes, the sexy Cullen boys who all dated their adoptive sisters," Jessica said bitterly. "Then Edward, who thought he was too good for me, but boring little Bella somehow managed to snatch him up."

"Seriously, Jess?" Friend-of-Jessica looked at her friend sternly. "Bella is our friend."

"I know, Angela, I know." Jessica sighed. "But he's just so handsome…"

Leighton rolled her eyes at Jessica, thinking that this Angela chick seemed way too nice to be hanging out with the bitch sitting beside her. Trying to focus on the more important situation at hand, she thought about what sort of creature this Edward Cullen could be. He did not age, and was apparently gorgeous. But then again, people said that that one actor was attractive, and she did not agree. What was his name? Brad… Brad something. Not important, Leighton, she thought to herself.

Maybe he was some sort of witch; they could sometimes use their powers to keep themselves youthful, stuck at the age of their choice as long as they could steal the years from some other innocent being. Maybe he had been somehow reborn; when she was twelve years old, she and her father had hunted a girl who had been murdered at a young age. She had been so devastated about the loss of her life before she had had a real chance to live, she had managed to be reborn at some point down her family bloodline. Leighton had begged her father to let the girl finish her second life, and after hours of debate, he had agreed. But she had heard him sneak out of their hotel room later that night when he thought she was asleep.

The two girls stood up and grabbed their bags, preparing to leave. Leighton quickly snatched up her stuff and strolled over to them. "Hi," she greeted awkwardly. They both turned to look at her.

"Hello," Angela said with a smile after a moment of silence.

"I'm sorry to bother you; I know it's a little weird." Leighton forced a small, awkward laugh from her mouth.

Jessica's expression softened. "It's fine. What's up?" She asked. Her friendliness made Leighton take back the bitch comment she had made to herself earlier.

"You two just look really familiar," Leighton lied. "Did we go to high school together or something?" She casually itched the back of her neck, trying not to act too conspicuous.

"Forks High?" Angela asked.

Forks High. Hopefully this Edward Cullen was still in the area; if not, maybe there would be some sort of a lead there. "Oh, no, I went to school around here. Sorry to bother you, you just remind me of a couple of my classmates."

"It's fine. Nice to meet you, anyway," Angela said as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

"You too," Leighton said as they walked away, oblivious to the fact that they had just given her a big lead on her next hunt.

"Wow, what a weirdo," she heard Jessica say as they exited through the front doors.

"I take it back," Leighton said quietly to Jessica's retreating back. "You are a bitch."

Once they were out of eyesight, she turned and sat down in Angela's still-warm seat. "Gross," she mumbled to herself. She looked into the viewfinder; the article about Edward Masen Senior was still in there. She memorized the face of his son. He wasn't that good-looking, like Jessica had gone on and on about. Seeing the average-looking kid on the screen, she remembered the comment about how the boy those girls had known at Forks High was paler than this one. More pale and better looking, with an equally attractive adoptive family.

"Vampire," she said to herself excitedly as the most obvious conclusion came to her.

"Could you not talk to yourself?" An irritated boy sitting five feet away asked her. "Approaching those girls and then sitting in their still-warm seats and looking at their research was creepy enough. I don't need to hear you talk to yourself about mythical creatures, as well."

"And I don't need to see your big fivehead that undoubtedly plays video clips like the Teletubbies bellies, either, yet I'm still looking at it," she retorted. He stared after her as she asked the librarian to make her copies of the article.

Once the article was copied, she thanked the librarian and crawled into her car, pulling out her phone to figure out where Forks High was. She located it in northern Washington and outlined the best possible route to get there. She was slightly less than five hours away; she could make it there by mid-afternoon and find a cheap motel. She would get settled in for the evening, prepare her weapons, and ask around town about this Edward Cullen. And tomorrow she would hunt.

There was a tap at her car window, and she looked up, startled. It was the boy with the large forehead. She rolled down her window. "Yes?"

"Just wanted to let you know that you're also kind of hot." He grinned at her hopefully.

She patted his arm as she put the car in reverse. "And I'm sure you're a really nice guy."

She pulled out of the parking lot, a large cloud of dust blowing up into his face as she sped off towards the highway. She drove through town as quickly as she could. She had a vampire to kill.

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