Chapter 4- The hunter.

At first, out in the forest I feel better. I don't recognise anything, she's brought me a long way from home, but it's outside and I'm comfortable here. I've always been more of a hunter than a farmer, and feel at home in the wilds.

But again…it's all different. I'm barefoot and shirtless, and yet the uneven ground and the sticks and twigs and thorns don't touch me. I can see everything, smell everything, hear everything, taste everything coming at me on the wind…but it's all too much. Too much input, and it's hard to filter through what's important. I'm distracted by the shimmer of my own skin in the sunlight.

"Focus, Emmett," Edward comes up on one side of me, Carlisle on the other. "Think about what you're looking for."

I grope in my pockets, but of course these trousers aren't mine and my knife isn't in my belt where it usually is. And the shotgun…guess it's still lying back with my knapsack where the bear got me, and damn if Pa won't have my hide for losing that, even if I am a grown man of twenty. "My knife…"

"It's back at the house," Carlisle tells me. "But you don't need it for hunting now. You don't need anything but yourself."

"You've got your teeth and your own two hands and trust me, they're more than enough," Edward says. He hands me a rock. "Go ahead- see how strong you are now."

I close my fist around the rock and despite the fact that I know it's granite it crumbles into nothing more than dust in my hands. "I wasn't even trying," I mutter in amazement, and both Edward and Carlisle laugh.

I move towards a tree, a massive thing that would take three of me linking hands to reach around it, and give it an experimental push, feeling the ground shift under my feet as the roots are wrenched out of place. I push it harder and hear the groan as it lifts itself out of the ground, falling with a crash that shakes the forest.

"Jesus Christ!"

"Not quite," Edward said in amusement. "Come on, let's go find you something to drink…you can play afterwards."

I move through the forest with greater confidence now, and very shortly I catch the scent of a herd of deer on the wind. I slow, and move towards them in a silent prowl, the burn in my throat intensifying as I hear the heartbeats and smell the blood. I crouch in the shadow of a tree, scanning the herd, my mouth flooded with an unfamiliar sensation. There's a plump doe on the edge nearest to me and my nostrils flare at the scent and then I pounce.

I'm faster and stronger than I realise, and I overshoot and miss her completely as I leap. But I'm in the middle of the herd before they even register my presence, and as they scatter in terror I'm easily able to grab two of them, one in each hand. One of them I have by the neck and that's okay, but the other one I've grabbed by the leg and the sheer force of my grip has torn the limb clean off.

I don't care though. In fact, as soon as the smell of the blood pumping out of the animal hits my nose I can't even think, and I'm down on my knees and tearing into both of the animals to gulp down as much blood as I can swallow, feeling it soothe my parched throat as I do so.

They don't last long, and minutes later I sit back, wiping my hand across my face. Since my hand has as much blood on it as my face does it doesn't do anything much but smear it around, and then I look down at the splashes and streaks of crimson across my chest and spattered on the pants- that have split down the seams anyway, damn it, and shake my head as I lick my fingers.

Carlisle and Edward are standing nearby, the bodies of two more deer lying limp and bloodless at their feet. Neither of them have a speck of dirt on them or a hair out of place, and they're staring at me in complete astonishment.

"Well," Carlisle says finally. "I guess it's safe to assume you enjoyed that?"

Edward laughs. "You'll get a bit…neater at it as you gain more experience." He glances across at Carlisle. "It's probably a good thing we didn't get his new clothes before this."

Carlisle shakes his head. "You, Esme, Rosalie…I've never seen a newborn make such a mess."

I've licked as much off my fingers as I can, and I wipe my hands down on what remains of my pants. I know I'm a mess, but there must be a river or something nearby and I'll clean off in that. In fact, as I think about it I can hear the faint noise of moving water not too far away.

Carlisle yanks a young spruce tree out of the ground, and he and Edward drop the bodies of the deer into the hole. It seems a wicked waste of meat to me, but for the first time in my life the thought of meat is unappealing, and I toss what's left of my kills in beside theirs. As I do so I note the clean puncture wounds straight into the jugular that they made to their deer, versus the messiness of me ripping the whole throat out.

"We always bury the bodies," Carlisle explains. "Maintaining secrecy about what we are is paramount, and it's important to not leave any evidence of the fact that you're not human where someone might find it." He jams the spruce back into place, kicking the dirt back in around it. It hardly looks disturbed now.

I rub my throat. The burning is back, not quite as bad as before, but still plenty painful.

"You'll get used to it," Edward says. "The animal blood is an adequate diet, but it's not as satisfying as human blood would be. The thirst will be strongest early on in your vampire life, and when you're around humans it will be hard to resist. You need to hunt often, especially at the start, to stave off the temptation."

I run towards the river, and it's so fast and so much fun that I feel like I could run forever. It's better than driving in a car, better than galloping on a horse…it feels like flying, and I realise that when Rosalie brought me here she must have been running too.

I'm still thinking about her when I drop what's left of my trousers and dive in, feeling the river water smooth and cold as it washes past me, taking all traces of blood with it. I'm glad I'm in the water as thoughts of Rosalie, holding me close and wearing that little lacy camisole as she brought me here, cross my mind. Because whatever else has changed, my body's response to the thought of pretty girls wearing not so many clothes has not…at least that still works.

On the bank Edward gives a strangled sort of cough and hastily turns his back on me. What's up his ass? I think, and then remember him telling me he was a telepath and he could read my mind. Oh shit…surely not all the time. Surely he's not listening in on me imagining Rosalie all messed up and half bare and me…not that.

"All the time, Emmett," Edward says in a strained voice. "Frankly your thoughts are quite loud too, so I'd really appreciate it if you could think of something else right now."

But of course I can't, now, and there are a mortifying couple of minutes where I dive under the water and try and think of anything else but that beautiful girl, and Edward stands all tense on the bank with his hands in his pockets, and Carlisle laughs at the both of us once he realises what's going on. Eventually I manage to calm down and get out of the water with at least a semblance of dignity intact, although pulling on a pair of trousers that are basically split right down the rear and halfway down each leg really isn't helping.

Carlisle has stopped laughing and is talking quietly to Edward. When I'm beside him he says to me seriously, "Emmett, whatever happens between you and Rosalie is between the two of you and we're not going to interfere either way. But I do ask you to be careful with our girl." He glances at Edward, who shrugs. "She's been through a lot."

"Yes sir," I mutter, feeling chastened. These people are weird, this whole set up is weird and I don't understand them at all.

"You'll get used to it after a while," Edward says cheerfully, and I wonder how long I'll be able to put up with him answering thoughts straight out of my head before I start punching him.

"And please don't call me sir," Carlisle adds. "Carlisle is fine. For as long as you want to stay you're part of our family, and there's no need for formality with us Emmett."

Probably a good thing, I think a little glumly as they lead me back. The little I saw of the house, and their clothes and the way they all talk, not to mention the jewellery on the ladies and even on Carlisle and Edward have told me pretty clearly that these people are a heck of a lot more educated and have a damn sight more money than my people. I didn't go to school after I was fourteen, and after that most all the money I made got handed straight over to my Mama for the household, save what little I kept for having a good time with. I wonder what they think has happened to me, and I frown a little as I wonder how they'll manage without the game I've been bringing in.

"Tell us about your family," Edward requests, looking slightly concerned.

"We're from Gatlinburg, Tennessee," I say. "My Pa's a farmhand. There are three brothers older than me- John's married and has his own place, Patrick went into the Seminary couple of years ago, and Harry left to find work and we haven't seen him for a long time, so I'm the biggest boy left at home. Then there's the girls- Kitty got married three years back, Hannah's fifteen and Maggie's eleven and they help Ma, and then there are the little ones- William's nine and Stephen's seven and Elizabeth's five. They mostly go to school and make trouble." I pause, laughing a little as I think of the little ones always wanting me to play with them and take them out hunting, even baby Elizabeth with her short little five year old legs.

"That's a lot of people," Carlisle says quietly, looking at Edward who nods slightly in return. "They'll miss you."

"Yeah." I don't say anything else, wondering how they're going to manage without me. Pa's a good worker and he doesn't drink or gamble, which in our part of the world is kind of a rare thing, to be honest, but there are a lot of people to feed and the little ones are always needing new clothes and shoes so his money doesn't go far. They rely a lot on what I bring in hunting and trapping and fishing, apart from any money I might earn. It's the reason I'm still there really- much as I've wanted to go off and find myself some adventures in the past, I couldn't leave them. Seems like I don't have any choice about it now.

"I can't go back to them, can I?" I ask slowly. I think about how viciously I ripped into those deer, and the way Edward told me if I smelled human blood I'd want it even more, and I know it's impossible. Not my family.

"No." Edward's answer is short, but his tone is kind.

"It's not possible," Carlisle elaborates. "It's far too dangerous with your newborn thirst to be near humans, and once you are able to control yourself it's not a good idea. You see, as a vampire you won't age Emmett, and it would be dangerous for your family to guess there's something different about you. I'm sorry."

"It's just the hunting that they need me for," I say awkwardly. "There's not been so much work around so I haven't been able to bring in much money for a while, but I do a lot of hunting and fishing and trapping and Ma kind of needs that…I mean, my Pa's a good provider, and he puts up with my sorry ass about the place since I couldn't get steady work, but there's hard times for everyone and there's lots of mouths to feed at home that aren't big enough yet to be of much help."

I'm not sure that the hard times that everyone else I know has been experiencing have touched these two though.

We're back in sight of the house now. I can feel the breeze on my privates through the split pants and I don't know whether to hope the ladies are back with something else for me to wear or hope I can scoot inside without being seen in such a disgraceful state.

"We will be able to do something for your family," Carlisle tells me. "I realise that the loss of a grown up son will be a hard blow to them. We've been fortunate, financially, and we can help."

I nod, a little uncertainly. I don't know what the story really is with these freaks, but if I can do something to help my Ma and the rest of the family I'll do it, even if it feels uncomfortably like charity.

"Oh good, Esme is back," Carlisle says brightly, looking at the house. "Come inside and let's see about getting you some clothes."

AN- I made up Emmett's family and what he says about his life in this chapter, but I think it's a pretty reasonable sort of set up for him, considering we're talking about Depression era 1930s. It's also pretty clear that he came from a different sort of class/ culture than the other Cullens and it's understandable that he'd notice this and possibly be uncomfortable with it.

Not that any of this really matters, it's just one of those interesting things that I get all sidetracked into thinking about, because I'm kind of a history geek! I'm a lot more familiar with Australian history of the Depression, but I'm working on the US stuff for this.

Thanks for reading!