Intervention

Prologue

Letting Your Hair Down

"Don't you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you can't be exactly who you are."

Darkness was beginning to fall over the small town of Forks, Washington. Normally, on a warm, spring Friday such as this, the townspeople would be mulling about the streets, talking amiably and visiting local pubs and bars. Tonight, however, half the populace was nowhere to be found. Forks High School's graduation was tonight. Afterwards, the graduates had gone out to dinner with their families and had quietly slipped away afterwards to the famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) "White Mansion" for the Cullens' extravagant post-graduation party. It had been the main subject of conversation at FHS for the past week. The Cullens were a quiet bunch, but everyone knew that they were absolutely loaded. Rumor has it that if they weren't so secretive, they'd be topping off Forbes List every year. Everyone knew that this party was going to be the place to be on Friday night. If you didn't plan on showing up, there was something wrong with you.

Bella Swan was never a social butterfly, but even she had to admit that she was a little bit excited. Despite all her classmates (that she was glad to be rid of) that were going to be there, she was intent on having a wonderful time with her soon-to-be family. Her fiancé, Edward Cullen, was cheerily bopping his head up and down to the music playing on the radio as he drove them to his home. The trees on either side of the long Cullen driveway were wrapped in strings of rope lights.

"Alice's idea," Edward said, nodding towards the lights. "She's always been one for festivities."

When they got there, the party was already in full swing. Loud, upbeat music could be heard and the couple could see graduates dancing wildly through the large glass windows of the modern mansion. Edward opened the car door for Bella like a gentleman and did the same with the door to the house. The music increased in volume as they ascended the stairs. When they reached the second floor where the party was being held, the duo was immediately approached by Alice.

"Bella!" she exclaimed. The pixie-like vampire embraced her future sister. "We're glad that you two finally made it!"

"Nice to see you too, Alice," said Bella, laughing a little.

"Help yourselves to any refreshments!"

Alice waved and drifted off into the crowd, rejoining the crazed dancing. Bella and Edward made their way to the punch bowl. Edward sniffed the red liquid.

"The party's only been going for forty minutes and someone's already spiked the punch," he said dryly.

"Awesome," said Bella, pouring herself a cup.

"You're going to drink it?" he asked incredulously.

"It's not like I've never drank before. I used to every now and then back in Phoenix." She took a sip and swished the liquid around in her mouth. "Hm, Jack Daniels."

Edward looked at her distastefully. "Carlisle is going to kill me for letting you drink that."

"Shouldn't he be mad at me? I'm the one who willfully drank it."

The bronze-haired immortal just shrugged and looked off into the crowd. Bella sighed.

"So, Mr. Mind-Reader, who spiked it?" she asked.

He closed his eyes in concentration, scouring the thoughts of the crowd. "Mike," he finally said. "I'm not surprised."

"I think I taste vodka too…" she said, looking down into her cup. Nevertheless, she downed the entire thing and poured another one. While she was busy intoxicating herself, Rosalie had made her way over to the two of them. She grinned devilishly and took the ladle from Bella, pouring her own cup. This surprised the brunette, who was now slightly buzzed, and she jumped slightly.

"Rosalie!" she gasped, almost scared. "You're… drinking?"

"Alcohol does its own things to vampires," the beautiful vampiress explained. "You want some, Eddie?"

Her brother just scowled at her and shook his head. Rosalie shrugged and said, "Oh well. More for me."

With that, she turned and began to walk towards Alice. The crowd parted for her like the Red Sea did for Moses. She had no trouble reaching her destination where she began to dance with her sister. Bella turned to look at her fiancé.

"What's the matter with you tonight? You're acting like a real buzzkill. You said you wanted me to have human experiences before I was changed, right?"

"Not this kind!" he hissed.

"Did you think I was some kind of goody-two-shoes or something?"

He bit his lip. "Well, yeah! I mean, that's what you've always acted like!"

"Newsflash: I'm not perfect, Edward! I was quiet and awkward when I showed up here because I was nervous. That doesn't mean I'm uptight and prude like you are! I thought you loved me for me, not how I acted!"

Edward pinched the bridge of his nose and started to grind his teeth. Frustrated, Bella downed the rest of her punch and tossed the crumpled up cup at him before stomping off into the crowd after his sisters. When she arrived, they were both looking at her sympathetically.

"Sorry about that, Bella. He can be a real douche sometimes," said Alice.

"Whatever. I could care less about him right now."

The brunette human began to dance with the two vampires. The blonde sister smiled.

"I like Bella when she lets loose! You're fun now," she purred.

It was at this moment when the DJ decided it was time for the party to take a turning point. "Take It Off" by Ke$ha began to blast out of the speakers. Hearing the message of the song, most of the partygoers started to shed their clothes (except for Edward, who was still standing angrily by the punch bowl, glaring into the crowd). Rosalie and Alice managed to coerce Bella out of her shirt, leaving her in her revealing tank top. Knowing no boundaries, both Cullen girls discarded theirs as well, and, true to her nature, the taller of the two wasn't even wearing a tank top underneath.

"How about we give these boys a show?" Rosalie whispered to Bella.

Bella wished that she didn't know what that meant, but she did and, surprisingly, she had no objections. The spiked punch had erased all sobrieties from her. It had been a long time since she'd had alcohol and it showed in her low tolerance for it.

Still moving to the music, the blonde and the brunette closed the distance between their bodies. They fit together like puzzle pieces, dancing and writhing rhythmically against each other. Slowly, the attention of the male populace was turning towards them. Half of the boys' attentions were turned to them when Rosalie began to tug off Bella's tank top. Bella had gone into a serious workout regimen while the Cullens were gone and it showed in her smoothly muscular figure. The vampire wrapped her arms around the human girl's waist and leaned in. Their lips were mere centimeters apart. Finally, it was Bella who closed the gap, pushing her lips against Rose's. At this point, every man on the premises was fully engaged in the actions of the two girls, including Emmett. Alice watched them knowingly. Every now and then the two girls would break apart so Bella could breathe, but they would resume immediately. It got so heated that Bella was grinding up against Rosalie. Eventually, Rosalie hoisted the brunette up and wrapped the girl's legs around her waist. Bella's fingers were entangled in her beautiful golden locks. After a moment, the blonde sat her down and wedged her right leg between Bella's thighs, which prompted the human to moan loudly.

Edward, who had been throwing a silent temper tantrum, was finally fed up with his fiancé's behavior. He marched upstairs, fully intent on sharing his rage with his adoptive parents. Though already whiter than a sheet, Alice seemed to pale even more. Edward seemed too tied up in his own fury to notice that their adoptive parents were going at it like rabbits upstairs. It was not until he threw open the door and screamed in the manner of a small girl that he figured it out. He flew back downstairs and tried to exit through the front door only to run into several members of the Quileute wolf pack, including Jacob Black.

xXx

"… and so we'll work together to fight this Victoria," finished Jacob.

The rest of the Cullen family was sitting awkwardly upstairs in Carlisle's office while the party still raged on below them. The Quileute boys were standing around the room near the door while the majority of the Cullens were sitting aside from Edward, who was standing as far away from Bella and Rosalie as possible, glaring at the duo. They were sitting on the couch, Rosalie with her arm slung protectively over Bella's shoulders. Bella herself was sipping on a cup of coffee, slowly regaining her sobriety.

"Um, are you two angry at each other?" Jacob finally asked.

"Yes. We're having a bit of an argument," the redheaded vampire answered coldly.

"Edward here doesn't want me to let loose and have fun tonight," Bella explained, a dark tone to her voice.

"Aw, really? I like it when she lets loose," said the werewolf, grinning.

"Shut up, mutt," growled Rosalie.

Carlisle and Esme would have reprimanded their children for misbehaving by now, but they didn't feel like they were in the proper position to do it; both of them were awfully disheveled and had bad cases of sex hair. Esme's lipstick was smeared all over her husband's face. They both sat quietly and said nothing about the altercation going on in front of them.

"Edward, I don't know how many chances I've given you!" said Bella. "You've wasted all of my patience! You control everything I do and I'm about fed up with it!"

"And what do you do about it? You go off and make out with my sister in front of half the town!"

"She what?" exclaimed Jacob.

"FYI: I have no problems with that. You two do whatever you want," interjected Emmett, who was sitting with several pillows in his lap, staring intently at his wife and Bella. Rosalie simply rolled her eyes at her sex-obsessed husband.

"Look, Edward-"

"No, you look, Bella-"

"Both of you, SHUT UP!"

The two immediately froze at the sound of Rosalie's voice. She cleared her throat and began to speak.

"I have a proposition to make. I can tell that Bella here is very obviously bi-curious."

At that, Bella turned beet red.

"She needs some time to make up her mind about things before she runs into a marriage that might turn out unsatisfying to her. I propose that she spends one week with me. At the end of the week, she can make her own decision."

The room was silent. Edward opened his mouth to protest, but Bella cut him off.

"I agree with Rose. It's probably a good idea."

"Are you saying that you're confused about your sexuality?" he growled.

"Is that such a problem?" she hissed back.

"Well, you should have thought about it before you agreed to marry me!"

"I don't really remembered agreeing. It was more like you forced me into it!"

"Children!" Carlisle finally spoke up. "That is enough! Rosalie's proposition stands." He stood up and walked towards the door with Esme in tow. "Jacob, please tell Sam that I look forward to speaking with him. You are welcome to enjoy the party downstairs if you like. Goodnight."

With that, the patriarch was gone. Bella yawned, obviously tired from a stressful night.

"I think it's time for you to go to bed," said Rosalie, helping her up. "C'mon; you can stay in my room. Alice, you take her, okay? I have to talk to Emmett."

The pixie nodded and helped Bella downstairs. The pack headed downstairs for some drinks and Edward walked down as well, glaring at his sister the whole way. Rosalie approached her husband.

"You're not mad about this, are you babe?" she asked him.

"No. In fact, I'm happy for you."

"Do you think she'll stay with Edward?"

The largest Cullen shook his head. "After what happened tonight? She's opened her eyes, Rosie. Edward isn't the Adonis he's cut out to be. When this all works out in your favor, I'll have the divorce papers ready for you. If it doesn't, I'll be yours forever."

The blonde smiled.

"Thank you, Emmett."

xXx

After Alice had helped Bella into her spare pajamas (which were simply basketball shorts and a wife beater), she left her alone in Rosalie and Emmett's room. The human hadn't been in here before and was taking the extra time to look around. It was darker than the rest of the house, painted up in purples. The bed was circular and unmade, with silky crimson sheets and a white bedspread with an intricate black design. A dresser, with several drawers opened, sat by the door. Atop it sat a mirror and hundreds of makeup products that Bella had never heard hide nor hair of. Tired, the human girl sat down on the bed

Rosalie entered moments later, now dressed in loose shorts and a sports bra. She smiled softly at Bella.

"Rose, this is going to sound really rude, but… I thought you hated me," said Bella. Obviously, the alcohol hadn't fully worn off yet because she never would have said that sober.

"Oh, Bella," began Rose. "I don't hate you. I disagree with the decisions you make, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop you from making them. In all honesty, I was trying to be meant to you so you would forget about us and immortality."

And leave my brother, she thought, and paused to glance in the mirror.

"I see that isn't going to happen. You're too hung up on the idea. I'm not going to try to fight you anymore. You should hear my side of the story, though."

"Go ahead," said Bella. "I'm too jacked up on coffee to sleep right away."

The blonde vampiress smiled. "I was born in 1915 in Rochester, New York. My family was well-off throughout the Great Depression. They raised me to be vain and conceited, and to get a man who would raise their social status. I was beautiful even then, so it was no wonder that Royce King II took an interest in me. His father owned the bank that my father worked at, much to my parents' delight. We were quickly engaged."

She stopped for a moment to look at Bella, who was deeply invested in the story.

"I was walking home from my friend Vera's place. Vera married a man who wasn't necessarily rich, but he loved her and cared for her. They had a small child at that point, Henry, and they loved him dearly. I often spent my nights there playing with him. That was what I began to want; I loving husband and children of my own."

The brunette nodded understandingly.

"As I said, I was walking home. It was late at night, but it was a short walk so I thought I had no need for an escort. As I walked, I happened to see several drunken men on the sidewalk. One of them was Royce, and he called me over. None the wiser, I went over to them. He began to brag about my beauty to them. One of them said something along the lines of 'Well, we can't see her when she's all covered up like that!' so he started to rip my clothes off. They beat me and each of them took a turn with me, and then left me to die in the street. Carlisle found me and bit me."

Bella gasped. "That's… That's terrible, Rose. I had no idea."

"It's okay," said Rosalie. "Not long after I was turned, I killed them. I left Royce for last. He was so paranoid; he had locked himself in a windowless room with several guards; no match for me, of course. I was wearing my wedding dress, stained with the blood of his sick friends. He died painfully."

Hoping that she hadn't completely traumatized the girl, Rosalie's head whipped up and stared intently at Bella. The brunette seemed a little shaken, but more tired than anything. Rosalie clambered over to her and kissed her forehead.

"Go to sleep, Bella. I can see that you're struggling to stay awake."

"Promise me that you won't leave," said the human.

"I promise."

Rosalie snaked her arms around her. Bella leaned her head into the crook of the vampire's neck and slept soundly.