.:Rosalie's POV ~ The Chase:.

"Are you sure this is where you saw her, Alice?" Carlisle asked our tiny psychic, his eyes roaming the black forest.

Partially scattered, our family stood tense, alert, watching. Alice continued to stare ahead, laying out the landscape of her vision, matching it to where we stood now. I kept my ears open, my eyes on look-out, my senses high.

To my left, Emmett's fists tightened in eagerness for the chase we all anticipated. I grimaced at his too-willing nature. He might not care much if he was hurt in some way, but I sure as hell did. The big idiot.

To the right of me was Esme; her round, golden eyes sought out the threat against our family with anxiety. More specifically, the threat against Bella and Edward, who were ironically the only two not here. I'd certainly give leverage to Bella, who, in her fragile human state, was not fit to be here. Edward, however, should be. He should be helping us deal with this problem. He should be in Esme's place. Why would he risk her safety, letting her do his job? Instead of taking responsibility, he was off vacationing in Florida with his girlfriend, risking exposure in sunlight, while the remainder of us dutifully defended our family. I was getting tired of the trouble in constant pursuit of our non-lives. I was irritated, beyond frustrated, and I expected that I would not be the only one to feel this way, but apparently I was. No one else seemed to have a problem with Edward disappearing on us.

I guess, to be fair, I knew Edward didn't expect any of us to get hurt. He would have been here if he did not thoroughly believe we could manage alone or that Bella didn't need him (though I hardly understood why she needed him while visiting her mother). Plus, Edward enjoyed a good challenge to test his so-called "skills" nearly as much as Emmett, so he probably would have loved to be here.

My brother was overly cautious, though, whereas my husband was…not. I didn't see the point in Edward dragging his precious love across the country. She was a big girl; she could have gone alone. Of course, Alice had said that was debatable, seeing as how it was Bella we were talking about. Trouble could find that girl no matter where she was stashed. Still, the precaution Edward was taking was unnecessary. Pointless. There was no way Victoria could have possibly gotten past seven of us—two being gifted and one being a veteran soldier of war.

I supposed it didn't matter anyway. She wouldn't get past the six of us here now, either.

I pushed any thoughts of Edward and Bella to the side and focused my anger toward the problem at hand: Victoria—the red-haired mate of the tracker we'd killed a year ago. The vengeful woman hadn't made an appearance since we moved back to Forks… Until now.

"She's almost here," Alice murmured distantly.

My frown faded. My expression blanked. I went back to my own alertness, concentrating.

Weak branches swayed in a smooth breeze; leaves rustled; a bird cawed half a mile away, and few rodents scurried along the wet forest floor. For a moment after, all was quiet.

Then Alice's head snapped left.

"There!"

Instantly we were running. At first, there was nothing to give chase to; we ran in the direction appointed with no knowledge as to where exactly our target was. Then, I smelled her, and her footsteps reached my ears seconds later. My feet pushed harder against the ground. Jasper and Emmett snarled instinctively, and that was when she came into view.

Victoria's crimson eyes, socketed delicately in the pale planes of her face, swept quickly over our hunting party, assessing us, seeing who was here and who was not. I cursed, as I could only guess that she was grateful our mind-reader had ditched us.

Trying to out-maneuver Esme and Alice, who were closing in on her from the right, Victoria swerved left, straight in front of Emmett and me. Emmett, already being steps ahead of me, leaned forward to gain speed. Victoria was cornered in our triangle. She couldn't make a sudden turn, as either side of her would lead her directly into Jasper or Esme.

Emmett started advancing on her, faster and faster. He was determined. And, as he began getting closer to her, I could see he became a little smug, too. Overly confident. And his confidence was exactly that, I realized with chagrin. Because Emmett wasn't catching up to her; she was slowing down to meet up with him. She was decreasing speed infinitesimally, but enough where she allowed Emmett to reach her without causing suspicion.

Emmett's arm reached out as he gained on our target. As I opened my mouth to protest, his hand clamped down on Victoria's shoulder.

Her rebuke was instant.

To my unsuspecting husband's surprise, the wild red-head suddenly stopped running, and her hands dug into her captor's massive arm. Emmett's continuing momentum forced him to ram into her. Instead of knocking them both out, however, Victoria was braced, and she used the power to fling him full force over her head, sending him barreling into trees, all snapping straight in half and toppling over, their force at impact reverberating through the midnight hour.

The sight angered me. I hissed furiously and threw myself at our enemy. She was gone before I could get my arms around her. She skipped lithely up the body of a spruce and flew over my parents' heads, before dashing off again, debris flying from beneath her feet.

I gave Emmett a glance as I passed him. I watched him upright himself. His face was dangerous with fury, dark and undeniably sexy; I had to bite my lip and force myself away from any thoughts that weren't relevant to this chase.

Catching up with Carlisle, I ran steady by his side. The two of us spread out slightly—an unspoken strategy, while Jasper and Esme were hot on Victoria's trail. Alice was far off to the right still, watching every move before they happened and looking for an opening that wouldn't get her thrown into the ground.

I fervently hoped that this fight would end soon and we could all go home and relax, finally, the way we deserved. Although, I had long stopped expecting that our lives would ever go back to how they were before Edward found his…mate.

Jasper hopped to the side without breaking pace, his awesome speed letting him easily match up, parallel, to Victoria. He took one long jump forward, so he was ahead of her—though still parallel to her—and his feet briefly planted on a sturdy outcropping of rocky terrain. He held that position no more than half a second before launching himself, aiming directly a few steps ahead of Victoria's path. Their bodies hit the same point in synchronization.

Perfect! He got her.

But Jasper's strategic swirl through the air was met with Victoria's own move. Disbelief shot through me as, even considering their paths collided as planned, my eldest brother's hands only just grazed our enemy. Jasper flew past her. His outstretched hands braced for the floor. With a handspring, he was back on his feet, continuing the chase without the slightest pause. Jasper was well trained; with his instincts, being even slightly distracted by shock of failure wasn't feasible. But he had to be stunned somewhere in that cool head of his. Because he had her—I know he did. It was impossible that he missed, that she had ducked—barely—out of his grasp. To escape that… It seemed to have more to do with luck—as if anyone could be that lucky!

What the hell was with this woman?

"She's fast," Carlisle murmured through his teeth, upset like the rest of us that Victoria managed such precise evasion.

And he was right—she was fast.

Yet, she wasn't.

I looked back on our previous attempts to subdue her, and our movements now. I realized that even the slowest of us could probably catch up with her. The real problem was Victoria's sharp, specific, zig-zag movements. Somehow she knew how to get away. Logically, it didn't add up.

Alice hissed, bringing my attention to her. She was staring angrily in front of her, aggravated. Carlisle muttered something under his breath; he sounded exasperated. When a strong new odor filled my nose, making me sick, I quickly understood their concern. Focusing ahead, I saw that the object of their frustration was in immediate view.

The damn treaty line we had created with the La Push pack was approaching, and it was coming up fast.

"She'll get away!" Esme cried frantically.

Everyone used one last bout of strength and lunged at Victoria; though, we had to have all known it was a useless attempt to reach her in time.

As we all avoided crashing into each other, Victoria sped over the treaty line. It was so easy for her to do it. Like it wasn't there. Like it didn't apply to her. And curse that witch to hell, because it didn't apply to her! She had no boundaries, even though we did. How fair. How utterly not irritating that we had to stop and be the ones blocked, while she was unbound; for us to be the ones prevented from protecting, while she was free to wreak havoc. It was sickeningly ironic that the better person you were the more borders you had that you couldn't cross, the more rules that you were forbidden to break. That was what the whole world was like. People—even when naturally good—became trapped into being obedient and virtuous, because they weren't trusted, even when having given no reason not to trust them in the first place. And the best part was, it wound up holding them back from doing better. It was unfortunate that it was the way things had to be.

Straightening our stances, my family, rejoined by Emmett, watched helplessly as Victoria ran further away from us…

Until, abruptly, she bolted north.

"No," Jasper said with a small, knowing smirk forming on his face. "She's not getting away."

That boiling, bitter smell in the air increased in strength, and there were suddenly more than just one species of monster in the area now.

On werewolf territory, the werewolves had arrived. A giant black one pounced at the fleeing vampire, and from out of the shadows, more appeared. One-by-one they snapped at the air in failed attacks.

My family and I were moving north now, too. We directed ourselves in side-view of Victoria, but, even when edging close back to us, she stayed precariously on Quileute land.

"Oh, come on," Emmett snarled.

A couple more dogs sprouted from the trees. Each one missing Victoria completely. They slid into each other, their paws slipping often when they followed their enemy on a landscape their balance could not match hers on. A reddish-brown wolf snarled as it emerged from the shrubbery, nearly clasping Victoria's leg in its teeth. She cart-wheeled out of the way and the move brought her back over to our side of the line.

Being the closest, Esme leaped at her. But she was too cautious at keeping to our land that it disabled her full potential. Jasper, too, was wary of how close to the line we were, and he hesitated with his attacks.

I growled. We would have a better chance at this if we weren't so restricted. Victoria knew this as well as I did. If she hadn't placed pieces together before, she sure had it figured out now.

"She's going to jump," Esme called out in warning from behind me, as I raced.

Carlisle passed me in a blur.

"Get in front of her!" I ordered.

"It's too late!" Jasper yelled.

"She's crossing! She's crossing!" Alice warned frantically.

Carlisle slid to a halt at the last minute. Victoria bounded back on the Indian reservation. This time, she continued west without stopping. The dogs appeared from the south and darted after her. I stopped at the line, glaring after them.

"Shit!" Emmett was next to me, pissed, to no one's surprise.

While a mutual feeling of dissatisfaction culminated between the majority of us, there was nothing we could do. Carlisle was resigned to the pact we had with the tribe of mutant canines, and none of us could break it. To be quite honest, I didn't want to disrupt the peace, either (however little there was between our clans).

We stood in silence for a long while, trying to get a glimpse, a sound, anything.

Our patience was eventually rewarded.

Footsteps sounded just south of us, followed by the pounding of paws.

Our heads perked up simultaneously.

"Spread out," Carlisle instructed. "Cover the treaty's boundary."

Alice followed Esme north; Carlisle and Jasper sprinted as fast as they could south. Emmett and I spread out where we were. He stayed closer to the treaty line, while I backed up several times, widening my range. Victoria was fully capable of getting ahead of us if we were even the slightest bit careless. We underestimated her once; I wasn't about to let that happen again.

When Victoria reappeared in our sight, she was curving slightly toward me. Emmett trotted closer; like me, his arms opened out, with his hands the shape of claws. But Victoria had another opening near Carlisle and Jasper, and she was taking it. She snarled a challenge and leapt, landing in the open space between the two blondes. The two took chase once more, their feet smashing through roots and boughs.

"Stay where you are," I told Emmett when I saw him about to dark after her, too. "I'll bring her this way."

Apparently, Alice had told Esme the same thing. She followed my plan to guide Victoria into a trap. She must have seen what I was going to do.

As predicted, Victoria made her way up north again—after miraculously out-smarting Jasper and Carlisle's synchronized attacks, I might add—and after dodging branches and squirming between rows and rows of trees, Alice and I managed to direct Victoria northwest, exactly where we wanted.

With me as her shadow, Victoria took off toward the treaty line. She was desperate to get away from us now.

Alice stayed right on my heels.

Victoria tried to stay clear of Emmett's and Esme's paths, but that wouldn't allow her access to Quileute territory like I knew she wanted. I grinned as frustration rumbled in her chest.

What was she going to do now?

"Rose, get down!"

My eyes widened at the suddenness of Alice's demand, but I obeyed immediately; I trusted Alice, and this was no time to second-guess anything.

Right as I ducked, Victoria pivoted, swinging herself to face me while her arm swung viciously over my head. If I had been standing, my neck would have snapped at impact and I would have gone flying. The surprise attack caught me dangerously off guard, even with Alice's warning. And, irritating as it was, I was startled enough to let Victoria run back past me.

Dammit.

Victoria rounded on Alice—who easily dodged an offensive attack—and then charged full-force at Esme. The sight infuriated me, and I snarled angrily, because I was so far back and helpless. All I could do was watch and hope Esme wouldn't get hurt.

I was more than relieved when Jasper and Carlisle threw themselves between the two.

Unfortunately, the result in turn graced Victoria with an opening, and she side-jumped back to the wolves' land. When the giant animals growled, sprung, and ravaged their half of the land, Victoria was back on our side, flaunting a lofty smirk.

She was playing with us.

My anger flared.

But then, as Emmett took the lead, his frame shaking with a frenzied need to kill the arrogant woman, my anger transformed into instant wariness. As much as I wanted this witch dead, I was more worried about Emmett's state of mind. He was reckless enough without anything distracting him from thinking clearly in a fight. What if he tried something that wasn't the brightest idea? It was a reoccurring problem I had with him, and I did not wish to risk that in this situation. What if he ended up—

"Emmett!" Carlisle shouted suddenly.

My eyes shot wide. Victoria was crossing over the line again…but Emmett wasn't stopping. A little ways further, I saw a werewolf charging for Victoria too, and I knew Emmett did not see it.

I panicked.

"Emmett! Don't!"

He wasn't listening. He sprang for Victoria.

So did the dog.

As Victoria dodged the onslaught—barely, again—the werewolf was unintentionally ambushed by another, larger vampire. Emmett's feet shuffled uncontrollably to stop him, but he was moving too fast and was already too close. The gray wolf didn't even have time to fully turn its head in the direction Emmett came from; its eyes had barely widened, its ears just flattening as its giant body tensed. Emmett ran into the mutt's shoulder; he just brushed it, really, but it was far more than enough contact.

There was no time to think—there was nothing to think about! There was only one thing, one person, and that was Emmett. Everything else didn't matter, because everything else was the enemy, and I wouldn't allow anything to hurt him.

I jumped the treaty line and landed directly in the path of the wolf's oncoming fangs of rage. I had already positioned myself to clasp the dog's snout and hold it shut, but Emmett grabbed me around the waist and yanked me back; the dog's jaw clamped around an empty space. It shook its head roughly when it caught nothing in its mouth, and it growled in our direction. Emmett tried to put himself in front of me, but I wasn't allowing it.

I stepped back several paces, pushing Emmett and me back on our side of the line, our teeth bared threateningly at the advancing animal. I added a warning growl, telling the mutt to back off. My eyes, black as midnight, followed the animal's every movement. My body coiled to spring when it advanced two angry steps.

"Rosalie, stop!" someone shouted from behind me. A female. Alice or Esme, I couldn't find it in me to care. All I knew was the werewolf was going to die if it didn't heed my warning, now!

Another, reddish wolf appeared beside the darker one, hackles spiked and snout viciously glistening. The knowledge of being outnumbered didn't faze me. I'd take them both down if I had to.

A loud bark vibrated through the air. It rang with authority, and the two wolves in front of me took immediate steps back; they seemed reluctant to do it.

I curled my lip higher above my own venomous teeth, in case they still didn't comprehend that I'd murder them.

Carlisle was in front of me, then, blocking my view on my could-have-been prey, and pushing me and Emmett back further from the invisible boundary that we had crossed.

Jasper put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me back more. My body started relaxing on its own, my fury lessening. I shook Jasper off me and gave him a biting glare. His attention wasn't on me, however. He was intently focused on the unruly animals across from us; the ones that were exactly that—wild animals, nothing else.

One accidental breach across an imaginary line, and they go completely berserk. The absurdity of their aggressive, vehement behavior toward Emmett was uncalled for, and I was not one to ever stand for a wrong against him. More strongly so when they would have taken his life!

Through my ire, I heard Carlisle attempting to bring reason and priority back. He deliberately pitched his voice soft, calming… I was sure Jasper the Empath was a great aid in soothing the tempers on those mutts. My own anger stormed on, unaffected. I wouldn't let it affect me if I could help it. The way those colossal canines looked at us as if they were superior, while Carlisle used apologies on our family's behalf to get things in order was disgusting.

What was there for me to be sorry about? Defending the man I loved? I failed to see the decency in that.

Why should Emmett feel regretful? That he missed his target? That was possible. But should he have shame put upon his name because they had tried to maul him for accidentally crossing the treaty line, by mere feet? Condemned for a slip up purely caused by his pursuit to catch a demon that we all wanted rid of?

Please!

Emmett, sensing my never-ending resentment, slowly pulled me with him until we were at the back of the unified Cullen family, behind Esme and Alice, who were flanking their husbands. Only Esme touched my arm in assurance as I passed her, meeting my eyes to make sure I was calming down.

But I was heated.

"Babe, breathe. Relax," Emmett whispered low in my ear, running his fingers through my hair.

Carlisle spoke swiftly and gently to the mutant Quileutes, urgent to bring back peace and continue our hunt.

I stared down the wolves, my expression that of intense annoyance. The dark gray one, the one Emmett had unintentionally ambushed, never took his large, blazing brown eyes off us. I noted his paws digging into the earth he stood on, his lips twitching to expose his teeth to us again, his body inching to cross the treaty line himself and pay us back for our violation. The werewolves weren't as committed to the truce as we were. They wanted to protect their tribe, and human life, but they wanted us dead more. There was no ounce of innocence in us to these wolves, even now, if we were trying to protect the same human they were. Our species automatically sentenced us with a guilty charge, and one puny excuse to attack us and they'd take it, exultantly. They would never stop to question, to think about the lives they deemed sinned and punishable. And yet, we would for them. No—I amended. I could not care less who these dogs were, truthfully. But my family… Carlisle and Esme definitely would care, and they'd get no points for that. They'd be killed with no mercy, just like the rest of us.

If the wolves could defeat us, anyway.

I narrowed my eyes. The gray mutt continued to stare, only seeming to lose more patience with us, and I could guess that only the Jasper-made serenity hovering around the atmosphere was keeping him at bay.

Without warning, the hairy beast barked at me, with half a snarl.

Inwardly, I cursed. Thank goodness my sinking stomach and tensing muscles weren't physically visible!

"Go back to your doghouse," I hissed, furiously upset that he had frightened me. And to think I used to want a puppy in my human days.

The wolf snapped angrily at me, as another's throaty whine slid through its teeth. The biggest wolf, the black one, gave them meaningful looks that quieted them.

That's right—put a muzzle on it.

"Rosalie." Esme gave me a stern look. She must have guessed I was about to make another patronizing remark.

I huffed, but I held my tongue. Besides, it wasn't as if I needed to say anything—these dogs mark their territory just fine on their own.

A fresh wave of calm floated around me. It was heavy. I watched, pleased, as every wolf relaxed into a hunch at the onslaught. I was simply allowing Jasper to soothe me now, so I didn't care. But the manipulation of the wolves' to get our way was full of humor. They must be completely confused as to why they weren't capable of hating us at the moment. Well, I wasn't feeling any kind of guilt for the poor, pathetic creatures, especially when Carlisle let the beasts have the treaty line, pushing our own territory back even further. Not that it mattered. At this point I already knew Victoria was long gone from the area. She wouldn't have run back to Forks, as there were too many of us to deal with by herself. She might have been amused at our limitations earlier, but she still had been solely looking for an opening to get away from all the ambushes and flee to rethink her plan of attack. And she did. Now she was far away, I was sure of it.

Taking no chances, my family searched the woods for any sign of Victoria. Eventually, we traced her scent right back to the treaty line, at the northern end, where we learned she escaped into the water, a place where the wolves had no advantage. When Jasper and Emmett stepped forward and asked for permission to cross to the ocean, I gritted my teeth in fear. If they were let across, I would be forbidden to go with them. Then who would protect Emmett when he got too carried away?

My worrying was unnecessary, in the end. Those dogs didn't trust us enough to even escort two of us to the water to destroy a common enemy. But I guessed I owed them for being such cowards if it kept my Emmett out of harm's way… For now, at least.

I grimaced, realizing this whole ordeal with the red-head still wasn't over.

All things considered, my mood was lighter now, as we Cullens headed back home in defeat. All Edward's preparation to get Bella away as we took care of Victoria had been wasted. I wondered if he would be irritated, because I certainly was. If he got home and raised his voice even the slightest I would attack him. I would make clear that he had better damn well appreciate anything he put Emmett and our family in danger for. I squeezed Emmett's hand, firmly keeping him close. He didn't notice, as he pouted and complained all the way back to the house, stating against and again that we could have had Victoria if we didn't have this or had only done that. I would have told him to shut it by now, but I was simply glad he was still around and in one piece to by annoying. So, I silently let him talk out his frustrations, as I worried about Victoria's inevitable return.

When would that battle begin for us? And how would it end?

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Did you like it? I hope so. After watching Eclipse, I wanted to write this scene the way I imagined it. And I thought the most interesting view point would be through Rosalie. Thanks for reading! :]