Black Moon

Chapter 2

At least I could find some sort of solace in hunting.

Which, in retrospect, I suppose is such a sick way to think. However, considering the fact I was a vampire and hunting was integrated into my brain, it only seemed to fit. 

Despite this, I still didn’t allow anyone to come with me. 

I just couldn’t take being with anyone, even after a week of living here. It was with an angst-clouded mind that I concluded that, Carlisle would only try to use “positive reinforcement,” Esme would force her motherly ways on me, Jasper would attempt to control my mood, Alice would tell me more lies about how the future would be bright and sunny, Emmet would just make jokes, and Rosalie…

…Well, I wouldn’t hunt with Rosalie in the first place. She’d always had such an ugly disposition towards me.

So it was with a silent, brooding mind that I scaled the mountainside of our new home, desperately searching for some sort of wildlife to feed off of. My searching had so far only gone in vain, which didn’t benefit me in the slightest, considering I hadn’t eaten in a little over two weeks.

Ever since…

I forced that thought to hang in the air as I pounced up into the trees, noting how slowed my reactions were. Granted, I still had a brutal speed and strength that could never be compared to any human’s, but on a vampire-scale, I was moving as fast as a turtle. I glanced around at the cool jade leaves that brushed my marble skin and I took a small comfort in the slight scratching noise it made as it rubbed against my flesh.

A wave of fire erupted in my throat like vomit rising, and I swallowed to push it down. There was no way I could wait up in this tree and watch for animals; I quickly sped off, jumping from tree to tree, unparalleled as I dodged my way in and out of the thick underbrush of the forest.

All around me I could hear the sounds of nature; the bushes rustling, the birds chirping and, more importantly, the animals. I only had to pick of which species I wanted to eat.

But I hesitated; instead of choosing a direction I pushed myself to go faster and faster. Soon I could hear the air whistle in my ears and the wind brush my copper hair back…the cold kissed my bare flesh (not that I could feel the cold) and I spread my arms out.

And then…

“Edward.”

I tripped and crashed to the ground.

Immediately I sprung to my feet. Not only had I just heard someone call my name, but it was the first time ever in my vampire life that I’d ever tripped and fallen over anything.

Though I couldn’t hear the voice directly, I knew it was there. It was in the leaves that brushed against each other in the wind. And it was the voice of a girl. The voice of the sweetest, most beautiful creature I’d ever encountered in my one-hundred-plus years of existence. Before I could stop myself, flashes of creamy white skin, big brown eyes, and cat-like tempers of the same beautiful creature floated through my head. I dropped to my knees and forced out a broken sigh.

Another emotion ran through me, but this one was one of complete and utter distaste.

I was envious of her, my flawless divinity.

Because where she could forget, I knew I could not.