Twilight: But it's a Thriller and I Never Read Twilight

Chapter 26: New Moon

I sat in my truck for a long time staring out at First Beach, near where Jacob had dragged me out and back home. I knew if I drove up the road toward the cliff, I'd find my bike waiting for me. If I left now, I could get back to my house and pretend I hadn't been considering this at all. I could tell Edward I was happy with his ultimatum, that I'd live my whole life as a human next to him and never ask to be a vampire ever again. But I knew I couldn't do that. I knew I'd only hate myself more if I let myself cave in to this demand.

Just before midnight, I grabbed the hunting knife in my glove box. I never went into the woods without it and though I knew it wouldn't really be able to protect me against a vampire, it would make me feel a lot better about what I was about to do. I left the truck running and the headlights glowing as I got out and stepped out into the sand.

The rain was far from lightening up, but I trudged out into the beach, my head held ahead to the dark and shifting waters of the ocean ahead. I knew she was in there, waiting for a poor sap like me to stumble along. I rolled my shoulder back as I stood, keeping my left leg from holding too much weight as I waited alone on First Beach.

I knew she could hear me, but I threw my voice anyway. "I know you're there. Come out and face me!"

Lightning struck overhead and within a second, thunder rolled loud enough to make me jump. I breathed back the fear as I kept standing, completely soaked and desperate. I wasn't leaving until I'd found the vampire who attacked me in the water. If Edward wouldn't turn me, I'd find someone who would.

I bit back against the pain and exhaustion. Part of me wanted to go home and sleep, but if I left now, that vampire would move on, and I'd never have another chance to find her. Instead, I took another step closer to the water and screamed, loud and wordlessly into the night.

"Boy oh boy," a feminine voice said in a sultry tone.

I twisted around, almost falling in the sand as I found an unfamiliar figure standing behind me on the beach. She was barefoot and just as soaked as me. Her red hair was drenched and sticking to the back of her neck as she watched me with a vibrant smirk.

"You're a bit jumpy," she said as I caught myself.

"You snuck up on me," I offered.

"Of course," she admitted. "And do you always come to this beach to scream at thunderstorms?"

"I was looking for someone in the water," I said.

"Like a siren," she offered. "That seems like a great way to get killed."

"Or a vampire," I corrected.

"An even better way to get killed," she said. "What's your name, girl?"

I held my breath at the question. I didn't need to see the fangs or the way she looked in the sunlight to know that this woman was a vampire. All I needed to do was convince her to turn me, but the last vampire I'd met had been more interested in killing me. I couldn't be sure this one wouldn't try the same.

"Bella," I said. "You?"

"Victoria," she said, the name rolling off her tongue like something rare and decadent. She took a step toward me in the rain, and I backed off. "Did you come here all alone, Bella?"

"I have friends that live near here," I told her. I didn't need her to think she could get away with killing me so easily. In the meadow, I had no way to call for help. She didn't need to know that I had no way to call for help now while my phone was on top of a cliff and soaked through.