"Let me go!" I snarled, however for a different reason this time. This vampire was one that I had never met before, and he was running away with me. He had long black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and the smooth, sharp characteristics of a vampire. However, it appeared that even the venom couldn't make ugly things beautiful, because he had to be the ugliest vampire I'd ever seen.

His features were imperfectly proportioned, his nose too big for his face, his eyes bugging out further than should have been healthy. I thought that if there was any additional distance between his eyes and the back of his head that they would pop out of the sockets. I couldn't see how they were staying in to begin with. His mouth was too small, his ears were too big, and even another millimeter between his eyes would put them practically on the side of his head. He was scrawny, yet he did possess the extraordinary strength of the undead, proving the fact that looks can be deceiving. I didn't think it was possible for vampires to look like they had naturally greasy hair, but this guy somehow managed that. There was no doubt about it - he was atrocious.

The fact that he was strikingly hideous-looking didn't change the reality that this creep was carrying me away from Edward, away from my home. I didn't want to leave Edward, not for forever, anyway. Never mind the fact that I had just been trying to get away from him - now, I wanted to return to him.

It was clear my captor didn't want me to go back - he just held on tighter and ran faster.

"Let me go!" I demanded again, struggling. Despite the fact that I was a newborn and was far stronger, he was holding me in such a way that prevented me from getting any leverage to fight back. I was stuck.

"EDWARD!!!!" I screamed, "EMMETT!!!!"

"They'll never catch us," the vampire said, finally speaking. His voice was as heinous as his appearance, and I wanted to cover my ears. "You were too far ahead of them. Your head start gave me the advantage that I needed to get you away."

By that time, we had reached the edge of a busy highway. He ran over to a green Chevy Lumina at human pace, tossed me hastily in through the back door that had conveniently opened before we reached the car, and into the waiting arms of another vampire that reminded me of Emmett merely from the size of his muscles, before going around the front of the car and getting in behind the wheel. There was a third vampire in the backseat, one that wasn't quite as bulky as the second one, who closed the door and then helped the second one to hold me down while my original captor drove away at an insane speed, one that I didn't think was possible with this kind of car, dodging traffic like there was no tomorrow.

I sincerely hoped that there wouldn't be a tomorrow for him. I wished with all my heart, even if it was dead, that Edward would catch up to us.

My wishes were not granted. As we drove farther and farther away from Forks and my family, I realized that there wasn't much of a chance that Edward would find me. I was too far ahead, and he would think that I had run away. He would be heartbroken. I hoped that Alice had seen this whole ordeal. Hopefully she and Edward were on the phone right then, discussing where this insane kidnapper and his henchmen were taking me. Maybe they would be there waiting for us when we arrived.

As I thought about my family and how they would help me (because I certainly wasn't going to get away with three other, older vampires watching me), I stopped struggling. I sat quietly in the back seat, not moving, trying my hardest to refrain from hitting or slapping or decapitating anyone. I tried to watch where we were going, but I had missed the first twenty minutes or so of the trip while I was too busy trying to get away. I didn't recognize my surroundings, not that I could decipher the differences between the solid, moss-covered wall of trees outside the window from any other area of the state, anyways. I couldn't even tell what direction we were going. If I was going to escape, I'd have to wander around for awhile until I figured out exactly where I was at.

The first vampire, the one who had seized me and was now driving, chose to speak to me once I was still.

"Are you calm now?" he asked, looking at me in the rearview mirror.

I spat some of the venom that was still in my mouth from my hunting trip at him, and he laughed.

"Such spirit. No matter. I know you are calm, now. My name is Alden. I'm sorry I had to take you in such a rude manner, but you see - I really had no choice. I knew you wouldn't come without a fight, no matter how I tried to persuade you, so I chose this route. I apologize if it's not the most enjoyable of the times you've been swept off of your feet, but it is the most entertaining for me, I must admit. I think that-"

"What do you want with me?" I asked, venom, figurative this time, dripping from my every word as I cut his long-winded speech down.

"Your help," he answered simply, glancing in the rearview mirror and locking his red eyes with my equally ruby ones. He studied my expression for a moment before turning his attention back to the road. "I need your help with one of my projects."

"Why would I care?" I goaded him.

"You don't," he said, the hint of a smirk crossing his face, "and I don't expect you to. But I do think that you will care about the offer I am going to make you."

He stopped talking then, obviously waiting for me to inquire about said offer. We sat in silence for several minutes as I ignored him, or at least tried to. I was unsuccessful. I became intrigued, and finally broke.

"Fine," I spat. "What's this offer that you are extending to me?"

He smiled, triumphant. "I thought you might want to know."

"Just tell me," I demanded, impatience flooding through me.

"I can help you so that you are never tempted to drink from a human. Ever," he added, watching the road and carefully avoiding glancing at my face.

"How?" I asked, frozen in place.

"You'll have to agree to help me before I tell you," he taunted me, glancing at me once more in the mirror to gauge my reaction again.

"I won't agree to help you until I know what I'm agreeing to and I decide that it's worth the price you're going to pay."

He relinquished easily, "I have some… acquaintances… that owe me money. It will take some persuasion to convince them that they need to pay up. You're a new vampire. It will take your strength to convince them, as well as your resistance to vampire's gifts. I think that you will do well indeed, and I absolutely need your participation. In return, I will show you the way that I know that will make it so you never feel the need to drink human blood. You may feel the temptation, but the control over your body will be so great that you will not waver. It's an easy method for you to learn."

"How long will it last?" I asked, skeptical. This sounded much too good to be true, and my life had taught me that things often were too good to be true, with the exception of Edward and his family. However, they didn't go around kidnaping people or vampires without their consent - well, other than me, although even then, it was really out of their concern for me. I didn't trust this man like I trusted them.

"For the duration of your acceptance of my aid," he answered.

"I'm interested," I admitted.

"I thought you might be," he repeated.

"Can you tell your henchmen to let go of me now?" I asked hopefully.

He laughed, and his laugh was carefree and happy. "Not a chance. But nice try."

"I couldn't just give up that easily," I grumbled. His laugh filled the car again, and I made a face. I didn't want to be with him, but I wasn't going to complain too much. He had a method that would prevent me from ever being lured into ending an innocent life. I was too interested to listen to my common sense screaming its warnings at me.


"We're here," Alden announced as he pulled up in front of an old, abandoned warehouse.

The windows were boarded up and the wood planks on the outside looked like they would fall off at the first gust of wind. It smelled strongly of dust and mildew, and due to the newly heightened sensitivity to all of my senses, the smells offended my nose. The warehouse looked like no one ever used it, and in reality, no one except Alden probably ever did. It surprised me that the city, whatever city we were in, hadn't tried to tear it down yet. It looked like it would fall apart at any moment. I glared at him suspiciously.

"It looks like a dump," I announced.

"I told you I need help retrieving the money that is owed to me," he reminded me. He nodded towards the front of the building, and his thugs started dragging me out of the car and towards the entrance.

Once inside, they roughly shoved me on the ground, face down, and I felt Alden rip open the back of my shirt.

"Hey!" I protested loudly, trying to squirm away. "What the heck do you think you're doing?!"

"Helping you with your control," he answered absently as he traced his fingernail down the center of my back, directly over my spine. I began to worry about my safety once again.

"Let me go!" I demanded. "I don't want your help anymore. I'll manage on my own, thank you very much!"

Alden didn't answer, and I continued to struggle, though my efforts were in vain.

Suddenly, I felt a searing pain in my back, one that gave me the sensation that I was being ripped open, cell by cell. I screamed, but the pain just worsened. It trickled down my spine slowly, as though Alden were tearing my skin open with his bare hands. I shrieked again and started violently thrashing, this time to find an escape from the pain rather than an escape from my captors. Alden's thugs just pressed me harder into the floor in an attempt to keep me still.

The pain went from scorching to unbearable within seconds. My convulsing began anew and my screaming was intolerable, even to me. But I couldn't stop, it hurt far too much. It felt like my backbone, then eventually the rest of my muscles and nerves, were on fire. It was similar to the flames of my transformation, but so much more painful.

As the fire started to fade, I found that I was having issues moving. I couldn't move my arms, and then I had trouble working my legs. I couldn't twitch my nose or wiggle my fingers. I had no control over my body. I tried talking, but I couldn't. I was worried that I was paralyzed. I wasn't sure how one removed movement from, and thus incapacitated a vampire, but it seemed that Alden had solved that mystery and used his solution on me.

Suddenly, unpredictably, I was able to get up. The other vampires let go of me, and I stood. But then something unexpected happened.

I walked straight to Alden and stood motionless in front of him.

Now, don't get me wrong, walking towards him was what I wanted to do, because I wanted to slap him (or worse if I could manage), but remaining still as a statue wasn't in my plans.

I didn't even cringe when he reached out and tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear. I didn't blink, I didn't move at all, I just stared straight ahead.

"What did I tell you?" Alden asked quietly with a smirk on his face. "You may feel the temptation to drink from a human, but the control over your body will be so great that you won't even flinch. I won't let you. You'll feel the enticement, but I won't, and since I'm the one that will be controlling you, there won't be any problem. It's an easy method for you to learn, is it not? It is precisely what I promised you."

I wanted so much to be able to talk, to chew him out, to tell him that I was about to put an end to his miserable life, but I couldn't. I couldn't even look away from his ugly, pale face and his black hair and his vicious, crimson eyes. I couldn't crush that perfect nose straight through his skull. I couldn't do anything, because I had no power over my own body. I was completely out of control for the third time that day.

I liked the previous two instances better. At least then I didn't know what I was doing, I wasn't fully aware of the way I was behaving. But with this torturous existence, I had full command over my thoughts, just not my motions.

Yeah, I liked the bloodthirsty lack of control much better than this.


A/N: Thanks to everyone who offered to beta for me. :) After some serious consideration, I chose LaLaLovely47 for the daunting task, and thus far she's done a wonderful job. The quality of my writing (or at least what you will see) is going to go up from now on. She's amazing, seriously. Her stories are too, so if you're looking for something good to read I'd suggest checking her stuff out.

As I said before, I'm not sure how frequently I will update this story. My schoolwork comes first, and then my story. If you want me to update more frequently, talk to my professors and tell them to quit giving out homework. ;)

At any rate, thanks to everyone who is reading this, and a bigger thanks to all those who have reviewed (and will review too). You all make my day so much brighter.

Until the next chapter,
Addie