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Chapter 3:

We had arrived in Washington roughly seven hours later, and soon looked for a place to stay. We had crossed paths with a few nomads, but they had no interest in us, nor did we in them, so we continued on our ways. I became more and more worried the closer we got to Washington. We crossed some unfamiliar vampire trails, which headed north to Canada, and others coming south from Canada. The scents smelled different than others we had come across.

"Why do they smell so… different?" I had asked.

"They don't feed on humans, I think. I don't have any idea how they can live like that, resist the thirst so boldly," Adam responded informatively.

"That seems impossible, animals are so much nastier than humans… Humans taste so good," I said.

"I met some once, up in Alaska," Christopher said. "They fed off of animals like bears and moose and deer. They had gold eyes. They probably think they're so great. Not killing any humans. Humans suck anyways. They can't do anything."

"I completely agree," I said back.

--+o(0)o+--

Now we were in the middle of Oregon, or Washington, or some state up in the northwest. It was raining, and about mid-day. It had been several days since we left Charles and James.

"How 'bout going hunting? I know it hasn't been long, but all that running and these hiking paths are making me hungry," prompted Christopher.

"Sure, why not?" I agreed

"I'll let you two go by yourself, I'm not too hungry, and I can go later, by myself."

"Alright, Adam. See you later," I was kind of bummed Adam won't be coming, but he needed personal time sometimes too.

Christopher and I headed north, towards the more populated areas. He had soon found his prey, and quickly drained her. I was now more particular about my prey, and liked to play with it. I spotted a man in his late twenties, hiking alone. I stepped on to the path to approach him, and started a conversation.

"Hey, do you know how to get back into town?" I asked innocently, batting my eyes.

"Um…. Yea… Sure… You just have to follow the…uh…path. I can show you the way if you want." He stuttered at my beauty. He had no idea what kind of trouble I was.

"No, I was just making sure you knew the way to run," I smirked.

"Huh--" I cut him off by lunging for his throat. I bit down into his butter-like skin, and drank thirstily. This was my favorite part of being a vampire; I could feel the life being sucked out of him. In seconds, though, he was dry, and my thirst was quenched. I lifted a tree and disposed of the body. Christopher was waiting for me.

"I thought you liked me better than some loser human," he accused playfully.

"I do, have I killed you yet?" I retorted.

"Who are you, and what are you doing on my land?" A voice from behind me asked. The voice was clearly from a vampire's lips, and, when I turned, that vampire had gold eyes. The several vampires behind him had gold eyes too.

The one who had spoken had blonde hair and was just over 6 feet tall. One of the guys in the back, with red-ish brown hair gasped as he studied my face.

"We're vampires, and we were hunting, as you probably know," I said stubbornly back. I guess we'll have to leave again. The shortest of them all had short black hair, and had eyes that were glazed over for a few seconds before she practically screamed at me.

"Don't leave!"

The others wondered why, except the one with red/brown hair, who seemed to be debating something in his head.

"What are you names?" I asked. If we weren't allowed to leave, we had to at least know their names.

"My name is Carlisle Cullen, and this is my family." Family? They were vampires, and vampires don't have families. He continued, not noticing my questioning attitude, "These are my adopted children, Jasper and Alice, Emmett and Edward." Jasper had blonde hair, and seemed to be paired with the short one—Alice; he had his arm around her waist. Emmett was, for lack of descriptive words, huge. He didn't seem very mean, but strength was clearly his power.

Edward was gorgeous. He had beautiful, messy hair that was almost bronze. He was staring at me with such an intense gaze that Christopher put his arm around my waist and pulled me to his side.

Edward's looked away, realizing what he was doing, but always glancing at me when he thought I wasn't paying attention.

"What are your names?"

"My name is Christopher, and this is my mate, Ariel." Edward glared at Christopher.

"It's nice to meet you, but we do not hunt humans here, and would appreciate it if you didn't either."

"Sure, we can leave now, if you want," Christopher agreed, and Edward looked at me in desperation. What he wanted from me I had no idea.

"How can you stand living like that? Without any humans?" I was honestly curious.

"We eat animals. It gets a little hard being around humans sometimes, but we manage," said the one I identified as Jasper.

"Can I try it?" I shocked everyone by this question. Christopher's arm dropped from my waist as the rest of him froze with a look at me. It was somewhere between shock, betrayal, and wonder. The Cullens were smiling, especially Edward. His crooked smile made me smile as well, but I have no idea why.

"Um… Sure, if you want to. We'd be happy to take you in if you need a place to stay," Carlisle offered. I began to like him already; he had compassion and had a strong fatherly attitude.

"Are you serious about this? How can you do this to me? Do you expect everyone to always follow along with everything you want?" Christopher yelled at me, I hadn't seen this side to him yet. I flinched away from him, and noticed out of the corner of my eye that Edward seemed to want to interfere, and come over here.

"No, you can do what ever you want. I just want to see why on Earth they would feel this way. You can stay with me and try it out as well, or not." Although I couldn't stand the idea of being away from him, I had to be strong while in this argument. I had to fight this by myself.

"Fine, I'll leave," he said firmly, but I could see the pain and agony in his eyes as he took a last look at me before he ran off into the forest.

As soon as he was out of hearing distance, I fell to the ground and sobbed. I felt a cold, comforting hand on my back.

"You don't have to do this, you can go back to him if you want. We can tell you truly love him." Carlisle patted my back as he spoke softly.

"No, I want to try this. I have to try this," I said gaining confidence.

"Alright. We'll show you the way back to our house."

We started running, Carlisle ran in front with Edward, talking to quiet for me to understand at this speed. Emmett and Jasper ran in back, keeping a watch on me, as if I was going to leave. Alice ran with me, and she talked of all the wonderful things we could do once we got to their house. I objected to several of them at first, but soon realized that there was no stopping Alice

"I have to take you shopping! And then you can help me decorate your new room! And then we can…."

I tuned out, and just looked at the scenery, making a mental map of where I was going, in case I needed to leave quickly.

Edward and Carlisle slowed, and the rest of us slowed as well. We walked through a line of trees, and I saw a white house—more like mansion—that had was nearly all glass on the side we approached it from.

"This is amazing. You live here?"

"Yes, we do! And now you do too!" Alice had way too many assumptions for her own good.

"I haven't decided to stay with you yet."

"That's what you think!" What on earth could the little pixie mean by that?

"Come inside, and meet the rest of our family. I'm sure Esme would love to meet you," Edward's voice came from behind me; it was shockingly close. I turned and saw him less than a foot away. He smiled down at me, and took my hand, pulling me inside. The shock of his hand was frightening, and yet I loved it. I had never felt anything like it, and yet it seemed so familiar.

Do I know the Cullens?

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