Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

oooooooooo

Chapter 3: Laurent-On A Whim

Did you ever do something on a whim? Just out of the blue? In the last week, I've been uncharacteristically erratic. Just call me Mr. Capricious. I've never felt at such a crossroads in all my time alive. Usually whenever one door closes another one is already open, but when I left Denali I closed the door behind me literally and figuratively with nothing but nothing in front of me.

So I was now running with a human on my back. It's sounds so crazy, even to me and I've been running for the last two days.

Bella was a lot of fun. It all really started about an hour outside of Forks when Bella tapped my shoulder.

"I'm getting tired."

I wonder how much humans needed to sleep. And was she about to fall asleep during the best time of the day?

"I can switch you around to the front and carry you if you want. I figure you want to get pretty far away as soon as possible." I saw the police car in front of her house, and you know what police do? They investigate and follow. Ha! Or at least they try. Still, it couldn't hurt to get out of dodge.

"That's fine," she said sleepily.

I stopped and took the bag from her and put it on my own bag and picked her up again. She was tiny, and she was even tinier than the last time I saw her. Being lovesick didn't sit well with her.

She nuzzled her forehead into my shoulder and said, "You know, you're not the first vampire I've snuggled up to."

I laughed. Before I knew it, she was asleep. Damnit, what is the point of having a traveling partner if they were going to be asleep half the time? No one to talk to.

And then it happened, she started talking in her sleep.

"Ice cubes..."

Maybe she thinks I'm cold, of course I'm cold to her. I should hold her away from my body a little. I started to push her away but her breathing changed and she clutched at my shirt.

"Don't leave me," she was still asleep. I might really have to kick Edward's ass for leaving her.

"Shhh... It's ok, I'm staying." With that, she nuzzled her face back into my shoulder but still had a death grip on my shirt.

Everything else she said was just funny, no more sad. She talked all night until about two hours before sunrise.

"No breadcrumbs..."

~o~x~o~x~o~

We ran that entire first day. She told me about her letter to her father as she chewed on a granola bar. Did she really think her father would just not look for her because she asked? they only person that stood a chance of finding us was another vampire. I could see in her eyes how much it hurt her that she was hurting her father, but to her, missing Edward was worse.

"So what's the plan?" She asked as she stuffed her granola bar wrapper in bag.

The plan. See this is why I'm not the most spontaneous kind of guy. They was no plan.

"I'm not sure." She raised her eyebrows at me.

"You're not sure? You were staying in Denali for the last year, right? Weren't the Cullens close with the Denalis? Why wouldn't they have told them that they..." She trailed off. She was still uncomfortable talking about them, as she call them.

"I don't know. Maybe if they knew, they didn't tell me."

"Why don't we try to contact them? Maybe just a phone call?" She suggested. "What state are we in anyway?"

"Hell if I know," I retorted. "Ready to get going again, we have a pay phone to find." I slung her up on my bag and I was running again.

We were running about twenty minutes when she started slipped and I made to scoot her back up again when I found out that she was ticklish.

This was going to be fun.

I ran a finger down the back of her calf.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" She pleaded.

"I'm going to find out where else you're ticklish."

"That's what you think," She said as she squirmed.

"What are you going to do? Run from me?" I teased.

A few minutes later we came up on a gas station with a pay phone. Technology has changed so quickly and pay phones were getting harder and harder to come across.

Bella went inside to get a bottle of water and change.

"Well, we're in South Dakota." She informed me as she handed me the change.

I picked up the phone dialed a number that I knew, but had never actually called before. It rang twice.

"Hello?" Tanya answered.

"It's Laurent."

"Where the hell are you? You just left? Irina been a mess, you sorry piece of shit! I haven't seen her this upset for five hundred years!" she fumed at me and I let her, I probably could have handled my departure a little better.

From the background I heard Irina, "Is that him? I need to talk to him."

"No, Tanya, I don't want to speak with Irina right this moment. I called to ask you about the Cullens. Where are they?

Silence.

"They're in Forks." I knew that she knew it was a lie.

"No, they're not. I went there."

"Why did you go there?" Tanya asked in a small voice.

"To find Bella."

She gasped. I guess she assumed the worst.

"Why didn't you tell me that the Cullens left Forks?" Bella flinched as I said it.

"We didn't tell you because I didn't trust you. Irina wanted to tell you, she had faith in you. Fat load of good it did her-"

"Anyways," I interrupted her rant.

"Anyways," she continued, "The Cullens left last September after Jasper tried to bite Bella. They came here for a week afterwards but you and Irina were on an, ahem, extended hunting trip."

"So where did they go after that?"

"First tell me if Bella is okay, did you see her?"

"Bella's fine." Then I mouthed to Bella, 'Don't worry'.

"The Cullens went to Ithaca, New York."

"She'll taste good, too." I said as I hung up.

Bella had a horrified look in face. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not going to eat you."

"Why did you say that?"

"I figure if word gets back to the Cullens that 'I'm after you,'" I used air quotes, "then they'll rush back to Forks, and there you go! It will be easy to find 'em then."

"I don't want to go back to Forks." She said as she started to clutch her sides.

"Come here," and I motioned with hand. She kicked off the wall and I threw my arm around her. "It's okay, we're going to Ithaca first."

~o~x~o~x~o~

Being around Bella was killing my throat. I had just hunted a few days ago, granted it was a deer, but still. I felt like a newborn again. I would have to hunt soon. I brought it up with her and she suggested that I drop her off at a hotel and she could shower and get a decent night's sleep. It sounded like a good plan.

We checked into a hotel in Indiana. It was starting to get sunny out so I staying in the room until sunset. We just sat on the bed Indian-style and just talked.

"I used to be clumsy, like you, when I was a human. I can't tell you how many times I fell down the stairs of my family's farmhouse. Honestly, I really don't remember much else of my time as a human other than that. My mother would make bread and my father tended to the animals on the farm. We had cows and we would sell the milk to the villagers.

Mother used to send me out with the milk jugs, but I would trip so often that she stopped assigning me the job." I laughed at the memory.

"When were you born?"

"I was born in 1755 in Lyon, France. It was mostly rural back then, but now it's a big city. I haven't been there in a few decades."

"Wasn't that around the time of the French revolution?"

"I was just being able to control myself by the time that all went down. Thirst changes you, it changes how you view things. War isn't something that I felt concerned me anymore. I couldn't even tell you what we were revolting against."

"I'm curious, do you think in French or in English?"

"You know, I thought you would have a lot of vampire-related questions, but I guess you got all those out of the way, huh?" She nodded, "Well, it really depends on who's talking to me, what language they're speaking. I don't know, I never really thought about it."

"Ha! I stumped you!" She declared triumphantly.

"Did you want to be a vampire when you were with Edward?"

She was suddenly lost in her thoughts. I felt like a jerk for bringing him up. I had never really been around someone who lost their mate.

"Only if I could have him; forever doesn't mean a thing without him." She said through tears. She put the heels of her hands over her eyes and sobbed. "I just want him." She continued to sob for a few minutes and then asked, " You said you knew that he loved me, how can you know?"

"Because vampires don't fall out of love. And if he didn't love you, he would have killed you. You smell too good to pass up."

"He might as well have killed me when he left." She wiped a tear away from her cheek, "It doesn't matter anyways, he told me he wouldn't have made me a vampire. This is all just a waste of time."

"I'll bite you." Huh? I surprised myself.

"No, I told you, I don't want it without Edward." She insisted.

"What about me?"

She furrowed her brows at that.

"What I mean is that I like you a lot and I'd like you to stick around."

Bella's eyes widened as she slightly shook her head in confusion. I felt the need to clarify.

"Just as friends," I said quickly and then continued. "I just... I never felt so protective over someone, almost brotherly."

I earned a small smile.

"I don't know, let me think about it?" She said, not at all sounding convinced.

"That's okay, you think while I hunt." I reached out and patted her hand. I stood to leave but she stopped me and stood up with me.

"Um... thanks for caring."

I took a step closer, "May I?"

She nodded and I wrapped my arms around her gently.

I immediately became aware that I should be hunting, not standing around hugging a the only human I liked. I ground my teeth as her scent swirled around me. I pulled back from her.

"Thanks, I needed that."

I glanced at the door, not wanting to talk or breath.

"I know you're in pain, you should go."

I nodded quickly as venom coated my teeth and ran for the door. I would not kill Bella.

What would I be killing tonight? Animal blood didn't seem to last. If I was honest with myself, I knew Bella might be upset if I killed a human.

I decided to let my instincts guide me, knowing it was the wrong choice, but Bella would understand, she was so understanding. I would go out to the forest on the outskirts of town and if there was a stray hiker maybe it would be fate.

I silently thanked fate as a tall man with long hair braided down his back rode his bicycle near where I was perched in a tree. I really did see him before I saw that bear. Really.

I leapt from the tree and landed right in front of the guy and I stopped his bike.

"Don't mess with me, man, I have a gun," he said as he patted his side.

I could only smile.

"I'm going to kill you." It was sick but I did like to have a little conversation with my dinner.

He pulled out his gun and shot me, tried to shoot me in the stomach. It ricocheted off of me and landed right into his own stomach.

The scent of blood filled the air and I took a deep breath. Right before I complete lost myself to vampire, I knew I needed to savor this one. Who knew when my conscious would permit me to do this again. I grabbed the man's wrist and latched on. I loved that first feeling of sinking my teeth in. I took a deep draw from his left wrist and then moved to the right so that I could bite again, and then moved to his neck and finished him off.

It was beyond satisfying. But it was time to face the music...

oooooooooo

Thanks for reading. Feel free to review or PM.