Disclaimer: I don't own anything, not even a firm grip on reality. ; )

I knew that I should have felt troubled, but I could not find the guilt. I was not prone to taking human life on a whim in the way I just had. I should have been more grateful that I was able to tear myself away before the others arrived. But I was not grateful; I was resentful. My self-loathing was already so heavy with the weight of a thousand transgressions, but I could not count what had just transpired as one of them. I had not guilt, nor gratitude, not even satisfaction; I had only the ineffable feeling that I had done the right thing. That protecting the girl, though all she had brought me was unyielding pain and momentary frustration, was the right thing to do. I should have killed them all… Or at least punished them…

I opened my mind to the outside world and searched for the children from Forks, we were all finished with our evening diversions now. The girl in the fuchsia coat, the vapid one, was confused. I sifted through the unwritten words and invisible pictures in her brain and saw the girl from the alleyway standing in front of her. Bella?? Bella what's wrong?

Ah, so the source of my torture had a name: Bella. I heard myself scoff at the irony. Of course she would be called Bella…

The girl was allowing herself to focus completely on Bella and it gave me a moment's pause, at least the girl in the fuchsia coat was not inhumanely self-obsessed. I let myself reside in her thoughts, inexplicably eager to see what this Bella was going to say about the scum she saw in the alley.

The girl in the fuchsia coat noted the almost frantic way that this Bella creature was pulling at her arm. Probably to pull her to a police station, I mused, to report that awful fight in the alley between all those horrible –

"Hurry, Jessica! Mike! We have to help him!"

Help who? That man?! I wanted to scream at her for being so ignorant! That man would have killed her had I not put aside my own physical pain to protect her! Help him?! All the inexplicable emotions running though my usually flat demeanor came to a head in that moment and I felt myself running toward her again. I had not the faintest idea of what I might do when I arrived there, but my feet were traveling faster than my mind at the moment. I was suddenly on the busy street and scanning the now familiar storefronts for her face.

"Bella! Calm down, Bella! What are you talking about?!"

It was the boy's voice in the fuchsia girl's mind now, Mike. I paused at the corner of the side street where I stood, the three children in my line of vision, Bella with her back to me.

"There!" Bella pointed and waved her arm frantically in my direction, her eyes never leaving Mike and the girl's panicked stares, "Over there! I wasn't paying attention and I was wandering around… And then this guy comes out of nowhere… And… And… We HAVE to help him!!"

She was pulling frantically at the boy and in his mind I could see tears pooling in Bella's eyes, her breath labored with the panicked sobs that were obviously thick in her throat. Something deep within me lurched at the idea that she assumed I was the predator in this situation. She was right, of course, but even then…

"Wait!" Mike urged, trying to still her with a hand on her shoulder, "Would you just wait?"

She shook her head, even more frantically still, and pulled him with what I imagined was all her strength.

"Bella! Stop for a second!"

Finally, her emotions seemed to bubble over and it looked as if she was giving up on an explanation for her friends. I watched as she turned quickly and started to run back into my direction.

Her eyes went frighteningly wide as she saw me stalled on the corner. I watched the emotions on her face as if they were a story. First, there was fear. Then, shock. Disbelief came next. And then, at the end, there was something I could not place. Suddenly, she was running over to me and I was dazed. Why is she running to me? To accuse me? Surely, she was not so brave. I looked to both sides. I was flanked by humans in every direction. I could not run from her as fast as I would like, but even at a human speed perhaps I could lose her in the crowd. I shoved my hands in my pockets and turned without giving her a second glance. I hurried my pace so that it was not quite a run, but quick nevertheless.

"Wait!" I heard her call, "HEY! WAIT!"

I could smell her approaching quickly. Damn, she is faster than she looks. I turned a corner, trying to evade her, she was running behind me now. I could hear her stuttering breath and the even quickness of her heart. And then, all that there was was pain. Her scent was concentrated again, just behind me, and if I turned around she would be but a hairsbreadth from me. I tried, and it was futile at this human pace, to dart around a coming mass of bodies. I felt a frenzied hand pull at the coat swathing my bicep and I knew that it was too late to run now, there were too many people watching the suspicious man and the panicking girl. I sucked in a heaving breath, but it was too full of her, and it burned with wanton desire. I let her turn me around and I forced my features into blank template.

"Are you okay?!"

What? I felt my face recoil with incomprehension and the practiced mask of indifference fell away. What was this girl talking about?

Her hands seemed to be roaming my heavily clothed body, searching for something. I felt an insistent nudge at my right shoulder and I had to assume she meant for me to turn. I could not remain an immovable statue at her attempts to move me, even as a human I should have at least swayed. I would have rolled my eyes as I moved with her touch, but I was focusing too intently on keeping my composure. Do not kill the girl, do NOT kill the girl…

"How did you? Didn't he have a --? I thought I saw a gun in his hand?!"

My eyebrow raised, apparently the girl was more perceptive than I had given her credit for. I let myself look at her face, straight into her eyes, trying to avoid her throat. I heard her heart quicken again, the fear returning after the initial shock of…What was she thinking?

She found her voice and there seemed to be a new sense of settling calm.

"Are you okay? What happened? You don't even look hurt… Do we need to get you to a hospital?"

I was shocked. She was concerned? For me? Just moments ago, she was sure that I was the attacker and now here she was, checking me for wounds and asking me if I needed to go to the hospital? What a silly human girl. Compassionate, slightly dense in her own self-preservation, but obviously kind. She was forcing me backward again and I looked behind myself, there was a bench. How quaintly appropriate for a seaside town, I deadpanned silently.

"Sit down! Are you okay?! What happened?!"

She repeated her questions and it seemed now was as good a time as any to give her an answer.

I tried to catch the rest of the air in my lungs before letting just enough escape to my lips, "I'm fine."

She seemed stunned at the calm of my voice and I watched as she continued to prod at me with her questions, a disbelieving look on her face.

"The man? Where did he---? How did you?"

"I can handle myself perfectly well. Thank you." I was surprised at the acidic sarcasm in my voice and it seemed, so was she.

"I wasn't inferring that you weren't, I was just so sure I saw a gun… He didn't look that fast, but with a gun I didn't think you could outrun him…"

She trailed off, seeing the obvious irritation play across my features. I could not fathom what her motivation was. Was she scared? Shocked? Or just curious? In any scenario, I would not be around to find out.

"Who said I outran him?"

I got up quickly, resolute that I had given her all the explanation she needed. I had already given her too much, more than I had given any human… I was already out of air and the desire to taste her was beginning to pull me back to the other side.

"No! Wait!"

"I said I'm fine!"

I let myself raise my voice, thinking that might scare her away, and tried to disappear in the throngs of late summer tourists. A crowd of people emerged from a two-screen theatre directly in front of me at the most opportune moment. It wasn't until I stood alone several blocks away that I realized she had not followed. I breathed a sigh of relief, eager to refill my lungs with the mundane tastes and smells of the unknowing world. I had managed not to kill the girl, despite the otherworldly temptation. I felt strong knowing that I could control myself that way, it reminded me why I was a good warrior. Why I had been chosen for the task at hand…

Yes, that's right… I am here for a reason, I reminded myself. I reached for the phone in my pocket and punched in the number, pausing only for a second to recollect the international country code.

"It's me." I continued without giving a greeting or waiting for a response, "I arrived in Port Angeles as planned. I will be in Forks shortly, there was a minor… distraction."

"Did you take care of it?"

I scoffed into the phone at the practically anxious tone in his voice. They knew I did not feed, or for that matter, kill easily.

"Yes. Of course I did. I took the life of a soulless man who was being troublesome."

"—And did you feed?"

I could have thrown my phone into the nearby ocean were it not for the fact that it would have only provoked their interest.

"No. No, I did not feed. You know I don't—"

"Yes, yes…" he hissed irritated. He always seemed to be the most bothered by my dietary restrictions.

"You will call when you arrive in Forks, then?"

"Yes. I will."

"Be careful. They are strong. They have experienced warriors among them, one that was instrumental in the wars of the South. Do not take their bonds as a coven lightly. Do not show yourself to them! Remember, you are there to see what we cannot. You are there ONLY to watch. When we attack, it will take more of us…"

"I know this already!" I wailed dramatically, "You all act as if I am incapable of discretion! As if I plan to go there and declare myself to the entire town!"

"No!" he insisted, "We have no reservations of your abilities. It is only that…"

"That what? That I do not feed as you all do? Recklessly? That I do not care to partake in the sadistic pleasure of torturing them? Of frightening them?!"

I watched as the tone in my voice brought the inquisitive stares of the humans passing me on the sidewalk. I hurried into an abandoned alleyway.

"It is not that! We came to peace with your decision the moment we welcomed you into our family…"

I scoffed again, affronted at such audacious deception, they were no more at peace with my decision as I was with theirs.

"I have never given you reason to doubt me! I have never been anything been faithful! Obedient to my own detriment!"

"Yes! Yes, I know that Edward! We all know that! There is not a single doubt of your allegiance here! I was merely saying…"

"What then? What were you saying?"

He hissed, growing tired at my insolence, though he was not the one I answered to. I had no master.

"I was just alluding to your charitable disposition…"

"Saving a human from a soulless vessel is not a charity!"

"Nor is it a duty, Edward…"

"I know this. You know that I know this."

"But still, you continue to save them when the chances arise… It distracts you from the tasks at hand."

I remained silent, I could not argue, but I could not agree. He seemed to sense my reluctant acceptance of this truth.

"We are only concerned with your safety, Edward. They are strong. You must be vigilant. You can play with the humans when we are finished with this…"

I sneered at his patronizing tone. I had called as I said I would, this conversation was over.

"I will contact you if need arise."

"Yes, Edward please do. They ask after you quite often, he will be glad that you called."

"Hm," I commented, "Tell him everything is going as planned. Tell him…"

I trailed off, thinking of my respect for him. He took me from a world that was unbearable after I could not take myself. And I had tried. Of all the beings in the world, his esteem was the only that mattered to me.

"…Tell him that I am safe."

"I will, Edward. He will be satisfied to hear it."

I moved to press the end button on the call, eager to continue on my reconnaissance mission, but something stopped me.

"And Caius? Tell him that I will not fail him…"

I heard the line go dead as I finished my sentence knowing that he would relay the message if only for the reason that he had no other choice. I let the tension build in my legs before I took off at a vampire's run. I wanted to be ready by dawn.

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AN: Please review? It WILL make the next chapter go up more quickly. Thank you for all the subscriptions/alerts! It makes me feel better about continuing the story, though reviews would be EVEN better…