AN: Alright, now that I'm pretty much done with school for the summer, hopefully I'll be able to update quicker. I copied a line right from Veronica Mars in this chapter, if anyone's a fan and notices it, tell me. LOL. Also, as you can see I just love any opportunity I can get to write Edward in here, so he will always be a presence. Someone asked me the question on whether or not this story would continue to when Edward meets Bella. My answer? Possibly, I donno. I'd like to write some of the situations in Rosalie or Emmett's POV. I have a few ideas for the next few chapters, but honestly I make up everything as I go along. Nothing is definite. Thank you SO much for the reviews! They make me so incredibly happy!
Chapter 9: There's a Lack of Colour Here
August, 1936
Disappointment. The only word that fit the description of the kind of person that I am. I was one big, lug of disappoinment. All I will ever be to my family is someone to be ashamed of. Sure, they may have some class and be very polite to me about my self-control (or lack-there-of), but internally they would be frustrated and angry with me. The amount of strain, stress and inconvenience that I bring to them, I wonder how they tolerate me.
The second human.
I had killed two humans, in six weeks.
A total of three humans had died because of me.
I shuddered, disgusted in myself. But I, unfortunatley, couldn't bring myself to fully hate what I had done to those humans, and that made me even more angry with myself. The taste of human blood was too...wonderful. I closed my eyes and dug my nails into my scalp. I wasn't even a newborn anymore. I have been a vampire for over a year now, and I was still weak and selfish; like a newborn. I pulled at my hair and slammed my foot on the floor, causing the house to waver in it's place. I heard their voices drift upstairs, this intensified hearing annoyed me sometimes. I'd rather be oblivious to my families discussion right now.
"Esme, you know what to do. I'd like us to be out of the house before sunrise," Carlisle's voice was calm and authoritive.
Esme's rushing around the first floor, packing our belongings was evident. We had only just moved here to Wisconsin six weeks ago. I had been the reason we had moved out of the beautiful house in Montanna. I was sure that Rose was still upset about that, although she pretended she didn't mind. She loved that house. I only became more angry at myself at the knowledge that I had made Rosalie - my wife, my life - unhappy.
The fact that I'd have to move Rosalie out of another home again in such a short amount of time made me want to just run away from home. Not for long, I could never be away from her for too long. But I wanted to give her that option of life without me, she wouldn't have to move so much.
"Edward," Carlisle started, but as usual, Edward was ahead of him.
"I'm going." No doubt that Edward would be stealing a truck to have a vehicle that was large enough to carry our belongings.
"Rosalie," Carlisle said softly to her. I knew he was trying to get her to come up here and coerce me into packing quickly.
I heard her sigh and she headed up the stairs, to our newlywed bedroom. I looked at our bed bitterly. Only last night we were happy, making love on the bed, laughing, no thoughts of killing on our minds. But now, today, I have ruined things.
She walked into our room, opening the door as wide as it could go. She stood in the doorway her hands on her hips as she evaluated the situation that was our room. It seemed as if she was deciding what she could leave behind, and what had to come with us. She walked over to my game table. I had insisted that it should reside in our room. She had complained that it took up too much space, but eventually caved in to my demands. The game table could hold many different boardgames, all in one piece of furniture. I had fun with it, but at this moment, I could care less.
"We'll have to leave this here," she brushed her hand against it. She went to our closet and began to sort out our clothes.
"That's fine."
She placed her clothes in a suitcase that was already opened, ready to be filled with our belongings. She pushed the other suitcase with her foot towards me.
"There's no use sulking. Pack the stuff you need."
I looked at the open case in front of me and glared at it. It was my fault that it was open. "I don't feel like it." I kicked it back to her and it hit her foot, causing her to stumbled forward slightly. I cringed, I had not intended to do that. She turned and glared at me.
"Emmett, we don't have time," she snapped. She walked quickly to me and fell to her knees and placing her hands on my knees. She opened my legs and then closed them, keeping a rhythm as she played with my tensed muscles. She shook my legs caushing my whole body to quake. "Let's go."
"Rosalie -"
"I'm not mad Emmett," she said impatiently.
I wasn't sure if I appreciated her no-nonsense. She was very supportive of me the first time I had killed a human. The second time, she had given me some time, but not as much as she had donned me with the first time. It made me feel better, because it was as if I hadn't done that horrible crime. But now, it was tough love. Her ability to be very straight with me made me love her all the more. She wanted to forget it, I did too, but I wasn't so sure it was that easy...
I stood up, trying to compose myself for Rosalie. "Just grab the clothes you like best on me," I amended. She nodded smiling, she leaned over and kissed me perfectly on my lips. My body got hyper aware like it always did when Rosalie was near. When she touched me, I was sure that one day my body would just collapse into a pile of a needy, desperate, helpless man who was at her disposal. The most beautiful creature to ever walk this earth was my wife, and I couldn't be more luckier to have her be mine. The thought of how she made me feel on our wedding day threw me off, and I was surprised that I was able to forget my murder that I had committed earlier today. I shook my head and decided that now wasn't the time for me to be drooling over Rosalie or moping about that human. So, I helped her pack our life away and onto our next facade.
"Where are we going?" I asked after we brought down our bedroom belongings into the front foyer. I stared down at our minimal amount, frowning.
"Washington."
I looked at her, my face scrunched up. Washington? What the hell was in Washington besides...nothing. I thought back to anything I had learned from school or basic knowledge about the United States that people should know; anything about Washington. I knew that I was startled to find out a few months ago that Washington D,C. wasn't in Washington state. Hey, I never payed attention in school and a random fact like that would hold no interest to me as a human. I gave Rosalie a skeptical look. She shrugged.
"Why?" I asked.
Edward entered through the front door, ready to answer my question. "It's cloudy most of the year, Emmett." He offered. Meh, that didn't help too much more. "Plus it would be the best place to ease you into human society." I froze as he left to pack up his music collection. Me and humans did not mix well. I tended to kill them whenever I came in contact with them so far. Rosalie was at my side in an instant. She rubbed my arm soothingly.
"Emmett, if you ever feel really bad about that just remember your track record will always be better than Edwards," she said. I heard Edward growl. Rosalie smirked, thrilled that she had upset him. I rolled my eyes.
Ignore her, Edward. I told him internally. I heard him grunt an agreement.
"You don't know that," I said after a while.
She looked at me sharply. "No, Emmett. If you start to doubt yourself than that won't help you improve."
I scoffed, "Rosalie, I can't help it!" I stressed to her.
"You can," she left the house with boxes in her hands. I followed her.
"I've killed three humans already. Two girls, one guy."
She threw the boxes into the truck and closed her eyes leaning against the back of the truck. "I love you, and I promise you that it will get better."
I looked at her beautiful golden hair. "I hope you're right."
She turned to me and her eyes twinkled. "I'm always right."
I nodded. "You're right." She laughed and I walked towards her wrapping my arms around her waist, pulling her to me. I buried my face into her hair, inhaling deeply. She was calming me down completely. What would I do without her?
I rolled her over so that her body was on my other side, on the unoccupied side of the bed. She giggled and rested her head against my naked chest. I pressed my lips firmly to her forehead.
"You should seriously consider going professional in that," she whispered breathlessly. My body shook with laughter.
"Would you like that?" I asked her to reconsider.
"No, I wouldn't. You're just for me," she rubbed her nose onto my chest. It tickled slightly. Her skin was so smooth, I enjoyed every moment with her, some more than others. Though, every second with her was lovely.
Hoquiam proved to be the cloudy place Edward ensured. We had only resided here for the past three days but so far, not a drop of sunshine in sight. I intended to make my way to the ocean, a place I hadn't visited yet, but was looking forward to the opportunity of experiencing the ocean for the first time. Well, on a day and at a place that was least likely to have humans circling the perimeters, waiting to be killed by me. At least, that's what it seemed like to me.
It seemed that I was in need of a good hunt as my throat contracted uncomfortably, requesting for something to quench the thirst. Even though my craze for blood had decreased quite a lot over the past couple of months, it still wasn't as easy as it seemed to be with everyone else. I had recently come to the conclusion that I am very determined to beat the thirst. I mean, I hadn't met a challenge yet that I can't fight and eventually win. I chuckled to myself and Rosalie looked up at me curiously.
As I stared down at my wife, I realized I was in no rush to leave for a hunt just yet.
"You should hunt." Ha, there goes that idea.
I pulled her tighter to me. "Will you come with me?"
She chuckled, "As much as I'd love to, I have to unpack our stuff. You've been distracting me far too much over the past few days that we still haven't unpacked."
I groaned and pulled myself out of bed. "Fine."
She leaned on her elbow and looked at me seductively. "But when you get back..." she trailed off, there was a glint in her eye that made me want to stay and find out what she had in mind. I began to move back towards her, but she pushed me away. "Go!" She laughed.
I grumbled and pulled on my pants and shirt, and made my way down the stairs. Edward, you coming? He walked down the stairs somewhat slowly, and we left the house ready to hunt.
"Do you know the area much, yet?" I asked him as we ran carefully through the woods. Ah, running and air were so refreshing.
"Yes, I checked it out yesterday, I didn't go too far though..." He came to a stop. I assumed this was a good place to begin our hunt. I sniffed the air. Edward and I became still and silent as we smelled out our prey. I felt the usual need for blood as I allowed my instincts to take over, and aid me in finding a meal. Edward shot off in a completely different direction, and I allowed him to have the mountain lion that he was currently devouring. I could easily have taken that particular prey from him, I was still stronger even though I was no longer a newborn. Fighting Edward off was no problem. I mean, I could -
I caught the strangest scent. My face scowled at the foul stench. What was that? I ran a bit following the smell. I came to an abrupt halt as the smell became stronger and more potent. My body was unnaturally tense and strangely defensive. I couldn't explain it, but this did not feel right. I walked a bit further, slowly, prepared for whatever this strange aura could be.
Edward.
He came to me almost instantly, his eyes a clear butterscotch, fully satiated.
"What is that?" He asked, sniffing the air. I looked at his stance, which was just as defensive that I was sure mine was. I shrugged.
You don't know what it is? The scent isn't familiar?
He shook his head. His face was concerned and the frown on his face looked as if it would forever stay there.
It's a horrible smell. I shuddered. Let's go, I can't stand it anymore.
"We should talk to Carlisle about this...Something doesn't feel right."
"Yeah," I said slowly, darting my eyes in every direction, looking for something or someone who could be the reason behind this smell. We backed away slowly, and ran back home, curious to ask Carlisle what he thought. When we reached the house, we opened the door briskly, closing it behind us.
"Carlisle," Edward's voice no doubt carried throughout the house. Carlisle came to us in an instant staring at us curiously. His face was scrunched up, he smelled it too. "I don't know. You're not familiar?" Edward answered his thoughts. Carlisle shook his head, he seemed to be thinking. "I have no idea. Maybe..." Edward trailed off. I looked back and forth between the two smartest people I knew. Their silent conversations always left me feeling incredibly dumb.
"What?" I asked, impatiently.
"Maybe," Carlisle mused. Edward looked at him shaking his head. Carlisle began pacing back and forth in front of us. Esme came down the stairs where we stood in the entrance hall, Edward and Carlisle pondering the smell, and me staring in confusion trying to comprehend their conversing.
"What's that smell?" Esme asked me, not wanting to bother the two geniuses.
I pointed my thumb towards them. "That's what they're trying to find out."
Rosalie walking gracefully down the stairs wiped out all the thoughts of the peculiar stench. She was all I wanted. I walked towards her and she frowned. "Emmett, what is that smell? What are they talking about?" She gestured to Edward and Carlisle who had their heads together trying to crack the mystery.
"C'mere," I pulled her down the last few steps and into my arms, kissing her thoughtlessly. She pushed me away all too soon.
"Well?" she asked our family.
Carlisle had a hand to his chin in a typical thinking pose. "Emmett, come with Edward and I. We will investigate this further," he turned and I followed, eager to find out where this smell was coming from.
"Wait, what?" Rosalie interjected.
"We'll be back soon, Rose," I reassured her, seeing the look of uneasiness on her face.
"So, what? You're just going to go out blindly, searching for this - this - thing? How does that make sense to you? You have no idea what you're getting yourself into. You could get hurt!" She snapped at me. I was stunned at her outburst. What was the worst that could happen?
"What's the worst that can happen?" I asked, confused.
She let our a frustrated noise. "Emmett, don't go. Think about it. Think about the consequences. Or ignore it, whatever."
"Ignore it? It's hard to ignore a smell like this. It's unavoidable."
"Avoid it!" her voice was rising.
"Rosalie, we aren't looking for trouble." I was grateful Carlisle was coming to my rescue.
"Oh, really? This plan that you have to go and find out where the scent is coming from is making sense to you? You're seeing this as the best plan you can come up with?"
"Yes," Edward answered. "Rosalie, we can't live here and not know."
"Then let's move," she crossed her arms. "I don't like the thought of Emmett going out and looking for trouble."
"I can handle myself," I scoffed.
She shot me a glare.
"Well I can!"
"Rosalie, we'd really like to just find out what this smell is sooner rather than later. What if it comes looking for us?" Edward asked her, calmly.
"Don't be stupid." But I could see that she now saw that there was no way she could stop us. "Emmett, stay. Let them handle it."
"Emmett will be fine, Rosalie," Esme said soothingly, placing a comforting hand on my wife's shoulder. She shrugged her off, her eyes focused on me.
Rosalie grabbed hold of my arm. "You can wait with me until they come back. Find out then. Please!" She looked at me desperately, begging me not to go.
"I promise, I'll be okay!" I tried to ease off her death grip she held onto my arm. I was honestly very excited to see what this scent was. I couldn't hide it, I was sure that I was bouncing on my feet, eager to leave.
"Emmett!" She cried. As much as I hated causing her this amount of distress, I couldn't not go.
"Rosalie, I will be fine." I kissed her forehead and grinned at her, trying to reassure her. "Okay?" I kissed her lips lightly.
She shook her head. "It's not okay."
"I'll be back as soon as possible." I ducked out of the house before she could plead with me anymore. I knew eventually I would cave in if I stayed any longer, and I knew I'd always be upset with myself if Carlisle and Edward discovered something cool without me.
R/R!