Rising Sun (Twilight Saga Fanfic)

Join the Dark side David.

Chapter Eighteen

I just stared at him at first. His comment, the fact that he could think of anything, was amazing in itself. But that he noticed something was off? Beyond the usual weirdness and oddity that most humans pick up on... he knew.

In that moment, I realize the reason I liked David Lockhart was not because he reminded me of my old friend. It was because David was me.

"Hi David," I responded quietly, approaching slowly and monitoring everything about him. Behind him, Heidi nodded at me and took the chance to leave the room while he was focused on me. "How are you feeling?"

His head tilted to the side. Within a millisecond, his arms were outstretched in front of him and he was mesmerized by the way his fingers flexed and curled. He continued to move every part of his body, watching how each muscle moved and rippled under his snowy skin. Even with his socks on, he paid close attention to the way his toes wiggled.

It was amusing and utterly amazing to watch. David was a toddler learning how to walk and dumbstruck with his body's new abilities. I had seen so many newborns before but they were all the same. Rabid, feral, inhuman. David was the complete opposite and from the stories I was told, the only other newborn to be so well behaved was me.

I just wondered how long it would take before he recognized the burn.

"This...this is amazing," he finally replied. I had thought for a second that maybe he had already forgotten what I had asked; despite our kind's knack for attention to details, newborns were more easily distracted than an infant. "What did you do to me? Not that I'm complaining or anything, but seriously, what is this?"

I was hesitant. When I woke up as a vampire, I remembered. I remembered how I died, how I gave birth, how my children were my last human thought. But that wasn't the case for most newborns. I mean some remembered but not if it was particularly violent. And if they didn't remember and someone brought it up? Early minds were not meant to handle such intense violent flashbacks.

The look on his face was pure curiosity. David was looking at me but his mind, it was somewhere else. He was searching for answers, clues, memories. I guess he found what he was looking for because his eyes suddenly went wide and I could tell that they were focused back on me.

"Their eyes, they were like yours," he muttered. "But yours, they were brown before. Why are they red?"

Noah must have taken Evie out of range for her illusion to drop. Part of me wished they hadn't but if David had heard them, or even their heartbeats, I don't think I could even risk finding out how he would react.

I held my hands up, replicating Heidi's actions as I moved closer to him. He was wary and started to move back so I slowed down. "I'm just reaching for a mirror," I said as I went to grab one off the table. Heidi must have known I'd need it.

"You said you knew I was different, David. Now, because of unfortunate timing and some bad people, you are too. You're like me, honey."

Holding the mirror up, I beckoned David to come and look. In a way it broke my heart with how he hesitated; I had the urge to prove to him that I was nothing like the bastard that did this to him, even though, if I was being completely honest to him and myself, I was almost exactly like them. I was at one point... I killed people. Countless people. Maybe some of them were innocent; most I believed not to be. I loved my family but I knew deep down there were things I shouldn't have done.

Vampires don't have morals though.

"I won't hurt you," I pleaded, my voice soft and gentle. "I haven't hurt you before and I won't hurt you now. And making you this... it was the only way I could save you. I didn't have an option except to let you die."