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They arrived back at the Winter house the following day, along with the first rays of light. Alice paused at the entrance before turning the doorknob, taking a deep breath. Her golden eyes focused on nothing for a moment before she nodded softly.
"It doesn't look like anyone came back inside," she said quietly.
Nate let out a sigh of relief, dropping his backpack to the floor as he scanned the foyer, the walls still lined with old family photographs. It confirmed something important: the vampires lurking around them weren't the same ones who had broken into the house.
Without wasting time, they got to work. They cleaned the dust from every corner, fixed squeaky doors, removed old sheets, and began putting everything back in its place. Sometimes they worked in silence; other times, they exchanged jokes while carrying boxes, finding a quiet rhythm that filled each room with warmth.
Days began to pass with that slow routine. The air in the house started to feel alive again, as if every bucket of clean water and every piece of furniture set in place brought back fragments of what had once been a home full of laughter.
But as the days grew longer, Nate started to notice something else. Alice's eyes were darkening more and more, the gold shifting into a deep honey tone, almost black—a silent reminder that her thirst was growing stronger. He saw it in the way her breath would catch sometimes when he walked by, or in the way her eyes would focus on his neck before she blinked and looked away.
When they finally finished organizing, the house looked different, yet familiar. They bought some new furniture and changed the curtains, but the place still held the essence of how it was when Nate lived there with his parents. The photos remained in place, the rooms still smelled of wood, and every corner was filled with memories that blended with a fragile but warm present.
Nate walked over to Alice, who was sitting on the living room couch with her elbows resting on her knees, staring out the window. She looked distracted, her dark pupils glinting with a shade only Nate could recognize.
"Is something wrong?" he asked gently, sitting beside her.
Alice blinked before looking at him, a faint shimmer of doubt in her eyes.
"In my latest visions," she began quietly, "I see them. Two vampires, always lurking around the nearby streets, on the rooftops, outside…" Her lips pressed together in discomfort. "But they never… in any vision do they decide to approach, at least not in the last few days before my visions suddenly go dark."
Nate frowned, processing every word as he placed his hand over hers in support.
"Do you think they'll decide to stay away?" he asked, his voice calm but laced with caution.
Alice looked away before nodding, a flash of worry crossing her face.
"I'm scared that… they're waiting for me to go hunting," she admitted honestly. "We haven't been apart for a minute since we arrived in D.C. Maybe, if I do, they'll try to approach while I'm gone, when I can't protect you."
Nate fell silent for a moment, watching as the sunset light streamed through the freshly cleaned windows, bathing the wooden floor in warmth.
He wrapped an arm around her, gently pulling her closer before letting out a sigh.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "These past few days, I've been thinking that… maybe we should go back to Forks. We can be together there with less danger. Emmett and Jasper will take care of Victoria, and we could go back and just… enjoy a quieter life."
His fingers slid along Alice's arm as he kept his eyes on her.
"I felt like I needed to resolve this part of my past, but the more I find out, the more complicated everything feels. And… my parents wouldn't have wanted me to cling to the past like this."
Alice smiled tenderly before standing up from the couch. She moved carefully, sitting on his lap, wrapping her arms around him while resting her forehead against his.
"I'd like to go back to Forks too," she confessed in a whisper. "A few hours ago, I got another message from Emmett. He said they're already in Seattle, and they believe Victoria is still there since several people have gone missing; it seems she's overfeeding for some reason. If I go back to Forks, Carlisle and Rosalie could go help them. Once I'm there, I can focus solely on her, and she wouldn't catch us off guard."
Nate nodded slowly, gently caressing her waist.
"Maybe it's for the best," he murmured. "After all, the only lead we have here is those vampires who won't approach us, and the last entry in the journal…" His voice trailed off as he lowered his gaze. "It's too incoherent. It only talks about random bars and other things that don't make sense. I feel like my dad was agitated when he wrote it, mixing in various things about Quileute legends."
Alice tilted her head, curiosity in her dark eyes.
"What kind of things? You never told me you deciphered the last entry."
Nate raised an eyebrow as a faint smile crossed his face.
"It mentioned something about wolves," he explained with a tone that mixed doubt and resignation. "I think he was talking about the Quileute."
Alice fell silent for a few seconds before gently shaking her head, as if dismissing any theory that had come to mind.
Nate smiled, resting his forehead against hers while his hands slid up her back.
"Before we leave… we should at least try kissing a bit," he joked, a spark of mischief in his eyes. "That seems to attract them."
Alice let out a soft, amused laugh, looking at him with complicity.
Nate leaned in to kiss her, a gesture she returned, letting their lips meet in a warm, deep touch filled with affection and relief. But after a few seconds, Alice placed both hands on his chest, gently pulling away as her eyes darkened with a glint of frustration.
"I really want to keep going now… but I can't," she admitted, lowering her gaze with a slight tremor in her voice. "The thirst is too strong, and your scent is becoming more and more tempting."
They stayed in silence for a few moments, breathing in the tension-filled air as their eyes met again. Alice's eyes suddenly seemed to unfocus, drifting off to a distant point.
"Alice?" Nate asked, a thread of alert in his voice.
Alice's lips parted, an expression of disbelief crossing her face as her pupils refocused on him.
"It almost feels like a joke," she murmured, her whisper filled with astonishment. "It looks like they decided to approach tonight."
Nate stayed silent for a moment, surprised, processing her words.
"Tonight?" he asked in disbelief.
Alice nodded slowly, her brow furrowed.
"Yes. They just decided," she explained, her gaze fixed on an invisible point. "It seems the days they spent watching us in this house made them impatient."
Silence settled between them as Nate reflected, letting each beat of his heart set the pace of his thoughts. Finally, he sighed, lifting his gaze toward her.
"What do you want to do?" he asked calmly, though tension laced his voice. "I'll leave the decision to you."
Alice looked away, her pupils scanning the room as she weighed each possibility.
"I think they're just nomads," she murmured after a moment. "I don't recognize them, and they're not wearing Volturi guard clothes in my visions. If they were from the guard, they would have approached by now."
She seemed to consider it more carefully, intertwining her fingers over her knees before looking at him again.
"I think we should talk to them," she said firmly. "They've been too focused on our movements; they must know something. At worst, they're just curious nomads."
Nate raised an eyebrow, a flicker of doubt in his eyes.
"Not all vampires are like James," Alice continued softly, reading his thoughts. "Not all attack other vampires without reason. A conversation will be enough, and maybe we can find out more."
Nate gave a slight nod, accepting the logic in her words.
"Alright," he murmured. "We'll talk to them."
Alice took a deep breath, even if she didn't need it, before adding seriously:
"But if it turns out they aren't a lead… I think it'll be better if we leave," she said, her eyes fixed on his. "We're pushing our luck too far here, Nate. In Forks, we can help capture Victoria."
With that thought in mind, all they could do was wait until nightfall.
.............................................................
Nate and Alice stayed in the living room, sitting so close their knees nearly touched. The air was thick with a heavy silence, the kind that roars in your ears until it becomes unbearable. Nate played with his knife, spinning it between his fingers with precise movements, the metal casting faint glints under the soft light coming through the window. His gaze was fixed on the glass, but he wasn't really seeing anything, caught in thoughts swinging like a pendulum as the hours stretched on.
Beside him, Alice sat with her eyes closed, so still she seemed like a statue. Her hands, clasped over her knees, didn't move, and sometimes her brows would twitch with a slight tremor, as if tracking something on the edge of her visions. Every so often, her throat would tense, swallowing air she didn't need, containing the thirst and tension accumulating in the room.
They stayed like that for hours, as daylight faded, painting the walls with golden flashes that turned into long shadows. Outside, the last murmurs of the city faded, leaving only the sound of the wind rustling the branches against the windows and the heavy tick of a distant clock marking each second.
When twilight filled every corner of the house, Nate stood up calmly and walked to the switch, turning on a single lamp in the living room. The light was warm, flickering, casting a faint circle around them like an island in the middle of the darkness.
A silent invitation.
Nate returned to the couch, letting the knife slip between his fingers one last time before tucking it into the inner pocket of his jacket, making sure it was hidden but ready. His eyes met Alice's, which had opened abruptly, glinting with a spark of alert that only he had learned to read.
Time seemed to slow. Minutes stretched with a tension that tightened their shoulders, each creak of the house's wood sounding like a blow. Nate held his breath as he heard a faint gust of wind slip through the chimney. His pulse grew heavy, steady, pounding in his throat.
Suddenly, Alice stood with a speed that made the air vibrate.
"They're close," she murmured, her low voice barely audible in the silence.
Nate felt a jolt in his stomach as his hand slid inside his jacket, brushing against the knife handle to ensure it was within reach. He didn't take his eyes off the door, though the silence was so thick he could hear his own breathing.
A dull thud echoed from the upper floor.
Nate raised an eyebrow, letting out a slow exhale, his voice tinged with dry irony.
"Of course, they wouldn't knock."
Alice moved with restrained speed, stepping in front of him in a reflexive act of protection. Her stance was firm, every muscle tensed, her eyes glinting with a light that seemed to ignite like an internal fire. Without looking at each other, they both stood on guard as a heavy silence claimed the room.
The sound of footsteps began to descend from Nate's room, each creak of the floorboards echoing deeply through the house. The steps were slow, deliberate, confident, each one falling with a rhythm that exuded assurance and an unsettling boldness, like a predator who knew it didn't need to hurry.
Nate felt his breathing slow, his senses sharpening as he kept his eyes on the stair railing. He could sense Alice's presence beside him like a magnetic field, ready to stand between him and any threat if necessary.
Finally, the figures emerged from the shadows on the stairs.
They were two men.
The first was blonde, so pale his skin looked like wax lit by the faint light, with an almost translucent glow that gave him a ghostly aura. His movements were precise, with a cold elegance that resembled a mannequin brought to life. His red eyes glowed like burning coals as he stepped down each stair, first observing Alice with a spark of recognition before turning his gaze to Nate.
The second man had short, neatly styled black hair, with a barely-there, almost mocking smile on his lips. His gaze radiated confidence, with a touch of amusement, as if he was enjoying every step he took through the house. He walked with his hands in his pockets, inspecting every detail with an unsettling calm.
Both wore old-fashioned black clothing: thick wool jackets, buttoned-up shirts, dark pants that looked like they belonged to another era, yet with a naturalness that made it clear these outfits were part of them, not a costume.
The only thing breaking the stillness of their figures was their glowing red eyes, devouring the room with their gaze.
With each step, Nate noticed how they looked at the photographs on the walls, the new curtains, the wooden details on the frames and shelves. They did so with genuine interest, tilting their heads occasionally as if assessing each fragment of the life that had once existed there.
"If they're pretending they've never been here, they're doing it too well," Nate thought, feeling the pounding of his pulse in his temples, his hand always near the knife, every fiber of his body ready to react.
The blond one stopped a few steps from Alice, tilting his head as if he could see something in her that the rest of the world couldn't. Then, he turned his face to Nate, pausing with a calculated glint in his eyes.
With a faint smile, his lips parted, and he spoke, his deep accent wrapping each word in a calm mockery.
"It seems the apple didn't fall far from the tree, Stefan."
The silence that followed was so dense it could be cut with a knife. The air filled with electricity, charged with something yet undefined, as Nate kept his gaze fixed on those unblinking red eyes, with the certainty that, in a single second, everything could change.