✓ | 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐀, j. hale [2]

Epilogue

epilogue is a lil long but i promise it's worth it! trigger warning for mentions of fire and death, just in case***

One year ago...

All Will could smell was the smoke.

He was moving as fast as he possibly could without drawing the attention of the ambling humans around him. The house was too far away for them to smell or see the fire yet, but as the panic in his chest grew it was all he could seem to focus on. He had to get to them in time; he had to save them. The face of their young daughter flashed in his mind; he didn't even want to think about her coming home to the mess he had created.

No, he thought. He couldn't leave her an orphan. He wouldn't.

Once Will was out of sight of any mortals nearby, he threw caution to the wind and ran as fast as he could towards the suburban home just a few blocks away. He remembered how easy it had been to find Anthony and Christina Masen. It had been painfully easy to trace the man to the bank where he worked, and then practically no work at all to follow his scent back to his home. And there he found his wife, who spent her days happily at their quaint little house painting and humming along to old jazz records. How unfortunate that these two had simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time... seen just a small thing that they should not have seen. He knew it was wrong... but he didn't have a choice. At least, he had thought that he didn't.

He had assumed the couple were on their own with no children to miss them, so he had told Alec and Jane that he found the pair and awaited their orders on what to do next. But then one day he happened to be observing the house when an unfamiliar car came by, dropping off a teenage girl that was the spitting image of Anthony Masen. She was young, maybe only seventeen or eighteen, with wavy bronze hair and clear green eyes. He watched her as her father stepped out to meet her on the porch, enveloping her into a warm embrace that only a father could provide. They were a family; they were happy.

No, Will had thought, his heart sinking deep in his chest. Suddenly, things did not seem so black and white. They weren't supposed to have a daughter. She wasn't supposed to end up alone. He couldn't do that to anyone, even if they were only human.

He had stupidly grappled with himself for hours, wasting time as he weighed each outcome over and over again. If he followed through with killing them, he would leave the poor girl an orphan. He could kill her too, but the rest of the guard did not know of her presence yet, and he could not bring himself to plan to take another innocent, young life. On the other hand, if he did not, Aro had the power to hurt Rebecca, his best friend, for disobeying his orders.

He had resolved to follow through with his hunt when he suddenly realized something: his Rebecca, so pure and good, would never forgive him if he did this. He knew that she would tell him that he always had a choice, and that she wouldn't want him to hurt someone if he knew that he could stop it. She would tell him not to lose himself in his quest to save her.

And so at last he was decided. He found Demetri deep within the city on the rooftop of a quiet dive bar; this was the place that they had decided to meet on their trip to Chicago. The sun was just beginning to dip beneath the horizon, concealing the two immortals in the darkness of the shadows around them.

Demetri's face was stoic as Will approached him, golden eyes determined and a fire of righteousness burning in his veins.

"I won't do it," he said. "I won't reveal where their home is. I can't condemn innocent people to death like this."

Demetri scoffed, rolling his bright crimson eyes. "They're just humans, William. No need to be the hero." He cocked his head, challenging him with his gaze. "You do realize that if you refuse, your precious pet in Italy might be in danger. You would really risk not tying up these loose ends and protecting our race just to feel better about yourself?"