Chapter One

Kiss Me. Bite Me. Love Me.
~* Bella’s Point of View  *~

Gasping for breath, I slumped like a lifeless doll against the frost covered brick and down to the blood stained snow of the darkening ally.  It was just before sunset and already the sun-cast shadows made it hard to see what I already knew was happening not twenty feet from where I sat.  It all had happened so fast my feeble mind struggled to play catch-up to the fast movements that accompanied the shrieking and growling. 

I screamed as a blood covered hand landed at my feet and the meager lunch I had forced myself to eat this afternoon threatened its way up my throat.  Burning tears streamed down my face as I pressed my body tighter against the unforgiving wall at my back.  There was nowhere to go and for a fleeting moment as I starred at the black woolen coat of what I knew to be a vampire I thought maybe it would have been better for those men to have just shot me after all.

Whether it was minutes or hours before the screams finally died and the snarling suddenly stopped I didn’t know, but as the silence encroached on my fragile state I almost willed them to return. 

The figure in the shadows was most assuredly a man, it was easy to tell by the way he moved and by the tall frame of his body.  He was crouched low, blocking me from seeing the massacred bodies of those men, all but a tan hand poking out of a black down winter coat that had finally gone limp.  He stood then, tall…

So tall…  and turned to face me. 

My heart leapt into my chest as he strode out of the darkness of the shadows and towards me, his movements graceful like that of a fluid stream of the calmest waters.  When the light hit his face for the very first time, the world seemed to stop and my heart ceased to beat in my chest.  I sat, arrested to the core.  I couldn’t move at all, and in truth I was afraid even to blink, frightened that he would attack or worse, disappear from sight. 

He was still standing there, motionless as a statue and staring intently at me with those chocolate-cherry eyes.  His face was an emotionless mask as he continued to blatantly ogle me where he stood. Uncomfortable by his unwavering gaze I tightened my shredded coat tighter around my body.  It unnerved me that this man, this being could be so tranquil at a time like this, after he had just slaughtered those men, bad though they were.

As the lamp from the street flickered to life, I gasped.  With the light shining on his face I could only describe him as stunning, but he was so much more than that.  In the moments before those beasts were torn away from me I never caught sight of his pale features, only the long black coat on his shoulders and the shiny patent dress shoes that covered his feet.  But now, with the time to scrutinize I struggled to describe him beyond his obvious beauty.

Deadly.  Yes, that was far more accurate, I thought to myself with an internal nod.

He was a well built man, that much was obvious by the broadness of his shoulders and tone of his chest that taunted me even through his crisp button-up and blood red cravat.  I couldn’t help but stare at him. His rich, milk-chocolate hair that fell in razor-like layers to his shoulders, shining with highlights of the crimson blood of my attackers, framing his pale, lean face and sharp, straight nose.

But it was those eyes…

Those eyes that reminded me of chocolate-covered cherries at Christmas time… those eyes that were so warm in color and yet so cold, captivated me. 

Flawless, I thought with a grimace.  If there had been any doubt before as to what he was, there was no doubt now.  It was obvious to me as my own name… vampire.  He had only one imperfection on his gorgeous face and I don’t think I would have ever noticed it if I hadn’t been so drawn to his eyes in the first place.  It was neat and thin, and hardly traceable but it was there.  In the upper left corner of his right brow, was a scar about an inch in length and had he been blonde I don’t think any human would ever notice it.  It peeked my curiosity, that small thin scar.  How it was even possible for a vampire to obtain a scar like that, with there accelerated healing and tough skin was beyond me. 

As my mind continued to wander, lost in thought over that damnable scar I failed to see him move.  Slowly, elegant fingers attached to a pale-white hand extended to my vision, a simple gesture and one that warmed me.  Hesitant as I was to trust this vampire, or any vampire for that matter, I found that I had no control over my own movements or my skinned and bleeding hand that slipped into his.  Cool, long fingers encased mine gently, like I was made of homespun glass and with no effort at all he pulled me to stand on quivering legs. 

My eyes only left his briefly during this exchange but when my gaze lifted to his once more those hard crimson chocolates had softened into a look of wonderment.  “Are you alright?”  He asks me in a voice smoother than glass. 

I nodded dumbly as my throat tightened and grew dry but my shaking legs had other ideas, as the weight of the evening finally hit, my knees buckled with it and gave, sending me crashing to the ground.  As I expected the pain of the fall never reaches me and instead I found myself pressed to a chest as hard as stone as he heaves out a breath that sounds like relief. 

“Troublesome woman,”  he mutters quietly.  He doesn’t sound half as irritated as he makes out to be as he slides a strong arm under my thighs and lifts me into the air. 

I wanted so badly to be aggravated, to huff indignantly at being carried away like some damsel in distress from a fairy tale, but I cannot find the will to even put up a fight.  I’m tired, and thinking about it, a damsel in distress was exactly what I was at the moment. 

“Where- where are you t-taking me?”  I ask him shakily as he starts form the ally in a quick but steady pace. 

He sighs heavily, like it is bothersome for him to have to answer the question but he answers nonetheless.  “My home.” 

He is looking straight ahead with no sign of looking my way as I stare at his sharp jaw, gaping like a fish out of water.  “W-why?”

Without stopping his eyes flash down to mine, glowing red.  “Isn’t it obvious?”  He asked with an air of arrogance so strong it left me struggling to tramp down my rising temper. 

My eyes narrowed.  “Not really,”  I spat at him.  “Perhaps it is because I’m only a simple minded human, but please do enlighten me.” 

He stops suddenly, and it is only then that I realize how fast we had actually been traveling as my head slams hard into his chest.  Looking around quickly I notice that we are in fact standing on a roof top garden of a high rise.  How hadn’t I noticed?

“You know what I am?”  He states.  Though it was not a question I nod anyways with wide eyes, any trace of courage I had is now long gone. 

A pregnant pause passes in silence with only the noise of comfort being the busy street below.  “Those men, though they attacked you at random are now a danger to you, you cannot return home.”  He tells me quietly and in his eyes, concern reads clear. 

As his words ring like a mantra in my head my eyes widen when they process what it is that he means.  I can’t return home. 

Later I would come to realize just how true those words were.

Desperate at this point I grab the collar of his soft coat with both hands.  “B-but, you k-killed them!  I mean didn’t you?”   I end in a whisper, my head lowering in defeat.

“Yes.”  he says in an emotionless monotone. 

“Then why?”  I cry, tugging on his collar with more force than before and his eyes that had been staring off into the distance turn to nail me still. 

“One got away,  and as I did not find your belongings on any of the dead or in the ally it is easy to assume that they now know where you live.  They may only return to thieve you blind but then again they may also come seeking revenge for their fallen comrades.”  He paused slightly to run the cool pad of his thumb across my blushing cheek.  “This is a risk I refuse to take.” 

Shocked to the core by his omission my eyes squinted in scrutiny, thinking of any way possible that I might know this man.  That maybe the answers I so desperately need are written in the planes of his beautiful face.  I’ve known my fair share of the undead and they are not by nature caring creatures.  Confused and overwhelmed I stutter out the only thing I can think to ask at the time.  “Who are you?” 

He looks slightly taken back by the question but just as slowly as the sun rises and just as breath-taking his thin lips curve upwards in a subtle smile as he whispers.  “Peter.” 

I’m not sure if I was disappointed or thrilled by his answer, as it was I was hoping for a little more than just his first name. But for now I guess it had to do.  In just an hour this man had entered my drab and meaningless life and turned my world on its axis once again.  I had vowed to myself eight years ago, on a snowy night in the mountains where I nearly lost my life to stay away from vampires; the creatures that nearly ended me.  But never the less, here I was in the arms of one blushing like I was still eighteen.  Such a masochist.

Chuckling as if he heard my thoughts he removes my hands from his collar and rests them in my lap.  “Sleep now.”  he commands me, and before I can protest his hand winds its way into my hair and his lips press against mine.  The were warm, smooth and caused an electric current against my skin akin to being completely inebriated but I couldn’t ponder them anymore.  My eyes grew heavy and the world seemed to melt away. 

“Forgive me.”  

~ Kiss Me. Bite Me. Love Me. ~

Cold steel against my temple.

Heavy panting breaths and a breath most foul.

I’m frightened but rooted where I stand.  A gruff voice whispers in my ear telling me if I behave myself I won’t be hurt.  I know this is a lie and that the reality of the situation is that this is my last night on earth.  Morbidly I think to myself that had this been a few years ago I would have been more than willing to meet the end of that gun glinting in the last rays of the sun… but not now. 

Snarling.

Screaming.

Silence.
~ Kiss Me. Bite Me. Love Me. ~

~* Peter’s Point of View  *~

She sleeps, steadfast in my arms as I make my way home.  It is easier this way, without all the questions that I have no will to answer right now.  She was just as I remembered and decidedly more beautiful.  She was no longer the child I expected to meet again one day, and though I knew she would grow she had exceeded every expectation I had ever held for her. 

Stopping for a moment, just outside the front door to admire her I ran a hand through those stunning locks of mahogany, reveling the softness of her cheeks the plumpness of her lips. 

Shaking my head to rid me of plaguing thoughts I start forward again only to have the door ripped open violently from the inside.  A petit blond sneers up at me with silent challenge before a smirk settles on her pale lips.  “So you did find her, Brother. It seems your more competent than I previously thought.” 

She is only teasing, I know this but as it is I am in no mood for playful banter.  “Silence, Charlotte.”

Her eyes widened slightly as she backs away with a slight bow.  “Forgive me, Brother.  I only thought-”

“Have you prepared her room?”  I asked quietly, cutting off her groveling rant before it can start, trying to remain a firm tone without appearing too demanding.  She is after all my beloved sister, but the events that had taken place tonight have strained me and now I only wish for solitude before my sweet human awakens. 

With a pleasant smile she nodded, obviously proud of herself for whatever she has done.  “Yes, Brother.  I have also informed the servants at home to do the same, everything will be prepared for our arrival at the end of next week.”

“Very good,”  She smiles brilliantly at my happy response.  “Where are the others?” 

She looks a little sheepish and bites her bottom lip before she replies.  “Well, I knew that there might be a chance…”  she trails off twiddling her thumbs in a circle, a self-conscious act that she’s repeated since her childhood.  “That… that you might bring Bella home and well…”

Fighting the urge to pull my hair at her sudden shyness I nearly snarl.  “Charlotte, where are they?” 

“I sent them away for the night, I didn’t know what shape you would bring her home in and I didn’t want anyone to slip up or frighten her!”  She rushes out angrily and I’m sure had it not been for my sleeping angel in my arms she might have walloped me. 

“Thank you.”  I said flashing her a brief smile, pleased with her diligence when it came to Isabella and turned to carry her up the stairs.

The hall upstairs is silent, something I haven’t encountered in a very long time.  Normally, there was not a time in the day or night that you couldn’t find someone milling about in the hall.  Whether it was to consult with me about something or simply waiting at the door to another’s bedchambers, you could always count on seeing someone, no matter how little the desire to do so.

As I entered the room with the skyline view my Sister’s words rang true, she had done a beautiful job adorning Isabella’s room.  It suited her perfectly and I told Charlotte as much as she followed me in with a hopeful expression on her face.

The room was done entirely in dark shades of blue and black woods.  It would be perfect for her now and in the near future.  It was the little things though, that I credited Charlotte for her knowledge of Isabella.  The antiqued desk overlooking the city-line, the pillow-top window seat that accompanied the in-depth library that looked out over the terrace garden right down to the dainty French accented vanity that I just knew without a doubt that she would love.  The art and random antiques were perfect adjoining the old-world feel of the building and I couldn’t wait for Bella to see it. 

“Peter?”  Charlotte called shyly at my back as I laid my sleeping beauty onto the plush comfort of her indigo colored bed.  I turned quietly, she had that hopeful look on her face again and I waited for her to continue.  “May I clean her up?”

My face softened instantly as I nodded to her.  “Of course, Charlotte.” 

She practically beamed at me as I strode from the room, in search of silence and my lonely desk chair.  My office was silent as I expected it to be, even with so many companions living under one roof this was always a place I could count on to sit and think on my own.  Nothing stirred aside from the crackling fire in the hearth and I made a mental note to thank Charlotte for that as well.  There was nothing quiet as soothing as a roaring fire in the dead of winter, even if I wasn’t nearly as affected by the cold as a human.   

Nearly collapsing into my chair I pulled from the desk-top a bottle of solid brown glass and a tumbler from the silver tray that adorned the left corner.  This would be my salvation this night, a blissful distraction from the thrumming pulse just down the hall, and from the constrained emotion that was quickly leaking from my body.  

From a young age I was taught that I must remained stoic at all times, or at least on the outside. I followed those instructions impeccably but on the inside I was nearly overtaken by emotion.  Grief, happiness… boiling rage. 

Things had not gone as planned this evening and I wasn’t quite sure if I was happy about the turn of events or angry.  I had never meant for Isabella to see me, at least not yet but finding her in that darkening ally, terrified and in pain I lost all reason and nearly myself.  Had she not been there, those men wouldn’t be identifiable at all, but in my haste to see her safe I rushed. 

The blood inside that seemingly harmless bottle burned at my throat, tinted with the slightest hint of cognac but it as the faint buzzing of my skin started I new this was exactly what was needed to cull the fire within me.  I was too close to snapping at this point and the last thing I wanted to was to terrify the sleeping human girl in my home. 

I have protected her from myself for this long, perhaps there was no reason to fret. 

I nearly laughed aloud at the thought, I knew it was a lie before the thought even crossed my mind.  There was no saving her now, she meant to much to me and tonight was a very real look into the future should I allow her to remain as she is.  No my sweet human would have to wake up soon, and when she did a whole knew world would bow at her demure feet.  I would make sure of it.

Sighing I let the empty glass rest on the table and I leaned back to stare out at the waning moon and the clouds that threatened to cover it.  For so long I have awaited the day when I could hold her in my arms once again.  So long that the grief in my long dead heart was nearly consuming me from the inside out.  But this was not how I had planned things, not how I wanted her first impression of me to be but as I smelled her blood on the wind I knew there would be no more waiting, no more lonely nights or restless sleep. 

Isabella is mine…

~ Kiss Me. Bite Me. Love Me. ~

Cold steel against my temple.

Heavy panting breaths and a breath most foul.

I’m frightened but rooted where I stand.  A gruff voice whispers in my ear telling me if I behave myself I won’t be hurt.  I know this is a lie and that the reality of the situation is that this is my last night on earth.  Morbidly I think to myself that had this been a few years ago I would have been more than willing to meet the end of that gun glinting in the last rays of the sun… but not now. 

Snarling.

Screaming.

Silence.
~ Kiss Me. Bite Me. Love Me. ~

~* Bella’s Point of View  *~

Jerking forward in my bed, I clamped a hand over my mouth to silence my scream.  My body was trembling and sweaty cold as tears cut a burning path down my cheeks.  Memories raced through my mind, reminding me that I was not at home in my bed and that last night had not been simply a nightmare.  It was all too real and there was nothing I could do but leave my fate in the hands of the chocolate haired vampire that saw it fit to save me.   

“Are you alright?”  A voice sweeter than honey asks, it was timid and strangely enough it sounded frightened.  My eyes darted this way and that but in the darkness I could not pinpoint her whereabouts.  Only the faint glow of the moon filtered through my windows, just enough to see the outlines of a small shadow standing in the corner of the room. 

“W-who are you?”  I trembled in a voice still horse from sleep.  “Where- where am I?”

The small figure crept forward, slowly and drawn out.  Stepping from the shadows her strawberry blonde hair was the first thing I noticed before she smiled, her pearl-white fangs glinting in the waning light.  

“You’re home.”