Woohoo…so sorry it took so long to update! We were both away to Florida for March Break, and then I got a little carried away with other activities.
Just thought I'd let people know: Each chapter is done in Bella and Edward's POV. So the first chapter was Bella, and the second one was what Edward did, while Bella was doing whatever she did.
The next chapter will come up much quicker than this one.
Read and Review Please!
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SunlightAnimal I Have Become – Three Days Grace
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The couple of days that I had spent lying on the hotel bed had done me no good. I didn't accomplish anything, and it only made me feel worse.
However, the good thing that came out of it was that I found another scoundrel living among the same walls as I.
His name was James. He was a man of a score and four, tall, lean and apparently handsome among the ladies. He was currently travelling all over Europe, kind of like me.
James was like me in more ways than one.
He was a vampire.
I thought about going to talk him, but thought better of it. I knew that he would come over to me sooner or later. Detecting the presence of another vampire was not hard. It was kind of like a sixth sense, you just knew another one of your kind was there.
At the end of the week, I decided to finally leave when I read inside James' head that he was stalking a female. I wasn't going to let James kill a female. I also needed to find another scoundrel because my eyes were beginning to turn from crimson, to pitch black.
I rose from the bed when I heard James leaving his room. I waited until he was well ahead of me so he wouldn't quite detect that I was following him, yet.
I walked quietly down the stairs and I was just about to go out through the door when the sun peered over a cloud's edge. I hissed through my teeth and leaned against the wall, looking at my watch to pretend that I was doing something.
James could already be well away after the female, but he was now stopped because of the sun. I was grateful for the sun stalling him, but not because I was still trapped inside here.
I looked out the window next to me and glared at the sun. It was menacing, and its bright rays were torturing me here inside the front hallway, reminding me of what I was.
I scowled and finally bolted out of the front room the next second the sun disappeared behind the cloud again. I had hoped it wasn't going to be a sunny day, but I was now doubtful. If I were to be following James around, I would have to be extra careful.
I took a deep, unnecessary breath through my lungs to find the smell of James once again. I could faintly smell the deep cologne that he had on to the right and I snapped my head in his direction.
I started walking forward and slowly regained the sight of him again. He stood out because he was one of the men who was not wearing a hat, or using a cane.
I smirked slightly before I saw him turn around and his bright red eyes glared at me. The smirk fell off my face as I saw him speed up ahead, and after the girl he was following.
I had yet to see the women, but she also managed to turn her head around and look at James, just as James was looking at me.
The buzzes of everyone's mind came up front to me as I focused on them. Most people were just going about through their lives, minding their own business.
I 'zoomed' in to the girl's mind.
I saw that man last night, down at the ball. He wouldn't stop looking at me.
I didn't know who the woman was because her thought process went to rambling when James turned around and looked back at her, and she faced forward a bit, walking faster.
James started slinking through to crowd to try and make the girl and I lose sight of him. It worked for the girl, but not so well for me. I sped up and kept my focus on the vampire. The girl was now frantic, trying to regain sight of James again. I could hear her heart roaring above everyone else's as she tried to remain clam.
The three of us kept walking for a period of time, the girl leading us somewhere, her house I thought. James had said something in his mind that led me to believe so.
James kept glancing back at me, even hissing at me through his teeth. A couple of people noticed, but no one screamed.
Leave!
He was chanting inside his head. I learned that he was a tracker, and he was really good at it. This poor girl didn't stand a chance if I didn't do something soon.
Within that moment, two life-threatening things happened to me.
The wind picked up, bringing me a blast of something that smelt so wonderful. I felt like I was falling into a field of flowers; to be more specific, a field of freesias. I stumbled back and put my hand to my forehead.
The venom began pooling in my mouth, and I could feel my eyes turning into endless, black pits. I almost bared my teeth in a grimace, as I started searching out the person with this tempting, beautiful scent.
I was cut short in my search because I saw the sun coming out as fast as a lightning strike up ahead in front of James. We both bolted to the wall as I finally found the person with the scent.
It was a woman, or a young girl to be more specific. She had long brown hair that was half pinned up and cascading down her back. She was wearing a white dress with a flower pattern on it and she was wringing her hands nervously. She had a heart shaped face, pale skin, almost the same as mine and deep, brown eyes. I wanted to kill her right then and there because her scent was so mouth watering.
I cursed inside my head because I had momentarily forgotten about the sun, and this temptress was also walking right towards me.
I continued my fleet towards the wall and the small alleyway that was hidden within two buildings.
Not knowing, the woman came even closer, and I had somehow almost run into her. I shoved her against the wall with an angry 'move' and ran at a human pace towards the alley.
The moment I was in the cover of darkness, I leaned against the brick wall and closed my eyes, breathing in deep to rid myself of her smell.
However, it was not easy to do. Her scent filled up my head as it swirled around and around, causing me to bring out the monster in me. I usually have so much more control, than to attack a human in broad daylight.
I dragged my hands across my hands as a frustrated growl slipped between my bared teeth. I stopped myself before I threw myself against the wall because her scent was all over my hands from when I had shoved her out of my way.
I walked over to the front of the entryway of the alley and sought the woman out from among the crowd. I found her easily because she was now embedded into my memory forever. The one person to remind me of the creature that I am; the thing that exists to kill people and to drink their blood.
All of my self-loathing was coming back to the surface as I tried to penetrate her mind. I looked at the back of her head as she whipped it back and forth, walking to whatever her destination was.
I frowned when I could hear no thoughts coming from the head. It also didn't help when I had never heard her voice before.
I'm sure it was just as tempting as the rest of her.
I sneered at the voice inside my head, the loathing. Who was the woman to come out of nowhere and to test me?
The sun came out again from behind the clouds as I looked up at it, and I walked backwards into the shadows once again. I hadn't realized that it hid behind its protection again while I was thinking of this woman, before I realized that James would be nowhere to find.
I let the woman fall from my sight as I turned around quickly to search the pathway for the vampire stalking the other woman.
When I could not longer see him, and had tried searching him out by his scent, only to be dismayed, for he was gone.
I blew out an angry breath as more problems continued to arise. I wanted badly to go after the woman, demand who she was, and drink her dry.
I could just envision it now: I would walk back out of the alley…walk in her direction and seek her out again. I would walk up until I close behind her, inquire where she was going and ask to be her escort, lead her someplace else, preferably another alley, and bring my head down to her pale neck and sink my teeth in, covering her mouth with my hand to prevent a scream slipping from her small red lips…
I felt myself take a step in the direction I had last seen her in, but I stopped myself. I had to wait for the venom to disappear before I actually went after her.
This was unlike me; I hadn't normally liked hunting humans, but this woman…
This woman was making it extremely difficult for me to keep my promise of only feeding off of scoundrels. People who made other people's lives horrible with the crimes they would commit, and the things they would do to the innocent.
When I let my thoughts wander off to Carlisle and Esme back in America, I knew that my thirst for the freesias would go away soon.
It had been a close call, especially because I had not hunted for a week, and I was in desperate need for feeding.
I could hardly remember what feeding from animals used to be like. I remembered that my eyes used to be a honey gold colour, topaz. That this was the colour that was produced from the animal's blood.
Animal's blood did not nearly taste as good as human's blood, but neither blood would satisfy me, except maybe for…
Stop!
Drinking the blood from the innocent woman, who had no idea of her affect on me, would do nothing to help myself. I was already in a deep chasm of hatred, and killing the woman to get the mouth-watering blood would not help.
Once the sun had hidden once again, I made my way out of the alley and in the direction of James; or where I had last seen him.
After I had walked for an amount of time, I gave up and started walking aimlessly. James' scent was long gone, and I just hoped that he hadn't killed the poor woman yet.
The clouds had parted about an hour ago, letting the sun come out for people to relish in their warm rays, as I slinked back behind a building. I climbed up the side of it when no one was looking and perched myself on the rooftop. I was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the roof, letting my body glitter.
No one would see me up here because the edges of the roof were high up, shielding people's eyes. They might see a glimmering, but they wouldn't take the time of day to check out the source of it.
I wondered if I looked just as nice as the sun. The sun was setting down on the horizon on the ocean. The clouds were orange, purple, and pink colours, splattered all across the sky.
Even though the sun was my one of the reason for my fuelling anger, I had to admit, it looked amazing. I sighed sadly as I tried so hard to not think about being a monster.
I had long forgotten the woman from earlier, but she was brought up to my thoughts once more. I frowned when I remembered that I couldn't detect any thoughts from her mind. I knew from her facial expression and the beating of her heart that she was just as surprised as I was.
I swiftly brought my hand back up to my nose as I closed my eyes an inhaled deeply. I was masochistic for doing this, but I couldn't help it.
Her scent was still lingering on my fingertips, and I had to rip my hands away before I would start to want her blood once again.
This woman was maddening!
I growled low in my throat, but then it disappeared when I told myself that I would never see her again. My problem would solve, and I would just go back to being the deplorable creature that I truly am.
Would I ever be able to rid myself of this every day torture?
I had thought about returning to Carlisle and Esme many times before, but I was afraid that Carlisle would be mad at me. I knew that when I made my decision to leave in the first place, he respected it, and he said he would welcome me back with open arms.
I wasn't entirely sure though. I was Carlisle's first companion for the longest time, and I had always had this tugging at my heart, as if I had let Carlisle down when I left him in the first place.
I lowered my hand down slowly as I gazed across the rooftops, watching the last of the sun sink behind the water, disappearing in a small yellow and blue collage. The sky was now a purple colour, slowly turning into the black depths of night as time seemed to go on forever.
For me, it would.
I finally rose from my spot and jumped down from the rooftop, landing gracefully with a small thud. I paused to listen to the thoughts around me, and when I did not detect any suspicion towards me, I made my way back to the hotel.
As I was walking quietly along the sidewalk close to the wall, I realized that I had wandered far into the heart of Venice.
Venice truly was a beautiful city. I was happy that I could actually experience the chance to come here and explore the waters, and the ancient buildings of old.
Night was ever so slowly creeping into the city, and the citizens of Venice were making their last rounds, going inside for supper, or going out. Many of the men were going to drink and gamble, as usual.
There were some women that were lingering on the sides of the streets. These women were not exactly ladylike, and it angered me that they were flaunting off their bodies in such a fashion. Whenever a woman would advance towards me, I would just tip my hat in their direction and continue on walking.
Some of them would not understand me and would try to come after me, but I managed to quickly escape from their clutches.
I did not need anyone in my life, I was as happy as I could ever be, being a vampire and all. The only thing that I regretted was the fact that I had to drink blood to 'live.'
I had never been interested in anyone before, not even in my human life. Or so I thought. I tried hard to remember my last couple of years as a human, where I was going to have to look for a wife soon. I remember my mother, Elizabeth telling me that a wife was needed if a man such as me wanted to get on in life.
I also remembered that I was going to join the army. It was the only thing I was interested in at the time. Now, I liked medical school because of Carlisle. He inspired me to try and be better. Now that I was feeding off of human blood that thought just made me feel even worse.
The pathway that I just turned on looked familiar and I remembered that I was on the street that the hotel was at.
I had managed to actually have some quiet time for myself as I pushed the steady buzzing of people's thoughts into the back of my head. I was atoned to the way I looked, and my name so if someone inquired about me, I would know.
I could hear some music playing in different buildings as the steady thudding of feet pounced along the floor. Men and women were having a good time dancing along to the beat as I walked past them, thinking about playing the piano.
It had been a long time since I had last played. I wondered if Carlisle still had my piano back at home with him.
I walked up to the front door of the hotel and pushed open the door; only to retreat backwards and run out because the scent of freesia was lingering all over the place.