**I'm putting together a YouTube playlist for this story! Hopefully, I'll be sharing it later today, so look up my penname, and you should be able to find it listed with my other playlists. :) And I'll probably list the songs in an A/N once it's complete. I know it's not my usual M.O., but that's just how it happened this time.
30.
Frustration bursts out of me and I kick the dumpster. The sound of shattering brick fades behind me as I run from the alley.
Like all of my attempts to find and destroy James, my trip to Seattle was unsuccessful.
I've suspected for a while that he knew I could predict his next move. This failed trip only adds to my suspicions.
Running back to Port Angeles, the usual tug I feel as I get closer to Bella and Marisol isn't there. Panic sets in when I near our apartment building and I can't smell her or the baby.
My panic turns to fury when I catch the scent of the one being I've been hunting for the last year.
Instinct takes over and I follow my senses west, past the city limits and into the dense trees. Even if I thought he was toying with me once again, leaving a diversion to draw me away, Bella's scent is too powerful to be ignored. I focus and allow it to lead me.
Faster than I thought possible, I stumble out of the tree line and onto the dilapidated cabin where I woke from my change. Standing on the sagging porch is the monster who stole my life.
"Took you long enough."
"Where the fuck is my family?"
"Tsk tsk. Such language. You don't think I'd make it that easy for you, do you?" He takes a lazy step off the porch. "Like I told your pretty little wife, what would be the fun in that?"
In a blind rage, I rush at him, knocking us both to the ground, grabbing his shoulders and slamming him into the dirt. "Where are they?" I shout. "What have you done to them?"
"So protective. What are you going to do with them if you find them? Are you going to go home and play family until you need to hunt?" he taunts. "Or maybe you want to save that tender morsel for yourself. I don't indulge often, but babies are—"
With a roar I slam him repeatedly into the dirt beneath us until he's nearly buried. "Where are they?"
"Bleeding out. Freezing. On death's door." He looks up at me with a cunning smile. "They're out there, Edward. All alone."
"Where?" I scream.
"From here? Miles in either direction." His eyes light with malicious mirth. "It's too far to save them both. You'll have to choose."
Wrath rattles my bones, and I don't even know what's happening until James' head is in my hand and the rest of him is nothing more than a pile of torn pieces. Regardless of not needing air, my chest heaves as I stand and pluck a lighter from my pocket. With no remorse, I flick it and toss it on the pile of evil.
"Burn in hell, you son of a bitch."
With purpose, I run into the trees, catching both their scents.
It's impossible, but I make a choice.
The only choice I can live with.