Before the Grey:

Chapter 4:

The Silver

The new studio is very comfortable and warm, made mostly of smooth honey and cherry colored wood, dark stone frames the large fireplace, the windows and door that lead to outside. When we first step into the house, a large stone entryway gives out to wood floors that span across the large living room. The grand stair way is in the middle of the room, the stairs are of stone and the gleaming banister hovers above pillars of wood and flares out above the large landing stair.

On the right side of the stairs is the big fireplace with a long plush black sofa, and two loveseats a deep tan positioned closer to the fire. In the middle of the ring of couches is a wide, rectangular coffee table of dark wood. Beneath the furniture in this room is a square rug that covers almost the entire wood floor of the room. It is several inches thick and flaunts wide black and tan lines that swirl in and out of a circle.

There are windows beside the fireplace that are tall enough to reach the high beams of the ceiling. On the wall that runs parallel to the grand staircase and next to the door is a wall of glass, cut in to squares by dark wood that runs vertically and horizontally through out.

Above the fireplace is a large painting of what looks like English settlers meeting the Native Americans for the first time. Aubrey raises a brow at this one; the pilgrims met the Indians on the east cost, not in Alaska. Therefore, why they would have a painting displayed here is an oddity.

The other side of the staircase is graced with a grand piano, perched on a raised stone platform. It is black, and I can barely spot an array of other black instruments lined against the walls, in the dim light. The chandelier hung low, above the piano, not radiating any light.

I can hear footsteps from high above; Asher closes the door loudly, to alert everyone of our arrival. Their hearing and sense of smell aren't nearly as strong as ours are. We wait in the doorway, staring at the furniture until finally someone comes to the top of stairs. His hair is shaved close to his head, and he had grown a go-tee but I can still recognize Rick by his smell. I act professional.

"Excuse me; we're looking for a Rick Hudson?" The boys behind me catch on to my little act and play it up with curious stares. Rick laughs heartily and walks slowly down the stairs. "I am he." He says, I walk closer to the stairway and act confused. He finally reaches the stone elegant landing and says, "So you don't recognize me Bella?" I wait a minute and then let false recognition light up in my eyes.

"Oh!" I laugh, "I feel like an idiot!" He laughs some more, I can hear someone behind me shift their weight impatiently. He looks behind me and says, "So how was the trip up?" He sounds curious as if he can't tell by our body language that we were bored and want to hurry and start on our music.

"It was fine, a little uneventful but it was peaceful. Well most of the way." Aubrey catches himself smoothly on the last part, about their not being any events. Actually that is a flat lie, there were many. I remember one between Seth and me, one between Seth and Asher, now that I think back on it Seth was in quite a lot of squeamishness through out our two-week journey, not to mention yesterday when Aubrey almost massacred us all.

I can taste the sudden the sudden uneasiness in the air; apparently, no one has forgotten our little brush with death. Aubrey looks relaxed enough, his hands rest deep in his pockets, expression at ease. Rick looks confused, he most have seen the way Seth closed his eyes and shuddered at the memory of Aubrey angry.

He shakes his head and rubs his hands together, "So have we got anything new?" He looks expectantly at us.

"Actually yes," I say with a smile, grateful at the change in subject. I take out my small black notebook, open it to the correct page and hand it to him. He skims over it and smiles.

"It just keeps getting better!" He praises me.

"And to top it, Asher has some new tunes to mix in." I say proudly. Rick's eyes light even brighter at the fact.

"Perfect. Now I'll show you all your rooms, you get some rest and tomorrow we can get to work." He rubs his hands together again, his eye roam over all of our stances.

"Here Bella let me take that for you." He takes the bag and I am sorely tempted to laugh. I am a hundred time stronger, a thousand times quicker then him and he's worried.

We all head up the stairs at an extremely slow, human pace, only to turn and walk up another flight of stairs. Finally, we reach the top and fallow Rick down the hall. I'm terribly afraid we might have to walk up the stairs again, when we turn the corner. Then he stops abruptly, as he suddenly remembers something.

"Oh, Asher, that's your room," He says pointing across the hall at tall wooden door painted a light brown, with and elegant golden handle. "Aubrey," He points to an identical door next to Asher's. "Bella," Next to Aubrey's, "Riley, and then Seth." We all head to our designated doors and open them.

In mine there is a king sized bed with a lacy white comforter, with many baby blue pillows overstuffed, that takes up most of the space in the room. The walls are painted a shade slightly lighter than the pillows, with a refined pattern of arches painted in a soft eggshell white. The headboard, hard floor and small tables on either side of the big bed are the same cherry hue of the down stairs floors. I gaped; it looks like winter, captured in square room.

Above the night tables are windows that let in the dim light of the fading sunset, with lacy ivory curtains to match the bed sheets. Taking a half step inside I see a large, old-fashioned wardrobe on the same wall as the door. It is tall; the top half is two long doors that open up to reveal a silver bar and hangers waiting for my clothes. The bottom half is two drawers, deep and look like they alone can hold my entire wardrobe.

I close the door and speed through the unpacking process. Counting the clothes Aubrey bought me last night, I easily fill the large wardrobe and in a matter of ten minutes, I am done. Well that's a new record, I think sarcastically to myself. There's a knock at the door, I appear next to it and open it before the person is finished knocking.

The short man standing in front of me flinches, oops. "Sorry." I apologize, he shakes his head to clear it, an odd look coming into his eye, and I smile.

"Um, if you'd like something to eat, come down to the kitchen." He says slowly, probably trying to make sure he didn't stumble over his words.

"Alright." I say simply. When I close the door, I'm grinning, you could say I am quite hungry, and I could most defiantly find something to eat around the house. I laugh. The door opens; I turn to see Aubrey standing in the doorway, Riley and Asher behind him. "Let's get something to eat." There's a smirk on his face.

The air is still outside the enormous house, not a wind not even a soft breeze. It's odd and quickly puts me on edge. Seth had left earlier to hunt; his will power was never enough to keep him from doing something he'd regret. He has little to no self-control. It is a miracle he's never killed anyone in our management, or in broad day light for the whole world to see.

We all climb into an old black car that Rick has lent to us for our stay in this city. I sit in the back next to Riley and stare out of the window while Aubrey speeds out of the countryside and in to the city. Lights blur past, scents of a million different things hit me through the window that is now rolled down despite the icy air. He stops the car on the side of the road, and we all get out, we make plans to meet back up in an hour and go off in separate directions.

I run for a long time until the wind picks up and I stop to smell the air. I can see their tracks in the snow, four maybe five and an animal. I fallow the scent until I am close enough to hear their breath. I jump to a tree branch just above them and count, there are five, and the animal that made the strange prints looks like a Husky, or a very small wolf.

I can tell they are lost by the way they keep changing direction and the fact that they are arguing with each other whether or not they are walking in circles. The dog hears me, before he smells me, he growls ferociously, whipping his head from side to side, looking for me. The men stop arguing and look at their dog, I wonder why they would not have gone home earlier, it's dangerous to be in the woods at night. The number of people you are with is irrelevant when it comes to the predators of the night.

Saliva drips from between his teeth and falls to the icy earth, as he bares his sharp teeth in a viscous snarl. He barks, probably trying to egg me on, telling me to come out from where I am hiding. The red-brown color of his fur is familiar, like a memory of something that happened to me a long time ago but I cannot remember. It's a nagging feeling, very irritating, and now I'm feeling frustrated that I cannot remember. The loud sound this dog is making does not make my mood any better, the opposite actually and I really want to make him be quite.

After a minute of silence, one of them suggests splitting up, they agree and the smile that surfaces on my face is relieved that the man with the dog walks in a new direction. They're the lucky ones; they are traveling in the right direction. The two men keep walking into the forest after a long moment of reluctance, staring at the backs of their friends, it will be the last time they see a familiar face. Great, now I feel guilty. I think to myself that is inevitable, if it isn't them it will be just another innocent. At least they look middle aged, they have gotten a chance to live, unlike that masochistic girl who begged me to kill her, and she was so young. My last thoughts console me.

They're about a quarter of mile from the point they split up before I jump down from my hiding spot. One of the two has gone to take a bathroom break, the other is alone twitting his thumbs. I'd planed to sneak up on him, to save him the fear, just get it over with. Suddenly he turns sharply and looks up startled at me I am equally as startled. This is something I did not plan, now he will have to live in fear the last seconds of his life.

Before he can cry out and alert his friend I am behind him, hand sealed tightly over his mouth, and I stand on my very tiptoes to put my mouth just above his vein. He gasps, and tenses to turn around. I don't move a muscle, I don't have to, I keep him facing away from me. It's enough that I have to kill the to saturate my thirst, looking at him while I do… It would kill me.

My fangs puncture his skin with the littlest applied pressure. The flow of blood catches and I can feel the microscopic blood sells clotting hopelessly around my teeth as his blood catches and reverse its current to the heart. He starts to gasp for air, but it is useless, oxygen cannot be carried where need be if there is nothing to carry it there. After a short while, he falls limp having fainted from lack of oxygen.

I am in the last stage of feeding when his friend returns from the woods and stops short, having seen us. With one swallow it is finished, his pulse stilled itself long ago. I lay the man carefully on the ground and lick the blood from my lips, my back to the horrified human. I turn to him but stop and smell the air. A heavy scent rides the light breeze. It is sweet but not one I recognize, it smells of human blood. Someone- or something- must have gotten to the other group of lost hunters.

It isn't anyone I know, but I can tell by the strength of the scent that they are coming closer. I look back at the man, standing still, trying not to breathe loudly lest he attract attention to himself. I weigh my options, but in the end, it still does not look good for the unfortunate man.

I appear beside him in half a second. I take him quickly before the others can show up. I put the two next to each other and bring out a small bottle from my back pocket. I untwist the cap and poor the contents on the bodies, soaking them. When the liquid runs dry I lay it underneath the fluffy coat of the first man to die, I get out a small square from my jacket pocket and take out the small stick of wood. I slide the match roughly against the rough surface of the side of the matchbox and it lights.

I stair at the flame for a second and let my emotions break the surface, my emotionless mask that I've warn crumbles. Tearless sobs rip themselves from my hard, cold chest and tumble off my lips in quick succession.

In this moment I loath myself more than anything else, I recognize that it is my fault. Every mistake I've ever made was the product of some stupid decision that I made. It is as simple as that. It is my fault, and no one else's.

And after the second has passed, so has my moment of emotional instability. I thrust the burning match on to the bodies doused with the ghastly smelling, flammable liquid. It catches fire within a second and flames leap up close to my body.

Deliberately, I stand too close to the fire, half-hopping it will lick the fabric of my jacket, and half-hopping the ones I smelled from earlier come and stop me from jumping the bowl of fire, in my heavy moment of depression.

Involuntarily I take a quick step back when the tongues of fire branch out, looking for something else to feed upon. I hear footsteps crunching slowly in the snow behind me. I turn slowly to see a tall man with honey blonde hair, and coal black eyes step out of the shade of a tree branch. Only, he isn't a man, he is a vampire.

He looks down at my burning companions and narrows his eyes. From behind him another, taller blonde steps into the moon light, I can tell he can see my fire, but he ignores it. He walks foreword a few steps and smiles softly.

"Hello, I am Carlisle," He says, "And this is my son, Jasper."

I'm sad to say that I will most likely not be updating for a few days, I'll be busy with school for at least three days. Also, I'm not sure of the geography of Denali, I don't know for sure if it's a city or has a city near it or what ever, so please forgive me if I have made a mistake, if you have any info on it please feel free to tell me about it, via a review or a private message. Bye!