Chapter Three: Just a Dream

Nicholas POV

It was dusk, and I was sitting with about ten of my friends around a campfire, thinking of home. It was September, four months after my wedding. I wrote to my beautiful Emma at least every week, and she seemed to write back at the same pace, even though her letters often took some time to reach me. I treasured them all. In fact, they were in my pocket at this moment so that I could add the letter I had received today to the bundle once I was done reading it. I looked down at the ring on my finger. I missed her so much. Why did I have to be out here fighting anyway? I wanted our country to be free and independent, but at times like these I would give it all up just to go home and spend every minute with Emma.

I was jerked out of my thoughts when a cry came out of the woods not far from where we were. We weren't too far from some houses, it could have easily been a person. It sounded like a woman in trouble. Me and two of my other friends jumped up quickly and ran towards the sound to see what was wrong. We soon reached a clearing when we saw a woman standing there. She was extremely beautiful, but she couldn't even hold a candle to my Emma. She was extremely pale with long brown hair and eyes that were completely black.

My friend George broke the silence. "Ma'am, were you in need of help?"

The woman smiled slyly at us. "Why, yes I was. You see, my friend and I are just so thirsty." At this point a man who looked just like her walked out of the shadows. He spoke in a low whisper and I only caught one word: delicious. I didn't like the way they were eyeing us. Before I could even turn around I saw a flash and George crumpled to the ground, his neck broken. The man seemed to magically appear next to my other friend, and bent over him. It went too fast for my brain to process, but I could have sworn he was sucking on him. Like a vampire…. It couldn't be. They didn't even exist. But seeing their super-human speed and watching them "drink" my friends blood was enough for me. I wanted to run but before I could turn the woman wrapped her arms around me and said, "Oops. Wouldn't want you getting away." Then she bit me on the closest piece of exposed skin-my neck. Pain shot through my body, worse that any gunshot wound. It felt like being burned alive. I tried to stay focused, but it was impossible to do more than listen to what was going on around me. I collapsed on the ground, and it was the most I could do to keep from screaming in agony. I didn't want anyone to come investigate the screams and meet the same fate as me.

After what could have been minutes or possibly hours went by, the vampires straightened up from my friends, a bit of blood smeared on the sides of their mouths. I shouldn't have noticed these things, but noticing things kept me from going under. If I stopped focusing on my surroundings, I didn't think I'd ever open my eyes again. Do it for Emma. Oh Emma, what I wouldn't give to see her one last time. Then I heard the vampires talking.

"What are we going to do with him?" that was the woman speaking.

"Well you were the one who had to go and bite him. You could have just snapped his neck. But no, you were certain we'd still be hungry."

"Well I am so sorry; I didn't know what else to do! We should just carry him deeper into the woods, where they won't hear his screams. Then he'll wake up and figure it out on his own."

"Sounds good enough to me, as long as we don't have to take responsibility for him."

"Relax. No one will even know we were involved in this. Now quick, before their friends come to look."

I lost consciousness. I couldn't help it. The pain was too much, like fire had replaced every blood cell in my body. I felt myself screaming. They'll think I left, they'll think I died. Poor Emma, I have to get back to her. I have to live, for her.

It felt like weeks had passed since the vampires had left me here in the middle of nowhere, but I had no way of knowing how long it really was. All I knew was one day, fire was gone. Except in my throat. My throat felt just as bad as it had been feeling. I tried to push that to the back of my mind, but I couldn't. The thought stayed there, taking over everything else. Except one thing. Emma. I had to find her, as soon as I found a way around this pain. That's when I smelled something. It smelled good enough, but not as appetizing as I would have liked. I turned and saw a deer. That must be it. I wanted meat. Suddenly, my thirst took over everything and I attacked, taking the deer down easily. The burning in my throat subsided somewhat, and I came back to reality. They must have turned me into one of them. A vampire. I looked down at myself for the first time. Sunlight streamed in through the trees, and my skin was glittering. I would have to avoid the sunlight. And people. I wanted to learn to control myself around people before I went to see Emma. I didn't know what it would be like to be around humans, but I knew I would face it, face anything, for her.


Emma POV

Not long after Nicholas left again, a man named Carlisle Cullen came to town to be a doctor. Why he chose this place we would never know, because even though we loved it here, it was often cloudy and most of the town was overshadowed by pine trees. To outsiders, it was gloomy. To residents, it was home. I happened to be the first one he ran into and I invited him to tea. Over tea, he asked me where he could find a room and a place to set up his practice. The only people in my house were me, my one maid who was also my cook, the stable boy, and our butler who oversaw the field workers and the income while Nicholas was away. We didn't need a huge staff because I helped with the cooking and cleaning, and even though I was very close to all three of them I often wished for a bit more company. I asked Carlisle to set up his practice in the third sitting room, which had sat empty for years and was gathering dust. I allowed him the bedroom farthest from my room, and he moved in right away for only the smallest monthly fee.

I loved my new border and the company he provided, but in some ways he was peculiar. He was extremely pale and had golden eyes. He never came to tea and insisted he would get his own meals, so I never saw him eat. But he was a great help to have around the house and all the people who came to see him added even more company for me. At night we would sit around the fire and talk about things, him often telling me stories of the faraway places he'd visited. Months passed, and soon it was September. Then, at the beginning of October, my happy little life changed.

It started when I stopped receiving letters from Nicholas. I knew sometimes his letters had problems reaching him, but his letters never seemed to have a problem reaching me. Then, one day a letter came informing me that Nicholas had disappeared. He was last seen a few weeks ago when he went into the woods after hearing a cry for help. He wasn't heard or seen for two weeks, at which point they considered him dead and sent me the letter. When I received it, I went into shock. This couldn't be happening, there was no way this was happening. I calmly set down the letter and walked out of the house, forgetting my shoes and my hat. At that point, I didn't really care.

I didn't know where I was going, but somehow I ended up at the beach where Nicholas and I had spent a few days together after our wedding. I sat down, stared out into the ocean, and cried. I cried and cried until my eyes were dry, and even then I just sat. The sun started to get close to the water, and some sort of instinct told me to get home. I didn't care where I went, I just let my body go where my feet carried me. I took the short cut through the woods to get home, not paying attention to where I was going. I could see the lights in my house when suddenly, I was on the ground and there was a sharp pain in my back. I rolled over only to see that I had tripped and landed on a snake. I could have dealt with even that, except the bite was on fire. I screamed, not knowing what else to do. My vision went a bit foggy and I started towards the house. The last thing I saw was Carlisle running toward me before I fell to the ground and was blissful surrounded by blackness.