Chapter Song: Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace
Chapter Four: Break Down
Edward
An electric current seemed to charge the night air, making it writhe and coil like a snake. The twilight seemed lake an appropriate, if not cliché, time to hunt. Such frivolous thing shouldn't make a different by now though. The beast that was a part of me would be silence by dawn.
My pale fingers twitched convulsively as my mind unraveled at the edges. If I had had a heart, I am pretty sure it would haven been fluttering in my throat. I crept quietly into the outermost boundaries of the city.
No one approached me on the street, not one light shone from a window. I cursed under my breath, nervously glancing around.
The street lights were my only company; their faint glows making the scene feel surreal. I listened carefully, waiting to hear something out of the ordinary, something that signaled trouble.
I had already made a promise to myself to rid this world of humans who did not deserve to be here. I would spare the innocent. Except for that fact that everyone was innocent when compared to my scattered sin. I was no super hero, of course. A life would still be ended.
I heard just what I wanted about an hour later. I could smell the adrenaline that was rushing through the veins of a large shadow of a man. A young girl had foolishly wandered down a dark alley. The man was a few yards behind her, muttering excitedly under his breath.
I took a deep breath and held it, waiting. I had forced myself to prolong my hunt in order to provoke the inescapable frenzy that would occur; I wanted to find some way to escape the guilt that would undoubtedly be hanging onto my conscience for the rest of my life. It would be forever inside of me, gnashing away at my mind.
I was shaken out of my thoughts by a wayward thought that didn't belong to me. I felt a shudder jar my body as repulsive images flashed through my subconscious. Vile human.
I pressed myself into the dam bricks of one of the walls that composed the alley, careful to stay in to darkness.
I noticed the hair on the back of the girl's neck stand on end and it was then that I chose to pounce. She would turn around at any moment. She shrieked just then. I wasn't sure if it was I or that attacker that merited a scream but surely we both were worthy of it.
My weight was more then enough to send him careening to the ground. In a few moments, I was perched neatly on top of him. My left hand covered his mouth and my right was wrapped around his neck.
One easy jerk and it would be enough to snap his neck in two. My fingers brushed up against the pulsing vein in just behind his ear and I felt the monster threaten to burst forth from my ribcage. A small gasp sounded in the silence, seeming unnaturally loud.
I had all but forgotten about the girl. Slowly, I looked up to stare into her face.
She had lost all color and now had the appearance of a porcelain doll, her face frozen into a terrified expression. I searched her dark eyes and as I did so, I moved slightly, trying to find purchase on the man's skull.
The small shift in balance alarmed the girl and she slowly backed away, never taking her eyes off my face. I had no idea what expression lied there but it was enough to scare her off completely.
She threw caution to the wind and sprinted away, her skirt flapping out behind her as she went.
I brought my attention back to my prey, who incidentally, was unconscious.
Releasing the breath I had held in my lungs, I brought his neck back until I head an audible snap. His chest stayed still and I could no longer hear his thudding heartbeat.
Sucking his body dry while he was alive seemed too sadistic, even for a vampire. Tentatively, I pulled back the collar from his pale flesh, marveling at the spiderlike veins that crisscrossed just under the skin.
I look away suddenly, all too aware of his vacant green eyes that stared back at me. I had killed him easily, as if this human hadn't had a family, a life, a soul. He may have lacked morality, but still. He was human. I truly was a vampire.
It was then that I realized that this lifestyle suited me much more then-his.
I couldn't think his name. That simple eight letter word would conjure a host of memories and a pain that felt as if a bullet pierced my heart.
I looked back down to the human below me. I hunched down, balancing my weight on my knees to sit beside the cold body. I bent down still further, the smell of his blood tantalizing even as it slowed in its journey through his veins.
I sank my teeth into the vein just under his chin, warm blood flooding my mouth instantly. The taste of it was like nothing else. Indescribable. Like hearing the strawberry voice of a lover whisper "I love you" in the silence. Or the first cry of a newborn baby cradled in your arms. Of feeling the gentle summer rain on your skin.
These were all human experiences, the only things with which I could compare. But still, none of these seemed adequate.
One memory broke through the surface, shimmering and dancing before my eyes. My vision was blurred although I could not cry. The emotion was there though. The memory was clouded with pain but it was still pleasant.
The touch of an icy hand, wrapped tightly around my own burning one comforting. Deep ocher eyes gazed back at me, the face with golden hair to match.
"Carlisle." I breathed aloud.
Still, I drank. I was only finished when the body was unable to supply more. The guilt was not enough to stop my deranged frenzy. And it never would be.
When I could draw not one more drop, I lowered my face to the earth, running my tongue across the cobblestone, hoping to find more blood I had spilled by mistake.
As I did so, I shook violently, tremors overtaking my body. Dry sobs made my stomach heave and my head spin. I knew then that I would not be able to return to my father and friend.
The blood had claimed me as her own and there was no escape.