My Volvo raced down the main road, the speedometer told me I was going over 100 miles an hour.

My eyes looked upon the road unseeing. Within me raged a war unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. It was almost as if two beings resided within me. One half wanted nothing more than to leave Forks, to let that girl live, to ensure my family’s safety. My soul may have left me long ago but I still had a conscience, I had a choice. But the other part of me, that damned part of my being wanted to hunt the girl down, to kill her and drink that intoxicating liquid. The monster growled, images of the deed passed through my mind. Bella Swan would be home alone; her father would be at work for hours yet. No lives, save hers would be lost. The perfect opportunity to savor her blood, unbeknownst to the world, the perfect opportunity. An evil euphoria filled me then. My choice was made, she was mine!

No! I would not, could not… I had lived nearly a century, trained myself against this temptation… the impulse that was ever present. I had learned to ignore the monster. Now that all threatened to topple down around me. All thanks to one little girl. I had to make it to Carlisle; I had to get out of Forks!

Up ahead came a crossroad, a monumental thing. My hands grasped the steering wheel; my foot leaned yet more heavily upon the gas pedal. If I took that turn… that road would lead me to her. My throat constricted painfully, venom flooded my mouth, a soft snarl escaped me. Home alone, no witnesses, a quick thing, I could hide the evidence. Here then gone. No other lives would need to be lost. There would be no collateral.

At that Alice’s voice came unbidden to my mind, ‘She is Charlie Swan’s only family. It would kill him too.’ An inhuman snarl, almost a roar, escaped my throat again, how does one fight one’s self?! How does one resist it nature?! ‘The same way you have done all this time,’ came my answer in the form of Carlisle’s voice. ‘You have made it this far, this changes nothing you can handle it.’