Again I want to thank all the people that have reviewed for me. You are great. Like always, I don't own the characters or the major plot line, Stephanie Meyer does, and I am happy to have the chance to take her characters out and use them for my purposes. I write for the joy of it, not for money. MB

Chapter 3: A Vampire's Existence

Edward, 2004:

The years I have spent in Alaska have been very similar to all the other years of my personal vampire existence. However, there have been some changes. In the past four years, Rosalie and Emmett have again gotten married again and are off in Europe living as a married couple. It does make the house very quiet with them not here, especially with Emmett's booming voice and personality. Alice and Jasper are as happy as ever and though they are not as public with their love, but their eyes speak wonders about the world that they live in. Carlisle and Esme are so blissfully happy and they make me at times wonder why I haven't actually tried to find me a mate, but I always shrug the thought away eventually.

Tanya on the other hand, thought it was time for me to settle down. I heard her telling Alice one day that "it is a crime that someone as absolutely gorgeous as I am not have an absolutely beautiful wife." I laughed when I heard it. I guess she doesn't understand that there isn't anyone in this lifetime that I would consider having as a wife, especially her. I have heard Carlisle speak of how her and her sisters like their men, even if they are mortal men. I for sure am not interested in Tanya or her sisters, in any capacity with the exception of friendship. I guess I just find it funny when I hear people talk about me not having a mate, I feel a small twinge in my being. I guess it turns back to the fact that I am flawed and that I would not want to submit anyone to someone as defective as me.

I wouldn't ever think about that subject long, because it wasn't relevant to my life. My entire family was playing a role and it was something that we all had to do and be completely sure we were always following. I had done a good job so far, but I knew soon I would have to begin again at square one. I have gotten good at it over the years playing the role of the typical high school student. I did well in my classes and graduated with honors, completed a bachelor's degree, and currently was attending a medical school. Yet, like always, I would never finish because of the fact that we never age and we couldn't stay in one place too long. I really wish that one day I would be able to finish medical school. Honestly, I felt that we had stayed in Alaska too long, and I feared the people were getting suspicious of us, so that wish is out of the question at this time.

For the most part, I spent most of the time familiarizing myself with a variety of books, documents, and music. Many of the books and documents that I have read are ones that I have read on numerous occasions but that was the only way that I could fill my time. Especially since us vampires don't have the option to sleep. I have always enjoyed the learning process, and have enjoyed learning through my years, and especially the changes that have taken place over the years.

The one thing that I put my most effort into was my love of music. My taste in music could be described as colorful and full of variety, but most of all my love was at the piano. My human parents were not rich, from what Carlisle has told me, and I know that they could never afford to have someone to teach me to play. Yet, the first time I came before the keyboard, my fingers could sail across the ivories and I actually could understand how to read music, though I was never a fan of it. I usually just learned the pieces by listening to it a few times, and just playing it from memory. In the past ten years, I finally took to composing some pieces for myself and I actually found out that I was fairly decent at it. Actually, the first song I wrote moved me so much, because Esme loved it. I remember the moment that she came and sat down at the piano by me as I played it for the first time. From the corner of eye I watched her… her eyes closed and nodding to the melody. It was the most moving thing I had seen in a very long time. Finally when I was finished, she leaned in and kissed me on the cheek, and told me it was one of the most beautiful things that she had ever heard played. That was when I began to write and after that, the piece that she heard that day would become known to all of us as "Esme's favorite."

It was late in the year when I realized that the time was soon approaching that we would be leaving Alaska and heading somewhere else, in hopes of preventing our secret life from coming to the surface. I was sure of this when Carlisle was coming to see me one early morning, though I already knew the topic of discussion since I had heard his thoughts. He opened the door and stepped into the room and had a seat in the chair that sat across the room from my couch.

"So, when are we leaving here, Carlisle?"

"Tomorrow. I have already given my excuses to the hospital that I have received an offer at another hospital and that I was to be leaving within a few days. So we need to get ready for the journey to our new home. Pack only the things that we need, I will send for the rest of our belongings when we are more settled in our new home."

The assortment of locations was limited since the sun was our enemy and we wanted to hide out in the open. So I was somewhat curious to where Carlisle had chosen to take us. At times, he would discuss some of these issues with me, since I was technically the oldest of our family with the exception of Carlisle himself. But this time, he had made the choice before he came to tell me of the move.

"Where are we off to this time, Carlisle?"

"Honestly, Edward… I doubt that you will remember the place, I believe it is called Forks."

I looked at him trying to place the name of the town. Years are nothing to vampires, so it honestly didn't surprise me that I couldn't remember ever hearing of the town, however, it did sound very familiar to me. The thought of the town gave me a really sinking feeling and that trouble could be on the horizon for my family, and especially for me.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts then Edward."

Carlisle left the room and I begin to stare out the window of my room. The life of a vampire… no roots and no place to truly call home. I should be able to come to terms with it, especially since it isn't natural for vampires to live in large covens like my family. For the most part, most we vampires only live in groups of two, usually mates or companions. I don't know why it bothers me that much, if it wasn't for Carlisle and my family I would be alone, so I shouldn't think like that.

I got up and finally began packing some of the stuff that I would be taking with me on our journey to Forks. While packing, I seen an image of a large house with large pillars in the front set before a vast river. Esme. I never had an eye for architecture or the appearances of houses, but I liked this house, and I could also see that Esme was happy with it and she had many dreams for this house, especially the side facing the river. I seen what Esme wanted and she wanted large windows to allow for the light of the sun to shine in and us not have to try to hid from it. I laughed to myself when I realized that it would be a while before Carlisle would send for our belongings here in Alaska, because Esme had a lot of work that she wanted done before hand. It's funny how normal these types of changes are done in our lives, and I guess most of all I should just get used to the inevitable change.

September 2005:

Forks… it has to be one of the most boring places that I have ever lived in my entire vampire life, and I know for sure that my vampire siblings agree with me. Not long after we arrived in Forks, Emmett and Rosalie came back to stay with us and then started their ruse that they were not married, just dating… same as Alice and Jasper. Again, I was the odd person out, but I was getting used to it, I guess.

Like all places that we move to, the locals find us very interesting, but stay at a distance from us. I have gotten to listen to the thoughts of these teenagers for about two weeks and I have decided that they are not very original in their thoughts, and they all had a select few topics to discuss. The table that had the ones called Mike Newton, Angela Weber, Jessica Stanley, and many others were the most annoying of all the students. Not really the one called Angela, but Mike and Jessica were not that interesting. Mike was constantly trying to find some random girl to date and maybe get more from, and Jessica had this mission since we moved her to get me to date her. I laughed at that the first time I heard her mind. For the first few months that we were here, where others stayed away from us, she constantly was putting herself in our path and talking to me. That was until Rosalie told her to "leave her little brother alone." Rosalie was very scary when it came to protecting our secret. Finally, she just resorts to constantly thinking of me and trying to figure out ways to talk to me and try to get me to date her.

Life was getting interesting in Forks currently. The talk of the town was that Chief Swan's daughter was coming to Forks. It was constant gossip of the fact that her flighty mother was getting remarried and sending her to Forks to be with her father. The whole town thought it was horrible how she took the girl and basically ran from Chief Swan to Arizona, never looking back. I happened to be passing the office when the chief was in the office setting up her classes. I wasn't impressed, because I didn't pay any attention to humans anymore. The less I noticed them the better I was at dealing with them, but I wasn't rude by any means. I just didn't go out of my way to talk to them. We usually just stuck together as a family, and kept outsiders at a distance. I know that they student body was ablaze with gossip of what she would look like… some guessed model-like with platinum blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. Most of them knew what the chief looked like, and they all figured that the mother had to be some beauty. It was funny to hear about and when I told the others they found it just as funny, with the exception of Rosalie.

"I don't understand what the big deal is about a girl coming from somewhere else to here. Guess they don't get that many new people around here, so when they hear that someone is moving here they get all excited."

I rolled my eyes and said nothing. Rosalie was very protective of our family, but very shallow when it came to others that we met along the way. If she wasn't the center of the universe, something was wrong and she wanted to do something to change it. Luckily, Emmett made sure that she was the center of his cosmos and that was the best thing for all people.

That is when I heard the new gossip finally through the mind of Mike Newton. The chief's daughter will be here next week, either Monday or Tuesday. They think she'll start classes on Thursday. I wonder if she's hot…

That was when I stopped listening to his thoughts. So she would be here next week… I wonder if she is ready to walk into one of the most dangerous places that she would ever go in her life? I doubt anyone would let their children go to school in Forks, if they knew that four of the students were vampires… even though our chosen existence keeps us from hurting them. I sat there for a while and then I turned to Alice and she smiled at me. I have seen that smile before from her… that worried me a little. I didn't want the others to know what I was asking her so I reached out and touched her mind with my thoughts. What did you see, Alice? She turned and answered me, "You told me not to talk to you about it… remember." If I could turn white, I bet I would have when she said that to me. That meant… I was trouble… big trouble, but I didn't know how bad it would get either. I just knew then that I had to prepare for the storm that was coming and hope that we could weather it, as a family, because that is just what we vampires have to do since that is the only existence we have.

Note: Sorry that I didn't post this last night, it was done, but I hadn't had time to proof it and I was about to fall asleep at the computer, so to try to make up for it, I will try to have a good chapter for you sometime today/tonight. Coming up: Renee and Phil's wedding.