I just want to say I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING.

Rosalie P.O.V.

"I don't care." The words came out cold, but that's how I intended them to sound. I was cold to him, he was cold to me. Why should it be any different now?

"Why must wewe be so difficult? This is the ideal place for us. Remote, comfortable, endless resources. I don't see the problem." Of course he wouldn't. He could be comfortable in a one-room shack in Antarctica, so long as it had a piano. This was Appalachia, a million miles from my comfortable upbringing in suburban New York.

"The problem is that we're in hill-billy country, Edward! These people have zaidi children than teeth for God's sake! Esme went clothes shopping for me. Did wewe see what she brought back? Flannel! Red and white flannel with over-all denim jeans! She alisema there were no ladies stores nearby, so we would have to wait a few weeks to travel to a city to find one." He wasn't listening anymore, I could tell, but I went on anyhow. "I can't even go to school, Edward. wewe get to go, but I can't! I can't wear pants at school, it's against the dress code and my clothes from nyumbani are too formal and modern for these people. We'd stand out too much."

"As if we could ever truly blend in, Rosalie! We've just got to make the best with what we have. Wear your own clothes around the house until we can find wewe something else. Use those…more casual items to hunt so wewe don't ruin anything wewe brought with you." Edward growled and sat at his kinanda to practice. That meant the argument was over. I heard him mumble something about 'selfish' and 'numb' before he began taking out his aggression on the keys.

I walked to a calendar tacked to the jikoni ukuta and pouted in all my misery. The tarehe read September 1935 over an artist's rendering of a happy family with a wife, husband and two children at a campsite in the woods. I had been a vampire for two years at this point, but I was still young and quite prone to the attraction of human blood. Carlisle, my adoptive father, alisema I was ready to integrate back into public life, to attend school with humans, but I was not as certain. Even looking at this picture of a family in my jikoni made me thirsty. "I'm going out for a hunt. I'll be back later." I left Edward in his own suffering at the kinanda and wandered out through the screen door into the woods behind our home.

He was right about one thing; there was an endless chanzo of chakula here for us. Bears, mountain lions, bobcats, herds and herds of deer as far as the eye could see. I ran through the forest to vent my frustrations over Edward when I froze in a small clearing. I heard a sharp bang like dynamite in the distance. I had seen a few sinema during my teenage years with sound, but nothing I had ever heard sounded like this. There were several zaidi bangs followed kwa growing laughter. It sounded like men, three of them, but why they would be way out here I would never guess. I knew I should get away as fast as possible, but I was curious. I had never laid a hand on a human as a vampire, so I knew I wouldn't harm these men. I just wanted to know what they were up to, so I could relay the information to my family.

I could smell them getting closer, so crouched on the ground behind a thick curtain of ferns to observe. All three men were dressed in green and brown clothing with heavy boots and bright machungwa, chungwa hats with flaps over their ears. I held in a chuckle at that, as they reminded me of an Elmer Fudd cartoon I had seen recently. I watched them pass by, one after the other when the tallest one in front turned toward my direction. "Hey, do wewe guys smell that?" I was terrified that I had been caught spying. Did I forget to wash off the perfume I was wearing at home?

The other men shrugged and looked slightly Lost at each other. "No, Emmett. I don't smell…oh man, you're walking in the back from now on! I told wewe not to bring beans on the trip!" I was relieved that it was not me this Emmett had smelled, but his own gift to nature. He was pushed to the back of the line kwa his Marafiki while his laughter echoed through the forest around them. The men continued walking and I continued following until a small river blocked our path. Across the river about a half mile upstream was a fallen mti that looked almost rotted. It was not sturdy enough for the large men and their gear, but I was sure I could make it to the other bank. There was a cliff there I could climb and watch them from above, rather than hiding in the bushes like an animal. I ran as fast and as quietly as I could to my secret place and smiled knowing I had a clear view to their campsite, but they would never notice me.

I watched them for an unknown amount of time. I hadn't realized it was nearly dark until they had lit a moto on the riverbank and began to cook the samaki they had caught. The bigger man, Emmett, decided to wash in the river while the other men cooked. I had never seen a man out of his clothes that way before, but I didn't feel ashamed au embarrassed. He didn't even know I was there, after all. That's when everything went terribly wrong.

Emmett had floated downstream a little ways, leaving his Marafiki at the campsite. I kept my full attention on him. When he returned, they were no where to be found. Thinking it was a joke, he pulled his pants on and went into his tent for a moment. When he emerged, a baby kubeba was just wandering into the campsite sniffing the air in a curious fashion. From his other side, another cub had arrived. I couldn't see where his Marafiki had gone, but they had taken all three rifles. Several distant shots echoed off the cliff face followed kwa frantic screams. I flew from the cliff, unsure of why I was so intent on becoming involved and made my way back across the rotted mti bridge. It couldn't have been zaidi than thirty seconds, but the mother kubeba had joined her cubs and was not pleased with Emmett's presence. In the chaos of the moment, Emmett attempted to make a break for it, but as he was not wearing shoes, he was unsuccessful.

"Oh God, EMMETT! WHERE ARE YOU?" I heard his Marafiki yelling from the distance. "We gotta get help! EMMETT! CAN wewe HEAR US?"

"There's bears all around here, Pete! We can't stay here!"

The third friend was correct. I could smell the bears coming. They had smelled the samaki the men had been cooking as well as the other foods and wanted to jiunge the party. I could smell Emmett's blood now and it was getting stronger kwa the second. He didn't have much time left. I looked toward his friends, who were now running as fast as possible toward civilization. I was in shock that they would leave him this way. He was their friend, possibly a relative, as far as I could tell, but they had left him to die with the bears.

I couldn't do that. I followed the scent to his body, where the kubeba was still picking at his curled, weak form on the forest floor. He was moaning slightly, so I knew he had a chance. I used every amount of strength I had in my body to tackle the kubeba and run it off. I wasn't trying to kill it, she had babies that needed a mother to look out for them when they wandered into trouble. She was just being a good mom.

I rolled Emmett onto his back to check his injuries, which were ghastly to say the least. Three gashes went down his bare back where the kubeba had taken him down. Several zaidi went across his chest and arms. The kubeba must have been swatting at him like a kitten with a ball of string. He had bites on his legs clear through his jeans and what appeared to be a cracked skull which was bleeding so badly, it covered one side of his face in red, gushing blood.

I can't lie. The thought of tasting him did kuvuka, msalaba my mind at that point. I had not hunted for nearly two weeks and tonight's trip into the forest to feed was so distracting, I was still dying of thirst. I removed my flannel over-shirt and wrapped it around his torso to stop some of the blood before turning my sights on a large, older kubeba in the distance. He was an easy opponent and I was back with Emmett immediately. I scooped him into my arms like an infant and ran without thinking as fast as I could away from the bears to a safer place. The clearing where I'd first heard the gunshots.

I was still so far from home. I had no idea what to do. He was still breathing, but he didn't have long. Something in his face spoke to me. His eyes were partly open and he was staring up into my face completely helpless, like an infant. God help me, I don't know what came over me, but in that instant I knew I had to do zaidi than get him help. I would never be able to get his face out of my mind and for me, that meant eternity. "Be still, Emmett. I'm taking wewe to a doctor." I whispered and took off as fast as my feet could carry me with his body safely in my grasp.

The screen door slammed open at the back of the house, causing Edward and Esme to come running to the kitchen. "I found a hunter. He's dying. Please? Is Carlisle nyumbani yet?" I was babbling, unsure of what I was really saying. Carlisle came down the stairs and was at Emmett's side in an instant. "A kubeba was attacking him, to protect her cubs. His Marafiki abandoned him."

Edward brought Carlisle his medical bag. He looked over to me with confusion while examining Emmett. "I can close these wounds, but it won't be easy. This head injury looks quite serious. I can't guarantee that I would be able to save him. Rosalie? What do wewe want me to do with him, exactly?"

I hesitated, but made myself perfectly clear. "I want him to jiunge us. I want to keep him."

"Are wewe mad, Rosalie? wewe can't just keep a human like a Lost puppy!" Edward was shocked and livid with me. I was not surprised. "Of all the selfish…"

"Yes, I'm selfish Edward. I don't want this poor man to die after his Marafiki deserted him as kubeba food. I'm selfish because I carried him hundreds of miles in the dark through the woods alone to the most trusted doctor I know, rather than leaving him to die. I'm selfish and horrible, but unlike you, I can feel emotion for another person."

"Enough!" Carlisle growled so loud, the walls shook. "Edward, bring me a bottle of ether. Rosalie, carry him to the spare bedroom. I'll have no zaidi bickering from either of you."

I did as I was told and laid Emmett on the bed. I stayed at his side for three days and nights until he awoke. I was unsure of what to expect at that point. I was afraid he would be scared au upset, au worse, he would want to leave us.

"Am I dead?"

I jumped at the sudden sound from across the room. "Dead? Um, I can't believe- Your name is Emmett, correct? I'm Rosalie."

"Yes." He shook his head and tried to sit up. "You're the Angel who saved me. wewe brought me to God. My Angel, Rosalie."

"I think you're head injury may still be affecting you. I'll get Carlisle." I left for a moment and brought Carlisle back with me to Emmett's room. "What do wewe remember, Emmett? The last thing wewe can think of?"

"I remember…swimming in a cold river. Then a lot of pain and an angel, you," he pointed to me, "my Angel was carrying me. I felt like I was flying. Then another angel, a man was over me. I'm sure it was God…then it all goes dark. I'm dead. I must be, because wewe both look like angels. In my twenty years on earth, I've never seen someone so beautiful." He spoke the last sentence looking straight into my eyes.

Carlisle broke the silence. "You are dead, but this is not heaven, I'm sorry to tell you." This was the part I feared most. When he learned what he was, how would react to the information? Carlisle explained what we were and how we survived while I took Emmett's hand and waited quietly beside him. "I can not judge your reaction. Please tell me what wewe are thinking, Emmett?"

"I'm a vampire. So I am dead, but we're still in Tennessee, then?" he let out a long breath and nodded in understanding. "Nothing is going to change that, I suppose. wewe both seem to be getting kwa alright with this…lifestyle. I guess I'm okay with it, as long as I have wewe both there to guide me."

"You aren't upset au afraid?" I whispered. "We drink the blood of humans, Emmett."

"If wewe were as bad as wewe seem to think wewe are, why did wewe carry me away from the bears? wewe could have left me there and never had a thing to do with me au my death. wewe didn't drink my blood when wewe had the chance. I couldn't have put up much of a fight if wewe had tried. No, I trust wewe both. You're my angels." He smiled brightly and I knew everything was going to be all right.