5I don't own Twilight or any of the characters.
Authors note:
This is Finding Her from Bella's point of view. I prefer reading (and writing) in Edward's point of view, but I couldn't resist writing their first meeting from her point of view too.
I have started to write more of Finding Her, but I probably won't post it for a while. I want to see where it's going to go and make sure I have a good story before I post anything else, but if you liked it, give it a follow so you'll be notified if and when I continue it.
And last but not least, thank you so much for the amazing reviews and all the follows and favourites. I have really appreciated all of them and they have given me the confidence to try to continue the story.
"Bye, Erica," I said as I stood from the table in the busy coffee shop, "Sorry I wasn't as much help as I should have been tonight. I promise, I'll have all the reading done by the next time."
These group projects were killing me. At least when I couldn't concentrate on single assignments, it was only me that had to suffer the consequences, now I was dragging Erica down with me. I had to focus more, get the reading done on time for our next meeting, it was just so hard these days.
I walked out the door into the cold night air and pulled my coat tighter around me. It wasn't a long walk back to my dorm, even quicker if I cut through some alleys, so I headed that direction so I could get home to the heat sooner. Maybe I could get started on some of that reading tonight. It wasn't too late, but it was dark already, the sooner I get back the better, I thought.
I turned into the dimly light alley and walked briskly, as it was a bit creepy here. Maybe not the best idea to walk along here at night, I thought to myself, Charlie would have been livid, but I was already here so best just to walk quickly.
Just then I heard footsteps entering the alley behind me. Just someone else cutting off a few blocks, I'm sure, just keep walking. The footsteps got closer and closer to me, my heart rate increasing with every sound. Everything's fine, just keep walking, everything's fine, just keep walking, I was telling myself, when a large man appeared at my side. I edged away from him, but I had no where to go and I ended up with my back against the alley wall, with him was leering down at me. He was so close I could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"Come on, baby," he slurred in my face, "Let's have a little bit of fun."
I knew where this was going and I also knew that despite his apparent drunkenness, he was far too large for me to be able to fight him off. I could feel the fear rising in me, as I realised that I wasn't going to survive this. I refused to go down without a fight though and I thought about all the ways Charlie had always told me to incapacitate an attacker; heel of the hand upwards into the nose, knee to the groin were the first things that came to my head. Readying myself to do whatever damage I could, I put my hands towards his chest in order to get him a little further away from me to deliver my first blow, but to my surprise when I pushed at him he moved quickly and disappeared from my view.
I spun round to see him being easily held up against the same wall he'd had me backed up against, by a tall, dark haired man. It looked as though he weighed nothing to this new stranger as his feet were dangling off the ground. I couldn't see my saviour clearly as he had his back to me. I felt like I should say something, thank him, but I couldn't find my voice.
"Run," he growled, without even turning to look at me. I paused for a second, then I turned and ran for my life, not really wanting to stay and watch whatever was going to happen. However, as is the story of my life, I hadn't gotten far when I stumbled and fell, tripping over thin air as usual. Just as I was about to stand, I looked back at the scene between the two men, and stared, frozen in place as my saviour stared into my attackers eyes before lowering his head to his throat and biting down hard.
I wanted to look away, my eyes must be deceiving me, because it looked like he was drinking the blood from the attacker right in front of me. I knew I should run, leave, move, do anything, but I was stuck, frozen in fear. I thought I had been scared when I was backed up against that wall, but now the terror of watching him drain the life out of another human was making my blood run cold.
He finished draining the man, and dropped his limp body at his feet, before looking up and staring straight into my eyes. As soon as our eyes met, all the fear I had felt, left me and I felt the crackle of electricity flow between us. Still I couldn't move or even look away from his dark eyes, but it was no longer fear that was holding me here, it was him.
After a long moment, just staring at each other, he broke our eye contact and I felt the loss of it immediately. I allowed my eyes to wander over the rest of him. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen, his bronze hair tousled in a very sexy way, his lips full and enticing, his body lean but clearly muscular under his clothes.
"Stay, please," he whispered just loud enough for me to hear, as he looked back up at me, his dark eyes pleading with me to listen to him. He then stood, lifted the body from his feet and disappeared so quickly, I wondered if I had actually imagined the whole thing.
He had told me to stay and my body wouldn't let me go against his wishes, so I just sat there on the cold, hard ground, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. My fear was long gone, only curiosity, wonder and desire were left. The connection I had felt the moment our eyes had met was so strong and like nothing I had ever felt before. Was this love at first sight? I hadn't believed in that before now but there was no denying this strange connection between us, it had fizzled around us as we stared at each other before, and I felt it's loss as soon as he left.
He returned after only a few minutes and I stood as he entered the alley again, walking closer than he had been previously. I wanted him to come even closer, the desire to touch him was strong, but I fought against it for now.
"I want to take you somewhere warmer and more comfortable, where we can talk, come with me, please?" he whispered. I still couldn't find my voice so I nodded, knowing that I would follow him anywhere.
He gestured for me to follow him, and so I did, still staying a little distance from him as I fought the urge to touch him. My head knew that it was crazy to be following a stranger, particularly one I had just watched drain the life from another human being, but my heart could not be overruled . We walked in silence for a few blocks before he led me into an apartment building, up a flight of stairs and into his apartment.
His apartment was very basic, looking like no one actually lived here. There was all the usual furniture you would expect, but no knick-knacks, no pictures on the walls, no books or newspapers strewn on the coffee table. I walked into the living room and sat on the sofa he gestured to, while he sat down on the chair opposite me. Our eyes met once again, and the electricity fizzled in the air, flowing between us.
"Can you feel it too?" I breathed, finally finding my voice. I had to know that this connection wasn't one-sided, though I felt sure I could see it in his eyes too. He nodded.
"Is this normal for... whatever you are?" I asked, quietly. I was pretty sure I knew what he was but I wanted to focus on this strange connection between us first.
"Not for me. I've never felt like this before," he replied, and I saw nothing but truth in his eyes.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, it occurred to me that I was sitting here looking into his eyes, discussing this charged connection between us and I didn't even know his name. I giggled softly and he arched his eyebrow at me in question.
"I've just realised, I don't even know your name," I explained softly. "It feels like I've known you forever. My head is spinning, logically know I should be scared or at least uncomfortable with a complete stranger, but I just can't feel like that somehow. I'm Bella, by the way."
"I'm Edward," he said in his beautiful, velvet voice. I could listen to him talk all day.
"You aren't human," I remarked. It wasn't a question and I already knew what he was. I wondered if he would deny it or try to convince me otherwise, not that he would be able to. I hoped that he would be truthful, I wanted to know everything about him, nothing he said could ever break this connection anyway.
"Aren't you scared? I'm waiting for you to run away screaming," he uttered, looking down at his hands in his lap. I hated that he was doubting me, but I understood how he must be feeling.
"No, not any more," I answered, hoping to finally put his mind at ease. "I was scared at first. I was terrified when that guy cornered me, I knew I couldn't really fight him off but I sure as hell was going to try. When you pulled him off me and I saw you lift him so easily, I felt some relief. I was saved. You told me to run, and I did but I tripped and when I looked up again the sight was even more terrifying," I looked up at him, trying to convey that things had changed since then, "but then I was frozen in place. When you finished and looked into my eyes, all the fear just disappeared, replaced by this feeling of... I dunno... rightness, like I was exactly where I was supposed to be, like I was home..." There was no other way to describe how I had felt in that moment, that complete sense of home and belonging when our eyes had met.
"So right now, you feel no fear of me, despite what you saw?" he retorted, clearly disbelieving that it was impossible that I felt no fear of him.
"Nope, no fear," I replied instantly, not having to think about my answer at all. "I know in my head that I should be scared, running and screaming like you are waiting for, but my heart won't allow it."
"Are you going to ask?" he pondered, the wariness still in his eyes, clearly waiting for the running and screaming. I suppose only time would show him that wasn't going to happen.
"I saw enough, that I'm pretty sure I know the answer already," I replied. "Besides, my heart has already decided it doesn't matter."
"It doesn't matter?!" he shouted, looking at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was, but I didn't care. The fact that he had saved my life tonight meant that he couldn't be all bad. I would have been raped and murdered if he hadn't saved me.
"No, it doesn't matter," I reiterated. "As I said, my heart has already decided and deep down, somehow, I know that you won't hurt me."
"No, I won't." he affirmed. "I don't think I physically could. This connection is too strong to be broken by me hurting you."
"So... vampire?" I said, making it sound like a question even though I knew the answer. I had to get the word out there, make sure he knew that I had all the facts and that it still didn't matter to me. I had a feeling that he wouldn't be the first to say the word. He nodded, looking down. Thankful that he was being completely honest with me, I smiled to myself. He finally looked up at me again, meeting my eyes with his dark ones that I could now see, in the light of his apartment, were a deep burgundy colour; a colour that should have scared me but actually just ignited a fire deep within my core, more than ever I wanted to be near him, touch him.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," he said quietly, though he sounded like he was worried about what I might ask and how I might react to his questions. He needn't have worried really; there was nothing that could make me leave this man now.
"You... feed from humans... obviously," I stammered, unsure of how to word my questions, "but you saved me. I know what that man was going to do and I also know I wasn't likely to survive it."
"Some vampires have special talents. I can read minds..." he began, I felt the embarrassment rise up within me, blushing my face bright red. He could hear everything I was thinking! Oh no, that's too embarrassing. I hid my face in my hands, unable to look at him after some of the things I had been thinking about him.
"Not yours!" he exclaimed, once he could see how embarrassed I was. "I don't know why. You're the only person I've ever come across that I can't read. I'm not used to being blind, or maybe deaf is a better word, in that sense. I have to work a lot harder to read you, but I actually find I quite enjoy the peace I get from your mind." I began to relax. He sounded completely truthful, not like he was just saying it to ease my embarrassment. I began to wonder if I was the strange one because I was the only one he couldn't hear, but I was just so relieved that he couldn't hear me that I decided not to worry about that. I glanced up at him, urging him to continue.
"As I said, I can read minds so I look for the criminals, those who want to hurt or kill other humans and I feed from them. I don't want to be a monster, I didn't ask for this life. This way I feel that I am helping, saving people from the monsters of their own world. At least I used to feel like that, until recently, very recently, I've been feeling nothing except maybe guilt. Who am I to be judge, jury and executioner?" He looked as though he might be close to tears. I could see that the life he had been leading up until now was weighing heavily on him. I wanted more that anything to hold him and tell him that everything would be alright.
"I think you're quite brave," I whispered, after a few moments of silence. "You could make life easier for yourself and just feed from whoever is easiest, but you go out of your way to save people. I'm sure you've saved more lives than you've taken." He spent his time looking for criminals and saving their victims. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be lying dead in that alley. He really couldn't be the evil monster he seemed to think he was, if he was willing to save humans from the other monsters in the world.
"Maybe, but it still weighs on my mind. Vampires have an amazing memory, I can remember every single life I have taken," he murmured. "I haven't always lived this way, and that makes it worse. When I was first changed, I didn't drink from humans. My sire is the most compassionate person, human or vampire, that I've ever met. He's never tasted human blood. He learned that he could live on the blood of animals and he taught me that way when he created me. That's what makes me a monster, I lived that life for a long time, but I left him and his mate, who were effectively parents to me, to drink human blood." He talked about these other vampires with so much emotion in his voice. I wondered why he had never just went back to them to live like that again, though I was so thankful that he hadn't, otherwise I might never have met him.
"You could always go back to them," I said softly, its sounded like he missed them a lot.
"I'm sure they welcome back the murderer like the prodigal son," he said with a sneer.
"If he's even half as compassionate as you said, then I'm sure he would be overjoyed to have you back, especially if you are like a son to him. My dad would never turn me away, no matter what I had done." A pang of sadness hit me as I thought about my father. I'd give anything to have him welcome me home with open arms. I glanced away from him then, not wanting him to see the sadness in my eyes; I didn't think I was ready to talk about Charlie now.
"Tell me about yourself," he asked, looking at me as if I was the most interesting person in the world. How little he knew, there was nothing interesting about me. Now I was worried about him running away from boredom. Why would an interesting, gorgeous vampire want anything to do with plain, boring me?
"Ummm... I'm 19, I'm studying English Literature at college because I love to read. I live in halls not far from here. I lived with my dad in Washington for the last couple of years of high school and lived with my mom in Phoenix before that. There's not much more to know about me, I'm plain and boring," I finished with a sigh, looking down at my hands. Had I really sat here looking at the most beautiful creature ever to walk the earth, thinking that maybe he was interested in me? Now I knew I was crazy.
Before I knew it, he had moved to sit beside me, only inches separating our knees, that strange electricity increasing in intensity with our closeness.
"You are far from plain," he declared, "You are by far the most beautiful woman I've ever met." I continued looking down at my hands, internally scoffing at his words.
I gasped as he touched his fingers to my chin, tilting my head up to look into my eyes, and a jolt of electricity flowed between us, the strongest I'd felt all evening. I looked into his dark eyes, seeing that he meant every word he'd said and just how affected he was by our connection. I stared at his perfect lips, begging to be kissed, just as he leaned closer to me and finally pressed his lips to mine. He was cold and hard, but I only felt heat where he touched me. A moan escaped my lips as he traced my lips with his tongue and I couldn't help myself from burying my hands in his oh so sexy hair. He groaned at the feeling of my hands in his hair, dipping his tongue to meet mine. His taste was like nothing on this earth, cold, sweet, delicious, I couldn't seem to get enough of him, I needed him like I needed air to breathe.
He moved away from my lips, slowly making his was down my neck, as my breathing came in quick pants. I had never been more turned on than I was right now, my underwear soaked already and all he'd done was kiss me. He continued kissing the spot just behind my ear. I wanted more, I needed more.
"I can't...stop," he breathed into my neck. Stop? Oh God, I don't think I could handle it if he stopped right now. I didn't care how fast we were moving. I wasn't a virgin, but I had never had a one night stand or slept with a guy I hardly knew, but right now I wanted him, I needed him.
"Then don't stop," I begged, my voice barely a whisper. "Please, don't stop. I want you. I need you."
That was clearly the confirmation he was looking for, as he pulled me onto his lap so my thighs were straddling his. I could feel his erection, pressing into my core, exactly where I needed it. I groaned at the sensation and rocked my hips against him to feel the friction I so desperately needed.
He kissed me once again and the taste of him overwhelmed my senses, and I moaned into his mouth, as he ran his hands down my sides to the hem of my shirt. Dipping his fingers under my shirt, I felt a sharp jolt of electricity which it went straight to my core, as a rush of wetness soaked my underwear even more. He pulled lightly at the hem of my shirt, silently asking for permission, and I raised my arms above my head so he could pull my shirt off. I was so glad in that moment that I was wearing some of my nicer underwear, a dark blue lacy set. Edward stared at my breasts in awe, his eyes seeming to get even darker until they were almost black.
"Devine," he moaned, bending his head towards them and leaving open-mouthed kisses just above my bra and dipping his tongue between them The sensations he was creating with his mouth made me throw my head back in pleasure as I moaned. His hand snaked around my back and deftly opened the clasp on my bra, allowing it to fall forward off my body. He gently swirled his tongue over my right breast, making it harden even more that it already was and my hands fisted in his hair, trying to hold him in place. As his other hand gently caressed my left breast, his fingers running slowly over the peak, I couldn't help the noises that were coming out of my mouth.
When he released my nipple from his mouth, I realised that I was topless and he was still fully clothed. I needed to see if his body was as amazing as his face, so I pulled him back up towards my face, unable to resist kissing him again.
"My turn," I moaned in his ear, grabbing the bottom of his t-shirt and pulling it over his head and throwing it across the room. My imagination had not done him justice at all. He was lean but very muscular, Michaelangelo's David had nothing on the beauty of this man.
"Wow," I breathed. "You look like a Greek god!" I couldn't help myself, I had to touch him. I ran my fingers slowly down his chest and down his abs. He was rock hard, chiselled. I could feel him getting impossibly harder beneath me as I touched him, so I let my hands wander lower towards the top of his pants, hoping I could see the rest of his perfectly sculpted body, but he flipped me over onto by back so quickly, I hardly even knew I'd moved.
"I need to see you, all of you," he pleaded, looking imploringly into my eyes, "Are you ready for this?"
"Please," I groaned, desperate for him to continue. He reached down to remove my socks and shoes, before taking my left nipple into his mouth, sucking and running his tongue swiftly around the peak. Leaving my nipple, his hands moved to the top of my jeans, opened the button and rolled them down my legs, his eyes widening as he took in my underwear that matched the bra I had been wearing. Hooking his fingers into the waistband, he carefully removed them, still watching in awe as he revealed all of me.
"Exquisite, amazing, beautiful, ravishing...these words don't even come close to describing you," he whispered into my ear and with the way he was worshipping me, I actually came close to feeling every one of those words.
He teased his hands over my breasts and down my stomach towards where I desperately wanted, needed him to be. As he slipped his fingers between my folds, he groaned in a wonderfully erotic way, feeling the warm heat of my core.
"So wet, so warm," he gasped. I had never been as wet as I was now, and his fingers glided smoothly and found my swollen bundle of nerves, circling it. I was unable to control my movements or the sounds I was making, but I couldn't care, focusing only on the sensations his magic fingers were causing within me. I wasn't focusing on exactly what he was doing so when his tongue replaced his finger, laving swiftly over my clit, I gasped in surprise before moaning loudly. He inserted one finger and then another into my heat and I could feel the coil tightening inside me, and when he curled his fingers just right, it snapped and I exploded, screaming his name. I was still coming down from my orgasm, when he kissed me deeply again and the combined taste of us both on his tongue was amazing.
"I can taste myself on you," I groaned, "That's so hot!"
"What's hot," he growled, "is hearing my name on your lips as you scream my name in ecstasy. And I need to hear it again." The way he spoke caused my core to throb, ready for more. He stood up and began removing his trousers and underwear, revealing himself to me. Having only ever been with one man before, I wasn't very experienced but I could tell that he was much bigger than average.
"Oh, you're so big," I said, feeling a little nervous as he lay down over me again, keeping most of his weight off me, kissing me deeply, our tongues swirling together, as his hands roamed over my breasts, rolling my nipples between his fingers. All of my nervousness disappeared as lust and desire filled me. I trailed my hands down his back, tracing the powerful muscles and feeling them ripple beneath my fingers.
"Are you sure...?" he breathed, his eyes pleading with me to say yes.
"Yes," I answered, more than ready to fully give myself to him, "I need to feel you inside me. I need to know you are mine."
"Yours," he growled, seeming to enjoy my possessive comment. He settled between my legs before pushing his erection deep into me and the feeling of joining as one with him was almost over whelming.
"Mine," he hissed, as he pulled almost all the way out of me before pushing back in, almost deeper than before. Moving faster and faster, he continued thrusting in and out, my insides tightening again. As I felt him getting close to his own release, he snaked his hand between us and pressed a finger to my bundle of nerves, both of us finding our release together as I screamed his name loudly and he whispered mine over and over.