Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. Yay, me.
A/N: Thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing the last chapter- feedback is very much appreciated. :) I am sorry for the delay- I reached a point where I had a couple of decisions to make about where we're going and that took longer than expected. Onwards! :)
Seth and Quil met the Cullens at the airport. The family had reunited with Edward somewhere and chartered a plane to take them home as quickly as possible. Neither of the Quileutes knew what to say but they offered condolences in soft voices and led the Vampires to their cars. Jake had given them the keys to two of the Cullen vehicles- two SUVs that Rosalie had kept in perfect condition. Maybe they should have taken a chance on the rabbit, instead, if it had kept that heartbroken look off Alice's face when she saw them.
Seth, normally boisterous, was quiet. He offered words to Edward and Bella about Nessie, reassuring them that she was fine; upset, but fine, and after that said very little. Bella managed a small smile in return but Edward's gaze was on something that Seth couldn't see- some memory or thought that had distracted him completely. Seth wondered whose it was but suspected it was probably his own. When Harry Clearwater died, Seth had spent a lot of days just staring at things no-one else could see and remembering things he hadn't even known he'd known.
He could imagine that having so many years of memories to go through must make things harder.
The Cullens split between the two vehicles without debate- Bella, Edward and Esme to one and Jasper, Alice and Carlisle to the other- and there was a brief moment of debate over who would drive.
"You don't need to babysit us, Seth. I can drive just fine." Edward glared and for a second Seth thought about backing down.
"It's not you I'm worried about, Edward. It's the people in the car you crash into because you're distracted." Jake had told him to drive them up and drive them home. It was non-negotiable. Edward made a face, as if he didn't believe what Seth was saying, but he got into the backseat of the car regardless. Bella climbed in next to him, nothing in her Vampire grace revealing the clumsy human girl she used to be.
If Jake's return the day previous had been awkward, this journey was hellish. Seth, at least, was friendly with Edward and Bella and Esme was a sweetheart to everyone. Quil didn't know any of the Cullens well and while the doctor was amiable, Alice complained all the way home that his scent was distracting her; he was interrupting her sight; he was driving too slowly. Quil was ready to leave her behind before they even left the city limits- only Jasper's occasional interruptions saved Alice from having to walk home. The Vampire could sense his emotions; the roiling distrust and annoyance under his skin that would turn to anger if the Vampire girl couldn't control herself for a few hours.
He mostly drove in silence. The radio was tuned to a local station and they heard the local news on the hour, every half hour, until Quil thought he could recite it by heart. There's nothing quite like being in a car filled with grieving Vampires to make a wolf focus on something else. Anything else. Jake was going to owe him, big time.
They made good time and arrived back to the Cullens house just as the sun was rising, just over a day since the Pack had found Emmett. The Vampires were slow to go into the house; reluctant, maybe. He could understand why Jasper and Edward would be so reluctant- the closer they got to Emmett the worse it would get for them but he was their brother so they'd have to suck it up. Jake met them at the door and greeted Carlisle with a handshake and his condolences before offering Esme a hug in sympathy. Quil shuddered, a little, at the thought of hugging one of the leeches but he'd seen enough of Jake with Emmett to know that his Alpha had a far greater tolerance for the Vampires than any of the rest of the Pack. It made sense, of course, because he'd spent so much time with them before but the Pack liked to pretend that Jake had never imprinted on Ness. It was just easier that way.
"He's in the living room." They stalled, reluctant to face their new reality. Jake could relate but all the same, Emmett needed one of them to suck it up and go to him. If you'd asked him beforehand, Jake would have expected Carlisle or Esme to be the grown-ups in the situation; to recognise that Emmett was more important- in that moment- than their own grief. But Esme was wrapped in Carlisle's arms and he was muttering to her softly and Jake realized that maybe Esme was remembering the last time she'd lost a child, too.
Alice was the one who went to him. She pushed Edward out of her way- quite roughly, too- and disappeared into the living room. Even knowing that Edward and Jasper must be suffering badly under the onslaught from Emmett, Jake was still disappointed in them, hiding on the other side of the wall as if their brother wouldn't know they were there. He didn't realize that he was growling at them until he registered the shock on Edward's face. Jasper, by contrast, looked abashed. He met Jake's gaze with an apology in his eyes and followed his wife.
"Bella- could you put up a block, please?" Carlisle was knocked from his own circle of grief by the Wolf's growl and it was enough to get him back on track and in charge of his family.
Jake was out the front door, phased and in the forest, before Bella could follow through. He needed to get out of there, needed to get away for a while and run and be with his Pack. He'd missed a day of work, he'd missed everything with Charlotte and Sue; he'd been with Emmett when Sam and Jo reconciled. Apparently, the thought that Vampires might be coming to kill them all was enough to make them think twice about hating each other. He sank into the Pack mind, running with Seth to one side and Quil the other and let their thoughts wash away the pain and hurt that he had been sharing with Emmett. In return he showed them what little he had gleaned from Emmett- kidnapped and tormented into feeding by the Volturi.
They'd promised him that they'd let Rosalie go if he joined them. Someone should have told him that Vampires are the bad guys. The bad guys lie. Instead of letting her go, they'd made him watch as they burned her and then dumped him out of the back of a transport van somewhere in the mid-west. He'd run all the way to Forks in some half-crazed frenzy, only wanting to die and be finished and have everything be over.
Jake had been pretty sure that his Dad's death was the saddest thing he'd ever live through but seeing Emmett that broken had changed his mind. That was the image that the Pack saw: Emmett, curled into the corner, eyes vacant and his face expressionless. Unmoving, he looked like a puppet whose strings had been cut; collapsed onto itself with no life to hold it up and keep it moving. Jake wasn't the only one who thought the image was heartbreakingly sad but the guys could tell that he didn't want to dwell on it, so they focused on the past twenty-four hours instead and filled his mind with the Pack and life and attempts at cheer and good humour.
Embry phased in after about ten minutes and the mood immediately lifted a little more- he was free to run for the first time in months and even the sadness of the past day couldn't get him down. Jared ran with him, on Crow land, hundreds of miles away and right beside them all the same. Jake let the Pack mind filter the horror and kept his own terror clamped down tight- the vein of tension that underlay everything was manageable. They were all out, running, every single Pack member. The Crows were flying overhead, somewhere- even Charlotte, apparently, covering the miles in a way that the Pack couldn't, with a literal birds-eye view of the peninsula. They were phasing and checking in with Rachel every half-hour, careful to remain unseen; phasing only in heavy foliage and dark shadows. It was exhausting and terrifying and everyone was jumping at shadows but Jake was relieved to see that they were so focused. He'd spent a day in human form, trying to keep Emmett coherent until the Cullen's arrived, and he'd felt the absence of the Pack keenly.
He took forty minutes to bask in the Pack and let their voices clear out the pain and badness before diving back into Alpha mode. The Cullens were in no position to plan- they'd have to handle this themselves.
He met Paul and Charlotte back at the Black house, leaving Leah to run the patrols. The Pack were running in three patrol circuits- one tight circle around the Reservation and two wider circles around the Reservation borders, one intersecting with the Cullen home and land and the second circling Forks town. Their job might be to protect the Rez but none of them would ever forgive themselves if people in Forks died and they hadn't at least tried to protect them, too. Covering so much ground wasn't feasible, long-term; they simply didn't have the numbers. Charlotte though… Charlotte could get them the numbers but it would be at the risk of leaving the Crow's home unprotected and that was far from acceptable, either.
Defending multiple borders against a coven who wanted nothing more than to make them hurt was a prospect that none of the wolves were prepared for. How do you even prepare for something like that? Jake couldn't help but wonder if it was easier to fight when there was nothing to lose. With everything to lose, he was knotted with fear already and they weren't even sure what was happening.
Charlotte wasn't quite what he'd been expecting, either. Diana had reminded him strongly of Sue- older, sure, but commanding and powerful in a way that had nothing to do with physical power and everything to do with sheer force of will. Somehow, he'd decided that Charlotte would be similar, in some way, to those women but… she wasn't. Not really. She was tiny, to start- barely 5' 2" and as skinny as a rail. Jo was a small girl but she had already outgrown her mother. So she was small and her voice was small, quiet and hesitant, almost, and when he'd been expecting someone drastically different, he couldn't help but be thrown off-course. He'd been ready to fight but… he couldn't fight with this tiny, unassuming woman, could he? She was too gentle, or something. It was unsettling.
When he stepped into the living room, she was seated next to Rachel on the sofa and Paul was standing by the front door, ostensibly keeping watch but really playing a convoluted game of peek-a-boo with Will.
"Charlotte, this is Jacob. Jake, this is Jo's mother Charlotte." Rachel seemed huge, suddenly, seated next to this Crow- and Rachel hadn't looked huge to Jake since he'd been three years old. But then she turned her attention to him and he could see it- the razor sharp intelligence lurking behind her eyes and he found himself suddenly shy of his bare chest and dirty feet.
"It's a pleasure, I'm sure." He forced down his sudden nerves and took a deep breath. "Jo's a good kid. She'll be a good addition to my Rez." He might as well throw the big stuff out there right away. "Unfortunately, we have bigger shit to worry about right now than your kid and my boy Tony and whatever other drama I've missed." As he spoke, the nerves faded a little and he noted the surprise that flittered across her face. Arrogance and entitlement had thrown Diana off course when they'd first met so perhaps it would work again? Certainly, her friend should have told her to expect that- he was the Alpha wolf, for God's sake. Of course he was arrogant.
"I understand. Our discussion will have to be another time. For now, I'm happy to have Jo here as part of the Crow contingent dealing with the current threat." He nodded briefly and dismissed her, turning to Rachel.
"How's the shrimp?" Will was comfortable in his father's arms but Jake couldn't forget that the boy had been ill the last time he'd seen him. Rachel grinned, just a little.
"He's fine. He slept it off." Good. One less thing to worry about.
"And Ness?" Last he'd heard, the little girl had been stashed with Rachel and Paul.
"Emily is bringing her to the Cullens- I thought Bella and Edward would appreciate seeing her. She promised to bring her back here later if they didn't want her around Emmett." Sam wouldn't be thrilled with that development but Jake wasn't going to complain- if the half-vampire was gone, it gave them time to talk without worrying about what would get back to the rest of the Cullens.
"Good. The Cullens are freaking the fuck out; maybe if Ness is there they'll have something else to focus on." He had crossed the room to peer over Paul's shoulder at Will, ruffling the boy's hair with one hand and Paul's with the other- and he didn't move fast enough to miss the smack that Paul landed on his shoulder for that move. Will laughed, delighted, and for one moment all the adults in the room smiled. One last moment of levity before the shitstorm hit, no doubt.
"Are we going to address the matter or are you happy to keep playing with the baby?" He'd thought she was harmless? Her tone could melt steel and Jake bristled. He didn't get the chance to snap back; Rachel leapt to his defence.
"He's spent the last twenty two hours dealing with a grief stricken Vampire. We can give him two minutes to dote on my son." For some reason, he'd thought that because they were sitting together that it meant they were getting along well- but the ice in Rachel's voice was enough to tell him that he was missing something. With one last glance at Will's happy smile, Jake turned back to the two women. Rachel was glaring but Charlotte's expression was more bored than anything else and Jake could suddenly see the similarity to Diana that he'd been expecting. Great.
"I thought we had already agreed that we had more important things to deal with?" Bitch.
"You're right." She had a point. Bitch. "Any news?" Charlotte, at least, was willing to act as liaison to the flocks, relaying search information. Unfortunately, there had been none so far.
"We have people checking flights in and out of the country, trying to narrow down how long they've been in the U.S. Our sheriff is searching through missing person's reports, looking for an increase in disappearances in the Midwest that we can use to narrow the area. So far, we have nothing substantial, but we're working on it." She was completely collected; totally at ease. Jake couldn't help but wonder if all the things he'd liked about Jo were inherited from Joshua Uley- something that should be a frightening thought, given that the man was such a douche.
"Thank you. Is there any chance of getting a few more of your people out here? We can't keep up these patrols- the boys are already exhausted." They could really use the back-up. She pursed her lips, considering.
"There might be a few people we can call in but… it's unlikely. Diana has issued orders that all flocks are to stay together until further notice." She paused, meeting his eyes. He felt as though she was taking stock of him; weighing him up. It was weird and uncomfortable but he managed to stop himself from fidgeting. Mostly. "What has Diana told you about what we do?"
Honestly? Sweet fuck all. He said as much and she made a face. Rachel, beside her, suddenly looked curious and Jake glared at her before she could start asking questions. He didn't give a flying fuck what the Crows did in their spare time.
"Has she told you about the others?" Others? There were others? Other what?
"What others?" Answer enough, in and of itself.
"Other shape-shifters. We're not the only ones, our two. For every legend, there's a grain of truth and we keep watch over it all. The Crows were given the job of watching and remembering and that's what we do." It shouldn't have come as a surprise but it really, really did.
"How many?" Had his father known? Old Quil and Sue certainly hadn't, but that didn't mean Billy had been as ignorant.
"Sixteen tribes. The numbers vary but… no more than twelve hundred, including the Crows."
"Will they help?" God, but they needed help. He just couldn't be sure he'd be able to keep that big a secret from the Cullens.
"Probably not." What the fuck was the point in telling him, then? "Most of the others think that your tribe has brought this on yourselves by allying yourselves with the Cold Ones." Jake took a deep breath and closed his eyes, refusing to let his bubbling rage spill over.
"Well, that's just great but how does it help us right now?" With Will tucked under his arm, Paul turned his attention to the conversation, allowing Jake a second or two to gather his thoughts.
"They won't come here but if there are problems outside of Washington State we may be able to get some help. They may demand something in return."
"What do we need to do?" There was something in this that he couldn't see; something that Charlotte was angling for that he didn't understand. The shock was wearing off and the anger was settling in. In almost two years, Diana hadn't said a word that had even hinted at there being other shifters out there. Jake had freaked out to her about needing safe places to send the boys to college and she had what? Just not seen the chance to tell him about more than a dozen other tribes out there that could do the same trick?
And now he needed them and the fucking Crows had him over a barrel. Goddammit. He resisted the urge to curse and throw things. At Charlotte. Preferably her head.
"We need an isolated territory to rehabilitate damaged shifters. If you want help, you're going to offer La Push." What the hell did she mean, damaged shifters? The Quileute wolves could heal anything short of decapitation with enough time, food and rest and he knew that the Crows were pretty much the same. Rachel asked the question for him, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I mean crazy, mostly. Trapped in a shift, maybe, or shifters who have seen terrible things and can't handle it anymore. We need somewhere safe for them to go."
Jake wished Leah was there. She'd know what to do or what to say and Jake didn't have a clue. He had no idea how to make the best of this. He certainly couldn't afford to feed more freaking shifters. But what choice did he have?
"I want you to know that I hate this; I really do. I think it's disgusting that you're blackmailing me into this, but you know and I know that I have no other choice." Every ounce of Alpha in him was in his tone. "If any tribe helps us in this, then they can send their damaged shifters here but, and this is not negotiable, once they get here, they're mine." She met his glare with an even gaze and that infuriated him more, somehow.
"Deal. I'll make the calls." She stood up, all five foot nothing of her and made her way into the spare bedroom. Seconds later, he could hear her talking to Diana and he couldn't hold back a growl.
Fuck. He hated Crows.
Tricky, sneaky fuckers.
Leah could tell that whatever was going on in the Black house was not going particularly well. There was an itch at the back of her neck that meant that Jake was furious and she had no idea why- he'd been fine, sad but fine, before going inside and she'd met Charlotte. The Crow was annoying, sure, but she wasn't half as bad as Marianne. She'd thought, anyway, but Jake was so angry… something must have happened. It was unusual enough that she was distracted, paying attention to Jake through their bond and trying to figure out what was going on instead of what the boys were relating from their patrols. That's why she missed it, at first, when Colin began following a rental car along the road into La Push. There were rarely visitors to La Push- not tourists, at any rate, and anyone who did take the road to the Rez didn't normally drive a rental car so new that there were still stickers on the tyres.
But she noticed when the car pulled up outside the Black house. Through Colin's eyes, they watched as a wiry blond guy stepped out of the car and made his way to the door. Colin scented sand and sea from the stranger but he was neither shifter nor Vampire- a regular human visitor. For a moment, Leah wondered if Becca had a date, or something, that she'd forgotten to cancel but she dismissed the idea. The guy was as far from Becca's type as you could get- tall, skinny and blond. Not Becks at all.
Watch him. She instructed, turning her own attention back to her patrol. The night was darkening rapidly and there was no moonlight to guide her- she needed to focus because one misstep would lead her to crashing off a cliff edge and that was worlds of no fun. Whoever it was, Rachel and Jake could handle it. Probably some yuppie college kid doing an article for the newspaper about the plight of the redskin, or something- Jake got, like, three of those a month at least.
Five minutes later, she was completely unprepared for the wave of fury and grief that took her feet from under her and sent her stumbling toward the cliffs edge.
Several days earlier:
The doorway opened a crack and light spilled into the room and Rosalie winced; her eyes sensitive to light after so long in the dark. The smell that crept in was overwhelming and she was so thirsty. She'd never been so thirsty before; never been so desperate to feed. She forced her eyes away from the light and gritted her teeth- she wouldn't do it and they couldn't force her. They couldn't make her drink, even though that scent was so delicious; coppery and warm and so strong that she could almost taste it already.
The Vampire in the doorway laughed at her as she pressed herself into the wall- he could surely scent the blood in her mouth as she bit at the inside of her cheek to stop herself from lunging at him. Or, not at him exactly- at the teenage boy he held by the neck, a single line of blood escaping the boy's nose. It was enough to drive her insane, given time.
She hadn't fed in weeks. And she hadn't fed from a human in decades. That scent was so maddening. She pushed her nails into the palms of her hands to distract herself as the Vampire laughed again, shaking the child in her direction and muttering something in a language that she didn't understand. They brought her a different offering every day; trying to find her weak spot- boys; girls; pretty; tall; curvy; loud. They were trying, hard, and she couldn't (wouldn't) give in to it. Not today, anyway. She heard the crack as the boy's neck snapped; heard it the second that his heart stopped beating and he stopped breathing and her own heart broke in her chest.
That made thirteen; thirteen people they'd offered her and she'd rejected and they'd killed them anyway. No mercy. No quarter given. Thirteen lives ended in a waste of life and potential that Rose could barely understand. Where the hell was Alice? She should have found her by now. She should have been able to track her and what Alice couldn't find, surely Edward could? Surely they were looking? They had to find her soon; she didn't know how much longer she could hold out and Rosalie had promised herself, a long time ago, that she would never take another life. She didn't want to return to her family with the red eyes of a monster.
Deep down, so far down she didn't even realize it; Rosalie was certain that was exactly what was going to happen. She couldn't face Emmett again with red eyes and innocent blood on her hands. She wouldn't. She'd die first. She just had to figure out a way of getting them to kill her and not the children. The heavy door swung shut again, leaving her in total darkness. The first day here, she'd known that she had to be underground- the walls were rock and dirt, not cement and the only weak point to her cell was the door. And even the door was not a true weak point- reinforced steel that even Vampire strength could not break through and she grew weaker every day. Whatever chance she may have had of breaking it down had been lost. She'd tried to fight them; she'd launched herself at her jailers on the first day that door swung open but she'd been stopped in her tracks by their human shield. Part of her wished she'd kept going; ploughed through the helpless human and reached the Vampire captor behind. But she hadn't, and she hadn't done it on any of the days since, either.
Worse than the hunger, worse than the ache where the lack of Emmett was apparent, worse than the humiliation of being captured- the thing that was preying on her mind for hours; driving her crazy at intervals, was knowing that they took her because she was the weak one. She wasn't special like Alice or Bella; wasn't as strong as Emmett or as good a fighter as Jasper.
They wanted Carlisle and Edward, and they'd taken her to get to them and for that, Rosalie hated herself. She hated herself. She was weak. She was the weak link in her family. She wouldn't let them use it against her- she wouldn't feed. She could do that. She could refuse them that. She might have been the weak link, but she'd die first.
It had become a mantra, a creed that she could live by. Edward and Carlisle had religion, but Rose had never connected with their God and his plans- she'd had a life that few would ever envy, for all her beauty. So she might not have God as a comfort, or any notion that she would move on to a better place- but she could hold fast to the belief that she would die herself before adding more blood to the stain on her hands. She might have been the weak link, but she was better than that.
It worked for two, long, torturous weeks. It was enough for that long. She repeated the words over and over in the silence of her brain even as she hugged her knees to her chest and tried to force herself into sleep; into a coma; into death or escape or anything that would take her away from this place and this darkness and this hell that she was living.
On the fifteenth morning, things were different. On the fifteenth morning, the door swung open and instead of dangling the bait under her nose, they threw it in with her, still breathing. She'd been waiting for someone to realize that her resolve was not unending- she'd been waiting for them to realize that leaving someone in the room with her would be more effective than leaving her with her own thoughts. She could talk herself into anything when she was alone- living that resolve with temptation in the same room as her was different.
It never really occurred to her that the previous days had been a waiting game, breaking her spirit piece by piece until she was so starved of both food and company that any addition to her cell would be too much for her to handle.
They dumped her visitor onto the hard floor and scent of blood hit Rose like a wave; hunger and blood lust warring with innate stubbornness and… familiarity? She knew that scent. She had been refusing to look; refusing to cast her eyes on the latest victim because seeing them just made it worse- the fear in their eyes and the light dying as their necks were snapped or their throats ripped out. But she opened her eyes now and looked and even in the near-darkness, she recognised the body on the ground.
Rebecca looked enough like Rachel that it took Rosalie a moment to realize which of the Black sisters were sharing her cell- but while their underlying scent was very similar, Rachel's was undeniable linked to wolf and that meant that this was Becca.
Rose was almost proud of herself for realizing the difference in her less-than-coherent state but then Becca groaned in pain and her attention was focused completely on the human. At the door, whatever lackey the Volturi had sent to her this time, laughed and said something to her that she ignored. She'd stopped listening to them days before, not least because they usually spoke in Italian and Rose had never learned it. Everyone spoke English these days, anyway. The door slammed shut and the sound echoed uncomfortably. Rose's head ached enough already that the sound meant she winced. She hadn't winced in decades. It was strange that being captive and powerless made her remember more clearly what it meant to be human.
The Vampire crawled across the room slowly, holding her breath against the powerful scent. The human was bleeding, but not heavily- that much, she could tell. She hadn't been bitten, either; there was no scent of venom.
"Becca?" She had to breathe to speak and the scent hit her full force once more and she shrank back a little. "It's Rosalie Cullen. Are you okay?" The other woman didn't answer. Rosalie could only assume that she wasn't conscious. She froze in place, considering her options. Becca wasn't like the others, not really. There was horror in the thought that she would ever kill another person again, but there was despair in the idea that she might hurt someone that she knew; someone whose family had saved her families lives. She'd never forgive herself for hurting anyone but no-one else would ever forgive her for hurting Becca.
The Volturi knew it, too. If she killed Becca; if she fed from the girl and ended her life, then she could never go home. Not really.
She was gentle when she moved the girl, her hands shaking from fear and hunger. But she had no choice but to move her- drag her away from the doorway and put her own body between the Quileute and whatever Vampire came through the door next. The wound on the back of the woman's head was bleeding, not much, but enough. The area around it was swollen and tender and Rosalie was pretty certain that they'd hit her harder than they'd intended- Vampires not used to killing their prey weren't always familiar with how to knock someone out.
It took hours for Becca to wake and at first when she did, she wasn't coherent. Rosalie hadn't studied medicine, despite all her college degrees, but she'd watched Carlisle often enough to recognize a concussion when she saw one. Becca was asking for her husband- Ben, Rose knew, though she remembered little else about him- and her father. Occasionally, she called for Rachel or Jacob. Those were easier to deal with, but the thought of Billy Black made her cringe with guilt and she could only imagine what had been done to Ben.
He could have been any of the men that had been dangled in front of her in the last weeks and she wouldn't know. Maybe the Volturi expected her to know. Would she have done something differently if she had recognized him? Maybe. She'd like to think so but she'd never know, now.
After what felt like days but was probably only half a day, at most, Becca roused fully- coming back to herself and to reality with a suddenness that Rosalie found almost shocking.
"What the fuck?" Of course, the human couldn't see like Rosalie could, so she didn't even realize she wasn't alone. For one tiny moment, Rosalie thought about pretending not to be there; about staying quiet and returning to her corner to hide until the Volturi guards returned. It would be easier, no doubt, than to have to interact with her.
"Becca? Stay calm, okay? There's some bad shit happening but you're not alone and we'll figure this out, right?" Rosalie reminded herself that she was not a coward.
"Bad shit?" Her tone was incredulous. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" Oh, right. Introductions.
"Rosalie Hale." Would the Vampire bit earn a freak out? "I know your family." The woman lived with a shapeshifter- surely Vampire wouldn't be much of a stretch.
"How?" Oh, right. Hale wasn't nearly as useful a name to drop as Cullen. Get with the program, Rose. The hunger was clearly affecting her; she'd never been so easily distracted before. So sloppy.
"I'm part of Carlisle Cullen's coven. The vampires who have kidnapped us want me to eat you." Tact, thy name is not Rosalie. For almost a full minute the silence stretched between; if Rose hadn't had Vampire hearing she would have wondered if the human was unconscious again- but she wasn't, she was breathing a little faster and her heartbeat sped up, but she was conscious. Just… silent.
"Are you going to?"
"I hope not. But… I haven't fed in a long time and you've been bleeding." She paused and the silence reigned again. "I don't want to." That would have to do. She wasn't about to make any promises.
"Fine. Now, tell me where the hell we are and what I have to do to get the hell out of here." And there it was: the spine of steel that the Black siblings seemed to share- Rosalie couldn't have been happier to see it shine through. With Becca's words, something in Rosalie found a new resolve too.
She would die first.
