Chapter 4
"Bella? Bella!" Maria shouted as she entered the library. Not only did she not see her mate, but the scent of Bella also appeared to be somewhat stale.
A strange mix of worry and fury coursed through the warlord as she searched the library along with several other vampires, as if they would somehow find Bella despite the state of the newborn's scent.
Finally, Maria had no choice but to stop looking, as Bella's scent just disappeared, seemingly out of nowhere. She whirled towards the other vampires, all who, save for Lucy and Nettie, looked absolutely terrified of Maria's rage.
Good. They should be.
However, it wasn't just rage that fueled Maria, it was panic. Panic and fear. Her mate was missing, and Maria had no idea where Bella was. "Everyone, search for Bella. I don't care if you have to tear this town apart, you will find her."
Immediately, every vampire darted off save, once again, for Lucy and Nettie.
"Maria," Nettie said, putting a hand on Maria's shoulder to stop the frantic vampire from bursting right out of the door. Maria glared at her, only just managing to bite back a hiss as she waited for what Nettie had to say. "The collar. She's still wearing it."
Realization hit Maria like a slap in the face. Cursing her own stupidity, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a beautifully crafted golden key on an equally beautiful chain. It didn't just serve to unlock the collar, either; it was what would allow Maria to find her mate.
The key tumbled from her hand, catching in midair as it reached the end of the chain. Then, without a single word needing to be spoken, magic began to weave through the chain and into the key. The key lit up with a faint glow, and it started to spin.
Maria watched the process frantically, willing the key to hurry up and find Bella, but the key took its damn well time before finally, finally, settling. North. The key was pointing north. Was Bella really planning on going back to America? Perhaps even back to her college? No, that's impossible. Bella wasn't stupid.
Without another second spent considering where Bella might be heading, Maria ran in the direction of the key-and right through the wall that happened to be in her way.
"I'll stay here and keep our little army in line," Lucy said to Nettie, knowing she was the more wild one between the two of them and less likely to be any real help. "You go make sure Maria doesn't keep breaking through walls."
Nettie nodded in a silent thank you and touched Lucy's cheek, saying goodbye before running after Maria. Hopefully, Nettie would be all that Maria needed to stop her from causing too much of a scene. She would hate for the Volturi to take notice of them, again.
At first, Bella had no idea where she was heading. All she did know was that she was running, and despite the pain in her chest, she was running away from the vampire that was causing it. And of course, Bella wasn't running in a blind panic. She was smarter than that, making sure to keep to any cover she happened across, hiding from sight despite the fact that it was already dark out.
Her throat was starting to burn, possibly from Bella fighting off the pain, or simply from running for so long, but Bella couldn't stop. She was just so afraid that if she so much as paused, she'd feel Maria's arm wrapping around her waist, or perhaps Maria tackling her to the ground, and hear the vampire snarl furiously in her ear in response to Bella running away.
Why did that sound so good? Why did the thought of having Maria respond that way make Bella tingle in all the right places? And damn it, why did Bella have a sudden urge to wait for Maria to find her so Maria would do just as Bella imagined?
The collar. It had to be the fucking collar.
Don't stop running, Bella. If Maria finds you, she'll kill you. Repeating that over and over in her head, Bella pushed herself onward. Still running, even though she didn't have a clear destination. But Bella knew she couldn't continue running forever. She had to have a plan, had to have a destination. Somewhere where Bella would be safe. How? How could Bella find somewhere safe when Maria was likely tracking her this very second?
For some reason, Edward came to mind. Of course, Bella wasn't going to go crawling to the Cullens, begging for help. Not after they had abandoned her. She nearly spat at the thought. However, it was the hazy memory of a conversation Bella had with Edward once that stopped Bella from completely dismissing the Cullens from her mind. A conversation where Edward mentioned his cousins, a coven in Denali.
That's it! They might be able to help her.
Grinning like a mad woman, Bella quickly figured out where she was as she ran past a few signs, then changed her course. Somehow in her run, she had ended up back in the US, possibly because her body automatically wanted to run home, and it wasn't that hard to keep heading North.
There was only one problem; Bella's thirst wasn't something that could be ignored much longer. She needed to feed.
For a moment, Bella considered stopping to hunt some animals, but she knew that wouldn't be enough. It would take too long to find something big enough to actually help calm her thirst, and then she'd have to hunt multiple animals to get what she needed. Therefore, Bella needed to find a human. Not just any human, though. She refused to let Maria influence her any further. She was going to find a human who deserved death.
With that in mind, she made sure to keep running in the direction of the nearest big city. At least here there had to be a few criminals out and about, and hopefully out of the public eye.
Bella's hope turned out to be reality, as it only took a few minutes of her running around to find a man repeatedly stabbing another man who was laying on the ground, already dead. Not having the time to play games or strike some fear into him before his death with the knowledge that Maria could be right on her heels, Bella didn't even slow her stride as she grabbed the man and kept running. Once out of the city and again in a nearby forest, Bella bit deep into the man's neck, drinking him dry.
The man never even knew what hit him. Bella wasn't even sure if he had even seen the face of his killer.
Of course, Bella didn't feel sorry for the man, and she quickly ripped his body into pieces and threw them into the forest around her as she started to run again. Better to leave it to the animals to take care of the rest of him then to leave his body just lying around, after all.
Once that was settled, she once again started running towards Alaska. It felt like it took an eternity, especially when Bella felt the need to drain another criminal along the way, but thankfully, Maria never once made an appearance. Maybe the collar didn't have as much tracking magic as Maria had tried to make her believe?
Just the thought of Maria made her stomach twist, her heart threatening to rip itself to shreds. Furious at her reaction to the woman who was clearly still haunting her, Bella snarled and punched a hole through the nearest tree.
The Denalis, Bella thought desperately. The Denalis can help me. Maybe they can even get this collar off of me so I don't have to keep feeling this way about that kidnapping bitch. Of course, her words only served to conjure a more vivid image of Maria, and for some fucked up reason, it was an image of Maria on all fours on top of her, eyes half mast, looking way too sexy even for a vampire.
I could still return to that, another part of Bella's brain seemed to murmur persuasively as a wave of longing, not to mention the urge to turn around and run right back to the hispanic vampire, nearly took Bella to her knees. I'll be punished for running, but she won't kill me. She'll welcome me with open arms and give me the make up fucking of a lifetime.
And how do I know that she won't kill me if she ever lays eyes on me again? Bella replied viciously. And why the fuck would I want to go back to her, anyways? I don't care if Maria is the sexiest, most amazing fuck buddy in the world, I'm never returning to that woman. Realizing that Bella was now talking to herself, Bella groaned and put her head in her hands. The Denalis, Bella. Focus on getting to the Denalis. I'm already in Alaska, they can't be too-
"Everything okay over here?" a woman's voice asked dryly from only a few feet away, all but making Bella jump out of her skin.
She did jump, however. She jumped right to her feet, whirling around to face the other vampire with a warning hiss.
"Don't hiss at me. You're the one on my territory," the woman told her as she leaned against the tree casually, hands stuffed in her pockets. Despite her relaxed posture, Bella could sense just how dangerous the woman was and that she could probably kill Bella in a heartbeat. "Now, tell me what you're doing here, or I'm going to have to give you...a bit of a shock." The woman smiled like she was internally laughing at her own joke, which of course only confused Bella and made her a little more wary. For all she knew, this vampire could be bull licking crazy, and Bella definitely didn't want to set off a crazy vampire.
"I'm sorry, you startled me. I didn't mean to be rude," Bella said, her manners kicking in. She straightened, refusing to appear weak in the woman's eyes as she continued. "I'm just looking for the Denali coven."
The woman arched an eyebrow, then gestured to herself. "Well, you found them. One of them, anyways. I'm Kate Denali. Now, why are you looking for us?"
Bella blinked, taken aback. She hadn't realized she had gone so deep into Alaskan territory. "Bella. Um, sorry, I...I think it's best if I talk to you all at once."
"Uh huh…" Kate hummed to herself, giving Bella a once over before taking out her phone. She made a phone call, and Bella heard someone pick up on the other line. "Hey Tanya, we've got a vampire here who wants to talk to the coven. Could ya gather everyone up and come find us? Thanks."
"Wait, Kate-" Bella vaguely heard Tanya start to say, but Kate hung up her phone and pocketed it, focusing back on Bella.
"Sorry about that," Kate said, not sounding sorry at all. "But I'm not just going to let some random vampire come deeper into our territory than you already are. That might change once we learn why you're here, but don't get your hopes up."
"I understand," Bella said as unease started to fill her. Not just because it appeared that the Denalis might be hard to convince to help her, but because she felt like she was standing still too long. Call it paranoia, but Bella felt like if she didn't get moving soon, Maria would appear out of nowhere and grab her.
Sadly, Bella found that she'd be stuck staying still for a long time as they waited for the rest of the coven to appear, Kate keeping her eyes on Bella as she whistled random tunes that Bella was sure was just a string of random notes tied together and not any actual song.
Finally, thankfully, Bella then heard the sound of approaching vampires. Four, to be exact. At first, Bella tensed, sure that it was Maria, but then caught the scents of the new arrivals and didn't recognize any of them. Under Kate's watchful eye, Bella forced herself to relax and take a deep breath to calm down.
"Damn it, Kate, you can't just tell us to find you," Bella heard another woman's voice complain. "Do you know how hard it was to track you down? And with you hanging around with a possible threat to our coven-" a woman with curly blonde hair cut off as she entered the clearing along with another blonde woman, a hispanic woman, and a hispanic man, all of their gazes now on Bella. However, the woman who had been complaining was looking at Bella in a way that Bella was only just starting to get used to, and Bella didn't know whether to be flattered or uncomfortable. "I'm Irina," the curly haired blonde said, not daring to get close just yet as her eyes roamed hungrily over Bella's body. "Tell me you're not here to cause trouble."
"We're about to find out," the other blonde cut in as she took a step forward, putting herself between the rest of her coven and Bella. "I'm Tanya Denali, the leader of the Denali coven. Now, state your purpose."
Bella took another deep breath, preparing herself. She already knew this was going to be a long talk, and Bella had better be good. The Denalis, after all, were Bella's only hope.
Author's Note: Yes guys, I know you've all been waiting awhile for this, but it's finally up. I actually managed to finish this chapter. And no, Irina isn't going to be added to the pairing, she doesn't suddenly think Bella is her mate, this is just going to be plot don't worry.
