The moment I heard the voice in her mind – not her own, but something ancient and powerful – everything changed.
I had fled to Alaska, hoping distance would clear my mind. Tanya and her sisters were sympathetic, but curious. "A human you can't read?" Tanya had asked, her golden eyes sparkling with intrigue. "And a voice that isn't hers?"
I couldn't explain it. The voice – Maze, I'd learned her name was – was unlike anything I'd encountered in my decades of existence. Not a thought, not a power like Alice's visions, but something else entirely.
When Alice saw Tyler's van nearly crush her, everything changed. I was standing in the parking lot, far enough from her to maintain my resolve, when the world seemed to slow.
The scent of her blood – that maddening, intoxicating fragrance – suddenly became secondary to something I'd never experienced before: her body seemed to shift, not just in movement but in essence. For a fraction of a second, I caught a feeling that wasn't human at all – something evil that made every vampire instinct I possessed scream in warning.
As the vision ended I moved without thinking, faster than human eyes could track. The monster within me was silenced by something stronger – a need to save her that transcended my thirst.
As I reached her, something unexpected happened. The body I was trying to save… changed.
The presence I'd sensed in her mind suddenly became physical – a shift in her essence that my vampire senses detected instantly. Her body moved with a grace that was impossible for a human. Not quite as fast as my own movement, but with a precision that suggested something beyond normal human reflexes.
My hands dented the metal, stopping the van's momentum. In that split second, I heard Maze's voice again – no longer just a thought, but speaking through Bella's body.
"Well, well," she said, using Bella's voice but with an entirely different inflection. "Aren't you full of surprises, pretty boy?"
Her eyes met mine – and for the first time, I saw something that wasn't just Bella. Something different. Something dangerous.
"You're not Bella," I whispered, too low for human ears.
"And you're not human," she replied with equal quietness. "Looks like we all have our secrets."
When I returned to Forks, I made a decision. I would observe. Protect her from a distance. The scent of her blood still called to me, but something else intrigued me more – the mystery of Isabella Swan and the entity within her.
My family watched me carefully. Alice's visions were frustratingly incomplete when it came to Bella. Jasper felt my constant emotional turmoil. Carlisle was fascinated, asking careful questions I couldn't fully answer.
"She's different," I told him one evening. "The voice in her head – it's not human. But it's not a psychic ability. It's… sentient."
Carlisle's scientific mind was working overtime. "A symbiotic consciousness?" he mused. "Fascinating."
I maintained my distance in school, watching her. Her interactions were different from what I expected. More confident. More direct. The boys who pursued her seemed almost comically inept compared to her sharp responses.
"Pretty boy's watching again," I'd heard Maze say once, and the fact that I could hear her but not Bella's thoughts continued to drive me mad.
I couldn't read her. Couldn't understand her. And for the first time in my existence, I was truly intrigued.
My family noticed the change. "You're obsessed," Rosalie accused. "This is dangerous."
"She's dangerous," I corrected. "And I don't know why."
Alice was the most perceptive. "She's important," she told me one morning. "I can't see clearly, but she's important."
Which brought me to today. Watching Bella reject Mike Newton with a precision that would make even Rosalie proud. Seeing her sit alone at lunch, creating a stir among her human peers.
And then, an idea formed. Tyler needed to ask her to the dance. Not because I wanted them to go together, but because I wanted to see her reaction. To understand her better.
So I blocked her truck. Watched as Tyler approached.
"Oh, he didn't," I heard Maze's voice in my head, sharp and dangerous.
And then Bella unleashed a verbal takedown that was nothing short of spectacular.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Well played," I whispered to myself as Tyler 's face turned bright red.
After the parking lot incident, I drove home, my mind racing. Alice caught me as I entered the house.
"You're going to do something stupid," she said, her voice a mixture of warning and prediction.
Jasper looked up from his book. "He's practically vibrating with curiosity."
"I just want to understand," I muttered.
"Pretty boy's talking to himself again," I heard Maze's voice echo in my memory. The fact that I could hear her, but not Bella's actual thoughts, continued to drive me mad.
I spent the evening in my room, listening to my family's conversations, replaying every interaction with Bella. Her confidence. The way Maze spoke through her. The secrets that seemed to hover around her like a tangible mist.
As midnight approached, I made my decision.
I'd watch her. Just watch. Understand what made her – what made them – so different.
The drive to Forks was quick. I parked my Volvo down the street, using my enhanced hearing to focus on the Swan residence.
Charlie's steady breathing indicated deep sleep. The house was quiet, save for the occasional creak of an old wooden structure.
And then I heard it. A whisper. Not from Bella. From Maze.
"Something feels… off," she said, her voice different. Cautious. "Not a threat. Just… a feeling."
I leaned closer, straining to hear more. What was she sensing? What did she know?
The night settled around the house, quiet and still. But I knew something was brewing. Something that involved Bella. Something that involved the voice I couldn't understand.
And I was going to find out what it was.
As the night deepened, I found myself drawn closer to the house. My curiosity overwhelmed my better judgment. The window to Bella's room was slightly ajar, inviting me closer.
I climbed the tree near her window, moving with supernatural silence. The room was dark, moonlight filtering through the curtains. Bella lay sleeping, her breathing soft and rhythmic.
Suddenly, I heard my name. "Edward," she murmured, turning slightly in her sleep.
I froze, expecting discovery. But her eyes remained closed. She was talking in her sleep.
In that moment, everything changed. I had spent decades believing myself incapable of love, convinced that my existence was a curse of eternal loneliness. Yet here was this extraordinary girl – this impossible puzzle – dreaming of me.
It wasn't just her blood that called to me now. It was her spirit. The way she moved through the world with a confidence that defied her years. The mysterious entity within her that spoke of ancient knowledge. Her sharp wit, her unwillingness to be intimidated, her complex layers that even my mind-reading ability couldn't penetrate.
I loved her. Not as a predator loves prey, not as a vampire might be fascinated by a unique human. I loved her with a depth that surprised even me. She was a mystery I wanted to unravel, a soul I wanted to understand, a being so complex that she challenged everything I thought I knew about existence.
The danger didn't matter. The impossibility of our worlds intersecting didn't matter. The fact that I could hear her companion's thoughts but not hers only made her more intriguing. I didn't want to be away from her. I didn't want to understand her from a distance anymore.
I wanted to be near her. To learn her. To protect her. To be part of her world, impossible as that might seem.
For the first time in my century of existence, I felt truly alive.
The window was now fully open. I was about to slip inside when another voice cut through the silence.
"Edward," she said again. But this time, the voice was different. Deeper. Darker. Menacing.
Before I could react, Bella – no, Maze – was suddenly standing, her movements unnaturally quick. Her eyes were open, but they weren't Bella's eyes. They burned with an ancient, dangerous light.
I was halfway through the window when she moved. A kick launched toward my midsection with impossible speed and precision. I managed to dodge, jumping back out the window and disappearing into the woods in a blur of motion.
But not before hearing her mutter to herself, "That'll teach the nosy night crawler. Thinks he can just creep around Little Miss Sunshine's window, does he? Oh, she's gonna love hearing about this. Someone's getting a serious time out."
The forest around me seemed to pulse with the echo of her words. For the first time in decades, I felt truly unsettled.
A chilling premonition washed over me. What had I just stumbled into? The thought of seeing Bella – or rather, the entity inhabiting her – at school tomorrow filled me with a sudden, unfamiliar dread.