Hello, and welcome to my first story! After many years of lurking in the shadows reading some really great fanfics I have finally decided to post something of my own. I have almost all of the chapters for book one of "Finding a Mate" finished. Just two left to go! I plan on posting one chapter a week while I finish the final two chapters of this story and begin work on the second book of the series. Hopefully by the time we get to the end of this story I'll have all the chapters of the second story finished and can simply keep updating. I intend to write four stories in this series to replace the Twilight series. I will change a few facts here and there to fit my story, but will try to stay true to canon as much as possible. One of the biggest changes I'm making is to Edward's telepathy. In my story not only can he hear thoughts, but he can also control thoughts. He can implant ideas, memories, desires, etc into human minds. Meaning, he can control human minds if he wishes to.

Basically this is a "what if" type story. Meaning what if Edward was the one doing the chasing, and Bella was the one wanting to keep her distance. Be aware that my Edward is going to be a bit more dominating and animalistic in my story than he was in Twilight. He will be very in tune with his vampire nature, but don't worry, he'll still only feed on animals. I hope you enjoy the story and constructive criticism is always welcome! I hope to be a writer one day and this is me dipping my toe into the waters! This first chapter is very short, but it lays the groundwork for the rest of the story. This chapter is only about six pages long, but the rest of my chapters are between 15-30 pages long. I'm not a big fan of short chapters, so I tried not to write any other than this first one.

I have no editor so any and all errors are my own.

Without further ado! Happy reading!

Chapter One

He was looking at her again. He was always looking at her. Bella could feel his steadfast gazing like a living entity moving over her pale skin, and she shivered despite her determination not to give him any sign that she was aware of his fascination with her. From the first day she had come to this school Edward Cullen had seemed to zero in on her, and Bella wasn't sure what to do with that fact.

She had come to live with her father in Forks, Washington two months ago, and since then she'd had this weird sensation of being hunted. She couldn't explain it, but she was certain it had something to do with the incredibly handsome, but also incredibly strange, Edward Cullen. The air always seemed thicker around him, more intense, primal even, but it was his eyes that always gave Bella pause. When he looked at her with those startling golden eyes it was like all the oxygen left her lungs. It felt like the world stopped turning and everything came to a standstill, and all she could see or comprehend was him. Frankly, it scared the living shit out of her, and that is why Bella did her best to keep her distance from Edward.

Of course keeping her distance didn't do her much good when Edward seemed determined to spend time with her. When she'd first started school she had shared only one class with Edward Cullen, but by the end of the week he had somehow transferred into every one of her classes. Beyond that he had also seemed to be able to convince anyone sitting near her to give up their seat to him. At first he had simply stared at her with a steadiness that caused the hairs on the back of her neck to raise up. He hadn't spoken to her those first two weeks. No, he'd just stared. He'd stared so long and hard at her it felt to Bella like he was trying to see inside her head. Needless to say the intense scrutiny put her on edge. Her response was to do her best to pay him no attention. Of course that plan was blown right out of the water when Edward had come up to her on the Friday of her third week of school and asked her out. The entire episode had seemed like something out of the Twilight Zone to Bella, and she still couldn't make sense of it.

FLASHBACK:

"Isabella."

Stilling, Bella took a deep breath as the smooth and masculine voice of Edward Cullen washed over her. She'd been avoiding the otherworldly handsome boy for the past three weeks since coming to Forks, and especially the past two since he transferred into all her classes and did nothing but stare at her. However, this is the first time he'd spoken directly to her and she couldn't see a way to ignore him without being outright rude.

Gathering her courage she turned around to face the pale and beautiful boy who seemed so fascinated with her, and asked, "Yes?"

"You will go out with me tonight."

Bella gave a start at the order that flowed so easily from the lips of Edward Cullen and she realized he fully expected her to agree with no fuss. His expression was determined and arrogant, as though there was no question she would acquiesce to his demand, and that just made her angry!

Eyes narrowing, Bella countered, "I'm sorry, but I have plans tonight."

As she turned to head towards her beat up truck in the parking lot that Jacob and his dad had dropped off a few days before she started school, Bella heard behind her, "Then change them."

Of all the nerve!

'Just who the hell does this guy think he is?' Spinning back around, Bella met Edward's challenging gaze with her own, her eyes full of fire as she amended, "Since it seems you're too dense to figure out what 'I already have plans' really means, let me clarify. I. AM. NOT. INTERESTED."

When she turned to walk away again she was brought up short by the hand on her arm. She was surprised by the strength of Edward's hold despite the fact he seemed to be doing his best not to hurt her, but she brushed that thought aside as she hissed, "Let go of me!"

Edward ignored her demand and instead turned her gently to face him again. He studied her face intently for several moments before he said, "I am not used to be denied, but for you I will allow it."

"Allow it? I hate to break it to you, Cullen, but you're not in the position to allow or disallow me anything. Now let go of me."

Again Edward stared at her with those intense eyes that seemed to shimmer and shine in a paranormal sort of way before he flashed her a secretive grin and let go of her arm. Bella watched him give her a short bow of his head as he declared, "I will let you go now, but be assured you will go out with me. I will give you time to come to terms with that fact."

Bella's mouth could only fall open in shock as Edward said no more and simply turned to walk away from her towards his own ridiculously expensive car. He didn't look back at her, but Bella couldn't help but keep her eyes trained on him as he got into his car and drove away.

END FLASHBACK:

After that episode Bella had expected Edward to begin bothering her in school, but that hadn't exactly been the case. He still stared at her unwaveringly each and every day in class, watching her so closely it made her more than uneasy, but he hadn't attempted to speak to her again. Instead, the only other interaction she had with him was the white rose she found taped to her locker every day of school. There was never a note, but Bella just knew they were from Edward. She never kept them, and instead made it a point to throw each one away in first period when Edward was watching.

Bella didn't know what Edward's game was, especially when she had it on good authority from everyone else in school that he'd never dated anyone or even showed the slightest bit of interest in a girl before her, but she wasn't going to be a part of it. She didn't plan to live in Forks for long, and hoped to be heading to Arizona to live with her mom by the end of the school year. Her plan was simple. Keep her head down and don't stir up trouble. That's all she had to do.

Feeling a shiver race up her spine Bella chanced a glance over her shoulder and me the smoldering gaze of Edward. His eyes bore into hers and the air rushed from her lungs, leaving her breathless. She couldn't seem to turn away as his heated gaze clashed with hers and seemed to climb inside her soul. She felt like he was reaching inside of her, trying to find out all of her secrets and see the parts of herself she kept hidden from everyone.

Bella found herself lost in Edward's gaze as they stared at each other in silence. The spell between them was only broken by the harsh ringing of the school bell signaling the end of the day. Relief rushed through Bella as she shook off the strange sensations Edward's gaze had caused in her body and quickly gathered her books to escape the classroom as fast as her lithe legs would carry her. She didn't dare look behind her to see if Edward was still watching her, or worse, following her.

Behind her Edward watched Bella make yet another escape and an easy grin lit his features. He'd been fascinated by Isabella Swan from the moment he'd laid eyes on her. Her dark hair and pale skin gave her a classical sort of beauty, but it was the silence of her mind that had garnered his intense fascination. For no matter how hard Edward tried he could not break through the resounding silence of Bella's mind. It was absolutely liberating!

In over a century Edward had never found a person whose mind was closed to him. In all his travels across the world he'd never come across anyone, human or vampire, who's thoughts did not invade his mind … until Isabella Swan. And now that he'd found her he had no intention of letting her go. He'd been battling his loneliness for decades, just waiting to find the right person to share immortality with. Someone to walk the ages with. A partner. A mate.

It was obvious that Bella, unlike her fellow classmates, could tell that there was something not quite human about him, and this had her following her instincts to stay away from him. Edward was honest enough with himself to admit that the idea of hunting Bella down to claim her as his own excited him, but more importantly he was pleased that Bella wasn't interested in him for his looks or money. He'd had enough of being chased by hormonal teenage girls.

As Bella scurried from the classroom as fast as her slim legs would take her, legs he very much intended to have wrapped around his waist as he pounded into the girl that so thoroughly captured his attention, Edward turned his gaze to Mr. Mendleson. The English teacher. Mr. Mendleson had assigned the class projects today. Everyone was supposed to work in teams of two on a literary classic over the next six weeks. They were supposed to write a report, create a power point presentation, provide handouts for the class, and have a speech prepared to give a demonstration to the class. Bella had been assigned to work with a boy named Alex, and Edward didn't remember the name of the student he'd been assigned to work with, but it was a moot point. He and Bella would be working on the six week long project together.

With that in mind Edward rose from his seat after the last of his fellow classmates had vacated the room and strolled casually to the front of the room where Mr. Mendleson was gathering up papers to take home to grade.

"Mr. Mendleson?"

The middle aged man looked up from his desk and his eyes widened at the sight of Edward Cullen before him. He'd always found the boy a bit strange. Incredibly bright, but very strange. Clearing his throat he asked, "Yes, Edward?"

"I'd like to work with Isabella Swan on this project."

"Oh, well I've already assigned teams. I'm sure you and Miss Anders will do very well together."

Edward didn't recognize the name of his partner, but it really didn't matter. Only one person mattered to him, and he was determined to spend as much time in her presence as possible over the coming weeks. He would break down her resistance to him and begin the process of getting her to fall in love with him. Opening his mind he sent out a pulse of power to the human in front of him and in a velvety voice, commanded, "On Monday you will announce a change to the teams. Isabella and I will work together, and you will team up our former partners together. This decision is yours alone, and you will testify as such if asked."

Mr. Mendleson's eyes glazed over as Edward's telepathy worked its way through his mind. When they cleared he smiled brightly at Edward and announced, "You know what Edward, I think you and Bella will work much better together than her and Alex will! Monday I'll let her know of the change in partners."

Grinning, Edward agreed, "I think you're right. Bella and I will do very well together."

Turning, Edward made his way out of the classroom. He was tempted to go after Bella now and tell her of the change, but he didn't want her thinking he had anything to do with it. She would probably already have her suspicions, especially after he had blatantly transferred himself into all of her classes, but this way he would have some deniability.

Strolling out of the school to head to his car he couldn't keep the grin off his face. Isabella Swan was putting up a good chase, but she was about to find out that no prey escaped him once he set his sights on it. And Bella was definitely in his sights. He'd spent over a century alone, and it was time for him to take a mate. Edward knew with every fiber of his cold, immortal being that Bella was meant to be his mate. He would have her for eternity, and he would let nothing stand in his way.