Stephenie Meyers invented the characters, I just like to abuse them for personal gratification...

Thanks to my super special beta Gondolier, whose hard work has inspired so much...

Breaking Ties

Prologue

I heard the footsteps falling on the softened earth long before they reached my chamber. I was irritated with the interruption, as I was sure I had almost achieved true unconsciousness that time. My mind shrieked with the curses of a thousand ancient tongues.

But my curiosity was always stronger than my fury, which was the reason I still remained whole. When the others of my coven had simply given in to death, my morbid curiosity kept me alive and bound to this world in a way that would never be severed.

The footsteps muted as they approached the hallowed tomb low beneath the monastery where I had rested alongside my brother for these many years. There was heaviness to the dust and loose earth that pressed against my body, giving me the only indication of how much time had truly passed. The earth against my back was thick and wet. However, the result was pleasantly uncomfortable.

A muffled grunt sounded in the darkness, and the heavy door pressed in against squelching mud. The ancient wood was shifted, hinges protesting with sharp squeals. A timid man entered the moldering, putrid room, letting in a rush of new air. I snapped my eyes open to glare at him as the fresh air hit my skin. He stared at me, eyes red and wild with terror.

"It is time," he choked.

"You're sure?" I growled so he would understand what would happen if I'd been disturbed without cause.

The man was visibly trembling. "There is a woman. She bears the message you have been awaiting, my lord."

My lips twisted unnaturally into some semblance of a grin. I did not have to ask him what the message was, because there was only one answer I desired. "Very good," I dismissed him. "Bring my brother and I sustenance immediately. Then awaken the army."

He nodded and was gone in an instant, gratefully fleeing the way he had come. I was left alone with my thoughts again, but this time, an excited undertone exploded in my mind. I'd languished in my pathetic grave—a grave I'd spent infinite seconds mourning my losses-for far too long. Now my resurrection had come, and I'd take back what was rightfully mine.

It was then my thoughts turned back to the face that had plagued me for centuries. I could still remember her: the way her deep chocolate hair caught the sunlight and blazed red like her anger; the way her beauty could dull any room, for she was truly a beacon among men; the way she smiled, always a bit mischievously, but cloaked in an innocence that was hers alone. An innocence snatched from both our hands. She had been my reason for life, my reason for existence. I would never leave this world before she was mine, as she was fated to be. Everything had been for her-this endless time in silent, solitary torment. I cannot let any of it be in vain.

Now, there was much to be done.

Hundreds of years of planning, and I would see this to its end, so help me. There was still much to be decided. But wherever this world went from here, its course depended on one soul alone. Now, I would have to build my strength so I could go to her. My hour was at hand at long last, and I would have her in my grasp once more.

I turned to my companion slowly and stiffly, and roused him with a shake of his ancient shoulder.

"Brother," I whispered my voice hoarse with the disuse of centuries. "Time to rise."

"Curse your rotten feces," he growled unmoving beneath the pile of damp sludge heaped atop him.

"Brother," my words as cool as ice. "The time is nigh."

A black eye snapped wide to glare at me. I was momentarily disgusted by the way his flesh seemed to have mortified and crusted over the exposed pupil and it seemed to rip open. I prayed that my body had fared better than his lying untouched for so long.

"You have found her?"

"Yes," I smiled at my brother. "She will be mine again, and together we will take back everything we have lost."

The dust and rotted clothing fell from him like snow as he struggled upright, the joints of his body groaning in protest after lying rigid and unused for ages. He matched my leer with a fierceness that revealed what hid just inside his crumbling exterior.

A sigh of relief escaped my reanimated kin.

"Finally."

As always, review, then come play at the forums at Twilighted. My thread is under the Evil Bella post in the AU category. I will post spoilers and teasers and other important stuff (like I totally geeked out and made a little video, and you'll be able to find the link there if you don't make too much fun of me.) Stay with me on this one. I have a beta - Gondolier - who is made of magic. I kid you not. It's going to be an amazing a tale....