Evening Star

by caitiespace

Bella Swan was young, naive and desperate to be in love when she met Edward. But what would have happened if she was not? Kaia Snow is a young, driven woman who has always known what she wanted. She is jaded on the institution of love, and has no interest in falling in love again. But what will happen when she starts her dream job, only to meet Oliver - a colleague with a secret?

1. Chapter 1

My world is awash with green.

It's a nice change. For too long now, the only colour I have seen has been a blood red. But even this change in the colour palate of my life could not distract me for long, as my eyes stared forward unseeingly at the forest that surrounded me. Even though I could see every leaf on every tree that I passed, even though I was able to pick out the fine veins that ran through them as they rustled in the slight breeze that also swept my grey coat out majestically behind me, the beauty of this place that I had once called home failed to touch me. My mind, for so long completely numb but this morning painfully sharp, was far too concerned with other things to be worried about the living sea that surrounded me.

The rhythmic footsteps of my colleagues, far too quiet for humans to hear, reminds me of my long-absent heart beat. It is an unusual sensation, feeling the pulsing vibration rush through my body once more. Were I not so acutely aware of where I was and who surrounded me, I may have even been able to pretend that I was still alive. Not that I wished for that - not now. It was no small blessing that my heart had long since perished, otherwise it would break with what was about to pass today. Because today I would have to make a sacrifice far too great for me to make. Today I would kill those I had once called my family, all for the sake of the one that I loved. Even with the black void that filled where my soul once rested, I could not pretend that these events did not concern me. I was all too aware that I deserved death far more than those I would bestow it upon, and yet I did nothing to prevent this from occurring. I just kept marching forward, in perfect unison with those that surrounded me, closing the distance between me and a destiny that no one deserved.

I continued to watch as the scene surrounding me continued to brighten, as we approached the clearing that our targets had lead us to. It took only a few more minutes to break through the bank of trees and enter a grassy meadow, only for my eyes to meet those of who were waiting for me. My eyes only paused briefly on each set of golden eyes that stared back at me. Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, Esme, Carlisle, Edward and Bella, none of these familiar faces held my empty gaze for long. What was there to hold on to? Even if I could appreciate the emotions that played within those topaz depths, it would not change what was about to pass. I had made my decision, long before any of these events had unfolded, and I would not change it now.

And because of that, the Cullens had to die.