The sun beat down on me. Had I been Human, I would have long since been killed of heatstroke even without my Volturi robes. That this was not the case did not translate into me being comfortable. The Arabian Empty Quarter was vast, and although I could fairly easily make it to Medina or Riyadh in the North or Yemen or Oman in the South, I had resolved not to feed until the man at the epicentre of my pain was either dead or begging to be. My eyes were as black as the darkest night, and I was channeling my increasing hunger pangs into my marginal tracking skills.

I knew he was close. The coward had been running, as he so often did, because I had been allowing him to. And he knew this, as well as he knew that it was futile.

And so now, after four-and-a-half weeks of constant flight, the last threat to my Master's dominion had halted in place. I felt a shift in my conscience, and knew that both of our lives were rapidly approaching their defining moment.

I crested the next dune and saw him standing with his back to me, silhouetted by the setting sun. I walked forward until I was standing only a few meters behind him.

I waited for him to say something, suddenly aware that it would be my first time hearing him talk since the Forks Battle.

'Carlisle and Esme.' He said in a defeated tone. 'They are--'

'Not dead.' I interrupted. 'But they probably wish they were.'

Silence.

'The Bella I knew...' he finally began, still with his back to me, and his hands clasped behind it. 'The one who I married. The one who bore our child. She was never really in there was she?'

'Are you asking a question, or stating a fact?'

Finally losing his composure, he turned around so rapidly he spun up a small sand devil.

'What do you want me to do now?! Run?! Beg?! Well whatever it is I won't! You hear me you psychopathic monster?!?! I WON'T!!!!!'

'Then what are you going to do, Cullen? I mocked. 'Accept your fate? Do you think that will earn you any amount of leniency? Don't make me laugh.'

'No.' He said with gritted teeth. 'I'm going to fight.'

I stared at him for a moment, then laughed. I hit him with an undiluted dose of my second ability, and he dropped to his knees with an agonized hiss.

'Oh, so you're going to fight.' I leaned down and whispered in his ear. 'Please, tell me, because I really wish to know... how to you propose to do that while in your current predicament?'

'...C-Coward...!' He groaned.

I frowned. 'What?'

'You-- yo-- you don't even have the stones to face me in a straight up fight! You'd sooner hide behind that ability you haven't earned. You'd sooner t--...'

That was all he got out before pain overcame brain function, and he simply began to make inarticulate noises of suffering. But it had had its effect. Rage blinded me. Somewhere beneath it, I heard Felix, Jane, Aro, Demetri, Renata... everyone I cared about, screaming at me not to fall for it, not to risk it. It didn't register. The godsdamn deerdrinker would not have this last insult.

'Fine.' I growled, throwing him onto his back and backing up into a defensive crouch.

He stood up and began circling me, clearly waiting for me to make the first attack. Deciding to oblige, I double-feinted to the left and right before dashing to the side in an attempt to outmaneuver his guard, but, to my astonishment, he simply landed a well-aimed punch to my esophagus before retreating, forcing me to keep distance.

Realizing he was serious, and I had to be as well, I advanced and began launching attacks with both my fists at a blinding pace. He parried me blow for blow, with some of the strikes connecting so powerfully I could feel my bones vibrate. I attempted to sweep his feet out from underneath him, but he jumped over my foot and took advantage of my downward focus to launch a crescendo of his own attacks, all of which I managed to block. He began backing away while launching jabs at any part of my body I left exposed, and I realized he was trying to lure me into range of a more powerful assault.

Desperate to end the fight, I delivered a brutal kick to his face. He reeled back, clutching the ruins of his nose, but he wasn't made of glass. He recovered quickly enough to duck under another leg strike and backed away, and I was yet again forced to follow or lose my advantage.

Deciding to switch tactics, I lowered my shield and 'showed' him my memory of Alice's death. The look of shock on his face was quickly replaced by one of anger, and a microsecond later by one of pain as I used his distraction to kick his left knee in and deliver a backhand to his face.

The memory of his sister's end had awoken a fire in him however, and in the trillionth of a second it took me to plan my next move, he had already spoiled it by launching a jumping double-kick into my abdomen. I scrambled up and managed to clothesline his next attempt at the same tactic with a right hook, driving the wreckage of his nose into his nasal cavity. However, he was quickly on his feet and smashed his head into my collarbone. I felt something shatter and a momentary attempt to put strain on the effected area resulted in severe pain.

To hell with this. I thought and hit him with a one-second dose of Jane's ability dialed up to eleven. He fell to his knees, and I did a reverse flip over his figure, the acrobatic maneuver ending with me having him in a headlock. He struggled but could not break free.

'...Cheat.'

'Good heavens! I simply am in shock that I have violated the preset and official rules of this fight. You should consult the ref!'

'Jane beat me. Not you.'

Rage. Pure, white hot, searing--

No.

'Believe whatever you wish for the rest of your long life.'

He ceased his struggles in confusion. 'Long?'

'Yes, Edward. You're going to have a long life. And every second of it will be sent being eviscerated.'

I stood up and began dragging him through the sand. I froze when I heard a voice say my name behind me. I turned around in astonishment.

'What are you doing here!?! I asked Renata.