Persephone's Fury [Rosalie]
For a little while, I was afraid that I wouldn't write again for a while. I'd originally written my first piece so I could apply for authorship at Pel's site. And... several months and nearly a dozen stories later, I'm in. And... I haven't really had much inspiration to write. I was scared that it was because I'd achieved my goal.
But! I had inspiration. A little bit, but some nonetheless.
Title: Persephone's Fury
Characters: Cullens & Bella
Rating: PG13
Summary: Twilight: Rosalie didn't take the news that Bella knew about the vampires very well. She definitely didn't take the post-Port-Angeles table conversation between Edward and Bella about hunting well at all. How did Rosalie react as her brother lightly conversed with his new girlfriend about the vampires' hunting habits?
Persephone's Fury
Of all the ridiculous, stupid, selfish, dangerous things to do, Edward had picked about the worst. I had thought that when he had chosen to drive the little thing to school - leaving the rest of us to my BMW - that he had been mentally incompetent.
Becoming interested in a human was a bad idea. But no, no, the great Edward Cullen could do as he pleased, the rest of the world be damned. He didn’t just get interested in her; he was, for all intents and purposes, courting her. He had paid attention to her in school - that certainly didn’t go unnoticed - he had spoken with her. And then he had saved her life. In broad daylight. In a very non-human way.
His only defense had been that if her blood had been spilled, he would’ve exposed us all for what we were. Even as he said it, I knew he was lying. He knew - as did we - that we could restrain him. We’d get strange looks, and we might have to lay low for several years, but that would have been a better case scenario than what he had done instead.
He had saved her. With vampire speed. And strength. I pressed my fingers to my forehead in exasperation. We had tried to reason with him that night. As with any memory I had acquired after my death, I remembered it with pristine clarity. Most memories faded into a buzz in the background, but when called up were in perfect condition. This one stood out.
It had been the first fracture in our family since… I had to actually think about it to get a good estimate on it. I hadn’t joined the coven when Edward took off to be an idiot and drink human blood. I didn’t know if I could count that. But even that had turned out alright, somehow.
He cared too much for her. How, I didn’t understand. It just seemed so… dream-like. Almost like a game show. What stupid, conceited thing would Edward do next? Place your bets and win a prize, ladies and gentlemen. Try your hand at Vampire’s Russian Roulette. At this rate, it was getting exponentially worse every time. I was sure he was aware of this: I made it a point to remind him with my thoughts every time I saw him.
Case in point: If saving her life hadn’t been damaging enough, he followed her to Port Angeles, and saved her again. So saving Isabella Swan wasn’t the bad part. He had told her. Everything. Absolutely everything. She knew. She knew what he was, she knew what we were.
And they were sitting across the cafeteria chatting it up, as if being a vampire were the most normal, everyday occurrence.
“Rose?” Emmett murmured into my ear. I felt his hand rest on top of mine. Glancing down to the lunch table, I saw that my hand was closed in a very tight fist. I sighed and loosened it.
“Doesn’t he know what this will do to us?” I murmured.
“I really think he does, and it’s not that he continually chooses to do it; he can’t help it.”
I just glared at Emmett. How could that be? I turned and glared across the cafeteria at the girl.
She was completely engrossed in Edward. She was leaning forward, speaking to him quietly. Edward appeared equally fascinated, leaning across the table toward her.
“What would you do if someone dared you to eat food?” She was asking. I just stared. What hadn’t Edward told her last night?
To my surprise, Edward lifted up the pizza and took a bite before handing it to her.
“If someone dared you to eat dirt, you could, couldn’t you?”
I was a good comparison. Why he would eat dirt for the girl was beyond me.
“I did once, on a dare,” she said. “It wasn’t so bad.”
What happened next hit me like a freight train. Edward laughed. He actually laughed. My eyes widened and I looked across the table to Jasper. He just nodded once.
It was then I realized what was going on. Edward didn’t save her because she was interesting, or that he felt compelled to play superhero. He hadn’t told her because he wanted a human to confide in. It wasn’t a God-complex issue. He was in love with the little thing.
If a vampire could be nauseated, I would have been. The thought sent my body through an intense mental recoil. How could he do that? How could he fall in love with a human? It wasn’t fair to the rest of us to be so dangerously exposed! And how could I have missed this until now?
I glared at the table angrily. We could just do away with the girl. Had Edward already made the deep, abiding connection to choose her as his mate? Or was he just infatuated with her? I couldn’t tell which, but judging by the way Jasper was rubbing his temples… no, no it couldn’t be. Could it? With a human?
I hadn’t seen him ever laugh like that; there was a spark of life in his eyes that had never been there before. I couldn’t decide which to be; angry or surprised. She made him laugh.
I just glared at the tabletop. I didn’t want to listen, every passing word was irritating me, but I couldn’t help it. Ironically, it was the first time I felt sympathy for Edward and his talent.
“Something you said to Jessica, well, it bothers me,” he was saying. Well of course something was bothering him; something always was. I groaned softly. Emmett patted my hand again.
“I can’t believe he’s gone and done this,” I whispered to him.
“I know. Is it really so bad though? I mean, look at him, Rose. If this Bella girl can do that for him… can you really hate her?”
“Yes,” I muttered, though I only half-believed it. I disliked her. Not for any particular reason other than the fact that she happened to completely offset the entire balance of our family. I didn’t hate her in particular. If any other human had done it, I’d hate that one, too.
“Do you truly believe that you care more for me than I do for you?” I almost coughed. Jasper raised an eyebrow in my direction. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised: nearly every other female in the school was infatuated with my brother. Of course she would be, too. And of course, like the naïve human she was, she would believe that her undying love would be stronger than the force of death and extend unto the reaches of eternity… or something like that. Humans were always deluding themselves with ideas that love conquers all, when in the end, it doesn’t.
If it had, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have been left to die; but one could argue that wasn’t love to begin with. I speculated that humans weren’t actually capable of the same love that we were; living for forever had an impact on the way things were viewed.
I rubbed my forehead again. What was left for Edward to tell her? Perhaps all of our full-life stories. Carlisle’s would take a couple days. I’m sure Edward could find a way to cram it all into one night and call it a day. Then we could get the girl her official Honorary Vampire Badge.
If she ate a steak cooked rare, we could probably make it official at that point. Bonus points if it were completely raw.
“Calm down,” Jasper murmured softly, blowing calmness toward me. “You’re going to make me attack her.” I shot him an apologetic look across the table before returning my attention - but not my eyes - to my reckless brother.
“Yes, I really think that,” she murmured. Of course she did. Because humans were naturally self-centered, egotistical, and had this idea that they-
“You’re wrong.”
I froze mid-thought and slowly slid my eyes over to the two. They were staring at each other - still - like two honeymooners, completely lost in each other’s eyes.
“Look at them, so absorbed and oblivious to the rest of the world around them,” I whispered softly. I knew Edward would hear me, but he could also hear my thoughts across the room.
Emmett squeezed my hand again.
“I know it’s hard, Rose,”
“Is that… jealousy?” Jasper asked softly.
“Of course not,” I answered quickly. Was I jealous? I wasn’t jealous of a human. I couldn’t be. There was nothing she had or could ever possess that would make me jealous.
Except that she was mortal. And riffling with things that mortals best left untouched. Idiot. No one could claim her ignorance as a defense anymore, either. She knew us for what we were. And she still sat there, leaning toward him, a dazed expression on her face.
“If I’d asked you, would you have turned me down?”
“Probably not.” Of course not. Any girl in this stupid place would kill to go with him. The image of Bella being murdered by her own schoolmates was suddenly very amusing. The problem would rectify itself, none of us would have to intervene… and someone else could deal with the murder.
“But you never told me: are you resolved on going to Seattle… or would you mind if we do something different?” Edward Cullen, what are you thinking… be very, very careful, I warned, watching him. I noticed a very faint flex in his jaw muscle as it tightened: he heard me. Their conversation continued on, though, and I returned my gaze to the table again, tracing the contours absentmindedly with my finger.
“You know it’s going to be alright, don’t you?” Alice murmured.
“I don’t, actually,” I nearly snapped. I looked up at her irritably. “Do you?”
Her bright face faltered, and she glanced down to the table.
“No, I don’t. Not until he makes up his mind.”
“I thought not,” I muttered.
“And you’ll show me what you meant, about the sun?” Bella was asking excitedly. Holy Mother of God. There really wasn’t anything he had left out, was there? Then what screw in her brain wasn’t tight enough to know she should be running and screaming?
Just to recap, he’d told her about his mind-reading ability, his teeth, probably his hearing sensitivity, likely his speed, his reflexes, and now his glittering skin. There wasn’t a whole lot left to cover in Vampires 101. Except…
“Why did you go to that Goat Rocks place last weekend? To hunt? Charlie said it wasn’t a good place to hike because of bears.” Shit. The human graduates with honors. Isabella Swan just earned her diploma in Vampire Studies. Goddammit, Edward, how much did you say?
“Bears?” Bella asked. I rolled my eyes. So, apparently he hadn’t covered everything. I waited in mild anticipation to see if she’d flee the cafeteria screaming. Waiting for the screaming… waiting…
“You know, bears are not in season,” she was scolding him playfully. Was she really taking this as lightly as she seemed? She should be running. I raised my eyes to study her briefly before glancing back to the table.
“Bears are always in season,” Emmett murmured cheerfully at my side.
“Grizzly is Emmett’s favorite,” Edward informed her. Fabulous. Why not just plan out what our meals are so she can know? Why not inform her that I prefer cougars? Or that Alice likes chasing the gazelles, even if they don’t taste as good?
She was quiet for a while. Good. Maybe she’s going to run away now. Run far, far away, back to wherever she came from, and never breathe a word of this to anyone, ever again, and everything can go back to the way it was-
“So, what’s your favorite?”
“Mountain lion.”
The conversation was growing more and more painful to listen to. It seemed as though nothing Edward said could scare the girl. I bet I could scare her away.
“Early spring is Emmett’s favorite bear season,” he was explaining. True, Emmett was magnificent. The bears were sometimes almost twice his size, and he would - easily - wrestle them to the ground, though more often than not he would make a great show of it, making it look more difficult than it was. He would play with them; goad them into trying to attack him before he would go for the kill. He was always so beautiful, so powerful; his muscles would ripple every time he moved with the bears.
“Nothing more fun than an irritable grizzly.”
“Tell me what you’re really thinking, please,” Edward was begging.
“I just can’t picture it.” Of course you can’t. You have no idea what sort of Hell we go through every day, trying to rise out of these hollow shells of monstrosity. “How do you hunt a bear without weapons?” What a stupid question. Hadn’t Edward explained that? Edward flashed his teeth at her; I heard her sharp intake of breath and her quickened pulse. Good. Some fear.
“If you’ve ever seen a bear attack on television, you should be able to picture Emmett hunting,” he said. I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling and kept them locked there, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Bella turn to look over at us. Probably studying Emmett and thinking about bear attacks.
Emmett was chuckling, clearly enjoying the attention as he stared at the wall behind Alice.
“Time to go,” Alice murmured lightly, standing up.
I stared at her skeptically. Lunch was almost over, but Edward wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
“Time to go,” Alice repeated. Emmett and Jasper stood up, but I stayed sitting, glaring at her. “Come on, Rosalie. Let’s leave them be for a little bit,” she suggested.
Assenting, I rose up and set my untouched food on Emmett’s tray, sliding my tray beneath his. I turned and walked as quickly to the door before they said anything else, but I wasn’t fast enough. I wished that I had listened to Alice the first time. Bella’s words were unmistakable as I left the cafeteria.
“Is that something I might get to see?” She was going to damn us all.
But! I had inspiration. A little bit, but some nonetheless.
Title: Persephone's Fury
Characters: Cullens & Bella
Rating: PG13
Summary: Twilight: Rosalie didn't take the news that Bella knew about the vampires very well. She definitely didn't take the post-Port-Angeles table conversation between Edward and Bella about hunting well at all. How did Rosalie react as her brother lightly conversed with his new girlfriend about the vampires' hunting habits?
Persephone's Fury
Of all the ridiculous, stupid, selfish, dangerous things to do, Edward had picked about the worst. I had thought that when he had chosen to drive the little thing to school - leaving the rest of us to my BMW - that he had been mentally incompetent.
Becoming interested in a human was a bad idea. But no, no, the great Edward Cullen could do as he pleased, the rest of the world be damned. He didn’t just get interested in her; he was, for all intents and purposes, courting her. He had paid attention to her in school - that certainly didn’t go unnoticed - he had spoken with her. And then he had saved her life. In broad daylight. In a very non-human way.
His only defense had been that if her blood had been spilled, he would’ve exposed us all for what we were. Even as he said it, I knew he was lying. He knew - as did we - that we could restrain him. We’d get strange looks, and we might have to lay low for several years, but that would have been a better case scenario than what he had done instead.
He had saved her. With vampire speed. And strength. I pressed my fingers to my forehead in exasperation. We had tried to reason with him that night. As with any memory I had acquired after my death, I remembered it with pristine clarity. Most memories faded into a buzz in the background, but when called up were in perfect condition. This one stood out.
It had been the first fracture in our family since… I had to actually think about it to get a good estimate on it. I hadn’t joined the coven when Edward took off to be an idiot and drink human blood. I didn’t know if I could count that. But even that had turned out alright, somehow.
He cared too much for her. How, I didn’t understand. It just seemed so… dream-like. Almost like a game show. What stupid, conceited thing would Edward do next? Place your bets and win a prize, ladies and gentlemen. Try your hand at Vampire’s Russian Roulette. At this rate, it was getting exponentially worse every time. I was sure he was aware of this: I made it a point to remind him with my thoughts every time I saw him.
Case in point: If saving her life hadn’t been damaging enough, he followed her to Port Angeles, and saved her again. So saving Isabella Swan wasn’t the bad part. He had told her. Everything. Absolutely everything. She knew. She knew what he was, she knew what we were.
And they were sitting across the cafeteria chatting it up, as if being a vampire were the most normal, everyday occurrence.
“Rose?” Emmett murmured into my ear. I felt his hand rest on top of mine. Glancing down to the lunch table, I saw that my hand was closed in a very tight fist. I sighed and loosened it.
“Doesn’t he know what this will do to us?” I murmured.
“I really think he does, and it’s not that he continually chooses to do it; he can’t help it.”
I just glared at Emmett. How could that be? I turned and glared across the cafeteria at the girl.
She was completely engrossed in Edward. She was leaning forward, speaking to him quietly. Edward appeared equally fascinated, leaning across the table toward her.
“What would you do if someone dared you to eat food?” She was asking. I just stared. What hadn’t Edward told her last night?
To my surprise, Edward lifted up the pizza and took a bite before handing it to her.
“If someone dared you to eat dirt, you could, couldn’t you?”
I was a good comparison. Why he would eat dirt for the girl was beyond me.
“I did once, on a dare,” she said. “It wasn’t so bad.”
What happened next hit me like a freight train. Edward laughed. He actually laughed. My eyes widened and I looked across the table to Jasper. He just nodded once.
It was then I realized what was going on. Edward didn’t save her because she was interesting, or that he felt compelled to play superhero. He hadn’t told her because he wanted a human to confide in. It wasn’t a God-complex issue. He was in love with the little thing.
If a vampire could be nauseated, I would have been. The thought sent my body through an intense mental recoil. How could he do that? How could he fall in love with a human? It wasn’t fair to the rest of us to be so dangerously exposed! And how could I have missed this until now?
I glared at the table angrily. We could just do away with the girl. Had Edward already made the deep, abiding connection to choose her as his mate? Or was he just infatuated with her? I couldn’t tell which, but judging by the way Jasper was rubbing his temples… no, no it couldn’t be. Could it? With a human?
I hadn’t seen him ever laugh like that; there was a spark of life in his eyes that had never been there before. I couldn’t decide which to be; angry or surprised. She made him laugh.
I just glared at the tabletop. I didn’t want to listen, every passing word was irritating me, but I couldn’t help it. Ironically, it was the first time I felt sympathy for Edward and his talent.
“Something you said to Jessica, well, it bothers me,” he was saying. Well of course something was bothering him; something always was. I groaned softly. Emmett patted my hand again.
“I can’t believe he’s gone and done this,” I whispered to him.
“I know. Is it really so bad though? I mean, look at him, Rose. If this Bella girl can do that for him… can you really hate her?”
“Yes,” I muttered, though I only half-believed it. I disliked her. Not for any particular reason other than the fact that she happened to completely offset the entire balance of our family. I didn’t hate her in particular. If any other human had done it, I’d hate that one, too.
“Do you truly believe that you care more for me than I do for you?” I almost coughed. Jasper raised an eyebrow in my direction. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised: nearly every other female in the school was infatuated with my brother. Of course she would be, too. And of course, like the naïve human she was, she would believe that her undying love would be stronger than the force of death and extend unto the reaches of eternity… or something like that. Humans were always deluding themselves with ideas that love conquers all, when in the end, it doesn’t.
If it had, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have been left to die; but one could argue that wasn’t love to begin with. I speculated that humans weren’t actually capable of the same love that we were; living for forever had an impact on the way things were viewed.
I rubbed my forehead again. What was left for Edward to tell her? Perhaps all of our full-life stories. Carlisle’s would take a couple days. I’m sure Edward could find a way to cram it all into one night and call it a day. Then we could get the girl her official Honorary Vampire Badge.
If she ate a steak cooked rare, we could probably make it official at that point. Bonus points if it were completely raw.
“Calm down,” Jasper murmured softly, blowing calmness toward me. “You’re going to make me attack her.” I shot him an apologetic look across the table before returning my attention - but not my eyes - to my reckless brother.
“Yes, I really think that,” she murmured. Of course she did. Because humans were naturally self-centered, egotistical, and had this idea that they-
“You’re wrong.”
I froze mid-thought and slowly slid my eyes over to the two. They were staring at each other - still - like two honeymooners, completely lost in each other’s eyes.
“Look at them, so absorbed and oblivious to the rest of the world around them,” I whispered softly. I knew Edward would hear me, but he could also hear my thoughts across the room.
Emmett squeezed my hand again.
“I know it’s hard, Rose,”
“Is that… jealousy?” Jasper asked softly.
“Of course not,” I answered quickly. Was I jealous? I wasn’t jealous of a human. I couldn’t be. There was nothing she had or could ever possess that would make me jealous.
Except that she was mortal. And riffling with things that mortals best left untouched. Idiot. No one could claim her ignorance as a defense anymore, either. She knew us for what we were. And she still sat there, leaning toward him, a dazed expression on her face.
“If I’d asked you, would you have turned me down?”
“Probably not.” Of course not. Any girl in this stupid place would kill to go with him. The image of Bella being murdered by her own schoolmates was suddenly very amusing. The problem would rectify itself, none of us would have to intervene… and someone else could deal with the murder.
“But you never told me: are you resolved on going to Seattle… or would you mind if we do something different?” Edward Cullen, what are you thinking… be very, very careful, I warned, watching him. I noticed a very faint flex in his jaw muscle as it tightened: he heard me. Their conversation continued on, though, and I returned my gaze to the table again, tracing the contours absentmindedly with my finger.
“You know it’s going to be alright, don’t you?” Alice murmured.
“I don’t, actually,” I nearly snapped. I looked up at her irritably. “Do you?”
Her bright face faltered, and she glanced down to the table.
“No, I don’t. Not until he makes up his mind.”
“I thought not,” I muttered.
“And you’ll show me what you meant, about the sun?” Bella was asking excitedly. Holy Mother of God. There really wasn’t anything he had left out, was there? Then what screw in her brain wasn’t tight enough to know she should be running and screaming?
Just to recap, he’d told her about his mind-reading ability, his teeth, probably his hearing sensitivity, likely his speed, his reflexes, and now his glittering skin. There wasn’t a whole lot left to cover in Vampires 101. Except…
“Why did you go to that Goat Rocks place last weekend? To hunt? Charlie said it wasn’t a good place to hike because of bears.” Shit. The human graduates with honors. Isabella Swan just earned her diploma in Vampire Studies. Goddammit, Edward, how much did you say?
“Bears?” Bella asked. I rolled my eyes. So, apparently he hadn’t covered everything. I waited in mild anticipation to see if she’d flee the cafeteria screaming. Waiting for the screaming… waiting…
“You know, bears are not in season,” she was scolding him playfully. Was she really taking this as lightly as she seemed? She should be running. I raised my eyes to study her briefly before glancing back to the table.
“Bears are always in season,” Emmett murmured cheerfully at my side.
“Grizzly is Emmett’s favorite,” Edward informed her. Fabulous. Why not just plan out what our meals are so she can know? Why not inform her that I prefer cougars? Or that Alice likes chasing the gazelles, even if they don’t taste as good?
She was quiet for a while. Good. Maybe she’s going to run away now. Run far, far away, back to wherever she came from, and never breathe a word of this to anyone, ever again, and everything can go back to the way it was-
“So, what’s your favorite?”
“Mountain lion.”
The conversation was growing more and more painful to listen to. It seemed as though nothing Edward said could scare the girl. I bet I could scare her away.
“Early spring is Emmett’s favorite bear season,” he was explaining. True, Emmett was magnificent. The bears were sometimes almost twice his size, and he would - easily - wrestle them to the ground, though more often than not he would make a great show of it, making it look more difficult than it was. He would play with them; goad them into trying to attack him before he would go for the kill. He was always so beautiful, so powerful; his muscles would ripple every time he moved with the bears.
“Nothing more fun than an irritable grizzly.”
“Tell me what you’re really thinking, please,” Edward was begging.
“I just can’t picture it.” Of course you can’t. You have no idea what sort of Hell we go through every day, trying to rise out of these hollow shells of monstrosity. “How do you hunt a bear without weapons?” What a stupid question. Hadn’t Edward explained that? Edward flashed his teeth at her; I heard her sharp intake of breath and her quickened pulse. Good. Some fear.
“If you’ve ever seen a bear attack on television, you should be able to picture Emmett hunting,” he said. I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling and kept them locked there, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Bella turn to look over at us. Probably studying Emmett and thinking about bear attacks.
Emmett was chuckling, clearly enjoying the attention as he stared at the wall behind Alice.
“Time to go,” Alice murmured lightly, standing up.
I stared at her skeptically. Lunch was almost over, but Edward wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
“Time to go,” Alice repeated. Emmett and Jasper stood up, but I stayed sitting, glaring at her. “Come on, Rosalie. Let’s leave them be for a little bit,” she suggested.
Assenting, I rose up and set my untouched food on Emmett’s tray, sliding my tray beneath his. I turned and walked as quickly to the door before they said anything else, but I wasn’t fast enough. I wished that I had listened to Alice the first time. Bella’s words were unmistakable as I left the cafeteria.
“Is that something I might get to see?” She was going to damn us all.