Author's Note:

Hi all! I am thoroughly convinced at this point that I live in some other dimensional time warp where time flies about a thousand times faster than it should. Sigh.

Anyway, sorry that I made you wait. Again. Thanks for the encouragement to those who sent me messages, and don't worry! I'm finishing the story! It's well on the way. Only 5 chapters left, including the epi. I'm so excited!

My hope is to be done with the story (and posted) by the time the last installment of the movies is out, so I am thinking you won't have to wait to long. So far, I'm on track. :)

Recap: Bella and Edward finally made love. Edward was allowed a quick peek at Bella's talent, and tried to help her control it. No such luck, this erratic gift she has is a pain. Aro planned to kill Edward to take him out of Bella's equation, and Edward got a glimpse into Aro's long-buried memories to see how he killed Didyme to keep Marcus. Bella's powers struck just when she needed them, knocking the Volturi on their asses. Woohoo. And Edward said "run."

A note on Marcus, because some people were confused: Marcus didn't know from what Edward said that Aro killed Didyme. But he did know that Aro planned to kill Edward to keep Bella, and he didn't have all the details about his lover's death. So, Edward planted the seed of doubt, and allowed Marcus to realize that there was more to the story- sacrifice one to keep the other. There is definitely more to it.

Chapter 25 Playlist Song: Viva la Vida, Coldplay

Disclaimer: All characters from and references to Twilight and the Twilight Saga belong to Stephenie Meyer. No money is made from this writing, and no copyright infringement is intended. The plot for Entwined is mine.

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Chapter 25: Run, Run As Fast As You Can, You Can't Catch Me, I'm a Warred and Wounded Man

Th'rump-th'rump. Th'rump-th'rump.

Pounding, the incessant, steady rhythm of feet on ground. Too, too fast for the human ear. Too, too quiet to cause them concern.

My mind was racing as quickly as my feet. The plan had not been fully thought out, I realized, as Bella and I wound our way through the aged castle and then the long sewer system beneath the city, and now, as we were racing to exit the way we'd come in so long ago. It wasn't wise, I realized, fleeing without a plan this way.

A smart man would have waited, bided his time, not acted on impulses and magic and hope and foolishness. A smart man would have sat down and poured over a map, discussed the options, and made sure that the one person who truly mattered most to him would have a sure-fire way of making it out alive. But I was not a smart man-I was a battered and broken man-so I leapt at the opportunity as it presented itself, and now I was trying desperately to figure out what to do next. One foot, then the other.

Bella was beside me, stride for stride. She hadn't spoken, hadn't asked questions. She didn't hesitate when I changed directions, moving about the sewers with only my vampiric sense of direction, and the memories of coming through. I assumed that she knew what had happened back in the turret-that it was her who had ultimately freed us-though she likely didn't understand it at all. I didn't understand it, but I knew what it was. It was Bella, through and through. Just Bella.

It was daylight outside, late in the afternoon. Every now and then we would pass like a flash under a city grate and Bella would send a wayward beam of light off her skin, bouncing for a blink before it would dissipate. I was listening-for footfalls behind us, for human thoughts about sparkling grates, for Bella's growl as she leapt up and out at a human out of thirst.

But it didn't come. There were no following guards yet. We were moving too quickly for humans to really notice anything, or for me to get a relevant lock on any of their thoughts. And Bella was to busy concentrating on moving and listening and something else to feel the burn in her throat. At least, that is what I hoped for, that she was not suffering. Like a whisper, we passed below their feet.

We emerged from the tunnel which we'd only just entered nine days before. It felt like it had been years. Dark blackness made way to dusty light, and we both breathed in and out as I pushed the iron gate open at the tunnels entrance. I grabbed Bella's hand, listening to the puff of air as it left her, wondering if she hadn't breathed at all since we'd gone in the dark and desolate tunnel that led to the turret. That would have explained some of her control.

Though fear can make anything possible.

The tiny church on the outskirts of Volterra was cool, almost as cool as the tunnel had been, the air clouded with dust particles that drifted through the sunlight as it sneaked in through slatted and shattered windows. There was no one there, but I hadn't assumed there would be. It was eerily empty, as it had been when we'd arrived, a ghost of what it had once been. Priests had long ago forfeited their pledges to this sanctuary, and it's only parishioners were both dead and back under the turret.

"We're out," she said softly, unbelievably. Maybe, like me, she never thought it would actually happen. Maybe, like me, she was counting every step as if it were our last. I was waiting to be ambushed, assaulted. Stopped.

"Come on," I said, tugging at her just a little. We couldn't move quickly enough. There would never be enough time, no matter how fast we ran, no matter how many steps we took.

We emerged into the courtyard, all overgrown, twisted and green, dancing with shadows along the ivy walls. I was met with a surprising image in my mind, one that haunted me and teased me and tormented me with how unabashedly inconvenient it was at the moment. I saw a vision of Bella there, like a shimmering ghost, covered in a long white gown and a braid of ivy and daisies twisted like a crown through her hair. It would have been a pretty place to marry her, a place that, before now could have been enchanting. As It stood now, it was the mouth to the belly of hell and it's vines and serenity were lost to me.

How many other things had we lost along the way?

We crossed the air field. Aro's plane stood, poised and ready for its next takeoff. I'd pondered this, the idea of commandeering it. It would have been fast, so much quicker than Aro could have run or sent someome after us, or even chartered another jet. Aro's money and influence and control was so far reaching, but with the craft, we could have outrun him. We could have avoided humans. Aro likely would follow, but I knew he himself wouldn't try to track us on foot. Too pedestrian for the ancient vampire. Taking his plane would slow him, surely.

But I didn't have an approved flight plan, and the plane was not inconspicuous. It was big, and gaudy, not like a small jet would be. There was airspace to consider, too many eyes on us, an aircraft in unauthorized territory, too many questions and not nearly enough logical answers- not to mention an ability to track us that left me on edge, though I knew he had Demetri anyway.

Though the plane would get us away fast, it wasn't our ticket out of here. But it wasn't going to be Aro's either.

"Can you fly it?" Bella asked. We were standing beside the plane now, shrouded by the long silhouette on the grassy strip. I was wasting too much time, deciding what to do. There was so much more than myself to consider. I looked down at her, watched her for what was less than a moment in time, less than a second for us, but still enough.

Her clothes were dirty and a little worn, but her face was clear, her eyes shining from the run and the fear and the excitement of escaping. There was determination there, and wonder, that I might be able to fly a plane, a feat which she never imagined or tried to comprehend before, perhaps. But there was also trust, pure and unadulterated trust in me. Trust that this path I was leading her on was the right one, and she was all in no matter where or how I took her.

If I was alone, I would go on foot, lead Aro away from Carlisle, and Esme, and Forks. I would take him to the furthest ends of the earth, and I would outrun him, because I would do what ever it took to keep all of them safe. I would do it forever if its what it took, spend my days apart, just to protect what was left. I would keep them away from her, if she was with them. I would not let them anticipate any of my next moves. And for a moment, I considered sending her home, sending her back without me, so that Demetri and Aro and everyone who wanted Bella would follow me far away from her. But it hurt me too much to think of never seeing her again, and I knew that I wasn't strong enough for that. I should have been, but I wasn't. I breathed in the air around us, letting my body take it all in.

"Of course," I scoffed, causing her lips to quirk with amusement.

"That's sexy," she said. I never thought I might see her eyes dance with such mischief again.

"I'll fly you anywhere you want to go," I told her. "Later. But I think that this plane would serve us better firmly rooted on the ground."

Shaking my head in amazement of her, I pulled out my phone and turned it on, willing the screen to load. Bars. Finally.

I pressed and held the "5" button. It rang for only a moment, a single bling, before the line clicked and connected.

"Edward," Rose said through the speaker. "What the hell?"

Her words were harsh, but the tone of her voice told me all the things she would never say out loud to me: we've been so worried, you haven't called, when will you be back? Hurry. I smiled at the sound of my sisters voice. I'd never let my thoughts wander to the possibility that I'd never see her again, or any of them, but it was always there, lingering just out of focus, while Aro was making his threats and holding us hostage. Now, hearing her emotion and knowing of her very real worry-my sister that pushed me the hardest and tested my patience more than we agreed-it gave me hope and even more resolve. I had to see her, all of them, again someday.

"Rose," I told her fondly. "I need your help."

"Of course you do. You're a pompous ass that could have used all of our help a long time ago." This was the lecture portion of our conversation, the part where she told me how angry she was that I hadn't let her or the rest of our family stand at my side and fight with me. Fortunately, Rosalie was the only one I could have called that would let it be at that, and because of who she was, she let go of the anger and the emotion just as quickly as it had bubbled up out of her. She sighed. "What do you need?"

"I need you to help me disable Aro's plane."

With Rosalie's guidance, her extensive knowledge of all things mechanical, and her ability to push the worry down and away for the task at hand, Bella and I had quickly managed to ground the plane, at least for a while. By the time Aro or any of the guard realized what we'd done to it, we'd have bought ourselves a good head start.

I finished closing the hatch to the engine and leapt down to the ground beside where Bella had already landed, the phone still clenched in my hand.

"Will the pilot be able to tell from the read on the instruments?" I asked.

"No," Rose said through the line. "I had you bypass the gauges. It should just fail to start-no sensors, no indicators. They'll figure it out eventually, if they have half a brain between them, but it should take some time."

"Thanks for you're help," I told her, looking back at the church. The work had taken at least four minutes.

"Yeah, yeah," she snorted. There was a pause. "Edward, are you coming home?"

From here, in this desolate place that was meant to be beautiful, in this place that had stripped us of some innocence, Rose sounded like a small child. Here, where I couldn't see her, where I could only listen to her voice through the slight static of the cell, I might have forgotten that she was strong and sarcastic and perceivably impenetrable. But she wasn't. None of us were.

I had been able to hear my family members in the background, milling about while Rose and I worked together for the first time in many years. I knew that Esme was terrified, beside herself. I knew that Jasper was strategizing and Emmett wanted to throw punches. Alice was watching for us. So far, the future was hazy. I also knew Carlisle wanted to speak to me.

And I couldn't tell my sister that I didn't want to hurt her anymore, that I wouldn't bring my indiscretions home.

"Put Carlisle on please," I whispered.

There was a long pause when he got on the phone. I could feel the weight that still rest on his shoulders, even through the line, even thousands of miles away. We didn't have the luxury of time, not even a little, but I let this moment rest, let us simmer in it.

"Edward," he breathed.

"Carlisle, we're out," I told him. He already knew this, of course, but it felt like it was important for me to tell him. I needed him to hear those words from my lips, to know from me that we weren't in Aro's castle or his bedroom-turned-prison anymore. I also wanted him to know we'd accomplished this-even if it was just this-because I didn't know when I'd see him again.

"I know," he sighed. "My prayers have been answered. What are you planning?"

"We've disabled the plane," I told him, looking back over my shoulder at the little church that felt so far away. It was still, the only movement where the wind caught the leaves and send them tossing. I expected to see the Volturi emerging from the chapel, spilling out and hunting us like wolves. But they never came, to the point that it was eerie.

"Aro won't let this rest, Edward," he told me. His voice was strained. There was so much he wasn't saying, so much that neither of us was.

"Carlisle, we're going to run. I don't know when Aro will follow, and how close behind us he is. We might have hours. We might have minutes. But I won't bring it to you, I promise. I think we might try to head north first, try to-"

"No, Edward," Carlisle interrupted. I could almost see his face, the hard line of his jaw, and the determination in his eyes. "No. It was a mistake for me to let you fight this battle-a battle that isn't yours, that started a long time ago. That started with me."

"I can't bring this to you!" I told him sharply. I should have known my father would blame himself, that he would take it all on himself. I inherited that from him, though we shared only his venom. Really, though, I had no one to blame but myself. "He will expect that. You need to get out of there, while there is still time."

"Where will I go, son?" he said softly. There was a kind of resolve in him. "Where can I go, where can I take Esme and Alice and Jasper, that Aro will not find me? I will not leave them, and I will not leave the people of Forks-Bella's father, for example-to be scapegoats for his anger with me. No, this is the only way. And you are my own. You will be here, with me, with your family."

There was a long pause, a hesitation on his end, but not because he wasn't sure.

"Come home, Edward," Carlisle said. "Come home."

Bella's hand was firmly in mine, gently squeezing, as if to assure me that she was still with me. Off the landing strip, in a small shed-turned-hangar, was exactly what I was looking for. The sunlight crept through the slats in the wooden frame of the building, casting uneven rays over the piece of machinery.

"A helicopter," Bella said. She looked at me with what was likely question.

"Let's hope it's well maintained," I told her. It looked as if it was, air-ready and waiting to take to the skies. In theory, it wasn't much different than stealing the plane. One was supposed to have an approved flight plan, but it would be much easier to lie low in a small helicopter, rather than Aro's ostentatious plane. In the bright afternoon daylight, we could stay high out of reach, keeping humans from seeing us, and keeping Bella from killing humans. Plus, I could land it just about anywhere, drop it off and leave it somewhere. Which is exactly what I intended to do.

A lever on the wall caused the roof to open, allowing us access to the crisp, blue sky.

I motioned for Bella to get into the cockpit and I climbed in as well. She watched me while I checked the instruments. As I expected, the chopper was well-maintained and fueled, and the irony was not lost on me that Aro would use this piece of equipment for a similar reason as I was about to: stealth.

A plane would be faster, of course. We could go a much longer distance without having to refuel. And, if need be, the craft could fit more people than this little two-person helicopter. But the airplane was not surreptitious and it was hardly as maneuverable as this would be. This helicopter was meant for surprise. I hoped I could surprise Aro.

Bella belted herself into the seat. I smiled. I wouldn't let us fall. Not now.

"We won't be able to get home in this," she said. She was fully aware that we wouldn't make it over the ocean in the small chopper. Fortunately, that was never my intent.

I placated Carlisle, told him we'd be home. And for the most part, I was not lying to him. It was my goal to make it there. But we would be followed, of that I had no doubt. He would track us and hunt us, and he would try to bring us back. No doubt Demetri would be on our trail. If not now, soon.

I hoped that by delaying, meandering, changing route, I might make him think we weren't going home. I needed to protect them the only way they would let me.

"We'll fly north first," I told her, watching her out of the corner of my eye. I still wanted to keep Aro guessing as long as I could. "Once we've flown long enough to deplete the helicopter, well leave it and go on foot. It will only be a temporary distraction, but hopefully It will be enough to make Demetri follow, and to think we are staying away."

"Demetri can't follow us," she said. "He can't track you, Edward."

She took me by surprise.

"You're blocking him?" I couldn't keep the wonder out of my voice, the hope, the fear, the unbelief.

"I'm pretty sure," she said. Her brow crinkled softly, as if she were concentrating very, very hard. "I feel like you are connected with me that way, at least. I'm trying to keep him out."

"Have you been blocking him since we ran?"

She nodded. "I think so."

My mouth was hanging open, looking over at my lovely girl, whose heart and body and soul was wholly mine.

"Are you sure?"

She smiled, a sad little smile.

"No, because I never know what I'm doing, or how I'm doing it, or why," she said. "But I feel you, like you are snug against me, wrapped up tight with me, and totally in the same world as I am. I've hardly been thinking of anything else, besides hiding you. So I think I am."

I leaned over and kissed her soundly on the lips, before flipping all the switches and starting the blades moving above us, circling and whooping loudly.

"Will you ever cease to amaze me?"

"Let's fly and hope we see," she said seriously, watching me through her lashes.

Indeed.

Bella's hand was twisted in mine again, our feet flying over the ground. It was nearly morning now, and we'd been traveling for hours from where we'd left the helicopter, near a secluded village outside of Hamburg resting in the shade of an aging, oak tree.

The night had shrouded us, let us move easily without being seen in the deep, dark, stillness. The only movement was us, speeding over the earth. The tiny helicopter lights had blipped on and off in the sunset sky, and we'd flown untouched and uninterrupted. The craft had had enough finally, and I'd left it in a little field. It would be an interesting surprise for whichever German farmer found it in the morning.

Once the helicopter could take us no further, we'd gone on foot, an easy trek through the countryside, Bella's hand firmly in mine.

We were headed south again, traveling along the borders, from country to country. My intent was to throw Demetri, and consequently, Aro, off of our trail in the only way I knew how. If Demetri thought that we were going north, perhaps he would not try to follow us south again. If he couldnt follow a straight path, perhaps he wouldn't surmise that we were going back home to Forks. That was all conjecture, though. With his gift, perhaps he'd just track us, no matter how many times we spun ourselves around.

Though, the tiniest part of me was banking on Bella's gift actually working, too.

With just the littlest bit of hope. Even if it was only sporadically, maybe it was enough.

It was foolish to assume that Bella did, indeed, have a handle on keeping Demetri's gift at bay. Her talent was still too erratic, and she still had no idea how it worked. It would have been so much easier, though, to trust it. I wouldn't have been constantly looking over my shoulder.

We had no need to rest, but when we neared the most western tip of Switzerland, curving around Lake Geneva, I halted her. We were at the base of the alps, shrouded by it, the faintest hint of sunlight just beginning to peak up over the rise of the mount. It made Bella's skin look luminous, pretty and radiant.

"We're stopping?" she asked. There was no worry in her voice, just quiet trust, almost as if we were sightseeing, taking a moment in a casual meander down the sidewalk, and I had stopped her to browse a storefront window. And for a moment, I wished that was what we were doing, living our lives with no care of who might see us and what they might do if they caught up to us.

I wanted to love her like a normal man, spoil her and pamper her and let her take advantage of me in every way. I wanted to kiss her without worry that we would be hunted, found. I wanted to amble with her, take my time and concentrate on the way her hand felt in mine, rather than the direction and speed in which we were traveling. I wanted to show her the world at a human's pace, not fleeing and flying and fighting to survive, but finding.

I nodded at her, tilting my eyes to the crystal, cool sky. It was going to be a bright and cloudless day.

"We'll head northwest again, into France and up towards Le Havre. Well charter some transportation there. But we can't do that now, not with the sun coming up. We have, maybe, another hour before we run the risk of being seen."

I saw worry flash in her eyes, and so I reached up and stroked the side of her face. There was more that frightened her than just Aro. There was the threat of humans.

"Is your shield still holding as far as you can tell?"

She nodded, but it didn't seem to diminish her fears, fears that I hadn't witnessed in her until that moment. Perhaps I was over-anticipating her abilities, her strength and her willpower over her thirst. Or maybe she feared for me more than I understood, feared that her gift wasn't keeping me close.

"I don't know that I'm even doing anything, though, Edward. What if I'm not?"

I pulled her against me, tight to me, and wrapped my arms around her. It felt like so long ago-was it years?-that I had taken her into my arms, held her, kissed her, loved her with my body for the first time. Her arms connected around me in the back, and it was like being somewhere warm and safe and easy. I rested my chin on the top of her head, and when I couldn't hold back any longer, I tilted her back and kissed her lips, softly, and slowly, and what I hoped was reassuringly.

"I know," I whispered. "I know that you are frightened. But we have no choice but to wait. There is no way to ensure against the sunlight right now. Not on foot. I want to leave as little of a paper trail as possible. No cars, no planes. Aro can find us that way. He has so much sway."

She leaned up and kissed me again, sighing through my lips.

"You're right."

"I trust Rose to have disabled that plane. It's all we can do. If Aro wants to leave Volterra to come after us, then we need to keep as low a profile as we can. We cant risk using a credit card or giving names right now. All those other things are out of our hands now. Besides, we'll do what we can-move as fast and as far as we can. And right now, I really need to get you out of those clothes."

Her eyes widened, glittering with something hot and needy and surprised. Her mouth fell open, just a little. I chuckled at the look on her face at what my intended words did to her, a tantalizing mix of excitement and embarrassment and desire.

"My naughty little love," I whispered against her lips, and despite the fact that we were running for our lives, despite the fact that I was more afraid than I'd ever tell her and that I had no real order or faith in what the future would bring, I smiled. "That's not what I meant."

She looked confused and perhaps a little disappointed.

"We need to change, get ourselves covered as much as we can, in case we are able to move in the daylight," I told her, still excited that she wished I was being suggestive. "We may need to blend, and right now we don't. We are both in need of some new attire."

We were filthy.

"Oh."

"But maybe later," I teased, leading her to the nearest small town.

I spent the morning and most of the afternoon looking out the window of our small, stolen room in Nantua, watching and listening for signs that we'd been found and cornered.

Bella had admonished me firmly when I'd swiped the key from the cleaning staff and sealed us both inside for the duration of the day.

The sunlight had sparkled through the trees in the high mountain air and off the lake to the north, teasing me and taunting me with the fact that we weren't running still, weren't almost home.

Bella spent it quietly tucked on the still-made bed. She was concentrating, I could tell, working more diligently and harder than she ever had before to hide me, protect me.

I let her be, mostly because I needed her to succeed as much as she needed it. That, and I didn't have much to say.

What could you say to the most important person in your life, when everything you'd done had made them an escaped fugitive?

I'm sorry? Again? She deserved so much better than this, so much more than I'd given her so far.

It had been easier to stop the apologies from leaving my lips when we were stuck, because it was what she asked of me, and then, I would have flown to the moon if she'd have asked it of me. But now, we were running, and I felt like it was all in vain. In the quiet of the room, with her eyes squeezed tight and her hands clenched in desperation to keep me close to her shield, apologies felt easy and natural. I, without a plan, and with one single focus, was leading us all on a wild goose chase. What happened to us when we were caught?

I had no reception to my cell phone, here in the high air and in the shade of the scaling mountain peaks of the Alps all around us. I wanted to call Carlisle, connect with him again, just to let him know where we were and that we were still alive, and that we were making our round-about way back to him and the rest of the family. But even that was a risk. I didn't now how, but I imagined that it would be possible for Aro to track us that way too, and even as I was wandering about the room trying to pick up a signal, I decided to switch my phone off.

What if the last time I spoke to him was truly the last? What if he didn't answer because he couldn't get to the phone, because he was being held just as we were? What if he knew where we were and then Aro found us through him? I hoped I was making the right choices.

Better safe than have Aro make us sorry. I prayed Aro wasn't already there, making Carlisle sorry. I was losing hope with each degree, every turn we took, with every second that the sun took to descend.

The sun was finally beginning to set, casting shadows over the lowest peaks of the mountains, and igniting the world in subtle burgundies and warm golds and ripe peaches. I breathed a sigh of relief, even though it was far from enough, and turned around and looked at my love.

Bella was washed and redressed in the clothes I'd stolen from one of the small boutiques on the main thoroughfare of the tiny town. Her skin was white-pink again, clean and tight and shimmering from the muted sunlight coming in through the gauzy drapes over the window. She'd pulled her hair back off her face into a tight ponytail in the center of her scalp-she'd been thankful to have it finally pulled back, she'd said.

The tight, hooded black sweatshirt was zipped over a plain white tee and fit her well, hugged her in all the right places. She was wearing a matching pair of black yoga pants, ones that she'd requested I get her, citing a need for comfort and movability. She still thought like a human, still acted like one, even though she hadn't been able to come with me because there were too many people around. As it was, even in the confines of our secluded room, with few tourists and only the cleaning lady in the adjacent rooms, she could smell them and it was driving her crazy, burning her throat with tantalizing fire.

I hadn't been worried until now, had barely even thought about her thirst, as we traveled through the countryside where everyone was sleeping. But now, we'd need to travel through towns, places where even late at night the world might be awake and alert and causing her temptations. I'd have to avoid Paris, I decided. It was dangerous to be here.

She was scrunching her brow so tightly, if she hadn't have been undead, I'd have worried about her popping a vein. As if she could sense me, she looked up.

"It's time to go," I said softly, unable to fully keep my voice neutral and without fondness. I knew that I needed to focus us both-one of the only reasons I hadn't striped her and loved her the moment we were inside. She steeled herself and nodded with resolve.

"Okay," she said. She closed her eyes and held her breath, reaching out to me with her fingers so that I could hold her tightly and keep her from attacking humans who might be between the room and our route. She was strong and courageous and so much better with this than Id ever anticipated. "Let's go."

Thus ending our fleeting moments of solitude without peace.

The rain was coming down where we were in heavy droplets that splattered our bodies audibly, even despite the velocity that we moved. For the most part, it was easy to dodge them, and if we weren't running now out of necessity, perhaps we'd make a game of it. I could have imagined us playing that way at one point, trying to out-maneuver one another to stay the driest, laughing and collapsing into each other—but not anymore. There were no more thoughts of games or playfulness. That time for us had passed like the landscape passed us now, hazy and long behind us. This was not lightness and joy. This was fear and desperation and instinct. The dark shadows circled around us like ghouls.

Running silently had given us even more focus, though now my mind was consumed. Each moment intensified the feelings of dread. I wouldn't tell her how terrified I was, how my heart hurt at the idea that even though we were closing the distance between this place and our family, my spirit was growing wearier. With each passing moment, minute, hour we were lessening our chances of ever reaching home. It was only a matter of time.

We'd been running in the black of night for a little over two hours now, running since the brink of nightfall, moving over the land with deliberate haste. I couldn't pinpoint our exact location at the moment, though I knew we were very near Portugal. Even in their sleep, I could hear the varying dialects as we passed by each still and silent home. At the last moment, just as we neared Paris, I had altered our course. We could see the Eiffel Tower in the mist, and I tried to avoid the look in Bella's eyes as she stared at it with wistfulness. I wouldn't be able to give her that, either. My compass was the need to get further and further away from the belly of hell and all that it held. I decided it would be better, safer, to keep zig-zagging, keep moving as long as we could.

Aro's hand was far reaching, and if anyone had seen us in France, an new country would offer us more protection. My heart raced at the knowledge that we were nearing the coast, and that meant a certain amount more freedom—peace. Only one direction to attack from. All I could focus on was getting out into the open water.

I wasn't used to feeling so helpless, at least not since all of this-since her. My ability had always awarded me the upper hand, but it was of no use to us now. There was no one to hear at the moment, no one to tell us through their thoughts what was to come, save for a few forlorn dreamers that whispered over my subconscious in flashes and then disappeared in the blink of an eye. There was only the knowledge that they might be following us—they might be coming to take from me the only thing that had ever truly mattered.

Her hand was in mine, as our legs ghosted over the unfamiliar terrain. I'd taken it when we started out of Le Bugue, pulling her up from her crouched position beside me as we hid in the shadows like thieves. We'd had to hide, and I hadn't anticipated it, but I was quietly and guiltily thankful for the quick contact, the touch of her as I held her still and unbreathing. She hadn't been prepared for the onslaught of human scent, and she clung to me, begging me with her body and her hands on me to protect her-again. She'd not loosened her grip on me since. Hell, she'd never loosened her grip on me. From the moment I met her, she'd held me so tightly I could barely reason, and she hadn't relented her hold. She never would. I was forever captive to her.

I glanced at her briefly and frowned. I wished that it was under different circumstances that we were running together. I imagined her, running beside me in the forest near Forks, or up in Denali, free and laughing, teasing me. But there was no laughter now. At one point, she had been so light. Now she was like a shell of her former self. I only saw the spark of life in her when she was beneath me, and I was in her, willing her to understand what my ministrations on her body meant: that she had all of me.

I watched her carefully as Spain's landscape passed us by, all the fear and weight of the world resting on her tiny shoulders, and all I could think of was how badly I wished I could take it all away from her. She'd absolved me of all my sins already, so many times, but all I could think of was that I'd done this to her. I was the cause of all of her sadness and all of her happiness at the same time. She was the cause of mine.

I'd changed her, and damned her to this life. I'd taken away all her hope for an Eden. I'd pushed myself on her and brought her to their den, and now we were running for our lives. We were running for our freedom. We were running for the future that neither of us knew if we had a right to hope for.

But we'd also found each other there, in the depths of despairing. I had no doubt that everything I was, I was for her- and she for me. Like two pieces of the same person, we were always meant to be together. It is why she had come to Forks, and why I had come back again. It is why there was a treaty so many years before, as if the universe was leading me to that place, in anticipation for her arrival. It's why it always felt like home.

I was nothing without her.

She was dirty again, rain and sand and mud marring her creamy white skin all over. Her clothes were worn and wrinkled already. There was a rip in her pants along her knee where she'd caught a branch, enticing me with the promise of her long legs underneath. Even like that, I could only see her perfection. Her long mahogany hair was tied back, but sopping wet from the downpour, and twisted around itself in knots, from the wind whipping through it.

My heart pang at the thought of this beautiful creature beside me being considered anything less than a goddess. She was flawlessness, powerful and fierce. Her superiority eked from her, and I had lowered her, made her like me. I ached knowing that, despite it all, she'd never leave me. I'd done nothing to merit the right to her. But still, she had brought me up, too. I was a better man, because I belonged to her. I needed her.

Near a small grouping of rocks, I halted abruptly. Her hand tightened in mine the moment she realized that I was no longer moving and she spun around. Her body crashed into mine from the momentum, and I wrapped my arms around her, immediately steadying her. Her surprise was evident on her face as I gripped her firmly to keep her from toppling us both, and she questioned me fearfully with her eyes. She waited for me to tell her that they were near, but it didn't come. Her arms wound around me instinctually so that our bodies were pressed against each other tightly. Her breasts heaved against me in anticipation and trepidation. Her eyes were wild and fire-red as she gazed into mine. She surrendered to me.

I pulled her into me, grasping the back of her head and tilting her mouth up so that I could put it on mine. She did not hesitate to engage me, and her arms tightened around me in understanding of my actions. Our tongues danced together hungrily, fighting the other for dominance. I didn't know what it was, whether it was the fear and desperation, or the way that she felt in my arms, or the way that her eyes burned with need—or the fact that I knew this might be the last opportunity that we had for this—but I had to kiss her. I had to love her. I had to have her.

I grasped at her with abandon, tugging and pulling her as close as I could. The only sounds were our needy gasps and moans as we nipped and lapped and groped one another in the darkness. I pawed at her, winding my fists tightly in the nape of her disheveled hair, and pulled it free so that it fell between my fingers in wet twists. My hand stroked down her back forcefully until I grabbed her tight round ass and squeezed, and I lifted her up, giving me access to her whole body. I wanted to touch her and feel her and be with her. She wrapped her legs around my waist, bouncing slightly as my straining erection met her hot, wet core. I moaned, knowing that she was already ready for me, and she gasped as she felt the pressure against her sensitive flesh. Even in our clothes, we quivered at the intensity of our touch. Our lips never wavered from each other and I tasted her sweet venom on my tongue through her breathy moans.

We toppled to the ground, clawing at one another. I rolled her over, devouring her neck as I tried to retain enough concentration to remove her clothing carefully. We needed to redress at some point.

I tried to contain myself, remembering the situation we were in—we were running, we were escaping, we were fighting for our lives. I had restrained my want for her back at the hotel-why could I not now? But all I could think, and feel, and know, was that the beautiful creature beneath me was mine. I had to show her that she was the reason I was running in the first place: I was running to save her from the nightmare I had caused her, to give us something more.

I was about to remove her shirt, snaking my hands up her sides and lifting to reveal the delicious pale skin beneath, when I suddenly froze. There, off in the distance, was the sound of rushing wind. It was the sound of feverish running. I heard a missed step and the tumbling of earth and rock beneath labored footfalls. Behind us was the sound of pursuit.

It had been a night and a day and then darkness again since we'd left Volterra. What I didn't know was that while we'd left the land of Hades and travelled back up the River Styx towards home, the nightmare was only beginning. Hell was on our heels, and it was not so far behind us.

We were being followed. And they were close.

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End Notes: Thank you for reading, so so much! Until Chapter 26, my friends. Lots of love and appreciation.