A Vampire's Love - Edward Cullen (Twilight saga)

Chapter 23 - Gone

Aiyanna

"Say again." I answered after processing the information.

"He called me. The new girl, Bella. Her blood...her scent is too strong for him." Alice answered as she kept her eyes on the road.

"Stronger than others ?"

This time, Alice looked at me. "He could've killed her."

Such answer was enough to make me understand the gravity of the situation. I couldn't understand fully what he was going through nor know how I could help him.

"Where is he ?" I asked her.

A light frown appeared on Alice's forehead, as she drove as if she was above the law. It was a common trait of the Cullen family.

"He left already." Alice answered.

"What ?! Where ?"

"I don't know. He didn't tell me, nor has he made a decision yet."

The fact that Alice couldn't predict where Edward was headed only showed how lost he was.

"But he's coming back, right ?" I asked, worried.

The car squeaked because of the sudden stop in front of my house. Alice looked at me and gave me a reassuring smile.

"Surely." she answered.

~~

Edward

Six days.

Six days during which, I had been hiding.

Six days where pain, reminiscence and guilt kept torturing me.

Six days without an ounce of improvement.

Today was the sixth day that I spent in the Denali coven, in an environment as cold and as pale as I was. The snow around me covered the naked trees, the floor and the bench I was sitting on. The sky was pure, bright and unlike in Forks, the stars were more visible to the human sight. But no matter how beautiful the sky was, I couldn't see it. The sky was hidden by a face that constantly came back to my thoughts, no matter how wrong it was for me to think about it.

I remembered the sudden colors that appeared on Bella Swan's pale face as the blood rushed up to her cheeks. Or how the movement created by her, the wind or the people around her would make her sweet scent hit me like a violent wave in my face.

I shook my head, as if it would help me get rid of these thoughts that resurfaced again.

Instead, I heard the thoughts of someone else even before hearing the steps that came closer to me. I wasn't surprised to recognize Tanya.

I had stayed with her family for days, and yet, we never talked. My whole being was too tormented for me to initiate any conversation. She had prepared the words she would say to me, over and over again, until she was sure of what she wanted to say. I couldn't blame her. My facial expressions showed nothing but torture. A torture I didn't want to share with them or anyone else.

Tanya's skin had a silver reflection under the stars. Despite the dark night, her long blonde hair was shining as much as the smile she addressed my way. I couldn't deny that she was beautiful. But I had never been able to look at her the way I looked at Aiyanna.

Aiyanna's kind and loving heart refused to see me as the monster I was. A sense of disappointment and guilt filled me at the sudden thought that I might never be able to prove her that the trust she had put in me wasn't in vain.