January 2003

Fourteen Years Old

"She'll be fine, Rose. There's no reason to worry." A gentle, soft voice greeted Rowan as she slowly woke, blissfully pain-free.

"She's waking up," A different, younger voice said. It was equally pleasing to the first. "Just like we said."

"Shut up, Edward," Rose snapped.

Rowan tried opening her eyes now, thankful that the room had been kept dim. She was lying on a bed, with fresh clothes and an IV in her arm. She hadn't even noticed the pinch.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, kiddo!" Emmett grinned at her. Her memories from the night before were hazy, but she recognized his face. His eyes were a darker color than she remembered. "How're you feeling?"

This time, words came out when Rowan tried to speak. "Okay."

"Great." A blonde man, the one whose voice had woken her, spoke with a smile. "My name is Dr. Carlisle Cullen, and these are my children. You've already met Rose and Emmett. This is my son Edward."

Rowan's eyes fell on a boy perhaps a few years older than her, with rust-red hair and gold eyes that matched his father's. He gave her a small smile. "Hello."

"Can you tell us your name?" Dr. Cullen asked kindly.

"Rowan," she said hesitantly, eying him uncertainty. He had been kind so far, but how was she to know if he would turn out to be just like her own father or not? "Rowan Ailes."

"Who did this to you, Rowan?" Rosalie asked, gently seating herself on the edge of the bed.

Rowan glanced away and was silent. Emmett squeezed her shoulder. "We can't help you if you don't tell us anything, kiddo."

"My dad," she said at length, her voice small.

Was it her imagination, or had Rosalie hissed? Edward spoke before she could ponder this. "So you ran away?"

"Please don't make me go back," Rowan whispered.

Emmett was already shaking his head. "We won't."

"Thank you." The relief was tangible in Rowan's voice.

"We can't just leave you to wander the forest, either," Dr. Cullen said, his voice still gentle and calm.

Rowan stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"You're fourteen, we can't just let you go out into the world alone. You're too young," he said. "So I have a different proposal."

"Which is..." Rowan was almost afraid to ask.

"You stay with us. We won't hurt you, and we live far away from here. Rose and Emmett were on their honeymoon, that's why they were here," He said. "We live in Alaska. You could come stay with us. We'd make sure that your father couldn't find you again."

"I'd like to think about it," she said.

"Understandable. I'll leave you to do so, but I need to check your ribs first, if you don't mind?" Rowan deliberated before allowing him, her wary eyes tracking his every move as he carefully checked her progress. "You were very lucky, you know. Ten broken ribs and not one punctured your lungs."

"How long will it be until I'm healed?" she asked.

"Several weeks. I don't want you leaving the bed for at least a few more days, your body has suffered major trauma and I don't want to risk aggravating any of your injuries."

This sounded reasonable to Rowan. "I can do that."

"Good. Are you hungry? I can have Edward get you something," Dr. Cullen offered.

"Something small," Rowan said. She was hungry, but scared that her body may not take kindly to the food.

"Something small," Edward confirmed, before walking out of the room. They all moved with an astounding sort of grace that Rowan could only aspire to have.

"We'll leave you to think over my offer while he's gone," Dr. Cullen said, giving Rowan a soft smile. "Come Rose, Emmett."

Rowan only relaxed once their footsteps faded, staring at the ceiling as she thought over their offer. On one hand, she had no idea who they were past their names. They could be murderers for all she knew, not that that was much of a step down from the situation she had been in before. On the other hand, the Cullens had not only saved her life but agreed to not take her back to her father.

On that vein, what would they do if she refused their offer of shelter? Dr. Cullen had already told her that they weren't just going to abandon her, even though Rowan was certain that she could take care of herself.

Rowan didn't trust them, not even a little bit, but she didn't have many options. So when Edward returned with food (yogurt with fresh fruit) and Dr. Cullen was not far behind, she made her decision, and Edward smiled.

"I'll do it," she said. Dr. Cullen glanced at her, questioning. "I'll stay with you."

Dr. Cullen gave her a genuine smile. "Welcome to the family, Rowan."

February 2003

Fourteen Years Old

The Cullens were odd. There was no other way to put it. Rowan had been observing them in the past few weeks, and though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, she knew something was off about them.

For starters, they didn't eat. Ever. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. They were all incredibly pale and had the same odd-colored eyes despite supposedly being largely unrelated. And though they acted as if they did, Rowan suspected that they didn't sleep, either.

On sunny days, Dr. Cullen - or Carlisle, as he insisted on being called - would pull all of them out for hiking and such, but it would always be in some heavily forested place where they wouldn't be touched by the sun.

Also, Rowan was pretty sure that Edward could read her thoughts. He had once answered a question she had silently mused, and then vehemently denied it afterward, but Rowan knew that she wasn't crazy.

Rowan nearly laughed when she looked up all of their oddities and found one word for it: vampire. But then Carlisle called a family meeting and explained everything.

"We're vampires, Rowan," he said calmly, as if he wasn't talking about being a creature that literally survived on blood.

"This is a joke, right?" Rowan asked, but deep down, she knew it was true.

"It's true," Edward said, as if confirming her thoughts.

Her blue eyes shot up to his gold ones. "Wait, can you hear my thoughts?"

"Yes. I can't help it. Sorry," he apologized.

"Do you eat people? Is that why you took me in?" Rowan asked, seized with sudden panic.

"No, no, of course not," Carlisle soothed. "We're a bit of an exception to the rule. We call ourselves vegetarians - we only feed off of animals, we don't kill humans."

She relaxed slightly. "Then why did you take me in?"

"Because it was the right thing to do," he said, shooting her a smile. "And we really do like you."

"You can't tell anyone," Rose said gently.

Rowan was already shaking her head. She trusted the Cullens enough to know that they wouldn't harm her, and she felt indebted to return the favor. "I won't, I promise."

"Good," Emmett said, grinning. "Otherwise this would have gotten real awkward real quick."

"I have some questions," Rowan said hesitantly.

"I'm not surprised. Ask away," Carlisle said, and many questions later, that was that.

It didn't erase what Jasper had let slip: now that Rowan knew, she would have to be changed. Not right away, of course - she was a bit too young, even though she'd be older than Jane and Alec when they were changed, but sometime soon. Preferably before the Volturi found out and had her killed.

Surprisingly, Rowan was fine with this. She genuinely liked her new family, and being a vampire didn't sound too bad, even with the whole blood thing. It's not like she had anyone from her human life to leave behind anyway.

January 2005

Seventeen Years Old

"Isabella Swan starts today!" Alice said happily, while Rowan ate her breakfast before school. Emmett and Jasper also sat at the table, flicking a paper football back and forth.

"Good for her?" Rowan asked, unsure why should she care.

"We're going to be friends, I've seen it! You should try and make friends with her, Rowan!" Alice said, grinning from ear to ear.

Rowan shrugged. "Alright, I'll try. But not right away, she'll be bombarded enough as it is."

"Don't we know it," Emmett chortled.

"At least she'll take some of the attention off of us," Rosalie said, grabbing Rowan's empty bowl before the girl could even stand.

"Thanks, Rose. I don't envy her, for sure. Being the new kid is tiring, I don't know how you do it all the time," Rowan said with a sigh, knowing that being the eternal new kid was basically her future.

"Oh, we switch it up every decade or so. In the nineties we were devout theatre kids. What a time," Emmett sighed nonchalantly.

"No we weren't, quit it!" Rose smacked her husband on the back of the head. "We always do our best to stay out of the public eye. Hence why none of us do well enough to be the top of the class."

"Disappointing. I'd love to see Emmett sing," Rowan responded with a grin.

"Off to school with all of you, you're going to be late!" Esme shooed them off. "Rowan, did you brush your teeth?"

"Doing it now!" Rowan shot out of her seat and darted up the stairs. She grabbed a ride with Emmett and Rose, who had kindly waited for her, and due to Rose's driving they were on time.

"Must be the new girl's," Rowan said, pointing to a faded rusty truck. "I've never seen it before."

"Must be. Get outta here, Ro-bear, you're gonna be late," Emmett said, shooing her off. He and Rose had study hall first period but Rowan had to head off to English. She grabbed her normal seat in the back, wishing she shared the class with one of her siblings, though brightened as she was the first one to see the new girl, Isabella. She was pretty and pale, with dark hair and porcelain skin.

"I'm so jealous you got to see her first!" Alice complained during their shared art class.

Rowan rolled her eyes. "She's pretty - by human standards, anyway - and quiet. You didn't miss much, I'm sure you'll have a class with her."

"I wish," She sighed. "We have completely different schedules."

"Of course you'd know this," Rowan said, rolling her eyes.

During lunch, Edward shared a startling revelation. "I can't hear her thoughts."

"At all?" Emmett asked, incredulous.

"Not at all. It's incredibly frustrating."

"Welcome to normalcy," Rowan quipped, swallowing a bite of her salad.

"Thanks," Edward said dryly. "Any of you share a class with her?"

"I've got English and Spanish with her," Rowan said.

"I've got Government," Jasper said.

"She's asking about us," Emmett said, primarily for Rowan's benefit.

"I don't even want to know how Jessica compares me to the rest of you," Rowan said, rolling her eyes. "Since it's pretty clear I'm not on your standard of gorgeous."

"You're gorgeous for a human," Rose said kindly.

Rowan grinned. "Thanks, Rose."

Officially, Rowan met Isabella Swan right after lunch - their lockers were side-by-side.

"Hello," Rowan said hesitantly, shooting the girl a small smile.

"Hi." She looked surprised that Rowan was speaking to her.

"I'm Rowan Cullen. You're Bella Swan, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I am. You're the first person to get it right all day," Bella said with a smile.

Rowan didn't mention that she had learned this from Jessica, who she had ran into earlier. Instead, she said, "Well, I think I'd prefer a nickname too. Isabella is a little long."

"And stuffy," Bella said.

Rowan grinned. "Hey, you said it. It's nice to meet you, Bella."

"You too, Rowan."

September 2005

Eighteen Years Old

"Happy birthday, Bella," Rowan said with a grin, laughing as Bella groaned. "C'mon, you're eighteen now, a legal adult! You can tell Edward what to do!"

"I'm still older," Edward said, bumping his shoulder with Rowan's.

"Let's just agree to disagree, Ed," Rowan said with a grin, never happier with her sibling and friend.

Things went to shit that night. Bella cut her finger on the wrapping paper, and Rowan knew the instant that it happened that they both were in danger. Rowan barely got out of Jasper's way, the shadows curling around her and pulling her back into their safe refuge. Edward shoved Bella backwards into the table in a futile attempt to save her from Jasper's bloodlust. It took the combined effort of Alice, Carlisle, and Emmett to hold Jasper back.

Rowan emerged from the shadows, stationing herself between her brother and her best friend, darkness still swirling anxiously around her feet. Carlisle patted her shoulder before kneeling by Bella. "Get Jasper out of here."

Everyone fled except for Edward and Rowan. Rowan could tell by the expression on Edward's face that he was devastated and blaming himself.

"Go check on Jasper. I'm sure he's very upset with himself and I doubt he'll listen to anyone but you right now," Carlisle told Edward softly. "Ro, go find Emmett and Rose. Make sure they're alright."

"Okay," Rowan said quietly, offering Bella a small smile. Rowan grabbed Edward's hand, gently pulling her brother out of the room. "C'mon, Ed."

"It's my fault," he whispered the moment they were out of earshot.

"It's not your fault, Edward, it's not. It could have happened to anyone," Rowan said.

"I'm a danger to her, I always knew I was, but I thought... I hoped..." He trailed off.

She wrapped him in a hug, and Edward returned it, his face pressed into her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, Edward. Bella knows the risk, just like I do. Please don't blame yourself."

He let out a scoff as he pulled away. "Yeah well, it's a bit late for that. You should go find Emmett and Rose."

"Okay," Rowan said, stung. "Just... don't do anything you'll regret, Edward."

He offered her a sad smile. "It's too late for that, too."

They were gone from Forks within the week.

March 2006

Eighteen Years Old

"It'll be fine, Bella." The words sounded empty, even to Rowan's ears. Bella had Rowan's hand in a tight grip, and Rowan knew that she was silently urging the plane to go faster. "We'll get there in time."

"But what if we don't?"

"We will," Rowan said firmly.

They were on their way to Volterra. Alice had tried to dissuade her, but it didn't matter if she went or not - the Volturi no doubt knew of her existence already. She had just as good a chance of survival going as not.

"I still wish you had stayed," Alice said worriedly. "Emmett and Rosalie are going to kill me."

"Assuming we aren't- never mind." Rowan figured now was not the time for a dose of fatalistic humor.

Time seemed to pass both too slowly and too quickly, and they arrived in Italy after a flight that felt as if it had taken much too long. Alice stole them a car, and Rowan's nerves settled even as they drew closer to Volterra, where death lurked within a tall castle.

"Please tell me we'll be there soon!" Bella groaned, knee jiggling impatiently. Rowan felt bad for her.

"We're close, Bella. It's okay. Rowan, put your seatbelt back on," Alice said.

"We're not going to crash! And Bella isn't wearing hers!"

"I don't care, put it on," Alice ordered.

Rowan complied, grumbling under her breath all the while. People in red cloaks cluttered the streets of Volterra - it was St. Marcus Day, and however rich the irony it was the exact opposite of what they needed.

Bella was the only one who got out of the car when Alice was forced to finally stop it. She urged Bella onwards with the promise of meeting her soon, at the clock tower. Alice took Rowan a different route that held heavier shade to avoid revealing Alice's glittering skin.

"I never should have brought you here." Alice stopped so suddenly that Rowan had gotten several paces ahead before she even realized. "I was so focused on Edward that I..."

"We can't do anything about it now. We have to go, Alice." Rowan said this despite the fear that suddenly formed in the pit of her stomach.

"Yes, you're right. But Rowan, you must promise me that as soon as we reach Bella and Edward you stay in the shadows. Stay out of sight," Alice pleaded, as if that would stop her vision from coming true. Rowan, standing with the kings, her blue eyes a deep, blood red.

"Okay, okay, I promise." And they set off again.

Edward, when they arrived, was safe. Bella had reached him in time. Rowan disappeared as they entered, ensuring that Felix and Demetri were none the wiser to her presence.

"Aro sent me to see what was taking so long." Jane, small and childlike, appeared, her cloak so close to black that Rowan could hardly tell the difference.

"Just do as she says," Alice said quietly, following after the small girl. Rowan trailed after them, lead silent and unseen into the depths of Volterra.

Edited 4/16/2021