Hello my Dear Readers,

This little package of a story is actually an outtakes section for my story 'A Choice'. This will perhaps be the only chapter of the outtakes that you will be able to read without having read the story beforehand. It is uncompleted and so if you want to read it, please review it! Oh and just one more thing: These outtakes will mostly be in Edward's perspective, as is this one.

You should all know my motto for the story A Choice... well, it applies to this one as well.

Read. Review. Enjoy!

"… Although World War One did not cause the flu, the close troop quarters and massive troop movements hastened the pandemic and probably both increased transmission and augmented mutation; it may also have increased the lethality of the virus."

Correct, I thought wryly, genuinely surprised, as I pretended to be paying avid attention to the inane History teacher before me.

"… A minor factor in the worldwide occurrence of this flu was increased travel. Modern transportation systems made it easier for soldiers, sailors, and civilian travelers to spread the disease."

Wrong; the increased travel was a major factor. I thought to myself. I should know; I lived through such a disease; it is the reason why I am here, as I am, today.

I sighed dismally as I listened to the teachers lecture, pretending to write notes to a subject that I knew all too well.

The Spanish Influenza of 1918 was the very reason that I stood as I did now, in the nature that I did. It was the very reason for why I became this… a monster of darkness, forced to spend a lifetime, or rather existence like this…

… A vampire.

Now, before you scream, please allow me to… properly introduce myself. Perhaps then you would understand that, by the standards of the others of our kind, my family and I would be least dangerous to humanity.

My name is Edward Anthony Masen Cullen and I am a vampire. Cullen was the name of my Coven, Masen the family surname of my human biological parents. I have been in this form for just shy of ninety years; my hair is bronze-coloured, my eyes golden; this is part of a list of very physical attributes of a vampire. We had, as a whole species, ice-cold skin, the colour of a corpse, blood red or golden eyes – depending on diet.

My family and I were strange creatures to an outsider; we preferred to drink from the blood of animals, as to not hurt a human. Human blood drinkers were notorious for their red eyes, perhaps the only correct fact that humans knew about us. Common myths were the inconceivable and completely unrealistic beliefs that we slept in coffins, burned from contract with light and of course, the ridiculous notion that fangs descended from our teeth when we were about to feed.

The truth was, however, that we could not sleep, sparkled rather than burned when out in the sunlight and our teeth, normal and human-looking to the naked eye, had a razor sharp edge.

As a species, we were supernaturally fast; so fast that human eyes could not see our movement if we moved with our natural speed. We had the strength to lift perhaps two cars at a time, or more.

Another thing - that I had yet to find in my existence - was a mate. A mate had the same, if not more importance as a wife in human ideology, but for a vampire, it meant so much more. Our mate and our mate only would be the one that we would spend the rest of eternity with, happily and fully committed.

The only reason that I knew so much was because, unfortunately, in a family of seven, I was the only one without a mate; a fact that I resented almost as much as my very existence.

The bell rang and for perhaps the first time, it jarred me, startling me from my thoughts. I recovered quickly, careful to take my time and keep up my thoroughly rehearsed charade as I collected my books at a mild, human pace and left the building.

It was now lunch, a fact that did not sit well with me. To be in a room with odious children, where I was forced to read their arrogant, self-obsessed minds was not something that I enjoyed. Rather, I craved for a solitude that would never come, never exist for me in this lonesome life.

"Eddie," Emmett said, grinning as I made it to the table.

I sat down, raising an eyebrow and I looked at him. "Do not call me Eddie," I snapped, unable to contain my frustration, pain and loneliness.

"Please, Edward," Jasper said, looking at me and wincing. "I know that-"

"Though you can feel my emotions, in their terrible depths, you cannot see why I feel such things." I murmured lithely, again unable to contain myself. I then sighed as I heard Alice's miniscule growl and I looked at her elfin face.

"I'm sorry, Alice," I said to her quietly. "I did not mean to offend or harm. I do not understand what it is that I am feeling."

She seemed to understand, but there was more that she did not share as she smiled at me radiantly. I frowned, confused as she blocked her thoughts, immediately reciting the Declaration of Independence in French, then Greek and then Italian. It was all lightning fast, which fed my mild headache.

"Alice, tell me," I said to her irately, only shoot an apologetic glance at Jasper. "What is it that you are hiding?"

"Only time will tell, dear brother," she said cheerily and I growled angrily, wanting to understand.

"Watch your actions, brother," Jasper said angrily, raising an eyebrow at me. "Or I will not be held accountable for my actions."

"I am sorry, Jasper," I said to him. "I cannot comprehend what is happening to me. Why I feel like this; it is preposterous."

Jasper nodded, silently appraising what I said. It is alright, Edward; I can feel what you are feeling. Do not worry, I forgive you.

It was only then that I felt something. Something unfamiliar and I did not understand. My body turned to the direction of the pull, some miraculous pull that I could not fathom.

Craning my neck to see what this object of my focus was, I was met with a girl; a teenager with beautiful chocolate brown eyes. I could feel myself fall into her eyes, without even a conscious recognition or acknowledgement of doing so.

But I forced myself to look away, overwhelmed by the feelings that coursed through me. What was this? This feeling, this sense of completion and compassion of need and fire and… and love?

Gasping, I realized what this was; who this was… it was my mate.

"Mine," I whispered, mesmerised by the creature before me. She was mine, and only mine. I had to have her, to see her, to… to love her.

And oh, how I wanted her; it was as if I had been reborn into a life of brilliancy and fire… so unfamiliar that I knew not what I wanted… the only thing that was certain was her and the fact that she was my mate and I hers. Just as I was forever hers, she was forever mine.

As I made that admission, I was filled with the fire of need to see my mate. Looking away from her eyes, my eyes coveted the rest of her beloved body. From her beautiful, creamy skin, so pale that her only comparison would be a vampire. My eyes then drifted to her gorgeous, cute button nose, only to drop to her full lips.

Immediately, I licked my lips, the desire to race over there, pick her up and then kiss her senseless at the forefront of my mind.

I moved my gaze down, narrowly avoiding her chest though, as brash as it was, I had to admit that I had a strong desire to gaze upon them. I did not pause as I took in every inch of her skin and body shape, unable to deny that I would rather view her in… a certain number of clothes, quite lowly at that.

When I reached the end of her body, I shifted my gaze to her hair, sighing at its perfection. It fell in beautiful, radiant brown curls, full of life. It dropped to her lower back and I sighed as I supressed the urge to run my fingers through it.

But then something came to me, a realization and I expanded my extra-hearing, straining to hear the words that would surely flow from her beautiful mind, like music to my ears.

And yet, as I tried, I was unable to reach them. It was with a huff of a laugh that I realized that my wish had been answered. I had been given that solitude through my mate…

… Never had there been a better gift within an already precious treasure.

Suddenly, for the second time today, the bell rang, jolting me from my thoughts. But that did not matter… because my love was here.

Finally.

Let me know what you think, I would love to hear from you.

There is and never will be an updating schedule. These are outtakes and so they are not the focal point. The story "A Choice" and my other stories are and so please know that updates will be a little jumpy and unpredicable. That is why it is best to alert the story as opposed to favouriting it. However, if you wanna favourite it, be my guest.

Thanks readers and leave me some love.

bexie25