Disclaimer: Characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.
Chapter 2: Earthquakes & Hurricanes
The frigid air helped to slow the pace of my pounding heart. The noise that it made was often irritating, there were more reasons than one to wish that I didn't have a heart. I ran through the endless green of the forest until I could hear the crashing of waves and then slowed my pace allowing the sea air to puncture my lungs. Although the treaty officially prohibited the crossing of imaginary lines, I found this to be ludicrous and reveled in the fact that I didn't have to succumb to such foolish laws. I had nothing to fear from the pack, that was for sure. I looked down, my clothes shimmered with water droplets from running through the trees. I shivered, shaking them from me and watching them dissipate in a million different directions. Pulling my damp hair from my face, I found my way to a large black boulder. The surface had been carved smooth by years of punishment from the ocean before it. Jacob and I have had many talks together here before. I gathered my knees to my chest breathing deeply as I gazed out to sea. I watched the slate colored waves rolling into the shore. I take comfort watching them moving in from the open ocean, nothing more than moving water and then silently cresting, giving warning at the break and finally hurling themselves on to the rocks below spitting their fury all over the beach. I like the idea of waves traveling from one edge of the earth to the other, purely to deliver one crushing blow, only to turn back and do it again. There's no sun today, only the truth-bearing clouds. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of its rays sparkling on the ripples of the ocean, but no such luck, figures.
Imprinted, I said the word over and over in my mind. Jacob had talked of it before, he had told me of Sam and the others finding their soul mates, love at first sight. I had believed him, I had understood, I had felt happy for the others. What is bothering me? I asked myself. I slowly began to untangle the mess that had been generated in my mind. I peeled layers of emotions back one at a time searching for my answers. Why didn't he tell me? The accusations streamed through my mind, How could he not tell me? Did he think I wouldn't understand? Did he wish that it was someone else? No, that wasn't it, there is my mother again in my thoughts. The tales of her insecurity as a human were maddening, she could be so blind at times. So what is it then? I need to know his reason for not telling me.
I understand why my parents didn't tell me, how could they? It is not their place, well it wasn't until Alice began have visions about us. Despite my mother's irritating insecurities, she did have to make her choice between Jacob and Daddy. I'm not sure that would have been a choice that I could endure. I closed my eyes and tried to shake the thought from my mind. Of coarse she would need to feel some control over this situation, she would need to know that I was not being forced into anything. A tremor of guilt shook my core like an earthquake... I stole Jacob from her. How could I expect her to be able to explain to me that one of the men that she loved, that loved her, stopped loving her because of me? It all seemed too terrible to endure, and then poor Daddy... Jacob, the other man, the one that almost took his Bella from him has now imprinted on his daughter?
My mind never felt so fragile. I sat still just trying to absorb all of the emotion. I let it engulf me like swirling black water and then I focused all of my energy pulling it inward, deep into my being. I let the emotion froth into something tangible, something I could manage, something I could satisfy... hunger. Feeling the gripping sensation in the back of my throat, the burning, the flames licking at my lips I flung my self into the smashing waves. The water felt amazing as it collided with every part of me. I slid out of my clothes giving them over to the sea, sorry Alice. The bitterly cold ocean only caused a fraction of temperature change to my already over heated core. I closed my eyes and allowed my focus to turn toward the burning sensation within me, letting the hunger rolling out of me transforming my sensations into instinct.
My eyes snapped open as I propelled myself through the beauty of the depths. The dark blue water seeped in through my nose, I was only a mile off shore before I caught the scent of which I was searching. I broke the surface to return air to my lungs before I closed in for the kill. I circled tentatively, wanting to gage the size of the beast. Through the still of the open ocean I could see him pushing his dark, muscular tale back and forth forcing himself through the water. Huge. I smiled in delight and my eyes narrowed in anticipation. I swam swiftly allowing my hunger to overtake me. I closed in gripping his four foot dorsal fin with ease tearing at his gills. He began to thrash his enormous head from side to side jutting his razor sharp teeth forward in an attempt to stop me. I sunk my teeth into his thick skin tearing away the first rough layer of a section of his belly. The shark swam with unbridled fury, gaining speed trying to rid himself of his attacker, but to no avail. He was weakening. The sea assaulted me, pushing me to my limits. I could hold my breath, but not indefinetly. My lungs strained under the pressure. I felt a bolt of fear as he threatened to carry me down to the black abis. In desperation, he finally breached the surface in desperation giving me my opportunity. I flung myself at the softest part of his body, right behind his pectoral fin. Sucking in the sweetness of the salty air, I felt the blood gush into my mouth as I sank my teeth into him. I struggled to take it as fast as it came. Some of it began seeping in to the water turning the blues around us to hues of deep black and majestic purple, a masterful trick if you are in the mood for more than one shark. The shark began to slow, losing blood too quickly to fight he yielded in my arms. I pulled the blood from his veins faster and faster feeling the pull of his heart thumping within me. The whole sea seemed to still around us. Time seemed to stop like we were trapped in the eye of a hurricane. No animal tasted the way that shark tasted. It is the closest to human blood I have ever encountered. Sharks are brilliant animals, they have a sacred quality to them that seems to outlast the test of time. Many of them have had long lives. As I pulled the blood from him I could feel his life, his experiences, almost taste their thoughts. Ecstasy. I felt the blood pulsing within me, such a driving life force. My senses are always heightened just after the kill. It gives me a moment of satisfaction and clarity that is unparalleled. It's a wonder that I ever bother with human food at all. As I drained the last ounce of life from my prey I thanked him for sacrificing himself. With renewed energy and strength I swam swiftly to the shore with a passionate desire to see Jacob, my Jacob.