He had been trying desperately to find a way to keep track of the time or perhaps even figure out where he was, when he had heard movement overhead. However despite the sounds which seemed to be made by a human his vampiric sixth sense was telling him that they could not be coming from a human being. If it had been someone with a functioning mind than said mind would have alerted Edward of the persons presence long before the sounds in the middle of a thunderstorm.

Closing his eyes he sighed quietly. By now he almost hoped that someone would come to question him, even if that would certainly lead to pain as he refused to answer. At least it would be a distraction from the terrible hunger that clawed at him from the inside. Yes he had better control and endurance then most of his kind, developed thanks to years of practice, but even he had his limits. In fact they had been surpassed quite a while ago. He would guess weeks, but without a clock or any other indicator of time, it could have been far longer, or shorter for that matter.

Having dismissed the noise above, he was shocked, when the trapdoor was suddenly opened. Quickly closing his eyes, the vampire hoped that the old trick would give him the short breather he needed to organize his thoughts. Even if people knew that he was a vampire and as such could neither sleep nor faint, they still had a tendency to think that he was somehow not present, if he pretended not to be. Of course it wouldn't take long for them to figure out what he was doing, but he wouldn't need long to get a better grasp of the situation.

He was still chained to the floor, too weak to do much at all and now obviously had company. Company that for some reason he couldn't hear. What use was a "gift" like being able to read someone else's mind, when the one time he really needed it, it failed? All of those annoying humans that surrounded him constantly, never giving him a moment of peace, that he had tried to shut out so desperately had still managed to worm their way into his mind. He seemed incapable of blocking even his family, which had led to quite a few uncomfortable situations, but of course his kidnapper would be impossible to read.

A light touch to his leg ripped him from his thoughts. Deciding that the time to asses and consider was over, Edward snapped his eyes open. His enhanced sight made it possible to study the young woman in front of him quite clearly, despite the flashlight directed towards him. She had obviously had a hard time these last few months, as her clothing seemed old and his nose complained from it's lack of freshness. Having missed quite a few meals made her too thin for her own good and the plastic bag that covered her spoke of missing rain equipment despite the terrible weather. Not what he had expected to be his chief interrogator. More on par with his expectations was the determined look in her eyes and the tone of her voice. The words she chose though through him off once more:

"I know what you are."

When taking in her appearance he had hoped that small as the chance was he had been discovered by someone not involved in his kidnapping. Someone who would assume him to be human and would be willing to either help him out of his chains or at least call the police. He had even felt bad for the poor soul, as he was uncertain how well his instinct control would work at the moment.

Now though it seemed that his hope had been in vain. He still doubted that his discoverer was involved with his abductors, otherwise she would have been better dressed and most likely wouldn't have stated the obvious but rather launched right into whatever it was she wanted, but all hope that she would help him was squashed. Which human would help a vampire, after all? Doing his best not to breath in so that he wouldn't smell her blood and risk growing crazy with thirst he studied her. Would her involvement make it possible for Alice to finally get a vision of where he was? But that was unlike, otherwise the Cullens would have already come for him. Besides, if his gift didn't work on her for whatever reason, what were the chances that Alice's would?

"So what am I?" He baited her, hoping to learn something more from her. Perhaps she was nervous enough to start rambling? Her heart was certainly beating quickly enough.

"Vampire," was all she said. Well so much for his chances that she would ramble or had simply come to the wrong conclusion. Nodding resignedly he tried questioning her further: "What are you going to do about it?"

Lightly bending her head as if the different perspective might help her figure out a very difficult puzzle, she answered: "What do you think?"

Wishing he wouldn't have to draw another breath to be able to continue their conversation, Edward smelled the delicious fragment of her blood, his body immediately straining against the bonds holding him. "I think that something is keeping you from running screaming from the room." He would have to be careful to breath as little as possible or he might just loose all sense.

"Your eyes, they are black." Somehow it felt more like a question than an actual statement.

All right, that he could work with. "Yes. Only the eyes of a vampire who feeds on human blood are red. If a vampire lives off of animal blood or hasn't fed recently we have different colors."

The woman chuckled shortly and straightened her body. "And I suppose you will claim that black is the color for everyone who doesn't feast on humans? I'm not born yesterday."

"I never claimed you were. In fact black is the color for a starving vampire. If I had recently fed on an animal they would be golden."

Her disbelieve was easy enough to notice. "I have never even heard of a vampire that lives off of animals."

"Because there aren't all that many of us."

"So if I were to untie you right now, you wouldn't jump my bones?"

And there she was at the crux of the matter, wasn't she. If he had cared a little less, if he had believed in himself a bit more, he might have simply told her yes. As it was however, not even the thirst could make him lie to the innocent before him, because innocent she was. Even though he couldn't read her, she could not be involved in the group that had led to his current predicament. Her gestures and tone of voice were too honest, too afraid and yet curious to be those of even a very good actor. You couldn't fake your heart beat after all. Of course he couldn't be certain, not the way he could be when he read a mind, but he had always been good at judging characters and she simply didn't seem fake. So he decided to be truthful as well, even if it cost him his rather unlikely ticket to freedom. "No, I probably would. Just because I normally try to live off of animals doesn't mean that I would be able to control myself starved as I am. In fact it's rather likely that I would attack just about anything with even a drop of blood in their body right now."

"You seem rather coherent for a starved vampire in one room with a human that he can't reach."

He smiled widely, displaying his perfect white teeth. "I don't know how you know so much about us, or even anything at all really, but I suppose that is one way to put it. Abstinence does have it's perks though they are far and few in between."

"So the logical consequence is that I hightail my ass out of here and make sure to never come back," was her quiet, almost hesitant reply. So far her voice had always been firm and clear. Why would it change now, when she had simply announced the obvious?

"I suppose so."

Something seemed to keep her from leaving, making her question him further: "So, will your captors come back?"

"I wouldn't know." Why start lying now, when he hadn't done so before. After all, what could the harm be in that?

The reply seemed to unsettle her however and she began chewing on her lower lip. "How long have you been down here?"

"Again, I wouldn't know. Not like I have a clock or a window to measure time. Maybe a few days, maybe weeks."

Nodding as his reply obviously made sense, she hesitated before continuing with her questions. "The only way to kill one of you is to rip you apart and burn you, right?"

She sounded innocent enough, but Edward grew uncomfortable none the less. Why would she want to know what would kill him unless she had plans. Maybe she was considering if she should use this as a chance to take some revenge? Not like he knew for what, but a human that could recognize a vampire as quickly as her - or even knew that they existed – had to have met one of them at some point. Chances were that they hadn't been of the good kind and as such she had some reason for revenge against his species.

Realizing his discomfort at her question she ducked her head sheepishly and apologized: "Sorry, I guess that's a bit of a creepy question to ask, isn't it? All I meant was that you can't starve, right?"

Not seeing the harm in answering this, the vampire nodded: "We can feel starved and believe me it's less than pleasant, but we can't actually die from lack of blood."

"So you will be here until whoever stuck you here decides to come and get you."

Not liking the rather bleak outlook this provided, Edward replied quietly: "Or until someone else finds me."

"Someone who is inclined to open those chains, only to be made into the celebratory snack."

"If they are human, then most likely yes."

Her eyes widened and he couldn't help but be impressed by her deductive abilities despite the rather unusual and probably frightening situation. "So there is someone not human out there looking for you? Someone you wouldn't mind if they came and got you?"

What was her point? He really wished that he could peak in her mind for just a few minutes. If only he had a few seconds to make sure that she wasn't one of them. "What about you? Won't anyone come looking for you if you don't leave this little hole pretty soon?" Maybe not the best distraction, but it seemed to work well enough as she considered her answer for a few moments.

"They'll look no matter where I am though I would prefer not being found." Under her breath she added a quiet "even if it's a shitty life" that obviously hadn't been addressed to him.

Something in her honest answer made him nod his head and admit quietly: "Yes there is someone looking for me, whom I wouldn't mind finding me."

She seemed almost disappointed. As if the fact that even a Vampire had someone who cared for them increased her own lack of companions only all the more.

"So what would they do, if someone dropped them a hint as to where you are?"

This definitely caught Edwards attention. Was she honestly offering to call someone for him? "They would investigate and get me out of here once they actually find me."

"And they would make sure that you don't have a snack on your way back to where you came from?"

"Yes. I'm weak enough that they wouldn't have any trouble restraining me." That might be a bit of a white lie. They most certainly would have some difficulties holding him back, but between Carlisle, Jasper and Edward they would manage.

"So just hypothetically: If someone were to get a phone number from you, they would come for you as long as they are given some reason to believe that this isn't some elaborate trap?"

No point in telling her that they would probably even come if it most definitely was an elaborate trap. For a moment he considered his answer. Was this a ploy to get the rest of the clan to come here so that they could be killed or even worse, captured as well? But there would be easier ways to draw them out. His clan was known for being rather closely knit after all. Maybe if he gave a bit of a warning to them that he wasn't actually certain of the reliability of his messenger? They had an emergency number, which was close to impossible to trace and that he was certain was still active, independent from the amount of time since his disappearance. They knew that said number would be his only way of contacting them after all. Everyone in the clan knew the number by heart. Still, could he risk it? But then, what choice did he have?

Hi,

the second chapter in this story. I'm enjoying this universe far too much I fear :). Not sure if I'm up to another full scale story at the moment, but we will see. Would love to hear what you all think of this chapter, greetings

Yorushike