CHAPTER 1: MONSTER

"Valentine, what are you doing?" Joseph inquired curiously.

"Mmmm." I moaned preoccupied. "Oh, what?"

"You can't save all the trees, Val." Joseph rolled his eyes. I stopped 'healing' the tree and glowered up at him. It had been a few days since I discovered my special ability. I was ecstatic. I could heal almost anything and never wanted to stop, down to the last dying insect. Joseph thought it was foolish as we strolled leisurely through this forest. Every tree that I saw that needed a little help I healed it. Termite damage, lightning strike, you name it, I heal it. I might be developing Obsessive Compulsive disorder.

I shrugged and put my hands in my pockets and started taking long deliberate strides. It was a mix between a regular human stride and a vampire one. Joseph followed me grudgingly. I knew he'd rather be with Dorian finishing up some minor details in the lab, but for now he had to put up with me.

Last night I decided to get a look at what was going on in the human world. I've been isolated for nearly six months in a forest in northern Minnesota and I was curious to how humanity was progressing. About an hour stroll down one block and I was cornered by a gang of five men. That was the least of my worries. The scent of their blood was intoxicating, like stepping out into spring after being trapped in a stuffy room. As one approached I couldn't stop myself. I killed him and took his blood. It was sweeter than anything I've ever tasted. The other men were mortified, but before they could run I killed them too. It was then that Dorian found me and brought me back to our forest 'hideout' to give me a literally hour long lecture on why we avoid human blood.

On top of that he's making Joseph babysit me until I stop craving human blood. Just a couple slip ups and my eyes had turned from their startling topaz to a terrifying maroon. Still I trotted around like nothing had happened and that made Joseph extremely annoyed.

"Aren't you supposed to be mad at me?" I asked wistfully eyeing a dying fern.

"Oh I'm furious." Joseph replied glumly. "Why can't you take this seriously?"

"Because it's no big deal."

"Because of you we have to move further west." Joseph rolled his eyes. I shrugged still smirking. At least we would live in an actual house and try to blend in with society. That suddenly reminded me of something. Dorian had mentioned earlier today that a new member would be joining our coven to teach us how to co-exist with humans. All I knew about this new member was that he was forever twenty (two years older than myself) and had come from our rival coven of Maine. At first he was sketchy on letting him in, but this guy had a good alibi. Apparently the leader of our rival coven asked him to go after a pack of werewolves. Knowing that this would get him killed he ran to find our coven for mercy.

"Do you know anything about this new guy coming into our coven?" I inquired deliberately changing the subject. Joseph sighed skeptically.

"I only know as much as you do." He said with a shrug. After healing the dying fern back to health I proceeded to find another pathetic life form to save. Eventually I should get bored of this, but I had forever to find out when. As we continued to stride through the forestry in silence I was beginning to wonder what it would be like in Washington. Dorian told me that it rained a lot and rarely had a sunny day so we could go out in the daytime hours. Our new home was about half a mile away from Forks and had a large basement that Dorian was planning on turning into a laboratory. He had already mailed most of his equipment to the house, but we'd still probably beat it there once we got moving.

Suddenly it felt like someone was poking my mind. I whipped around and glared at Joseph. His annoying special ability was the lamest one I've ever heard of. He could somehow 'poke' people's minds to get their attention. He didn't look at me, but instead stared at the dirt with an expression of both curiosity and determination.

It took me a few seconds to realize that it was Dorian using his strange power of telepathy to speak to Joseph. Unfortunately he could only talk to one person at a time so I waited in suspense waiting for the news. After a while Joseph looked back up at me completely expressionless.

"What is it?" I questioned. He didn't move a muscle. I narrowed my eyes in agitation and he smiled ever so slightly at my impatience.

"Our new brother has arrived." He informed me at last. I felt of burst of excitement course through me. I was extremely anxious to meet them. "Dorian needs us, we'll be leaving soon." With that we took off running back to our hideout.

It wasn't long before I could smell two very distinct scents. One belonged to Dorian and the other wasn't familiar. That made me run faster as if I were hunting again. Joseph made an inconspicuous effort to stay ahead of me though, irritating me once again.

We slowed to a human pace as we found what was left of the old shack we called our hideout and found Dorian, Zuma, and another man waiting for us.

"About time." Zuma spoke sarcastically.

"Valentine, Joseph, this is Garrett." Dorian greeted us ignoring Zuma's remark. I immediately took a liking to Garrett. He was so much more relaxed than Joseph. He could pass for a human if not for the absence of his heart beat. He had shaggy brunette hair and his eyes were just as red as mine were. At least we had something in common.

Dorian and Zuma ran a few more boxes of equipment to the post office and we took off running into the west toward our new home. Along the way we would stop to purchase a car to blend in more. Garrett was making us buy all these things to make us seem more 'human' all through South Dakota and Montana. We even took turns hitch hiking to get used to the smell of human blood. When it was my turn I could barely breathe properly because every breath I took in was a whiff of the sweet blood that I so dearly craved. This whole self-discipline thing was harder than I thought it would be. I was so relieved when my timid driver dropped me off in Helena. As soon as I was out of eyesight I ran as fast as I could west. My coven caught up with me later in Idaho.

I hoped I wouldn't have to make us move again. Forks seemed like a decent place to live. At least I had both Garret and Joseph working hard to keep me out of trouble, but I continuously kept thinking of the five men I killed back in Minnesota. I didn't want to kill humans, it was just that I couldn't resist. Dorian promised after my first year or so I'd get used to the smell and learn to ignore it as best I could.