Chapter 4- Treaty.
"We should be nearly there," Emmett frowned at the map and the directions written in Esme's delicate script that he was holding in his hand. "There should be a driveway coming up on the left…look out for a rusted mailbox."
The anticipated mailbox appeared, and I wrestled with the truck's steering to take the sharp curve. Carlisle had bought the truck in a hurry and it had to be the worst vehicle I'd ever driven. "When we get settled here, I'm going to learn about cars," I said furiously, as the truck groaned and shuddered over the potholed driveway. "Carlisle is always getting taken advantage of by every greasy mechanic with a sob story…I'm going to learn how to take care of the cars myself. I never want to drive something like this again!"
Emmett chuckled. "I'll buy you a pair of coveralls baby." His hand stroked my thigh, pushing up under my dress. "I think you'd look mighty fine in a pair of trousers."
I giggled, and swatted his hand away. "Unless you want me to hit a tree or wind up in a ditch, let me concentrate on driving this monster."
The driveway was long and winding, the woods growing up close on either side and arching over the top, blocking out the purple twilight sky. "I think Carlisle chose well," I remarked. "This house must be miles away from the nearest neighbours."
"Probably a good thing," Emmett said guiltily. He looked at me and even in the dimness I could see the red in his usually golden irises. He tried very hard to stick to the same animal diet as the rest of us, but he had not mastered his thirst the way the rest of us had yet, and an unfortunate incident a week ago had precipitated the hastily arranged relocation to the small town of Hoquiam in Washington.
I risked taking a hand off the wheel to touch his cheek gently. "Don't worry yourself about it Emmett. There's nothing we can do to change it, just move on and keep trying."
Before he could answer the driveway widened and the trees gave way to a small clearing with an overgrown garden surrounding a rambling colonial style house. The cars Edward and Carlisle had driven where already parked at the side of the house, and the two of them, along with Esme, were up on the porch with two strangers.
"Who is that?" I asked, peering at the unfamiliar couple. "And what are they doing on our porch?" Humans at our new house before we'd even moved in didn't really bode well for the privacy we so valued.
"Oh hell," Emmett muttered. He rubbed his eyes and looked at me anxiously. "This isn't a good start."
I pulled the truck over and stepped lightly down from the cab, walking over to the group on the porch. Esme smiled at me brightly, and Carlisle, any anxiety well hidden, held out a hand to me.
"Rosalie, this is Dr. and Mrs. Brown. I'll be working with Dr Brown at the clinic, and they've come by to welcome us to the neighbourhood. Dr. Brown, Mrs Brown, this is my daughter Rosalie, and her husband, Emmett." Carlisle waved a hand at where Emmett, his head down and not meeting anyone's eyes, was opening the back of the truck.
I smiled at the middle aged couple, trying to keep on my pleasant face even when the old man's eyes took me in and flared, ever so briefly, with desire. Behind them Edward grimaced at me almost imperceptibly. "It's lovely to meet you," I said.
"I see the truck made the trip okay," Edward commented.
I rolled my eyes. "Barely. Carlisle really got the raw end of the deal with that."
Dr. Brown chuckled. "Did I see you driving the truck in Rosalie? It's a big vehicle for a girl like you."
Edward was standing behind the Brown's back and I could tell he wanted to laugh. He made a face at me, and I struggled not to roll my eyes. "Emmett's better with the maps," I said lightly. "I enjoy driving."
"Well, we won't hold you up any longer," Dr. Brown said. "My wife and I just wanted to welcome you and drop by a dinner for your first night here. We'll let you get on with moving in. Lucky you've got your son and son in law to help you Carlisle!"
"Thank you so much for the casserole," Esme said sincerely, holding a covered ceramic dish in her hands. "It's so appreciated. I'm sure we'll be seeing you again soon."
"I'll be in to the clinic on Monday," Carlisle said, shaking the doctor's hand. "I'll see you then."
We watched the couple leave, and then looked at each other and laughed.
"I wasn't really expecting that," Carlisle confessed.
"And a casserole…how thoughtful," Esme said. "Not for us, of course but…oh well, at least they're trying to be friendly!"
I snorted and headed back to the truck to help Emmett, who had barely waited until the doctor's car had disappeared down the driveway before he started hauling out furniture and boxes of books. Mostly books. For Carlisle the furniture was replaceable, but the books were not.
I left him to it and walked around the house. It was an older, rundown place, which was just the way Esme liked them. She loved being able to renovate and decorate and make each of our homes ours, no matter how briefly we might end up living there. The garden around it was large and had obviously been well tended at some point, and in the rear there was also a chicken coop and long fallow rows of what must have been a vegetable garden. Rows of fruit trees marked the borders of the cleared yard and beyond that was the timeless and majestic green of the national park.
"It's quite something, isn't it?" Carlisle had appeared soundlessly beside me. He breathed deeply and I did the same, scenting the forest and all it contained. "There will be good hunting here, and the weather makes it much easier for our human pretence. Not much sun here you know!"
"I hope we can stay for a while," I said quietly. The past three years had been a tumultuous time for all of us. The chaotic nightmare of my vampire transformation and newborn time; my hatred and rage and the bloody revenge I had wrought as a result of it; the horrors of Volterra and the wonder of finding Emmett. The blissful joy of loving him mixed with the anxiety over his newborn impulsiveness and lack of control. "I just want to stop…just be with Emmett and breathe for a little while."
Carlisle nodded thoughtfully. "I think we all need that," he said quietly. "This will be a good place for it. A good place for all of us."
We stood silently together for a moment, looking at the beauty of the forest sprawling out around our new home, before we reluctantly turned our backs on it and went about the tedious business of unpacking and settling in.
Hoquiam turned out to be almost exactly what we needed, at least at first. Carlisle had his work at the clinic and Esme had the house remodel and redecoration project. Emmett, Edward and I did most of the grunt work for Esme, and perhaps for the first time I found myself enjoying that kind of physical work. Certainly it was far better than the more ladylike pursuits of needlework and piano, which had always bored me silly!
As I had vowed on the drive to the new house I took my interest in cars to the next level and became absorbed in their inner workings, finding that I had more than a flair for it. As promised Emmett bought me my first pair of overalls which, when I pulled them on and showed off to him, he promptly removed so that they wouldn't be in his way. I don't think we put clothes on for the next three days, that time.
Even Edward and I stopped sniping at each other and became almost friends, something that had previously seemed impossible.
After becoming accustomed to the comfort of my overalls I borrowed a pair of Edward's trousers and wore them while I helped Esme out in the garden, dirtying my nails for the first time in my life and discovering that I didn't mind it. Edward was scandalised by the trousers, and Esme giggled but made me promise I'd never wear them in to town, but Carlisle merely raised a tolerant eyebrow and shrugged. Emmett teased me mercilessly, but I saw the way his eyes watched me walk and the way his breathing quickened at the sight of my legs and rear in Edward's trousers and I felt confident that he really didn't mind the new style, not at all.
I would remember it, even years later, as the tiny space of time in which I learned what it could be like in this family we had made. When I began to see beyond the beautifully grotesque life of the vampire and notice the possibilities. When I learned how to love Emmett, really love him and give myself to him without reservation, and how to make mine into ours. When I began to see, for the first time, the rules and boundaries that had hemmed me in my whole life and question their necessity.
For the first time in my life, I let go of perfect. I took my first, faltering steps towards an independence of spirit I had never allowed myself to feel, and it felt good. Really, really good. For the first time, the vampire idea of forever didn't terrify me and in the shadow world we existed in I began to feel the sun.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxo
"Rosalie? Emmett?"
There was a knock at the bedroom door, and I lazily untangled my legs from Emmett's and went to answer it, wrapping one of his big shirts around me. It was Esme, and if she could have been blushing she would have been as she caught sight of a naked Emmett scrambling to cover himself as he lay in the ruins of what had once been a very nice iron bedstead. I pulled the door behind me to block her view.
"I am sorry for the…er…disturbance," she said, with a laugh in her voice, "But I'll be going in to town this morning and I've had word that there are a number of packages and parcels awaiting collection. I thought it would probably look better if Emmett and Edward came along to carry them. I thought you might like the trip too, you haven't been in to town before."
I nodded. "Of course, I'd love to. Emmett and I will just…get ready." I glanced behind me, where Emmett had given up trying to cover himself and was sprawled out in all his naked glory, smiling at me in a way that sent my thoughts skittering in several directions, none of which I wanted to share my pseudo mother figure. "We'll be out in a minute…soon."
I shut the door and leaned against it, biting my lip and smiling down at Emmett. "You can't look at me like that when I'm talking to someone!"
"Look at you like what?" he asked, all dimples and innocence.
"Like that!" My breath caught in my throat. "Like you want me…like you're thinking about me naked and all the things you want to do to me…do with me."
"But I am thinking that," Emmett said teasingly, his eyes dark as he looked at me. Unconsciously he licked his lip and I felt my knees weaken. So much want. "I'm thinking it all the time, Rosa girl. I saw you standing up there, with those beautiful legs coming out of the bottom of my shirt, and I don't want them on the other side of the room from me. I want them wrapped around my hips while I ride you, and I want them up on my shoulders while I taste you, and I want…"
The words were cut off as I made an inarticulate sound of desperation and kissed him hard. "Don't tell me anymore," I whispered hoarsely. "Show me, Emmett. Show me what you want…oh my god, yes, yes yes…"
It felt close to madness, what there was between Emmett and I in those days. Love and desire so fierce and all-consuming it sometimes frightened me. The vulnerability of loving him, of giving him my heart and trusting him to treasure it, of being bare and naked in front of him in so many more ways than the obvious.
I could not have enough of him. I could not be near him without touching him, no matter how small the way, and when he was away from me, usually only when he went hunting with Edward, I felt his absence like something physical. I watched him all the time, my inner heart alight with joy tinged with incredulity that this glorious man was mine.
Because that was the miracle in my eyes, that whatever I felt for Emmett he more than returned. He worshipped me, and offered everything without demanding anything in return. He loved me, and not as a beautiful object to be won or used, but as me. He took me, with all my faults and flaws and baggage, and called me angel, and when the words ran out he showed me with his mouth and body and eyes how much he loved me and needed me.
Carlisle and Esme, remembering their own early days, treated the two of us with amused indulgence. They were patient with our lapses in propriety, and used their own discretion when necessary. I didn't know until a long time after how many doors they silently closed or why they both suddenly had such an interest in taking long walks through the forest when they didn't need to hunt. Edward, at the mercy not only of what he could see and hear with his physical senses but also in the unfortunate position of hearing every single thought in Emmett's or my head, alternated between being scandalised, appalled and irritated and even, on one particular evening, asking Carlisle to kill him to put him out of his misery. He too took to spending a lot of time in the forest.
The part of me that still remembered all my mother's exhortations on being a lady was mortified that everyone knew how very unladylike I was when I was with Emmett. The other part of me, the part that opened my legs for him at a look, and went down on my knees in front of him for the pleasure of hearing him moan and feeling him tremble under my hands, well that part of me didn't care at all and seemed to be the part dictating nearly all my actions.
"Will it always be like this?" I asked Esme almost desperately one night, as I paced through the garden. "He's only out hunting with Edward and I can't stand it! It's like…I ache when he's not near me, and when he is near me I burn and he's all I can think about!" Mortified at my own admission I dropped my eyes. "I want him so much…I know we have forever, but it almost doesn't seem long enough."
Esme tranquilly continued pruning the fruit trees, showing no shock at my wanton pronouncements. Rather, she smiled at me gently. "Darling girl, I'm so happy you and Emmett have found each other. I really think he is exactly what you needed and you're so perfectly what he needs too. As for whether it will always be like this…I think with you and Emmett being the kind of people you are, that physical element of your relationship will always be a large part of it. You're both too passionate and tempestuous to settle down to staid married life! But I think it won't always be so all encompassing as it is right now." Esme smiled reminiscently. "When I was first with Carlisle is was all very intense. Poor Edward! He had to put up with us all alone! But things do settle down Rosalie. You and Emmett are still learning each other, learning how to be together as a couple and you'll find a way to balance your lives in time."
Find a way to balance our lives…how to balance that exultant love and passionate desire and still be part of a family. For Emmett and I it was never going to be an easy balancing act and as I wrapped my legs around him the morning that Esme asked us to accompany her in to town and felt the pleasure build until the only thing holding me together was the dark, desiring eyes locked on mine, I wondered blearily if I even cared.
Of course I did care really, and eventually tore myself away from the wonder of Emmett's body and what he could do to me, and attempted to turn myself back into a lady. Dress and slip and stockings, and even a hat and gloves once I'd combed and curled and pinned up my hair. I looked at myself in the mirror in satisfaction when I was done. Oh, it was fun to wear braids and Edward's trousers at home, more fun still to play with long, rumpled bed hair and nakedness with Emmett, but there was a certain pleasure in dressing up and making myself look pretty.
"You look beautiful," Emmett came up behind me and kissed the back of my neck, smoothing a hand across my hip. "Come on baby, they'll be waiting."
Edward was playing the piano and Esme was reading when Emmett and I appeared in the living room, but they rose to their feet and hurried out to the car without delay. Glancing at the clock I realised guiltily that Emmett and I had been longer than I thought, and I made up my mind once again that I would try and be more circumspect in the future.
Edward drove us in to town. I had been working on the car, making some adjustments to the suspension and steering as I learned what I was doing, and I was curious to hear his opinion.
"What do you think?" I asked him, ever impatient. "Would you agree it handles much better?"
Edward smiled at me over his shoulder. "Yes, of course I'd agree. You've done an excellent job…not that I would expect anything less from you when you put your mind to something."
I sat back in my seat, pleased with myself. "I think we need to talk Carlisle into a sports car," I suggested. "Something with a bit more power than this old cart anyway!"
Edward snorted. "Give a girl a spanner and the next thing you know she wants to be a race car driver…you're going to be a menace, Rosalie! Still," his eyes sparkled. "It would be fun. Count me in."
The town was small. A few storefronts and businesses strung out along a main street with Carlisle's medical clinic at the end of it and a scattering of residential roads. The largest building was the hotel, and I caught the slightly wistful glance Emmett gave it. I knew enough of his human life to know that hotels and saloons and moonshine whisky stills had been a feature.
There were a surprising number of people milling about in the streets and going in and out of the stores. I stood for a minute, breathing in the scents and smells of the town- humans and horses, timber and motors and mud- while I adjusted to it. Beside me Emmett was tense, and I touched his hand lightly and gave him a reassuring nod of my head. He grimaced at me and then took my arm.
"Come on baby, let's check this place out."
The four of us walked down the street to the post office and general store. I was aware of the many curious glances sent our way, and I held my head high. Let them look. It was a very masculine town, with the timber workers camp lying just outside it and all the farmers and traders. The few women that I saw were plainly dressed and had a hard and work worn look about them and in my expensive clothes and Parisian hat I felt absurdly like some exotic bird.
In the store Esme took the boys to the counter and the three of them began collecting the parcels and packages that had been delivered there for us. I wandered about the store looking at the merchandise while they took things out to the car, and when I started to feel bored I told Esme that I was going to investigate the dry goods store further down the street. Maybe they'd have something nice.
I walked slowly down the street once I was outside. The raised wooden walkway was muddy and slippery, which posed no problem for me with my vampire reflexes, but I took my cue from the humans and stepped carefully.
Ahead of me walked a native couple, and I remembered Carlisle talking about the Quileute people who lived on a reservation to the north of us. Two small boys trailed behind them. They were perhaps two and four years old, adorable chubby cheeked babies with brown skin and untidy mops of dark hair, and as I watched them with a small smile they began tussling over a toy. Their voices rose, high and shrill in argument, and I watched in amusement as the older one tried to take whatever it was that the little one was holding on to with such grim determination. They reminded me a little of Edward and Emmett playing football.
Suddenly the toy flew out from between them. The little one tried to grab it, but not being so steady on his feet he slipped on the edge of the walkway and went tumbling. Acting on instinct I jumped forward and caught him in one hand, my other hand closing around the dropped toy.
The child looked at me with his inscrutable dark eyes. He didn't seem afraid, and I couldn't help but smile at him as I placed him upright back on the walkway. "There you go, little one," I said softly.
His mother turned and reached for him, scolding him gently in a language I didn't recognise. She took both children firmly by the hands, and then she caught sight of my face and gasped, her eyes wide. She spoke rapidly to the man beside her who swung around and, as his dark eyes locked on to mine and he muttered what sounded like curses in their language, I felt a faint and unfamiliar flicker of fear.
"He fell...he dropped this," I held out my hand with the toy, but the look the man gave me then was one of unutterable horror and I took an abrupt step back. He hustled the woman and the little boys away and I stared after him, mystified.
I knew I made people uncomfortable. My looks, my golden vampire stare, the preternatural perfection of my face and voice…it all drew humans in at the same time as their long buried instincts screamed at them to stay away from the predator I was. But the reaction of these Quileutes had gone far beyond that, and my own instincts were prickling uncomfortably. Something about this was very, very wrong.
"Rosalie? I thought you'd be in the store by now?" Esme's voice interrupted my thoughts, and I shook my head and turned to face them. Edward was frowning, and I knew he was picking thoughts out of my head but I was too rattled to even be angry.
"It makes no sense," he said to me. "That reaction seems too personal to just be the usual unease we evoke in humans." He glanced at Esme and Emmett. "Rosalie has just had a run in with some of the Quileutes."
"Are you okay?" Esme sounded concerned and Emmett's scowl darkened.
"I'm fine," I said. "It wasn't anything serious. A child fell and I helped him and the parents were…strange." I glanced around. "Come on, we're starting to look a little obvious here. We should keep walking."
Edward and Esme led the way towards the dry goods store and I fell into step beside Emmett. He placed a gentle hand on the back of my neck.
"Are you really okay?" When I nodded, he looked down at my hand. "What have you got there?"
"It's the toy the children were playing with. I tried to give it back, but they wouldn't take it." And I opened my fingers and showed Emmett what was held in my palm-the carved wooden figure of a wolf.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxoxoxxo
I couldn't shake the feeling of unease the incident in town had left me with. Once at home I helped Esme hem the new dresses she'd bought in town and tried to look through the catalogues I had had delivered, but I couldn't concentrate on any of it, not even the beautiful lingerie that was usually my favourite. Emmett happily offered to choose for me, but I laughed and shook my head at him.
"Come out hunting with me?" I said finally, pulling the uncomfortable pins from my hair and shaking it loose. Maybe a long run and feeding would settle my thoughts.
Emmett agreed with alacrity and the two of us set off in the twilight. Emmett was thirstier than I was after the strain of being around humans in town for hours and he took the lead in hunting something down. We were lucky enough to come across a bear, which Emmett played with until he 'worked up an appetite' as he said. He offered to share and the two of us made short work of it, but feeling full did nothing to soothe my restlessness.
Emmett noticed. "You don't want to go home yet, do you Rose?" he asked. "Because there's something I've wanted to do since we moved here."
I shrugged. "Whatever it is has to be better than sewing with Esme…let's go."
Emmett ran through the forest, and I followed him. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, although this didn't surprise me. I had learned any tracking and navigation skills I had only since my vampire transformation but Emmett had been at home in the outdoors long before he became one of us. He was probably as skilled as Carlisle at finding his way through the woods. He didn't stop running until we emerged from the woods on the high bluff overlooking the sea.
The ocean was beautiful in the moonlight, glittering silver as the waves crashed against the rocks beneath us and the spray drifted up in the wind to dampen our faces. Droplets caught in Emmett's hair, sparkling like diamonds, and I reached out a hand to touch him just because he was too beautiful not to. He caught my hand and kissed my palm and grinned at me with carefree joy.
"Can you swim, baby doll?"
"I never have before."
Emmett laughed. "As if it matters…you don't even need to breathe anymore, of course you can swim!" He began stripping off his clothes. "Come on sweetheart…you'll love it."
Slowly, I followed his lead. I trusted him absolutely…but the ocean?
Emmett took my hand and tugged me over to the edge of the bluff. "Jump out," he directed. "I'll hold your hand…really, what's the worst that can happen? We can't die, but maybe for a second we can fly."
I couldn't help but smile back. "Okay then…don't let go!" Hands clasped, we launched ourselves off the cliff and, just for a moment, we were flying. Emmett's exhilarated whoop was cut off as we plunged beneath the waves, and then he kicked hard and pulled both of us up to the surface.
"Just keep kicking," he said to me. "You'll be fine." He let go of me and floated away, and I did what he said and found that I could indeed swim, and what's more, like most of the physical activities Emmett had pushed me to try, I was enjoying it. I laughed as I ducked under the water and came up to find Emmett smiling at me.
"You like it?"
"It's amazing!" I swam over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, feeling the length of his body cool and slick against mine beneath the waves. "I had no idea that it would be like this!"
"We used to swim all the time, my brothers and I," Emmett said casually. "Not in the ocean, of course, just rivers and ponds, but I loved it."
My hair swirled around me in the water, and I found myself laughing. "I feel like a mermaid!"
"Maybe we'll meet one," Emmett wrapped his arms around me and we somersaulted through the water, silver liquid and stars swirling all around us. "After all," he continued with an impish grin as we broke the surface and he kissed me. "If we're vampires and we exist, who knows what else might be out there?"
We didn't meet any mermaids. But we found shells and seaweed, tried fish and spat it back out, rock climbed up the cliffs and somersaulted back into the sea and made love on the rocks as the waves crashed down over the top of us. As dawn began breaking over the mountains and Emmett and I reluctantly left the water I knew we'd found a whole new kind of wonderful for us.
Far to the north of us, atop the highest cliff, a bonfire burned.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo x
"There's something out there in the forest."
I looked up from my book. Edward was standing in the doorway, his hair and clothes damp from the rain, and a concerned frown on his face.
"Something…like what?" Emmett asked, dealing cards to Carlisle and Esme.
"I don't know." Edward sat down at the table with the others and Emmett dealt him a hand. "Have none of you smelled anything out there? Something unfamiliar?"
Carlisle paused in playing. "Further north?"
"Yes," Edward nodded. "You have then? You didn't recognise it?"
"No," Carlisle and Edward exchanged a long, measured glance, and then Edward nodded.
"It does concern me. There's something about it that makes me uneasy," he said quietly.
Emmett laid down his cards with a sigh. "What are you two talking about? What does it smell like?"
"It's an animal scent," Edward told him. "But nothing I know, and it sets every single sense I have on high alert. There is something about it that I don't like."
"So let's go hunting!" Emmett said with enthusiasm. "I'm sick of cards anyway…this could be fun."
I frowned at him, and Esme looked concerned. "Are you sure that's wise?"
Emmett shrugged, and Carlisle looked thoughtfully out into the dripping forest. "If it's concerning Edward it is probably worth investigating."
"I'd like your opinion on it," Edward said. "And I think perhaps Emmett should come too."
I banged my book down on to the couch, irritated as always by Edward's habit of dismissing me. "You're not leaving me out. I'm coming too."
Esme sighed. "Well, it looks like I'll be coming along too then, since I don't want to stay at home alone while you all go rushing off towards who knows what!" She bundled the cards together and then stood up, the rest of joining her in the search for shoes and dressing in more suitable hunting clothes.
We ran silently through the forest for a long time. I was beginning to wonder if Edward had taken us on some kind of fool's errand when he slowed and beckoned us closer.
As soon as the scent hit my nose, I understood why Edward had been concerned. It was animal and yet not…I felt like my skin was prickling with unease as my mind sought to categorise the unfamiliar. Emmett looked at me, equally bewildered.
We followed the scent through the forest, moving more cautiously as it got stronger. Without talking about it we slipped into protective formation as we went forward, Carlisle leading with Esme and I on either side of him coming up next, Edward and Emmett taking on the protection of the flanks. We were facing into the wind when suddenly my senses were flooded with the strange scent and my ears heard the most unearthly howling of wolves, and then Carlisle shouted and we were running and circling. We came together again on the edge of a clearing, staring stunned at the sight of the three beasts in front of us. They were wolves, with thick fur and teeth bared in snarls, but they were the size of ponies and the eyes had a peculiar intelligence as they met mine in a challenge.
"What the ever loving hell?" breathed Emmett beside me.
The wolves bunched together in the centre, swinging their huge heads around to look at each of us in turn. They looked longest at Esme who was the smallest and, at least on a cursory examination of us, the weakest link. One of them threw its head back and howled, as the other two whined.
Beside me, Emmett was crouched ready to spring. He checked me in his peripheral vision and then called out to Carlisle, "I'll take down the big black one. If you and Rose take the grey, Edward and Esme can get the last one. Do it now, while we're all out here together. Yeah?"
I flexed and tensed my muscles, preparing to carry out Emmett's plan. No, I didn't know what the hell these huge beasts were but it was easy to see that they were dangerous. And maybe they weren't going to hurt me now, but I didn't want to be out in this forest outnumbered one day and have to find out differently. The idea of all that hot, tasty carnivore blood crept into my mind and I licked my lip as the venom began to run. We could do this.
"Wait," Edward, still staring at the animals, held up a hand in Emmett's direction. "Carlisle, they're not wolves…they're men."
The reaction from the wolves was instantaneous. All three of them swung their heads to face Edward, almost as if they had understood him…
"They can't be," I said harshly. "Look at them!"
"No," Edward stared very hard at the big black wolf. "They're…shapeshifters."
"Does it matter what they are?" Emmett's voice was low, and he had not relaxed his stance at all. "That big bastard of a thing wants to kill me Edward, and I'm not interested in dying again thanks."
"Of course it matters," Carlisle's voice was calm. "Edward, can you tell us more?"
"It's confusing," Edward muttered. "I can hear all three of them at once and the thoughts are tangled in a way that yours aren't. But they certainly understand what I'm saying."
Carlisle stepped forward, his whole body looking as relaxed as though he was about to introduce himself to someone in their parlour over a cup of tea.
"My name is Carlisle Cullen, and this is my family," he said. "Edward is telling me you are not really wolves…"
"They're Quileutes," Edward said quietly. "From the reservation."
I couldn't help my start of surprise. "The man in town!" I exclaimed. "The one with the children…" I remembered Emmett's words the evening we had swum in the ocean- after all, if we're vampires and we exist, who knows what else it out there? -and felt my whole worldview shiver as the largest of the wolves, the black one with the smooth, sleek fur, turned his head and looked me in the eye.
"He recognised what you are, Rosalie. The cold ones. They've been following our trails through the forest and down by the sea, seeking a way to destroy us." Edward's voice was emotionless. "They see themselves as protectors of humanity, warriors against the monsters such as us."
Carlisle frowned and addressed the wolves. "We have no wish to engage in battle. My family and I do not prey on humans and feed only on the animals we hunt in the forest." He glanced across at Edward. "Edward is a telepath and can read your thoughts. As I have said, I have no argument with you and no wish for violence."
"They're wondering if you speak the truth," Edward went on. "They've noticed our eyes, and they know that we live together as a family. Rosalie was kind to the child…they're confused by our differences to their legends of the Cold Ones."
"We differ from your legends because we are different." Carlisle continued speaking to the wolves. "I know the Cold Ones of your stories, and my family and I do not live like that. We believe very strongly in the preservation of human life and the bonds of family. I work as a medical doctor in town."
Edward frowned. "They believe that we are different, but they still see it as their duty to destroy us."
"I'd like to see them try," Emmett muttered.
"Emmett, enough." Carlisle tapped his fingers for a moment and then spoke quietly to the wolves again. "I see no reason for violence here. Your task is to protect humans, and my family and I pose no threat to them. It should be possible to come to some agreement where we can all live in peace." He paused. "I don't wish this to sound like a threat, but right now there are five of us and only three of you. I hope you can take my offer of peace as proof of my intentions, since we could have killed you all without pause but have chosen not to."
"They're the only wolves in the tribe," Edward said. "There have only ever been three. Enough to deal with a mated pair I suppose, and that's always been all that was needed."
"Are you interested in a compromise then?" Carlisle asked directly.
Edward frowned intently. "They're interested. They're also very suspicious."
"Understandably," Carlisle smiled. "Very well then, as a sign of good faith my family and I shall leave you now to discuss my proposal. I shall return at this time tomorrow." He nodded at the wolves and, taking Esme's hand, turned for home.
I hissed as he turned his back on the wolves, but the three animals stood at frozen attention as Carlisle and Esme vanished into the trees. Emmett and I backed away slowly, Edward falling into line beside me as we passed him. As soon as the wolves were out of sight we turned and ran, the forest blurring as we flew home.
"I can't believe we backed off that fight!" Emmett sounded more disappointed than anything else.
Carlisle shook his head. "You know how I feel about needless violence Emmett, and there seems no reason why we can't coexist in peace as long as they are willing. Edward?"
Edward shrugged. "They believed you. The fact that we outnumbered them but offered mercy made a great impression, and I think they will be willing to talk when we return tomorrow." He gave Carlisle a hard stare. "But we will all go tomorrow Carlisle. They have done nothing to deserve our trust as yet, and we need to maintain our show of strength."
Carlisle's hand still gently clasped Esme's, and he looked at her briefly before he nodded to Edward. "That seems sensible."
"You didn't actually need to give them a chance to discuss it either," Edward said. "From what I could take from their minds they're the tribal elders and although it's a tribe matter they will make the decision." He paused. "It's also difficult to explain, but when I said their thoughts were tangled I meant it. They seemed to communicate telepathically. Only with each other; they could hear no thoughts from anyone outside the pack. I don't quite understand it, there was a lot of Quileute language mixed in with their thoughts and it's not something I've come across before."
"Fascinating," Carlisle murmured. "This could be an extraordinary opportunity to find out more of what exists and is possible in this world. What other stories and legends are true?"
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxoxox
There was a break in the rain as we travelled through the forest for our meeting with the Quileutes the following day. We walked together, not overly anxious but wary, wondering what we would find. Emmett held my hand and walked beside me, matching his stride to mine.
"They're ahead," Edward said quietly. "I can hear their thoughts. Careful now."
Emmett's grip on my hand tightened almost imperceptibly as we stepped through the trees into the clearing. The three wolves were already there, standing at attention in front of us. For a long moment there was no movement or sound as both sides considered each other.
"They agree," Edward said quietly to Carlisle, who smiled widely.
"Thank you for coming."
I was watching, but even my vampire eyes almost missed the moment as the largest black wolf seemed to shimmer for a moment before shrinking and morphing into the figure of a man. I couldn't stop my small start of surprise as I stared at him, this naked man with his smooth brown skin and rumpled dark hair and eyes that almost seemed to be laughing as he looked thoughtfully at each one of us in turn. When his eyes met mine I realised he was the man I had seen with the children in town. He clearly remembered me for he inclined his head slightly, and I felt Emmett's possessive hand slip across my back and hold me closer to him.
"Good afternoon Carlisle Cullen and family," he said politely. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ephraim Black, and these are my companions Levi Uley and Quil Ateara. I hope you will understand if they feel more comfortable remaining in their wolf forms for the time being."
"Of course," Carlisle said courteously, offering his hand. "Thank you for coming today. This is my family, Esme, Edward, Emmett and Rosalie."
Ephraim Black hesitated only briefly before laying his hand in Carlisle's. It should have looked absurd, a naked Indian shaking hands with a well dressed vampire on a dark green forest afternoon, but somehow it looked anything but ridiculous. There was something fierce and compelling about the dark eyes that met each of ours, unafraid even as he shook hands with everyone. As I felt the burning heat of his palm and fingers wrap around my ice cold hand I couldn't have said which emotion I felt most acutely- deep revulsion or the intense desire to reach out and touch him. Confused and unsettled I dropped his hands as quickly as I could and turned to Emmett, his reassuring bulk and the familiar and beloved scent of him soothing my scattered thoughts.
"I appreciate your willingness to listen to what we have to say," Carlisle went on. "I am not in favour of violence when peaceful means are possible."
Ephraim Black nodded. "I understand. It is our sacred duty to protect humans from harm at the hands of the Cold Ones, but you…"he shrugged.
"We are not like those who may have come before," Carlisle said.
"We are willing to make a treaty with you, Carlisle Cullen," Ephraim said formally. "In exchange for certain concessions we will not seek war with you."
"What concessions did you have in mind?" Carlisle asked.
"None of you are to set foot on Quileute land. I believe your intentions are good Carlisle Cullen, but you fight your nature and I would not see my people harmed if you or yours were to lose that fight," Ephraim said slowly. "You cannot be banished from the town, but our protection expands to the whites there are well. There must be no human deaths attributable to you." His eyes narrowed and he looked at Carlisle steadily. "I know how the Cold Ones create new ones, and I must insist that the practise be forbidden as part of the treaty. Any increase in your numbers would be seen as an act of potential aggression."
"So far I'm only hearing demands," Emmett muttered suspiciously. "What do we get out of this deal?"
"Emmett," Carlisle warned.
Ephraim Black half smiled at Emmett. "A peaceful existence," he said mildly. "You and your family can go out into the forest to hunt and know that you are at no risk from us. You would not need to worry, every time your woman leaves your sight, that she is being stalked by death."
Emmett growled low in his throat and instinctively pulled me closer to him. I stroked his hand with my fingers. "Don't get upset," I murmured, my eyes still on the Quileute man. "He's not threatening me, he's just making the point."
"I think we can all agree that going about our lives separately and peacefully is for the best," Carlisle said. "Your conditions pose no problems for us. We will stay away from the Quileute lands and shall neither kill nor bite any humans. I would ask for one thing from your tribe also; that you commit to upholding the secrets of my family."
"We're part of their legends," Edward said quietly, frowning as he listened intently to the wolves minds. "The stories of the Cold Ones are an integral part of their history."
Carlisle nodded. "I understand and respect that, but I am asking that our names are not brought in to this. Let the Cold Ones continue to be a legend, but do not attach our faces or the name of Cullen to the tale and do not encourage the spreading of stories beyond your tribe."
Ephraim glanced back at his wolf brothers, and then nodded. "Your request is reasonable, Carlisle Cullen, and we will honour it. Secrecy benefits us all." A ghost of a smile drifted across his face. "It would not do at all for the white men to learn what the Quileute people are capable of. The Cold Ones are not the only enemies my people face."
"Indeed." Carlisle's face was set. I knew the way his views on human life influenced his beliefs in equality, and the way the treatment of the native people bothered him. "It seems we are reaching agreement then. My family will promise not to trespass on your tribal lands, but will have our own lands for hunting, and we may all travel freely outside these treaty areas."
"My people will uphold the secrecy of your true nature, just as you do," Ephraim contributed.
"And we promise not to injure any humans through death or transformation," Carlisle finished quietly. The two men shook hand solemnly.
What followed was perhaps the strangest night of my life, vampire or human, as Ephraim Black transformed back into the big black animal we had first seen, and my family ran with the wolf pack as the boundary lines of the newly formed treaty were marked. I was surprised to learn how much land Carlisle had purchased in the area, but he merely smiled at me a little ruefully.
"I like the Pacific Northwest Rosalie, and it seems to suit the family. Our life is long and I had hoped to create a house here that we could return to in the future. I wasn't really anticipating Quileute shape shifters, I must confess, or perhaps I would have made other plans!"
I understood then that Carlisle's desire for a treaty went beyond his desire to avoid violence in the present. He was planning for a distant future and wanted no feud with these people. This treaty, if we honoured it, would keep us safe far beyond the life of Ephraim Black and Levi Uley and Quil Ateara.
We ended up back in the clearing where we had started as the sun broke over the mountains the following morning. The wolves had kept pace with us through the night without seeming to tire, and as we entered the clearing the large dark wolf shivered and then once again I was looking at the naked Ephraim Black. There was no self consciousness in his face as he stood easily before Carlisle and once again shook his hand.
"Thank you," Carlisle said sincerely. "I appreciate your willingness to listen to me more than I can say."
"I believe we have done good work here tonight, Carlisle Cullen," Ephraim Black said seriously. "I hope this treaty stands and my people are able to live in peace and safety alongside your family." He paused, and then actually grinned and winked. "Although you will understand if I hope to never lay eyes on you again!"
Carlisle chuckled, and nodded. "Of course. Goodbye then, Ephraim, and god speed."
"Wait," I said suddenly. "I have something for you."
Ignoring the others' surprised looks I crossed the grass and stood in front of Ephraim Black. I could almost feel the heat radiating off his body and once again I had the unsettling sensation of wanting to both touch him and flee from him. I fumbled in my pocket, and pulled out the wooden wolf toy that I had caught from his son.
"Will you take this back to your child?" I said softly. "When we met you in town I picked it up, but it's not mine and I think I shouldn't keep it, not under the circumstances."
Ephraim Black gave me an unreadable look, but slowly held out his hand. I placed the toy in it, feeling his fingers touch mine briefly. The sun, breaking through the trees, made my skin sparkle beside his smooth brownness and I snatched my hand back before he could comment on it and stepped back into the shadows. I met his eyes then, half defiantly, but he did nothing but look at me gently and murmur something in Quileute.
"Thank you Rosalie Cullen," he said formally, and I nodded at him in acknowledgement and turned back to my family, reaching out to touch Emmett's hand. We stood in a group, watching as Ephraim and his two companions left the clearing and vanished among the trees, and I wondered if we would ever see them again.
