Emmett sprung forward in the blind darkness, barely able to keep his feet moving at human speed. Awful aromas tainted the air, nicotine and marijuana mixed with cheap vodka and the occasional whiff of human blood. The town seemed nearly void of residents, abandoned. He'd even go as far as to call it a ghost town. He felt an impending sense of doom, but ignored it, trying to find the scent of Rosalie, his one love. Emmett didn't know why Rosalie had left, and why she hadn't come back yet, but Alice had told him reluctantly, with a troubled face that she had seen Rosalie here. I'd had a feeling Alice didn't tell me everything, though what she left out I failed to understand.
Sitting on the cracked, filthy pavement, next to one of the few small, dimming streetlights was a homeless man. He wore tattered jeans paired with an old, threadbare sweatshirt, and his feet were bare. Despite the cold that nipped at the air in the dead of night, the man looked rather comfortable. Emmett inhaled, taking in the familiar stench of werewolf. Upon getting a closer look at his face, he recognized him as Jacob Black.
"Jacob?" he asked, breathlessly, if it were possible for him to be so
"Yes, Emmett" Jacob drawled, nearly expressionless. His dark, black-brown eyes didn't seem to focus on any sight in particular, merely wandered aimlessly
"Listen, do you know anything about Rosalie?"
"Rosalie, what a nice girl. Brave, too, for coming here. This is no place for humans" replied Jacob, still talking in a pleasant, suspiciously generic tone
"Human?" Emmett speculated, trying to comprehend what Jacob had just said. Something peculiar was taking place here, in this nameless, abandoned town.
"Do you know where I'd find her?" Emmett asked apprehensively, as Jacob seemed to snap back into alertness.
"She stays in the old motel" said Jacob gruffly, seeming a bit less cordial "Room C-10"
"Okay, thanks for your help" Emmett muttered, but Jacob seemed to be fading out of awareness again. He turned around; sprinting toward the only motel he'd seen while wandering, confident that no humans lurked near that particular street. It reeked with dried blood and vermin. As he entered the lobby, containing shabby, armless chairs, with no one attending the counter. The murky, dust-ridden air filled Emmett's nostrils as he followed the one sweet human scent within the walls. It smelled faintly of peppermint, and Vaseline (a peculiar combination) nothing like Rosalie had smelled. But of course, if Jacob had been telling him the truth, this could very well be Rosalie's human odor. When he reached the worn, wooden door, marked C-10 on a faded silver plaque, he noticed an odd saying written crudely on the doorway in some type of magic marker
"Ego sum unus". Latin for "I am alone". How strange… Emmett thought, entering the doorway, shocked at what he found. The darkened wooden floors of the reeking, dusty room were barren, as were the white walls, in exception to various small, flaming red candles, scattered about randomly. In the center of the back wall, sitting cross-legged was a beautiful, human girl, with wavy blonde hair, slightly astray. She wore an extravagant, burgundy corset dress, with a flowing skirt that rumpled around her legs. Her icy blue eyes seemed only vaguely aware of her surroundings, as they darted about suspiciously.
"Rosalie?" Emmett asked, carefully stepping forward, not wanting to provoke her. She began rocking back and forth, and mumbled
"He lied to me. He said I'd be happier human..."
"Who? Who lied to you?" Emmett pressed, anxious to make sense of what Rosalie was saying
"Stay away from me" Rosalie continued, in the same flat, disturbing tone "I'm not strong anymore" she pulled out a small, red Swiss army knife from her side, that Emmett had failed to notice, making small slits in her fingers that trickled blood, leaking on to her dress. Emmett held his breath, desperately trying to ignore the potent fluid that was the blood of Rosalie.
"Rosalie-" Emmet was cut off
"How do you know my name?" Rosalie yelped, frightened
"You don't remember me?" Emmett shook involuntarily, unable to process her answer
"I remember nothing" she said, continuing to cut her palm "my first memory is being tricked by Carlisle"
"Carlisle?" Emmett demanded, shaken. What had he done?
"He said he found a cure for vampire" she said, not bothering with a complete sentence "Then he took me here"
"Then what happened?" he pressed
"Then there was fire, lots of blue fire. Then I was here"
Emmett tried to make sense of what Rosalie had just said.
"I can make you better. Come home" begged Emmett, wanting nothing more than Rosalie's warm embrace
"It's too late for me" Rosalie's irises began to change from icy blue to a much darker tone. She removed a silver chain from her wrist, with a rectangular silver plaque, engraved in delicate scrawl, the same words that had been written on the door, ego sum unus. She offered it to him, her voice shaking as she said "Wear this, it will protect you from the blue fire. Go away, before it's too late." Then, she seemed to instantly fall asleep. Emmett may have presumed her dead, had it not been for his superior hearing keeping track of her steady heartbeat. He picked her up in his stone, cold arms, and carried her toward the exit of the motel, slipping the silver bracelet on to his wrist, figuring he'd need protection from the dangers ahead. He glided at vampire speed to the city limits, careful not to go too fast and disturb Rosalie, who was sighing heavily in her sleep.