A/N I've been debating whether this is necessary but I am putting a very minor T/W here for implied attempted rape in the last scene, but it won't necessarily be interpreted that way by everyone, I just wanted to air on the side of caution here.

On a lighter note, The Vampire Diaries tv show came out years earlier in this universe just for the sake of a joke I have in here just encase anyone questions it lol

Chapter eleven

Emma took a deep breath, even though she knew right now that she really didn't need to anymore. She had spent the past couple of days avoiding Rowan because she felt so damn guilty about what she had done with Talia. Even if she and Rowan had yet to actually define their relationship that didn't change the fact that she wasn't the type of person to be with more than one person at a time even if she did have permission. The blonde just felt weird about the whole situation and she decided that she wouldn't be able to avoid Rowan any longer without potentially insulting her and her father. She didn't want to go back to living outside of the clan again, so she decided that she would just have to tell her (or the other vampire would just read her mind and know the instant that she walked into a room).

She expertly made her way through the hallways of the lodgings above the club and she finally made it to the door she had been to many times since she had arrived her.

It wasn't as though she and Rowan were exactly dating considering most of their time together comprised of sex and the occasional cuddle. It was certainly enjoyable to be around the beautiful woman but she was sure that they had never experienced the kind of connection that she had imagined having when she was younger. She used to think that she had experienced it when she was with Neal, but she just knew now that couldn't be right. He may have been her first love but there was no chance in hell that he was ever the one that she was supposed to be with and she was fairly certain that the same was true about Rowan. However, she was also sure that she didn't understand how love worked with immortal beings anyway, so she was just overall confused about everything.

She stood stock still for a moment before the door was yanked open and the grey-eyed woman on the other side crossed her arms over her chest with a smirk.

"You know, most people knock, Swan?" Rowan asked.

Emma swallowed hard, instantly expecting the woman to read her mind and realise what had happened. When there was no reaction, apart from some confusion at the fact that there was a motionless vampire at her door, the younger woman's frown deepened. She wasn't sure whether it was because Rowan was currently not reading her mind or whether it was because she honestly didn't care about her being with another person.

"Swan?" Rowan asked cautiously.

"I…need to tell you something…" Emma finally admitted.

The brunette frowned and nodded as she stepped back to invite the woman into her room. She had been able to tell that there was something playing on the blonde's mind since she had opened the door, but the strange thing was that she wasn't able to tell exactly what that thing could have been. She hadn't worried about it too much in the moment, but now that she thought about it, there was never and incident where she hadn't been able to read another person's mind since she had first developed the power, she had just gotten better at filtering out all of the noise. However, when she actively tried to see what was wrong with the blonde, it almost felt as though there was something blocking her ability.

Emma walked past her and Rowan closed the door as she turned around to watch the blonde go and sit on one of the arm chairs. As the daughter of the clan leader, it was only natural that her father would want her to have the best room in the building, which meant that she didn't have to share with anyone and her room was basically a chamber from a palace.

Rowan went and sat opposite her and raised an expectant eyebrow at the younger immortal.

"What's up, Emma?" She asked.

"A couple nights ago, me and Talia decided that we wanted to see if it was possible for a vampire to actually get drunk…" Emma began and Rowan nodded for her to continue, "well…we each drank about ten bottles of vodka and…"

"And you slept together?" Rowan supplied.

The blonde blinked a couple times and nodded, "you read my mind?" She asked, sounding slightly relieved since that would mean that she knew and that she wasn't angry, which also meant that she didn't see it was infidelity.

"No…" Rowan replied slowly, "I sensed that there was something bothering you…but I was unable to tell what exactly what you were thinking…"

Emma tilted her head and inspected the expression on the other woman's face. She looked to be a mix between confused and slightly afraid. She had obviously never been able to not read another person's mind, but she had no idea what it could possibly mean that she was unable to.

"What does that mean?" The blonde asked.

Rowan stopped worrying at her lip and tried to offer a reassuring smile but it looked somewhat tight. It was obvious that this was bothering her more than she was willing to let on.

"Rowan," Emma said, "what's going on?"

"I…" Rowan stopped herself from saying what she was thinking and leaned forward to place a hand onto the other woman's hand. "I'm just thinking about a possibility. I could be completely wrong, it's nothing to worry about until I'm able to confirm my suspicion..."

"Is there something wrong with me?' The blonde asked, with fear taking over her features. She didn't think that she would be able to deal with the idea of not fitting in with vampires, she wouldn't be able to live forever in a world whereby she didn't really fit in with vampires or normal mortals.

"No, no, it's nothing to do with you," Rowan replied quickly, though she didn't offer any further explanation. She was sure that she was blowing this way out of proportion since all she knew was that she was unable to read her mind about what had happened. It could just mean that her power wasn't as reliable as she had first thought, but she couldn't help but think about a story that her father had told her that had ended the same way.

"So you're not mad at me?' Emma asked, looking down at her lap.

In that moment, Rowan allowed herself to put aside the thought of her suspicions. This time, she offered the other woman a reassuring smile.

"Em, the time that we have spent together has been great, but you must know that we're not mates?"

The blonde frowned, "mates?"

Rowan sighed, she hadn't realised just how little the Hunters knew about vampires, then again, she supposed that they didn't really think of their prey as people who are capable of complex emotions such as love.

"Every vampire has a person who they are destined to be with, you feel this intense love where you want to do anything and everything to make sure that person is happy. It's hard to explain...it's like True Love I guess…"

Emma took this in for a moment as she considered whether she had ever experienced anything like that. She was fairly certain that she hadn't even loved Neal enough to want to do anything for him, but that could just be because she knew how that whole thing had ended.

"And…I'll know when I meet that person?" Emma asked, feeling slightly afraid at the prospect of feeling so deeply for another person.

"Assuming you're lucky enough to," Rowan shrugged, "you can live forever, but there's still the distinct chance that you will never meet your mate. Or they could have died before you were even born. You should never live your life looking for your mate, it will only lead to misery. Vampires can love and be with others, but they will never feel as deeply as they think they should about anyone unless they meet their mate…"

"Have you met your mate?" The blonde asked and instantly regretted the question when a dark look passed over her face.

"My mate was a mortal," Rowan replied, but made no attempt to give any more details.

Emma opened her mouth to offer some kind of condolence, but she could tell that there was nothing that she could say that would make the brunette would feel better about what had happened.

It was for this reason that she instead placed her hand free hand on top of Rowan's and squeezed it, hoping that she was able to convey everything that she was unable to say.

A silence passed between them as Emma took in everything that she had been told. She would have never have thought that love would be so complicated for vampires. She figured that as long as she fell in love with another vampire, she would be able to live without all of the tragedy that came along with loving someone who she was going to outlive by centuries. The thought of falling in love with a mortal terrified her though. It seemed like a cruel joke for someone who she would be guaranteed to lose would be the person she was supposed to be with, especially if she would never be able to feel the same way again about another.

Emma finally realised that her hand was still on Rowan's and she smiled at the woman who suddenly had a very faraway look in her eyes. She was obviously thinking about whoever her mate was. But she blinked out of the memories and looked over to Emma with a smile.

She was reminded of what had been bothering her a few moments ago. She considered that she should just go straight to her father and tell him what she thought could be happening, but then she was reminded that this was the first time that she had seen the adorable blonde woman in a couple of days.

As much as she knew that she would never feel an intense, unattainable connection to the blonde, she knew that she could one day learn to love her. She certainly enjoyed her company above all others.

"You know, there's a new episode of Vampire Diaries…" Rowan said with a smile.

Emma mirrored the smile, "you spend every episode pointing out why it's wrong…"

"It's funny," the brunette laughed.

"It's not a comedy, Ro," Emma chuckled, though she was already standing up to look for the remote.

S

Regina took a deep breath as the smoke dissipated and she looked around her living room.

The brunette blinked a couple of times and tried to process what had just happened. It had been as if her entire mind had been infiltrated by the vampire's words and she had felt this uncontrollable anger. She had felt as though all she wanted to do was to shut the woman up, but now that she was no longer in the station, all of that anger fell away and all she felt was ashamed at the way that she had acted. She hadn't felt that kind of need to hurt someone since she was the Evil Queen and she thought that was something that she finally had control over now that she was one of heroes.

Finally, the Mayor looked over to the sheriff who still had a hand on her shoulder, the blonde seemed very much unwilling to actually open her mouth to say anything, since she didn't know where to begin.

"What the hell just happened?" Regina finally said when it became evident that her girlfriend wasn't going to be the first to speak.

Emma sighed and removed her hand from the mayor's shoulder as she walked over to the couch to take a seat onto the couch as she considered exactly what she wanted to tell the woman.

"After we joined the clan, Talia...developed the ability to read minds after…something happened…"

Regina tilted her head and tilted her head at the vampire, she was sure that she saw a hue of blush forming across her cheeks but she had no idea what could have possibly happened to make the saviour embarrassed. Instead of questioning her on her choice of words though, she just went over to sit next to her.

"Vampires can…develop abilities?" Regina asked as she placed a reassuring hand on her girlfriend's knee to show her that she was okay. In all of the accounts that she had read about in the Enchanted Forest, vampires usually had their abilities set for them the moment that they turned and it would usually only take them about a month or two to realise all of their new powers.

"Not usually," Emma sighed, "Rowan told me that it shouldn't have been possible…"

The blonde froze halfway through her sentence and swallowed hard when she realised that she had never actually told Regina about Rowan. When she had mentioned joining the clan, she just said that she met a girl who had helped them fast track joining the clan, but she had never given a name. In fact, this may have been the first time that she had said that name since the day that she had left the clan.

Regina frowned at the look on her face and asked, "who's Rowan?"

"She…is…was…the daughter of the leader of the daughter of the leader of the clan…" Emma replied after a moment of consideration. She didn't want to start a conversation about her ex-girlfriend with her mate, at least not yet. She may have been fully aware of the fact that she and Rowan were never meant to be together, but that didn't meant that she never loved her or that she didn't mean anything to her. "The point is that Talia shouldn't have been able to develop new abilities, which made her…dangerous…"

The former Evil Queen opened and closed her mouth a few times. She wanted to ask more, but she could tell by the look on her face that her girlfriend wasn't ready to talk about it. She certainly wouldn't feel ready to strike up a conversation about Daniel if the subject arose, so she chose not to push the subject. She was sure that the blonde would eventually tell her more about this Rowan woman when she felt prepared and when their town wasn't being threatened by the presence of the woman who had turned her into a vampire.

"I thought that Talia was your best friend?" Regina asked instead of bringing up Rowan.

Emma smiled gratefully at her for a moment, before her smile dropped and she shook her head, "the operative word being 'was'. After…she started developing her new abilities, she became a completely different person. She was obessessive and crazy and she betrayed everyone…"

Regina nodded, sensing that she wouldn't be getting more specifics in this moment and she shifted closer to the vampire so that she could clasp her her instead of her knee.

"And you think that she is still the same now?"

"She managed to find a town that technically doesn't exist…she used your thoughts against you…from what I can see, she hasn't changed at all…" Emma sniffed as she looked down at their conjoined hands and brought her other hand over so that she could lightly play with Regina's fingers.

"But you have, Emma," Regina insisted and the blonde frowned as she looked into her girlfriend's eyes questioningly. "You're not the same woman who used to live with a clan above a night club. You're the saviour of Storybrooke and you have achieved more in your short time here than she could possibly hope to achieve in the next 100 years. I bet that Talia has never thrown a sword into a dragon's gut."

Emma smiled slightly at this as she looked back down to her lap, "to be fair, that would probably be more from a lack of opportunity."

"That's not the point," Regina sighed in exasperation, "you have got through every single crisis that this town had to offer and you're still here."

"Only because you were there with me every time," the blonde muttered as she continued to play with Regina's fingers.

"Hey," Regina said softly and waited a few moments for the sheriff to look up at her again so that she could lean forward and connect their lips in a sweet, chaste kiss, "I'm right here and if Talia does try anything, we can stop her together. She'll just be another crisis that we got through ."

Emma frowned for a moment, before she leaned forward again and connected their lips again, this time the kiss lasted longer than a single second.

When she finally leaned back, she said, "please just promise me that you'll stay away from her until I find out exactly why she's here?"

"I promise," Regina replied instantly.

Emma turned over on her side and smiled when she felt a body next to her.

It had been a week since she had been shocked to discover that she was lying next to her best friend and she hadn't seen the woman since.

She had, of course, returned to their room every day to get changed and washed, but she had always timed it precisely to ensure that she wouldn't run into Talia. The brunette woman had started taking some shifts at one of the restaurants that the clan owned, which meant that Emma always knew exactly when to go to the room to make sure that she wouldn't run into the woman.

They had exchanged some texts over the past week, but they were nowhere need at the volume that they had before. It was usually just short, curt messages to confirm when one would be in the room and to arrange some events that Emma had been systematically coming up with excuses about.

It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with the woman, but she found that the thought of doing so actually made her nervous. Since that fateful night, she had felt as if something had shifted in the dynamic of their relationship and she was actually afraid of seeing her again since it would only confirm her suspicions. She didn't want their friendship to be over, but at the same time, she knew that she was doing more damage than good by actively avoiding the woman.

Plus, there was also the fact that she was worried about Rowan's suspicions from the week before. After a conversation with her father, she had assured Emma that she had just been overacting and that she didn't have any proof for what she thought was about to happen, she had simply been looking too far into a situation. Emma could still tell that the woman was tense, however, despite what her father had told her about powers not always being completely reliable, since she still refused to tell the younger woman what she thought was going to happen.

"Stop thinking so loudly," Rowan groaned and Emma smirked at her as the brunette burrowed further into her mind. She had actually gotten slightly used to the idea that her girlfriend knew everything that she was thinking, but she was more than grateful at the fact that she didn't force her to talk about every thought that she had, unless she thought it was funny of course. "It's the morning, Swan, you shouldn't be thinking so hard this early in the morning," she added after a moment of silence.

Emma laughed and sat up, which forced the other woman to sit up as well when her pillow moved.

Rowan pouted up at the woman and Emma just smirked at her when she leaned back against her, "I have work in half an hour," the blonde announced when she found that she was completely unable to move.

Rowan just shook her head, "the bar can survive without you, it's only the hardcore alcoholics who come in at this time, besides, you have some pull with the owner."

"That is what you said yesterday," Emma sighed, though it was half-hearted as she recalled the day that she'd had yesterday. It didn't involve a lot of getting out of bed. "Eventually, they will replace me."

"Which would mean that you get to spend more time with me," Rowan shot back as she snaked her arm around the younger woman's waist and pushed herself up so that she could begin placing light kisses to her neck.

Emma's eyes fluttered shut and she allowed this to happen for a few moments, before she shook her head and pushed her away lightly.

Rowan pouted and the blonde leaned forward to steal a kiss before she said, "you don't want a poor girlfriend, do you?"

"I can think of plenty of things that we can do for free," Rowan smirked as she wiggled her eyebrows.

Emma just mirrored her smirk and shook her head, "after yesterday, I think that we could both use a break."

Rowan pouted again as her girlfriend stood from the bed, "we're still meeting later, right?"

"Of course," Emma replied as she leaned down to steal another kiss before she began to make her way towards the door.

The blonde smiled broadly as she made her way down the hallway back to her room. She was beginning to wish that she had at least brought her uniform with her to Rowan's room, she would have at least been able to spend a little longer in bed if she had. To be honest though, she was pretty sure that she wouldn't have made it to work yet again, Rowan was very convincing.

As she thought about their date plans later that night, she forgot to even consider the fact that there could be anyone in her room since Talia was supposed to be at work at this time.

However, when she opened the door, she knew instantly that she wasn't alone, Talia's scent was a lot stronger than she had smelt in a week, which could only mean that she was actually here.

The moment she shut the door behind her, Emma's eyes widened when the brunette walked out of the bedroom area with a frown deeply set on her face.

"Hey, Tali," Emma smiled once she had moved past her initial shock, "I thought that you had work."

"And that makes it okay?" The other woman asked.

The blonde stopped in her tracks and finally took a moment to inspect the other woman. She was paler than usual and her hair appeared to not have been brushed for a few days. Emma could only imagine that the restaurant had told her not to return until she felt better. If the future saviour didn't know any better, she would think that the woman had the flu, but not having a beating heart made for a pretty good immune system.

"Err…what do you mean?" Emma asked as she subconsciously took a step back. Talia had this faraway look in her eyes, it was almost as if she wasn't the same person who she had drank ten bottles of vodka with the previous week. She had known that their first meeting since she had been avoiding her would be awkward, but she'd had no idea that it could possibly be this bad. The woman looked furious with her.

"You left me alone for a week," the brunette replied with venom dripping through each of her words. "I know what you were doing, Emma, you was off fucking that whore while I was alone here. How could you do this to me?"

The blonde opened and closed her mouth a few times, before she finally said rather defensively, "Rowan is my girlfriend."

"It isn't really the most romantic of relationships, Swan," Talia sneered, "I can see it in your mind. You know that she isn't your mate, so why are you wasting your time with her?"

Emma swallowed hard and shook her head, Talia couldn't read minds, she would've noticed if the woman she had lived with for a year could read minds. It would have certainly shortened many of their arguments.

"You…can't read minds…Talia, what is going on with you?" Emma asked, she took a step forward to go and comfort her friend, but her steps quickly faltered, the idea of going near this woman scared her more than she thought it should.

The brunette seemed to completely ignore this as she replied, "you can't just spend all your time with her, what about me?!"

"I…" Emma trailed off when she realised that she had nothing to say in return. Even if she was acting manic in this moment, she did have a good point. She shouldn't have been avoiding her best friend, but for all she knew, they would have just had this conversation a lot sooner. The only difference would probably be that Talia wouldn't have looked nearly as…broken.

When words failed the blonde, Talia's eyes glowed red and she began to take steps towards her.

Emma swallowed hard when she noticed that her eyes were a deeper crimson than she had ever seen them, even when they had run out of a blonde source for a couple days during a move, her eyes hadn't turned this intense.

"Talia…" the blonde tried as she began to take steps back towards the door, "we can spend time together any time you want, but I need to get to work right now…"

"You missed work for Rowan," Talia growled.

"I…" Emma began.

"Don't lie to me!" Talia shouted.

The blonde swallowed hard again and clamped her mouth shut. She had been thinking about saying that she didn't feel well today, but if the brunette was telling the truth about being able to read minds, she had obviously heard the lie before it had left her mouth.

Instead of saying anything else, Emma's hand went to clasp the door knob. She figured that she could steal a polo shirt from someone's locker. However, when she went to twist the knob, Talia fangs protracted and she rushed forward in a blur of motion.

Emma swallowed hard as she felt the nails sink into her shoulders and she was pulled against the nearest wall.

"You're mine!" Talia growled and Emma found herself unable to move.

The blonde struggled for a moment as she felt the hot air being breathed onto her face, but she was nowhere near as strong as the woman who had turned her.

Emma closed her eyes tightly, wishing that this was just a dream and if it was, she really wanted to wake up so she wouldn't have to find out what was going to happen next.

However, she felt the pressure on her shoulders completely disappear and a crunching sound from across the room. She stood unmoving for a moment, before she opened her eyes to see Talia laying prone across the room.

Emma stared at her for a moment before she turned to look at her saviour.

Rowan stood in the middle of the room, with her fangs protracted and her eyes glowing red with pure fury. The blonde would later find out that Rowan had decided to walk to her room to try and convince her once again that she didn't need to go to work, but in that moment all the blonde could think about was just how grateful she was.

Rowan looked over to the unconscious form of Talia and looked back over to Emma, "I don't think that you can go to work after all, Swan."

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