Author's Note: I'm an old hand at fic writing, but new (again) to the world of Twilight. Please take a peek at my profile, where I tell you all about it.
This story is AU after Edward tells Bella his family is leaving in New Moon. There may be a few other details changed from the original stories as well. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter One: Running
Were I required to draw breath, surely I would have ceased to exist.
If my eyes were capable of tears, surely I would have drowned in them.
Had it not been for her, all for her, surely I would have turned around.
Turned around, and relieved myself from the agony.
But it was for her.
The heat that had emanated from her soft skin still blazed on my frozen lips as I sprinted through the dense forest, a token from the last time I had touched her. Although she would have perceived it as just a moment, I had let myself linger there, my lips pressed to her forehead, in hopes that I would be too weak. Too selfish. That my stubbornness would break down there, in that final moment with her, and beg Bella to see through my lies.
Bella.
She had not. She had believed them just as I had meant for her to, but so quickly, so easily that it had made me ache. How long had she been doubting my love for her if it was so easy to convince her that it had run its course? Had she truly been waiting for the other shoe to drop?
The defeat in her eyes, the betrayal I saw in their depths? The belief that my love for her was anything but all-consuming, eternal?
It was excruciating.
As my dormant heart screamed, begging me to turn back, to go to her, I pushed on. I clawed my way up a giant tree to swing and dive through the canopy, distancing myself further from the fragile mortal who had become the center of my world.
She deserved something more. Something so much better.
Someone better.
Pain coursed through me as if it was blood in my veins, so devastating that I would have gladly gone through my transformation again.
And again.
I would have enthusiastically accepted that savage burn for the rest of eternity if it meant that I would be freed from this torment. If it meant that I could be liberated from the devastation that saying goodbye to my Bella laid on my wasted soul.
I halted as the brush grew lighter, thinner. I leapt out of the tree I was in, turning my head to the side as I caught a whiff of a lush scent. It smelled of oak and fine filet mignon, bourbon and brown sugar.
A hunter, working his way through the underbrush? Ah, yes. I could just see the flash of orange amidst the green foliage. I could hear his heart pumping blood through his veins, blood that was laced with euphoria and adrenaline as the human hunted his prey.
I couldn't help but smile ruefully to myself through the torment.
How tempting would that scent be if every fiber of my being was yearning so desperately for another?
Bella.
"Bella," I allowed myself to whisper out loud, and the action nearly brought me to my knees.
I don't know how long I stood there, letting the pain wash over me. Seconds? Minutes? Hours?
It was only when the sound of distant heavy traffic reached my ears that I climbed from the pool of despair, treading the shadows just enough to listen.
The traffic flow was much too heavy for Port Angeles, and the layout of the sounds, like a map to my sensitive ears, was all too wrong for Seattle.
I continued through the brush, listening as other sounds became clear.
The briny bustle of sailors stepping on and off boats as the old sea vessels creaked.
A hustling shopping center, filled with the laughter of friends.
Further out, the nervous giggles and the snapping of sneakered feet against wood planks. Capilano Suspension Bridge.
Vancouver.
My despair had pushed me swiftly into Canada.
I just barely had time to register this fact before I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, Alice or Carlisle on the other end for certain. I was supposed to be home moments after ripping myself from Bella so our family could leave together.
I closed my eyes, tilting my chin towards the treetops.
I needed to turn around and return to them, to Forks.
To home. As I thought the word, eyes as warm and welcoming as melted chocolate flashed through my mind. Their beauty was awe-inspiring, and the memory of them beckoned me to turn around, to forget my foolish errand and run back into her arms.
The phone buzzed again. I answered it, needing a distraction from the all too real temptation.
"What?" I snapped.
"Edward?"
Alice's lilting, panicked voice crackled through the phone, the reception all but nil where I was.
"Alice." I acknowledged, attributing the fear in her voice to my absence, longer than expected. I knew exactly what caused the sadness there; her heartache for leaving Bella was second only to my own.
"Edward, she isn't safe. I just saw-"
If blood ran through my veins, it would have run cold.
"What do you mean she isn't safe?" Panic crept into my own voice now as I spun around to gaze towards the south, as if I could see Bella through countless miles of wild Pacific Northwest forest.
"I don't know," Alice cried, "One minute, she was there. Crying, but safe. I couldn't see past that, I think it's because- never mind. I couldn't see anything, but then it all changed."
"What are you getting at Alice!" I roared.
"Edward, she's-"
The call dropped suddenly as the forest canopy shook above me.
So distracted by the tone in my sister's voice, I had failed to hear the fearful yet determined blur of thoughts coming from one of the highest branches.
I watched as a young man, a boy really, even younger than my frozen seventeen years slipped lower. From limb to limb, branch to branch. His lithe body moved so quickly, and his eyes burned with an almost violent ruby hue.
A newborn. Very new.
I plucked his name from his thoughts, although he was clearly trying to keep them as muddled as possible. He knew who I was, he knew of my abilities… That much was certain.
The flash of red hair that crossed his mind then told me exactly how he knew.
…And told me exactly who created him.
"Hello Riley."
A/N: Hope you're enjoying so far! Always appreciate reviews!