Riley and Bree
Chapter One
Riley Mason
The bronze-haired vampire looked over at Riley, his strange, golden eyes full of knowledge and sincerity. "You don't have to die. There are other ways to live than the way she's shown you. It's not all lies and blood, Riley. You can walk away right now. You don't have to die for her lies." His voice had a timbre that the newborn could physically feel in his ears.
And that was all he needed to know that what the so-called 'opponent' said was true. The latter stepped forward now, but Riley had expected him to go farther. He slipped a bit, and went over too far. It didn't escape Victoria's notice, and she shifted her weight forward on her feet. Riley waited.
As fast as he could, he analyzed what the other vampire had said. Another way to live? Did that mean that there would be no more drinking blood, and no more lying? Or was there an alternate source of blood, like a blood bank, and another kind of lie? Riley didn't think he could walk away as described, but he could run much faster than Victoria.
But another thought crossed Riley's mind. He filed it in another tab in his mind, waiting for Victoria to attack.
"He's the liar, Riley," Victoria denied, too shrill and tense to be telling the truth herself. "I told you about their mind tricks. You know I love only you."
Riley's jaw tightened. The lies had become too much. Squaring his shoulders, he tensed himself for the attack.
To everyone's surprise, Riley lunged at Victoria, tearing at her face and throat with a ferocity he didn't know he had.
It only took two tries to decapitate her.
.:. :.: .:.
The moose tasted horrible. At least it dampened the fire in my throat. That was something. I could probably take more control of myself now; maybe see how the battle turned out.
So I'd been introduced to a new way to live. It was no luxury, but then again, the way it had been with Victoria had been much worse. I don't know how I could have thought that it was moral and right to kill humans and eat them. It was almost cannibalism; I had, after all, been a human once.
Of course, not for very long; only 16 years. There had been so much I missed out on.
One particular subject came to mind:
I, Riley Andre Mason, had never had a girlfriend.
And I must say, it really sucked to have all your friends busy because they were going on dates and stuff. I'd have to just sit at home and play Scrabble with my parents, night after night after night. Thank goodness for music. If it hadn't been for the familiar cadences and crescendos of my favourite songs, I probably would have lost it.
That was one good thing about vampirism at least: music sounded so much better. To be able to hear every harmonic, every lilt in a piece, all the background notes that you weren't supposed to hear, but feel in your gut, was heaven.
All my worries about being single had disappeared when I saw her disappear.
Bree Usakis
The little, girly-looking vampire looked back at me, impassive. But I knew what they were about to do.
"Felix," she said.
"Wait," one of the yellow-eyes spoke. "We could explain the rules to the young one. She doesn't seem unwilling to learn. She didn't know what she was doing."
"Of course," said the older yellow-eye. "We would certainly be prepared to take responsibility for Bree."
I knew it was hopeless, though. I could tell from the way the people in cloaks talked and acted around me that they were going to do much worse than beat me up and shove me in a locker.
From there, I didn't know what they were talking about. It didn't particularly matter to me though, not with my impending demise.
Then, the one who I assumed was Felix took out some kind of gun. He was going to shoot, I could feel it. So, just like I was back at school, I waited until just before he could hurt me, before he could react, and I darted as fast as I could up to him, grabbed the gun out of his hands and broke it over my knee.
After that I let my instincts take over, and I ran.
.:. :.: .:.
I think that high school is one of the worst places for one such as myself to be at. Until recently, I had been a tiny, ugly little punk who read far too much. I wore black all the time and kept my dark hair short as a convenience, not because I was emo. I had been bullied a lot, and didn't have friends that cared. So, I recessed into my own personal bubble, only talking when necessary. And physical contact? No, that was for self defence.
During my second year at high school, I had perfected a strategy of escape: hit once, disappear.
.:. :.: .:.
For some reason, I knew that the people in cloaks would never find me. I didn't know how I knew, I just...kind of...knew. I stayed silent in a hollow oak tree, not even breathing for fear that the sound would be heard.
It could have been days before I heard them. I recognised the voices of some of the yellow-eyes. For some reason, I also heard Riley's voice. That was strange. Why would he be with them?
Then they came into view. I could see Riley in the group of four, his back to me. The big vampire was facing in my direction, as was the lanky one. The pixie girl was also facing away from me.
I didn't know why, but they didn't seem to see me. I stepped forward out of the tree, unsure of whether I actually wanted them to see me or not. None of them looked in my direction.
Now this was just annoying. I hadn't exactly expected a warm welcome, but I at least thought they would glance in my direction. I crossed my arms and yelled "Hey!"
Their reaction was complete and total surprise. They all jumped about a foot in the air.
"Where did you come from?" wondered the muscular yellow-eye.
Riley was looking at me with wonder in his eyes, and something else that I couldn't quite place.
"I was just in that tree over there, hiding from the cloaked people." Wasn't it obvious?
"No way," Riley said. "You weren't there. I couldn't even smell you."
"Whatever," I responded lamely. "Anyways, I'm really thirsty. Where's somewhere I can get some blood?"
"Um..." they all faltered.
"Now's a good time as any to explain to her," said the pixie.
"Sure," replied the lanky one. "Let's take her to Carlisle, he communicates best."
And so, with nothing else to do, I followed the group to the most gorgeous house I had ever seen.
A/N: I read Eclipse again and I realized how I could twist it so that Riley and Bree survived. I wrote it down. Tadah!