Disclaimer: Twilight related = Stephenie Meyer, Lost in Austen related = Guy Andrews. The amateur writer that links it all together = Me.

A/N: Here's another one! On a roll now. This chap might seem a little insane but you know, I wanted to increase the drama. Getting closer to the end now. As always, don't mind my bad grammar and hope you enjoy it.

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14. Predator and Prey

Okay, breathe Ashley. Breathe. These words repeated themselves over and over inside my head one after the other like a broken record. It was the only thing stopping me from going into a complete blind panic. The one in which your brain shuts down completely. I couldn't allow that to happen. If it did, I'd be worse than dead.

Or was there no fighting it anyway? Victoria had placed me here for a reason. She and I both knew that once a vampire caught the scent of a human while hunting it was almost impossible to stop them from tracking and killing that human. Edward would know my scent from a mile away but when he was using the animal part of his senses, predator and prey, I doubted it would make a difference whether he recognised my smell or not.

I pushed through branch after branch and avoided every stone, root and ditch I could as I made my way through the trees as fast as possible. The only way I could possibly get myself out of this situation was to find my way out of the trees. The problem was that I had no clue where I was meaning it could take days to find a way out in the direction I was heading. Still, I wasn't about to give up. I had to keep going.

A heavy stinging sensation shuddered up my body from the cut on my leg. The blood was still fresh and dribbling away down my leg. Knowing vampires, they'd find me soon. It was unavoidable despite how persistent I was in trying to find a way out.

A rustling of leaves from behind me sent me reeling. The waves of panic began to lap at the edges of my mind. My heart was beating so fast it had become a blur while my body had frozen completely. Normally I would have shrugged it the sound off as the wind, so sort of animal but not now. Not here. Not under these circumstances. Whoever it was hiding in the trees around me, they had tracked me down. And fast.

The only thing I could do was try to converse with whoever it was. Try to bring back a little human to their mind. Just enough to save my life.

I had no idea whether it would work or not but at the present time, it was the only idea I had and as far as I could see, I didn't have anything to lose and everything to gain.

"Hey," I called. "I don't know who you are but it's me, Ashley. Look, let's just…calm down. I'm not food remember. I'm a human being. I…you guys don't eat humans. You…" Oh god, shut up Ashley. Just shut up. You're not making any sense. Whoever it is, they're going to snap your neck and drain you dry. It doesn't matter what dribble you manage to babble out beforehand.

Another rustle of wind and undergrowth. Regaining some movement, I spun around and backed up. Crouched in front of me, lips pulled back in a feral snarl and his eyes focused on my neck was Edward. This isn't happening, I thought to myself. This isn't the way it's supposed to go. Yet somehow, this wasn't the dominant train of thought in my head. For some reason, all that seemed important was that whoever had said he looked like a mountain lion when he hunted had been right. The stance was….just right.

"Edward," I struggled to push out through my chocked up throat. "It's me. It's Ashley. You don't want to hurt me." I stepped back slowly, falling backwards as my ankle collided with a tree branch. "You know you don't. I'm not food remember." The reminders hit the air like nothing had been said. They just simply weren't reaching him. At the moment, the way his mind worked, he was the predator and I was the prey. Who cared whether he loved me or not. This was nature.

Yet, despite the logic of what I knew was true, the irrational part of me couldn't stop hoping against hope that somehow he could recognise me. That the love he had for me could outweigh his bloodlust.

Before I knew it, I was crying. "Edward, please. Please. You know it's me. You know it. Victoria did this. Don't let her do this to you. Do this to me." The tears continued to fall, my voice pleading, begging for him to understand.

There was no moment of clarity or white light as Edward pounced. Not even the images of my life flashing before my eyes. There was simply a point in time where everything seemed to pause and I wondered, whether it would hurt.

I never found out the answer to my question.

Suddenly, the sound of a loud crash filled the air. The sound of two extremely heavy objects colliding with each other at speed. I opened my eyes, realising I'd shut them and found myself watching a scene I'd lost all hope of happening.

"Ashley," an urgent and anxious voice said to me, bringing me back to earth. "Ashley, look at me. Are you hurt?" I looked up and Alice's concerned and perfect face filled my view.

"Alice..?" I managed, dazed. Was I dead or was this really happening?

Over her voice I could hear Emmett and Carlisle. "Edward," I said. "What happened, Alice? You found me…you…" I glanced past her again, eyes fixed on the three vampires behind her. "Oh my god," I cried out, as a new wave of tears hit. "It's all her fault, why did she do it? Why?" I jabbered on unintelligently.

Alice's face creased in sorrow as she pulled me into a hug. "I couldn't stop it. I fell and…my leg and…" She followed my eyes down to my cut. I watched her breathing cease as her gaze narrowed on the sight of the drying crimson.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry…Alice. I…" I continued rambling as the tears fell.

She placed her hands on my shoulder and shook me gently. "Ashley, calm down. It's not your fault. It's under control. I need you to come with me." She helped me to my feet, my knees almost giving way. Every little prick of panic, fear, guilt and despair had risen to the surface in one giant blow. Now it was bubbling overtime and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

It was as I got to my feet that the most horrible sound I have ever heard hit my ears. It wasn't a sob and it wasn't a yell but the sadness and despair it contained almost brought me to the ground. Forcing myself to look past Alice again, I shuddered. Kneeling on the ground, his head in his hands, Edward looked broken. To watch him was excruciating.

I wanted to call out to him, to reassure him that I knew it wasn't his fault, to comfort him. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't. "Edward, you can't stay here." Carlisle's voice of authority could be heard above everything else. "Ashley's fine. She will be taken care of. If you want to keep her safe, you need to leave now."

Realising that Edward was completely unresponsive, he turned to me. "Ashley, you're doing more harm than help right now. I need you to go with Alice." Somehow his voice got through to me. I nodded rigidly as I allowed Alice to lead me away. With a final glance over my shoulder, I closed my eyes and began hoping that at some point, once I got through enough, maybe one day, I'd stop feeling at all.

** **** **

"Thanks," I said unemotionally as Alice quickly bandaged up my leg. After bringing me back to her home, I'd found myself set up in the kitchen with Alice along with a nervous Rosalie and a disheartened Esme. Looking at their faces, I couldn't help but feel the guilt that everything they were experiencing was my fault. It was irrational and I knew it but I couldn't escape the feeling in the pit of my stomach and the number of 'what ifs' rushing through my head.

What if I hadn't of cut myself on that rock?

What if I'd tried harder to get through to Edward?

What if we had caught Victoria before all this?

And the biggest 'what if', what if we'd never killed James in the first place?

"Alice," I said, drawing her gaze back to me. "What happened? How did you…" I paused, a lump forming in my throat, "find me?"

Her face remained blank, "I'd fed on our drive home so there was no need for me to go hunting with the others. I remained here trying to get a reading on Victoria's future when I found that unsurprisingly her decisions kept changing so rapidly that I couldn't get an idea about anything." I could understand that. Victoria had used this little idea in Eclipse and it had worked well enough for a majority of the story.

"Your future on the other hand disappeared for a short time while you were on the phone with that dog friend of yours. Knowing Edward would be angry if I didn't check on you, I went to Charlie's to make sure you were alright. Your friend" the word was extremely forced. In a vampire's opinion, who would want to be friends with a werewolf? "was already there, accusing me of having something to do with an abrupt phone call he'd had with you a few minutes ago. It was then that I got a vision of you and Victoria. The Mutt left to contact the rest of his pack while I called Emmett and attempted to get to you before anyone else did." She finished this on a solemn note as though sad to be reminded of how things had turned out.

"Thank you, Alice. If you and Emmett hadn't gotten there when you did, I would probably…" the unspoken words hung in the air: be dead.

Esme placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Carlisle will talk with Edward and Jasper and Emmett will track Victoria. There was nothing you could have done to make things turn out differently. All we can do is wait and hope that everything sorts itself out."

"I know," I said, lowering my head to look at the tiled floor.

Rosalie's voice rang out, echoing round the room. "Alice? What is it?" Her concern for her husband rang in every single word. "Is it Emmett and Jasper?"

Alice shook her head, her eyes glassy and wide with images of another time and place. Her voice was distant and shocked. "It's Edward,"

I stood up instantly, "He's left. Carlisle tried to follow but he's too fast." She announced in disbelief.

"Where? Where's he going?" I almost yelled in fear. The only thing I could think of was the Volturi. Please don't let him be going to kill himself. Anything but that. "Alice he's not going to….he's not.." I stumbled over the words. She looked at me with perfect understanding. Like me, she had read the books and knew the ending I was refering to. The final sequence of New Moon where he had flown to Italy attempting to provoke the Volturi into ending his life. Only if it were to happen here and now, it would be very different. Just seeing me would not make everything better and save the day, it would make things worse.

Carlisle appeared as I finished my words, his features revealing nothing less than the deepest sense of grief and failure that I have ever seen. He blamed himself, it was the only conclusion I could come to. Like any other parent, Carlisle believed himself responsible for his son's actions.

"He's going to the Volturi, yes, but not for that reason. " Half relief and half panic filled my head. If not for that, why would he go there? What could he want from them?

"Then why?" I asked.

"Edward knows how eager Aro is to collect him and his gifts. Only now, he's going to let him." She answered.

Rosalie cut in, "Wait, what? Edward's going to Volterra. Why would he do that Alice?"

Alice paused, her face falling into a look of such sadness I could hardly bare it. She tried to speak but Carlisle saved her from having to say the words that would hurt everyone to hear. "If you had seen him as I had, you would understand the depth of hate he feels for himself." He crossed his arms tightly across his chest, his brows lowering. "I believe he does not feel he deserves an easy death for the deeds has committed over the years. He sees himself a monster, one that warrants living amongst those like him, feeling the continual weight of what he has done. "

My mouth dropped, "But he didn't hurt me. I'm fine!" I cried out, outraged not at Carlisle but Edward's ridiculous reasoning.

Carlisle nodded in understanding. "You and I both know that but in Edward's mind that is of no consequence. If it had not been for Alice and Emmett, he knows that he would have killed you and that is what is important."

The corners of my eyes began to prickle with hot tears of anger just waiting to be released. I held them back. If I started, I probably wouldn't be able to stop. "That's ridiculous." I yelled. "How can he think that way? He can't possibly know what would have happened. He can't join them just because of what could have been."

Now Carlisle looked interested, "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly has Edward told you about the Volturi?" Always the polite gentleman.

"Everything," It was the only simple way to put it.

Sighing, Carlisle raised a hand to his forehead. "As much as I would like to follow him and attempt to force him to come home, I cannot do that. I have always said that anyone in this family may come and go as they please. They are not my prisoners. If Edward wishes to join the Volturi then that is his decision as I once made my own years ago. There is nothing I can do but hope that he realises his mistake and comes back to us." It was a diplomatic response but not one that I was willing to accept.

"You can't. I can." I said, deciding.

Several choruses of "What?" sounded from around the room in unison.

Carlisle frowned, taking a step towards me. "Ashley, as much as I admire your courage and willingness to bring Edward home, I cannot let you do that. It would mean putting yourself under unnecessary risk. The Volturi do not take kindly to humans who are aware of what it is we are."

I lifted my chin up, "I know that but I'm sorry," I paused. "I can't just let him do this. They kill and torture and enjoy it. I won't let Edward stay with people like that." I was firm in my choice. No matter what anyone said, if Bella could go to Volterra knowing there was a possibility she could die trying to save Edward's life, then I could go there to save his soul. Even if he had doubts about its existence, there was no way I did.

"I've made up my mind. If any of you choose to come with me then that's fine but if not, I won't hold it against you." So for a few minutes I watched as the selective Cullens made up their minds until finally they spoke.

Secretly, I just hoped that this decision wasn't the one to get me killed.

A/N: Okay, I know, OTT but exciting, yes? I mean, come on. I had to bring the Volturi in. Miss a chance to write Aro and Jane? I don't think so. Anyway, new update soon. Like I said, I'm making up for all the missed time. Remember to review. :)