The Secret Beneath the Roses: The Rose is blooming
The day following the wolf attack was chaotic. Esme spent hours rushing around trying to clean up the mess left over. She had recruited an unwillingly Emmett to help her with the task, and the two cleared up the rubble before starting in on the home renovations. The items Alice had ordered arrived and she helped in with the decorating and repainting of the room once the walls had been repaired. Emmett rushed off as soon as Alice had arrived, glad to be free and able to play video games. Carlisle was stuck in negotiations with the wolves, Jasper at his side to ease any volatile feelings away. Edward was still with Bella, keeping her company in the hospital during her nights and days, ever vigilant for the other vampires. And Rosalie was being Rosalie, staying locked in her room ever since yesterday. Alice ached to go see her, to pick up where they had left off on, but she just grit her teeth and covered up her inner turmoil with being extra outwardly exuberant.
She chatted excitably with Esme about new fashion shows, and new interior designs, as they put the final touches on the room. With their vampiric speed they had accomplished something that would have taken humans a week to do. "I suppose I should thank the wolves for giving me motive to fix up this room; I've been meaning to change it up." Esme smiled wryly as she took a step back to admire the new room. The walls were painted a white with yellow and red lines zipping across. New furniture in colors of gray and black had been put into place and the rugs on the floor were a combination of red or yellow.
"It looks nice for an impromptu remodeling," Alice commented, wiping a smear of white paint from her face. "Thank you for the help, darling," Esme said, cupping her daughter's chin appreciatively.
"Hey, where's my thank you?" Emmett's indignant cry came from his room upstairs where he was playing video games. "I did all the grunt work!"
Alice rolled her eyes at this comment as Esme answered. "You rushed off before I could say anything."
"I do have super hearing. You could have yelled it and I would heard you up here."
"Thank you Emmett," Esme said, an amused smile on her face.
"Your welcome mom," Emmett responded back and then shut up as he went back to playing games.
"I'm going to check up on my husband now," Esme notified Alice and then shot off to take part in the meeting. Alice contemplated whether she should join, but she really wanted to be elsewhere. Rationalizing that it would make sense to visit since the blonde hadn't been downstairs in a while, Alice made the selfish decision to go to Rosalie's room. She hesitantly knocked on the door and to her surprise Rosalie opened almost immediately. "Took you a while," Rosalie huffed, letting Alice in.
"You were expecting me?" Alice was surprised, the blonde closing the door behind them. She leaned heavily on it, her eyes dark and unreadable.
"Of course," she responded, jutting her chin out and gazing down at Alice through her long lashes. Alice swallowed, suddenly nervous. The room was dark, the girl having drawn the curtains and just rested on the bed, watching something on her laptop.
"Okay," Alice said, not sure what to say. She stayed were she was, not daring to move further into the room but not daring to get closer to the blonde.
"I was wondering when you would come back to finish the conversation we were having previously," Rosalie drawled, getting off the door and approaching Alice with the poise of a predator hunting for prey. She placed a hand on Alice's chin causing the small girl to swallow deeply. Alice knew what Rosalie was referring to, although conversation wouldn't really be the correct word for it.
"We weren't having a conversation," Alice said, her words tripping over on another. She was saying irrelevant things but really could she be blamed? With Rosalie so close to her, her dark scent flooding Alice's nose and very being, her brain wasn't working correctly, too focused on the space between them and the feel of the other girls palm on her face.
"A conversation involves using our mouths, and we were just about to do that," Rosalie insisted, face drawing nearer. Alice was starting to panic. She didn't want to give into the blonde when the relationship between them was still so unclear. The blonde was probably just playing a game with Alice and the smaller girl was not going to fall into it.
"Don't tell me you don't want me to kiss you?" Rosalie asked, her ruby red lips descending even closer. They were so close, and Alice could feel the other girls cool breath on her face.
"Stop!" Alice yelled out, pushing hard against the other girl's chest. She took a step back as Rosalie was forced away. Anger swirled in the blonde's eyes. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not going to let you take advantage of my feelings for you just so that you can amuse yourself."
"I'm not taking advantage of you!" Rosalie insisted, hurt that Alice could ever say this. "I already told you how I feel about you!"
"Did you now?" Alice was getting aggravated in response to Rosalie's angry reaction. "Cause I don't seem to recall that at all."
"I told you how I felt when I was in your room! Or do you not remember already the events that took place a day before. For someone who can see the future you have a really bad recollection of the past."
Alice took in a deep breath at this. Not only was Rosalie insulting the pixie's gift but also hitting on her terrible past in which she did not remember much due to the mental treatments they gave her. Alice's eyes blackened at this comment and Rosalie seemed to sense she had made a mistake in what she said. She tried to say something else but Alice just snarled out at her, "glad to know that's how you see me. Just great. Actually don't even tell me how you feel about me anymore, I already got it from that statement." With this Alice pushed past the blonde and left the room, slamming the door shut angrily behind her. She took to taking a jog outside to clear her head. What had she even been doing, thinking of talking with the blonde. As if any conversation would actually get done with her. The blonde had been a pain to deal with ever since she had joined the coven, so why should she act any different now, seven decades later.
After doing several super fast laps around the perimeter of Forks, she came back to Edward's music playing. He was playing a fast piece, mirroring the chaos in his heart.
"How's everything with Bella?" Alice asked, leaning carefully on his piano.
"I'm worried," he answered, heaving a great sigh as if admitting this made him suffer. "She's recovering, but the prospect of being hurt again rests heavily on her mind even though she doesn't speak it. As it does rest heavily on mine. She's going home tomorrow." He struck a chord, looking up at Alice with concerned eyes. "I'm going to watch over her there too, I just left so that she could speak with her father in peace, besides I think my stress is rubbing off on her."
"Don't worry, we will keep her safe. I'm keeping a watch on her with my visions but I can't see any concrete plan because the other vampires keep switching their minds. It's infuriating." Edward nodded his head at this information and then heaving another sigh went back to playing his piece. Alice decided to leave the boy to his thoughts. She had her own problems to brood over as well. She went up to her room, eager to sketch to ease her tension. The meeting between the wolves and vampires was still ongoing and didn't show signs of ending anytime soon. She could join but something held her back from doing so and she couldn't put a finger on it this time.
She riffled through the stacks of paper in her room, trying to find a suitable canvas when she came across her art book. She flipped it open, Rosalie's portrait staring back at her. Alice had forgotten all about this. She had painted this approximately two months back, that day launching Alice onto the path of leaving abruptly. Looking at it now she noted with disappointment that she still hadn't managed to capture the blonde's full beauty. The paper variation was like looking at the dull version, the picture lacking any of the blonde's real fire and energy. Alice thumbed the corner of the page thoughtfully, her eyes drinking in the image unabashedly. She could stare at this Rosalie all she liked without getting caught or in trouble. It was as close to the real one as she could get, other than Tanya.
Alice bolted upright. That's right! Tanya! She had promised she would contact the blonde when she came back to the Cullen's. Would the other vampire be furious that she hadn't? Alice decided to call her, fishing out her cell phone.
The phone rang three times before a sister picked it up. It was Irina.
"Hello Alice, I assume you are calling for Tanya."
"Yes I am, could I speak with her?"
"Good thing you did because she is quite furious."
"Yes, well there were extenuating circumstances." Alice tried to explain herself to which Irina hummed neither agreeing or disagreeing to. "I'll hand her over now."
Alice waited with baited breath, as the phone switched over. "So you finally called," the voice on the other end was hard and Alice winced. "I'm sorry, I know I said I would call earlier but-"
"But what?" Tanya's voice had a slight accent to it, which always came out when she was really angry.
"Just hear me out love," Alice tried to placate the blonde by calling her pet names. "We were attacked by the Quileutes."
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end, and immediately Tanya was worried for Alice's health. "What happened? Are you alright? Tell me." This was what Alice loved about this girl; that she could be angry but that wasn't her only emotion, she could be happy, sad, bored and most importantly she cared for Alice. This was more than Rosalie was capable of, her default setting being anger or disdain and contempt for everyone around her. Why the blonde had even joined a coven if this was how she was going to act around others, Alice didn't understand.
"It's fine, we're all in one piece. Do you recall how I told you about the attack on Bella?" When Tanya replied in the affirmative, Alice draped herself onto her bed and began the story of what happened. At the end Tanya had scolded her for not being more careful. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself," the girl had said and Alice smiled. "I'll be as safe as a vampire can be." She promised which reassured Tanya for the moment.
"Will you call me tomorrow? I miss you," the voice on the other end of the phone was coy, sending pangs of longing through Alice.
"I will."
"Good, because I really miss you." Tanya's voice had taken on a deeper register. "And our phone call is going to special tomorrow." Alice felt excitement stir in her body and couldn't resist from peeking into the future. "Don't cheat and look into the future," Tanya warned but Alice laughed. "It's too late. Already did. And phone sex sounds great."
Tanya let out a disappointed sigh. "You weren't supposed to look. Now it's not a surprise anymore. I'll have to do something else."
"The Skype chat is a great idea. I like the idea of stripping for each other." Alice agreed and Tanya let out an indignant cry. "Alice, stop ruining all my plans!"
Alice just giggled with glee. "But the image of you in that negligee is just too irresistible. I think I may have to visit that prediction over and over again to tide me over to tomorrow."
"I can't keep up with you honestly," Tanya sighed but there was no true letdown in her voice.
"Except in bed," Alice flirted, "the place that counts the most."
"You only value me for my body, Alice Cullen?" Tanya gasped in mock offense. "I thought you were a woman after my heart, one who valued what was inside."
"Well," Alice flopped down onto her stomach, twirling a finger in her short dark locks. "I do value being inside you..."
This earned her blustered huffs from the other girl. "I can see how you truly are. Good day to you. I want someone to love me for my personality not for my body."
"Coming from a succubus I find that hard to believe," Alice responded and the two resolved into a fit of laughter. When they had calmed down Tanya added in a more serious note, "all this talk of bodies has me hot and heavy. Shall we just do the call now instead of tomorrow?"
Alice was about to respond when a loud cry from downstairs demanded her attention. Heaving a great sigh of reluctance she rolled off her bed. "I'm sorry Tanya, not today. Maybe when it's less chaotic in the house. They need me right now."
There was a frustrated noise on the end of the phone. "That's fine, the wait will just make things sweeter. I hope everything turns out for the better."
"Me too," Alice responded. "I love ya."
"Love you too," was Tanya's reply before Alice cut off the connection.
"Alice!" came Carlisle's cry.
"On my way!" Alice threw open the door to run down when she paused, a familiar scent assaulting her senses. It was Rosalie's. What had the blonde been doing standing outside her door? Had she been eavesdropping? Alice stifled back a groan. Great, just great. The other girl had probably overheard what she had said to Tanya. For some reason this made her feel extremely weird. Was the blonde going to say anything about it?
"Alice!" the pixie shook her head to throw away the thoughts. She had to focus on the more important thing: protecting Bella.
She joined the rest of her family downstairs as they set about discussing the deal they had made with the wolves.
