Asher
I was living in the Cullen family, adopted by Carlisle's brother, whom no one ever spoke to. Carlisle refused to have my adopted father, Louis, who was the complete opposite of his brother. Carlisle wanted to be more like humans and protect them. Louis, on the other hand, only wanted to feed on humans. My little sister, Hazel, was changed alongside me, entering the Cullen family as I did. I was seventeen years old when I died. Hazel was only fourteen.
Many times as we "aged" with Louis, Carlisle tried to give us a chance to join his adopted family, trying to make us vegetarian vampires. I was being raised by Louis, so I started to believe in the ways that he did. I always disagreed to Carlisle's suggestions, and Hazel would follow my decisions because she had no one else to go to but me. Every night, I would hear her cry, wanting our parents back, and especially our little sister, Ella. Ella was barely ten when we disappeared that night. Louis convinced us, after our change, that we needed to fake our deaths (the way we were dying) and bury our bodies. Later that night of the funeral, Louis would dig us out. We did as followed, dying in one of the first car accidents in the world.
I could remember hearing our parents crying, mother abruptly stopping to scream our names toward the sky and find any reason to yell at the police officers. As everyone turned away, I opened one eye to check out the scenery. Hazel placed herself halfway out of the window of the car, blood all over her, a large cut traveling down the side of her face. I was in the place of the drivers seat, hanging out of the open door, but the officers took me out and sat me on the ground a few feet from the car so my parents could identify my body. I smirked, knowing Hazel put on a good show.
Suddenly, I stiffened. Ella was staring straight at me, holding mother's hand, shaking. She could see my eyes open, seeing my breath escaping from my mouth. I glanced over at Uncle Russell who stood beside her, seeing if he noticed Ella's strange behavior. No one took any notice in the little girl that was watching me. Without mother's knowing, Ella slipped away from her, trailing toward me. I sucked in my breath, which was too late now. She placed her hand on my bloodied stomach, smoothing up toward my face. I could smell the fresh blood from me on her hand. She stared into my opened eyes, searching for any sign of me jumping up and explaining that this was a miracle.
Then, the strangest part came out of her mouth.
"I'll miss you, Asher," she whispered, kissing my bloody cheek.
I stared at her, mortified. How did she know that I was somehow alive, but she understood that I couldn't live? Hazel's head flipped up toward our direction, her eyes wide in surprise, her mouth hanging open, eyes beginning to tear up. Ella and Hazel were so close, I knew this was be too hard for her. Then, everything turned to panic.
"Mommy, he's breathing! Asher is breathing!" Hazel screamed, almost as if the last moment had never happened and she was that innocent little girl again.
"ELLA!" mother screamed at her careless, seeing the blood all over Ella.
Mother tore toward us, picking up Ella, explaining to her that we were dead. Ella's eyes turned to moist, then to water, and the tears spilled. Mother seemed embarrassed that Ella was acting so stupid that her own siblings were alive when they were truly dead.
Our family disappeared into the darkness of the night and the officers began to pick us up and carry us away to a morgue. I felt Hazel shiver, not wanting to be trapped in the world of cold and dead. I bent my head down. Unfortunately, we joined that world already.
The funeral was hard on both of us. Hearing all the praises from family members and friends. I wanted to burst from my coffin when I heard Sam, my best friend, talking about our adventures together. I would probably miss him the most.
We were buried within three hours. I continued to lay in my coffin as I heard the dirt being thrown on top of me. The suffocation feeling was becoming normal, strangely okay for me. I had no reason to fear death anymore. I died, but at the same time, I could live forever. My bones were aching all day, since my body was slowly finishing the transformation of vampirism. The feeling of your bones becoming stronger, your muscles moving place, your heart stopping were all feelings that you should never feel. Pain strutting through your body as if it owned the place, which was what the transformation meant. I could hear Hazel wheezing in her coffin, since she was claustrophobic when she was alive. In a few hours, she stopped and became silent.
We waited, and waited, and waited until I couldn't take it anymore. I used my new strength to sit up in my coffin and push the lid off. I continued to push up into the dirt until I reached the surface of Earth. I pound all the earth back into place. I reviewed my work, knowing I did pretty well with my work.
"Umm...Asher?" I heard Hazel peep down below.
I sighed and the digging had begun. Two minutes later, I reached Hazel and retrieved her out of the coffin. She looked pale white, but beautiful and ceramic. Her light blue eyes turned vibrant, nothing that I have ever seen before. I replaced the dirt from her grave spot, I found her staring up into my face in discretion.
"Is everything all right?" I asked, dusting my hands off.
"Your eyes are purple," she stated.
I cocked my head to the side, as if to say "hmm really?" But I almost didn't believe Hazel. But, she never lied to me. So, I guess I had to trust her.
"Let's test our speed abilities," I grinned, knowing Hazel didn't like competition.
"You can. I'll catch up with you," she edged on.
I huffed out a breath and the running started. I ran quicker and quicker with every pace until I couldn't see a thing around me. Somehow, my instincts and feet told me where to go, so I wouldn't crash into anything. It was breathtaking and my heart would have been going crazy if it had never stopped in the first place. I leaned against a tree, waiting for Hazel. Hazel arrived in about five minutes, clearly not trusting her instincts to let her go to maximum speed. I laughed at her fear, which she kicked me in the shin for.
"I see you two didn't need my help after all," a voice said behind us.
Hazel's eyes went huge and I spun around to find Louis standing there as if he has been here all along. I cackled and gave him hug, which Hazel stared after in dissatisfaction, since she was wondering why I was acting like I had known Louis forever.
"Let's return to my home," Louis suggested.
I agreed with him, but Hazel only followed because she knew she had to.
That was a century ago. Now, it was the twenty-first century, being the year 2002. I died in the year 1907, so I was almost a century old (technically older since my birth date was 1890). For a whole week, Louis took us to Disneyland, a world of imagination and rides for every age. Louis brought us here only because since this place is so full of humans, it would be easy to pick out a lonely person traveling by themselves and track them down to feed. Hazel was honestly revolted by the idea, but she never said a word about it.
Disneyland was so crazy that sometimes we could barely move through the crowds. We agreed to meet at The Haunted Mansion ride if we ever split for longer than an hour. Not to mention, Louis bought us cell phones, so we could have fun even on the rides.
As we moved through the crowds, people would stop to stare at us, since our pale skin made us glow and our beautiful, perfect features were extravagant and not seen by many. I laughed as I saw the expression on people's faces as they stared at my bright purple eyes. Most people never saw purple eyes that bright. I would smirk and continue following Louis and Hazel through the park, since neither Hazel or me had ever been here. We lived near the coast of Virginia, and Disneyland hadn't been built till after our death. I stared as a large boat swam on the river beside us. The water was horribly mucky and I couldn't stop wondering how it got that nasty. Then I saw the trash floating.
Louis turned around to us. "Okay, three of these next seven days you can spend the whole day exploring and having fun in this place. Otherwise, it's work."
Hazel pouted, but I reminded her after Louis left that we were lucky enough to have the days we did get. She nodded, though she still would have a grudge against it.
We were in the line for this ride called Space Mountain. We overheard some kids talking about it awhile ago, so we decided to try it out. We got in line half an hour ago.
"When are we going to actually ride it?" Hazel whined.
I felt like whining too. Both of us were hungry.
I took notice of a girl quite a few people ahead of us. She had long light dirty blonde hair, dark brown eyes, and a solemn look on her face. I felt intrigued because she wasn't normal, I could already tell. She was quite pretty, but something about her made her seem...not depressive, but something around there. I noticed she had the porcelain skin and glow about her. I smelled for a scent and I recognized it.
Vampire.
I bent down to speak quietly into Hazel's ear. "Hazel, see that girl ahead of us. With the really long dirty blonde hair?"
Hazel searched the line, standing on the tip of her toes. "Yup."
"That's a vampire."
She whipped around to face me, her sky blue eyes wide and vicious. "How do you know?"
"Her scent. Smell."
Hazel stuck her nose toward the air and smelled every scent coming from the people ahead of us. Then, she froze, her nose squinting a bit, which meant sour.
"Okay, yeah, you are right," she proposed.
I laughed. I love it when I am right.
As we finally got inside and waited another twenty minutes, we arrived to the actual ride. Since Hazel was the youngest in the group that was chosen to get on the ride, she got to pick where she wanted her and me to sit. She picked the middle, too scared of the front and the back since we have never rode a ride before. Eight people received a seat, even the other vampire girl ahead of us. She was placed in the seat behind mine, which made the hair on my neck stand up.
Once the ride started, we ended up in a starry black place where you couldn't see a thing, though I could see a bit of the tracks through the darkness. We stopped on the top of a hill, and without warning, we shoot down and start zipping everywhere in the pitch black. Hazel screamed in delight beside me, so of course I ended up laughing almost the whole way.
Toward the end, I felt eyes on my back. I spun around and faced the girl behind me, finding that she had bright vermilion red eyes. My purple eyes stared back, which the older guy next to her noticed.
"Holy shit, dude," I heard the guy say, but then the ride came to an end.
I saw the girl quickly get out of her seat, bolting toward the exit. I grabbed Hazel's hand and ran after the girl. When I saw barely anyone was around us, and all the people that were there weren't even facing us, I used my top speed. I sped toward the girl, coming to a stop when I arrived in front of her. I stood before her, arms crossed, as if I had been waiting here forever. Her eyes grew wide when she saw me there. Hazel came to the rear. There was nowhere she could go without one of us following her.
"Fine," she exhaled. "Follow me."
We followed her to an eating place not far from the ride, so we got food (yuck) and sat in a corner where no one really sat at. Hazel was happy that she could try human food again, thought it wouldn't do anything for her.
"You two are vampires as well aren't you?" she whispered.
"Yes," I spoke.
"I was trying to figure it out the whole time. Both of you blend in with the humans so well," she gave a small laugh.
"I figured it out immediately," I said plainly.
She stared back at me, confused as to why I was acting so "rudely". She turned her attention to Hazel.
"Is he always like this?"
Hazel nodded. "Ever since we died."
The girl turned back to me, sorrow in her eyes. Maybe she felt sorry for me. Maybe not. I didn't care much to ask.
"I'm Garnet. You two are?"
"My sister is Hazel," I almost growled. "I'm Asher."
"Such strange names," she smiled.
"Look who's talking," I snapped.
Her expression was dull when she turned to me. "Anyway, are you guys here to hunt?"
"Yes, with our changer."
Her smile went sideways. "Who is your changer?"
"Louis Cullen."
"Lovely."
She knew of him. I could read it in her face. She didn't like him either. Did most people hate Louis? Most people who knew of Louis made the same expression.
"Well, Garnet, would you like to visit Louis later?" I asked, only to piss her off.
She glared, only at space. "Yes, I would."
I retracted, not understanding why she would want to see him if she hated him. She stood up abruptly and looked down at us.
"Meet me at The Blue Bayou at six," Garnet said, then walked away from us.
Hazel and I glanced at each other, then shrugged.
We rode a couple more crazy rides after that, then traveled onto Tom Sawyer's Island. I lost Hazel almost right away, since she went off running to look for something. I felt a little nervous, wondering if she would be okay. Though, it is Hazel I'm talking about.
"Who knew Asher Cullen would be in Disneyland?" a voice said from the cave behind me.
I whirled around to see Tucker Jameson standing in the darkness. Tucker is an enemy to me, one of the Cullen's worst family enemies. Tucker and I have had this ongoing war for decades.
"Tucker Jameson," I quoted as if it was from the Bible. "I didn't ever expect a demon like you would be here. I thought the sun set you on fire as you walked."
"Funny," Tucker snarled. "I'm here on a hunting trip."
"I guess every vampire is," I growled, knowing he knew what I meant.
Hazel ran up beside me, panting with happiness, but her smile disappeared once she noticed Tucker standing before us.
"Sweet Hazel, still looking like a hunted deer," Tucker tried to sound sweet.
"Strong Tucker, still looking like a stupid guerilla," she soothed in pure comeback.
I burst into laughter, giving her a high five as well. Tucker's dark orange eyes turned furious.
He pressed forward, which forced me to react. I grabbed his shirt, pulled him toward me, snarled, and threw him back so hard that the cave rumbled and almost collapsed. Tucker headed toward me, ready to pound me, but I moved out of his way. As he started to pass me, I grabbed onto him and swung him near the water. He caught an edge before he landed in the water and climbed back up. I heard whisking beside me so I glanced over and smiled. Tucker was going to get a surprise.
Tucker pulled himself over the ledge, grinning with crazy pleasure as he was going to get me. Then, Tucker's face turned grim. Louis stood over him, casting a shadow on him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said as plain as day.
Tucker cowered down and left the place. Louis turned to me, concerned that I was starting something that could end badly, involving the media.
"Why is he here?" I complained.
"Many vampire clans are here. It's a great place to find lonely wanderers," Louis explained.
I grunted, remembering Garnet. "Hazel and I ran into a vampire earlier today. She wants to meet with us at the Blue Bayou near six. Her is name is Garnet?"
Louis' eyes broadened. "I haven't seen her for centuries."
"Centuries?" Hazel chimed in.
"Garnet and I were changed near the same time. She was brutally raped and I was speared."
I saw Hazel shiver when Louis mentioned Garnet's death. I knew something like that was close to happening to her earlier the year we died in. I saved her from the horror.
"We should make reservations now," Louis nodded.
"Unless Garnet has already," Hazel noted.
"We'll see," Louis agreed.
"You two go," I said. They both turned to me. "I don't like her, and I wanted to explore more."
Louis let me go, but Hazel remained to have dinner. I escaped from dinner with only hearing about old stories and memories, but I wanted to make mine.
I found a silent place in between the restaurant and Haunted Mansion. It was calm and empty, so I found a place to climb up into a tree and watch the people. I got into the tree and relaxed, watching the groups of families and teenagers walking by. I was happy to find a place to relax in.
"Mommy! This way, mommy!" I heard a little girl exclaim.
I took a look down below and saw a little girl, way ahead of her family. She seemed really little. I watched her curiously, her bouncy little light brown curls, her pretty green-blue eyes. I had to say, she was one of the cutest little girls I had seen.
An idea whipped into my mind, so I quickly followed it. My feet hooked onto the tree, and I silently flipped upside down behind the little girl. She never even noticed me until I made a little laugh. She flipped around and was about an inch from my face. Her little scared expression reflected into my purple eyes.
She screamed. Bloody murder scream. I flipped off the tree and sat down on the cement bench near the tree as her parents and older brother arrived. I pretended to be on my phone so it wouldn't seem like I tried to do something to her. Her parents looked at me, but saw me busy, so they went to their daughter.
"Aurelia, are you alright?" they asked, picking her up.
She stared at me over her father's shoulder. When I looked into her sweet eyes, I felt a strange connection toward her, like I shouldn't hurt her, like I couldn't leave her. I shook it off as I heard footsteps at the side of the Haunted Mansion, behind me. Before I could turn around, someone pulled me back over the wall and threw me against the wall.
I recognized him at once. His golden locks whisking up on his head, his gold hazel eyes bright with fury. My cousin stood before me.
Edward Cullen.
"What do you think you are doing Asher?" Edward spat.
"Playing a prank. Why is that so bad?" I asked.
He sighed, annoyed with my slimly comments. I glanced behind him and saw his blonde sister Rosalie and his human girlfriend, Bella. Bella stared at me, scared and fascinated.
"So I see you are still with the human girl?" I cackled.
"She has a name. Bella. And yes, I love her Asher. Only if you would understand," he shook his head in disappointment.
If only I knew. I didn't understand this guy. In love with his most hunted prey? It just didn't make any sense.
But, my life could change at any split second. I had no idea what fate had in store for me.