The True Meaning of Fidelity.

Cecille spun, quickly continuing her walk home, not caring if that monstrous near-stranger boy was still following her.

Edward easily caught up to her, "Cecille--" he began.

"Cadence." She quickly corrected, the response automatic at this point.

He tried to push into her mind, to hopefully read her thoughts, but she had pushed all memories out of her head to repeat to herself to breathe.

"Cadence." Edward again attempted, gently grabbing her forearm, "Why aren't you afraid? Why don't you run from me?"

"Why do you ask so many goddamn questions?" She snapped back, already peeved by his pressing inquires, "You're possibly the most rude, annoying person I've ever met in my life! And I j-walked in New York once!"

"It's only because I'm concerned--"

"Of what? For who? Do you even realize who you're obsessing about?!" Her voice grew louder, sharper, the short orange hairs that flopped over her forehead bouncing from her angry body language. "I'm not Cecille Bovier, any more! I'm not that stupid little girl who used to be paraded around from concert hall to concert hall, to play for a bunch of strangers! I'm not seven any more, I'm thirteen. I'm Cadence, now!"

"Well, tell me, then." Edward pulled her forward, trying to continue along their walk to her home, in hopes of avoiding causing a scene. "Who's Cadence?"

Though she allowed herself to be pulled along, Converse-clad feet dragging slightly, Cecille did no have an adequate answer for him. "Cadence is... Cadence is what Cecille became. After the fire."

Edward faintly remembered his phone conversation with Dr. Nigel.

"How well do you remember the fire?"

"Please... Ask me anything, just don't ask me that..." She was quiet, looking down. For the first time, Edward could clearly see the little girl that was once Cecille in this newly evolved Cadence.

"Alright..." He agreed, "Did you know the vampire that bit you?"

'Out of the pot, into the fire...' He heard her think with a bitter inner laugh.

Cadence took the moment of silence as an opportunity to pull forward, walking another few steps before stopping in front of a small building. "This is it," She sighed.

Frankly, Edward was a tad disgusted by the place, as it was quite different than his normal up-scale homes. It wasn't necessarily shady, just... unkempt. It was a very small, basically a shack, not a house. There was an elaborate decor of potted, dead plants and odd garlands made of braided hemp and wooden beads. It didn't take Edward's vampire senses to smell the stale order of sitting rain water and mulch.

Cecille paused in front of the door, reminding Edward painfully of those awkward first dates. He stood a few steps behind her, twiddling on of the crispy dead leaves of an aged fern.

As if in a split-second decision, Cecille's hand shot for the door handle. She hardly had the chance to touch the knob before Edward had grabbed her hand, his ice cold touch enveloping her long, slim fingers.

A sigh escaped the girls mouth, her head ducking down, looking away, as if defeated.

"You didn't answer my question." Edward reminded the girl.

"I know." She whispered back.

"You don't have to if you really don't want to..."

She gulped. He heard, 'I'm stronger than this...' as she straightened her posture, jutting her chin out like a defiant child. "He was in l-love with me." She finally spoke.

"In love with you?" Edward couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow. "But you said you were ten at the time..."

Cecille sighed, her eyes falling towards the ground as her shoulders slumped once again. "I should've worded that better... He wasn't really in love with me... He was in love with my music."

Edward had never been "in love" with any sort of a significant other in his life... But he loved his family, if that counted... The vampire boy hand never taken the term seriously, actually. Though, he realized the first time Cecille played, if there was such an emotion as "love," what he felt for his music defiantly was it.

So he nodded in understanding.

"He..." Cecille began again, purposely looking away from her companion. "This is a long story... Take a seat." Her voice was quiet as she gestured to the battered porch swing behind him.

Together they sat, keeping a good foot or so away from each other, each for different reasons. He so he wasn't tempted by her blood (a standard for all vampires to sit away from humans), while she kept her distance mostly because she just hated being touched.

"Well?" He asked after a brief silence. Cecille pursed her lips, pulling at a loose thread in her jeans. "Remember, you don't have to..."

"I-I... I want to." The statement sounded almost whiney, as if she didn't want to admit it herself. "I haven't ever told anyone before, but... You sorta remind me of him, I guess."

Now, Edward was quite confused, "Isn't that a bad thing...?"

She tossed her thin arms up in the air, confused herself. "I know!" Cecille exclaimed. Edward noticed the more emotion she had in her voice, the more musical it sounded. "It doesn't make sense to me, but..." Her volume dropped once again, arms falling onto her lap, "I did trust him a lot... Then again, most ten-year-olds don't who to distrust..."

"How long did you know him?"

"He had been visiting for just about a year before he bit me... I met him almost as soon as I moved there."

"How'd you two meet?"

"He was the neighborhood's pride." She gave a bitter chuckle, "You should know. A well-blended vampire is just a superhuman to the ignorant."

Edward nodded with a shrug, it was true. Though humans were regularly weary of vampires, if they didn't know any better, he was just a perfect person.

"My foster parents at the time would hire him to baby sit me every weekend." Cecille trailed off, obviously recalling her ten-year-old life, "He'd come over every Saturday at four, then leave real late, after I was asleep."

"And, I'm guessing, you played for him?" Edward noted, referring to how Cecille said the vampire was in love with her music.

Pulling her violin onto her lap, she opened the case. Still in the case, she plucked a few strings, using her index finger to run across the neck, making a beautiful, yet simple line of melody. "Of course. It's what I'm best at..." Removing her hands from the instrument, she snapped the case closed again. "They had an old upright piano in the living room. The thing was out of tune, and I hated playing it, but..."

"You don't deny requests?" Edward filled, leaning back on the swing, stretching his arms out.

Cecille's normally pouty lips curved into a small, yet sad, smile, "Not from vampires..."

"Were you two close...?" The copper haired boy was tentative to ask the question, letting his one hand slip from the back of the swing onto her back, rubbing it comfortingly.

Cecille silently appreciated the gesture, but made no move to acknowledge it. "I saw him everyday, even when he wasn't babysitting. He did live down the street after all... I didn't really fit in with the other kids, mostly cause of my talent... Even though, in every other way I was basically the same as them." These words she spat spitefully, "But that's what most of my childhood was like. I fit in with adults better than kids my own age."

"All because of your musical talent?"

She raised a thinned eyebrow. He noticed both her eyebrows were still the same brown she had on her head when she was younger. "Have you ever seen any other kid play like me? I mean, I'm no Mozart, not by a long shot... But as far as talented children went, I was pretty far up on the list. Not to mention, I was white and not a little Asian kid..."

"And it set you aside?"

"Yep... But he understood... He didn't have many friends either, I guess... Cause he wasn't normal. He excelled where other's didn't... You know what that's like."

The vampire nodded, this was undeniable. His bonds were with his own kind, as normal humans weren't too keen on befriending someone so... perfect.

"And that was our common interest, I suppose..."

"How old was he?" The random question escaped right from his thoughts to his voice quicker than he could stop it.

Cecille's brilliant frosty emerald eyes jumped from the porch floor to meet his golden ones. Her lush pink lips pursed in recollection and thoughtfulness. "Younger than you in total... But he looked just about twenty-something..."

"And nobody noticed how he felt about you...?"

"They knew something was weird... But... It was all about the music." He noticed her slouch deepen. Subtly, her fingers tapped the air in front of her, as if playing the ivory keys of a piano. "He was an amazing musician... Only because he was a vampire, of course. Our talents were nearly equal, so he acted almost as my accompanist, if it was possible to have one twenty-four-seven." She laughed a musical laugh. "It got to one point when he barely left my side... And I just tottered along behind him whenever possible... It was pathetic."

"You found a friend... There's nothing pathetic about it." Edward continued to stroke up and down her back, running his knuckles up and down her spine, scooting closer to her, only slightly.

"I was blind... He never felt anything for me... He wanted the music." Her hands ceased their playing motion to cover her face, "It was like his drug... He needed to hear me play."

"It happens..." Edward attempted to make sense of it all, "The way you play... it's astounding to anyone who hears it."

"Most people don't stalk me over it." Her voice was one of despair, though Edward couldn't place exactly why. Instead, he pulled her closer to his cold body, one hand holding tight to her shoulder, keeping her close to his chest. She willingly moved closer, deepening the embrace. "He wanted to hear it always... That's why he tried to turn me."

Absentmindedly, he lifted his other hand, to touch the crescent shaped scar. Cecille didn't even flinch when his fingers slipped beneath the strap of her tank top. Lightly, he traced the mar on her skin. "He was turning you...?"

She nodded, orange hair rubbing against the fabric of his white shirt, "Not eating me..."

"You were a child..."

"That's why he stopped," she admitted. "It hurts, you know... It hurts bad." It was just now she realized she was spreading her biggest secret to a near stranger, in his arms, no less! Quickly, she stood, slightly flustered. Even though all she wanted to do was rush into the house, fall onto her bed and sleep this off, the story kept pouring out of her mouth like vomit. "H-he heard me scream... The pain was... It was hell!" And hand shot through her hair, tugging a bit. A distress habit, he noticed. "Caden stopped because I was in pain... He hadn't changed anyone before! He hadn't thought it through," her words were rushed now, and her tone suggested that she was defending him, Edward noticed, "He-he... He didn't know..." She collapsed, now kneeling before him. "He didn't know!"

Sympathetic, Edward crouched to the girl's level, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close once again. "It's alright... At least he stopped."

"But..." Her words were choked, holding back tears, "I still believe it would've been better if he had gone through with it..."

Edward pulled back, holding Cecille at an arm's length. "You really believe that?"

Cecille's face contorted in a mixture of angst and shame, "My life's been hard, Edward... Harder than I could ever imagine when you met me... At least with Caden, I knew I had somebody that I cared about... And he would've been there for me, too. Even if it wasn't really 'for me...'"

Edward's only argument was, "You would've been killed."

Her mint eyes shot up to his once again. "W-what...?"

"Children... They're not supposed to be turned," He explained, golden hues conveying a message of compassion. "It's forbidden. If anyone found out, both you and Caden would've been killed."

She turned to face the ground again, this time standing. A hushed whisper left her mouth, barely audible, even for Edward's ears.

"It would have been worth it to me..."

"Even if he died, too?" Edward's smooth tone was just as soft, "Would that have been worth it?"

Cecille shook her orange head, short hairs flapping, "No... That would've have been my only regret."