"Well, the books are useless, and I can't find anything about this Jacob guy you dated...so we're stuck right now," I reported, feeling annoyed. I rubbed my hands together before pulling the scarf around my neck tighter.

Rosalie let out a frustrated groan and knocked her head back against the wall. "How am I going to fix this." Her face looked crushed.

"Hey, we're not giving up," I told her, sniffling.

"It was stupid of me to think that if I couldn't find anything in 12 years that we could find something now."

"Like I said, we're not giving up yet." I sniffled again.

She looked me over. "Bella, are you cold?"

"No. Why would you think that," I scoffed. I didn't want her to send me home.

"Because you're shaking and your lips are blue. Seriously, you shouldn't be out here." Her voice was gentle but stern, her eyes soft on me.

"You just think that because you're sitting in a t-shirt and pants." Rosalie sat in front of me, dressed like she was in the middle of summer. I was feeling cold just looking at her.

"I can't feel the cold," her eyes ran down my jacket bundled figure. "You clearly can."

"I can handle a bit of chill."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I may not be the best at keeping track of dates, but are you avoiding something."

"Not at all. Why would you think that?" I laughed, rubbing my hands harder together.

"Bella, I'm dead, not dumb."

"I never said you were."

"Why do you insist on lying to me."

"I'm not lying."

"Omitting the truth."

I heaved out a huge breath, watching it form a cloud in front of me. "I like the cold."

"Are you avoiding Christmas. Is that it?" she asked.

"Why would I be avoiding a universally loved holiday full of cheer and annoying songs playing on repeat?"

"Do you not like Christmas?"

Flatly I responded, "no, I abhor it. It's so annoying. Happy and goody-goody."

Rosalie sighed, fondly. "You are the anti-thesis to anything happy. Are you allergic to the feeling?"

"Might be," I mumbled.

"Christmas was always a great time for my family," she said, eyes sparkling with past memories. "The one time we were all home together without having to worry about work or school or society."

"...do you miss that?"

"Miss what?"

"Your family."

"I do," she said wistfully. "But it's better if I don't know anything about them. I worry that losing me could have ruined any chance of their happiness."

We sat in silence for a while after this, me shivering and digesting Rosalie's words while she recalled past memories.

"When we cure you-"

"If you cure me," she cut in.

I scowled at her but continued on, "would you want to see them again."

"And how would I explain my sudden appearance. 'Oh hey mom and dad and brother, turns out I really wasn't dead. I was turned into a zombie, munching on dead bodies, but I'm all cured now!' Yea, I don't think that would go over well."

"I guess we can cross that bridge when we get to it."

"For now, you need to go home. I'm serious Bella. I don't want you getting sick."

"I'm going back but not because you told me to," I said. I was too stubborn to admit I was freezing cold by this point, my joints hardened and stiff with it. If only I didn't have these human ailments holding me back, I could spend all my time with Rosalie.

She was the only person in town whose brain was worth picking.

We said our goodbyes and I made my way back home. I tapped my shoes free from snow at the entrance and hung up my jacket. I could hear the sounds of the TV tuned to the game coming from the living room. I was going to go up the stairs to my room as usual, when Charlie called for me.

"Bella?"

"Yea," I asked, wondering what reminded him he had a daughter here.

"Come here for a second."

I reluctantly dragged my socked feet over to him. He got up from his armchair, lowering the volume on the game. "Your cheeks are red. How long have you been out for?"

"I'm fine," I told him hastily. "My cheeks are sensitive to the cold."

He scrutinized me, before deciding to move on.

"Bella," Charlie started, and I could feel a lecture coming. "I've gotten a few reports about you going to the butcher and purchasing lots of meat. But I never see that meat here..." he trailed off looking at me expectantly.

I huffed out, annoyed he finally noticed something at the most inopportune time.

What could I tell him? "I um...I have a pet," I told him. I looked down at the ground, avoiding his eyes. "I go to the woods and leave some food out for it."

"Bella, that's dangerous," he said, crouching down so he could be more at my eye level. "What if it attacks you?"

"It won't. It's injured and sick. I don't want it to starve."

"What is it?"

"A wolf..." I trailed off. "I keep far away from it, I promise."

"I would feel safer if you didn't go see it."

"It's fine. I'll be fine."

He reached for his belt and pulled out a taser. The same one I had 'borrowed' from him when I'd gone to town with Rosalie. "Here, in case anything goes wrong." He ruffled my hair and went to the fridge to get a beer. I let out a relieved sigh. Crisis averted. For now.

Merry music blasted overhead on the store's speakers as I rifled through the clothing rack. Christmas was two days from today and I had no idea what to get for Rosalie. Obviously the holiday meant a lot to her and given she had so little in her life to make her happy anymore, I had to do this for her. I wanted to do this for her.

Get her a stupid Christmas gift and even celebrate it with her.

The only issue was, what would she like?

Groaning, I gave up and turned away from the clothes. I knew her interests, but nothing in the stores seemed perfect for her.

"Need some help?" the store associate asked and I grumbled at them. They backed off and allowed me to mourn my own inability to shop in peace. Maybe something more personable would be good?

I was thinking of Rosalie's family and how she might miss them. What if I brought her pictures of them? Would she like that?

Settling on the idea of that, I purchased a nice looking photo frame and went to the library. I was certain there had to be newspaper clippings of her family. My feet hurried along the slush on the streets, racing to get to the library before it closed. I went to the back, looking through the stacks of newspapers they had on file. The best bet to find a picture of all of them would be from that day, 12 years ago.

After twenty minutes of looking through the archives, I pulled the paper out. I was greeted by Rosalie's face on the front page. Smiling, looking so polished and glam. The perfect daughter.

Drawn to the morbid nature of this article, I began to read through it. There was a whole feature done on her family and sneakily looking around to make sure no one noticed me, I ripped out the nicer looking photos of her dad, mom, and brother. Then I shoved the paper back hastily into it's pile and left the library.

That night I spent time putting the pictures in the frame and getting all the stuff ready for a Christmas party with Rosalie. The next morning I left early before dawn to her place. I didn't want my father asking why I was bringing the 'wolf' I was visiting tinsel and bottles of champagne from our pantry.

When Rosalie opened the door, she arched a brow at me. "It's seven in the morning. Isn't getting up that early for a teen illegal?"

"I could say the same for you."

"I don't sleep," she said, letting me in. "What's all that?" she asked about the bags I had brought.

"Let me do my magic," I told her. "You may want to leave the room."

"Are you going to desecrate my tomb? I should let you know, it's amoral."

"Illegal and amoral things are my vibe," I told her, before shooing at her. She rolled her eyes but left the room. I began to set up decorations, popped in some Christmas tunes onto the boombox and then got out the cups to drink the champagne with.

When it was all done, I let her back in. Her eyes went wide at the sight of all this. "Is this for me?"

"You said you enjoyed Christmas, ya loser," I teased. "So, Merry fucking Christmas." I toasted her and downed the drink. I hated the fizz of it as it went down and resisted the very powerful urge to clap a hand to my chest. Rosalie sipped on hers, eyes thoughtful on me.

"This...this is nice. I..."

"It's alright, you don't have to say anything," I told her. I didn't want her going all mushy on me. I dug a badly wrapped package out of my bag and handed it to her. "I got you a little gift.'

"But I don't have anything for you," she immediately replied.

"I don't expect anything from you."

She took the package from me and unwrapped it gingerly. When her eyes fell on it I could see them shine with unshed tears. She lovingly stroked a thumb down the frame.

"I wished I could get better pictures of them. This was the best I could do," I spoke hastily. "I know you didn't want to know anything about them, so...I just got you pictures of them. That way you can remember what they look like."

A single tear plopped down onto the glass. "Thank you Bela." Her voice wavered.

Feeling odd in the face of strong emotions, I cleared my throat. "You're welcome. Now, let's drink and make merry or whatever it is you Christmas enjoyers do. I have to be home before my dad starts asking too many questions."

She nodded her head, putting the frame up on the shelf by her bed. "Yes, let's be merry," she whispered gently, looking at the photo.

Unfortunately it did get too cold for me to visit Rosalie for some time. I was sure she was fine. She couldn't feel the cold, but I could and even I wasn't stupid enough to go see her in the middle of a blizzard.

Once the snows had tamed a bit, I made way to her place around February, taser in my jacket pocket. I knew there was a high likelihood she would be starving so I had brought a bag of fresh meat with me.

I knocked on the crypt door and called out to her. "Rosalie, I'm back."

Nothing. Was she out?

"Rosalie, I brought food!"

I heard the shuffle of something but still she did not come to open the door. Did she feel unsafe to be around me? "I'm going to leave the food outside and go," I told her, my breath forming around my lips. I left the paper bag in front of the crypt and then scurried over to hide behind a dead tree covered in snow.

I watched and waited. A few minutes later the door slid open, Rosalie's hand snatching up the food greedily. I could hear her chewing nosily from here and waited a few more minutes. When I felt that it was safe, I went towards the still opened door. It took a while for my eyes to adjust from the glare of the snow to the darkness of the crypt. When I did I saw that Rosalie was wiping off the blood on her till she was clean. She heard me come in and froze.

"Rosalie...is everything okay?" I asked, tentatively.

She didn't answer me nor did she look at me. Was she mad I hadn't come visit her during winter? But she herself told me not to come. I even suffered through Christmas because I knew that past a certain temperature it wasn't okay for me to be out.

"Why are you staying away from me? Did I do something?" I asked.

Rosalie still wouldn't even look at me.

"Rosalie!" I barked out, losing patience. "Talk to me!"

"It's for your own safety!" she shouted out, looking so pained and angry as she whirled to face me. What was she talking about? Was she doing the self depreciative spiel again?

"Why? I trust you not to hurt me."

"I don't trust myself! I'm hungry Bella, and I want to eat you!"

"So?" I argued back, not understanding her issue. "I'll get you meat from the butcher. Anything. Just tell me what you need!"

"It's not that kind of hunger," she shot back. "It's different...I don't know how to explain it. But I want to...I need to eat you." She raked her hands through her hair before stumbling back a step. "Just...stay away from me!" She ran back towards her crypt but I ran after her. I wasn't going to let her run from this relationship so easily.

I tackled her and we both landed on the floor. With a growl she flipped us around quickly and I was on the floor. She straddled my waist, her eyes black, veins standing out under them.

She bared her teeth at me and I stayed still. What was going on?

She pulled up one of my arms and I let her. She opened her mouth and placed her teeth against the thin skin of my wrist. She didn't bit down. Instead, she nipped at my skin. I was oddly calm. Watching this with fascination. She moved on from my wrist and nipped at the skin further down my arm, raising red marks up til my elbow.

When she got there, she let out a frustrated whine from the back of her throat.

Was she fighting her zombie side to not eat me? Or was this something else? She looked terribly confused.

"Rosalie...Rosalie talk to me. I want to help you."

She only whined again, before diving into my neck.

I had the taser Charlie gave me. I could use it at any moment, but I didn't pull it out. I felt no fear. She nuzzled and nipped at the skin on my neck before sucking it into her mouth.

Hickeys...why was she leaving hickeys on my neck?

Suddenly her earlier words about wanting to eat me made a lot more sense.

"Rosalie, Rosalie!" I pulled on her hair, yanking her head back. She snarled at me for daring to interrupt her. "I think I know what's going on."

She swallowed and composed herself, sitting up a bit so I could let go of her hair. Instead my hand traced a path down her face to her mouth.

"I think you're horny," I told her. I ran a finger over her lips, enjoying the plush nature of them. "And somewhere, in that zombie brain of yours, your wires between being hungry and horny got crossed."

"How do I stop it?" she asked, cheeks flushed a bright red.

"Well, I think you said it yourself," I said, voice trembling now with excitement and something else. Something hot that coiled in your gut. "You just need to eat me." And then I pushed her head down and guided it between my thighs.

I'm pleasantly sore when I wake up, finding arms holding me securely from behind. Rosalie's face is nuzzled into my shoulders. She must feel me awaken because she lets out an unhappy groan as I try to untangle myself from her.

"Hi," I tell her, rolling around to face her.

"You're...still here," she murmured, voice raspy.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I was worried I'd hurt you," she admitted, tracing swirls onto my shoulder. "That I would accidentally eat you..."

"But you didn't," I said, capturing her hand in mine and squeezing it.

"What...what does this mean for us?" she asked, casting her nervous and uncertain gaze to me.

"It means everything."