After Rosalie's and Bella's intimate moment, the two started spending considerably more time together, especially as they shared a room and a bed. It was a welcomed distraction for Bella, who had never been in a relationship before or had anyone to care about in a long, long time, never mind someone to talk too.
Bella found that Rosalie was very protective over her, never letting anyone near her. This made Bella smile yet it had the inevitable discussion of her trying animal blood. Bella refused point blank; at least until she was safe again from the one chasing her, she needed her strength.
Bella awoke with a yawn and stretch, grinning as the feeling of two arms wrapped around her waist protectively; a face was buried in her hair. "Morning," Rosalie mumbled. She paused for a few seconds, inhaling Bella's scent before letting out a small, husky moan.
"You smell good, baby, " she said, leaning in and grasping the lips of Bella before climbing on top of her, letting out a small dominant growl.
"Rosalie, stop it." Bella mumbled into her lips.
Rosalie let out an annoyed sigh but stopped. "Fine, later then," she said in a voice similar to a scolded child, which made Bella giggle.
"God, I am going soft." Bella shook her head as she climbed out of bed, staring at an amused Rosalie.
"Something the matter?" the blonde asked, a smug smile playing across her lips.
Bella held up her hand, signaling her to wait. "No, not exactly. But, well... Rose this isn't me. I don't giggle. Ever." Bella crossed her arms over her chest; feeling like a new person was trying to grow out of her old, safe skin.
"Yeah, well, you do now," Rosalie assured. She sent a smirk Bella's way when she lifted an eyebrow in a challenge.
"Do I?" Bella flirted back, preparing to crawl back on to the bed.
The blonde nodded her head, rising from the bed herself. Bella huffed in annoyance. "Come on, Carlisle is getting impatient. I've never seen him so excited before," she chuckled as she dragged Bella out of the room.
"I cannot go down like this, Rose," Bella exclaimed, looking down at her attire: shorts that reached her thigh and a tight tank top that stopped just before her belly button.
"Yes, you can. No one will say anything. They know I'll kill them," Rosalie chirped as breezily as commenting on the weather.
"Yeah, whatever you say Rose," Bella replied humorously as they made their way down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Esme was immersed in cooking and looked up upon the girl's entry. She smiled warmly at them. "Hello dear's. Sleep well? Bella, are you hungry?" she asked, already placing a plate of food in front of her.
Bella didn't even have a chance to decide if she was hungry or not. "Thanks Esme, it looks great."
She picked up the plate and breathed in the aroma, grinning in delight. "Smells good too," she added, taking a seat at the table and digging in.
The kitchen back door opened. "Ah, girls," Carlisle announced as he walked in. Moving over to Esme, he pressed a kiss to Esme's cheek and then moved on to Rosalie and gifted a polite smile to Bella.
"Bella, any chance we could ta-" Bella held up her hand to stop him and offered a thumb up before swallowing her food.
"It's in the living room, waiting for you." She swallowed the rest of her food and looked towards Esme. "Thank you Esme, it was delicious."
Esme smiled at Bella and grabbed her plate off the table, putting it into the dishwasher. "Well, shall we?" Bella asked, climbing off the stool she was sitting on.
She walked into the room behind her and over to the scroll that was lying on the couch, untouched. She could see the excitement in Carlisle's eyes. "Here we go, you ready?" she asked both Carlisle and Rosalie as she carefully picked up the scroll and prepared to unroll it.
They both nodded their heads and stayed quiet. Bella gently unrolled the scroll and grinned as the ancient paper declared its secrets to her. After unrolling it fully, she heard a slight cough behind her.
"Um, Bella, I can't read that." Rosalie said.
"Neither can I," Carlisle threw in.
Bella chuckled at the perplexed looks on their faces. She was holding the scroll above her face and grinned. "This," she shook the scroll softly, "is Dragon Language." She laughed a little at the looks on their faces.
"Uh, Dragon Language?" Carlisle asked dubiously.
"Yes, it's my native tongue. I suppose it's a dead language now." Bella's face fell slightly at the spoken revelation. Humans, or even vampires, no longer spoke the words of Old.
"Bella, can you tell us what it says?" Carlisle asked, offering Bella an encouraging smile as the brunette seemed deep in thought.
With a small frown, she tilted her head to the side and began reading off of the scroll, before letting out a small gasp.
"What? What is it?" Rosalie asked, alarmed.
"Aeliana."
The room was dead silent for a few seconds before Rosalie spoke up. "Caesar's sister?" she asked softly, noticing that Bella had gone rigid.
"Yes. This scroll tells me exactly where she is and how to..." Bella swallowed deeply before continuing, "How to kill Caesar," she finished the last part quietly.
The room fell silent. "How to kill Caesar?" Carlisle repeated, trying to grasp the moment, before letting out a long sigh. "No wonder he was after it."
Bella could only nod her head in response before swallowing, then speaking again.
"There's more. This is a map," she stated as Rosalie came over and put her arm on her shoulder.
"A map?" she asked, confused.
"Yes."
Carlisle gave a small cough before throwing in, "A map of what exactly?"
Bella couldn't repress the grin that crawled across her face. "To Aeliana."
Rosalie's grip on Bella's arm tightened. "You sure?"
Bella rolled her eyes at the blonde before standing up, leaving the scroll on the couch. "Yes, I'm sure."
"So where is she?"
Bella closed her eyes, trying to form a plan behind her eyelids. "Antarctica." Her voice was so quiet, it was almost unrecognizable.
"Antarctica? You're shitting me." Rosalie paced a moment before continuing. "So this is another wild goose chase. You know, based on our other little run we just went on, this could easily be a trap, Bella." Rosalie growled.
"Yeah, I know that Rosalie but it might not be. Have you ever thought of that?"
Rosalie put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at the smaller girl, sending her a livid glare. "No, I haven't thought about that but you have to see it from my point of view, Bella."
The smaller girl briefly nodded her head. "Yeah, I get it Rose. You're scared, just like me."
"Ahem..." Both girls turned to look towards Carlisle, who had a small smile across his face.
"Girl's, I don't want you to argue over this. Why don't you go hunting Rose, to cool off?" Rosalie dropped her arms to her side, giving Bella a brief look before disappearing from sight.
Then he looked at Bella. "You must understand, she has never had a mate before. She doesn't really understand what she is feeling and although the two of you have been spending more time together, it's confusing her."
Bella looked over at the man who was now heading back towards the kitchen and Esme. "Rosalie, as I have said before, has had a sad ending towards her life as a human, she just needs time. She will not, however, stop being protective over you."
He stopped beside the fridge, opened it and threw a cool bag of blood towards Bella, who caught it and began drinking right away. "Thanks, Carlisle. But why are you telling me all of this? I've been around a lot longer than any of you and I think I can analyze behavior."
She wiped the blood away from her mouth and dropped the blood bag into the bin.
"I understand Bella, but you have been on the run your entire life and things have changed since you were turned. By the sounds of things, Originals can choose their mates. We cannot."
He gave Bella a few seconds to soak in the information before continuing, "You love Rosalie as she loves you, but neither of you truly understand this just yet. Both of you have only just found each other, and in time you will both realize how much you mean to each other. Ah, here's Alice. I'll take my leave."
He gave a very small chuckle before moving away through the back door of the kitchen, no doubt to hunt just as Alice blurred into the kitchen, grinning happily as always and had a rather excited look across her face.
"Bella," she squealed making Bella take a step back.
"Yeah Alice, that's my fucking ear," she said, pointing to her sensitive ears.
The pixy just laughed out loud before throwing her hands over mouth, hiding her laughing. "Sorry Belly," she said, punching Bella in the arm.
"Great, now you're punching me." Alice rolled her eyes at the older girl.
"Whatever, anyway... Antarctica?" Bella shifted to sit back on the stool.
"What about it?"
"When are we going?" came Alice's instant reply.
"Look Alice, I don-" Bella didn't get the chance to finish what she was about to say, Alice held her finger to her mouth.
"We have already started packing," she gave Bella a wink.
"What? How could you..." A sudden image appeared in Bella's head before she let out an 'ah'. "Vision?"
"Yep." Alice said, popping the p.
"Look Alice, this is going to be dangerous and when I mean dangerous, I am talking abo-"
"...About more of those vampire hunters? Vampires, maybe even Caesar himself, possibly the Volturi and Aeliana as well. Yeah, I get it Bella, which is why we will be coming with you." Alice said with a sigh.
The pixy looking girl was clearly bored and stared at her nails. "Are you sure?" Bella questioned, probing further as Alice's eyes went blank.
"Alice?" Bella watched as Alice's eyes glazed over before they turned into a dark gold. She let out a small growl, "Damn mutts," she muttered, before hopping off the stool she was sitting on.
"Alice?" Bella said again as the smaller girl headed for the back door. "Bella, the wolves are not happy with us right now, they're arguing with Emmett, Rosalie, and Hannah," she muttered.
"Wait, Rosalie? Hold up!" Bella shouted after her, jumping off her own seat and racing after the girl.
They blurred through the forest as fast as they could. Shouting reached Bella's ears as they came out from behind the trees and stopped beside Emmett, Rosalie, and Hannah.
"What's going on?" Bella demanded as she stopped beside Rosalie. She was so close to the blonde that their shoulders gently touched.
She looked pissed as she answered simply, "Them." Indicating to the three tanned and muscly boys who were shaking greatly.
"What about them?" Bella inquired.
Rosalie kept snarling, her lip turned up and her eyes coal black. "They're accusing us of killing innocent people. They want to know why a red eyed vampire had joined our coven." Rosalie's voice was breaking at the end, her voice full of venom as Emmett stepped forward.
"They know, Bella," he spoke low, standing beside Rosalie and grasping her shoulder gently.
The instant Emmett touched her, Bella felt her blood boil and her eyes turned black. Emmett was touching Rosalie. Her Rosalie.
"Emmett," Alice whispered, pointing at the growling Bella. "Don't touch Rose," she added with a small smile. Emmett instantly let go of Rosalie's shoulders and gave Bella an apologetic look.
"She's a blood drinker. A killer! She should pay for her crimes," one of the shirtless boys snarled.
"It wasn't her though," the girl on the left of Emmett, Hannah, which seemed to only rile the boys up.
"If one of you even steps over this line, the treaty is broken and we will kill you." Alice said calmly, stepping forward.
"But sh-she is a killer. She has to pay for her crimes! Don't interfere with us Cullen, I remember a time when you were chasing the same person."
Rosalie stepped forward beside Alice, almost face to face with one of the shirtless boys. "That wasn't her and these killings you are on about weren't her either."
The boy started shaking uncontrollably. "NO! No, that was her! We know it was. Why cover up for her? SAM!" the boy roared.
Bella's ear twitched as the rustling of leaves hit her. Two more people appeared and both only had denim shorts on, just like the others. One of them was a grown man and by the looks of things, he was the leader of the wolves.
"What is it, Jared?" the man barked, his voice was raspy sounding.
"It's her," he said pointing towards Bella.
Rosalie hissed viscously at them, blurring to Bella's side, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling Bella into her protectively.
"The one from before?" Sam asked confusion in his eyes.
"YES!" Jared replied, his body shaking so hard he was sure to explode any minute now.
"Jared control yourself or leave," Sam said, his eyes fixed on Bella's red ones.
"A blood drinker. A human killer. Cullen's, you have broken the treaty."
Emmett stepped forward, right beside Alice. "We haven't broken any treaty and you know it. She isn't the killer you're looking for," he spoke as calmly as he could.
This caught Bella's attention as the brunette was trying to work out what they were talking about. She's obviously not the killer the wolves are after. She wanted to move but was having a hard time as Rosalie was glued to her side.
"You must be covering up for her," Sam spat aggressively, stepping forward so he was face to face with Emmett.
To Bella it looked like a thin invisible line stopped them from touching. "We're looking for the same person you are. Now, if you cross this line, we will kill you." Emmett growled out the threat aimed at them.
Sam just smirked, "I'd like to see you tr-"
"SAM? SAM!" A young boy came running out from behind the bushes.
"What is it Seth? I thought I told you to stay away." Sam rounded on the young boy, Seth, who looked worried and scared.
"They spotted one."
This seemed to cause all of the boys to look Seth's way then to Sam. Sam turned back to Emmett, "This isn't over," he growled out. "Where Seth?" he asked the young boy.
"The beach," was his only reply.
"Fuck." Sam shouted, before exploding into a giant wolf and running off into the forest. The others followed behind him; all exploding into massive wolves. The only one who didn't explode was Seth, he ran after them as a human.
Once they were away, Bella gently squeezed Rosalie's hand. "Uh, Rose? Can you let me go?" she asked the blonde, who still held her and was still looking pissed.
"No" she said bluntly.
"No?" She shook her head. "Ok then, Alice what's going on, what was that all about?"
Alice turned towards Bella, a grim smile across her face. "There is another vampire here."
This made Bella frown softly to herself whilst in the iron grips of Rosalie's protective arms.
"Another vampire?" she repeated.
"Yes."
"Like the one that trashed my home?" Bella asked.
Alice looked on curiously, searching something Bella couldn't see. "Possible, guess there is only one way to find out."
Bella sighed. "Guess we have to postpone the trip to Antarctica then."
AN: Thanks to LeighJ11 for being my beta. I'm sorry that it's not the best chapter and it slightly short. The next one will be longer; will have more action packed into it and hopefully more Bella/Rose interaction.