EPOV

"You're leaving?" she whispered.

The others stared at me now.

"Am I?" I hissed through my teeth.

She saw it then, as my resolve wavered and another choice spun my future in a darker direction.

"Oh."

Bella Swan, dead. My eyes, glowing crimson with fresh blood. The search that would follow. The careful time we would wait before it was safe for us to pull out and start again…

"Oh," she said again. The picture grew more specific. I saw the inside of Chief Swan's house for the first time, saw Bella in a small kitchen with the yellow cupboards, her back to me as I stalked her from the shadows…let the scent pull me toward her…

"Stop!" I groaned, not able to bear more.

"Sorry," she whispered, her eyes wide.

The monster rejoiced.

And the vision in her head shifted again. An empty highway at night, the trees beside it coated in snow, flashing by at almost two hundred miles per hour.

"I'll miss you," she said. "No matter how short a time you're gone."

Emmett and Rosalie exchanged an apprehensive glance. We were almost to the turn off onto the long drive that led to our home.

"Drop us here," Alice instructed. "You should tell Carlisle yourself."

I nodded, and the car squealed to a sudden stop.

Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper got out in silence; they would make Alice explain when I was gone. Alice touched my shoulder.

"You will do the right thing," she murmured. Not a vision this time—an order.

"She's Charlie Swan's only family. It would kill him, too."

"Yes," I said, agreeing only with the last part.

She slid out to join the others, her eyebrows pulling together in anxiety. They melted into woods, out of sight before I could turn the car around.

I accelerated back toward town, and I knew the visions in Alice's head would be flashing from dark to bright like a strobe light. As I sped back to Forks doing ninety, I wasn't sure where I was going. To say goodbye to my father? Or to embrace the monster inside me? The road flew away beneath my tires. -SM

In the end, I didn't decide at all. As I drove my mind was elsewhere, on Alice's dark visions, and Bella's horrified face as she had seen the monster in me during biology, on Carlisle and my family. So I wasn't paying attention to where I drove, and sheer force of habit led me to the school, and there, a faint, barely perceptible, lingering trace of her scent remained.

I knew that Alice's vision of that darker future would have solidified, become certain, in the moment I smelled that scent again, so I knew I would have to be fast, she would be on her way to stop me.

All the plans I had made during that torturous hour came back to me, and I selected the one that would bring me to her blood the quickest. As I planned, I felt a part of me, the part of me that was Carlisle's true son, die.

I pulled up around the corner from her house and listened. Her neighbours were at home and that complicated things, but not much. It simply meant that I could not break into her house or surprise her into a scream. Pasting a warm smile onto my face I walked as casually as I could around the corner to her house and knocked on her door.

When she answered the door, after what seemed an eternity, her scent crushed me, and it was all I could do not to kill her right there on the doorstep. Marshalling what control I had I tried to make my voice as appealing as I could.

"May I come in? I wanted to apologise for my deplorable manners earlier." My attempt to be appealing must have worked - she stood aside to let me enter.

Now that I knew my thirst would be quenched in moments it was surprisingly easy not to kill her as I walked past, the scent intensified by our nearness. I waited calmly through the endless moments it took her to close the door and turn to face me.

She was perceptive, I'd give her that. It took me only a moment to reach out and touch the thoughts of her neighbours to ensure that they had not noticed my arrival, but in that moment I let my façade slip and saw the shock register on her face as I crossed the distance between us and sank my teeth into her warm flesh, her hair falling around me, turning this into a full-sensory experience- the feel of her flesh, the smell of her hair, the sight of her pale skin and the moist thudding of her heart.

And the taste... it was indescribable. There were no words for it. And there was not enough. Already her heart was faltering, her blood was running out, her skin cooling. It was almost over, and the thought of it ending, of never tasting that sweet ambrosia again, was unbearable.

Then there was a sudden crash as the door flew open and Alice was there, Jasper behind her. I cursed myself for losing myself so completely in the moment that I had not heard their approach and I reluctantly dropped the already cooling body to defend myself, loathe to give up even the few precious drops that were left.

I snarled and prepared myself to attack them for coming between me and my prey, but Alice's words stopped me in my tracks.

"Edward, stop, please. I love her."

She sounded heartbroken, and I saw in her thoughts that she was not only mourning me, that bit of compassion that I thought had died when I decided to take Bella's life, she was mourning Bella as well. I saw in her thoughts the vision she had seen after I left her earlier- her and Bella, arm in arm, like sisters. Alice's eyes golden, Bella's crimson.

Carlisle's son wasn't dead after all, and he stirred in horror as I realised how close I had come to attacking my own family. Appalled by myself I ran past Alice and Jasper, desperate to get away from the accusatory stillness of the body on the floor.

Eventually I realised that I was far enough from Forks that it was time to forget what I was running from and decide where I was running to. I couldn't go home, I knew that, but nor could I stay with the Denali clan as I had been planning. I couldn't live with them, not with my guilt glowing crimson in my eyes.

Rationality demanded that I stay close to Forks. The worst thing I could do was leave now and arouse suspicion. I wouldn't make this harder for my family than it already was.

Finally I decided to check into a motel far enough away from town that I wouldn't be easy to find, but close enough that I could still attend school. I lay on the bed in my room, staring at the ceiling and trying vainly not to remember the glory of Isabella Swan's blood.

BPOV

When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped lab table exactly like the ones I was used to. She already had a neighbour. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the centre aisle, I recognized Edward Cullen by his unusual hair, sitting next to that single open seat.

As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was watching him surreptitiously. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face — it was hostile, furious. I looked away quickly, shocked, going red again. I stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch myself on the edge of a table. The girl sitting there giggled.

I'd noticed that his eyes were black — coal black.

Mr. Banner signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. Of course, he had no choice but to send me to the one open seat in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes down as I went to sit by him, bewildered by the antagonistic stare he'd given me.

I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my seat, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad. Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelled like strawberries, the scent of my favourite shampoo. It seemed an innocent enough odour. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, making a dark curtain between us, and tried to pay attention to the teacher.

Unfortunately the lecture was on cellular anatomy, something I'd already studied. I took notes carefully anyway, always looking down.

I couldn't stop myself from peeking occasionally through the screen of my hair at the strange boy next to me. During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair, sitting as far from me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. He had the long sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his forearm was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his light skin. He wasn't nearly as slight as he'd looked next to his burly brother.

The class seemed to drag on longer than the others. Was it because the day was finally coming to a close, or because I was waiting for his tight fist to loosen? It never did; he continued to sit so still it looked like he wasn't breathing. What was wrong with him? Was this his normal behaviour? I questioned my judgement on Jessica's bitterness at lunch today. Maybe she was not as resentful as I'd thought.

It couldn't have anything to do with me. He didn't know me from Eve.

I peeked up at him one more time, and regretted it. He was glaring down at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion. As I flinched away from him, shrinking against my chair, the phrase if looks could kill suddenly ran through my mind.

At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Edward Cullen was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose — he was much taller than I'd thought — his back to me, and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat.

I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. He was so mean. It wasn't fair. I began gathering up my things slowly, trying to block the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency. - SM

The rest of the day dragged. I couldn't keep myself from thinking of that black-eyed glare, wondering what I could possibly have done to provoke someone who, by all accounts was utterly indifferent to anyone outside his family.

When I finally made it home, the day seemed to have lasted an eternity. Thankfully Charlie wasn't back yet, so I went upstairs and finally gave in to the urge to cry. I had known that starting a new school would be hard, but nothing had prepared me for the day I had had.

What reason could he possibly have to hate me? The only thing he knew about me was that I was new here. Could that be it, I wondered? After two years of being part of the newest family in town (and, by virtue of his being the only one of them who was unattached, the most interesting member of that family), was he angry that I had usurped him?

I almost laughed at the thought. As if I, clumsy and plain and unmysterious as I was, could possibly rival him for long. I knew that soon enough I would be just another student at the school, whereas he could never be 'just another' anything.

A knock at the front door interrupted my tears.

Hastily I rushed to the bathroom to splash water on my face before running downstairs to answer the door. I had no idea who it could be, but I knew who I wasn't expecting- who I expected to never spend a voluntary moment in my presence- and so my jaw practically hit the floor as I opened the door and saw those black eyes.

There was no hatred in them now, but they were hard and cold, almost dead. There was something inhuman about his face, and I shivered at the sight of him, but when he spoke his voice was soft and compelling, pouring like honey from his perfect lips.

"May I come in? I wanted to apologise for my deplorable manners earlier." His smile was apologetic, endearing, inviting, in spite of those dead eyes. I stood back to let him pass me and then I closed the door and turned to face him. His mercurial face had changed again; it was severe, frightening.

Before I could open my mouth he had taken a lightning-fast step towards me. He covered my mouth with his hand so I couldn't scream. I closed my eyes in terror, thrashing blindly, but his arms held me implacably. I felt a sharp pain in my neck, which was quickly replaced by an agonising burning that seemed to radiate outwards from that initial pain. My head swam and I grew weaker and weaker.

An almighty crash sounded behind me and I was dropped to the floor, too weak to even open my eyes, and too consumed by agony to care what happened to me now. I lay limply, barely breathing as snarls echoed off the close walls of the hallway, and a high voice said "Edward, stop, please. I love her." The snarls ceased and a sudden gust of wind blew past me. I was lifted into gentle arms.

"Shh Bella, it's ok, he's gone now, you're safe." It was the high voice again. I could barely hear it over the ringing in my ears. I opened my eyes and could just make out the face of Alice Cullen above me, but the dark shape behind her remained faceless. The agony was spreading through my body, so intense now that, in spite of my weakness, I struggled in the strong arms that held me. I heard a hoarse whimpering and realised that it was mine.

"Are you sure about this Alice?" a low voice murmured, almost inaudible over my cries, which were growing louder now.

"Trust me, I've seen it. She will be one of us." Now I recognised the high voice I had heard earlier as Alice's. The light changed and I realised that I was being carried outside. That was the last thing I noticed before the agony consumed me and I became completely oblivious to anything external.