"You killed those people. The ones in the car crash." It wasn't a question, more of a statement that was intended to rattle her and itch her skin.

It was a feeble attempt on his part to seem angry, to seem as though he cared very much for what she had done. If she was a gambler, Erica would have bet that he was simply trying to mask the hurt and disappointment that he felt.

It made her wonder what kind of delusions he had of her, if this was his connection trying to see her in a false light as some distorted means of comfort. She debated if she should have any sympathy for him, feel anything other than traitorous emotions and anger when she looked at him.

Paul was a mortal, a wolf boy that put her in an awful situation as she imagined she would not be allowed to kill him- her bodies intuition warring against the wants of the mind in a silly confusing mess that only infuriated her further.

Though, she would never lie that he was not an interesting partner.

Rolling her eyes at him, Erica slunk across the clearing and sat at the gnarled roots of an old tree placing her self directly across from him.

His scowl was cute, his large brows pinching and creasing his forehead. His fake anger poorly portrayed as his shoulders lacked their signature shake, his eyes forgoing their normal fire, lips forgetting their snarl.

He was a horrible actor, but she would not point it out, would give him the chance to save face and express his feelings to her as though she was meant to hear his sins.

Erica mused with how he would feel hearing her own, the kind of things that came straight from nightmares.

"I did kill them, an adorable little couple that was taunting me," she told him, a gentle tilt to her head and curl of her lip over glinting teeth.

"They don't need to taunt you, you can have that." His voice bordered on pleading, a pitchy sound that she associates with oncoming tears. Was he always this emotional, or was it something to do with her? Did she make him want to cry with all of he confusing words and hypocritical actions?

"I can never be like that, not ever now that I'm alone. You would never understand the pain I feel now that the only person I have had at my side for years is gone."

"I can understand perfectly fine," he snapped. "I just don't understand how you can't feel the same way that I do!"

Because you'll never be him, she wanted to say, you'll never have blond hair and a sadistic smirk that curls around my heart like a viper.

"I died for my brother the first time around, I died, and he took me into a world where we could be together forever. If I could trade places with him, I would do so in a moment without hesitation. The way you feel for me is not the same as how I feel for him!"

Paul looked at her, eyes wide. "How do you feel for him?"

"I love him," Erica's answer was immediate. "My brother means everything to me."

He was silent, quietly calculating the things that she had said. He would never come to the same conclusion that she had only a few days prior, that perhaps her love for her brother was more than what she thought originally.

"In our tribe, we have this legend, one of the third wife and the first time we encountered your kind. There was a man, one that burned their noses with a sickly-sweet smell and glittered in the sun. Fast and strong, it took many of us to kill him.

"The girl came later, angry and eyes darker than the other one. She tore through our people, weeping frozen tears for the one that she loved- the man that they had murdered."

Erica cast him a dry look, as shadowed as he took a seat beside her only a breath away. His skin was warm, like always, and he smelt the same. He was always the same, never changed and it aggravated her beyond belief. Weren't humans meant to change? Even those that were not entirely human?

"The third wife watched as her family and tribe were murdered, her children. Brave, she stabbed herself, using her blood to distract the female so that they could kill her. The third wife's sacrifice saved everyone," he trailed off, eyes tracing the curve off her jaw. "I'm not very good at telling stories, but I think you get the point."

A sacrifice of a long day lady to protect her family from vampire kind, she supposed he meant to teach her something. A sacrifice, a brave woman that would any to protect those she cared for. Erica found it much the same as herself, how she wold do anything to avenge her family, to bring harm down on those who took him from her.

His opinion on her decisions was clear, the way he felt about her revenge plot, but she could not take his words to heart as he did not know how it felt. Maybe, one day he would know the heart shattering grieve that clung to the soul once your precious person was no more.

Tribe legends, the show of unity and bravery did not scare her away from her current course. It was too late for that, no way to avoid as she refused to give up. Erica always found a way to get what she wants, in one way or another.

"What is the redhead planning?" his voice was soft, a mere whisper that felt more like a blow.

She snapped her head to him, hair whipping out behind her from the speed of the action. "What?" she hissed.

He didn't meet her eyes, his gaze locked on her lips. She ground her teeth, the noise echoing around them and he flinched subtly – a minute action that she would have missed if she was a lesser person.

"With the newborns, what is she planning?"

Working her jaw, Erica saw the multiple possibilities lay themselves out before her it changes things, now that they were working together, because they had to be working together for Paul to know anything about the newborns and Victoria.

She could see the many ways that would fail, and the many ways that she could manipulate this to get what she wanted.

It would be harder, difficult in the way that the newborn will be torn through swiftly. She would not be able to target those that she wanted at her leisure. Perhaps now, all she would have time for is Jasper and no one else. She wold not be allowed to claim Bella and would have to rely on Victoria to do so.

Cowardly Victoria would give up too easy if she believed for a second that she would lose. Her dearest sister would halt all their plans, take longer, and draw more attention than they already have. The girl would flee, hide in waiting until she could find a new opportunity to attack.

"I thought it was clear what she was planning." Her tone was blank, empty of any hints that she could potentially give him.

"Why do you want leech lover so much?" the way in which he addressed Bella as leech lover so casually was sort of ironic in her opinion.

"Are you not a leech lover yourself, Paul?" Erica teased. "I am one in the same as those Cullen's, worse than they are even as they can hide what they are behind golden eyes."

He grunted non-committedly, looking away with a pout. She huffed, crossing her arms behind her head and leaning back against the tree, closing her eyes as though she truly could get some rest.

"Can you ever just answer a question directly without it turning into something else?" He growled. "Just this once."

Erica hummed. "Victoria blames her for loosing James. I, personally, am very offended that she refused everyone one of my offers when it would have saved her life, would have probably saved the Cullen's. I do not like being denied the things that I want."

"So, what is it that you want, if not Swan?"

Her responding grin was mocking, horrifying. "What I want? I want to be the end of the Cullen's. I want to tear the family apart slowly, painfully, and I wish to start with Alice. The little one that can see what I plan, the one who's mate murdered my brother. I want Jasper to suffer the way that I did, to feel the pain that I did – he will be the last to go."

"He was going after Bella, you can't seriously blame them for defending her?!"

"I can! I can, and I do! They chose some weak, little human over their own kind even when they had no intentions of keeping her. They do not want to change her, yet they keep her as though she is a pet," she snipped haughtily. "James was doing her a favour, and then I was doing her a honour, but she still did picked them."

"She loves him," he argued feebly.

Erica barked a laugh, a loud and harsh sound that rung in his ears. "She does not know what it means to love, not truly. When she tastes immortality and what it means to live to love a singular person, then she does not know what it is to love."

"Do you ever consider that not everything is the way that you see it? I can love someone just as fiercely as you can, as she can!"

Paul's shout echoed around the trees, the sound of birds taking flight playing a soundtrack to their argument.

"What does this have to do with the newborns?" Erica breathed evenly, studying him through a cracked eye.

"Do you have to be there?" he questioned hesitantly. "Can you not go?"

Startling, Erica sat up straight and eyed him curiously. "What are you on about?"

"Stay here, stay with me. I- you don't need to fight the Cullen's over her. It won't be safe, to fight both the pack and them, you'll lose."

Blinking in bewilderment, Erica tried to form the correct words to say. "You want me to skip out on my chance at revenge? Truly, you must realise that I would never take you up on that offer."

"Please, I'll do anything," he begged.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Erica sighed quietly. "I could never do that, you must know. I could never forgo my revenge."

His heart broken expression caused her to feel uncomfortable, her stomach twisting horribly. It was easy to hurt his feelings, to tear him down before he was even up. She could not stop the connection that they felt, the terrible pain she felt at hurting him.

"You can do one thing for me, however. You may never mean as much as James, perhaps not ever, but by some twist some twist of fate you mean something to me," Erica leaned forward, cupping his face gently and drawing her thumb along the bone of his cheek. "I must ask you to be careful, to stay safe because you are much more fragile than myself despite everything. Be safe or I will not be happy with you."

Erica pulled away harshly, berating herself all the while as she left in a flash on blonde and blue ice. She could not stop the way images of Paul and James compared herself in her mind.

•••••

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Hey hey so this was originally meant to be three separate chapters but I thought this was much better than what I originally planned.

2017-12-10

Unedited