Butler, TN

1936

Rosalie could smell the blood.

She could almost taste it on her tongue.

Like pure, southern honey.

The growls and gurgled screams echoed in the dense forest.

They drove her forward as she tore through the trees.

"Emmett, stop!"

When she found them, there was no time to think or hesitate. The poor girl in her husband's grasp was hanging on by a thread.

Rosalie tackled him to the ground, and a fight ensued. She was no match for him and she knew it. His strength was unrivaled by anyone in their coven.

Thankfully, they were right on her heels.

Just when Emmett escaped her grasp and launched himself at the poor human again, Carlisle and Edward burst through the trees to tackle him down.

Emmett was no match for them.

Rosalie kneeled beside him while the two men held him down. She tried to calm him, but it was no use. He'd already tasted the woman's blood.

Yards away, the woman on the ground began to scream.

Esme brushed unruly ginger curls away from the woman's face and frowned.

"She's going to turn."

"Rose, why don't you help Esme," Carlisle said. "Edward and I will take Emmett for a hunt and return home shortly."

Rosalie couldn't be bothered to care about the woman when her husband was in such distress. Her only thought was helping him regain control.

"Rosalie."

Esme's stern voice left no room for argument.

She briefly stopped to watch Emmett being dragged away, fighting and frothing at the mouth, before rushing to Esme.

She kneeled beside the writhing woman and frowned at the massive chunk of flesh her husband had taken out of her neck.

The gore made her stomach turn.

"Are you alright? There is a lot of blood."

"I'm not thirsty," Rosalie said truthfully.

The smell was there, and it was appetizing, but she did not feel the desire to attack the poor human. She'd been through enough already.

"Let's get her home."

Esme was taken aback by her self-control.

She was only three years old, and yet being around a bleeding human was nothing to her. She silently praised her daughter.

Once they arrived at the cabin, they focused on cleaning the woman up and changing her blood soaked clothing.

Gently, Rosalie washed dirt and dried blood off of her heavily freckled face with a cool towel.

Amber eyes traced her agonized features while the woman writhed and screamed in pain. The sight caused a strange ache to emerge in her bosom.

"She is quite beautiful, isn't she?"

Rosalie nodded distractedly.

"I feel terrible for her."

"Why," Esme queried. "Is this life so miserable?"

"It isn't about me. She was out hunting deer. No doubt, she was doing so to put food on the table for her family. She didn't deserve this."

Esme sighed quietly.

"No, she didn't, but we are going to welcome her into our family now."

For a brief moment, the woman opened her eyes, revealing brilliant green irises.

Rosalie found herself lost in them.

While they gazed at one another, the woman's screams quieted until they were only moans and gasps for air.

"It's going to be alright," Rosalie muttered subconsciously. "This won't last forever."

She took her feverish hand and the woman squeezed it hard. As though the vampire were her only lifeline.

There was such pain and terror in her eyes. All Rosalie wanted to do was take it away, but she couldn't. The pain had only just begun.

She barely noticed when Carlisle entered the room.

"How is Emmett?"

"He and Edward are still out hunting. He won't be allowed to return until this young lady finishes the change."

Rosalie tore her eyes away from the human to question her father.

"Why?"

"She is his singer," Carlisle explained. "If he comes back now, he will attack again."

A low growl rumbled in Rosalie's chest, taking her and the other two vampires off guard. She frowned, unsure why she responded to his words that way.

Carlisle offered her a soft smile.

"I understand, Rose, but the change will be over before you know it and Emmett will return to your side."

She silently nodded, feeling overwhelmed by everything that had transpired in the last hour.

She needed air.

She needed to be alone.

"I need a moment," Rosalie said hesitantly.

"Will you stay with her, Esme?"

The older woman touched her shoulder.

"Of course, love. Go take care of yourself."

As soon as Rosalie stepped foot outside, she started running.

She took off as if she were fleeing from something.

And she was.

Perhaps the human who lie writhing in the guest bedroom of her home had experienced a trauma that hit too close to home.

Perhaps Rosalie Hale saw herself in someone else for the first time.

Maybe she saw something in her eyes that was much too permanent.

Thus, she ran.

Until she could no longer smell the woman's comforting scent or hear her heart beating rapidly.

She kept going for hours until she didn't recognize where she was.

She continued, ignoring the strong pull that formed in her chest, threatening to drag her back to the human.

Rosalie ran so far that, by the time she got back home, the woman's change was nearly over.

She entered the bedroom apprehensively, and the sound of a sluggish heartbeat echoed in her ears like a bell tolling.

Carlisle and Esme stood beside the bed, watching the woman. They were clearly excited by the prospect of teaching her and welcoming her into the coven.

This is what gave them purpose.

Whereas Rosalie could only pity her.

They were one in the same.

Two young women forced into a life that they never asked for by men.

When the woman's heart finally gave its last weak thump, a thick silence lingered in the house for a long moment.

Until she opened her eyes to the world.

Rosalie blinked and the woman was being pinned to the ground. She fought against her captors, snarling and clawing wildly.

While Esme attempted to soothe her, Rosalie turned away.

The image of the woman being restrained angered her, and she did not know why.

"Calm down, sweetie. We don't mean you any harm."

"I don't know who the fuck you are!"

"We are here to help you," Carlisle said. "If you calm down and listen, we will explain what happened to you."

The woman struggled a while longer until she lost the will to fight. Dry sobs wracked her body and Rosalie felt the need to leave again. To flee with Emmett and never return.

Because why did that sound pierce her heart in such a way?

"That man... he tried to kill me," the woman muttered. "He hurt me."

Tears welled in Esme's eyes.

"I know, sweetie, and I'm so sorry you went through that. Let us explain everything."

Hours passed while they laid out the woman's new existence to her, and Rosalie inched closer and closer towards the door.

She needed to find Emmett.

She needed to get away from this woman.

"This is your new sister, Rosalie Hale."

The woman's crimson eyes held her in place. They peered into her soul through unruly curls the shade of dried blood, and the blonde froze.

She looked like a fallen angel kissed by the flames of hell. Such was her specific brand of beauty.

"I'm Tennessee McClellan," the woman said, appraising her. "You're the one that saved me, aren't you? I think it was you that held my hand while I was-"

"Is that really your name?"

Rosalie immediately regretted her curt tone and need to deflect.

She didn't even shrink away from her coven leaders' disapproving looks. She knew she deserved them.

When Tennessee broke eye contact, Rosalie felt as though something had been ripped away from her.

"Yeah," she muttered.

"Anyway, thank you for saving me, Rosalie."

The blonde nodded, head hung in shame.

"... You're welcome."

That evening, Carlisle and Esme took Tennessee on her first hunt, allowing the boys to return home.

The usually boisterous and joyful Emmett now looked worn and downtrodden.

What he'd done took a toll on him.

The embarrassment and guilt was not something that would go away quickly.

He was not the kind of person who took pleasure in hurting people. He was a healer in the grandest sense of the word.

Knowing that he attacked someone, nearly killing them, stung like nothing else could.

Rosalie embraced him and he buried his head into the crook of her neck. She ran her fingers through his hair soothingly.

"You are forgiven," she whispered. "It was not your fault."

She repeated those words to him, hoping they would encourage his emotional wounds to heal.

However, when Tennessee McClellan returned home, it was clear that not everyone had forgiven him.

"You. It was you," Tennessee snarled, fighting against her captors.

"You took me away from my family. Look at what you did to me, you bastard."

"I'm sorry. I really am."

"I'll never see my family again. They'll starve to death without me. Unless you can unmake me, it's too fucking late for sorry."

Even though she empathized with her new sister on a deep level, the shame on Emmett's face tore Rosalie apart.

"You watch your mouth," she spat.

"What happened was a tragedy, but he did not do it on purpose. I won't let you talk to my husband like that."

Tennessee frowned deeply at her words, but surprisingly calmed down.

Carlisle and Edward held onto her until they were sure she wouldn't try to attack Emmett again.

"If he's staying here then I'm leaving. I can't be around him."

"It doesn't have to be like this," Esme said sadly. "Please take some time to think about this."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I've pretty much thought it through."

The sound seemed muffled in Rosalie's ears as her family tried to convince the redhead to stay.

All the while, Tennessee refused to listen.

It was clear in her eyes and the expression on her face that she had already made her decision.

Rosalie opened her mouth and swiftly closed it, digging her teeth into her tongue.

There was nothing left to say that hadn't already been said.

All she could do was let her go.

"I appreciate y'all for helping me," Tennessee said quietly.

"Maybe one day I'll stop in for a visit, but right now, I can't stay here."

Rosalie kept her eyes to the ground.

Even as she felt the the other woman's lingering gaze, she refused to meet it.

Even as her body and mind screamed at her to do something, anything at all, to make her stay.

And just as quickly as Tennessee Mcclellan came into the Cullen's lives, she was gone.

Rosalie Hale only managed to catch a glimpse of her shadow as it followed her into the forest, sending her reeling.

As Carlisle comforted a sobbing Esme, Edward approached her solemnly.

"What, Edward?"

"I don't envy your situation."

Rosalie stifled a scowl as Emmett looked at her with questions in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

The knowing look Edward gave her caused her skin to crawl, and the need to run arose in her for the hundredth time in her undead life.

There was never any privacy.

There were never any secrets.

No joy. No peace. No blissful ignorance.

When Edward walked away, she glared at his back. All the while knowing that he hadn't said anything wrong.

The predicament she'd been thrust into was not one she would wish on her worst enemy.

"What was he on about?"

Rosalie took Emmett's hand, but did not look at him.

She couldn't.

Her stomach churned uncomfortably just thinking about the conversation she needed to have with him.

However, she needed to rip it off like a bandaid. If she chose to wait, she feared she wouldn't have the courage to tell him until he found out himself.

"Take a walk with me."

That night, Rosalie watched another wound form inside of Emmett. One that she personally inflicted.

Because no matter how much they loved one another, they were, in fact, not mates.

They never had been.

The other half of her soul was gone, and there was no guarantee that she would return.

Until then, Rosalie Hale could only reminisce on the short, painful memories she had of Tennessee Mcclellan.