Isabella Swan
[Author's Note: Hello everyone. This chapter is mostly exposition, but it's important. Everything is going to pretty much start to happen now. Sorry I had to take those two days off. I'll let everyone know if that's going to happen again. Hope everyone is well!]
Bella had never seen Rosalie like that before. She was rigid, intimidating.
"That was a long time ago," Rosalie told James, her tone icy.
"But I will never forget," James growled. "You took her from me and so now I want to take something from you."
"She wasn't yours to take," was Rosalie's response. "And I have nothing to give you."
The shop door opened and closed with a jingle of the bells tied to the handle. Bella saw that flanking James on either side were Alice and Edward. They were just as rigid, unyielding.
"You need to leave," Edward said in a cool voice. "You're outnumbered."
"Why's it gotta come to that?" James asked, not taking his eyes off of Rosalie for a moment. "How about we make a deal?" No one else spoke or entertained him and so he presented the idea anyway. "Give me your dinner and we'll address this issue another time." His eyes flashed to Bella's then and he smiled maliciously.
"I will kill you where you stand if you even try to touch her," Rosalie breezed.
"And we will help her," Alice added.
"Leave," Edward growled, territorially.
James snarled, a sound that was so shockingly inhuman that it made Bella's hair stand up on the back of her neck. "This isn't over," he said. "I'll get what I want." His eyes bore through Bella's skin for a moment longer and then he was gone.
They didn't go out to eat in Seattle. Rosalie took Bella immediately back to the Bugatti and drove her back to Forks. Alice and Edward promised to go get her dinner later after they'd all spoken to the elder vampires.
In the car, Bella asked, "What did he mean when he said you took someone from him?"
Rosalie looked pointedly out the windshield, her hand clasped in Bella's, her jaw set. "When I was away from the Cullens," she explained, "I ran with a vampire named Emmett. Our relationship was platonic of course, but we.. bedded women together."
"Together?" Bella replied. "At the same time?"
"Not at the same time per say. Not always." She licked her lips. "It was a long time ago. Victoria was unhappy. She.. gladly came with me."
Bella's eyebrows furrowed. She didn't know what to say at first because she didn't immediately recognize the extreme jealousy growing inside of her. But then she did. "And where is Victoria now?"
"I don't know," the blonde replied. "It's been over fifty years."
"She's still alive?"
"Presumably," Rosalie agreed as she pulled up to a stoplight. "Bella. Are you jealous of something that happened thirty years before you were even thought of?"
"Yes."
The blonde smiled very subtly, but her jaw was still tight when she turned back to the road and continued on.
"He wants to kill you because you slept with his girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"But vampires can't die."
"Vampires can't kill themselves," Rosalie clarified. "But we can die."
Panic immediately began to lower itself over Bella like a black cloud. "But he can't touch you," Bella countered, "because there's Alice and Edward and Esme and Carlisle. And there's only one of him."
"He has friends," Rosalie replied, "and there are.. Others."
"Others?" Bella asked. "What others?"
"The boyfriends of women that I-"
"Slept with," the brunette provided. "Right." The reality of it all had her mind reeling. She felt the burn of jealousy, but there was also the fear of what was at hand. "So what do we do?" She wanted to know, "what happens now?"
"I don't know the specifics," the blonde provided, "but you're not leaving my side again. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," Bella nodded. "But the watchtower-"
"It'll all be taken care of." Rosalie tapped her fingernails on the steering wheel, a reflection of angelic anxiety. "You don't have to worry."
"But I will and I am," the park ranger admitted. "He threatened to hurt you. I want to protect you. But what am I supposed to do?"
"Nothing," was the vampire's quick response. "You're not supposed to do anything. I will protect you."
"How many are there Rose? How many male vampires?"
"I don't know Bella. I didn't keep count."
"More than five?"
The blonde's glance at her and then responded, "Yes."
"Are we in danger?" Bella replied.
Rosalie brought Bella's hand to her lips and she placed kisses to the smaller woman's knuckles and fingertips and palm. "You're not," she said. "They would have to destroy me to get to you."
They arrived back at the house in record time and Rosalie escorted Bella inside. Carlisle met them in the entryway, putting one hand on his daughter's shoulder and the other on Bella's.
"Alice called me," he said, his eyes kind, but his eyebrows furrowed. "What do you want to do?"
"I don't know," Rosalie said, disheartened. "I'm sorry Carlisle. My own foolishness has endangered my family."
"Don't be sorry," was his automatic reply. "The past is the past. We will only ensure that our future contains less pain." He gave her a kind smile.
"I suggested that we get away for the weekend," Esme presented, appearing by Carlisle's side. "Your club opening is this weekend. You, Alice, Bella and I will go to New York."
The male vampire nodded. "Yes. And Edward and I will remain here and patrol. Edward will watch your ranger station," he said to Bella, "and I will remain here to see if James stops by."
"And if he does?" Rosalie wanted to know.
"Then Carlilse and I," Edward said, suddenly beside his sister, "will handle it."
"I'm not going to leave you two to die because of an issue I caused," Rosalie growled in response.
"I will see anything before it happens," Alice said, now on Rosalie's other side. "We will come back before we are needed. But in the meantime, Edward's gift will be our best weapon." Her tone was still chipper and musical, but seriousness was threaded through it.
"And other vampires will not fight Carlisle," Esme reminded her daughter. "And when they learn of his gift, they will not fight Edward either."
"Is there any chance he'll just get over it?" Bella asked in earnest. "I mean if it happened over fifty years ago and he hasn't come after you yet, maybe he'll just keep holding a grudge."
"Hey may have," Edward said, "if Rosalie had come alone. The moment he saw you he decided to kill you. But the situation made his want stronger"
"Why?" Bella asked. "What did I do?"
"It's the way you smell," Alice offered, "and how protective Rose is of you. It.. excited him."
Rosalie made a growl very similar to the one James had made in the bookshop and she tightened her arms around Bella's frame. "I will tear him apart."
"So we'll get Bella out of Washington for the weekend," Carlisle reiterated. "And in preparation, I will contact the Denali Coven and Peter and Charlotte."
Edward and Alice left again to get Bella food and Rosalie took Bella up to her bedroom so that they could talk privately. They wound up together on the balcony, Bella against the banister, the blonde pressed against her from behind. Both looked out over the forest.
"Will it always be like that?" Bella asked Rosalie. "Will other vampires smell me and want to kill me?"
"Yes," the blonde admitted. "Your blood is too fragrant. Your smell is too decadent, too irresistible. Only practiced vegetarian vampires such as our family and few of our ally covens would be able to ignore it."
"What if you changed me?" Bella asked her. "Wouldn't that solve both of our problems?"
"How?" Rosalie wanted to know.
"I could fight as your equal," the brunette explained, "and my smell wouldn't be a problem anymore."
"Bella," the vampire warned.
"I'm serious," the park ranger replied. "Tell me why it wouldn't work."
"Because it isn't that easy," was her answer. "It takes days or weeks for a human to change. And when you woke, you'd be consumed with hunger. You'd barely know who I was at first."
"I don't believe that," Bella said, "I don't care how hungry I'd be- you'd be the first thing on my mind."
The vampire walked her hand up the front of the smaller woman's chest, and then she slid her hand around her throat. "Wouldn't I know more about becoming a vampire than you would Little Bell?" Her tone was teasing as her hand squeezed very softly.
Bella closed her eyes, the pressure a sudden turn on. "Maybe, but I know more about how I feel about you."
"Okay," Rosalie purred, bending to place kisses to the base of the other woman's neck. "But it doesn't matter because I'm not ready for that yet."
"Yet?" Bella echoed.
"There has to be a lot of things in place first," Rosalie explained and she squeezed a little harder, loving the way Bella sighed in response. "I told you that I want to take my time with you."
"Choke me," Bella said.
Rosalie turned her, pressed the smaller woman's back against the iron railing. She put her hand around the front of Bella's throat and she said, "Look at me."
Their eyes met. Rosalie's eyes were like warm caramel and Bella's were like drizzled hot fudge. The vampire squeezed and Bella gasped for air until she released again. "What were you wondering about earlier?" she wanted to know, her voice ragged, her eyes glistening, her heart pounding.
The vampire bent in close, opened Bella's mouth with her hand on her chin, and then traced the smaller woman's mouth with the tip of her tongue. Then Bella's tongue was in her mouth and they were making out on the balcony. Neither one of them seemed to have any intentions of stopping until a clear knock was heard at Rosalie's bedroom door.
Rosalie placed one more lingering kiss on the brunette's lips and then pulled her back inside. "I'll tell you after dinner."
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