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Edward Cullen ([info]the_deathofme) wrote in [info]utr_logs,
@ 2008-07-25 17:42:00

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Entry tags:edward cullen, lauren santini

Who: Edward Cullen and Lauren Santini
What: Lauren is alone, and Edward doesn't like that.
Where: Lauren's hotel room
When: Today
Warnings: Possible violence and emo



This wasn't like him at all. He should have stopped talking to the human as soon as he'd learned more about her -- no, before that, even -- but her strange tale of death of vampires had intrigued him to the point that Edward could not stop himself. He had to know she would be safe from others of his kind, especially if she had some form of misguided belief that her destiny was involved.

Demon cults, dead sisters, bodies all around her. This human girl. Lauren Santini.

He could have been mistaken, but he didn't believe that to be the case. She had said she'd met a vampire, after all, and the last thing Edward needed in this strange new world would be for everyone to discover the truth about him already. He had worked so very long to cultivate the teenage persona thanks to Carlisle's help...

Oh, what he wouldn't give to have Alice there right now!

She would be able to see into the future and let him know if he was being foolish for chasing after the human. As it was, he was too far away for him to try and read Lauren's mind and see the truth of her words.

He had not discovered the mysterious "portkeys" yet, and he couldn't find the keys to the car that was supposedly his, either. It didn't matter. He could run fast enough that he would arrive at Lauren's room in no time at all.

It had been awhile since he'd been hunting for food, though, so his eyes weren't the normal gold color, but rather a dark one bordering on red. He hoped he could help the human and then leave as quickly as possible.

Edward arrived, knocked three times on the door, and waited patiently. It wouldn't do for their first meeting if he slipped into her room without having to wait for her to open the door, after all.


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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-25 08:02 pm UTC (link)
Lauren couldn't really believe she was letting someone she had just met on the internet come over to her hotel room. Despite the website everyone had so helpfully linked her too, she still didn't really know where exactly she was. She had never been to England before, and yet she was in a hotel room in London. A fairly expensive one at that. Not really the kind of place she had stayed before. In her handbag were keys and papers, a passport, and two first class tickets to Los Angeles. There was also an article of some kind, with her black and white picture staring back at her from the grey print. MySpace celebrity it said, underneath her picture.

Lauren Santini didn't even know how to use MySpace.

But she guessed it didn't really matter that Edward was a stranger and she was inviting him over. Everyone in this world was now a stranger, so she'd have to adopt the whole Hallmark way of thinking that strangers were simply friends you hadn't met yet. Yeah, she knew how lame it sounded. And also how it was practically an invitation for psychos. But she wasn't really worried about anyone trying to hurt her. She could fend for herse;f better than most people. All part of being a slayer.

She was lost in her thoughts, mostly wondering if she had said too much by telling him about the events of Winter Falls before it disappeared again when there was an almost perfectly timed series of three knocks on her door. Taking a deep breath, she climbed off of the plush hotel bed and pulled the door to her room open.

It was hard to explain, but she was staggered by the sight of him. He was handsome, as anyone could see. But there was something else about him. Something more. An allure that kept her standing still in her spot with her hand curled around the metal handle of the door as she stared at him like she was trying to figure out how to blink again.

"Edward?" She asked, when she had managed to shake herself from her trance. "Come on in." She offered, stepping back so that he could move past her instead of holding him hostage in the doorway.

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-26 03:38 am UTC (link)
He smiled slightly at Lauren. "Thank you." Had he been mistaken, or had she taken longer than normal before letting him in? He shook it off as he walked inside, looking around. Everything in her hotel room appeared to be normal. That, of course, wasn't saying much.

He turned around to face her and tried to hear her thoughts. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced with another human before. Not the simplistic, boring thoughts of high school students prattling on about crushes or pop quizzes in Biology... no, it was almost as if more than one person's thoughts resided in her head. He tried to pick them apart without giving anything away, so he smiled again -- an easygoing one meant to comfort her.

Edward couldn't see images the way that his sister Alice could -- just thoughts. What troubled him wasn't that her thoughts were so complex, though. It was that he couldn't hear all of them. Why not? It was so incredibly frustrating! How could he help her (and more importantly, why did he feel the need to) if he didn't know everything?

"So, you say you've met a vampire." He stepped closer to her, his head tilted slightly to gauge her reaction. If she had been lying about that, she wouldn't have to do so any longer. "And that your future is tied to them?" From what he could tell, she truly believed this to be true.

"Would you care to elaborate, Lauren? And no, you didn't tell me too much." He heard that thought loud and clear.

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-26 04:04 am UTC (link)
Something clicked with her as soon as the clouds cleared from Lauren's head. She'd been so swayed just by looking at him, she hadn't picked up on the warning of her senses pricking underneath her skin.

He was a vampire. The very first person she'd talked to since finding herself here, the person she'd invited to the hotel room she was alone in, the person she had felt oddly safe around, was a vampire.

And yet he didn't seem like any vampire she had met before which intrigued her and kept her from immediately reaching for her stake.

Hmmm...would she care to elaborate? And--did he just read her thoughts? Or did she forget that she had said it out loud? Confusion crossed the features of her face for a second before she shook them away.

"The thing is, Edward, I-" She frowned slightly. "I'm a vampire slayer." Lauren said bluntly, not much for mincing words or dancing around truths that were evident. Even if they weren't evident, it would be evident that she was hiding something. "It's a long story, but it used to be that there was only one girl in all the world to take care of the demon population. But then someone did this big spell, and hundreds of us got activated. We're supernaturally inclined to kill demons. It's how I didn't disappear along with my town." She explained, watching his face close for a shifting in expressions but Edward was hard to read.

"I'm telling you because you asked." She added. "And also because I know you're a vampire." She included sheepishly. "I knew it the moment you walked in the door."

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-26 04:21 am UTC (link)
"Really?"

His smile didn't go away, even though he flinched inside when he heard her speak the words "vampire slayer". A human who did nothing but kill vampires? Dangerous work, since he knew how incredibly difficult it was to kill one.

He'd heard about the many times Carlisle had tried and failed to kill himself. As far as Edward knew, the only safe way to be rid of one was dismemberment followed by setting the body aflame.

And yet somehow, he still stood there in her room, quite alive. "I'm a vampire? I suppose it's very obvious to you, then?" He teased her, gently. He didn't want to have to kill a human, but if she meant to kill him...

No. Why else would she tell him?

"The stake won't work." He kept his eyes locked on hers. "I warned you that maybe I wouldn't be a good friend for you to have, Lauren, but you seem intent on playing with fire."

Nonetheless, he didn't want to see her harmed. Special abilities or not, Edward wasn't certain she could truly care for herself completely. At least, not to his satisfaction.

He stepped closer to her and whispered lightly, "Do you wish to be burned?"

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-26 04:38 am UTC (link)
"Really."

She was nervous now. Which was ridiculous because she was a slayer and he was just a vampire. Inside her head, she laughed at that. Edward Cullen was clearly not just a vampire.

"Very obvious to me." She answered him. "Though your secret's probably safe with others." Lauren reasoned. Well, others who weren't like her. Of course they'd be able to tell what he was the second he was in their presence. There was the way their senses hummed almost electrically when a vampire was near.

His eyes were so intense as they held her own, she felt his gaze nearly burning through her. She didn't wish to be burned but it felt like it was happening anyway. The way Edward's gaze was searing into her.

"Not particularly." She replied, not moving backward as he came closer still. Instead, she merely stood very, very still. "But just so you know, it's you who is in danger." She warned him. "I've been burned before a few times before and I'm not scared of fire anymore."

In her mind, she thought: And I'm not scared of you.

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-26 11:35 am UTC (link)
"Hmm." He heard her thought, loud as anything he'd heard all day long, and smiled wider at her. "Are you sure that you shouldn't be, Lauren? Scared of me, that is."

Edward noticed how still she stood, almost as still as a vampire could if needed. She was completely fascinating, and a human. He silently cursed the God that he knew would never allow him into Heaven for all of the sins he'd committed, for how could such a young girl like this capture his attention?

He should have walked away, never to speak to her again, especially once she claimed he was in danger. A vampire slayer? He was unsure what to do about that. Part of him knew that because she was unlike other humans, that was the only reason he was bothering to speak to her, but there was also something more.

"Come with me." He held out a hand to her, curious to see what she would do. It was dark out now, and there was a nearby forest. He wanted to see her "in action", so to speak. If she could adequately protect herself from vampires, then he would go away and leave her alone forever.

Liar.

"I won't hurt you, Lauren. I swear to you that I won't." He held his breath, an unnecessary action but one he did for her sake since he was getting quite thirsty and her scent was tantalizing. It was all about control, and he would not become the monster that he once was.

"Come with me outside, and show me how you kill my kind." If she was capable against the less-trustworthy vampires that Edward knew about, then... then what, exactly?

Damn you, human. Damn you for taking my life and turning it on its head with your talk of death and loss. And damn me for wanting to save you from that pain again.

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-26 01:44 pm UTC (link)
Her eyes went wide and then narrowed. That was the second time he had...only this time, she was sure she hadn't said that out loud. How did he know that she wasn't afraid of him? It was almost like he could...like he could read her mind. She laughed, only this time she actually did it out loud.

Good luck with that. She offered him, in case he was was in fact hearing her thoughts. My mind's been a pretty fractured place ever since the day I left Winter Falls. It was true. Half the time she found her mind invaded by memories that didn't even belong to her. And she picked them up in the strangest places sometimes. Lauren couldn't help but wonder if she might someday find herself flooded with his memories.

The idea was both frightening and alluring and she couldn't help but wish for it a little. Even though she'd had a few vampires' memories before and they always left her head aching for days.

For a moment, she just stood there, considering his hand. Go with him? But where? It's not that she was particularly tied to this room or anything. She wasn't even sure she would end up staying at the house in Los Angeles that was listed to her in a document in her bag. But to go with him?

"You want me to kill your kind?" She repeated as though she hadn't heard the question right, though she had heard it all too loud and all too clear. It was just kind of amazing, really. She'd never had a vampire ask her to kill another vampire before. Lauren found herself silently disappointed almost, that he hadn't meant for her to come with him to wherever he was or wherever he was going.

In an experiment, she pulled a random memory from the abyss of them inside her head. Penny's sixteenth birthday party came up out of the draw and she almost regretted it, but it was already there. Her beautiful sister, laughing and leaning over the pink candles as if she were still alive. With the memory playing painfully out, she attempted to hide her thoughts behind it. To cross the wires, so to speak.

It could be a set up. She thought, running it over in her mind. This whole thing could be a set up. I get sent to some strange land that that everyone says I can't return from, the first person I meet is a vampire who charms his way over to my hotel room which he is suspiciously close to. And now he wants me to go with him and kill another vampire? Of course, it didn't really make much sense to her either, that anyone would go to all this trouble to...what, exactly? Kill her? Turn her? Capture her?

She would just have to take her chances.

His hand was still outstretched toward her and she reached forward, sliding her own hand into his palm until they were nearly locked together. Edward's fingers curled around her hand with surprising firmness and she leveled her eyes at him for a moment.

"Let's go." She said, as they headed out of the hotel room and down into the streets of London. Lauren was curious to see if he had a preference when it came to her killing one of his own kind. Or if it was, in fact, a set up. Either way, she'd fight.

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-26 04:03 pm UTC (link)
"I can tell," he said, answering her unspoken thoughts. "Is that a challenge?" By now, she must have known about his ability, but he didn't press it. After all, if she could kill vampires through some magical means why should he have to explain himself to her?

He tried to hear her thoughts after that, but frowned. Oh, she was good. All he got were thoughts of her sister's birthday, and he raised one eyebrow at her curiously. Obviously, she was thinking of something else, and try as he might, Edward could not figure out what it was.

There was an almost disappointed sigh from him, not because of her but because it was infuriatingly annoying that he could not know everything. "Don't be afraid, Lauren. And yes, I want you to kill them. They aren't like me -- they will hunt humans. I'm a... vegetarian, so to speak." His hand, cold and hard to the touch, held hers as lightly as possible -- after all, he still wasn't sure if a touch from him that wasn't carefully controlled was a touch that could break her.

She was, after all, only human. Unless she had some sort of ability as a killer of vampires that would make her safe to his touch...

He pulled her with him slowly once she'd agreed, then grinned. "You'll be too slow this way. Close your eyes." Edward picked her up and held her on his back, then ran as fast as he could from her hotel room to the forest he'd seen not too far from there. It was over in a matter of seconds and he let Lauren go, watching her, waiting.

"Show me." A hand touched her hair -- that, after all, was safe -- and he suddenly got very serious. "There are two vampires here, a male and female. If you need help, tell me and I'll take care of it for you." He didn't notice how protective those words sounded.

"Prove that Winter Falls is but a distant memory..."

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-26 04:43 pm UTC (link)
So it was true then. He really was reading her mind. He gave no indication of whether or not her little experiment had worked but Edward didn't rush to defend himself either, assuring her that it was in no way a trap or a set up. Maybe it had worked after all.

She had never heard of a vampire refer to himself as a vegetarian so she couldn't help but wonder what exactly that meant. Surely he needed blood to survive. There were things like blood banks, small animals, and even humans she'd heard of who became so enthralled by the presence and existence of vampires that they let the vampires feed on them. Lauren was too distracted to really give it much thought, her eyes on his hand. If she didn't know any better, she'd start to think he thought she was somehow fragile. And then she realized she didn't know any better. She didn't know him at all.

At first she raised an eyebrow at him when he told her she'd be too slow. She could run faster than the average human, he just didn't know yet. That becoming a slayer had rebuilt her body for the task. Still, she humored him since this was his show now and as she closed her eyes, she felt herself lifted. Then a blur. Then she was on the ground again. Her eyes opened and the scenery had changed completely. They were in the woods somewhere. Dense woods. She couldn't even see any buildings through the foliage.

"Thanks for the tip." Lauren said wryly as she removed the stake from the back of her waistband, hidden behind her coat. She had recognized the presence of the other vampires almost as soon as she had opened her eyes but she couldn't guess their genders. Shrugging out of her jacket, she let it fall to the forest floor as she moved away from Edward.

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-26 04:43 pm UTC (link)
"So," Lauren said, holding her hands out in invitation. "Who wants to go first?" As if on cue, the male vampire rushed at her from behind a tree. If she hadn't known he was there, she might have even believed he'd appeared out of the thin air. She tried to move past him, but he reached out and grabbed the ends of her hair as it flew past him. Curling his fist around a handful of her hair, he jerked her toward him. Hard. Her face contorted in anger and she brought her elbow down into his gut until he let go, his hands going protectively over his wounded stomach. Using his vulnerability as opportunity, she punched him in the face before pushing him back against a tree to stake him.

"Big mistake." Lauren informed him, referring back to pulling her hair. "Besides, didn't your mother ever teach you that it's ladies first?" She asked, not giving him an opportunity to answer as she plunged the pointed end of her stake deep into his heart and went face forward into the tree itself in a cloud of his dust.

Another hand wrapped around her hair, this time at the base of her skull. Sharp nails scraped her scalp as she was pulled backward just by her hair and thrown to the ground. Right. The other vampire. She started to get up but the female vampire kicked her hard in the ribs before throwing herself on top of Lauren who struggled underneath her to find the stake that had rolled away from her. Lifting her off the ground by her shoulders, the vampire punched her in the face before wrapping her hands around Lauren's throat.

I can do this. Lauren thought loudly when she thought a shadow thar crossed her vision may have been Edward coming to her rescue. She didn't need rescuing. She needed to kill this vampire herself.

She choked a little but managed to turn her body underneath the vampire's just enough that when she twisted hard, she managed to topple her. They both rolled, moving back to their feet at nearly equal the speed. As if sensing her own impending death, the vampire made a move back toward the darker thick of the woods from where she came. But Lauren was determined more than over to kill her now. Running in the same direction the vampire was fleeing, she came to a large rock mass and threw her hands down on its surface which propelled her entire body up until she was in a handstand. Torquing her body as she came back down on the other side, she surprised the vampire by landing right in front of her face and Lauren staked her before she could even comprehend what had just happened.

Wiping the blood from her lip, she brushed it off on her jeans along with the dirt on both hands before walking back over to Edward. With a hint of a smile, she handed him the stake she had used to kill not one but two of his kind.

"Winter Falls will never be a distant memory." She informed him. "It's my whole reason."

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-27 03:50 am UTC (link)
Edward bent and picked up Lauren's jacket, watching her carefully. As far as he knew, stakes would be of no use against a vampire, but the rules were different in this world. He held her jacket in one hand, the other balled into a fist as watched the deadly dance playing out before him.

He'd misjudged her strength. That was certainly interesting. More than that, it was reassuring to know that she was not like all the other breakable humans in the world. There was a half-smile of pride on his face as she killed the first vampire, but it vanished once he saw dust blowing in the breeze. Self-consciously, he touched his chest, mentally reminding himself that these vampires were obviously very unlike himself.

Before he could do anything else, though, the female vampire had her hands around Lauren's neck and Edward dropped her jacket, crouched, and was ready to spring. He knew exactly how he would do it, too. First, he would pull her hands off Lauren and push her behind him to protect her, then he would attack the neck. Dozens of other moves entered his mind quickly, followed by decapitating the female and setting a bonfire, but then he heard Lauren.

I can do this, she had thought, and he understood immediately. Not only did she understand his powers now, but she understood him as well. There was a small, rueful laugh as he stood slowly, forced to watch her defend herself to prove a point. It went against everything inside of him to be so powerless when he knew he could save her if she asked.

But she hadn't.

He waited, watched, and forgot to breathe as the tension filled his body until the fight was done and the vampire was dead. Then, he tried to keep the fury out of his voice when she approached. She could have died, she could have...

He handed the jacket back to her as she handed the stake to him. He looked at it, turned it over in his hand, and handed it back to Lauren as well. "Perhaps you should keep it." Was there anger there still in his voice? He'd tried to disguise it.

"You did well. Exceptionally, for a human. Of course, we both know you're not simply a human which makes it all the more..." He stared at the small amount of blood still left on her lip and shut his eyes. The wind changed directions and the scent drifted towards him, though, and Edward's breathing stopped altogether in order to leash himself. He could not hurt her. He would not, more importantly.

"I think you need a better reason," he rasped out, still unable to look at her fully. "Maybe I should take you back home now."

Even though the part of him that wasn't thirsting was yearning for her to stay.

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-27 03:55 pm UTC (link)
Lauren slipped her jacket back on, pulling it up along her arms and then over her shoulders before shaking out a little and then letting it lay upon her body just in time to have her stake handed back to her. In spite of herself, she smirked at that.

It was meant to be a gesture of goodwill. She informed him through her thoughts. So you would see that I had no intentions of doing to you what I did to them. But he sounded a little angry and not nearly half as amused as she was so she simply tucked the stake back behind her and tilted her face up to his at his praise.

Until something strange came over him and he turned his face away from hers. Why? What had she done? Licking her dry lips, chapped a little by the cold and the lack of breath caused by so much effort, she tasted the metallic remnants of her bruised lip. The punch thrown by the female vampire who was now just dust on her jeans. Reaching up, she smoothed her thumb over the wound until she was sure it was clean.

"You're wrong." She informed him sincerely. "When I left that place, before I got there, I had no reason at all. I drifted through this life and I didn't care if I lived or died." Sometimes I still don't. "But that place, those things, it gave me something to live for. And even when I didn't want to do that, it gave me something to fight for. Always." She insisted. "Always something to fight for."

She ignored the suggestion that he should take her home now. And what was home anyway? She was in a strange new place that she didn't know at all, and it didn't really matter to her who they said she was on paper.

"What do you fight for, Edward Cullen?" She asked instead, unmoved from where she stood.

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-27 05:55 pm UTC (link)
Edward nodded at Lauren's thoughts, knowing that was the intention, but realizing that the stake was useless against him and she would need it for herself. It had seemed as if it was an extension of herself -- not simply a weapon -- and so it felt right to give it back to her. Still, the very thought that she would not want to harm him did make him smile.

She was forcing him to acknowledge that humanity within himself that he had thought was long dead.

Her next thought that he heard shocked him out of his trance, and he glanced up at her with red eyes, full of thirst for her blood that he managed somehow to control. "I care if you die."

And why was that, he mused? A girl he barely met, one damaged emotionally yet strong physically who wasn't afraid to fight for herself. Who wasn't afraid of him, either. His thumb reach out and he touched her lip where hers had just been, tracing it before bringing it back to his own mouth. He grinned and slid the hand into his pants pocket, resisting the urge to taste her -- and also trying to show Lauren that he, too, could be trusted.

"I understand you, actually. I've drifted through my own life far too much, and I've only realized it now, at this moment." His adopted siblings were married and happy, his adopted parents were as well. He alone had walked through life, not seeking another person because he never felt he would find someone. "I've decided to place the blame entirely upon you, Lauren. Hopefully you won't mind."

Her question, though... what did he fight for? For his family, of course. For humans and humanity living in peace. For the betterment of a world that was filled with chaos. All of these and more, and yet the only thing he told Lauren was, "I fight so that you won't have to, Lauren Santini."

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-27 06:20 pm UTC (link)
Lauren didn't know what to be more caught upon; the deep redness that had taken over his eyes or the fact that he cared if she died. It was the latter, really, that took hold of her and kept there. Somewhere out in the world--well, in another world entirely--she still had a mother. A living, breathing mother. A mother who didn't care if she lived or died. At least Lauren felt she had the right to make that assumption considering as far as she knew, Maria Santini had never looked back.

"Well, you shouldn't." She informed him, tucking her hands into her back pockets the way she had done for most of her life. A force of habit. "I'm in a very dangerous line of work and one of the first things they ever told us was not to expect to live long once called. The oldest one on record is twenty-six now, I think. And she's the exception, not the rule." It was one of the reasons Lauren had found herself having a hard time forming bonds with other people once she had made it down to Louisiana and even in Los Angeles. Not just because she had buried everyone that had ever meant anything to her, because she knew the day that someone was gonna have to bury her wasn't as far off as she'd have liked for it to be.

Her face, dark and slightly turned into a mask of brutal numbness, turned lighter and she found herself smiling when he blamed her for not continuing to drift. "I don't mind." She assured him. It was actually nice to be the reason when the reason was good. For awhile there, she'd started to feel like an albatross hung upon the neck of anyone who had the misfortune of crossing her path. A black cat. Bad omen.

"You're a charmer, you know that?" She asked him, the memory of his thumb still burning on the corner of her lip as though it had left an imprint there. Lauren had met a few charmers before, but all of them had been half charmer, half snake. She wondered if he fell into the same category.

"And your eyes are red." In case he didn't know.

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-27 08:01 pm UTC (link)
Back somewhere in the dark corner of his mind, Edward -- the Edward that he didn't want to admit existed -- thought of a wonderful answer to her plight. She could become a vampire and fight for what she believed in for all eternity.

But it was a quiet voice at the moment, and he truthfully had never turned a human into a vampire. He hoped he never would.

"And who are you to tell me what I should or should not care about?" It was a defense mechanism, he was certain, and he tried to hear her thoughts once again to make sure he was right, but again, it was confusing. Jumbled. Bits of thoughts of Winter Falls made it difficult for him to hear her current thoughts, and he finally gave up.

For the moment.

"If you're so dangerous, then why haven't you killed me yet? What is it about me that has stopped you from destroying me?" Or at least, attempting to do so?

Ah, but then the smile crossed her lips and Edward found himself staring at them again, this time for a different sort of hunger. "I'm a charmer?" It was his most innocent tone of voice, although he knew that most vampires could indeed charm humans quite easily. He simply had never given it much consideration until Lauren.

He immediately shut his eyes and turned away. "Yes, I know. I apologize. I didn't wish for you to see that. It's been a few weeks since I've hunted." He quickly added, "For animals. I prefer mountain lions, actually." Silently, he wondered if his attempt at levity had worked at all.

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-27 09:00 pm UTC (link)
"No one." She whispered quickly, surprised and a little stunned by the sudden turn of his anger. Lauren felt herself taking a subconscious step back. Not because she was afraid, but because she was uncertain. Edward had told her she was playing with fire. But she was only now starting to feel a little bit of the heat. Not even a flame yet. Just a little bit of candleglow.

"Is there a reason I should kill you?" She asked, as they still studied each other. Almost daring one another to make the first move. Yet both stood perfectly still. "So far you haven't given me a reason to, but if you think I should..." She trailed off. The truth was, he had given her a reason to. Edward existed and that was supposed to be reason enough for her. But she had heard of good vampires before. Angel and Spike, particularly. Vampires with souls. Maybe that was it. Maybe Edward has a soul? Or maybe in Strangeland, vampires were different than the ones from back home.

Lauren simply nodded when he confirmed that she had called him a charmer. She still wasn't sure though yet if he was half-snake too. If she was around him long enough, which she was suddenly hoping for, she would find out.

When Edward turned away from her, she found herself taking the step back, the one she had taken away from him. Her nose crinkled slightly at the talk of feeding from...mountain lions. And then something came over her before she could even think better of it or stop herself.

"How much do you need?" Lauren asked, hesitancy in her voice. "Could you...could you- from me? Without killing me?" She asked quietly. "Just enough to sustain you. Or I could help you hunt." She offered helpfully. Yes, she was definitely playing with fire.

Perhaps she did wish to be burned.

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-28 01:07 am UTC (link)
He became angry at her for even daring to think that she was "no one", let alone state it aloud. His hand shot out and grabbed her arm, not too forcefully but enough to hold her in place. "Don't say that ever again. You're quite the fool to say it, but even more so if you believe it." He slowly let her arm go, always careful that he did not injure her in any way.

What was she doing to him? He smiled and shook his head. "I've no wish to die, Lauren, and I've no wish to fight you, either. Does that answer your question?" He should have explained to her how his family was different than other vampires, how Carlisle's compassion had only grown through time and had been the one constant in all of their lives. He should have, but Edward was never one for opening himself up so freely and completely to anyone. As it was, this human, this killer of vampires, knew far more about him than most anyone else.

He saw her nod, and his smile widened, showing off perfectly white teeth, glistening. No fangs, as most legends claimed. No biting either, but she wouldn't know that. It was the venom that poisoned their prey and allowed vampires to feed. And, of course, there was the small matter of daylight... he was suddenly very thankful for the fog of London.

Still, he hadn't lied to her. A few days longer would be all he could stand without hunting. He willed his eyes to turn back, willed himself to forget about his thirst until she spoke up and suddenly Edward turned back to her, eyes filled with fury.

"No."

Now he knew he needed to push her away from him, get her away. How could she even offer--? Did she realize what she was doing to him, how much he ached for her right now at this very moment?

"No, I can't. I haven't fed off a human for over eighty years, and I'm not about to do so simply because I was too foolish to gather some strength for myself before I wound up here. I will not risk everything that I have been brought up to believe in. Humans are not food, in any matter." Could he feed off her without killing her? In theory, yes. In practice, though...?

It was irrelevant. He would not, even if his life depended on it.

He stepped closer to her, not realizing that he had completely closed the gap between them now until her scent hit him and he relished the pain it brought him. Oh, he was the one playing with fire right now, and he didn't wish it to stop.

He was such a selfish creature, to want someone so...

The back of his hand brushed against her cheek lightly. "So beautiful, stubborn, and foolish. Whatever will I do with you, Lauren?" Edward leaned in and brushed his lips against hers lightly, reining his anger and thirst in exchange for possessiveness.

Mine, he thought to himself.

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-28 01:47 am UTC (link)
Lauren supposed it answered her question. He didn't want to harm her and he didn't want to be harmed. There were, of course, others. Other people. But he had called himself a vegetarian and spoken of his taste for mountain lions so she really didn't consider him a risk to the rest of the human population any more than he was a risk to her. Which was none.

In some way, she wasn't really surprised when he declined her offer to let him feed from her. The average vampire would have been on her so fast, she would be dizzy by now and not from the blood loss. But as she had already figured out, Edward Cullen wasn't the average vampire.

The words "eighty years" did do its part to sway her slightly. Eighty years, and who knows how long before that. Yet he didn't look a day older than her. She didn't make a habit of getting to know the vampires she slayed, so she never really had to reconcile a hundred years to a twenty year old body before. She'd barely looked at their faces before driving her stake through the hearts of them. It was too hard, looking at a face that once belonged to a human before it was taken over by a monster.

Lauren didn't like to look past the monster. It made it easier to sleep at night.

"But it's not impossible." She mused, inferring from what he didn't say as much as she'd gotten from what he had. "You won't but you could, if you needed to." It was a simple curiosity. He had been the first person to find her in this strange new world. He had looked her in the eye and he had touched her as though she were porcelain. It had been awhile since anyone had cared if she broke or if she was broken. She found herself immediately enamored by his design. By the way she felt like she was some kind of unbreakable porcelain when he touched her.

Lauren wondered if he could hear her heartbeat and the way it began to race as he moved closer to her until there was not even a whisper in between them. She tilted her head in curiosity as she wondered if he could feel the beat it skipped as his eyes burned into hers. If only he placed his hand palm-flat on the bare skin of her chest, fingers splayed against the warm skin, he would feel it. The way it fluttered against her skin like a trapped butterfly trying to escape its glass jar and be nearer to something it consider more beautiful than it.

Her eyes fell closed as just the back of his hand touched her face and the butterfly fell dead and down into the pit of her stomach where it began to ache. Whatever you want to. She thought before she could resist it or before she could make it with a wall of memories. As if he could read her mind, which was actually entirely possible, he kissed her so softly she wondered if maybe she was only dreaming of it. Had she fallen asleep standing up? Was it just a daydream?

Opening her eyes, she found him there right in front of hers just as his lips were breaking from hers. It wasn't a dream, yet it was over too soon.

"I think that's a good start," She decided as she considered him, his face still so close to hers. "But I think I can do you one better." Lauren added as she impulsively reached her hand up, her fingernails making trails through his hair until her hand was resting against the back of his head with fingers wound firmly in his hair. It was compulsive, dangerous, and forbidden. She was born to kill him. Their destinies; star-crossed.

Her Fate was different now though, and he was part of that. And so she kissed him back this time, though she was more daring than he as she pressed her lips more firmly against his and let him steal the breath she'd been holding ever since his lips had left hers.

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-28 04:00 pm UTC (link)
"Yes, it's impossible," he answered in turn. "It's impossible because I refuse to hurt you. If you cannot see the truth in that, Lauren, then I don't know if I should bother talking with you any longer."

Which was a lie. It would ache and hurt now, he realized, if he left her. How this had happened in such a short period of time, and with a human no less, was quite beyond him. But if she continued to pursue this line of questioning, Edward knew he had no other alternative.

He quieted the voice in the back of his head that told him he was nothing more than a monster who wanted her for himself. It worked for all of three seconds.

Edward heard her thought and didn't realize that the growl he heard came from himself. They were both playing with fire now, and one of them had to be responsible. Naturally, he didn't wish it to be him since there were so many delectable things he wanted to do with Lauren, especially once he heard the rapid-fire pace of her heart like a jackrabbit. His grin returned briefly as he thought to himself, My little rabbit, but it was gone just as fast once Lauren's attack began in earnest.

And truthfully, it could not be described as anything other than an attack. No, he was not dead as the other two vampires she'd killed had been, but she was doing her damnedest to make him join them. She simply was using herself as the weapon instead of a stake. He froze in place like a statue, cold and unyielding to her touch all while thinking of how he wanted to do other things to her, things he had never done before.

How was she to know that his virtue was the one human attribute he still had? That he had waited for the right person, only to be turned into a vampire on his deathbed? That Carlisle had hoped and prayed Edward would find another woman attractive and in all his years, he'd remained alone, waiting for that other half of himself?

Unyielding, unresponsive, even as her hands tangled in his hair and her lips demanded more than he could give to her. Finally unable to take the torture of her warm body against his, Edward reached up and pulled her hands slowly away from him, holding them in his own hands. A prisoner, for he would not let her go at the same time that he would not allow her to continue.

"Lauren..."

Her scent was still caught in the wind, lingering even though he'd stopped breathing. He could kill her right now, though she probably thought he couldn't -- or wouldn't, rather, and on that last part she would have been correct.

"I can't."

Still, his hands held hers captive, not allowing her to leave him.

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-28 09:21 pm UTC (link)
"Then it is still technically possible," Lauren reasoned though she could tell that he didn't like her line of reasoning or that she continued to pursue it in his presence. He was being stubborn and she refused to see how...it would just be one little bite, right? He could take just enough to be sustained but not completely satisfied. She could make him feel better, just as he had done simply by existing in this world with her.

And yet he still refused.


"I was just trying to help." She added. "I didn't take it to mean that you would even consider hurting me." No, Lauren was beginning to get the faint impression that Edward Cullen would rather impale himself upon her stake than harm a single hair on her head. And that if anyone were to choose to do it in place of him, they would meet the same end.

Lauren couldn't be bothered with the reality that he was unmoved by her, by the hands threaded through his hair, by the force of her lips against his. There was too much of herself wrapped up in that moment. Too much that needed nothing more than for him to stand there and to have the weight of all these things she suddenly and so intensely felt upon him.

It was as he drew her hands away, as he untangled her heat and her fire from his limbs and held them at an arm's length where they could no long infuse his being with her essence.

"Lauren..."

Her name on his lips, her eyes searching his wildly for an explanation that couldn't seem to be dragged from the obsidian depths. There was nothing. No explanation. No reason.

"I can't."

But that was no reason, and that was no explanation. That was nothing. It's me. Lauren thought, not even remembering that he could so easily hear even what was kept and held deepest inside. It's what I am. It's what I've done. It's who I've become. It's...I moved too fast. She was quite sure she had lost her mind there for a moment and embarrassed, she struggled futilely to free herself from the imposition of his hold. He was strong. Stronger than any she had ever encountered before and it was all she could do to jerk her hands free.

"Let me go!" She demanded hotly, as an afterthought. She felt his eyes burning into her, and she turned her back.

You cannot possess me, Lauren dared.

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-29 04:16 pm UTC (link)
((<--bump))

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-29 04:17 pm UTC (link)
"No." The word came out angrier this time. How could he make her understand? With a deep sigh, he caressed her cheek. "I would pump your bod full of venom from a small bite until you would not be able to move. You would feel pain -- something akin to fire -- and then once you could no longer resist, then I would steal blood from you against your will. That is not an acceptable alternative, Lauren."

He didn't think she truly understood, and once her thoughts were practically screaming at him, he knew he was right. He held onto her tightly, not wanting her to leave him, not now... and then he realized that perhaps he had been holding on too tightly. What if he'd bruised her tender skin? He could not bear it if...

He let her go abruptly, just as she asked.

"Whatever you wish."

But he still had a point to make. She was wrong about herself. "Lauren... it's not you. Not who you are, what you are, or what you've done at all. You must be the most beautiful, stubborn creature I've ever encountered. You wish to know what it is, for it certainly wasn't you."

Edward leaned in and whispered in her ear. "I've never been with a woman. Not even when I was human." He laughed slightly, then touched her arm with a finger, tracing the skin there carefully. "I don't wish to break you. I want to make sure that if you are here, it is because you wish to be. Not because you're lonely and have some strange notions about me."

I'm not perfect... I'm only a man.

The last thought she had felt like a dare, though, and Edward hissed slightly before holding her face between his hands, forcing her to look at him. She'd just asked him to release her, and he'd complied because he knew now that it was the only thing he could do. Lauren held some power over him, and he was afraid that it had something to do with the heart he'd long forgotten about. Staring into her face, though, he pushed all his noble thoughts aside.

"Oh, yes I can," he murmured before his lips found hers again, brushing softly once more, teasing, torturing, promising more and never letting her have it. If she was going to possess him, then he was going to do do the same in turn.

He let her face go, allowing her to move and leave him if she wished, but his mouth trailed to her neck, her ear, always placing delicate kisses as his hands found her throat, her hair, her cheek. Touching, tasting, careful. Sweet torture for himself as well, until he whispered into her ear, "You're mine now, Lauren. Unless you want me to go away..."

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-07-29 11:32 pm UTC (link)
She was haunted. His words sliced right through her like freshly sharpened blades and she was haunted by them. It evoked images of spiders. Small bites and venom. Pain and paralysis. Lauren had never liked spiders which was often something the other slayers would make fun of her for. That she could kill demons but she couldn't stand something as small as a spider. Just the idea that Edward would act as a spider to feed on her made her skin crawl and for the very first time since they'd met, she acknowledged just how dangerous he might be. Even next to her.

It's not all romantic, like I thought it was. Lauren thought to herself as she refused to move her eyes from his. A little bite on the neck, a little blood. A wound that would heal, and I just happen to heal exceptionally fast. She couldn't see but she'd have bet that the wound at the corner of her lip had already vanished.

She liked that he touched her as though she were easily broken or a piece of fruit that bruised if you pressed your fingers too deeply into its skin. But the truth was, she wasn't porcelain nor was she a peach. Lauren was built for battle. Built for more than just the hands of one preternaturally strong vampire.

Whatever I wish? Her thoughts demanded. Though he seemed to be reading her unspoken thoughts now. The ones she hadn't even had the opportunity to think them.

At first she wasn't sure if what she was hearing was right. He had never...not ever? Her face clouded over with confusion. He was handsome, there was no denying that. Even when he had been human, he had to have been alluring. But what was it he had said, eighty years as a "vegetarian"? Eighty years as a charmer and he hadn't...not once?

Lauren herself had only been with one man. It was before her entire world fell apart and her whole town disappeared. She hadn't had it in her since then. It wasn't in her heart and therefore it wasn't in her head. Edward was already in her head, despite her best defenses so she could only imagine what that would ultimately mean.

"I'm here because I can't leave." Lauren confessed, traitor to herself. "I'm not afraid to be alone, even in a strange place. I've been alone, for what feels like most of my life now and believe me, I'm comfortable in the dark." She said truthfully.

It was a spell, she was sure of it. Some kind of dark magic he had bewitched her with. She was ensnared by everything about him. A helpless victim tied to his silken web.

Her mouth went dry when he swore he could possess her and strangely, the feeling turning over and over in the pit of her stomach seemed to recognize some satisfaction as if her subconscious had purposely put the challenge forward, only knowing he would accept. Only wanting to be possessed by him.

And then she crumbled, like ancient ruins falling under the weight of their own splendor yet ravaged by time and the elements until their pillars themselves were weak in the knees and tumbling down. His lips against hers was fire, plain and simple. He had only kissed her softly, not nearly enough to pierce the chasm of her lips with his tongue nor to bruise and yet when he pulled away, she swayed unable to remain still and yet unmoved all the same as he poured fire down the valleys of her skin. Something about his touch unlocked parts of her that she had long forgotten. Every inch of her skin was ignited and she shuddered helplessly as her informed her that she was his. Unless she wanted him to go away which seemed almost sarcastic since he had to know that was the last thing on this or any other planet that she wanted.

"Yours?" Lauren asked, willing herself to move away before he had her captured entirely. Her back was to him though she felt the bones in her chest shaking like thin leaves in a heavy Fall wind. Felt her heart still racing like if it could just thump hard enough, it could escape her thoracic cavity entirely. The air was slightly cold and felt good against her skin, chilling the skin of her face until it almost felt like his but not quite. She felt free suddenly. As if the years and all her sorrows had been peeled away and she was free. And yet all she could think of was being held in his captivity.

"And what does it mean to be yours, Edward Cullen?"

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-07-30 11:41 am UTC (link)
Oh, if she was a vampire, he could pass his thoughts to her and she would know everything. How there was a surge of happiness within him once he "heard" that she healed quickly. Or the answer to her next thought.

Yes, whatever you wish and desire is yours.

"Yes," he did manage to say in response at the very least once his hand strayed to her face again. There was something about it that was utterly perfect. He simply had to touch her, although it caused him physical pain. He was a man who desired more, a vampire who desired her happiness at the cost of his own, and above all else? He needed -- no, he could not live without -- Lauren Santini. Mentally he cursed everyone and everything that had caused this to happen all while thanking them, too.

"I can't leave, either," Edward told her in confidence. "But I don't want you to join me in the dark. You deserve to have light in your life after everything that you've suffered with your sister, with Winter Falls... you deserve so much more than someone who can never give you a truly human life."

Then again, Lauren wasn't fully human. Ah, there was the rub, the pleasure and the pain of being with a woman like her. It would be so simple for him to allow that dark, selfish nature to take control and say, "Yes. Come to the dark with me forever and I will make you happy for all eternity." But if he did that, he would undo everything he'd fought for, everything he'd learned from Carlisle. He would damn her.

He would deprive her of her soul, for Edward knew the truth even if his family had not. God did not love vampires and did not welcome them into the gates of Heaven. Despite the fact that Edward had no choice in becoming a vampire, he knew that his soul was gone. Oh, others had tried to convince him that he was wrong, but the temptation that Lauren brought was pulling at him.

He had to keep her soul safe. More importantly, he had to keep her safe.

"Mine," he answered anyway, never allowing his lips to leave the fire of her skin even as he knew he was a foolish man for wanting her like this. Needing her like a drug. He was an addict now, and every kiss was a touch of pleasure that filled him with hope at the same time that it left him yearning for more.

He may not have ever been with a woman before, but he would possess Lauren. At least, that had been the plan until she moved away and pressed her back to him. His smile, both calculating and loving, curled on his face as he wrapped his arms gently around her body, not asking for anything else in return from her. A simple touch, one filled with innocence. He kissed the back of her head, taking in the scent of her hair and realizing that finally, the blood had vanished. Still, it wasn't as though her scent had disappeared completely. Exquisite torture...

"It means simply this, Lauren. I will stay here with you in this strange world for as long as you desire me to do so, and I will leave if you ask it of me. I will care for you, sing to you..." -- oh yes, he had a song in mind that he was composing in his head at that very moment for her -- "... touch you, kiss you, protect you, crave you. I will never hurt you, never take blood from you, and I swear that in return, you will have only me."

Follow her, lick her skin, taste her lips, watch her grow old and then kill himself soon afterward as well, but he didn't tell her that part.

"It means that I belong to you just as much as you are mine... unless you don't want me."

His voice had quieted to a whisper by that point and he was more than a little frightened at her response. What if she rejected him? It would be better that way in the long run. She could have a normal life... only no. No, she couldn't. Her life was already changed forever because of what she was. No, Edward knew that decades of searching had finally yielded the woman who was his other half, even if Lauren didn't realize it yet.

Which also meant that he was quite a liar in saying he would leave her if she wished.

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-08-04 12:01 am UTC (link)
Lauren smiled sadly. There were different kinds of darkness. She really had no desire to join him in his version of the dark but it didn't mean she wasn't already in her own. She wasn't entirely sure there was really any light meant for her. Maybe one day, when she'd die (mostly likely in the line of action) there'd probably be that light she was supposed to toward. At least she hoped there would be. But even that seemed doubtful most of the time.

"A truly human life?" She asked, trying to keep the humor off of her expression and out of her voice. "Kinda hard to have one of those when your destiny in life is wrapped so tightly around all things very non-human." She pointed out to him though there was something about his look, his tone, even, that made her believe he'd already picked up on that part.

His skin was so cold as her back met his chest and she could feel no warmth from it or his hands. Even his mouth was like ice which was contradictory to the heat it produced when it was introduced to her skin. It felt strange; foreign. And Lauren realized that in all her dealings with vampires before, she'd never really touched one. Not like this. Of course she'd laid her hands upon hundreds of them in the midst of many fights but never long enough to notice just how cold a person without circulation and war blood could be.

How glacial death really was.

Her head tilted, against the bottom of his chin where Edward still held her closely to the front of him, explaining to her all that it would mean to be his. No one had ever sang to her before. The return doesn't seem like much. She thought, in reference to herself. Lauren wasn't really sure what, if anything, she had to offer him in return to offer her so much. More than anyone had ever given her before.

"And if I say no?" She was toying with him now. Though she'd figured out a nifty little trick when it came to blocking him from hearing all of her thoughts, the ones about him, and about wanting him, needing him, not wanting him to ever leave her now that they were lost in this strange, cold world together were the loudest. And if he could really hear anything at all, surely he would hear that.

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-08-04 02:59 pm UTC (link)
He sighed wearily. She was right, of course. While she wasn't a vampire or a dog, she still wasn't entirely human. He knew that should make him feel better, that she wasn't so entirely breakable like most humans.

Somehow, it didn't, even though he'd just witnessed her killing two vampires.

He stilled his movements as soon as he heard her thought, with his first instinct that he had been right all along. He was not much of anything in exchange to the life that Lauren led. He couldn't offer her children, for one thing. He couldn't offer her days in the sun without fear that someone would discover him.

"No. I suppose the return is not much at all," he said as he moved away from her slowly, one last brush of skin on skin as a reminder to himself of what might have been if he had kept her with him somehow. Kept, owned, loved...

Loved?

Her words, spoken aloud, brought him out of his sudden depression. Edward quickly masked it with one of his smiles, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief once he realized she was referring to herself and not to him in terms of the "return". Of course, it only served to anger him more once he knew that Lauren was again thinking so very little of herself.

"If you say no," he started, but having heard her thoughts, he moved back to her and brushed his lips against hers, "then you will be as much of a liar as I am." His eyes shut tight as one hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her towards him again. "Lauren, must you always be so contrary? I thought... at first, when you..." He broke off, unable to complete his sentence.

"Don't ever say that or think that again. Ever. Anyone as strong as you who could withstand what you have is worth something."

He kissed her earlobe, then laughed. "I've a wife to divorce and children that aren't mine to care for soon before I can begin this new life. Stay here in London with me. I'll buy us a home. A large one, and fill it with cars or whatever you'd like. Just promise me you'll stay here in London while I attend to the business at hand." He cupped her chin and stared at her intently, knowing his eyes had gone dark once again.

Time to hunt, as well...

"Do you swear, Lauren?"

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[info]darkerthanlight
2008-08-05 02:46 am UTC (link)
Her lips turned downward into a frown as he agreed with her, that what she had to offer, her return on all that he was willing to give her wasn't much. In fact, his words were 'not much at all'. Edward had taken it much farther than even she had and for a moment she was confused as to why. Maybe she had misread this whole thing...

A single chill moved its way up the entire length of her spine, sparking between the vertebrae like a sparkler giving off heat and tiny drops of flame. It had never suited her to be called a liar before but there was something about the way he said, something about what he was implying that held every single inch of her rapt beneath the fingertips that were pulling her to him again. And suddenly, her frown was breaking along its fault lines, turning up into a smirk as he asked her why she always had to be so contrary.

Lauren had been called a lot of things in her life, and none of them had ever hit the mark half as much nor described her as completely, short or as eloquently as just this one word. Contrary. Beneath her skin was mercury. It was better if he learned that now.

She didn't answer his imposition that she not say or think so little of herself ever again but she at least tucked away a memo to herself not to do it in his presence any more. It would be too hard, nearly impossible, to just not do it at all. But she didn't want to upset him unnecessarily by doing so, so she would at least make the effort not to...not to be her most insecure self around him.

And just like that, he was leaving. To divorce his wife and pawn off his children, of course. But she felt her heart twist inside her chest with a sudden, unfamiliar ache and it was all she could do to stop herself from asking him to stay. But he owed her nothing, and it was crazy anyway. Lauren had this beautiful hotel room, and all of these credit cards. A whole new life.

She also had plane tickets back to Los Angeles for the next day, but how could she say no to all of that? More importantly, how could she say no to him?

The answer was, she couldn't.

She wouldn't.

"I swear."

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[info]the_deathofme
2008-08-06 01:35 am UTC (link)
"Good."

And like that, his grin was firmly in place now. He would get everything he wanted, and make sure that the ones he cared for would as well.

"Good," he repeated, mentally shaking his head at himself and his folly. "I'll take you back to your hotel room for tonight, but I've got to go..."

Hunt.

"I swear I'll be back soon. And then we can discuss things further. We can discuss..."

He took a deep breath before uttering the word.

"Us."

Because there was an "us" now, whether he wished to admit it or not. Whether Lauren wished to deny it or not. Perhaps there was a reason for him to be pulled into this other world. He would not deny fate, then.

Edward brushed his lips gently across hers once again, then whispered, "Hold on," as he pulled her across his back and ran away from the forest, back to her hotel room and dropping her off carefully.

"Take care of yourself, Lauren Santini, while I'm away." He pulled her into his arms and held her until the hunger was growing to be too much. Kissing the crown of her head, he stepped away once more, then ran. Ran to hunt, to fix his situation, to return to this impossibly beautiful, dark, stubborn, willful, and dangerous killer of vampires.

For he realized he could not have another, nor would she. Not while he was still alive.

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