"As normal as I can be," he said, shaking the last of the violence out of his fingertips, slipping away from Stefan's hand. An actual beating heart. That meant blood. A pulse. A flow. No venom.

Carlisle would never believe me.

He didn't believe it himself. Even with the evidence in front of him, even though he knew he had seen the vampire inside of Stefan, the way his face and eyes changed - it was all very much mired in the pop culture Edward had spent the last century wading through. And the speed. Stefan had lifted them with ease, moved with the speed that was thoughtless and entirely supernatural.

Edward couldn't help but wonder what he seemed like to Stefan, who was human in so many ways Edward was not. Soft skin, warmth, a pulse. While he was cold, dead, stone. He wasn't sure how to feel. He felt - power. Like they all did. The kind of power you only appreciated when it had been taken from you.

"This is like last night. I remember hearing I.R.I.S. before, but this is all... worrisome. Something's gone wrong for Aguilar, I think."