Edward was beginning to think Montana was a mistake. He enjoyed the ability to be out longer during the day due to the tree cover, but the towns were all so small. Even if he found someone malicious enough to deserve a death sentence, there was no way his or her disappearance would go as unnoticed as he would like. After only a week he was desperately hungry and getting nowhere. He needed to move elsewhere, with higher crime rates and higher populations; then he could hunt freely and get rid of that nagging hunger.

Currently he was heading west, deeper into the forests and closer to the coast, and he paused to let a herd of elk saunter by, smiling absently at the scent of the mountain lion stalking them.

First Alphonse, so the pipsqueak can watch, make him squirm and cry before I finish him. Oh, how I wish Hohenheim could watch too...

Edward froze at the thought, confused for two reasons. First, he was unaware of how he could have ignored anyone's thoughts so nearby as to only now notice. Secondly, he didn't smell a human anywhere. Just the elk and their stalker.

But then the thought changed.

Not now, not now, I still have to find the bastards, but after dinner. Closer, closer, I'll rip them apart and use their antlers for toothpicks...

One of the elk in passing strayed too close to the vampire, sensed the danger, and leapt off in a frantic attempt to get away. It sent the rest of the herd sprinting as well, and the mountain lion stopped its careful tracking to scream in protest. The noise itself was deafening in the silence, but that's not what Edward noticed.

Damn it, Edward! If it weren't for you, you bastard, I wouldn't be reduced to stalking animals. As soon as I kill you I can kill everyone else, let me find you

His name very securely caught his attention, and he watched the big cat with no small bit of curiosity.

"Cats don't think."

The mountain lion seemed to understand, tensing up immediately and casting its attention in circles.

The hell?

Edward smirked, arching an eyebrow as he watched the rigid cat. "Really, that's rather unique. How do you do it?"

Even restricted to thoughts as he was, he could tell that the cat was furious by the incoherent jumble emanating from it's mind.

And then it changed.

There was no sign of a mountain lion anymore, and the only thing remotely similar to the pale, black-haired, androgynous being – not human – in front of him was the feral sneer pasted on his face. He obviously still didn't know where Edward was.

"Come out, bastard, and I'll show you what I think!"

Edward smirked slightly before acquiescing, quickly shifting to lean casually against the trunk of some ancient, half dead pine in the stranger's line of sight. He remained silent though, merely watching and listening to the reaction.

Kid? What the hell is a kid doing out here? Maybe... "And what are the children doing out all alone, hmm?"

Edward resisted a smirk, and instead shrugged casually, not removing his stare from the stranger's purple eyes. "Well, hunting, of course. And you, Lion?"

The stranger's sneer faded to be replaced by a smirk, and he looked like he was holding back incredulous laughter.

Lion, lion, it'd be better for you if I were just a lion, maybe I wouldn't kill you, fool. "Ah, hunting? I as well, though I'm not a lion of any sort."

That was interesting. Maybe he would get a meal tonight. But for the moment, Edward was curious, and he continued watching carefully. "Well then, what are you, precisely? You're certainly not human, are you." Carlisle had mentioned werewolves before, but never anything about werecats. The idea was intriguing.

The stranger seemed perfectly content with the idea of spilling whatever his secret was, and continued smirking. "I am Envy, that's all that's really important, don't you think? Maybe you'd like to introduce yourself, child?" To kill or not to kill, ooh, but this will be fun.

Child was almost a laughable term. How old was he now? Almost thirty. No, he wasn't a child anymore. "I'm Edward."

Envy's response was almost startling.

KILL HIM, KILL HIM NOW, BASTARD, KILL HIM, KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM

But Edward ignored it and continued as carelessly as before. "You were thinking about some Edward, and it got my attention. You don't seem to like him." He was intensely curious, now, for the response. If his name was enough to illicit such an intense response, surely mentioning the other Edward would as well.

It worked rather well.

Bastard, I'll kill you first, then find Elric and kill him, kill him in front of his brother, kill his brother, kill them both, won't Hohenheim be pleased with me then, but of course I hate Edward, it's Edward's fault, all his fault, all—

Envy paused, the snarl on his lips receding almost immediately to be replaced by suspicion.

I was thinking... Of course I was thinking, I'm not stupid enough to speak... Thinking... "You read my mind? That's not very polite." He paused, but his thoughts were oddly vacant and hard to understand. "Are you a homunculus then, too?"

Homunculus. The term meant nothing to Edward and he frowned slightly. What the hell was a homunculus? He paused before responding with a very slight shake of his head. "I'm not familiar with homunculus. Are you a homunculus?"

Envy straightened up from the crouch he had lowered into, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Not a homunculus? What, then, what? But me? ... Tell and kill. Edward can't find out that I'm close. He nodded slowly then, still suspicious. "Yes. Then, pardon my intrusion, what are you?"

If someone understood that he could read minds, Edward would assume they'd be intelligent enough to try not to think stupid things like trying to kill him. It was absurd that this Envy, homunculus or not, really expected to kill him. After a moment he smirked and shrugged. "Well, since you apparently think you're going to kill me anyway, I suppose there's no harm in telling you. Whereas you're far from human for being a homunculus, I'm far from human for being a vampire."

Envy barked out a laugh, grinning hugely, in response. "Vampire, eh? Well then, I don't even have to kill you, I just have to wait until the night's over and you die." His previous intense anger seemed drained and replaced by a haughty glee, and he shrugged carelessly. "But then where's the fun in that?"

The reaction was all rather amusing, and Edward laughed as well. He almost laughed again at Envy's confused response, but he merely continued the conversation. "Of course there's no fun in that, even if it worked. But, allow me a question before you kill me. Why does this other Edward bother you?" He was genuinely curious now, as to how some little human could instill so much spite into anyone, even nonhumans.

Envy's humor vanished quickly and he glared, but said nothing out loud. His thoughts were enough.

Bastard, I'll kill him, I'll kill him for replacing me, no one replaces me, I'll teach him that, and I'll teach his pathetic little brother that, and oh I wish I hadn't killed Hohenheim yet, because I would love to have him watch, show him what he's done, and then kill him, kill him, kill them, kill them all, all of them need to die...

Edward nodded slowly. This Envy was obviously set on killing people, and he himself hadn't managed to find anyone worth killing recently. The choice wasn't even worth deciding. "Ah, I see. Well, you seem rather malicious, and I am rather hungry right now..."

Hungry...? The malice in Envy's expression dulled a bit in confusion before he laughed again, though this time it seemed more like he was assuring himself there was no reason to worry. "You? Kill me? That's laughable, really, truly laugh—"

Edward didn't give him time to finish, stopping dead an inch from Envy, who stopped in shock and stumbled a few steps away from the vampire. It was rather amusing. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" He was hardly apologetic, and he was starting to grow impatient with drawing the meeting out.

Envy growled, picking up his confused and interrupted thoughts with some effort. "The idea that you could kill me is absurd. I can prove it to you, if you'd like, Edward." The venom with which he spat the name out was fascinating, even though his thoughts were writhing with the desire to kill, not only the Edward he was familiar with before, but the vampire as well.

It all made Edward dreadfully curious about this Envy. So, he quashed his hunger for the moment and continued watching the homunculus curiously. "What makes a homunculus special, Envy? Is a homunculus something that changes into a mountain lion? It doesn't seem that deadly to me." He paused for a moment. "Although, it seems deadly to this Edward Elric you keep thinking about. If you keep chasing him you'll kill him, so that gives me every right to kill you instead." Once more he stopped, completely ignoring Envy's reaction, before adding quietly to himself, "Murder isn't really murder if you kill a killer, is it?"

He was done talking, and before Envy registered what had happened, he was sure, he was already feeding. It wasn't the most pleasant taste he'd run across – was it old? Stale? – but he was hungry.

Envy's sudden thrashing almost threw him off balance – he was abnormally strong, for not being a vampire. Not strong enough, granted, but still, he could easily kill any human he got his hands on.

All the more reason to kill him.

So he did.

He let Envy fall to the ground, watching with mild curiosity before turning away and walking off casually. That was better – he'd probably be able to last awhile before he got to a decent sized town, now.

An unexpected noise stopped him in his tracks, and the misplaced sound of someone else's breathing turned him around. There Envy was, regaining his feet, breathing harshly and clearing his throat of blood. Edward had not expected that in the least.

Kill him, kill him, bastard, kill him...

Envy looked furious, and Edward was almost concerned when the homunculus glowered at him. "Bastard... Now it's my turn to kill you for that." He moved quickly, this time, but Edward had no trouble dodging. He moved to kill again, but this time Envy's grappling broke the attempt, and they both backed away to watch the other carefully.

Edward looked the homunculus up and down carefully – there wasn't a mark on him to suggest he had just been killed, and Edward was positive he had done just that. After seeing enough he smirked casually. "Well now, this hasn't happened before. Generally people stay dead, you know."

Envy didn't even break his glare to return the smirk. "Generally, people aren't stupid enough to think they can kill me."

Edward's smile remained, and he almost laughed amicably. This creature was very interesting. "Well then, we're both in the same situation there. Shall we?"

That time Envy was first.

They dove, fought, and backed away endlessly, Edward no longer able to get the upper hand long enough to kill Envy, and Envy never quite capable of killing him. It went on and on until Edward noticed the near imperceptible shift from night to early dawn, and he paused a distance away. "As enjoyable as this is, we need to finish, don't you think?"

He received no answer, spoken or otherwise, but one more lunge from Envy. There was one more brief struggle, and one more break from the fight before the stranger changed again, this time into a crow, and shot into the canopy. Edward watched as the bird hovered there, glaring down in a distinctly non-avian way, thinking thoughts of murder and revenge, before darting off.

Edward didn't mind the sudden departure. He had been hungry, he fed. It wasn't his fault that his prey had gotten back up. It might even be better – he hadn't killed anyone this time. That was, surprisingly, a great relief for his conscience. It was also surprising because he shouldn't feel bad about killing murderers in the first place.

His picked up again on his way west, towards the coast shortly afterwards, and made no stops in the small towns along the way, instead edging around them to avoid being seen in the clear day. He only made to stop and gather news when twilight fell and it was dark enough to remain undiscovered.