𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙊𝙭𝙮𝙜𝙚𝙣 • 𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙨 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙

TO PRAY AND TO UNDERSTAND.

Just to clarify; Your greatest love, or your deepest grief.

That's what's circling my mind as I get off the plane. Elias waits for me in the terminal, just as we discussed previously over the phone; meanwhile somewhere in the forsaken state of Arizona, another vampire hunts him.

James had gotten away from us as we hunted him in Forks; he'd toyed with us before disappearing on a stolen aeroplane.

I'd enjoy killing him when the time came. I'd take my time with it, mercy a forgotten saviour. I'd start with his feet and hands first, so he couldn't run. Not that I'd let him get away again. After he'd stopped screaming, I'd chip away at his immortal body, letting every increment of pain fill me with sick satisfaction. Perhaps I'd get bored in the end, with the torture, perhaps I wouldn't. At some point I'd want to leave, I know, but only because I wouldn't bring my mate along with this show and I'd desperately miss him. Elias would have to remain safe and unscarred from watching reveal my true monster.

Or even better, I wouldn't touch him at all. I'd simply dig around in that brain of his, finding every horrifying emotion he tried to bury and rip it up to the surface; maybe I'd keep him incapacitated and trembling with fear alone until I didn't have to kill him; he'd do it himself.

But that's after I'd found the tracker; for now, I was on my way to find my warm embodiment of destiny. 

Emmetts hand hooks in the crook of my elbow, slowing my pace as I attempt to rush on. Despite it being almost sunset, the sun is still overbearing here, crisp and suffocating; we'd covered ourselves in airport branded clothes brought in a rush from our departing airport. Under my jacket- my black jean jacket that is starting to be ruined from its original owner scent- is a thick grey hoodie. The hood is heavy on my head, hiding my expression; my impatience.

I don't even care about the blood now. I can't concentrate on it, not when it's been so long since laying eyes on Elias and the threat was ever imminent.

I ached to see him. I'd never been away from him this long, not since we'd started seeing each other. If I hadn't been so focused on hunting, I'm not sure how I'd coped- every one of my thoughts revolved around Elias.

Carlisle leads our group- I catch passing bits of emotions like one does a breeze from windows. Suspicious, want, surprise- we look like hidden celebrities with our hoods and glasses. I don't care- not about their emotions or any suspicion. I don't care for the consequences of the fact we could be so easily caught in a sunny state of Arizona; I just want Elias. I need him.

He's waiting for me, somewhere in the busy terminal. Next to Alice and Nate and Bella.

He's waiting for me- I feel the statement possess me forward, but Emmetts crushing hand pulls me back from running again.

Edward, one step ahead of me yet one step behind Carlisle, pauses. Before his body can react to his emotional state, I catch every agonising horror and grief striking him.

"No," I deny, though I'm not sure what exactly is wrong, but I know Edwards caught something in the approaching minds of Alice and Nate. Something unforgivable. Something painstaking.

Carlisle continues to pull him forward as Emmett pushes me on, both of them loudly making excuses as we hold the humans up behind us. I can't move, Edward and my own emotions are tangling, reaching out and burying deeply until we're a unit of pain and misery.