Prologue

A supernova is a thing of beauty. A cataclysmic event that changes everything. From such violence so many things can be reborn, and so many others thrown on the wayside. The simple logistics of it are enough to make a mind rethink the very workings of the universe. It fuels its own destruction, it's own change of form. The energy it exudes is just a fraction of what it built within, what will eventual turn it to universal dust.

A supernova is a beautiful thing, but like all beautiful things it comes with great consequence and the knowledge that once it has happened, nothing will ever exist the way it once had.

I knew this for fact...

13th June 2047

One hundred and Thirty-seven years since this place became what it is now—a place for flowers, sunshine, and a vampire's regrets. So many visits, so many moments of planting flowers, pretty purple flowers. And yet my human feet only touched upon this ground ninety-five years ago. My little human feet, led by a dead man's hand to stand in this pool of sunshine and natural wonder that my own rage had created fifty two years before.

A twisted story to say the least, but how else could it ever have been? Twists were what I was made of, twisted emotions, twisted morals, distorted past, and a future too bent out of shape to predict. Funny how immortality can change so much and yet so little at the same time.

I opened my palm, ignoring how my skin glittered and focussing purely on the petite seed at the centre of my hand. Knautia arvensis, one pretty little flower to signify another passing year since I made this place of reverence, this place for my parents' souls to rest—the souls I'd extinguished when I was first changed. The firsts of too many.

I bent in front of the large oak, poking my finger in the soil to create a shallow place to lay the seed to rest, just as I had dug my own parents' graves with my hands. This flower would grow just as all the others had. It would grow and bloom and spread its offspring around it to make this place even more beautiful than it was before. At least that was a positive.

I filled the hole in, and as I crouched there I brought my locket to my lips and kissed the two delicate rings that dangled from the chain.

"I'll never forget," I murmured before rising from the partial shade.

This was tradition, a constant that kept my life from becoming one endless passing of time. It marked my aging and in turn it formed a year by year memory book in my mind. The beginning years were full to the brim of discoveries, struggles, angst, but then everything changed, to some degree. It all started to fall into place when I found him.

My phone buzzed at my side so I slid it from my jeans pocket, smiling at the name before accepting the call.

"Aslo, I was wondering when you would call."

"Am I that predictable, Kvetina?" he chuckled down the phone, his native tongue rolling around his pet name for me.

"No, not predictable, although 118 years together does give a girl somewhat of an insight." There was a pause as I ran my hand across the cross one last time. "I miss you, Aslo." The longing was clear in my voice, even I knew that, but he was just another person close to me that I'd lost, if only temporarily.

"I miss you too, Sarelle, but I need to do this, you know that."

Of course I did. It was the hardest decision we'd had to make, to separate our union, but it was for the greater good. After what happened there was no other way. It was either separate and hope we both stayed strong or stay together and drag each other down.

"Yes, I do. It's just hard, that's all, being away from you. I'm so used to...to you being with me."

"Give me time, Kvetina, we'll be together again soon, when I'm a strong enough to stand by your side." I sighed at his words. He was always berating himself, comparing himself when there was no need. He was strong, his only weakness was that he didn't believe it.

"It's been five years, Aslo. Five years of just phone calls, emails, letters. I want to see you, have you by my side, talk to you and actually see your face, you know."

"I know, Sarelle, more than anything. But you have the others, don't you? You haven't left, have you?"

"No. No, I'm still at Yellowstone, I don't think I could bring myself to leave them. I can't wait for you to meet them, Aslo."

"Soon, Sarelle. Soon," he said before the line went dead.

His voice had sounded so worried but then again he always did look out for me. Strange considering it was me who did the saving the first time around. That deadly night when I jumped involuntarily yet again and found myself at the battle ground of Aslo and James' quarrel. It was all just a rush after that arrival. James lunged, Aslo dodged, and somewhere after that point he was in my arms and we were somewhere new. Away from danger, away from the asylum, away from James, safe. Except we were away from Alice also, and that fact tore Aslo to shreds, then he nearly tore me to shreds. As I began my run home I let my mind wander back to that life altering event.

12th September 1919. A forest near Ashland.

That rush, that all familiar rush that overthrew my senses every time, it was leaving me once again. Leaving me with another hairline hazel fracture across the otherwise fluid appearance of my golden eyes. It was just another crack to add to the others I'd gained from each jump, the electricity leaving its mark on me in the only place it could. Each fracture formed a small segment of my original eye colour, like a mirror falling from its base and revealing the wood beneath. I'd received a few of these cracks, random jumps when my emotions of anger or fear overtook me, charged me, and sent me elsewhere.

This time is had been fear. The fear of losing him, of watching it happen. He was the last person from my past that I knew I could see without longing for more. Aslo wasn't family, he wasn't a lover or a brother. He was uncomplicated. I couldn't bare the sight of watching him die. At least now I wouldn't have to. I was gone again and I would never see him again. The frantic hugging movement to push him out the way of James was now to be a precious memory, Lord knows I was carrying so many.

A groan sounded from beside me and I leapt up in an instant, my eyes flashing to search what had managed to get so close without triggering my senses.

I stood shocked and still as I looked upon Aslo's form laying haphazardly in the grass. His hair was windswept and his clothes were torn and skewed but other than that he looked perfectly whole. Perfectly real.

"Well...that's never happened before," I whispered incredulously, happiness rising up my throat and spreading to my muscles to create a wide smile.

Aslo's eyes popped open, black and frantic. "What?" he gasped as he sprang into a crouch.

It took a minute for him to register my appearance, to truly see me for what I was in front of him. I saw his eyes scan our surroundings as he straightened slightly, a million questions whirring through his gaze.

"I can't usually bring people with me." My voice was still amazed. This was something extraordinary. I wasn't alone, for the first time in twenty years.

"Where...where are we?"

"I don't know." I took a step forward, half catching myself from springing at him and wrapping him in my arms. He was here and that meant I would never have to be alone again. I wouldn't have to learn this life without aid. It could be like it used to be, Aslo and me, mentor and student.

"No!" he went to run for me but instead turned and smashed the nearest tree through with his fist. "You made me leave her!" he roared as he turned towards me.

"Who?" I asked stunned by his fury. I'd saved his life, James was going to kill him.

Then realisation hit. "Mary? Do you mean I made you leave Mary?" I took a cautious step towards him even though his posture and expression screamed for me to run.

"She's changing. Right now she's changing and that bastard will kill her! Why did you take me? Why?" He pounced on me as his face grew from anger to rage and finally pure desperation. The way his hands curled around my neck was deadly but I knew this wasn't the end. It couldn't be. I was to be victorious not die at the hands of a tortured friend.

"I didn't do it on purpose. I saved your life!" I spat as I twisted us so I was the one pinning him to the forest floor. I was angry now too. It was a bad habit of being a newly turned vampire. Twenty years wasn't enough to tame the inner rage that tempted me to play with it at every turn. Perhaps it was the violence of my change, or perhaps it was the innate monster, but either way anger had been both a friend and foe these past two decades.

I growled before I leapt from him, leaving him stunned for a while before he curled up into a tight ball.

"What kind of life is it if I can't be with her?" Aslo asked as his claw-like hands held his hair tightly.

"You were never meant for her," I whispered in the hope it might break his torment. Meanwhile I turned to look out into the forest that surrounded us. It was familiar but then most forests seemed the same to me now.

"I was never..?But...I loved her."

"As if that means a thing," I drawled before turning back to see his eyes searching mine. He looked so broken, so lost. I guess we were lost. We didn't know where we were, just some forest in the middle of somewhere, no home to direct ourselves to. "Aslo, I know her. She's my best friend. I've known her in the 50's, the 40's, I've even known her in the millennium. This was all meant to happen."

"She's alive," Aslo said with awe and relief.

"Yes, and happy. She said she woke up alone, this is why. I stopped you from being there when she woke up. James lied to her. He lied to them all. He never killed you." I smiled as all the pieces came together. To think I had lived my last few human days believing Aslo was dead and gone, when instead it was all just based on a bitter vampire's lie.

"Why would you think he'd killed me?" Aslo said as he slowly rose from his position on the ground, leaves and debris falling loose around him.

"Alice, I mean Mary, thought he had, or at least James told her he did, before the Cullens killed him."

"The Cullens?" Aslo said with a tilted head, inviting me to tell all so that was what I did, purely the basics who they were how I knew them. I didn't bother with romance stories or tales of woe, they were behind me now.

"She's with Jasper," Aslo murmured with a desolate tone. God, how I knew that tone, oh so well. The tone of losing the one you loved.

"Yes, Aslo, but it's what is meant to be, which means there's a reason why she's not with you. There must be someone else you're meant for." I touched his shoulder as we both sat on the tree he had felled.

"No. It means I'm meant to be alone." He ground out as his hands created sawdust by squeezing around a twig.

"You're wrong. You're not alone. I'm here." I smiled as he turned to me, dark eyes looking endlessly into mine. Somehow I didn't see my relief or happiness mirrored back at me.

After a moment he nodded infinitesimally and rose from the trunk in a fluid motion.

"Can I have some time? Alone," he spoke out to the dimming forest.

I stood and placed my hand on his shoulder, looking up at his blank face. "Of course. Take as long as you need. I'll wait for you."

I had waited for days before he finally returned, and now I wait again. After I first brought him with me we had stayed in what was found to be Ashland for a few years, the first of many pit stops during our life together. Those first few years were hard, adapting to each other, adapting to life in the confines of the forest, and most of all each of us battling our thirsts. I was still young and although the memory of my parents slaughter aided my self-control there were times when I slipped. Aslo slipped more. His age and natural habits played havoc with his determination. Still, we held onto the idea that we were stronger together than apart. It was only five years ago that we learned different.

23rd April 2039, New England.

I used to love the forest, I still did of course but it had lost a certain charm since I became the deadliest predator within it. Birds didn't sing their songs to me and little animals didn't scamper across my path. It was all so silent, a living museum of nature. Of course somewhere I could hear the soft tunes of birdsong, my hearing could stretch far enough to hear such a thing. Still it wasn't quite the same.

I smiled up at the sky as the sun burst through the clouds to bounce off my skin. Its warmth always brought a smile to my face. It was just another thing to make this day even better. It had been ten years today since we were forced to move, ten years since Aslo's and mine little indiscretion. It wasn't that little to be fair, a four person massacre was probably quite a large thing, although I still standby my theory that they deserved it. When I had seen that poor girl trapped in their hands I couldn't help myself. I saw myself in her eyes, the old me so angry and scared. Aslo just followed my lead as I launched for the first man's throat. I swear justice had never tasted so good.

Still it was a slip in our promise to live on the animal diet, and it certainly didn't help us to resist afterwards. Somehow, however, we had. We had managed ten years without a single drop of human blood on our lips. Right to the very day.

I hummed my serenade as I wove through the trees at a leisurely pace, heading back towards home. Or at least what was home for now. It was a little red brick two bedroom house, two floors, nice open plan kitchen diner—not that we used it. The main plus was that it's garden backed right onto the forest, ideal for us. Another benefit was that it was far enough from humans to ease the thirst but there were enough around to keep our resistance up. The perfect balance.

I said goodbye to the sun as I returned to the emerald hue of the forest, the house in sight.

Just then a short breeze brought with it a delicious smell, a sinful mix of warmth and vitality. Blood, human blood. However the paling scent told me it was spilt from a body not a living human. It was still tempting, but I kept my monster at bay. Maybe someone had just injured themselves, carelessly fallen or sliced open their flesh with a cutting knife.

But what if it's something worse...My mind forced me to wonder.

I sharpened my gaze on the little red home in front of me. Had Aslo slipped?

My leisurely walk broke out into a run, hurling me through the forest and up the back porch steps.

The aroma was overwhelming now and so was the sight.

The once polished maple floor was now smeared with crimson, a river leading towards the helpless body clutched in Aslo's grasp.

His hands spread across the woman's back as if he were holding her in a loving embrace except there was nothing loving about the ravenous gash he fed from on her neck.

"Aslo," I said sternly. He didn't pull away until he drew another draught from the vein, decreasing the woman's whimpers to a faint mumbling.

"What?" he growled around ruby teeth. He looked so feral and so far from the man I knew and loved.

"What do you mean what?" I screeched before struggling through another inhalation. The woman was still alive, barely but enough for her blood to hold that lively aroma.

Aslo looked down on the woman and I saw a flash of his true self and the remorse he had grown to feel, but that flash didn't last long.

"This is natural, Sarelle. You know that," he hissed as he crouched over his kill. I hadn't paid her much attention before but now I looked at her again I recognised some of her features. She was the Christian woman who came around sometimes, doing the doors, selling bibles and ideals. She didn't deserve this.

"Look at her, Aslo, is that really your true nature?"

"This is my true nature, Sarelle." he growled as he pointed to his now ruby eyes. "Why try to live any other way when nature intended this to be our ways?"

"The Cullens have succeeded, so it's possible. We just have to try harder. We've managed ten years, Aslo," I pleaded. I didn't want to lose him to this, but I couldn't stay with him if this was the life he'd chosen. It wasn't what I wanted.

"Exactly, Sarelle, ten years of a constant struggle. I'm sick of it. But if you think you're so much better than me then you run to your beloved Cullens, try and fit in with them," Aslo spat, as he stepped over the woman's dying body towards the sink.

I wobbled as he pushed passed me, purely from the shock of what he had said to me. We'd had arguments before, a lot of them. Most were about this topic, but he'd never used the Cullens against me. Then again, he'd always reasoned and agreed to try again, this time was different.

"Don't be cruel. You know I can't go to them."I glanced at Aslo and saw him place his now clean hands on the edge of the sink, his head bowing.

He turned suddenly, his face no longer the mask of anger but a soft version of regret.

"And I can't deny myself, Kvetina. I've lived too long with human blood. You don't understand." His red eyes pleaded with me but I didn't feel anything but hate for their weakness. They screamed his crime at me, even more so than the body of the woman not far from my feet.

"Fine. Give up. See if I care."

"Sarelle... kvetina," he whispered, his eyes watching me frantically.

"No, Aslo. From now on consider yourself alone because I plan on succeeding, and I won't stand by while you murder for no reason. I can't do it."I stared at him hard in the eyes, and I saw the shutters go back up.

"When you're done trying to be a saint, call me," He sneered as he went to gather his stuff from upstairs.

"Yeah and when you're finished being weak you do the same," I roared up the stairs, glaring as he came down with a duffle bag and a clean set of clothes.

I watched with disgust as he dumped the bag, and in one swift moment snapped the woman's neck. "Waste of perfectly good blood," He drawled before he left, breezing out the door and leaving me with his mess.

I had hated him for a long time after that. It wasn't for leaving me with a dead body in the house, or even committing the murder in the first place. It was because he had just been another person to discard me. He hadn't thought I was worth fighting for and that was something I'd had enough of.

However that hatred soon turned into regret and loneliness because for all our sour words and quarrels I still loved him as the dear friend he had become to me. I missed him and his company, so when I received his phone call five years later and heard his words, his apologies and promises—all was forgiven. Of course at that point it wasn't because I was lonely, I had new friends to stay with, it was purely because I wanted him in my life again. No one could replace him.

I smiled as the memories faded to the background and I focussed on what was home now and had been for five years. It was strange how quickly it had settled into that description and how easily I had fallen into what I now considered to be my family, my coven.

I raced up through the door, shaking my hair out to tame the waves and releasing a few leaves from the mass.

"How do you always managed to bring the forest back with you?" said my sister's voice, her Russian accent barely present.

"Sorry, Tanya," I giggled as she came and gave me my welcome home hug. It had only been a few days since I left. Then again they had lost before, not that they talk of Irina much.

"Would you be adverse to a little night outing this eve?" Tanya quirked her neatly groomed eyebrow as her golden eyes sparkled with mischief.

I grinned with excitement. "I take it, Kate and Garrett are...otherwise occupied."

"And Eleazar and Carmen. Can you believe it, them subjecting their poor sister to such a thing?" Tanya teased, and we both chuckled as we ascended the stairs arm in arm. It was a fact that Tanya had no issues with 'subjecting' us to her exploits.

"It's unbelievable," I gasped in mock horror. As we reached Tanya's room and she dashed to open her wardrobe wide while I perched on her large mulberry bed spread, all satin, velvet and luxury.

"Now what do you think?" she spun holding two equally provocative outfits.

"I think that tonight is going to be a very fun night," I mused before indicating the pale pink slinky dress.

"Oh it will. Now, you wear the midnight blue and the men won't know what's hit them." Tanya thrust a form fitting short dress at me, and I giggled at what the night might bring.

Life with the Denalis was never boring.