Disclaimer: Roses are red,

Violets are blue

I'll never own Twilight

And neither will you. (Unless you are SM)

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Fires of Hell and the Scent of God

I burned. For a seemingly endless time I was tortured by never-fading pain that far surpassed any I had previously experienced; which I suppose isn't saying much considering my most serious injury during my short sixteen and a half years was a broken toe. I couldn't remember how I had gotten into this state, where I was, or even who I was. The agony obliterated almost all other thoughts, senses, and emotions. However, throughout it all my constant mantra was 'I must not scream, I cannot scream, God don't let me scream.' I had no clue as to why it was so important for me to keep my sufferings internal but intuition told me that if I made a single whisper it would be the end of me.

Which, at this point wasn't sounding like such a bad thing but my will to survive was too strong. I held on to my dimming hope that the pain would end and I would be able to continue whatever it was I had been doing before this ordeal.

After what felt like years, I realized I was once again aware of my surroundings, which happened to be the inside of a cement drainage pipe. I saw that the faint daylight at one end and rejoiced inwardly at finding a way to measure the time so I could distract myself, however slightly, from the burning in my veins. Distantly, my brain registered the sounds of vehicles overhead, from which I concluded that I was under a moderately traveled road. I had just made the observation that I shouldn't be able to see so well in the dim light when the fire—impossibly—reached an even higher intensity to which I surrendered once again.

Thanks to my low pain tolerance, I managed to black out shortly after and when I awoke I noticed the fire was changing, becoming more concentrated in my heart and throat and fading elsewhere. My heart was loud and frantic even to my own ears and instinctually I knew it was the end. Whether it was the end of my life or merely the torture I didn't know but I fought to hold onto my restraint as my heart burned with newfound fury. I lost the battle and with one drawn out shriek my heart and the pain stopped. I was momentarily distracted by the sound of my voice for what should have been a glass-shattering shriek sounded more like a professional soprano reaching the high note at the end of a crescendo. After the brief shock of hearing myself hit a note I would never have thought myself capable of, panic set in as I remembered my non-beating heart. I franticly searched for my pulse in my neck but found none. Slowly, I began to realize that I felt no chest pains, shortness of breath, or any of the other things that I thought to characterize a heart attack or cardiac arrest. In fact it didn't seem to be necessary for me to breathe at all. Experimentally, I held my breath but no matter how long I held it I never felt the need to breathe, just a minor discomfort from not being able to smell anything. It was then that I found all my senses had improved exponentially. My eyes, which had always been rather poor before, could now see the tiniest hairline fractures in the pipe around me. I could hear the insects moving in the field that bordered the road, and I had never been able to distinguish so many scents before.

I looked down to my body and saw that it was covered in dirt and blood, which, strangely, caused the smoldering in my throat to erupt into intense flames. Under the filth I saw that my skin was deathly white and perfectly smooth, both strange traits for me as I had a year round tan as a product of being a Californian and a swimmer, and I had waged a constant battle with my skin problems since puberty. I brought my hands up for inspection expecting to see the ragged nails and skin that was scarred from numerous animals, falls, and the sporadic cutting I had inflicted upon myself when my inability to connect with my peers weighed on me too heavily. However, I saw none of the marks or imperfections that had flawed my skin. All was smooth, white flesh.

Dismissing my observations as a result of the poor lighting in the pipe, I carefully stood and, when that motion produced no pain, walked swiftly to the end of the pipe and clambered up on to the road. My movements were so fast and graceful that I couldn't believe it was normal. I had no recollection of it being otherwise, but I had a feeling that most, if not all, of these characteristics were inhuman.

I was about to laugh at myself for such a ridiculous thought but the chuckle died in my throat when I saw that my skin was glinting in the watery light of dawn. My eyes widened at the sight and I knew then that there were only a few possible explanations. One; I was dreaming, two; the final stage of the virus I had caught and caused me so much agony included fever-induced hallucinations, or three; I wasn't human anymore. Option one sounded the most likely but I never thought myself so imaginative and in dreams weren't your surroundings supposed to be fuzzy and not sharply defined like mine? Hypothesis number two was my next pick but fever and sickness clouded the mind, whereas mine had never been clearer than in this moment. The only explanation left was I was something other than human, but if I wasn't human, what was I?

So involved was I in trying to answer this question that I had forgotten to breathe and when the sound of an early morning commuter in his Saturn reached my ears it didn't register so by the time I tore my gaze from my abnormal skin it was too late for me to avoid it. In the few seconds between my sighting of the speeding car and its impact with my body I had time to flinch into a protective ball and think two last thoughts: 'Why isn't he even trying to slow down or swerve to avoid me?' and 'How ironic that I survive an immeasurable time enduring pain that could rival the fires of Hell only to be killed minutes later getting run over by a car. Typical.' Then the inevitable collision occurred but instead of my body being broken, mangled, and thrown by the car, the exact opposite happened. I watched as the car bent around me, flip over my still-standing, unyielding person, and land on its roof behind me, shattering all its windows.

I looked down at myself expecting to find extensive damage and gasped when I found no injuries apart from those done to my clothes. With that intake of air I smelled what could only be the essence of God yet invoked the fire of Hades to erupt in my throat and a deep yearning that echoed throughout my entire being. Without conscious thought, I sprinted to the driver's side of the upturned car, yanked out the unfortunate person inside, and plunged my teeth into its neck. I did not feel my victim's feeble attempts to get free that only got weaker, or hear its ever-slowing heart rate. All I was aware of was the taste and feeling of a hot, smooth, sweet, thirst-quenching substance as it flowed into my mouth. It tasted like melted chocolate combined with the tanginess of lemons, the spicy heat of cinnamon, and the freshness of mint.

Too soon the flow of the perfect substance slowed, then stopped and my sanity returned. I found myself holding a young man, his neck bearing marks that looked like two crescents facing each other, and most importantly drained of blood. The man was dead and I had caused it. I now knew what I was. A vampire.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

AN: First chapter of my first fic, 1,380 words not including this note or disclaimer. Tell me what you thought of it, what you think should happen, or ask any questions you may have. Feel free to correct me on grammar, logic, or deviation from SM's vampire characteristics.

Review even if the only word you write is 'hello'! I just want to know you're out there.

Also, the main character is not Bella or any of the Cullens. We will meet them soon and they will become major players in the story but not yet.