01 | dream, rosalie hale

18.

THREE vampires appeared one by one from the forest, each quite far apart from the others. It was two men and one woman with striking wild red hair. Their eyes were bright red and to Elexia, they looked like monsters; not angels, like the Cullens.

The clothes they were wearing looked warn-out and dirty, and they were barefoot. Their eyes settled on Carlisle, who was in between Emmett and Jasper.

The man in front was dark-haired, he was quite a bit shorter than the men in the Cullen family, but his body was more muscular than everyones but Emmett's. He smiled.

The woman was barely taller than Elexia, her blood red eyes constantly shifting. Her hair was bright and untamed. She reminded Elexia of a feral cat, with the way she moved. The second man was more blond and more relaxed, and about the same height as the leader. He was slender, like Edward.

The dark-haired man, the leader, stepped toward Carlisle with the same eerie smile on his face.

"We thought we heard a game," he expressed, with a faint accent that Elexia couldn't figure out, until he said his name. "I'm Laurent, these are Victoria and James."

"I'm Carlisle. This is my family, Emmett and Jasper, Esme and Alice, Edward and Bella, Rosalie and Elexia." He grouped each person with another person, to not bring any unnecessary attention to individuals. Elexia made sure she didn't look directly at them, so they didn't see her blue eyes.

"Do you have room for a few more players?" Laurent asked.

Carlisle went along with his friendliness. "Actually, we were just finishing up. But we'd certainly be interested another time. Are you planning to stay in the area for long?"

"We're headed north, in fact, but we were curious to see who was in the neighborhood. We haven't run into any company in a long time."

"No, this region is usually empty except for us and the occasional visitor, just like yourselves."

"What's your hunting range?" Laurent questioned.

"The Olympic Range here, up and down the Coast Ranges on occasion. We keep a permanent residence nearby. There's another permanent settlement like ours up near Denali."

"Permanent? How do you manage that?" He seemed to genuinely be asking out of curiosity.

"Why don't you come back to our home with us and we can talk comfortably?" Carlisle offered. "It's a rather long story."

"That sounds very interesting, and welcome." He smiled. "We've been on the hunt all the way down from Ontario, and we haven't had the chance to clean up in a while." He looked Carlisle up and down.

"Please don't take offense, but we'd appreciate it if you refrain from hunting in this immediate area. We have to stay inconspicuous, you understand," Carlisle explained.

"Of course." Laurent nodded. "We certainly won't encroach on your territory. We just ate outside of Seattle, anyway," he laughed. Elexia had to refrain from cringing at the thought.

"We'll show you the way if you'd like to run with us - Alice, you can go with Edward, Bella, Rosalie and Elexia to get the Jeep."

Right as Alice began to move toward them, a breeze swept over the field, tousling Bella and Elexia's hair. Edward and Rosalie stiffened, and the blond male whipped his head to look at them. His nostrils flared.

The atmosphere became tense as James crouched. Edward and Rosalie bared their teeth, snarling. Elexia was terrified.

"What's this?" Laurent was enthusiastic.