A/N: I'm back guys. Sorry it has taken soooooo long to update this but real life has been a bitch to me and has had me in one hell of a choke hold. It is safe to say (for now at least) that RL has decided to calm the fuck down and let me breathe long enough to write some more. So here is the next chapter - although I'm sure by now you have all forgotten what has happened before - so feel free to re-read the previous chapters again. LOL.

This comes to you unbeta'd so I apologise for any and all mistakes ;op This is a short chapter so again sorry for that too!

Enjoy! xx

Chapter 3 – Controlling Fate.

EPOV

It was close. My mouth continued to water as fresh waves of venom seeped through every porous crevice. I was no longer accountable for my own actions as the hungry thirst of the monster enslaved me, seizing me, holding me hostage.

I turned the corner and found myself at the entrance of heaven. There, face down on the floor in a crumpled heap, was the body that housed the sweetest nectar I had ever happened to stumble across, broken and bleeding, beckoning me closer.

Somewhere, nestled deep in my subconscious, my voice of reason screamed at me to stop, urging me to recognise this oh so familiar image that was attaching itself to the niggling thoughts of my inner voice, but my internal beast snarled at it, slashing at it ferociously, diminishing it to an untrodden region of my subliminal mind.

My body was poised in a low crouch ready to launch itself into blissful rhapsody. I was overpowered by my burning thirst and the only thing that mattered was the red, sticky liquid oozing from the girls head. I swiped at my face as my subconscious voice reared its ugly head once more, niggling at me, imploring the inner brute to listen, as if I could physically knock it out. I was angered at its persistence and tried harder to block it out.

With alacrity I lunged forward towards the girl, my eyes locked securely on their target, and in less than a second I hovered over her. My hands gripped her body and turned her over, tilting back her head abruptly, causing blood to trickle from the wound on her head and down her face. Her dark mahogany hair had begun to dry in clumps around the deep laceration, caked in blood.

My inner monster laughed demonically in triumph as my tongue snaked out to taste the blood. The crimson droplets clung to my tongue like Velcro, coating it in its sweet warmth. A guttural grown sought escape from my lips as the fire in my throat blazed. The taste of her blood was like an accelerant, accentuating and amplifying the flames that ate away at me internally, acting like a wrecking ball demolishing any remaining remnants of my self control.

Goaded on by the monster rejoicing within I bent down slowly, savouring this moment, relishing the salty, coppery taste of her in my mouth. Her blood was like a sacrificial lamb, offering itself to me. As I leaned in closer the voice of my subconscious broke through the snarling beast once more. I tried to block it out but I couldn't. It was screaming at me so loud that, had I been human, it would have perforated my ear drums.

Don't do it. Stop. It's her. Don't do it. You love her. You need her. Edward. Stop.

The monstrous beast snarled louder, battling its way to the foreground but too much time had passed; my primal instinct was diluted with my returning sanity, stopping me in my tracks, like a deer caught in headlights. I listened intently to the voice inside my head as it reasoned with me, soothing me, calming the fire that licked incessantly at my insides.

"Help me...save me..." the body in my arms stirred and the melodic tone of her voice washed over me.

Realisation grasped at me with hungry fingertips. This is it. This is the vision. It's her, my love. It was too late though. It was too late to save her; my attempts were surely futile, because I had already tasted her. I couldn't stop the monster that was clawing its way up my throat, forcing me to destroy my own happiness. I felt like I had lost all control and, in actual fact, I had. There was nothing I could do. I had to drink it; to drain her body of every last drop until she lay lifeless, completely depleted. I wasn't strong enough to stop, the monster had escaped and I couldn't rein him in.

Panic consumed me as Alice's vision haunted me, taunting me with its images. It was too late. "I'm sorry," I whispered in her ear as I embraced the monster inside of me, conspiring against me, spurring me on to satiate my hunger. Regret, guilt and pain combined together and rolled off me in crimson waves as her blood enticed me in, tugging at me, urging me closer. I was powerless.

I closed the last of the gap between us, aware that I was about to end her life and mine in the process. This was it, the end of my hope. I grazed her neck with my teeth, seeking out the vein that pulsed hypnotically, calling to me with its melodious chords. She stirred, muttering unfathomably and the wind picked that moment to shift fractionally, reiterating the poignancy of her blood as it slapped me in the face and attacked my senses with ferocious velocity.

Somewhere far away I heard a howling scream, drenched in agony. Again I paused briefly, the voice sounded familiar.

Noooooooo! Please. Don't.

My ears thundered with the sound. The heart-wrenching pleas wrapped around my frozen heart, constricting it with its icy fingers, threatening to shatter it into a thousand tiny shards. That voice, begging, tormented, the reason why it sounded so familiar assaulted every essence of me...The voice...It was mine.

The force of this knowledge hit me like a sledge hammer, stunning me into total acquiescence as the anguish of the cry resonated through me. The beastly snarls dissipated like scattered ashes in the wind as the monster was smothered into submission. The blasting inferno that raged with frenzy in my throat was doused, dwindling, until only glowing embers remained. The murky depths of my hunger were now inaugurated with something other than my overpowering thirst. It was no longer her blood that incapacitated me. It was my need for her.

The shift in me was infinitesimal. It was no longer her blood that sang to me, it was her, the idea of her, of what we could become together. An alien sensation tingled through my veins as the human inside me surfaced and took over.

The hope that I thought was lost only moments ago began to swell, cultivating as my self-control returned. Don't misunderstand how hard this is for me; understand that it took every ounce of power within me, every moment and experience of my one hundred and nine years to even begin to curb the frenzied demon that battled for escape.

It was as though I was splintered, fractioned into two separate entities; the good and the bad, the devil versus the angel. A monumental battle was being fought inside between the two halves of me and the only thing that allowed me to hold on to my hope was the power of Alice's vision.

Although my past is fixed my future isn't. The power to change our fate is held within our own hands and the knowledge of Alice's vision, seeing what my future could hold, has given me the power to take control and change my fate. I sat here with her broken body huddled in my arms for what felt like an eternity as this whole scene played out but in reality it had only been moments.

I brushed back the veil of mahogany hair that shielded her face from me. I couldn't move so struck was I by her beauty. It was as though she had cast a spell on me and I was forever ensconced in her magical hold.

Somewhere in the back of my head was a gentle voice urging me into action, pleading with me to act now before it was too late but I was in such a daze? I knew that time was running out, that if I wanted to save her I had to hurry but I couldn't connect my brain to my body.

My cell phone buzzed in my pocket dragging me out of my reverie. I looked at the illuminated screen as the caller I.D flashed at me. Alice. It took me a few seconds for my body to respond, the constant buzzing pulling me slowly back to the surface of reality.

I flipped open my cell and put it to me ear, unable to make my lips move.

"Edward...I saw her. She's coming. Today. You must..." Her voice dwindled into nothingness and I heard her gasp. Her silence roused me, finally allowing my brain to regain control of my body.

"Alice." My voice sounded strangled. "She's here. I have her. Please...help me." My voice was barely above a whisper as I pleaded with her to help me save her.

"Edward, I just saw you...and she...and you...tasted...," Alice's hushed tones were full of dread. "Did you...? Is she...?"

"Alice, no I didn't. I stopped. I-I... she's still alive, just. I have to hurry. Is Carlisle there?" My voice, filled with urgency, raised an octave.

"No he's at the hospital. Go Edward, quickly. There isn't much time. I Know you can save her, I believe in you."

As Alice's words surrounded me I looked back down towards my angel. Her breathing was shallow and her heartbeat was faint, beating weakly as her blood pulsed meekly through her body. Holding her frail body close I sped towards the hospital, towards Carlisle, towards my one chance of redemption.

BPOV

Pain struck at me with its thunderous whip, refusing to relinquish its hold on me. My thoughts whipped around in my head so quickly that it made me dizzy, I couldn't focus on anything but the pain. I groaned internally as I mentally roamed my body looking for the source of the searing agony that coursed through my body.

My whole body ached, leaving me groggy and barely conscious. The throbbing in my head was so intense. Maybe it was that that made it hard to think? It was as though the pain that flashed and flourished there acted as a barrier between my physical self and my mental self and any logical thought was held hostage by the blinding pain that held me captive.

I couldn't remember why I was hurting or where I was. Hell, I couldn't even remember who I was right now. All I knew was that I wanted it to stop, it had to stop. I just wanted it to go away, to release me from its strangling hold that it had on me. With every moment that passed the struggle to carry on breathing, to carry on living, became harder and harder. I couldn't care enough to try anymore than I cared to exist.

As my body fought for air flashing images projected on the inside of my eyelids, filling my mind with glimpses of my past and visions of my future, or at least what would have been my future. Some of the images were ones that I had battled to suppress from my past of my mom and Phil, even the thought of his name sent lightning bolts of menacing pain straight to my already-to-eager-to-surrender heart; the emotions it unleashed rivalled the physical pain my body was being subjected to and it was too much to bear.

These haunting images gave way to ones of the present, images of what had gotten me here in this state in the first place. The guy that had followed me, chased after me as I fled, had attacked me and left my mind and body reeling alike. Anger bubbled up inside me at this but quickly dissipated and gave way to prophetic images of the future that was fast slipping through my fingers.

I saw a vision of something so beautiful that my heart ached for it, flashes off bronze and butterscotch mingled in with a crooked smile and a sweet aroma of lavender and cinnamon made my heart sore and threaten to explode as ecstatic exultation washed over me in a calming breath.

Images of violet and purple wild flowers erupted inside my mind's eye and a voice like molten honey poured in my ear whispering words of adoration of love as an ice cold touch hovered over my heart. What was strange was that although whatever pressed itself upon me was frosty my whole body felt like it was on fire, engulfed by burning flames of desire.

I had no idea what this vision meant or what it was exactly but I knew that it was something that I had to cling onto for dear life. If everything in my life that I had endured and suffered through had any purpose at all then this had to be it surely? This feeling of calm serenity made every hurt I had ever been forced to endure worthwhile. How would I ever have been able to appreciate true happiness (and I'm pretty sure that that is what this is) if I hadn't also experienced true grief and sorrow?

My mind continued to spiral out of control, tossing me in its heady grasp, forcing me to make a choice; give up and quit fighting, to let my heart stop beating, or to hold on and cling to hope of a future filled with happiness, to encourage my heart to continue to beat.

All sense of time was lost to me at this point and I couldn't figure out how long I had been here, battling between states of consciousness. I didn't know whether I was dead or alive but I knew that I had to fight the urge to quit. I was not a quitter; I had never been one and refused to be one now. I just needed something to help me, something to keep me buoyant in the sea of torturing anguish that was and pounding at me with its frothing waves. I was drowning in the murky depths and my body was exhausted from wading through the crashing waves of pain that ripped through my body. I didn't want to give up but I didn't know how not to.

E/N: Once again sorry for the wait! I am already working on the next chapter so shouldn't be too long a wait - defo no more than a week! Plus from here on in we get to see some Bella/Edward interaction and you all know what that equals...oh yes...sweet juicy lemons...yummy! Please review and let me know what you guys think and anything that you would like to see perhaps?