Authors note; beta'd by Frannie, mistakes mine.
•J• A •S •P •E •R•
It was raining steadily, but this didn't bother me as it would a human. I disliked the feeling of wet fabric clinging to my body - I would be better off without the hindrance. I was as comfortable naked as I was in a tuxedo. I'd spent my very long existence experiencing every aspect of life - anything I found intriguing. I'd been every type of person, from peasant farmer to king, since I was given this gift in 1702. I was a renaissance man of sorts, an ancient, a term we used for the oldest of immortals. My time spent with others of my lofty age made me realize how far removed I was from them and their ideals. Most had not experienced what I had. They cared not for human life or culture, preferring to live solely for the pursuit of blood.
Of course, this was important; sustenance was a driving force, but, for me, it was not to be placed above the pursuit of knowledge and experience. I easily managed a perfect balance between my thirst for knowledge and blood. I was both a savage monster and a scholar. I existed in plain sight of humans, refusing to hide and live in the shadows. My control was such that I could pretend to dine with a roomful of humans and then follow one home to dine on myself. I found it rather amusing how humans fawned over my kind. We were insanely attractive to them, deadly though we were. Add in the allure of a few billion dollars, and we were irresistible.
I was scornful of those I could sense were only there to be used and abused by wealthy men. I usually ate those quickly. Their evil tasted far better than you would imagine and I felt the world would be better off without them.
I'd never found anyone who interested me beyond the odd pleasurable dalliance and a good meal. My interactions with my own kind were far and few between. I was happier alone. A free agent to explore whatever possibilities came my way.
But, my carefree existence had changed on one fateful evening in Forks, Washington.
For now, my attention was fixed on the small yellow house across the street. I was here so often; this ledge had begun to feel like home. I was on the topmost parapet of the building opposite Bella's house. My hair hung into my eyes, carrying rivulets of water, which blurred my vision. I pushed it away impatiently, using the excess moisture to hold it off my face. But nothing broke my concentration. Watching over Bella was all that was truly important.
I'd been guarding her forever, it seemed. If ever there was an unlikely guardian angel, it was I. Although; perhaps I was the perfect one for Bella because she required more care than most humans. Not because she was clumsy or graceless, but rather because she was spirited and reckless. Feisty, as I liked to call it. A smile twisted my lips; I liked feisty.
I could recall with perfect clarity the day I'd met her. It was just before nightfall, and I'd been on the prowl for a meal. There had been a group of men hunting whom I'd followed at a distance, waiting for the right opportunity to strike without causing undue mayhem. The leader of the group was a police officer; he separated from the rest after only a short while. It became obvious that he searched for something more than deer. His emotions veered wildly between crippling worry and self-loathing; it piqued my interest. I'd paused and scanned the area. There was a heartbeat about two miles away. The scent which accompanied it was sweet and fragrant; it reminded me of faded human memories of how honey tasted. The heart rate was fast. It was easy to connect the dots. The man was looking for his child.
I followed the invisible trail allowing myself to give in fully to the hunting thrall - I didn't have much choice because that scent possessed me entirely. When I came upon the small child curled up into a ball in the undergrowth, I was ready to attack. It pains me to think how I must have looked to her! A monster surely! Eyes red, a snarl on my lips, my hair wild around my face. But she didn't scream; her sweet, heart-shaped face was startled and yet calm. Her truly remarkable, wide amber eyes stopped me in my tracks. I stared at the child in wonder, for right then, at that moment, my entire life and existence thereafter made total and complete sense. Destiny had spoken. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. The invisible ties which bound me to this child, barely more than a toddler, were inescapable and inevitable. This child would one day be my mate.
I knew at once what I must do. I crouched down beside her. She was not afraid, holding out her arms to me in childish trust. I gathered her tiny body into my arms. I was unprepared for the rush of emotion which saturated every cell of my body at the touch of her skin - it felt like I'd been hit by a wrecking ball. I felt possessive of this child; she was mine just as I was hers; it was as simple as that. I would protect her from anything and anyone who threatened her.
Her tiny fingers reach upward to tangle themselves in my hair; a soft giggle left her perfect rosebud lips at the feel of it. I was mesmerized by her perfection. I'd never seen a mortal so lovely. There was nothing sexual about it. This tiny girl was mine to protect, and her happiness was my only goal. I hid her from the chill of the wind inside my coat as I ran back to her father. I stopped, barely twenty feet away from the police officer, gently placing the child on the ground. I touched her small cheek and smiled at her before scaling the closest and tallest tree. She watched me, an answering smile on her lips. I threw a heavy branch down behind the frantic man alerting him of his daughter's presence.
He swept her up into arms, pressing fervent kisses onto her forehead and cheeks, his eyes filled with tears of relief. I could smell the alcohol on him from my perch in the tree. I decided right there and then that he would make a perfectly good father for my mate if only his obvious drinking problem were solved.
For weeks after my chance encounter with the Swans, I allowed myself the liberty of assisting Charles Swan with his battle with alcohol. He favored whisky, which clearly numbed the pain over losing his wife to cancer not six months before. It was also the reason Bella had gone missing in the forest on that fateful day. I helpfully made sure his whisky was always missing. If he bought a new bottle, it too would mysteriously vanish. At first, Charles found it perplexing, to say the least, but eventually, he seemed to accept it as a sign that he should stop drinking, and he did. Perhaps he thought his wife had found a way to show him the error of his ways.
Time did not have the same meaning for immortals as it did for humans. Years were as weeks, passing swiftly. In the eighteen years since I'd met Bella, nothing had changed. I'd watched her grow from a cherubic toddler into a lithe, willful child with wild hair and a winsome smile. From the very beginning, I did what I could to grant her wishes and make her smile. It pleased me when she began to ask for things out loud in her eighth year. I found it endearing that it looked as if she were praying, but I knew she was asking me for the things she wanted most.
Bella didn't know I existed. She had long since forgotten our meeting and her subsequent rescue. I doubted Charlie had ever told her of her misadventure in the forest at the age of four. His silence would no doubt be an effort to conceal his drunken slumber, which had allowed her to wander out of the house and into the woods. Charles had never touched alcohol again, which pleased me a great deal, for my efforts had not been in vain. He was a good man and a kind father, and I liked him.
The small house on the outskirts of the forest became my haunt, for I couldn't stay away from her for any length of time. I watched over Bella through her childish escapades and countless near brushes with death. I'd lost count of the number of times I'd saved her life. Looking after this tiny girl had become the hardest thing I'd ever done. Humans were just so fragile; their lives seemed to always be on the edge of some disaster.
The first time I became aware that my feelings toward Bella were changing was when she was fifteen-years-old. I watched her daily, and yet my favorite time to observe her was at night. Her father often worked late, leaving her in their family home alone. Of course, she couldn't be any safer - having a somewhat rabid vampire as your guardian had its perks. No intruder would ever have stood a chance. After all, it wasn't every day that snacks delivered themselves; it would have been rude to decline. But on the night in question, I'd crept closer, hoping to catch my daily close-up of my delightful mate. Instead of her usual habit of going to bed early to read, she was cavorting around her bedroom in barely-there pajamas and nothing else. She seemed to be admiring herself in the mirror of her old vintage dresser, which her father had bought for her on her twelfth birthday. She turned this way and that way, pulling her camisole top tightly across her small, tip-tilted breasts - deliberately, it seemed. Her lips were parted, the lower one caught between her teeth. She then turned around completely and looked at her ass, swaying her hips to study the effect of her own figure. It was clear that Bella was undergoing a sexual awakening, wondering how she looked...how she measured up to her peers perhaps. I fervently wished I could tell her that she was flawless. In my eyes, no one could compare to her.
Until that very moment, I'd had no sexual feelings towards Bella. But that had changed abruptly when I'd finally seen her in all her unfettered glory. She did not look fifteen. She looked like a woman. Perfect curves, long hair flowing down her spine, and of course those undeniably sensual lips, set off by those truly remarkable amber eyes. My reaction had been instinctual and undeniable—my entire body reacting to her beauty. But I knew she was not ready for me or what I needed from her just yet.
Her tremulous teenage years had just about killed me. I shuddered to recall them. The smelly teenage boys, filled with hormones, swarming around her and the hell I'd endured hoping she wouldn't allow any of them to touch her. I'd lived in a self-imposed purgatory waiting for her to give herself to one of her admirers in the spirit of teenage lust. But she never did, and I was grateful because she'd saved me from ripping an over-eager schoolboy apart for touching her. The thought of her giving herself to another was physically painful to me. Strangely, Bella seemed to be waiting for something or someone. She was never serious about anyone. She was still a virgin at eighteen, twenty, and even twenty-two. I knew that was not normal for humans. I was curious about her lack of desire for anyone, even while my possessive nature was very pleased.
Bella had matured into a true beauty. I felt the lust she inspired in everyone who crossed her path. Her best friend Jacob was the worst one for this sin.His feelings for her were far from platonic although Bella seemed oblivious to this.
Of course I moved with her when she had left Forks for Seattle. Charles rented a house for her, and she was happy and therefore so was I. I'd been content to bide my time in the shadows of Bella's life until she did the unthinkable. I knew she had never been satisfied with her life. She wanted to go to college, and she couldn't afford it with her job at a supermarket. I ached to provide for her. I had no shortage of money. But of course, I could not do this without alerting her to my presence in her life.
Finally, after much deliberation, she found a way to finance her future - by selling herself to the highest bidder. I'd never been angrier or more amused in my existence.
It was time for Isabella Swan to finally meet her fairy godmother.