Prologue- What Now?

Well, hi. My name is Isabella Swan and I am a vampire. I look like I am 17 years old but I am actually 163 years old because I was born in 1845. I lived in Houston, Texas most of my human life, with my mother, Renee Swan, my father, Charlie Swan, and my half-brother, Jasper Whitlock. My mother married Jasper's father and soon became pregnant with him. But, unexpectedly, Jasper's father died early on in the pregnancy. Because she wasn't married and needed money, she married my father and gave birth to Jasper 2 months later. I was born a year later.

In 1861, Jasper joined the Confederate Army even though he was barely 17. The recruiters believed he was 20 and my family was very proud. But I missed him because we were very close, and I was worried about him. Soon, we received word that Jasper had been appointed as a major. My parents were ecstatic.

But, a month or two later, we received word that Jasper had disappeared. There wasn't even a battle or anything. He just disappeared.

I was heartbroken. I had lost my only brother and best friend.

Towards the end of 1862 I was walking through the woods near our mansion just thinking of Jasper.

"Hello" A voice said.

I jumped and looked up, startled.

"Oh, I'm sorry to have startled you, Miss." The girl said. She was quite short, a few inches shorter than me, and had Hispanic features even though she had extremely pale skin, but her features were Hispanic. Her long brunette hair was in a braid flowing down her back.

"It's all right. My name is Isabella Swan. It's nice to meet you." I said curtseying.

"It's nice to meet you too. My name is Maria Montuea." She answered.

"I'm sorry Isabella. This will hurt." Maria said gently as she took a step towards me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, frightened. I finally looked into her eyes. They were dark red. Uh-Oh. I thought. That is sooo not normal.

"Goodbye Miss Swan." She said and ran up to me and tilted her head to my neck. That was when I fainted.

I woke up, still in the woods.

At first I didn't remember anything and wondered why I was on the ground in the middle of a forest and my hair was wet…

Two dark red hummingbirds flew in front of me, like two dark red eyes….

That's when I remembered. Maria.

What did she do to me?

I stood up quickly, and gathered up my skirts and started running through the woods in the direction of my mansion. But I soon realized as I was running that I was running way too fast; inhumanly fast. I stopped quickly and just stood there. I could hear everything. I could hear the fluttering heartbeat of a cardinal in a tree. I heard the wings of hummingbirds and the sucking noise as they drank nectar.

I held my breath and listened harder…

I could hear the faintest rustling of leaves. I could hear the faint padded footsteps of a jaguar in the west…..

I counted in my head. 5 minutes. I hadn't taken a breath in 5 minutes. Was that even possible?

It wasn't even uncomfortable. I breathed out slowly and took regular breaths like nothing had happened.

What is wrong with me? I thought.

I raced through the woods to the place where I had woken up. There was a folded up piece of paper in the middle of the clearing and it said 'Isabella' in fancy script.

I picked it up and opened it. It was a letter.

Dear Isabella,

I am sorry for biting you I really am. But I had to. You have so much potential I can tell. You see Isabella, if you are reading this, then your transformation must be complete. Isabella, you are now a vampire. I'm sorry for the pain and that I couldn't stay with you but there was an emergency.

Till we meet again,

Maria

I shook my head slowly, confusion and frustration clouding my mind. Vampires weren't real. Just some horror story mothers told their daughters to keep them from sneaking out at night. It was probably all just a practical joke that Angela was playing. But, I doubted it.

And then she talked about pain. Now, that I remembered. A pain so fierce, it scorched and burned like fire. I could never forget that. I decided to go see Mother and Father. I ran through the wet and humid forest all the way to my mansion. I walked up to a window that looked into the parlor and looked in.

Mama and Daddy were in there. Mama was sitting in her favorite armchair with her head in her hands, silent tears flowing down her face. Daddy was pacing in front of her his hands behind his back and head down.

"What do you mean you're quitting the search?" Mama asked.

"Renee, dear, it wasn't me. It was the whole city. The mayor, the board, the police, even the schools. Renee, Bella's been missing for three days. We've searched everywhere. The police are counting her as… dead." He said, his voice cracking on the last word.

"But she's not dead Charlie. She can't be. No! She's not Charlie she's not!" She shrieked her pale hair falling into her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Renee trust me I am. I love her too." Papa said his short curly mahogany hair shaking when he shook his head. He walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. She shaked with her sobs and threw her arms around his neck.

I sighed and realized I hadn't breathed this whole time. I breathed in and smelt it. The most wonderfully luscious scent in the world. It was coming from my mother. My throat burned anxiously and eagerly. It would be quick. I would burst through the window, push aside Papa and rip out her jugular. She would never know…..

Wait, what?

Had I actually been thinking about drinking my mother's blood?!

I was so disgusted with myself I decided I would never take a human life. I couldn't end somebody's life like that.

I shook my head. Three days. I had been gone for three days. Wow.

I looked across the room at the large mirror. And there she was. She was beautiful. Her long brown hair was flowing down to her waist. Her face was perfection and extremely pale. I raised my hand up and waved it in front of my face. The girl raised her hand. I gasped. She was me. But wait… Were her eyes red?

Mama looked up into the mirror, saw my reflection, and screamed, "Bella!!" My throat burned. I had to get away.

I disappeared. As I ran I could hear her screaming "Bella! It was Bella! Come back Bella!"

I started to dry sob. Great. I couldn't cry. That's lovely.

So I was a vampire… What now?