Déjà Vu by vampireisthenewblack

(the fic formerly known as Delusional)

Chapter 2

A/N: Again, this is AU SSE. Not real SSE. You might have noticed the title of the fic has changed. I realised I have far too many fics named using a single word beginning with D. Way to confuse, no? So the fic formerly known as 'Delusional' becomes 'Déjà Vu'.

Déjà Vu is mostly complete. A couple rewrites and a couple of scenes still to do. I'm hoping the next few chapters will post around weekly (she hopes, but she does not promise) and that reviews will give me the impetus I need to get the rest of the story sorted. That's not me begging, either. Feedback just fuels my muse :)

I feel the need to address the fact that I did get a couple reviews on the original chapter asking me not to continue this storyline. I ask, no, implore, anyone who doesn't like the twist of SSE Alec as a vampire, not to read this story. I completely understand where you're coming from, but I've never written to spec. I can't. The story is there, and I have to let it out. Just like any fanfic that goes a place you don't like to see the Twilight characters go, you don't have to read it. Thank you for your understanding and I hope I'll see you in the reviews of my other fics.


I don't dream at all. When I wake, I'm alone and the sun is forcing its way through the gaps in the curtains. I roll onto my side and wince at the throbbing pain as I put weight on my bruised arm.

Seth appears in the doorway as I pull myself into a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

He looks at me with a mixture of concern and something else, his eyes shifting over my upper body. I grab a discarded t-shirt and pull it on before I meet his eyes.

"What the hell happened last night, Edward?" he asks, his voice deceptively calm. I know him. I know he's worried, but it's the kind of worry that verges on anger and frustration. "You're covered in bruises—and don't try to tell me you fell or some shit, because they look like fucking hand prints."

"You'll think I'm delusional," I mutter.

He crosses the room and falls to his knees in front of me, his large hands sliding up my thighs over the thin fabric of my pyjama pants. "Just tell me."

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Seth loves me. I can tell him anything. "Alec was here last night."

Anyone else would laugh. Seth doesn't. "You were dreaming." It's not an attempt to convince me; it's a logical assumption. I dream about Alec every night.

I shake my head. "It was real." If it weren't for the bruises, I would have convinced myself that it was a dream. "Impossible," I say with a dry laugh, "but real."

Seth's expression shifts to concern. "Babe, I don't know what to say. Alec's—"

"Dead. Yeah, I know." I push myself off the bed, causing Seth to rock back onto his heels, and I walk out into the main room, dragging my fingers through my hair as I look around, searching for a sign—anything—that will prove I'm not losing it.

There's nothing. The only thing he touched was me. I peel off my t-shirt and look at myself. There's some bruising across my upper chest that could have been caused by anything, but there are four distinct lines ringing each of my biceps. "Did you do this?" I ask Seth. "'Cause if he wasn't here, it was just you and me."

Seth wraps his arms carefully around me and lets out a loud sigh. "Even if, for arguments sake, Alec was here, there's no way he could have done this. No way."

"He was different. Strong." I lean my head on Seth's shoulder, inhaling his clean, warm scent. "And cold. And he was... hard. Not like that," I add when Seth quirks a brow at me. "And his eyes. This is the weirdest thing. They were red."

Seth twitches. "What?"

"I swear I'm not making it up."

Seth says nothing, but his forehead is creased with worry. He inhales through his nose and flinches. "You can't smell that?"

"What?"

"Sickly sweet... What did he smell like to you?"

"You believe me?"

"What did he smell like?"

"He smelt good."

Seth lets me go and walks away, back into the bedroom. I follow him. He opens our suitcases and starts throwing our clothes in.

"What are you doing? Our flight isn't 'til tomorrow afternoon."

"You said he was cold, right?"

"Yeah." I watch as he carelessly yanks our coats out of the closet and tosses them onto the bed. I grab hold of his arm and force him to face me. "What are you doing?"

Seth chews his lip. "Now you're gonna think I'm nuts. Maybe we both are. Edward, Alec is dead, but you swear he was here last night. He's cold, hard, strong. He has red eyes. It's the eyes that made me click to it—and there's the smell. It makes a disturbing amount of sense."

I inhale. "I don't smell anything."

Seth laughs mirthlessly. "You won't. You're not Quileute. Call the airline. Get us on the next flight home."

"What are you talking about? Alec's here. Why are we going?"

"Dad used to tell me these stories when I was a kid. Legends, you know?" He sighs, dragging his fingers through his hair. "I don't remember much. 'Hard as stone and cold as ice.' Something about red eyes and a sweet smell that burns your nose. He always said they were just stories—but he made damn sure I knew them. I remember that. If those legends are true, we have to get out of here." Seth chews his lip and sits down heavily on the bed. "I can smell him out there. On you, too. Yeah, still. But I didn't see him. He was strong? Like, inhumanly strong?"

I begin to sweat, just remembering it, the way he tossed me across the room like it was nothing. "Yeah."

Seth's lips twist, as if he's trying to smile but can't. "Hard as stone and cold as ice?"

I nod.

"You're sure? How close did you get?"

My eyes sting and I blink away tears. "I kissed him."

Seth swallows, and the skin tightens around his eyes, but other than that, he gives no reaction. "Right. And, umm... Red eyes." His head falls into his hands. "Jesus."

All I can do is stare at him with tears running down my face. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. Guilty, yeah—but I felt that last night, too. Even though Alec was supposed to be dead, I still felt like him finding me with Seth was a betrayal. And now... "Seth, I don't know what to say. I was in shock. He was supposed to be dead and there he was, exactly the same... except—"

Seth lifts his head and holds out a hand to me. I take it and allow him to pull me down beside him. He wraps an arm around me and presses his lips to my forehead. "It's not that. Don't worry about that, Edward. If it's really him—if he is what I think he is, if the stories are true—he's dangerous. That's why we have to leave. Today."

If he is what I think he is.

Alec is dead. I know that. But last night he walked. He talked. I kissed him and he kissed me back. His skin was cold, and he was preternaturally strong. I don't want to know, but I ask anyway. "What is he, Seth?"

Seth sighs and mumbles something that sounds like "supernatural bullshit" and then he looks me right in the eye. "The legend calls them the Cold Ones. They're blood drinkers."

I feel dizzy and I can't breathe, remembering his lips pressed against my throat, his anguished expression of need. I look at Seth and my breath comes out in a panicked rush. "I... I can't..." I shake my head and I want it to be disbelief but I know it's not, because I believe, completely. But I keep doing it, as if by this action I can make it not real. "No..." I try again.

Seth purses his lips, his own pain evident in his eyes. "Edward, I'm sorry."

~v~

I'm in shock. The awareness of it sits at the edge of my mind as I watch Seth move about the room with the phone pressed to his ear. He is businesslike and abrupt as he speaks into it.

I tune it out and stare at the wall, and even when he raises his voice in frustration, I don't look up.

"There are no flights to Seattle 'til the morning."

The couch shifts as he sits down beside me, and I automatically lean toward him. "Seattle." My voice is flat and emotionless, even to my own ears. My eyes are fixed on a tiny dent in the wall.

Seth touches my face to get my attention. "I'm going to talk to Jake's dad. He has to know something."

He's so gentle. His voice, his words, his fingers as he entwines them with mine. I look down at our joined hands. "I can't go."

Closing his eyes, he sighs. "I'm not leaving you here."

I don't want him to go without me. I hadn't considered that he might, but I know that if he insists on getting on a plane, I won't be going with him.

Alec is here in London.

I push myself off the couch and pull my jacket on. "We're going to be late." We've arranged to meet Jane for lunch, and now, more than ever, I need to see her.

"Babe. I don't think we should leave the hotel."

I glance at Seth and register his worried expression. "Vampires can't go out in the daytime," I tell him.

~v~

"Nothing strange at all?" I ask. "You haven't seen anything... weird?"

Jane's laugh is musical, but just a little strained. "You seeing ghosts, love?"

Seth tears a paper napkin into narrow strips.

"Maybe." I look right into her eyes. They're exactly like his were. Just the same in every way, from the pretty blue to the long eyelashes. "Maybe I'm crazy." I laugh, and there is no humour behind it, but Jane relaxes anyway.

"Mum reckons a photo of you two went missing," she laughs. "It was months ago, but she still goes on about it. 'A sign he's watching over us,' she says. Dad tells her she's daft—you know what he's like—but she won't let it go. Makes her feel better, I think, so I just let her go for it." She smirks at me. "I thought you might have nicked it last time you were over."

I can't smile back. I shake my head slowly and squeeze Seth's hand under the table.

~v~

The sun will set soon, and I want him to come again, but I know he won't. Last night was a brief flicker of terrifying hope, but now he's gone again.

Seth sifts through our things, packing all but the essentials, making sure we are ready to go first thing in the morning. "Got your passport?"

"It's in my bag." I turn away from the window where I've been staring out at nothing. "Seth, please. I can't go. I need to—"

"We can think about that once we're safe." Dropping his own papers onto the coffee table, he holds my face in his hands and kisses me once. "I'm scared shitless, Edward."

I know I'm pulling a face, but I don't care. "It's Alec," I say, with both a note of ridicule and a plea for understanding.

Seth frowns. "Baby, I know this has got to be hard—"

His words are cut off by a click and a bang. There's movement in my peripheral vision and I look toward the door. He's wearing a coat with the hood pulled up around his face, but I know it's Alec.

"Oh my god," I whisper.

Seth turns, shoving me behind him as he takes a few steps backward. He's shaking. Alec lifts pale hands and pulls back the hood and I see him in the light. He's breathtaking.

"Jesus," Seth breathes.

Alec's eyes flick from me to Seth and back again. "You've gotta get out of here. Now."

Seth is trembling. I twist out of his grip, needing to go to Alec. Seth tries to hold me, but I turn on him, and I'm about to insist he release me, but the look on his face stops me cold. I've never seen anything like it. It's fear, and anger too. His nostrils are flared, his lips pursed tightly together, and his eyes are wide. He's not looking at me. He's staring at Alec.

"Now," Alec grinds out, his voice low and menacing. He takes a few steps forward, and an alien sound comes from Seth.

It's a low, rumbling growl.

Alec stops. His eyes flash and his own nostrils flare. He pulls himself up to his full height—Seth still towers over him—and suddenly it's like I'm not in the room anymore. The two of them stare each other down, and when I slip between them, it's like neither of them see me.

Alec recovers first. "I don't know what the fuck you are, mate, but you gotta believe me. You're in danger. Edward is in danger. You gotta leave." He looks at the packed suitcases. "This all your stuff? When's your flight?"

"Tomorrow morning," I say. "But I'm not going."

Alec tears his eyes from Seth's face and looks at me. He pulls his lower lip into his mouth and sucks on it. "Love..." He shakes his head slowly. "I'm sorry, love. It's my fault, but you gotta go right the fuck now, and if I have to pick you up and drag you out of here—"

"Don't touch him," Seth growls as he tugs me roughly behind him and steps right up to Alec and glares down at him.

Alec lifts a perfect eyebrow and glances at me. "I like him." He looks back at Seth. "Sweetheart, I know you mean well, but the thing is, I said a bit too much to the wrong person—and now he's coming here. I think you prefer Edward alive, so you should just go along with it, yeah?"

Seth's stance changes. He stops trembling and starts taking deep breaths. "This person..."

"Dangerous." Alec nods and then pulls up his hood again.

"You brought another one here, didn't you?" Seth starts shaking again.

"I fucked up. I'm trying to fix it." He opens the door. "Passports and tickets... Money... Leave the rest—you can't carry it."

Seth seems to consider for a moment, and then he flies into action, grabbing our hand luggage, stuffing his papers in, checking for my passport before passing my bag over. He grabs me by the hand, nods at Alec, and follows him through the door, dragging me with him.