~ Chapter 49 ~
"I'll light the fire, you place the flowers in the vase that you bought today.
Staring at the fire for hours and hours while I listen to you
Play your love songs all night long for me, only for me.
Come to me now and rest your head for just five minutes, everything is good.
Such a cozy room, the windows are illuminated by the
Sunshine through them, fiery gems for you, only for you.
Our house is a very, very, very fine house with two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard,
Now everything is easy cause of you." - Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Rosalie stood atop the mostly completed frame of her new home surveying the surrounding area with a rare expression of contentment on her face. However, she was mostly lost to her own internal musings. Considering how far they'd come, in such a short amount of time, she found a growing feeling of hope in her heart. A feeling she had never thought she would experience again. She had merely assumed that old familiar hope for a good future was something that vampires lost over time. She was wrong. It had merely been silenced for nearly two hundred years.
For weeks she had been watching her family change, and it was like an epiphany. They were all starting to move again, which brought into painfully clear focus, just how much her family had stagnated. The painful truth was, none of them had moved past abandoning Bella all those years ago. So with that missing part of their lives now whole again, the guilt was no longer holding them back. It was as if their world had finally opened up again.
Rosalie smiled widely, and allowed a soft sigh of contentment. Then with a firm push from her powerful legs, she leapt from where she had stood atop the quickly coming together house, to a spot on the ground that still had some stability; most of the rest of the ground around the new structure was a muddy mess. Emmett was already complaining about all the landscaping ahead of them. He hated doing anything involved with landscaping or yard work; which always struck Rosalie as a bit odd, since he loved getting his hands dirty.
A small wind picked up and brushed against the hard skin of her face as she landed. A sign of an impending storm, coupled with the darkening clouds slowly making their way toward the group in the distance, made it clear they were in for a bad one. Much like the impact of her feet pounding into the earth, she felt a jolt at the sensation of the wind. It brought down her mood, and reminded her that the hope she was beginning to feel again was likely to be short lived. Nothing about their situation was stable, it was like the foundations of her new life had just been poured but was hardly set, much less ready to be built upon.
She smirked at the simile, because the concrete of the house's foundation was still in the process of curing. She moved across the tracks in the mud made by the boy's overly large trucks and made her way to where Esme stood observing the progress of their house. Esme had been alternating between letting her eyes take in the work on the house, and comparing how it was coming together with a pile of blueprints she had in front of her. Occasionally making notations, and checking off goals. It was a complex job, because the house was truly massive in scale. Though from an outsider's perspective it would seem a bit smaller than it actually was, because almost a third of the huge amount of floor space was in the basement.
"Looks good from up there. Bree will love her room." Rosalie smiled slightly at her adoptive mother, as she settled in beside Esme, who nodded once in acknowledgement, allowing a small smile to grace her generally passive features.
"You can tell her she has the west corner." Esme gestured with a tilt of her head toward that corner of the house.
Rosalie chuckled softly, "She'll be thrilled, but I can't deny I'm a bit jealous, she gets the best view of the cove and all the sunsets." Rosalie shook her head slightly. There had been some disagreement as to who got which room when they had settled on blueprints. It had been playful bickering more than anything, but it had gone back and forth between Emmett, Eliza, Jasper and surprisingly Bree.
They had brought the disagreement to Isabella who was utterly apathetic to the entire argument. She had just rolled her eyes and told them to work it out themselves. It had gotten just bad enough that Esme finally had to put her foot down, and took the decision away from them. She kept the room assignments mostly a secret, but made it clear that trading was forbidden for a month.
Emse had slipped up which room Bree was getting, earlier that day when she was talking over the plans with Rosalie.
"She is going to get that room until she decides she doesn't want it. Although I doubt she really understands why, since I know she doesn't think of herself as the baby of this family." Esme said as she flipped through her blueprints to mark something on the elevation plans.
"I wouldn't be so sure, she's starting to act a bit spoiled by all the attention. Especially from wolf boy over there." Rosalie didn't scowl at Seth who was helping Bree carry a massive load of lumber designated for the final framing touches, but she did sigh slightly. Rosalie was being sarcastic for the most part. Bree was in no danger of turning into a spoiled child, but Rosalie was still a bit put off by the 'wolfy imprinting thing' when it came to Seth and Bree.
"He's hardly a boy." Esme glanced over towards the couple who both seemed to be happy and took an exaggerated breath in an effort to relax her mind.
Then she looked over towards Bella and Alice who were taking a much needed moment to themselves. Although they had been practically inseparable since Alice's conversion, they hadn't had a lot of time alone. Isabella had split her time between learning the area, patrolling, and making arrangements for the multitudes of incoming deliveries.
Isabella had spent time with Jacob and the rest of the wolves talking over strategy and preparedness for any attack. The wolves had been dealing with some of their own issues with the return of Jacob's daughter, now an active shifter. Not only that but an alpha with a small pack already following her.
Rosalie had also observed Isabella talking to Mei on a few occasions in the past week. She and Isabella seemed to get along, at least cordially. Mei and her tiger shifter partner didn't spend a lot of time near the group though, instead choosing primarily to patrol the area. Mei spoke very little, carefully observing every situation before commenting. When she did speak it was always formal, addressing Isabella as "Assassin" and Eliza as "Executioner".
Kira was the complete opposite, informal to the point of near irreverence. She and Eliza got on very well together. Rosalie had seen some initial signs of jealousy from Leah in their interactions, especially after word of Kira's interaction with Jacob's daughter had spread. Eliza hadn't helped matters by explaining the open relationship between Mei and Kira.
Leah watched Kira like a hawk whenever she was around Eliza, but Eliza had quickly put that to rest. She simply began pulling Leah into conversations with the white haired tiger shifter, while ensconcing herself within Leah's arms. The message was clear.
Kira for her part made no attempt at anything beyond her normal conversation, which dripped with innuendo at every turn. Rosalie quickly learned that that was how the tiger shifter talked with everyone. Kira seemed to delight in teasing and embarrassing people. If they could blush as vampires, that would be her goal. She had even made Esme laugh in embarrassment. The only person that seemed completely unaffected was Isabella, who appeared to be completely immune to Kira's unabashed flirtations and innuendos. Of course that just spurred Kira on to be even more outrageous.
At that moment, Isabella was sitting almost upright on a rock that took up nearly a third of the edge of a pond centered in the small cove butting against the far western edge of the property. Alice was lounging, nestled between Isabella's legs, and facing the same direction as her. Isabella's right arm was propping them both up, while her other hand played absently with the new length of Alice's glossy black hair. Her chin was resting on the top of Alice's head, and her eyes were closed as Alice hummed a soft melody.
To Rosalie it was a sight to see. They looked like the happiest of couples, which was something she had never expected to see Alice a part of. She had kept an eye on the two of them throughout the course of the last week, and noticed that neither of them seemed keen to let the other out of their sight. They were almost always touching, even when it was just fingertips brushing against one another.
Then there was Isabella's expression, which always visibly relaxed whenever Alice was touching her. Other times, when Isabella was separated in any way from Alice or her daughters, she was notably wary, on guard, and always flicking her eyes towards Alice, Eliza and Bree, making sure she knew where they were, even when they weren't in line of sight. It was progress from her previously stoic and static demeanor, which gave Rosalie hope for her to have an ever blossoming future.
Finally she glanced at Eliza, who was talking to Leah while carving names in the foundation cement. It had been a compromise settled on by most of the family, after another minor argument broke out between Eliza and Isabella. Eliza had been adamant in her desire to put everyone's names into the wet concrete before it dried, using fingers and handprints. Isabella initially refused, saying she thought it was messy, inane, and pointless.
Eventually Isabella agreed, but there were conditions. The biggest was that under no circumstances was Eliza to make a 'blowy face' into the cement. Rosalie wasn't sure what that meant, or what the story was behind it, but she caught the slightly abashed expression on Eliza's face that told her Isabella had derailed some of Eliza's plan.
To Rosalie, Eliza and Leah seemed to be in a state of perpetual giddiness. Not only did Eliza seem to have no brain-mouth filter, she seemed to be campaigning against Emmett for the position of group clown. Rosalie wondered if it was overcompensation from so many years of trying to balance Isabella out. Even with Alice, Isabella wasn't exactly bright and shiny, although she did laugh on occasion. Leah and Eliza on the other hand, seemed to never stop giggling and teasing each other.
It was more than simple teasing though. The couple also seemed to be by far the most physically affectionate of any of the pairings amongst the newly formed group. Or more precisely they were the most sexually charged in their displays of affection. The two of them seemed to go from laughing to making out in a matter of seconds, and always appeared to be on the verge of dragging one another off to a secluded spot. Rosalie didn't begrudge them their new love, in fact she was very pleased that they were so happy with one another. She just found it ironic, that out of all the vampires she had ever met, Eliza seemed to be the one that was the most happy, despite her life among the Volturi and recent events involving death and explosions.
Rosalie hadn't realized her attention had been so diverted, so she blinked in surprise when a loud sound brought her back to the present. Seth had just tripped over a large depression in the mud and had gone sprawling carrying the large pile of wood. It played out almost in slow motion, as Bree tried to help. Then as he landed almost face first in the mud, Bree lost it. She quickly dissolved into a fit of uncontrolled laughter, before gathering herself together and helping him up so they could finish the task. He looked thoroughly embarrassed, but didn't seemed to mind after she placed a gentle kiss on his non-muddy cheek.
"He's half my age, that means he's a boy." Rosalie continued her previous train of thought, with a mild scoff in Seth's general direction. Of course her tone was only half serious. She wasn't exactly thrilled that Bree had already found her mate, but at the same time she was happy for her. It was a conundrum that Bella, who was supposed to be her mother, didn't share. Bree was just starting her life, and Rosalie worried that she wouldn't be able to find herself when her world was being consumed by romance.
Seth and Bree's relationship was progressing far slower than the others. They had taken to walking along the river and talking in the evenings. Despite Rosalie's misgivings she could find no fault with Seth's behavior. He was letting Bree dictate the pace of their relationship. He hadn't pressured her, or shown any outward signs of being possessive of her at all. The only thing he had 'done' was insist on keeping her company any time she ventured away from the house, and wasn't in the company of Isabella or one of the other Swans.
"By that rationale, Bree is a baby." Esme replied with a bit of a stern look.
"She is though. After everything she's been through, she's still just getting started." Rose looked down and tried to keep the rage down. Between things Bree had said, and comments from Alice and the others, Rosalie had pieced together a pretty accurate picture of Bree's human life. It took a lot of self control to not run off and teach Bree's father a lesson. The only thing that kept her from going was the fact that Bella hadn't already done it. And while Rosalie hadn't outright asked her, she assumed there was a good reason why she hadn't acted already.
"You forget, she's already a woman. Which I know is hard to accept. Take it from someone who still occasionally struggles to see you all as adults rather than children. Try to gain a bit of perspective, we've been around for a long time. The young fall in love easily, but they seldom stay that way. Whether or not the two of them are going to work out in the long run. I think Bree has a long way to go before she knows herself well enough to truly be in love." Esme put down her blueprints and focused her attention on her daughter.
A thought occurred to her then, and after some internal debate, she didn't see a reason to hold back any longer. "I chose you, it wasn't Carlisle."
"What?" Rosalie started, turning to look at Esme with confusion and a touch of indignant anger crossing her face.
"I doubt you remember, but we met before you were turned. You were being courted by that monster, and had your whole life ahead of you. I saw your beauty and your strength. I saw someone who could've ruled the world, but you seemed to want a far simpler life, and so I wanted you to have that life."
"I don't understand, how did you know that?" Rosalie interrupted feeling suddenly very self-conscious.
"I overheard you talking to your mother that night. It was a summer dance and you were so ready to get married." Esme answered plainly, her head tilted and her eyes distant as she thought about the past.
Rosalie began to nod slowly as she recalled her fuzzy human memories. "I... I remember. Why have you never told me before?" Rosalie felt a surge of emotion, and she wasn't sure how to process it. She wasn't sure what Emse was trying to say either. "What does it matter that you saw me before? I don't understand."
"That night, the night he attacked you, I had a moment of intuition. One of those rare moments that people get, nothing like Alice…" Esme said, trailing off as she remembered Alice's still absent visions.
"So I suggested that Carlisle take a walk to enjoy the summer evening. I wanted to go with him, because I wanted to protect you. Yet I was sure he would find you in time, and I didn't want to risk giving into my own desires. But when he brought you home... it was too late. With one path ripped away from you I had hoped you would become the person I saw you could be, but you were so angry at first that I didn't feel it was right to press the issue." Esme's expression was filled with sorrow at the memories, and the emotions they conjured.
"Then, well, you were so miserable that I wasn't sure what to do. If you hadn't found Emmett, I'm not sure what would have happened. But… I would've helped you do whatever you felt you needed to do. You were my daughter, you were never just a stray we picked up for Edward. At least you were never that to me." Esme had looked away from her adopted daughter halfway through her confession. She was afraid to look over at her, because she honestly wasn't sure how Rosalie was going to take this sudden, and probably unwelcome knowledge of Esme's interference in the natural course of her life.
The silence stretched out.
"Thank you." Rosalie's soft voice said. She wasn't sure how else to frame her thoughts out loud. Words seemed inadequate. For most of her existence she had felt like a mistake, or a convenience. The beautiful doll that Carlisle had found and fixed. The vain, selfish, and shallow one. Her misery had been real, but the fact that she had to hide her true emotions for so long made things even worse. Esme was right, Emmett did help. He was the man she had always wanted, but was he all she wanted?
She had never thought beyond her mortal desires. It was a question that shook her to her core. She had no idea how long she stood close to Esme, unmoving, unaware of what was happening around her, until her husband wrapped his arms around her waist. The idea that Esme had known her, had wanted her to be a part of her life before Royce took everything away... it meant... it meant everything.
She was chosen. She was loved. She hadn't realized how much she had longed to feel as if she had a purpose. It was a simple thing, but the nature of her transformation into a vampire had always been a contentious one for her. To know that she might've ended up as one anyway made a difference somehow. For a small moment she felt like she understood Isabella better.
"You know… I never wanted to be a killer. I was even a vegetarian before I was turned. A hundred years before it became a popular diet. Then I killed all those men. I hated myself for so long after that, that's partially why I became the way I am. I've hated myself for a long time." Rosalie spoke the words, and even as she spoke knew she had an audience. The rest of the Coven had gathered or was gathering around them silently and respectfully. Rosalie idly wondered if there was some hidden signal she had missed.
"I love you Rose." Emmett whispered in her ear for probably the millionth time. It still lifted her the same way it did when he first uttered those words.
"Me too Aunt Rose!" Bree said quickly and eagerly. She had come over to Rosalie and Esme after Seth had set the wood down in the staging area, and had heard the tail end of the conversation. Her attention had brought the attention of Bella and Eliza, who had been intrigued enough by Bree's emotions to investigate. Of course, that drew the rest of the coven as well.
"I don't love you Rose... but I'm learning to like you. You're not the same person I remember." Isabella said rather bluntly, but she gave Rose enough of a smile to show that it was about as sincere and heartfelt as she was capable of being.
Eliza threw her mother a mild frown, then turned to Rosalie with a bright smile. "You're nothing like I pictured you to be. Mom has some rather harsh memories of you. I'm curious though, if you hate being a monster then why do you kill? I'm not exactly the poster child for innocence and virtue, but I don't go out killing every week like you do. I understand you feeding off animals way back in the olden days before my time. You know… just before dirt was invented and all. But not now when there's other options." Her voice was tinged with honest curiosity.
"Animals are hardly the same thing." Jasper chimed in immediately. "It's the reason I'm with this coven, none of us are willing to kill merely to feed."
"No, perhaps not. But you forget, killing is killing." Isabella backed up her daughter, then she turned towards her lover. "This is as good a time as any. I gave it some serious thought, and I've decided that I'm not changing the way I feed. I just can't find a good enough reason to."
Alice scoffed, and looked at Isabella for a long moment. Then sighed, she knew when an argument with Isabella was done, and this was definitely one of those times. "I can't say I agree with your choice, but I understand it."
"Blood bags are mostly harmless, especially the cast offs we get supplied with. We just got our supply line established." Eliza said off hand to no one in particular. "Of course you have to keep it refrigerated otherwise it can dry up."
Leah spoke up with a roll of her eyes, "Yeah, my fridge is now full of blood bags. Seth about fell over when he went looking for a beer."
"It was a bit startling. My six pack was wedged between two blood bags and a carton of milk." Seth said with a slight cringe.
"I don't like when you drink beer anyway. It always makes your breath smell icky." Bree said almost immediately. Her face mimicked his, in almost a mocking way. Seth gave her a surprised look, because she hadn't said anything before.
Eliza saw Seth's face and grinned. Making only a small attempt to lower her voice, as she spoke to Leah, "Fifty bucks says we find beer in the trash, and soda in the fridge by tomorrow."
Leah glanced at his face and shook her head, "Sucker's bet. No way." Seth just blushed red in response, although it was hard to tell beneath the thin layer of dried mud covering half his face.
"It's still human blood. Drinking from humanity is wrong, no matter how you do it." Emmett said in a slightly less than convincing voice, in an attempt to bring the argument back to the point rather than going off on even more tangents.
"He's right. Our values, our beliefs are tied to how we feed. Drinking human blood goes against everything we stand for. I'm honestly not sure I want to be in a coven with anyone that doesn't share those values." Jasper said firmly, with a hint of challenge to his voice. There was a long pause, and everyone could feel the tensions start to rise.
"Those are Carlisle's words, not yours Jasper." Esme said breaking the silence. Everyone turned to look at her.
"I killed Edward, for each and every one of you. I killed him because he was a threat. I killed him because he was a monster who had been manipulating my family for two centuries. I killed him because he had betrayed me and Carlisle in every sense of the word. I know my husband hates me now. He hates me because I did what I did, which goes against his 'values'. His vaulted and idealistic beliefs that we can be better by hunting a different kind of prey. In the end it's still hunting. Rosalie's right, it's still killing." By the time Esme was finished, Jasper looked like a he was about to burst.
"That's not what Rosalie said, and really, you're going to talk down about Carlisle now? Edward I get, but how can you talk about your husband that way?" Jasper practically spit out. This was important to him, and the idea they might throw away their feeding habits really bothered him. Adara put a hand on his shoulder, and he visibly calmed down, but the anger was still there.
"Carlisle turned away from me. I made an impossible choice, and he rejected me in every conceivable way. He's no longer my husband." Esme said impassionedly, but then gasped at her own declaration and her hand shot up to cover her mouth. "I can't believe I just said that." Her eyes were wide at how bluntly and firmly she had spoken about the end of the defining relationship in her life.
"We should probably step back and take a deep breath. Before discussing this." Isabella said trying to be a mediator. Unfortunately her voice came across a bit to authoritative, as if she were giving an order.
"Of course my queen." Jasper said harshly, and stepped back to give Isabella an exaggerated bow. It seemed like his self control was draining away, and unlike the others it felt to him like he had no real decisions he could make for himself. On top of that, sensing the emotions from everyone around him had further pushed his self control to the limit.
Rosalie didn't quite know how to take this new side to Jasper. It was compounded by hearing Esme declare her relationship with Carlisle was basically over. Was the fracture so complete, that there was no hope for reparation? She wasn't sure which was more difficult to deal with.
"Nice, be a smart ass. She's just trying to help." Eliza said in defense of her mother. Jasper was the one member of the group that she had yet to really connect with.
"She's giving orders again, like the Volturi. She's being the Assassin, or Executioner... or whatever it is you guys called yourselves." Jasper said in accusation.
"We don't call ourselves that. Those are the names the other vampires gave us. We never killed without reason!" Eliza said heatedly, her own temper rising to match Jasper's. Isabella's brow had furrowed in anger, though Alice was pressed up close to her, so she showed no other signs of being upset.
"Reason. You call the Volturi's penchant for 'random' cullings a reason? They take what they want, and call it justice as an excuse." Jasper spit back at Eliza.
"Yes, we just randomly show up in a city and chose to kill the vampires there! It had nothing to do with keeping our world hidden and protected from exposure. Everyone wants the security of our secret, and the safety that comes with knowing the human world is not actively hunting us down, but how dare someone enforce it." Eliza snapped back.
"Enough!" Rosalie said with enough force to draw the attention of the entire group. "Eliza has a point. Esme has a point. Isabella has a point. Jasper has a point. But none of you are listening to each other. The problem is we don't have a clue what we are! We're going through the motions before some force attacks us, right? We all want to start, but we can't."
Rosalie turned and pointed at Jasper, "That's why you're so angry Jasper. You have a war to fight, and no visible enemy to engage."
Rosalie's gaze turned to Esme. "You have been betrayed by your husband, and have every reason to feel alienated and adrift. Although that's no reason to totally disregard everything you've done. Killing Edward was the right thing to do, I have no doubt about that. But Carlisle, he's not like you. He's old, perhaps too old to change to fit into this new situation that's evolved over the last month. More than that, you kind of betrayed him too. Or at least that's how I imagine he see's it."
Esme opened her mouth to respond, but Rosalie didn't give her a chance. She quickly turned her attention on Eliza and met her violet gaze unflinchingly, "Now Eliza, you may not have claimed that title, but you were a member of the most hated coven in the world. That has repercussions, whether you like them or not. You can't pretend that that part of your life never existed."
Eliza opened her mouth to respond and then for once thought better of it, biting her lip. She sank back slightly into the waiting embrace of Leah who gave her a reassuring squeeze while glaring at Rosalie.
Rosalie allowed her gaze to move around the entire group facing her. "None of that matters to me. It shouldn't matter to any of us here. The past is the past, and we're moving forward. What should matter is what each of us think. I think you're right Bella, blood bags make more sense." Rosalie didn't pause for a reaction, she just glanced at each person she was talking about and then launched right into her explanation.
"It's been bothering me since they brought it up. Sure we monitor population studies, and try to curb our appetites as much as possible. But Edward gorged himself on mountain lion, and Emmett goes through at least twenty bears a year. How many of us are there now? Nine. Seven if you don't count Isabella and Eliza. Plus Carlisle and the Denali. If you stop to think about it for a second, that's a pretty large group of predators. If we all start to feed normally from the animals around us, how long do you think before the local wildlife is completely devastated?" Rosalie took a deep breath to let that settle in for a moment.
"Then there's the other thing. I've personally killed hundreds, hell thousands of animals over the span of my life. Thousands. You may not value animal life as much as human, but it's a heavy toll once you think about it. Sure we're predators. But isn't Carlisle's whole argument based on the sanctity of life? If so, shouldn't all life be cherished, not just human or vampire or shifter? If we can find a sustainable source of blood, like from a butcher or a blood bank, then why shouldn't we use that avenue instead?" Rosalie's voice had dropped to a soft reasoning tone as she looked around the group.
There was a pause before she continued, "It seems it all boils down to our instincts right? Can we honestly give up the hunt? I'm not sure. But... I'm willing to try. Hell, the idea of drinking human blood sounds pretty exhilarating after two centuries without it. To fully quench the thirst, without the guilt of taking a life. I can most certainly live with that." Rosalie stopped, and surveyed her family one by one meeting each of their gazes with her head held high. She felt proud of herself, she felt good about her choice. Then waited for the arguments to begin, while mentally preparing to act as a mediator.
"I'm sold." Alice said a moment later, while squeezing Isabella's hand for emphasis. Then she looked into her lover's eyes and gave her a wide and slightly sheepish smile.
"Sure, the blonde speaks and you fold." Isabella kept her face totally straight, but Alice could sense the amusement through their connection.
Alice leaned up and kissed her cheek softly.
"I love you." Alice said after her lips left the alabaster skin of Isabella's face.
"I know." Isabella replied dryly.
Rosalie was looking around waiting for the next person to speak up and argue. However her thoughts were derailed by a cry from Eliza.
"About fucking time!" Eliza shouted at the sky, bouncing happily. "Seventy-five years and Mom finally makes a Star Wars reference!"
Bree was looking back and forth between the amused expression on Isabella's face and the exuberant Eliza. "Okay, I give up. I'll watch the show now. Even if just to know what you're talking about. Arguing over Captain Kirk or Picard, and now Mom makes a reference to it. I totes feel out of the loop."
Eliza's exuberant moment, complete with happy dance was cut short immediately and she froze. A look of horror on her face as she turned to regard Bree. "Oh… my… god."
Bree looked confused at the expression on her sister's face, "What?"
Eliza looked up at the sky with an expression of "Why me?" on her face, before turning back to Bree. "We have so much to teach you. First rule, never to confuse Star Wars and Star Trek."
Bree's expression became even more confused, "What's the difference?"
Eliza nodded solemnly. "That should never have to be asked!"
Bree looked like she was going to ask more, but a slight coughing noise from Isabella cut her daughters' discussion short. Then she spoke up, in an attempt to return things to the topic at hand, "Getting blood bags is easy. We already have a large supply."
"So after conforming to one ideal for over a hundred years, I have to suddenly change the way I behave? I'm not doing it." Jasper said indignantly, effectively drawing a line in the sand.
"No. You don't understand. I don't care if you keep hunting animals. It's your choice. That's the point. We shouldn't impose our individual beliefs on each other. We all agree that we're not hunting humans. No matter how we feed we're not killing humans. We should just support one another, love one another in whatever way we're capable of." Rosalie said cutting off the argument before it got started again. "I'm going to try Eliza's approach, but that doesn't mean you need to. And maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but at least I'll have tried."
"I guess we're gonna have to start investing in colored contacts again." Alice said, then grinned with unconcealed amusement.
"Sure Miss Green Eyes, colored contacts are the answer." Jasper didn't look happy, but it was obvious he was joking. He seemed to be more at ease when it was clear that they weren't going to force him into anything. It also helped that it seemed to be Rosalie making the call. Though she had essentially repeated what Isabella had said the last time they met.
Adara pulled her husband's hand into hers and kissed him on the cheek, then whispered in his ear, "Don't antagonize your ex Jasper." After she pulled away, she started scanned the group again. Leah had her head down, obviously holding her tongue. Bree was biting her lower lip in a similar effort. Seth looked mildly amused, but intent on what was coming next. The rest of her family all seemed to be considering the choice on the table.
"I think the idea is a good one. We've all just gone along with the idea of feeding from animals because it was the 'right' choice, not because there were a lot of options. My entire second life I've spent hunting either humans or wild animals. So I for one would like to try something else. Like Rosalie said, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. But at least trying something different will be fun." Adara's voice was thoughtful.
"It should also be mentioned, this will help with our relations to others of our kind. Most nomads don't trust us because we don't feed from humans. Or they think we're weak. That's not the impression we need to make moving forward. We need to be strong, we need to attract more allies for whatever is coming. At least being like everyone else on the surface is a good start." Adara said with some authority, but at the same time she wasn't commanding.
The last thing she wanted was to make it seem like she was trying to take over leadership of the coven. Jasper in particular seemed like he couldn't argue with strategic logic, especially when it was coming in such calm tones from Adara.
"Good point. I don't know what's coming anymore, but we should be prepared. So that means I want to start training Bree and anyone else with interest, today if possible." Isabella segued easily into something that had been weighing on her mind. With all the construction, the idea of building up the group so that she was confident in their skills had fallen to the wayside. Alice had spent over two hours arguing the point, that a week spent on construction hardly mattered, because no one was going to meet Isabella's standards such a short amount of time anyway.
"Let's get the tasks we've already started done, and then start the training thing. We've begun putting in the plumbing. With any luck we'll have working showers before long." Rosalie suggested, and was met with approval from most of the coven.
Isabella nodded once, and everyone broke away to return to what they were doing before the argument started. Then Isabella motioned for Rosalie to follow her. Isabella walked them away from the group so they were out of earshot, then turned towards her with a look Rosalie wasn't expecting. It was gratitude.
"I can't do this. I'm not really good at being a leader of people." Isabella sighed a little bit and looked away, turning to study the house. "To me that was a stupid argument." She said with a gesture behind her, indicating the discussion they just had.
Rosalie frowned a little bit, "It wasn't stupid, it was something that would have rankled at everyone, and it was better to get it out. It isn't good to leave things festering, especially with Jasper. He tends to hold long grudges."
Isabella nodded. "I can see that now. But not initially. To be honest, I didn't care. Still don't really. It's the same thing as that stupid argument over who got which bedroom. I didn't care. And yet they were bickering like five year olds over something pointless. With the feeding thing, we talked about it at the first meeting, and as long as no one was killing people, I probably would never have brought it up again."
Isabella leaned back against the tree behind her, her hair falling to cover her face for a few brief moments. "For the upcoming conflicts, whatever they are, I know I'm going to be needed. But... I just don't know if this coven will work if I'm making all the decisions. I'm not a leader, not of a coven or a family."
Rosalie frowned a little bit, "I think you're doing a fine job. You can't expect to be perfect at everything right at the start."
Isabella shook her head, "You misunderstand. I'm not saying I have to be perfect. I can figure out strengths and weaknesses, and leading in a fight gives me no trouble. But it's the rest. The politics. The working with people's personalities... that is not only something that I have no skill or patience for. It's not even something I could ever imagine I would enjoy."
Rosalie's confusion increased, "So what are you saying?"
Isabella straightened up a little bit, coming to a decision. "You impressed me today... and I think you understand how a group functions in ways I could never grasp. I think you're better for the job than I am." Isabella said confidently and clearly.
"You want me to take over the coven?" Rosalie said as succinctly as she could, trying to keep the shock out of her expression as her mind raced toward what Isabella had been saying.
"Yes. That's exactly what I want." Isabella leveled her a serious and expectant look, which made Rosalie feel pretty much every emotion all at once.
"I guess we have a lot to talk about then, because I'm not going to say yes unless you are willing to help." Rosalie said slowly, still working past the shock.
"Absolutely. I'm still probably the most qualified among us to deal with the threats ahead of us. And someone has to tell you when you're fucking up." Isabella smiled, and held out a hand to Rosalie who took it quickly.
"We should probably tell the others." Rosalie said after a moment. "Some of them are probably not going to take this very well."
"That's now officially... your problem." Isabella grinned, and patted Rosalie on the back, feeling an unwanted weight finally lifting off her shoulders.
"Thanks." Rosalie said through a tight smile. Still, she felt good. This felt right, insane, but right. Then she wondered what the rest of the coven was going to do with the news, as she turned to face them.
Eliza had already gathered the coven again, and looked almost buoyant. Rosalie looked over at Isabella with a raised eyebrow, "Nice trick. I'm guessing your daughters already know?"
"Yup, but they haven't said a word yet." Isabella said quietly as the duo moved towards the gathered coven who were all staring at them with curious expressions.
"What now?" Jasper said with a touch of impatient disdain.
"I've had enough of that Jasper. Isabella deserves respect at the very least, she's also been far more patient than I'm going to be with your blatant and unwarranted attacks on her leadership." Rosalie gave her voice as much authority and command as she felt she was capable of. The effect was immediate, because everyone noticed the way she said it.
Silence followed for several long seconds.
"What does that mean?" Emmett said with a puzzled expression on his face.
"I've asked Rosalie to step up and lead the coven." Isabella felt pretty good about delivering the news, more than she thought she would feel. Alice had been overjoyed at the idea from the moment Isabella had suggested it through the connection. Bree hadn't wanted to offend her mother, but was supportive of the idea and managed to keep her mouth shut. Eliza was a bit more pragmatic, but still related how much she was proud of her mother for being so open minded.
Once more silence filled the space between the coven for several long moments.
It was almost unheard of for a leader of a coven larger than three to just step down, especially voluntarily without the threat of violence. In a normal coven, a split was inevitable when the leadership was in question, or worse they killed each other in the ensuing conflict.
"Wow." Emmett spoke up, though a curious expression crossed his face. "Why?" After a quick glance at Rosalie he hurried to amend his statement. "Not that I don't think she would be great, I'm just curious."
Isabella frowned for a moment and then shrugged lightly. "I don't want to lead. You guys have already gotten into arguments over who got which bedroom and what we were going to feed on. And I just don't want to mediate disputes like that. I'm no good at the politics of a coven. I know strategy and I can fight. The rest of it…. holds no interest for me. And my indifference is just going to cause problems between people."
It was Jasper that spoke up first, "I'm impressed." That caused some raised eyebrows all around. Isabella turned to regard him with a raised eyebrow.
Jasper shrugged, and said with an honest smile, "That's exactly what I'd been thinking. No offense, you didn't really seem to have the temperament to lead a coven. I was thinking we were building this huge house when we weren't likely to last as a coven beyond attacks from the Volturi, even if we did survive as individuals. I just didn't know how to approach the subject without making it seem like a coup." He hesitated and met Isabella's eyes. "The fact that you recognized that and stepped back… impresses the hell out of me. I'm sorry that I've been disrespectful."
Rosalie gave him a look of surprise, but nodded once in acceptance of his approval. "Although I've already accepted her offer, I need to know this is alright with everyone else." Then she looked to each member of the coven, including Leah and Seth, and waited for their reaction.
No one put up any disagreement. Leah looked content since Eliza was supportive of the idea. Seth looked a bit more conflicted, though he saw that Bree was excited by the whole thing. He also remembered the pack, and while it didn't affect their alliance. He was fairly certain that Jacob and Rosalie would be in for an interesting conversation or three. He just wanted to make sure he had front row seats.
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Author's notes: SURPRISE! We're not dead!
1) Samantha's Co-Author Notes: Funny story. Okay not really funny, more haha. Okay not funny at all. See, Kathryn has been so involved in her new writing project (and work, and school) that she couldn't find the right headspace to get this chapter off the ground. She did write two lovely segments, which are referenced in this chapter. Unfortunately, I had a massive life change (I moved across the country) so I couldn't really get my head in the writing game either. That left things very much in the air, with no progress for months while I got myself situated. Long story short, a few nights ago I sat down and just started to write after we had a conversation about what this chapter should be about. It was a wonderful thing to be able to write again, and Kathryn of course added her usual amazing details and character beats (which effectively doubled the length of my initial draft). The really ironic thing, the next chapter has been mostly written since January. We didn't plan it exactly, but chapter 50 will be special. I'll give you all a hint, that thing a lot of you have been asking about for chapters is finally happening. Until next time, which I hope with all that is good and pure in the world, shouldn't be nearly as long this time.
2) She is absolutely right. This is mostly my fault. I had ideas for this part of the story but going to write them they fell flat on their face which really disappointed me. Samantha put up with my bitchiness with the patience of a saint. I can honestly say this chapter would not be getting out now or anytime soon without her. She's primary author on this chapter (and the next truth be told)
3) That being said. Do not complain about updates. If you want to read a story like this, write a story like this. As Samantha mentioned we both have real life stuff going on. And I only will post chapters when i feel like I'm putting out quality work. I have promised not to abandon this story. And I'm not. But unless you're paying for my time. It remains my time.
4) Next chapter is BIG O_O. But I will not promise a publishing date on it. Since a select number of you then figure it's okay to yell at me if we miss.
5) I've been writing some HP stuff, and helping out on a few other author's stories. And I still respond to long quality reviews and PM's.
Read and review!
