Thump Thump… Thump Thump

There is a pounding sound on the inside of my head. I am not sure whether it's just the sound of my own heart, or whether I'm injured and I am loosing blood. Honestly, I'm sort of inclined to say that it's the latter. Every limb, nerve, and cell feels like it is on fire. I don't know what's wrong with me, just that whatever it is, it's very serious.

The pain consumes me. It feels like I've been burning for a millennium. At first I cried and whimpered to myself, hot tears streaming down my already sweltering face. Then, as the pain persisted, and I felt my hope slipping, I started to scream. A foreign sound of desperation, loneliness, and fear, ripped through my throat. Help me… help me I'm dying, the sound seemed to plead. But no one came. I think it was rather recently that I broke. My throat was raw and dry from the screaming. The tears had dried up from my eyes. I didn't have it in me to struggle anymore, so I simply gave myself over to the horrible agony, waiting patiently for death to come and take it away.

Thump Thump… Thump Thump

There is a noise from somewhere near. The sound momentarily cuts into my conscious, ebbing at the edges of my mind. Something inside me hopes desperately that help has come; however, somehow I know better. Perhaps I'd heard the sound before. Perhaps even recently, when the fire had already begun to ravage my helpless body. No, the source of this noise wasn't going to aid me. In fact, I feel my heart beat even faster, if that is possible, as the fearful adrenaline tries feebly to overtake the fire.

There is a slight pressure on the inside of my left elbow. Instinctively, I flinch away giving a raw whimper of agony as the touch made the fire flare up. This only made the pressure increase, as whatever is there grips my arm tighter. I attempt to scream again, but the sound that comes out is only a shadow of what had ripped out of my throat before. A deep rumble vibrates through my bones. Someone is chuckling as if giddy. I want to cry again.

Thump Thump… Thump Thump

Time passes and there is more pain. Suddenly, the noise is back. I can place it now: the faint pitter-patter of light feet gliding across a smooth surface. The pressure returns to my elbow, and I sink my teeth into my lower lip, drawing the metallic taste of blood into my mouth. I have decided not to give him the appreciation of hearing my pain and fear. I am better than that.

Then there is a strong piercing feeling of thousands of little knives piercing into my neck. Any iota of self-control that I had gained vanished. Immediately, I feel my body convulse, trying to tear away from this new torcher. Something is gripping my neck though, something so much stronger than I. There is no hope of escape. My scream returns, and once again tears pour out of my eyes. I wonder for the thousandth time what I had done to deserve this punishment.

I feel things fading suddenly. The agony isn't as sharp, the sounds that I had heard moments before are muted. I must be dying, and just the thought makes my heart leap. It will be over soon, I tell myself.

Thump… Thump…

I can hear my heart slowing. The beating no longer a steady background noise to my pain. I feel oddly dizzy, as if the world should be spinning, except that I can't see the world turning around me. I think my eyes must have shut when the fire started, and since then I've been stuck in a state of semi-conscious. Not that it matters. I will be dead very soon.

Something to my left clangs together, as if a fork had been dropped to the floor of a dinner table. Whoever had been chuckling earlier says something loudly that enters my ear in slurred bits. I think he must be cursing. That makes me almost as happy as my impending death. Good, he deserved upset, even if it is something petty like a dropped piece of silver ware.

The fire recedes now. My limbs feel like dead stones weighed down by exhaustion and relief. I could probably move if I wanted to, but it would require too much effort. I have spent all my energy trying hopelessly to thrash away from the fire that had been burning through my veins.

Slowly, my thoughts become uniform garble and I fade away into sleep. At least my last memory won't be one of torcher.

Thump… Thump…

I feel my mind awakening again, which in itself shocks me. I did not expect that I'd ever be waking up again. My senses, which earlier had seemed so dull, now feel like they are on over drive. Gradually, I realize that though I still feel like I need rest, I do have energy. If I wanted to I could move my fingers, sit up, walk around, or perhaps even open my eyes. I hesitate. My heart is still beating too slowly, a sign that I must still be unstable. And there is my visitor to think about. I don't want to see his face. Being able to name the culprit of my agony, well, it scares me.

I lay there, unnaturally still, for what seems like eons before deciding that he can't be there. It is too quite. I am the only one breathing in the room. I simply have to be alone.

My eye lids flicker open unwillingly, as they'd been closed for a very long time and don't want to return to life. At the sight of a dark brown dirt ceiling, my fear ebbs slightly. There was no horrible phantom hovering above my face. For the moment, I feel a tad safer.

I steadily prop myself up onto my elbows taking in the room around me. It looks like a perfectly square dirt cave, the only light coming from a flickering ceiling fan centered above me. Other than the silver table that I am laying on, the room is relatively bare. To my left there is a raised tray with various medical tools lying in disarray on top of it. Many of the various tips are dirty with dried blood. My stomach clenches. That must be my blood on those knives, and I quickly look away to my left. There I find another piece of medical equipment.

I am no expert in medicine, but I recognize the empty elevated bag with a tube lying limply beside it. There are traces of blood clinging to the interior of the bag and tube. My eyes tremble down to the end of the tube to find a dirty needle. I feel the urge to leap off the table and curl up in a corner. That machine, it is an IV. A creepy one that most certainly didn't belong to a hospital.

"Awake already?" a deep cruel voice cuts into my back. This time I do leap from the table with inhuman speed. The sudden motion shocks me. I shouldn't be able to move that fast, not now when I was just recovering from God knows what. Not ever.

It didn't surprise the source of the voice though. In fact, he flat out laughs at my shock as if I were some naïve child who was just discovering they could, in fact, walk. I don't want to look at him, but fear drives me to do it. Horror shoots through me as my eyes land on him. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.

He is in every form of the word, beautiful. His pale skin seemed to glow under the dim flickering artificial light. His medium length silvery white hair is smoothed back and tucked neatly behind his ears. Despite his gray coloring, he does not look old in the slightest. If I had to guess, I'd place his age at around twenty five, perhaps even a little younger. His jaw line is smooth and defined with a small stubble giving him a rugged look. He is wearing a long black coat that is buttoned neatly up to the second to last hole, revealing a little bit of his pale chest, and black leather combat boots adorn his feet. Dark blue jeans can be seen through the slight gap between his coat and boots. None of these features or pieces of clothing define him though. The most startling thing about him is his horrible scarlet eyes that stare at me maniacally under his chiseled silver brow. His lips pull into a grin, too wide to be human, that reveals his perfectly in line pearly whites.

I gasp terrified of this gorgeous monster that is going to kill me.

"How do you feel, love?" he asks in a smooth voice as he crouches motionlessly in the opposite corner of the room.

"W-What are you?" I squeak. I can't say what compelled me to use those words. Surely the word who would have been more appropriate. Yet his grin seems to widen at my question, as if what I said is exactly right.

"Vampire, love," he says softly raising to his feet and looking at me with hungry eyes. I subconsciously clawed at the wall in desperation. This man is insane; vampires don't exist. I don't respond. My words can't push through the paralyzed feeling that has taken over me. He has more to say though as he rises to his feet slowly. "You are too, now. At least in a sense," he tells me. Then suddenly he is beside me. His movement was so fast that I feel like my eyes shouldn't have been able to see it; however, I not only am able to follow him, but I had time to react. The second I detected his movement I rose my arms defensively up to protect myself, and as he covered the entire distance of the floor in one leap, I side stepped putting at least some distance in between his destination and my position.

"Vampires are supposed to be dead," I say the words spilling out of my mouth rapidly.

Thump… Thump

I can hear it. My heart is still beating, however slowly. I can't be undead if I am still showing signs of life. He has to be wrong.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" the man whispers gazing down at me as if I am his prized pet. I freeze trying to stop my hands from quaking. My eyes threaten to tear up again. I miss my family, my home. "Your heart is beating, but you're most certainly not human anymore." His hand reached out and pushes a lock of hair behind my ear. His skin brushes up against my cheek sending a chill of terror down my spine. "We're the same temperature. You thirst as I do. And of course, love, you look just like one of us."

"I haven't drunk any blood," I deny, but I feel the thirst in my throat. It is numb, as if something had quenched it. Now that he brought it up, the warm sticky feeling of red liquid flowing down my throat seems familiar. Something I have memory of.

"I fed you earlier while you were out," he says dismissing my argument. His face is uncomfortably close to mine. I can smell his sickeningly sweet breath on my face. He seems to be examining me somehow, the way a scientist would check over a machine he had just built before testing it.

"Fascinating," he breaths as he gazes into my eyes. "Yes, I see the red. They will be so pleased to hear of my success. Love, you are going to make me a very rich man."

I don't really understand what he is saying, but the image of myself flashes before me with the same red eyes shining like a fresh wound on my face. That does it. I let out a scream worthy of the pain I have been enduring. With a mighty heave I shove the man hard in the chest. Even my own strength is a stranger to me as he goes flying into the wall opposite me. The dirt around him capsizes as everything starts to fall down around us in an avalanche. Above him, the smallest shred of light shines through the tumbling mess of dirt. I know that the outside world is up there, and I spring forward. My leap is animalistic. I don't even touch the ground as I barrel through the mess of rubble grasping at the sunlight. My hand catches on something and I hoist myself forward into the air.

Behind me I hear an infuriated snarl rip through my captor's throat. He will be after me in moments, but I won't let him catch me. No matter how much it scares me, I can't deny the strength I feel. I'd never been athletic, but now I feel as if I could carry the world on my back and then some. With each stride I cover twenty times the ground that I could before the fire. And so I run acutely aware that I am still alive. My heart beats for freedom.

Thump… Thump…

A/N Hey so this is my first Twilight fanfic, although I have done some writing before. Feel free to drop by with any comments, questoins, suggestions, declarations of wonderful praise about how much you love my prolouge ;)... Or you know, a simple "Update Soon!" would also do :) Anywho let me know what you think