Chapter 3: Golden Eyes

Vampires. So that was the danger I had sensed. It was easy enough to tell what she was, with the ghostly white skin and inhuman façade. This description was rather similar to that of a faerie, however, and this vampire could have easily passed for one if it weren't for the scent. Unlike other mythical creatures, faeries didn't have a scent. Werewolves smelled like animals, vampires smelled vaguely like candy, humans smelled like the blood running through their veins. Faeries smelled like the air they breathed. We were completely undetectable if you couldn't see us.

The one thing that confused me about this creature's appearance was her eyes; they weren't red like the other vampires', but golden. Why were her eyes such a strange color? And why was she letting her prey know she was there? Weren't vampires supposed to keep the secret from humans? They were bound to notice if she attacked one of their friends. And how could she resist the smell? I couldn't imagine how much self-control it took for her to stay in this room with all the pulses throbbing around her.

She smiled brightly at the class and walked over to the desk directly in front of me. Her movements were lithe and graceful, naturally, and she seemed completely relaxed. I had to know what this vampire was thinking.

One of the many useful abilities that came with being a faerie was that we could know the emotions of the people around us simply by changing eyelids. We had three different 'eye settings' that helped us understand them better.

The first set of eyelids let us see the aura, or overall personality, of a person; whoever we were watching would seemingly change into one color, on a scale of black to white. The lighter the color, the better the person, and the darker the color, the more wicked the person. The second set allowed us to see everyone's emotions; there were many different colors to show us what a person was feeling, and often those colors swirled together. It was quite convenient in situations like this, although it didn't really give me the answers to any of my questions. Just a better idea of what I was dealing with. The third set was just our natural eyelids, the kind that humans had.

I closed my lower lids and examined Alice again, careful and curious at the same time.

This vampire's aura was unusually light, which surprised me. Most vampires couldn't pull off any color other than a smoky gray, but this one had more of a calm morning sky-type color. It was unnerving. I had never encountered something like this before.

I switched to my second lids and began picking through her emotions, trying to pinpoint all the different colors I saw. The most dominant emotion I saw was a bright, almost neon pink, which meant she was excited. Excited about what? Hopefully just the first day of school, but I'd need to keep a lookout on that. There was also plenty of dull beige there as well, so she was relatively bored at the same time. Well, this was school, and I could imagine she already knew everything they had to teach. There was an orangey tint around the edges of her body as well, signaling that she had complete control of herself. So she wasn't on the hunt right now, and she didn't seem to have any particular need for these humans' blood. That was comforting.

I switched back to my normal vision and turned towards the teacher, satisfied that, at least for now, there was no danger here. But I would be keeping a close eye on our 'new student,' as well as any other vampires I might find lurking in the hallways.

The rest of chemistry class was relatively boring. Today was just a review day to get us warmed up for the rest of the semester, so I already knew the material. Even though the humans may have needed to brush up on the periodic table or scientific method, I didn't. Faeries had extremely acute senses and photographic memories, so it was unnecessary.

We weren't as sharp as vampires, unfortunately, but we had quite a few advantages that made up for that loss. For instance, we were much stronger than vampires. We gave everyone this absurd impression that we were small and weak and defenseless, when in reality, we were stronger than the average train. Our skin wasn't as tough as a vampire's, but it was more durable than a human's, and our strength made up for that flaw. Our lack of a scent and our ability to travel even quieter than a mouse made us extremely hard to track if you weren't a faerie yourself, and we could fly much faster than a vampire could run if we had to. On foot we were just as slow as humans, though, which made us more vulnerable.

Finally, the bell rang to let us out of first period. I sighed and pulled my things together to walk to my next class. I saw Alice give me a strange look as I walked by and smiled wryly. So I was an outcast in the fantasy world and the human world.

My next class was Pre-Calculus. It was only a few doors down from chemistry, so naturally I was the first one there. I sat down in my seat and watched the door quietly, in case Alice came into this room as well. I never saw her walk in by the time the bell rang, but that didn't mean there wasn't a vampire in the room.

The teacher introduced her as Rosalie Hale. She was painstakingly beautiful, with long golden hair and an hourglass figure. But this one also had those strange golden eyes. She must have been connected to Alice Cullen somehow. How else could there be two vampires with irises I had never seen before in the same school? It couldn't be a coincidence.

I switched to my lower lids again and examined her aura. It wasn't quite as light as Alice's, but I could tell by the way she held herself as she sat down that she was a bit of a snob. It wasn't necessarily that she was a bad person, just that she thought a lot of herself.

Her emotions weren't the same as Alice's; I could see the dull beige swirling around again, but it was much more dominant, and there wasn't a trace of pink anywhere in her body. Instead, she had a dark blue mixed with the boredom, very subtle, but there nonetheless. This meant she was sad, but why? Ordinarily my first thought would be somebody picking on the new kid, but who would be brave enough to bully a vampire? And who in their right mind would bully her? The pretty ones never got bullied- usually- and even if the humans knew nothing about mythical creatures, their subconscious told them when danger was near. She also showed the same orangey tint, so she too was off the hunt. I didn't understand these immortals at all.

After that, I began to see vampires everywhere; not just the two girls, but males as well. Walking down the hallways like everyone else, working on their classwork like everyone else, talking to each other like everyone else. It was amazing how well they blended in, while at the same time sticking out, at this school. I had a big burly one named Emmett in my history class, and he seemed amused by all the little humans who were scared stiff of him. He was definitely one of the scarier ones, but his aura was just as light as the others'.

And they all had the same golden eyes.