Long chapter this time!! Thanks for all the reviews- i would really love to make it to one hundred (hint, hint) ;) Also, there is a bit of hunting in here- obvs. So skip it if you don't like it, but it's really not that bad. :)

Chapter: Hunting

Bella's Point of View

Edward led me in silence back over to the forest, his hand strangely warm in mine. It took me a moment to realise why his touch wasn't icy cold anymore. Because now, I was just as much stone as he was.

As soon as we were in the cover of the trees, we started to run. The forest was denser here than the way I had come in, but the tree branches slapping at our skin merely felt like gentle strokes.

I let go of Edward's hand, and started to run faster. With my new born strength, I over took him easily, and heard him chuckle behind me. The noise sent a thrill through me as I realised just how much I had missed his quiet little laugh.

Abruptly, I skidded to a halt, wanting to be near him again. He was at my side in two strides, his smile dazzling.

"Ready to hunt?"

The fire in my throat roared in response, clawing its way upwards. Automatically, I raised my hand to my throat, wincing.

"It gets easier." Edward whispered, suddenly right next to me. I looked at him, at his soft eyes, and wondered what he was talking about. Hunting or…us? I shook my head quickly. There was no us. Not anymore. He had moved on, just like I must have always known in the back of my mind that he would. Carlisle must have forced him into going hunting with me. I was probably boring him, with all my silly gazes…

I tore my eyes away from his, and stepped away from him, closing my eyes as I tasted the world with my tongue.

I could smell everything. Even the sweet blood of Lyra up at the house. My mouth started watering at just how wonderful her blood smelled, but then I forced myself to focus.

There was something a couple of miles away. A deer, possibly? Two- no, three, were drinking water a mile further out. I decided to go for them, wanting the run.

Without stopping to tell Edward my plans, I turned and started running again, letting my nose lead me. I heard the whisper of Edward's footsteps behind me, following me like a shadow. Like he used to.

I reached the edge of the clearing where the deer's were, and froze behind a bush, my breathing stopping. My eyes zeroed in on the one nearest to me, just a few meters. He had his back to me and was drinking deeply, completely absorbed in what he was doing.

I crouched in a hunting stance instinctively, then hesitated, not sure what to do next. Watching him hunt was one of the few things that Edward had refused to show me when we were still together.

"Want to watch me first?" Edward whispered in my ear, his voice low.

I frowned. I didn't like having to rely him again, but it didn't look as if I had another choice.

I nodded curtly, and a second later, Edward brushed past me. He pounced, throwing himself through the air, his arms outstretched as he caught on of the deer around the waist. It wriggled and thrashed desperately, but its feeble attempts to hold onto life were fruitless against Edward's iron strength.

Our iron strength.

Edward bent forward, his mouth trailing across the animal's throat almost as he was kissing it, but then, a few moments later, the deer's body relaxed. Edward drained its blood, then pushed the lifeless body off himself.

"Now you." He smiled pleasantly.

While he had been killing one deer, the others had scattered in alarm, but they hadn't even gone a mile. They would be easy enough to catch.

I sprang through the trees, catching up with the deer I had seen drinking in moments. He had lost the rest of the pack in the panic, and had slowed down, looking warily around him.

He never even saw me coming.

A few minuets later, I pushed the empty carcass off me, then straightened up. I had never changed out of the clothes that I had been running in before, so they'd already been dirty and messy, and now they were covered in splatters of blood.

I dragged my sleeve across my mouth, and looked down at myself critically. I could have done that better.

Edward's whisper came from behind me.

"Silver's going to be fine."

I glanced up as he moved towards me again, slower this time, his eyes wary. He slipped his fingers through mine, linking us together, then raised our clasped hands to stroke my cheek with the back of his hand, then leant hesitantly towards me.

My feet were glued to the ground. All of my common sense was screaming at me to get moving, get running- but I couldn't. I couldn't move one inch.

And then time had run out, and Edward's lips were strangely soft on mine. This was so different to the kisses I remembered. They had all been careful, controlled, and the lips that I remembered and loved were cold and hard against my skin.

This just wasn't the same.

Abruptly, I stepped away from him, ripping my hand away from his so I could cross my arms across my chest.

"Bella?" He said, confused, as hurt flickered across his face.

"What did you call my baby, Edward?" I asked coldly.

Edward was confused. He frowned, rubbing a hand over his face. "Silver." He said, bemused.

"Why?"

He was confused by my question. His eyebrows pulled together, then he shrugged. "Because that's what you call her. Is that not okay?"

I impatiently pushed my hair off my face as I took a sharp step away from him. "No, Edward. I have never called Lyra 'Silver' in front of you."

There was a beat of absolute silence. Edward's expression went from confusion to realisation, to horror, to… was it embarrassment?

My hands were suddenly shaking and it was all I wanted to do to run from the forest- but I forced myself to stay still. "How did you know that, Edward?" I asked quietly.

"I…I…" Edward stuttered. His hand raked almost sub consciously through his tangled bronze hair.

And that was when something occurred to me.

"No…" I breathed, my hand jumping to my mouth as my head started to shake back and forth in denial. "Oh no. No. You didn't…you haven't been…Edward Cullen, please tell me you haven't been spying on me?" My voice broke on his name, then suddenly raised an octave.

I waited for Edward to look up, to shake his head- to tell me that I had got it wrong. I gave him five seconds- then I turned on my heel, and started to walk away.

"Bella!" Edward groaned, and leapt forward to grab my arm.

I span away from him at once, his touch burning. "Get away!" I near screamed, and he fell back at once.

"Please, Bella. Please listen! I did it for you, I swear. I was just watching, making sure you were…"

I slammed my hands over my ears, shutting out the rest of his stupid explanation. How could he? How could he have been that near to me for seven years, watched me cry myself to sleep for him almost every single night- and never show himself? Was he sick or something?

"Please, Bella." He begged, grabbing my hands and trying to force them away from my ears. I shoved him hard in the chest, so that he stumbled backwards, tripped over a root, and went flying to the ground.

I took advantage of his sudden dizziness, and stated to run, tearing back through the forest, but he was on his feet and had caught up with me in an instant.

"I just wanted to make sure you were happy!" He cried. I stopped abruptly and turned slowly to face him. He skidded to a halt too, and was in front of me in two strides.

"Happy?" I hissed the word. "Happy? And did I look happy to you, Edward?"

"You were getting married. Having a baby." He said, and his tone was almost bitter. "You seemed okay."

"Then why didn't you go? Why did you stick around?" I demanded.

"Because there were moments, times- when it seemed like all the rest of it was an act! Like before the wedding, when you told your mother you weren't sure about getting married!"

The expression on my face must have informed him he'd said the wrong thing.

"I mean…" He began, backtracking, but I cut him off with a yell.

"You were THERE for that? You were right there? But after mum went inside, I was sat on my own! I sat on the porch steps for hours, waiting for something, someone to tell me I was doing the wrong thing! Why didn't you show yourself?"

"I…I…I wasn't sure if you wanted me to…" Edward said quietly, looking down.

I growled in frustration, and shoved him again. "How could you not be sure?" I shrieked. "How could you not be absolutely definite that I needed you, after all the times I told you I loved you, after I risked death at the hands of sadistic vampire because of you! After, when you left, I tried to follow you through the woods! Did you hear me calling you then, Edward? Did you hear me shouting your name, and feel pleased at the amount of desperation behind my words?"

"No, Bella…" Edward gasped, sounding horrified.

"I trusted you so much!" I screamed. "I trusted you with everything, gave you every little piece of my heart! I gave up all my friends to sit with you at lunch, I risked an argument with my father by letting you in every night! And how did you pay me back for that? By leaving me heart broken. In just a few words, Edward- you ripped my world apart. You tore it, piece by piece and scattered it so far away that for months, years, I had no sense of what was important! All I saw in every blink, in every heart beat- was your face."

"I never meant to hurt you…" Edward begged, his eyes wild as he tried to step towards me, but I pushed him away, cowering from his touch.

"Never meant to hurt me?" I gasped. "How did you think I wouldn't hurt? How did you think I felt, knowing that I had to spend the next seventy odd years of my life alone, because I knew that I would never be able to love anyone the way I loved you?"

"But you married the dog!" Edward said in confusion.

"Do not call him that!" I spat, advancing towards him in my sudden anger. "Yes, I married him, but did you really think that was out of love? Can you really look me in the eye, you, who knows my face better than I know it myself- and tell me that you thought I was happy? That I really loved him?" I spat out the word through clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry, Bella…" Edward whispered in a broken voice, but all the anger, all the hate that I had been storing up for the last seven years was suddenly coming out in a dirty, bitter mess- and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Sorry for what?" I hissed. "Sorry for leaving me? Sorry for running my life? Well don't be. I always knew it , it was always so clear, that we were never meant to be together. I mean, look at you!" I paused for a moment as I held out one hand as if I was welcoming him in front of an audience, and then my hand slowly dropped back to my side. "And then look at me."

"Bella…what are you…?" Edward began slowly, but I cut him off again.

"No, Edward, no! Just don't say anything more, okay? I was just starting to get over you. I was just starting to rebuild my life when you came back. Me and Lyra…we were going to be okay, you know? We were going to get through all this stupid stuff with Jake together. And, hey, who knows- maybe it wouldn't have even been that hard, seeing Jake with Leah every day, living the rest of my life alone- because at least that way I would have been able to bury my memories of you. Over time, they would have faded, and by the time I died- you would just be a distant memory."

He winced at me talking of my death, and at once I pounced on his reaction.

"See?" I insisted. "See that? Why do you do that? Why, every time that I see you, do you smile at me and look as if you're actually pleased that I'm alive, as if you give a damn! Because you shouldn't, Edward! You lost the right to care about me seven years ago, on the edge of the forest."

"I never stopped caring, Bella." Edward said quietly, but I childishly shoved my fingers in my ears again.

"No, don't mess with me Edward. Don't start up all this rubbish, pull back up all my feelings again, because that's just too hard. Don't you see? This is all just some sort of game to you, something to keep you occupied, stringing me along because you know that no matter what you do and no matter what you say, I will never stop following you! Because even after all this time, after all that's happened- I still can't forget you! I still can't go on a date with another man because every time I look at him, every time he kisses me- it feels like I'm betraying you!" I laughed bitterly. "Me betraying you! The most ridiculous idea of all!" I pulled myself up straight again, forcing myself to look him straight in the eye. "Because it was you who betrayed me, Edward. And no matter what I say, no matter what stupid excuses I make up for you in my head- that is a fact that will never change." And then I couldn't bear to look at him a singly second longer. I couldn't bear to stand here and stare into his perfect face and tortured golden eyes and know that he will never ever be mine.

So I turned on my heel and started to run.

It took him less than two seconds to catch me up, but I had already reached the edge of the forest. The house was in plain view as I slowed to a walk, my unnecessary breathing heavy.

I could see the strawberry blonde haired vampire stood at the window, watching and listening to us- and recognised her at once as Tanya. She raised a hand, and grinned smugly at me. Feeling my temper raise another notch, I turned my head sharply away from her just as Edward caught hold of my arm again.

"Calm down, Bella!" He gasped.

I ripped my arm away from his grasp, my eyes turning black with anger, my breathing suddenly coming in sudden gasps which I sucked in through my teeth. "Calm down?" I repeated in a dangerously low voice.

"Bella?" Edward said worriedly as his hand reached out to touch me again.

And that was when I attacked him.

I launched myself towards him- that vile, stupid, arrogant little monster, my hands locking around his throat as he tried fruitlessly to fight me off. And I was glad that, for once, I was the one who was in control. I was stronger than him for the first time in my life.

And then suddenly, strong arms were grabbing me and hauling me back, pinning my own arms behind my back. I recognised the rippling muscles at once, and the low insistent voice. Emmet.

"Get off me!" I screamed, fighting against him. I started to slip away easily, but then another pair of arms locked me in place.

"Calm down, now Bella." Said a soft voice in my ear, followed by a tinkling laugh.

"Get lost, Tanya." Emmet said roughly.

"Just doing my bit to help my Eddie." Tanya said silkily. Her Edward? HER Edward? My blood boiled again, and I tried to launch myself once more at Edward, my teeth snapping, but he was suddenly distracted. His dark, furious eyes were trained on Tanya as a growl escaped through his lips.

"Stop Edward!" Jasper's voice cut through the air, and less than a second later, he was pulling Edward back, him on one arm, Alice on the other.

"Come on, Bella. Let's get you inside." Emmet said, patting my arm awkwardly, and starting to drag me away.

"No!" Edward cried, suddenly sounding terrified. "No, Bella- please! Please, you have to listen, you have to understand!"

I pulled myself free from Emmet and Tanya with a sharp jerk, then turned to look back at Edward with narrowed eyes. He was bent over as he tried to free himself from Jasper and Alice, his eyes wild, his bronze hair falling into his face.

"No, Edward." I said quietly. "I don't have to do anything anymore." And then I turned and started to walk away, shaking Emmet off as he tried to grab my arm again.

"Bella please listen!" Edward begged again, his voice breaking. If he were able to, he would have been sobbing. "Bella, you have to listen! You have to! Bella! For Christ's sake- I LOVE YOU!"

I stopped suddenly, and then turned back to look at him, my eyes wide.

"What?" I whispered.

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