She would have let out yelp if the sound hadn't been choked in her throat. Surged by the last ounce of strength she posed, Colton made quick work of lifting herself and scrambling backwards from the voice. She was breathing hard again as she stared at him in horror and shock and ultimately, confusion.

Edward stood before her, the very sight of him making Colton's heartache and swell all at once.

She took a moment to attempt to form a coherent thought, "What...How? What are you doing here?"

The chuckle he let out conveyed everything but humour as she watched, utterly transfixed as he ran a hand through his hair while shaking his head. "I don't think you understand just how predictable you are."

"Predictable? And how the fuck did you find me anyway? How did you get up here so quickly? What the fuck is going on?" Colton rambled fully at her wits end and out of coherency.

He went quiet for a moment, assessing the situation. "I think we are both aware of my abnormalities at this point. And if you really want to talk about that right now, we can, or we can talk about what's happening right now."

"Right now? What is happening right now that is more important then that you might be a fucking vampire?"

"Okay fine," He shouted in clear expiration, chest heaving even though Colton could only assume that breathing, just like most of the things he did, was just a show to make his human facade more believable. "I'm the monster from the ghost stories your uncle told you when you were a little girl that scared you but you never believed. I am the predator that you were raised to hate. I am a vampire, a cold one, a leech, or whatever name you have for me. But let's not pretend, that despite you convincing yourself otherwise, you haven't known this for a while. So why don't we talk about the other issue that's glaring at us in the face? Why don't we talk about how you didn't even park before leaving school, all but had a panic attack and then ran almost a mile before collapsing?"

There was a dead silence after his words, the sound of his laboured breath in Colton's ears as she continued to stare at him in the most flustered and unravelled state she had seen him in. Almost as if he could see what he looked like to her in that moment, he straightened and his usual mask of calm overtook his features.

"Like I said, predictable. Always running into the woods and away from your problems like some sort of reverse Red Riding Hood."

Colton regained herself at his antagonising words and there was a flicker in the pit of her stomach, something between rage and something indecipherable. "There is no fucking way in hell that you could know that. You don't know anything about me Edward, so don't pretend you do."

" I don't know everything, but I know enough." He stated, hands casually sliding into his pockets as he began to casually cross the space between them in a painfully and purposefully slow pace. "I know that the first time you showed up at the borderline you cried so hard that you lost your voice. I know that you prefer braving the rain so that you don't have to look at your uncle and be reminded that you will never be fully fixed despite his efforts. I know that you think you're so broken that you'll never be able to fully function. I know you have only ever truly felt loneliness since your parents died."

Colton was all but sobbing at this point, a series of pitiful noises escaping her chapped lips as tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. "There's no way you can know any of this. How do you know all of this?"

She let out another choked sob as he sent her a smile that she could only describe as sympathetic and understanding all at once, "Because while you thought you were alone on all those nights you sat at the ridge and fought with your own thoughts in an attempt to silence them, you were projecting them to me and I couldn't stay away from them, I couldn't stop myself from listening when I identified so undeniably. You have so much fear and loneliness in your heart Colton that you should never have to suffer through by yourself. And I know all of this because I've suffered and broken all by myself for decades and it always feels like there's never ever going to be any solace. But there is Cole, you are not unrepairable, you just haven't allowed yourself to try and heal."

He was almost in front of her and Colton was softly shaking as she continued to stare at him. "Why are you saying all of this? What am I to you?"

"As cliché as it is Colton, you're my glue. And I think I'm yours as well."

He was close enough to touch now, his cold hand tentatively reaching up and brushing lightly against her cheek. She had never been looked at the way he was, some much understanding and just pure knowing in those topaz depths. Colton couldn't bare it. He knew too much. There was just too much of everything. Of him. Of her. Of them.

He was so close that she thought she was going to suffocate and melt away under his touch. She latched a hand onto his wrist before removing his hand from her face and taking a step back.

"No." She said and finished fully moving away. "I can't do this Edward. I can't act like you telling me all of this is okay, that this is normal. I can't just use the fact that I want this so badly to dissolve away the issues of this situation. Because this is just all too fucked up. I mean you must see how messed up this is right?"

"Of course I know how messed up this all is Cole," He repeated while rolling his eyes and Colton was able to pinpoint the evident anger simmering at the edge of his tone. "It's not like I asked for any of this. I didn't ask for you."

It was like a shot into the chest but Colton couldn't even take a moment to let the effect ricochete and simply rebounded. Edward seemed to notice the mistake in his words but Colton didn't give him the chance to correct himself as her chapped lips pulled back into a sharp, empty smile.

"Common ground at last, because I didn't ask for you either Edward. You may think you know so much about me thanks to your abnormalities, and maybe you do. But I know barely anything about you besides what you are and what that means you can do. And I also know what we are meant to be to each other, enemies coexisting only because of some age-old treaty and nothing more. So why don't we follow tradition and keep it that way?"