Summary: Edward leaves Bella in Forks before revealing that he and his family are vampires. Bella's curiosity gets the best of her, and she spends years researching her theories and suspicions about Edward and his kind, drawing attention from unwanted and dangerous sources. Can Edward find a way to save Bella from the Rabbit Hole she's fallen into? AU

A/N: With tremendous trepidation, I step over into the world of vamp AU. I am humbled and inspired by the amazing work of so many that I needed an awful lot of pushing to put this out there.

Here's a snippet to get your started.

The characters belong to someone else.

Rabbit Hole –Prologue

EPOV

"You can't take this on by yourself, Edward," Esme noted quietly.

"I have to."

"Don't be so noble. It's one little human after all." Rosalie's tone bit.

"But it's my fault."

"So what?" She said rolling her eyes. "Unless this is really about your dick."

Her voice dripped with indignation and smugness. A slight smirk spread at the corners of her mouth.

"Fuck you, Rosalie. And leave my dick out of it."

She raised an eyebrow, letting one thought escape, "Oh please. As if that's what you really want."

I glared back at her for a second, saying nothing and everything at the same time. With a sizeable breath, I turned to face the others.

"I can't live with myself if I do nothing."

"You're not living now. What's the difference?" Rosalie spat back at me.

"Edward, tell her," Alice urged, but not out loud, so I only I could hear.

I looked away, trying to drown out every thought in their heads with the one that was driving me now.

"It's the only way to make them understand," she pleaded again.

I responded with a whisper. It wouldn't have been audible to a human.

"I love her."

She'd gone down the rabbit hole. And I was responsible. She'd jumped in to find me. I knew that now. I'd watched her meandering through the maze of tunnels for years, yet I hadn't stopped her or done anything to try to pull her out. Now she was stuck without an exit. And she hadn't even figured it out yet. She was trapped, and any hope of getting her out alive was rapidly fading.

"That does change things, doesn't it?" Esme acknowledged. She tried to remain calm, but she was also excited. She had started to worry that I was incapable of falling in love. That my first foray into the emotion was so wrought with complication tempered her excitement with sadness and caution. She wanted to leap up and hug me in joy and in comfort. A small knowing smile served as a welcome substitute.

I heard Carlisle processing, frozen in his calculations. Jasper was pained. Too many emotions. The angst was killing him. He'd tried three times to send out some sort of calming vibe, but they'd all dissipated among the veil of fear, loathing, and concern.

"How? Does love make it right for him to endanger all of us?" Rosalie seethed. "This cannot end well. We need to get the hell out of here and hope no one ever connects us. This is the Volturi we're talking about!"

No one verbalized, but I could hear the competing sentiments battling it out in their minds. They understood my position, but they weren't immune to Rosalie's argument either. The voice that broke the silent arguing surprised me.

"Rose, would you go if it were me?" Emmett asked softly.

"It's not the same. He doesn't have a clue what love is," Rosalie cracked. That put me over the edge.

"The hell I don't!" I roared.

Jasper stood up from his spot on the couch. "I'm sorry. I can't be here right now."

No parting glances or words of encouragement. He was just gone. Alice was immobilized. Torn between wanting to support me and needing to follow Jasper. And I became aware that for each of them, their support for me was running up against the biggest, most indestructible wall of all—their love for each other, as a family, but as romantic partners especially. They were lucky. For them, lover and family resulted in the same outcome. Run and hide. Protect yourself.

I didn't have it so easy. Lines were clearly drawn in my battle. Which "us" to choose? My family? My love? A love I shouldn't want and most definitely didn't deserve. A love that had pushed me away. A love I had failed.

And I knew at that moment there were no decisions left to be made. I had no choice where she was concerned. I looked at each of the faces in the room, hoping it wouldn't be the last time I saw them.

"I'll find a way to keep you all out of it," I pledged.

And I made my way to the front door with the voices of my family shouting at me, though no one said a word.

"Don't go."

"Serves you right if something happens, idiot." But she couldn't hide the other images that flooded her psyche.

I blinked them away and the other voices hit me.

"I'll miss you."

"Be careful, man."

"Edward, I wish there were more we could do."

I had to tune them out. All of them. I had digging to do. A lot of digging.

E/N: Like I said, short snippet. The majority of the story will be told from EPOV (because I love him), but starting with the next chapter, we'll hear Bella's voice in the form of a blog she's writing. After that, Edward will take us back to the beginning of their relationship.

Now for the thank you note. First off, nothing is possible without HMonster4. She's so much more than a beta. And there is no way I would consider writing this without her encouragement and supporting. Next, I bounced the idea off a few people, but JAustenlover gave me a second set of eyes into the story, the summary, and she seems to have taken up post as my cheerleader. She's going to hold my hand and sit by me in the cafeteria in this new AU world. Finally, Lucette21, the original BATgirl has listened to me prattle on about the story and helped me with graphics.

I'll pop the next chapter up in a few days, but then it will mostly be once a week updates so I don't try to kill myself with fic and real life academic writing this summer.

Now, feel free to hit the review button to tell me what you think. What is up with Rosalie's attitude?