Three days came and went in a blur. After the first night was over I was moved to a guest bedroom with a bathroom attached to it and no furniture except for a full bed, a dresser, a lamp, and a shelf full of books. The door to the bedroom locked from the outside just like Edward's door, and once a day, always when I was asleep, someone came in and left a gallon pitcher of water, a clean glass, something to eat, and a clean set of clothes. Occasionally I would hear more discussion downstairs, but this room was further down the hall than Edward's so I could never make out what was said.

I was going crazy. All there was to do was sit, read, nap, read, talk to myself, and read some more.

I wondered if dad noticed I was gone yet; if he assumed I was just at a friend's house, or maybe he thought I ran away. Calling the cops to find me wouldn't do much good because I would be 18 in 4 days. They can't force an adult to come home, and it's not against the law to leave with no explanation. There was no evidence of foul play, no witnesses. As far as everyone is aware, I simply just vanished. I concluded that there likely wasn't anyone looking for me. Dad was the only family I had here; the rest were across the country and probably hadn't thought about me in years.

My stomach growled. Eating one small meal a day was getting to me. I didn't know if they were starving me like this on purpose or if they'd just forgotten what human hunger was like and how much it took to satisfy it, but either way I was getting to the point where I'd do anything for a big, greasy diner burger and a large shake from Sonic. Anything to make the empty feeling in my stomach go away for a little while.

I started looking through the books on the shelf for something to read to make the time pass by a little less slower than it has been when I was interrupted by the door unlocking and Edward stepping inside. His eyes were back to that gold color with the red flecks and his face was expressionless, as usual. "Can I sit down?" he asked.

I nodded. "Sure, go ahead."

He sat on the bed. "Carlisle has decided that tonight, you need to see what we are. In full."

I paused, and turned around to look at him. "What exactly are you?" I asked him.

His gaze met mine. "You'll see when it's time. You wouldn't grasp the heaviness of it…the full darkness of it, if I just told you. Words won't prepare you for what you're going to see. You just have to wait."

I could feel my face turn red with irritation. I was tired of being left in the dark. "I've been locked in this house, not allowed to even leave this room, for three days. I'm starving, no one comes to talk to me, I don't even have a TV in here to keep myself entertained all day while you all do whatever is you do during the day. The least you could do after all of this is tell me what I'm about to see. How difficult could it really be?"

He stood up and quickly came towards me until there was only in inch between our bodies, his face leaned down until his nose was pressed against mine and our eyes were locked again. I must have pushed the wrong button, but I honestly didn't care. I hope I did make him mad. I was being left to go stir crazy in here by myself and not given any answers or even just any company sometimes. Even a monster being in here would have been better than isolation.

His voice lowered to a growl. "Vampires. That's what we are. Is that answer satisfying enough for you?"

Vampires? "Like Dracula?" I asked, my voice now reduced to a whisper.

He stepped back and looked down at me. "No. Worse."

Before I could say anything else, he added, "I told you, there's no way to properly get it across to you just in words. You'll just have to wait until we feast tonight. Then you'll grasp it."

"Wait, so am I being let out of here?"

"For a little while. I'll come get you later."

And with that, he left, and I was locked in here alone once again, anxiously awaiting what I was about to witness later tonight outside of this room.

The hours dragged, but finally night fell and Edward was sent up to come get me. He led me by the hand, his cold as ice against mine, down one set of stairs to the main floor, and then another set of stairs to the basement. The basement was dimly lit by candles first in brass candle holders lining the walls on either side of the stairs and in more brass double candle holders on all 4 corners of the room. Everyone stood on a side of the room around two large dead deer in the center; Carlisle and Esme on one side, Alice and Jasper in front of another wall, Emmett and Rosalie by the third wall, and Edward and me on the fourth wall, the innermost wall in the basement. Everyone was dressed in a black robe; all except me. Edward let go of my hand and said, "Stay back here. Watch. Don't move until we're done and you're told to move." I nodded and took a deep breath.

The room smelled strongly of iron. The deer were fresh kills, not dead long enough for rot and decay to take over yet.

Carlisle stepped forward. "Everyone take your place."

Everyone else stepped forward until they formed a close circle around the deer corpses.

Carlisle spoke again. "Let us join hands and give reverence."

They joined hands and looked downward in unison, and then Carlisle started to speak again.

"O powerful one, o mighty one, He whose name makes the stars, planets, and moons tremble; He who has granted us his divine, dark blessing, hear our thanks. Take this offering which we have carefully chosen for you; transmute its flesh into your flesh and its blood into your blood, so that we may consume it and feel your power course through our own veins. Continue to grant us the powers of your dark and bloody realm, so that we your children may serve you and bring more souls into your army of Vampyr. Hear our gratitude tonight, Father. Hear our gratitude forever, Father. May your glory rule over all, now and forever. Ad infinitum."

"Ad infinitum," they all repeated, and then they unjoined their hands.

"Now," said Carlisle, "we eat."

They all dropped their robes, revealing all seven of them to be completely naked underneath. A boom was heard and the flames of all eight candles in the room grew larger. All of their eyes went completely black, sharp teeth bared, growls escaping their mouths. And then they dove in.

The center of the room was a frenzy of seven naked bodies fighting for pieces of flesh, drinking blood from newly created wounds in the meat, clawing through veins and arteries to get any drop they could get. Blood splattered the walls, their bodies and faces, their hair, me. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie, and all I could do was watch, frozen in place, as it happened. It was like all of their remaining human instincts completely vanished as something animal and inhuman took over. They were ravenously licking blood off of each other when it was spotted, picking and eating meat out of each other's hair, tearing tougher bits of flesh off together in a group effort to get as much of their meal as they could. I dodged out of the way as an antler and a hoof were thrown in my direction.

This went on for another 10, 15 minutes and then finally, when there was barely anything left aside from some scraps and bones, they stood up in a circle again. Each one let out a demonic screech as they started levitating up into the air, and finally a bright flash of light was seen followed by a loud boom. Then they fell to the ground, unconscious and limp.

I didn't know what to think, what to feel. I was in shock. Edward was right earlier, there were no words that could properly describe what I just witnessed, and this was worse than Dracula. The concept of vampires I had in my head was nothing, a children's tale, compared to what the true nature of these creatures was.

This is why Rosalie was so sure that I would choose to be killed.

They were monsters.

After a few minutes, they all started to wake up one by one. Their eyes were back to normal, all the same gold Edward had in his eyes. Their teeth weren't noticeably jagged. They spoke in normal voices again.

Edward looked over at me. I just stared back, face blank, cheeks turning red from seeing everyone bare like this. Everyone except Edward put their robes back on and headed back upstairs, presumably to shower off after the bloodbath I just witnessed. Edward walked over to me, still bare and naked, and pulled me up off the floor. He stepped towards me until I was pressed against the wall, and again leaned his face into mine until we barely had any space between us. I shivered; the adrenaline rush I got from watching this madness was starting to wear off.

"This is what we are. This is what you will be."

Confused, I asked him, "What I'll be? Don't I get a choice?"

He brushed a blood soaked hand against my cheek and cupped my chin. "I never said you don't."

He grabbed his robe, grabbed my hand, and led me upstairs back to the room. We walked all the way up in silence, my head still reeling, replaying everything I saw over and over.

When we finally got to the room, before he could lock me back in for the night, I turned to face him again and asked, "What makes you so sure I'll choose to become one of you?"

He smirked, the first sign of any emotion I'd seen on his face since I got here. "Because I saw the way your cheeks flushed and your thighs tensed up on the insides when you were watching."

My eyes went wide and I froze. He continued.

"I saw you lick that little splatter of blood off your lip."

And he was right. I did get hot in the face. I did tense up in the thighs.

And I did get a taste of the blood that splattered onto my face, right on my lower lip.

He leaned in closer until he was at my ear and said in a low growl, "But you missed a spot," and then proceeded to lick more blood off of me from my collarbone all the way up to behind my ear. It sent shivers through my body, good ones. And I could feel my face and my thighs warming up again.

I quickly pushed him off and backed away, my breathing getting faster while he just stared and smirked at me some more. He turned and started to shut and lock the door for the night, but stopped just before he did it to say, "I never asked for your name."

"Elsie," I said with a crack in my voice.

"Your full name."

I paused. "Elisabeth. Elisabeth Allison Reeves."

Silence.

He turned back to look at me one more time. "Goodnight, Elisabeth."

He shut the door, locked it, and walked away.

I ran a hot bath and sank into it trying to make sense of tonight. Not just what I watched, but how I reacted to it. Why did I react to it like that? Why did my body respond that way? And when did Edward notice it?

I sat in thought for hours, even after I got out and tucked myself into the bed. Maybe the dreams weren't meant to be a warning, but a glimpse. Into the future, into what I'd become. What I was born to be. Was I destined for vampirism from birth? Damned from the start? Mom could see it too; she tried so hard to veer me onto a different path. But she failed, she couldn't do it. And honestly…

A sick part of me is happy she couldn't.