Ch. 7 Firing Squad

She was beautiful. Probably the most beautiful being I had ever seen, and she was going to kill me.

I stared into Rosalie's black eyes which appeared dangerous and unhinged. These were eyes that successfully conveyed her unspoken message. I would not survive this encounter.

I hadn't actually seen Rosalie in person since I had been in this world because I had been avoiding the lunchroom, and I guess we had opposite schedules in school. This was unmistakably her, though. She was tall, statuesque, with long flowing blonde hair past her waist, perfectly perfect in every way, the epitome of female attractiveness.

"Hi. It's Rosalie, right? I'm Bella, Bella Swan. You're Alice and Edward's sister? I have Spanish class with Emmett too. Is he around? I have a question for him about some of my notes." I was rambling nervously trying to distract the thirsty vampire who was now stalking toward me, slightly crouched. She didn't seem to register anything I was saying. She continued to move closer, licking her lips with the tip of her tongue.

"Rose, please. My dad is waiting for me. Chief Swan? Remember him? If you do this, he'll search for your family. It will cause you so many problems." Closer and closer, she didn't care what I said.

"Your record will be broken! You have never tasted human blood, remember? You love throwing that in Edward's face all the time!" That made her stop. She looked like she wasn't breathing, and she turned her head slightly to the left, aiming her nose over her shoulder. She looked to be in pain.

"I'm sorry...I can't..." she looked like she wanted to cry, but she continued to move closer yet. There were mere inches between us now. She appeared to be at war with herself, moving so much slower, but still coming closer.

I turned and ran, making it several hundred feet before tripping, and just like that, I hit the ground. I felt the twig snap below my hand and the warm liquid gush out onto the ground. Holy fucking shitballs! Are you kidding me? Can I not catch a break here?! I truly needed to live in a fucking padded room, tied down, with a person spoon feeding me. I'm dead.

I rolled over to sit up, moving as quickly as humanly possible, but I wasn't fast enough. She was already there at my side. Her hands were around my upper arms, holding me to the ground. Her black eyes bored into mine, showing her remorse even as she bent and positioned her mouth at my neck. I felt the pressure her of teeth graze my neck, and I knew this was the end of my adventure.

Goodbye, Twilight. Goodbye Edward. Goodbye Charlie...I blacked out.

•PTaT•

"Iris?! Wake up! Wake up, Iris! Oh God, Iris?" That name sounded familiar.

"HEEEELLLPPP! CODE BLUE! CODE BLUE!" Someone was jumping on my chest. Why the hell would someone jump on my chest? Can't they tell I'm probably hurting? Gah, freaking stop it! You're killing me!

"Uhhhhh..." was all that escaped my mouth and the jumping stopped.

"Hang on, girl. Help is coming. You're going to be fine..." That voice. I know that voice.

Before I could figure it out, all was black again.

•PTaT•

"Bella? Bella?! Oh God, Bella?" Someone was shaking me awake. Did I fall asleep? How did I manage that? Why the fuck was this person calling me Bel—Freaking Hell.

"Who's there?" My eyes were trying to adjust to the darkened room.

"Oh, thank God. It's me, Emmett."

"Emmett? Why are you in my room?" I felt around on the bed confused because it felt softer and wider than normal.

"Uhh...this isn't your room." He said in a sheepish tone. I looked around now that my eyes were adjusting. I was most certainly not in my room.

Then there was a sound father away, someone or multiple someone's scuffling around outside the door to my left.

"Well, then, Emmett," I enunciated each syllable of his name, not in the mood to play twenty questions. "Where the hell am I?"

"Our house." That's it. That's all he said. I mean he didn't know that I knew all about them. Why would he stop there?

"Our house?" I repeated sardonically with my brow raised.

"Well, yeah, you know mine, Edward's, Alice's, Jasper's, our parents, and...Rosie's." He spoke the last name quietly, full of guilt, and it all came back to me. My hand flew to my neck, feeling around reflexively, but the skin felt smooth, intact. Rosalie was going to bite me, kill me. How had I gotten here? Where was she? Why was I with Emmett? Where was Charlie? Oh crap, Charlie! He was probably freaking out.

"I need to get home. Now." I pushed off the bed, still confused where exactly I was never having been here before and not knowing how I would manage to get home. Maybe Alice would give me a ride. I decided to ask her, hoping she would "see" my decision and come offer the way she was so good at in the books.

But it was another Cullen who showed up.

"Bella." His normally warm, velvet voice was reserved, cold. What was up with that?!

"Edward? What's going on? Why am I here?" Maybe if I played dumb, I'd get farther. Though I was really confused about why I was here. That wasn't an act.

He ignored my questions, or maybe he was answering them in another way than I had expected. "Now that you're awake, would you mind escorting me downstairs? The rest of my family would like to meet you." That might have sounded like a nice enough invitation had it not been for the chilly edge to his voice.

Not seeing a way out of it, I answered. "Umm, sure. Is there a restroom that I might use first?"

He didn't speak, only walking to the doorway and pointing toward the left in the hall. I followed him out, and glanced back to where Emmett still stood by the bed. He mouthed "sorry" to me and shrugged. What the hell was that?!

I was so perplexed by all of this. First Rosalie tried to drain me, then Emmett wakes me up all 'Thank God Bella!' And then Edward shows up cold as a snowman, acting like he's taking me to the firing squad. Like seriously? Or was that it? A chill shot up my spine, and my heart felt like it would beat out of my chest. Was that what this was? My execution? In my desperation earlier in the woods, I had revealed to Rosalie that I knew too much. Had they voted to kill me off? Surely Esme and Carlisle wouldn't agree to that, unless THIS Carlisle and Esme differed from the book versions. Maybe I had misjudged all of the Cullens. After all, Edward hadn't exactly behaved the way I expected him to, and Rosalie, while bitchy and selfish, was never a killer in the books except for when she hunted down Royce King—but he had it coming. She seemed so sorry in the woods...

My heart continued pounding, my breathing picked up as my mind flew through all of my options, and I suddenly turned on my heel before reaching the restroom at the opposite end of the hall from where we had come. "I want to go home. I'm not up for a meet and greet right now. Maybe later, Edward." I sounded frantic, on edge, but he was easily able to follow along with me, of course.

"That's not possible now." He said in a dark tone.

"Excuse me? What, are you holding me hostage?" I threw my hands up in question, exasperated. I expected him to deny it, to tell me I was "being utterly absurd" like he did so often to Book Bella, but nope. That assumption was totally wrong.

He spun around at full speed so that I only saw a blur coming at me and stopped an inch from my face. "What if I am?" His voice was seething, and I took a step back, hugging the wall behind me. There was no where else for me to go.

"Edward, why are you doing this? I thought we were friends? Your family wouldn't approve of this...your father—" My voice was shaking.

"Is downstairs waiting for you." He finished for me, backing away and pointing to the stairs. If Carlisle was downstairs, that meant that he could hear everything that was happening and wasn't stopping it. What was going on?

I looked uncertainly in the direction he pointed, but started down the stairs since I saw no way out. A few steps down, I stumbled, but Edward's hand shot out and gently stabilized me before I could fall, never looking back at me. His jaw was taunt, and his eyes were near black with only a light gold ring around the outside.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, there were five other sets of hardened, golden eyes watching me, all of the Cullens—minus Rosalie.

"Umm. Hello." I said lamely, the fear still evident in my quaking voice. What have you done, Iris?

Carlisle's face softened immediately. I knew I could count on him to be compassionate and civil. "Bella, nice to see you. Please, have a seat. You know Alice?" Of course I did, but he was motioning to a seat beside the smallest Cullen. I moved hesitantly toward her and took a seat.

"So...what's up?" I chuckled nervously, not feeling in a joking mood at all, but that stupid humor as a defense gene was kicking in.

"We wanted to apologize for what happened in the woods." I relaxed ever so slightly. Apologize? That didn't sound so bad. They should apologize for their daughter freaking me out and nearly killing me.

"Rosalie feels horrible for what almost happened. Had Alice, Jasper, and Emmett not been so close, well, I think we could all guess at what might have been." The shame and sorrow in his voice was all the apology I needed for now.

"Yeah...can I go home now?" It was a long shot, but my fight or flight response almost always defaulter to flight. I was anxious to get out of here.

"I'm sorry, but we can't allow that." I started to protest, but he held up a hand. "Not yet, at least. Rosalie said you knew things about my family, things that you shouldn't know, things that could get you into trouble." There it was. I knew that whole apology thing was too good to be true. I couldn't win here. If I hadn't said anything to Rosalie, I'd be dead now. Since I did say something, she didn't kill me, but now the Cullens knew that I knew their secret and would probably kill me or something. The world was so unfair.

"What'd she say? She wasn't exactly in her right state of mind. She looked a little high. Maybe you should look into rehab for her. She looked like she wanted to give me a hickey. I mean, I'm all for loving who you love, but you gotta have consent first." I was rambling again, hoping that if I spoke enough nonsense, they would believe I was just another naive, teenage girl.

"Yes, we might believe this whole doe-eyed innocent act—" So he had noticed my doe eyes. Ugh! Shut up, brain! Not now!"—you have going if it weren't for the way you behaved in the hall just a moment ago. You weren't even a little surprised at the way I was able to move. You know about us." It was Edward who spoke. It had been a test earlier when he threatened me upstairs. A test which I failed. Was the Rosalie thing a test too? If so, where was she?

"Ok, fine." I gave in. I was pretty tired of all the lies anyway. Maybe they would ship me off to the Volturi. What could I do about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

All six Cullens seemed to look a little shocked that I gave in so easily, even Alice. I felt like a super villain in a movie about to reveal her brilliant plan for world domination. "I know what you are, yes, but I know a lot more than just that, but what I know might be able to help you all. As a matter of fact, I think we can help each other."

Like, Follow, and Review please and thank you! :)