Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight.
Songs, quotes, etc. belong to their rightful owners.
All other ideas come from the Author.
Copyright © 2011.

I bit my lip, wondering where to start. He most likely wouldn't care about the minor details like where I came from, why I moved to Forks, what drew me in to him-not like I knew the answer to that one-and any other things that could come to mind. Just thinking about what I was about to explain caused little sparks of pain to ignite in my chest. I took a few shuddering breaths as I readied myself.

The room was silent. It could have been that way for seconds, minutes, hours; I didn't notice the passage of time. However long it was, I was thankful for the vampire in front of me for not pushing me. Somehow, I knew he could sense how hard this was for me. I'm not sure how he knew, but it was something I was grateful for. Releasing a deep breath, I began to speak.

"I was seventeen when I moved back to Forks. I saw him, them, on my first day of school. It was in the cafeteria and I was sitting with a group of...friends?" I hadn't meant for it to come out as a question, but to be honest, besides Angela, I wasn't sure if any of them were truly my friends.

"There were four of them. They walked with this certain sort of air. Many would call it arrogance of some sort, but I think it was just because of who they were, what they were. Of course, I had no idea that they weren't…human…at the time, but I knew they were different. It was obvious: the expensive cars that were too ostentatious for the small town, the designer clothes that everyone knew had cost a fortune, the fact that they were all flawlessly beautiful and walked with effortless grace that could make even the most highly-trained ballerina jealous.

"You'd think they would fit in somehow, or at least had people flocking to them, wanting to be their friend to get a hand in their luxurious lifestyle. But no, everyone gave them a wide berth when they passed and only talked about them in hush whispers. It was strange.

"I met….E-Edward…in the next class, Biology. I was already fascinated with him from the whispered gossip in the cafeteria. They were all adopted by the local doctor and his wife, though they only looked to be in their late twenties, early-thirties, much too young to parent children.

"A girl at the table thought it was weird that two of the four were dating. The other two were twins, so it was obvious they weren't going to date. Edward was one of them. The same girl told me not to get my hopes up, because he didn't date, that he thought the girls weren't good enough for him, or something like that . Honestly, I just think it was a bunch of sour grapes, but—" I cut myself off, realizing the slightly bitter tone my voice was taking.

I glanced up at the vampire, his eyes staring intently at me. Blushing slightly, I ducked my head.

"Sorry. Anyway, I met Edward in Biology, though 'met' wouldn't have been the correct term. I had barely set foot into the room when he reacted, giving me the most murderous glare imaginable. At that moment, I had wished that the floor would open up and swallow me. I didn't notice how tense he was until I stumbled into my seat. I was pretty maladroit back then." I could feel my cheeks heating as I remembered just how clumsy I was back then; it hadn't gotten better much, but at least I didn't trip over the air… most of the time.

"For the next few days, I was pretty much having mixed feelings. Some days I wanted to stay home and hide, while others I wanted to find him and demand what his issue was. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on what I was feeling that day, he didn't show up, though the rest of his siblings did.

"When he did come back, he spoke to me, asking random questions to break the ice, I guess. I almost thought I had imagined that first day. After that, things were a little… awkward? I mean, we weren't really talking much, if any. Mostly it was biology related and when we were required to. Like I said before, I didn't realize how strange Edward and his family were, but one day, I came one step closer to finding out."

A yawn escaped my mouth, causing my tear ducts to react, filling my eyes with slightly stinging tears. Rubbing my eyes, I asked if I could sleep and finish this later. When I didn't get a response, I moved my hands away from my face to see the vampire staring at me attentively, his head cocked to the side. I opened my mouth to ask him why he was looking at me like that, but instead of words, a yawn came out again.

I groaned; the tears from yawning were always annoying. Before I could reach up and wipe the tears away, a gust of wind blew, causing me to close my eyes, forcing a tear to escape down my cheek. When I felt a cold finger lightly brush my cheek, my eyes popped open. That was when I realized just what that gust of wind was.

The vampire had moved closer, capturing the escaped tear on his finger, staring at it, his finger close to his face as if he was trying to see every molecule. Then again, he probably could. In a flash, he brought his finger to his mouth, tasting the salty tear. Oddly, I didn't think it was strange. Okay, so maybe a little.

The slightly stinging sensation of the tears in my eyes began to irritate me. I brought my hands to my eyes and rubbed the moisture away. While I was rubbing my eyes, I felt a small breeze before something light landed on the bed next to me. Opening my eyes, I saw that the vampire was gone and that Niko had come out of hiding.

Too tired to get up and shower, I stripped down to my underwear and climbed under the covers, Niko curled up by my feet. If I woke up on time, I'd be able to take a shower in the morning instead of the time I usually take one, at night, and still make it to work on time. On regular days, I tended to hit the snooze button on my alarm clock, welcoming the ten extra minutes of sleep.

Unfortunately, neither happened, seeing as my alarm didn't go off! I woke up feeling completely rested and content. I stretched with a smile on my lips. The only weird thing was the fact that Niko was already gone. Usually, he would scare the shit out of me by staring in my face, waiting for me to get up. Rolling over toward my clock, I saw that it was well after ten o'clock, jolting me right out of my peaceful awakening.

Tossing the covers off of me and rushing to my feet, I started towards my closet. I saw a figure in my peripheral and froze, realizing why Niko wasn't here waiting for me to wake up. I slowly turned around to see my stalker vampire standing in the corner of the room.

"You could have given a girl a warning," I grumbled, turning back to my closet, looking for something suitable to wear to work.

"Duly noted for the future, but if you are going to wake up like that all the time, I doubt you will be getting any type of warning."

It took me a few seconds to understand what he was implying; I was standing in front of him in my plain black bra and ladybug underwear. Blushing furiously, I quickly grabbed a t-shirt from my closet, pulling it over my head. Luckily, it reached about mid-thigh, but I was still a little uncomfortable with showing this much skin around him. I hadn't even shown this much skin around Edward, not that he would have approved of it. We could barely kiss like a normal couple without him pulling away and scolding me. Then again, we weren't a normal couple.

That was when I realized that I had thought about my past relationship with Edward and the pain was a little more bearable. I guess talking about it aloud with someone was able to help me let go. Technically, I wasn't really talking with someone, more like to someone. Either way, it helped.

There was only one other person I could talk about Edward with, but the pain was still too raw and new for his hateful words. I felt a more intense pain wash over me, causing one of my arms to cross over my stomach; and the other gripped the edge of the t-shirt, keeping it from riding up with my movement. I didn't even have to think of his name for the pain to ease its way into my body. It had been about four years, yet the pain was still intense.

"Looks like I don't have to find a way to bring up our conversation. Judging by the pain you're feeling, you must be thinking of it already."

Instead of correcting him that I wasn't thinking of Edward, I thought about the rest of his sentence.

"How do you know?"

"The pain you are feeling right now is very similar to the pain you felt last night when we were talking about your past."

I shook my head, sitting down on the edge of my bed. Despite the fear I still had about being around him, I looked down at my lap. It was a stupid thing to do, especially when I knew the vampire wouldn't hesitate to kill me. Pushing my fear back from the forefront of my mind, I looked back up at the vampire.

"No. How did you know what I was feeling?"

"I am an empath; I am able to know what you are feeling as well as make you feel something. The only downfall is the fact that others' emotions can affect me as well. It's a curse and a blessing, I suppose."

I watched the vampire as he looked out the bedroom window. It was raining and would probably continue to rain all day. We stayed silent for a moment; the only sound was the pitter-patter of the rain hitting the roof. I was quiet, not really knowing what to say. I didn't know why he was keeping quiet, but after a short while, he finally spoke. Our silence didn't last for long, as the vampire by the window spoke again.

"Now, this is what's going to happen: I'm going to sit here and you're going to finish your story. When you're done, I'll decide upon your fate. Though I can promise you now, that it probably won't be pleasant. You're a human who knows too much, so don't expect to live much longer."

A/N

Sorry for the long wait as well as the short chapter. I've been going through a lot right now, but thanks for sticking with me. Sadly, I lost my beta and my prereader, but that's alright. I'll either request for a new one or continue without one. It doesn't bother me much. I'm still pretty busy, but I'm hoping to update this story once a week as well as Collect and Conquer. I'm hoping I can update this every Saturday and Collect and Conquer every Sunday, but I'm not sure this will always be the case.

Thanks for sticking me,

Peace love and Jasper bites.