Dichotomy by LyricalKris and Mariescullen, LyricalMarie

Many thanks to –

Pre-readers: Packy and FlamingMaple

Beta: Songster

Banner: Mina

~Edward~

I lay back taking in the clear night. Bursts of color danced in the center of the sky, flourishing as they moved. Time seemed to blur together since I'd arrived a mere eight weeks ago.

I'd been patient with my ire, relishing in the fact that this was the plausible choice.

The only choice.

For the time being, it was easier for me to be gone. For the time being.

Alice was keeping a watchful eye on me, I'm sure. But also, on the girl with deep brown eyes.

The new girl.

The girl who ran me out of Forks.

It was a fair trade—two years tops Carlisle said—of my life. Two years tops for the rest of hers.

I couldn't risk everything my father and creator had worked for so long to hold. The Swan girl was an innocent. I'd made my peace with that. She wasn't a demon come to haunt me. It was my decision that drove me from my home and my decision that kept the roof over the life Carlisle had created for us. The scent from that day still shadowed me, following me like a pesky rain cloud no matter where I went. Was I still the same Edward, as I had been in the classroom? Part of me said yes while the other half said no. Tanya told me not to judge myself; I'd done what it took to keep the girl safe, to keep the secret. It was essential for survival: the blood lust was a burden we all carried with us. Neither she nor anyone in our 'extended family's' clan had ever faced something of the sort. The only basis I had for comparison with was Emmett. And my burly brother dismissed both cases with a sigh and wave of the hand. He didn't quite get why I'd had to leave.

It was nice being away, a break from the sleepy town in which we permanently resided. I missed my family though. My siblings and my parents were one of the things that brought me joy in this life. And while it was easier to be around them in a sense, I didn't have to deal with three very complete, very in love couples. Their love for one another, their constant need for their companions, and that need being met by merely crossing a room often became a headache for someone who could hear their every thought. It didn't help that I'd been alone for the better half of the last century.

I often wondered if I'd ever find anyone.

Someone like Esme was to Carlisle or Jasper to Alice.

Thoughts of Tanya, the head of the Denali house, crossed my mind. I'd known them for a great deal of my time as a vampire, our fellow vegetarian coven from the great north west. They'd maintained a permanent residence in the snowy hills of Denali, Alaska. They were good friends, and easy to confide in. She was beautiful, even for a vampire, and kind, but we were so different. We wouldn't make each other happy. She'd been eager to keep me company when I arrived, biting for a reason about why exactly I left my coven. For a while, I welcomed her company. Under the shallow crush, she was a wonderful friend, going the extra mile to put a smile onto my face. She was a comfort in the madness of the first days after I ran.

The madness.

I scoffed internally.

I tried my damndest to rid myself of the haunting brown eyes that followed me and here I was, stuck in motion, after I'd run again. The Denalis had been hospitable, but they, too, were confused. I'd escaped to another part of the Alaskan backcountry, wanting to face my terrors in solidarity.

The stupid girl's face was picture perfect in my mind, though her expressions were ones of curiosity and bewilderment. The vision of her brown hair taut against her fingers as she brushed it behind her ear was still vivid

I spent a lot of my nights face down in the snow, hardening my muscles in the battle to turn and look at the sky. I was still at odds with myself. I felt like I was changing, but I wasn't sure if it was for the better or for the worse. Parts of me, mostly the demon raging underneath my stone-cold skin, begged me to race back to the small Washington town. It would be easy to find her house. And there were no others around to stop me, except the Podunk Chief of Police that slept a room over.

Chief's Swan's face flashed across my mind. He was a man of little thought every time I'd fallen into my human façade to interact with him. Had my choice saved him from some form of peril? Alice told me that first day that Bella was Chief's Swan's only family. The choice would affect more than just me, more than just my family. I'd also thought of the carefully constructed lifestyle my wondrous father created. A slip up came with the territory, but so did conscience. We'd have to attend the funerals of our victims; a retrospective stand in the corner and think about what you've done.

I wasn't proud to admit I didn't think I would have been able to do that. It was apparent I'd left the Edward who would bite the bullet back in the biology classroom when I'd gunned out of there like a lion in the midst of a hunt.

Weeks of being in the open air had given me time to think. I didn't share it with any of my family-and they called frequently to check in. While a substantial shame weighed heavily on me, it'd gotten more serious—more than I'd like to admit— in the last few weeks, so I dodged their calls.

I wondered if Alice would see through my act. If anyone would, it would be my closest little sister. She said she missed me constantly, but ultimately came around to seeing things my way.

It was easier for me to be gone.

Which only meant she'd seen my escape from the last frontier.

The madness didn't go away, it simply grew.

Bella Swan's ocean-deep eyes stalked me as though they were a night creature, as if I were the prey. Ironic.

Her eyes were everywhere—in the sky, in the swaying of the trees as I hunted, in the blackness when I slammed my eyes shut. So, I gave into it. Her delicious scent was still fresh in my memory, the thought alone creating hellfire at the base of my throat.

Staring into the eyes made me inquisitive. I didn't know much about her and I wasn't sure I wanted to know the real thing. I remembered things about her—her closed mind being the forefront. Had I simply just missed it, the plain buzzing of her mind? Was my gift fading? Eleazar shook his head on that, similar in opinion to Carlisle. Gifts didn't diminish over time, only grew. It had to be on her end. Was it something as simple as an operational error? Perhaps, her human brain worked on an AM frequency while mine worked only on FM. It was a nuisance to me, the mystery of the missing sound.

It nagged me almost as much as the scent did.

I also remembered the way the fluorescent light radiated off her, as if she glowed.. As if she'd spent time in the sun, yet her skin was creamy and rich.

I knew she went by Bella instead of her full given name. I wondered what her second name was.

I knew she was from the south, a desert city moving to a green alien land because of some custody arrangement. I wondered if her family life was hard.

In a way, I felt like I wanted to know her, dive deep into the depth of her coffee-bean colored eyes.

So I tried, while still keeping my distance.

I sighed to myself, sitting up. I'd been on the ground for hours. The sky began to swirl into the harsher lights of the morning. I only had a short while before the Alaskan sun was blazing overhead. I needed to head back, to get cover, to trap myself inside the small hotel room I'd rented myself on the north end of the nearest town. I pulled myself to my feet effortlessly, using a pale hand to dust myself off. I whipped my head around to make sure I was in the clear before darting back towards the motel.

My phone vibrated in my pocket for the fourth time this evening. I supposed I should have answered it. They'd known better to call multiple times for something that wasn't important.

It rang again as I fished the frail keys from the pocket of my jeans and opened the door.

I sat on the old bed, the whining of the coils from my weight sounding in my ears.

It was the sixth time that I answered. I knew the caller before I gently flipped the lid of the phone open and pressed it to my ear.

"Alice," I muttered quietly.

"Finally," she said back, her silvery voice rich with annoyance.

"Sorry…I was busy," I replied, knowing very well she'd been following my every move this evening.

She ignored my excuse, launching into conversation.

"You can come home."

A million different paths scrambled together in my head at her words.

What of the Swan girl? Had she decided to go back to Arizona?

Where had she gone?

Was it something worse?

I could come back because of the tragedy. The sweet blush I pictured so frequently in my head would remain pale; the ocean-deep brown eyes could never stare soulfully into anything again.

"What do you mean I can come home? The school year is hardly out for the summer."

"You can come home Edward; Bella isn't in danger anymore."

"Isn't in danger anymore? Of course, she is—"

"You don't have to worry about her blood anymore. It's gone. It can no longer tempt you." The twists and turns of words continued to escape my sisters' mouth, a conundrum spinning in my head.

"Alice!" I snapped while shaking my head in confusion. "Make sense. Quit with the riddles, please."

Perhaps she'd been lost in her head, plucking out certain futures she was certain on. What was coming? What had changed? The plastic of the phone squeaked gently in my hand.

"The girl is gone." Alice spoke quickly, pausing. It wasn't often my sister stopped to take a breath.

"She's been changed.."

"How could that have happened, Alice? I thought you were watching! Which one of you did it? The treaty—"

"It wasn't one of us!" She bit back, "There were others in the area last week. I suppose the girl was a magnet for trouble after all. The treaty is still intact."

"They hunted her?"

Had my efforts been wasted? Had I nearly risked exposure for nothing? To save her to become some passerby's meal. Why hadn't I just given in to the monster if this was her fate?

I quavered, rattling away the grieving thoughts of the monster inside, waiting for Alice's next words.

"I don't think he meant to do it. We believe he meant to drain her…finish her. There was a distraction…When the nomad returned, her change had been nearly complete."

I scoffed—a huff of disbelief. This was as close to my mind reeling as I could get.

Well. No. I supposed the day I met the girl, the insignificant human whose face had haunted me every moment, tormenting me as she kept me from my family, my mind had more than reeled. Even now, a deep shame coursed through me. I'd been unhinged. Undone. A nightmare barely reined in by the slightest modicum of control.

Now she was the nightmare. A bloodthirsty, nearly mindless newborn, and without Carlisle's influence...

"It bothers you," I said to distract myself from the myriad of thoughts assailing me.

"You can't imagine how many of her futures I saw. She was deciding who she wanted to be when she grew up." Alice sounded wistful. "I was invested, I suppose. She was going to be so interesting."

Irked—and oddly sad— I found I had many questions. But they could wait. Done could not be undone, and Alice was right; her blood posed no problem now. "I'm coming home."

And I could be nothing but glad at that, even if Isabella Swan had paid the worst price despite my efforts.

I cradled the phone between my cheek and shoulder as I stood. I moved with my true speed around the dull little room, collecting my things into the dark green duffle bag at the foot of my bed.

"Where is she now? Did one of you intercede, we can't just let a newborn…" I trailed off as I moved.

"Edward, that's the other thing…she's gone. The nomads waited around for her. They took her with them. I can keep track of her, sure, but it's getting harder. I'm not sure where she is." She explained. If Alice had been human, she'd be biting her lip on the other end of the line.

"I'll be there soon."

"I'm glad. I missed you. Cover up, there will be some sun on your drive."

"I missed you too, Alice."

I shut the phone and looked down at the nearly full bag. I didn't see the floor of the hotel. Instead, I saw possible futures churning in my head like a tornado.

Bella was turned.

Bella was a vampire.

She was out of Forks.

Gone.

Nomads? Who left someone to change while they ran across in the woods? The thought didn't settle right with me, and I was eager to hit the road to pick the vision out of my sister's head. Had her blood sung to them the way it had to me that day in biology?

La Tua Cantante, as Eleazar had adopted the Volturi coven's term for blood that appealed strongly to us, to the monster within. He growled internally, a crying call lamenting the pure waste at my decision.

I cursed under my breath as I pulled on a dark hoodie over my long-sleeved t-shirt. I pulled the hood up, tightening it as a precaution. The windows of Carlisle's Mercedes were tinted dark, but I couldn't take a risk, especially with what appeared to be ravenous nomads around our territory.

I finished packing, nearly breaking the door off the hinges when I left.

I looked up once more, at the whirl of colors in the sky, a glowing orange, a soft blue, an artist's palette ready to splatter it with endless light.

And in the orange, the Swan girl's once brilliant eyes followed me home.

~Bella~

There had to be thousands of depictions of the Moirai—The Fates, the goddesses that dictated destiny. I preferred them as crones—ancient women with twisted features and wide, ghoulish grins. Clotho, the spinner, bringing new life into the world, the thread of life begun. Lachesis the drawer of lots, deciding the length of the thread. Atropos, the inexorable, drawing the thread taut.

And no matter how Atropos was depicted, in her hands there was always me. Her shears. Her tool. Her reckoning.

Death.

The wind shifted, Atropos whispering in my ear, and three threads tensed. I cut off mid-sentence, mid-word, already lost to the hunt. My muscles coiled and I used the rockface, ricocheting off it like a bullet as I ran, the perfect predator intent on my helpless prey.

Oh, humans. Nature's anomaly, believing they were at the top of the food chain, believing the world belonged to them. It was strange, really. Their skin was paper-thin and soft. They'd developed no armor, not like the porcupine and it's needles. They'd developed no defense mechanism, like a field mouse's ability to burrow quickly to escape the razor-sharp talons of the eagle. They didn't run fast. Their sense of smell told them nothing more than if their food was burnt. Their ears heard nothing more than their inane ramblings.

And then, nature's answer: Me. Us. Vampires. Lethal. Unescapable.

I burst into the clearing, appearing, I knew, as though out of nowhere. There were three humans, campers, setting up a tent by the river. The one nearest to me didn't get to look up before I'd lifted him and sent him sailing into the thick trunk of a tree head first. Without a second glance, I darted at the other two. Venom pooled, and I struck. I held one human aloft with one hand while I brought the second human closer, crushing him against my body. He had time to utter just one sound. A name.

"Bethany," he cried, one hand outstretched toward the woman.

And then my teeth sunk into lush skin. Bethany shrieked, and I moaned.

Blood. Was there any pleasure greater?

It took minutes to drain the first human dry, all while the second screamed and thrashed and begged. I paid her no mind. Not until I let the first body, drained and lifeless, fall into a heap at my feet.

And now, Bethany.

I'd dropped her at the end there, using both my hands to turn her companion upside down. His blood had a sweet note to it I enjoyed, and I wasn't willing to waste a drop. Easy enough to catch little Bethany even if she turned out to be an Olympic runner.

Oh, Bethany. Atropos choose her weapon too well.

The woman was only ordinary by human standards, but even the most extraordinary human was no match for me. She'd dragged herself, her limbs shaking too hard to carry her upright, only a few feet away. I grabbed her by the ankle, held her aloft, and sunk my teeth into her femoral artery.

Not nearly as sweet, but I wasn't picky. It took only seconds for her screams to become whimpers. Only a few more before the little clearing was silent save for the river and the heartbeat of the one human left alive.

I tilted my head, momentarily sidetracked. I was filled to the brim with fresh blood-kind of sloshy even. Yet there was this last human. Where I was standing, his scent wafted helpfully away from me. Sated, the bloodlust had receded, and my limitless mind had returned to me full force, a hundred thoughts zinging around my head at once.

Easily taken care of even if I didn't want to drain him. In height and width, the man was bigger than I was, but what did that matter? I could squash him like a spider; crack his neck. I could do it with my little toe.

But then, with a few exceptions, I'd let spiders be in my first life. I didn't mind sharing space with something so insignificant.

What was this human to me? His bite wouldn't even itch the way a spider's had in my human life. And it would be such a waste to kill him with his blood still trapped in his body where it would rapidly cook and become unappetizing.

He was groaning now, shaking off his stupor, and I knew I had to make a decision. If I was going to leave him alive, better to grab the bodies of his two friends and run. It would be a convenient enough cover story. His friends knocked him out for reasons only they could know and ran off together, never to be seen again.

Even as I debated, the rest of my senses were active. I breathed in and out, tasting the air, separating the smells of the forest, the rocks, the humans. My eyes scanned the trees in the distance and the dust motes in the air between at the same time. And my ears…

My ears detected much. The breeze and the birds that flew on it. The water and the deer that lapped from it maybe two miles upstream. A mountain lion slinking along a mile away, probably headed for the deer.

And the almost silent passage of something quicker even than the mountain lion and thousand times stronger.

I sunk into a crouch, a hiss on my lips. Like the frenzy, the instinct to protect—myself and my property overrode thought entirely. It was such a base thing; natural and automatic. Rage ballooned in me at the very idea of the threat.

"Calm down."

He spoke from a good enough distance away that I heard him well before I could launch an attack. It took some effort to shake off the defensiveness. He hated it when I snarled at him. The last time I had, he'd backhanded me right into a tree.

I straightened up, watching as my sire sauntered into the clearing, a smirk playing at his lips. He surveyed the scene, his eyes flirting from the two drained humans at my feet and the one closer to him. He chuckled. "It was rude of you to run off in the middle of our conversation, but seeing as you saved me a snack, I'm inclined to forgive you, pet."

Some part of me protested—the kill was mine—but I managed to keep my irrational warning growl trapped in my throat as he stepped to the moaning human. I watched as he stopped and picked the man up, pressing him against a tree to taunt him into wakefulness.

He liked them to be alert when he bit, preferably looking him in the eyes right before he struck. The adrenaline left such a nice flavor on the tongue.

Oh, well. I shook off the last trace of fury. It did solve the problem nicely. My sire was pleased and not a drop of blood would go to waste.

A/N: You can blame Midnight Sun for this!

We will be posting this story under the LyricalMarie profile, so please follow us there. This is going to be a fun ride, but have some patience with us. We promise not to take twelve years like SM. ;)