"Rosalie, are you sure you want to do this?" Carlisle asked, concern growing in his golden eyes.

I knew there was no way he was going to support what I was going to do. Hell, he didn't even condone drinking human blood and we're freaking vampires. He definitely wouldn't support cold blooded murder.

For just a second, I wished I could be more like him. More measured, willing to listen to reason. He'd taken me under his wing, he'd saved me. I owed him a lot.
But I owed myself this.

I'd survived only because Carlisle had saved me, smelling all the blood they'd beaten out of me during the attack. I didn't sleep anymore, but memories of the attack kept on coming back, and I wanted to make them stop. I had to get my revenge. To try and reclaim some of what they'd taken from me.

"They humiliated me. What they did...it's unspeakable. They left me for dead. They took everything from me - my dignity, my life. I have to, Carlisle. I'm sorry."

He gave me another reproachful look. "I won't stop you. But once you're done, I want you to come back Rose. You still have us, okay?"

"Of course. I promise I'll come back." I wouldn't leave Esme, Carlisle and Edward.

I gave Carlisle a hug, and left. My travels took me a few days, back to New York. My hunt had officially begun.

The first one didn't know I was coming.

Royce and his friends had loved to go out hunting. He'd taken me to his lodge plenty of times - I'd stay in the lodge, cooking and cleaning, while he and his friends would go out into the woods. He'd often let his friends borrow his lodge too - they'd go alone most times, leaving their wives and children at home.

So I knew it was only a matter of time before one of them would show up.

I staked out the lodge for about a week before one of them turned up. I observed him for another day - learning when he went out to hunt, when he'd be back.

Once he headed out for the day, I let myself into the cabin. I tried to ignore the itch in my throat - I hadn't fed yet that day. I hoped it would be worth the wait.

I spent a while thinking about how to do it, and settled for just waiting on the couch. It faced the back wall of the lodge, away from the door. He'd only be able to see the back of my head until I turned around.

Waiting for his return didn't really bother me. Since I'd become a vampire, I'd grown much more patient. I had all the time in the world, after all.

I heard him walking up to the lodge well before he actually opened the door, and I could feel him tense up when he noticed me in the lodge. "What the hell?"

"Tsk, tsk," I chided, turning around. "That's no language to use around a lady. Michael, right?" I remembered each of their faces, vividly. Sneering and laughing as they drunkenly beat me, passed me around. I pushed the thought down - I couldn't let my thoughts distract me right now.

"What the hell do you want?" he yelled, almost immediately turning red in the face. "You're dead!"

"Oh?" I looked at my forearm, pinching it. "I felt that, so I must be alive."

He started to sputter now. "But...we - you"

"Left me for dead? Yeah, I know. But you weren't so lucky. I lived." I chuckled for a minute. "Well, in a sense. And here I am. For you."

He raised his shotgun, aiming at me. I laughed. A bullet wouldn't stop me. Slow me down, maybe, but not by much. I'd still be too fast, too strong, for him to stop me.

I let him take the shot, and ducked out of its way. He fumbled, trying to reload it again.

I launched myself at him, landing on his back. He started to whimper. "Please don't -"

"Don't what? Hurt you? Like you hurt me? I begged you not to, just like you're doing now. But you know that."

I jumped off of him, landing close to the door. I opened it, smiling. "Run, if you think you can get away."

I let him run, gave him a good five minute head start. It wouldn't do him much good.

I caught his scent right away, but I wasn't ready to end my fun just yet. I'd run ahead of him, cutting him off his path. I did it a couple of times, making him change direction and getting lost.

I hung back for a couple of minutes, letting him think maybe he got away. I jumped from tree to tree, following him from a distance.

He stopped, took a breath. Or was it a sigh of relief?

I jumped down, landing on his back once again.

"You thought you could get away. You thought wrong."

I cradled his head in my arms, and snapped his neck without much of a second thought.

I cleaned up the mess, and dumped his body in the woods. Some animal would find it, eat it. It would look like a freak accident.

I stayed at the lodge that night, plotting how I would find and kill the second one.