The Cullen

Edward and I jumped out my window and landed gracefully on the grown. We took our time to get to the elk. We had a lot of catching up to do. He talked about his travels, and how he ended up here about a month ago. I told him all about my father. He was surprised by all of it. I explained all I could. He was astonished.

“I can’t believe you’re almost as strong as Emmett. That is amazing!” Edward commented.

“Yeah, it’s cool. Race ya’ to the elk!” I said, hitting him in the chest playfully, and then, running off.

I heard him laughing behind. He thinks he can catch me, I guess I’ll have to show him otherwise. I decided to run even faster. I know he can’t catch up to me, but then, I hear someone’s footsteps behind me. I stop right before the elk that are in the clearing. Whoever it was stopped right after me. Whoever it was, was not Edward. I turned to face whoever was behind me. This man was tall, probably close to seven feet. I smell something burning but find no source until I look at his hands. In both hands are two baseball size flames. I find one in mine, but I quickly extinguish it not wanting to give off anything. Edward was behind him.

The man, vampire, was taken back. He realized we were vampires. “Oh, I am sorry. I did not mean to startle your hunting. I thought you were human at first,” he said in a deep voice. He took a step closer to get a closer look at me. I knew he could see the color in my cheeks, hear my rapid heart beat, smell my blood rushing through my veins.

Edward hissed causing the stranger to whirl around. They were sizing each other up.

“Hey, we were about to hunt. Join us?” I squeaked.

“What are we hunting?”

Edward shot me a look and thought: What are you thinking?

I tried hard to think back to him: about not upsetting this rather large vampire.

His eyes widened in shock. I guess he got the message. How did you do that?

I don’t know. I just concentrated hard. Don’t think I’m always going to let you inside my mind.

For now this works while he is around.

Yeah. I agree. Do I still look that human?

Your cheeks give you away.

I blushed, I think. “We are hunting elk.” I could not believe Edward and I had a conversation in a matter of one second without this stranger realizing it.

“Works for me. Well, for now anyway,” he chuckled and slapped my back jokingly.

“Yeah,” I said through a nervous laugh. I looked back at Edward with fright in my face.

Yeah I know, he thought.

We hunted for a little bit. We did not talk at all, not even think. The stranger, to be honest, kind of scared me. He was much bigger than Emmett. The fact that he can make fireballs in his hands does not help. The wind started to blow from the opposite direction. We got whiff off a human. What human could be walking about at this time? Our new acquaintance looked up from his “food” and took the smell in hard.

“Ahhh, human,” he sighed, and he was off.

A second later Edward and I registered the human smell. We looked at each other in and yelled, “Katie!”
We dashed towards him, hoping to catch up to the man. We saw him enter through the window right when we arrive. I am first in the house right after him.

“Step away from her,” I snarl.

He cups her face in his hands. He looks up at me, with blood dripping down his chin, “Why?”

“I said get away from her!”

He bowed his head down. “No, not yet.” I heard his thoughts. I knew what he was planning.

“You’re not going anywhere!”

“Who said I going anywhere? Who said I’m going alone?” he said slyly.

“You’re not going anywhere with her,” I hear Edward growl.

“So protective of this human, why?”

I feel my anger boiling to the surface. It is feeling quite hot in her. I feel like everything around me is on fire. I see the looks of the two men before me: horror. I look around me and I find myself enveloped by flames. This works for me. “You are to leave now. Alone.”

“I don’t intimidate easily, miss.”

Before either Edward and I know it, he has Katie and looking for a way out. He can’t get passed Edward by the window, and I am by the door. At least we thought he couldn’t, before we knew it, he made a hole in the wall above Katie’s bed with his fireballs. The wall was still smoking when he jumped through it. That is when Katie screamed. Edward and I were off again.

The man was much faster than he let on before. I was having a hard time keeping up with him. Edward was right behind me. He made an unsuspected turn which looped back, intertwining his old scent and his new scent. I could not tell where he had gone. I let Edward get in front; he had a better sense of where he was going.

“I can hear him; he’s not that far away,” Edward told me.

“Okay.” I was worried as hell. The maniac has taken my best friend. I do not even want to think of what he might do to her. Oh my gosh.

We came upon a river running north to south; we came in from the east. There was no telling which direction he took.

“He must have jumped in the river,” Edward said mainly to himself.

“Ya’ think. We can’t even follow the scent anymore. I hate water.” I crossed my arms across my chest and sauntered to the ground. I felt like crying. I just lost my best friend. I was in tears I realized when Edward put a comforting arm around my shoulders. “We have to find her.”

“We will, I promise,” he said soothingly ad kissed my forehead. “We can’t look for her while crying and sitting down.”

I wanted to slap him for the first time ever. I think he realized that by the way I was glaring at him and he backed off. I got up and looked at the river. The current was in reverse meaning something pretty fierce was coming or had already came by. “He went this way.”

“How do you know that?” Edward asked bewildered.

“The current. It’s flowing in the opposite direction. Its flowing towards its source and it usually flows away from it. The only way that could happen if you had something strong enough, say a vampire wishing to get far away really fast, to move it.”

“I didn’t even realize that.”

“You swim and I’ll run on land.”

“Why do I have to swim?”

“I don’t feel like getting wet and covering both land and water will help,” I stated obviously.

He gave a “yeah ok look” and jumped into the water. I jumped to the other side of the river and took off. It was weird not having Edward by me. He’s like a partner. A scream interrupted my thoughts. The scream was Katie’s. I raced towards her only to find her surrounded by five vampires. Edward hurry up I thought to myself.

I’m coming he said.

I must have thought louder than I thought.

Yeah you did.

I couldn’t help but giggle to myself. It was a low giggle but it caught everyone of theirs attention. Uh-oh. Edward really hurry up.

What did you do? I’ll be there in five seconds.

That was the longest five seconds o f my life as the vampires crept my way. One was right behind me.

“Ah, her blood is sweet,” one startled me.

“Sweet this,” I said as punched him into a tree twenty feet away, which got knocked down.

“She’s strong,” said another.

“Be careful of her. She’s more dangerous than she appears,” said my big friend.

Edward was finally by my side. He was body was arched, ready to spring at a moment’s notice.

“We do not want to fight.”

“Well that’s what you asked for when you took her,” I said nodding towards Katie.

“You never did answer my question, you know? Why are you so protective of this human?”

“I don’t see how that is any of your business.”

“Ya’ll look awfully alike. Blond hair, tall, slender, light eyes…Don’t tell me. You are sisters, correct?”

I snorted, “Wrong.”

“Family, then?”

“Wrong again.”

“I have another guess but I think that would apply more to you and him.”

I knew what he meant: lovers. “Yet, wrong again, on both accounts.”

Edward moved slightly suggesting otherwise.

“Perhaps your friend thinks otherwise. Maybe-

“AMBER!” Katie cried. One of the others had her.

I couldn’t help but yell: “KATIE!”

“At last, she has a name.”

“You hurt her, and you will be sorry. That is a promise.”

“Oh, I am so scared.”

“You should be,” my voice shaking with anger. There I saw it in my mind: three of his four brothers covered in flames. It happened instantly. Now he and the one holding Katie stood.

“Interesting power. It works much like mine.”

“Want to know something? It is yours.” I charged him, knocking him through three trees. Edward took the one holding Katie.

Before I could finish off my friend, I heard Katie crying out in pain.

“AAAHHH!!! It burns! Make it stop! Put it out! Put it out!” she was looking for the source of the burning. She was looking for flames that might have gotten on her. So did I. Then something caught my eye: blood trickling from two small perfect holes on her neck.