New York City, New York

I hate school. Seriously. I always hate school, every single year, yet I still go back time and time again. Why was that? Did I just enjoy torturing myself? Was it because I craved knowledge? Maybe it was because there was nothing else better to do. I sighed as I finished writing out the last few sentances of my report, that was due next period. Stupid Mrs. Deason, making us write a five page report on something mythological. I hate writing with a passion. Hated thinking even more, so I just randomly chose something.

Werewolves. Men transforming into wolves, roaming the earth to commit evil deads! Yeah right like werewolves exist. Well I guess they could, just as easiliy as I do. Decades ago I didn't believe vampires existed. Learned that the hard way.

Flashback.

"Because Im a vampire." My best friend said to me, trying to explain why he had to leave town.

"Right and I'm the tooth fairy." I challenged. "Come on Edward, don't lie to me…"

"No Drea, I'm serious." He said running his fingers through his hair.

After that everything was a blur. He told me everything. His parents, brothers, sisters, all vampires. But not just any vampires. Vegitarians so to speak. They didn't drink from humans, only animals. Seriously, I think he thought I was as dumb as a box of hair.

But soon I was a believer. Like I said, learned that the hard way. He was part of the reason why I was who I am today. Well not really, I kinda brought that on myself.

Present time.

I tucked my papers into my school book and looked around. It was summer here in New York and quite a hot one. Though I was feeling fine. Im usually cold anyway. Well my hands were. I stared at my hands. My long nails were painted the most awesome shade of black. It was like leather pants black. Shiny and all.

From across the lawn, I saw Alec Hannigan grinning at me. He was wearing said leather pants and a nice tight fitting shirt. Yes. Yes that is why I come to school. Boys. Men. Whatever, don't care. I don't hate. I love them all! I returned his grin. Been there done that. Not going back. I mean he's a nice boy and all. Maybe nice was the problem. Really he always treated me like I was a crystal vase, like I would shatter with just a tiny touch. I want a fighter, a man who is not afraid to verbilize his desires and then follow through without asking for permission. Get what I mean? That's right. I like it rough. Most people wouldn't think that of me, being such a small girl and all. Im probably about 5'1, 5'2, hell I could be 5 feet even by now. I seem to be getting shorter every year. It was my own damn fault though.

Flashback.

"How could you ?!" Edward was screaming at me. Nothing unusual there. I was always doing something to upset him. He had some kind of vampire power where he could read minds or something. But he couldn't read mine and that really pissed him off.

"What'd I do this time?" I asked innocently. I really didn't have the faintest idea.

"You accepted his invitation!" He screamed.

"What? This is about Patrick? Why the hell do you care who I go out with anyway?" I asked. Edward just glared at me. "What?"

"He's not mortal." He practically hissed. Im sure the look on my face showed I was in fact surprised.

"Oh." I said flatly, then my face beamed. "Is he a vampire?" I was getting excited. I had spent too many nights with Edward and his family. I wanted to be a vampire so freaking bad.

"No he's not. Not at all. He's more powerful, evil even." Edward sat down beside me.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, he'll kill you or worse."

"And worse than being killed would be…?" I asked sarcastically.

"Just stay away from him, Alexsandrea." Ooohh my whole name?

Present time.

Yeah should have listened to Edward. Instead I chose to ignore him and go out with Patrick anyway. Well after a few weeks of dating , I ended up giving away my 'virtue' as Edward calls it, and that's when all hell broke loose.

My thoughts were interupted by Brittany Moore. She was tall and stocky and towered over me. I have to admit I was afraid of her.

"Lexi, did you finish your report for English?" She asked in a high pitched voice, you so would not have thought she'd have. And she called me Lexi. It made me cringe. I hated that nickname.

"Yep, just finished." I said patting my backpack. "And please, call me Drea. Or Alexandrea." I tried to sound polite. She just smiled and went on.

"I finished mine two nights ago. What did you do yours on?" She asked. "Alexandrea?"

Yeah I hated that name just as much.

"Werewolves." As soon as the words were out, she wrinkled her nose.

"Why would you write about werewolves? They are so ugly and evil, and.." She trailed off. Yeah like she knows one or something.

"What did you write about?" I asked, I knew this is what she wanted. She wanted to gush about something.

"The Asrai." She said gleefully. The look on my face, Im sure was priceless. I had no idea that anyone knew of the Asrai, aside from me and my vampire friends. "What? have you heard of them?"

"No.. no, .." I stammered. "Enlighten me." I made an ugly face. I probably looked pissed. I tried to change that immediantly.

"Well, all Im gonna tell you is that, they are beautiful and petite and very special fairies." She smiled. "Like you." She said winking at me.

Who you callin a fairy, bitch. I tried to smile.

"Thank you." I said trying not to upset her. She was extremely bigger than me.

"You will get to hear more in class!" She said as she hurried away.

Oh goodie. I wonder where she got her information from. Im sure this will be very fun to listen to.

Flashback

"What's wrong with her, Carlisle?" I vaguely heard Edward speaking.

"She's going through some kind of transformation." I heard him answer back. Everything was fuzzy. I knew I was in Edwards room. Not sure how that came to be, but that's where I was.

"Why are my hands cold?" I asked staring up at Dr. Carlisle Cullen.

"Im not sure, Drea. Not yet. We are doing some research." He answered. Reasearch? I looked around and there was Alice and Rosalie, Edwards sisters. And his brothers, Jasper and Emmett. Jasper and Emmett were on Edwards computer and Alice was staring into space. A vision, maybe? That's her power. She has visions. How cool is that? Rosalie just sat there doing nothing, as usual. She was always so pouty. I realized that Edward's mother was missing.

"Where's Esme?" I asked reaching for Edward. Wow his hand felt weird. Usually it was soo cold, but it felt so normal to me right now. "What's happening to me?"

"Are you in any pain?" Edward asked kneeling on the floor beside me.

"No." I assured him.

Present time.

Moral of the story… you give your virtue to an asshole and you turn into some kind of immortal freak. But that was decades ago. I learned to live with it. Well I learned to love it actually. I couldn't read minds like Edward, or see things like Alice, but I had my own special talents. One being I could get any man to do anything I asked, which was a plus. And I could freeze people with just a handshake. Okay merely exaggerating on that last part. I merely remove the warmth from a person's skin when I touch them. But it only lasts a few minutes. Im sure I could freeze someone if I held on to them long enough. But I have never tested that theory, since the only ones who know my secret are vampires. And that would be pointless.

When I walked into English class I was feeling giddy but pissy at the same time. I knew that I would find humor in Brittanys paper, because I've heard the stories about my kind before. It's all bull shit, really. When Mrs. Deason asked if anyone would like to read theirs first, Brittany almost fell out of her chair waving her hand. It was pathetic. Mrs. Deason waved her on to the front of the class.

"The Asrai is a type of aquatic fairy…."

Oh please. I hate water.

"Some describe them as timid and shy, standing only between 2 and 4 feet tall…"

Shy my ass. And Im taller than that!

"They are said to look like beautiful young maidens, sometimes as young as children, while actually being hundreds of years old."

True there.. I thought as I flipped my long red hair over my shoulder.

"They may have webbed hands and feet…"

Hold up, what the hell? I so do not have webbed feet or hands.

"If an Asrai is seen by a man, her beauty is so great that, the man will instantly wish to capture her."

Capture? Is that what they call it these days?

"The Asrai are as deathly afraid of capture as they are of the sun, for if captured or if even a single ray of sunlight touches them, they will die and turn into a pool of water."

I had to laugh at that one. I should be pooling into water any second now.

"They are so cold, that if they touch you, the place on your body will never be warm again."

HAHA, maybe I should send out a mass apology to all the men I've had in my life.

I couldn't take listening to this bullshit anymore, so I began doodling on my notebook. I started off just making a bunch of shapes. Before long, I realized I was drawing a person. A face, a face I knew all too well. I smiled and looked down at my drawing. My best friend. My Edward. He had stayed with me after my transformation, instead of leaving town like his family wanted. When I was able to deal with the change, he followed after them. I haven't seen him in a long long time. Okay a few years. Maybe two. But that was a long long time to me. I wonder what he was up to these days.

I thought about the last time I saw him. His sister Alice had accompanied him. Well she wasn't really his sister. I've learned over the years, that the Cullen's weren't even related. Least not in a human way. Of course I learned that the hard way. But that's a whole nother story. God I missed them.

Flashback

"Geezus Drea, when is the last time you went shopping?" Alice had asked me as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. I looked down at my cheap jeans and pink tank top.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" I asked.

"Girl, let's go get you some clothes."

"But Alice-"I started. Edward glared at me and shook his head slowly. Alice was already in Edwards silver Volvo honking the horn.

"You won't win. Don't fight it." Edward said laughing.

"I could take her. She's my height and all." I said only kidding. She'd kill me, this I knew. We joined Alice and the three of us sped down the road. When I say sped, I mean like seventy over the speed limit, ATLEAST.

She made me try on tons of clothes and bought every single one of them. I swear I felt like a freaking paper doll by the end of the day. But Alice was happy, so I was happy.

"Jasper and Emmett said to send their love." Alice told me quietly as she drove me home. "And Esme and Carlisle said to give you a big hug. Which I will do when we get ready to leave."

"Awww no hi from Rose?" I asked acting hurt. Rosalie didn't like me much and I really had no idea why.

Present Time.

Though she had every reason to hate me now, but she didn't know that. And as far as I'm concerned she never will. I glanced up to see Mrs. Deason eying my drawing.

Crap.

"Miss Johnson?" She practically hissed. "Did you enjoy Miss Franklin's piece on The Goddess Aphrodite?" I looked at Candy Franklin standing at the front of the classroom. She had her long white blond hair pulled up in a pony tail. Her badly tanned face smiled with delight that I was called on. She hates me. But only because all the boys don't.

"Absolutely, wonderful. Bravo Candy." I said fake clapping. She would write about Aphrodite, hell she probably thought she was her.

"Would you like to go next?" Mrs. Deason asked.

Uh, if I said no, would that matter?

I took my place at the front of the class and began to speed read my report.

"Werewolves…" I said the word slowly. The whole class snickered. Apparently I'm the only one who picked something not sickenly sweet to write about. " …are humans with the ability to shape shift into wolves ."

Sounds cool right?

" A human becomes a werewolf if they are bitten or scratched by one such creature. Werewolves have extra human strength and senses far beyond that of wolves or men."

Hmmm….kinda like a vampire.

"Werewolves while in their wolf form, can be described as having curved fingernails, low set ears and a swinging stride."

Sounds like my old golden retriever, Fluffy.

"They can only be killed by silver bullets and are highly resistant to other attacks, healing almost immediately. "

Whooo hoo screw vampires I wanna be a Werewolf!

"Werewolves were said to be evil men who terrorized people in the form of wolves by command of the devil." Everyones's eyes widened.

Hey that's what the book said.

"Some also said, that werewolves were the result of rabid wolves attacking humans."

Is it not sad that I feel bad for these poor pitful puppies?

"In their human form, their hair grew rapidly. They had pale sunken faces, hollow eyes, swollen lips and flabby arms."

No, that would be an alchoholic.

"The corpses of the werewolves were cremated rather than buried in order to prevent them from being resurrected as vampires." I stifled a giggle. This was ridiculous. I went on to decribe the various legends about werewolves ending with the American Indian legend about shapshifters. Everyone was quiet when I finished. It was an eerie silence. One in which I had to add something.

"But unlike vampires, werewolves do not exist." Yeah that wasn't the right thing to say. Everyone snickered. Candy rolled her eyes at me. I knew she was going to say something.

"Vampires are not real." She looked from me to Brittany. "And fairies are not real." She flicked her pony tail off her shoulder. "But a Goddess, atleast we know those can be real. I mean look at me."

Need to kill rising.

"Alexandrea could be a fairy." Brittany protested.

What is it with her anyway?

"Maybe a vampire but not pretty enough to be a fairy." Candy shook her head.

I couldn't contain myself.

"Yeah well that's not what your boyfriend told me last night." Oooohs echoed throughout the class and Mrs. Deason finally stepped in.

"Enough ladies." She said pointing at both of us.

Im so sick of this town. I thought as left my last class of the day. School is getting boring, I mean duh, I already know everything, Ive been in high school since… God I don't even remember the year. Pretending to be sixteen kinda makes a girl forget her real age. Which is like.. lets see I was born in 1933. I met Edward in… hmmm let's see I was fifeteen, and I was a few months away from being seventeen when I transformed. And its like what… 2007, 8 .. something like that. So Im like almost 80!

"Holy crap, Im almost eighty fucking years old!" Yes I said that outloud and yes everyone is staring at me now. I just smiled and waved. The I took off running for the school parking lot where my dear friend and roommate sat waiting for me.

"Hey Drea." She said as I jumped into the car.

"Do you know how old I am?" I asked her seriously. Ive only known her for a year. She didn't know my secret.

"Almost seventeen?" She asked questionly. "Shit, did I miss your birthday?" I just stared at her. "It's like in August right?"

"Yeah yeah that's it August…" I baited. I had no idea when I told her my birthday was.

"The 19th?" Her green eyes pierced mine. She was getting upset.

"Right on!" I laughed. "Just checking, Zoee" She laughed and started the car up.

The ride home, all I could think about was telling Zoee my secret. I loved her, she was like the sister I never had. She took me in last year when I ran from my last residence. Its really hard to keep up with things, cant stay in one place too long. People start to notice that you never age. But what about Zoee, she'll notice eventually. Well maybe not, she was kind of out there. A bonified Hippie. Im not sure if she's naturally ditzy or if she was just high all the time. She sure was fun, I'll tell ya that much.

When we pulled up at our place, I saw Leroy's van parked in the driveway.

"Ooooh lover boy is here." I teased Zoee. Leroy Brown. Yes that is his name. No shit. Zoee's boyfriend of the moment. He's been hanging out here for like a week. Their either in the bedroom or getting high, or possiable in the bedroom getting high, who knows. Not me, I try to suffacate myself with a pillow if I even hear one tiny whimper coming from that room. Like Rabbits I tell ya.

I don't know if it was me or what, but Zoee looked kinda on edge. She slowly got out of the car and went straight to Leroy's van. I nodded to him and took off inside.

"You got a card in the mail." Zoee called after me. "And there's some cookies on the counter."

Yep I loved her. Always with the snacks and drinks and advice. Seems like she just adores taking care of me. She'd lay out my clothes for morning if I'd let her. I laughed at the thought. She's only eighteen, a graduate, stuck at a dead end job to support my ass. I owe her everything. I owe her the truth.

I pushed the door open and ran to the kitchen table, anxious to see who my card was from. The envelope was blank except for my name and address on it. "Miss Alexandrea Shea Johnson." Hmmm obviously from someone who knows me well. I grabbed a cookie off the plate on the counter and threw myself onto the couch.

I pulled out another envelope. It was a wedding invitation. I scratched at the label to open the inner envelope. I pulled out the most elegant piece of paper I think I have ever laid my eyes on it. See through layers with petal printed paper. Wow. This must be some wedding. I glanced at it "Mr and Mrs. Charles Swan would like to invite you to the wedding of their daughter.." I looked at her name carefully. "Isabella Marie Swan." Do I know her? I pressed my fingers against the pretty paper and trailed down to the groom. Bet he's a hottie. My eyes bulged as I read the name. "Edward Anthony Cullen."

Holy crap! No freaking way!

When I realized I was jumping up and down. I stopped immediately. Glad no one was in here to see me act a fool. I sighed as I looked at the invitation. "August 13." Yes. This was it. This was my ticket out of this town. A brilliant way to cease my boredom! Without any further thought, I ran to my room and started packing. I was going to leave as soon as possible, so I could spend time with Edward before his honeymoon. I checked the calendar on the wall. August 2nd. Yeah that's certainly enough time! I was crazily throwing clothes into my suitcase when I heard the front door slam shut. Not a sound I was used to hearing. Zoee was pretty laid back; she didn't have much of a temper.

"Zoee, is anything wrong?" I asked coming into the living room.

"No." She told me. She had obviously been lying.

Liar.

"Oh did you get your card?" She asked trying to subtly wipe her eyes. She didn't wanna talk about it, I wasn't going to make her.

"Yes! Its from my friend Edward! The one I always talk about it?"

"Oh really, how nice. How is he and his family? The Cullens didn't you say?" She really acted interested. Though I have told her many stories about Edward and his family. Though I did leave the vampire part out.

"Wonderful! He's getting married!" I practically screamed.

"Wow, that's wonderful!" She said with actual excitement in her voice.

"Im going to be leaving soon to see him. Will you be okay while I'm gone?" Her entire mood changed. Her eyes looked dark. Her face swollen.

"You can't just leave school." She protested after staring at me for what seemed like forever.

"Oh its no big deal." Really it wasn't. Like I haven't been there done that a thousand times.

"You can't Drea! You just cant leave!" She collapsed on the couch "You can't leave me." Tears were forming in her eyes.

Oh crap she's crying.

She covered her face with her hands and began to sob. I slowly made my way to the couch and sat beside her. I wanted to hug her, tell her it was okay. My arms lingered in the air.

Cant do that. If I touch her she'll cry more. Learned this already.

"What is it Zoee?" I asked placing my hands in my lap. She sobbed some more and finally looked up.

"Im pregnant."

WOW. That's it. That's all I was thinking.

She stared at me, as if waiting for my response. I just couldn't think of anything to say.

"He wants me to get rid of it."

Fucking Asshole.

"What? You can't do that! That's not right Zoee!" I yelled at her.

"I wont do it Drea, you know I couldn't do that!"

I knew this. She couldn't step on an ant without crying.

"Well what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. He said if I don't do it, he'll take care of it himself."

Hold on now. I know he don't think he's really the baddest man in the whole damn town.

"No way! I wont let him!"

"How can you stop him?" She asked her eyes pleading with me for help.

I don't know. Sure as hell aint handling it the usual way that's for sure. It's usually pretty easy to get what I want from a man. But this... this may be a bit of a problem. I was thinking pretty hard about it when I noticed I had put Edwards invitation on the coffee table. I reached for it.

"Washington." Forks. Where the hell is that?

"What?" Zoee asked.

"Come with me." I said standing. "To Washington. You can meet Edward and everyone."

"What if Leroy follows me?" She asked.

"He won't. We'll sneak out." He won't follow if he knew what was good for him.

I had her convinced within minutes and she zoomed around the house packing everything she could fit into her suitcase.

We left later that night. I called Zoee's work and told them she had a family emergency and she'd be out for a few weeks. Zoee called the school and left a message saying pretty much the same thing. It was about 3am when we took off. Just threw our bags in the car and took off.

I didn't realize til we were about three hours away from the house, that I had forgotten the invitation. No worries though, I knew the town. I'm sure someone could direct me to the Cullen's.

Yes ma'am could you tell me the way to the sparkly vampire's house? I laughed at my thought.

After purchasing the tickets and boarding the plane, I realized it might have been nice to let Edward know I was coming. Though this was an emergency and well he'd catch my scent the moment I entered the state.

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