A little girl was lost in the store. She couldn’t have been more than seven. She was weeping sorrowfully, so sorrowfully that it made my dead heart break. I pushed the feelings away and closed my eyes, concentrating. I neared the girl, her scent swimming around me, making my mouth water.
“Are you lost?” I asked with fake concern. She nodded her head, her big, brown eyes watering. The tears carried her scent, too. I smiled and held out my ice cold hand. “I’ll help you find your way home. Come on.”
She took my hand willingly and followed me out of the store, sniffling the whole way. I grinned – this was easier than I though it would be! I ought to take children more...it’s so much easier. They get lost, and they’ll take anyone’s help; they’re so frightened.
“I’m Bella,” she chattered quietly, her sobs decreasing as we walked to an alleyway. “Who are you?”
“I’m Jasper,” I mumbled. It wouldn’t hurt to tell, would it? She’d be dead soon. I tugged her roughly and she stumbled on the ground. She fell and blood came seeping out of her knees. The sweet, warm aroma enveloped me and I couldn’t take it f- I grabbed her and ran.
I dropped her unceremoniously on the ground before me. We were behind the store and nobody was around. I grinned, thinking of the pleasure her blood would be to me, after the burning thirst. I had resisted for a week, but it was time…
Venom dripped from my mouth as I closed in. She let out a scream. She had figured out that I was no nice man. I grabbed her by the arm and pinned her to the wall. A crack rang through the air. She struggled, but I barely had to put any force in my hold to keep her still. I leaned in and the venom splashed onto her arm.
“Aa-“ I cut off her scream. My teeth were nearly at her neck when the heartbeat of humans neared.
I swore as I dropped her once again to the ground. Tears streamed down her face and her clothes were disheveled and dirty. I don’t know why…maybe I was too prone to emotion, more emotion than my kind should have. But for some reason I felt remorse. I hadn’t felt affection or love in years. Not since Alice. But she looked so pitiful, in so much pain. I couldn’t kill her. I wouldn’t.
I left her crying on the ground and listened from a distance.
“Bella? Bella!” a man shouted. “Bella, are you okay? What happened?”
“I-I-I got lost,” she hiccupped. “A man said he’d h-h-help me.”
“Oh, Bella.” Her cries were muffled as I heard her bury her head in the man’s shoulder. He picked her up and cradled her as if she was young. “Bella, shh, I’m here, Daddy’s here. Do you know what he looked like?”
“H-h-he was blonde…and tall…and his name was Jasper.” I gasped and cursed to myself. Why, oh, why had I said my name? I would have to flee.
As I ran, I heard a father seeking revenge in the distance.
“I’ll find him, honey, I promise. He won’t stand a chance.”
I chuckled darkly to myself. I stood a chance against anyone - and a rather good chance at that. What I hadn’t accounted for was standing a chance against love.
