"Are you scared?" Emmett asks as he closes the jeep door, parked up on the drive leading up to the Cullen house. Zen stands at the front of the vehicle staring up at the Cullen house. She's not sure what she was expecting from them. Perhaps a darkly gothic structure. Something more vintage horror and not clean modern. It's very clean and very sharp and very modern. There are also a lot more windows than she thought there would be. Emmett moves closer to her when she doesn't answer him straight away. "Zen?" She hums and then glances over her shoulder at him.

"What's life without a little risk" She offers and then looks back at the house as Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice head on inside without looking back.

"Then why won't you go to the dance with me?" He asks, she turns, looking at him surprised. Not sure if this is the right moment or situation to be talking about a school dance. She folds her arms over her chest and tilts her head before she sighs with an eye roll.

"It's not really about fear or you being a vampire, not anymore" She argues and then shrugs. "It's not about that at all"

"Then what is it?" He counters.

"Bella" She answers with a small smile. "She's not going to the dance and Charlie is working that night...I didn't want her to spend it alone" Emmett softens with a smile. "We're going to watch movies and eat pizza instead" Zen adds, brushing her hair behind her ear. Emmett reaches up and takes over from her, his thumb brushing over her cheek. Her eyes flicker to him.

"That does sound more fun than a dumb school dance" He offers, she smirks a little and nods. "Can I come?" She snorts and gives him a look.

"Sorry, girls only..." She argues, he shrugs and leans closer to her.

"Well, not proud of it, but there is this trick where I tuck my..."

"Stop," She tells him, but there is amusement in her eyes and a smirk on her lips but then her features soften. "You're trying to make me feel better about going in there" She points out, and he nods.

"Is it working?" He asks, she lets out a breath and looks across at the house. She is still uncertain about this, but it is not as bad as before. He does help. His fingers move to stroke down her back. He then leans in closer to her ear. "I won't let them hurt you" He promises her and she believes him. Completely believes him on that. Because there is something between them. Something that she can't explain or name just yet. They've barely known one another for three months and this connection is new and unexplored. She feels a pull towards him, she won't deny that. She feels it all over. But there are so many questions here. With the vampires. And her own species. The risk to herself, to her family, to those around her. Does she want to risk starting anything here? Really starting something could be a risk. A danger. She doesn't know what might come with it. She doesn't know what her choice here might cause. Charlie. Bella. She's already worried about Bella's relationship with Edward, and she knows that it is different for her, yet she still has to take it all into account for herself too. She can't be a hypocrite here, regardless of her own prowess over her sister, she can't condemn Bella's relationship with Edward whilst diving into a vampire relationship herself. She has to hold herself to the same morals and standards otherwise she is a terrible sister. Emmett curls his arm around her and leads her forward. She cannot put this off all day. She has to face them. This could be a good thing. It has to be otherwise life is going to be incredibly difficult.

.......

The house inside is just as light and bright as the external would lead someone to believe. The huge windows let in more light than Zen thought Forks was capable of. Emmett has a hold of her hand as he leads her upstairs. Her nerves around getting to her again and just getting worse the deeper into the house she gets. It's like her whole body is on edge, ready for a fight that might come. She is probably overreacting. But she just wants to protect herself. It is pretty quiet considering she knows at least three vampires are in here. She knows they are listening. There is such tension to this whole house. In an instant, they can turn on her. She is fast, but she is not vampire fast and she is not able to take on an entire group of them. Emmett stops at a door on the second floor, turning to glance at Zen as she takes a few deep breaths. It's amazing how fast any bravery she was feeling has left her. It fled her. He pushes open the door and gives her a reassuring smile. It doesn't work this time. The reality of the situation sinks into her. The fear eats at her flight response. She's about ready to flee but she pushes at it, shoves it down, to just get this over with. She steps into the room, an office of some kind, or a study maybe. She glances around at the walls of photos and shelves with trinkets from all over the world. He has had the time to go and travel and see everything and everywhere. Zen supposes if she inherits that from Loki, she might be able to do that one day. A blonde-haired pale skinned figure is standing at the window, he turns to greet them. Emmett touches the back of Zen's arm.

"This is Carlisle" Emmett offers. "Kind of like our dad"

"Right" She states, folding her arms over her chest to protect herself.

"It's nice to meet you" Carlisle offers warmly but she's struggling to believe it. She knows she is being stupid here, if they were going to kill her they likely wouldn't bring her into their home to do it and he wouldn't look so genuine.

"Before you get into the whole if I tell anyone you'll kill me speech that I can feel coming on...." Zen starts, wanting to just get it out there. "I'm not about to start yelling it from the rooftops" She assures him as she looks over his bookshelf, fingers coming up to tap on the spine of a book. "What good would that do?" She adds and then snorts. "Plus who is going to believe me?" She turns back to Carlisle who is seemingly studying her. She wishes she could bring down her mental shield to check on them, but she has no idea if Edward is here, or how far it works for him. Until she knows for sure, she can't risk it. Until she has voiced her truth, she can't risk it.

"Emmett" Carlisle gives his son a look and Emmett glances at Zen before leaving the office. Zen's not going to admit that he's disappointed that he's left her alone when he swore he wouldn't let them hurt her. This feels like the opposite of that. Zen shifts to the other side of the room to the wall-covered bookshelf. It actually reminds her of the library in the palace, with the variety of genres and covers. Not in quantity. Asgard has him beat on that. She misses that library. All those books to choose from. "You don't have to be so nervous," Carlisle tells her as he sits behind his desk, watching her. She turns and gives him a look with a raised eyebrow. She has every right to be nervous. She has entered the lion's den.