CHAPTER FOURTEEN
fear is human
The three vampires emerged from the treeline in a pointed arrow, their shapes designed to threaten. Rosalie didn't know what she had expected from Alice's vague warning and Edward's panicked mumblings, but it had not been this. The strange coven seemed to run as if an easy stroll, shoulders rolling and heads tilted with deadly calmness. It was only as they came closer, fanning out to stand in a loose line, that Rosalie saw the hint of nervousness in the only female of the group.
Her eyes were as fiery red as her hair, glancing first from the family in front to the forest that surrounded them at each side, and finally, they landed upon the pale, blond male beside her, watching him with jittery movements. For a moment, Rosalie thought she would bolt, forcing the other two to run after the anxious woman, but she remained, eyes never moving from the plain-looking vampire beside her.
He never once looked back to comfort her. Not that they could have expected it from the snarling male at the edge of the small group. His own attention was scattered, moving between Rosalie and Carlisle, but always landing lastly on Emmett. He looked larger than normal, his presence not comforting and kind, but cold and protruding, a large lump of a figure sticking out from the group purposefully. It was as if he'd expanded, muscles and teeth a threatening sight. The strangers all noticed him.
But Rosalie was surprised by how much they noticed her. She could feel their eyes on her, always flickering back and forth. She was not interesting- not in the way that Alice, and Edward, and even Jasper were, but no focus was paid to them. It made her glare darken, painting her face with a dangerous shadow, and Rose wondered if that was what made them look. Yet when her own gaze found Jasper and recognised the subtle look of concentration, she knew exactly what was happening. The three strangers' disinterest in those that hung to the back around Bella, was his clever doing.
She silently cursed the way attention had been pinpointed on her. The two men were looking at her the way entitled men usually did- with a hunger that only she could satiate. Rosalie's hands gripped her side, lips twitching to reveal sharp, pearly teeth- another perfect representation of her harsh, pretty self. It was a fearful response, she knew and hoped no one else had noticed. Because she was supposed to be rid of this. Memories of her rape and death had been dug six feet deep and planted in a grave that was now overgrown with neglect. She had not revisited that pain for a long time- had not let herself.
There had only been two occasions in her life, that Rosalie Hale had been scared into silence. When Royce had attacked her in a drunken haze, ending her perfect life, and now, as the future walked across a fragile line of chaos and neutrality.
A wave of her own scent filled her nose and Violet's perfume came to mind. Rosalie went stale. Another wave of fear rolled through her body and she wondered if they could sense it. If they would use it as a distraction, ready to pounce on the scared, young girl. But all she could think of was the scent of another human that they must have detected. It was selfish of her, she thought, to worry about the scent that lathered her, rather than the danger that Bella was in. But since when had Rosalie worried about her selfish nature?
Hypocrite. She,d once imagined Edward to be thinking that of her. Now she thought it might be true. For so long, she'd been so against his involvement with Bella, so scared that he would either get her killed or kill her himself. But Rosalie had done the same with Violet- had put her in danger just by the sweet scent from being near her too long. Perhaps it was paranoia making Rose feel so terrified. But that paranoia was working well, making her nails rip at her own skin, not letting her go.
"We thought we heard a game," the man at the front said. Rosalie tried to concentrate on him- on the slight french accent that tipped his tongue, on the smooth, ashy brown of his skin, and the way his eyes devoured her- rather than the thoughts that plagued her mind. "I'm Laurent. This is Victoria and James."
