Sam's POV
School today was easy. It was just roaming around the halls going to classes, faking a cough now and then and having a small fit of coughs in the cafeteria. For once I didn't have to bother with fake smiles. But the fact that I had created a newborn vampire would not let me concentrate on anything. My biggest worries were Nessie and Jake. They were part human so vulnerable to him. So today I was going to get my first experience in building. The others said they would help me too so it shouldn't be hard since I don't know the first thing about building. We were going to build a cottage for Daren and (unfortunately) me so I could teach him without having any human blood as a temptation for him. Truth be told, I was irritated as hell that I had to bunk with him. I didn't need to be a psychic to know that he would try that, 'We're all alone, nobody can stop us' shit on me. And worst of all I couldn't tell him that I was already mated because he would tell the others.
Building the cottage was amusing. They said that I should stick with desk jobs, and I sincerely believed them in that. I was making a mess, rather than helping so I just stuck with handing stones.
After the cottage was ready and a hot steamy shower I made my way to town with Nessie to buy all the electrical needs. So at the end I ended up buying a power generator and solar panels, a 40 inch LCD, a surround system, another laptop, a playstation 3 and lots of guy games for it. The assistant at the cash sent us many many flirty glances. As I paid him he asked me the cursed question, "So do you have a bo-" but I cut him off. "So you think Daren will like these? I hope he does or otherwise our wedding anniversary would be ruined!" I said to Nessie who thankfully played along. He looked disappointed and more than slightly shocked but still offered us the free delivery which I accepted.
Two nights down, just one to go. I spent the entire night left before he awoke; lost, trying to get a vision of his future, but it was all blurry. I asked Alice if she could see something but she couldn't either. When Nessie saw me going through that tension she made me do my nails. Some people need a really big adjustment in priorities. Since I was done in about five minutes I had the rest of the night to kill. So I went to the cottage to install the appliances. I entered with a frown on my face. Not that I didn't like it but it awfully reminded me of Alec's cottage. I pulled out the copy of Romeo and Juliet from my bag where our pictures and the letter where. Every time I pulled them out my hand automatically shot to my neck were the heart shaped diamond necklace always was. I pulled out the pictures and saw them one by one. I reread the letter, reading the part where he said he loves me over and over again. I put them back in my bag along with the book. I took off my necklace to look at it. Its beauty always caught me off guard. I felt so guilt for what I was going to do. Had Alec discovered I was going to live with a guy who was interested in me, Daren would probably be a goner. I sighed. I just wanted him to be here so much. I was tempted to see what he was doing right now. I was afraid that if I did so I would leave Daren and everybody to their fate and just get the heck to Volterra right now. Just one peek, I promised myself. I closed my eyes, ready to will the fog.
"Hey, Sam!" Nessie said, saving me from my temptation.
"Hey, Ness! What are doing here?" I asked her. She sat next to me. She noticed the necklace in my hands.
"I wanted to give you this." she said as she handed me a charm bracelet. I noticed that the biggest charm was the Cullen family crest. I hugged her tightly. "Thanks Ness!"
"Yeah, I have a necklace," she said, "but seeing as you already seem to have a necklace which is important to you... by the way, would you mind telling me why you it's important to you?"
"Someone very special gave it to me. I promised myself I would never take it off." she seemed curious but I could not tell her why or who. I put it back around my neck and tied it securely. We put up all the appliances in a few minutes. I felt as if there was a cloud of bats beating inside me and tearing me on the inside. I was more than slightly agitated at what would happen now. As if on cue after a pang of worry, fog engulfed me. I looked at myself as I checked the time on my phone which showed 03:56 and looked at Daren as he awoke from his three day slumber. The moment after I was snapped back to reality I checked my phone which informed me it was 03:38. Daren would wake up soon so I had to bring him here and make sure that Ness is at a safe distance by the time he wakes up. I told Nessie to go home so that I could hunt for some blood to keep him calm while I explain to him what happened to his body. She hugged me tightly once more that night and wished me good luck. I went outside and took with me a two litre empty bottle of water and a syringe. Luckily enough I smelled a bear only a few miles away and the job was done in less than ten minutes. Without unnecessary hesitation I went to the Cullens and picked him up bridal style. Everybody wished me luck and I strained a smile for them. Emmett of course had to comment on the way I carried him. "I'm not a fan of romantic stories but isn't the guy supposed to carry the girl?" he asked me. Okay, perhaps it was not the time to joke but seriously, as I looked at our reflection in the glass wall I had to laugh too. I was maybe five foot four carrying a six foot guy. I shrugged of the laughs and went to the cottage. Some of the Cullens would be listening nearby in case he got rough, which I prayed not to happen.
Back in the cottage I put him on the couch in his room. I checked my phone and got that sense of déjà vu as I saw the familiar time. He finally stirred. I sat on a desk opposite to his couch, waiting to see his reaction. Finally he sat up. I saw him unconsciously rubbing his throat which by this point was probably blazing. He inhaled and his head snapped at me. He snarled, ready to attack me. He lunged for me with incredible speed that only newborns had. Like every newborn his attack was predictable, straight toward and easy to dodge. I dodged it to the left, turned abruptly and held his hands tightly behind his back. "Drink this." I muttered and gave him the bottle. He smelt it and quickly tore the bottle open, he drank greedily using his hands which I had to reluctantly free. "Do not attack me; otherwise I'll have to defend myself. I don't want to hurt you Daren. Please just listen. So will you stay put?" I asked him. He nodded and finished the last gulp of blood. "Sam, where... where am I? I can't remember anything! Derek, he left me to die and now... I'm so thirsty... do you have more of that stuff?" he stuttered. "Sit down; I need to tell you something." I said to him. I decided to start with the easiest question. "So... we're in a cottage in the woods, now let me finish then you can ask me what you don't understand. Three days ago, I was hunting and I found you on the verge of death. Nothing of this world would have saved you, so I had to do the one thing I had left to save you. Um... so what you've just drank was... blood, animal blood to be more precise. As you might have noticed we're different... we're... vampires and to save you I had to turn you into one too." I tried to explain to him.
"Prove it." he said with thick denial in his voice. I looked around me and the first thing my eyes landed on was an armchair. I raised it upwards using only one hand. He watched me intently. I passed it to him and his eyes widened at how light it felt. "This is so cool!" he said to me. I automatically rolled my eyes. "You do realise you're dead now, right?" I asked him. "You'll be stuck like this for ever. Frozen at sixteen. In reality I'm thirty years old. You're immortal now."
"You mean that I can't die. How is that not cool?"
"Doesn't your throat hurt? Imagine you'll have to go endure that every single time when you're around humans. Just the scent of human blood will make you go berserk. Do you want to be the death of those whom you hold close? Seeing the ones you love die while you stay youthful forever? It's not 'cool', it's a curse. And over my ashy twice dead body will I let you kill humans. You're my responsibility now so the first thing we're going to do is teach you how to hunt animals." I said to him. It's a hard lesson but he'd have to learn it. Immortality was not a joke or something to be taken lightly.
"This is quite a lot to take in." he said solemnly. I suddenly felt empathy for him. I was being harsh on him when I had destroyed his life.
"Do you hate me?" I asked him with a lump in my throat.
"For what?"
"For turning you? I'm sorry about that."
"Don't be. At least I hope I won't be alone like I used to be. You'll help me with this, right?" he asked me with a sad look in his eyes. "Of course I'll help you. I promise you that if you need me I'll always be there for you." I said and gave him an awkward half hug. I felt motherly and protective over him. Perhaps I would be able to fulfil my motherly needs through Daren. I led him outside and told him to inhale the air around him he did so and his eyes widened significantly as the scents rolled over his lungs. "Now just a second, let me see that there aren't any humans in circulation." As a little vision informed me the area was clear. "Now, can you hear three wet heartbeats about two miles away? Smell them, they are elks. Now when I say go, we're going to sprint towards them. They won't even see it coming so grab them quickly and break their necks. Just before the heartbeat dies listen to the blood in the throbbing veins. Try to aim for one of those so that we keep as clean as possible. 'Kay?" he nodded. "So one... two... three... go." he sprinted beside me so I took off too. Thankfully with his strength he was able to run with me. When we arrived he did as I told him but he didn't get the vein, so he had to bite again, causing the blood to spill on his clothes. We repeated the routine for three times on some elk till he got it right. Then I showed him how to do it without spilling a drop of blood on him. He had the same reaction Alec had when he saw me wrestling the bear.
The first hunt went fine. The Cullens went home after I told them that I had everything under control. We went back to the cottage and after a well deserved shower each I guessed I would have to explain some things to him. We went in the living room and we sat down.
"So, you probably have lots of things to ask me, so shoot." he looked as if he was thinking hard.
"How did you become a vampire?" he asked me. I sighed deeply as this was not a question I liked to answer. "Well, I guess you probably should know that none of us are related, well, of course except for Nessie but that's another story. I guess I should start by telling you how I became what I am today. So, I was born thirty years ago, in Europe, in Malta. Back then I was Samantha Hathaway. I was normal, if your definition of normal is like mine, I had fakes for friends, a slut for a mother and a dad who left us when I was eleven for some Italian bitch half his age. One night I went to a party but left earlier… so long story short I was walking towards my house, when some vampire turned me. I don't know why he did, but I guess he knew about what I would be able to do after I turned. And since you have that questioning look in your eyes, I should tell you that I can see visions in the past, present and future.
"Really?"
"Yup, for example I know that before you came here to Alaska you had glasses and got in a fight with a zeppelin sized kid." I told him. His mouth actually dropped. "Do you want me to show you something?" I asked him; trying to remember my first few minutes when I realised I was a vampire. He nodded so I tried to do the same thing I had done with Alec when I had dragged him in a vision. I put my index finger to his forehead and led him with me to my first moments of uncontrolled darkness.
Daren's POV
How was it possible? Could she really see visions? Since I have been thrown in this new world, only she has been my wall of comfort. She was calm and poised and well, deathly. Now I understood why she was always so depressed. She didn't say it out loud but she hated herself and what she was. I nodded and she put her finger to my forehead. Suddenly thick fog engulfed us. I could only see her through the fog. She strained a smile at me and when the fog disappeared I found myself in the middle of nowhere. I looked around and Sam was only a few steps away from me, looking intently at a tree. "I want to try something." I heard her mutter to herself. She stepped two steps to her right and counted down till three. The moment she said three, the tree in front of her shot upwards, went right through her as if she was a ghost and landed with an ear splitting thud.
"Cool!" I said and went next to her. She was looking inside the hole where the tree had been. An earlier version of her stepped up. The Vision Sam looked alarmed and afraid. She inhaled and looked around her. Then she pulled out a cracked iPhone and checked her reflection in it. Her eyes were red, just like mine. The real Sam had a pained expression on her face. She took my hands and the fog came back and we were back in reality. We looked like two statures which suddenly got reanimated.
"I was on my way to kill my first preys that night. And after I killed them the guilt would not let me continue living. I tried to commit suicide but this is not Hollywood. Stakes don't work. Only another vampire can kill you. Well, I ended up going to Italy where I hunted animals for a year. Then I went to Volterra, where I met the biggest coven of vampires in the world. They thought me all I needed to know, but they were using me for what I can do so I left. After almost a decade I met a pregnant girl, Emily. I helped her and sheltered her. But I had to leave her too, story of my life. Then I met the Cullens. They offered me a place amongst them and I took it." She said to me.
"Okay, so all of the Cullens are vampires?" I asked her. I had noticed that my skin which was usually more tanned was now milky white, like hers.
"No, Jacob is a werewolf and Nessie is half human half vamp." She answered matter-of-factly. I nodded my head and registered the new piece of information. "So since we pretty much can't sleep I suggest you find a hobby cause it gets pretty boring around here." She said and pulled out a tattered old copy of Romeo and Juliet. I frowned at her.
"Seriously, you're into that cheesy crap?" I asked sceptically. She gasped. "Cheesy crap my round rosy ass! That's a classic. If you're not smart enough to appreciate the beauty of the tragic story then I suggest you shut it!" she said getting all defensive. I laughed at her choice of words. I guess she realised too and looked slightly embarrassed, only to shrug after a moment and burry her nose in the book. Now that the burning pain at my throat was more controlled I could actually focus on other things. And by other things of course I meant the beautiful girl who I was sharing a house with. Seeing her with my old eyes she was already beautiful but with my new eyes I could see her every feature perfectly. She most definitely looked like a super model, even though she was not that freakishly tall. She had a round face with a flawless white complexion and intricate patterns in her eyes that you would only see in those rare moments when she made eye contact. She had beautiful dark brown hair which looked like a cascade of curls and back when I was human looked as if it was black. And her lips, oh her rosy…
"Would you mind stop staring at me? It's getting on my nerves!" She said to me. I looked with an expression of total bewilderment. How did she know that I was staring? She hadn't even looked up once from her book. "It's like I can feel your eyes on me." She said for my benefit. It was still confusing. She got up and returned after a second with a laptop in her hands. "Here. This is yours." She said to me. "Don't log on facebook. The cover story is that you ran away. You can never see your friends again." She said as she threw it at me. I caught it immediately. I still hadn't gotten used to the strength and the agility. I realised this was an iMac. Damn, the girl must have money if she's able to afford these as if it was no big deal. I nodded at her and downloaded Call of Duty since I had nothing better to do.
The more time passed the more I liked immortality. I glanced at Sam who by now had almost read the whole book and looked away immediately. Yeah, this was going to be good. Really good.