Chapter 10: Accident

My breath caught in my throat for the first time since I died as a human and became a vampire. When Esme opened her eyes and the red pupils fell on me, my heart soared. She was the most beautiful person I'd ever laid eyes upon, human or vampire.

She looked around, confused. "Where am I?" she asked. "Am I in heaven?"

Edward snorted from behind me. "Hardly," he replied. "You're still in Wisconsin, Ashland to be exact."

"Ashland?" Esme looked around. "But I jumped. I shouldn't be alive right now. And everything is so colorful. What is that eighth color? I've never seen it before. And it's all so clear and…" her eyes fell on my face once more, "…perfect."

"You did fall Esme," I said softly. "When they brought you to the hospital, they thought you were dead. I was supposed to confirm it."

"Dr. Cullen," she said in recognition. "I remember you. You haven't changed at all!"

"That's because I don't age," I told her. "Esme, Edward and I, and now you, are vampires."

Esme's face fell. "Vampires? You mean you drink…" Her sentence fell off and I recognized the look in her eyes. It was the same look Edward had had, two years before, when he'd first felt his thirst. She was a newborn, and quickly drowning in her thirst. I had to explain, while I could still reason with her. Before she succumbed to the thirst completely.

"Esme listen to me." She turned back to my, pain playing across her face. My own thirst burned in my throat, since I hadn't fed in almost two weeks. "Edward and I have chosen a different lifestyle. There is an alternative to feeding from humans. Edward and I drink animal blood. It keeps us strong, and we don't need to kill innocent people to sustain ourselves. It's hard, but it's the right thing to do. Will you join us?"

Esme looked entirely baffled. Her blood red eyes darted between Edward and me, and then the door. We could all faintly smell humans out the front door. The nearest road was only 100 yards from the door. People passed on the road on their way to work in their Ford Model T's, not a care in the world.

Reading her thoughts, Edward moved in front of the door. He would help me restrain her, if she lost control.

"Come Esme," I said, offering her my hand. "Let's hunt."

At the mention of hunting Edward's eyes lit up. Esme's reaction was a little less enthusiastic, more uncertain, but she took my hand anyways.

We ran out the back kitchen door, Edward right behind Esme and me. He was faster then us, but he remained back, in case Esme broke off. I took her north, into Minnesota, coming close to the Canadian border before stopping. Esme looked slightly disappointed. But she smelled a grizzly bear, just up wind from our position. Edward tensed, ready to go after it. Carnivorous animals tasted better than herbivores, mainly because they eat other animals. While I was reluctant to let my angel take on a grizzly so soon after waking from her transformation, I knew she was tough enough to handle the bear.

"What's that smell?" she asked, taking a deep breath. "It's like, chicken or something." I never thought of describing grizzly as "chicken", but maybe everything smells different.

"That would be a grizzly bear," Edward said. "About half a mile up wind from here." He sniffed again. "Male and hungry." He grinned, flashing his teeth in the dim morning light.

"Is that what we're hunting?" Esme asked. She'd already started in the direction the smell was coming from.

"Yes," I replied. "Basically."

"Hm." She began running against the wind, following the fairly appealing scent. Grizzly still wasn't as delicious smelling as human, but it was better then elk, which was also present. Esme was a bit more fluid than Edward or I in her movements, though as she stalked the bear, she seemed uncertain. I was too. The bear was huge, big enough to feed probably all three of us. Compared to the bear, Esme looked like a doll that would be swatted aside. My gut clenched, my instinct telling me to go throw myself in front of her. To protect her from the animal.

But Esme was just as much a predator as Edward or I was. She pounced and I flinched as she collided with the bear, head on. Its jaws closed around her arm, but it might have done more damage to a tree trunk. Esme didn't even seem to notice as she gripped the bear around the head; arm through its mouth like a horse's bit. She bit down on the bear's neck as Edward landed on its back. I hadn't even noticed him pass me. I was the odd man out, still standing, watching dumbfounded as my companion and my angel drained the animal of blood. There wouldn't be any left for me if I didn't hurry. The scent of the bear's blood brought me out of my stupor and I joined them, taking a bite from the neck, opposite Esme. The fur was thick and uncomfortable, since the weather was getting colder as winter approached. But the brief satisfaction of the bear's blood overwhelmed that particular aspect of the hunt.

The bear was drained quickly, filling all three of us. Edward and my eyes were now a golden topaz color. Esme's eyes remained blood red, but it would be months before they were our color. She looked down at her shirt, covered in fresh blood. I was clean, and Edward only had maybe a drop on his collar.

"I'm still thirsty," she said, "but I'm not sure I could drink anymore."

"The thirst will always be there," I told her. "The key is to keep it in check. Somewhere in the back of your mind. When it comes to the forefront of everything else, is when you fall to it."

Esme nodded, seeming to hang off of my words. I knew how I felt about her. She was my angel, come down from heaven. I would protect her with my life, whatever it was worth. It didn't occur to me until then, that she might feel the same way.

Esme opened her mouth to say something, and stiffened. I smelled it the second after she did. A human, male and in distress, was wandering closer to our position.

"Esme no!" But she was already off. I was right after her. "Edward, go home," I told the boy. He was fighting the scent himself and wouldn't be much use in stopping Esme.

Edward headed in the opposite direction as I followed Esme's trail at top speed. She was running faster then me, using her newborn strength. I wasn't going to catch up in time. I could just feel it. I would arrive to find my angel, feeding from a poor hiker who'd lost his way.

The thought gave me speed as I ran, the smell becoming fresher and fresher. I was catching up, but would it be enough?

I arrived in the meadow too late. A hiker was trapped in the vise of an angel. My angel. The hiker looked fearful, but he was pale already, and weak. Esme knelt over him, lapping up the red blood that flowed from her bite. The smell of the human's blood brought extra venom to my own mouth. I longed to join her, but the thought was repulsing to me.

Esme dropped the hiker's body, stepping back with a look of sheer horror on her face. I rushed forward as she knelt, a hand pressed over her mouth.

"What have I done?!" she wailed, dry sobbing. Vampires couldn't produce tears. "What have I done?"

"It's alright," I tried to reassure her. I wrapped my arms around her, turning her face away from the body. "You are new to this life," I reminded her. "You can't help it."

"It smelled so good," Esme cried. "And it tasted wonderful. Why does something so horrible have to taste like that?"

"It is our nature," I replied simply. "But we don't have to follow it."

Esme buried her head in my chest and I breathed in her sweet scent. Like cinnamon sugar. I rocked her gently as she mourned the life of the hiker she'd never even known. We sat in the meadow as the sun rose in the sky and our skin sparkled. Only as it reached high over head, did we finally move.

First Esme marveled at the quality of our skin in sunlight. Then we dug a grave for the hiker, carving a marker from a stone with our fingers. When we had buried the hiker to our satisfaction, we returned home. Edward waited patiently. He was good at waiting.

"I'm going to say it didn't go well," Edward murmured to me. He didn't need a reply from me to confirm it.

Esme looked down at her clothing and winced. Her shirt was caked with dried blood, her own, the grizzly's, and the hiker's.

"I think you need new clothing," I commented. Esme nodded.

"I could go tonight," Edward suggested. "While you are at work. Esme could come along with me. I promise we'll be safe."

Esme looked unsure, and truthfully, I felt the same way. Edward was only two years a vampire, and Esme was not even a day! It would be so easy for them to lose control, and in such a public place, our secret would get out and the Volturi might come.

But I looked in Edward's eyes and I knew that he would keep control. And once more, he would help Esme keep control too. So with great reluctance, I gave them enough money for Esme to buy a whole wardrobe, and a borrowed set of clothes to wear until then.