Ever since I was a little girl, I had watched the birds dive and swoop through the air. Gliding and soaring over tree-tops and houses. When I had walked, hand-in-hand, with my Gramps through the park we’d collect their feathers. Duck feathers, swan feathers. If we were lucky and searched hard we would sometimes come across abandoned nests with hollow eggs left inside. I would handle them with great care, like they were going to crack any minute and out would pop a brand new baby bird.
‘Can I be a bird, Gramps?’ I always used to ask.
‘You can. Do you want me to teach you how to be a bird?’ He would question. I loved these lessons in the park. We would sit and listen. Listen for their songs. Listen for the flapping of their wings. And we would watch them too. Bouncing onto wires, perching on posts, teasing the cats.

Now I really was flying. From branch to branch. Trunk to trunk. Leaping and twirling. Spinning in the wind. The birds flee from us, but we play. Tease. Test them. The elks are easy targets for our game. So predictable and easy to find. How they manage to escape other predators is a mystery to me. Elks are much more fun than having it served to you, but not as much fun as mountain lion.
‘Listen Harley. Concentrate. Let your instincts take over and follow the sounds.’ Carlisle held me in a tight grasp with one hand on each shoulder. I closed my eyes and pushed my hearing out around me. Cars, leaves, ants, foxes. Non of which I wanted to hear. Suddenly a gush of wind came past me and the scent I was searching found me and I caught it. There. I held the scent and let it swim around inside me. Down my throat, through my arms and chest and down to my feet. The sheer power of my legs scared me as I darted in and out of shrubs. The trees sped past me but not in a blur. They were still sharp and precise as anything else because I saw each leaf in full detail yet they came at me as quick as the wind. Suddenly I came to a halt and I spied my prey. Through the dense branches of the wood, were a large male, two females and a young elk. Esme recommended I aim for the youngest of the group as their blood is much richer and lasts longer. I crouched down, ready to spring. Waiting for the right moment. Aiming for the neck, the spring snapped and uncoiled sending me flying through the space between me and the elk and I landed on it’s back. After digging my nails into its sides, I sank my teeth into the neck and claimed my prize. The warmth of the blood heated my whole body instantly making me crave the liquid that was oozing through me. I wanted more. After I had drained the first, I went searching for another and another. Each time wanting more than the last.
‘Are you planning on saving some for the rest of us?’ Complained Rosalie. I turned and saw her mouth turned up into a smile. Then out of the trees bounded Emmett followed gracefully by Alice and Carlisle.
Alice inspected me slowly as I straightened up from my drained elk.
‘Harley! Look at yourself. That dress was one of my favourites.’ Alice groaned.
‘Give the girl some slack Alice. It’s her first time hunting. Remember Bella’s first time? She didn’t exactly hold back on the designer dress she wore.’ Spat Rosalie. Bella and Edward were the other half of the Cullen family. Apparently that relationship was a whole other story but are now happily together. They are currently on Esme Island enjoying a peaceful life with their half-human half-vampire daughter; Renesmee.
‘Bella had never taken much care of herself or her clothes. Harley here is much more aware of looking good.’ Commented Alice with a smug smile on her pixie-like face. Alice grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the trees back towards the house. I didn’t resist even though I could of. ‘Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up and have something new put back on you.’

When I had been pampered once again and had a new dress pulled over me we all went about out usual routines for the evening. Alice drifted off to find Jasper who was in the study with Carlisle. Rosalie and Emmett were curled up on the sofa talking intently and Esme was down the garden plucking flowers and arranging them in beautiful crystal vases. This was the part of the evening I didn’t like at all. Everyone seemed to have a mate. Everyone except Harley. Me. It’d been almost a year now since I had been created. They had all welcomed me with open arms, but now everything was settling down and each went around their own business. I had become in need of someone for me. Someone of my own to share this, the whole vampire thing, with. My ability is a lot easier to find and control now and I had begun to produce living mammals as big as cats and dogs. My self control was almost perfect and my eyes had finished diluting a couple of months ago. I looked whole. Yet there’s still only half of me in here. I need someone to fill in that gap. I’m lonely. Alone.