"I figured you were stronger than that," Edward muttered. "I guess I was wrong."
"Yes," Edward confirmed. "I was playing along, Hannah, because the information can kill Dracula... which I thought would somehow help you. Don't you understand now why I asked you who created John?"
Edward shied away from her heartfelt words, unable to put the image of Lestat holding her out of his mind. "Right now," he began, "I don't care what you think. I want to tell you what that memory..." he faded off. "The words that went with it," he tried to finish. "Charlotte told me something that can make Van Helsing's job easy and quick... something no one else knows."
"Which instance?" Edward asked coldly, ignoring her comments about Lestat. "You think quite a bit."
Edward sighed. "You can think whatever the hell you want, Hannah," he snapped. "You seem happy enough with John, and Lestat for God's sake!"
Edward rose off the ground unsteadily, feeling the side of his face Lestat had punched, and winced at the swollen bruise next to his left eye. He couldn't even feel it start to heal, Lestat's venom delaying the process.
"I can't tell you here," Edward began. "They can't know what... what she told me."
"Hannah," Edward rasped, trying to stand. "It's not--"
Edward tried his best to stop Lestat, but he couldn't do anything. He cringed when he saw himself in Rome's library, standing next to Charlotte... letting her get him books... sitting alone, very close to her... Charlotte getting him a drink... promising him information... he could almost feel her hands and her lips on him again, her hot, sweet breath on his mouth that finally uttered the secret that he needed... the memory started to fade after she had told him where to find her if he was lonely that evening... He felt Lestat's grip on his mind lessen, and Edward felt naked suddenly, stripped of something that he meant to eventually tell her properly, but, especially with the dialogue, he knew the memory had damned him in Hannah's eyes.
Edward tried to shut his mind, but it was no use. He could feel Lestat's power probing through his thoughts, his memories... and he knew exactly what he would find.
Edward growled, feeling his body finally wanting to transform. "You're... barely... hurting me..." he managed to snarl, raising his head just high enough to meet Lestat's gaze. "Is that all you can do?"
Edward moaned, his mind on fire, his skull just kindling that seemed to add the flames. He couldn't see, couldn't move, yet he still tried to focus... Breathe... he tried to think to himself, fainting feeling the mud and grass against his cheek on the ground. Just breathe in... breathe out... focus your energy, change if you can...
"It's nothing, Hannah," Edward insisted. "Everyone argues, everyone gets angry! But you can't be happy with them. You--"
"I won't," Edward retorted, trying to catch Hannah's eye. "You know I didn't mean what I thought," he insisted. "I was just as angry as you! Come back with us... Beatrice needs you, Van Helsing needs you, and I need you. Please."
"I don't give a damn what you think," Edward snapped, just as strong. "Let her go, please."
"I disagree," Edward snapped, stepping out of the trees behind John.
Edward sighed, two sides of his mind battling each other; half of him wanted to go back to Van Helsing and tell him that the minutes Beatrice and Jinx were back they must leave... where the other half wanted to turn and bolt through the trees, grab Hannah, and run her away from all the people they both knew... "Oh, hell," he swore, and turned to go deeper into the forest.
Edward stopped in his tracks, John's words rebounding in his head. He tried his best to calm down, to think of something that didn't make him want to explode... he breathed slowly, shutting his eyes, remembering the carriage ride here, holding Hannah while she slept, the first time he saw her and held her, her tears against his chest... Edward sat up, transformed back to his original shape. Liar, he snapped back at John now, leaning his hands against the nearest tree, his human eyes adjusting to the dark, almost enjoying the pain in his head.
Edward sighed, a low rumble that echoed in his chest, and turned to pad back to the carriages. Let her stay with him, he thought angrily. She knows we'd all be better off.
Edward only moved back a few steps, not caring to listen. Walk away from me, don't ask a simple questio for me, don't care what I think, and now she's expects me to listen to her? he thought incredulously. Oh, let Lestat come. I'll welcome it.
