For a minute, time stopped. Rose was… Beyond words. She was the dew drops on the morning grass, she was the midnight sun to my bland moth, she was the pearls of rain on the most lovingly handcrafted stained-glass window a master had ever made. No, in fact she was more than that. Her skin, now illuminated in the sun-drunk meadow, glistened like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface. Her pale, marble white pallor that looked so sickened in the fluorescent lights of the cafeteria was now lit by an inner glow, rendering it almost see-through, with crimson veins twisting themselves through her shining body like blood rooting itself through snow.

"You're everything." I whispered in amazement, so low that I thought she wouldn't hear. The ghost of a smile lit her face.

"That's one I haven't heard yet." She looked down at her feet.

Hesitantly, afraid she would disappear like a mirage, too flawless to be real… I reached out my finger and stroked her shimmering cheek, marvelling at the perfect texture. Satin smooth, cool stone. She looked at me in one fluid motion, lost, seeking guidance. Her eyes were butterscotch today, lighter and warmer than any colour I could picture in my head. The meadow, as I had imagined, paled next to her beauty.

Suddenly, I blinked, and Rosalie was no longer in reach. I whirled around, stumbling as if I'd lost my only anchor to this world. Her cool and trembling hands caught me before I could fall too far and she lowered me to the ground before daintily kneeling in the wildflowers.

"I'm sorry. Don't I… Scare you?"

"N-noo!" I fumbled, sitting upright.

"Why not?" She pleaded, imploring me with her eyes. "You should be afraid of me. I want you to be afraid of me. I am."

"I-I don't understand. Rosalie please-"

"I'm the world's best predator. Everything about me invites you in - my voice, my face, even my smell. But please," She continued, lowering her voice. "Don't be fooled." She looked as if she was about to cry. "You couldn't outrun me, you couldn't fight me off…" She whispered and picked a flower, crushing it into dust between two fingers.

"What are you?" I whispered.

"I am…" She leaned her forehead against mine, shameful. "I am a vampire."

"It doesn't matter." I said softly. "It doesn't matter to me what you are." I repeated, more strongly now.

"You don't care if I'm a monster? If I'm not… Human?" She searched my eyes.

"No. Because… You're you. And you would never hurt me. You're a protector, not a murderer." I was confident that I was right.

She pulled away and stared bleakly into the distance. "You're wrong. I am a murderer. But I would never hurt you. My track record is clean as far as innocents go."

I took her hand. "Tell me your story, Rose."

She sighed. "I was 18 and I was beautiful." She smiled at me. "I'm 107 now." It dropped. "It was 1933 and my life was perfect. I was pleased that men's eyes watched me everywhere I went from the moment I turned 12." She curled her lip in disgust. "I wanted to be loved, to be adored - I didn't care where that attention came from. I began to dream of a huge, flowery, gorgeous wedding. A wedding where everyone in town would watch me walk down the aisle on my father's arm and shed a tear that I didn't belong to them instead. Admiration was like air to me, Bella. I was silly, and shallow and… stupid."

"Traumatised."

She ignored me and pressed on. "That was my greatest wish in life, until my close friend, Vera had a son. He was a beautiful, angelic little boy with tiny dimples and curly black hair. It was the first time I had ever felt truly jealous of anyone else my entire life. I know it must be hard to understand - it was a different time and I thought, wrongly, that I was ready for it all - I yearned for my own little baby, a husband who would kiss me when he got home from work, just like Vera."

She laughed bitterly. "That was until I was betrothed to Royce King the Second. His family was so powerful, they owned almost every business in town. At first Royce seemed to be everything I'd dreamt of - the fairy tale prince, come to make me a princess."

"I was at Vera's that night," Rosalie whispered. Her face was smooth as marble, and as hard. "When I went home it was dark in the streets, the lamps already on. I hadn't realised how late it was." She continued to whisper almost inaudibly. "It was cold, too. Very cold for late April. The wedding was only a week away, and I was worrying about the weather as I hurried home - I can remember that clearly. I remember every detail about that night. I clung to it so hard in the beginning… I still do, when so many of my pleasant memories have faded away completely…"

"I was a few streets away from my house when I heard them. A cluster of men under a broken street lamp, laughing far too loud. Drunk. I wish that I'd called my father to escort me home, but I didn't want to make a fuss. I was… Naïve. I didn't understand then, what men are capable of. As I drew closer, I heard Royce calling my name."

"I went over to him. He grabbed me and asked his friends 'What did I tell you, John, isn't she lovelier than all your Georgia peaches?'"

"'It's hard to tell, she's all covered up.' He replied."

She paused. "I remember my buttons scattering all over the streets, my hairpins ripping my hair from the roots… The sound of their laughs mingled with my screams… I waited in the road to die. I was impatient for it to come, the cold was bothering me and it had started to snow. I just wanted it to be over - for the pain to go away. It didn't." She closed her eyes briefly.

"Esme, my adoptive mother, was the one who found me. She brought me to her home and begged Carlisle to save me. I didn't know it then, but Carlisle had turned her when she attempted suicide by jumping off a cliff - her abusive husband had killed her baby. Esme thought that I would be grateful to be saved, like her. Some days, I am."

"As I slipped away, I was grateful when the pain began to dull. Then, something sharp was cutting me. My throat, my wrists, my ankles… I screamed in shock, thinking they'd brought me there to hurt me more after all. I begged them to kill me, but Carlisle held my hand and said that he was sorry every time I screamed. He promised that it would end."

"Edward wasn't happy. He didn't want me soiling his perfect little family. He said my name like there was something wrong with me. He thought that I deserved what happened to me for being so… Spoilt." She flushed, either out of embarrassment or anger.

"When the pain finally ended, and they explained to me what I was…" She trailed off. "I knew that my life had ended and there was no going back for me. I felt thirst, my hard skin; I saw my brilliant red eyes…"

"Red?" I questioned.

She smiled at me. "I'll get to that part."

"After I realised how strong I was, I wanted revenge. I killed the five of them, saving Royce for last. He knew what was coming for him by the end - he was hiding inside a windowless room behind a door as thick as a bank vault's, guarded by armed men. I was… A little theatrical back then. It was kind of childish really. I wore a wedding dress I'd stolen for the occasion. I still remember his scream when he saw me." She laughed darkly.

"I've never tasted human blood. I'm almost as clean as Carlisle. I didn't want any part of them in me, you see. I was lucky that the venom burned up any… Fluid I had in me before I turned." She winced. "My eyes… They're only now yellow because my family feast on animal blood. When we first turn, our bodies use up the blood already inside our human body, hence the redness."

"When I first saw you, your eyes were black."

"You remember," she mused. "They get like that when we're hungry."

"And you're not hungry now." I surmised. She put her hand on my chest faster than I could comprehend and pushed me back into the grass lightly, straddling and hovering above me.

"Want to test that theory?" She purred. I laughed, blushing and we sat up. "Maybe just a little hungry for your reaction."

"Like I said, I'm not scared." I sounded much braver now.

"I'm so glad," she mused, "the only ones who understand my family and I are, well, my family. I just…" She hung her head. "I wish my stupid brother didn't mess this up for me. Then we wouldn't have to leave."

"You're leaving?" I asked gently. I knew this was too good to be true. Good things don't happen to people like me.

"I have to. Edward won't stop until you're his." I shivered. "He has this screwed up idea that you're his soulmate."

"Me? W-why?"

"Some members of our family have special gifts. Alice can see the future, that's how I got to you so fast. Jasper can manipulate the emotions of people around him and Edward can read every mind except for yours. I don't know why, but he seems to think that means you're perfect for him. Just another example of men feeling entitled enough to take what they want at the expense of women like us." She balled her fists.

"So that's why you have to leave your home. Because of me." I mumbled.

Rosalie took my hand and lifted my chin with a single slender finger. "Not because of you. Because I couldn't let anything happen to you."

"Same difference…"

"No!" She argued fiercely. "No." She lowered her voice again. "Bella, when I was turned, I was frozen in time as a victim, but I've always been expected to act like a survivor. I wouldn't wish that on any innocent person, and I would never forgive myself if I could have stopped it but chose not to out of my own selfishness. I am a selfish creature, but this is the one place I stand firmly."

"You're not selfish, in fact, you're too selfless. I understand if that's why you have to leave, I just wish you could stay here with me."

She lay down, as if tired. "Me too." She sighed. "You have me for today though, I made sure of that. Anything you want, if I can give it to you I will. Anything you ask, if I can answer it I will."

I moved to sit towards the top of her head and gently folded her pale, golden hair into my lap to begin braiding it. "Could you sing for me?" I whispered. "I want to remember your voice."

"Standing there by a broken tree
Her hands are all twisted, she's pointing at me
I was damned by the light, coming out of her eyes
She spoke with a voice that disrupted the sky

She said, "Walk on over here to the bitter shade.
I will wrap you in my arms and you'll know that you're saved."
Let me sign
Let me sign…"

I cried when I woke up in my own, cold bed. The warmth of the meadow was a million miles away and I felt like I had just woken up from most up beautiful dream I would ever experience. Nothing would be as perfect again. The only thing I had to tell me that what I remembered from yesterday was real, was the bouquet of wildflowers on my windowsill and a CD on my desk marked For Bella.

Just then, dad knocked on my door and I quickly pulled myself together.

"Come in." I called.

"Hey Bells. Sleep well?" I nodded. "Your friend Rose brought that by this morning." He inclined his head towards the CD and then noticed the flowers by the open window. "When did you get these? And why'd you open the window? It wasn't open when I came in and those weren't here either."

It dawned on me. I leapt out of bed and hurried towards the window, looking for a card in the flowers.

'My dearest Bella,' it read, 'I know what you talked about in the meadow yesterday. Please know that no number of obstacles between you and I will keep me from your side. Not even if those obstacles are a part of my family. I will see you in your dreams. Your deepest love, Edward.'