Authors' Note: Thus we begin another mother-daughter (booksforme-readingagain) co-authored Twilight fanfiction. This was inspired by the musical version of Jekyll and Hyde, although there are also elements of The Host in certain parts of it (and if you have not read that book yet, get it immediately).

Disclaimer: We do not own Twilight or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

You wouldn't believe how tired you can get of nighttime in eighty-odd years.

Edward stared out into the night and wondered, once again, why nights are so long.

He was sure that it must have seemed that way when he was human, but it was so much worse now. Everything was so much more solitary at night. It was not as if he was ever completely alone with his thoughts (no, that would be too much to expect in this crowded world) but there was something about the way he lived that made him feel as if he might be the only one in the world. His "family" was always there for him, of course, but it did not change who or what he was. Night seemed to reinforce his differences and he longed to escape this continual reminder of his lack of humanity.

"Carlisle, you've got so much medical knowledge," Edward stated for what may have been the millionth time in his long life, "can't you imagine a way to change us from what we are?"

Carlisle gazed sadly at the young man who he thought of as a son. It was so hard for Edward to accept being a vampire. He considered himself an irredeemable monster, yet Carlisle saw more kindness and virtue than he saw in most of humanity.

"Our bodies are what they are," he said slowly, "but you are not defined by that, Edward. You can become what you want as a person, you are simply not human."

There did not appear to be anything "simple" about not being human, but what could he say. He was cursed? He could not take the loneliness? Carlisle had given them all so much, but did it really change this half-life that he lived?

It was sometimes almost impossible to cope with his emotions. Hatred hurts so much more when it's directed at yourself, and, continually now, Edward could feel the loathing towards what he had become eat its way into him.

He was just so tired of night.

Why it took him so long to think about it, Edward would never know. It later seemed so natural -- wherever there is a problem, there's a person striving for a solution. Maybe it was the finality of it all that kept him from seeing the obvious course of action. Carlisle was so convinced that nothing could be changed, and in all honesty, how changeable does eternity seem anyway?

Suddenly, however, it occurred to Edward that there was nothing stopping him from trying to be human.

He was what he was now, but just because Carlisle said that he would always be that way, did that make it certain? What was the worst that could happen to him if he tried to become something else? Death certainly wasn't a fear. He wasn't even alive, so how could he die?

If you really thought about it, there was nothing bad about chasing after life.

It was an enticing idea, being able to live again. Not being a monster, instead being what he wanted to be. He could be with people without threatening their safety. He could live a life in which he didn't have to shy away from sunlight. He could feel his excitement growing as he considered all that would be open to him.

Carlisle might not believe in this quest, but that didn't mean he couldn't be an asset for Edward. All the knowledge that his father had built up over hundreds of years was an open book to him. He was a mind reader, after all. And it wasn't as if Edward didn't have the time to work on this problem. Indeed, he had more time than he had ever been able to deal with.

The lifestyle which the Cullens shared in Forks meant that Edward had endless resources at his disposal in addition to his endless motivation. It was a scientist's dream set-up. Now all he needed was a starting point.

This answer, of course, was also obvious. What was the thing that caused the major conflict between vampires and humans, the thing which both connected them and separated them? It was the absence and thirst for blood that made him a vampire – perhaps it would be the presence of it that would make him human?

Obviously gorging himself on humans wasn't going to work (otherwise vampires would have discovered this solution ages ago, and in any case, it gave Edward shivers just thinking about giving in to his monstrous instincts). He knew that depending on the blood of others would never be enough to effect a change in him.

So… what if he could make blood for himself?

It seemed like a crazy idea at first. He knew that young vampires spent their first years absorbing the blood that was already in their system. What if he could stop that process somehow and also make his own? A vampire, forcing his own body to produce blood? Was it so far-fetched, though? It was bone marrow that produced blood in humans. Didn't he have bones, too, albeit crystallized ones?

It was something to think about. He couldn't help feeling a little crazy as he searched for the answers, as if he were doing something that defied the way things were meant to be. Carlisle was so certain that there was really no option. Had the man really considered the idea though, or just accepted his fate with the serenity that he seemed to always have possessed?

The prize, though, was worth the doubts. Didn't all genii seem crazy in their time? They were just forward-thinkers, weren't they? To have the idea, though, gave him hope. With that hope he could make it through his days, and more importantly his nights, working towards his goal.

The only thing constant is change. The world seemed to be continually shifting, and Edward, just maybe, could find a way to shift with it.

Why not? He literally had until the end of the world.