Suspense! [Edvard must save humans!]

[~Jane&Alec~]

Well, the guard was on it's way. "Don't hunt too close to town", they warned, "There're some wolf changlings around". Bah. He was hungry. And American humans were so... Lush. It was the diet of fatty foods that made them so succulent, and the chocolate. Blood never tasted as sweet in Italy, even in the wine country.

The sun, technically, was overhead. There were just clouds in the way -- not something Alessandro was too used to. Still, that was a good cover, even in these giant green... Foresty things. If you could call this mass of green plants a forest. More like a jungle.

Yet somehow this was practically the hiking capital of the Olympic Peninsula. Convenient for a light snack. Here they came now!

A girl and her friend each had a walking stick in hand, but they seemed to not be using it. From a human standpoint, Alessandro supposed, this was a hard slope, but they seemed like seasoned hikers. Still...

The vampire leaned against a moss covered thing that probably was a tree. As the two women came into view, he stood up and did his best to look surprised. "Oh! Hello there," he said, poking at their curiosity with his mind.

"H-hi!" said one in a dazed voice. The other looked too stunned to speak.

This would be too easy.

[♠Edward Cullen♠]

Edward took a breath, though unnecessary it was. No emotion leaked through it. It was more nonchalant than Ben Stein could ever be- yet Edward felt a bit more emotional than his breath.

Alessandro the Volturi stood not but a mile away from him, preparing to feast on a couple of hikers. He could feel the thirst ebbing off of Allesandro's thoughts. The pleasure of an easy catch.

Edward took another breath, letting the anticipation and anger out this time.

He realized that he couldn't just rush forward and ram into Allesandro. As long as the vampire was at distance to the humans, the rule was still intact...

Meaning he couldn't swipe the humans off their feet, or suddenly appear in front of them. The only thing he could do was get closer, upwind from the Volturi guard.

Edward sprang from the tree, landing softly on his toes, then dashed past the three northwards. He stopped several seconds later, then kneeled, prepared to spring again once Alessandro made a move.

[~Jane&Alec~]

((One L in Alessandro.))

Some unknown sense alerted Alessandro to the presence of another vampire nearby, but he carefully ignored him. It wouldn't do to aggravate one of the Cullens before messing with -- his? Maybe. Hard to tell. It was standing upwind. Probably not the big one, though.

"Wow, you're hiking in jeans?" asked the hikeress. She was eying his un-ripped, perfectly fashionable pants, fascinated.

"Absolutely," he said, reaching in and snapping off the "passing time" switch in each of their brains. They wouldn't realize how much time was passing while he paused to figure out who was there. His mind reached out tentatively, snaking between the trees, sensing. Almost immediately, he found the large, complicated mind of of a vampire shining amidst the small lights of the bugs. Almost immediately, the brain seemed to notice him.

Edward, then. The one who can read minds. This might be complicated. He pressed the "Why don't you come closer?" button. Hiding in the shadows made things so much less fun. And the bleeding vegetarian probably knew what was happening and figure out how to resist. Hopefully he'd be hungry though. Wouldn't it be odd if they little unnatural princeling bit a human?

[♠Edward Cullen♠]

(Sorry...)

Edward found out a little too late that going upwind had been a bad idea. Reading the Volturi's thoughts, Edward had more of what he was going against, yet he was sure that waiting downwind could have remedied that problem.

He continued searching the vampire's thoughts... Alessandro wanted Edward to come closer. It didn't seem so bad a decision. After all, he wouldn't come too close.

Edward sprinted up a couple hundred feet, staying at least above a half a mile away.
Again, he took a read on Alessandro, trying to grasp on the Volturi's next move. He could see the two humans, astonished at the vampire's... charisma? He couldn't see what was so pretty about-
The little taunt of Alessandro beckoned him to come further, and Edward tried to resist.

[~Jane&Alec~]

Are you hungry, Edward? he thought pointedly. Sure he wouldn't come closer, unless he wanted to. But then, he would want to? Alessandro jammed his finger harder on the bulge of "come closer".

The humans looked dazed, but he had almost forgotten about them in his mischief. They were fine for now, the way they were, right? Hm, perhaps... Alessandro drew back from Edward and prodded at their minds a bit. He carefully pressed their fear centers down to dangerously low levels, then, frowning, wondered about several other places.

The one on the left, who was slightly taller, stepped forward slightly, smiling. "I'm Jess," she said, "and this is Maddie." The shorter, blond one waved. Jess stuck out her hand.

"Charmed," said Alessandro, grabbing her hand and kissing it. She blushed profusely and proceeded to non-verbally communicate with her friend. The vampire couldn't translate, but he got the gist of it. Some women were so weak against old-fashioned chivalry. He'd judged them right.

Oh Eddie, why don't you come closer?

[♠Edward Cullen♠]

Oh Eddie, why don't you come closer?

Edward realized that he should never have given up in the first place. His will was diminished, as was his patience.
But, no longer did he hesitate. It was as if he needed to go as close as possible.
And his excuse was plausible enough. Why not?
He reminded himself to not read on the Volturi unless necessary- he didn't need to sucumb to this vampire's will.

Slowly, Edward crept on until he was right behind the two females, and then broke into a casual pace as he passed them.
His eyes were focused on the woods ahead, until he feigned noticing the trio standing on the trail.
"Oh," he said, blundering through his next words as though embarrassed, "H-hi... um... am I interupting something?"
He kept his voice innocent, and low... maybe he could play the girls away from Alessandro.