A/N: Alright, here's Chapter 16 of Something Dark in Zander's POV!

Now, no one requested this in their review, so maybe you didn't really want to read Zander's POV? But I felt like posting it because I already had it typed up and I thought "what the heck?" So, here it is! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own How to Rock, or Twilight!

ZANDER's POV

~Chapter 16~

~Stevie's Very First Hunt~

I brought Stevie outside for the first time since she'd woken up. It was adorable how she kept scrunching her nose up in disgust. Now that her senses were stronger, the air smelled absolutely repulsive.

To her.

I'd gotten used to it.

Eventually, Stevie got sick of the smell, and she covered her nose and mouth, groaning. I couldn't help but laugh at her, and she got frustrated.

"What?" she snapped.

"Baby, you're a vampire now. You don't have to breath, you know. You'll have to smell around though when it's time to hunt."

"How do you stand it?" she asked me suddenly, removing my hand from her face. I suppressed the urge to laugh. She really was too cute sometimes.

"I've been a vampire for over two-hundred years, Stevie. Eventually you get used to these things," I answered, grabbing her hand gently and holding it in mine.

A small smile graced her perfect lips, and we continued walking I was trying to get her as far from town as I could. "How old are you, really?" she asked.

The questions surprised me a little, but I didn't show it.

"I'm not so sure you really want to know," I responded, laughing quietly. She bit her lower lip as she thought, and I could feel her curiosity through our bond. She wanted to know anyway.

"But I do. . .want to know. . ." she said carefully.

"Well, it might surprise you, Steves," I began. The nickname surprised her a little; I could see it on her face. The nickname just sort of slipped out. "But I'm two-hundred-and-sixteen years old. Well, two-hundred-and-thirty-four if you add my eighteen human years into that," I explained.

I realized how odd that may have sounded. Two-hundred-and-sixteen years old; two-hundred-and-thirty-four years old sounded even weirder. But she really didn't seem fazed by it.

"So, you'll always be much older than me," she teased, smirking a little.

I laughed and said, "Yes. Definitely, but you don't seem to mind it." It really surprised me that the. . .age difference didn't seem to bother her at all.

"Well, I don't know," she began, scrunching her eyebrows together, confused. "I feel weird about this whole situation. . .being mated to you for the rest of my life. . .but I also don't mind it at all. I want to be with you forever," she explained slowly. A small smile crept onto my face.

I liked the sound of that.

"I can tell," I said quietly. "Our emotional bond. . .you're confused now, but eventually you won't think anything of it."

She tangled her fingers with mine, and rested her head on my shoulder as we continued walking. My smiled grew a little bigger, and I enjoyed the feeling her touch gave me.

We were trying to stay far away from people as possible. I had told Stevie that there would be a quite a few people around the cabin for a little while, but I didn't exactly tell her why. It had to do with her "unidentified death."

I couldn't tell her about that yet. Not yet. I wouldn't even know where to begin, and the last thing I wanted to do was upset her so soon. I wasn't sure if waiting to tell her was a good thing, or a bad thing. . .

But I guess we'd find out. I knew she was curious about what I'd told her, but she didn't say anything about it.

When we'd finally gotten far enough away from the town, and the cabin, I stopped walking, holding Stevie back a little, too. She looked at me curiously, waiting for me to say something.

After a moment, I spoke up, "Alright, now when it comes to hunting, you don't think. You have to let instinct take over, and it'll tell you what to do."

She frowned. She must've been confused, but I was going to try my best to help her. She didn't know how to do any of this yet. I had over two-hundred years of experience, so of course it became first nature to me.

"Zander, I don't know how to," she whined, looking down at her feet. I could feel that she was embarrassed and frustrated. She didn't like not knowing things.

I made her look at me, lifting her chin up so her eyes met mine, and then said, "You can do it, Stevie. Don't think. It helps to start by sniffing out your prey. Try that."

She slowly nodded her head and breathed in the air, ignoring the mossy scent, and focused on finding blood. I was standing beside her in that moment, whispering into her ear, "Try to find a doe. A doe will quench your thirst; a stag won't. It'll only make you stronger."

"But I don't know what doe's blood smells like," she frowned. I wanted so badly to smooth out the corners of her lips, but I didn't want to distract her. So I stuffed the urge and just looked at her.

"Trust me, baby. The moment you catch it's scent, you'll know it's a doe. Their blood is the sweetest of any animal you could hunt. Stags' blood smells rusty, and unappetizing," I said, making a face of disgust. "But does' have the sweetest blood. Try to sniff out a doe," I encouraged.

"Alright," she answered quietly. She was still unsure, but she closed her eyes and sniffed the air again.

For a half-hour, more or less, neither of us could sniff out a doe. Only a bunch of other wild animals, and not one of them smelled good at all. In fact, they smelled absolutely awful.

Finally though, after about an hour, the wind picked up, and I managed to catch scent of a doe. "There," I whispered, pointing east toward the scent of the animal. "I can smell a doe, can you?"

Stevie nodded her head.

"Come on," I said, gently. I grabbed her small wrist and threw her onto my back. She wrapped her legs around my waist and wrapped her arms around my neck. I took off running.

Just narrowly avoiding the trees that I could barely see as I ran so fast, I could feel Stevie wrap her arms around my neck a little tighter. She was nervous, I could feel it.

I wouldn't drop her though, of course not. I also wouldn't crash into a tree, so she was safe—whether she believed it or not.

I stayed light on my feet, not leaving any footprints, or making any thuds on the ground as I ran. It made hunting prey so much easier.

Finally, we got close enough where we could see the doe past all the foliage. "Shh," I told her quietly, whispering. I held a finger up to my lips. I focused on only the doe, and I didn't notice Stevie's nod, but she fell silent.

"Watch me, alright?" I commanded, still whispering. I charged after the doe, faster than lightning. Next thing I knew, the doe was lying beneath me. She didn't struggle, she was too stunned.

I heard Stevie gasp quietly from her distance, and I saw her jaw drop slightly.

"Stevie," I called, motioning her over with my hand.

Slowly, she walked towards the doe and me. Her knees were shaking slightly, but she was okay once she kneed down next to me. She was still nervous.

"Hungry?" I asked, smiling a little.

She didn't answer; she didn't know how to. I kept my hands braced on the neck and hip of the doe lying beneath me. I was holding her down. She still didn't struggle. Stevie looked completely lost, unsure of what she was supposed to do.

"How do I. . .?" she began, trailing off. Her hazel eyes stared at the animal.

"Just watch," I commanded quietly, leaning forward. I bit into the animal's throat and Stevie cringed a little as the doe cried. She shivered a little.

I began to slowly suck the blood from the doe's veins, releasing a small sigh of relief as the blood filled my mouth. I was so hungry, I hadn't eaten since I'd accidently attacked Stevie. The blood was absolutely amazing right then.

After I finally had had enough—I wanted to make sure Stevie got enough to eat before we had to hunt again—I pulled my teeth from the doe's throat and then looked at Stevie. I must've had some blood trickling down my chin, because Stevie wiped at it with the pad of her thumb.

I laughed lightly and said, "Your turn, baby."

She puffed out her cheeks and sighed. She didn't want to feed, more because of the fast that she didn't really know how to. . .but she was hungry. I could tell.

"You'll be just fine," I encouraged quietly. "Bite down where I already have, and just start drinking. It's that easy."

She scooted closer to me, and then leaned forward towards the animal. She bit down on the doe's pulse point, and when the sweet blood filled her mouth, she jumped. She feeling was new to her, but swallowed the blood anyway.

A small moan rose from the back of her throat—what an affect that had on me—as she continued to drink. The doe was already pretty much dead, but she didn't seem to notice.

I watched quietly beside her, and my throat ached a little. My thirst hadn't been quenched at all, but Stevie's thirst was more important than my own at the moment. I had more control while I was hungry than she did.

She finally pulled away she realized there wasn't any more blood left in the doe's body. Stevie sat back and looked to me, and I stared back.

"How was that?" I asked her.

She frowned as I looked at the doe. "I killed her. . ." I said sadly.

I felt a strong wave of guilt flood my body suddenly. She felt guilty for harming the doe. But she couldn't do anything now. I pulled her close so that I was sitting on my lap. I felt her guilt dissipate a little, but not by much.

"Stevie, it's what we do. We avoid killing humans because that's not who we are. . .usually. Don't feel guilty about it. You needed the blood. You were hungry," I said lightly, trying to calm her down. She felt sick right then, and I gently stroked her back.

"It's alright. The doe didn't even feel it," I said, lying a little.

She scoffed.

"I'm serious," I said. "All we did was drink her blood. We didn't hurt her. Biting into her neck only hurt for a minute."

"But, Zander. . ." Stevie whimpered, pouting at me. Her hazel eyes had gone big, and shiny. Was she starting to cry?

"Don't worry about it," I told her gently, moving my fingers to stroke her side. "Do you feel better now that you've eaten, at least?" I was trying to change the subject; get her mind off of the deer.

She nodded her head and quietly replied, "Yes. . .my throat doesn't hurt anymore."

"That's good. But you've recently just woken up, which means you're not done feeding at all. And I haven't eaten in days, so we've still got a few more hours of hunting," I said.

"More deer?" She pouted.

"Unfortunately, yes, baby," I said quietly, ignoring the urge to laugh a little. Instead, I kissed her forehead and told her, "And you've got some blood riiight there."

I was teasing about the blood. There wasn't any. I pressed my lips to her pulse point, kissing and tickling. She laughed and tried to push me off, but her attempts were futile. I was much stronger.

"I do not," she said, trying to control her laughter.

"I know, but I got you to smile, so my job here is done," I said, smirking. She whacked him arm lightly and began to sniff the air again. She was still hungry, and she knew it. So was I.

We had a few more hours left to hunt, and the pair of us needed blood. So, we set out to find more deer, and Stevie eventually got used to the fact that we would end up killing the deer, no matter what.

She caught on quick.

A/N: Alright, that's chapter 16!