Rain falls to the ground. Everything is silent, except for the droplets hitting the earth in a steady rhythm, thousands upon thousands of them echoing in my ears. With my magnified hearing I can make sense of the endless pattering of water. I can almost tell where every single drop lands, if I focus hard enough. But I'm not focusing on anything now. My mind is a million miles away from here.
He's dead. That word doesn't even make sense to me, frozen as I am, with water rolling over my icy skin. How he could be gone forever is lost on me. And how I could live on without him? That's even more incomprehensible.
But even in this moment, how I'm going to carry on isn't in the forefront of my thoughts. I can't plan for my future now, a future without him in it, when only an hour ago the news had reached me of his demise. In my mind, I see his face, and hear his voice, and in my memories it's almost as if he's standing in front of me. I remember everything in almost alarming detail, recalling things a human might have forgotten. But even if I was human, I doubt I would have let a single expression on his face slip away from my mind.
It had been a day not unlike this one. So many days in this part of the country are the same: cold and wet. But neither of us had minded, as we stood over the corpses of the humans we had just drained. Trees surrounded the site for miles, secluding us entirely from the rest of the world.
"Camping in the rain," James tsked mockingly, looking at the bloodless bodies and nudging one with his boot. "No accounting for human stupidity." His eyes were a vivid crimson, and wild-looking with the thrill of not only the killing they had just done, but the fresh blood coursing through him.
He turned those eyes on me. I met his gaze with eyes of the same hue, and he took a step toward me. Calculating, like the hunter I knew he was, he measured my every reaction carefully, moving closer until he was standing right in front of me. He cupped my cheek in his hand, and I leant into it. His lips lowered to mine, slowly but tantalizingly, until they met in a gentle kiss. My passion was boiling under the surface, after seeing him as I just had, so powerful, so fearless. Still, I held it back, and let him take control. His movements were purposeful, and I trusted him, knowing that he knew what he was doing.
His lips moved sweetly against mine. He was seducing me with his finesse, one moment letting me feel his desire, then slowly reining it in, leaving me a practically melting puddle before him. He pulled away from my face after a few minutes, observing me closely once more as his thumb ran over my cheek. I looked into his eyes, captivated, unable to do anything but stare at him.
"Things have turned out so well, Victoria," he said softly. "I never thought I would find someone like you. Even with eternal life, I thought I was doomed to spend it alone. I never expected this…"
"I thought I would be alone too," I said, my voice sounding strange to my own ears. I wasn't sure what to make of my own emotions. I was telling the truth, that when I was changed I believed myself condemned to solitude, but here he was, in all his perfection, telling me that I wasn't. I was happier, and also more vulnerable than I ever had been.
"How lucky we are to have found each other then." He smiled, and his eyes searched my face one more time. "Now we have forever."
"Forever..." I whispered. He leaned down once more to kiss me.
"Forever..." I repeat softly to myself, that last word playing over and over in my memory. He had said it himself, that he was eternal, that we were eternal, the two of us together. He wasn't supposed to die. That girl, Bella Swan… She was supposed to die. A human… He'd been killed over a worthless human, who would be dead in a few decades anyway, lost in some silly accident or to some disease or… God, I can't make sense of it. I can see him in front of me if I close my eyes, but it's a fleeting apparition. I can feel rage building underneath my grief, rage for the one that brought his life to an end, but I push it down, for now. Now isn't the time for anything but cool silence. I remember the feeling of his lips against mine... And let the rain pour down around me.