Disclaimer

Twilight and all affiliated characters are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I do not own any of the aforementioned characters except Beth and the plot of this story (that is, should it stray from the original Twilight). This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official storyline. I am not in any way, shape, or form benefiting financially from the publishing of this story on this site and am very grateful for Mrs. Meyer's creation. Besides, if I did own Twilight, I'd be rich enough to buy a genuine disco ball (why am i so broke?).

The sweet sound of several little birdies greeted her ears the moment she and Edward stepped onto the trail. The forest floor was damp with the recent weather, slightly muddy, but still dry enough that it didn't stick to her sneakers. Distantly, she heard a persistent drilling of a woodpecker nearby. Looking around, she tried to spot the redheaded bugger, but to no avail.

"There," Edward pointed, just left of them, and up an impossibly tall oak tree whose branches were a good sixteen feet above the ground. Squinting, she tried to make out the bird, but to no avail.

Cold hands took a gentle hold of her shoulders, pulling her closer and into a solid chest. She gasped quietly, but followed his pale hand straight up into the trees, and there-!

The little bird straddled the trunk of the tree, talons digging into the brown bark. A small beady, black eye peered down at her with a half-tilted head and he tittered, his chest feathers ruffling before going back to work, hammering away at six miles per second.

Beth smiled, and stepped away from her friend. Edward's expression mirrored hers before he turned and began stalking into the thrush, long legs setting a grueling pace. But Elizabeth had experience, and she marched in right after him, even breaths leaving her nostrils ever so often.

The hike was long, but Beth found it all the more refreshing, taking in the fallen trunks of some insanely large trees with moss creeping up the wood. The scenery painted such a beautiful picture, one that Liz wished she had a camera just to save the beauty in a still that would last forever.

Several times, Edward asked her if she'd want to stop or maybe even take a small break, but the girl was determined to keep going. Her endurance in this body was stunted due to the small amount of physical activity, something that she would have to work on as she got older. She'd done it before, so how hard could it really be?

But Edward wasn't having any of it. And pretty soon, instead of asking her anything, he'd look over at her and then take a small break for a few seconds, just enough for her to catch her breath.

"How much," Beth breathed out, leaning against her knees, "further do we have to go?" Her chest heaved slightly which she tried to suppress, taking greedy lungfuls of air through her nose.

"Just ten more minutes," he replied, looking her over to ensure she was okay. "I can see the clearing just up ahead."

Looking over to where he was pointing, Beth raised a skeptical brow. She didn't see any clearing, but maybe Edward did know what he was talking about. Afterall, she'd never been here before and she had hoped that Edward wasn't going to draw her out knee deep into the woods just to kill her, right?

"Okay," she stood straight, hands on her hips, "let's go."

And just as he said, about ten minutes later, she'd stepped out of the thicket of trees, and into a beautiful meadow filled with lavender flowers just beginning to get ready to bloom. Beth suspected it would only be a few more weeks at most, which made sense being that it was late May. Leaves crunching behind her made her aware that her companion had also stepped into the field.

A thin line of clouds covered the sky, a small amount of light just peaking through, barely enough to warm, but she could see that they'd move soon.

"How did you find this place?" Beth asked, spinning around in a circle to take in the entire oblong mead lined on all sides with impossibly tall trees. This was the type of place she expected a fairy to come to. Turning to look at Edward, she paused at seeing his odd expression. He looked almost scared, nervous.

"Are you okay?" she inquired, taking a step closer. But he held up a hand, and she stopped. "Edward, what's wrong?"

But he took one cautious step, almost miniscule, as though he were afraid to hurt her. "I brought you here for mostly selfish reasons," he started.

"What?" she gave a short laugh, confused beyond words and feeling slightly anxious now. What was he talking about?

"Beth, I can't stay away from you anymore..And I've been selfish these past few days, spending as much time with you before I had to tell you."

"Tell me what?" she asked, eyebrows cinching.

He took a deep breath, "The truth."

"You know you're really starting to freak me out a little?" she scratched her head.

"I'm a vampire, Beth."

Elizabeth blinked once, twice before his words registered in her mind. And she laughed. She fully lost her crap, mind going back to the conversation she and Bella had just a few weeks back. Clutching her stomach, she leaned over full of mirth. Across from her, Edward looked on with thinly veiled concern, no doubt questioning her sanity.

"Oh, that's precious!" she giggled once she composed herself, standing upright with her hands on her hips. "Really, it was funny," she looked around.

"Was Bella in on this?" she asked, still breathing heavily.

But Edward was frowning deeply, completely lost in this situation. Why wasn't she running away..?

"Beth?" He spoke then, bringing her attention to where she'd been calling out her sister's name, still thinking it was a hoax. "Elizabeth, I'm being serious. This isn't a joke."

"What?" she giggled a bit more, head tilting as she took in his body language and the look on his face. "Are you-?" she scoffed. He had to be crazy as fuck if he thought she was going to believe that.

"Is this some type of sick joke?" she raised her voice, "What? You couldn't resist making the new girl look completely ridiculous?" When he didn't respond, she made a move to step around him, tightening her bag strap on her back, "yeah, right. Vampire, my ass. Crazy son of a-" she mumbled and then out of the corner of her eye, something moved. And then suddenly, the meadow got lighter as the sun finally peaked through the clouds and she got blinded by the sheer glare coming off of the tall, glittery thing in front of her with penny bronze hair-

Holy fuck on a dipstick-

Edward Cullen-

What the fuck.

And then she fainted dead away.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

When she came to, she was- warm- and something soft and dewy was touching her all over and the scent of petrichor surrounded her. Groaning, she opened her eyes and shielded them with a hand, dread pooling in her belly as she recognized where she was and what she had seen. Sitting upright, she looked around frantically, to see if she was alone, but there-! Just twenty feet away sat the thing that made her black out. He was sitting still, unmoving and Beth would've sworn that he was a statue if it weren't for his cautious topaz eyes that watched her every move.

And then he spoke, "I'm sorry."

But Elizabeth had no idea what to say, she only knew that she really wanted to get as far away from here as possible. This couldn't be real. It just couldn't. But a little voice in the back of her head said that it was true and that she had no right to question something supernatural when her entire life was based upon the very thing she was scorning. So she gulped,

"Was that real?"

Edward nodded, "Please don't be afraid of me. I won't hurt you, I swear."

Finding such a thing hard to fathom, she repeated it, "but you-you're a vampire. Don't you drink blood?"

It took him a while to answer, head typing down as he played with a blade of grass, "My family and I- we don't drink the blood of humans. We consider ourselves vegetarians, almost," his lips tilted on one side for a second before it disappeared. "I've been around long enough to master some level of control around humans- around you. At first, your scent surprised me." he looked up,"I had never smelled someone like you before, and it took me a while to be able to stand to be next to you, can you recall?"

But Beth could only blink in stupefaction. She remembered vividly, his behavior the first day she was at school and how he'd recoiled so fast, eyes filled with glaring hatred for her and all she'd done was exist.

"And you're in control now?" Licking her lips, she remembered when he'd disappeared from school, appearing a whole week later as though nothing had ever happened. Edward's eyes traced the movement, before his eyes flickered back up to her. He seemed pained for a moment, before uncrossing his legs and making a move to stand up. But Beth held a hand out,

"Please," she pleaded, "could you just stay back a bit, just in case you lose control?"

He hesitated, searching her face and upon finding it, eased back into a seated position.

"Okay," he agreed, folding his arms over his chest.

Across the span of grass, Beth's mind raced, trying to come up with a logical- a plausible explanation for what she'd seen, but coming up empty. He'd literally sped in front of her in the span of a second. Crossed that short distance in the blink of an eye. And? He was fucking glittering in the sun like a motherfucking disco ball. She felt ill, all of a sudden and she looked around for a bush she could puke into just in case things got ugly.

"Why did you decide to confess to me, anyway?" She scoffed, looking to him for answers.

Looking down again, Edward's worry lines were made prominent in his forehead, before he relaxed his expression, creases disappearing into flawless skin again.

"I've been alone for a very long time, Beth. I've gotten tired of feeling this way, always surrounded by people who had someone else to themselves. And with you, I feel like you're that person."

He explained further,looking frustrated as he tried to piece together the right words in his brain so as to not scare her off anymore than he already had, "I've- I've never felt this connection towards anyone before. You are the only person who has ever interested me like this and I've grown to care for you in more ways than one despite only knowing you for a short time. I've grown protective but you need to know the truth before anything else happens."

Frowning, she eased back some, tension slowly- slowly- draining from her muscles as she realized that despite it all, he was still the same Edward. Still the same penny haired weirdo she'd met a month ago- just with fangs.

"How long have you been like this?"