Chapter 3: Coexisting with the Cullens
Rosalie's POV
"Vampires, Bella. We're Vampires." I watched as her face raced through emotion after emotion. First there was confusion, to be expected of course, then there was annoyance, which probably came from denial, and then anger. I kept waiting for the one emotion that should have shown up but it didn't. Curiosity sprinted through the finish line with fear nowhere in sight.
"Hmm… That's why you're skin is so cold right?" Bella's chocolate brown eyes looked up at me as her hand unconsciously reached out and took my hand within its own. "And why you're so fast? And why you don't look entirely human. Something as beautiful as you can never be entirely human." That last line was said so quiet that it was probably meant for just her to hear but of course I heard it.
"We can hear well also." I couldn't help myself as I removed my hand from hers and moved it up to her face. Caressing her soft creamy white skin and relishing in the blush that instantly formed as I did so. "Take everything about a human, seeing as we once were, and times it by a hundred. Maybe a thousand would be more accurate but you get the point."
"Vampires…" She repeated.
"The rest of the family would like to meet your mate, Rosalie." Emmett said from inside the house.
I rolled my eyes. "Let's go inside, alright?"
She nodded her head and I led her to the living, or would it be more appropriate to call it the dead room.
"Aren't vampires supposed to live in crypts like Spike?" Bella whispered.
"Who's Spike?" I stopped just outside the living room.
"Only the best vampire to ever exist on television." I must have looked confused because she went on to explain. "From Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You do watch TV don't you?"
"No."
"Oh…" She looked uncomfortable.
"And to answer your question, I do not know of any vampires that live in crypts. Most are nomadic. It's just them and their mate usually."
"Keep hogging the human, Rose. We really don't want to meet her." Emmett again, cut into our conversation.
Bella and I entered the living room and I mentally prepared myself for what was to come. The questions and the explanations and the feelings. The feelings I would get when someone would look at my Bella and God help anyone who tried to touch her. I inwardly sighed and had a seat on the couch, gently pulling Bella down next to me.
Carlisle and Esme were seated on the couch across from us, Alice next to them, Emmett and Kat were sitting on the love seat with Edward standing next to them and poor Jasper, the newest to our vegetarian lifestyle, was standing by the open patio door.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Bella." Carlisle smiled at Bella, trying to ease her nervousness which even if I wasn't mated to her or had Jasper's gift, I could easy tell she was.
Bella was wringing her hands together and shaking lightly. She has unconsciously leaned closer to me and was biting the hell out of her bottom lip. I couldn't help but notice how adorable she looked though.
"My name is Carlisle and this is my wife, Esme." He gestured towards her. "Of course you already met my youngest daughter, Alice."
Alice beamed and waved.
Carlisle introduced Kat and the boys next. The whole time, Edward had a strained look on his face. Finally I had enough of guessing what was wrong with him and asked him.
"I can't read her." He answered. Too quiet and fast for Bella to hear. "Either her mind is completely blank or there's an exception to my gift.
I could feel Bella shift next to me and I turned to look at her. She was looking up at me.
"What are you talking about?"
I stared at her. "Excuse me?"
"You were just speaking to someone in the room, weren't you?"
"Interesting…" Carlisle muttered. "She's incredibly in tuned to you. Remarkable really."
I chose to ignore what my father said and focused back on my brother until Carlisle said something that pissed me off in an instant.
"You'll have to excuse the fact that we aren't shaking your hand."
"She excuses it, your fine." I quickly interjected.
"Does the reason behind that have to do with why Alice didn't shake my hand earlier and why Rosalie, she um…, she growled?" Bella shot me a questioning look.
"Newly mated vampires are very- what's an appropriate word…"
"Possessive?" Kat guessed.
"Bitchy?" Emmett smiled.
"Protective." Alice filled in.
"Yes, thank you, Alice." Carlisle gave Emmett a look only a father's possess. "Newly mated vampires tend to be more protective of their mate. Especially if said mate is a human."
"Ok…So, um…How can we become unmated?" Bella asked, getting straight to the point. "I mean what does that really mean? And uh, wow, vampires huh?" Bella's constant wringing of her hands and the tapping of her foot on the ground was really getting on my nerves. I wanted to silence her and kiss her at the same time though. I despise this whole mating thing.
"We can't become unmated, Bella." I answered.
"This is destiny at work, sweetie." Esme gave Bella a reassuring look. "You and Rosalie were bound to be together at some point in your lives, or afterlives."
"But what about love? Where does love come into this?"
"Well, we don't know much about vampire/human mating, but for vampire/vampire mating, it is, essentially, love at first sight. Do you love Rosalie, Bella?"
I was surprised by how much I wanted to know her answer. I knew it was the mating at work, but I thought I could fight it better than this.
"No." Bella sounded unsure. "Well, I don't think I do."
Everyone turned to Jasper.
"She does. It's completely unconscious as of right now, but yes, she does love Rose." Jasper looked stunned when he looked at me. "Why are you fighting this so hard?"
I stood up trying to put distance between me and Bella. Bella's anxiety levels increased drastically when I left her side. A small whimper escaped her lips. "Wouldn't you, Jasper? I do not like humans but again, fate has screwed me over. I didn't ask for this. Take a deep breath, Bella, your fine! Why aren't you helping her?"
Alice came to her mate's defense. "I told him not to. It would have just made unnecessary problems for us."
"I have never heard of a vampire fighting a mating before." Esme said quietly.
"People, this is Rosalie we're talking about. Of course she's going to try to fight this. No offense, Rosie." Emmett came and stood next to me placing a calming hand on my shoulder.
I smiled at my huge, child-like, brother. "None taken, Em."
"Does Rosalie love Bella?"Carlisle asked Jasper.
"Yes."
"Is she aware of it?" This question was asked again to Jasper but everybody looked at me for the answer.
"Yes." I looked into those chocolate brown eyes, knowing that, even though I hated it, those eyes would keep me calm.
"I'm only 16!" Bella practically yelled. "I don't want to be tied down."
"It's out of our-" Carlisle started. Alice quickly interjected.
"No one said you have to be, Bella. You two can be friends. Get to know each other."
"Coexist." Edward murmured. "Is that possible?"
"I don't see why not." Carlisle ran his hands through his hair. "As long as Bella and Rosalie are fine with it, and Rosalie tried not to intentionally hurt Bella, everything should be fine?" The attention went back to Alice.
Alice had a far-away look in her eye. "For now, it'll work just fine. For a while though, Rose, you can't be farther than eye sight from Bella. That is, if you don't want her to feel the pain because of your absence."
"Why would she want Bella to feel that?" Esme asked.
I quickly made the decision to be okay with Alice touching Bella for her to dress her up and what not if she didn't tell our mother about what I did earlier.
A smile spread across the little pixie's face and she nodded her head. "She wouldn't. I was just making an example, kind of…Since you two can't always be around each other, you will need to reassure Bella that you will be back. That will help take the edge of, sort to speak."
"Are you alright with everything, Bella?" Carlisle asked.
Bella hadn't taken her eyes off of me this whole time. Her brown eyes now focused onto the patriarch of our family. "I th-think s-so. I have some questions though."
"Go ahead and ask them. We want you to be as comfortable as possible."
"Um…ok, vampires, they um, they suck the blood out of humans, correct?"
"My family and I are different, but you are correct. Most vampires do. I apologize about that. We should have told you as soon as what we are was out in the open. We like to think of ourselves as vegetarians. We only drink animal blood."
"Oh" She visibly relaxed. "And the sun?"
"We don't turn to ash if that's what you're asking. We also don't start smoking like Spike or Angel would." Emmett smirked at her.
Bella gave him a big kool-aid smile and quickly turned back to me. "At least someone here knows about Buffy."
"I have the whole DVD collection upstairs in my room if you'd like to watch it sometime, squirt."
"Maybe later, let's get you home, Bella." I answered for my human.
"Actually…" Alice produced a duffel bag from behind the couch. "I took the liberty of calling Charlie and explaining to him that Bella would be spending the night tonight. I already ran and got her some clothes and supplies for tomorrow. And may I say, Bella, that you clothes need to be updated asap."
"Thanks, Alice, I'll keep that in mind." Bella didn't look the least bit happy about the prospect of updating her wardrobe.
"We're going to be the best of friends!" Alice was now literally bouncing around the living room full of excitement. "We should go shopping next week!"
"Can you show me to the bathroom?" Bella looked desperate to get out of the room with the hyper pixie in it. Then again, so did everyone else besides Jasper.
"I have one in my room." I grabbed her hand and lead her up to the third floor with only my room on it.
