Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
EPOV
The agony in my throat was relentless. It ripped and rammed and throbbed beneath the surface of my diamond-hard skin, promising to break out and release itself all over the child. I had never known such sensations. Had I not been in such agonizing pain, I might have been staggered, awestruck even. If I could remember what it was like to be alive, I imagine that it might have felt something like this... yet this had to be infinitely more painful that any sensation a human could endure. My hunger was never so blatant in its presence. It was always masked, if only slightly, by self-loathing and contempt. But this hunger was a completely different beast. It was so desperately unapologetic. The thirst thrived with every breath I took, every intake of her sweet scent urged it to grow more desirous. It was only the shock of such absolute thirst that stunned my body into inaction. I took heaving breaths from where I stood, still an entire block from her, and watched as she took notice of me for the first time.
I could not control the façade of my human pretense and the shock on her face suggested that perhaps she saw some piece of my truer being. Had it not been dusk, she might have fled, but the shadows allowed just enough coverage to inspire shock rather than panic. I watched her swallow, the muscles in her throat pushing against her skin and forcing the veins in her jugular closer to the surface. The shock of seeing such a monotonous sight of temptation on this completely foreign source of lust triggered my automatic response for denying my thirst. As soon as I stopped breathing, I felt the familiar settling of stale air in my lungs and I am sure that was it possible, I would have fainted at the relief from it all. A reprieve! If there was a God, surely I must thank him now; for the pain was still alive and thrashing, but weaker now, as if the better angels in my head were fighting against it. Surely, a losing battle, but maybe long enough for escape…
The child was intuitive enough to cast her gaze downwards as she hurried along. I crossed the street quickly, yet not quickly enough as I had to maintain a human's pace. She walked closer and with each step I felt the warmth of her lithe body pulsate in the air around me. She was wary of me. Her heart was fluttering against her chest frantically and each beat pushed her blood easily though the network of veins in her body. Not only could I see her and smell her, but I could feel her and I damned the heavens that I had only just exalted for laying this temptation before me.
With an uncharacteristic recklessness, I allowed myself to travel at my natural speed. I blurred 30 paces beyond her before chancing a look behind me in her direction. Her eyes remained trained on the sidewalk. Good, I assured myself, she had not seen. A single extra moment of hesitation on her part and surely she would already be dead. Her insistence at ignorance was a second reprieve in what felt like an infinite torture. I hurried around the corner that she had emerged from not more than 10 human seconds ago. The familiar smells of the town began to wade into the air around me, cutting the concentrate of her blood, and finally I was able to unfurl the fists at my sides and relax the tension in my shoulders. It was not peace, how could I know such a thing, but at least it was not agony.
I leaned against the side of a building and attempted to find my composure. I opened my mind, suddenly aware of the fact that I had not heard so much as a whisper for the past few moments. I brushed it away from my mind. It was easy to shut off my extra sense when I was so completely enthralled by something else, it must have happened instinctually. The lust shot straight through me and venom flooded into my mouth at the mere thought of her. No, I urged myself, NO.
I needed a distraction. Remember why you are here. I sifted through the faint murmur of voices in my head, looking for the familiar, honing in on the voice of the two children who were still in the main street store. It seemed as if they would be staying there for a while. The girl was eager to draw out this meeting for as long as possible. Go back for the girl. No! Yes, take her! The battles within my own mind quarreled as I tried to occupy myself, my body was still teeming with her presence, I could not force her out.
So if I could not have peace, then I would have rage. Either of the two was better than hunger. I thought of the men in the alley and sifted through the near voices in my head. They could not have gone too far.
I focused on the de facto leader of the group. He was making his way back to his car, nothing but rage and revenge coursed through his mind. Good, a fight. A gun? An interesting choice. I sighed. Guns made things less interesting. A man with a gun was a coward. He would run if there was half a chance. Perhaps the others will make an appearance, that would make it more… distracting.
I searched for the others, three of them had congregated in an alley near where I had first met them. Yes, get angry. You want revenge. I'm just one simple man after all. Come after me. I felt the ragelust return and I smiled, my silent taunting seemed to reflect their decision-making process. They were coming…
I watched in my mind as the three of them walked down an abandoned alleyway. I turned, quickening my pace to meet them the few blocks over. Then it all happened so quickly. One of them made a rash decision to take an alternate route, thinking they could surround me from all directions. I did not know these streets well, I had not considered they would have anything beyond a crude sense of attack, but their plans were dividing them. It would not have been a problem but… the girl.
I cursed under my breath and turned into the direction I had come from. I cannot explain why I did it, but suddenly I was running to her as visions of what they might do played as violent scenes in my head. I was back upon her scent in an instant and the vicious pain re-entered my being while I was momentarily stunned, though I had known that same pain just a moment ago. I turned the corner, knowing she would be just beyond my grasp; her scent was too strong for her to have gotten very far.
Her fingers skimmed along the brick wall as she took absentminded steps forward, a book was open in her other hand. I could hear her murmuring the words on the pages, strange that she was attempting to read even in the near darkness. The long, curling chestnut of her hair was radiant in the new moonlight and her young feminine curves taunted and teased me. It was enticing. How fitting that the human frailty of her body be as enticing as her scent; another layer of temptation to add onto a slew of forbidden desires. She was so immersed in her own oblivion that she would not have heard me coming, even if I were a mere mortal. I tried to hold in my last breath as I did what I should not have done.
"M-miss?"
She whirled around, shocked and defensive at the sound of my voice. The book dropped from her hand and she made no attempt to retrieve it. She remained where she stood, her back rigid and her eyes wide. She seemed to have stopped breathing.
"Miss?" I tried again, trying to make the word as small as possible.
"Get away from me!!"
The accusation in her voice was clear as she remained fixed in her spot, her breath coming and going in short, violent bursts. Good, I scare her. She will be more likely to listen.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Miss. I just don't think you should go that way."
I tried my best to use the alluring tone that humans seemed to be drawn to, but she seemed not to be responding. Her eyes were darting in every direction looking for a safe haven, no doubt, or a witness to whatever crime she was sure would happen here.
"I-I'll scream! Someone will hear me!"
I knew that I should choose my next words carefully, I was already out of breath.
"I know that, Miss. I just don't think it's sensible for a woman to be walking alone in this area at night. I just came from that direction. I –"
"Yes!" she said, accusation in her tone again," I know I saw you before! Are you following me?!"
"No…" I said, letting the word come out in a hiss.
She took a defiant step away from me, as if to run, her eyebrow rising at my blatant lie.
"Well, yes. Yes, of course I was following you! But not to hurt you, Miss!"
I heard the voices of the thugs approaching. They were close and I had no options left.
"Just trust me, Miss! You don't want to go back in that direction… I'm sure of it."
"W-why? What did you do?! What don't you want me to see??"
She was so inquisitive, even in a moment where she clearly believed she was in danger, and it surprised me. Usually humans, particularly human girls, were quick to obey or to flee. They were never outrightly defiant, never so insubordinate.
"I," I stressed, "am just trying to help you, Miss."
She bristled at the change in my tone, my patience with politeness had already worn thin. She could see my temper rising with each moment she refused to listen, but it seemed only to strengthen her own resolve.
"I don't need your help. Just get away from me…Leave me alone."
The smell of stale alcohol and absent morals flooded into the air around me and I knew it was too late to be rid of her.
"Well, well, well… What do we have here?! You've brought us a friend…"
The sound of the man's voice would have been bone-chilling to human ears. It was practically gleeful at the prospect of revenge and a mindless screw. It infuriated me, made my rage double over. It would be too easy to dispose of him. But the girl… I looked to her and panic was evident on her face. She seemed to understand that I wasn't the worst thing out on the streets tonight. I let my mind wander out into the surrounding alleyways. The others were close, coming from all directions. There was an empty street to the left of us. If she ran quickly and did not stop until she reached the main road she would be able to escape before one of the others intersected her path. If she hesitated, even for a second, I would have to defend her. She would see what I was.
"Run!" I told her, putting myself between her and the brute, "That street to the left! RUN and don't stop until you are back into town!"
I felt her come closer to me as the smell of her blood, ever-present and agonizing in my throat, fueled my lust for violence.
"You --" she breathed out frantically.
"Don't worry about me, you stupid girl!!" I growled, "RUN!"
I heard a hesitant gasp of fear catch in her throat and smelled the flood of adrenaline in the air. She was contemplating whether or not to stay. As if she could have been any help to me.
I turned to her, wild and unkempt, "GO! If you want to help, get out of here!!"
She hesitated for only a half-second longer and soon she was running, and with each stride she took her smell dissolved slowly, giving me the calm I needed to refocus on the man standing amused in front of me.
"Don't worry," he sneered, "I'll be sure to take good care of her after you're gone…"
He pulled out the gun swiftly, but I was upon him before he was able to focus his gaze. I disarmed him, permanently, with the flick of a wrist. I tossed his body into a nearby dumpster in a single motion, there would be no evidence to cover up. Vampires didn't leave prints.
AN: I have Chapter 3 ready to go, there's more substantial EdwardxBella action. Please review? Thanks for reading!