edward opened his mouth to speak, but no words parted from his lips. his thoughts were racing through his mind at a speed he’s never once encountered before. he couldn’t think; he couldn’t speak; he couldn’t bring himself to think logically and sensibly at this very moment.
he wasn’t human, but neither was she.
as a human, eddy understood people. he was a sociologist in disguise, and he was able to read the facial expressions and personas of others as if they were mirror images of the back of his hand. it was his god-given trait, as his mother proclaimed, and it was what shaped his cursed ability in his second life.
elena—the unusual girl next door—was a seventeen-year-old girl that loved the sensation of sand beneath her toes and the thrill of competition. scars marred her forehead, arms, and back, but regardless of what she went through, she was unbelievably intelligent and unconditionally strong. she was a good person throughout, but there was something different about her.
he couldn’t put his finger on it, but he was certain there was something off. he noticed the tremor in her hands whenever she was overwhelmed with emotion; he noticed the glint in her eyes whenever it occurred. in fact, he had a whole list of theories written in one of his mortal journals, but he has always brushed it off as child’s play. ‘perhaps she was bitten by a radioactive spider,’ he remembered himself writing down, ‘or perhaps she’s having an allergic reaction to kryptonite.’
—but they were just theories.
—and whatever she was.. it was more than just a theory.
“lena,” the vampire whispered, and as her alias rolled off his tongue, dozens of memories flickered before his eyes. he missed her, and he wanted nothing more to wrap her up in his arms and spin her around like he once used to, but he couldn’t. he didn’t trust himself to. “don’t.”
“don’t talk about him like that; don’t you ever talk about him like that.
——elizabeth told him to save me, okay?”
she had always considered telling him, one day. she wasn’t supposed to. her world had only recently allowed the transgression to married couples who weren’t both magical beings. she always saw edward trying to read her, figure her out. and as soon as she caught him she’d do her best to force herself back to normal which she wasn’t but she gave it a good try.
her nostrils flared a bit still thinking of how the doctor had lied to her, how he hadn’t let her have more time with him, how he had left her in years of dread over not being there sooner. how he had turned edward, and how there were so many days she didn’t want her powers, and they weren’t paired with a thirst that was dangerous to anyone had once known.
when he mentioned his mother though he paused. why would she have let him be turned into a monster like elena saw herself. why would she want it. she had loved edward’s mother. lizzy she had called her, always happy to go over for dinner or to just spend the day. elena had abhorred all of the feminine duties, of doing laundry or cooking but she had always been happy to help liz when she asked. she remembered being angry at her parents once and running over to edwards and liz calming her down, and tightening her hug around elena when a vase across the room on the fireplace happened to fall down at random, and she hadn’t batted an eye. how she had at dinner once told edward that she didn’t need protection, and that she could take care of herself perhaps more than edward could, and she had glanced over at elena. she hadn’t thought anything of it then and liz had gone on to say that elena simply needed edward to keep her from taking things too far. elena began to wonder if she had known about her, in the same way she had known about the doctor. but if she had why had she allowed her to be around her son, what if she had hurt him?
elena sighed and said, “lizzy...” she hadn’t been as saddened by her death as edward but it had hurt still. she had been like a second mother since her mother had died when she was ten. elena looked up at edward meeting his eyes and said, “she knew about him...and she knew about me,” elena frowned. “most accepting mortal i’ve ever known then...” but she had already thought that before hand.
