Disclaimer: All right belong to Mrs. Meyer.

Chapter nine

My first lead took me to Chicago, which seemed rather ironic to me. I searched the alleyways for the scent of vampires, Victoria's especially, but found only faint trails that were days if not weeks old and none of them were Victoria's.

I was suddenly struck by the scent of fresh blood and ghosted over to the source. There was a man lying in a corner, with blood oozing from a gash in his brow. I felt the burning in my throat and took one step towards him.

Stop! A voice in my head cried out.

I froze when I realized it was her voice.

I whirled around to see if she was there, but the alley was empty. Of course she wasn't here. She was across the country, living her life as a normal human girl. She was out there getting over me.

I turned back to the bleeding man and took another step in his direction.

Edward Anthony Masen Cullen! Don't you dare! Help him. Get him to a hospital. You are better than this!

I growled low in my throat. How could she be telling me what to do? She was in Forks for crying out loud! Then a realization dawned on me.

I could hear her voice without breaking down. I could actually hear her warm voice and even though she sounded angry, I could still hear her.

Just to test my theory I took another step forward.

Please, Edward. Don't do this, she whispered now.

"Okay, I won't," I murmured. "I'll take him to a hospital."

I took another step towards him, but her voice was no longer there. I was a little disappointed, but I knew it was better this way. If I would've killed him, I would let the monster win and I refused to do that. She deserved better.

So I walked up to the man and helped him up. I tried to ask him what happened, but he was barely coherent, both verbally and mentally. The alcohol on his breath was strong, so that probably explained the lack of coherency.

As I transported his nearly limp body to the nearest hospital, I was mentally calculating where I would go next, I had promising leads in New York, but also some in Portland. I did a mental recount of the reports of missing people and unexplained murders and decided that the Portland area would be my next choice.

The following weeks I spent trying to catch up with Victoria. I caught her scent several times, but it was always faint, not strong enough to be recent and I was getting frustrated. Every time I came close to finding her, she was gone again. Continuing to be one step ahead of me.

When I finally had enough of doing this on my own, I called Alice for the first time since I left.

"Edward, how are…"

I cut her off. "Don't ask questions you know the answer to, Alice. What can you tell me about Victoria?"

"Not much. I get flashes when I look for her, but she doesn't have a real plan in mind it seems. She just randomly floats around the country. True nomadic style."

"Try harder, Ali. I need to find her. What purpose do I have if I can't even find her?"

The silence on the other end was deafening.

"Alice, try harder," I barked into the phone.

"No need to be rude, Edward. I know you're hurting, but so are we. We love Bella too."

"Don't. Say. Her. Name." I snarled.

"Edward, stop it. You are killing yourself…and her. Come back. Go back to her and make this right. You can protect her far better from Victoria when you're by her side instead of attempting this half-assed attempt to track her."

"Shut up, Alice! I can't, you know I can't. I am a constant danger to her. I cannot take her away from a normal life any longer. She will move on, find someone else to love. Her memories of us will fade."

"But ours won't! Yours especially. What do you think you'll do if you ever hear that she's going to get married. Can you stay away then? Or will you go see for yourself, lurking in the shadows? And what if she has children? And maybe she won't forget you and will never find a man that can make her feel the way you did. Maybe she'll settle for something less than love. Could you live with yourself if that happened?"

I growled, feeling the gashes in my chest throb in agony. I clawed at my skin, trying to pull the pain out, but being completely unsuccessful.

"Alice, stop! Please, I beg you. Stop!" I sobbed.

She sighed. "I'm sorry, Edward. Please don't shut us out completely. We miss you…. Esme especially."

"I know, but I'm not good to be around right now. I'll call in a few weeks. Bye, Alice."

"Bye Edward."

I snapped the phone shut before she could add the 'I love you' I expected her to say. I sank to the forest floor and tossed the phone a few feet away. I curled up into a ball and cried dry sobs, until I felt entirely numb again.

I eventually regained control over my limbs so I could make my way to my second stop on the track. This one was further south and seemed more promising than previous ones.

I had left my car behind a few days ago, knowing that Alice would come for it once she saw my decision to leave it behind, so I ran. I stayed as much under the cover of woodlands as possible, but as I neared my target, it became more and more difficult. The spaces were larger, the sun more prominent, which left me to the nightly hours to track.

I arrived in Phoenix around three a.m.. Victoria's scent was stronger here. It was concentrated around the residential area where she used to live. The area where we took out James.

Of course, she was looking for a way to avenge her mate. But why then would she not come after me? She knew I was tracking her, because she was always just out of my reach. Her thoughts just on the fringe of my range, never really audible.

I let out a frustrated growl when I, once again, just missed her thoughts. I could sense the tenor of her mind, but she was just too far away to really hear. It was almost as infuriating as not being able to hear anything at all.

I hid in a dark alley and stayed completely still. I closed my eyes and focused on the buzzing of thoughts around me. The dreams of the humans were easy to block. It was just a low hum. The thoughts of a frantic woman assaulted me. She was begin stalked by a coupe of drunken men.

Edward! Do something!

My eyes shot open as I heard her voice. Her face was flashing through my mind and I was running before I registered the decision fully.

Hurry!

I could see the lewd and vulgar things they were planning and the memory of Port Angeles assaulted me like a freight train. I doubled over when I remembered the frightened, but determined expression on her face before I reached her.

This woman was terrified and most certainly not focusing on self defense techniques. She was merely running from them. I growled low in my throat and lunged forward, in order to get to them faster.

Edward, hurry!

Just as I reached the street they were on, one of the men grabbed her arm and whirled her towards him. One of the others was already ripping her shirt apart when I was within reach.

I reached out and yanked the man who was ripping her clothes off away from her, sending him flying back into the third man. The man who was still holding on to the scared woman, looked from me to his buddies, the haze of the alcohol lifting due to the adrenaline in his body.

"What the hell are you doing, buddy? We were here first."

"Let her go!" I snarled.

"Get your own."

"Do not make me repeat myself. If I have to I will rip you apart!"

He released the woman without a second thought and scrambled to get away from me. The two guys behind me hesitated, so I took one step in their direction effectively scaring them away.

The woman was sobbing uncontrollably, but in her mind I could see the immense gratitude she felt.

"Are you hurt?" I asked curtly.

"N-no."

"You need to report this. Can you make it to the police station?"

She looked down at her tattered blouse. With a deep sigh I pulled off my button up, yanked off the t-shirt I had on underneath and handed that to her.

Her mind was dazed as she took in my naked chest, but I chose to ignore it. I put my button up back on and gestured for her to get dressed. She snapped out of her ogling and quickly redressed herself. She sniffed my shirt and somehow it made her thoughts go wild with lusty thoughts.

I briefly wondered if that was what my scent did to her, but dismissed the idea in order to keep functioning.

"Look, I have to go. Go to the police station and report those bastards."

"Thank you for saving me. Can I do something to repay you."

I shuddered at the images she conjured up. "No. I have to go."

I was walking away before she could respond. Her dejected thoughts soon turned into self-preservation and she scurried away. I followed at a distance to make sure she got to he station safely.

When I was a block away from the station I heard it.

A/N: Short update, but it was harder to write than I expected. Let me know what you think.