Twilight -- Broken Wings [Edward/Bella]
Title: Broken Wings
Author: Mariusgirl
Fandom: Twilight
Character: Edward (Edward/Bella)
Prompt: #01 - Lure (fanfic50), Murphy's Law (t_w_c)
Word Count: 3,707
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Of all the things he regretted in his past, falling in love with Bella Swan was not one of them..
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Notes: What started out as a small drabble evolved into a monster. Much of the dialogue at the very end was lifted shamelessly from chapter 23 of Twilight.
Murphy’s law. It could go wrong, it would go wrong, and it had gone wrong.
He wasn’t sure where this particular disaster had started anymore, but if he thought long enough, and hard enough, he could trace everything leading up to this moment back to a single heartbeat in time. The day Isabella Swan, danger magnet extraordinaire, had stumbled into his life. It was one of the most vivid recollection he had - it was scorched like black ash across his memory - horrible and yet strangely wonderful at the same time.
His life had taken on a whole new meaning in that instance. A meaning that, at the time, was akin to a ravaging fire - a soul blistering thirst for her blood - and his throat burned with scarcely controlled desire whenever she got too close.
It was nothing short of a miracle that she had survived to return home that first day in Forks. He knew that, had he stayed, she would be dead before the week was out. So he fled, despite his family’s desperate pleas, his tail set firmly between his legs. Hundreds of miles and millions of seconds separated them, but he could still taste her delicious scent on the air - saccharine and inviting - he warred with himself for days before finally arriving at a startling conclusion. He stashed away his inner demons and forged a shaky truce with the monster that dwelled within his latent heart.
He would keep her safe - from himself - without keeping his distance. He was too intrigued by the inscrutable mystery that she presented for either of their own goods. Run was the message his head screamed at him as he drove slowly back home, run for her sake. But Edward was obstinate and pushed even harder on the accelerator as the world blurred past the darkened windows of the Mercedes - his car of choice during his brief stint of self imposed exile as speed was a vitally important element of his hasty exodus - and the miles separating him from Isabella Swan grew dimmer with each number the tiny red hand blew past on the speedometer.
Time passes differently for a vampire. When you have eternity spread out before you, the days and years begin to melt together forming a hazy where the past should be. Some memories remain sharp and vivid but after a while most begin to fade into a thousand different shades of gray. Isabella Swan was a bright shade of crimson - a blood red stain of memory against a black backdrop of people, places, and names that he no longer recognized or cared about.
Something, a small angry voice deep within the recesses of his racing mind, warned at him to turn the car around. But he was drawn onward, like a moth to a flame, he had to know, had to see where this new path in his life might lead. He was playing with fire, passing his hand back and forth over a flame, each time moving it closer and closer. He let it hover there before snatching it away to avoid nasty repercussions. But he had to see, had to know, just how close he could get to the fire without getting burned.
It had been a long, winding, arduous road to where they were now, but each new dawn brought with it a spark of hope that he had never dared hope could be ignited in his soul - or whatever passed for a soul within a vampire, he still wasn’t convinced that he retained any remnants of his.
But every moment, every decision, both right and wrong, had led to this moment. He could see it now - the inevitability that something like this would come to pass. Isabella - Bella as she preferred and he cherished - was more than just a magnet for danger, she was the center point of collusion that drew everything towards her - both good and bad.
Every mistake and every crooked turn in their relationship had them careening at lightening speed towards certain disaster. Every tick of the clock brought them closer to the breaking point when the ramifications of his actions had exploded in his face.
Of all the things in his past that he regretted, or should regret, falling in love with Bella Swan was not one of them. Not killing James where he stood was.
A meaningful cough cut across his somber thoughts at that moment and he glanced sideways, through his thick black lashes, to see Carlisle staring him down. His father usually took his brooding in stride, never commenting, only watching, his mind carefully blank, but today he was teetering on the edge of intervention. Edward could read the indecision on his handsome features. His usual mask of innate calm had slipped slightly. His face was torn and wavering between indecision, wanting to say something to ease or reassure, but at the same time, not wanting to intrude upon the sanctuary of his son’s private thoughts.
After a moments hesitation in which Edward stared calmly into his deep butterscotch eyes, he decided upon the latter course of action and turned his attention back to the book in his lap with a sedate smile.
Edward was more than grateful that Carlisle did not force small talk on him. But even more relieve that he didn’t seem overly worried about what they would find in Phoenix. But then again, Carlisle knew how to mask his thoughts from Edward’s power, so it was difficult to know what he was really thinking most times. Difficult and extremely frustrating.
He heaved a dramatic sigh before turning his attention back to the nearly nonexistent window. The blank vastness of the empty sky around him sent a chill down his spine and he suddenly felt empty. Empty and curiously claustrophobic.
The hundreds of erratic heartbeats that surrounded him in the enclosed space drummed out a rhythm of complete chaos and he found himself swallowing excessive amounts of venom. This, in collusion with his ever growing dread that something horrible was going to happen to his love, made his teeth ache.
Out of anxiety more than boredom, he flicked a glance at the watch on his arm. Twenty-one minuets before the plan landed in Phoenix. Twenty-one minutes before he was reunited with Bella. Twenty-one minuets for something to go hideously awry.
Another sigh escaped him and he shifted restlessly in his seat, his thoughts taking another dark turn.
He could have prevented this, of that single fact he was absolutely certain. It would have been so easy to walk away before he got attached, but once the connection had been made there was nothing that could separate them. He would have happily taken up residence on the main street of hell if it meant keeping her safe and happy. And perhaps, that was exactly what he had done, because at the moment this tiny plane was his own personal hell on earth.
Ten minutes.
Another dark and sinister turn sent him plunging off into the abyss of space around him, his thoughts reeling with guilt and fury.
What if something happened now, while he was several thousand feet above the ground, utterly helpless to prevent it? What if James found her before he did? What if Alice and Jasper turned their backs for a fraction of a second? By then, it would be too late - a grave mistake that could not be rectified.
Five minutes.
Only a few more minutes to keep breathing.
He pushed his way through the crowd of humans at the exit, his feet pounding down the terminal, his heart somewhere ahead of him among the chaos.
They didn’t have to say anything; they didn’t even have to think it. He knew the second they came into sight that all of his worse fears were about to be realized. Every waking nightmare that had haunted him on the plane, every dark and sinister path his thoughts had taken in the last few hours; they were all coming true right before his horrified eyes.
He blew past them, not even bothering to slow down. The apologetic thought sent his way from a terrified Alice, the way Jasper refused to meet his gaze, it all clicked into place as he rushed out into the parking lot.
Bella’s trail faded there. It was like running face first into a brick wall. One second he was sure of where she had been and the next there was nothing. Almost as if she had disappeared into thin air.
A shuttle rocked to a stop in front of him but he barely registered the bright red letters proclaiming Hyatt stamped across it.
“I know where she’s going Edward!”
He skidded to a halt, and a few shocked pedestrians collided with him, but he shoved them roughly away, his attention zeroing in on Alice’s voice as she tore through the crowd after him.
“Get in the cab,” she ordered, flinging out her arm to stop a young couple attempting to slide past her into the waiting taxi. She glared meaningfully at them and they stepped away form her involuntarily, their eyes going wide in reproachful astonishment before melting into mild terror as a low growl escaped Emmett’s throat as he skidded to a halt beside them.
Edward shook his head furiously, his dormant heart practically beating from the shock of panic and fear that now coursed through his cold veins. He was wasting precious time - the seconds ticking by in a rush and his window of opportunity fading rapidly with every heartbeat of hers that he missed.
A cab would never get him to her in time. His eyes slid appraisingly across the parking lot, searching, and finally landing on a sleek black Corvette parked indiscreetly near the back of the packed lot.
He raced away from Alice and her sluggish cab, his sights set on the beautiful machine that would carry him with the necessary speed. His hypersensitive hearing alerted him to Alice hot on his heels, but he did not slow down until he was crouching beside the car, preparing to hotwire it.
Two seconds max and they were speeding out of the lot, blowing through the red light with the sound of honking horns echoing in their wake.
I’m going to kill her, he thought as Alice drew a map of Phoenix out of her pocket and spread it across her lap with delicate fingers.
“Turn there,” she instructed, pointing towards the on ramp a few blocks away.
Edward obeyed, gunning the engine to make the light before it changed.
How dare she! She promised not to get herself hurt!
Every fiber of his being cursed the car as the needle on the speedometer blew past one-ten and inched towards one-twenty.
“A little faster, Edward,” complained Alice as they reached the next intersection, “or you are going to get stuck behind an accident on the freeway.”
He shot her a dark look and the temperature in the car seemed to drop ten degrees in the wake of his icy glare, but Alice didn’t seem to notice as she studied the map. Grinding his teeth together, he pressed the accelerator to the floor, and in no time they were flying down the freeway, blowing past the traffic on the shoulder of the road.
“That’s more like it,” She remarked appreciatively with a dark and dangerous expression. Crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her seat, her eyes never strayed from the Edward’s stiff profile.
For his part, he kept his gaze locked on the road ahead, his eyes glued unseeingly to the horizon line. His hands were clenched into furious fists on around the steering wheel - and it began to warp slightly from the potency of his grip, leaving indentions where each of his fingers wrapped around it - the veins of his hands standing out vividly beneath the freeway lights that cascaded through the windshield as they cut violently through the early morning haze.
“Relax, Edward,” hissed Alice, her hand finding his and giving it a meaningful squeeze.
His eyes darted to her hand, intent upon slapping it away, but her hand flew to his face in a blur and forced his chin up until they were eye level with each other. The worry and unease that flashed across her dark honey eyes caused him to falter slightly. His expression softened and he unclenched his hands, feeling somewhat guilty for taking his aggressions out on her when she was only trying to help.
The severe scowl remained plaster across his drawn features as his eyes returned to the road, but he felt some of the tension leave his body, almost as if Jasper was riding shotgun, and he leaned heavily back against the leather seat.
“I can’t lose her, Alice,” he whispered, his voice nearly cracking under the strain.
The guilt that ate at him was replaced by another emotion - one that he had not felt in nearly a century. Fear. Fear of losing the only reason for his existence.
Alice brushed her thumb lightly across his rigid jaw before dropping her hand in a defeated gesture, “I know,” was all she whispered back.
But cramped within the confines of the car it sounded like she was shouting but you already have.
There was another, larger, spasm of fear at the mere thought, and his hands automatically balled themselves back into tight fists - his eyes lost in the darkness of the waking city.
-----
Somehow everything kept going from bad to worse.
Edward was sure that fate - the same one that he had been interfering with since the day Bella stumbled into his life - had finally caught up with them.
He could smell the blood before he reached the door and it drove him to distraction. But only for a fraction of a second. The looming figure of his pray - towering menacingly over the love of his life - overpowered any other sensation he felt - even his bloodlust - and his anger boiled to the surface, exploding with much the same force he used to propel himself at the stooped form of James.
James’s head snapped up but he did not have time to react as Edward plowed into him, sending them crashing across the polished wooden floor of Bella’s old dance studio. His hands found James’s throat as they skidded towards the wall, the floor flying up in a shower of splinters behind them. But James was quick. And a skilled fighter.
The trackers fists shot out and connected with Edward’s chest, sending him sprawling backwards as the breath rushed out of his lungs with a painful whoosh. He was on top of him in seconds, his icy fingers finding Edwards throat as he hauled him roughly to his feet. A diabolical grin spread across his dirty features as he slammed Edward against a pillar, a low growl escaping his throat in satisfaction.
Edward’s answering growl was ripped from the depths of his abdomen, a guttural, primal snarl that echoed vociferously around the empty space surrounding them. He kicked out at James, but the tracker slammed him into the wall again. And again. And again.
An indention that fit the contours of Edwards’s shoulders was beginning to form in the soft wood, lessening the blow as James pulled him back once more.
Slamming into the smooth curve, he felt the trackers hands tighten, constricting his airway completely as he leaned in, nose to nose.
“I win.”
A simple statement that pushed Edward farther over the edge. It echoed around in his brain, accompanied by an agonizing scream from somewhere behind him. Bella.
Another snarl, soft at first but building rapidly in ferocity, tore from his throat. His hands closed over the trackers and he made quick work of prying them from their viselike grip.
He didn’t think, did contemplate a strategic approach to taking down his enemy as Jasper would have, he just struck - lashing out with angry fists and aiming at any flesh he could hit.
Seconds - or was it hours - later he saw another form streak through the open door. It closed the distance between them with frightening speed, crashing into James and sending the three of them skidding across the floor once again.
But Edward did not hesitate as he jumped to his feet and ran to Bella’s side; he knew Emmett would finish what he had started. That was what Emmett was best at - what he lived for - to crack jokes and kick ass.
As he knelt beside Bella, his breath rattled in his ears; loud - too loud - he almost wanted to strangle himself to cut it off.
“Bella?”
His cold dead heart felt on the verge of shattering. Irreparable damage that he knew would be the literal death of him - in every sense of the word this time - one way or another. No one, not even Carlisle, would be able to put him back together again if he lost Bella.
He tried to quell the fear that rose in his throat and caused his chest to tighten. Swallowing unhealthy amounts of venom at the scent of her spilled blood, he forced himself to stop breathing.
No, Bella, no. Please, please, no.”
Everything about her was wrong. She was bent - completely broken - and in that moment it all became perfectly clear to him - like the sun breaking through the clouds on a dreary day - this, this was all his fault. He had done this to her. Maybe not with his own hands, but he was responsible nonetheless.
Tearless sobs wracked his body as he cradled her hand in his, pulling it close to his chest and refusing to let go. A cold finger traced the line of her jaw, brushed across her lips, and finally settled on the smooth curve of her neck, just above the vein that pulsed so temptingly with her lifeblood.
“Carlisle!”
The strangled plea in his voice surprised him, but he had no one and nowhere to turn except to his father.
“She’s lost some blood, but the head wound isn’t too deep. Watch out for her leg, it’s broken.”
Broken - just like his heart. A strangled cry of rage fell from his icy lips and he threw a hate filled glance over his shoulder in the general direction of James. Or rather, what was left of him after Emmett and Jasper got through with him.
“Edward.”
The faded words fell softly on his sensitive ears, sweet and yet painful to hear.
“Bella, you’re going to be fine.” Even as the words left his mouth, they tasted wrong, the flavor reminding him bitterly of his culpability. “Can you hear me, Bella? I love you.”
It was then, as Carlisle fussed over her, that he realized with a sinking sensation in the region of his stomach, that something was horribly wrong; something more than the broken leg and ribs, something deadly and irreversibly damaging.
He sucked in a horrified breath, Carlisle’s appalled voice crashing across his numb brain and causing the rip in his heart to tear a bit more.
“He bit her.”
Another voice, softer and defiantly feminine, was added to the din inside his skull. “Edward, you have to do it.”
He reacted without thinking. “No!”
Edward’s eyes flew to Carlisle, begging him for another option.
“See if you can suck the venom back out.”
This option was no better than the one presented by Alice. It was absurd and would certainly end just as badly. He could not do it. He wasn’t strong enough, he’d kill her himself if he even tried. He could not breathe as it was, the act of taking blood from her would result in certain death.
“Edward!”
Bella’s screams penetrated deep into his soul and set a firm determination into motion, one that he didn’t know he possessed.
He could do this. He had to do this. He would not damn her to his fate if there was any hope of saving her at all.
His gaze locked with hers for a heartbeat and his doubt was suddenly replaced with a fierce determination.
Everything faded away as his cool lips pressed against the burning flesh of her hand. Her blood - hot, saccharine, and indubitably luscious - coated his tongue and he swallowed greedily - selfishly wanting more.
Another long pull and he could taste the venom from the other vampire fade, replaced by the harsh tang of morphine, but did not have the strength to force himself to stop. He had been right after all; he was going to kill her, going to kill his Bella…
Bella.
Her name shot across the darkness like a lightening bold, scorching his tongue and pulling him back to his senses. He jerked away from her, his breathing ragged and intense.
“Edward, stay Edward, stay with me…”
His intense gaze burned across her pale features as they flickered with the last remnants of pain - the cocktail of painkillers easing her into a dreamless darkness - of which he could never follow. His heart - already frayed at the seams - ripped apart at those last three words.
“I will.” His voice was strained with the biting vileness of the lie.
How could he stay when all he ever brought her was pain?
But he knew, even as Carlisle and Alice began to gently lift her onto a makeshift gurney that he would stay. He had too. He wasn’t strong enough to leave. Not then, not now. Maybe not ever.
“I love you.”
The words rang true, untainted from his previous lie, and he pushed the other two away to cradling her against his chest - intent on carrying her out himself.
Murphy’s law had played hell with him all week long. It was his turn now and he was determined - hell bent - to force the winds of change to blow in his favor.
But he was playing a losing game - the consequence of his actions yet to be fully realized. This was only the beginning; he just didn’t know it yet.
He was sliding his hand over the flame again - getting closer and closer with each defiant sweep -tempting fate and playing chicken with the fire.
It was bound to catch up to them in the end.
Author: Mariusgirl
Fandom: Twilight
Character: Edward (Edward/Bella)
Prompt: #01 - Lure (fanfic50), Murphy's Law (t_w_c)
Word Count: 3,707
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Of all the things he regretted in his past, falling in love with Bella Swan was not one of them..
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Notes: What started out as a small drabble evolved into a monster. Much of the dialogue at the very end was lifted shamelessly from chapter 23 of Twilight.
Murphy’s law. It could go wrong, it would go wrong, and it had gone wrong.
He wasn’t sure where this particular disaster had started anymore, but if he thought long enough, and hard enough, he could trace everything leading up to this moment back to a single heartbeat in time. The day Isabella Swan, danger magnet extraordinaire, had stumbled into his life. It was one of the most vivid recollection he had - it was scorched like black ash across his memory - horrible and yet strangely wonderful at the same time.
His life had taken on a whole new meaning in that instance. A meaning that, at the time, was akin to a ravaging fire - a soul blistering thirst for her blood - and his throat burned with scarcely controlled desire whenever she got too close.
It was nothing short of a miracle that she had survived to return home that first day in Forks. He knew that, had he stayed, she would be dead before the week was out. So he fled, despite his family’s desperate pleas, his tail set firmly between his legs. Hundreds of miles and millions of seconds separated them, but he could still taste her delicious scent on the air - saccharine and inviting - he warred with himself for days before finally arriving at a startling conclusion. He stashed away his inner demons and forged a shaky truce with the monster that dwelled within his latent heart.
He would keep her safe - from himself - without keeping his distance. He was too intrigued by the inscrutable mystery that she presented for either of their own goods. Run was the message his head screamed at him as he drove slowly back home, run for her sake. But Edward was obstinate and pushed even harder on the accelerator as the world blurred past the darkened windows of the Mercedes - his car of choice during his brief stint of self imposed exile as speed was a vitally important element of his hasty exodus - and the miles separating him from Isabella Swan grew dimmer with each number the tiny red hand blew past on the speedometer.
Time passes differently for a vampire. When you have eternity spread out before you, the days and years begin to melt together forming a hazy where the past should be. Some memories remain sharp and vivid but after a while most begin to fade into a thousand different shades of gray. Isabella Swan was a bright shade of crimson - a blood red stain of memory against a black backdrop of people, places, and names that he no longer recognized or cared about.
Something, a small angry voice deep within the recesses of his racing mind, warned at him to turn the car around. But he was drawn onward, like a moth to a flame, he had to know, had to see where this new path in his life might lead. He was playing with fire, passing his hand back and forth over a flame, each time moving it closer and closer. He let it hover there before snatching it away to avoid nasty repercussions. But he had to see, had to know, just how close he could get to the fire without getting burned.
It had been a long, winding, arduous road to where they were now, but each new dawn brought with it a spark of hope that he had never dared hope could be ignited in his soul - or whatever passed for a soul within a vampire, he still wasn’t convinced that he retained any remnants of his.
But every moment, every decision, both right and wrong, had led to this moment. He could see it now - the inevitability that something like this would come to pass. Isabella - Bella as she preferred and he cherished - was more than just a magnet for danger, she was the center point of collusion that drew everything towards her - both good and bad.
Every mistake and every crooked turn in their relationship had them careening at lightening speed towards certain disaster. Every tick of the clock brought them closer to the breaking point when the ramifications of his actions had exploded in his face.
Of all the things in his past that he regretted, or should regret, falling in love with Bella Swan was not one of them. Not killing James where he stood was.
A meaningful cough cut across his somber thoughts at that moment and he glanced sideways, through his thick black lashes, to see Carlisle staring him down. His father usually took his brooding in stride, never commenting, only watching, his mind carefully blank, but today he was teetering on the edge of intervention. Edward could read the indecision on his handsome features. His usual mask of innate calm had slipped slightly. His face was torn and wavering between indecision, wanting to say something to ease or reassure, but at the same time, not wanting to intrude upon the sanctuary of his son’s private thoughts.
After a moments hesitation in which Edward stared calmly into his deep butterscotch eyes, he decided upon the latter course of action and turned his attention back to the book in his lap with a sedate smile.
Edward was more than grateful that Carlisle did not force small talk on him. But even more relieve that he didn’t seem overly worried about what they would find in Phoenix. But then again, Carlisle knew how to mask his thoughts from Edward’s power, so it was difficult to know what he was really thinking most times. Difficult and extremely frustrating.
He heaved a dramatic sigh before turning his attention back to the nearly nonexistent window. The blank vastness of the empty sky around him sent a chill down his spine and he suddenly felt empty. Empty and curiously claustrophobic.
The hundreds of erratic heartbeats that surrounded him in the enclosed space drummed out a rhythm of complete chaos and he found himself swallowing excessive amounts of venom. This, in collusion with his ever growing dread that something horrible was going to happen to his love, made his teeth ache.
Out of anxiety more than boredom, he flicked a glance at the watch on his arm. Twenty-one minuets before the plan landed in Phoenix. Twenty-one minutes before he was reunited with Bella. Twenty-one minuets for something to go hideously awry.
Another sigh escaped him and he shifted restlessly in his seat, his thoughts taking another dark turn.
He could have prevented this, of that single fact he was absolutely certain. It would have been so easy to walk away before he got attached, but once the connection had been made there was nothing that could separate them. He would have happily taken up residence on the main street of hell if it meant keeping her safe and happy. And perhaps, that was exactly what he had done, because at the moment this tiny plane was his own personal hell on earth.
Ten minutes.
Another dark and sinister turn sent him plunging off into the abyss of space around him, his thoughts reeling with guilt and fury.
What if something happened now, while he was several thousand feet above the ground, utterly helpless to prevent it? What if James found her before he did? What if Alice and Jasper turned their backs for a fraction of a second? By then, it would be too late - a grave mistake that could not be rectified.
Five minutes.
Only a few more minutes to keep breathing.
He pushed his way through the crowd of humans at the exit, his feet pounding down the terminal, his heart somewhere ahead of him among the chaos.
They didn’t have to say anything; they didn’t even have to think it. He knew the second they came into sight that all of his worse fears were about to be realized. Every waking nightmare that had haunted him on the plane, every dark and sinister path his thoughts had taken in the last few hours; they were all coming true right before his horrified eyes.
He blew past them, not even bothering to slow down. The apologetic thought sent his way from a terrified Alice, the way Jasper refused to meet his gaze, it all clicked into place as he rushed out into the parking lot.
Bella’s trail faded there. It was like running face first into a brick wall. One second he was sure of where she had been and the next there was nothing. Almost as if she had disappeared into thin air.
A shuttle rocked to a stop in front of him but he barely registered the bright red letters proclaiming Hyatt stamped across it.
“I know where she’s going Edward!”
He skidded to a halt, and a few shocked pedestrians collided with him, but he shoved them roughly away, his attention zeroing in on Alice’s voice as she tore through the crowd after him.
“Get in the cab,” she ordered, flinging out her arm to stop a young couple attempting to slide past her into the waiting taxi. She glared meaningfully at them and they stepped away form her involuntarily, their eyes going wide in reproachful astonishment before melting into mild terror as a low growl escaped Emmett’s throat as he skidded to a halt beside them.
Edward shook his head furiously, his dormant heart practically beating from the shock of panic and fear that now coursed through his cold veins. He was wasting precious time - the seconds ticking by in a rush and his window of opportunity fading rapidly with every heartbeat of hers that he missed.
A cab would never get him to her in time. His eyes slid appraisingly across the parking lot, searching, and finally landing on a sleek black Corvette parked indiscreetly near the back of the packed lot.
He raced away from Alice and her sluggish cab, his sights set on the beautiful machine that would carry him with the necessary speed. His hypersensitive hearing alerted him to Alice hot on his heels, but he did not slow down until he was crouching beside the car, preparing to hotwire it.
Two seconds max and they were speeding out of the lot, blowing through the red light with the sound of honking horns echoing in their wake.
I’m going to kill her, he thought as Alice drew a map of Phoenix out of her pocket and spread it across her lap with delicate fingers.
“Turn there,” she instructed, pointing towards the on ramp a few blocks away.
Edward obeyed, gunning the engine to make the light before it changed.
How dare she! She promised not to get herself hurt!
Every fiber of his being cursed the car as the needle on the speedometer blew past one-ten and inched towards one-twenty.
“A little faster, Edward,” complained Alice as they reached the next intersection, “or you are going to get stuck behind an accident on the freeway.”
He shot her a dark look and the temperature in the car seemed to drop ten degrees in the wake of his icy glare, but Alice didn’t seem to notice as she studied the map. Grinding his teeth together, he pressed the accelerator to the floor, and in no time they were flying down the freeway, blowing past the traffic on the shoulder of the road.
“That’s more like it,” She remarked appreciatively with a dark and dangerous expression. Crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her seat, her eyes never strayed from the Edward’s stiff profile.
For his part, he kept his gaze locked on the road ahead, his eyes glued unseeingly to the horizon line. His hands were clenched into furious fists on around the steering wheel - and it began to warp slightly from the potency of his grip, leaving indentions where each of his fingers wrapped around it - the veins of his hands standing out vividly beneath the freeway lights that cascaded through the windshield as they cut violently through the early morning haze.
“Relax, Edward,” hissed Alice, her hand finding his and giving it a meaningful squeeze.
His eyes darted to her hand, intent upon slapping it away, but her hand flew to his face in a blur and forced his chin up until they were eye level with each other. The worry and unease that flashed across her dark honey eyes caused him to falter slightly. His expression softened and he unclenched his hands, feeling somewhat guilty for taking his aggressions out on her when she was only trying to help.
The severe scowl remained plaster across his drawn features as his eyes returned to the road, but he felt some of the tension leave his body, almost as if Jasper was riding shotgun, and he leaned heavily back against the leather seat.
“I can’t lose her, Alice,” he whispered, his voice nearly cracking under the strain.
The guilt that ate at him was replaced by another emotion - one that he had not felt in nearly a century. Fear. Fear of losing the only reason for his existence.
Alice brushed her thumb lightly across his rigid jaw before dropping her hand in a defeated gesture, “I know,” was all she whispered back.
But cramped within the confines of the car it sounded like she was shouting but you already have.
There was another, larger, spasm of fear at the mere thought, and his hands automatically balled themselves back into tight fists - his eyes lost in the darkness of the waking city.
-----
Somehow everything kept going from bad to worse.
Edward was sure that fate - the same one that he had been interfering with since the day Bella stumbled into his life - had finally caught up with them.
He could smell the blood before he reached the door and it drove him to distraction. But only for a fraction of a second. The looming figure of his pray - towering menacingly over the love of his life - overpowered any other sensation he felt - even his bloodlust - and his anger boiled to the surface, exploding with much the same force he used to propel himself at the stooped form of James.
James’s head snapped up but he did not have time to react as Edward plowed into him, sending them crashing across the polished wooden floor of Bella’s old dance studio. His hands found James’s throat as they skidded towards the wall, the floor flying up in a shower of splinters behind them. But James was quick. And a skilled fighter.
The trackers fists shot out and connected with Edward’s chest, sending him sprawling backwards as the breath rushed out of his lungs with a painful whoosh. He was on top of him in seconds, his icy fingers finding Edwards throat as he hauled him roughly to his feet. A diabolical grin spread across his dirty features as he slammed Edward against a pillar, a low growl escaping his throat in satisfaction.
Edward’s answering growl was ripped from the depths of his abdomen, a guttural, primal snarl that echoed vociferously around the empty space surrounding them. He kicked out at James, but the tracker slammed him into the wall again. And again. And again.
An indention that fit the contours of Edwards’s shoulders was beginning to form in the soft wood, lessening the blow as James pulled him back once more.
Slamming into the smooth curve, he felt the trackers hands tighten, constricting his airway completely as he leaned in, nose to nose.
“I win.”
A simple statement that pushed Edward farther over the edge. It echoed around in his brain, accompanied by an agonizing scream from somewhere behind him. Bella.
Another snarl, soft at first but building rapidly in ferocity, tore from his throat. His hands closed over the trackers and he made quick work of prying them from their viselike grip.
He didn’t think, did contemplate a strategic approach to taking down his enemy as Jasper would have, he just struck - lashing out with angry fists and aiming at any flesh he could hit.
Seconds - or was it hours - later he saw another form streak through the open door. It closed the distance between them with frightening speed, crashing into James and sending the three of them skidding across the floor once again.
But Edward did not hesitate as he jumped to his feet and ran to Bella’s side; he knew Emmett would finish what he had started. That was what Emmett was best at - what he lived for - to crack jokes and kick ass.
As he knelt beside Bella, his breath rattled in his ears; loud - too loud - he almost wanted to strangle himself to cut it off.
“Bella?”
His cold dead heart felt on the verge of shattering. Irreparable damage that he knew would be the literal death of him - in every sense of the word this time - one way or another. No one, not even Carlisle, would be able to put him back together again if he lost Bella.
He tried to quell the fear that rose in his throat and caused his chest to tighten. Swallowing unhealthy amounts of venom at the scent of her spilled blood, he forced himself to stop breathing.
No, Bella, no. Please, please, no.”
Everything about her was wrong. She was bent - completely broken - and in that moment it all became perfectly clear to him - like the sun breaking through the clouds on a dreary day - this, this was all his fault. He had done this to her. Maybe not with his own hands, but he was responsible nonetheless.
Tearless sobs wracked his body as he cradled her hand in his, pulling it close to his chest and refusing to let go. A cold finger traced the line of her jaw, brushed across her lips, and finally settled on the smooth curve of her neck, just above the vein that pulsed so temptingly with her lifeblood.
“Carlisle!”
The strangled plea in his voice surprised him, but he had no one and nowhere to turn except to his father.
“She’s lost some blood, but the head wound isn’t too deep. Watch out for her leg, it’s broken.”
Broken - just like his heart. A strangled cry of rage fell from his icy lips and he threw a hate filled glance over his shoulder in the general direction of James. Or rather, what was left of him after Emmett and Jasper got through with him.
“Edward.”
The faded words fell softly on his sensitive ears, sweet and yet painful to hear.
“Bella, you’re going to be fine.” Even as the words left his mouth, they tasted wrong, the flavor reminding him bitterly of his culpability. “Can you hear me, Bella? I love you.”
It was then, as Carlisle fussed over her, that he realized with a sinking sensation in the region of his stomach, that something was horribly wrong; something more than the broken leg and ribs, something deadly and irreversibly damaging.
He sucked in a horrified breath, Carlisle’s appalled voice crashing across his numb brain and causing the rip in his heart to tear a bit more.
“He bit her.”
Another voice, softer and defiantly feminine, was added to the din inside his skull. “Edward, you have to do it.”
He reacted without thinking. “No!”
Edward’s eyes flew to Carlisle, begging him for another option.
“See if you can suck the venom back out.”
This option was no better than the one presented by Alice. It was absurd and would certainly end just as badly. He could not do it. He wasn’t strong enough, he’d kill her himself if he even tried. He could not breathe as it was, the act of taking blood from her would result in certain death.
“Edward!”
Bella’s screams penetrated deep into his soul and set a firm determination into motion, one that he didn’t know he possessed.
He could do this. He had to do this. He would not damn her to his fate if there was any hope of saving her at all.
His gaze locked with hers for a heartbeat and his doubt was suddenly replaced with a fierce determination.
Everything faded away as his cool lips pressed against the burning flesh of her hand. Her blood - hot, saccharine, and indubitably luscious - coated his tongue and he swallowed greedily - selfishly wanting more.
Another long pull and he could taste the venom from the other vampire fade, replaced by the harsh tang of morphine, but did not have the strength to force himself to stop. He had been right after all; he was going to kill her, going to kill his Bella…
Bella.
Her name shot across the darkness like a lightening bold, scorching his tongue and pulling him back to his senses. He jerked away from her, his breathing ragged and intense.
“Edward, stay Edward, stay with me…”
His intense gaze burned across her pale features as they flickered with the last remnants of pain - the cocktail of painkillers easing her into a dreamless darkness - of which he could never follow. His heart - already frayed at the seams - ripped apart at those last three words.
“I will.” His voice was strained with the biting vileness of the lie.
How could he stay when all he ever brought her was pain?
But he knew, even as Carlisle and Alice began to gently lift her onto a makeshift gurney that he would stay. He had too. He wasn’t strong enough to leave. Not then, not now. Maybe not ever.
“I love you.”
The words rang true, untainted from his previous lie, and he pushed the other two away to cradling her against his chest - intent on carrying her out himself.
Murphy’s law had played hell with him all week long. It was his turn now and he was determined - hell bent - to force the winds of change to blow in his favor.
But he was playing a losing game - the consequence of his actions yet to be fully realized. This was only the beginning; he just didn’t know it yet.
He was sliding his hand over the flame again - getting closer and closer with each defiant sweep -tempting fate and playing chicken with the fire.
It was bound to catch up to them in the end.