Thick forest surrounded him.
He sat quietly and listened, strained to hear a sound.
The silence that stretched all around him was as loud as a scream.
It went on for miles and miles, complete nothingness.
He leapt to his feet and startled himself at the sound of crunching pine needles beneath him.
Spinning wildly, he saw nothing but green all around.
It was dense, compressed, suffocating.
He could almost feel the need to draw in a shaky breath, but fought the urge.
He didn't need to breathe.
He didn't have to breathe.
He was the world's most deadly predator!
He didn't need to fear the silence!
He didn't need to fear the eternally quiet that reached far beyond him. The empty space that had no sound in his world, it seemed so small at first, but as it continued its icy fingers gripped his dead heart…
No!
He would not give in to the fear!
Clenching his fists, the sandy haired monster took off running at an incredible pace, faster than any human eyes could follow.
He was running, not from the fear of being caught, but the fear of never being found.
He was lonely.
He'd never admit it to anyone, and especially not to those he left behind.
He was done with that life.
He was his own person with all the time in the world to do what he wanted.
But what did he want?
He stopped abruptly, pavement now stretched before him, going in a straight line from as far as his eyes could see left, to right.
Should he follow the road?
Should he continue running ahead with no attention paid towards humankind's achievements that would wither with time, while he, remained untouched and unchanged by the passing of days.
He crouched low to the ground, allowing himself the liberty of running his frozen fingertips of over the blacktop.
It was so fragile.
Just like them.
Just the smallest amount of force and…
Crack!
He stood with a handful of asphalt in his hand.
Clenching his fist, it crumbled into dust and drifted away on a slight breeze that he could not feel.
So very fragile.
Taking a deep, unneeded breath, he tasted blood in the air. His excitement grew to new heights as purpose filled him once more.
The slight burning at the back of his throat turned into a raging furnace, demanding to be fed.
He could ignore it no longer, and the monster inside him completely took over.
He took off in the direction of the smell, he would be careful.
He was always careful.
He always made sure it was campers out on a hiking trip, searching for Big Foot or some other myth.
But they didn't find Big Foot, they always found him.
Search parties were quick to quit when no trace of the campers are left, for their remains are usually found floating in the river days later, with no blood left in their lifeless bodies, after bleeding out through a wound in their heads and being tumbled by the waters, most people were amazed they were found at all.
He made sure they were always found.
No matter how many died, more always came. Looking for some kind of adventure or just admiring nature.
Guilt struck at him.
Didn't he admire nature as well?
Were humans and he so different? After all, he had been human once, but it seemed like so long ago.
He couldn't remember what things felt like, what they tasted or smelt like. He only knew the smell of blood and plants.
He stopped suddenly, just in the ring of trees that surrounded the couple. The woman had a broken leg and the man was trying to get cell service, but there were no towers for a few miles.
They were trapped, and unknowingly at the mercy of his conscious.
Salt filled the air with its pungent odor, the woman was crying from the pain. He couldn't really blame her.
He took in the sight of her leg bone, completely shattered. She had mostly likely slipped from the bolder she was now sitting on and hit her leg on the smaller rock. There was no water around for a mile or two, no way to keep her leg from getting infected. He'd be doing her a favor.
Quietly, he stepped out in the open.
There was no need for an attack plan, they weren't going anywhere.
The woman was the first to lay eyes on him, and she cried out in relief. "Honey, look!"
The man turned and nearly cried out himself. "Hey buddy, do you have cell phone?"
He cocked his head to the side at unnatural angle, causing a few strands of blonde hair to obstruct his vision.
The man asked him again, but he didn't hear him anymore. The bloodlust had welled up in him and swallowed him whole. He was far too gone to discern anything, but he just waited.
"Honey… " The woman fought through her tears, and finally noticed what her partner did not.
The man turned to his wife, and then followed her gaze to his bare feet, blackened with dirt and grime.
He watched as they took in his ragged clothes, continuing up from his feet. The old and torn jeans, and the dirt covered shirt were so filthy, the colors could not even be distinguished anymore.
Finally they took in his pale skin, and earth real appearance, and he couldn't help but smirk at their reactions.
Humans were so predictable.
Lastly, they looked into his muddy red eyes.
The woman screamed in terror and tried to get to her feet, but collapsed in an instant. The man took off running away from him.
Jasper merely felt himself smile unwillingly.
Today was a good day after all.
xXxXxXxXx
Jasper groaned and staggered into a hard surface.
He put his hand out to steady himself, but the object was slimy and his hand slipped causing his weight to slide against it until his body was propped up.
He blinked his rejuvenated blood red eyes and then squinted as everything drifted in and out of focus.
He placed his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms.
When he glanced up, horror met his eyes.
Blood was everywhere, splattered over the rock he was leaned against, soaked into the ground and completely covered his arms and torso.
He placed a hand over his eyes as the weight of what he had done hit his mind, and then jerked the appendage away as the smell of blood invaded his nostrils once more, but this time it had no affect on his hunger.
He stumbled away from the bloody bolder, and tripped on something stiff.
He caught himself with his supernatural reflexes, and turned to see what he had tripped over.
The body of the woman laid torn open from the neck down, exposing her chest cavity to the world. The rib bones were completely missing, and it would have had the appearance of any in-depth biology book, minus the fact that her heart, liver, and other various organs had been ripped out and strewn over the area.
Liquid bile rose in his throat, surprising the vampire, as he saw that her face had been completely mauled off, leaving no evidence of a human appearance.
He turned away from the gruesome scene, only to see the body of the man, but he wasn't sure if it was worth it to call him a man anymore.
The body was mangled beyond recognition, a mere bloody lump of flesh and bones.
Jasper clenched his eyes shut and forced air in and out of his useless lungs.
He had never lost control so badly before.
He had been a mere puppet to his instincts, just following through with actions that he most likely would not have chosen had he been in his right mind. It was an utterly helpless feeling.
He opened his eyes and decided in less than a second that anyone who came upon this horrific mess would think that a wild animal had attacked the two campers. His kind never even entered the thoughts of authorities since they were only legends and myths.
He sighed and bowed his head, saying a quick prayer for the humans that lay dead with their blood staining his hands.
Would God even hear the eternally damned?
He hoped so, for the humans' sake, if not his.
He hoped that they would find peace with their lives that he had ripped away from them.
He hoped they didn't have children.
He hoped they had known love in their short lives.
He hoped he hadn't made them suffer.
Jasper lifted his head and felt sorrow consume him, he could almost see in an indistinct memory the fear on the woman's face, which now lay in shreds.
With that thought, countless other faces were brought before his mind's eye.
Hundreds.
Of people.
People who had families who loved them, with lives to lead, with destiny's they should have fulfilled.
They had only made one fatal mistake.
Meeting him.
Jasper turned his back to what was left of the couple, and leapt high into the air and landed running away as fast as he could.
He breathed in through his nose to try and rid the beautiful stench of death from his airways.
He couldn't seem to escape it; it was like a cloud that followed him, reminding him of his sins, never letting him forget the lives he had taken to fuel his own pathetic existence.
Well he was covered with their blood, he thought to himself, and almost laughed aloud at his lack of common sense. Of course he would smell blood.
He took off back in the direction he had come from earlier, he remembered some kind of water activity he had jumped over some time ago.
He ran along, trying to keep his mind from wandering past putting one foot in front of the other, trying to keep it from following down a path that had lead him out in the wilderness in the first place.
He was a danger to humans.
Yes, he was a vampire, and yes vampires drank blood, but there had to be a better way than taking an innocent life whenever his thirst got the best of him.
He had tried to stay close to an old person's home at one time, but the medicine they took caused the blood to taste most foul, and him not to be satisfied.
He was now trying to control it, just starving himself and staying away from any temptations. But the desire was too great, and he was too weak.
The lack of substance had unwanted effects on his mind; he had recalled every life he had taken since he was turned, and the taste of each person. The sweet nectar of life that flowed through their veins and fed their bodies, and in turn his, he could still feel it pouring into his mouth and running deliciously down his throat.
Jasper forced himself to run full speed into a tree, bursting right through it and kept his momentum up.
Before he had taken to asking himself useless questions and pondering answers for hours and even days to keep his thoughts at bay from his constant hunger, he contemplated such as infinite universes that all existed next to each other, like neighbors, all the way to why a pigeon weighs less than its feathers.
Until this moment he had been succeeding quite well, only needing food once or twice a month, but he had never thought he was able to create such a scene of revulsion just for a meal.
He had thought he was better than that at least.
But now, he should to take to physical violence to contain his thoughts. Even though it didn't hurt him, it shocked his mind enough to think about something else.
The water was just ahead, bunching his leg muscles into a spring, he leapt with a great enough force to leave a small crater in the earth under his feet before sailing into the air and over the last few trees in his way. He landed in the water with a loud splash, and sighed.
Jasper just stood for a moment in the liquid and enjoy as the delectable smell of blood washed from his being. Just thinking about it, made his throat begin to tingle with sick anticipation of another meal.
Jasper threw himself into the water with disgust, and began scrubbing his skin fiercely, watching as the water around his torso turned a deep reddish color.
After a minute he was completely clean, as well as he could be with taking his clothes off, he didn't even bother with them because they were stained beyond saving. He would find replacements soon enough.
His cleansing slowly ceased, and he took a pause to look at his reflection in the water.
He saw what his victims saw, a handsome creature with ethereal beauty that was undeserved to one such as him, but bestowed upon him to lure his prey into a false sense of security.
But when he looked deeper he could see the haunted look in his bloody red eyes, the pain of decades of struggling with inner self loathing for what he was, and what he allowed himself to become.
Sighing ruefully, Jasper up stood in the waist deep water, and jumped out and took off again at an incredible pace not knowing where his feet would take him.
He just ran.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Author's Notes: Alright… so this is one of my latest projects, but my first Twilight story, so, feel free to flame me. It keeps me toasty. ^_^
This story is supposed to be before Jasper met Alice and he'll meet someone soon. So, stay tuned!
Much love!
blackXheart