1943-
"All I'm saying is deer hold more nutritional value to me," Alice smiled, running beside Rose.
"I prefer Moose."
"Little bit too musky for me."
Rose laughed, stopping a moment. "That's Ox, hun." They chuckled together but froze when a loud boom sounded, followed by a bright, radiating light. Rose furrowed her brow.
"The hell!"
"Let's go."
They took off, running toward the light. What they found shocked them. In the clearing was a crater, but more important was what was in the crater. A large Cheetah lay curled in the center, a sword next to it nearly as large as she was.
"That's impossible." Rose started to make her way to the big cat.
"Which aspect of this?" Alice made her way toward them, looking at the sword.
"That's a prehistoric Giant Cheetah. They went exstinct during the last Ice Age. She's even bigger than they were suppose to be, though."
"She's beautiful. But what was that sound and light... and how is she alive... and the sword?"
"I don't know... We should take her home, make sure she's okay. Grab the sword." Rose lifted the large predator into her arms and Alice grabbed the sword. With a last look at the big cat, they headed home.
XXX
Aside from a cut on her front right leg that Carlisle patched up, the cheetah seemed fine. She slept a few hours under the watchful eyes of Rosalie, Esme and Alice. Edward was pouting, seeing as Carlisle had never let him have a dog and Rosalie gets a giant cheetah?! Emmett was playing x-box and Jasper was reading while Carlisle kept an eye on the large cat's vitals. The cat stirred after five hours, opening her eyes. They only had a moment to see her hazel-brown eyes before she yelped and jumped in the corner, crouching down and growling, looking around.
"She's terrified."
"She can't hurt us," Edward scoffed. Rose growled at him.
"Everyone get out. She's threatened and in a new place. This isn't her territory and she's scared. Go."
Begrudgingly everyone left and Rose sat down cross legged on the ground. "Sweetie, I won't hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you here. Please trust me."
She lifted her head and got out of her crouch, sitting down and looking at her. Rose smiled.
"See? That's not so bad. I'm not gonna hurt you."
She stood and took a hesitant step forward before walking slowly to Rose, bumping her head against Rose's knee. Rose smiled and reached forward to scratch behind her ear. The prehistoric cat purred, a deep rumble, and leaned into her hand. She noticed a silvery mane of fur around her neck, as well as a silver chain of sorts. Finally relaxed, the giant Cheetah laid down and placed her head and one paw in Rosalie's lap.
"Guys, it's safe. She's okay now."
Alice came up first, running her hands through the fur of the cat, who's purr deepened and increased in volume. Carlisle marveled at the shear size of the creature. Giant cheetah's were thought to be the size of modern lions, six feet from snout to rump. This cat was at least ten feet, not including her tail.
"So... She's your pet now, Rose?" Edward asked. Both his sister and the Cheetah growled at him and the former kissed the latter's nose.
"She's not my pet. More... of a companion."
"What's her name?" Emmett asked, kneeling down beside them.
"Hmm... What do you think of Bella?" She whispered to the big cat and she purred, licking Rosalie's cheek. "That answers that."
They all smiled and started talking about what kinds of things Bella would eat and how long she would sleep.
XXXX
Present time-
"Boy it has been so long since we went to see our cousins," Jasper chuckled, putting his and Alice's bags in her car. Emmett chuckled, bringing out his x-box and other game systems and packing them in Carlisle's car. Rose was carrying her own.
"In our defense, we didn't know how our fellow vegatarians would react to Bella-Bear."
Speak of the devil, the ten foot cat prowled out of the house, her own bag with meat for the road and things she liked held in her teeth. She dropped it in one of the trunks and gave Emmett what looked like a grin.
"Who know she would live over 50 years..."
More then once it was suspected their animal friend was more than just an animal. Now that she was at least 71, they knew. Carlisle suspected maybe she was similar to the Werecat from Eragon. But they couldn't be sure.
"Alright, all. Lets get out of here. Emmett you flattened the back seats of your Jeep?"
"Took 'em out! Belly will have lots of room!" The female in question gave a small roar of sorts and jumped in the large Jeep, the only car she could fit in. She lay down in the back and looked at her family, raising one brow and Emmett laughed, jumping into the Jeep followed by his mate. Everyone else started up the cars and they headed off to Alaska. Rose smiled when Bella lay her head on the blonde's shoulder, purring when she began to scratch behind her ear.
They had found that though Bella was bulkier than a modern cheetah, much bigger and had more muscles, she was able to nearly keep up with them when they ran. She could hear even better than they could and though Edward was unable to read her mind, they believed she was as smart, if not smarter, than a human. They thought maybe Edward couldn't read her because she was an animal.
"You think the girls have found mates yet?"
"I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised. They are lovely girls. If not a bit... odd."
"Irina never did adjust as well as her sisters did to the single life. Or Subucus life, for that matter."
Bella's head had lifted as she followed their conversation. Rose looked at her and saw what seemed to be concern in her eyes. "What's wrong, Bell?" A sort of whimper left her lips and the two Vampires looked at her. "You worried about Irina?" Another whimper and Bella nuzzled into Rose's neck.
"That's... different..." Emmett muttered, at a loss for words.
"I'm curious how she's going to react to Irina in person."
They nodded and drove on.
XXXX
Alaska
Tanya came out of her home with a grin on her face. Responsibility said she had to greet Carlisle first, which she did. After that, however, she headed straight for Edward. They animately talked, because as much as Edward didn't admit it, he had a little thing for Tanya. But he wanted marraige, and she wasn't ready to just up and marry. She wanted to know they were... how you say... compatible, before marrying.
"Emmett! My friend!" Kate ran out and headed straight for her best friend. They grasped hands and next thing you know Emmett was suspended in the air, getting a good dose of electricution. Kate grinned and stopped her power, Emmett's hair sticking up.
"Kate! You can't do that to my husband every time!"
"Relax, babes, he can take it!"
Emmett blinked and fell over. Laughter from the doorway made known Irina's presence. Rose smiled and looked at the Jeep.
"Bella, come on out and meet the cousins."
A yawn sounded, followed by the the tail end of a roar. Irina's interest peeked and she watched as a ten foot long cat the height of a large male lion jump from the Jeep and stretch out her muscles, claws digging into the dirt. She shook her fur out and padded over to her best friend, sitting beside her.
"Is that..."
"Prehistoric Giant Cheetah. Or Bella. She responds to both." Emmett grinned, getting knocked over by the big cat. Bella looked down at him, her paws on his chest, and growled at him a little. "Okay, okay, down girl. No teasing the pussy."
Her eyes narrowed and as revenge she licked his forehead, making the front of his hair stand straight up. She jumped off of him and sat beside Rose again, leaning into her side and purring. Irina started walking over and looked at both Rose and Bella.
"May I?"
"I don't care, Irina. It's up to her."
Bella tilted her head, looking between the blondes, and walked over to Irina, sitting down in front of her and lifting herself up a little to better look at her face. She tilted her head and purred, rubbing her face against Irina's cheeks and lowering herself back onto all four feet again.
"She's never done that before," Carlisle muttered, watching Bella lean against Irina's chest, her purr deep and loud as the ancient Vampire ran her fingers through her fur. Rose hummed and they made their way into the house.
"Where are Carmen and Eleazar?"
"Off on a date or something. So... how did you come across this... Bella?" Tanya asked, watching as Bella followed Irina to the couch. She sat down and Bella lay down on the floor next to her, purring. Alice started telling the story while Irina started thinking and listened to the story. Soon Bella fell asleep and Irina smiled a little at the heat radiating off the big animal and onto her legs.
"Thing is, we don't think she's just an animal. She's amazingly smart, she's as fast as us, she's way bigger than both a modern and the largest recorded Giant cheetah fossils. And... they went extinct during the last ice age and she's at least 71 years old. I think she may be stuck in this form..."
"You think she's human?"
"A Werecat."
"Hmm..." Tanya purred, trying to picture the animal as a human female.
"I may be able to help with that..." Carmen said from the doorway.