Chapter 4
He didn't know what to respond to her. He himself didn't know yet what to make of this strange human.
Or maybe she wasn't human, but a demon, sent from hell to torment him.
And for some reason, she had amnesia.
She ought to be something else, she simply had to. But what could she be? Surely not a demon?
He caught her scent again and groaned at the sudden attack, the urge to want to drain her again.
Did he not, a few seconds ago, drink her blood till the final drop? How was it he still caught the scent of her blood?
He clenched his nose shut.
"What are you?" she whispered again.
He didn't take his eyes from the her.
"You already know, little demon..."
He emphasized on the word demon, but she only shook her head, unsure, it seemed. But how could he know for sure without being able to read her mind?
She didn't look much like a demon.
"Vampire," he elaborated.
She blinked again, blinking hard.
She placed her hand on her neck in shock, the place where he bit her.
"You were- you were- drinking my blood-?" she seemed to be in horror.
"You were begging me to take your life so you wouldn't shift in a vampire, remember?"
And, Edward thought, because I became a monster.
She blinked fast, her eyes shocked and incredibly slow to comprehend things.
"What did you do to my mind?" she accused.
"Me?" he snapped.
Why did he feel anger so much more than before?
Why did he feel like an emotionally uncontrolled teenager himself?
"What are you?" he asked instead, shifting the subject towards her. "Clearly, you're not human."
"What...? What else could I be?"
"I drank all your blood, little girl," he groaned. "But yet, you're alive? Huh? Can you explain that? I pushed you away from me so hard, you body slammed into the wall. Look at the dent it left."
He was pointing at the wall behind her and she glanced over with wide eyes.
"You should have several broken bones right now and a cracked open skull. Yet, you are okay. And how is it your mental health is no longer shattered after having your clothes ripped off in an alley by six men so very recently?"
She flinched and blinked several times again.
"Six men?" she whispered, her eyes finding memories. "Oh, my God..."
"Exactly," he said slowly. "I found you in an alley, remember?"
However, she didn't respond anymore. She clutched the coat closer to her body and shook.
He caught her scent again, briefly, and she gasped.
Her eyes stared at his and he knew that his eyes had briefly gone red. Which meant there was still a vampire inside him left, still.
He refused to believe that the vampire inside him was gone.
As for the little girl; her chapped lip was completely healed now. Her body hadn't suffered from the loud impact it made with the wall.
But more importantly.
Edward drank all her blood, and she didn't die.
Something was strange.
And he was sure it had something to do with that other vampire.
She was healing. Her body was healing. And above all, it seemed stronger. Inhumanely strong. She surely wasn't a witch, or a werewolf, or any other creature he had encountered before. Maybe she was a demon, indeed. He had never seen a demon.
Something was fucking wrong.
"Did you save me or something?" she asked strangely, deeply scoffing.
Her mind must show her the strangest things.
Edward Cullen hadn't saved her.
He had tried to kill her.
Did she not listen? Did he not show her the dent in the wall?
"Or something," he answered dryly.
And again he smelled that delicious blood and he almost bit her.
"Fuck," he said. "Your blood is killing me."
But it lasted only a second, until he could no longer smell it again. He feared what was happening to him.
"Why did you stop then?" she accused in tears.
He froze at her question.
"I don't want to become a vampire," she cried. "And for some reason my blood is making you human so just kill me and shift back to being human and eventually die. Won't that be the best thing that ever happened to you before?"
Edward had never in his life been speechless before.
Her blood was making him human? What? Could that even be possible?
And she told him that being a human again would be the best thing that ever happened to him? Was she crazy for thinking that?
He loved being a vampire. It's who he was.
He smelled fear in her blood, yet she, said, to him, "And if you're scared, then kill me another way. You don't have to drink my blood to kill me. Just, kill me. I don't care how. I can't be a vampire."
He laughed. He laughed at her for saying he was scared.
"Scared?" he laughed. "You think I'm scared of you?"
"No," she said. "Of my blood."
"I could drink all your blood now, little human."
He realized his mistake, then and there.
He did drink all her blood.
And it did the strangest thing to Edward.
The human challenged him with her big brown eyes and he found himself irritated that her blood did scare him.
"Just so you know, your eyes are green, big human," she pointed out.
Did she just call him human?
Fuck.
"I'm not changing back into a human," he said in a threat.
"Then finish me off," she said, her death wish loud and clear.
He stared at her purposefully until she grew uncomfortable.
"What are you staring at?" she muttered with her eyes downcast.
He caught the scent of her blood again. For several seconds. He used his vampire speed to reach her and it made her gasp when he stood before her.
"I'm trying to figure out if I should kill you now or after I know a little more about you and your vampire friend."
She looked pained.
"He's not my friend," she croaked out, shaking her head.
He noticed no lies in her eyes, only that same fear at the mention of the other vampire.
The one that bit her and wanted her to become a vampire.
"What are you?" he asked harshly.
"I told you-"
He stopped her with a red eyed glare. "You're blood is poisoning me! I can't hear your thoughts. I can't see your future. I can't shift your emotions. My venom hurt you to the point of agony, and now you gained this unimaginable inhumane strength that somehow healed you-"
"So you admit it?" she said quickly. "You're venom did something to me and my blood did something to you?"
Fuck.
That's not what he meant to say.
Yet it was exactly what he meant to say.
"Your blood weakened me," he said instead. "All I can say about it, is that it's tampered with. It's poison. It's not normal"
The strangest, far away look crossed her features. She was lost in her thoughts for a long time.
And Edward was lost, momentarily, in the silence of her mind.
"You can hear people's thoughts?" she suddenly asked.
He smirked. Her eyes widened.
Humans. They were so slow at understanding things.
Fuck.
Humans?
So was she human, or not?
Fuck, he didn't even know himself.
"I can hear everyone's thoughts," he said, chuckling at her obvious discomfort.
And what happened next pleased him even more.
Her cheeks colored pink.
And again, he was mesmerized by this little human girl.
"But wait," she said, "Not mine? You can't hear mine after drinking my blood?"
He steered his head. He did say he couldn't hear her thoughts, right after he said that her blood is poisoning him.
It wasn't so odd for her to associate the two with one another.
Something about her discomfort amused her. At which he decided to not reply her and let her discomfort grow. Because Edward, in that moment, felt his own massive portion of discomfort at being unable to use any of his gifts on this girl.
Her eyes were nervous and he held hers steadily as he gazed unblinkingly.
There was something in her eyes that captured him.
Fuck.
He wanted to hear her thoughts, badly. Even though he also enjoyed the silence.
"What's on your mind, little girl?" he asked.
If she was a smart human girl, his question would suggest that he indeed could not hear her thoughts. Instead, she only turned brighter red at her cheeks and ears, but her eyes showed insecurity.
What did this girl have to be insecure about? It made him wonder greatly.
"You already know anyway," she muttered, clearly in discomfort.
Ah, she must assume that he could hear her thoughts, which meant his question about what's on her mind didn't make her realize that he couldn't hear her mind.
Not a very clever human girl she was, then.
"It's probably the reason you were able to find me in that alley with those men. The other vampire told me to keep thinking help, help-"
The girl froze and started shaking, almost as if the memory both caught her unexpectedly and because maybe that was a secret she hadn't meant to share.
Edward froze as well.
He was fucking disgusted because if someone wanted her to think help, it meant that she had been used as bait. And that other vampire, he was a dead vampire tonight for treating humans like this.
"Why did he say that?" he snapped. "Answer me right now!"
The only reason another vampire would tell her to think help, was because they would want Edward to be the one to hear the mind of that distressed human.
The girl shook and said with tears down her eyes, "You. He said, you'd come."
Edward balled his hands into fists and wondered if the other vampire had placed this girl in that alley on purpose - as bait, for Edward?
He was scaring the girl now, but he needed answers fast. There was a vampire out there that wanted to be the most powerful vampire himself. And he probably found this human - to distract Edward with.
Did he put something in her blood?
Most likely.
"Speak, little human," Edward said. "Begin from the start."
She started sobbing.
"Fucking speak!" he snapped, his body filled with rage. "He put something in your blood, didn't he?"
Upon her cries, he was taken aback by his own behavior.
He was instantly filled with regret at his aggression.
Edward inhaled sharply.
She was just a young human girl, innocent by heart, used as bait tonight, forever changed due to her knowledge now of vampires and her fear, of course, for that recent bite that would make her a vampire too.
She was human. Not a monster, no, absolutely not.
He was a monster.
"I apologize," he said instantly, keeping his voice low. "I have never been with a human girl before. I am sorry."
There was a flash of surprise in her eyes, but she didn't respond.
For a long time, he allowed her to calm down until finally her tears stopped.
"Can you tell me what you remember, little girl?" he asked gently. "It's really important that I know."
"I'm thinking it," she whispered brokenly.
Her sweet, angelic voice caught him off guard again and the sadness in her voice slightly tore into his own chest. She was under the impression that he could hear her mind. And she was deeply pained by that notion.
He felt sympathy for the girl and it confused his heart.
For the first time, he was glad he couldn't her her thoughts.
If it pained her so, he didn't want to hear her mind.
If it pained her so, he didn't want to pry on her privacy.
He gave her the only comfort he could.
"Little girl," he said. "I can hear the minds of humans and vampires. It's rare, but I can hear everyone's mind. I have always been able to hear everyone's thoughts. I've grown used to the constant voices that think what they don't dare to speak out loud. Nothing comes as a surprise to me. I've heard it all before."
She looked at him in shame.
He was still glad he couldn't hear her thoughts, but he would forever wonder what made her so afraid to let him know about those thoughts that brought shame to her.
"Except yours," he confessed.
Let her hear it, loud and clear.
"I can't hear your mind, ever since the start. You are the exception."
She seemed in shock. Her eyes were wide, much wider than before, but there was slight comfort now hidden in there, most likely from knowing her thoughts were safe and secure from Edward.
"I can't hear your thoughts, little human," he assured.
He threw her his dazzling smile, even though his charms had zero effect on this girl.
In fact, she watched him with horror in her eyes.
"What now?" he asked, dropping his smile.
"What do you mean with seeing my future and regulating my emotions?"
Fuck.
He didn't want bonding time with this human. He needed answers.
"I can foresee the future of others. And change their emotions."
Could this human get anymore whiter?
"Except you," he said slowly, watching her pointedly.
No smile from her.
No laugh.
She seemed mortified.
You kept asking me, little girl, he wanted to say.
He really wasn't used to this.
She grew silent again and he stood, not sure anymore what to say.
Her hand was on top of her lower arm, where she'd been bitten.
"Does it hurt?" he asked her.
She was thinking for a long time - of maybe it seemed like forever to Edward - when at last, tears fell from her eyes and she began sobbing.
So much for his venom healing her. He had never encountered a victim before. Did he approach her? A predator, like himself? What did he have to offer? What could he give?
He had tried to take her life.
"Little girl?" he asked.
She sobbed quicker, harder, uncontrollably. She was hurt.
And he could smell that delicious blood again. A hunter once more he became and he approached her. Slowly, like a predator would. To not scare away the prey.
His prey...?
She was never his to take.
She needed to be spared. She deserved to be rescued. Whatever this little girl was, and why he could not read her mind, dazzle her or drink her blood or let his venom give her comfort...
She most certainly was human. A special one.
Extraordinary.
Her blood did something to him.
And his venom did something to her.