This Chapter has been edited from its original. I dont own anything twilight, S.M. does. Enjoy!
Chapter Four - December 1: Anberliegh
Then I'll see your face
I know I'm finally yours
I find everything I thought I lost before
You call my name
I came to you in pieces
So you can make me whole
I've come undone
But you make sense of who I am
Like puzzle pieces in your eye
Pieces By: Red
My mother died two years ago today.
I was born eight years ago today, but I look seventeen.
All in thanks to my father's vampire genes, if that is what you even call it, I have aged 17 years in eight. And will never age another day again.
Even though I am only eight I feel as though I am forty. The things that I have been through are not anything that any one should be put through, human or not. After I watched my mother die I tried to find my father. Useless as it was I did find something else out. I had limitless abilities. Again, thanks to my father.
Only a few vampires had gifts. My mother could see threats. If it was a danger to her or to those she loved she would have a chance to stop it. Her ability had a flaw. If she trusted someone, she wouldn't be able to see if they were going to hurt her. That is what makes her death worse. She trusted that man.
My father could disappear. If he did not want you to find him, you wouldn't. He eventually expanded his ability to include others. It made trying to find him impossible.
My ability was… unique.
When my mother was alive she told me once that I was bred. I was the result of careful bloodline crossings. She knew people would come looking for me. That is why we went into hiding when I was born.
At the time of my birth my father believed I had no ability.
My earliest memory is of my mother. I opened my eyes and saw her staring at me. Awe and love in her eyes. I fell asleep watching her, and she holding me. For the next three days I was acutely aware that I could not feel her. Her warmth that emanated from her soul was gone.
One morning I woke up to find myself in the most comfortable place I had ever been. I felt loved and wanted. When I opened my eyes I instantly recognized the face of my mother, and the differences in it. She smiled at me and brought me over to a man.
"Isn't she beautiful?" She asked, making it sound more like a statement.
"Can she do anything?" He asked never looking at me.
"No," She told him and he glanced at me.
His eyes showed no love. When he reached out his hand I grabbed ahold of his finger and for a split second I thought I saw love. Whatever was there was soon replaced by hate and disappointment and he left.
One touch, that was all it took.
I had my father's ability, with just one touch.
My ability: I was a leech. I fed off of others powers and made them my own. When my mother figured this out we hid. She never told my father what I could do, and told me to act like normal when he was around. Not that I had to do this often. In my eight years I had only seen him one more time, two years after I was born.
As he walked into the house he didn't acknowledge me, but then he turned to my mother.
"What is she eating?" He asked.
"It's fruit. You know that. It hasn't been that long since you were a human," She told him.
"No blood?"
"Annie doesn't like the thought of drinking human blood," She told him.
He left the room and my mother followed. I wasn't sure what they were talking about, mostly because I didn't care. He left that day and I haven't seen him since. He must have not loved my mother enough because he never went to her grave, I wasn't even sure he knew she was dead.
After my mother died I found out I had her ability as well. Same as hers, the ability to see people when they became a threat to me. The good thing was no one knew about me, except for the man that killed my mother. For two years I had been a drifter. Meeting different vampires and leeching their powers.
I knew that eventually the people my mother feared would come to hunt me down, so until then I knew I had to gain as many powers as possible.
Being young and the world's population being sparse I did not meet many vampires with powers. I had only met two so far. An older man I met could sense if vampires had powers or Ability Detection
The second was a young woman who had taken care of me. She was the mate of the older man, and was not too fond of me. When we were attacked one evening I tried to save him. I was going to sacrifice myself to save them, but he wouldn't have it. He hid me and died. Since that day the women cared for me. Even though she should have hated me more she knew her mate would not have died for nothing.
She taught me patience, and when I told her about my power she taught me to run.
She could run faster than most vampires, and after she took my hand, so could I.
Unfortunately speed does nothing for you if you are ambushed and have nowhere to run.
When the mysterious men came she hid me and drew them away.
That was over a year ago, and I was still having nightmares. I didn't sleep much but I still needed a little rest now and then. I hadn't sleep in months.
The nightmares were always the same, the women's screams turning into the older man's screams, then into my mother's screams. The nightmare always ended the same way. The man with red eyes telling me that I did not deserve to be alive. They died for nothing.
That dream was what woke me up tonight. I gasped for air as I wiped my hand across my forehead. There was no sweat there, but I felt like there should be.
The sun had yet to rise and I was unable to return to bed, so I put on some clothes and went for a walk. I crept down the hallway and stairs of the small inn that I was staying in and silently slipped through the front door.
I had made it one block down the street when I felt it. Or rather him. I kept on walking, but at that point knew he was following me.
He was sticking to the shadows. He was not human, and he had an ability. A powerful one.
Hearing my beating heart and my almost human scent was most likely the reason he was following, I was his next meal. He only thought so.
I felt him get closer and finally he was right behind me.
"Rebecca?" He asked grabbing my arm and completely taking me by surprise.
I stared into his eyes as he realized that I was not the person he knew.
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else," He said as he went to leave.
"She was my mother," I whispered quietly, but still knowing he could hear me.
He stopped and turned around then continued to stare at me like I was a ghost.
"Was?" He asked as he took a step closer.
Already feeling in an extremely vulnerable state from the nightmare. I knew what would happen if I started to talk about my mother. Her murder still left bleeding wounds in my heart that I thought would never heal. I looked to the side and nodded. Tears started to well up in my eyes and I turned around unable to let a stranger see me cry.
"What happened to her Anberliegh? That is your name, right… Anberliegh?" He asked as he set his hand on my shoulder.
At that moment everything hit me all at once. After losing my mother and the only other two people that ever cared for me I was never going to let another person in my life again. This was impossible the moment he touched me.
The connection was instant.
I felt him in my soul. My heart.
He was already a part of me.
Forever.
I turned into him and laid my head on his chest, tears still pouring out of my eyes. He wrapped his arms around me and let me cry.
After I was done I told him everything. My mother's murder, the couple that took care of me, the search for my father, my Ability. Everything and I didn't even know his name.
"How do you know me?" I asked as I stepped away from him.
His eyes saddened as he dropped his hands. "I knew her well. We were friends. Your father and I know each other. But I wouldn't exactly call him a friend."
"What is your name?" I asked him.
"I apologize for my rude manners. My name is Luke, I have never met you but have known you since your mother found out she was pregnant."
"I remember her talking about you. She always spoke fondly of you. You said you know my father?" I asked.
"Know him, but I don't even count him as an acquaintance now. He was a friend once," He told me.
It was quiet for a few minutes then he asked where I was staying.
I told him and he walked me back to the small inn.
I asked him up, not wanting to be away from him and he accepted. All manners of normal courtship were out the window. Although they usually never exist in vampire relations.
He laid in my bed with me as he told me stories of my mother. Eventually I fell into a dreamless sleep in his arms, unaware of the changes that had occurred.
The changes that would alter my life forever.
The change in my feelings toward him, the new power I acquired from him, the path my life was now headed in, and the secrets I would uncover.
*Four years Later:
Life with Luke was easy, it was right. Four years of being with him proved that we were meant to be.
Four years of never being away from each other for more than a few hours. A half a day was the longest he was gone, so when he was still gone at sunset and he left before sunrise I was worried.
I was pacing back and forth in the living room of our home waiting for him. I had already extinguished all of the lights and was dressed in my night gown.
What if he doesn't come home? A small voice in my head asked and I dismissed it.
I would die. I could not lose another important person in my life. I already felt like I was unraveling. I was turning to go upstairs to my room and get dressed to look for him when I sensed him.
I faced the door and noticed the difference in his smell. His mouthwatering smell. My non-poisonous venom ran in my mouth and I felt different. Something was growing inside of me.
Luke opened the door and stepped in. Never breaking eye contact as he shut the door and walked over to me. He stood right in front of me and that was when I noticed his eyes. Dark red even though I knew he had just fed. Instead they were dark with desire?
I suddenly felt nervous. The most we had done was hold hands and kiss. Luke placed his hand on my neck and all my nervousness disappeared at once. He lowered his head and his lips met mine. At first it was slow, but when he opened his mouth slightly and his tongue slid in my mouth I could taste it.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and I explored his entire mouth until there was no more magnificent taste left. He moved his mouth to my neck and I realized what had tasted so good.
Blood. He tricked me into drinking human blood. I could feel it inside of me moving through me and enhancing everything.
I could feel more, like Luke's hands on my back caressing me, his mouth at the base of my throat, and more acutely, the feel of him pressed against my abdomen. I could smell the lust and arousal on him, also the faint scent of blood. I could taste him on my tongue along with traces of the blood.
I wanted more; I want to feel all of him against all of me.
I felt him bite my neck and I gasped. Before vampire teeth could break my skin. But as he bit down harder I knew he would not break through. Everything about me felt stronger.
Just by a small amount of blood made it so I was indestructible. I could also feel my abilities changing, getting stronger by every second.
If a small amount of blood could do that, what would a large amount do? I shuddered vowing to never find out and to never touch another drop of blood again.
Luke nibbled on my ear lobe and I was lost in a wave of ecstasy. His touch being the only thing I could comprehend. I lifted myself up and wrapped my legs around his waist. He received the gesture as he grabbed my legs and started to carry me to our bed room.
"You are so beautiful when you sleep," Luke whispered to me when I opened my eyes the next day.
I smiled at him and touched his face. "I feel different, you made mw taste blood." I said as I got up pulling on a gown.
"Yes," He said as he propped himself on one elbow.
"Why?" I asked him.
He stood and pulled on some pants then walked over to me. "I had a theory, which it would make you stronger. It has, I cannot break your skin with me teeth. You are moving faster, though you don't realize it and I bet your abilities have amplified as well."
He swept the hair from the right side of my neck and bent his head down. He bit me, soft at first then harder. A painful pleasure was sent through my body.
"Luke, what can you do?" I asked. I always knew he had ability, but never asked him. I was afraid to know. I had to know now though.
"Before I tell you, I want you to know I have only ever used it twice on you, and never to take advantage of you," He said as he looked in my eyes. I nodded for him to continue. "When I am… when I touch… um, when I have skin on skin contact with someone, I can manipulate them."
I sat there and let his word sink in. "Like mind control?" I asked.
"No. I can strongly suggest they do what I want, the other person can refuse. Although they never do."
"When?" I was asking when he used it on me.
"Once when I first met you, I strongly suggested that you trust me." He said and I smiled, he wouldn't have needed to. Even before he touched me I felt a pull toward him. "And again a year after that, you awoke from a bad dream. You were filled with guilt so I made you stop feeling so guilty."
"I love you," I said. I wanted him to hold me.
"You are using it," He said as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
"What?" I asked.
"You wanted me to hold you, and I thought that it would intensify in another way. It looks like you can manipulate people from short distances," He said with a large smile.
We spent the next few days feeling out my newly intensified abilities. Where I was fast, I was now faster than any other vampire I came across. Where I could see threats, I now had random visions of the future.
It wasn't until two years later that I realized what else I could do.
Luke rushed into our home with panic in his eyes.
"Annie, you need to hide. Now," He said as he led me up stairs.
He opened the linen closet and told me to duct inside.
"Don't worry this person is not a danger, to me. They are to you though. Don't make a sound. Don't move until I come get you," He said and kissed the top of my head.
Panic started to rise in me. I wanted to scream, but instead I did as he said.
I focused on disappearing. The five senses, I was sure I couldn't physically disappear, so I was doing my best at sight. Smell, I concentrated on hiding my scent. Taste was not a problem for a human, but vampires could taste the air. I had a mental image of me washing away all taste and smell. I muted myself. Feeling as silent as a snowflake as it falls through the night air. Last was touch. If I did the other four right, they wouldn't get close enough to touch.
I was focusing on disappearing when I heard movement downstairs.
"Welcome to my home, William," I heard Luke say. I could feel the vampire enter my home. I could sense he had a power, and to my surprise I could tell what it was. He had speed, although; he was not as fast as me.
"It is a pleasure to be here, you have a lovely house," He said.
"What do I owe the visit?" He asked.
"Purely friendly, though I have heard that there are a few looking for you. Claiming you are harboring a very powerful vampire," He told him.
Luke laughed. "I would invite them here to see if they wanted. There are no other vampires here."
"That is obvious. I don't sense that anyone but you has been here. You keep no company at all?" He asked.
"On occasion, there is a human girl that I see from time to time," Luke lied. I was only half human.
"My true reason to come here was not to talk about your love life, Luke. Joan asked me to invite you over to see our new house. She has spent quite a bit of time decorating it."
"I would love to," Luke accepted.
"Excellent, and bring your human. For some reason Joan is fascinated with the female humans. She has a few as friends; I believe they will be there as well, so she won't feel out of place." William said.
"I will extend the offer, thank you William."
William gave Luke directions and told him when to be there and Luke said good bye. He stepped out of the house to see him off as I climbed out of the linen closet. I went across the hall to the study to see Luke wave goodbye.
Luke went back through the door and not two seconds after the front door shut did I hear him across the hall opening the door to the closet.
"Annie, Annie? ANBERLIEGH!" He started to panic. I watched him through the open door of the study, lost in this new realization, as he ran to our room.
"Anberliegh, god, please be here," He said frantically as he searched the room. I was standing in the doorway as he ran into the closet.
He couldn't feel me, at all.
I walked into the room and he flew out of the closet running right to me.
"Anberliegh. What…? Where were you…? How... I still can't sense you. Are you doing that?" he asked holding me to him.
"Yes. I guess I can disappear, Luke, I can also tell what ability a vampire has. Your friend, his is speed," I told him.
"That is all marvelous, but could you stop?"
I did. I stopped hiding everything and the second I did Luke sighed.
"Much better, it still felt like you weren't here. I did not like it," He said.
Then Luke kissed me, a frantic scared kiss, like he thought he lost me. These times were when the manipulation came in handy. I let him know he would never loose me.
*71 Years Later…
"Annie I have someone you should meet," Luke told me one day as I was reading in the study.
Instantly things happened. I was far too cautious not to be careful. A self-preservation ability that I acquired told me to flee. Danger was imminent. But sometimes particularly dangerous vampires could set it off. I was more nervous today because of Luke.
Thanks to a woman named Eileen, I could sense the tone of someone's thoughts. It intensified after years of working on it to the point where I could now read a person's thoughts, but only what they were thinking. And after an encounter with a very reclusive vampire, at one touch I could know everything about a person.
Luke however, promised me to not read his thoughts. And while it took some time, I eventually got to the point where I closed his mind off from mine. Though not completely. I could still sense the tone of his thoughts and they were nervous.
I had the ability to run, faster than any vampire I had ever met. Now my body was telling me to run. I could always find Luke later. Joan, Williams mate, had the ability to track. Now, like her, I could sense the area someone was in. I could find Luke no problem.
I could shield myself as well. A physical shield that would allow no one to hurt me, but this wouldn't help Luke.
I felt a moment of panic and I shut down. Hiding myself from the world and I felt Luke go uneasy. Using the last ability I leeched, mood manipulation ability, I calmed him. He walked over to me and grabbed my book, placing a marker in my spot, and setting it on the table.
"Annie, I hate it when you close yourself off from me," He said as he pulled me up into his arms. "But don't stop," he whispered.
He held me close as he led me down stars and into the sitting room. I had to calm him again as we entered the room and instantly knew why.
Standing in the pale yellow room, making it seem dark and empty, was my father.
At the first word from his mouth, I knew why my self-preservation was telling me to run.