Author's notes:
~This will be an m/m story between Christian Grey and Edward Cullen. I'm quite aware of how straight they both typically are, but that won't change my writing this work. I just wanted to play around with the idea of their two characters being together. ;)
~ Some liberties have (obviously) been taken with canonical events and characters from both series, the largest of which is the timeline. The story takes place 2007--the Cullen children are pretending to be college students, rather than high school students. This makes Grey almost 24 at the story's start, which he'll be for the rest of the book. Edward is (pretending to be) almost 19. Their birth years and backstories are left intact.
~ Story will be told first-person, through Edward's perspective exclusively.
~ Neither Bella nor Ana will be appearing in this work.
Thank you for stopping by! Enjoy!
*~*~*
"Another human was found dead on the roadside," said Emmett, pulling off his rain-soaked jacket as the front door fell shut. He had just returned from eavesdropping on a gathering of ambulances and police cars a mile away from our home.
Perched beside a large window, I pretended to keep looking out it, even though my stomach felt like it'd been twisted into thick knots. I didn't need to turn around to know my entire family had their eyes on me. I didn't even need to hear their thoughts to know what they were thinking.
"You didn't do it, right Edward?" Emmet's words and mental voice were synchronised.
"Would I hide it if I did?" I hissed, sounding less controlled than I'd have liked. I fixed my gaze on my brother, who looked a little surprised.
"Whoa, calm down!" said Emmett, holding his hands up saintly. "I was just asking to help clear the air a bit."
Alice moved from the staircase towards me, likely seeing a future in which I stood up and left, which was exactly what I'd intended to do. Her dainty hand clasped my shoulder and squeezed once.
"It's alright--we just have to make sure of things. The same way we occasionally have to check Jasper, you know?"
Jasper Hale. I didn't want to hear that name right then. It was because I had been asked to monitor Jasper's thirst, that my own was teetering out of control. For months, I've endured the scents, the alluded tastes, the dreams of soft, warm flesh tearing beneath my teeth with a snap. In that time, I felt oddly disembodied. As if I wasn't living my own life.
And recently...I'd come so close.
There had been a girl, standing on a desolate road with her thumb in the air and a dirty old sign. Her scent caught a rising air current just as I had made a turn along the curve...
And there had almost not been a girl.
I'd pressed the gas, hard, and tore down the road, leaving a burst of exhaust fumes and the smell of burning rubber behind. Most importantly, leaving her behind.
I'd driven past the Cullen home and kept on going, out to the nearest of our hunting trails. I didn't return until my body felt like lead with the weight of bear and deer blood. I began leaving on my own every so often since, returning with the scent of death clinging to my clothes. I was more reclusive than usual. Faster to irritate. So I kept to himself, even avoiding Alice when she offered to spend time with me.
Coincidently, it was around that time dead human bodies began turning up in Forks; bodies with traces of vampire venom inside. My family was suspicious of Jasper at first, but it wasn't a few minutes before Rosalie pointed out that he hadn't been the one going off on his own lately. And now, this.
"Are you sure it was a vampire's attack?" Carlisle asked, looking concerned. Emmett nodded.
"No doubt in my mind. Pretty nasty job, too. The body was totally butchered--all the limbs had been dug into, the stomach was torn open, venom all over the place...I gotta admit, it didn't look like Edward's style at all."
"I don't think too many of us have a 'style' during a fit of bloodlust," said Rosalie from his side. She placed a level gaze on me and I clenched my teeth. Did they have such little faith in me?
"Well, I believe you dear," said Esme. She moved to sit beside me smiling warmly and slid her arms over my shoulders. An unconscious glance into her mind said her thoughts aligned with that notion, and a rush of appreciation gripped me. Even still, the weight of isolation pressed into every one of my cells. I felt as if I wasn't quite one of them. Yet another emotion I'd been sharing with Jasper for months now.
"It's good to know someone does," I said. Rosalie rolled her eyes when Esme addressed the family.
"We all experience our moments of weakness. None of us has a reason to hide it, and I'm sure Alice would know if any of our control was so frail. So, can we all agree to take Edward's word, and ask ourselves the larger question; who could really be behind these attacks?"
Carlisle nodded, and Emmett pat me on the shoulder as he moved to sit in one of the lounge chairs and said,
"Well, considering what we know, it can only mean there's a new vampire in town. Maybe we should sniff 'em out and let them know Forks isn't a buffet?" he sounded enthusiastic as only Emmett could about the possibility of a fight.
"Let's set up a portion of town for each of us to monitor," said Carlisle, looking thoughtful. "If anyone does spot a rogue vampire, avoid approaching them unless it's an emergency. For now, we need to observe if they're here alone, and how long they intend to stay. With any luck, they were just passing through and already had their fill."
"And if we're unlucky?" asked Rosalie.
"Then we prepare plans to drive them out. I'll start considering some options with Jasper, in case it's a violent bunch, but it's unlikely to go that far."
I snorted in retort, returning my attention to the window. I would rather just feed the killer to the dogs in La Push. But I learned long ago that my family was more gracious with our heinous kind than I would ever be. That had been the most important factor to being part of their coven. I needed to see mercy, to be reminded of all the shades of gray in between my monochromatic view of the world.
That was what I pondered on until late the next evening. My inhuman speed brought me to the neck of Forks I'd been assigned to stand watch in. The low-hanging overcast saturated the town in a dense fog, bringing the scent of rain with it.
Dressed in a crisp button-down shirt and jeans, I only vaguely realized how conspicuous I might look as I approached the outskirts of private property, where small groups in lab coats were entering and exiting a sleek, four-story facility. One I knew was owned by Grey Enterprises, even if I hadn't seen the sign over the revolving front doors.
The research center had been the talk of the town since its inception four years ago. Owned by one of the youngest, billionaires to date--Christian Grey--it was established to research the growth of a new kind of plant that had been discovered in Forks. One that, according to the representatives for the company, may lead to the next revolutions in medical science. Though as far as I knew, no further details had been given.
I turned to continue up the trail when the scent of venom, sweet and heady, suddenly wafted past. I turned quickly in its direction and took off at top speed around the lab's perimeter until I came across a tuft of woods, where rows of in-ground lights had been placed.
"Where are you?" I muttered, looking over the grounds from halfway up a tree. I spotted a form in the mist--crouched and, far as I could tell, completely unaware of my presence. The venom wasn't coming from them, yet it smelled as if it were close by. Whoever the human below was, they were in danger.
Torn between hunting the predator and staying close to their prey, I decided to put my carnal desire aside and shadow the human. I remained hidden in the trees, watching as another man, wearing a black suit, walked into the clearing.
"I'd like it if you stayed close to me, Mr. Grey," he said. My brows lifted. Automatically, I searched through the bodyguard's mind and saw a face I'd seen a million times through the media; through the thoughts of other people.
Christian Grey himself.
He was tall, leanly built, and--I could admit--particularly handsome. His eyes were a stormy gray color, narrow, calculative. Dressed in a three-piece Armani suit that would have impressed Alice, he idly fingered the knot of his tie as he regarded the other seriously.
"I was within eyesight. Have you spoken with security? Did they see anything on the footage?"
"According to the staff, whoever broke in did so while the shift was changing. Supposedly, the cameras failed to capture anything for at least ten minutes before the night guard reset them."
"A total system failure? At my company?" Grey sounded livid. "That is no mistake, Taylor. Round up the team--I want this place empty except for the new guard detail. Tomorrow, every employee is to be subjected to thorough questioning by the police."
"Yes, sir."
I frowned. Wanting more details, I listened for Christian's thoughts as their footsteps moved farther from me. But when my mind reached out, only the sounds of crickets and cicadas answered.
No, that couldn't be right. I tried again.
Silence, at first. Then, a flood of that Taylor man's thoughts resounded in my mind, filling it with concerns about escape routes, theft, possible information leakage, and a persistent concern for Grey's well-being above all else.
Of all times for my ability to fail me. I thought, irritated. This had never happened before. Surely, it must be a temporary fluke I was having?
Teeth ground, I moved to follow the pair, keeping to the darkest parts of the forest as I watched from the outskirts, my anxiety on the rise.
So the research facility had been broken into by someone who went undetected by any alarms or cameras? And the scent of venom--though a little weaker now--was still permeating through the air. The conclusion was obvious.
What would a vampire want from this place? I wondered. My eyes locked on Grey's position as he again crouched to examine something. Inching closer, I could see that it was a strange looking flower that boasted large, violet petals. That one, in particular, was tattered, as were the others around it. I also realized they had been planted in neat rows and had tags around the base of the stems.
So that was the plant they were researching. Grey looked up at his guard.
"They came through here. Some of the Eventide are missing."
"Indeed, sir. Please get back to the vehicle--I'll drive you to the hotel. Let the cops handle this."
Cops? I laughed, feeling anything but humored. They would merely become victims. Of course, they had no way of knowing that.
Suddenly, something moved in the distance. Subtle, almost completely silent--the human named Taylor would never have noticed.
My eyes narrowed. I sped a few feet towards it, venom already trickling down my teeth. Though I had total clarity in the darkness, I could find no trace of whoever it had been. Not freshly crushed grass or a lingering scent. No blood. No hair. I almost thought I'd imagined it, but my paranoia would not let me believe that.
Grey was safely led back to an idling BMW, where he sat until his bodyguard had spoken to the necessary people. I continued to watch, desperately trying to hear even a whisper of the CEO's thoughts, but I found the silence of my failure more resounding.
Why? Was all I could think. Why was any of this happening? The murders, the intruder, the mentally impregnable Grey...it all seemed to go hand-in-hand. After all, Forks wasn't exactly known for its flair of seedy activity. The dots had to be connected, somehow.
That idea stimulated me. I had grown so tired of the monotony of day-to-day life as a student. So very tired. The only bit of fun I had was when I hunted with my family. Or perhaps a bit of sight-seeing. That was all we could look forward to in between our careful, restrained, faux-human lives.
This new issue brimmed with the promise of a long-awaited challenge. I almost hoped it would last for a while, save for the fact that innocent people could get killed if it did.
Perched on a branch high above, I watched the area around Grey's car until it drove off into the distance, disappearing around the corner in a flash of red tail lights.