This could be longer. But it could also be shorter. Either way, enjoy !

Die For You- The Weeknd

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125- Beethoven

The first vampire I ever met was Amun, deep in the harsh desert in Egypt.

It's probably a bit unusual. Most vampires meet their sire when their transformation completes, or in the very least have someone to guide them. But I was on my own, responsible for myself and incredibly blessed to have rational control over my thirst from the first moment of my existence- especially since there was a baby in my arms and people who were relying on me for their survival.

No vampires ever crossed my path with I lived with my human family in modern-day northern Italy, and I never bothered seeking anyone out. I wasn't even sure anyone like me existed out there but for whoever had turned me, and wouldn't have known where to look anyways, even though they were just a hundred miles away from me, tucked away in the depths of Volterra.

But I lived with my human family instead, and I worked and raised children who raised children, and when I couldn't hide my lack of aging behind veils and the noxious powder that passed as makeup, I faked my death and left to travel.

The world was a different place back then. Vampires tended to live an exclusively nomadic existence outside of the Volturi, whereas even outside of our little vegetarian worlds, vampires like Maggie and Liam still have a home and maintain some semblance of civility.

But while Amun wasn't nomadic, he wasn't exactly civil.

Despite being the oldest vampire in existence- to my knowledge, at least- Amun was intensely paranoid about the Volturi. And it's not because the Volturi are so scary just on their own.

Amun collects powers.

The reason the Volturi are so powerful is because they surround themselves with vampires with potent abilities. Amun had tried to do the same for himself on a few occasions, but when the Volturi found out, they just barely spared Amun's life when taking them away.

Demetri was the most prolific. Amun had found him as a human known in his town for being able to find things. I was never able to learn the exact details of that latent ability because Amun wasn't exactly forthcoming, but I knew that Amun was intrigued enough that he turned him, then spent decades helping Demetri hone that ability.

Until, of course, the Volturi showed up, and with Chelsea on their side, Demetri easily broke away from his creator and joined the Guard.

From my understanding, most of the Guard just happened upon the Volturi and the presence of a heightened ability was coincidental. But that wasn't the case with the most powerful and important members- Jane, Alec, and Chelsea. They were all created by Aro because they showed a manifestation of an ability while still human that Aro knew would amplify when they were changed. And he was correct in that. The Volturi would not exist without Chelsea holding everyone together and binding members to them in unquestioning loyalty, and fear of Jane and Alec was global and ubiquitous.

I should have known.

I was one of the few vampires Amun had interacted with in millennia, and I spent a good deal of time in close contact with Aro and the rest of the Volturi. Once upon a time, I might even have considered Demetri a friend, and I knew how he came to exist. I knew how Aro recruited Alec, Jane, and Chelsea, and I had been on a handful of scouting missions with Demetri to survey humans who had been rumored to have been special in the hopes of collecting a new power.

I knew.

I was frozen again, my hand outstretched in the air. Slowly, I looked to where Emmett was hidden away, deep I the thicket of the brush and behind trees and far enough away that he wasn't affected by the blood dripping from Alice's arms.

Edward was out there, too. Behind Emmett, Edward was in that clearing with Rose, Carlisle, and Esme- two of whom were by no means accomplished fighters and the other who had only ever been in one skirmish just a few months before.

And Emmett and I were miles away.

I started to stand, pushing off the sinking ground, but I stopped. I couldn't leave a bleeding Alice in the middle of the forest- not if there were red-eyed monsters out there.

And Alice knew about them. I didn't know how much, and Alice was in hysterics and beyond the place in which I could ask questions. Somehow, Alice knew more than she should, and I should have known.

I had become too complacent, too reliant on modern medicine and science. I had just accepted Alice's diagnosis and assumed that her behavior was the result of a psychosis, not that she might have genuinely been intuitive and understood more than the information she had been provided.

Another clap of thunder cracked through the forest, the leaves shaking and rustling in the wind. My mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do. There was a gaping burn in my chest and every instinct in my body was demanding that I run back to Edward. He was too exposed out there, and I didn't know what kind of situation we were looking at.

Had the Volturi come? They had said I had until the end of the year, and normally no one kept particular note of the passage of time, but I wouldn't put it past Jane to get antsy and demand they check in on me. I thought that leaving in September would give me enough time if that were to happen. But if it was the Volturi, my plans to leave were weeks too late.

If it was the Volturi, we were all dead.

Even if I ran to the field and bit Edward right then and there, we might still be in danger. I still technically broke the law. We all had. And even in their hypocrisy, Aro might see fit to just destroy us all and eliminate what I knew he viewed as the greatest threat to his rule- me.

It was a ridiculous notion. I had no interest in power and no interest in usurping those who held it. I just wanted to live quietly and in peace with my family, spending time with humans and reading as many books as I could. But Aro couldn't know that. He had never had the privilege of seeing into my mind, and because of that, he was always suspicious that I harbored ulterior motives. And then, of course, it became clear that not only was I not affected by Chelsea's power to bind my loyalty, but I could also stretch my shield out and protect others from her ability.

I didn't see it the same way they did. If the Volturi was here, I could shield every person in the world and it wouldn't matter. They outnumbered my small family, and they could easily rip us limb from limb without the need for Jane's or Alec's powers incapacitating us. Maybe we could take a few down with us, but even then they could just be reattached and back to normal in a matter of days.

My knees buckled at the thought of Edward in such a battle. Even if I were gone, the thought of him not existing in the world, never again to see a crooked smile grace his lips or his fingers slide through his messy bronze hair… It was tangibly painful to think about.

Alice was panting in the mud, whispering moans escaping her lips. Another clap of thunder roared in the distance, and Alice bolted up. She moved too quickly, obviously exhausted and dehydrated, and fell backwards, slipping in the mud. She didn't seem to notice, though. Her hands found the side of her head, her muddied fingers digging into her temples as she let out another hoarse, desperate scream.

The wind swirled and just then, as I was leaning down to help Alice up, a bursting gust pummeled through the thick forest, and I smelled it.

Vampires.

I didn't recognize the scent, and I didn't really care who it was at that moment.

Every instinct in my body was screaming at me, my muscles tense with the need to sprint back to Edward in this chaos and fight until my last breath to keep him safe. Instead, I scooped Alice out of the mud, cradled her filthy body in my arms. She felt so delicate and fragile, her heartbeat a racing pulse echoing into my body and her skin cooler than it should have been. Warm blood trickled onto my hands and saturated into my shirt, the alluringly sweet smell triggering a flow of venom in my mouth.

I ran. I held one hand against Alice's head, trying to protect her from the tearing wind as I darted through the forest. There was someone behind us. I could hear the familiar pounding pace of Emmett further back, but this wasn't a scent or step I recognized. I wasn't the fastest vampire in existence, but I was pushing myself harder than I ever had before. I actually felt sore, though it might have also been from how much I desperately wanted to turn around and run back to Edward.

I was moving too fast. Alice's breath was coming in pants as she tried to suck in oxygen, and the tears on her face dried instantly as they continued burning out of her closed eyes. I tightened my hold on Alice, pressing her into my body as I sprang across a flowing river, and whoever was following us gained on us.

I pushed harder, the world around us a blur as I darted around trees and scaled up a rock pile to launch myself across a stretch of trees. Alice's lids were fluttering as her eyes moved beneath them, but I wasn't sure if it was from the wind or if she had passed out. And there was no way I could stop, no way I could make sure she was okay. There was still someone behind us, closer than Emmett and gaining with every second.

I reached out and flicked at a tree, ripping it out and flipping it behind us. It wouldn't stop our pursuer, and I had to slow down minutely to do it. I heard them tear through the tree, wood splintering as they ran straight through it.

The world blurred green around us. I couldn't think. Alice moaned in my arms, her body going limp and her head rolling to the side. I clutched her to my chest, pressing her cheek to where my dead heart would have been racing if it could. I had no idea what was happening. Emmett was still following, finally starting to catch up and getting closer, but that meant that Edward and the rest of our family was unprotected and exposed. Were they already dead?

My feet faltered at the thought just as I raced over the blacktop, finally reaching the highway. I thought about stopping, waving down one of the cars speeding along. If I did, though, nothing was preventing my pursuer from massacring the good Samaritan who stopped.

I fled across the street and into the woods on the other side, trying to make a beeline home, and just as I reached the brush on the other side, the vampire behind me stopped suddenly. I didn't slow, continuing racing through the forest, but I heard them turn around abruptly, shooting off north.

Emmett was still behind me, and as I slowed he quickly caught up. I was clutching Alice, trying to keep myself from crushing her fragile form.

"Did you see them?" Emmett asked. The curls in his hair were windblown and puffing out, the lose ringlets falling to curl around his ears. I shook my head and scanned the woods behind Emmett, searching for a silent approach. If it was the Volturi, they could have acquired a new power, maybe some form of invisibility. We couldn't be too careful.

Emmett understood and flitted around so we were standing back-to-back, Emmett also diligently patrolling our surroundings. I was listening intently for any out-of-place snaps or cracks when I heard Emmett inhale deeply.

It's a natural instinct. Our olfactory senses are unparalleled, and since we had been able to smell the vampire before, it made sense that we might be able to smell them if they approached again, and maybe try to track them down and follow their trail.

But Emmett was just a few feet away from me, and both Alice and I were smattered with her blood. I flipped around just as Emmett's eyes darkened, his gaze falling down to where Alice's limp arm was tucked against my blood, a thin line of liquid elixir beading from a dirty cut on her wrist.

"Emmett, you need to go!" I yelled, backing away with Alice still hanging in my arms. "Now."

His eyes flashed back up to me and he nodded tightly, racing away back in the direction we had come in, likely following the trail the other vampire had left to try to clear his head.

I desperately wished Carlisle was here. Not only to take a look at Alice and survey her seemingly superficial wounds, but because I was alone. I was standing alone in the forest, venom flooding in my mouth and a bleeding girl in my arms while unknown non-vegetarian vampires roamed around.

I don't know how they had stopped. Alice was bleeding, and it takes a great degree of control to stop when the frenzy starts. Emmett was only able to because he had been practicing for decades, and even then I had to growl at him and snap him back to reality for him to be able to force himself away.

But now I was alone. And the red-eyed monsters were out there.

Alice's skin had been warming rapidly, but was reaching an alarming temperature. She was burning feverishly and sweat was beading on her forehead despite her being nestled into my cool body. I wrapped my hand around her head to press my palm on her temples, trying to keep her temperature down. She moaned at the contact but her eyes remained closed, her body completely relaxed and untense.

I had to take a calculated risk. I couldn't just stand out here by myself with a huge bloody target on my chest in the hopes that someone in my family would come along and tell me what was happening. And as much as I needed to, I couldn't go back to the field. That would mean running through miles of forest with no protection and no idea who was out there. We were only a mile from home, and if there was someone out there watching me and waiting, it's not like they would have to follow me to find my house. Our scents trailed all around the Pacific Northwest and led back to the house- it wasn't exactly hidden or a covert location.

I was more cautious in my steps, constantly flipping to watch my back. I avoided all the errant branches in my way and tried to land on only the solid patches of floor so as to also not leave tracks in the mud. I didn't think anyone was behind us, but I couldn't be too sure. I jumped over the Sol Duc, which was bloated and overflowing from the days of unending rain.

Only a few steps further and I was home. The house was dark but for the main floor, which was really the only place we ever kept lit since we didn't need it to see. There was nothing unfamiliar here, no strange scents or dangerous stillness of some kind of impending ambush. It just smelled like home- the easy mix of the lushness of the woods and all of our intermingling scents.

I almost collapsed when I heard it. The steady, even pulse of Edward's heart, inside the house and safe.

I walked across the neatly manicured lawn up to the house, watching the trees all around us. When my foot hit the first step of the back porch, the door swung open.

Carlisle looked down at me, a tension in his face I hadn't seen since we held vigil over Esme's changing form. He had never bitten anyone before, and had been terrified that he had done something wrong and she would be stuck in a limbo of hellfire, and then that even if he did do it correctly that she would resent him for forcing her into this existence without her consent or her knowledge- even if that was how we were all changed.

His hair was windblown, too, and sat like golden silk freshly spun and curling along the back of his collar. His shirt was open, the top few buttons undone so the white skin on his chest was exposed, and his pants were uncharacteristically wrinkled.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, ducking past him with Alice still in my arms. He held his hand out, directing me to follow him into the kitchen. I rolled her out of my arms and onto the counter so her back was flat against the marble, and Carlisle got to work. I followed his lead, cleaning the mud and leaves from her face and hair while he debrided the scratches and scrapes on her arms and palms.

She was still passed out, her head lolling to one side.

"What happened?" Carlisle asked, pulling out a suture kit from under the counter to sew a stitch into a particularly deep scratch on the fleshy part of her forearm.

"I could say the same to you," I said quietly, picking a twig from her hair and tossing it into the sink. Carlisle glanced up at me, then back to tying the knot off on his stitch.

"Three vampires appeared on the north end of the field moments after Emmett took off after you. He wanted to make sure you were safe. But then three strangers appeared, and there were only three of us left. They said they heard us playing baseball and wanted to join, but caught sight of Edward and were beyond intrigued. One of the males… he seemed young, and was aggressive. The other male companion tried to hold him back, but I thought we were going to have to fight. And we would have fought, Bella," Carlisle promised solemnly, eyeing me intensely as his fingers worked across Alice's abdomen, testing for internal injuries. "We would have fought to the death to keep Edward safe. But Alice screamed again, and the one male- the aggressive one- not only heard it, but he seemed to smell something, and he took off after you.

"The woman that was with them seemed to disappear in thin air. I think she ran north in the direction they had come from, but it was chaotic and I can't be quite sure. The other male held his hands up as if to surrender. I think he genuinely just wanted to play baseball, and he was certainly older and the leader. He backed away north while we took off after the other male."

"And Edward?" I asked, glancing at the doorway to where I could hear him breathing steadily, so slow that it was almost as if he was asleep. After the enduringly long day, I wouldn't have been surprised if he had passed out. I wanted to go to him, but Alice was shivering and still sweating out a rapidly-developed fever and I needed to make sure she was alright. Edward was safe, even if I hadn't seen him yet.

"I carried him. Rose took off first and ran after you and Emmett, and Esme stayed to flank me from behind in case one of the others circled back and tried to take advantage of our weakness."

"Where is everyone?" I asked again, noting that the house was empty but for Carlisle, Edward, Alice, and me.

"They're along the perimeter. We heard you coming, and Emmett said Alice was bloodied so it was best for them to get out before you got here."

I nodded and cleaned along the half-moon circles that Alice had dug into her forehead. "Forceps?" I asked, holding out my hand. He handed me the kit and I picked out a broken nail that had been embedded in the skin just above her brow, then sewed it together with a single figure eight stitch that would heal neatly and hopefully without scarring.

"What happened to her?" Carlisle asked quietly.

I shook my head, at a loss. "She ran through the woods. She was miles from any road, deep in the backcountry. She climbed up through the foots of the mountain, through dense brush and uncharted forest."

"But why?"

"She knows more than we thought, Carlisle," I sighed. I brushed the still matted and wet hair with my fingers so it was slicked back and the delicate planes of her face and the curve of her neck were on full display. "She warned me about 'red-eyed monsters' just before I smelled one."

Carlisle stared at me, surprise coloring clear across his face. "How much does she know?"

I grabbed a bag of fluids from the medical bag and hung it from a handle on one of the cabinets above us. Carlisle and I could move and work around each other without speaking. If she had gotten so far in the woods, she had to have been walking for hours, and given the fever in her body she was likely dehydrated. Carlisle handed me the tube with the needle already attached without a word, and I attached the spike to the port in the bag and adjusted the drip while Carlisle inserted the needle in her arm.

"I have no idea," I sighed again. "I don't even know if she understood what she was saying. All I know is that whatever Alice has, it's not a personality disorder."

Carlisle nodded in agreeance, looking down at her with his lips pursed lightly as he surveyed her. I couldn't smell or see anything on her that would make her particularly ill besides the dehydration, and I could tell by the look on Carlisle's face that he didn't either. She would just have to rest and sweat it out, whatever it was.

There was nothing more I could do for Alice. Carlisle tucked a blanket around her, trying to make her as comfortable as possible, but we couldn't move her until the IV bag emptied.

I finally gave in to the burning need to move, flashing into the living room the moment I was sure Alice was as comfortable as she could be. A sigh of relief escaped my lips with the tension that had been coiling in my chest since I left Edward in that baseball field.

He was draped across the couch, feet dangling off the end and head cushioned by the armrest on the other. His face was slack and smooth, eyes closed, and both breath and pulse steady in sleep.

I crouched beside him, a small smile growing on my lips. I traced the tips of my fingers along his cheek and let my lips brush against his, hoping to wake him despite knowing how much he needed to rest.

He didn't wake, though. He didn't even react to my touch as he so often did, even unconscious. I tried to refrain from doing it, but I loved how he leaned into my hands or would roll over to wrap himself around me.

"He passed out," Carlisle said. I turned to look at him, standing in the doorway to the kitchen and leaning against the wall so casually.

"What?" I asked. I pressed my hand onto Edward's cheek with more pressure, hoping to coax him into waking.

Carlisle frowned and looked up, away from me as if he couldn't look at us. "When the three nomads appeared in his eyesight, he fainted. It was actually what drew their attention. We might have gotten away with me leaving with him and letting the three play with the others if he hadn't passed out, but I can't say that I blame him."

"Of course you can't blame him," I interrupted, my hand finding his shoulder and shaking slightly to no avail.

"No, of course not. The trauma of the day was already mountainous, what with social services supposedly taking Alice away. And those three nomads were quite a sight. They clearly haven't associated with society in quite some time. Besides feeding, of course, because their eyes were the typical scarlet."

"Is it just shock, then?" I asked. I shook him with a little more force, but his body was as limp as Alice's.

Carlisle exhaled deeply and shook his head, lips pressed together tightly. "I believe so."

I looked back to Edward, the beautiful angles of his face smooth and unlined. Even in sleep, he could seem troubled, and often the scape of his dreams affected his expressions. But not now. His eyes were still beneath his lavender lids, his jaw unclenched and slack.

I darted into the kitchen and back to Edward's side, grabbing the medical bag that was laying on the floor beside the counter Alice was laying on. I grabbed the light pen and carefully opened Edward's eyes, flashing the light to check for pupil reactivity. I pulled his mouth open, his lips full and warm beneath my fingers, and checked his tongue and the inside of his mouth. But it was all normal. Even his blood smelled deliciously perfect- not low in glucose or iron to any degree that he would be affected.

"He's catatonic," I whispered.

Carlisle nodded in begrudging agreement. I felt frantic. My hands were on Edward's face, his shoulders, his chest. I was trying to wake him, but the feeling of his pulse beneath my skin was comforting. I could hear it, but experiencing the flow of blood so active just millimeters from me was necessary to keep me grounded beside him instead of spiraling into a depression of worry. It was a reminder that he was right here, right beside me and healthy and physically unscathed, unlike his twin who was sporting all the markers of someone who had trekked miles through a forest for several hours.

Carlisle moved to stand behind me, his hand on my shoulder as I knelt next to the couch with Edward's face cradled in my hands. He looked so young like this, so completely vulnerable without all the guards he typically kept in place even when asleep.

There was rustling outside, and the distinctive noise of someone running. A twig snapped at the edge of our lawn and Carlisle ran to the door while I stood, my back to Edward. If this was it, I was ready. Edward would wake up, even if I was no longer there.

"It's me," Emmett called out, another twig snapping under his sneakers. "But I've got someone with me. He says he just wants to talk." Emmett sounded skeptical, an edge to his voice that was uncharacteristic compared to his typically easygoing nature. Emmett's large hand was lightly wrapped around the man's arm.

He was quite beautiful, even for a vampire. His skin was olive-toned beneath the typical pale pallor, his long hair a glossy black. He was far shorter than Emmett, but hard-muscled and well built. The red of his eyes and the sharpness of his gleaming teeth screamed danger.

Carlisle waved them up, opening the door to living room in welcome. I quickly scooped Edward into my arms and raced up to our room to leave him on the bed. He didn't stir, didn't react at all to the movement. I just couldn't leave Edward there for this strange vampire to see him, to study him, in such a vulnerable state. He looked so soft. The vampire downstairs was beginning to introduce himself to Carlisle, but I couldn't leave until I brushed my hand along the angle of his cheekbone and pressed my palm over his heart.

He was alive.

"My name is Carlisle Cullen," Carlisle introduced himself, extending his hand for the barefoot nomad to take.

"Laurent," the man said, shaking his hand.

"Bella," I said flatly, nodding from the stairs. Carlisle could be as welcoming as he wished, but this man was the leader of a coven where someone chased me through the woods and forced me to leave my mate. I didn't know what excuses there could be for such behavior.

"I have to say, I'm quite intrigued," the man started, a melodic cadence in his tone that told me that he likely came from France. "There are two humans in this house. A house that I assume is yours."

"Our family's," Carlisle corrected. "I'm a doctor, my wife a designer. And Emmett, Rosalie, and Bella attend school at the local high school."

As was usual for all nomads we came across who didn't already know of us, Laurent seemed floored by surprise, but it was anyone's guess which detail he found more shocking. I would bet it was the practicing of medicine.

"Is this an easy way to get access to food?" Laurent asked, "In a hospital?"

"We don't feed from humans," I said. "We hunt only animals."

Laurent looked to me, his brows raised in surprised. "Animals?"

"It's what gives us the gold in our eyes," Carlisle explained. "Our entire family has chosen to eschew from human blood and exist only on this diet. We find it gives us the ability to stay in one place longer."

"And you like this?"

"Yes," I said flatly again. I was tired of this. I didn't care about how much he learned from Carlisle, and I didn't care if he became a vegetarian or not, which was always Carlisle's underlying motive. "Now can you please tell me what happened in that field."

"I apologize," Laurent said, ducking his head in deference. "It's just… I am correct in saying there are two humans in this house, am I not?"

I ground my teeth together, biting back a growl. "Yes, given our integration in human society, we maintain friendships with them."

"There is no judgement here." Laurent smiled, a row of gleaming teeth exposed. "I know many who keep pets. My companion should have known better than to chase after a vampire with their pet, but he is very young and not quite versed in the laws of polite society."

"They're not pets," I growled, my upper lip pulling up in a snarl.

"Bella," Carlisle warned, giving me a cautioning look.

I breathed deeply, focusing on the beat of Edward's heart two floors above. "This Laurent is responsible for someone who followed me for miles with Alice and sent Edward into a catatonic state," I reminded him.

"We're all good candidates for enlightenment," Carlisle said, turning back to Laurent to smile warmly, though I noticed the tension in his shoulders that told me he wasn't as easygoing about this as it seemed. "I understand that your companions are young, maybe more aggressive and driven by instincts. I appreciate you coming to explain."

"Well, there's more to it, actually," Laurent said, his lips pulling down in a frown. "It was me who led us to this area. I came across your Bella a few days ago in Seattle with that human male of yours. You are… close?" He looked at me speculatively, appraisingly.

I tilted my chin up, trying to control the rage that was bubbling in the pit of my stomach. It was like an iron fist was being forced down my throat to keep my control in place. Laurent was a singular individual, but he could go on and tell anyone he met about the Cullen who let humans know about our kind. The Cullen who broke the law. And that was a rumor I could not allow to run wild.

"We have cousins who do the same," I smiled uneasily, "Kate, Irina, and Tanya, up in Alaska. Human men are warm, and a brief and fleeting comfort."

Laurent leaned forward, intrigued. "Really?"

"If you don't mind," Carlisle interrupted, "You were saying something about there being more to it?"

"Of course," Laurent nodded, still staring at me with a predatory gleam in his eyes. "I led us to this area without telling the others. They can lack boundaries, and I thought it best to keep a distance until I found a suitable opening. Then we heard your baseball game, and simply had to join. And the rest is as you saw, though I'm afraid your actions were intriguing even to me. I've never seen such a coven actively protect humans, and it might have set something off."

"What do you mean?" Carlisle asked.

"James is a tracker. Young, yes, but his talent is as potent as it is raw. And it seems he may be fixating on the human you ran away with. I've seen him in action before, though we've only been together for less than a year," Laurent explained, "They were newborns, and rabid. I've been trying to teach them our laws, show they discipline so as to not draw attention. But they're both very driven, and it hasn't been easy."

"He's a tracker?" I whispered.

"Yes," Laurent confirmed with a nod. "And if he's chosen you and your human girl to track, I'm afraid he's unstoppable."

I chewed on my bottom lip, looking at the entry to the kitchen where Alice was still passed out and hooked up to an IV. A tracker complicated things. We were already easy to find, our scents all over the state trailing back to this house. But that meant that even if Alice was sent away, no matter where she went, this other vampire could follow her.

"His mate isn't to be trifled with, either," Laurent added. "Victoria seems quiet, but she is extremely deadly. I've never seen someone as slippery as she."

It was as if ice water had been dumped into my veins. It was like the shock of lightning striking in the silence of midnight and breaking through the calm like a blistering storm, a striking white-gold pattern piercing under my skin like an electric current that crept into my venom and settled in my chest.

"James… and Victoria?" I asked roughly.

"Yes," Laurent confirmed, completely oblivious.

"They're vampires?" I asked stupidly. Laurent nodded again, looking to Carlisle for answers but he seemed just as stupefied as me.

"And they were only recently changed?" I questioned. I needed to make sure I didn't jump ahead. Neither were unusual names, and I supposed there could be any number of couples with the same name combination.

"A little over a year ago," Laurent said. "They were changed at the same time as several other newborns in Seattle. From what they told me- which wasn't much- someone lost control and there was quite a bit of carnage, but they escaped. When I came across them, we were a ways north and they were insatiable. I thought it my duty to help show them our ways," he added, though I knew he wasn't nearly as noble as he was making himself out to be. Laurent knew how dangerous being solitary could be. There was a reason nomads traveled in small groups, and Laurent likely saw the safety in adding two to his protection, no matter how young and wild. "I've only been with them for a few months. I am not responsible for their actions or aggression, and just wish to leave in peace if you permit it."

"We have no issue with you, Laurent," Carlisle promised, and Laurent started to move to the back door from where he came.

"I have some questions," I said softly, stepping forward.

Laurent nodded, but his eyes flickered to the door. "Of course."

"Do you know how James's tracking ability works?" I asked. "Has he ever spoken about how he uses it?"

"I'm not sure," Laurent shrugged. "How does any of it work? He smells something, he gets a feeling, he just knows. I'm sorry, but in the short time I've known him I've never known him to not acquire his target. And his target seems to be your human… friend."

"I understand," I nodded. "How many targets has he had?"

"Three."

"In just a few months?" Carlisle asked, blinking in surprise.

"What kind of targets were they?" I continued, ignoring Carlisle.

"Humans?" Laurent answered, confused as to why I was asking.

"What kind of humans?"

"Children. Two girls and a boy. He likes to toy with them- in that, he's rather controlled. With the boy, he actually left some threatening notes. The mom took off with the child, tried to escape, but even if James wasn't a tracker, it would have been pointless." Laurent grinned again, an easy smile with his teeth on full display. "Humans can be so funny that way."

"Do you remember any details on his victims?" I asked. Carlisle was stricken, his face impossibly paling to white and his mouth slack and lips parted.

"Like I said, two girls and a boy," Laurent said, shrugging again.

"Age? Hair color?"

"I can't really tell human age anymore. Small?"

"What did they look like?"

"The girls had dark hair, the boy was a red-head," Laurent said. I kept my face blank, but Carlisle seemed to start to lose it. His expression looked pinched and his eyes shined with unshed venom. "His mom was a ginger, too. Delicious." Laurent laughed, and a glimmering sparkle caught the venom that coated his teeth.

"Thank you very much," I whispered. I bit down on my lip hard, actually slicing through the unmoving flesh.

"Of course," Laurent grinned. "I'm truly sorry for the problems they have caused. I just wished for companionship, not trouble. Now, if you don't mind, I beg your leave," he said, looking back to the glass doors to the back.

"Absolutely," Carlisle said. "Let me walk you out."

"Thank you," Laurent acquiesced uneasily, following Carlisle out the back. I knew Carlisle's motive- it was the same thing he did with every nomad we spent more than thirty seconds with. He began gently, walking out onto the lawn and explaining the benefits to our way of life, including the consistency of companionship, which seemed to be of focus for Laurent.

While Carlisle told Laurent all about our cousins in Alaska, including the three single and very attractive vampires who were the basis of the succubus myth, I checked on Alice first. The IV bag had drained and finished, and I removed the port from her arm and swiped the blood that beaded from the needle wound. I bandaged it and slid Alice off the counter and out to the couch where Edward had been laying.

I wanted to hold him desperately, but I needed to make sure Alice was good first. And I knew that would be what he would want as well, so I focused on Alice.

Her fever had broken but she was still slick with sweat. I pulled a clean towel from Carlisle's medical bag and wicked off the moisture, then wrapped her in the blanket thrown over the back of the couch. I wiped antibiotic cream across each of her wounds and taped gauze over the stitches, then checked her pupil reactivity and pressed my hands across her abdomen and chest to check for internal damage.

Her blood smelled fine and the fluids had done their job. The dehydration was no longer an issue and once I got everything else under control I could administer a banana bag and pump her full of vitamins and minerals. I was palpating her neck to check her lymph nodes for first signs of an infection when Alice groaned, her first reaction to anything since she had completely passed out.

"Alice?" I whispered softly, patting her cheek and trying to bring her back to me.

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, her brows pulling together as her face twisted in pain. A moan escaped her lips, her voice rough from the soreness in her throat. Her hand came up to her head, her palm over her forehead. I moved it aside so she didn't agitate the gauzed stitches there.

"Charlie," she groaned, rolling over onto her side. I moved her arm as she readjusted, keeping her stitches from rubbing against the cushions. "Charlie's in danger," she mumbled again.

I drew back, studying her face in case this was some kind of fever dream.

"Alice?" I whispered again, then repeated it louder. I shook her shoulder, trying to bring her to consciousness the same way I had attempted with Edward, but unlike her brother, she was actively resisting. Her face was scrunched up, her eyes shut tightly as she massaged at her temple with her free hand.

"Charlie's in danger," she repeated, voice only slightly louder and even more coarse.

"Did I hear that correctly?" Esme called from the eastern edge of the yard.

"Yes."

Yes. Yes, of course she heard that correctly. She heard that correctly, because Alice was right. And I was starting to think that Alice was always right. I started to review everything Alice had done and said for months, but also started to move.

Charlie was in danger.