EPILOGUE 3

The wind felt cold against my face as we ran through the last of the forest, not bothering to loop around toward the Cullen house as we usually would. The icy breeze was the only thing keeping my lips from feeling as if they were burning. The sensation of Alice's lips on mine still lingered, even though we'd parted over half an hour ago. Even in one hundred years, it would still be the same. She would leave me with that same ounce of passion, thriving against my body.

We had parted but she still remained close. Alice ran gracefully only a few metres to the left, swinging around trees and hopping easily over fallen logs and branches, with the elegance of a deer and the speed of a cheetah.

Up ahead, the sound of crashing echoed through the trees. Thunder was due- the sky was already paved with black slabs, the air thick with the sense of anticipation. But the sound, to the ears of a vampire, was too hollow to be a result of nature's monstrosity. A low grunt, which may have been mistaken for the creak of a tree, came shortly after the clatter, and I realised instantly what it was.

"Have they started without us?" I asked, stopping shortly only a mile from the clearing.

Alice barely skidded to a stop as she jumped down beside me. She listened for another clash of a bat, and when it came, she laughed lightly, shaking her head. "No. That's just Rosalie practising. After last time, she's desperate to win," she said, taking my hand so she could tug me to run toward the Cullen's playing field again. "But they could have started without us. We're late. Vampires are supposed to be incapable of lateness."

A joke was evident in her voice, and yet I rolled my eyes to tease her. "Then you shouldn't have let us stop off. We could have come straight from the hunt."

Alice grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, either way, we have the advantage."

The advantage of having fed so recently.

"I suppose you're right."

Minutes later, and we were slowing yet again, letting elbows nudge as we stopped beside Esme and Bella. As Alice had predicted, a bat was already in Rosalie's hand, the ball she'd hit nowhere in sight. She let out another brief grunt and then turned, slinging the bat over her shoulder as she joined the group that was forming.

"Alice, Elide, you've finally shown."

"Sorry. The journey back took longer than we thought."

"And it was definitely by no fault of our own."

Carlisle nodded obliviously. "We've already sorted teams. Alice, you're with Edward, Jasper, and I. Elide you're with Rose, Emmett and Esme," he said, pointing at each person as he said so. Already, the group had split naturally into their teams, and I moved to my own.

"Who's batting first?"

"We could take a toss?"

Emmett was grinning as he rubbed his hands together. "I like the idea of a race better."

"Of course you do, Emmett."

"Put your player up and we'll begin," Carlisle said, leading his group away.

Rosalie waited for a moment before she spoke, eying the other team. "They've got Edward, Emmett, this was a terrible idea."

"Well it's obviously not going to be me," Esme said casually.

I shrugged my shoulders, using everything I had to stop myself from cringing. "The last time I went up against Edward wasn't really a pleasant memory for me."

"That's unfair," Rose said quickly, rolling her eyes again. "He had the head start. And there's the fact that he's creepily obsessed with Bella."

"Edward beats me with speed anytime. I would take him out with a dive first?" Emmett said, folding his arms across his chest.

"No, you're not tackling your brother," Esme scolded him, a state darkening her face.

"Come on then, Elide. I think you need a chance to prove yourself," Rosalie said quickly.

"I have nothing to prove to Edward."

"Okay. If you insist," Rose said.

It was the look on her face: smarmy and raised, that told me she knew I would do it. She had known it longer than I had. It wasn't until I was nodding, stretching out my arms for show, that I'd succumbed to the idea that I would race against Edward. In the end, I didn't mind. It was only a game after all, and though Emmett may place too much pressure upon it, no one would care if I failed again.

Jasper's voice carried easily over the vast field. "Rose, what's keeping?"

"We're ready. Elide will run for us."

There was something in her look that made her look unhinged. Perhaps it was Rosalie's perfectness that contrasted so oddly with the self-involved sort of smirk on her face that gave anyone the impression that she was mad in the movie type of way. She shoved my shoulder forward with a harsh tug and I obliged, stepping forward next to Edward, who was already marking a starting line, which was edged by his family. I glared at Rosalie, who was smirking, as I readied myself.

"No hard feelings," Edward said, as we were about to begin.

"What do you mean?"

"When I win."

I raised a brow. "We'll see about that."

"Bella, want to start the race?" Carlisle asked, and Bella nodded, hurrying to stand beside the line, her hands tucked deep in the pockets of her coats.

She pulled one pale hand from the warmth and held it in front of us shakily. Her eyes narrowed.

"On your marks," she said, somewhat quietly. "Get set. Go!"

Bella brought her hand down and back, and in the same instant, we were sprinting away, already reaching the edge of the tree line. The branches of needles shot backwards, screeching like whips against the force of the wind we created at our heels. At first, Edward toed forward, slipping easily beneath low tree limbs as he avoided the need to leap. But then I would jump forward, lunging over the logs that he steered away from.

The path we'd agreed upon curved out toward the east, narrowly missing the boundaries of the treaty line, and then shot toward the field again, ending at the beginning. We followed it easily as if something led us. I could feel his grin even from metres away.

"Go on, Elide!" Alice's voice stretched across the treetops.

"Alice, she's the opposite team!"

The darkness of the forest was evaded ahead by the light that streamed through the charcoal clouds that hung over the playing field. I could see the Cullens, their knees bent in anticipation, hanging just behind the finish line. Edward's eyes were trained on them too. As he sped up, toes barely touching the floor, I followed him, matching my pace, running faster than I ever had before.

We skidded to a stop at the line and Bella looked up to us with a grin. "A definite draw."

Though Emmett was somewhat unimpressed, Rosalie sprung up with a terrible smirk, her arm slinging around my shoulders as she stared at Edward.

"We can field first," I offered.

"Let's play then."

Carlisle's team was lined by the wrack of baseball bats and Edward stood forward first, twisting a chipped one in one hand, stealing himself into a perch. Rosalie went behind him, Emmett went far, and Esme and I stood opposite each other to the wings.

The game began.

☾

"Okay, I'm sick of this," Rosalie threw the bat down as she stepped up to the marker, just as Alice was about to pitch. "It's boring when everyone is good at baseball. We need to find a new game where there's an ability imbalance."

"How about football?" I suggested.

"Oh, I can definitely throw the ball further than all of you," Emmett shouted, throwing his arms out in a mock throw.

"I meant soccer football."

Rose rolled her eyes. "What was the score?"

"30 to both," Bella said.

It was ten minutes later when Alice, Rosalie and I sat by the trees behind the Cullen's house. It was shaded, the crisp, dark leaves blocking out what little sun came from behind stormy clouds. Alice lay against me, her hands somehow tangled in the bottom traces of my hair.

"Edward told me your car doesn't work," Rosalie said after a while. Her eyes were focused on the ground as she used her nails to pick at the grass.

"It's been broken for months," I said, nodding vaguely. "For being on this earth for this long, I know nothing about cars."

"I could take a look at it, get it working again?"

Alice's head nudged further into my stomach. "Or... I could just buy her a new one like I've been saying for weeks!"

I had to laugh at her persistence. "There's nothing wrong with my car. It's been with me for years. Get it working again and it'll be perfect," I said, and Rose nodded in agreement.

"Why don't we compromise? I fix her old car and you buy her a new one."

"That suits me," Alice said sweetly, shrugging her shoulders.

I looked down at her and spread a hand across her hair. "Compromises will always suit you, Alice."

"And therefore they'll suit you by association," she said, turning over so she was leaning on her front. "Just like how I compromised with Bella for her wedding. Now we're her bridesmaids!"

"You know what? I'm looking forward to everything that's coming. Bella's wedding. 'University'. Just generally not having anything to worry about," I said as I copied Rosalie, laying back against a tree and closing my eyes. "It used to be like that all the time for me."

"Then we came in and ruined your life. Is that what you're trying to say?" Alice said, though her voice held no malice- her words were no more than a tease.

"Not at all," I said, laughing lightly. "Where are you and Emmett off to next?"

"We're going to Canada for a few days then coming back. He's frightened he misses something," Rose said.

"Sounds like Emmett."

As if timed, his voice came booming through the trees, and he dropped from a tall branch, landing in an easy crouch. "What sounds like me?"

"Nothing," I said, laughing at his disbelieving expression. "Where were you?"

"Edward and Esme went to get Bella some food so she could stay out with us."

Carlisle and Jasper followed Emmett through the trees until they sat beside us, hidden by the shadows. Only Emmett stood in the sun, his arms as dazzling as the grin he was showing.

"I want to propose something," Alice said as she shuffled forward out of my grasp, leaning two hands against the grass. "A family vacation."

"Where to?"

"I don't know. Somewhere." She said, throwing her hands up. Carlisle's tranquil face called for an explanation. "Okay. How about the UK? Or somewhere in Asia?"

"We're safe here, Alice," Carlisle said calmly.

She shrugged. "I know, I just thought it would be nice to celebrate after everything that's happened."

"There they are," Emmett called, breaking up the conversation.

Esme broke through the thick of the woods, her hand trailing against the bark. She was followed by Edward and Bella, hand in hand, who moved slowly across the crackling branches. Bella blushed, as she noticed the eyes that were resting upon her.

"I think Bella and Edward's wedding is celebration enough. Let's wait until then. They're going to Mexico, anyway."

Alice stilled, her face creasing. Even Bella noticed.

"What, Alice?"

"Oh? Nothing. Nothing at all," she said, brushing it off with a soft motion of her hand. She changed the subject. "So what kind of thing we're you looking for in a wedding present?"

"Alice!"

"Okay!"

Alice fell backwards, her whole body landing on mine. Her head tilted upwards, her nose looking more pinched and cheeks angular from the higher vantage. She grinned as her eyes grazed over mine, noticing their direction.

"I'm still thinking about a trip to England for us," she whispered, making mirror her smile.

"I love you."

☾