Chapter VI

"What is it Rosalie?"

"I was a horrible friend to Brann and Eliza." She responded. "Practically a bully."

Alice shook her head. "You were a child then."

"Is that all you're going to say."

She nodded.

"The fact that I was child then doesn't excuse anything." Rosalie responded. "It doesn't make anything right."

"You didn't know any better."

"That doesn't change anything."

"It does." Alice said.

Rosalie said nothing in response to that. "I've never understood why you were so nice to me." She stated. "I don't deserve it."

"You deserve it, you're not so bad."

"I'm a jerk."

"Only sometimes." Alice admitted. "A very rare sometimes."

"And you're a bit of a liar sometimes."

To her surprise Alice nodded.

And Rosalie didn't know what to say to that. "I'm a horrible sister, I never realized what he did to you."

"There's no way you could have known."

"I could have put two and two together. All this time you've shown signs of, in the way you act sometimes." Rosalie admitted. "I was just too blind to-."

"I didn't realize myself until Brann showed up."

"You don't remember, that only makes me feel worse."

"I do remember." Alice objected softly. "Parts of it."

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Rosalie put a hand on each of her shoulders and practically yelled at Alice, who flinched.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Rosalie stated, then added. "Is that why you didn't tell me."

She shook her head. "I didn't tell you because of what Royce did to you."

"What Royce did to me is nothing compared to what Karters did to you."

Alice tried to object but was stopped.

"I spent three months with a man who I thought loved me and in the end he betrayed me. Brutally assaulting me along with five of his friends." When she winced her sister put a hand on her shoulder. "You spent five years in an insane asylum, and if the physical torture wasn't bad enough that perverted man violated you and got you pregnant. Then he abused you in that way for the next four years."

There was a brief pause.

"Which story do you think is worse?"

Once again Rosalie cut her off.

"Mine is better and don't you dare deny it!" Rosalie explained. "You were fifteen for goodness sakes and he was a forty year old doctor. I may be selfish, but I would have to be the most selfish person in the world to think that my story was worse."

"You're not selfish."

"Really, the person I stare at in the mirror a thousand times a day, believes otherwise."

"You're just a little self-centered."

"Very much so."

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"You don't know that I killed him do you?" She was sober.

"Killed who?" Rosalie questioned.

"Him…him- their father."

Rosalie just looked at her.

Alice responded seriously. "I killed Dr. Franklyn Karters."

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"Alice killed him." Bella explained, shocked.

Carlisle, Edward, and Brann appeared to nod in unison.

"But, Alice isn't a killer." Bella reacted.

"Bella, we're vampires." Edward answered emphasizing every word. "Every single one of us is a killer…each and every one."

"Just not of humans."

"We've all had our slip-ups." Emmett responded this time. "Even Esme."

They all nodded save for Bella.

Bella wanted to object but Carlisle spoke first.

"In a way you're all right, Alice really isn't the person that you'd define as being a killer." Carlisle responded. "Bella, she did kill humans in her early days though, yet I don't believe that she ever enjoyed it, not even a little bit."

Brann nodded as well as a few others.

"We've all had our slip-ups and none of us are proud of them." Carlisle continued. "Edward you are right as well. We all are killers, just not sadist ones."

"Meaning you don't torture humans." Bella responded.

"Unless, they're traitor ex-fiancé and co." Emmett reacted.

"Or abusive ex-husbands." Edward added.

"True." Carlisle agreed.

"Boys, no one deserves to be tortured." Esme replied.

"They did." The two boys said in unison to themselves.

"Alice did kill Karters." Carlisle stated. "But she only drained his blood, she didn't torture him."

"He deserved to be tortured." Jasper reacted. "He honestly did. He deserved to have his arms and legs broken, to bleed and bleed and never stop!"

Brann shook his head. "He was a sociopath, you could have tortured him for all eternity. But it wouldn't have mattered, he never would have understood why." He kept shaking his head. "It wouldn't matter.'

"I couldn't care less about that." Jasper responded. "Brann, I honestly couldn't."

"He deserved it more than anyone ever did." Brann agreed. "He just never knew it."

"No one deserves to be killed." Carlisle responded. "But nothing is absolute." Then he added ruefully. "Maybe just maybe Franklyn Karters did."

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"The reason why I killed Royce was not the same reason why you killed Karters."

"How so?"

"My reason was solely revenge." Rosalie stated. "What was yours?"

"I had the feeling that he needed to be killed so that he couldn't hurt anyone." Alice replied then added softly. "Anymore."

Rosalie responded. "All I did was kill six men, who would probably have never hurt anyone else for as long as they lived. What you did was kill the man who'd been abusing girls in that way for over thirty years and was showing no signs of stopping."

Alice said nothing.

"All I did was kill, what you did was save a lot of little girls from being hurt the way you were." Rosalie informed. "I'm a killer, Alice, but you're a hero."

"I'm no hero." Alice responded.

"You are too."

"I'm not proud of what I did."

"So you feel guilty."

"Yes."

"But that's what makes you a hero." Rosalie stated. "You can kill all the bad guys in the world and take all the credit and never regret it- but that doesn't make you a hero that just makes you a cold hard killer. A hero is someone who often has just the opposite reaction."

"I do envy you Alice and it has nothing to do with Brann or Eliza." Rosalie realized. "I envy your character. How can you be so good after all the bad things it's brought you?"

"Would being bad bring good things?"

Rosalie was silent for several moments. "It worked for Rasputin. He was the most powerful man in all Russia…for a while."

"Until he was poisoned with cyanide, shot three times, and thrown in an icy river."

"True…so being bad doesn't always bring good things." Rosalie admitted. "You're still a whole lot better than I am."

"But, you are good, Rosalie."

"Sure and Carlisle went by Franklyn Karters in 1917."

"Rosalie Hale, how could you joke about something like that?!"

"To prove that I'm not good."

"But you're not that bad either." Alice responded. "You're really not."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Rosalie questioned. "Do you really think that's the truth?"

"Of course I do." Alice said. "You're my sister and I love you."

"I couldn't ask for a greater sister." She admitted. "I love you too."

They embraced.