Grasses and flowers swayed around us. A small gathering of butterflies hovered above a patch of tall purple cornflowers near Edward. The buzzing of other insects filled the silence that had fallen between us.

Edward stepped forward. "I'm better now."

I couldn't help but look to the red and black silk scarf tied around his bicep.

As if to prove his words, his other hand fell away. His injured arm continued to hang limply at his side.

I swallowed despite my dry mouth. "What happened?"

Edward's lips quirked. "Would you understand if I told you I was only human?"

My mouth stayed fixed into its frown.

His sights slid away, focusing on something beyond me. From the faraway look in his eyes, beyond the meadow, too. "Everything about me draws you in." There was a world of self-loathing in his words. "My face. My voice. My smell." A darkness filled his gaze—and then he was gone.

I started at his sudden disappearance. Then a pale blur smeared across my vision. Once. Twice.

His reappearance in front of me shocked me back a step. His mouth twisted into a frown that mirrored mine. "Could you catch me?"

Suddenly he back across the meadow, beneath the cover of the trees lining the clearing. "Could you fight me!?" he shouted before ripping a branch the size of most trees from a spruce standing beside him. Shards of wood exploded like shrapnel but bounced harmlessly off his skin. My heart dropped like a dead weight into my stomach. He tested the weight and balance of the giant limb in his hand as if it were a pool cue he were thinking of using instead of hundred-plus pounds of wood. After a moment, he drew his good arm back. The spruce's branch was so long it dragged along the ground. Despite that, Edward was poised like an Olympic javelin thrower.

His arm was a streak of white as he launched it forward. It flew like a missile across the clearing, the entire length of it. A hemlock tree standing on the opposite end was the makeshift rocket's apparent target. With a terrible crack that could have been mistaken for thunder, the spruce's branch exploded against the trunk of the hemlock, breaking it clean in half. The tree groaned as its branches pulled it further apart down the middle.

By the time I twisted about, Edward was back before me. He stayed outside of arm's reach, but as he'd just proven, that hardly mattered. His gold gaze burned. His brow pinched tight together. "Don't apologize for defending yourself, Sarah. Not ever."

I blew out a breath, sights drawn once more to the scarf tied around his arm. "I don't need to be faster or stronger, Edward. I just need an opening."

Edward's shoulders fell. His angelic face became fraught with tension as he wondered in a hollowed voice, "Is there no hope?"

I couldn't help but wonder the same. Was this doomed to end with one of us dead? As a hunter, wasn't it my responsibility to make certain it was him?

The notion made it hard to think past the way my throat closed as my eyes and nose burned. Soon, the tears began to manifest. The meadow wavered in my vision as I struggled not to let a single one fall. Mortified, I scrubbed at my eyes to wipe the evidence of their existence away.

Edward's expression turned pained. "I'm sorry." He took a step towards me before stopping. "I swear, I'll behave better." His voice took on that silken quality as he added, "You surprised me before. But I'm ready now."

I wasn't sure what he meant by that but found myself desperate to believe him. "Surprised you?"

Brows pinched together, Edward eventually nodded. "When you leaned in, exposed your throat so close to me." He grimaced, looking away as if embarrassed. "My instincts took over." He looked back, eyes burning. "But I stopped in time."

"Not before I hurt you," I murmured.

Set within the sparkling, otherworldly beauty of his face, Edward's smile was almost too brilliant to bear. "I'm glad you can."

I stared, incredulous. "Glad?" Frustration welled within me.

Edward's smile fell and a serious mien took over his expression. "Yes." He moved a few steps forward towards me until he was within arm's reach. With slow deliberation, he reached forward for my hand, pausing before taking it. He studied my face. Whatever he saw gave him the confidence to envelop my hand within his.

I looked down. His hand sparkled against my duller human one, the light reflecting off his skin danced over mine in hundreds of flitting colors.

"You see?" he murmured lowly, the smoothness of his voice causing a shiver to run down my spine. "Perfectly fine."

A part of me whispered that the machete was several steps away. That I was allowing him too close without it. But I thought of the crack in that otherwise perfect diamond skin and the desire to look for the blade dissipated.

Maybe he was right. Maybe his otherworldly charms had drawn me in. Gazing at the sparkling hand holding my own, I wondered if this was the trap having closed in around me. I looked up, saw nothing but earnest adoration in his golden gaze.

Desperate to avoid the doubts that plagued me, I blurted, "Why are your eyes bright gold when they were darker a moment ago?"

Those eyes stared steadily into mine. "I fed last night and then again this morning. It's why I couldn't pick you up right away." His lip curled into that self-deprecating smirk. "I wanted to be sure I wouldn't be hungry."

I thought of the darkening of his eyes as he leaned in. Their black, murderous glare that first day in Biology. "They change colors?"

He nodded. "The hungrier I am, the darker they become. The more… satiated on animal blood, the lighter." He looked pensive. "Although satiated is hardly the word," he mused. "Animal blood never quite takes away the cravings."

"So, they turn gold after you feed." I stared into them, wondering how many more impossible things there were to learn about him.

"As long as we feed on animals," Edward clarified.

My brows lowered into a deep v. "What do you mean?"

"Vampires that drink human blood have red eyes."

Eyes as red as the blood they consumed.

If that was true, then Edward couldn't be responsible for the deaths. My shoulders relaxed, breathing became easy again. The scent of field and Edward filled my head. I could have blamed their potent combination for the way everything seemed to lighten—but that would be a lie. I hadn't wanted the killer to be Edward. Having proof that he wasn't—it was as if a weight had fallen away.

But if not Edward or his family, then someone else.

"Edward." The seriousness of my tone had him focusing on me with even more intensity than he usually gave, which I wouldn't have thought possible. "Waylon Forge. That was no animal, was it?"

Edward frowned, saying nothing.

"There are more of your kind out there. Other vampires."

"Sarah," he said, soft and sad. "Leave it be."

Slow and careful, I extracted my hand from his. He did nothing to stop me, just watched with the same sorrowful expression. "I can't, Edward. They've killed two people."

His gaze fell to the ground and stayed there for a moment before he lifted his sights back to me. He shook his head and sounded exasperated as he said, "You'll try to hunt them no matter what I say, won't you?"

Raising my head, I nodded.

"I don't know who they are," he said, words careful, as if he were weighing each one. "Nomads, most likely."

"Nomads?"

"Vampires that are on the move, constantly. They don't settle. They roam."

"Do they know about you and your family?"

Edward frowned. A thoughtful crease appeared in his brow before he shook his head. "No, I don't think so. They wouldn't have killed anyone in our territory if they did. Not unless they wanted to provoke a fight." He shrugged his good shoulder. "Alice would have seen that." His gaze was steady as it met mine. "They've most likely already moved on."

I grit my teeth. Chin jutting, I managed a tight, "You aren't just saying that to throw me off their trail?"

"No." Edward's lips pressed together into an unhappy line. "If I'm wrong, we'll know soon enough."

"When someone else dies," I realized, hands curling into fists.

Gaze solemn, Edward nodded. He reached out again, taking my hand. I held my breath at the feel of his cool skin surrounding mine. "Swear to me you won't confront them alone. That you'll take me with you." His stare begged me to listen. "Please, Sarah."

The arm of the hand not holding mine still hung limply at his side. "Haven't I proven I can take care of myself?"

Edward sighed. "Do hunters always confront more than one monster on their own?"

I winced. It was a fair point.

"Besides, you said you would take me hunting with you," he reminded me.

Scowling I attempted to pull my hand free from his. He wouldn't let go. "Fine," I huffed.

Edward's answering smile was brilliant. "Thank you," he said, a hint of amusement lurking in his voice.

I closed my eyes against his handsome, sparkling face, struggling to reorient myself. It wasn't easy.

When I opened them again, Edward was watching me with an adoring gaze. My cheeks heated under the intensity of his stare. "So you don't burst into flames in the sunlight."

Amusement gleamed in his eyes and smile. "No." He lifted my hand slightly. "I can eat garlic and I've found solace in churches. I can cross running streams. A wooden stake would do nothing." He smirked. "No coffins, either."

I worked to keep my tone light and teasing. "How about turning into a bat?"

Shaking his head, he laughed. It sounded as musical as everything else about his voice. It made him seem much lighter and freer than he'd been throughout most of the day. As if he'd lost some great weight off his shoulders, too. "No."

"You're letting me down here, Edward." I put on a playful pout. "No castles or capes. No funny accent. You sure you're really a vampire?"

A flash of Edward's perfect teeth set my heartrate climbing. "You're supposed to be bigger than Emmet and lack a sense of humor. So who's really letting who down, hm?"

I startled. I hadn't really thought of how vampires would see hunters. "The big, bad tough guy thing I get. But why no sense of humor?"

He shrugged. "Hunters don't really do a lot of talking. They shoot first, ask questions never."

I huffed a laugh, using my free hand to push some hair behind my ear. "I have questions."

Edward's smile turned wry. "I did say it would be your turn." He began sitting again, still holding my hand.

I lowered myself beside him. As I settled, I asked, "Isn't this how we got in trouble last time?"

Edward studied me. "My control is better now." His hand let go of my own, but before I could feel the absence of its loss, I stilled as it came towards my neck. Edward watched my face carefully before inching it forward. His hand didn't stop at my throat, it went lower. Resting across my collarbones, a thumb up against the now frantic pulse in my neck.

The hand was a light weight pressing my t-shirt to my skin. The slightly cooler skin of his thumb barely touched my pulse point. He smiled. "You see?"

This was a hand that had ripped a huge limb of a tree and split a tree in half. But the shiver that went through me wasn't wholly due to fear.

Letting him this close was stupid. But his eyes remained a light gold, a surety to them that hadn't been there before. I felt my heart pounding, my pulse had to be easy to for him to feel and see. "Is it hard?"

One sculpted bronze brow rose in question.

"Being this close."

Edward gifted me another stunning smile. "Having you near—it's heavenly. What's a little burning beside all this happiness?" His lips twisted into a wry grin. "Maybe I'm becoming masochistic."

His words had me flushing again. "What do you mean by burning?"

"The thirst is like fire. Our throats burn when we're hungry." Edward's thumb began to move, gliding up and down. My skin tingled where he touched. "It's hard to endure when you're new."

"When were you new, Edward?"

"In nineteen-eighteen," he said, tone soft and quiet.

If he was a teenager when he was turned, that made him over a hundred.

As I tried to reconcile the fact with the young face before me, Edward went on. "My family came down with the Spanish Influenza. I was dying. My mother must have realized what Carlisle was. She begged him to help me before she died. Carlisle honored her wish."

His eyes took on that distant look. "Carlisle kept me isolated my first year, away from humans. It would be an impossible temptation otherwise. It wasn't until the following December that he began to take walks with me. At first only at night. Gradually I acclimated to larger groups for lengthier periods of time."

"Was this when you—killed?"

Edward shook his head. "No. That was after. We had met with another group of vampires as we hunted one night. Old friends of Carlisle's. One thought it was a shame Carlisle had kept human blood from me, that I was missing the greatest joy of a vampire's life." His brows fell together. "Some years later I left Carlisle and Esme, his wife, to discover what I was missing."

The part of me whose heart fluttered beneath the pad of his thumb didn't want to know anymore. But if I've learned one thing in this life, it's that bad things don't go away just because you close your eyes and hide under the covers. You've got to face them head-on. "Was the vampire right?"

Edward sighed. "Human blood—its unlike anything else. It filled me up in a way animal blood never can. I felt totally alive for the first time I could remember." My stomach twisted with each word, until it was a painful, heavy knot at the end. "But even if my… victims… were their own variety of monsters, the guilt haunted me. Letting down Carlisle. Taking life. I'd become something I didn't want to be." His lips twisted. "In the end, I decided I'd rather my cravings go unsatisfied then give my conscience any more reason to plague me."

"And you haven't killed since?" I willed it to be true.

He stared directly into my eyes. "Nothing human."

Another long breath left me. He could have been lying, but for now, his bright golden eyes backed up his claim. I decided to believe the evidence in front of me.

I was trapped, fully and completely. But it was a beautiful trap, filling me with a kind of happiness I'd never known. It was like the sun filled me, making all the dark things that lurked in the back of my mind scurry away until it was as if they'd never been there in the first place. I was bright and warm, wallowing in joy. I would have been content except for the relentless desire touch him. Being this close was both blissful and hard.

Maybe he wasn't the only masochist.

Eyes fluttering shut, he let out a breath and—to my surprise—lowered himself until he was laying on the ground, head resting on my thigh. The hand on my neck fell away to rest across his chest instead. My heart was pounding, my body tingling. I had to touch more of him. I settled for laying a hand on his hair. The strands were soft and slid between my fingers like silk. As I combed through his bronze locks, my other hand gripped the grass besides me. I didn't want to push things—push him—too far. "Is this alright?"

"Perfect," he murmured.

The sun inside me brightened. I had no idea making someone else content could bring this much pleasure. It was as if my entire world was shifting on its axis, rearranging itself. How long since coming to Forks had I been circling Edward already? Fighting that steady pull into his gravity? I wasn't sure I could hold back any longer.

I didn't want to.

So I basked in the moment. Head bowed, hair curtaining my face, watching Edward sparkle as he laid in my lap with his eyes closed. I couldn't remember ever being so content, and all I was doing was watching him sleep.

Or so I thought. "Tell me what you're thinking?" he asked.

I felt the truth leap to my tongue. "That I've never felt anything like this."

Edward's eyes opened. "Neither have I."

That my confession was answered with his own, that we were sharing this moment in tune with one another, somehow heightened my joy. The elation almost felt like too much to hold, like my humming nerves might spark and overheat from it.

"I was wondering if this was how humans felt most of the time," Edward mused, eyes curving with his bright smile.

"I don't see how anyone would ever get anything done if that were true," I said back.

Edward laughed. The joy within me soared even higher. Apparently, there were still greater heights it could reach.

I remembered it was my turn, and so I asked him about all the seemingly inconsequential things that make up a person. Their tastes. Their opinions. Their memories. And then there was the fact he was a vampire who had lived over a century. He had seen so much I didn't know where to start.

Edward patiently answered every question I had. Slowly, a few of the blanks filled in. His parents had been well off, giving Edward a private education as a boy. He'd excelled at music and loved it to this day. Not just the classics, either.

"I've seen Metallica in concert," he revealed. "Nineteen-eighty-three at the Metro."

I playfully pursed my lips in disgust. Even though it was hard not to smile at the thought of prim Edward wading into a crowd of heavy metal fans. "I guess no one's perfect."

Edward grinned.

He told me mostly of his life as a vampire, as he didn't have many memories of being a human. I had a feeling he edited his darker days, skipping over the details of his kills in favor of reminiscing about the cities. Chicago. New York. Paris. Milan. Buenos Ares. Rome. He just kept listing off all sorts of fabulous destinations that even I, well-traveled that I was, could only dream of.

Too soon, the sun began to dip towards the distant treetops. The day had passed in a blur, and yet, I couldn't imagine ever forgetting a single moment. Edward sat up, almost as soon as I'd realized the time was getting late, as if he were suddenly able to read my mind. Maybe we were that in sync with each other already. "Your brother wanted you home by seven."

"Now you care about what Dean thinks?" I scoffed, already missing the weight of his head in my lap. I stood and had to stomp some of the stiffness out of my legs. I'd sat with him for hours.

He dazzled me with a lopsided smile. "I want to make a good impression."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." Even if Edward weren't a vampire, Dean was a terrible hypocrite when it came to dating. While he loved to date—so long as it wasn't too serious—he hated seeing me with anyone. I think he put his own cavalier attitudes towards the girls he was with into the heads of every guy who even glanced my way. And Dean had always been way overprotective of Sammy and me.

Edward shrugged with his good arm. "Regardless." His smile softened. "It's the proper thing to do."

I eyed him. "We aren't in the nineteen-hundreds, Edward," I reminded him.

His smile lifted into that amused grin that showed off his teeth. "I know. But I want to be respectful." His grin quirked to the side again. "I guess I'm old fashioned."

I huffed out an amused breath, trying very hard not to feel charmed by him and utterly failing. "Whatever makes you happy."

His eyes took on that joyous glow. "Speaking of which, I want to share something with you." Curious, I watched as he took a few steps and bent over. When he came back up, the machete I dropped earlier was in his hand.

When I wasn't horrified or filled with fear, the sensible side of me that seemed to be shrinking with every passing day wondered if I was really so far gone down the rabbit hole. A vampire had just taken up the only weapon I had against him. But my senseless faith was rewarded a moment later when Edward extended the blade out to me, handle first.

I took it, staying extra careful to keep from accidentally nicking his hand. I slid it back into the sheath strapped across my shoulders.

"This is how I get around," he said, grinning. He turned and held his hands out. "Get on."

"What?" I stared, wondering if he wanted me to do what I thought he wanted me to do.

He looked over his shoulder. "It will be quicker my way."

"You want to give me a piggyback ride," I clarified, bemused.

Edward nodded.

"You realize how close we'll be."

He smiled. "It's alright. I promise."

After a moment's hesitation, I walked up to him and slung my arms around his neck before hopping up. He caught my thighs with his hands. I still wrapped my legs around his waist, uncertain what he was going to do. "What now?"

"Now we run." He let go of my leg long enough to lift a hand off his shoulders, lifting my palm to his face. I could feel the great lungful of breath he drew as his shoulders rose and back expanded beneath me. "Easier all the time," he murmured, placing my hand back into place.

He took off. We were in the forest before I could even process that we were moving. The trees were dark shapes blurring to either side. There was no sound but the whistling of the wind as Edward raced around the trees, not even the sound of my pulse as my heart pounded in my chest. I felt as if I were on the downward slope of a roller coaster, plummeting. If it weren't for Edward's hold, I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold on.

When he finally stopped, I was still clinging to him, breathing heavily. It had taken minutes to cover what had been hours, earlier.

When I didn't immediately jump down, his voice was uncertain as he asked, "Sarah?"

I swallowed, forcing my hands and legs to move. I nearly toppled off before I remembered to make my legs go first. They trembled slightly as they hit the ground, followed by the rest of me.

Edward turned, and looked surprised. He reached out, steadying me by the shoulders. "Are you alright?"

"Um," I croaked. "Give me a second."

Amusement gleamed in his eyes. "You look white as a ghost."

"Ghosts aren't white," I said, unthinkingly.

"White as me, then," he said, the amusement now in his voice.

I groaned and took a careful step for the Volvo, leaning against its silver frame. "I don't know if I should have closed my eyes or not."

"Try it next time," he advised.

Next time! I struggled to contain my horror at the thought. "I think I'll just walk, thanks," I muttered.

Edward laughed. That laughter tapered off as he moved next to me, studying my face. "I thought about something as I was running."

Hoping he wasn't about to suggest running me all the way back to Forks, I met his roaming gaze with trepidation. "What?"

"This," he murmured.

His hands cupped either side of my face, so gently there was barely any pressure. I stilled, eyes widening in surprise as he continued to stare at me. I realized he was testing his resolve and felt myself tense up in response.

A tension that was gone as soon as he leaned forward and pressed his cool lips to mine.

If there was any doubt before that Edward's gravity had yet to capture me and pull me in, this dispelled it. I was falling so fast I felt like a meteor burning across the sky as I plummeted into him. My breath quickened and my heartrate jumped. I slung my arms around his neck and kissed him back with everything I could muster.

Edward stilled, becoming a statue once more. His hands gently but inexorably moved my face back, away from him. His eyes were wild, but he otherwise didn't look ready to lunge. I tried unwinding my arms to move back, but his hands kept me near. "Wait for a moment, please," he asked, voice overly polite.

I did what he asked, trying to calm my racing heart as I watched him. "Are you okay?"

The excitement in his eyes slowly faded to something fond and warm. "Yes." His lips crooked upwards. "I'm stronger than I thought."

"Good to know," I said, flushing. "Because I've got no self-control at all, apparently."

His grin turned impish. "You're only human."

I shot him a half-hearted glare. "Watch it."

He laughed, the joyous sound echoing through the trees. I brightened again, and while I was still a little breathless from the run and the kiss, felt a hundred times better than I could ever remember feeling before.

Edward held the door open for me. He wore a self-satisfied smirk as he helped keep me steady while I slipped inside. Once he was back in the driver's seat, I turned towards him as far as my seat would allow, drinking in his now more-human features as the sun had sunk beneath the trees. I missed the way he had sparkled earlier, but at the same time felt more grounded looking at his more familiar façade. Like this was more real than it had seemed in the meadow.

When he reached for my hand with his, he used the arm I had injured, proving it was already healing. We held on to each other the whole way back to Forks.