Prologue Part 1
Olympic National Park: 2007.
The deep sonic boom reverberated throughout the forest, echoing off the valley walls and causing the herd of deer that the small vampire had been stalking to take flight. Alice reacted instinctively, leaping and taking down a large buck, breaking its neck to minimize the animal's suffering and drinking as its heartbeat quickly faded. If Alice hadn't been distracted by the hunt she would have noticed the strange blue spire of light pierce the clouds below the morning star in the east, at the same point where the boom had emanated, striking downwards to hit the floor of the next valley, fading almost as quickly as it appeared.
When Alice finished feeding she stood and shook down her clothes, frowning at a tiny drop of blood that had landed on designer jeans, smudging it by rubbing at it with delicate fingers. Then she remembered what had caused the herd to startle and looked up towards the source of the sound, facing east over the slope of the mountain that separated Alice from the next valley. For a moment she hesitated, tempted to investigate. But she knew there were hikers in that valley, a human pair. So Alice turned and ran towards the direction her parents were hunting, another 20 miles south, just as the first cool rays of breaking dawn began to flood parts of the valley with soft golden light.
Less than 10 minutes after the boom broke the pre-dawn silence a gust of wind blew over the running girl, making her stumble and pull up in shock. The gust carried just a single molecule of scent, not even enough for Alice to try to separate and identify the unfamiliar components, but her stomach contracted as though she'd been struck. It wasn't painful, yet it caused an aching sense of yearning that might have made her weep if she could still shed tears.
Alice sniffed the air, hoping to find further traces of the tantalizing scent, but it was gone. She stood there for several more minutes, confused, debating whether to turn back. Eventually she shook her head in an attempt to clear the strange fog of confusion. If anyone had been there watching the tiny pixie they might have struggled to hold back from laughing at the almost comical gesture.
She knew her parents would be waiting for her by now. Her mother had planned this trip to visit the family's old home at Forks to begin preparations for their next move in a few years time. Esme was meticulous when it came to their family's homes, the effort she put in to their design and construction was an expression of her love for her family, and she wanted to be ready to order materials and organize the renovations for a complete makeover of the old mansion well before they were due to make the next move from Alaska. Alice knew better than to keep her mother waiting and huffed in frustration, before reluctantly taking off again in the same direction she had been running minutes before.
