Disclaimer: All belongs to Stephenie Meyer.
"Looking hard for
Moments of shine
From twilight
To twilight"
-Bjork, "Aurora"
Prologue
He is standing before me, the most beautiful death I have ever seen.
His muscles shift under his granite skin, and his teeth gleam as his mouth spreads into a small smile.
"Bella, it's time you listened to reason," he says.
"No," I whisper. I know his reasoning. I believed it too, once.
"Please, Bella," his soft voice pleading. Like the rest of his kind, his voice is the most beautiful of sounds. This beautiful being could make me do whatever he wanted, with just a note of his voice. I try to steel myself but I know I'm beginning to yield.
"No, please," I say, knowing it is useless.
"Bella, you have to understand. I have only your best interests at heart." A pause, while I weaken further. He is too beautiful to resist. They all are. How could I have thought that I would have a chance against him?
I am battling for my life, my soul, my mind. And I am going to lose.
He can sense it. The glittering smile grows wider, his eyes softer and more seductive. What can I do? I am helpless. There is no fight and there is no resistance- just a soft submission. That is the only way my happiness lies, and where it has always lain. I fold my arms against myself, to try and close my body to him, but I am soft and yielding, and cannot fight. My hands slide down until they reach my wrists.
I stand, and am quiet, and submit.
"Please," he whispers.
My left hand slides a little more, until it grasps my right wrist. There is a bracelet on there. I have worn it every day of my life, in remembrance of him, the one I love.
I touch the charm on there. My strength returns.
"No," I say, voice trembling slightly but holding steady as I look into his eyes. For once, I do not weaken upon looking at them. I do not submit.
They flash, and I know he is upset.
"You will have to take me by force," I say.
"Then I will," he replies.
And then he rushes at me, gleaming smile, melting eyes, skin sparkling in the light of the setting sun. He is no earthly creature. He is a galaxy of stars in the shape of a person, and he is coming for me.
Ten feet.
Five.
One.
And then I punch him as hard as I can.