The back door closed behind me with a soft, careful click, a sound far too calm for the storm still twisting inside my chest. The house welcomed me with silence, as if nothing in the world had shifted.
I reached for the light switch. Warm light poured into the kitchen, spilling over smooth counters and spotless floors. The air still carried that faint scent of fresh paint and new wood, a reminder that this place had barely been lived in.
I moved down the hallway and stopped in front of the large mirror mounted on the wall. For a moment, I simply looked at myself.
My face gave nothing away, my jaw loose and calm, no sign of the chaos underneath. Anyone passing by would have assumed I had just come back from a quiet evening walk, not from stalking through the forest as a three-meter predator with blood on its teeth.
Then my gaze sharpened.
There were thin streaks of blood at the corner of my mouth, dark and drying into rust-coloured lines. A few drops had soaked into the collar of my shirt. The fabric hung unevenly on my shoulders, twisted from being pulled on too fast. One sleeve was stretched tight. A seam had split where my patience had snapped before the threads did.
I could hide fury in my expression.
My hands were another matter.
After the hunt, I had dressed too quickly, forcing cloth over muscle without care. My fingers had tightened harder than needed. Threads had given way under the strength I barely felt. Small cracks in my control.
The hunt itself had been perfect.
The rest of the night had not.
I stared at my reflection, and something darker rose to the surface. The calm mask thinned. Anger pushed through, sharp and bitter, almost like I was looking at someone I could not stand.
For a split second, my eyes flared molten gold.
The mirror exploded.
Glass burst outward as my fist drove through it and into the wall behind. Plaster and wood splintered under the impact, leaving a jagged hole deep enough to swallow my forearm. The crash rolled through the empty house, loud and wild, shaking walls that had never known violence.
I wasn't silent.
But it wasn't a shout that left my throat.
I roared.
The sound ripped out of me, low and feral, filling every corner of the house.
And then, just as quickly, it was over.
No second blow, no wild frenzy. I stayed there with my arm buried in the wall, breathing slow and steady while dust drifted down around me. The anger didn't fade. It tightened, cooled, sharpened into something far more focused.
After a moment, I pulled my hand free and studied the damage.
"Well," I said dryly, brushing plaster from my knuckles, "that's one way to redecorate."
I turned and walked up the stairs, my steps silent against the polished wood.
The upstairs bathroom was wide and bright, marble tiles catching the light in soft reflections. This time, I undressed slowly.
I stepped into the shower and turned the water cold.
It crashed over my head and shoulders, washing away blood and the sharp scent of the forest. Red swirled down the drain. I bowed my head and let the water soak through my hair as my thoughts returned, circling with renewed force.
What exactly had possessed me?
I had hunted ancient vampires across continents. I had destroyed covens that had stood for centuries, leaving no trace behind. In certain circles, whispers travelled about a masked predator no one survived meeting. I had walked through spaces crowded with vampires whose senses were sharper than any human's, and still they never noticed me. I slipped past them like smoke, like a shadow that never quite touched the ground.
And tonight, I slipped because I was… curious.
When I heard the voices in the forest, I should have ignored them. I should have finished eating, erased every trace, and left.
Instead, I walked toward the sound.
Because I wanted to see them.
The Cullens.
Of all the worlds I could have ended up in, it had to be this one. The Twilight world. The same story I once watched on a screen while half laughing at the drama and over-the-top intensity. I had been entertained, sure, but mostly in that "this is ridiculous, and I love it" kind of way.
And now I was here.
Of course, I wanted to see how fiction compares to reality. To find out if the characters were really like their movie versions, or if they were even more striking in person. And yes, I was curious about the girls too. I'm still a man, after all.
Flashback
I had approached in full werelion form, three meters of muscle, mane. Over the past six months, I had refined the shift, learned to balance between beast and man. I could take on an in-between shape if I needed to, taller and broader than a human but not fully animal, something like a creature out of the Teen Wolf series. It had its uses.
For hunting, though, the werelion was best.
At first, I kept my distance. My eyesight was stronger than my hearing, so I edged closer than I should have, careful to stay downwind.
Four figures stood beneath the trees.
Two men and two women.
Recognition came fast.
The larger male was unmistakable. Emmett. Broad shoulders, a mountain of muscle, and that easy, almost goofy grin that never quite matched how dangerous he really was. Jasper stood beside him, his features close to what I remembered from the screen.
Rosalie was impossible to mistake. Beauty like that didn't blend into the background.
And then there was the other girl.
Slightly behind the rest.
Someone said her name.
Edythe.
The name struck like lightning.
Edythe wasn't canon.
Edythe meant change.
Alternate universe, new variables.
Another question rose immediately, sharper than the rest.
Where was Alice?
The scent of fresh blood hung in the air around them. They had fed recently. Jasper should have been with her!
Unless this world had shifted more than I thought.
For a brief, reckless second, my mind wandered. What if Alice wasn't with Jasper here? What if she was alone? What if the story had broken apart completely?
The rush that followed, hope tangled with confusion and something dangerously close to longing, was enough to crack my focus.
My disguise flickered.
A shimmer of golden mane flashed in the moonlight.
Edythe saw it immediately.
Sharp eyes, no doubt about that.
I forced the illusion back into place, but it was too late. They moved into a defensive formation smoothly.
After some time.
They advanced.
I pulled back, keeping my distance but still watching.
Then the blood scent betrayed me.
No vampire should have caught the scent from that far away. But fresh blood is a beacon. To them, it's like a flare in the dark.
So, they found the deer.
At first, they thought it was a bear.
I almost laughed at that conclusion, half-insulted despite myself. A bear? Really?
Then Jasper picked up one of the bones and held it out for the others to see, turning it slightly as if the marks on it told a story only he could read. Whatever he said next changed everything. The ease drained from their posture.
A second later, they were moving.
Not panicked, but alert. They left the clearing quickly, heading straight toward their mansion with a new edge in their steps.
When they were gone, I erased every trace. The forest swallowed the scene, clean and innocent again, as if nothing had happened.
End of the flashback
The shower shut off, steam filled the room, blurring my reflection into a vague outline. I stepped out and wrapped a white towel around myself, drying slowly.
"What's done is done," I said quietly, my voice steady in the humid air.
Rage wouldn't fix the mistake.
But anger had its place.
If I enrolled in that school and blended in as just another mildly popular student, I could manage that. If I disrupted key events and set off consequences I couldn't predict, that was different.
I didn't care what the Cullens thought of tonight.
I cared about the ripples.
I ran the towel through my hair and looked at my blurred reflection once more.
After drying myself, I let the towel fall aside and stood there for a moment, breathing slowly, pushing every stray thought out of my head. I dressed in fresh clothes and slipped into bed, the sheets still cool against my skin. It took less than a minute for sleep to claim me.
Ever since I began absorbing the life force of vampires, my body had changed in ways that went far beyond strength. I needed far less rest than I once did. Sleep no longer pulled at my bones or dulled my thoughts when I went without it. It wasn't something my body demanded anymore. It was something I chose. Over time, it became a habit rather than a need, a quiet routine that made me feel grounded.
[Not my best chapter, I have to admit. I remade it several times, but I am still dissatisfied.
Next chapter is going to be his first day at Fork's school ;)]
[For those who were confused about his sudden anger, it will be explained in the next chapter and will be used in the plot]