Chapter 4:

The house was oddly quiet. Esme stopped dusting Carlisle's office. Emmett was supposed to be around here somewhere. Last she saw of him he had been in the living room listening to the radio. The gentle hum of the radio was gone, and Esme realized that she was alone. She swore to both Carlisle and Edward that the two of them would be fine today while the rest of the Cullens were at school and work, but it was now obvious that they weren't.

"Emmett?" she called as she wandered out of the office and into the empty living room. "Emmett!?" There was obvious panic in her voice. Esme couldn't figure out how in world he left without her hearing. She knew what he was doing, and it wasn't going to end well.

Emmett sped through the woods. He could smell the wild animals all around, but there was another, more tantalizing, smell that he was following. At last he saw it, a lone hunter, just like he had been a few weeks earlier, completely oblivious to what was about to happen. Without warning, Emmett leapt up into the air and landed on top of the unsuspecting hunter, instantly taking him down. The poor hunter didn't even have a chance to scream before Emmett sank his fangs into his soft flesh. The thick, warm liquid was far better than any animal he had hunted since his transformation. Now he could see why a vampire would prefer this to being a 'vegetarian.'

When Edward and Rosalie got home from school, Emmett was still missing and Esme was near hysterics.

"What's wrong?" Rosalie asked as she dropped her book bag on the chair next to the front door.

"Emmett's gone. I turned my back for maybe three minutes, and he disappeared. He was doing so well and now he's gone," Esme replied. She nervously played with her hands, trying to keep herself calm.

"It was inevitable, no vampire except Carlisle and Rosalie has a perfect track record," Edward explained, trying to keep his mother calm.

The back door opened and closed, drawing the three vampires' attention. Rosalie spun around to see an ashamed looking Emmett trudge into the room. His eyes were crimson red, a sign that he had human blood in his system.

"Emmett," Rosalie said as she reached out to put a gentle hand on his arm. He shrugged her off and retreated to the safety of his bedroom upstairs. She turned to Esme to see what to do. Consoling people wasn't exactly her forte.

"Go talk to him," Esme urged. Rosalie rushed up the stairs after Emmett.

"This should be interesting," Edward commented as he shouldered his bag and went to the kitchen to do his homework. Esme shot him a scolding look before going back to her daily cleaning routine.

Rosalie knocked lightly on Emmett's door, afraid as to what she would find on the other side. When she didn't get any response, she carefully opened the door. She found Emmett lying on his bed with his arm draped over her eyes.

"Emmett?" she asked as she sat on the bed next to his legs. He didn't budge. "It's alright, it's perfectly normal to have a minor lapse." He moved his arm and sat up slightly.

"I knew what I was doing, and I didn't care," he explained. "It was almost as if I could hear your voice in the back of my mind telling me to stop."

"My voice?" Rosalie repeated, clearly shocked. "Why my voice?" Emmett sat up all the way.

"I don't know," he replied. "But I promise you that I'll do better next time." She reached out and squeezed his hand.

"You know, the only vampires to ever not taste human blood are me and Carlisle, and no one can figure out how we've done that," she explained. "Even Esme's killed people. It's in our nature, and we're the ones going against it. I want you to know that I'm not mad at you, I understand what you've done and why."

"Does the craving ever go away?"

"Eventually you learn to ignore it. I'm still getting used to everything as well." This seemed to catch Emmett off guard. The way Rosalie spoke, he had been so certain that she had been a vampire for years.

"How long have you been a vampire?"

"Just over two years. Carlisle knows a lot more about being a vampire than I do though. He's been around longer than any of us, since the Italian Renaissance." Emmett shook his head.

"No, I'd much rather talk to you." Rosalie knew that if she could blush at that very moment, her face would be bright red. She'd much rather talk to Emmett right now than study or do anything else too.