Falling To The Sun | B. Swan + E. Cullen

douze

The statuesque beauty, supernatural beauty, that stood in the doorway remained frozen in place and Roman wondered if it was possible for vampires to go into shock.

Completely human, she knew quite well that she was stunned by the appearance of the Cullen girl and now faced with what was supposed to be one of the good vampires, she wasn't quite sure what to say or how to act.

Was it proper to let her know what she knew before keeping up a stilted, awkward conversation, or was she not meant to mention it at all?

Did she have to explain why she was tucked into a ball in Bella's bed crying?

She didn't know what she was supposed to say.

"Roman Elders?" Her voice is still shocking, hitting through her like an arrow. "What are you doing here?"

The reminder sends a fresh wave of sadness through her and she struggles to fight back the tears that burn her eyes and blur her vision. Her sob rips from her chest and she crumbles forward onto herself, throat raw with the force of her pain.

A cold hand presses to her back, hesitant, and she fights back a shiver at the drastic change in temperature from the wolves.

"Are you alright?" Alice asks kindly.

She nods slowly, brushing away her tears as best she could, refusing to fall into such a pitiful state. "I am. I'm fine, thank you."

Blinking heavily, she peeks through wet flashes at the vampire that she doesn't really know, wishing that she had thought to ask Bella more about the family instead of letting her speak about them at her leisure.

Alice is looking at her with the same uncertainty, a look of something distant and confused in her dark, dark eyes -- dark eyes that most definitely weren't normal or what she was used to. They weren't the beautiful, alluring golden yellow.

Why weren't they yellow?

"What happened?" Alice asks cautiously.

Grief bites at her bitterly as she tries to form a coherent thought. "I-I didn't know what I wa-" she breathes shakily,  clenching her jaw-- "it's all my fault. It's all my fault. I knew something terrible was going to happen, I felt it, but I didn't say!"

Her chest burns, shoulders jerking with violent sobs. "There's nothing I can do against a vampire. I'm just human. Stupid, stupid human."

Lungs screaming, she gasps for air, arms wrapping tightly, painfully around her chest as she tried to squeeze herself together. How stupid was she to think that she could ever keep up with any of this? So fragile and weak, so stupid, she was crumbling under the weight of guilt that built up overwhelmingly, bearing down on her spirit as it threatens to rip away all sense of happiness.

God, she was spiralling.

"What vampire?" she demands, not rough but soft, gentle.

Roman shivers. "They call her Victoria and--"

Alice grabs her by her shoulders, moving her so that she was forced to look directly into her eyes. "Victoria? Are you sure?"

"Bella was sure," she snips.

"What?" she hissed, dropping her hold on Roman before she up and leaves the room, turning down the stairs faster than anything she had ever seen, a flash of movement that leaves her head spinning.

She hears the truck engine roaring within the silence of the house and she scrambles from the bed, bare feet slapping on wood flooring.

Stopping at the bottom steps, she holds tight to the banister, shivering. She waited with bated breath, watching as Alice hovered by the front door hidden in the shadows.