Okay, apologies for the delay, I was out of town. I hope this chapter sounds fine, the change from normal 1920's human to freaky supernatural vampire setting was a challenge. The style will keep changing subtly, I'll start using more and more familiar slang- all that jazz. So, as I said before, please DO let me know what you think about the chapter, i.e., review incessantly!

If you find any historical inconsistencies as well, please do let me know, and I shall make the change immediately.

Enjoy!

Awakening

I remained basking in the glare of those glorious golden eyes for seconds. Then, in a flash, it was gone.

The movement was so sudden that I gasped in surprise and sat up quickly. Too quickly. The rapidity of my movements astonished and disoriented me and I froze for a moment, breathless. I took the time to survey my surroundings.

I was unmistakably in a log cabin, sparsely but comfortably furnished. I was lying on a high cot with a hard mattress, which was placed against the darkest wall of the large room. Standing in front of me, watching me warily were two men. The first of them I knew as well as I knew the lines on my hand, the second I had never seen before. This new young man, not more than a boy, really, was quite handsome. He had rather unruly bronze hair, sculpted features, and romantic lips. His frame was quite slender, but I knew the slenderness was deceptive; I could tell by the build of his shoulders and the way he stood that he was also strong.

But what astonished me most were his eyes. They were the same deep, calm gold I had dreamt about hundreds of times.

Carlisle Cullen and this young man couldn't be more different, yet somehow, they were hauntingly similar. They both had the same pale alabaster skin, and of course, the same scorching eyes. Somehow, the centre of my universe and this angelic young man were related. I had always thought Carlisle Cullen didn't have any family. But this young man standing in front of me changed my opinion, and naturally, changed the direction in which my daydreams were heading.

Then the smell hit me. It was like a wall of scent had hit me head on, with the force of a wrecking ball. My muscles actually froze stiff when my olfactory senses met the blow of the dizzying scent. I smelt a strange, beautiful, perfect cocktail of smells. Of soothing hyacinth and of sumptuous apple with the brittle, warm smell of freshly tanned leather and other delicious scents I couldn't name. It wasn't quite that exact combination; it was much, much, better- a perfect symphony of scents. Along with that was another appealing, but not so incapacitating scent- of warm honey with a complicated undertone of delicate little flowers. I breathed in the delicious scents… and immediately felt something was wrong. Not with the smell, but with the way I was getting the scent into my system. Of course. My breathing felt different. Too light, shallow, meaningless. The certain heavy, content feeling that one always gets from every breath was curiously missing.

Frowning, I let my eyes settle on the blond god again, suddenly very desperate to hear his voice.

"Dr. Cullen?"-I asked hesitantly, but the words came out faster than I'd intended. I covered my mouth with a gasp. That wasn't my voice. It was too high-pitched, clear, ringing like a bell. Too fast.

Carlisle Cullen moved, his posture lending some calmness into the air. "It's alright, Miss Platt. Things can be rather confusing for a while."

I still stared at him, shocked, fascinated, impatient, all at the same time. Miss Platt. It sounded so strange. Like it wasn't my name anymore.

He spoke again, while the other man continued to watch me warily. "Please, say something, Miss Platt."

"It's not 'Miss Platt' anymore," I said suddenly, wincing involuntarily when I heard my tinkling new voice ring out. 'Miss Platt' implied too much of my adolescent feelings for him. It was different now. I was no child.

He smiled, and I felt some strange current run through my body. "Alright, then. What should I call you?"

I hesitated. A heavenly creature like him shouldn't have to speak a demon's name. "Just Esme," I said firmly, wincing again when I heard my voice.

"Esme," he repeated. The current passed through me again, stronger this time.

"It's alright, Esme," he continued. "You're safe with us."

I digested that fact easily. Of course I was safe with him!

"Where am I?"-I asked as slowly as possible.

"Somewhere in the forests of Canada."

I frowned. "Am I dead?"

He laughed, and I waited for my heart rate to increase, but found disturbing silence instead.

"No you're not," he said easily. The other man was smiling.

"Then why is my heart not beating?"-I shot. Carlisle Cullen's smile was wiped off. He looked tensed, nervous, and just a little bit abashed.

"Your heart is not beating because it doesn't need to anymore."

My frown deepened. What did he mean, my heart didn't need to beat? That was ridiculous, improbable. I felt like I had fallen into one of H. G. Wells' books.

To my surprise, the silence was broken by the other young man. He chuckled, though I couldn't see what was funny. I realised, though, that he was the man with the musical voice, the one I'd heard calming Carlisle Cullen when I was being burnt alive.

"You'd better tell her now, Carlisle," he said, grinning. A rather handsome grin. "She's getting more and more confused by the moment."

Carlisle sighed. "Miss Platt- Esme," he amended quickly, "you must be prepared for… a shock."

I simply waited, while a hundred possible explanations ran through my head in the space of a few seconds. When his answer came, it was completely unexpected.

"You… are a vampire."

I waited for a second before bursting into giggles. The strangeness of the new sound made me stop quickly, though. Both the men, however, remained grave.

"You… you're not serious?"

"I am."

"But that- that's ridiculous!"-I exclaimed, my voice rising, sounding too girly and high-pitched.

"Nevertheless, it is the truth."

"It's true," the other man vouched helpfully.

"No," I said stubbornly like a petulant child, "I'm not."

Carlisle sighed again. "Yes, you are. And I'm afraid, so are we."

"Are you immortal?"-I demanded sarcastically.

"Yes. As are you."

"Then- then why- it's daylight! Why are we awake, instead of sleeping in coffins? Why are we not ashes?" I still sounded sure of myself because I had previous knowledge about this. I'd read Bram Stoker's most famous work. I wasn't naïve.

"The knowledge you think you have is just plain old superstitious fiction." The other man said, before Carlisle could speak.

I turned to him angrily. The way he could hone in to the right point at the right time irked me. "And who are you?"

"I am Edward Masen. And I am a vampire." –he said solemnly. His golden eyes seemed to smoulder.

The name made me nearly forget the matter at hand, but somehow I ignored him and turned back to Carlisle. "But- but if you're a vampire… you drink blood! You kill!"-the horror in my voice was involuntary. If Carlisle Cullen indeed was a vampire, then he was no angel. He was a demon, a murderer. The very thought made me want to jump off a cliff all over again. To think I should be deceived like this, to place my trust in a monster again…

To my surprise, it was the angelic Edward who answered, with a certain hardness in his voice that I didn't expect. "Carlisle Cullen is no monster," he said, almost menacingly.

"Edward…"- There was warning in Carlisle's tone.

My mind raced at Edward's sudden outburst. Edward meant his words as an answer to something. Like my thoughts. Could it be… "Do you deny killing people, then?"-I asked Carlisle, focusing on the more important question. I meant to sound accusing, but all my hope slipped out of my mouth with my words.

"Yes, I do," Carlisle said calmly.

I stared at him. "Then- then-"

He cut in quickly, "Look, Esme, you're getting all the information the wrong way round. Let me explain, and then you can ask any question you want. Does that sound good?"

I pondered for a half-second. "Yes," I nodded.

"Alright," he looked visibly relieved. "Sit down, Edward," he added, and Edward complied, his face impassive.

"I am a vampire," he began, "in the bare sense that I need blood to survive. It is the only form of nutrition that we consume- nothing else works. The preferable, and often implied source of blood is that of humans. I, however, am one of few vampires in the world to think before we commit the heinous crime of murder for our own benefit. I discovered, quite accidentally, in fact, that I could survive easily on animal blood." There was a pause to let that strike home. It did. "You see? Humans themselves kill animals for venison- I wouldn't be furthering the crime by killing them for their blood. It is not the same, you understand; human blood is the one thing that will sate our thirst completely, but only temporarily, until the next feeding. However, animal blood is good enough to keep us going, and- well, to put it plainly- to resist from killing. It gives us tolerance."

I listened closely, and realised that I was thirsty. Terribly, terribly thirsty.

It must have showed on my face, for he suddenly began to speak more quickly, after a look of comprehension.

"Ah, you feel it," he said, nodding. "You are a Newborn. The thirst is highest and strongest at this stage. I will try and explain more quickly, and then we can go hunting." Go hunting. It sounded so strange, so exciting. I, Esme, would hunt! I found myself easily believing him. It fit. Carlisle swept on, "It takes time to adjust and to learn to keep in control. When most of us vampires smell the blood, we go into a frenzy… and that's not very pretty. That is the reason why we have brought you here, so far from any humans. You are your strongest and wildest at this stage. I- we couldn't risk you near humans."

I nodded. I was feeling impatient, waiting to go hunt and satisfy the burn in my throat. At the same time, paradoxically, I didn't ever want him to stop talking.

"Other qualities of a vampire are mainly enhanced senses and capabilities. You see, when we become vampires, we become a more perfected version of our human selves. Biologically, we are a step ahead of the humans. We possess huge amounts of strength, the ability to withstand almost any sort of physical trauma-" Here he broke off and pulled back his sleeve and bared his arm, from elbow down. I was so fascinated by the smooth muscles under his snow-white skin that I nearly lost track of what he was saying. "Your skin is no longer soft or supple. It is a hard diamond-like shell that can withstand any material thing possible. Neither iron nor steel can penetrate this thick layer of skin. You will also be able to travel at speeds impossible for any normal human being. Your mind will now be sharper, your senses more acute." I nodded again. Acute senses, yes, that I could see.

"Other than the blood diet, and inhuman strength and speed, there is nothing much else to connect us with the vampires of fiction." He smiled. "Stakes through our hearts and sunlight wouldn't hurt us at all. We do not sleep during the day, we cannot turn into bats, and we are not allergic to garlic or holy water. All that purely religious element was added to placate the people. An invincible being is hard to digest for the general public."

"I see," I said uncertainly.

"Well, that's it for now," Carlisle said, then widened his smile. A benevolent smile. "There is still much more you have to know and learn. But all that can wait. Do you have any questions?"

I hesitated, then asked the first thing on my mind, "Will I be able to see my reflection?"

Both the men burst out laughing. The sound was haunting, ethereal.

"Why, yes, " Carlisle chuckled(a heavenly sound). "In fact," he continued, "I think you should see for yourself. Edward, get her the mirror." Edward stood up immediately, obediently. In a flash of movement that would have been invisible to a human's eye, he placed a full length mirror in front of me. I was stunned beyond belief at the woman staring at me from inside the mirror.

She was unimaginably, heartbreakingly beautiful. Her golden brown hair fell in shimmering waves on either side of her face and past her shoulders. Her face was clear-cut, without a single scar of any kind. Her skin was pale, as pale as snow. She sat in a graceful, lazy position, like a drooping flower. I was mesmerized. The only jarring, frightening thing about her was her eyes. They glowed a deep, dark, murderous red.

"My eyes?"-I whispered. I had thought I'd have his eyes, or atleast a semblance of them.

"That is because of the blood still remaining in your body- your own blood," Carlisle said soothingly.

"Oh," I said, quickly understanding. "So if I drink human blood-"

"Your eyes will be proof enough of the act." -Edward finished for me.

"The redness will go away, then?"-I asked anxiously.

Carlisle nodded. "Eventually, in a few months or so."

I turned back to my reflection, still wondrous. I waved my arm a little, stroked my hair, traced the shape of my lips. The beauty in the mirror did all of that with much more grace than I had expected. It really was me.

I couldn't help darting little glances at Carlisle who was standing behind the mirror, watching me intently. If I ever had doubts of feeling unworthy next to his godlike beauty, they were fading away. This beautiful snow-white woman seemed to have a chance of looking acceptable next to Carlisle Cullen. The thought enlivened me. Unbidden, my eyes strayed to Carlisle again, and my breath caught. He was staring at me, staring at me with such an expression on his face that I felt my body burn under his gaze. This was very different from the burn I'd experienced recently. I liked this burn.

Then Edward cleared his throat loudly. The silent spell was broken. With a quick start, I turned away from him, my eyes concentrating hard on my marble hands in my lap. I had observed that Carlisle, too, had made a sudden quick movement. Interesting. I carefully filed the thought away in my head.

"Well," Carlisle said quickly, his voice sounding just a little stressed. "It's time to hunt."

The word 'hunt' brought back the terrible thirst into perspective again, and I stood up in a flash of a movement that terrorised me. My mouth dropped open. "Oh. I'm fast."- I said, rather pointlessly.

"Yes," Carlisle said soothingly, like he was talking to a particularly feisty child.

"It needs getting used to," Edward said knowingly, a small attractive smile on his face. All the animosity in his outburst seemed to have vanished.

I frowned. I willed my feet to move as slowly as possible. But the next two steps were still too fast to be normally human, and I ended up hopping like a supernormal ballerina.

"Argh!"-the very un-ladylike noise from my mouth seemed to be like a songbird trilling.

Both the men chuckled, and I nearly felt my ears perk up like an animal's to the musical sound.

"Never mind," Edward said easily. "You'll learn."

I shrugged- a quick, trembling action. "Alright," I murmured darkly. "Let's go hunt."