Bella was changed as an act of violent revenge. Her maker used her death to torture those who cared for her and in the murky clarity of her newborn rage, Bella tore her maker limb from limb. She was so blind in her fury that the one breathing creature on this planet with a connection to her was the first victim of her newborn vengeance and she reveled in it. If she had remembered the price of vampire death, her maker would have died a gruesome, fiery death. Bella remembered watching the light fade from her makers eyes and it sent a thrill through her body that she had never felt before.
She spent the first week of her newborn life in a blood-filled haze. She killed more humans in that week than the entirety of the Cullen clan had killed in all of their years combined with the possible exception of Jasper. And after gorging herself on the blood of the guilty and innocent alike, her rage calmed. Maybe it was the fact that she was changed so violently or the anger that poisoned her veins but she never truly understood what caused this episode of newborn insanity.
It was after this week that Bella fully realized what she was. She could feel the strength in her limbs now, a strength that could break stone. She could feel the wind move against her skin but she was never touched by the cold. She could see the particles that floated through the air around her and smell a city twenty miles off.
The calmness that overtook her was a startling comparison to her orientation into the supernatural world. She would often flutter her eyes shut to just breathe in the world around her. After the calming of her rage, the world held an immense beauty to Bella. It was no longer a world fraught with danger. It was now a world waiting to be conquered. Bella often wondered how something so unnatural as herself was allowed to be at peace with her world.
Despite her unnaturalness, Bella liked who she was now. Gone was the Bella who tripped on air and cut herself on pillows. In her place was Isabella, a force to be reckoned with.
After her week of madness, Isabella had wandered. First the Pacific Northwest but after finding the scent of her likely healed and reformed maker, Isabella held no inclination to stay.
Her first year as a vampire was spent as a nomad traveling from one city to another. Not ready to run into others of her kind, Isabella stuck to crowded areas where she could hunt without notice. Her only experience with other vampires had been the Cullens and James and Victoria. Neither group, in hindsight, were too impressive to her changed mind but she didn't want the trouble regardless. And with Victoria still alive, the further she could get from the Olympic Peninsula, the better. Isabella could admire Victoria's need for revenge but she felt no desire to be on the receiving end of it again. Though now she was sure she could give as much back.
It was nearly a year and a half before Bella's past finally caught up with her. She was just finishing off a kill in one of the more dangerous areas of Chicago when the very vampire she had been avoiding dropped down to see her.
"You are a hard woman to keep track of my dear," Victoria said smirking darkly at the other woman.
"Victoria," Isabella barely breathed her name.
"My, my," Victoria spoke. "Vampirism certainly does suit you doesn't it." She circled Isabella slowly until she was in front of her, only inches away. "You look..." She paused and leaned in. "Delectable."
She tried to ignore the fire that Victoria's voice lit in her stomach. Whether it was lust or bloodlust she couldn't tell and she wasn't prepared to find out either way. Isabella would have been an idiot not admit that she found Victoria attractive. Even human Bella could have admitted that but that didn't mean anything about their relationship.
"What do you want, Victoria?" Isabella growled.
"Ooh, I do so love how you say my name," Victoria giggled as she backed up. "Can't I just want to see how my little changling is doing?"
"After I tore you to pieces, I'm surprised you care," Isabella drawled mockingly. She held back a smirk when Victoria growled under her breath.
"Well yes dear," Victoria said. She began to circle Isabella again. "That did hurt my feelings. But after I pulled myself back together, I realized something."
Isabella didn't respond, only watched as her sire circled her like a cat with its prey. She was growing bored of this and crossed her arms over her chest to tell Victoria to get on with it.
"You and I," Victoria said pointing back and forth between them, "have a common goal."
"Oh really," Isabella deadpanned.
"We both want to destroy the Cullens."
Isabella narrowed her eyes at Victoria. Sure she hated them probably as much as Victoria did but she hadn't even considered going after them. They hadn't wanted her so why should she try to find them?
"And how do you propose we do that?" Isabella said raising an eyebrow at the red-head.
"The Volturi." A sinister smile found its way onto Victoria's face as she spoke. Isabella had a vague recollection of who the Volturi were. Carlisle had a painting of them on the wall of his office and Edward had said they were the rulers of vampire kind.
"Why would the Volturi even care Victoria?" Isabella said. "It's not like I'm still human."
"Exactly," she said moving closer to Isabella again causing her to tense. Victoria ran a hand along her cheek and down her arm and Isabella tried to remain stoic but shivered under the gesture. "I had to change you...I did. Not your dear Cullens. Not the vampires who told you we existed. They left you, a human, alone with the knowledge of what we are. Your family left you to die."
Isabella felt herself snap as she slammed Victoria into the brick wall beside her. Dust raced down its side as cracks formed around Victoria's body. "They are not my anything," Isabella ground out.
"Then prove it."
Isabella found herself flying at the woman in front of her but not to kill. For something else entirely. Maybe it was the mixture of a fresh feed and the raging hormones still coursing through her newborn body but Isabella found herself unable to hold back on her lust any longer. There had been moments in the previous year where she had almost given in and slept with a human before she killed them but the desire had never been strong enough. Now it's all she felt. Isabella pushed down the feeling of disgust she held for Victoria in favor of ravaging the woman who infuriated her so.
Unable to contain the excitement of the newborn, Victoria had to pick her up off the ground and carry her out of the city before they had gone too far but once there was no longer a beating heart within ear shot, all bets were off and Isabella lost herself in the lust only a newborn could feel.
Victoria knew this was only happening because of their maker bond. There was no emotion involved except hate. Isabella only found her a suitable target to release her frustrations on because they already had a bond, as tenuous as it was.
It was nearing dawn of the next day before Isabella finally fell out of her frenzy. She felt ashamed for what she had done but there was no way she would ever let Victoria know that. The woman infuriated her and this would only give her more fuel to add to the fire.
After laying on ground for an hour catching her breath, Isabella turned her head over to find Victoria watching her like the cat that got the cream. She could only roll her eyes in response and began the search for her bag or at least some piece of clothing that hadn't gotten torn in the madness.
"I guess what they say about newborns is true." Isabella could practically feel the smirk that was on Victoria's face. She wouldn't give her the satisfaction of a response. "Do you know what they say about newborns?" Victoria pushed.
"What Victoria?" Isabella asked. "What the fuck do they say about newborns?"
"My, what language," Victoria said in mock offense. "They say that newborns are like the energizer bunny and can go for hours, always so eager to please."
Isabella felt an arm start to wrap around her waist but she pushed it off and walked toward the bag she found discarded in the bushes. She pulled out a set of clothes and slid them on before looking back at Victoria who still remained stark naked.
"You gonna get dressed?" Isabella asked turning away from the other woman.
"Mm, no," Victoria said. "I quite like being naked and besides, little one, you tore ever piece of clothing I had to shreds."
Isabella chucked a pair of pants and a spare t-shirt she had in the bag at Victoria. They were about the same size so she figured they would do well enough. "How are we getting to Volterra?" Isabella asked.
"Well," Victoria giggled. "If you can keep your pants on long enough, we can run to New York and get a flight to Italy from there but if that is too taxing for your little newborn thirst, then we could always swim. I do hate what the salt water does to my hair though."
"How long is the flight?" Isabella asked weighing her options.
"Long enough." Victoria smirked. Isabella sighed. Either she suffered in a locked up flying death trap for god knows how many hours or she has to deal with Victoria complaining about her hair for just as many if not more hours. Isabella was beginning to think that she should have remembered to set Victoria on fire before leaving the bunker she'd been turned in.
"I need to hunt," Isabella grumbled before stalking off towards the city they'd been in the night before. She would have to avoid the same district but it was lucky that it was cloudy enough that day she could hunt in the daylight. She made her way down to a train yard on the south side of Chicago and bummed her way through a couple of cars before finding a couple of men who were neither rail workers or train conductors.
She made quick work of them and quickly buried their bodies before returning to the area where she had left Victoria that morning. It wasn't more than another hour or so before Victoria returned donning a new wardrobe complete with backpack that no doubt held more. The older vampire disdainfully tossed the clothes Isabella had lent her into her lap before turning to run off again. Isabella quickly followed suit and they raced their way across the northern United States before finally making it to New York.
Isabella would never admit it but she actually enjoyed racing Victoria. Maybe if Victoria hadn't tortured her to death, she wouldn't hate the vampire nearly as much. Hate sex was one thing but actually enjoying Victoria's company was one thing she would never accept.
They managed to get plane tickets after smooth talking an airline worker into paying themselves and then quickly hid themselves in among the crowds with aids of hoodies and sunglasses to cover their features. Anything to keep the attention off of them and in the well lit and windowed halls of JFK, sunglasses weren't the most unusual thing for people to wear.
Boarding the flight had Isabella antsy. She had never been around so many humans in her newborn life and even just waiting to get on the plane was testing her control. By the time they boarded the flight Isabella's eyes were pitch black. The entire eight hour flight from New York to Rome, Victoria had to hold Isabella's arm to the chair just to remind her to keep control. Eventually Victoria decided distraction would be a better method and took to touching Isabella and teasing her. For the most part it worked until about five hours into the flight Isabella had had enough teasing and had dragged Victoria back to the lavatory to join the mile high club. And while it had done wonders to relieve the tension building in Isabella, it did nothing to quench the burning thirst. Victoria had no qualms about letting her drain the entire economy class but she would prefer their plane make it to the ground before Isabella drained the pilot and copilot as well so she figured it was just better to keep the newborn distracted in the lavatory and ignore the irritated knocks that occasionally stirred them from their haze.
By the time, they landed in Rome, Isabella was sexually sated and Victoria was as close to exhausted as a vampire could ever be. She almost would have rather taken the salt water beating to her hair than that again but the teasing material she had gained made it all worth it. It did make Victoria curious though. Isabella was awfully quick to accept her as a sexual partner considering all of the pain Victoria had put her through. Honestly, Victoria thought she would have held more of a grudge but then again maybe she was just underestimating the sex drive of a newborn vampire. It had been well over four hundred years since her own change, maybe she had just forgotten how desperate it could get sometimes.
The minute they exited the airport, both headed off to hunt. Isabella out of desperate need, Victoria so that she could keep an eye on the near-frenzied newborn. She resented the girl but was also beginning to feel an unusual fondness for her, one she blamed completely on the complicated bond between a maker and their childe. By the time they had finished it was nearing dawn again and they hunkered down outside the city in a vineyard hoping the shadows cast by the vines would be enough to hide the shine from their skin. Victoria decided that this was the time to clear the air between them.
"Bella-" Victoria started but was cut off by Isabella correcting her.
"It's Isabella now."
"Isabella," Victoria said rolling the name across her tongue.
"Yes Victoria?" Isabella said smugly.
"Why haven't you killed me yet?" Victoria asked bluntly. She watched the wide-eyed look on Isabella's face as she contemplated her answer. Isabella was going to, back in that alley. Victoria could tell that much. If she hadn't distracted the newborn, she would probably be dead right now. There was no way she could fight against a newborn's strength but not even her gift had thought she was in danger from Isabella.
"Because I guess I get it?" Isabella finally said. "We did kill your mate. And we broke up your coven." Isabella paused and looked down at the ground. "You were right. A mate for a mate. It just turns out he wasn't my mate," Isabella said as she pulled her knees up into herself. "I'm sorry they killed James."
Victoria was stunned silent. If there was any answer, she expected it to be pawned off on newborn in-discrepancies and lust. The last thing she expected was an apology. She had literally tortured human Bella to death and she was still apologizing. Victoria inched herself closer to Isabella before laying an arm across the newborn's shoulders. She flinched briefly but accepted the comfort. "James was an ass," Victoria conceded with a laugh.
Victoria didn't know if this meant anything for their relationship now. Isabella should have killed her. Maybe she still would but for now they had a common goal. Revenge on the Cullens.