Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, I just enjoy borrowing her characters for a while.

AN: Thank you all for your lovely words at the end of part 2. I'm so grateful to you all.

This is a very short chapter. Not a full chapter at all but a prologue to part 3. I originally tried to write part 3 in EPOV but it was an awful place to write from as the Edward in this story is very unhappy and (slightly) unhinged. Once I switched to Jasper POV, the story flowed much better and all chapters after this one will be full length.

As this is such a short update, I will post the next chapter very soon. Hopefully tomorrow but definitely within the next few days.


Yesterday Laughs

EPOV

Today was Bella's twentieth birthday. She would never be a teenager again.

As usual the possibilities of her human life kaleidoscoped in my mind and I couldn't pick one to focus on.

In all of them she was happy though.

Which college had she chosen?

Where was she now? She could be anywhere in the country. Studying almost any topic. The possibilities were mesmerising and distracting.

I had spent the past two years searching the planet one square mile at a time. Like a crime scene analyst on a grid search.

Looking for any trace of Victoria's scent.

I'd followed her trail to Texas and then onto Brazil where her original trail had gone cold. I had nothing to go on, so I'd just started searching in a grid pattern. Surely better than randomly searching. Although truthfully it was random. I'd been careful not to decide which mile to search next so Alice wouldn't see me. Maybe it was their fault I'b been so unsuccessful at cathching Victoria. If I hadn't been trying to avoid my family, my search might've been more methodical and affective.

In each new area, I reached out to my mind and my other senses. Searching for Victoria's face in the thoughts of others. Searching for any trace of her scent. It was painstaking and slower than it should be. I kept losing myself to periods of melancholy when I when I would just become a motionless statue lost in my memories of Bella. I would punish myself for these lapses. Not hunting for anything except Victoria, pushing the limits of my thirst.

But today, on Bella's birthday, my resolve to stay away had finally eroded. It would be okay though. Bella wouldn't be there. She would be off at some college and I would be able to see she was okay in Charlie's mind. His thoughts would not be clear. They never were, so the temptation to do more than just check would be muted. Just a glimpse was all I needed. To end the kaleidoscope of torture. Then I would be able to focus on imagining one future for her. It would be enough to know she was happy and safe. Human.

I'd made the decision to go suddenly but Alice would see. I had to be quick. In and out before they could catch up to me. I didn't want to deal with them or their memories and recriminations and demands to return to them. I was already in the USA when I decided to return. The closer my search pattern had taken me to Forks the harder it'd become to stay away. Hopefully close enough to beat them there. Then I could return to my hunt, knowing my angel was safe and happy. Free of the supernatural. Free of monsters.