Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, et cetera are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

…

I never perceived humans as anything more than a food source. It was not a god complex by any means, but I had long become accustomed to my role. I was the predator and they were the prey. I had been a vampire for ten years when I first discovered the Cullen coven. I had almost lost all my humanity when I ran into a pixie-like vampire dragging a muscle-laden vampire twice her size around a mall in Seattle. Little did I know, this muscular vampire and his coven would irreparably change my second life.

…

"Emmett, just one more store! You bet Jasper that the Seahawks would win next Sunday and they won't! Get over it and get a move on!" the pixie pleaded.

Next? I questioned internally. Next Sunday?

"I don't see how my bet with Jasper should've landed me here. This fucking blows!" The one I now knew as Emmett was carrying a half dozen bags ladened with the designer clothes the bag's label indicated. I sat in the food court, hundreds of feet from the arguing vampires, listening to their conversation as if I was standing next to them. Their eyes were… gold.

Strange, I thought. I planned to let them enter the store they were in front of and then sneak off in the opposite direction. I didn't want to engage them here in front of so many humans. Even we three, working together, couldn't silence all the humans around to prevent from being discovered. The thought of the ramifications chilled my already frigid body. My plan, however, didn't bear fruit when Emmett started to walk in my direction.

"ALICE! Go into your shop. I'll wait over here. Damn shop-a-holic! This is stupid," Emmett spat under his breath, too quiet for any human nearby to hear. I heard it and of course, I sniggered. Oops. I froze. Emmett, who had seated himself a dozen tables away, turned himself in my direction. He looked confused at the sight of my ocean blue eyes.

Having the ability to control the molecules around you came in handy when you wanted to camouflage your appearance. I granted my skin a deep and even tan, like I had spent many months surfing the beaches of southern California or Hawaii. And seated under this skylight, I refused to allow the rare Seattle sun make that skin sparkle as I knew Emmett's would if he were seated next to me. I just had a healthy glow.

I raised my eyebrows at him and he growled very low. I rolled my eyes, got up, and approached him. One vampire, even this large, I could handle.

"Save your growl for a human," I said plopping down at Emmett's table. His confusion overtook his desire to back away and protect himself. After a second of silence, I decided to give him the real me—the vampire me that is. The tension at my temples ceased as I let my mind stop controlling the pigments in my skin and eyes. They reverted to their pasty white and blood red, respectfully. Emmett dropped his bags onto the ground and jumped back. He was ready for an attack. I looked around the food court to see whether Emmett was causing a scene.

Nobody paid us any attention of course. Humans were so blissfully unaware of their own surroundings. It was what made them easy prey. Anticipation of a kill roiled my stomach and my throat burned with a unquenchable thirst. I shook my head to clear the thoughts of satisfying my bloodlust and locked my eyes upon Emmett's.

"Don't fear me, Emmett," I cautioned. "I don't intend to fight you. I just thought your 'shop-a-holic' comment was funny albeit a bit cliché. I'm Logan by the way. It's, uh, nice to meet you." I stuck my hand out in greeting. I had seen so many humans do that as a way of defusing the tension of first encounters.

Emmett slowly approached me. "Um yeah, I'm Emmett. Nice to, um yeah, meet you?"

"Was that a question?" I asked tilting my head to one side.

"Huh?" he asked back. I looked around the food court. The humans were still overly involved in their own lives. I turned back to Emmett. He was just staring at me.

"Um, right," I said and grabbed his outstretched hand into mine. In the short moment that we made contact, I felt a charge of what felt like static electricity run up my hand, wrist, arm, and across my body. My eyes quivered and shut. What just happened?

"What is happening to your hand?" Emmett was wide eyed in fascination, possibly a little fear too. I looked at the target of Emmett's interest. My hand was phased into his. Shit! I pulled it to my chest and wiped it across it like I had dripped something on my hand.

"Sorry, Em," I said quietly. I stood still, but felt I needed to explain. "I can do that you see. I can control the matter around me and in me."

Emmett didn't take long to respond, nor was he quiet about it. "Dude, that's awesome! Can you, like walk through walls?"

I nodded my head.

His mouth dropped.

"It's particularly helpful when I hunt. You know, those pesky home alarm systems and all," I explained.

"Uh, yeah. Well, it was nice to meet you. I better be getting home." Emmett waved at me and started walking toward the shop Alice was in.

Home? What vampire has a home? Intrigued, I followed Emmett toward the boutique. Before I got two steps closer however, I saw Alice run towards me at a relatively human pace. She was good at playing human. I was thoroughly impressed. As the distance between us decreased, I thought of stepping back to maintain a little distance from her, but she didn't hesitate. Let's see where this goes, I decided.

She went right into my arms and threw a huge hug around me.

"I'm Alice!" she squealed. "I know you are going to love living with us!" I looked over her shoulder at Emmett, who was smirking.

"Hey Logan, the car is over here," Emmett announced as he pointed towards one of the exits on the far side of the food court. He started to walk in that direction.

Alice let me loose from our hug, but held my hand tight. She escorted me across the food court and before I knew it, I was at a very yellow Porsche. Alice jumped into the driver's side and Emmett held the door for me.

"Alice, this is a real nice ride," I said in a reverent tone.

Alice squealed, "You know cars too? Rosalie will absolutely love you!"

"You getting in?" Emmett asked, pointing at the back seat. Throwing any caution I might have had in getting into a closed space with two other vampires to the wind, I hopped in the back of the Porsche. As I slid inside, I grazed against Emmett's shoulder and that static shock thing made my arm go numb.

"Sorry," I said as I massaged my arm.

"It's all good in the neighborhood," Emmett laughed.

"What vampire has a Porsche!" I thought out loud as Alice sped away from the mall. She was driving at what seemed the speed of sound.

"This vampire does," Alice responded as she shifted into a higher gear. I enjoyed the speed too much to say much more. As Seattle faded behind the horizon, I looked over to Emmett who was texting on a cell phone.

"Okay, you two are the strangest vampires I have ever met!" I said incredulously. "First, shopping in a shopping mall; second, a Porsche; and finally, a CELL PHONE! I think I let you shanghai me just so I could see if you two are truly vampires or actually humans in vampire bodies!"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Alice said.

"Don't worry about the cell, Logan. I'm just letting the family know we're bringing someone home for dinner," Emmett laughed.

"Dinner?" I asked rhetorically. "What are we eating? Roast human with a side of blood stuffing?"

"Nah, probably more like raw venison with a side of grizzly bear," Emmett whispered beneath Alice's shrieking laughter.

About an hour later, we pulled off Highway 101 onto a long winding driveway. Rolling up to a big house, I couldn't help but be impressed with the amount of windows facing every direction into the woods. "It's like being outside in the forest, but inside at the same time," I said awestruck.

"That was the theme Esme was searching to portray when she designed the house. I'll let her know you appreciate her artistic talent too. Wow, Logan, you're fitting in with this family already and it has only been two hours." Alice's compliments were so strange. I didn't bother to ask what she meant by "fitting in" because I knew that she would just answer with cryptic answer.

Alice drove her Porsche into the garage and the distinct scents of five more vampires flew into my nostrils. It was easy to commit them to memory and I was anxious to place a name with each scent. I looked out my window to see a beautiful blonde vampire underneath the hood of a silver Jeep. She was arms-deep inside the engine. Alice and Emmett got out of the Porsche and Emmett held the door open for me like a perfect gentleman. I could grow to enjoy this, I cautiously thought.

Alice flitted over to the grease monkey vampire. "Rosalie! This is Logan, the person Emmett texted you about!"

Rosalie withdrew her head from the engine compartment to stare me down. She rolled her big eyes at me. "Big deal," she said with annoyance imbedded into every syllable. She then went back to work on the Jeep, however not two seconds later, she then threw out a few expletives. "Dammit Emmett, what did you do to this Jeep! I haven't been able to get it above a hundred since you took it up that mountain trail! Every time you break your toys, I'm the one fixing them!"

"Whoa, grease monkey is a firecracker!" I quipped.

Rosalie pulled her head from the engine compartment and shot daggers at me with her eyes. "Listen here, what was your name again? Nolan? Watch your tongue or I'll shove a firecracker underneath it."

Without missing a beat, I responded, "I'd like to see you try."

Emmett and Alice wailed in laughter. Rosalie threw her middle finger into the air and growled at me. Ignoring Rosalie, I looked at the engine compartment and saw through the steel and plastic. Searching around I found what Rosalie was grumbling about. I approached Rosalie who, sensing my proximity, stiffened. I grabbed at the air filter and pulled it out. It was caked with about a mountain of dirt.

I handed the filter to Rosalie. "This is what is causing your performance failure."

"Shit, it's already too late to run into town to get a new filter." She threw her wrench onto the concrete floor so hard it cracked the concrete. "Dammit!"

"Better hope Esme didn't hear you do that!" Emmett tried to say over his booming laughs.

I kneeled down and picked up the now bent wrench. I handed it over to Rosalie and took the air filter out of her hand. "Watch this, grease monkey," I said as I waved my hand over the filter. I felt a familiar pull near my temples and saw the dirt and grim come out of the filter's fibers. I rubbed my hands together and the dirt coalesced into a ball that hovered above my hand. I turned to Emmett, who looked at me with a dumbfounded face. "Consider this your revenge, my dear grease monkey." I flung the dirt ball into Emmett's face and it exploded in a poof of dust.

It was Rosalie's turn to wail with laughter. "Who did you bring home Alice? I already love him."

"It's Logan," I corrected her from earlier.

"Yes, I know what your name is. Come on in, time to meet the rest of the family."

"You all keep saying family. This is a coven, right?" This confusion was getting old really fast.

"Uh, why don't we let Carlisle explain," Emmett said after getting the dirt off his face. "Just to give you a fair warning though, punk. Revenge in the Cullen household is a way of life. Be prepared."

I laughed at Emmett's comment. "I'm many things, Em, but I am no punk. So bring it, bitch."

He smiled in response. I almost fell on my butt gawking at that smile. Whoa, this guy was cute!

…

The leader of the Cullen family/coven, Carlisle, came home from work a few hours later. I was shocked to find out he worked at a hospital. I contemplated asking how he abstained from all the blood bags, living and plastic, which surrounded him everyday, but decided that conversation was better for another time. Jasper, Alice's mate, was nice after Alice said I was okay. Her opinion went far with Jasper, but I noticed that he perceived himself as the Cullen's first defense. The scars that were strewn across his skin were a veritable sign of his vampire-killing prowess. Esme was an absolute sweetheart. She had just given me a tour of the house when the final member of the Cullens, Edward arrived home from hunting.

"I don't mean to be rude, but why are your eyes gold?" I finally blurted out. We were all sitting in the living room. It was plush with couches and armchairs of a modern style. Paintings were tastefully placed on the walls that weren't windows.

"No, you are fine," Carlisle responded in a distinct albeit muted British accent. "We abstain from hunting humans and live on the blood of animals. That is why our eyes are gold. But, why is it that your eyes are blue?"

"Yeah, you live off blue fin tuna or blue Chesapeake crab or something?" Emmett continued to throw out whatever blue-named animals he could think of.

Carlisle waited patiently until Emmett finished his tirade before coaxing me to answer. Carlisle's patience impressed me. I thought about dropping a painting onto Emmett's head to shut him up, but thought better of it when I remembered how much pride Esme had in her perfect house. Emmett probably wouldn't have shut up anyways. Broken wood and canvas didn't exactly puncture vampire skin.

Edward let out a laugh and it made me weary of him. I chose to ignore my feeling and turned to Carlisle to answer his question.

"Carlisle, when I was turned I quickly discovered that I have an innate ability to see and control the molecules that make up the matter around us. This means I can pull a picture frame off the wall and crash it over Emmett's head or phase my body through solid objects." As a demonstration, I latched onto a gigantic painting with my mind and threw it towards Emmett. Before he could react I phased the frame through Emmett's body and hung the painting on the wall again. Esme popped out of Carlisle's lap and went over to the painting. She put her hands on her hips and stared at the positioning of the painting for what seemed like an eternity. Then, she pulled one side down by a fraction of a millimeter. I must not have perfectly centered the frame when I put it back.

"Impressive," Carlisle responded.

Edward's interest peaked and he joined in on the conversation. "Can you phase other vampires or people?"

"I've never tried humans. I've done it a few times to attacking vampires. The farther away they were, the more difficult it was to do. It wasn't really a problem in the end though because they had to be literally on me to hurt me so it was easy to phase most of them into the ground and then rip their head off." The nonchalance of my statement didn't escape me. I wanted it to be established as soon as possible what I could do. No matter how welcoming these vampires were, I was still outnumbered seven to one.

"Who else knows about your power?" asked Jasper. He scooted closer on the couch towards Alice. She rolled her eyes at his posturing.

Rosalie shifted in her seat. I could see she was toying with her own question so I invited her to speak. "What do you mean," she said in a snotty tone, "when you phase them into the ground? Do you mean—literally or just that you dig them a hole?"

The atmosphere in the room was becoming tense. Carlisle sensed my unease. "Everyone calm down. I am sure Logan means no harm to any of us so we should offer him the same courtesy."

Carlisle made me feel a little better. I could tell he was the leader and that no one questioned him after he made a decision. I wanted to tell these people about me though. I have never told anyone and the life of nomad can be lonely.

"It can be lonely," Edward said.

I squinted my eyes at him and a switch flipped on in my head. "I guess I'm not the only one with abilities. Psychic?"

"Yes," Edward's said.

I turned to Alice, "Clairvoyant?"

"Perceptive," commented Jasper. "How old are you?"

Carlisle interjected, "I think we are done interrogating our guest, don't you think, Jasper?"

…

As the sun fell in the west, I found Jasper in the Cullen's library thumbing through a volume of an encyclopedia. "I didn't think they made those in paper form any more. You know they have the Internet now. And it's probably better updated."

Jasper laughed to himself and closed the book. He put the volume on a bookshelf and said, "I was changed during the Civil War and so some habits—like preferring paper to electronic—die hard. Would you care to sit with me?"

I took a seat in the armchair opposite Jasper. In front of us was a roaring fire. To anyone else, it merely looked like chemical reaction of fuel, heat, and oxygen. But to me, it was a combustion of color where each individual molecule of the wood would explode into a ray of heat that spread across the room. It was breathtaking. While charred wood remained behind, even that was beautiful. It glistened in the fire around it like an island of black diamonds.

"What do you see?" Jasper must've noticed how deep my gaze was in the fire.

I shook my head and turned to him. "It would be too hard to describe. For something so simple as a fire, it's quite breathtaking." We sat by the firelight for a few minutes, but eventually I broached the topic of his earlier question about who else knew about my ability.

Jasper sighed. "I apologize if I was rude earlier. I did not mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I could tell that the all the questioning was getting to you, however I did not stop. I blame it on my tactical mind. I fought in the Southern Wars, if you did not know. Strategic planning and knowing the worst case scenarios are bad habits of mine."

I had heard a little of the Southern Wars. They were brutal and that was obviously where Jasper acquired all his battle scars. He had to be a formidable warrior to have survived all those bites.

"I would be happy to answer any question you have. I can respect a tactical mind," I admitted. "I may not have any experience in the context of warfare, but I can see things that others can't."

"Fair enough," Jasper responded.

I laughed awkwardly. "To answer your earlier question, aside from the people in this house, no one has survived long enough to tell anyone about my ability."

"Uh, are you some sort of super vampire?" Emmett teased as he entered the room. His interest was peaked when I told Jasper I would answer his questions. The others were interested too because they all came into the room on Emmett's tail.

I rolled my eyes. "Uh no, I've only killed two other vampires in my life. The first was my sire and the other one was a nomad. I have kept to myself mostly."

"How many years have you been a vampire?" Jasper asked.

"I've been living this second life for a little less than ten years. After my newborn bloodlust waned, I realized what type of vampire my sire was. I took him out of commission. The nomad was over a kill that both she and I claimed. She is no more as well."

"How did you come to this life?" Carlisle asked.

"You want the whole story?" I asked.

"I'm not getting younger," Emmett blurted.

"Nor are you getting any older smart ass," I responded.

I got out of my chair and approached the fire. It had died down somewhat, but it was ever as beautiful. I turned to face the Cullens and began my story. "I should start with who I was two days before my first life ended. As you all probably know, much of a vampire's human memories are lost in the change, but I was able to piece most of what happened together over the years after the change.

"Two days before my first life ended, I was the only child of a pair of middle class parents. My mother was a homemaker. She was quiet, loving, and ever loyal to my father. My father was the breadwinner and was really strict with my mom and I. The sort of strict that should bring around the image of a belt being used as punishment when I would get a bad grade in math." I shuddered from the uncomfortable thought even though it was so far departed from this time and place.

"My father was a good Christian man. He took the Bible literally. He was the man of the house and my mother and I were to exist in our subservient places. I remember going to school and coming home with a bloody nose or being all bruised up, and my dad would look at me and tell me it was because I was a weak faggot. He told me I needed to toughen up. His son wasn't a faggot." Esme sighed in displeasure. The mood in the room became heady. Jasper's eyes wouldn't leave the floor. I had to continue though.

I forced the awkward pause to slip away and started again. "Little did my father know, however, his son was, as he put it, a faggot. The secret of my sexuality was one I kept from the first time I realized who I was. But living in small town Nebraska was not exactly the place where I wanted to come out. I planned to move away for college and experience life outside the closet. That didn't happen in the end, however.

"I was pretty much a loner accept for one friend. I don't remember his name, but I do know I had the biggest crush on him. By junior year, we hung out every day and I thought he had feelings for me too. One day in gym class, I approached him in the showers and he kissed me. Little did I know there was a gang of jocks behind me. My friend, who must not have seen the boys, pushed me away and said that I threw myself at him. He ran away then and I never saw him again. He left me alone with six jocks.

"They beat me. Oh, they beat me to a pulp. An ambulance had to take me to the hospital where I was put into the intensive care unit with a shattered femur, broken ribs, and a punctured lung. My parents refused to leave my bedside at the hospital. My father wanted to press criminal charges, but this was until he found out what sparked the attack. The kiss. I was barely conscious when he told me to never come home. My mother asked him why he was being so irrational in the middle of the hospital. Her protection of me made me feel secure and warm. The feelings were not to last. After my father told her, she turned to face me and saw tears streaming down my face. The truth was too much for her. She grabbed her purse and walked out of the hospital room with my father. I never saw either my parents again in my first life.

"I laid there in the ICU for another day just sobbing. I never felt so helpless in my entire life. I was hurt, afraid, and most of all, alone. I wanted to die. The pain of loosing my family was too much for me to bear. Little did I know that the sear of the venom would be the pain of loosing my family multplied by a million." All the Cullen's looked at me as if they suddenly remembered there was a vampire part to my story.

I smiled an evil smile. "Yes, that part of the story happened next. It was late and a thunderstorm had hit the area. I could barely move, but I didn't want to either. The doctors were concerned because I hadn't taken any food down in more than a day. They continued to ask me where my parents where or what a better phone would be to contact them. I didn't respond. How could I? They disowned me for being who I was.

"The thunderstorm continued to crack and howl outside. It was then that I noticed a shadow in a corner of my tiny room. The shadow crept closer to me and I tried to hit the nurse call button. Before I could press it though, the shadow's hand crushed my own. I screamed in a mix of terror and pain. He held my hand for a second and looked into my face. For the first time, I saw the face of my sire. His eyes were black as night. He was thirsty for my blood. He felt along my wrist for my ulnar artery. Later, I would discover it was his favorite entrance point. He preferred to cause as much pain as possible. He thought the flavor of the blood was enhanced with blood curdling screams. No pun intended." No one laughed.

"He licked my wrist. His tongue was cold and rock solid. Then… he bit through my skin like it was paper. The pain was excruciating. But then, the pain grew exponentially as the venom started to course up my arm. My life would have ended a few seconds later if it wouldn't have been for a group of nurses who rushed in the room because they had heard me scream.

"The nurses's screams alerted others in the hospital to a situation in my room. My sire had to clean up his mess so he went about draining all the nurses in order as they came into the room. While my sire was distracted, I detached myself from all the machines that were hooked up to me. I fell to the floor and my landing was greeted with a crack. I knew I busted another rib. The pain in the rib would have been bad if it wasn't for the searing fire that was creeping up my arm.

"It hit my shoulder and I must've became delirious. I pulled myself from the floor and bumped into the window. With my good hand, I broke through the glass. In hindsight, the venom must've given me the strength to bust through that window, but in the moment, I thought it but by the grace of God that the window shattered. I lifted myself up over the ledge with all my remaining strength and slid out the window. I don't know how high up I was. I didn't even consider whether the fall would kill me. I just needed to get away from my sire.

"On the ground, I found myself near a creek that had swollen with the runoff from the storm. I crawled over to a stand of trees and screammed in pain for three days. To this day, I'm still surprised that no one found me during my change. When the transformation was complete, I laid motionless. I thought I was dead as there was no pain from my wrist, leg, or ribs.

"My sire found me a few hours later and he taught me all the rules of this life—my second life, as I like to call it. I followed him around for two years. I had to. I couldn't think clear enough to venture out on my own let alone fulfill my thirst without creating a spectacle of myself. As the bloodlust waned, my human memories began to surface. I eventually realized it was my sire that had created me and caused me so much pain. He told me he had a penchant for sneaking into hospitals and draining his victims dry.

"When I found out about the hospital part, I snapped and my powers as you all have experienced thus far manifested. I phased him half way into a concrete wall and ripped his head from his body. I tried disintegrating it with my mind or tearing it into smaller pieces with my hands, but my sire continued to re-form. Finally, I found that fire took care of the job. He wouldn't hurt another human again." I closed my mouth and sat down in the armchair.

Esme immediately walked over to me and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. She sobbed tears that would never form. "I'm so sorry, Logan. All that you had to go through, at such a young age, it just tears my heart apart."

While still in her hug, I whispered, "Esme, I appreciate your empathy, but I've had a long time to deal with this life. And I've come to the conclusion that God gave it to me as a gift."

Edward scoffed at that last statement.

I looked over Esme's shoulder at him. "No really, Edward, God gave me a second chance at life. It might not be the life most people would want, but it is a life nonetheless and I cannot me more grateful."

Edward nodded.