A/N: So, I've already started writing rough drafts of Breaking Dawn… Eeh… Not such a good idea. I'm really looking forward to that one—I think because that's where the most will change, and I'll get the most leniency with plotline and such. So I'm looking forward to that.

A lovely reviewer mentioned that I seem to be forging ahead faster with this one, and I think it's warranted for the simple reason that we've been over foundation laying and such before, throughout the original series. We know what's coming, we know the story—we're just looking at it from a different perspective, so I don't feel it's necessary to include a bunch of unneeded, repetitive information. We just want to see what might have happened from Edythe's side.

Anyway! I'll see you all at the end!

(P.S. Super, super sorry for how long it took me to update this one! There was so much that I kept second-guessing myself over and changing… Meh. But it's here now!)

…

I barely made it to the southern limits of the town before the pain was too much.

It made me blind and deaf, and deprived me of all sensory input, and I swerved unseeingly onto the shoulder of the freeway, hunching over the steering wheel as the heartbreak overcame me.

The despair absorbed me, swallowing me in its entirety—an all-consuming black hole, inescapable and depriving me of any semblance of awareness whatsoever.

An indeterminable amount of time passed as I tried and failed to make sense of the agony that stunned me. It was like waves, not of water, but of tar, washing over my head, clotting in my lungs and throat, choking me, drowning me—and just when I thought I'd succumb to the mercies of death, the sensation receded for a fraction of a second, and it began all over again. Building to its peak, again and again, and again.

Inside my chest, the tiny part of my heart that remained detonated, shattered in millions of pieces, blowing through my insides and tearing a gash so deep and so brutal, I was certain that it would never heal.

I gasped for air through the excruciating sensation, eyes burning with tears that would never come, curling into myself over the steering wheel. Around the car, rain began to fall, pelting my car and windshield, providing the tears that would never come.

I felt utterly and entirely bereft. There was nothing now, nothing, and I did not think I could explain the depth of that feeling—the terror, the desolation, the depression that came along with it. Not even the notion that Beau would be able to pursue a normal, human life for him now could comfort me, the way it had before. Without him, I was nothing. A shell, a ghost, a pale specter drifting through the world I never should have been in, the life I never should have gone on to have in the first place…

The horrible, horrible agony was interrupted by an incoming call on my cell phone. Nothing surprised vampires—or at least, nothing was supposed to—but the sudden buzzing of my phone startled me, and my head jerked up reflexively.

I tried to get ahold of myself as I reached for my cellphone and answered the call.

"Edythe? Are you there?" My mother's voice was soft and gentle on the other line. Suddenly, I regretted letting them leave earlier. There was nothing I desired more now, than to curl up between my parents and let them hold me—to do their best to comfort me—as my universe fell apart around me.

I inhaled two sharp breaths. "Yes," I managed to say, locking down my breathing in hopes it would bring composure—but it seemed to do the opposite. The torn, ragged wound inside my chest only seemed to grow, magnify in its arduous torture the longer I tried to ignore it.

"Oh, Edythe," Carine murmured, hearing the heartbreak in my voice, "You've left him?"

"Yes," I said again, but this time it was a sob.

"Where are you?"

"Just south of town," I whispered. My throat felt tight, constricted, like it was closing up.

"Stay there. We'll come to you."

I opened my mouth to protest, realizing they hadn't taken my request to depart seriously—but before I could speak, the line went dead.

I dropped my phone on the passenger seat beside me, and tried to get ahold of my emotions. It was difficult to wrangle them, but by the time Carine's black Mercedes pulled up behind me, I'd regained a semblance of control.

I didn't look up when the car doors opened and shut behind me.

I heard approaching footsteps and only looked up when they stopped outside my car.

Earnest pulled open the door and crouched down beside me.

I could not bring myself to look into his face—I did not want him to see the death in my eyes; I did not want to expose the depth of my suffering to him.

"Edythe?"

Slowly, I turned my eyes away. In the passenger seat, the apparition of Beau's form smiled encouragingly at me.

Go on, it said, Talk to him. It'll make you feel better.

I blinked, and the ghost was gone.

Earnest repeated my name, and I turned to look at him. He reached for my hand, folding it between both of his.

I'm so sorry… I hate to see you suffer… What can I do for you?

I shook my head mechanically. "Nothing, Earnest," I breathed, "There's nothing."

Come with us to Denali. We're going to visit with the cousins for awhile—to be around family will—

"No," I interrupted him, "I can't. I… Just can't be around people right now."

My parents' concern and heartbreak grew exponentially in the face of my denial, and they exchanged worried glances.

"Edythe," Carine spoke quietly, "Healing can only come from—"

"I'm not going to go into seclusion," I assured her before she could continue. I wasn't in the mood for her motherly advice at present. The words held no authority—I wasn't entirely sure where I was going to go, or what I was going to do. For all I knew, I'd hole myself up in an attic somewhere, but I couldn't let my parents think that. I scrambled for some semblance of purpose, a task, however menial…

Where will you go? Carine wondered. Our family is not complete without you, Edythe.

The answer surfaced slowly as I attempted to conceive a task that would distract me sufficiently. Something that would somehow equalize my desire to protect the boy I'd left behind, and help me shift toward some aspect of a new life without him.

With my family gone from his life, there remained little danger to him in the small town of Forks, Washington. Other than acts of God, there was little that stood between him and perfect safety. Except…

A pair of deep crimson eyes appeared from the black fog of my mind—set in a pale, sharply angled face, with a mop of flame-colored hair…

Victor had originally aided Joss in her attempt to track and hunt Beau last Spring. When he'd disappeared abruptly part-way through the chase, we'd thought nothing of it. We'd been distracted by getting to Beau on time, and doing away with the tracker. With that done, his whereabouts had simply slipped from my mind. I'd been more focused on Beau's recovery and recuperation, and then prom, and then the most blissful summer I'd ever known—all passing without incident…

But it seemed obvious now, that this would be the perfect course of action to take. Victor was the only threat that remained to Beau, and it was the least I could do to ensure he'd remain safe from now on.

It did not surpass my suspicions that, once Victor discovered we'd done away with his mate, that he would want revenge. And what better revenge would he have against me than to kill my own mate in exchange for obliterating his?

Barely a second had passed, and I perked up now, a thrill of eagerness going through me. For a singular moment, I was distracted by the pain. I turned to my parents and very calmly appraised both of their faces.

"I'm going to track Victor," I told them, "And then I'm going to kill him."

.

My parents did not allow me to depart without a fight. Earnest was immediately concerned that I would be in over my head. Carine debated offering to come with me, but I denied her offer before she could speak it.

"I have to do this on my own," I told her, "It'll bring me… Peace."

I could see it then—the way tracking Victor would bring some sort of conclusion, some sort of absolution… The empty maw in my chest yawned when my mind skipped over the endeavor, to after… What would I do? When the deed was finished, would I return to my family? Or would I wander, like the nomadic demon I was…?

The black waves pulled me under for a long while as I contemplated the unknown future. I could see nothing after Victor's demise, and I could only hope I would find another distraction along the way.

I continued south once my parents relented—placated only by the knowledge that Archie would be looking out for me, and that I would request help if I needed it. I'd only been driving for an hour when my cell phone began to buzz in the cup holder.

It's Archie, Beau's ghost guessed from the passenger seat, and I whipped my head toward him. The most solid part of him was his eyes—eyes with which he appraised me severely. He's gonna tell you where to find Victor… Don't do it, Edythe. I'm not worth it.

I shook my head, unable to respond. Had I truly gone crazy? I'd surmised the former apparition outside of Charlie's house to be a fit of acute heartbreak. But now, it had returned not once, but twice. Was I having fits?

I ought to have spoken to Carine about it—she might have had an idea of what was going on with me, though she'd only specialized in psychiatry briefly. I wondered if I should worry about the state of mind I was in, but decided it wasn't worth the anxiety.

I felt firmly aware of my surroundings—too aware, in fact, and the one being I felt murderous desire for wholeheartedly deserved it.

My cell phone buzzed again, and I reached for it, realizing I'd found myself distracted.

"Archie."

"You rang?" So he was trying, at least. Archie wasn't one to hold a grudge for very long, and I had never been more glad for it.

"Actually, you did."

Archie sighed. "Edy… You sound awful. How are you?"

I swallowed the brick wedged in my throat, and blinked against the burn of my eyes. "Determined," I told him, ignoring the true implication of his question.

"Of course you are… But you can only stay distracted for so long, Edythe, and—"

"Are you going to help me or not, Archie?" I snapped—the brief flash of anger freed a tiny portion of my mind from the yearning to turn back toward Forks.

"Fine," he relented, and was quiet for a moment. "He's… Somewhere in Illinois… Or maybe, Indiana… I think. It's difficult to tell for sure." His voice changed, gaining more substance as he re-oriented himself on the present. "Head in that direction—I'll call you with an update."

"Thanks, Archie."

"Yeah."

"I'll talk to you soon."

"Sure," he said, "Hey… Edythe?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm still mad at you." But his voice lacked the tenor of anger, and it made me smile, if only briefly. "Ha," he said, satisfied, "Made you smile."

Shaking my head, and still smirking to myself, I hung up the phone.

.

It took me just over a day to make the trek cross-country.

I still hadn't heard from Archie when I made it to Illinois, so I headed toward Chicago. Soon after, I found myself parked in front of the house I'd grown up in as a child. Of course, it had been updated and restored—but the outside looked almost the same as it always had.

There was the same, towering elm in the front yard, the faded brick of the brownstone still there, still sturdy. I gazed for a very long time at the upper-right window of the room I used to sleep in as a child.

All of these things came to me as matters of fact. The memories attached to them were indistinct and blurry; I didn't remember much of my human life, at least where emotion was attached to it.

But sitting here now, I felt an abrupt longing for the simplicity of the human life I'd left behind. There was a part of me that would always long for it, would always wish things could have wound up differently… Alas, they had not, and I had ended up here—thoroughly creating a mess of my only chance at happiness…

I forced Victor to the forefront of my thoughts before my heart could take another blow.

I regretted now, not listening to him more closely in the clearing the night Joss's hunt had begun. Jessamine had seen the male as more of a threat than the female, but obviously, I'd been too distracted by her sudden rapture with Beau's scent to pay much mind to that.

From what I'd gathered, Victor had been highly valued in Joss's mind as a stealthy reconnaissance. Of course, he'd traversed through Forks easily, digging up information on Beau almost without effort, it had seemed. It was clear he was very comfortable in the human world, despite his feline instincts.

And there had been something else there, in his thoughts—an air of mystery, something I couldn't quite sense… Was that part of what made him so good at hiding?

Of course, being discreet was an essential to any nomad's lifestyle. I remembered back to my own vigilante days. Exposure was always the confronting issue, but even nowadays, disposable humans were relatively easily to come by. Runaways and prostitutes, murderers and rapists… Hikers and campers…

Regardless, he wouldn't stay in one area for long. In time, would he gravitate south? I had always preferred to stay in the northern, larger cities in my human-hunting days. The criminals tended to gravitate toward the larger cities, and I happened across less of my own kind there, settling easily into isolation.

Could I do so again? Now that I knew what being entirely not alone felt like? Of course, traditional hunting was far behind me, but regardless. The isolation would be the same.

I shook my head, and turned my thoughts once again to the immortal I hunted.

Victor, clearly, would not be as finicky with his victims as I had been. He had no regard for wrong and right; he had no agenda, only the craving to fulfill his appetites.

At that moment, my cell phone began to ring. I had it to my ear before it had finished its tone.

"Somewhere near Rockford," Archie reported, "There was a recent 'animal mauling' there… Sorry. That's all I've got."

"It's enough. Thank you, Archie, for giving me a starting place. I'll move forward on my own, now."

"Are you—"

"Please, Archie. Continue on with your normal life. Spend time with Jessamine, and the family. I'll talk to you when I can."

Archie sighed heavily on the other line. "I'm holding you to that."

"Don't worry about me—I'll be fine. I don't need your surveillance." Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. "And don't be looking out for him, either, Archie. You need to let him continue on with his life, without any interference from us."

He didn't answer.

"Do you understand?"

"Fine," he relented.

.

I ended up in a bar on the north side of the town Archie had directed me to.

It was a grimy, ill-lit place. At this time of night, the only frequenters were men and women of mild to moderate inebriation. I picked up a newspaper from the front and took a seat at the end of the bar.

"Can I get you anything?" the bartender asked me. He eyed me suspiciously, wondering if I was old enough to be frequenting such an establishment.

"Coffee, please," I told him, offering a polite smile. I wouldn't drink it, but it would give an air of normality.

I glanced down at the paper on the countertop in front of me, and found—immediately—what I was looking for.

Young Hiker Succumbs to Brutal Animal Attack. Officials Warn to Stay Clear of Obscure Trails.

"Hey there, sugar. Can I buy you a drink?" A gruff looking man twice my body's age took a seat on the barstool next to mine. His too-bright, greedy eyes appraised me with an appreciation his thoughts made me privy to.

I suppressed the shiver of disgust.

Just then, the bartender placed my mug of coffee in front of me, giving answer to the man.

"Aw, c'mon. Don't you want somethin' a little stronger than that?"

"Do you know anything about this killing?" I asked him, pointing to the headline on the paper in front of me.

Confusion crossed his features. He hadn't been expecting to be de-railed in this way, but he glanced down at the page I gestured to.

I gathered the introspection and information that coursed through his mind, jogged by the memory of the report. It had been a particularly grisly murder scene—the body of the young girl had been badly beaten and mauled. I suspected this was due to Victor's need to disguise his feeding pursuits.

"Not really," the man said now, "They found her just a little ways from the campsite she was staying at with her boyfriend… Did you know her?" Suddenly, concern flashed through his thoughts. Though his intentions were not classy by any means, he seemed like a worthy man regardless.

"Um…" I said now, "Distantly."

He grunted softly. "Everybody seems to know everybody 'round here… You new to town?"

Quickly, I escaped the man's attempt at conversation, making some irrefutable excuse. I left a couple dollars under my still-full coffee mug and headed toward the scene of the murder.

If I was lucky, a trace of Victor's scent would remain. If I could gather a trail and a predictability for his feeding patterns, this quest would be almost too easy.

.

A/N: So we meet again!

Like I said before, I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update! Hopefully it won't take me too long next time, but just so you're not all waiting on the tips of your toes, expect an average of 2 weeks between chapters from here on out.

ALSO—I'd love to know what you thought, and predict what is to come!

Leave your reviews, and you might just get a sneak peek of the next chapter posted in the reviews ;) You never know!