Chapter 15: Predator In The Night

"You're welcome, too." I heard Bella eco her words from the restaurant with a mocking bow and returned to my car while I laughed with all I had and sent the second picture, too.

I love this girl!

Rosalie's POV

I was just about to leap forward and break the neck of the deer I picked as my meal when my phone vibrated and scared the whole herd away.

Damn it!

I could still catch it; I was way faster than any living thing could hope to run. Instead I sighted and opened my phone. I could track them down later, anyway.

As soon as I saw the picture I knew my dear husband had something to do with it. I couldn't decide whether I was proud of him for accomplishing his long standing goal to prank Edward or mad at him for being so childish after all this decades we lived through. One would think he'd grown up, but he never did.

Aw, who am I kidding? That's one of many reasons why I love him.

So I ran home to congratulate him… and maybe award him too, if you catch my meaning. It's sort of a game we're playing; he accomplishes something we both know it's hard for him and I give him a reward he can never refuse and will never forget. It was how he learned to control his thirst, too. Baby steps with lots of encouraging rewards.

And anyway the picture was hilarious!

I was quite far from Forks, as we were trying not to draw attention to the diminishing animal populations, so it was some 20 minutes before I saw the house between the trees.

I could hear Alice laugh and Edward grumble as Esme declared: "This is an important memory so I'm going to frame it. And no you don't get a say in it!"

"Alright, alright! Have it framed, but keep it in your bedroom. I don't want people seeing that one!"

"I still can't believe they did it!" Alice said, her voice filled with joy. "If they keep it up we're screwed." She added thoughtfully.

"Language, dear." Was Esme's automatic reply. By this time I was walking through the front door and scanning the gathered vampires. They were all there except…

"So where's the pranking husband of mine?"

"Planning the next attack, I bet." Edward grumbled. "I hope it's one of you next."

"I think you just don't like the even playground, is all." Laughed Jasper.

"Welcome to the pranked club, son." I heard Carlisle add before I was out of hearing range, following Emmet's trail.

And would you look at where it led me. This must've been how he accomplished it. Private mind is a strong weapon against mind-readers, after all. The slow human who doesn't realise the danger.

I growled. What does it take to get it through her head?!

I jumped at her open window with my mate's scent all over it and spotted her in her bed. She's so careless! So stupidly naïve!

And her heart was beating fast, her breath coming short. Did she know I was here? Did she finally realise the danger she was in around us?

I quirked my brow at the noise she made. I guess it was too much to ask for. She was just dreaming.

I growled loudly to wake her up. She sucked in her breath when she spotted me with her sleepy gaze.

"Am I dreaming?" She whispered. I took a deep breath and to my utter frustration I couldn't detect any fear at all! Oh there were lots of different hints of emotions she was going through, but none of them was fear.

"But I think this one's my own." She continued. I growled again and launched at her grabbing her by the neck and pinned her down with my bond so she couldn't move away. I'll teach her why she should be afraid!

"Oh, you're not dreaming, human." I assured her with a menacing voice. I quirked my lips as her heart skipped a beat and she grabbed my hand. Oh, she was awake now. I tightened my grip slightly. And then she chuckled. Chuckled!

"I didn't know you're into the sado-maso kind of kinky." She breathed. I loosened my grip a bit as I noticed she's probably struggling for breath. What was she talking about, anyway?

"Sado-maso?"

"You know… one's a sadist and the other a masochist so they fit perfectly with the kinky stuff. I guess you'd be the sadist here since you're the vampire. Can't say I'd mind, really…" She kept talking while my brain tried to catch up with what she said before. How did she even turn this situation in that direction?! "Do you want to bite my neck?" She then asked, still breathlessly, exposing it even more than my grip did. My eyes zeroed in on her rapid pulse.

The hunger inside me started to rise and I subconsciously started to run my thumb over the pulsing vein. With every breath I took I was assaulted with her sweet smell and I had to lick my lips and swallow the venom that threatened to spill other ways.

"Do you want to bite hard enough to break the skin?" I heard a raspy voice. "Hard enough to taste my blood?" Oh, yes. I wanted all of that. I wanted it badly. I leaned loser to the point I was focused on and breathed in deeply. The smell was intoxicating, the rapid heartbeat was clouding my mind and drawing me closer, deeper. I licked my lips again. Why was I resisting this urge again?

I breathed out and watched the goose-bumps spread where my breath touched the skin. A hand on my lower-back urged me to do it, to lean in and bite the neck. I swallowed the venom again and leaned in to give it a testing lick along the vein. Even her skin promised exquisite blood inside. I could almost taste it!

A moan woke me from my trans. What was I doing?! I was way past this shit. I looked at the human girl with wide eyes. I almost killed her! If my heart was still beating it would threaten to jump out of my ribcage right now. Stupid, stupid Rosalie! No! Stupid, crazy human! What was she thinking?!

"Are you crazy?!" I yelled-whispered at her. "I was this close to biting you for real!" I breathed, my thumb and pointing finger almost touching. She blinked a few times focusing her eyes on me and took a deep breath.

"Well, shit."

"Seriously?! That's all you have to say? Shit?! I almost killed you right now and you were encouraging me! practically begging me to do it!"

"I didn't beg!" She spat back crossing her arms underneath me. "And it was your fault coming in here waking me up from the dream I had!"

"My fault?! How was I supposed to know what dream you're having? What does this have to do with anything, anyway?" What was I even doing here arguing with her? I came here to teach her to be afraid of her predators, not have this absurd debate with one!

"Nothing! It has nothing to do with it." she assured me all too quickly blushing madly. Wait what kind of dream did she have? "Forget I said anything."

"Forget? You know you're talking to a vampire right?" I asked incredulously. I never even heard of a vampire forgetting something after the turning. Not connect with something relevant? Possible. There are idiots among every species. Completely forget something happened? Only possible if someone with that power erased it from their mind and I can't think of anyone who has that power.

"Yeah, I know." She sighed "Believe me, I know." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "So how come you came here, anyway?"

"I was tracking my husband."

"This sounds way creepier than it actually is." She said with a small chuckle and then continued helpfully not minding the almost-not-there-space between us. "He left a few minutes before you came, I suppose. I was really tired." Something clicked in me and I made a quick (and admittedly wrong) conclusion and instinct took hold. It was my mate she was talking about! I can't say the previous conversation helped, either.

Growling I picked her up roughly and ran outside, through the forest and up the steep mountain. This also gave me time to think on her words and if I was honest I could've turned around before we were out of Forks, but I wanted her to finally, finally realise the danger we pose.

I adjusted my grip on her so she wouldn't hurt so much and she latched onto me showing the wrong kind of fear. This human really was crazy. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Threatening it is then.

I stopped abruptly at the edge of a stomach-twisting precipice and held her away from my body so she dangled above it helplessly.

"Uh, Rose. What are you doing?" She asked nervously eying the empty space beneath her.

"Teaching you how to be properly afraid for your life." I stated calmly.

"It's kind of working, you know…"

"…"

"Rose, you can stop now…" She said more urgently.

"…"

"Rose, please! Put me down!"

"Oh, you want me to put you down? Okay." And I let go of her. I saw the moment she realised it; her eyed widened, her hearth did its best to escape from her falling body, she sucked in a breath sharply and her body stiffened and sent a strong wave of adrenaline my way before I heard her along with anyone who happened to be in the valley:

"NO! ROSE! AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa…" Ahh, music to my ears. "Are you crazy?!" I heard a distant eco. Okay, maybe a little too distant. I really didn't think this one through, did I? Oh, joy, now I have to go and get her. I sighed and launched after her.

It didn't take long. It was filled with her screaming. And my head started hurting. And then I finally met her right before she hit the ground as I launched to catch her in the air so she had some benefit from me doing it. Just imagine the gore I'd have to clean from myself other ways.

She was clutching at me with some very vampire like level of strength, breathing hard and shaking badly for a few minutes and I was already congratulating myself on lesion taught. Now I just had to apply it to us, vampires. And then she ruined it when her breathing turned into hysterical laughter. What a stress reliever it must've been because her shaking stopped and her grip loosened gradually until she was just a bundle of excitement.

"Let's do that again!" Crazy. Bloody. Fucking. Human. Idiot! How? How?! How can she do it?! This is way past the breaking point. She's gone completely bonkers and lost all her self-preservation instincts.

"No." I refused to indulge her craziness any longer and let her fall on her butt.

"Ow! Why did you do that for?!" And that was it. That question ruined any control I had left. The way she asked it. Like accusing me for letting her touch the ground but not for dropping her. Accusing me for not repeating the drop again but not for doing it in the first place. Accusing me for causing her butt to bruise but not for threatening her life!

"Why did I do that for?! I tried to instil some self-preservation instincts in you, you stupid human! I tried to show you how dangerous we can be, and are! I tried to warn you to save yourself and keep away from us! But, nooo! You just don't get it! You don't even realise you almost died at least thrice today only by my hand and I know you were with Alice the whole day and then pranked Edward and then let my mate in your bedroom like we are humans. WE ARE NOT! WE ARE VAMPIRES! We squeeze a little too tight and we break your bones, we forget ourselves or even a second and we drink you dry, we walk a little too fast and we give you a whip-lash, for God's sake! You're like an injured lamb and we're a pack of starved wolves! We can tear you to pieces with minimum effort and then make it seem like an animal attack or car crash. I could've just let you fall now and no one would even suspect foul play and that is if they even found your body soon enough to recognise your remains. WE ARE DANGEROUS! And you're our natural prey. So, please, tell me, why don't you care if you live or die? Because that seems to be the only problem in this situation; The restrained pack of predators met the only pray that just WON'T. RUN. AWAY!" My voice kept rising through my speech until I was shouting at the end and growling at the same time. I can't remember ever using this kind of voice before and it eerily reminded me of an angry devil in some of the movies Emmet liked to watch now and then. I think it was about possessed people or something of the like.

The silence was my answer. Even nature seamed to still and I could only hear a slight trickling of the nearby river and the steadily beating heart in front of me.

"Oh."

"Oh?!"

"I forgot about that…"

"You… urgh… What?"

"You… heh… I really should've remembered this. It would save so much trouble right now." I could feel my eye twitching along with my spasming arm.

"What," I said through my clenched teeth, "are you talking about?" For some reason I got a feeling like I was talking to Alice. A much more spaced out and crazy Alice. Like she knew me well enough to know something I didn't shout at her face even before I do. Or when she has a vision and can't determine if it already happened and we know about it or not.

"Okay here it goes… I knew about the vampires before I met your family so I would have to choose vampirism or death sooner or later and I like the vampire option a lot all on its own, to be honest. I talked to Carlisle about it and we decided to wait for a bit longer so I can experience adrenaline like I won't be able to after I change, because that'll probably be the only thing I'll miss. And you gave me one of the best adrenaline rushes right now so thank you. I also know why you're so against tuning humans into vampires and I want you to know that I am a 100% willing participant and the thing you regret most I couldn't have as a human either so it doesn't affect me. Also you could always adopt, you know. And I'm sorry I forgot to tell you this before." She concluded with a grimace and a chastised look on her face. I let my brain process and tick all the points she made until I stumbled over the adoption part and backtracked.

"You can't have kids?" My heart fell at the thought of it.

"Not as much can't physically as won't sexually." She must have seen my confusion as she added: "I play for the other team." She gave me an expectant look and then sighed. "I like woman, alright?"

"Oh."

"Yes, oh. That's why I reacted like I did before. What you did…" she said touching the spot on her neck I remember tasting. "It was quite… arousing." I thought back on the conversation that followed.

"And the dream you were having…" She blushed furiously and I remember the little sound she made before I woke her up. And then I practically straddled her and went ahead and licked her… Oh.

"Yeah."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. I liked it, you know… it's just that you didn't know and I don't want you to feel awkward about it…"

"Well it is unexpected… but I don't think it will be a problem. Just don't expect me to wake you up like that anymore. You'd have to fight a really big and strong vampire for me." I said to lighten the mood. I could tell she was nervous about my reaction. She gave a small laugh and a grateful look.

"I will dream about it." She winked. "Besides Emmet would probably want to watch, anyway."

"Now that is a true statement if I ever heard one." We both finally relaxed enough to laugh at it properly.

"Uh, Rose…" Bella shivered and looked down at her clothes. "I'm still in my jammies. Do you think you can take me back to my room? Though it's not like I'll be able to sleep after that stunt." We both looked up and I saw her shiver even harder when she saw in the moonlight how high up the top was. I may have over reacted with it. I admitted to myself, though I'll never admit it to her.


Hi! Sorry, I'm a week late... I got caught up in Crusader Kings 2. I'd say it won't happen again, but it probably will so I hope I made it up to you with an exciting chapter.

Finally some Rose-Bella action, huh? :3 I just want to point out its hard to draw a clear line between a vampire reacting to lust and a vampire reacting to hunger. They are made so they draw their pray in with their good looks and such so they naturally act like it, too. At least in my head they do.

The chapter was inspired by a YouTuber DavidSuperTramp and his friends that went rope swinging and a special clip was uploaded about this girl who was trying to jump for a really long time before her boyfriend finally pushed her off the cliff and after her scream on the way down you could hear her shout at him "I'm breaking up with you!". I watched an re-watched that video a thousand times and cried from laughter each and every one of them and when I was searching for it for this chapter I found out it even made it on the news! But I, sadly, couldn't find it again so they probably took it down after the news scandal.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. I hope you liked it and let me know what you think in reviews.

Ciao!