A/N: I originally posted this story under the username icekitten (and God help me if I'll ever find those log in details) and I I recently revisited a fic I loved all those years ago because it stills pops into my mind every now and then and it still makes me sad to see it incomplete. So I figured, what the hell. I'll come back to this story and see it through.

I'm gonna start by revised the first two original chapters a little and then go from there.

I hope you guys enjoy! And thanks for waiting!

Bella's eyes flickered open and saw nothing. The room was pitch black of course, at this time of night. She lay in bed trembling in the damp sheets, breathing labored, hair almost choking her as it clung to her neck. She struggled to regain a sense of her surroundings, to calm herself. The nightmares were getting worse.

Charlie's despondent groan was clear through the walls. She'd woken him. When all this had started, months earlier, he had been at her side in an instant. Now he paused. Now he considered, though he never followed through, the option to go back to sleep and not face it yet another night.

"Sweet dreams?" a voice asked.

Bella shot up at the sound. It was a woman's voice and she knew she wasn't still dreaming. Her eyes took far too long to adjust to the light. She scanned the room. Beyond the foot of her bed, there was a silhouette. Fear seized her chest. After a moment she was able to make out a flare of red in the darkness. She blinked furiously. Her vision finally acclimated and she found herself staring into the eyes of a tall, fire-haired vampire.

Victoria. Hairs all over her body sprang upright. She straightened in bed and stared wide-eyed and unblinking at the predator across from her. This was it, then? No one left to save her. No way to run and even less to fight. Her breathing calmed at last. She was about to die. She had known this was coming. She only prayed that tonight Charlie would finally choose to stay put.

"You have a lovely home," Victoria stated, eyes gliding over the small room. "Very quaint."

But Bella couldn't take her eyes off her. She watched, still amazed in some small corner of her mind, the inhuman grace with which the vampire explored her bedroom. How ironic… watching this woman, knowing precisely what she came here to do, waiting for her to make her move, and it was the anticipation that was killing her.

"You're here to kill me so just kill me," Bella spoke with a boldness she didn't feel. If this had to happen, she at least wanted it to be over with quickly.

Victoria laughed.

"I'm not here to kill you," she said.

Bella wasn't entirely perplexed by the statement. She'd been warned Victoria would make it slow, agonizing. She swallowed the lump in the throat and painted the worst case scenario in her mind, bracing herself. Days? Weeks? Could it be dragged out for weeks? Her mind returned to the dance studio. She wouldn't have lasted weeks…

"I have a proposition for you."

Now Bella was perplexed. Had she heard that right? "A proposition?"

Victoria moved like a cat across the room, suddenly closer, perched on the edge of the bed. She kept her cold, ruthless gaze fixed on Bella. She was making conversation, apparently. Perhaps this was part of the torture.

"As you may be aware, I've spent the past few weeks trying to kill you."

Bella kept quiet and still. She had no idea how to interact with this woman, this creature. Much less did she understand where all this was going.

"Firstly - and this not an apology - I would like to be clear that I have nothing against you," she continued and then chuckled softly to herself. "Well, I can't say I like you very much but my interest has always been with Edward. He's my real target."

Edward. The familiar pang shot through her chest at the mention of his name. She waited endlessly to get stronger, for the moment when his memory wouldn't sting. But it always did.

"At first I was just going to kill him," the murderess stunned her back into the present. "There was so much rage that my judgement was clouded. All I could feel was the desire to make him pay."

Victoria looked down then, the furrow of her brow shadowing her eyes. She seemed lost in thought, reminiscing. For a brief moment, before she lifted her head, Bella thought she saw a reflection of herself.

"But as I composed myself and thought more carefully about how to make him suffer I realized the best way to get to him was through you. And now here we are."

Bella focussed on her breathing. Fear and anxiety coursed through her at the proximity of the vampire. She felt her pulse racing in her throat and inwardly cursed. She didn't need to entice her.

"As you've probably noticed, I then hunted you with the intent of killing you in the most excruciating way possible," the smile on her face was downright cheerful. "And I would've succeeded by now only it seems you have a talent for keeping unusual company."

The corners of Bella's mouth twitched, threatening to pull up into a smile. She would have to remember to thank Jake and the wolves properly for their help. If she lived through this…

"Anyway," Victoria continued. "When I reviewed the tape James made of you more closely, I noticed something strange. James bit you. Edward sucked the venom out. I mean, you were bloody and broken! There was no way you'd survive. If he'd left you to turn, you almost certainly would've lived but he preferred to take the chance and remove the venom. He damn near killed you himself, the amount of blood he took. Shame, really… That would have been so poetic."

A frown crossed Bella's face. As much as she was enjoying this trip down memory lane, she still didn't see where this was going.

"It occurred to me then that Edward fears something more than your death. He fears you becoming one of us."

No kidding, her mind threw at her. Edward had made no secret that he detested the idea of her becoming a vampire. He'd told her it was because of her soul. It was for her own sake. She knew better now. She knew it was simply that he didn't want her, for any stretch of time, let alone forever.

Once again, she flinched at another stab. But she refused to let out even a whimper. She would not show her weaknesses, as abundant as they were, to this killer.

"Bella, what I'm suggesting to you," Victoria spoke perfectly clear with a tone of absolute seriousness. "Is that I turn you into a vampire."

Bella's eyes bulged. Had she heard that right? Was this really the reason Victoria had gotten this close only to spare her life, at least long enough to say all this? To offer her this?

Her lips stuttered around the word, it seemed like forever since she had last spoken. "…Why?"

"I've explained why. It's the worst that can be done to Edward. And I know immortality is what you crave. It's what everyone craves. And besides…" her eyes softened now. "James is gone. And don't even get me started on Laurent taking off. I'm facing an eternity alone and I don't like it. I could do with the company and you'll do… for now."

Bella blinked. She could not believe what was happening. "You want to turn me into a vampire so you and I can be best friends?"

"I wouldn't put it that way," Victoria scowled.

There was silence then as each side appraised the other.

"What makes you think I'd agree to this?" Bella asked.

"Well, firstly I don't need you to agree," Victoria laughed. "But mostly, it's because everything I do is designed to hurt Edward. And judging by the way you were screaming in your sleep earlier, I'm guessing you're looking to do the same."