Emmett POV
I ducked the massive paw of the bear as it swatted at me, enjoying the dangerous dance immensely. I wasn't afraid, and perhaps that was foolish, but I adored the thrill of adrenaline these stunts produced. I laughed in the face of death.
What was the motivation in living without the prospect of death?
The angry grizzly came at me again, lunging forward, his jaw shutting with a snap on nothingness as his claws raked thin air an inch from my chest. I laughed again, antagonising the beast. It gave a blind roar of rage and hurled its heavy body at me, knocking the rifle I was holding from my hands, flinging me bodily to the ground.
I lay there, pinned, as a blinding, searing pain burned into my stomach. My vision swam; this time, the claws had found their mark. I grimaced, an agonised cry escaping my lips.
The bear's teeth glistened an inch from my face, and I knew I was done for.
Suddenly, a blurry streak of gold and white collided with the bear, sending it careering backwards with a strangled yelp. Its roars choked off with a gurgling noise. A second snarl took its place; more feral, primitive and dangerous. Another bear was claiming me as its prize, I thought.
My vision was partially obscured; I was seeing spots; but when the haze cleared a little I saw what was standing in front of me, and it most certainly wasn't a bear.
The gold and white blur that had spared me took form, and my pain disappeared. The most beautiful, heavenly, impossible angel stood before me, her wide topaz eyes horrified, her full lips parted in dismay. Her face was whiter than snow, and twice as pristine. Soft waves of hair fell down her back like spun gold, curling at the ends as they reached her waist.
As the angel approached, I felt myself being lifted, felt her cradle me to her chest, and then... she took flight, racing away to deliver me to heaven. I could do nothing but gaze, transfixed at her tender expression, lost in her amber eyes.
Rosalie POV
I had been hunting, balancing along the narrow branch of a spindly tree, seeing how far I could walk without it bending under my weight. I stepped into midair, turning a somersault as the ground rushed up to meet me, and landing softly on the balls of my feet. A giggle of irrepressible delight escaped my lips.
When I was hunting, when I was free to run at my fastest and clear wide rivers in one bound, those were the moments when I all but forgot about my human woes.
Edward and I rarely agreed on anything, but we both loved the freedom of the hunt. We adored the speed. I suppose it was the foundation of our friendship – we were perfectly in synch when we were tuning our cars or racing each other through the forest. I could tell that both Esme and Carlisle were a little disheartened by the fact that neither Edward nor I saw cared for the other in anything but a platonic, brother-sister manner, but I couldn't help the fact that I simply was not attracted to him. It bothered me a little that he extended the same emotions to me, but after witnessing Tanya throw herself at him on every opportunity, I realised that that was merely who he was.
Still, I hated disappointing Esme; she had become much more of a mother to me in the past two years than my own mother had before that. She was a confidant, an ally. A friend. And Carlisle was a teacher, a guide. They were a couple, concretely and absolutely. They lived and breathed as one.
But I had no love of my own, and it pained me.
A roar interrupted my thought process, followed by a human yell of agony. It was only a mile or so through the forest, due north. Perhaps the human could be helped if he – for it was most definitely a he – were in trouble.
I soared through the dense undergrowth, so fast it felt like flying, and then stopped dead when he came into view. My cold heart nearly froze over completely as horror flooded through my dried up arteries.
"Henry?" I cried, frantic. I was being ridiculous. Of course it wasn't Henry. Vera's son would be barely three years old. But those dark curls... those dimples...
Without a moment's pause, I flung myself at the bear, snapping his neck easily in my hands. Barely stopping to change direction, I all but flew to the human's side, gathering him up in one swooping movement. His dark eyes locked on mine, and I was completely mesmerized. He was the most beautiful human I had ever laid eyes on.
I knew what I had to do. I had to save him. I needed Carlisle.
I ran flat out, my urgency spurring me on. I had to make it.
I screamed for Carlisle as I reached our large, white house. "CARLISLE! HELP ME!"
"Rosalie?" Esme asked in confusion, opening the front door to let me pass. Her mouth fell open as she took in the bloody, mauled man in my arms.
"Edward, Carlisle!" I yelled, desperate for anyone to help me. I didn't care who. I knew what I wanted now, what I needed, but I didn't have the strength...
I shot through the door like a bullet from a gun, laying the bleeding man across the sofa. Carlisle was waiting for me with his medical kit, his expression anxious. Edward was gaping at me like I'd lost my mind, seeing where my thoughts were headed.
Carlisle set about opening up the bag, as I, covered in the familiar stranger's blood, hopped from foot to foot, restless and terrified.
"Rosalie, hand me the..."
"You won't need that." I cut across Carlisle before he could finish. "You won't need any of it. I don't want you to fix him." The manic gleam in my eyes was clearly scaring my adoptive parents, but Edward knew the reason behind it. He nodded once to me in agreement.
"What?" Carlisle frowned in confusion.
"Don't fix him... change him." It was a command; that much was evident in my tone.
"Rosalie, I cannot be..." he began, but I cut him off once more.
"Please, Carlisle. Please. Do this for me. He's going to die..." My breathing caught in my throat, and I started to 'cry', the stress consuming me. I couldn't let this beautiful, precious man die. "Don't let him die, Carlisle. Please. Please, please, please!"
I sank to the floor while I grovelled, begging for him to be transformed. It was selfish, foolish, but I needed him to be saved.
"Do it, Carlisle." Edward, the last person I expected to fight my corner, spoke up. "She loves him."
That revelation shocked me. Was I in love? Did I love the stranger before me? Was it possible? A quick nod from Edward told me all I needed to know. Carlisle hesitated, whilst Esme seemed more decided.
"Please, Carlisle, for your daughter. She loves this man. Save him." Now that Esme had spoken, there was no way that Carlisle would disagree with her. He could never make her unhappy; his love for her was so absolute.
"Alright," Carlisle agreed. "But fetch me some water to clean his face afterwards. He's covered in blood."
As was I, though it mattered none.
"Thank you," I breathed, the fervor in my voice so strong it resonated around the room. Edward disappeared to fetch water. Esme dashed upstairs for something else. I stayed with my feet firmly planted as I watched Carlisle bend over my love.
His eyelids flickered, and then opened, and his dark eyes rolled blindly, searching.
"Where are you?" he whispered in a pained voice. "Angel, where did you go?"
Was he talking about me?
"Angel, don't leave me!" he begged in a broken croak.
"I'm right here," I replied softly, moving into his eye line. His eyes stopped the frenetic flickering.
"Stay," he implored me. Like I could leave him now.
"I will," I vowed. "I'll be here the whole time."
"Good," he muttered, and his eyes closed again.
I watched as Carlisle bent over him, as his razor sharp teeth tore at his flesh again and again, my selfish desires eating me up inside.
Emmett POV
My angel was here, that was all that mattered. The searing pain I felt burning through my veins didn't matter. It was my judgement. My angel was here. My angel was here.
But after endless hours of burning, after eternities in agony, I had to wonder whether this wasn't hell after all. God had not looked welcoming to me, he had seemed hesitant, and maybe he had decided to send me to hell after all. But if hell was where I was, why would my angel still be looking down at me with a tortured expression on her glorious face?
"Angel," I croaked, my voice rasping from the sheer magnitude of my pain. She winced as the noise came out. "What's happening to me?"
She merely raised a perfect hand to run her fingers through my hair. "It will all be over soon." Her voice was so beautiful it made me want to cry, something I never did. Lighter than air, softer than silk, and so fluid and hypnotic...
"How soon?" I pleaded, needing to know for sure when my torment would cease.
"Soon. Very soon. You have maybe an hour left. Hold on for me." Her molten gold irises captivated me. I nodded. I would hold on for my angel. The pain was worth it. She was worth it.
I would fight the darkness surrounding me, just by gazing at her beauty.
A low chuckle sounded from across the room, but I couldn't lift my head to see who it was. It sounded like a male voice though.
"What's so funny?" My angel murmured, stroking my face with her forefinger as I writhed in pain.
"It is not night when I do see your face." This voice was as entrancing as my angel's, only velvet rather than silk. I didn't understand what he was saying.
"What does that mean, Edward?" My angel asked brusquely. Her full lips were pursed in annoyance. So her companion was named Edward...?
"It's what he thinks of you, Rosalie." The male voice laughed gently. I was too distracted by the sound of my angel's name. Rosalie... it was perfect, like her.
The fire in my heart seared, and I blanched, as it raced on, galloping faster and faster. I felt sure if my heart beat any more insistently it would give out.
"It's time," my perfect angel Rosalie said.
With one last galumph, my heart was still. To my intense surprise, the pain was gone. I could feel the cool air circulating in my throat as I breathed, and it felt funny. I was almost... indifferent to it. Was I dead?
I blinked rapidly and rubbed my hand across my face. Everything was so clear. It was mesmerizing, unnerving.
"Are you okay?" I recognized the shimmering voice of Rosalie.
Gazing at her with my new eyes... words couldn't describe her perfection. It was almost too much to bear. It almost hurt to look at her; like staring at the sun.
She smiled breathtakingly at me, and if my heart could've stopped again, it would have.
"I'm fine." My own voice was different. It was still deep, but smooth and musical somehow. My skin was palest white, I noticed, as I stretched a hand in front of me.
"What's your name?" A man, the same one I knew to be God, spoke to me. Beside him stood a woman so sweet and dainty and stunning that my jaw dropped a little. She was not the perfection of Rosalie, but still lovelier than any woman I had ever laid eyes on.
"Emmett. Emmett McCarty." I tried to remember what I had been doing prior to this, but it was a bit hazy, like trying to squint through fog. "Do I remember something about a bear?"
A chuckle rang throughout the room. "I like him." I glanced over to see a bronze haired boy, possibly two or three years my junior, leaning against a wall and smirking a sideways smile.
"Emmett, I am Carlisle Cullen, and this is my wife Esme, our son, Edward, and our daughter, Rosalie." I nodded at each of them in turn, not removing my gaze from Rosalie once I had greeted her. She stared back, an enchantress.
"Emmett," she murmured, and I adored the beauty of my name in her voice. "Welcome to our family."
"What kind of family is this, Rosalie?" I asked. She smiled when I said her name.
"We're not human."
"Did I die?"
"No. Not really. It's hard to explain." She bit her lip. "You might be afraid."
"Try me." I grinned.
"We're vampires," Edward chimed in. After a brief second of feeling stunned, I shrugged.
"Cool."
Four pairs of topaz eyes stared at me incredulously, but I sought Rosalie's gaze once more. If such a radiant beauty, such a fantastic creature was a vampire, how bad could it be?
So there I stood. Vampire number five.