Chapter Two
I strained my ears to hear more, erasing the background noise around me and focussing on the things I really needed to hear. The small pitter-patter of feet came to my ears, and I was astonished to find my tracker headed straight in my direction. Yes, definitely the Edward boy – and he was speeding up. Bad news for me.
I was across the meadow in a flash, my legs once more running beneath me, carrying my perfect body at an extraordinary speed over the hard ground. My long red hair flew out behind me, and I welcomed the air that flowed around me as I ran through the green woods. I relished the speed and the fact that I could run so fast without even pausing for breath. My feet flew over the ground, and I dodged trees and branches with perfect ease. Running was by now second nature to me: I was at home here, although I was running from certain death. Well, a death other than the death I was already experiencing. I was a dead human body, transformed into a miracle of nature.
I am always astounded by myself and others like me: the fact that a being such as myself could come into existence by pure evolution. It is the lovely Mother Nature that puts us vampires on this sacred earth, and that feeds us with lower, inferior beings. The beauty, the fierceness, the need for blood, the animal instinct and the workings that are me, exhilarates me down to the very depths of my soul. If I have one.
That's the thing about us vampires. We are built to kill. To kill humans, to be precise, although not all of us follow that rule. And that's why some of us believe we have no souls. To kill what we once were; that surely accounts to evil, to bad, to darkness, to wrong. Doesn't it? I believe that we have no souls, but that those stupid humans have none also. We don't need souls. I need blood. That is enough.
I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of feet getting closer and closer. Although "closer" in this sense meant "a few hundred miles away", I still became worried. This boy was getting better and better all the time. From the day he started hunting me down, he had gone from an amateur tracker to a professional: not missing anything, using his talents as a vampire to do what he wanted. I admired him for that: and James would have been proud. If he was alive; and he wasn't, thanks to this stupid little teenage brat. I sped up, my rage and passion fuelling my sudden burst of energy. I was no longer a blur – I was a leaf moved from one spot to another, a flash of red in a grey-green world. I was the colour in a colourless place. And I loved being it.
I ran for another few minutes through the silent wood, making no more noise than a leaf falling from a tree. This, as everyone knows, is no sound at all: to a human, that is. But after a few more minutes of running, I got that sudden human urge to lie down and rest once more. I sighed. These human instincts were really slowing me down, and I needed to gain ground before the Edward boy caught up.
As I lay down beneath a tree in the woodland I listened hard again to the sounds around me. The grass beneath me tickled my skin, but I had to focus. I positioned myself so I could sit without being disturbed. I listened: I could hear birds, deer munching grass, and a badger snuffling around in its sett while the day grew old. I painted an imaginary sound-picture of my surroundings, adding to bits as I went along. There were now two people running, one slightly lighter than the first, with a more graceful, ballerina-like tread. I could think of who it was.
"You have to go, now." Carlisle demanded, looking deep into my eyes. "Or else I won't be able to calm Edward down. Or Alice, for that matter. She loved Bella." He looked at me hard again. "We all did."
I stood up out of my crouch, licking my lips of that delicious blood while taking a defensive stance. "What if I don't? What will you do then, Carlisle? Huh?" I had him in the palm of my hand; all I needed to do was clench it into a fist... I leaned up close. "What will you do, Carlisle?" I breathed into his ear.
Ok, I admit I was showing off a little to Laurent. He was stood there in awe, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two of us, analysing every tiny detail. I played along with this little game, and turned back to Carlisle.
"Well?"
His face was an impenetrable mask as he said: "I'm sorry then, Victoria. We will just have to deal with you."
The Cullens came out of the undergrowth. I stumbled back, knowing I was outnumbered, and had nowhere to hide, or to go. I licked my lips again, as they were suddenly dry. A first for me. I hoped it would be my last.
And Carlisle smiled and said:
"Run, Victoria. Run."
Yey! End of chapter 2!
Sorry that this chapter was so short - I've been very busy and I won't update for a while as I'm going away to Portugal. But don't worry – I'm coming back!
Please R&R to let me know how you feel about me doing more of this story, and how you think I can improve it. If you liked it, please review. If you didn't like it, please REVIEW!! It's so helpful: so please DO IT!
Many thanks again to all those who persuaded me to write fanfics in the first place – especially this one!
Xanthemj