I.
Rosalie wrestled the grizzly bear to the ground, sinking her teeth into the animal when it was subdued. She could have easily just dug in when she first made contact with it, but she and Emmett made this trip about the sport, more than just feeding. Once she had her fill, she dropped the carcass, turning to Emmett who was standing a few yards back, leaning against a tree. He gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up. Rosalie rolled her eyes but smiled regardless.
"I believe I am now three ahead of you." She teased. Emmett pouted slightly, folding his arms over his chest.
"You've just been lucky." He grouched. Rosalie chuckled.
"If that helps you feel better." She replied. The two had been away from Forks for a couple of days and Rosalie was calming down from her anger spike regarding Bella. She and Emmett had spoken about it a handful of times during their hunting trip, but mostly she wanted to get away from all of it, just for a little while. She knew she'd have to go back and face the music, but she needed some time to think.
In retrospect, she may have overreacted, but she wasn't going to dwell on it and wallow in regret like a certain brother of hers was prone to doing. It wasn't really the fact that she was mated to a demon. That, she could work with. She already liked Bella, in her heart, she'd been leaning towards something more than just friendship for a while. But it was the lies. And the invasion of what she deemed her personal space. It may not have been a physical invasion, but Bella had messed with one of the most important and sacred things to a vampire; their mating bond.
Every so often, Charlie's words came back to her.
Trust that she did this for you.
She also took that into account in her thoughts. Bella had tried to explain, but Rosalie only registered the fact that Bella had lied about their mating bond and used her powers to hide it from the vampire. Her mind hadn't been in a place to consider that Bella might have had a good reason for doing so. Vampires were instinctual creatures and Rosalie was no different. She prided herself on her control, especially when it came to human blood, as well as having tight control over her emotions most of the time. But this revelation, it was a lot to stomach.
And after Bella had been… injured for lack of a better word, her mask had cracked. And Bella's admission and release of their mating bond had shattered it.
"Thinking about her again?" Emmett asked. Rosalie turned to her brother, nodding slowly. "You should at least hear her out." He continued.
"You think?" Rosalie asked. And he nodded.
"I know how much your privacy and personal space matters to you. And your trust. And that's not wrong of you to be that way. But shouldn't you at least sit down and talk to her? Instead of running away. I know how the bond is pulling at you. And how much you've waited for your mate. Bella thought she was doing was right. Maybe it wasn't, but she didn't do what she did with ill intent. Not like…" He trailed off, not willing to let Royce's name pass through his lips. Rosalie swallowed but nodded.
"You're right." She admitted. "A part of me wants to run back right now. Forgive her. Claim her. But I just… can't. It feels like there's a barrier there, restraining me, boxing me in." Rosalie said.
"You suffered a trauma as a human. That's not an insignificant thing." Emmett said. Rosalie winced a little at the topic but nodded slightly. "Instincts are powerful. You and I both know that. Your vampire side wants you to claim your mate. Your self-preservation wants to keep you safe. Those two things aren't meshing. And it's going to split you in two until you reconcile them." Emmett said in a moment of seriousness and insight. Rosalie, despite knowing her brother for his entire supernatural life, was always slightly surprised at how wise Emmett could be. He was a goofball most of the time, but this was a side of him that only a select few people got to see. And Rosalie was one of them.
Rosalie nodded, making her decision. "We should go back. I need to see her." The blonde said. Emmett grinned.
"Last one back has to do homework for a month," Emmett said, laughing as he took off. Rosalie shook her head, amused, but took off after him.
II.
Rosalie and Emmett returned home, Rosalie slightly ahead of Emmett, beating him to the door. The male groaned as he caught up with her. She chuckled. "Homework duty is all yours." She said, heading inside. Jasper looked up from the couch, making eye contact with Rosalie. The two siblings stared at each other for a moment before Jasper nodded at her, going back to his history book.
Suddenly, there was a small, pixie-like vampire wrapped around her. "Alice," Rosalie said.
"I'm glad you're back!" Her sister said, releasing Rosalie after a moment. "How'd…" Alice started before stopping herself. Rosalie sighed.
"I'm going to talk to her later," Rosalie replied to the unasked question.
"For what it's worth, I think you should give her the benefit of the doubt, with whatever happened. Whatever made you run off." Alice said. Rosalie frowned. Emmett was still the only one who knew the details since Bella's powers would shield them from Alice and Edward's powers. But they all knew something had happened.
"You don't even like her." The blonde said quietly, though she knew everyone could hear her anyway. Alice shrugged.
"She makes you happy, that's enough for all of us." She said, looking around, the rest of the family nodding in agreement. Rosalie sighed.
"I will take it into consideration." She said, somewhat reluctantly, her desire to keep her anger towards Bella strong. But she felt it melting away, especially now that she knew she was closer to Bella than she had been for a while.
"That's all I ask," Alice said with a small smile.
Rosalie gave Esme and Carlisle a hug before going upstairs to her room. Edward had been absent from her and Emmett's return, but she really didn't care. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand, seeing a few missed text messages and a voice mail that could have only come from one person. She drew in an unnecessary breath before heading out to her balcony.
She unlocked her phone, checking the messages from Bella.
I know I screwed up. But please believe that it was not my intention to violate your trust.
I thought I was doing the thing that was best for you. I don't have the power of future sight. I had no idea that my meddling would be so hurtful.
Call me when you return, please.
Rosalie's eyes scanned the three texts once. Then twice. Then a third time. Then she sighed before checking the voicemail that Bella had left. Rosalie's breath hitched with longing as she heard Bella's voice for the first time in a couple of days.
Rosalie, I know you're… away. And that it's because of me. And honestly, I don't blame you. I dumped a lot on you at once, but my actions were necessary at the time. You were right, I don't know if I ever had any intention of telling you that I was a demon or that I was your mate. Most don't understand demons and hate us on principle. And if you hadn't discovered it yourself, I don't know what I would have done.
I've been alone for so long. Lived in the shadows. I'm not used to feeling emotion for others. Caring for another. All of this is new for me too. But I know now that you deserve more than lies and half-truths. And I want to help you understand. So you can make a choice. You deserve that.
When you return, call me or seek me out. I know you know where to find me.
The message ended there with a click. Rosalie stared at her phone for a minute, Bella's number in her recent call list. The blonde had a choice to make. And there was really only one real answer.
Before she had the chance to leap from her balcony, there was a knock at the door. Rosalie rolled her eyes, knowing who was on the other side. "Come in." She called and Edward opened the door slowly, slinking into the room.
"You're back." He said simply. Rosalie nodded in return, shielding her thoughts from her brother.
"I am." She said curtly, not really in the mood for an altercation with Edward.
"Have you finally come to your senses about her?" Edward asked, cutting straight to the chase. Rosalie rolled her eyes.
"It's still really not any of your business." She said coldly. Edward flinched a little at the tone.
"I'm trying to look out for our family, Rosalie. I thought you did once as well. She's dangerous. You and I both know it. No matter how much you try to hide it. Or deny it." He said. She growled a little. She might be fighting with Bella, but the demon was still her mate.
"You're still bent out of shape over a human?" Rosalie bluffed. Edward narrowed his eyes.
"And you're still blinded to the fact she is not human. There's no way a human can do the things she does." He insisted. Rosalie narrowed her gaze.
"She's not a vampire, nor a shifter. Nor a Child of the Moon. What else could she be?" Rosalie asked. Edward shrugged.
"You can't believe that we're the only supernatural creatures in this world?" He countered.
"We don't have any proof of anything regardless, Edward. We, including yourself, will do nothing to expose this family. Lest you put us in danger yourself." She hissed. Edward recoiled a little.
"If you insist on being blind, don't come crying to me when this blows up in your face and you see that I'm right." He said arrogantly before stalking out of her room. Rosalie let out a growl at his retreating form. She huffed before pocketing her phone, leaping over the balcony and running off into the forest.
III.
Rosalie followed the tugging at her heartstrings into the forest, coming upon the same clearing that she seen the large black goat. And again, it was sitting there in the middle of the clearing, looking contemplative somehow. "Bella?" Rosalie asked quietly, hesitantly. Her heart was tugging towards the animal as she slowly approached.
The black goat turned and Rosalie stared into the black pits it had for eyes before bright orange eyes emerged as the goat shifted into a familiar form. "It was you, all this time," Rosalie said. Bella nodded.
"I've never been far from you. At least, until you expressed a desire for space, which I respect. I'm glad you found me, but please don't feel like you need to until you're ready." Bella said slowly, getting up from the ground. Rosalie shook her head.
"I want answers, Bella. I have yet to decide what will happen next. But please, just give me a straight answer for once." She implored. Bella nodded.
"What do you want to know?"
"Why me?" Rosalie asked hesitantly, not entirely sure she wanted the answer.
Bella sighed, sitting back down on the grass, patting the ground next to her. Rosalie sat next to her but kept her guard up, ready to get up at a moment's notice. "Demons don't have human forms. Not really." Bella started. "We have our demonic forms, and some can shapeshift, but we are largely confined to Hell. Some of the more powerful demons can exist on Earth for short periods of time, but in order to reside here for longer, we need human hosts." Bella said.
"So…." Rosalie trailed off, eyeing Bella's body.
"Yes, this body is a human host," Bella replied. "I didn't… take it by force if that's what you're concerned about." Rosalie relaxed her jaw that she hadn't realized she had clenched until she let it go. She knew in the back of her mind that demons did things like this all the time, but it hadn't really registered that Bella likely did as well. "But this body, this human, was likely to be your mate, but my… presence here may have thrown that off."
"So you're not even my mate? Just the human body that you are inhabiting?" Rosalie asked, somewhere between disgust and curiosity.
"I… Technically yes. But for this, I am Bella. Her instincts, emotions, I'm affected by all of those. You're not the only one that feels the pull." She admitted. "Residing in a singular human for too long subjects the demon to the bindings of humanity. It's why most demons hop from body to body, rather frequently." Rosalie blinked. She opened her mouth but was cut off. "Before you continue, I want to say I'm sorry." She said. This was what surprised Rosalie. Apologies were not something she had come to expect from Bella. At least not without a sarcastic undertone. But she was being deadly serious. "I didn't know. That this would affect you in the way it did. And honestly, I don't know if I would have done things differently on our first meeting."
"Seriously?" Rosalie asked. Bella shrugged.
"I'm still not sold on the idea that being mated to a demon in a human's body is the best thing for you. I was, am, open to the idea of seeing where this goes, but my life is very complicated. And I don't want to drag you into that unless you deem this worth it."
"You know as well as I do that the moment we met, that my opinion on the matter was gone," Rosalie said coldly. But Bella shook her head.
"It's not. I told you that you had a choice. Ask any questions you want, I will give you the answers. But if you decide that this," Bella said, gesturing between them, "isn't worth it, I can break our bond. Give you the opportunity to mate on another. Someone hopefully less complicated than I am."
So its World Cup season and that's my excuse. Might not be a good one, but that's that. Anyway, dunno when I'll update next. I'd like to do it in a week or two, but no promises.