A/N: Rated M for violence. Following Mrs. A's sage advice, this chapter was assisted by a glass (or two) of wine, but I waited till the light of day and a cup of coffee to edit and post. : )
*** Chapter 2 ***
The warm summer air drifted through the trees that lined the two lane back road in rural Paris, Kentucky. Several days out from biting Bella, Victoria popped the hood on her '76 Camaro as she listened to the girl's heart shame a Derby horse as it raced towards its final beats. She could hear a diesel engine pick-up truck headed their way and hoped that Southern Hospitality would hold true in this part of the country.
Not bothering to look up as she heard two people exit the vehicle, Victoria pretended to look around at the engine while fanning herself.
"Having trouble there, m'am?"
"It just died on me, I don't know what happened," she feigned stupidity while looking the two men over through the dark lenses of her sunglasses.
Both men were in their early twenties, same sandy brown hair, broad build and similar features...must be brothers or possibly cousins. Moving out of their way so they could take over "fixing" the car that she had drained of fuel, Victoria kept one eye on the boys and the other on the body in the backseat.
They were bent over the engine, taking the time to check the oil level and various cables before one asked politely, "you mind trying to start her?"
Victoria smiled and slid in behind the wheel, turning the key in the ignition once, twice.
"You mind me asking what's the gas gauge reading?"
Faking an embarrassed laugh, Victoria admitted, "Oh my, silly me, you're right! I'm all out of gas!"
"I've got some in my truck bed, just hold on a minute. We'll get you back on the road in no time."
So polite and helpful….shame they won't make it to see the sun go down...no good deed goes unpunished I suppose…
While one of the two made his way back to his vehicle, Victoria advanced on the other without a sound, shushing him with a finger to his lips when he looked at her and then lifting the rock hidden in her hand to smack him near his temple, catching the body as he was knocked out and letting it slide slowly to the ground.
Turning back to the other, she watched as he poured fuel into her tank from a metal red gas can. Sneaking up behind him, she applied pressure to his throat, holding onto his struggling form with ease till she felt him pass out from lack of oxygen.
Tying both men to a nearby tree, she returned to the vehicle to close the hood and open the passenger door, pushing the seat forward and gazing at the girl in the back. All of Bella's bruises had healed in the transition and her body had refined every cell to perfection as the venom spread throughout, locking the girl in the throes of her youth, a curvy brunette beauty. Gently sliding the girl out of her resting place, Victoria laid her on the hood of the vehicle.
Urging her transformation to finish dragging on, "Come on, Bella, babe. I can hear that heart struggling. Give up the fight, girl, dinner's waiting for you."
Ruby red eyes snapped open as Bella inhaled an unnecessary breath.
"That's it, focus on my voice. Remember me? Victoria? Feeling better, sweetheart? "
Jolting into an upright position, eyes whipping from left to right, her senses fought to take in everything - sights, sounds, smells, touch. Victoria placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, receiving a low threatening growl in response.
"You thirsty?" Bella's eyes narrowed in on Victoria's face. She had been beautiful before, but now, she was gorgeous as each individual strand of her hair glowed a varied shade of red, orange, or blonde in the sunlight. Long auburn eyelashes framed crimson irises that stared back patiently.
"That's right, try and focus." Bella watched satin lips form each syllable intently, "Hear those heartbeats? It's not yours anymore, no, that sound means food now. I've made it easy this time; they're tied to that tree right over there."
Bella shot off like a rocket in the right direction, latching on to the slightly larger one's neck, her razor sharp teeth slicing through the thick muscle till it reached the jugular and severed the vessel. Victoria could hear the sound of animalistic growls and then bones snapping as the man's breath became labored.
"Bella...Bella! Darling, you're cracking his ribs. You're gonna puncture a lung and kill him," Victoria stayed next to the car, watching the newborn vamp devour her pray, oblivious to the world around her and the damage she was inflicting on the body in her grasp, "Yep, there he goes. You killed him," she sighed, "Now you're going to have to pull harder to get the blood out of him."
She idly passed the next few minutes checking out her nails, slightly irritated by the chipped nail polish that resulted from faking a broken down car. Bella released her first victim and started to jump towards the second, but Victoria stopped her progress by grabbing her and throwing her away from the tree. Bella came charging back with a feral growl, but Victoria held her ground.
"Stop right there," she commanded.
Bella, hearing the voice of her sire, felt compelled to obey and whimpered a little as she looked at the other man who was still alive, her throat still burning. Dressed in a t-shirt that was now slightly blood spattered, the same torn up dingy jeans and faded red tennis shoes, Victoria had taken the time to braid her hair in a loose French braid at some point over the past few days, exposing a slender pale neck that bore one silvery bite marking her transition. Long gone were the coffee-colored eyes Bella once possessed, replaced by red eyes that seemed to glow like a burning ember. Blood was drying on the girls chin, and had tinted her teeth pink, leaving a stain on her lips like some organic lip dye. Victoria could see little crescents of flesh under the girl's nails where she had gripped her prey a little too roughly, digging into his skin and tearing it apart.
"You're a hot mess, you know that?"
"I'm still thirsty," Bella pleaded with her sire, looking past Victoria towards the source of nourishment, though she was momentarily distracted by the clear, musical pitch of her voice and looked around as if she couldn't figure out where it came from.
"I know, darling, I know. It's all a little much, but you're doing great. Bella...Bella! Eyes over here!" Victoria snapped her fingers, "Listen to me carefully! You killed the last one before you were finished with him. That's fine, but it means you have to work harder to drain him, because his heart isn't pumping any blood. Try and be a little gentler with the next one, okay? And let's work on not wearing half the meal on our clothes."
Bella looked down and notice the red spatter on her shirt. She inhaled the scent of drying blood and went to examine it, tearing her shirt in the process, exposing bare breasts to the warm air. Victoria crossed over to her and took Bella's hands in her own, dropping them to each side of her body.
"Not quite used to your strength yet," she pulled the material off the woman's shoulders, taking her hands and smoothing them across shoulder bones down to firm breasts that she cupped in her hands, allowing her thumbs to circle pebbled nipples. Immediately submitting to this new heightened sensation, Bella pushed herself further into Victoria's hands earning a light trill of laughter from the elder vampire, "I knew you'd be glorious once you were changed, but I'm delighted that you're still so eager..."
Behind them, a man's groaning interrupted the exchange. Bella's head whipped in the direction of the sound, hearing his heart start to beat faster as he came to and panic set in, then back to Victoria. Her brain was confused as to what she wanted more, Victoria's touch or another person to feed off.
Sensing her charge's confusion, Victoria waved her towards the body, "Go ahead, take him. I'm not going anywhere."
Bella crossed over to the remaining male with inhuman speed, taking in his scent while he took in predatory crimson eyes belonging to a half-naked woman before looking down at his bound arms. Seeing Victoria leaning against the car in the background, she slid off her sunglasses and winked at him with an inhuman smirk. Struggling against the roped binding him, he questioned, "What the hell are you?"
Bella tried really hard to concentrate on sucking gently from his neck at first, making sure that none of the delicious salty goodness dribbled out the side, but her dinner started to scream and tried to pull away which ended in her tearing a large chunk out of his flesh. Frustrated that he messed up her careful movement, she got angry and snapped his neck before latching onto the other side to finish the job she originally began, taking note that Victoria was right, it did take a little more effort to get the same blood flow going when she had to do the work. Behind her, the redhead snorted in amusement at Bella's grumpiness over an uncooperative meal.
Draining the second body dry, Bella turned towards Victoria and awaited the next step. Joining her side, Victoria looked at the broken humans tied to the tree's trunk, flesh pale from the loss of blood, both sporting injuries that made them appear as if some sort of animal had mauled them, before moving to gather one up in her arms effortlessly, "Grab the other one and toss him into the truck."
Bella followed behind and deposited the man onto the truck's bench seat. Now that both males were dead, they weren't very appetizing to look at or smell and she wrinkled her nose in distaste.
"Now go stand over there next to the car and wait for me. I'll be just a minute," Victoria commanded.
Jumping in the truck's driver seat, Victoria started the vehicle and started to drive away before slamming the gas, swerving on the road and driving the truck into a tree. Bella started to move towards the crash but heard Victoria repeat clearly for her to stay put. Using her newly refined eyesight to watch Victoria exit the vehicle, the woman pulled a matchbook out of her jeans and dropped a lit match onto the ground by the back tire of the wrecked vehicle. Spilled gasoline caught fire and started to creep towards the cab. Rushing back over to the Camaro, Victoria grabbed the gas can and sprinted back to the truck, jumping onto the hood and spilling gas across the heating metal. Leaping away from the burning pickup, she joined Bella's side. The two watched the flames start to grow.
"Always clean your plate when you finish the meal," she instructed with a sly grin, "Don't need anyone trying to figure out what happened to them."
Victoria rounded the driver's side of her car and opened the trunk to remove a leather carry-on bag. Digging through the contents, she removed a sapphire blue cotton shirt that had an angled hemline. Taking out some leather sandals that didn't have any buckles or laces to tie, she returned to Bella and told the girl cheekily, "Arms up!"
"Fuck you, I can dress myself, I'm not a child," Bella snarked.
"Ooohhh, kitty's got claws! Darling, you shredded your last shirt just trying to smell it, let's not even talk about the concentration it would take to put this shirt on. Just cooperate, please, we need to get going before the local volunteer fire department arrives."
Sighing and with a roll of her eyes, Bella lifted her arms and delighted in the feeling of cool softness sliding down her torso. Bending down to remove her shoes, Victoria found herself amused by Bella's fingers playing in the red curls that were captured in a loose ponytail. The girl twisted and twirled the strands, letting them slide between her fingers before picking up a new piece and starting again.
"Bella?"
"Hhhmmm?"
"Are you finished playing with my hair?"
"It's so pretty..." she pulled her hands away with effort and Victoria returned to a standing position, placing a hand on Bella's cheek and leaning in.
"You're not so bad yourself."
Closing the gap, Victoria captured the girl's lips in a kiss, sliding her tongue out to taste the remnants of blood that colored an eager mouth that opened and invited intrusion, letting their tongues meet and dance intimately against one another. Grabbing the woman by the waste, Bella forcefully pulled her closer, taking advantage of not needing air to lose herself in one kiss that melted into another. Victoria finally broke the connection.
"Listen..."
Bella's ears detected a far off vehicle.
"We need to go."
Knowing she could trust her sire's directions, Bella slid into the car and ignored the seatbelt, taking the sunglasses that were offered to her and slowly sliding them on, while letting the air play with her loosely restrained hair as they sped away from her first victims.
