Too Close | Rosalie Hale

Chapter 2

The town of Forks, Washington was wracked with grief by the disappearance of local girl, Alexandrine Holloway. Her parents were devastated by the loss of their only child. In the two weeks that she had been missing, her mother hadn't stopped crying. Her father was consumed by his grief, and he spent his days blaming himself— if only he had stopped her from going to Seattle that day. 

Despite the fact that the chances of their daughter returning home, unharmed, grew smaller by the minute, they refused to give up hope. Every chance that they got, they talked to the police and they accepted any and all offers to be interviewed on the news in hopes that whoever had taken their daughter would see it and return her to them.

They had quickly found out that Lex had lied to them about the circumstances of her birthday trip into the big city when the police questioned Paul Lahote. He had no idea that she had still followed through on going to the concert, but his guilt about the whole situation was taking a toll on him. His temper was the worst that it had ever been, and even the smallest of insults would set him off. Paul had tried so hard to keep her safe, but she ended up meeting a worse fate than anything that he could have ever brought upon her.

Paul hoped to every higher power that she was dead. He knew that that sounded terrible, but he also knew that the chances of her still being alive and well were incredibly slim, and with the newborn army growing everyday, he had a sinking feeling that a certain red headed leech had played a role in her disappearance. Paul didn't know what he would do if he found out that his attempt to protect her had ended in her becoming a bloodsucker. So he just kept hoping that she hadn't survived whatever had happened to her.

Even the Cullens were impacted by her sudden disappearance. Victoria had taken someone who was from their town— someone from their school. Was she sending them a message? Was it a coincidence? Lex had been taken in Seattle, after all, so there was no guarantee that Victoria had known who she was beforehand. Still, they were concerned for Lex's safety, and the safety of everyone in the Forks area.

While the people back home were having trouble getting over Lex's disappearance, Lex herself was adapting to the newborn army lifestyle. She still didn't trust anyone, but she was thriving as much as she could be in that situation. With each passing day, the vampire lifestyle grew easier. Her thirst was getting a bit easier to control, and she had outgrown the overwhelming sense of guilt that she had felt every time she fed. Now, it was more of a sliver of guilt that flashed through her mind, but there was nothing she could do about it— vampires only drank human blood.

Lex was pacing around Riley's basement as she waited for the sun to set. She was thirsty, and she wanted to go out to hunt. When the time finally came, Lex groaned internally— he had put her in a group with three of Raoul's guys. 

Raoul was a gang leader of sorts, and he was possibly the most dangerous person in the basement— other than Riley. Raoul had a bunch of idiotic lackey's who were willing to do anything for him, which worked out well for him, because he had a hit list. Lex had seen dozens of unfortunate newborns die at the hands of Raoul's crew.

This night was not going to be a good one. Nonetheless, Lex followed them— she was too thirsty not to. 

Lex watched as they cornered a woman who was wearing a power suit and designer heels. She was so not getting involved in that. If Riley found out the kind of people that these guys were hunting, they would surely lose and arm, or their heads. Lex was debating whether she should wait here or if she should retreat to a more inconspicuous hunting area, but the boys had other plans for her.

"Hey, what's up, girl?" a vampire who appeared to be in his early twenties called out to her. "Why don't you come over here and party with us?"

He was standing with the other newborn vampires who had finished draining the woman's body— Lex could feel their eyes undressing her as he spoke.