Hey everyone, I'm back!

Don't worry, Summer Vacation isn't dead yet, just waiting for my muse to return. While we're waiting, I thought you guys might like this one. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!

Chapter 1 ~ The Beginning of the End

I am old, yet young, beautiful, but inconspicuous. I have run with wolves, swam with dolphins and hid among humans. I have explored the enchanted forests and waterways of the Amazon and even swam among the ruins of Atlantis. My name is Isabella Cullen, and I am a vampire.

Before I continue, let me dissipate some myths for you. I do not have fangs, and sunlight does not harm me. Holy water makes me wet and garlic is good on pizza, or so I am told. Crucifixes are simply a religious icon, not a vampire-slaying device. As for the stake through the heart myth, well first you'd need to catch me, and then there is that little issue with my skin being the consistency of granite. However, I do drink blood; you humans did manage to get that one right. Human, animal, for me it doesn't matter, so long as I get that fix from the crimson liquid. When I drink human blood, my eyes turn the most unnerving shade of red, but when I feed off of animals; my eyes are a warm honey colour.

My skin is very pale and as cold as death (no pun intended), and in the sun, I sparkle. Yes, sparkle. Like a thousand tiny diamond shards are imbedded in my skin. My deep brown hair is a sharp contrast to my skin, but rather than take away from my beauty, it enhances it. I may appear to be somewhere between seventeen and nineteen, but I assure you, I'm closer to two hundred. I don't recommend you ask a vampire her age though, we don't like that.

I was born to an eccentric botanist and his wife. I grew up with monkeys and gazelles as my friends and the Amazon as my play ground. To this day, the Amazon is still my true home and I find myself drawn back to the emerald forest and winding rivers more and more. Unfortunately, history does not remember my parents, though they were well known at the time for the advances they made in medicine. Even if modern doctors do no recognize the accomplishments, I shall never forget.

What I remember about my life revolves around sunlit days sprawled in the canopy of the rainforest discovering the world, and moonlit nights curled by the fire learning the art of healing. I'd like to think I had a good life, even if it was sheltered from civilization. I may not remember many specific details about my life, but I shall never forget my death.

It was another lovely day and I was laying on one of the thick branches that hung over the river, I was hoping to catch the first glance of our native friends. They usually came to check on us once every couple of weeks, and they were over due for a trip. I never did see them sliding silently down the river in their canoes, but I did see something just as fascinating. The Natives called it a Bota, a river goddess that could turn into a human maiden and lure you back to her underwater realm. We called it a River Dolphin. A gorgeous, bubble gum pink creature that swam beneath the branch I was stretched across. My father had told me about these shy creatures, and seeing this one now, I was enthralled. I never realized I was leaning over until it was too late.

The water was deep and the bank too far away. My dress pulled me under and held me. The last thing I remember was a pair of strong, cold arms wrapping around my body just as the searing liquid filled my lungs.

For three days and three nights I drifted in and out of consciousness, my body burned from the inside out, like liquid fire coursing through my veins. Pain seared into my mind as I withered and died. Finally I woke up from my last sleep, a newly created vampire.

My creator was named Kirin. He never did tell me why he decided to change me, and I have never asked. My parents were left to assume that their daughter was claimed by the forest, just another victim of the Amazon.

I stayed with Kirin for many years; to me he was the big brother I never had when I was alive. I often got the feeling that he wished we were more, but he never forced it upon me. Kirin taught me how to survive in a world of humans, a world were we lived among our prey. He allowed me to taste both human and animal blood, leaving me with my own decision for my meals. We never hunted together, always alone, stalking our prey without the worry of fighting each other for dominance. This partnership lasted a good fifty years or more, but my love for nature was what finally tore us apart. Kirin was content with a Dukedom he had purchased, but my feet still itched to explore.

From England I traveled through Russia, into China then India. Egypt, Niger, and then deep into the Congo. With each new place, I learned something new about myself and this half-life I've been gifted and cursed with. It wasn't until I made it to the New World that I met another vampire.

Carlisle Cullen was a doctor at the hospital I was volunteering at. Together we fought the Spanish Influenza, though even with our combined efforts, we never did beat the consuming sickness. I have followed him ever since. It has been interesting living on his all animal diet, but I have coped, it wasn't like I never drank animal blood before.

Our coven of two grew into a family of three when Carlisle took a mate with a young woman named Esme. Next came the beauty queen Rosalie Hale, then she too took a mate, Emmett Cullen. Not long after that our coven was completed with the addition of Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale. They became my family, my mother and father, my brothers and sisters.

Time passed and we finally settled in the small town of Forks, Washington. A gloomy, rainy place, just perfect to be called home by a vampire coven. It is here that my life, or rather death, truly begins.

Chapter two is on its way, I'll have it posted this weekend. Hope you can wait that long.

Cheers,

Avey