Chapter 36

Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Edward all waited in the small office room where the man continued to lay still. It had been hours for all of them, and days for Rosalie, as they patiently observed the silent transformation that was taking place. When he shifted suddenly and sat up far more abruptly than any of the others, Carlisle almost lunged forward, but stopped when the man stared blankly around the room. His eyebrows were raised and his eyes wide. He looked down at his hands and his body then hopped off the desk. The first glance he made was at Rosalie. He quite literally couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"Did I make it?" he asked, slightly huffing out the question.

"Make it?" she asked him.

He touched his own face and looked down at his palms, then looked back at Rosalie. "We were flying. You - you're the angel that brought me here."

Edward snickered in the corner of the room as he spoke the word angel. He could see in the man's thoughts, however, that he absolutely believed the statement he just spoke.

"I'm in heaven." The statement came out in the form of a question. He looked at Carlisle. Edward, again, could read that the man contemplated that Carlisle could be God. "Are you...?" He shook his head in disbelief without finishing the thought.

"We're not who you think we are," Edward said right away, "You're not in heaven. Carlisle isn't... God, and Rosalie certainly isn't an angel."

The man spoke before anyone else could react. "If I'm not in heaven..."

"You're still on earth," Carlisle intervened, "You haven't crossed over into any afterlife."

"But," he shook his head in disbelief and raised his shirt up to check his torso, "I was attacked. I was dying and then," His eyes met Rosalie's, "You flew me away like an angel. You aren't one? You aren't an angel?"

Rosalie was delightfully flattered from his initial impression of her. She wanted to confirm his statements and let him think that she was, though she didn't want their first form of communication to be a lie. "No, I'm not an angel," she said, "Far from it actually."

Edward nodded with a smile silently, but didn't say anything. Esme shot him a glance and shook her head, not wanting to ruin the moment for Rosalie, or have her begin the relationship with this stranger on a bad note.

"What's your name?" Carlisle asked him, stepping forward.

"Emmett," he said.

"I'm Carlisle, this is my wife Esme. Rosalie is the young lady who saved you and that's Edward."

"Hello," Emmett said calmly, yet highly confused. "So was I in a coma or something? Where's my family?"

"You were sort of in a coma," Carlisle told him, "But not the kind of coma that you're envisioning. You were unconscious for a time, but-"

"You're a vampire," Rosalie interjected, "The reason why it felt like you were flying is because I was running with you in my arms. I carried you over a hundred miles and brought you here."

Emmett looked around the room at their serious expression then broke out into laughter, "A vampire?"

"Yes," Rosalie said with a nod, "It's quite hard to believe, I understand, but watch." She motioned for Edward to join her, and he did so reluctantly.

Carlisle and Esme stepped back and let them do whatever they were intending to.

"For experiment's sake," Rosalie said, looking at him, knowing he'd already read her mind.

"Fine," he agreed, "If it'll help the situation."

Rosalie smirked and proceeded to push Edward as hard as she could, sending him through the opened doorway and into Carlisle and Esme's room on his back. Emmett rushed to look through the doorway and stood with his mouth open in awe at both Rosalie's strength and his own earth-defying speed.

"Come here," she urged him, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Rosalie," Carlisle started.

"It's fine, we won't leave the front yard," she assured him.

"Edward," Carlisle called, "Can you go check the area?"

He nodded and left the house immediately.

"Check the area for what?" Emmett asked.

"People," Esme said, "You really are a..."

"Vampire?" Emmett asked with another chuckle.

"Watch," Rosalie said. She looked at him and sprinted around the yard, then found a nearby tree and kicked it in half, sending shards of wood in all directions. The truck caved in and collapsed with a loud cracking sound before slumping to the ground with a thud. "Your turn," she told him, "Go ahead."

Emmett stared at her with almost love-struck eyes at her enhanced abilities. He didn't move for a few seconds, but once he did, he didn't stop. He ran circles around the yard, kicking up dust and leaving a slight trail from the rapid movements of his feet. He let his arm hang to the side and collapsed a series of seven or eight trees before finally taking the time to soak in his actions.

"Whoa," he said almost nonchalantly, "If this happens to be a dream it's the coolest one I've ever had."

"It's not a dream," Rosalie said, "It's real. This is real."

Emmett stared into her eyes and had the urge to put his hand on the side of her face but he didn't. He studied her features and felt mesmerized by the amber-gold mix that made up her eye color. Her skin shimmered slightly in the partially cloudy sky and he couldn't see her as anything but heavenly.

"Your skin," Emmett said, "It's perfect. I've never seen anything like it." He looked toward Carlisle and Esme and noticed that their was the same. "You're husband and wife?"

Carlisle and Esme both nodded before Carlisle gave a simple, "Yes."

Emmett looked back to Rosalie, "Is the other man your husband?"

"Edward?" she asked with a laugh, "God, no. He's more like a brother."

"You all look alike," Emmett said, "Sort of. You have the same eyes and your skin looks like... I don't know, fine China dishes. Not that I've ever owned anything like that."

Carlisle smiled and gave a laugh, "Your skin is like ours now," he told him, "And your eyes will be in time."

"In time?"

"Yes, once your diet becomes consistent."

"I'll fill you in on everything," Rosalie said, "About all that."

"Okay," Emmett said, looking at her, then asked, "How come I'm not..." he moved his hands to his throat, "Is this because I'm not breathing? I'm forcing myself to breath... I think."

"You don't have to breath," Rosalie informed him, "You won't have to ever again. You can even swim underwater for hours, or days if you want."

"Can we try that?" he asked her, slightly amused a little skeptical.

"Yes," she told him with a laugh, "Later. We have to talk about the burning in your throat. It's your thirst for blood."

"Blood?"

Rosalie nodded, "Yes. It'll be that way until you drink something."

"Meaning what? Drink something?"

"If you're thinking we kill people, we don't," she said.

"I didn't think that," Emmett told her, "I didn't think that at all." He looked toward Carlisle and Esme, "What... do... you do?"

"We kill animals for their blood," Carlisle explained, "Others of our kind do eat humans for food."

"The lust for human blood is almost uncontrollable," Esme told him honestly, "You won't be able to be near humans for awhile. I know from experience."

"You'll learn to resist like the rest of us have," Carlisle went on. Rosalie nodded adamantly.

"Coast is clear," Edward said, calling to them from a distance. It took a few seconds for him to reappear from his place in the woods. "No humans around."

Emmett took a deep breath, then sat down and rested his elbows on his half bent knees. "This is too much."

Carlisle and Rosalie looked at each other and Esme walked up beside him. She put a hand on his shoulder gently.

"Emmett," Esme said, "Things are going to be okay. I know things are more than bit overwhelming for you right now and I can't lie, they will be for awhile, but you will adjust. All of us did. We'll be here to help you through everything."

He looked over at her and felt a true warmth from her demeanor. She calmed him down in his brief moment of anxiety. "Okay," he said, "Okay."

Rosalie walked over to Carlisle and whispered to him. "Can I show him how to hunt?"

Emmett was shocked that he heard her extremely quiet message, "Hunt? I can hunt."

"Well," she said with a soft smile, "Our kind hunt a little differently than humans."

He looked at her, finding it odd how they referred to humans as something other than themselves. He still found it unbelievable and almost felt like an outer space alien from the way they disassociated themselves from people.

"So we're not human?" Emmett asked, "Anymore?"

"No," she told him.

"I was being attacked by a bear," he said, seeming to be retracing some of the steps it took him to get to where he was.

"I killed it," Rosalie told him.

"How?" he asked.

"With my bare hands."

Emmett wanted to laugh, unable to picture the beautiful woman before him tackling a massive bear to the ground and ending it's life. It was the seriousness in her tone, and in her eyes, combined with the supernatural circumstances he was faced with that made him believe her. He couldn't even smile. For the first time in his life, he was scared; scared of the unknown and the foreign circumstances that life had presented him with.

"Don't be afraid," Rosalie said, seeing the change in his expression. She held out her hand, "Please, come with me."

Carlisle and Esme, even Edward, watched as the two of them stood a few feet apart in an intense, unspoken moment. Emmett stared at Rosalie, and all of the fear left his eyes.

Esme looked at Carlisle, who in turn, looked back at her. He pulled her against his body and both of them recognized the trusting exchange that was occurring between Rosalie and Emmett. Carlisle kept his arm around her shoulders and took her and with his free hand, rubbing the back of it gently. Esme sighed and watched as Emmett looked down at Rosalie's outstretched arm.

Their eyes locked and she smiled as she felt his whole-hearted trust for her, despite the odd and almost unexplainable circumstances. Emmett looked back around the yard toward the rest of them once he was partially out of trance. It was as if he was checking for approval from the rest of them.

Carlisle nodded and Esme smiled. Edward remained neutral at first, taking in what was happening between them at that instance, before nodding to reassure Emmett. He felt empathy for him in that moment, sensing how anxious and almost petrified his thoughts had become. There was simultaneously a real sense of trust for Rosalie and he felt honored that she offered him her hand.

Rosalie took a few slow steps toward the woods before each of them felt comfortable enough to take off at full speed.

"We should position ourselves around the woods, just in case," Carlisle said, looking at Esme, then Edward.

They both nodded in agreement and Edward was the first to go. He disappeared as quickly as he'd come back just a few minutes before.

Esme looked at Carlisle with hopeful eyes and let a small smile creep across her face. "Did you see the way he looked at her?"

Carlisle smiled back but didn't want to get her hopes up yet in case things didn't pan out the way he knew she wanted them to, "Yes, but-"

"Carlisle, he looked at her the same way I looked at you when I first woke up."

He smiled again and then laughed and kissed her on the forehead, then once on the lips, "We'll see what happens."

Esme couldn't help but kiss him again, "I already know what's going to happen."