CHAPTER ELEVEN: Part II

'So here's how this typically works'

"Okay, so here's how this typically works," Emmett began one afternoon; several days after Evelyn had woken up from the car accident to find herself five years older. Carlisle had wanted to let her body heal and adjust before putting her through the physical task of hunting.

"Said vampire hides here, said prey walks here. When you hear the sound of your prey or smell its scent you pounce. If you hear or smell a human you hold your breath and run away. Okay never mind, scratch that, it only worked with Bella." Emmett was drawing a particularly confusing diagram in the dirt to try and explain to Evelyn how they hunted.

"Where is Rosalie?" Edward asked, looking between Carlisle and Emmett.

"She didn't approve of my theory, which is why I recruited you and Alice. You are here to keep an eye out for Rosalie or her thoughts, our early warning system per say, and Alice is supposed to keep Rose busy while I test my theory. It shouldn't take long."

"And what are you going to say if Evelyn happens to age again and Rosalie notices something has changed?"

"We never made it to that part of the plan," Emmett confessed, looking up at his brother with worry. Edward returned the look. "I'm hoping Carlisle is right about this one."

"So am I," said Carlisle.

Emmett stared at him. "Gee, that's reassuring."

Evelyn stared blankly at the green, mossy canvas before her as her dad, uncle and grandpa spoke quickly with each other. Sometimes they spoke to fast for her to keep track of what they were really saying. Besides, she was trying to get a feel for this hunting thing she was supposed to do but she couldn't seem to separate the sounds and smells. They all hit her like a wavy film that threatened to suffocate her.

"I can't do this," she whispered. She shook her head, grabbing at her temples with the pads of her fingers. "There's too much stuff to sort through."

Carlisle bent down next to her, looking out between the trees. He could hear three doe moving quietly through the trees. He could also smell them. There was a jackrabbit slinking through the woods to their left and a lone coyote approaching from the North, but it was still pretty far.

"Close your eyes Evelyn," he told her. "Now breathe deep."

She did.

"Tell me what you smell."

"You," Evelyn said.

"Good, what else?"

"Daddy," Evelyn said giggling. She opened one eye to peek out and saw Emmett leaning against a tree.

"Breathe deeper, smell beyond this area? What do you sense?"

Evelyn was quiet for a moment then her eyes snapped open. "Mommy!" she said.

"Ah, crud," Emmett muttered. "She's right. It's Rose. Edward how did you not hear her coming?"

"She was thinking about clothes. I assumed she was with Alice." Edward rubbed the back of his neck, flipping through Rosalie's thoughts. They were becoming increasingly more aggressive.

"Looks like Alice has been teaching her some of her mind tricks," Carlisle muttered.

"No, Rose is a woman. Clothes are bound to cross her mind at some point," Emmett said.

"Brace yourself boys, she's mad," Edward warned. "This is where I take my leave."

"What?" Emmett and Carlisle said together.

"Coward," Emmett whispered after Edward.

"Would someone like to explain to me what is going on here?" Rosalie demanded as she approached.

Carlisle pushed Evelyn ahead of him. If he had learned anything from Edward it was that he always used Renesmee to calm Bella down when she was agitated. He hoped the same principal applied here. Evelyn seemed to sense that she was needed and ran to Rosalie who picked her up easily.

"Daddy and Grandpa are teaching me how to hunt."

"Are they?" Rose murmured. Her eyebrow arched to a perfect point. A sharp deadly point. Emmett knew that look. He was in trouble.

Evelyn took her mother's face between her hands. She pushed against her cheeks. "Smile mommy, you look angry." Evelyn leaned back to look at Rosalie. "Are you mad at me?" she asked. She could feel the weird energy coming from her mom and it scared her. For a split second she wondered if maybe Rosalie didn't like her as much now that she was older. Had she changed so much that Rosalie didn't want her to be a part of her and Emmett's family anymore?

Evelyn pushed herself out of her Rosalie's arms, letting her feet hit the ground. She took a few tentative steps back and brought her finger to her lips, something she did when she was thinking hard.

Rosalie stopped glaring at Emmett. She had noticed the change in the air. It felt different. Something was wrong. Was this how Jasper felt all the time? Call it motherly intuition, but Rose was certain that Evelyn was having a mental fight with herself.

"Evelyn, what are you thinking, sweetie?"

Evelyn stumbled over the words to get them out in a semi-coherent sentence. "Maybe…maybe because I'm different now, maybe you don't, you don't wan-"

Evelyn had continued backing away from her but Rose bolted in a flash that scared the girl and took her into her arms. She had sensed what she was about to say. Evelyn thought that because she was older now that they didn't want her anymore. Well she was wrong. Rosalie felt more protective of Evelyn now than she ever had.

"Shh, don't say things like that. Of course we want you, Evelyn. Nothing will change that. Nothing. We love you. I'm sorry I was angry. I just wanted to be the one to teach you how to hunt." Rosalie had spontaneously re-evaluated her opinion on the matter. Evelyn was part vampire, she had to hunt and they needed to know if animal blood would affect her the same way human blood would.

Emmett had moved to wrap Rosalie and his daughter in a hug. Carlisle walked beside them, letting his hand rest on Rosalie's shoulder. "I'll leave the task to you two then. Bring her by my office once she's fed. I need to keep a close eye on her overnight. Someone will have to stay with her constantly."

"Oh, more tests?" Evelyn groaned.

"I'm sorry honey," Rosalie smiled, stroking Evelyn's cheek. "Last time, I promise."

"Fine," Evelyn agreed reluctantly.

"Good, then let's go get us some tasty animal blood," Emmett said swinging Evelyn onto his shoulders. She hugged his head tightly and Rosalie took his hand. He felt elated as they disappeared into the trees, the scent of a mountain lion on the wind. Emmett debated for a moment and decided on the pack of deer. He didn't want to frighten Evelyn her first time out, which had been a good idea, because when Emmett took down the first deer as a demonstration Evelyn cried.

"Daddy that was a baby one," she sobbed horribly. It was a wretched sight watching a half-vampire child cry. Evelyn was so adorably beautiful that Emmett felt like a monster.

Rose chuckled and sighed in the same instance. Despite her being upset, Evelyn hadn't been able to resist the temptation of blood and collapsed on the deer.

"What's so funny?" Emmett muttered to his wife.

"This is going to be much more difficult if she's an animal lover."

"She'll get used to it, besides it's not like it was a puppy or something cute like that."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that."

At that moment Evelyn backed away from the baby deer, lips covered in blood, eyes full of tears, and then she flung herself over the tiny body. "I'm sorry Bambi," she wailed.

"Oh god, Emmett, look what you did; now she's scarred for life."

"Me? You're the one laughing like this situation is hilarious."

"Daddy, you killed Bambi and made me drink him!" Evelyn was in hysterics now.

"Yah daddy, you killed Bambi," Rose snickered.

Emmett blanked. "Okay, from now on we drain the blood and she gets it in a glass with a straw. I can't watch this anymore."

"Agreed," Rose said but she couldn't help but smile. Evelyn's reaction had been priceless and it was even funnier watching Emmett feel sorry for killing the deer, something he had done thousands of times before. But they would have to be more sensitive from now on, since Evelyn obviously had a very active conscience.

Twenty-four hours passed seamlessly. There were no hiccups in Evelyn's half-vampire DNA meaning she didn't spontaneously combust or grow another foot. Apparently animal blood agreed with her hybrid system which worked out well since the Cullen's were 'vegetarians'.

The family did have a good laugh over Evelyn's first hunting experience as she slept peacefully in her bed though, particularly Edward who teased Emmett relentlessly. "I can't believe you made her cry."

"Shut up," Emmett sneered.

"Poor child," Esme sighed.

Carlisle nodded. "She's too compassionate for her own good."

"Like someone else I know," Esme said kissing his chin.