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Edward rapped on the open door. He took a step inside of the dim room and leaned on the wall, hands in his pockets. The room was small, just big enough to hold a few bedroom necessities, but it was predominantly empty. Some pieces of clothing were scattered about, and there were countless mud tracks in circles on the carpet. In the center of the room sat a teenage boy, on top of a red cushion. A large dog lay at his feet.

"Aren't you ever going to clean your room?" Edward asked the boy.

He looked up from the animal. The dog perked its ears, its slimy pink tongue lolling from its mouth. “It’s fine,” he shrugged, motioning to the dog. It stood, stretched, then exited the room without stopping to sniff Edward.

Edward watched the dog pass by him, then focused back on the person in front of him. “Eva isn’t too fond of how dirty you make her house. I guess you can do whatever you want with your room, but you need to clean up if you make tracks anywhere else in the house.” He took a few steps into the room, surveying it. A raven sat on the sill of the only window in the room, which was covered by blinds. It preened its feathers and watched the man curiously. Edward continued when the boy didn’t reply, “I know it’s hard because there’s snow out there and there’s not much you can do, but it would make Eva much happier if you just wiped up when you came in. Especially with all of your animals.”

Standing up, the boy nodded, “Alright. I can't keep track of all of them, though. Don't get mad if a herd of deer just waltzes in." He moved to exit the room, but Edward stopped him.

"I thought we could do something together," he said, putting his hand up in front of the boy. "I know it's been stressful for you lately."

"It has been," he nodded, waiting for Edward to suggest something.

Edward let him out of the room, starting to walk down the hallway. "Why don't we go out and eat? It's been awhile since you were out there for that."

Stiffening, the boy wanted to reject the offer. Edward could tell he didn't want to come. He turned around and shook his head, "You know, Colin really isn't happy about the way you've been acting."

"I know," the boy whined, shaking his head. "You don't know how hard it is for me! You can't hear them!"

Putting his hand on the boy's shoulder, Edward nodded, "I know, Ruben. Jesse can feel them. I can hear them through you. But it's the only way we can do it without revealing ourselves. It's the least we can do to repay Colin for everything he gives us."

Ruben shrugged off the hand. "He put you up to this, didn't he?" He glared at Edward, backing away.

"Does it matter?" Edward let his hands fall to his sides. "We all just want you to be yourself again. It's awful seeing you this way. You never come out of your room anymore." He motioned downstairs. "We see more of Kazimir than we do of you."

Ruben looked at his feet. He knew he had been neglecting his family.

"This brooding has to stop. Colin told me that he was thinking about contacting the Volturi if you can't get your act together. You're a hazard to the people that live here."

"He told you that? Why didn't he just talk to me?" Ruben frowned, meeting Edward's eyes again.

Edward raised his eyebrows, looking away. "Okay, he didn't tell me that. He only thought it. I'm just trying to get you to see our side here."

"Stop listening in on other people's thoughts. It's an invasion of privacy," Ruben huffed, moving passed Edward and heading down the stairs. "Let's go. I guess we can talk more outside."

The two of them made their way downstairs and crossed the living room, where a woman lounged around reading the newspaper. She looked up when they entered, and Edward nodded to her. She pointed to a large stag that relaxed on the couch opposite her. "Ruben, could you get Kaz off of the couch? He's getting the fabric all dirty."

"Yeah, sorry Eva," Ruben scolded the animal in Russian, and Kazimir let out a huge sigh. He got onto his gangly legs and shuffled out of the living room with a swish of his tail. "I tell him all the time to stay outside, but he likes it better in here." He went over to the sliding glass doors and opened them, and the large animal ducked and left the house.

"Thank you." Eva closed the doors again from across the room. "Where are you two headed?"

Edward motioned towards the snowy landscape, "We're going hunting so we can fill up before school starts again."

Eva put down her newspaper, surprised. "Oh, wonderful. I'm so glad you're going out again Ruben. We're quite proud of you." She smiled at the boy, who nodded to her and turned to leave.

Edward grinned half-heartedly, putting one hand on Ruben's back and starting for the doors. Eva opened them again, and picked up her newspaper once more.

Outside, the once-lush Washington landscape was covered by a white quilt. Bare birches and hardy evergreens surrounded the sprawling, oak house. Kazimir stood by the edge of the forest, his huge nostrils flaring and exhaling misty columns of air.

Edward and Ruben emerged from the house, clad in snowboots and sweatshirts. Their cold breath was unseen, homogenous with the air around them. They began their excursion into the forest, crunching through the snow. Kaz followed a few paces behind them.

The temptation to listen in on Ruben's thoughts was unbearable for Edward. He tried to focus on the walk, but caught a few snippets of, "Not fair", "Always do this to me", and "Never get any responsibility". Most of his thoughts were in Russian, as usual. It was easier to listen to Ruben than Lucia, however. Lucia might use five different languages in one sentence, depending on her mood. Even Edward thought in Spanish sometimes, but most members of the household spoke English to keep things easy.

Ruben called for Kazimir and the stag caught up with them, walking beside the boy. He stroked the animal's soft fur as they continued onwards, moving deep into the snowy forest. They listened for the movement of creatures in the wilderness, wondering if they would be able to make a good kill this far into the winter. The animals always ran thin around that time of year.

The first to stop was Edward. Thinking that they were far enough away from civilization, he tilted his head up towards the cloudy sky and took in a deep breath. He focused in on the one scent he craved - warm, pulsing blood - and let his ancient lungs deflate. Turning to Ruben, he said, “Follow me?”

The boy nodded. He whispered to his beast and the animal shook its head, great antlers narrowly missing Ruben. He clicked his tongue and Kazimir shot off the way they had come. When he was ready, Ruben took his place next to Edward. With a final glance, Edward pushed off of the snow-covered ground and broke into a sprint.

They ran at breathtaking speeds, covering miles in mere minutes as the trees rushed passed them. The snow, although slowing them, helped to dampen their footsteps and made them nearly silent. Edward’s eyes flitted back and forth at every tree they went by, his sharp vision examining them in slow motion. The world dragged on as he lived every intense moment with great passion. He was lucky to even have life.

The two of them came to a stop in a small clearing. They stepped behind the towering pines that made up the forest and watched their prey. A group of white-tailed deer huddled together, grazing on the leaves and branches of the bushes that were surviving the winter. Their heartbeats thudded in Edward’s ears, and he struggled to block them out of his mind. Instead, he focused on Ruben’s thoughts.

Ruben’s head was a cluttered mess of animal dialogue. He grappled with his own morals and the innocence of the group of prey before him. He made no sound as he honed in on the weakest animal of the bunch and separated its communication from the rest. He touched Edward's hand to communicate with him telepathically, and they formed a plan to take their kill.

The two took either side of the clearing and locked eyes with each other. Their target meandered at the edge of the trees, treading with care to nurse a wound in its hind leg. Ruben began a countdown in his mind, and when he reached its end, they both darted out from their cover in an instant and attacked the animal. Ruben bowled it over with little more than a nudge from his superhuman hands, and Edward went straight for the throat. He tore the creature's carotid artery with precise gracefulness, plunging his fangs into the sticky, metallic ooze. Ruben was at the flank, drinking his fill at the pyloric artery. The animal protested, but soon succumbed to the blood loss. The herd of deer lost one member, and they scurried away into the cover of the pines.

A frenzy overcame Edward. He swallowed the warm blood and felt it slip down his throat, coating his insides with the crimson fluid. His undead heart pumped with a renewed vigor as fresh material surged through his body and heated his lifeless form. Nails digging into the corpse, he sucked at the wound until the animal was bone dry. Edward groaned when he finally rose his head from his meal, his face stained red. Trails of saliva and gooey, clotted blood hung from his lips. Eyes bloodshot, he stole a glance at Ruben to see how he fared.

Ruben sat on his haunches, wiping the evidence from his cheeks. He cleaned his hands on the snow beside him and sighed, running his fingers over the deer's velvet fur. Edward attempted to clean himself off, but found the whole front of his sweatshirt soaked with the vital fluid and gave up the attempt. He stood.

"Are you alright?" he asked Ruben, shaking snow off of his pants.
Removing his hand from the animal, Ruben stood too. He looked up at Edward, who was a good foot taller than him due to their four year age difference as humans, and shrugged. "I hate it. You know I do. You can hear me."

It was true, Edward never had to ask anyone questions. He always heard their feelings through their thoughts. No secrets were kept from him. He grimaced and nodded to the boy. "But you went through with it."

"I know."

Ruben removed his contaminated sweatshirt and turned it inside out so he could hold it without making his hands dirty again. The cold, winter air cooled his body and he welcomed the loss of heat. His blood vessels felt as if they were on fire, with the hot blood of another beast running through them. Edward followed suit, wringing his garment out in the snow. He hoped Eva could help them with the stains.

After a few moments, they started the trek back to the house. Edward decided to make conversation because he felt uncomfortable listening to Ruben’s thoughts: "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" the Russian boy asked, shooting his adoptive brother a glare.

"You fed, even though it hurts you to."

Ruben focused on his feet. "I know it's important to this coven to refrain from taking the lives of humans. And I think of you like family. You're all I really have, and if that's what I have to do to stay with you, I guess I just need to grow some thicker skin."

Edward gave him a pat on the back, "We're proud of you."

Ruben shrugged, a tiny smile playing on his lips. "I know." He looked at Edward again. "But what honestly got me was the Volturi threat. Did Colin actually think that?"

"He did, at one point. You should talk to him about that, though. It's not my place to speak," Edward let out a sigh. Colin was a busy man - he worked the night shift at the local hospital and wasn't seen much by the family. He knew it would be tough for Ruben to find time to speak with him. "I'm sure it was just a last ditch effort sort of thing."

Ruben nodded. "Maybe I'll see him on the weekend."

"Maybe."

Back at his place of residence, Edward stood in the laundry room. He had stripped off his bloodstained clothes and instead donned a set of pajamas. Scrubbing his sweatshirt, he tried to lift the foreign material off with stain remover. Taking his clothes to the dry cleaners every few weeks would save him a lot of time, but it wouldn’t be long before Chief Swan showed up on their doorstep. So he toiled away, unaware that another person had entered the room.

“Good hunt?” they asked, opening the dryer.

Peering over from his work, Edward noticed the petite, ebony girl. He focused on his task again, nodding, “I’d say it was. We caught a deer.”

She pulled her clothes out and began to fold them. The room filled with a damp warmth and she opened small window for relief. “By the looks of it, you must have eaten the whole herd.”

Edward rolled his eyes, rinsing his sweatshirt with cool water, “I know I’m not perfect like you, Alice. I still try to have a little fun with my food.” He scooped up some detergent and fed it into the machine, tossing in his dirty garments. After he turned it on, he leaned on the counter and watched Alice finish her task. He gazed without speaking, until she started folding a pale blue button up. Snatching it from her, he raised an eyebrow, “This is mine.”

Alice pursed her lips. “It is.” She loaded her clothes into a laundry basket.

“Why do you have it?” he asked, draping the shirt over his arm.

With a huff, Alice balanced the basket on her hip and walked passed Edward. He followed, and she threw a glance behind her at him. “I just needed to borrow it.”

They walked up the grand, wooden staircase. Edward said in a stern voice, “You need to stop taking things from me just because you’re older.”

Alice turned to him at the top of the stairs. “Twenty-five years older. You weren’t even home to begin with, and I was going to give it back. There’s no need to be upset, Edward.”

“It’s not about the shirt. You didn’t ask if you could use it. You never ask,” he crossed his arms at his sibling, exasperated.

“I’m sorry,” she put on a fake pout, one hand over her undead heart. “Oh honey, my husband just returned from war and all we needed was one nice shirt so we could go out and have a day to ourselves! He couldn’t be seen in his uniform, oh no, the memories pain him too much. Please forgive us, we would have asked but you weren’t home, dear,” she batted her eyelashes at him.

Edward raised his eyebrows, “Jesse is back?”

“He is. Thanks for noticing,” Alice swiveled around to walk towards her room. “I think someone wants to talk to you,” she said as she disappeared around a corner.

Edward checked over both shoulders to see if anyone was there. Sure that he was alone, he turned down the hallway and opened the door to his own room, opposite Alice's. A soft orange glow bounced off the walls from the sunset. He hung his shirt up in his closet, smoothing any wrinkles out, then crossed his room and ran his fingers over the delicate surface of his record player.

A large shelf took up the right wall of the bedroom, custom made to house all formats of music recordings. From the leftmost side, vinyls were organized by size - 7, 10, and 12 inches. From there, cassettes and 8-tracks were stacked to the ceiling, and on the far left was his CD collection. Since boyhood, Edward collected records and listened to them tirelessly. He reached to his left and slid a Billie Holiday vinyl from its place, handling the old record with great care as he set it on the player and touched the needle to the record. The music filled the room with an old-timey wobble to the famous singer's voice, and Edward closed his eyes as he listened to the soothing sounds. He swayed back and forth, mouthing the words. Beginning to feel the soulful jazz, he danced around his room and snapped to the beat of the song.

"Edward?"

He jumped, flicking his eyes towards the door. There stood a tall man dressed in slacks and a button up shirt. His fine, blond hair was parted to the side and combed back, and his thin lips pulled up into a small smile. He tugged at his tie to tighten it and raised his eyebrows at the younger boy.
Edward stopped the record with one swift movement, then nodded to the man. "Hey Colin."

"I'm about to leave for the night, but I wanted to check in and speak about Ruben." Since the Russian boy's room was quite close to Edward's, Colin stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He leaned on his desk and asked, "Eva told me you two went hunting today, yes?"

"Right, I talked some sense into him and we caught a deer," Edward said as he took a seat on his bed.

Colin let out a tiny breath of relief. "I'm glad. I was getting worried about him." He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head, "Over two hundred years with no issues, you would think that we'd be in the clear by now..."

Shrugging, Edward said, "He should be okay now. We fed a lot, I'm sure he's safe to be at the high school."

Turning to look at Edward, Colin pointed at him. "Right. I need you to watch out for him. Walk him to his classes, eat lunch with him. Get Rosalie to accompany you. If something seems wrong, sign him out and tell the school he has a doctor's appointment. We can't risk anything. The Volturi are always on my tail to begin with..."

Edward walked over and patted Colin on the back, "I know, I won't let him out of my sight. But he'll be fine, you don't have to worry. He knows how important it is to stay off the radar."

"Thank you, Edward." Colin stood, bowing his head. He straightened up again and smiled, reaching for the door. "I trust you can handle it."

"Of course I can."

And he left Edward in the moonlit room.