Beauties | Esme Cullen

Chapter One

 Sarah Christine Harris was very bored. 

 The summer days had gone; it was now October, and the weather was changing. In California, the winter wasn't so bad. Sarah actually found that winters in California were much more tolerable than winters in many other places in the country. She wasn't from California, but she liked it there, and spent a lot of her time traveling within the state. 

 Despite her love of traveling, Sarah was beginning to realize life as a nomadic vampire could get rather boring if you spent too much time in places you've already been to so many times. Maybe she needed something new, something she didn't normally do. That was when she thought of Los Angeles. Despite the fact that she liked California, she hadn't spent much time in Los Angeles. It was a big city, one you could easily disappear in. If you weren't some sort of celebrity, it had to be easy to go here and there without anyone noticing. 

 So, Sarah made her decision to drive to Los Angeles. She doubted she would be able to stay in Los Angeles for long, anyway; she didn't have much money, and she assumed that living in a city like that had to be expensive. 

 Sarah's car was an old car she had stolen once, years ago. She taught herself about cars so that she would be able to take care of it. True, she had her vampire speed, and could just run wherever she wanted, but she found she enjoyed driving. Having her own car to drive around in made her feel a little more ordinary. Sometimes it was nice to pretend she was an ordinary woman, even though she knew she wasn't. 

 When Sarah arrived in Los Angeles, she realized just how crowded a city it was. She had a difficult time finding an apartment she thought she might be able to afford to pay rent on for a couple of months. Eventually, she found an apartment building she genuinely liked and thought she could afford for at least two months, maybe even three if she could ahold of some more money. 

 On the day she moved in, she took her things out of the trunk of her car and carried them up to her apartment. When she arrived, she noticed that the door of the apartment across the hall from hers was open, and she could hear two people having a conversation. 

 "But don't you think we should have heard from them by now, Carlisle? It's been a few days." 

 "I know, but everyone's still getting settled. Let's give them a chance to figure out what they're doing now, and then I think they'll be in touch with us. I think they're all still a little disappointed about leaving Forks." 

 "Hmm. I suppose you're right. I think I'll put this here." 

 The first voice was a woman's, and she sounded tense. The second voice was a man's; his was more calm, but he might have also been a little tense. Were they worried about something? Well, whatever it was, Sarah remembered she had no clue who these people were and it wasn't any of her business. 

 Through the open doorway, Sarah happened to get a glimpse of a woman hanging a painting on the wall. She paused, staring at her. She must have been the woman who was talking, the one who was worrying about someone. Sarah could only see her from the side, but the woman did look like she might be worried about something. But the worry didn't change the fact that she was beautiful. 

 The woman turned and saw the open door. "Oh, Carlisle, I thought you closed this." She paused when she saw Sarah standing out in the hallway. "Oh. Hello. Do you live here?" 

 "Um...yes. Yes, I do." Sarah remembered that she was an official resident of the building now. "I just moved in across the hall here. I was bringing in some stuff from my car." 

 "Really? We're also new here. We're just moving in. I'm Esme." 

 "Who's there, Esme?" Sarah heard. It was the man's voice she had heard before. 

 "One of new neighbors," Esme answered. "She's just moved in, too. This is Carlisle," she said to Sarah as the man came into the doorway. "It looks like we're going to be neighbors." 

 "Oh. How nice." Carlisle looked distracted, and didn't seem to take much notice of Sarah, though he gave her a quick smile and said, "Nice to meet you." 

 "Um...I suppose I'll see you around, I guess," Sarah mumbled, not sure what to say. 

 "Yes." Esme smiled and nodded. "Bye." She closed the door, and Sarah stood staring at the door for a few seconds before going into her new apartment.