(This chapter contains a flashback)

Soulless

~EPOV~

I sat on the edge of the bathtub while Bella showered. The room filled with steam as she let the hot water rush over her. She scrubbed away her skin, but I knew that no amount of soap would remove the human blood from her veins. I knew she could still feel it pumping through her body.

Time passed and she continued on, but I couldn't sit by any longer to let her get caught up in this hysteria.

I got a towel and reached into the shower, turning off the water. She didn't object, just dropped the washcloth to the floor and stepped into my arms, as I wrapped the towel around her.

When I got her into our room, she sat on the bed, staring straight ahead as I slowly dressed her. Then I sat beside her to begin drying her hair.

"I didn't want to do it," she said quietly.

I stopped and put the towel down, nodding my head.

"I know," I assured her firmly.

Though I had no idea what she was referring to, I knew she was speaking the truth.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" I asked cautiously, placing my hand gently on her lower back.

"I realized you were right." She told me as a crease formed on her brow and her eyes narrowed. But even through the hard expression all I could see was the pain.

She looked to me, and in her eyes I could see it. Something broken. An empty space where a light had once burnt.

"No one with a soul could do what I did." She whispered roughly.

~BPOV~

When we taste human blood, a sort of frenzy begins, and it's almost impossible to stop.

I knew now that Edward had been right. It was something I could never truly comprehend.

Not until I sank my teeth into Finn, draining him of life. Taking everything from him. His future, the possibilities of what life would bring.

All for what? To quench that thirst.

To feel the most invigorating spread of heat through my cold body. A rush I never knew existed.

I couldn't think of anything else but getting more.

So, when Jane opened the door and pushed more people into my room, I didn't hesitate. I didn't even debate it. I couldn't even be angry at her smug smile. Far too fuelled with an animalistic urge to fulfil the hunger that I had been ignoring for years.

It was like being blinded by it.

Taken over by the monster that lived in me. Someone I'd never met, yet I knew her in the most primal of ways. Someone who didn't care about the life I was stripping from people. Someone who didn't consider the aftermath of my actions.

I could hear them screaming, begging. But it didn't matter. I advanced on them with flared teeth and blood smeared.

A soulless monster who only cares about what she wants,

And then suddenly it was over.

I looked around and saw their lifeless bodies at my feet. Their empty eyes stared straight ahead.

The door slowly opened as I stood among them, and when I finally returned to myself and realized what I had done, I could never undo it.

Jane stood smiling, her eyes as cold and empty as those bodies on the ground.

"Looks like we're ready to begin" she chimes with a cruel smile.