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My days as always were filled with the various levels of tedium. Sometimes it was possible for something to interrupt the constant passing of time and slow it enough for me to find an interest to capture my vast mind. Unfortunately, those events were few and far between. So I drifted through this half life painfully aware of each dull and mundane detail.

Now, however, was the worst kind of purgatory, and a time I wished I could skip over.

High School.

Surely, the fact that I suffered through each monotonous day in this teen ridden hell hole would count towards something, a way of repenting for the many sins that I had committed in my long inhuman life.

The faces of my victims ran through my mind. Each had dead soulless eyes lit only with fear as they saw me, an angel of death, coming to punish them for their repulsive sins. My mind held a bitter tone when I thought of the word 'angel'. I had been called it so many times in the idolising minds of the surrounding mortals, but I could see no part of me that held any resemblance to any angelic creature. All I ever saw was a monster.

I didn't miss my vigilante days, but I did not enjoy this life of constant babbling thoughts. Each one more self absorbed than its predecessor.

I stared at the wood grain patterns on the laminate of the table. It was one way to distract from the continuous noise in my head.

The majority of these voices I ignored out of either boredom or desire to save my own sanity- although sometimes I wished a vampire were capable of losing their mind and slipping to a realm of hallucination and dreams. Just to experience something other than what my life was.

My mental voice snickered bitterly. How strange that I was at a point of wishing for insanity, when I stood no chance of ever developing it. It was just another form of reprieve that I was denied and therefore increasing the feeling of imprisonment that slipped over me when I contemplated my existence.

I snapped my mind away from the pessimistic thoughts that came when I allowed myself to wallow. As soon as I came out of my own mind I was met with the gushing voices once again. I battled with them as always. I didn't enjoy having the ability to know every person's private thoughts and desires. Especially since in the eyes of the human females, I was the centre of their minds.

Six familiar voices infiltrated through the babble, and I fought harder to ignore them out of courtesy. My family had accepted my ability but that didn't mean I wanted to intrude on their privacy, so I tried to ignore the self obsessed thoughts of Rosalie. Jaspers struggles as he watched a girl flip her hair over her shoulder exposing her pulsing artery. Alice's buzzing mind that flitted between worry for Jasper and the new shopping mall that would open in Seattle. Emmett, of course, thought mainly of Rosalie, but I would catch a little jealousy of the jocks playing sports outside. Emmett loved competition, but he only had us to compete with, and sometimes that wasn't enough.

Get out of my head, Rosalie growled when she caught my eyes levelling on her for a second. She knew I didn't need to look at someone to hear them but she always seemed to feel more aware of it when I looked at her.

I huffed and went back to picking at the foul substance on my plate that the school had the gall to call food.

Edward

Alice had my attention instantly as her voice rang clear through the gush of voices.

This was often how me and Alice communicated, private conversations with simple actions on my part to prevent letting on too much.

Is he ok?

She glanced at Jasper whose thoughts were still snarled around the slender neck of the girl. It was only a week since our last hunt, but his thirst raged ferociously. He would cope, he was strong, but he would suffer whilst doing it.

Alice's eyes were fixed on me and I made my eyes glance at the ceiling then back to the floor indicating a 'yes'.

She needn't worry yet.

She relaxed but turned Jaspers attention to hers, and his mind instantly forgot about the girl. All he thought about was Alice.

It hurt to have so much love surround me but never feel anything close to it myself. I loved my family but that could never compare to the love they shared as mates.

I looked for another distraction from the small ache that sat in my chest.

Sifting through the thoughts of those around us one name kept coming up. Isabella Swan, the soon to be new girl. No face went with the name; apparently she was to move here the coming weekend after the week of the holidays.

If only she knew the reception that awaited her perhaps she would change her mind. Every of my pubescent classmates wanted to attach themselves to the new girl, be her confidante, best friend, and boyfriend. Each idea was feeble and insignificant. The main reason they wanted to be near her was because they knew how popular she would be for the first term. They all just wanted to use her for their own social gain.

I would never understand this teenage world, but then again I had no wish to. None of them held any interest to me. No human ever had.

Omnia vincit amor; et nos cedamus amori.

Translation: Love conquers all things; let us too surrender to love.

Book X, line 69

Vergil had many ideas on life and love, but this was one I had yet to experience.

It was a Friday night, the start of the weekend, not that that meant anything different. Most days just merged together. I sat staring out the window, the open book in my hand. I had read it many times, but still I felt that I couldn't understand it completely because I had never experienced the emotions he wrote about. With a sigh I shut the book and placed it back with the other classics that burst from my bookshelves.

My room hadn't changed much since we had moved here two years ago. However, now I had a new addition to my room. An antique mirror Esme had bought from Indonesia. The carvings into the wooden frame were intricate and complex; I could imagine the hours it would take for a human to create such exquisite patterns.

Despite its age the mirror still retained a clear polished surface. No matter the beauty of the piece, I had no real need for a mirror. I held no interest in looking at my monstrous reflection, it would only be a sharp reminder of what I was and the many predatory lures I had at my disposal.

I ran my fingers over the smooth pane. The temperature showed no real difference to my skin. I was just as cold as the inanimate object.

I was meant to be an inanimate object; I wasn't supposed to be alive. There were days when I wished I wasn't, that Carlisle hadn't changed me and I'd died at the young and tragic age of 17.

I was broken out of my wallowing by a change registering on my fingertips. It wasn't icy cold anymore, more like warmth that seemed to hum and vibrate. I watched in wonder as the pane of the mirror showed a faint room behind my reflection. I turned to see that my room was still the same.

My eyes bugged out when I saw the view that was now reflected in my mirror. There was a girl. It was a girl's room.

I sat mesmerised with my fingertip still pressed lightly to the image in front of me.

She moved around the room picking up various objects, looking at photos. I gasped as her hands made their way towards the hem of her top.

I had to stop this; I couldn't sit and watch some girl perform a strip tease without even realising. It wasn't the right thing to do. I had been brought up with better morals than to allow myself to indulge such a depraved act as to watch an innocent girl undress. I had always held myself as a gentleman and an unusual event would not change that.

I turned away from the mirror, running my hands through my hair to try and calm myself. A glance at the mirror showed it was back to normal. I breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps boredom was finally sending me to insanity.

Was it wrong that I actually felt relief at the possibility?

The hours that passed seemed endless, and for every one I watched the mirror from the corner of my eye.

It had created a temporary break in my monotonous life. No matter how strange, worrying, or confusing it was, there was something about that mirror that sparked my interest. A type of fascination with the room it showed. I had to understand it. It was something I needed to quench the curiosity that now burned in me.

I walked slowly to the mirror and placed my fingertip to the pane, thinking clearly of the place beyond it. That deep purple room which was cluttered with items that I could only imagine held some kind of memories for their owner.

The room came into view, and I found myself pressing my hands to the mirror pane trying to see deeper into it. I wanted to investigate every corner of that room, to gather as much information about its owner as possible. It was irrational to want to know about something that seemed impossible, but I was a vampire. I was supposed to be a myth, a legend. I wasn't supposed to exist.

As my hands pressed closer to the pane I felt the mirror shift, the image swirled in front of me until the pane wasn't solid anymore, more like a mist like bubble separating me from the room. I felt a slightly warm breeze hit my face and gasped, stepping backwards and watching the mirror seal back up.

I should tell Carlisle, or someone. I could be putting my whole family in danger by experimenting with something that I didn't comprehend.

I shouldn't be risking something that is so important to me. It was selfish to chase something that could endanger the people I loved.

But it wasn't my family I was thinking about when I once again touched the glassy surface willing the room to existence. It was pitch black, like the sky outside my window. The girl would be sleeping, but as the room came clearly into fruition I noticed it wasn't pitch black at all, instead it was lit in soft warm light by a single lamp. The girl sat at a keyboard her hands drifting over the keys as she rocked slightly, timing the pace of the song she was playing.

Her hair fell in messy curls down her back, not the sleek waves it had been earlier today. She had been sleeping but was obviously restless.

Why was she restless?

Why did it intrigue me?

She seemed so peaceful. I sat as she finished her song. I couldn't hear it, but I knew about it when she finished. Her eyes snapped towards me. Was I visible? I hadn't thought about the risk of actually being caught watching her.

How perverse she would think me, watching her when she seemed so vulnerable.

I saw her stand and walk towards me. I needed to hide, somewhere, anywhere. I leapt from the mirror and hid like an idiot behind the curtains.

I was a 104 year old being and I was hiding from a girl, who could only have been 18?

I needed to get away from here. I needed time to think this through. Perhaps it was just a one off, one unusual night of some mystifying magic.

Did I believe in magic? I wasn't sure. I had always believed that everything which can't at first be explained has some rational excuse behind it. Even if sometimes that rational excuse seemed impossible.

I knew deep down that the girl was real, she had to be.

Is everything ok Edward?

Esme's loving voice echoed through my mind. I turned to her and smiled. She worried so much about me, my loneliness. I knew she thought that Carlisle may have turned me too young, that 17 was too young to adjust.

Sometimes I felt that maybe she was right. But I had learnt that age really wasn't relevant. My age didn't stop me from understanding. After all, I had so many years of living in me, but living and fully experiencing life were two different things. No matter how many places I had visited and cultures I had experienced, I hadn't really lived them to their fullest. Not the way the others did, purely because I didn't have someone to share it with.

I hadn't looked at the mirror since last night; nearly being caught and discovered had sent fear through me. But that fear also brought a thrill that only came with running. An exhilaration at something that gave me freedom.

I had to experience it, just once more. Just one more glimpse into this room that held something that made my mind buzz.

I rushed to my room and shut my door. I could hear Emmett's thoughts as they drifted upstairs.

Looks like Eddie needs some alone time.

I shook my head in distaste. It was typical Emmett to associate my want for privacy with such a delinquent act. Unlike him my mind didn't focus solely on sex.

My fingers had become used to the tingle the warmth of pane created when it showed me the room. This time I was greeted by the scene of the girl standing at her window. The light pooled on her face and made her hair seem to glow with a multitude of colours, golden brown, chestnut, deep chocolate and soft mahogany. I took in the rest of her figure. It hadn't really registered with me earlier as she was always in a state of movement. Now, as I saw her soft curves and lean figure, it triggered something in me. She was no different from the other girls at school, but the way she held herself was what registered in my mind. Her posture was straight and confident.

She turned to face me once again, crossing the room to stand before me. She wasn't focussed on my eyes, so I didn't panic that she had seen me. My fear had been irrational.

Her striking blue eyes searched for something, her fingers ran along my palm as I watched in wonder. She may have only been a year or two older but something in her eyes showed a maturity many others her age seemed to lack.

"What is this?" Her voice sounded distant.

"I wish I knew," I replied, but it didn't register that she heard me. Her human hearing wouldn't be able to pick up on the distant sound of my voice.

I left the mirror untouched or hours after my contact with her.

Her I didn't even know her name. It seemed so rude to talk of her as if she were merely another human, when unlike other humans she caught my attention and held my interest.

She was my fascination.

I needed to know more.

I knew I would have to wait till nightfall, I couldn't risk being caught. If I was going to enter this place I had to take some precautions.

I spent the majority of the day plotting in my head. The family would be out hunting tonight to help ease Jasper's thirst. They knew I had opted to stay behind, and even though they questioned it, they didn't push for answers.

What could I have said that wouldn't have garnered confusion and in Rosalie's case outright disgust for my idiocy?

Rosalie and I had a strained relationship, ever since her change I had been irritated by her self-centred thoughts and she by my lack of idolism at her beauty.

I couldn't bring myself to openly admit my fascination with this mirrored room, for I couldn't bring myself to open up for ridicule from Rosalie. The others would give me the benefit of the doubt, but Rosalie would instantly insult my perverse curiosity for something that could endanger us all. If not from the unknown on the other side, then from the Volturi if they were to catch wind of such an unusual occurrence.

I couldn't let that happen, to risk this mirrored room's exposal to the Volturi, to put that innocent girl at risk. But I had to know what sat on the other side of that misty film. I had to give in to the selfish urge that compelled me to pass through into the unknown, just once. Just to experience this once in a lifetime opportunity.

And so, when I was certain the family had left, I went up to my room. And here I sit preparing myself to take the step that could alter everything or nothing in one instant.

I watched the pane as it twisted and reformed into the misty film it had earlier.

Stepping forward I felt the new air of the room hit my skin, and a fluttering sensation pressed against my body as I passed through the film.

What I was met with was unlike anything I had ever had the pleasure to experience. The scent that permeated the room was so luscious, so full and vibrant. Cherry blossoms and vanilla floated through the air mixed with something heady and spicy, ending on a single sweet but citrus high note that would have made my mouth water. It was intoxicating, and I inhaled it desperately feeling the rush that went through my veins with each molecule of this delicious scent hitting my taste buds and senses.

Beneath the fire that built through my body there was no burn, nothing that caused me the constant discomfort that I had grown used to. It was a fire that licked through me and seduced rather than tortured. I looked to see the girls sleeping form twisted in her sheets. They were pulled up around her chin but her hand had slipped to the surface.

My eyes no longer saw her features in an innocent light. This girl before me sparked something in my being that made my skin tingle at the thought of her touch. Her hand sat so carefully on the top of the cotton cover, her skin seeming to glow in the dim light that came from a slit in her curtains.

I couldn't control my actions. My mind was fuelled by something so raw and primal; I didn't stand a chance to control it in this instant. My hand reached for her and the silky texture mixed with the heat of her sent shivers to settle at the pit of my stomach. I had experienced something like this before, whenever Jasper lost control of his power during his private time with Alice. He would pump the whole house with this strong potent emotion that now coursed through me. Lust. Pure and unadulterated. All consuming and raging.

I could feel her pulse vibrating through the thin barrier of her skin. Each contraction of her heart sent new waves of scent that sent me into a frenzy.

Fuzzy images flickered around my mind from her dreams.

"What are you?" I whispered it, my husky voice surprising me.

A groan broke from her throat, and it was the most sensual sound I had ever heard. I felt my unnecessary breathing increase. She shifted.

She was waking up.

She was waking up and I was standing panting holding her hand.

I had to run somewhere, get away, but I couldn't move. I couldn't clear my head to think about the portal I had come from. I retreated as fast as possible to the dark corner of her room, hoping, praying she wouldn't see me.

She shifted again, and I heard her breathing speed up as she woke from her slumber.

I waited for the scream or the quickening of her beating heart but nothing came, instead she merely rolled over and fell back into her dreams.

It had been too close. I waited a few minutes before exhaling that precious scent from my system. I needed to go home. I had pushed my luck too far for one night, any second it could snap and leave me trapped in a situation I had no control over.

I carefully made my way to the portal. I was so close.

It all happened so fast; light flooded the room and arms grasped towards me. I flew through the portal in panic praying that she couldn't follow. That she would think it all a dream, a figment of her imagination.

This hope all failed when I realised I was now standing in my room missing a Prada loafer.

She had evidence of my existence. She knew I was no image from her mind which was created to make her dreams interesting.

She had just created the reason for me to visit again, and I couldn't find it in me to regret it. I could have just thrust danger into the heart of this family, but the memory of her scent caused the fear to melt away.

I wanted to see her but part of me knew I wanted so much more than that.

Author's note: This isn't Edward falling in love with Holly on first sight, he's fallen in lust. Unlike with Bella when it's almost love at first sight.

xxx