I'm Hungry

Chapter One: You'd Make a Mighty Meal

"I'm Bella Swan," the mortal introduces herself to me, standing in front of my empty lunch table. I know this already. I know too much already about this human. I can't stop thinking about her, can't get the scent of her blood out of my nose. The predator inside me wants her.

Badly.

It's takes all the bodily restraint I have not to rush across the room and take her.

She smells so good. Like a pine forest covered in a thick blanket of snow. Soft and yet harsh. And under it, the current of her blood. It makes my mouth water but not in my typical hunger. It's sexual. I want to kiss the blood out of her veins and let it roll down my chest in beads that drip down my stomach and pool on thighs that are quivering and wrapped around her naked body.

I'd never felt this before and my thoughts could not quell until I learned everything I could about her. I spent hours upon hours digging into her past, unearthing secrets and facts regarding every last detail of her existence. There was nothing about her I didn't know. In fact, I knew her life story better than most I would hazard. Perhaps even better than she did.

I had even found myself stalking her, following her from school and home and home to school, like some deranged idiot. I only ever stalked my targets like this, calculating their next moves so I could strike at the moment that would make the least amount of fuss. With her, I wasn't so much as fascinated with finding her death, but what made her life. What hobbies, what music tastes, what foods, amounted to her day to day. What gave her meaning, purpose. I wanted to see what she liked, and what she didn't. Each new detail I learned of her fascinated me immensely, to an extant in which I had never been fascinated before in a human. Not since my own human days.

I wanted to share in her secret smile when she found a video on Youtube funny. I wanted to smooth the crease from her brow when she puzzled over her homework. And mostly, I wanted to run my hands and lips down those breasts when she changed for the night and went to sleep in only an oversized T-shirt.

I spent more time than healthy, watching her from the tree across the street, especially when she would shed her clothing. The sway of her naked breasts and her smooth torso, everything below that obscured by the window ledge of the window that squared her in perfectly. I felt like an immense pervert. I could not help it. I felt alive inside like I never had before, and she didn't even know what she was doing to me.

I knew better than to approach her. I was afraid of my own feelings and to let them loose like a dam breaking would be to drown her, and to bring her unnecessarily into my world. No, it would be best to curb my feelings and yet, was it so wrong to indulge in them just a bit? To feel something for once over these empty decades?

Yes, it was wrong, I told myself, especially because if the intensity of what I felt scared even me, Bella surely would react in kind. So I absolved myself to stay away from her; it seemed she had made no such pact with herself.

And the fact she was standing in front of my table did nothing to help my restraint.

The fact there were people did hold me back. A while ago, however, I'd nearly thrown myself at her but thoughts of concern to how I could put James at risk because of this, stayed me. But she'd spilt fresh blood in one of those bathroom stalls and I'd burst through the door in a frenzy, eager to tear down the door and kneel in front of her and gently caress the blood away with my tongue before kissing my way up her body.

But she'd come out and I'd forced myself to still. I didn't want to harm her. I didn't want to feel this way about the human. James and I were here to find more Hunt victims. Not for me to find love.

Ha! I didn't have time for that.

Nor did I want it with a human.

They were fragile. And had a limit. Why would I even hanker for one?

My body must just be confused because of the jumble of human scents. There were so many around us, pressing in and we weren't used to this. It could test our mettle truly. I'd had to drag James out back twice yesterday because he'd smelt two girls on their period and nearly rushed after them. It would be a learning experience for us both and now I wondered if it'd been a good idea at all to join a school. There would be a good bounty for us to choose from and it wouldn't be hard to seduce some foolish mortals with our bodies especially given their hormonal state. But it was also irksome because human teens were so mundane and trivial and it took some time to block out all their varying scents. And not just the blood ones. Sex or sweat ones as well.

It must have been apparent I wasn't really in the moment because Bella took it upon herself to clear her throat and sit down in front of me as well. Immediately I stiffened, curling my hands into fists under the table. James looked on between me and Bella, wondering what was up. I had not confided in him my feelings for Bella. Namely because I was the one who solved problems- I didn't complain about anyones I had. And also, because I sure as hell couldn't make heads or tails of why I was so instantly and sexually attuned to Bella. I was no stranger to sex or sexual attraction, but this was more persistent than a one night stand.

"You're Victoria, right?" Bella said and didn't wait for me to confirm before she turned to James. "And you are?"

"James," he said, unable to keep his gaze on her. "Victoria's brother."

Bella narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You don't look related."

"We get that a lot. We're not blood related. Adopted," he said with an awkward chuckle, trying to catch my eye from the side. He was uncomfortable with her presence here. With her questions. With her brazen behavior. He was suspicious of her.

"So, how do you like Forks?" she asked, it being addressed at me in hopes I would answer.

I swallowed in a throat long gone dry and tried to gather myself. This wasn't like me to act so cowed in the presence of someone else. "It's alright," I answered, voice huskier than normal. I hoped James wouldn't notice.

"I moved here too, not long ago. Didn't like it at first. It's so damp and dreary all the time," Bella said, trying to keep this conversation going even as I tried to discourage it. She needed to go; dealing with her from far away was one thing, but this close...she had no idea how close she was to getting mauled.

I thinned my lips. "I don't mind." And then I got up, James getting up as well. "I have to go."

Bella looked disappointed by my sudden departure. "Wait," she got up, nearly stumbling over her haste. I held out a hand on reflex to steady her and realized it was a mistake when she could feel the chill of my hand through her thin T-shirt. She glanced down, I quickly retracted my hand.

"What?" I sighed out irritably. Did she had no concept of self preservation? Could she not sense the menace dripping off of me in this moment? The danger that was creeping closer to her throat? Most humans could sense it and they balked and went the other way especially if I was trying to come off as a threat. They couldn't outright fathom why their instincts told them to go away but they listened to them. Bella either didn't have those instincts or she wasn't listening to them at all.

"Um," she looked less certain now when she saw my eyes flashing. "I just...wanted to offer you a tour."

I arched a brow at this, behind me James shifted on his feet. "A tour? Of what?" I nearly snapped at her. My muscles were corded as I kept myself from inhaling her scent greedily. She was standing really close to me and I could feel her heat radiating off of her. I wondered, how would this heat feel on me? Would it finally warm my frozen heart?

It's not like I hadn't had sex with a human before. It was a nice. They were so warm and pliant and sometimes they allowed me to suck on their necks if I wasn't particularly looking to eat them all up. They were easier to find too, given there was so many off them and they were eager to have sex with a beautiful vampire like me. Men, women, I didn't have any boundaries. Sex was sex. As long as it made me feel good who was I to judge. The only downside was they were so soft. I had to be careful I didn't accidentally break them.

Sex with a vampire- I could be as rough as I wanted to. But I hadn't come across a suitable vampire in a while since we were harder to find and also most were solitary creatures with the exception of those in covens or mated pairs, which both of was rare. My last hook up had been with Laurent, a french vampire with a small ponytail. Maybe I should meet with him again? Find him so that I could find release for all this trapped desire inside me.

I could work out my sexual appetite for Bella on him as hard as I wanted to. He could take it all. It would only be a matter of tracking him down.

"Well, of the school," Bella said, rubbing her hands nervously on the side of her jeans. It took balls to talk to me and James like this; I wasn't surprised she was nervous. "Or of the town. I thought you would appreciate getting to know some locations. Or some cool things to do since I know Forks can be extremely boring at first."

I wrinkled up my nose. I wanted nothing to do with this human, especially because my body had such an odd response to her. In fact, it was making it hard for me to even concentrate on my task. On mine and James' task of continuing our Hunt. We'd already been at the school for a while but we hadn't scoped out a suitable target yet. Sure, there were many to choose from, but we couldn't just pick anyone. We had to pick someone that would seem liable to go missing.

"I'll pass," I told her harshly and then blew past her as quickly as I could without using my vampire speed. James was right on my heels. I resisted looking back at Bella because for some reason, thinking of her disappointed face made me feel bad.

James and I went to find a quiet place to gather our thoughts and to make plans for the future. We needed to start Hunting properly or else the Coven would get very upset at us.

"What was up with that girl?" James mussed as we sought the comfort of the library. We plopped down in the back. I rested my boots on top of a shelf as I lay on the floor, red curls spilling around me. I thought of Bella. Of her soft pale pink lips. Her pale skin, almost as pale as a vampires. Her long brown locks that tumbled down her shoulders, thick enough to get my hands lost in, strong enough to pull erotically. Her big brown eyes were so expressive. I wondered what they would seem like when staring at me lustfully-

I had to throw those thoughts away. I had to stop thinking of the human like this. She was nothing but a meal, or a quick lay. But I didn't want to sleep with her. If I did, I felt something irreversible would happen and then what would I do? I would be faced with a situation I wouldn't know how to deal with, or couldn't deal with.

If the Coven ever found out...

Things would not go well for all of us. And I loved my brother James too much to allow him to be dragged into danger. Had I not spent most of my immortal life protecting him? I was all he had, and he was all I had. No body out there would understand our bond or help us. Vampires weren't the generous or kind sort. Not if there was something in exchange for their help.

James stood nearby, arms crossed, leaning on the shelves contemplatively. "She was so interested in us."

"I don't know," I tell him. "But we can't have her snooping around."

"What do you think we should do?" he looked down at me for guidance.

Humorlessly I said, "we kill her."

Bella Swan would be one of our Hunt victims.