Karma's A Witch

'I didn't think I could feel so lost without our bond'

Outtake- Original Epilogue

Five years later
Sunrise
December 20th

"I don't have time to give you the plan," Alice says, shoving a ticket in my hand. "All you need to do is get on that plane."

Her own ticket is in her hand and I notice that hers had a thin yellow line while mine had a green one. "Different destinations?" I whisper, shocked and a little hurt.

"The only way I will remain unbound this year is if you are my scapegoat. I've seen it and I'm really sorry that you will be going on vacation alone but as long as both our vampires find you, instead of me, I have another year." Alice rushes forward, smacking a kiss to the side of my face. She hadn't gotten any taller, so her being twenty-one hadn't changed her much. People still thought I was older from time to time.

I looked at my ticket, the destination read Columbia.

To her back, as she walked away I yelled. "Is this why you had Rose drive me?" Alice had driven on her own, saying she had last minute errands to run before we ran for it during her birthday. For the last week she's been messaging me different locations and to pack different weird things. Once she had simply said to pack for the cold- to even buy a snowsuit and then not even thirty minutes later she said 'nevermind- get lots of bug spray'. So I stopped packing, I ignored all of her plan changes and just packed my normal stuff. I figured I could make it work wherever we landed.

I hadn't however planned on being alone. I only brought one book and a plane ride to Columbia is at at least 8 hours. I think... Oh, goddess I didn't have anything to do! Alice had begged me not to tip off Edward, that this whole thing relied on the two vampires sticking together. The linchpin is the belief that Alice and I were sticking together. I guess part of that plan was having me truly believe we would be vacationing together too. I rolled my eyes before I kicked myself in gear.

We had gone though security together but I guess our gates were on opposite sides of the airport. G-15 was my gate and as I walked I started crossing off Alice's favors from my mental list of how much I owed her. I considered us even after this. Yeah, she saved me from that curse mage ambush last year and sure that time she tackled that vampire hunter had been really badass so I couldn't be mad she ditched me and shipped me off to Columbia...

Not even two months ago she pulled together the greatest wedding celebration I'd ever seen. Seth stood in where our dad would have been. I hadn't seen Edward so anxious before, his hair all mushed up as he stood opposite me. While the preacher was talking I asked why he was so affected by all this. His answer had been simple 'I didn't know Collin held me to such regard. I've never had so much in my life and I'm afraid to lose it.' I couldn't hug him in the middle of Leah's vows to her soon-to-be-husband, but I really wanted too. He'd lost his family before, I could see why he would be anxious to lose what he had gained.

That night had been one of our best nights together. As best man and maid of honor, Edward and I had speeches, pictures and dances to be a part of- so we had to wait for the ceremony to be over to be alone together. Alice orchestrated the celebration and she had done it masterfully. So I sucked it up and I decided I would make my vacation a fun one. I wasn't to call anyone as cell phones could be tracked so when my gate started calling for passengers I turned my cell phone off.

I didn't know why Alice had insisted on that as Edward can sense my general location. Perhaps because Jasper would be the one trying to hunt us down? Edward had been staying out of this, as he knew Jasper and Alice's relationship was between those two- that we really shouldn't be involved. Me tagging along was a diversion as I did overhear that Jasper had bought a coffin for this hunt. I think he was planning on shipping himself somewhere during the day with Edward there to assist.

I followed the line to the airport Stewart, between an overweight man and a family of four. My ticket was scanned and I boarded the plane no problem. I stowed my suitcase above my seat and I was glad I had an aisle seat. I didn't much enjoy looking out the window. I liked having the extra leg space. A few rows back there as a problem with someone taking someone else's suitcase slot. I didn't think there was assigned stow-zones, but the stewards took care of it. A woman in a full burka took the window seat in my row, a seat between us and a bundle in her arms. The plane was full, but not packed and I thanked the goddess that I was lucky enough to have two arm rests on our journey.

Maybe the empty seat between us was the baby's seat, the one the woman was clutching to her chest.

As we were pulling onto the runway I tucked my jacket in around me and lounged my chair back as much as I could. I barely slept last evening so I could power sleep through my flight. I wanted to skip the fear after each turbulence shake. Hopefully, the baby didn't cry the whole way. After take off I did doze off but of course, I woke up when the shakes were bad and when the stewardess came around with our meals. I didn't eat, but I took a juice and fiddled before reaching out to Edward.

The woman beside me ate the whole meal, her gloved hands getting dirty and she was careful to bring the bite up under her face fabric. Hm, she was probably used to that. The baby took a bottle, he was dark skinned and very chill.

'I miss you, I don't like being so far away.' I could feel Edward in the distance, I couldn't pinpoint where he had gone with Jasper. I ached, but in a different way. We spent almost every day together and without him with me, I felt like half of myself was missing. I could feel him smiling through our bond.

'I miss you too. I don't know why you must go across the world when we know Alice isn't with you.' Edward sounded amused. Damn. Maybe Alice will be caught this year then?

'My guess is she is removing Jasper's support. Leave him thin while she pads her escape.' I pull my book from my bag, thinking briefly of my lost friend Bree. She'd make fun of me so hard for my current theme of books. Vampire hunter romances.

'Did she predict I would follow you, rather than assist Jasper?' His question rings, as Alice had been very skillful as of late keeping her visions a secret.

'She's told me nothing. Nothing! About all this. I didn't even know I would be going to Colombia alone until- shit. Well, don't tell Alice I said that. Or Jasper. Damn it... Although I don't see why it matters where I'm going.' I cursed aloud, Alice asked me specifically not to say where I was going.

The stewardess came on the speaker above "we are an hour away from our destination" it chimes. The lady a seat over from me starts pulling at her gloves and her headpiece, working around the sleeping infant. I frowned but minded my own business. It was her religion. If she wanted to break a rule... The dark fabric shed and she tucked it all into her bag. Maybe she was running from someone and had been in disguise? I peeked a look and froze, eyes wide staring at her.

My stomach dropped, my mind blanking as I clutch my heart.

'What happened?' Edward hisses in my mind. 'I swear to goddess if that plane goes down.' I could feel him moving so quick but so far away. If we crashed he would be too late and that wasn't the issue.

This girl beside me had dark hair and dark eyes. She was small in stature but when her determined gaze bore into mine I recognized her immediately. Just as I was about to scream, Edward, went through a portal throwing my world off balance. My head spun and I got dizzy from him being there, to be across the world in a wink. Did he do it twice? My voice died into a soft pitiful moan. Isle Esme? He was close but he still wouldn't make it. I'm in the air and he's one vampire...

She is prettier than I remembered and since she had this entire flight to attack, logically I knew I was safe. My nerves still boiled in me. This girl, she had been at the battle, had slapped at my dome because she could see my magic.

"I need your help." She says, whispering and leaning into the seat between us.

"Why should I help you?" I ask, not mean but I am serious. She hadn't helped us fight the volturi, she tested my barrier and ran for it and now she was ambushing me when I couldn't leave. Edward is in my head, he was fast but he wouldn't be fast enough. He knew it too. 'I should have come with you, I should have left Jasper to his own devices... Alice swore to me, fuuuck. Bella, please?'

'I'm okay, I think.' I wasn't convincing. The little mystery witch reached forward, gripping the hand on my armrest. My connection to Edward ceased. Disappeared in a blink and I snapped my hand from her, furious. I flipped the lock on my belt and stood, glowering down at her. My soul, my world fell away and I hurt with the loss of him.

"You fucking bitch!" I snarled, low and heated. She looks confused, gazing around her to see how many people heard. The ones around us were turning to check out what the matter was. I was yelling at a middle eastern dressed woman holding a baby, the looks were not favorable towards me. "Don't mess with my bond." I turned, planning on finding a new seat. Maybe the stewardess will let me sit up front in one of their seats? I hoped they had a phone, I had to call Edward, now, he's probably having a coronary. Oh, my cell!

Goddess be damned Alice, did you see this happening? Were you playing with us for your own escape?

"I'm sorry." The woman says, standing too, she reaches to stop me with her baby free arm but I pull away. A stewardess was walking our way from the far side of the aisle. What else would I lose if she touched me? I felt numb. Like I did after I lost Charlie and then again, after Carlisle Sr. "I didn't mean to, sometimes..." She clams up when the stewardess arrives.

"Is there a problem?" She asked. I'm digging into my bag and pull free my phone. "No cellphones can be on during flights." She reminds me, her tone warning me.

"I'm sorry miss." The ambusher says, taking the eyes off me. "I fucked her fiance a few years back and I used this as an opportunity to talk to her without her leaving. We used to be best friends." The tides turned, instead of those around us glaring at me, the anger moved to her. The stewardess lets out a low 'huh' before saying, as if this happens all the time- "I'm sure someone will change seats with you," talking to me "let me ask in the back to get you farther away." She gave the girl a glowering look and speeds back.

Why had she done that? I hit the power button on my phone and it slowly glowed, the little logo rotating in a circle as if thinking. Think faster. She sat back down, waved her hand to the seat that I used to be in and when the plane shuttered over the winds outside, I sat, angrily. I was okay, Edward would be okay... I just had to get past this.

"I'm Huilen, you are Isabella Swan and I have been waiting years to have this moment, just a moment of your time." Shit, it sounded so... desperate.

"So you planned for Edward to have no idea, to have no connection with me. He is probably freaking out thinking I died with how instant our bond just... disappeared." My stomach rolled, my chest clenching like a huge vise grip was squeezing me. Oh, my vampire... Would it come back? If not we could try again, on my birthday. My panic was peaking as my breath changed to pants. What if something happened to him and I didn't know it? He was rushing across the world, could run into anything or anyone?!

I forgot to keep my voice low, I was so panicked.

"You have no need to fear me!" She sounds like she's quietly falling apart. "I don't think the bond is broken, just- I just wanted us to be alone for a while and I guess that... numbed it?" She explains and I stare at her like she is an idiot. "I'm a cursed bruja and when I touch someone... I thought you would be different, I didn't think I could hurt you. My thoughts just... spread disease, death, and suffering, it's why I wear my burka. I need you to take my powers. That's why I've been studying you but... my life has changed, my plans have changed. For my nephews. He should live a normal life." She's half crying, face twisted up in some new kind of despair, she actually held the baby out to me, as if to take the little bundle from her.

I stared, barely processing. This isn't happening.

"Please, take my powers. I can't even touch him." She looks down at the baby, her eyes glinting with desperation and maybe a bit of insanity. "I'm messed up, something is wrong with my magic but he's... perfect." She's... lost and my heart squeezes tight. My phone glows and it rings instantly. I turn it to silent but those around us look again. The guy diagonal sees my phone and nudges with his head to alert me to the lady walking down the aisle. I tuck my cell between my thighs to hide it.

The stewardess returns. "A woman is g-37 is okay to trade seats." She informs, leaning in at my shoulder.

"No, thank you." I breathe in, my voice squeaky with discontent. "Maybe after I listen some more." I amend and the stewardess purses her lips but goes back to tell the woman the update. Huilen had the opposite reaction, settling down in her seat with more ease in her shoulders, bringing the baby back to her chest.

"Your nephew... he's like you?" I ask, weary.

"No, he's different. He can weave true curses. My sister had him, she brought him to me as soon as they knew. It runs in our family. He's just a baby and he... he shouldn't have to live as I do." She explains her isolation, that curse brujas are rare among us. "He can touch others, he can be normal he just weaves dark magic, the kind you can stop." Her insane intensity is back, leaning forward. "If you take him, you can control his magic and he can have... friends, he can be loved and love."

I watched her suspiciously. She pulled a bottle out of her bag and when the baby started to wake in her arms she popped the nipple in his mouth. He sucked away, but she was careful not to touch him with her hands ungloved. I hold my hand out and with her bare hand, she puts it in mine, which is clearly what I wanted. I explored her with my wisp, the dark cavern of her.

"You were born with this magic, I've only ever numbed it before, in regular type mages." I whisper. I'd learned quite a bit about that as my gifts knowledge grew and people starting coming from all over the world for my help. Edward always knew if they were lying, his mind always keen to slips of their thoughts.

Had she known that, had she avoided Edward because he can read minds? It can't be a coincidence that our bound was cut. Something inside her broke, the light in her eyes dying. The hope faded from her and she looked that much worse off, her eyes darting and her lips parting with her heavy breaths.

"Why couldn't Edward be here for our meeting?" I ask, weary as the baby suckles and suckles at the depleting milk.

"In our culture, vampires only mean death. I wanted to face my death on my own terms." She looks at me, her eyes dull and her voice shaky. I was going to protest but she beats me to it in the same disoriented voice. "How many around you have died by his hand?" The answer was many...but none of that was Edward's fault. He wasn't a dark shadow in my life, he was the brightest light. The reason. I had no way to explain it to her, it was none of her business.

"I've been alone since I was a child, getting this baby... I thought it would make my life better but I've made his life worse. He deserves the world. He slept for three days the only time I grazed his soft cheek, he almost died and I was just trying to calm him, to soothe him." Oh... so no matter her intentions, through touch her magic tried to make it happen. Like a fucked up wish granting. She laughed humorously. "So I thought if you can take magic... You could take mine. Then I could give him the world."

Her hand pulled from mine. I wouldn't call her crazy but she was a woman pushed to the edge, I knew I was her last hope, or she thought I was. Her magic had affected me. She came to me for help but in this case, she could control me, not the other way around. She wasn't a true curse mage, she was the opposite of me... whatever the goddess that is.

Were pairs born to the world like that? Like a balance? Esme may be right with some of her crazy power hour ramblings...

I fished my phone from between my legs and answered the 42nd call, putting the piece to my ear away from the aisle toward Huilen. "Hi," I whisper into the receiver and Edward goes off. Flipping his fucking lid about how he couldn't feel me that I was in the air, crashing to my death and he wouldn't even know where to look for my twisted mangled body to even find me... I pull the phone away, glaring at Huilen. She was looking wide-eyed at the phone, his deep panicked voice still rambling on.

"He... loves you?" She whispered, scandalized. "I thought you... controlled him." Her face grew pale as if all the blood rushed away. Did she think I was this all-powerful being? I totally believed her small cult-y village life claim. "He will kill me for sure. Please, please take care of Nahuel if he does. The baby didn't do anything. I didn't know... Maybe it's better this way?" She mumbled to the baby, saying low words in another language. Her flippancy about dying made me worried for her, I knew from her tone it hadn't been her first time to entertain the thought.

"Edward," I said, he grew quiet after demanding again to know what the fuck was going on. "That curse mage that... gonged my dome..." Geeze, that sounded embarrassing I really wish I could have said that in his head. "She wants me to help her nephew and she wants me to try and remove all her magic... if I can." I was looking her in the eyes when I told him and she was nodding to me, her eyes pleading. "I need you to read her when we land before we make our decision." Her face grew tense, seeming to realize we might not do it.

I didn't want her to die if there was another way. If Edward could heal the werewolves virus maybe he could do something with her? If I failed magically there might be another way, scientifically. Or, we could combine the two.

"Worse case, couldn't we all participate in raising the baby?" I'm sure we could find a secluded place for her to stay. If we were all careful, I could just remove what curse she accidentally 'wish-touched' into existence. Huilen stared down at the round-faced little boy. Edward didn't give it a thought, seemingly not concerned about any other topic but one.

"So you're okay. No fiery crashes and... will we... be connected again?" He sounded adrift and I think of him anchored in the ocean again, all his loved ones gone. I had been lost to him for moments and his voice was raw from it. Goddess, I loved this man. I glared at Huilen, if my bound didn't return I would try to kill her myself to see if that removed her magic.

The stewardess returned with an old lady in tow and they looked between us and at the phone clearly connected with someone. "I have to go, I'll see you when I land. I love you." I say, clicking the phone off and smiling politely at the furious airline employee. The old woman laughs.

"Clearly the two have worked it out. Men are dumbasses, aren't they dears?" The wrinkled lady touches my shoulder before hobbling back to her row. What was she talking about? Oh, right, they thought this girl had sex with my imaginary fiance. The stewardess was clearly done with us both, she gave me a warning finger, glaring and stomping away.

The seat belt sign started to glow and Huilen put her gloves back on, then her head and face clothing. Only her eyes showed. She placed the babies bag in the seat between ours. I redid my belt, watching her. The pilot announced our descent.

"You'll take care of Nahuel, he needs touch and love and I've seen you with the other boy... the blond curse bruja. They can be raised together- it's right. They are the same and you can fix any accidents they have in life until they learn." I could undo a child flung curse easily enough, the baby could have a life because I could control him to a point. Huilen was looking for the door and even though she looked young, maybe in her forties, her eyes were decades old. What had she suffered?

The pilot started on the overhead, stating our descent and altitude.

"You're going to leave, aren't you?" I ask, seeing the flight in her eyes. She was too far gone. The years of solitude and then falling in love with this baby to the point where she was giving her life for his, in a way... She holds the baby out to me. I could only see her eyes but they were full to the brim, a blink away from spilling over.

"His things are in the blue bag beside yours, and this one." She nods down to the bag she had between us. "He naps a lot, he has a sensitive stomach so only that formula brand. The others give him gas and keep him up. I left him everything I have..."

I couldn't ask Edward if it would be okay. Our connection is gone and the phone silent on my knee. Someone had to take the baby if she couldn't be convinced to live. I tried again. I told her about Edward's medicine, about Esme's magic and that I could still try something... but she just stayed quiet, the baby balanced in her gloved hands between us.

Finally... as the plane angled down to the ground, I took the baby from her and settled him in my arm. He felt light, small and I frowned. Carlisle Jr surely had never been this tiny... but maybe Edward was right and you slowly forget those things as time went on.

"Is there anything I can do to convince you to stay?" I ask but she's pinched, her tears falling as she looks at the baby in my arms. I reach out, Nahuel resting in my elbow and I grip her gloved hand. She looks startled at my hand on hers, before twisting and taking mine too. It was unpracticed, even with the gloves she was used to not being touched. A life without contact. To always watch but never partake... It would be torture.

"I'm already dead. I have been for many years, but I'll check on you." She warns, her eyes roaming my face. She wasn't going to kill herself? "His life will be better now, but I will make sure your vampire and your family treat him right. That is my life purpose now, to guarantee his."

I sighed, relaxing. I must have misunderstood. She wasn't going to take her own life. I didn't know how I was going to tackle her while holding a baby and avoiding her skin but I would have made an attempt. I'd rather have a part-crazy touch-mage on the fringes of my life than be responsible for her death. The landing gear disengaged. We stared each other down, neither looking away as our challenge was met and matched. The plane slowing down as we hit the tarmac and we started driving along towards our gate.

"You will love him. He will go to school and it's good that I only watch from afar." She says it like a mantra, like something she had to convince herself was true.

"No one can love him as you do," I tell her, my eyes filling with tears. Rose had shown me and although if left to the Cullens this boy would be loved, I needed Huilen to see it differently for her own sanity. I look down at the little bundle... "He needs you." She unbuckles her belt and makes to climbs over me, but I push my knees forward into the seat before me and hold up the baby between us. The seat-belt light tinges off and the pilot announced we have docked. Everyone stands, the aisle filling and Huilen and I are back to staring each other down, me in her way.

I wanted off after eight hours stuck here, but I didn't know where to go and we had things to settle. I was in another country with a very unexpected little baby. Huilen takes her seat again as we let everyone go. When the old woman passes, giving a little wave to the baby I know the people are all nearing an end. He's cute. A button nose and when I touch his cheek in his sleep he crinkles his face up like I'm bothering him.

"Huilen," I tell her, looking up from this adorable little boy. "I can't have children. I'm sure you weren't expecting to have this child in your life and if you leave him to me, I will love him... but before you do that... before we make this choice together, I want to try everything I can to help you." Adoption wasn't out of the question for us, but Huilen shouldn't give up on being in Nahuel's life this easily.

She starts to sob, and in a few shaking breaths, I lean over to touch her shoulder. Huilen flinches, so started from the contact. "I mean it," I tell her. "If you leave this little boy without trying everything to be what he needs... I'll be so pissed." Hell, Rose was the threshold for me now, of how much shit a person can bear for those they love and Huilen had to fight.

The last body passes my row and I stand, with the baby in one hand as I wiggle down my bag from the overhead storage. Huilen stands slowly, tears matting the fabric over her face against her cheeks. She grabs his diaper bag, looping it over her shoulder, grabbing the blue bag in her fist as we head together down the aisle. The Stewart had the fakest smile on her face as she wished us our farewell but other things were on my mind. I didn't have a car seat. He didn't have a place to sleep.

Okay... I somehow gained two dependants on this forced solo vacation. A depressed anti-me mage and a baby curse mage. I chewed on my lip, Nahuel did seem pretty content this whole way though. I pulled my bags along, half looking where I was going, half watching Nahuel sleep. The gate bumped my wheeled bag and I made sure I didn't lose anything but passed the baby back to Huilen. I didn't want my clumsiness to harm the poor boy. What I could see of her eyes, I think she wearily hoped I would save them, she planned on staying at least.

My phone rings and I answer in a rush without looking. "Edward?" I ask, worried and disorientated without his location pinned in my mind.

"Guess again." A too-sweet female voice chimed. I stopped in my tracks, other travelers looking over at me as a string of curses fly from me. We were in the walkway and I didn't give a flying broomstick.

"Listen, you bitch!" I hiss, dropping the handle of my pull along back to point at my phone aggressively. "What the fuck just happened to Edward and I's bond?! He is flipping the fuck out! How am I going to stop him from ripping her fucking head off?"

"Ohhhh..." Alice says, low and as if she was just understanding something. "I wondered why he gutted her as soon as he spotted her, the only way to stop it was to get her a ticket home." A little 'huh' escaped her before her voice changed to sweet again, a pendulum swinging from one end to the other. "I've spoken to Esme. She's gonna take them in. Empty nesting isn't all it's cracked up to be for her. She already installed a car seat and knows to pick them up. Tickets in the front zipper pocket of your suitcase. Ta-ta."

"Don't you fucking dare-" but she's already hung up. Fuck. Fuck. I ring her back, angrily pressing the face of my phone but she doesn't answer, getting her voicemail after a single ring each time. Pressing the ignore button!? Gah! I sent a long, angry text, vowing to tell Jasper everything I knew about her location.

Huilen touches my elbow and I flinch, glaring at her. She's alarmed, looking around she asks quietly. "Promise... promise when he kills me for what I've done to you... that you'll give Nahuel the life I never could. Love him." I take a deep breath, turning to my bag and opening the front zipper to pull out the slip of paper. With a little flourish, I pass it to her.

"You're going to live with Esme until I can get my vampire into a non-killing mood. I don't envy you having to take that trip again." Huilen looked down at the ticket, looking up at me in alarm. "Alice is psycho, and psychic- as if there is a difference. You better listen. Apparently, there is no other way he doesn't kill you." I whisper at the end and in a rush, move her hand to face the ticket back to me so I can read the gate number. Then look at the numbers around us before I point her in a direction.

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" She asks and I scoff.

"You don't. How do I know you didn't pull one over on us?" Avoiding our mind reader as she had. It's suspicious but I didn't want her to be murdered for it and Esme is a badass. "Go. I'm sure we won't be long and we'll start working on getting rid of your magic then." I turn, walking away from her with my bag in tow as I pull up Edward's number again.

Send my location? Yes. Gps on my phone could link to Edward's.

"Thank... you," Huilen says, calling out after me and I just wave my hand in her direction, my phone flashing before I hit send. Hopefully, those two get to Esme safely. I leave the security section of the airport and head to baggage claim. I didn't have anything to claim but that was where the exit is.

Did this nauseous feeling come from the bond? I haven't felt like this in so long. I called and immediately Edward answered. "I can't feel you." He says, his voice strained among the wind. I walked out of the airport and mist greeted me, wet and foggy. The parking lot spanned before me, cars pulling up and I feel tears start to fall.

"We'll figure it out," I tell him, thinking and hoping Huilen's magic is fading.

"You leave my side for more than a few hours one time after five years and forty-five days of being inseparable and somehow our bond breaks?" He sounds flabbergasted. "Goddess be damned Bella..." His voice is right back to vampire deadly. One wrong step and people would die.

"What direction are you? From me?" I wish I just knew. My voice sounded so small and the chill in the air nipped at me as if it reached inside me. For the first time in years, I didn't know which way to walk to get to him. My hollow chest ached and I longed for him.

"Southwest." He growls, I pull the phone away to open up my compass app and I hear the timbre of his voice but not what he's saying as I find the direction I need to go. Shit. I can't walk through the landing tarmac. Tears stung at my eyes and I pull the phone to my ear to ask what he said, voice thick.

"I'm coming." He growls, affected. "I'll find you." I walk along the strip, passing buses and taxis and rushed travelers. I head toward the fog-misted trees, going more west than I want to. When I reach the end of the walk and the wheels stick in the grass I picked it up from the handle. Considering just dropping it so I can run, but I needed the cover of the trees to run at my top speed. I couldn't hit the speed Edward could but I was much faster than other non-vampires. I was like a hybrid. A liquid diet with a twist. Would I lose that? "You're birthday is months and months away. I can't feel like this for that long."

My heart pounds, pushing my feet faster toward the woods. "It will fade. Huilen said-" I choke off, so happy to hear him say he'd kiss me again. I harbored so much guilt for forcing my vampire into this life and hearing him say he'd pick me, of his own free will... that the thought of waiting until September was unbearable... "Maybe when we touch. We might have to..." My stomach jolts and I frown. Was this how our bound felt in the beginning?

Were we starting over?

"Did you feel that?" He asked, "Isabella!" My head swirled and I slowed before my feet could keep up and I fall forward, smashing my face in the grass. My suitcase and phone spin away. "Witchling!" I hear from the little speaker and I scramble to it from the sheer panic in his voice, feeling it in my own stomach. "Fuck!"

"I felt it, I... I think this is how it used to be... in the beginning." My head swirled, emotions rose and I felt like a conduit to every fleeting feeling that jolted through me. "We're bound but it's been... restarted, I think?" No wonder I'd been all over the place back then. My emotions were running rampant. So much anxiety coursed through me I am shaking. I stand, gathering up my suitcase and head to the tree line. So close.

"This is... how did I resist so long back then?" Edward marvels. "I ran from this and... now I can't get to you fast enough. I feel like I will die if I don't feel you." He says, voice vampire harsh and I shiver, hitting the trees. I drop my suitcase, taking off in a run. "You're moving." He notes, marveling.

"You can feel my location?" His connection to that part of our bond had always been more acute and I shivered. "How close?" I rush but he growls.

"I don't know." He rumbles, angry. Had his emotions been running rampant back then too, but I hadn't known him well enough to tell a difference? Now I could tell from his voice what he was feeling to a fairly accurate degree. To the world, he showed a blank-faced killer but he showed me the layer underneath... and it was beautiful. "I'm a few minutes out."

I exhale trying to release the tension inside me. "I'm behind the tarmac, in the woods." I rush, stepping over roots and lunging forward as fast as I can go. "Hurry," I whisper and he groans, low and deep. "I'm... was I an emotional mess when we met? I feel like I'm feeling everything at once." I tried to take breaths, to breathe through the doubt, the fear and the constant dread. Like nothing was going to be right in the world ever again.

"You were perfect." He says in a faraway whisper, "You are." I feel something, my stomach flops over on itself and at this speed, I crash, sprawling with a groan but I keep hold of my phone as if it were Edward himself. My only connection. Ouch. I skidded my chin and when I reach up my fingers come away wet. "You're bleeding." He growls, followed by an animal roar I can hear in the real world and through the speaker. "I can smell it." Edward hisses, and I stand, dusting off my pants. So much anticipation fills me, I feel like it's our first time. As if I am back in Esme's front yard being drawn to this vampire but this force wasn't foreign this time around. I yearned for it. Edward as much a part of me as my bones.

I drop my phone, he's this way. I can barely feel him but I know it. My heart sped up, my unsteady steps moving me a little closer, I reach with my mind to him and I don't find him. A sob escapes me but I see him then, speeding right to me and I reach out to Edward jumping up a second before we've collided and she spins, holding me against him as he skids. Dirt kicks up around us from his feet digging into the ground from the impact but I'm raining kisses on his face, my hands grabbing at his hair.

The bond snaps in place, I can feel him and I reach forward to touch my mind to his. 'Edward?' He grips me too him, with too much pressure but I love it. I needed to be one with him. He leans to look at me.

'We're... okay.' He says, looking as if I were the sun after years of darkness. My vampire touches the scratch on my face a moment before he's kissing me, fangs long and lips aggressive from our building panic. 'We'll be back to normal after I take you. Just like before.' He pulls at my pants, snapping the button and I feel my pants fall away. He must feel this need too, the urgency to have him was overwhelming.

'How did we put this off for weeks the first time around?' Neither of us had the answer.

'No wonder you were so persistent back then.' He speaks to me, even his voice in my head was husky with emotion. I laugh, so elated to feel him again.

'As if much has changed.' He snorts his agreeance and he's pulling at my pants while I nuzzle against his neck, 'I missed you, I didn't think I could feel so lost without our bond. I never want to go through this again.' His chest rumbles in response, kissing the side of my face as his pants fall to his ankles and he hikes up my knees to either side of his hips. We're lined up and in a firm thrust, after years of practice, he hits home with ease.

We groan in unison as the bond equalizes between us like a gear sliding back into place allowing me to breathe again and I move against him. 'I love you.' He says in my mind. "I love you," Edward speaks. His lips against my ear. "You were lost to me..." His voice dips low into the ominous tones he reserved for our most dire situations. "I will do anything not to feel that way again." He echoes it in my mind, 'anything, Bella. I swear to everything I hold dear, I will burn it all to the ground before I allow this.' Oh. I'm good with that. I nod, in tandem with my hips as I ride him, holding myself up with his shoulders to work myself against him, glad to be in his arms.

'It won't happen again.' I tell him. 'I'll die before I-'

'No!' He snarls, a wild beast as his neck strains from the sudden noise and I freeze. In a rush, my back is in the dirt and he's working his body hard over mine. 'You'll never! I won't let you, we'll go together or not at all.' He's so vicious, raw with too many emotions and I know what he needs. I can see the stark desperation with the thought of my death, I understood. I couldn't touch the idea of him dying without a reaction and right after our bond broke...

My body met his, the waves of tingling pleasure were building but I fought it, reaching up to touch his cheeks, looking into him. 'We're okay.' I tell him. "I love you." The feelings are too intense but I hold him there as he twirls his hips like he knows I like and I'm falling apart under him, screaming out his name. Edward follows, grunting as he finds his own pleasure inside me and resting against my collarbone as he sags forward. With my orgasm, I'm back to feeling like my normal self, regulated emotions and connected to my vampire. Glowing with peace after such a rush of crazy.

"Well, that was... something," I mutter, my fingers playing at the hair on the back of his neck. He hums an assent. We lay there, feeling the peace that comes with us being connected by our souls. I wanted the moment to last for days and with Edward tucked against my neck, not moving, he would allow it. That's when a chime sounds in the distance. My phone? I'd dropped it somewhere in these woods. "Don't you dare," I tell my Vampire, gripping the back of his neck. He chuckles.

"Don't worry, it could be the Vampire High Council and I'd tell them to stake themselves," Edward mutters and I giggle, locking my legs around him. "I went through the portals, from Chicago to Forks, then to Isle Esme."

"I felt that," I whispered.

"It was prepped for guests and no one's been planning a trip there..." My vampire rumbles

Together we groan, "Alice..." I'd never been, the trip was too far and we've been busy. Our particular set of skills were sought after by many different factions of species in our world. The ringing stopped right then and I sighed. That peeping little psychic. After a few hours, we dressed, constantly touching. Neither of us wanted to let the other break contact. We even went back for my suitcase and rather than take regular transportation, I climbed on his back so I could still wrap him up with my body.

'Is Jasper going to catch her?' I ask, wondering how far he got with him before my chaos got in the way.

'I was a decoy too. So as not to tip off Alice.' The two of them needed a smack upside the head.

'Hmm?' The rush of his speed lulled me into a sleepy state as I rested my head on his shoulder.

'He shipped himself out to intercept her. I guess she's taken to the sea this year.' Edward chuckles in my head. 'Girls a genius though, she's probably a hundred steps ahead. I don't envy him this fight.' I agreed. Alice and Jasper have been in love for years, a true bond but she believed, from Lee and Samantha along with other examples from the reservation that a soul-bond wasn't necessary. They hadn't gone beyond a kiss or holding hands, and although Alice complained about it bitterly, it didn't change her mind. The chase-game was part of their relationship at this point.

'I hope they do kiss this year.' I tell him, snuggling closer as he shifts my suitcase from one hand to the other. 'I won't let them twist us around next year. They are on their own.'

'Agreed.' He consents, jumping off and my belly tickles. A little giggle escapes and he slows, dipping behind a building and we're on the coast. 'I swam the few miles to the island, we'll need a boat.' I climb down, in our empty alley and I gather my suitcase from him. I set it flat side down and unzip it to pull out my wallet. As soon as I lift the lid I flush, shutting it.

"What is it?" My vampire asks aloud, coming to my side, his thigh by my face as I look up at his hip with wide eyes.

"This isn't what I packed." I can't seem to look up and meet his eyes. How did this happen? I packed yesterday. How had Alice had time with everything she was doing... Edward bends to open the lid, looking down at the mass of lace, silk and frilly strips of sheer fabric. The only clothing packed is lingerie. I pushed some of it aside, feeling the soft, skimpy pieces before I find my wallet. Yup, the outfit I had on is my only actual clothes.

"Well..." Edward says, humor in his voice. "Isle Esme is going to be fun." He says, zipping up the bag for me as I press my wallet to my chest.

"You can go through the portal, grab me something to wear and-"

"Absolutely not." My vampire interrupts and my face burns as I stare up at him. "It will be the sweetest of tortures to watch you in every one of those little pieces." He stares into me before grinning, his fangs pressing into his bottom lip from their hardness. "We need an extended vacation... don't you agree, my little witchling?"

"Okay..." I whisper, soft with anticipation. Some of my anger at Alice faded as I thought of Edward and me in a constant state of arousal. Partaking a few times each day. Laying around in tight, unmentionables while my Vampire can't keep his hands off me... "Yeah, let's do that."

My suitcase is together in a snap, he grabs that and my hand with his other, rushing us to the street by the pier as I take in the view of the ocean, misty and wet. Hopefully, it wasn't overcast and gross like this the entire time. He couldn't seem to get there fast enough and I grinned, laughing as I kept up with his pace. As fast as we could go without drawing too much attention. 'That red one first.' He says, looking back at me with his golden eyes darkening in hunger. Oh, how the tables have turned from our beginning to now.

'Beggars can't be choosers, Vampire.' I whisper as alluring as I could get my mind-voice knowing full well that I would give him whatever he wanted.

'I'll beg.' He says, 'I'll be at your mercy, on my knees for as long as you'll allow.' I flush, understanding his double entendre. I'm suddenly as eager to get to Esme Isle as he is.

Originally I wrote this with Bella getting the baby. Edward being all "I leave you alone once after years and now we have a kid?" but I was like nahhhhh, and now it's this. lol.

Let me know what you think. I did find some old scenes I'd cut if you want those and I did start a Alice/Jasper chase-kiss chapter a looong time ago but I'm not sure if I want to get back into it or not. I guess it depends on the demand.

Thank you for reading! It has been a wonderful journey with the lot of you. I love the reviews. They make my day brighter when someone takes the time to send me a little something. I am moved by your words, and I hope you've been moved by mine.