Archie had seen the moment it would finally be over—just a few more hours, hours that I knew would seem to stretch on for years for Beau.

Just after dark, our journey home was over. I carried him into the house and sat with him in the big room. We left him in his bloodstained jeans, but changed him out of his vomit-and-blood soiled shirt. He now wore a pale blue shirt that belonged to Earnest.

Over the last few hours of waiting, we kept up an endless stream of stories. Carine sat on the ground beside us and told the story about Julie Black's family—how her great-grandmother and confidants had actually been werewolves. She told him about the treaty, how she promised them she would never bite another human. We would never set foot on their land, and they would keep secret what we were while we resided here.

Jess filled him in on her backstory after all. Like Beau, she had lost her family, too. She told him how Mario had stolen her without warning and turned her. She talked for a long time about the army she belonged to, a life of carnage and death, and how she eventually broke free with Petrina. She talked about the day she and Archie met.

Earnest filled in the details about his human life. He told of how his first wife had a sickness of the mind, and how her alcoholism eventually made her so unstable that she jumped off a cliff in a drunken rampage with his little daughter in her arms. He was so distraught that he decided there was nothing left but to follow after them in death. He spoke of his own transformation experience, and how he awoke to find Carine waiting there for him when it was over—a nurse he recognized from a happier time in another place when he was just a young man. A nurse who hadn't aged at all.

Eleanor told him the bear story, and how she'd believed Royal was an angel taking her to heaven. When the pain came, she thought she'd gone to hell. She also filled in the details about Victor. He was long gone, as far as we could tell. Charlie would be safe. For all we knew, he'd swum straight out into the Pacific and on to another continent.

I was surprised when Royal volunteered his own backstory. He told Beau about a life consumed with vanity, with material things, with ambition. There was a girl named Rowena, the only daughter of a powerful man—exactly what kind of power this man wielded, Royal hadn't entirely understood—and how Royal had planned to marry her and become heir to the dynasty. How the beautiful daughter pretended to love him to please her father, and then how she had watched when her lover from a rival criminal syndicate had Royal beaten to death, how she'd laughed aloud the whole time. He spared no details about the revenge he'd gotten. Royal was the least careful with his words. He talked at length about what it cost him, and how none of this was worth what he'd lost.

I may have been the only one who knew this about Royal, but he never was entirely honest—maybe even with himself—about how much he loathed the second chance at a life Carine created had for him.

"Eleanor," I whispered at the conclusion of his venting. He growled at me and then left the room.

Archie searched on his laptop, trying to determine where he had been kept in his human life.

Beau spoke for the first time in a long time while Archie was researching. "Am I dying?"

"You're changing, Beau. I promise it will be over soon."

"How much longer?" I asked Archie.

"It won't be long now. See how clear he's becoming? I can see him so much better now."

"And he's really going to be fine..."

"Of course he is."

I was growing so impatient. "Could you concentrate for me? On the clock—at least give me an estimate."

Archie sighed. "So impatient. Fine. Give me a sec—"

I watched the future jump forward to the moment Beau's heart would stop beating. Archie's focus shifted to the clock—just after eight o'clock.

"He's going to be amazing." Archie added.

"He always has been," I argued.

Archie laughed. "You know what I mean. Just look at him."

On the outside, Beau resembled one of us now for the most part. The boy I loved was still recognizable. If someone had cut an outline of his human self, this version of Beau would still fit into that space. But all the angles were different. Everything was sharper, more pronounced—the shape of his chin and jaw, the bridge of his nose, the set of his eyes in his skull. He was much more pale as he lay still in my arms.

The interminable waiting went on for him for a few more hours. There came a point when he was absolutely motionless, and only the sound of his thrumming heart indicated he was still alive. The temperature of his body had slowly cooled to room temperature.

Abruptly, the rhythm of his heart changed—louder, faster now—but Beau didn't seem to react in any way.

"Carine," I cried out.

Carine came into the room at once. "Ah. It's almost over."

Beau's face contorted, and he opened his eyes for the first time in a long time, disoriented.

"Edythe?" he inhaled suddenly.

"You're all right, Beau. It's ending. I'm sorry, I know. I remember."

Everyone gathered around us on the couch then, even Royal. And then, Beau's heart took off beating at twice the rate as before.

"Aaah!" He cried out, his voice loud and clear now. New.

He arched his chest up off the couch reflexively, trying to escape the heat that was surely pooling there now, concentrating with one last, unbearable surge.

His heart sounded as if it would explode from his chest. I squeezed his hand tightly.

Suddenly, the sound stopped with no warning. There was one final hollow-sounding thud. Then his heart stuttered twice, followed by one more muffled thud.

He was perfectly still. He didn't breathe. There was no sign of life in him whatsoever.

The anxiety started to rise in me, and I considered calling out his name before he finally opened his eyes again.

He stared up at me, his irises a blazing crimson.

"Beau?"

He continued to stare without reacting.

"It's disorienting, I know. You get used to it."

"Edythe," he said in his new voice, clear and confident.

He flinched at the sound of his own voice.

His hand abruptly shot up to touch my cheek. "Huh..."

I put my hand over his and held it to my face. His eyes shifted from our hands back to my eyes.

His entire body suddenly tensed as if he had been shocked. "Ahhh!" he gasped.

"What is it, Beau?" I leaned in closer.

"The eyes?"

I sighed... Beau's beautiful eyes, once blue as sapphires, nearly glowed in an intense red. "It goes away. I terrified myself every time I looked in a mirror for six months."

"Six months..." he repeated. "And then they'll be gold like yours?"

"That depends on your diet, Beau," Carine answered from behind the couch. "If you hunt like we do, your eyes will eventually turn this color. If not, your eyes will look like Lauren's did."

Beau jolted upright, and the movement seemed to surprise him. The others all stood there watching him. He glanced around at all of their faces, truly seeing them for the first time.

He turned back to Carine. "No, I want to do it your way. That's the right thing to do."

Carine smiled. "If only it were so easy. But that's a noble choice. We'll help you all we can."

I touched his arm, trying not to startle him. "We should hunt now, Beau. It will make your throat hurt less."

He swallowed hard, seeming to notice the ache for the first time. Then his eyes turned suspicious.

"Hunt? I, uh, well, I've never been hunting before. Not even like normal hunting with rifles, so I don't really think I could... I mean, I have no idea how..."

Eleanor chuckled to herself. Kid's a riot.

I smiled at him. "I'll show you. It's very easy, very natural. Didn't you want to see me hunt?"

"Just us?" he asked.

Of course. There were practical reasons why I needed to have some time alone with him before he spoke to anyone else. "Of course. Whatever you want. Come with me, Beau."

I jumped to my feet then, pulling him by the hand, and he glided easily into an upright position. I made my way to the back wall, and he followed. It was dark out now, making the glass wall a mirror. Beau abruptly came to a halt as we passed by, and though I continued to pull on his hand, he didn't budge. I turned, and found Beau captivated by the reflection in the mirror.

I wondered what he thought of himself. I'd always believed he was every bit as beautiful as Archie or Earnest, or even Royal. Now his pale skin matched theirs, stretched over harder, more pronounced angles. His eyes, once so clear and kind, blazed a savage red, which I'm sure was unnerving.

"Whoa..." He locked eyes with me in the reflection.

"It's a lot," I told him.

He took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay."

I pulled agin, urging him forward, and he followed this time. Together we darted through the glass doors and ran out on to the back lawn.

"Whoa," he marveled again. "That is so cool."

I wondered what he was reacting to now, and the sudden realization hit me: Beau's thoughts still remained shrouded in mystery even though our minds were now more alike.

Frustrating.

"We're going to have to go a ways out into the woods," I said. "Just in case."

"Right. So there aren't any people around. Got it."

"Follow me."

I raced down the lawn at full speed. When I reached the edge of the river I leapt high into the air, launching myself over it so that when I landed I was in the trees on the other side.

"Really?" his voice called after me.

I laughed. "I promise, it's easy."

I heard him running then. The sound of his footfalls disappeared when he reached the water's edge. He sailed through the air above me, gracefully catching a thick branch as he fell before coming to a nearly silent landing.

"Holy crow."

I ran ahead to catch up with him.

"We have to do that again!" he cheered when I came into view.

How strange. He was so calm, so collected... so himself. Where was the frenzy? Where was the anger at what had happened? Not even the slightest hint of frustration marred his perfect face now.

He laughed. "What do you want to know? I'll tell you what I'm thinking."

"I don't understand. You're... in a very good mood."

"Oh. Is that wrong?"

"Aren't you incredibly thirsty?"

He swallowed loudly. From his expression I knew that he recognized the burn, but it was as if his thoughts were so distracted by something else that he couldn't even focus on that most intense desire.

"Yes, when I think about it."

"If you want to do this first, that's fine, too."

His face was puzzled. "Do this? Do what?"

I threw my hands up in frustration. "You know, I really thought that when your mind was more similar to mine, I'd be able to hear it. I guess that's never going to happen."

"Sorry."

I laughed. "Honestly, Beau."

"Can you please give me a clue as to what we're talking about?"

"You wanted us to be alone," I reminded him.

"Uh, yeah."

"Because you had some things you wanted to say to me?"

"Oh. Well, I guess there are things to say. I mean, there's one important thing, but I wasn't thinking about that. I wanted to be alone with you because... well, I didn't want to be rude, but I also didn't want to do this hunting thing in front of Eleanor. I figured there was a good chance I would screw something up, and I don't know Eleanor all that well yet, but I have a feeling she would find that pretty funny."

"You were afraid Eleanor would laugh at you? Really, that's all?"

"Really. Your turn, Edythe. What did you think was happening?"

"I thought you were being a gentleman. I thought you preferred to yell at me alone rather than in front of my family."

His body tensed at my words. "Yell at you? Edythe—oh! You're talking about all that stuff you were saying in the car, right? Sorry about that, I—"

"Sorry? What on earth are you apologizing for now, Beau Swan?"

He shrugged. "I wanted to tell you then, but I couldn't. I mean, I couldn't even really concentrate—"

"Of course you couldn't concentrate—"

"Edythe!" He flitted forward so that he was right in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders. "You'll never know what I'm thinking if you keep interrupting me."

I tried to calm myself. I nodded.

"Okay... In the car—I wanted to tell you then that you didn't need to apologize, I felt horrible that you were so sad. This isn't your fault—"

Wasn't my fault? Everything was my fault! I had ruined his life. Everything had been taken away from him, while I got everything I wanted. This was my perfect future, an erasure of decades of agony.

When I started to speak, he put his finger over my lips.

"And it isn't all bad..." he continued. "I'm... well, my head is still spinning and I know there are a million things to think about and I'm sad, of course, but I'm also good, Edythe. I'm always good when I'm with you."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. He was good? After loosing everything?

"You aren't angry at me for what I've done to you?"

"Edythe, you saved my life! Again. Why would I be angry? Because of the way you saved it? What else could you have done?"

I exhaled loudly. "How can you...? Beau, you have to see that this is all my fault. I haven't saved your life, I've taken it from you. Charlie— Renée—"

His hand came up to my lips again, cutting me off. "Yes. It's hard, and it's going to be hard for a long time. Maybe forever, right? But why would I put that on you? Joss is the one who... well, who killed me. You brought me back to life."

I pushed his hand away. "If I hadn't involved you in my world—"

He started laughing, and I glared at him. Had he lost his mind? Had he suffered irreparable brain damage in the confrontation with Joss?

"Edythe—if you hadn't involved me in your world, Charlie and Renée would have lost me three months earlier."

I stared at him. It was a circular dilemma, sure...

"Do you remember what I said when you saved my life in Port Angeles? The second time, or third. That you were messing with fate because my number was up? Well... if I had to die, Edythe... isn't this the most amazing way to do it?"

I continued to stare at him. There truly was no one like him in this world. "Beau, you are amazing."

"I guess I am now."

"You always have been."

Though his mind was just as silent as before, his face still gave him away. I'd spent enough time with him to know when there was something he was holding back.

"What is it, Beau?"

"Just... something Joss said."

Images of her video flashed through my head again. I clenched my teeth together. "She said a lot of things."

"Oh." Realization crossed his face. I knew he hadn't wanted me to watch that tape. "You saw the tape."

"Yes, I saw the tape."

"When? I didn't hear—"

"Headphones."

"I wish you hadn't—"

I shook my head. "I had to. But forget that now. Which lie were you thinking of?"

"You didn't want me to be a vampire."

"No, I absolutely did not."

"So that part wasn't a lie. And you've been so upset... I know you feel bad about Charlie and my mom, but I guess I'm worried that part of it is because, well, you didn't expect to have me around very long, you weren't planning for that—"

I opened my mouth to stop him from spewing this insanity, but he put his whole hand over it to stop me.

"Because if that's what it is, don't worry. If you want me to go away after a while, I can. You can show me what to do so I won't get either of us in trouble. I don't expect you to put up with me forever. You didn't choose this any more than I did. I want you to know that I'm aware of that."

How very backwards he had it all now. One thing was true: I had never felt any desire to see Beau immortal. My only want, my only need, was to have his life untouched by darkness, and that need had consumed me.

I knew the future had always loomed, but I didn't know exactly how long I would have had. Part of me had wondered if it wouldn't be right to wait until he outgrew me. Wouldn't that have meant the least pain for him? It would have been so easy to fall into that version.

I already knew he didn't count his human losses. And he had definitely never considered eternal losses. No one was worth that.

I growled softly and flashed my teeth at him. "You're lucky I didn't bite you. The next time you put your hand on my mouth to say something so completely idiotic—and insulting—I will."

"Sorry."

I closed my eyes. I wrapped my arms around him and leaned my head against his chest. His arms wound around me. I tilted my face up to look at him.

"I want you to listen to me very carefully, Beau. This—having you with me, getting to keep you here—it's like I've been granted every selfish wish I've ever had. But the price for everything I want was to take the exact same thing away from you. All of your life. I'm angry with myself, I'm disappointed in myself. And I wish so much that I could bring that tracker back to life so that I could kill her myself, over and over and over again... The reason I didn't want you to be a vampire wasn't because you weren't special enough—it was because you are too special and you deserve more. I wanted you to have what we all miss—a human life. But you have to know, if it were only about me, if there were no price for you to pay, then tonight would be the best night of my life. I've been staring forever in the face for a century, and tonight is the very first time it's looked beautiful to me. Because of you. Don't you ever again think that I don't want you. I will always want you. I don't deserve you, but I will always love you. Are we clear?"

A huge grin spread across his beautiful face. "So, that's okay, then."

I smiled back. "I'd say so."

"That was the one important thing I wanted to say—just, I love you. I always will. I knew that from pretty early in. So, with that being how things are, I think we can work the rest out."

He put his hands on either side of my face and bent down to kiss me. And it was such an easy thing now—no hesitation, no worry that I would kill him.

I broke away, laughing. "How are you doing this? You're supposed to be a newborn vampire and here you are, discussing the future calmly with me, smiling at me, kissing me! You're supposed to be thirsty and nothing else."

"I'm a lot of else," he countered. "But I'm pretty thirsty, now that you mention it."

I stretched up on my toes and kissed him once more. "I love you. Let's go hunt."

I took his hand, and we ran on as the night overcame the end of the day.