The Twilight World & all reconizgable characters from it are (c) Stephanie Meyer! I own only Natalie! Beta-read by ShadowWolf43!
Finally, an update! Hope everyone enjoys it! All reviews & favoriting/story alerting are greatly appreciated:)
A small gust of wind blew in my face. I shook my head but slid past Demetri, energy and excitement starting to boil in my body. A dark set of stairs that was behind the ancient set of wooden doors was the only thing that was between freedom and I. Demetri glanced at me as he silently let the door click shut behind him and took the stairs two at a time. I followed blissfully behind him. I just noticed how nice he smelled; the wind blew towards me and carried his scent. I stared at his back, mesmerized by it for a few moments before I tore my eyes away, feeling quite odd.
The air tingled with my excitement as I tasted and smelled the increasingly fresher air. Demetri chuckled ahead of me as he slowed down, allowing me to walk beside him.
"You look excited," he commented.
I nodded, eyes focused only up. His eyes followed mine, licking his lips.
"Not long now," he murmured.
Then he begun to travel faster and I wondered if my own excitement was getting to him. He once again started to take the steps by twos and I quickly followed in pursuit. As a human, I could barely take stairs by sets of twos but now it seemed natural and easy to bound across them. I glanced at Demetri, my eyes gazing over his face's features. Then he caught me looking and I immediately glanced away, moving faster to pass him, trying to get to the door.
"You said 'not long now', but it's been…" I started, then went with the natural left curve of the stairs and met the door. "Oh."
Demetri reached my side, giving a small smirk at me. "As I said, not long now." He unlocked it and flicked it open.
The feel of the night air was like dipping my face into fresh, cold water. It washed over my skin and I felt refreshed. I felt… I felt freedom at the tip of my tongue, my fingertips and my whole body wriggled with excitement. But the cool air didn't quench the burning, roaring fire in my throat. It reminded me of what we were doing out here. Hunting, feeding myself so I could get through the next few days. Demetri followed more hesitantly to the outside behind me, but I supposed that was because he had to watch me.
"Volterra is quite beautiful at night," he murmured, walking beside me.
I nodded in agreement. "Far more pretty than during the day. At night, with the moon," I glanced up; it stood out gorgeously against the midnight sky and pale stars, "the city seems to glow with life."
Demetri chuckled darkly. "Ah, yes… with much life. Where do you wish to go? Of course, the city is off limits but we are allowed to go off into the countryside." Demetri swept his hand towards the wall.
I glanced at him, catching his magnificent ruby eyes in the night and whispered, "The countryside."
He grinned and then whispered back, "I think you may know the way."
We raced through the moonlit city like cats. We were silent and stealthy; the hunters racing towards our prey. Lean, mean, fighting machines made to hunt and kill. I couldn't help but admire his body as he moved. He barely acted like a human anymore; his quite alien behavior, accent, and looks just drew me in more.
If I had a heart, it would be stuttering from the emotions bursting inside me.
I laughed at the moment and sped up, eating up the ground like the perfect racehorse. I loved the feeling of running, the trees barely moving by me but yet, in my mind, I imagined them flying by. I loved the wind barely touching my face, caressing it like a lover and soothing my excitement to a content, calm, and happy state. I adored tasting the scent of Demetri and the landscape as we got out of the city. I loved smelling the closed flowers, the trees and the grass. They told such tales of what had gone by. I didn't know where to start.
He glanced at me, his eyes gleaming with hunger and… lust, my mind told me. Why? I didn't ask. I glanced towards the forest, taking a wary step forward. I glanced around, my eyes completely absorbed by the world around me. The rustling of the foliage on the trees, the grass blades moving underneath our feet, the distant bird calls from away from here.
I saw Demetri smile, and it was a true, honest-to-God smile. I spun around, to get a quick glance at it. It was like the moon in Volterra; in the day, with its sparkling sun, it would be completely unreal but truly there, right before my eyes. But here, it was magical; it was like the moon reflecting off the lake; a small ripple that grew more as it crossed over his face.
It immediately disappeared when he saw me staring at him, but then he started to speak.
"We should get going. Your eyes are almost a midnight black," he said.
I nodded, feeling my own smile come over my face.
We raced through the forest now, trusting our feet not to trip from the twisting roots of the trees around us. I would always want to stop and listen, but Demetri was persistent; we kept moving on. He would always say "Further, away from the city" and "We're too close; authorities will notice" and things similar. It was funny; serious, but funny at the same time.
Suddenly, Demetri sped past me and halted at a tree line, his whole body now locked in a stance. I slid up next to him, possibly too close for him because he glanced warily at me before gazing back out into the pasture.
It was a young couple. A female and a male, both no older than twenty-three. Demetri's breathing suddenly became very low as he watched them, his eyes moving ever so slowly that I couldn't sit and stare at them like I wanted- he would notice too quickly.
"The prey has been spotted," he murmured, tearing his gaze from the couple to me. "You may hunt. But quickly. They're young; we don't know-"
"Aren't you going to feed?" I interrupted, staring up at him. He shook his head.
"Unlike you, I fed myself when told too," he said, smirking ever so slightly, "so no. Why do you ask?"
I shrugged, refusing to answer his question. I chose to ask one myself. "Do I have to kill them both?" He nodded, glancing back out at them.
"Is that why you were asking? Unable to finish them off, newborn?" he murmured, his lips cracking into a wider smirk. I growled playfully.
"I will be able to finish them both myself, then," I sneered back at him and then bounded out into the green fields.
The man held a flashlight, and from here, I could hear their laughter and whispers perfectly. I crawled up like a lion, almost flat on my belly. But suddenly, I couldn't hold it back anymore. I could hear their hearts pumping the glorious blood through their bodies, making them so alive and so delicious looking. I had to attack. I was near them in seconds; all I got was a squeak from the woman before I both had them on the ground. I tore their throats out, making sure only tiny gurgles were able to escape them before I started to drain the male. His blood was slowly draining my throat of the fire; I finally found the right water to put it out, for now at least. I shifted my position, trying to get the very last of this poor soul's blood but then- I smelled a scent. At first, all I recognized what that it was a male vampire and I spun around, my lip curled aggressively, growls gritting from my lungs to out of my mouth and my stance offensive towards the intruder.
This was my prey! Mine. No one was going to take it away from me!
But then I realized whom I was snapping at. I knew his frosted brown hair, his ruby red eyes that gleamed with intrigue and his stance that spoke all defensive to me. This is no stranger, this is no intruder- this is Demetri, best tracker of the world. I still didn't know how he tracked his prey. But at the moment, I didn't care.
I was lost in his eyes. They held me to the spot, the very spot where I was draining the goodness from my prey. His eyes held me in a welcoming cage of red; the maroon pools were like a cold, dark sun. They wrapped around me and we merged together, his eyes and my own. He didn't look away this time.
His gaze gradually came to the bleeding female and I instinctively put my foot forward. His eyes darted back to my eyes and a shiver ran down my spine but I felt my head nod. I would allow him to touch my kill, my hunt. I still had to finish my meal. I brought the body back to my lips and drained the rest of it. The fire in my throat had all but died. I felt full, blissful, and just bursting with energy now. Demetri stood above, away from his already drained female.
I raised my eyebrows in slight surprise but said nothing about it. He scooped up the female's body and tore back to the woods; I burst past him, carrying the male in my arms. We quickly dug holes and tossed the bodies down in them after taking out any identification. Demetri pulled out a few matches and I watched him warily, my neck hair instinctively standing on end from seeing them. He lit a few on then tossed them into the pit and we stood yards away, watching the glistening flames lick at the dead bodies. Not before long, their faces were unrecognizable.
We returned the dirt into the pit and slowly, the scent of burning flesh wasn't so apparent. I made sure to make the dirt look undisturbed as possible but I had little idea how humans saw things now. I stepped back to admire our work, silence hanging thick in the air between us.
I looked up at him, glancing curiously. He caught my eyes and once again, I froze. But I found the strength to speak.
"What time is it?" I murmured.
He looked up for a few heartbeats then looked back at me. "Soon to be morning; but we have hours of darkness still." His voice was a soft whisper, the quiet babble of a brook as he said those words.
I nodded, starting to walk through the woods. When I heard no footsteps, I spun around and practically rammed into Demetri. He was so near; his scent intoxicated me, it filled my nostrils and teased my head, my body. His lips were so close, so very excruciatingly close. I glanced at them and then back up at his eyes, leaning back.
He whispered something, ever so softly I had to strain to here it. But I couldn't understand it. I stared at him, my brow locking into a small, confused frown. He smirked.
"It's Italian," he murmured, inching closer.
"What did it mean?" I murmured back, watching his lips close the distance between our faces and his eyes becoming increasing close to mine.
He chuckled, his cool breath tingling my skin around my throat. "You have something on your face."