Page 48

An hour later, Pearl's torture was completed, so Rosalie grabbed her and pulled her aside, leading her into the garage.

Saying to Pearl that she wanted her help.

Pearl willingly accompanied Rose after Rosalie stated that Pearl's debt to her would be forgiven.

Since Pearl didn't want another Emmet situation, she quickly jumped on the opportunity to rid one of her debts.

Eating a live tarantula and scorpion, had scarred her for life.

The two girls worked on Bella's truck, which she had left behind.

Having already gotten permission from Bella before she left on her honeymoon, the vampire and the hybrid started working on revamping the engine and making it run more smoothly.

After the engine, they were supposed to fix all the tires and then lastly, give the truck a fresh coat of paint.

Rosalie was working under the hood of the truck and Pearl was working on one of the back tires, when Pearl started a conversation.

"I used to join my dad in his garage when he was alive." Pearl revealed.

This was the first time Pearl chose to bring up her family since the fight on the res, so Rose decided to take a chance, and asked. "What was he like back then?"

Pearl smiled lightly, "He was cool. Whenever we started a project together, he'd always let me do the finishing bit, then let me have all the credit for the whole thing." Pearl gave a small laugh, whilst reminiscing.

Rose smiled. "Sounds like you had a good dad."

"... He was." Pearl said, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Sensing the change in her demeanour, Rosalie asked, "Do you wanna hear about my family?"

"Your family?" Pearl questioned, slightly confused. Before carefully adding after a moment. "From when you were human?"

Rose hummed and closed the hood. Coming around the car, she started working on the front tire on Pearl's side. So that the two girls could see each other.

"I was born in 1915. My mother was a housewife, and my father worked at the bank. I also had two younger brothers." Rosalie revealed.

Pearl stopped what she was doing and looked at her. Giving the blonde her full attention.

"My family survived through the Great Depression because of my dad's job.

We were quite well off." Rosalie said while smiling.

Putting her spanner down, she leaned against another car, that was parked beside Bella's truck, and continued.

"I was born with the gift of beauty. Pair that with familial wealth, and I became quite desirable amongst the men and women of my time. "

"I take it everyone gave you a lot of attention then." Pearl somewhat asked, but mainly stated.

Rosalie nodded. "Yeah. I was very popular. Everyone wanted to know me. Everyone wanted a piece of me... I gotta admit, I did like all of the attention back then. Made me feel special. I mean, I knew I was special, everyone else's actions just validated that fact." She said.

"Well, no one can deny that you are a picture of beauty. Im sure the same could be said about you back then to." Pearl compliments.

Rosalie smiled at her. "But you've got your own taste. Your own picture of beauty." She teased, referring to a certain imprint.

Pearl smirked, "Yeah I do. And I'm a very lucky girl."

"So... When are you gonna make a move on her?" Rosalie inquired in a tone that screamed impatience.

Pearl looked at the floor and sighed. "I like her. I really do. She's so kind and caring, and she always seems to know what I need. She's amazing. I'd love nothing more than to ask her out and take that next step, but..."

"But what?" Rosalie asked quietly.

"I don't think she feels ready for that.

I mean, she was turned at 15 years old. And I'm still physically 16 years old.

Neither of us are gonna grow anymore. When people look at us, they see us as children.

And I can't help but feel like there is some truth to that.

.. I don't want to push her into anything she isn't ready for.

And back when we discussed how to navigate the imprint and mate bond, we agreed to become friends, neither of us mentioned how to tackle the task of pursuing anything further.

" Pearl ranted, feeling stuck, unsure of the solution.

"How do you know how she feels, if you don't ask?" Rosalie moved to sit beside Pearl, and nudged the hybrid with her elbow.

Pearl huffed. "I won't ask Bree unless I'm absolutely sure that she wants that. As I said before Bree is really kind. She's nice, perhaps too nice. If I ask her, and she doesn't feel the same, she'll feel bad and probably say yes, just for the sake of making me happy."

Rosalie frowned. "She may not. Im pretty sure she would be honest with you."

Pearl shook her head. "I don't know. Everything I know about her, tells me that she'd put me first. That's lovely in a sense, but it worries me.

I don't want to make her uncomfortable. It's my job as her shifter to keep her safe and happy.

" Pearl sighed sadly, then put a small smile back on her face.

"Besides, i'm happy staying friends. As long as that is what she needs.

I'll be her friend until the end of time. " Pearl declares.

"I get what your doing. It's a good thing. But you guys won't move forward in any way unless you have a conversation about this... I think you'd be surprised if you did." Rosalie nudged her, trying to encourage Pearl to speak with Bree.

"Hmm. Maybe..." Pearl trails off, to busy contemplating what Rosalie had said to continue her sentence.

Taking in a breath, Rosalie spoke up again. "I wish I had met Emmet back when I was human... My life would look a lot different if I had."

Pearl looked at Rosalie and questioned in an unsure tone, "You met Emmet after he was attacked by a bear, right?" Remembering back to one of her first conversations with the man, after they had been welcomed into the Cullen residence, back when she had met Bree.

"Yeah I did. I felt the connection between us. So I asked Carlisle to change him." Rosalie smiled sadly, looking somewhat regretful about taking away his option to choose.

"Im pretty sure he's happy with his new life." Pearl reassured her. "And, the fact that he gets to take revenge on the bear species on a weekly basis, is an added bonus." She joked.

Rose let out a laugh. "He's obsessed with those things I swear."

"Oh he absolutely is." Pearl agreed, and started laughing as well.

When the girls stopped laughing and had calmed down considerably, Rosalie chose to go back to the previous topic.

"Anyways, when I was human, I met a guy. His name was Royce. His family was rich. Like, really rich. He gave me attention, and our fathers set us up." Rosalie said.

"Woah woah, wait. You were married before?" Pearl asked, surprised.

"Not married. Engaged." Rosalie corrected her assumption.

"Same thing." Pearl responded.

"Not really, but okay." Rosalie paused and took a breath, before continuing. "We got engaged and became an official couple in the publics eyes. Everyone said it was a match made in heaven." She scoffed at the end.

Pearl picked up on the new demeanour and said in a serious tone, "I take it, it wasn't."

Rosalie shook her head. "Far from it."

"What happened?" Pearl asked after a bit of time had passed, that was filled with nothing but silence.

"I was coming home one night. You don't live together until you get married, so I was returning to my parents place." Rosalie paused. "I ran into Royce on the way. He was with his buddies. And they were all drinking."

Pearl frowned, noting her grim expression, a bad feeling settled in her stomach.

"Royce asked me to join them. I was a little wary, but, I agreed, I trusted him after all.

.. It was all fine at first... but then the comments started.

They were about my body. It made me so uncomfortable.

I thought Royce would step in and defend me but.

.. he was egging his friends on. He enjoyed what was happening.

.. It was only when the touching started that I realised that i was in trouble. " Rose said, face downcast.

'Oh no. Don't tell me they...' Pearl thought with worry written on her face.

"It was when I tried to leave that they got rough. They forcefully removed my clothes and... well... you can guess the rest."

Pearl audibly growled, body shaking, she struggled to keep herself from shifting. "Those sick bastards." She grit out angrily through her teeth.

Rosalie nodded and continued, "Carlisle found me dying on the street.

He had smelt my blood. He changed me. I was angry after I turned.

Becoming this wasn't what I wanted. Dying wasn't what I wanted.

Being a new born, my emotions were all over the place, so that just increased my fury.

I needed to put that anger into something.

.. someone. So... I hunted down Royce and all of his friends who had hurt me.

I took his friends first, left Royce for last so that he knew I was coming for him.

I killed him on what was supposed to be our wedding day.

I also wore the wedding dress I had previously picked out.

I was quite theatrical back then." Rosalie revealed.

"Can't say that scumbag didn't deserve what he got." Pearl said.

"I never drank their blood." Rosalie added.

Pearl turned to face her, shock evident on her face. "You didn't?! But you were a new born!"

"My anger outweighed my thirst. I wanted them to suffer, but I didn't want to become a monster." Said Rose.

"Hmm. Well... whether you drank their blood or not, those actions haven't made you a monster in any way.

By my definition, a monster is someone or something that kills for no just reason, and relishes the opportunity to do so again.

Doing evil acts, just for the sake of doing evil acts.

While showing no remorse for any innocent parties that get in their way.

That is a monster." Pearl spoke up, revealing her opinion of the term.

Then added softly, "Vampires as a species, aren't monstrous. "

Rosalie looked to Pearl with venom pooling in her eyes.

Making eye contact with the blonde, Pearl added.

"You aren't a monster Rosalie. What you did to those men, was entirely justified.

And the fact you stuck to your own morals, by not drinking their blood, even with the pain you must of felt by denying your thirst. Is a true testament to your strength of character.

You have a strength that many do not have.

I know that if I went through what you did, their bodies wouldn't have been recognisable once I was done. " Growling lowly after she finished.

Rosalie gave Pearl a small watery smile and whispered a very quiet, "Thank you Pearl."

The hybrid nodded her head and looked away a little embarrassed by the thanks. "I was just saying the truth. You don't need to thank me." She muttered quietly.

Rose let out a soft giggle and turned back to the tire that she was supposed to be working on. "So... how much longer do you reckon we'll be working on this truck?" She asked.

Looking at the hunk of metal, Pearl grimaced. "How presentable does it need to be, for it to be classed as finished?" She counter questioned.

"Looking brand new?" Rosalie teased.

Widening her eyes slightly, Pearl quickly responded. "Do you think Bella would notice if we destroyed this one and got her a new truck instead that was the exact same model, and just passed it off as her old one?" She asked in a somewhat hopeful yet doubting tone.

Rosalie let out a laugh. "Hah! You know even if she didn't notice, Edward would just read our damn minds and snitch on us." She commented.

"Damn it, your right. Well... I can hide my mind... so... it would be you that gets the blame." Pearl smirked.

Rosalie gasped playfully. "Oh yeah? And you don't think I could get Bree to rat you out?" She threatened teasingly.

"No way. She'd be on my side barbie." Pearl denied while giggling.

"Wanna find out?" Rose smirked.

Pearl paused and put a thinking face on. Then sighed dramatically, "Your right... she'd rat me out. She likes Edward way to much to lie to him... Okay... no new truck and passing it off as the old one."

Rosalie snickered, "Unless you want to loose your head to a human, I'd suggest not."

Pearl scoffed. "Why does she love this damn truck so much anyway?"

"No idea." Rosalie responded while shaking her head.

Sighing softly, Pearl spoke. "Let's just get back to work."

"Way ahead of you." Rose said, picking up the spanner from earlier and tossing it towards the hybrid.

Catching it with one hand, Pearl went back to her work on the tire, whilst Rosalie returned to the hood of the car working on the engine, to continue the everlasting task of silencing the noisy piece of metal.