It was raining. It wouldn't have mattered but it was daytime and I was outside. Normally a vampire out in broad day lights would give the citizens a cause for alarm and pitch forks but the stormy clouds blocked the sun which would have given me away. Despite the rain and clouds, I was still nervous. If it cleared too quickly or even one ray of sunshine broke through the clouds and touched me, I would be discovered and then I'd have to kill almost an entire city to cover my tracks. I did have a couple of precautions. I had a jacket, but there were stains of human blood on it, not that other humans would be able to notice, even if they decided to approach me which they rarely did. The rain was easing up; I could feel the rain drops becoming fewer and farther in between. This made me even more nervous for the sun that was soon going to be coming out.
I glanced around me, making sure I was still unnoticeable to the humans and also taking in the sight of them who were also unfortunate enough to be outside. They were getting curious. I could feel the emotion welling up inside of them, breaking out to where I was. They were wondering why the rain wasn't bothering me as it was them-why I could still see fine although the rain was hitting my face, why I didn't mind standing outside without a cover overhead, and why I looked the way I did. A vampire had certain characteristics that set them apart from humans and these humans noticed them: the pale skin, beautiful features, and the eyes. I had black eyes now, which is an abnormal color for humans to have.
I knew this would happen; this curious feeling that humans felt that they didn't understand something. They thought they knew everything and when they didn't, it either made them angry or curious. In this case, it was the feeling of being curious that was emitting off of them, which I could feel. They had a reason to be curious although anger would be probably be the safest approach for them, not that they knew that. They had no idea that a vampire was standing twenty feet away from them, thirsty. It isn't safe for vampires to be out in daylight at all, even in the rain. It just wasn't safe-for us or the humans, not that I cared for them. That was wrong. I did care, to an extent. I hated killing and taking an innocent life, knowing that my life had been taken too in a rather unorthodox way. I hated the emotions that my prey felt as I readied my pounce to kill them. Horror. Fear. I lived these every day and I hated it. But these were the only emotions I knew. I had never felt any other emotion in all of my vampire life. I hated killing but I needed the blood to survive. I couldn't live without it for even a couple of days. The itch in the back of my throat grew, the venom pooled in my mouth, my teeth snapped, my eyes grew distant as I searched for my next victim who would bring me relief from the thirst.
A clash of thunder brought me out of my thoughts and back into reality. Knowing that my secret couldn't be found out, I hurriedly glanced around, trying to find some shelter or a place to hide until nightfall when I could escape to the next unfortunate town that I would grace with my presence. I spotted a nearby diner that was dimly lit and seemed to be full of trash. It was one of those by- the- way diners that only the locals visited, even then probably only the drunks or the lowlifes who wouldn't fit in a nicer diner. Still, it would do. I zippered up my jacket and ran the slow human speed to the diner. I opened the door and a bell chimed. A scent hit me like a ton of bricks. There was another vampire in here. How could that be? I hadn't seen another vampire in all of my travels. Still, there was one here. I glanced around and saw that the diner was only half full. If the vampire and I got into a fight, we'd have to kill them and anybody else who saw. I prepared to fight as she jumped off of the stool and walked towards me.
She was short. I bet she would barely make it up to my chest. Her hair was black as midnight and stuck up in all different directions. Although vampires are unnaturally always beautiful, she was more so than any of the other vampires that I had ever encountered. She walked so casually towards me that I didn't know what to expect. All of my years of dealing with vampires caused me to believe that she was starting for an attack but yet her position was all wrong. Instead of assuming a pounce position, she was just walking towards me, as though we were friends meeting up at this diner. As she walked closer, I noticed details about her. She was smiling a playful little smile on her beautiful face. Her eyes, which were a curious butterscotch shade unlike my reddish black ones, shone with a different emotion. She was not feeling anger or fear or horror of meeting a new vampire. She was…relieved? Happy? Was there a word for this beautiful emotion? I had never felt such a happiness and satisfaction that she was feeling right now. And suddenly, as I looked deep into her butterscotch eyes, I forgot what I had been trying to forget for 100 years: that I was a vampire.
Instead, I was back home on my family's farm. I was a southern gentleman and she was my southern belle.
She spoke then and her voice was a high soprano composed of the more beautiful notes that I've ever heard. No piece of music that I had ever heard was as beautiful as her voice.
"You've kept me waiting a long time."
I tipped my hat politely-it was how I was raised-trying not to lose myself so much in her eyes that I forgot how to speak.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," I replied, somehow able to talk around this angel.
She innocently held out her hand, and without thinking of the consequences of holding hands with a vampire, I reached out and took it. Physical contact seemed to make my strange power even stronger because as soon as I touched her, I felt hope. I felt that I could change and become a new person. I was finally snapped out of my depression as she led me out of the diner doors and into our new life. Suddenly, more than anything else in the world, I wanted to know who she was.
"What's your
name?"
"Oops!"
"What?" I asked politely, wondering what was so funny about asking for her name.
"I forgot that you don't know my name, Jasper," she replied, looking up into my eyes. I stopped short.
"How do you know my name?"
"I have a gift like you do," she said as she started walking again. "Instead of feeling other people's emotions and making them feel other emotions, I can see the future when a decision is made. Like how that one decision will affect the rest of your life. I saw you searching for me, even though you didn't really know that you were searching for me. I decided to make it easier on you and look for you too but you were hard to find!"
I looked at her, baffled by this amazing gift from God.
After what seemed like forever, I replied, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting. I had no idea that such happiness or satisfaction could exist. If I had known, I would have searched the entire world for you. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, we're together now. And now we're going to go see Carlisle!"
"Who's Carlisle?" I hoped it wasn't her mate, I couldn't imagine letting her go now that I've finally found her.
"Carlisle is part of
a coven that I keep seeing in my visions. They're the Cullen's. We're always with them and now we just have to find them! There's
Carlisle and his mate, Esme. Then there's Rosalie and her mate,
Emmett. And then there's Edward who doesn't have a mate yet. I
want to find him one though, he's so lonely. Now that I've got
you and everybody else has somebody."
My mind stopped working as
soon as she said "now that I've got you". I could feel that
she wanted me as much as I wanted and needed her. It was like now I
couldn't exist without her. I had no idea how I even managed to
exist without her for this long. She was so full of energy, so full
of life that it was contagious. I wanted to jump up and down, run a
thousand miles an hour, or do anything to use this new found energy
that I found. She stroked my hand with her thumb and suddenly I knew
that everything was going to be okay.
"Of course, we're going to have to change your diet. You can't hunt people when we find them!"
I stopped short and looked at her. What she had just said made no sense to a vampire; a vampire not hunting humans? Was that an oxymoron?
"I'm confused."
"I know! I can see it
in your face! The Cullen's don't hunt humans. Surely you've
noticed that my eyes aren't the same color as yours. They're
eyes are the same color as mine. They live off of animal blood. It
doesn't taste as good but it gives you almost as much energy as
human blood does. I wouldn't know about the taste but I've seen
it in my visions. I decided that I want to live with them and so I
must be like them. Therefore, I hunt animals too and if you want to
be with me, you have to hunt animals too!"
"I've never heard
of that lifestyle before. If anybody else had seen it, I wouldn't
have believed them."
"Then why believe me?" She was smiling that smile again.
"Because I love you," I said. Saying those words had felt right, and I knew at once that they were true. She was my true mate and the love of my life. Everything about her captivated me.
This time, she stopped short and looked me in the eyes.
"I love you too, Jasper," she said. I could finally name the emotion that was being emitted off of her, which I was feeling now too. It was love; complete, pure, love.