The Edge of Insanity | Rosalie Hale

Chapter 27: Turn it off

Daniel left without thinking. He couldn't stand it—what he'd done, what he'd shown them. He left Rosalie, Emmett... all of them. Just ran. Because it was better that way. Safer. He'd never forgive himself.

He made Emmett watch himself tear through his human siblings. Again. And again. Emmett saw his own hands soaked in their blood, watched himself kill them on repeat, like some kind of twisted loop.

Esme saw her baby—the one she never got to hold—cradled in her arms. Just for a second. Then gone. Over and over. She lost him, again and again. The pain came back, so real it crushed her. She felt the desperation, the cold edge of it. And then—she jumped, killing herself. Again. It wouldn't stop.

Alice fell into nothing. A void. Just black. No sound, no light, no past. And she couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't feel anything but that terror. The not-knowing. It lasted seconds, maybe, but it felt like decades. Like she was dying inside forever.

Carlisle saw his father come for him. But worse, he saw himself turn. Saw himself rip the man apart like a monster. Lost to it. No mercy. No control.

Jasper... Jasper's wasn't a vision. It was memory. Real. His time in the Confederate army. The things he did with Maria. The blood. The fear. The orders he gave. The lives he ended. The guilt he carried—raw and festering—ripped wide open. All of it crashing back.

Daniel had made them see all that. And he couldn't take it. Couldn't face them. So he ran.

He knew where he had to go: Volterra. It was on him now. He wasn't going to bring more pain to the only family he'd ever really had.

He crossed the Canadian border fast, not stopping until Vancouver. But the second he got close to the city, it hit him—humans. Their scent. Warm, alive. Blood like a melody in his head. He tried. God, he tried. But then a family—hiking—passed too close.

He snapped.

Didn't think. Didn't blink. Just hunger. Screams. Blood.

When it was over, it hit him like a truck. A family of five. A kid—twelve, maybe younger. Just laying there. Limbs twisted. Eyes open.

He dropped to his knees.

"Oh God... no. No. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he sobbed. His voice broke.

He'd killed before. Plenty. But this... this was different. A whole family. Innocents. A child. He thought of Rosalie. What she would say. What she would feel. It crushed him.

He sat there for what felt like forever. Days, maybe. Watching them rot. The guilt louder than any voice in his head. Loud enough to make him wish he wasn't immortal.

Eventually, he stood. Numb. Hollow.

He walked to the nearest airport. Didn't care what he looked like. Just bought the next ticket to Volterra.

He didn't know what was waiting for him there.
But he knew what he deserved.

He arrived in Volterra and didn't waste a second. The city was etched into his memory like scars on skin. He moved through the shadows, ducking from the humans, until he reached the castle. Familiar, cold, looming.

"Well, well. What a pleasant surprise," Aro smiled, wide-eyed and unhinged. Caius stood silent beside him, Marcus empty-eyed as always.

Daniel didn't answer the pleasantries.
"I came to ask for a place in the guard again," he said, voice thin, frayed. "To stay here."

The kings exchanged looks. Aro tilted his head, curious. Daniel didn't flinch.

"But now," he choked out, trembling, "after hours—hours—of thinking about it... I can't. I can't bear to exist. Not like this. Not without them. Not after what I've done."