CHAPTER 6 - MAIA'S STORY

I was born on 20th June 1901. My twin brother and I lived with our mother and father in Chicago, Illinois. Father was away a lot on business, which meant my mother, my brother and I grew very close. In 1918, our family became sick with Spanish Influenza. My father died first. Our mother was next. She stayed in the same hospital as us. She was so brave. Our mother said we were both gifted, that we both had the ability to read people and understand them better than others could. We understood how much she cared for us more than anything. They say a mother's love is the strongest of all feelings. They were right; whoever 'they' were.

There was a kind doctor in our ward. He took care of our mother until her time came. This doctor was different to the others. He had bronze-coloured eyes that seemed to change shade each day. He was very beautiful too, tall and slender. His skin was perfectly smooth and very pale.

Our mother knew something about this doctor that neither my brother nor I knew. Her dying wish was that he saved us. The night after she passed, the doctor came to our bedsides and told us not to be afraid. He said he was going to save us. He said he wouldn't let us die.

We were taken from the hospital to the doctor's house. That was where we were turned. He bit us both and, at the time, I remember feeling as though he was hesitant to do it.

When I awoke, my brother lay beside me. He was still unconscious. The doctor scared me because I didn't know what he had turned me into, or what he was. All I knew was that it made my throat burn. I needed blood.

I never saw my brother after that and I regret it every single day. I ran away from the strange doctor, leaving my brother with him. I loved my brother, but I didn't want to wait. It was so selfish. I had let fear get the better of me.

I never had an official place to call home. I moved around a lot. The furthest place I travelled to was London. I'd always wanted to visit, because of the stories I had heard. As a vampire I had the opportunity to go anywhere I wanted to, so I chose London.

I met another like me whilst I was there. Her name was Victoria. She had wild, curly red hair and was always very serious and proper. Despite this, she showed true kindness to me. She was the first friendly person I had met since becoming a vampire. She taught me about the vampire world and I have a lot to thank her for because of that.

I missed my brother a lot, especially when I left Victoria to go back to America. I was lonely and needed some companionship. I remained alone for over 8 decades. I got used to being alone but found comfort when I was surrounded by people. It interested me to meet so many people with so many different personalities and feelings, like each one was a storybook in a huge library that was my life.

I didn't stop anywhere for longer than a couple of years, or else people would get suspicious. It became a sort of routine for me. I would go to schools and universities and colleges to learn as much as I could. I needed to maintain pretence, but I could only do that for so long.

I had to be careful when hunting. In the early 1900s, I had begun a new diet, in which I only fed on animal blood. This was something I had heard of older vampires doing. It helped me around humans and I started to not notice the smell of their blood anymore. My eyes changed too. Instead of the violent red, they had once been, which I had covered with coloured contacts, they became a sort of bronze colour. This was just like those of the doctor who changed me all those years ago.

In 2003, I stopped in California. I'd heard that it was a great place for students, so figured it should be my next university stop. I enrolled in Stanford University. That was where I met Fred. We were both taking a Biology class together and on my first day, the professor sat me next to him.

After that, we became firm friends. It was in my second year that those feelings started to develop into something more. Having a 'gift' to sense how others were feeling helped immensely with the whole flirting process. We began dating late in 2004. As friends, we were close, as partners we were inseparable. Fred was a true gentleman. He took care of me and kept me sane. However, I felt the constant need to protect him, even when there was no danger.

I was aware that the time we had together would be limited because as he grew old I would remain 17. This hurt me. I never told him what I was because I was ashamed. I felt a deep longing every time I thought of the fact that one day, I would have to leave. The only other option was to change him myself. I hoped that day would never come. I didn't want to put him through what I had been through. Unfortunately, I had no choice.

It had been a pretty ordinary day on campus. Fred and I were in the cafeteria. We were sharing some cheese fries, and sat at one of the tables near the back of the large hall. The air was thick with rowdy chatter from the students.

We heard it before we saw it. A huge bang echoed around the room. A gunshot. All the voices stopped. From then on, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. An ear-piercing scream erupted from the far side of the cafeteria. Suddenly, the room was full of screams; screeching and crying from every corner.

I leapt to my feet. Terror surrounded me. Hundreds of students were feeling the exact same thing, and I felt it all. If I were a human, you could have called it a panic attack. I was completely frozen until I felt a hand grip my arm. "Maia, we have to get out!" Fred's voice was urgent in my ear, but I couldn't move. It was like my feet were stuck to the floor with super glue. So much fear; swirling around my body like a vortex.

Fred's hands grasped hold of mine and he half dragged me away from the table. Students were still rushing past us. The atmosphere was insane. I noticed some professors helping students get out. "We have to go, Maia!" Fred's eyes were wide with panic.

I had started to move to follow him, when another shot was heard, then another, then another. It was deafening. To my right, I saw two of my fellow biologists slump to the ground. The gunman was getting closer.

Fred began to move with more urgency, but it was too late. The gun sounded for a fifth time. This time it was right next to me. I felt Fred's hand slip from mine as he slumped to the floor. My body was like ice, as I watched the scarlet blood spill from the wound in his back. More gunshots, at me this time, but they did nothing.

I felt bullets bounce off of my back, just as I whipped around to face the gunman. He was wearing one of those balaclavas, like thieves in movies. I could only see his eyes, but I could feel his frustration. He held his gun out and fired at me. This time, I caught the bullet mid-air before it hit me. I now felt something else from him: fear. Good, I thought. Let him feel the pain he has caused.

I felt my lips curve into a smile. It was at times like that that I appreciated being a vampire. His gun fell from his hand and held the bullets out to him on my palm.

It took only a second to snap his neck. I refused to drink his blood, as I was fully 'vegetarian' at that point. I wanted him to pay for what he had done.

My next point of call was Fred. I turned back to him and knelt by his side. He was still alive, still breathing. I had to save him and there was only one way to do that. The hall was empty of students now. That was the great thing about that situation. Otherwise, I could have been faced with a pretty hefty vampire exposure problem.

Luckily, Fred and I were at the back of the hall. There was a caretaker's cupboard directly behind our table. Carefully, I lifted Fred into my arms. I had kicked the door of the cupboard open and shut it firmly behind us.

I rested Fred on the floor, leaning his head against a shelf. He was unconscious, the shock must have knocked him out, but he was still breathing. Then I was faced with the part I had been dreading. He was running out of time, so I could waste any more of it deliberating.

I pushed back his soft blonde hair and bit into his neck. I was surprised at how well I maintained self-control. I made sure there was enough venom in his body, before pulling away. Some of his blood had seeped into my mouth, but it hadn't bothered me. I didn't even like the taste anymore.

I had figured the school would be closed after the shootings, and I was right. I remained in the cupboard for three days whilst Fred turned. No one disturbed us. There were several members of the police force and quite a lot of forensics in the hall, but nobody came into the cupboard.

The problems arose when Fred woke up. I was playing a game on my phone when I heard a movement next to me. Fred's eyes were open and glistening red. His mouth opened to speak, but no words came out. I moved to kneel next to him. "Good morning, sleeping beauty," I smiled. I don't know what I had expected back, but what happened next certainly wasn't what I wanted.

Fred's eyes were wide and suddenly I felt his fear. He pulled himself up, using the shelf for support, and backed away from me. His hand was clasped to his throat.

Before I knew it, he was out of the door.

I had lost the one person in my entire life as a vampire who had cared about me. He knew I was a monster and I had made him one too.

I am thankful that I can now make amends. We can talk things over. We can live the life we could have had once before, except now we would be together forever.

Hi guys! I do not own any of Twilight or Bree Tanner by the way! Some of this is however loosely based on the events in the books. So a lot has been revealed in this chapter! Please let me know what you think and leave a review! This is my favourite chapter so far and it took the longest to write. The hardest bit was working out all the little details, like names of places and years and ages.

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