A/N: Hmayer, reviewer #1000! Woot! I am truly touched that my first story ever is being this well received. Thank-you, all!

There was no overwhelming consensus about what you wanted this interlude to be. Many of you wanted more than one of the scenarios I suggested, and I got 'all of them' quite a bit.

So I decided to write all of them. I called it Reactions and Relationships, and divided it in two. This first part is Emmett and Rose, followed by Carlisle. The next part will have S&J, L&D&F, and the quartet, of course. Then I will continue with the story timeline starting after the New Year.

Very occasionally I get someone who tells me something like ". . . it was about the Quartet but now it seems to have strayed away from them and the specifics on the story become deceiving since it isn't about them more about the whole cast...".

I can understand that sentiment, but I will say that this story is going to go where it goes. The involvement of so many characters, and the detail of their back stories and personalities surprised me, also. I have said before that I initially thought this would be a typical 'the kings meet a broken Bella and heal her heart, and they live HEA' story. But it's not. It became more.

I will say I see it returning to Volterra after this interlude. I will also say I do not see how the wolves, or Edward and Esme, will be involved any further. I am considering Esme and Jake as their own story, maybe. When this one is done.

I thank each of you for your reviews. Please continue reviewing. I hope you enjoy.

Interlude IV: Reactions & Relationships

Part I: Reactions

Carlisle was in a foul mood as he walked into his home after his shift. The culmination of all his plans, all his Mistress's plans was fast approaching, and he found that humans were becoming harder and harder to tolerate. Today he had a stinking, fat, alcoholic slob nearly die in the ER. Heart and liver problems. Shocking. Humans weren't worth anything beyond the blood in their bodies, and most of them knew that, deep down.

Carlisle had saved him, of course. He always tried to save them. It was important to keep up appearances. He had a chance to interact extensively with so many humans while he masqueraded as the benevolent doctor. He was always on the lookout for another Edward, but his efforts had been fruitless since he turned the mind reader.

He cursed Edward, and himself, for not changing the Swan girl, for leaving her behind. Only Alice's visions of a heartbroken, easily manipulated shell of the human they knew kept him from returning for her just days after they left. He always enjoyed broken minds and shattered spirits. Alice had done well bringing Jasper to him. Esme, of course, had been easily broken, and he relished the memory of her trembling at his feet, scarred and cracked.

When the time came for his coven to join his Mistress, he was certain the only problem would come from Rosalie and Emmett. He should have torn them apart decades ago, but they were so good for his image.

Only Alice knew why he worked so hard to raise his coven the way he did. They were pawns, nothing more. Yes, he hoped that they would want to join him in the end, but he would cheerfully see them all ashes if it meant destroying the filthy mutts in La Push. Not their bodies, but their spirits. Tearing their very souls apart and sending them to the underworld to gnash and wail for an eternity.

It was no less than they deserved.

There had been barely half a million people in the colonies when Carlisle first arrived in what had been called the New World, very early in the 1700s. He had landed in Boston, then the largest city, after several weeks of rolling seas. He had never minded animal blood, no matter how hard Aro had tried to persuade him otherwise, but even he was sick of drinking from rats by the time the ship docked. There were always rats on ships.

He hadn't stayed very long in the populated parts of this wild new land. Instead, he had travelled, through plains, valley, and mountains, enjoying an endless and varied selection of wildlife. He had felt free and almost happy for the first time since his change. His perception of himself as a monster had changed, until he recognized that he was so much more than a human. Faster. Stronger. Smarter. Superior in every way.

He would help them. Stregoni Benefici, Benevolent Wizard – that's what the Italians had called him. He could be more than that here. Respected. Beloved. Perhaps even revered. There was no shortage of strife and misery in the New World.

So he began to seek out turmoil. He found he had a particular affinity for medicine, and he used it. Every soldier who thanked him for tending a battlefield injury; every mother who wept joyfully, kissing his hand in thanks for healing her sick child; every farmer, every slave, every single time a human looked at him with gratitude and awe was stored away for him to savour. Detecting illnesses by a blood-scent, cutting with more delicacy and greater efficiency than a feeble human. He discovered that a minute amount of venom could prevent infection without triggering the change, and people miraculously survived the unsurvivable. He felt God-like, healing things that no one else could.

He was on top of the world, travelling through Ohio when he found his mate. She was a young, beautiful Shawnee woman, just about ready to take a husband. He had seen her as she gathered berries with the other women of the tribe. Ignoring the driving urge to take her, mark her and turn her, he instead watched.

For a week he studied the tribe, learning what he could of their language and their ways. Then, one cloudy day, he revealed himself, hoping to initiate peaceful contact. He was, after all, beloved by everyone who met him. These humans could surely be no different.

His appearance caused panic and chaos. Distrustful of white men already, women had pulled children inside their dwellings, and men in breechclouts and legging shook weapons at him. His smiles and kindly words in their language had not allayed their suspicions, but they did stop yelling at him to leave, choosing to wait for their Chief instead.

The imposing Indian leader arrived with the tribe's shaman. Before the Chief could even greet Carlisle, the shaman had jumped to the front, gesticulating wildly and calling out to Grandmother to aid him in warding off the evil spirit threatening the tribe. The rest of the gathered people had backed away, allowing the old man to chant his protections and pleas.

Nothing Carlisle could say would convince the superstitious old fool that he was not an evil spirit. Finally, in desperation, he had cried out that he only wanted Chepi. He would leave with her, and never return.

Chepi, his beautiful, young mate, had been dragged, terrified, from the shelter she had hidden in, and thrown at his feet. The shaman had declared their bargain struck, and he had been ordered off their land.

In that moment he could happily have slaughtered the entire village, down to the last child. The other half of his soul had been discarded like trash, and only concern for her, and a deep desire to provide comfort and not add to her fear had saved her tribe that day.

Gathering Chepi up in his arms, softly uttering words of love and reassurance, he had left quickly. He had not turned her right away, choosing to allow her some years to mature before taking her to his bed and blessing her with an existence of deific immortality. It had taken some time for her fear of him to abate, but the pull of mates was strong, even in her human form.

In the ensuing years, Carlisle's eyes were opened to the true nature of man. Narrow-minded bigotry met him and his beloved everywhere. Even human, she was still shunned. And where he was welcomed before, among the european settlers, he was now derided; his good intention rejected, simply because his Chepi was dusky instead of pale skinned. When they tried to approach other Indian people, he was always met with fear and hostility, as an evil spirit. He didn't understand why they never gave him an opportunity to prove himself.

Eventually, Carlisle tired of trying to fit in with a species so much lower than he, and he and Chepi resumed travelling. He provided for her while she was still human, and turned her in the wilds of what was now Montana. He still remembered the exact spot.

They spent her newborn year, and many years afterward, hunting and making love, far from the smallness of the human mind. They travelled west, enjoying the ever-changing landscape, until Chepi expressed a desire to see the ocean.

That is where they encountered the Quileute, and where Carlisle's life ended, and his soul was consumed with an unquenchable thirst for vengeance.

He had left his sweet, gentle mate on an outcropping of rock. Her face was filled with wonder as she breathed in the vastness of the ocean. He was just going to go get them a meal, he had told her. He promised he would not be long; she could sit as long as she wanted to, watching the endless water. He had not smelled humans nearby. The only scents on the air were of herbivores, the damp rot that permeated the moist soil, and the rangy odour of wild wolves. Chepi wasn't fond of wolves, so he ranged farther into the mountains, to see if he could catch a cougar or a bear for her.

He was barely gone an hour when his soul was ripped from his body, and his heart died a second time. Even though he knew that it was too late, he raced back to where he had left his mate. That was the first time he saw the Shifters. Some human, some wolf, all standing around the purple ash, all that was left of his heart and soul.

His cry of rage echoed over the open water, and through the forests. Children in the village miles away cried in fear, and their mothers shushed them while trembling themselves. Carlisle watched as the human men became wolves, turning their menacing gaze to him before giving chase.

Carlisle had always been able to suppress his darker vampiric nature. That day was no exception. He had known he was outnumbered, and though he wanted to end his existence with the death of Chepi, his need to destroy everything connected with her killers was stronger. He could not do it now, but one day he would. It did not matter how long. One day the Quileute and everything they stood for, everything they loved would perish. He swore it by his very soul.

Cutting into his flesh with his nails, and yanking out his dead heart, he returned to the place in Montana where he had turned Chepi. Tossing the useless organ into a fire, he dropped to his knees, pleading to anyone who would listen for help. For revenge. Justice for his young mate. Every human who had ridiculed them, tossed them aside, glared at them; every tear Chepi had ever cried in her loneliness for human companionship flashed through his head. The human faces of the shifters burned into his memory, and in that moment Carlisle was ready to scorch the earth, salt the fields, and poison the oceans.

From the smoldering ashes of the fire in which his undead heart burned, the spirit Mormo rose up, ephemeral in the dancing smoke. She spoke her own message of hate into his heart, showing him a future where humans cowered as their veins were drained, blood was wrung from their spleens and marrow sucked from their bones.

She would see his justice met, if he was patient. She could not touch the world yet, but the time would come when she would rise up with her sisters and the waters of the world turn to blood. He saw an ancient prophecy, foretelling the demise of the Volturi, inferior vampires, too weak and tame to be allowed to live. Their end was the will of the goddess Hekate, and of Mormo herself, mother to all vampires on the mortal plane.

Mormo had left the fate of the shifters in Carlisle's hands before she faded away.

"Esme," Carlisle called, angry that she was not at the door to meet him. He had taught her the importance of an overt show of submission whenever he appeared. She should be taking his things, even as she welcomed him.

There was no answer to his summons; no sound in the house at all. Swallowing his ire and tempering his thoughts, Carlisle put down his bag and shed his jacket as he began to search the house.

With each empty room he became more enraged. He noticed things missing that should not have been. When he saw the empty space in his room that had held a small, framed picture of Esme and her baby, he bellowed in outrage. How dare she leave him!?

"Alice!" he screamed, as venom dropped from his lips. His eyes were black and his hands curled into talons. "Edward! Jasper! Rosalie! Emmett!"

His head whipped around to the attic entrance. He had heard a whimper. Tearing the door from its hinges, he flashed into the rarely-used space, quickly finding Alice huddled in a corner, holding her head in her hands and rocking back-and-forth.

"Blind, blind, blind, blind!" Her voice started low and increased to a wail at the end. She looked up at him, stark panic in her eyes. "I can't See! Gone, gone, gone, gone! They are gone! All gone! Gone, gone, gone, and I can't See!" She ran her nails down from her eyes to her jaw, scratching deep fissures in her skin. "Blind, blind, blind, blind, blind!"

With a feral roar, Carlisle picked up the tiny female by the knees and shoulders, levering her over his head before hurling her through the beams of the roof and out into the yard. He jumped through the hole, following her trajectory and catching her before she hit the ground, slamming her into it with as much force as he could.

"You were sent to help me! Hekate gave you to me because your visions could help me decide my course and ensure that it came to be! What use are you if you can no longer See? Where were you when the rest of my coven disappeared? How could you let Esme escape!? She knows! She is the only one of them who knows my true nature! What if Edward caught it from her mind, finally?

Taking an unneeded breath, he calmed himself. "You have not received even the smallest glimpse of them? No indication of what happened?"

He grimaced as Alice shook her head. "Very well. Clean yourself up; we are going to Denali. The Mistress will want to be informed in person. She is not the forgiving sort, but she never had much use for anyone in our coven anyway.

"But Alice," Carlisle's voice became a dark menace, "if for any reason, this damages my standing with the shifters, I will see you burn for a thousand years. You know our plan. They are not to realize that helping us eradicate the Volturi will allow us to decimate the world and enslave the humans. They are not to realize the destruction that they, who call themselves Protectors, with help unleash until it is too late.

"They will be the weapon I wield, and when the last spec of Volturi ash has blown away in the wind, and I have torn the throat from every last human in La Push, the shifters will finally have paid for the death of my mate.

E*E*

Emmett left the council hall as soon as the meeting ended. He didn't think he could stand to talk to anyone right now. He had been lied to and betrayed his entire immortal life, and the worst part about it was that his mate clearly did not trust him.

Did his Rosie really think that little of him? He had been pleased when she made clear to Jane that she was his – insisting on being referred to as McCarty, rather than Cullen. But as the evening progressed, and he heard the enormity of the situation, he began to feel low. Unworthy. Untrusted. Unwelcomed.

Rose was an agent of Gods. Gods. They had appeared to her, helped her, and entrusted to her a task that was evidently more important than she figured he could handle.

OK, so he could understand that he usually came across as a little irresponsible. He was light-hearted and rarely took things seriously. But Rose should know better. They had spent time together away from the family – time when he had listened to her pour out her anger and resentment about this existence. When she had let out her hurt and her grief, remembering her human life and the horrors of her death. He had been there for her!

And Bella, who he had loved like a little sister. A clumsy, soft, foolish child who he loved to tease. He supposed it was a little like pulling pigtails on a playground. He could remember doing that as a human boy. Bella was so enamored with Edward, so wrapped up in pleasing him and Alice, that if Emmett hadn't called attention to himself, she would never have looked at him with those deep brown eyes and shyly pleased smile. And he would never have gotten to know a wonderful person. In retrospect, he may have gone a little overboard at times, but it was never with malicious intent.

Regardless, he had loved her, and loved her still. Rose knew that; she knew how protective Emmett felt. Yet, even though she knew how important it was to ensure Bella's safety, even when she knew that the human he looked at as a sister was in danger from vampires he implicitly trusted, Rose still did not bring him into her confidence.

"Emmett, wait!" he heard Rosalie's soft call behind him, and turned around to snarl at her.

"I'm going hunting, Rosalie. You've had seventy years to get used to the idea of lying to your mate," he didn't care that she winced at that statement. "At least give me tonight. Leave me alone."

Rose choked back a sob, "OK, Em, that's fair. But please come back to me. I want to try to explain, although I'm not sure I can. But there are other things you deserve to know."

"Fine. I'll be back sometime tomorrow." With that, he turned towards the mountains, prepared to run off. Her voice stopped him once more.

"Don't go to the house here. We don't want them to know we were here if we can help it. And stay away from any landmarks Alice would recognize if she Saw."

Emmett nodded his head curtly, and disappeared into the forest.

"How is animal blood different for you than human blood?" Charlie asked Rosalie.

They were sitting in the Clearwater living room, with Harry, Billy and Jane. Esme and Sue were talking quietly together in Leah's old room. Sue was doing most of the talking, but Jane could hear the occasional response from the vampire. She could also hear Seth's heartbeat, slow and steady in his sleep, coming from his room.

"I don't know. I've never tasted human blood." It was late on Christmas Day, and Emmett still hadn't returned. Rose knew that their mate-bond would bring him back, but he was already gone longer than she thought he would be. It was the first Christmas they had ever spent apart, and she didn't like it.

Rosalie's statement was met by Jane's look of utter disgust, and incredulous silence by Sue, Harry and Billy.

"Not once? I was given to understand that all the Cullens, except Carlisle had strayed from time to time." Charlie was giving serious consideration to being turned, and hoped he could gather as much information as he could before any permanent decision was made. He couldn't very well get a 'vegetarian' perspective from the Volturi, so he figured he'd ask these vampires before they left. He didn't really want to talk with Edward, and the mother, Esme, wasn't talking with any of the humans or shifters, with the exception of Sue.

"I wouldn't really say that Esme or Emmett strayed," Rosalie clarified. "Any time they killed a human, it really was an accident. Emmett had two singers – people with blood so ideally suited to a particular vampire that it is nearly impossible to resist. I would have said impossible, before Edward managed to resist Bella, who was his singer.

"Jasper would probably be the best to ask about the difference; he had an exclusive human-blood diet until he was sent to meet Alice. Edward could probably also tell you about it, but his experience would be so tainted with self-loathing that you might not get a true perspective. He is the one to whom the word 'strayed' would apply, as he made a conscious choice to change his diet, for a time.

"But I have not once tasted human blood. I didn't even lick my fingers when I carried Emmett, bleeding to death, back to Carlisle to be changed. It was not easy, but I was tasked to watch Carlisle, and it seemed the best way to be above suspicion was to be in complete control. I look forward to switching, although I won't until we get to Italy."

"Why not?" Billy asked.

"I don't really want to play judge, jury and executioner to some random person off the street. I already did that for the men who violated me. That was enough for me.

"And most of you have already given Jasper a meal. You wouldn't be able to provide for all of us. Jasper and I talked last night. We will wait. Volterra has the human infrastructure that we require. And Emmett. . ." she broke off as he and Jasper walked into the house.

"Will also wait," the large vampire finished, looking at his wife, coldness still shining in his eyes. "If you all will excuse us now, Rose and I need to talk."

Nobody said a word as the couple disappeared into the winter darkness.

The mated pair sat some distance apart, staring at the way the moonlight filtered through the clouds and glistened off the ocean's waves. Above the clouds, hidden from even vampire sight, the big dipper rotated in the night sky until, finally, Rosalie spoke softly over the water's sound.

"I have a gift." She shifted her body to face Emmett's, bringing her knees up to wrap her arms around them. His face remained facing the ocean, but she knew he was listening. "What I want to stay private, does. It's the reason Edward never knew what I was really doing. He could only hear my unimportant thoughts. Artemis told me about it while she was helping me with Royce and the rest."

"And what about Jasper?"

"My gift extends to him. I've been thinking about you since we met Bella, Em. I wasn't fair to you. You were such an excitable newborn, and until Jasper showed up, I didn't realize that I could protect other people. It was too important to let my feelings for you cloud my judgment."

"I haven't been around newborns, but I remember my first year, so I can understand that, Rose. But what about later? Do you really think I'm so irresponsible? So untrustworthy? Why couldn't you let me in know what was going on when you knew you could cover my thoughts? Or when Bella was in danger? You know how much she means to me!" He raised his voice at the end, hurt clear in his tone.

"I wasn't sure I could cover you!" Rose shouted. "It was not conscious with Jasper. I knew that he had been sent to help me; Artemis told me. I trusted him!"

Emmett jumped up with a wounded roar, "I knew it! Nice, Rosalie. Thank-you very much!" He turned and punched the boulder he had been leaning against, pulverizing it.

"Look at yourself, Emmett! You don't think before you act, or speak half the time. You just destroyed a very large piece of the landscape on First Beach. It's not going to go unnoticed. Even if I could protect your thoughts, how could I trust that you wouldn't say anything? Or could I trust that you wouldn't act differently?

"If I had to do it over, I would have told you the first time we went away after Jasper joined us. You could have used that time to get used to everything. You're not dumb, Emmett. I know that. I shouldn't have underestimated you.

"But it was too late once we met Bella. You know you wouldn't have handled it well. She got hurt, Em; she nearly died. It had to happen that way. I didn't like it, either, but that's what I was told. It had to happen. You wouldn't have let it. I couldn't tell you," she ended with a whisper.

"Some of that may be true, Rose," Emmett frowned as he looked at the shattered boulder. "But it doesn't erase the fact that my own mate doesn't trust me. That she kept secrets from me since the second we met. How am I supposed to feel about that? How are we supposed to move on from this?"

Rose was silent for a long while. "I don't know, Em," she said brokenly. "I can promise to never keep a secret from you again, and spend the rest of my existence proving that promise will hold. But you have to forgive me on your own. I love you, Em, always."

Emmett sighed, and sat down in the sand, wrapping his arms around his wife. In silence together, they resumed watching the waves, as darkness slowly gave way to daylight once more.

A/N: Let me know what you think by leaving me a review. Carlisle's a bit mad (as in crazy), isn't he?