Chapter 1: Escape and Humiliation

Author's Notes: This is written from two different viewpoints, with my OC mixed in. :)

Oh, and the world is not mine but created by the lovely Stephenie Meyer, and all characters with a few exceptions are hers.

11:11PM, November 4th

Monster, lonely, desperate were the words echoed through my brain as I raced down the highway, gravel leaving a smoky trail behind the tires. I never thought that one human could cause so much trouble, could cause me to flee like a scared puppy. I grit my teeth and accelerated to over 120 mph toward the Alaskan sunrise.

7:01AM, November 5th

The hum of a melody rang in my ear and I jumped, picking up the intruder and hurling it at the wall. My alarm clock squeaked, defeated, and became silent.

"Darian!" Taylor's high-pitched voice shrieked for me from the kitchen. I ran out of my room, slid down the stair railing, and jumped onto the kitchen floor.

"Morning, little monster." I said to my pouting blond sister clad in a ridiculously frilly apron.

"Taylor made pancakes today, Darian. You should be grateful." My mother scolded lightly.

"I should get the Pepito-bosom." I winked at the angry fourth-grader and stole a bite of toast before running upstairs.

"Darian?"

"Sorry Mom, I have to meet up with Toby early." I shouted while I pulled on my boots and parka.

"I'll go with you!" Taylor's cheeks glowed pink with excitement as I ran out of the door. She'd had a crush on him since we moved here two months ago.

"I don't think you'll be able to catch up, little monster!" The engine revved and I was gone in a white swirling mist.

"How do you get used to this blasted cold, Eskimo?" Toby grinned as he hopped in my car, and rolled up his light sweater's sleeves to expose his bare, tanned skin. I was shivering in my double-layered parka.

"It's all part of being a native, Sun-boy."

It was still snowing lightly as I parked my old Benz in the student parking lot. Toby and I watched it spiraling down for a few moments before entering the warm halls of Fairbanks High.

The morning was uneventful with the required classes all scheduled before lunch: Senior Survival, where I "learned" how to balance a check book and credit card; Physical Education, which I did't like but excelled in during obstacle course drills (Basketball however, was my weak point, I did't see the purpose in ye older ball and hoop game) ; Introduction to Film, which was a joke of an elective; and Senior-level Biology Research, the only class that was worth my time. The first day of Biology Mr. Mac, a retired hippie, told us basically that we could do whatever we wanted in the way of experiments as long as we wrote it all of the lab reports. This freedom allowed me to study the skin pigmentation and health of mice exposed to the Alaskan sun. It had proved difficult, but a challenge is just what I needed to get my mind off of the monotone of High School and into my real passion: scientific experimentation.

The fourth period bell rang and I walked into the Biology Lab with my sleeves rolled up.

Forty minutes later, I popped my knuckles and leaned back, grinning. I had finished my research after eight weeks of experiments. All I had to do was to type it up in the Library and hand it in to tie-dye lab-coat Mr. Mac.

Despite my joy at that moment, what happened next would leave me fuming for days.

My boot caught on something, and my biology notebook flew open- scattering my research, that I had so carefully prepared, everywhere. My eyes stung with frustration.

Troy Knight, of course Jock Number 1, was to blame. I saw him flex his muscles as his friends laughed at my misfortune. I picked up my biology work hastily but not quick enough because the one person that I never wanted to see me humiliated walked down the hallway at that moment.

Madeline Levin, in all her quiet beauty, was prancing toward me with a look of pity in her golden eyes.

Have you ever met a person and you immediately were attracted to them, your subconscious tingling- knowing that this person will be important? That's how she was to me at that very moment; her golden eyes alight, twinkling in the florescence school lighting. Somehow she seemed to glow in the cheap lighting while it made everyone else look washed out with pale tiredness.

Not that she wasn't pale, her flawless skin was white as the snow falling softly outside. The snow could have been a perfect comparison for her: pure and unnaturally beautiful. Her features were soft and graceful, her auburn hair falling in waves about her face. This graceful creature looked swiftly in my direction, noticing my thoughtful stare. I thought I saw the corners of her lips tilt upward- a hesitant smile?- then her expression hardened and she pranced away quickly with her other graceful sisters.

"What happened to you? You look terrible, like your dog got ran over by a bus or something." Toby, my childhood friend since forever, was not one to mince words.

I kept silent, pushing my food around with my fork, fuming. I pretended that Troy was the half-defrosted corn on my plate and stabbed it.

"Was it... her?" My eyes reflexively shot up to look at the Levin sisters, sitting at a table by themselves.

"How did you kn-"

"It's obvious you're not over Jessica." Toby smirked as I shot a green pea at him with a flick of my finger.

"Jessica? I took her out once, and she couldn't shut up during the mo-" I stopped mid-sentence, as a sight of beauty crossed my vision. Madeline getting up from the table, her food uneaten, and dancing away, even her parka not weighing down her graceful steps.

"Darian..." Toby shook his long brown hair in pity, "You have an obsession with beautiful women."

Toby was only half-right. Because all of the research I had been doing wasn't just about rat's skin pigmentation. It had been about another race entirely- Madeline's race. Because I was convinced that she wasn't just another supermodel-type human. She was something entirely different, I was sure of it. She was a vampire.