I awoke to find a blinding light glaring in my eyes.
I blinked, wincing, and averted my gaze to see I was laying in an unfamiliar room, white walls on all sides, florescent cylinder bulbs glowing from the ceiling. If this was death, it was definitely more uncomfortable and less grand than I would have imagined.
I looked around and noticed I was laying on a hard, thin bed with rails, propped up with flat, lumpy pillows. An annoying beeping sound was coming from somewhere.
I looked down and saw my hands were all twisted up with clear tubes and, as I lifted a hand to my face, realized I had something taped under my nose. Automatically, I put my fingers to the edge to tug it off.
"Oh no you don't," said a soft, musical voice, and I felt a cool hand catch mine and draw it away.
I turned my head to find Edythe's face barely a few inches from mine, her pointed chin resting on the edge of my pillow.
"Hey," I said, for a moment too stunned to react. Then I remembered again that I was alive, and this time I felt a smile tug at my lips, even though it made the tape stretch. However, my face quickly morphed to one of penitence.
"I'm sorry," I said.
Edythe smiled slightly. "Always with the apologies. Don't worry, Beau, everything's all right now."
I shook my head, but that was a mistake, as it immediately made the room spin. "I...I thought she had my mom. She tricked me."
"She tricked us all," she said softly, stroking back my hair from my forehead. "You had no way of knowing. You did what you thought you had to do."
My brain was still muddled, but I realized something dimly through the haze. "I need to call Charlie and my mom. They should know where I am."
"Done," said Edythe. "Archie took care of it. Renée is already here at the hospital, though she stepped out a minute to get something to eat."
I started. "My mom is here?" I tried my best to sit up, but again my head spun, black dots dancing in front of my eyes. I felt Edythe's gentle hand pushing my shoulders back down.
"She'll be back," she promised. "And you need to stay still."
I laid there for a minute, staring at the ceiling. However, I could feel the beginnings of panic bubbling in my chest. "What...what did you tell her?" I asked in a low voice.
Edythe smiled. "You mean why are you laying in a hospital bed with a broken arm, broken leg, four cracked ribs, several fractures in your skull and covered from head to toe in bruises?"
I tried to process that much damage to my body, but it only made my head hurt worse. "Yeah...that."
"The story is that you fell down two flights of stairs and through a window," she said. "You have to admit, Beau, it could happen."
I wasn't going to argue with that, though I winced at the inevitable humiliating conversations when I went back to school.
Edythe made a face. "I really didn't like when they gave you the blood transfusions. Your scent was all wrong, at least for awhile."
"But at least that must have made it easier on you, right?"
Edythe smiled slightly. "You would think so, wouldn't you? But I prefer your blood smell like you."
I gazed at her for a long minute, silent. "How did you do it?" I asked suddenly, quiet.
Edythe stared back at me, and I knew she knew what I meant. Her eyes wandered away from mine, and she took my hand with the bandaged finger, holding it between hers. "I'm not sure," she said quietly. "It was impossible...to stop. I knew I couldn't stop. But then, somehow I did." Her eyes flickered back up to meet mine, and her perfect lips were turned up in a half smile. "I guess I really must love you."
I smiled back, even though it hurt my face. However, not quite able to suppress my morbid curiosity, I had to ask. "So, did I taste as good as I smell?"
"Even better," she admitted. "Heroin doesn't do it justice. Every illegal substance you could imagine rolled into one."
"Sorry," I mumbled.
"Apologizing again," she noted. "And that's not even something to be apologizing about. If you're going to apologize, it should at least be about something worthy."
I looked back at her, wanting to know what she meant, but also afraid to. "What?" I said cautiously.
Her lips again flickered in a smile, this time showing her dimples. "You should be sorry for almost dying on me."
"I'm sorry," I said again, and I meant it.
She shook her head. "I know why you did it. I don't blame you for it. But you should have waited for me, Beau. You should have told me."
I looked back at her. "You wouldn't have let me go," I said quietly.
Her eyes were sad, but with just a glint of steel. "No," she agreed softly. "I wouldn't."
Images from the scene just before I'd passed out came back to me, and I shuddered. "What happened to...to her?" I asked quietly. "Joss."
Edythe's eyes burned with hatred. "I pulled her back before she could reach you. After that, Jessamine and Eleanor took care of her." Her voice was as hard as her eyes, and there was just a tinge of fierce regret. She left no doubt in her tone that she would have liked to help tear the hunter limb from limb herself if she hadn't been otherwise preoccupied.
"Were Jessamine and Eleanor there?" I asked. "I didn't even see them."
"They had to leave almost as soon as the job was done. There was...a lot of blood."
I cocked my head slightly. "But you stayed," I noted.
Edythe's lips flickered in a slight smile. "I stayed," she agreed softly.
"And Archie, and Carine..." I murmured in awe.
Edythe nodded, still smiling. "They love you, too. Though don't tell Archie I said that."
I nodded. The man code. You just didn't use the word 'love' about your guy friends. However, I suddenly remembered something, and my gaze dropped to the sheets. I picked at the threading.
"What?" Edythe said quickly, immediately alert to my discomfort.
"There's something I need to tell Archie. Something the tracker said. I don't suppose...I don't suppose he looked at that video."
There was a pause. "He saw it," she said.
I peeked up at Edythe, only to see that her face had gone as hard as stone, her ocher eyes almost black. Confirming, as I'd feared, that Archie hadn't been the only one to see the video.
"He was in an asylum, always in the dark," I said. "That's why he didn't remember."
"I know," said Edythe quietly, venom in her voice. "He understands where he came from now."
We were both silent for a long moment. My eyes drifted down to my arm, and I immediately wished they hadn't, as I noticed the IV stuck in my vein and suddenly felt dizzy. I looked back up at Edythe to distract myself.
"So, why are you here?" I asked. "I mean, why does my mom think you're here? We might as well get our stories straight."
Edythe smiled with some amusement. "Well, of course you'd gone home to Phoenix. After a day or two, I couldn't take it anymore, and decided to go out after you to plead with you to come back to Forks. I convinced Carine to take me, and Archie came along too to help my case. I called you, and you agreed to see me, so you drove out to the hotel where we were staying. But as you were coming to our room, you tripped on the stairs, and...well, you know the rest. I don't think you need to remember anything after that too clearly. Archie already fabricated the evidence, smashed up the window and spread some blood around where you supposedly fell. If you ask me, I think he had a little too much fun with it."
I grimaced. "You couldn't have made it something more heroic? Like I got attacked by a bear or something?"
Edythe smiled. "We were going for believability."
Her gaze flickered back to the door. "And, I think I hear your mother coming." She stood up from the hard plastic chair beside my bed.
Maybe it was the cocktail of drugs, no doubt playing havoc on my system, or just the stress of recent events, but I suddenly felt an irrational surge of panic. Without thinking, I stretched my good arm to catch hers. "Wait—you aren't leaving, are you?"
Edythe glanced down at me. "I'm not leaving," she said. She showed her dimples. "I'll just take a nap."
Reluctantly I let go of her arm, and she walked around to the foot of my bed, settling herself into a turquoise, faux-leather recliner. She pushed it back all the way and folded her hands over her stomach, closing her eyes. She laid perfectly still.
"Don't forget to breathe," I muttered, rolling my eyes, and her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, eyes still closed. I was amazed at how innocent she looked like that.
I listened carefully, and I could just make out the sound of my mom's voice, probably talking to a nurse. She sounded tired and upset. I wanted to jump up and tell her I was fine, but I doubted my busted leg would be taking me anywhere very soon, and the rest of me wasn't much better. So I simply sat and waited.
The door swung inward just a crack, and my mom's face appeared, looking anxious.
"Hey, Mom," I called in a low voice, and as her eyes fell on me, her mouth broke out into a wide smile.
She slipped inside, quietly closing the door behind her. Her eyes flickered to the recliner on the far side of the room where Edythe lay motionless, and she crept to my bedside, keeping as quiet as she could.
"Still here," she murmured, eyes still on Edythe. "I don't think I've seen her gone once in the last few days."
"Hey, Mom," I said, my voice weak with relief. "It's great to see you."
She looked back to me for a moment, then suddenly her arms were around my shoulders, tears falling down on my hospital shirt.
"Beau, you can't imagine—I didn't know what I—"
"It's okay, Mom," I said, wincing at the sudden contact and trying to pat her back with my bandaged hand. "Everything's all right now."
I paused, suddenly processing something she had said. "Days..." I repeated slowly. "Just how long have I been out?"
She pulled back, looking apologetic. "It's Friday, honey. You've been out a while. You had so many injuries, they had to keep you sedated."
I nodded slowly, digesting that. "So where's Phil?" I said, hoping to turn the subject to something more pleasant.
Her face immediately brightened. "Florida—oh, sweetheart! You'll never guess. I have such wonderful news."
I could always read my mom's face like a book and I said, "Phil got signed?"
"The Suns," she gushed. "Can you believe it?"
"That's great, Mom," I said, and I meant it.
She went on, her enthusiasm building with every word. "You'll like Jacksonville so much. I was worried when Phil started talking about Akron, what with the snow and everything, because you know how we both hate the cold, but Jacksonville! It's always sunny, and the humidity really isn't that bad. We found the cutest house, yellow, with white trim, and a porch just like an old movie, and this huge oak tree. It's just a few minutes from the ocean, and you'll have a bathroom all to yourself, not to mention we're just a block down from the library—"
"Hold on, Mom," I said, and she broke off, looking at me with confusion.
"Yes, Beau?"
I hesitated. "I live in Forks, Mom. I'm not going to Florida."
She laughed. "Sweetheart, you don't have to live there anymore. Phil will be able to be around so much more now. We've talked about it a lot, and what I'm going to do is trade off on the away games, half the time with you, half the time with him."
"Mom," I said firmly. I paused, trying to get my thoughts in order so what I was going to say wouldn't come out wrong. "Look, Mom...I found out I really don't mind living in Forks. Actually, I kind of like it these days. I'm already settled in at school, and I've got a group of friends...and Charlie, he kind of needs someone around. You know he can't cook worth a darn."
"You want to stay in Forks?" she asked, bewildered. My mom couldn't bear living there, it was why she had left Charlie back all those years ago. And after all the griping I'd done about our yearly summer trips, maybe it was only natural that now she stared at me with open disbelief. However, I noticed her eyes flicker back toward Edythe, where she was still curled up unmoving in the chair.
She looked at me, frowning. "Be honest, sweetheart," she whispered. "Does this sudden change of heart about Forks have anything to do with this girl?"
I could feel my treacherous face heating up, but I did my best to be nonchalant. "She's a part of it, I guess." I hesitated, then asked, "Have you talked to her at all?"
"Yes," she answered, and her eyes flickered back toward Edythe. "And I think there's something we need to talk about."
I would have fidgeted nervously, but one of my arms was broken and my finger on the other was bandaged up. I settled for letting my eyes drift toward a row of blinds on the far wall. "Yeah?" I said, trying to sound casual.
Her voice low, she said confidentially, "I think that girl is in love with you."
I glanced back at her, and felt an almost sheepish smile try to tug at my lips, though the tape over my mouth kept it from spreading very far. "I think so, too."
"And?" she said, with just a touch of impatient curiosity. "How do you feel about her? I hope you're not intending to string her along."
I grimaced. As much as I loved her, this was not the kind of conversation any guy ever wanted to have with his mom.
"No way," I said. Then, because I knew she would probably bug me about it forever if I didn't satisfy her curiosity now, I added reluctantly, "I guess...I guess I am pretty crazy about her."
She smiled at me. "Oh, I'm so happy for you, sweetheart." However, a moment later, her brow clouded, and she glanced back at Edythe again. "But goodness, the two of you do seem so young still..."
"I'm seventeen, Mom," I pointed out. "So's she."
She nodded, but her expression still held a touch of worry. "I suppose so, but...well, she seems like such a nice girl. I hope you aren't planning to take advantage of her."
I felt my face redden. "Mom!"
Over my mom's shoulder, I saw the corner of Edythe's lips twitch.
My mom only smiled at my obvious embarrassment, completely unrepentant. However, a moment later she suddenly blinked, and shot a guilty glance at the wall clock. I knew that look.
"Supposed to be somewhere?"
"Phil's supposed to call in a little while. If I'd known you were going to be awake..."
"Don't worry, Mom. Go. I'll be fine."
She nodded. "I'll be back later, sweetheart." Her eyes flickered once more to the recliner on the far side of the room before she got up and slipped out.
I turned my eyes on Edythe, frowning slightly. "How was the nap?" I muttered sarcastically.
Her eyes opened and she turned sideways, sitting up straight though the chair was still set in the reclining position.
"Informative," she said, lips curled up in a smile. However, then her gaze dropped and in her face was that unusual look of vulnerability, uncertainty, which I could never seem to get used to.
"I was surprised," she admitted. "Florida...your mother...I thought that's what you would want. Sunshine, warmth."
I gazed at her for a long moment. "But you couldn't go out in the day in a place like that," I said pointedly.
Edythe shook her head, and her expression was suddenly grave. "I would stay in Forks, or a place like it. Beau...considering what almost happened...maybe it would be just as well. If you were in a bright, happy place. A place I couldn't hurt you anymore."
Again, maybe it was the stress of everything, or the pain meds in my system muddling my thinking. But as her words sank in, a tremor of fear buzzed in my chest.
Edythe's gaze was locked with mine, and she studied my face carefully. She didn't look away even as a nurse came bustling into the room.
Maybe the sudden bout of agony I was feeling showed on my face, because the nurse, after taking in my expression and turning to the monitors, said, "You ready for some more pain meds, hon?"
My eyes dropped and I shook my head. "No thanks." I wanted to keep my thoughts clear.
"Sure?" she said. "You should really should take them as you need them, no need to be a tough guy."
"I'm okay," I mumbled. "Really."
The nurse studied my face for a moment longer, then sighed. "All right then. Just hit the call button when you're ready."
After the nurse was gone, Edythe came again to sit on the hard chair next to the bed. She reached up to gently cradle my face in her hands.
"Don't leave," I whispered, and my voice broke on the last word. My chest felt tight.
"I won't," she said gently. "Calm down now, Beau, or I'll have to call back the nurse to sedate you."
I gazed back at her, and we stayed like that for several minutes, as I struggled to get my painful breathing back under control.
At last, she said softly, "Better?"
I hesitated, then nodded. I could feel the feeling starting to come back into my limbs.
"What made you say that?" I asked. I tried to make my tone light and almost joking as I added, "Don't tell me you're tired of me already. Saving me all the time starting to get old?"
Edythe didn't return the smile. "I don't mind saving you, Beau. I'd do it the rest of your life if I could." She hesitated. "But when I'm the one putting you in danger in the first place..."
"Hey," I said. "I'd be rotting away in the Forks cemetery now if it wasn't for you. Three or four times over."
Edythe wasn't looking at me, and I wasn't even sure she'd heard what I said. Her eyes were on my bandaged hand again.
"The worst part," she murmured, almost to herself, "wasn't seeing what that vile beast did to you, or seeing you covered in blood and screaming in agony, or thinking I might be too late—all that was nothing to what I felt when I saw I might not be able to stop. That I might just kill you myself."
The room was silent for a moment, Edythe staring past me, her eyes distant.
"Hey," I said at last. "Will you promise me something?"
Edythe blinked, coming out of her reverie, and her gaze returned to me. "Promise?"
I looked back at her evenly. "Promise you'll stay. That you and I will stick together from now on—forever."
On a normal day, I might have winced at how melodramatic I sounded. But I'd nearly be torn to shreds by a vampire, and I knew if I could be tortured and maimed, come an inch from death, and still not regret my choice, then there was no going back. For my life to be worth anything, it had to include Edythe.
Edythe looked back at me for a long moment, then her eyes flickered away. She smiled, but it was a hard, bitter smile. "Don't worry," she said roughly. "You'll get your way. I can't seem to stay away from you, whether it ends up killing you or not."
I nodded, knowing I would have to be satisfied with that, but I couldn't help but notice that she hadn't actually promised anything.
"One more question," I said.
Edythe eyed me warily.
"You stopped the poison from spreading, brought me back. But...why? If you hadn't, I would be just like you now."
Edythe looked back at me, her expression carved in stone, her dark eyes suddenly flat black. And I knew the discussion was closed before it had even begun.
"I think you need to take some more pain killers, Beau."
"I'm fine," I said, though my head was pounding, and my torso was beginning to ache in several different places.
Edythe reached over and pressed the button before I could stop her. The speaker on the wall squawked, and Edythe answered calmly, in spite of the sullen glare I was directing her way, "I think we could use some more pain medication." The voice answered that a nurse would be sent in. I frowned deeply, but Edythe didn't react. We were quiet again for a moment.
"Archie saw something, didn't he?" I said suddenly. "He saw me becoming one of you. How can you fight against that?"
"Archie sees possibilities," Edythe answered coolly. "He also saw you dead, but that didn't happen, because we didn't let it. The future isn't inevitable. Besides, think of your parents. How would they have felt, if you had simply left for Phoenix and never came back? If we had to fake your death, and you never got a chance to say goodbye?"
I couldn't answer that, and I only sat where I was, silent, until the nurse entered, syringe in hand.
Edythe climbed smoothly to her feet to get out of the way, circling around to the foot of the bed as the nurse injected the medication into my tube. "Here you go," said the nurse, smiling at me. "That'll make you feel better."
"Thanks," I muttered, not really all that grateful, but after a moment I could already feel my eyelids drooping as the drugs took effect.
I didn't even notice when the nurse was gone, but I felt a cool hand against my face.
"Stay?" I managed to slur out.
Edythe laughed softly. "I will, Beau. As long as you need me...as long as it's the best thing for you..."
There was a clear distinction between those two things, and I tried to point it out, but my voice was already leaving me, and my head was floating away. However, I blinked once and forced myself to focus.
"Edythe?" I said, making myself pronounce her name correctly.
"Yes?" she replied gently.
"I think Archie is going to win this one."
Then I closed my eyes, and I was gone.
Okay guys one more chapter to go lol. also to the one commenter I'm sorry you are unhappy but it really says in the title with twilight ending. this is a what if series like how would the rest of the story work if it ended like twilight.