The Real Twilight

Scents washed against me like an endless torrent of water. My throat burned at the thought of the warm liquid flowing through it. It took all my will to stave off the influence of Jasper's thoughts. I caught my reflection in the cafeteria window. My eyes leered back at me, jet black, thirsty. The eyes of a predator. Though I had become somewhat used to the scents of these humans, Jasper's mind sometimes screamed so loudly with the hunger that it affected my thoughts as well.

Alice sat next to Jasper, acting as his support. She never took her eyes off him even for a second. I often marveled at the devotion they had for each other. It only made the loneliness I sometimes felt that much more difficult to bear.

Emmett and Rosalie were also at the table. Emmett was fuming, as usual, about something involving his muscles. Rosalie was absorbed in her own reflection in the window.

Edward. I connected with her gaze.

Is Jasper all right?

I slowly nodded my head just a fraction a degree, a movement too small for any human to notice. Alice caught Rosalie's expression.

"He won't do anything. I've seen him," Alice muttered.

I watched my fellow students as they mulled about the cafeteria and ate their lunches. I waited to get a glimpse of the new girl I had been seeing in everyone's mind all day. When she finally entered the cafeteria, I saw how unremarkable she was. Nothing particularly special about her, as far as humans go. Yet, nearly every male's mind was full of her. They were imagining themselves being with her, even though they never actually met her and didn't come close to knowing her. It was actually quite interesting to read their thoughts, and it gave me something to distract me from my otherwise dull existence.

As I was moving from mind to mind, I discovered a strange anomaly. While every mind in the room was abuzz with activity, there was absolutely nothing coming from the mind of that girl. There was just this strange mental static, as if there shouldn't have been a sentient mind occupying that space, yet there she was! I must confess this never happened before. I was suddenly deeply interested in finding out why I was unable to hear her when everyone else in the room came through to me as loud and clear as fog horns. What was different about this girl?

The bell rang suddenly, signaling the end of the lunch period. Jasper tensed. He would have to be with other students and I knew that it was no small feat for him to accomplish. Jasper is new among us. He hasn't yet become accustomed to our way of life. Until recently, Jasper drew sustenance from human blood whereas my family feeds from animals. We all know how difficult it can be. However, we spent our entire vampire lives feeding from animals and our time has been somewhat easier than Jasper's because of that.

We all rose from the table and walked to our separate classrooms. Just as I left my siblings, Alice reassured me of Jasper's control. It would be such a shame for us to have to move again, especially since we just came back to Forks a few years back. While Carlisle loved us as a father would love his children, he most certainly would not be pleased.

I took my usual place in the biology laboratory. I was the only student in the room sitting alone. It was usually like this, and it was most definitely better this way. Humans seem to have a natural aversion to my kind the way prey has an aversion to a predator, which is good. They certainly would not benefit from knowing me. This human charade was difficult enough to maintain and I certainly wouldn't want anything to risk it.

I watched the students file into the classroom one by one, bored, disinterested. I was shocked when the new girl, Isabella Swan, nervously walked in through the door. I smiled as I realized there was logically only one place she could possibly be seated. She timidly began to move toward my table.

Her scent hit me like the blast from a bomb.

It ravaged me, destroyed me. I was suddenly filled with a hunger beyond the likes of anything I've ever felt before. It was maddening. Every muscle in my body tensed. My mind focused on only one thing. Her blood. I wanted it. I needed it.

The teacher seated her. As she walked closer to me, the burning in my throat grew to an unbearable pain. Every molecule in my body wanted her. I imagined myself doing it. I saw my self get up, rush her, and drink her dry, down to the last drop. My mouth began to water, but my throat burned ever hotter. This was torture! Red hot fire leaped through me as she sat next to me. I clenched my fists as tight as I could and tried not to breathe.

"Hello," she breathed, sending waves of her scent around me. Didn't she realize what she was doing?

Her blood sang to me, sending me into a raving, unintelligible state. I wanted it so badly, and holding my breath was beginning to get tiring. Why work this hard to maintain the charade? Why fight it? Why not give in? We can move as we always did. With Carlisle's medical skills, he'd have no trouble finding another place to live. I can kill everyone in the room in seconds and we'll be out of here faster than anyone can notice. We'll be well on our way before anyone notices the bodies. Oh, but the blood. Her blood. I was on fire, burning with torturing, ravaging desire for her life! I needed it.

Faster than she could ever hope to see, I lunged at her. My arms came up, forming a vice around her frail human body. My strength crushed her ribs into her chest as I sank my teeth into her throat. The blood squirted through my mouth, down my throat, filling me, curing me. It was so undeniably sweet, and I would have killed her a million times to taste that sweet river of sheer light flowing through me.

She tried to fight me at first. I felt her pushing against me. She would have screamed if it weren't for her crushed ribs and throat. I snapped her neck and continued to drink with such ferocity that I growled with a predator's hate. How dare she struggle and ruin this perfection? After awhile the blood no longer came on its own. I lifted her limp corpse above my head, letting her liquid light fall directly into me.

Finally, she had nothing left to give. I tossed her already decaying carcass through the window as I turned on the other students. One had gotten up to run for the door, but I ran faster. Bella's blood renewed me, strengthened me, giving me limitless speed and strength. It was unlike anything I've ever felt! I was truly immortal now! I reached the door first and slammed it shut, then killed the girl with the bravery to run. I made my way through the room, dropping three or four students at a time within fractions of a second. I was the predator, the monster from their nightmares. More than that I was at peace as I had never been in my life. I was unstoppable! I drank from some. It was pure gluttony. I didn't need it. I was just enjoying this too much! Bella's blood had given me new life. I think I loved her for it. I laughed as I continued to kill my way through the room, and continued to laugh until everyone in the room was dead. I looked around me, at the bodies and the pools of blood.

I knew I had to run. I flew through the broken window faster than I had ever moved before. My skin felt warm and the cold of the Washington air felt pleasant and inviting. I ran with all my strength so as to put some distance between me and Forks High. My siblings would most certainly try to catch me as Alice no doubt saw what had happened. I couldn't let them do that. I continued to run. While I ran I realized I never found out why Bella was mentally dead to me. Not that it mattered.

Within an hour I was in Canada, away from my family. I knew I couldn't go back to them. They would surely try to deal with me, and I couldn't have that. I no longer cared for them. They were weak, in denial of what they truly were. This, what I had experienced today, was what we truly were. Monsters. Predators. Vampires. It was amazing how Bella's blood freed me of the last of my humanity. There was still one question to which I needed to find the answer. Why her blood? Why was her scent so much stronger? There was only one place I could find the answer. I began to make my way to Italy, to Volterra. I would ask the Volturi, the leaders of and administrators to my kind.