Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.

MISS AMERICANA & THE HEARTBREAK PRINCE

—

PROLOGUE

You know I adore you, I'm crazier for you

Than I was at 16, lost in a film scene

~ Taylor Swift, Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Edward Cullen

Volterra, present day

A rush of warm summer evening air blew around me. Even underneath the midnight sky the heat of the day lingered. The landscape surrounding Volterra was always beautiful; no matter the time or season the rolling hills were a sight to behold.

It was my favorite place. The only place where I knew there were no hidden minds because there were no voices littering my head besides my own. That was the reason I gave Aro for my absences. The truth was it was my favorite place because it was the only place I could safely think of her.

I knew nothing of her. Her name was a mystery, her age, what language she spoke, all of it was unknown. But that glimpse of her I got, the three seconds I had to take in the long brown hair that fell in messy waves down her shoulders and the delicate slope of her nose and the welcoming curve of her lips as they started to pull into a smile…those three seconds were all I needed to see to know she was mine. To know I would do whatever I could to protect her.

Constantly hiding the memory from Aro was excruciating. It took every ounce of my concentration and strength to keep that night outside of London hidden from him. With his telepathy only through touch and mine much more broad, he liked to always have me close. Always keep a firm hand on my shoulder.

My thoughts were his. Everybody's thoughts were his.

It was possible to keep some things hidden, though. Exhausting and agonizing, but possible. It was an old secret not many knew, but Carlisle had told me long ago.

It took everything out of me constantly to keep her hidden from him. To keep my efforts to protect her hidden, too.

It was worth it.

She was worth it.

Would be worth it, if I ever had the pleasure of meeting her.

London, 1931

The voices in my head buzzed, a steady rhythm of random thoughts fighting for my attention. Most were easy enough to ignore, but the instinct to search for the trigger words I had been using the last five years to safely hunt the predators of the human world was harder to disregard.

Humans were my natural prey and five years ago I decided I wanted to become the hunter Carlisle had made me. I respected his choice to value human life, to save it when he could, but it was easy to spot the humans with no humanity with my gift. And I had no qualms about feeding from them. It was my own twisted way of saving human life, though mine always came with a price.

My throat burned with the memory of my last human hunt. It was days ago and last night I had gorged myself on whatever innocent four-legged creatures I could find in the English countryside. It was grotesque, the animal blood. Familiar, but nowhere near as utterly satisfying as human blood.

Carlisle, I repeated to myself, forcing my focus to shift away from the fresh human blood that could so easily be within my grasp. Find Carlisle.

Sometimes I had doubts over whether he would welcome me back. The man who had saved my life so long ago, the one I so easily turned my own back on to feed.

He was a far better man than I, and even in my own self-loathing I knew he would accept me back. He and Esme, the only beings on the planet I could trust. I missed them. Missed feeling a fraction of a bit human within that tiny family we had become before I tore it apart.

It took me a few days to track them down, but I eventually got word that they were in London. And while the bustling city would make my head constantly ache with the proximity to so many minds, I couldn't help but feel relieved at my decision.

Carlisle and Esme were the only people I had in this life. If my years of rebellion had taught me anything, it was that the bond we had wasn't something to be taken for granted.

There were vampires who thrived living a nomadic lifestyle. Ones who didn't care to have roots or relationships. They survived based on pure instinct and blood. They let the inhuman part of them lead the way.

Carlisle let his humanity win. He taught me to do the same, to nurture the small fragment of our human self we had left and try to live a peaceful existence with the hand we had been dealt.

We didn't have to let the monster win. Just because we were the ultimate predator didn't mean we had to live by those rules.

Truly, that life was not as satisfying as it should have been. The blood was euphoric. Human blood left my body feeling more alive than it had when my heart was still beating.

Everything else was empty. Hollow.

I was close, could practically feel the pull of Carlisle and Esme's minds as I got within range of them. Then the scent of an unfamiliar vampire hit me and I froze on the crowded evening street.

She was a tiny thing but easy to spot on the opposite side of the road. I wondered for a moment if Carlisle had created her. She shook her head before I could quietly ask the question across the bustling street.

Follow me.

A voice that had to be hers won out against the rest in my mind, and she turned to start in the direction I had just come from. My curiosity won out as I followed her, neither of us saying anything until we ended up in a vacant forest on the outskirts of the city.

She was shielding her thoughts and she had instructed me through them which meant she knew of my gift. Carlisle and Esme were the only two who knew of it, and I trusted them to never have told a soul.

I was shocked into stillness when the woman wrapped her arms around me in a fierce hug.

I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. Safer ones.

I frowned, head cocked to the side as I looked down at the woman. It was brave of her, hugging me. We didn't know each other. I could have easily taken the action as a threat.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I already had her categorized as a friend as opposed to a foe, though.

We would have been the best of friends, Edward. Thick as thieves, you and I.

I wasn't sure if I had ever been as confused as I was in this moment in my entire vampiric existence.

"My name is Alice," the girl said, her voice a pleasant pixie-like twinkle. "I have visions of the future. They're subjective, dependent on decisions, but more often than not they come true in one way or another."

I gave her a curt nod. Hearing her tell me she had psychic visions was hardly the jump scare it would have been if she told it to a human. I was a mind reading vampire. It was amazing how becoming the thing of nightmares changed your perspective.

She gave me a teasing smile. "I've seen you, Edward. A lot. Usually my visions are only surrounding people I know but you and Carlisle Cullen were the second vision I ever had, after seeing myself meet my mate."

"You know Carlisle?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I will, once Jasper finds me."

I hesitated to ask, unsure of the reliability of the woman until she opened her mind and showed me a scene of Carlisle and I waiting for Esme's change to be complete. Everything was exactly as my own memory recalled, down to the fresh roses Carlisle had set beside the bed because he knew they had been her favorite. "What else did you see? Of me?"

Her pleasant, trusting smile faltered. A flash of rolling green hills blowing in the wind went through her mind before she immediately blacked it out. "It wasn't just you. It was you and your mate."

All of the pesky human traits I kept up to appear less like the monster I was ceased; the unnecessary breath that I constantly filled my lungs with stopped and the twelve times I forced myself to blink a minute never came as I stared at the woman. The one who claimed to have seen my mate.

Mating for vampires, it was unparalleled. A bond that could not be broken once the pair met. It was a rare gift, finding your mate. Requiring the unique combination of being in the right place at the right time to find the one you had been looking for since your change. Since before it, really.

How did Carlisle, a man who had been naturally born in 1640 end up perfectly matched with a woman born over 250 years later? With a bond so special and unbreakable they still loved each other one hundred years after her own change into this life?

Finding your mate was beautiful and otherworldly and cataclysmic. Two beings as powerful as vampires joining in a union that was somehow predestined and spanned lifetimes could change the world. Had changed it.

I hadn't done much thinking about my own mate. It had taken Carlisle 250 years to find his. Carlisle who was undoubtedly the most compassionate being I would ever encounter. Someone unquestionably good to his core. There was no requirement per say to finding your mate, but it seemed like the ultimate reward. Like a gift that would only be given to those who deserved it. One I didn't see myself having earned in only thirteen years of vampiric existence. Five of which I just spent slaughtering not-so-innocent humans for my own sustenance.

"Who–" An unneeded breath got caught in my throat. "Who is she?"

"She hasn't been born yet. But she's going to be the most powerful vampire to walk the earth."

Present day

I locked the memory away when the moon started to sink in the sky. I tucked every thought I had ever had about Mary Alice Brandon and the nameless, breathtaking brunette she showed me into the back of my mind where Aro could never find them and made the soul crushing journey back to Volterra.

Volterra, the home of the Volturi. A vampiric governing coven that consisted of three ruling vampires: Aro, Marcus, and Caius. They had their guard, a group of vampires that they used to keep the peace amongst vampires and humans alike.

That was what they liked to tell people these days.

Aro was more of a collector of gifts if anything. With my talent, it was easy to join his ranks and rise quickly within them.

My mate was destined to be the most powerful vampire to ever exist which meant Aro could never know about her. Alice hadn't just seen my mate. She had seen her as Aro's prisoner. Broken and starved and used for the power she possessed that rivaled all of the forces of the Volturi combined.

So I had spent the last ninety years standing by Aro's side to make sure he never found her.

A/N: I always knew when I eventually read Midnight Sun I'd end up writing a vamp fic. And here we are. Instead of explaining everything to death like I usually do I'm just going to let you all enjoy the ride. There are going to be a few departures from canon, but more about that will be explained in later chapters.

This is definitely out of my comfort zone but I'm so stupidly excited about it. And I'm dying to know what you guys think so far!

PS: playlist for this story is up on my twitter (fragilefanfic)