The rain in Forks was relentless, an endless drizzle that soaked through clothes and clung to skin like a lover that wouldn't let go. It smelled of damp earth and pine, a scent that would have been pleasant if it weren't for the underlying stench of something fouler—something unnatural. Vampires.
I stepped off the bus, boots splashing into the puddles below, and slung my duffel bag over my shoulder. I could feel them before I saw them, their scent clinging to the air like rotting fruit. Disgust curled my lips. I had known their kind for centuries, and they were the one species in all creation that I loathed beyond reason.
Leeches.
They acted refined, pretended to be gods among mortals, but in the end, they were nothing more than parasites—soulless, sterile, and incapable of true hunger. They did not understand the beauty of indulgence, of excess, of power. They lived in restraint, fearing the very instincts that made them superior to humans. It was pathetic.
I, on the other hand, knew what it meant to embrace desire.
Because I was desire.
Not just that—Wrath, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Pride. I was all of them. I was Sin.
Not a demon. Not just a whisper in the dark. I was something far older. Something that made demons kneel and angels grit their teeth in frustration. I had no name anymore, only titles—The First Temptation, The Black Flame, The Serpent's Heir.
And now, for the first time in centuries, I had come to a nowhere town in Washington, not for war, not for destruction, but for her.
Isabella Swan.
Even thinking her name sent something dark coiling through my chest. It had started as a curiosity. I had felt her from across the continent, a pulse of something that should not have existed. Her soul—if that's what it was—was unlike anything I had encountered before. It burned with a light that demons feared and gods envied. It was mine, even if she didn't know it yet.
And I wasn't going to let some corpse steal her from me.
Forks High School
I entered the main office, my golden eyes scanning the room as the receptionist handed me my schedule. "First day, huh?" she asked, offering a polite, tired smile.
I returned the expression, though I doubted it reached my eyes. "Yeah. Something like that."
The school smelled of sweat, hormones, and cheap cafeteria food. But beneath it, like a festering wound, was the scent of vampires. It was faint but persistent, clinging to the air like decay.
Then I saw them.
The Cullens sat together at a table, separated from the rest of the student body like royalty among peasants. Their skin was impossibly pale, their movements too precise, too calculated. I watched as their golden eyes flickered over the room, as if pretending not to look at anyone while being hyper-aware of everything.
My lip curled in distaste. They were playing at being human, pretending to belong. But I could see them for what they were—monsters too ashamed of their nature to embrace it.
Then I saw him.
Edward Cullen.
I knew his type. Brooding, self-loathing, a tragic little boy trapped in a monster's body, forever torn between what he wanted and what he thought was right. The kind of fool who would deny himself pleasure, starve himself to death out of some twisted sense of morality.
Pathetic.
His head lifted suddenly, and our eyes met.
Ah. So he could sense me. Not truly, not fully, but enough to know something wasn't right. His face was carefully neutral, but I could feel the unease radiating off him like heat. Good. Let him worry.
I smirked, tilting my head slightly in amusement, before breaking eye contact. He wasn't important. Not yet.
Because that was the moment she walked in.
Bella Swan.
She looked exactly as I had imagined—plain yet striking, her brown eyes deep with something ancient, something that made my blood hum. She wasn't like the others. She wasn't entirely human.
And she was wasted on him.
I leaned back against the lockers, watching as she moved through the cafeteria, completely oblivious to the storm that was about to crash into her life.
She was his now.
But not for long.
I always got what I wanted.
And I wanted her.