AN: New story idea; this is a crossover between my least favorite book series (Twilight) and one of my most favorite (The Edge Series, by Ilona Andrews). I don't know why I'm doing this other than to see if I can make something good from this particular crossover. Here's hoping. This isn't a romance, though there will be some background romance, this is more of a way to explore what a friendship between a magically inclined individual and the Cullens would be like and how that might have changed the Twilight plotline. Or what would happen if the Cullens were thrown in to the Edge-verse. I've changed the Twilight timeline a bit because it doesn't make sense for the Cullens to have moved to Forks two years before Bella arrived, because it would put Edward and Alice as freshman since Bella is a junior in the first book and so are they (I think?). Thus the Cullens will have moved a year before Bella arrives and are just starting as sophomores and juniors respectively. This could also be considered an AU version of Always Sunny.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything that is recognizable; Twilight, The Edge Series, and anything else that might crop up belong to their respective owners. I only own the concept of Sunni and her family. Enjoy.
Full Summary: Sunni Lewis is an Edger, a mongrel brat from a world between worlds; the Broken, where magic doesn't exist except in fairytales and technology reigned, and the Weird, where magic ruled and old blueblood families held all the power. The Edge was a no-man's land, where it was every Edger family for themselves; there were no rules, no laws, no nothing. Just the strength of your family's magic and how well they could use it to protect you.
Sunni's family could use it very, very well. They lived in the Edge town known as Oaks Town located in the Broken state of Washington, near the small town of Forks. That's where Sunni goes to school and occasionally works. That's where she meets creatures that aren't supposed to be able to exist in the Broken. Creatures that aren't supposed to exist period. But they do and they're very curious about Sunni and against her better judgement, she's curious about them too.
For the first time in millennia, vampires will roam the Edge and feel the trickle of her magic. But their entrance comes with a price when more vampires show up and threaten the safety of not only the Edge, but the Weird too. Sunni and her new found undead friends have to stop them before its too late.
Well crap.
There were three things Sunni Lewis absolutely hated; one was clowns, another was her brother's shedding, and the last was crossing the border between the Broken and the Edge.
You see, Sunni and her family lived between two worlds; the Weird, where magic pooled deeply and wild things roamed, lay to one side and the Broken, where people shopped at Walmart and magic was nothing more than a fairytale lay on the other. That place where the two dimensions "touched", intersecting and creating a narrow stretch of land that belonged to both worlds, was known as the Edge.
The Edge was a no-man's land, a place without countries or cops—or any kind of law enforcement really—and it took in everyone. Criminals of all kinds, clannish families, crazed separatists, and fugitives from both the Weird and the Broken—if they had the magic to see the boundary lines—all were welcome in the Edge, all were poor as dirt, and all kept to themselves. The Edgers gave no quarter and expected no sympathy.
Crossing the boundary lines was painful and sometimes deadly—too much or too little magic could kill you in the crossing. As it was Sunni just barely made the quota when it came to having just the right amount of too little magic to make the crossing between the Broken and the Edge without dying. The rest of her family had too much magic.
Mundane Douglas firs and spruces replaced gigantic Edge cedars and towering hemlocks as Sunni popped out on the other side of the boundary line into the Broken. She shook off the incomplete, broken feeling being in the magicless dimension left her with. That was how the Broken got its name by the way.
Rain pelted her windshield and Sunni flicked her wipers on, easing her old Ford Bronco down the muddy side road that would take her to the main road of the Broken town known as Forks. Edge towns didn't usually have schools, so most Edger kids were either homeschooled or, if they had Social Security numbers—or at least moderately good fakes—went to school in the Broken. The Edge town of Oaks Town was no exception.
Sunni reached the end of the side road and slowed, leaning forward to squint at the main road. This far away from Forks, the main road wasn't exactly busy, but Sunni still had to be careful turning on to it from the side road since it was, you know, invisible to most people from the Broken. All they would see was a wall of trees and, if someone was coming down the road right at the moment, they would see a red and white 1984 Ford Bronco coming out of them.
Thirty minutes later, Sunni pulled into the nearly empty parking lot of Forks High School and bit back a curse when she saw her customary spot was taken by a shiny new Volvo. She glared at it, lips twisting into a frown. It was times like this Sunni wished she could use her magic in the Broken. She'd use her flash to slash the bastard's pretty tires—a bit excessive perhaps, but it was literally the perfect spot to park and everyone at the school knew she'd claimed it as hers the moment she'd gotten her car. She'd flashed for less.
Flashing was something anyone with a drop of magic could learn how to do. All you had to do was take a hold of the magic inside you and channel it from your body in a controlled burst that looked like a whip or ribbon of lightning; it didn't take talent, only practice and the will to do it. The lighter the color of your flash, the hotter and more potent it was. The most accomplished flashers could flash white; the hottest, most potent a flash could get. A strong flash could slice through a human body like a hot knife through butter.
Of course, few Edgers could get their flash anywhere near that powerful. Most flashed red or dark orange although a select few could flash green or blue. White flash tended to be reserved for bluebloods from the Weird.
Sunni could flash white and as she pulled into an empty space a few cars away from her regular spot, she pictured the white ribbon of her magic slashing the tires—maybe even the car—to pieces. See, Sunni wasn't like most Edgers. Sure, she'd been born in there, but both of her parents—and her older brother—had been born in the Weird. They'd run to the Edge after a…disagreement between Sunni's mother and grandfather occurred over some of her mother's life choices.
Lewis wasn't even technically their last name; it just happened to be the name Sunni's parents had decided to use when Sunni was born and it became obvious her mother's surname would be too weird—ha!—for the Broken.
Sunni tugged her hood over her head before hopping out of the toasty cab of her Bronco to brave the torrential downpour. She gave the Volvo the evil eye on her way to her first class of the day; Algebra 2.
Blah.
~.~.~.~
Three hours and three classes later, Sunni wanted desperately to bang her head against the nearest hard surface. Or possibly ring someone's neck. Either option was looking more and more appealing as the day wore on.
Her first hour had been a nightmare. No one—literally no one—wanted to focus on the lesson because apparently the school had gained five new students. Five mysterious, and supposedly ungodly beautiful, people that the rest of the student body could not shut up about. Miss Jensen, the Algebra 2 teacher, had had a helluva time getting anyone to pay attention then gave up about twenty minutes into the class hour.
Second hour hadn't been nearly as bad since Mr. Michaels, the World History teacher, was the biggest hardass in the school. He was also an Edger and like many mongrel Edgers, he worked in the Broken. Unlike many Edgers, he'd actually gone to college. He could have been a professor at the university in Seattle, but had chosen to teach in small town Forks to help motivate the few Edger brats that went to Forks High to go to college and make more of themselves.
He had pretty much shut down any and all gossip about the new students with the threat of a five page essay on the Industrial Revolution if anyone so much as deviated from the day's lesson. Shut everyone right up.
Third hour had been by far the worst though. Sunni actually had one of these mysterious, ungodly beautiful new students in that class. Mike Newton, her lab partner, had almost set Sunni's shirt on fire with a Bunsen burner when the petite brunette had walked into the Chemistry classroom fifteen minutes late.
Mr. Richards had given her detention for cussing Newton out for a solid five minutes afterwards. Sunni had not been amused, but the tiny brunette clearly had been. The girl–Sunni had been too busy cursing Newton out to hear her name—hadn't laughed, but Sunni could tell she had really wanted to.
Now it was lunch and Sunni had a vague hope that after all the horribleness, the day could only get better from here. But alas, the Universe had decided to have a mordant sense of humor that day and Sunni was its target.
She had just finished filling her tray with the day's special—spaghetti, yummy—and was in the process of turning towards her preferred lunch table where her few friends—fellow Edger brats such as herself—were waiting when she crashed into someone's chest. Someone's very broad, very muscular, very hard chest.
The tray upended and hot spaghetti splashed across Sunni's chest, staining her sweater with red. The cafeteria went silent and all eyes turned to her and whoever she'd just run into.
Sunni exhaled like an angry bull and tilted her head to glare at the ceiling. Today is just not my day.
"Sorry, didn't see you there." A deep, booming, laughing voice apologized.
Didn't see…? Sunni felt her cheek twitch she was clenching her teeth so hard. She counted to ten in her head then finally deigned to look at her assailant. At least two inches taller than her, built like a goddamned bodybuilder with freakishly pale skin, curly dark brown hair, and gold eyes that were currently laughing at her from a devastatingly beautiful face. He smiled and two dimples dug craters into his cheeks giving him a charmingly boyish look that had several nearby girls swooning.
Sunni didn't swoon. In fact, alarm bells went off in Sunni's head as she stared at him. He was admittedly a handsome bastard—and if that cheeky smile was anything to go by, he knew it too—but there was something not quite right with the way he looked. Something not quite human. He was just too perfect.
The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and Sunni had to resist the urge step away. Instead she straightened her spine and scowled thunderously at the cheeky asshole. Freaky vibes or not, she was Lewis and when they didn't let anyone—or anything intimidate them.
"I'm six-three and a bloody ginger, how did you miss me?" Don't just get scared, get angry.As far as family wisdom went, it could be better but it had served Sunni well growing up in the dog-eat-dog world of the Edge and in the gossip-monger town of Forks.
"Weeelll…" He dragged the word out and shrugged a pair of truly massive shoulders, lifting his hands slightly in an "I don't even know" gesture. His gold eyes continued to laugh at her, but underneath that laughter, Sunni saw something…hungry staring at her.
Houston, we have a problem. Abort, mission, abort!
"Yeah, well watch where you're going next time Gigantor." Sunni snapped and edged around him with as much dignity as she could with spaghetti sauce and pasta noodles smeared across her front. When it doubt, use the ever charming Edger politeness.
"Will do, Red."
Sunni wrinkled her nose but didn't condescend to turn back around. She reached her lunch table and slammed her tray on it, scowling at the three other people sitting there.
"Thanks a lot for the save, guys."
Lounging in the chair across from her, Benji Connors shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly though his tight expression betrayed his worry. "You looked like you had it handled, Lewis."
And that was Edgers for you; every man for himself. Even in the Broken.
Sunni scowled at him, but didn't take it too personally. Benji had six younger siblings he had to help take care of and he was already on thin ice with the school; he couldn't afford to rock the boat even for his best friend of over a decade. She could tell by his eyes that he'd wanted to help, but the threat of a possible suspension if he acted out any more kept him in his seat.
"Whatever." Sunni grumped. She pushed her tray away from her and accepted the napkin Nate LeBeau handed to her. Nate, by Edger standards, was the sweetheart of the group; quiet and gentle, he could bring a puppy that had been hit by a car back from the dead or rip your life right out of you with his magic. No joke.
"They're not human are they?" The question came from the last of their little foursome, Bobby Duncan. She was stirring her yogurt cup in small precise circles, green eyes focused on the far side of the cafeteria. Bobby was from one of the more well to-do families in Oaks Town, but since her family had humble beginnings, she had a decent head screwed on her shoulders. She could also throw curses around like nobody's business.
Sunni chanced a glance in that direction, saw Gigantor and the pixie girl from History sitting with three other inhumanly attractive people, and went back to the futility of cleaning spaghetti from her sweater. She remembered the hunger in Gigantor's eyes and snorted. "Doubt it."
"How's that possible?" Nate spoke with a faint Louisiana drawl and he turned a pair of velvet brown eyes on Sunni, as if she was supposed to know the answer. "We're in the Broken."
She frowned at him. "The hell am I supposed t'know?"
"You're from the Weird." Benji flapped his hand at her. "There's all sorts of strange shit there."
While that last bit was true—the Weird really was full of all sorts of strange creatures and things—Sunni had been born in the Edge. She said as much to the three morons she called friends.
"My parents and brother were born there. I was born in the Edge just like you asshats."
Benji rolled his shoulders. "Details. We know your Mom makes you study all that crap from there."
Okay, he had a point there; her mom did teach her in the ways of the Weird on the—very slim—off chance their family ever went back. He didn't have to be an ass about it though.
Sunni gave up on her sweater and tossed the napkin on her tray before shedding her leather jacket and peeling the whole thing over her head, leaving her in just a long-sleeved shirt. She shoved it in her bag and folded her arms on the table, shifting her body around so she could scrutinize the new students without getting a crick in her neck.
None of them looked alike at all and yet they were all freakishly similar at the same time. There was the petite brunette from History sitting next to a tall, lean blonde boy. Gigantor sat across from the pixie with a statuesque blonde girl on his left and a lanky bronze-haired boy on his right. All of them had bright eyes in varying shades of gold and they were all so stunningly attractive it was ridiculous.
The lanky boy looked up and met Sunni's eyes.
When she was ten years old, Sunni had stupidly wondered into the woods around her family's house by herself, something her mother and father told her never to do. In those woods she had come face to teeth with an Edge wolf; almost twice the size of a wolf from the Broken and imbued with the magic of the Wood, the creature had wanted nothing more than to make ten year old Sunni a nice little snack. Lucky for Sunni, her brother had burst out of the bushes and ripped into the wolf before it could do just that. She had it's teeth strung up on a necklace back home.
Looking into the lanky boy's eyes catapulted her back to that day and just like back then, when she had stared into the Edge wolf's eyes, Sunni felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, her muscles tense, and her heart stutter in her chest. Staring into those topaz depths, Sunni saw the wolf's hunger reflected back at her and it was just as frightening now as it was when she was ten years old.
Oh yeah, definitely not human.
The sixty-four thousand dollar questions were how are they in the Broken, a place without magic? And what the hell were they?
