Heads up: I just wanted to remind people that Victoria is physically 18. Yes, eighteen. This is canonical. She's only months older than Bella that way. It's extremely weird to think about (and hard to imagine), considering that she was played by actresses in their mid-thirties, not their late teens/early twenties, but true nonetheless. My personal headcanon is something of a mix between Taylor Roberts, Grace Holley, and Emma Stone.
I know a bunch of stories that I can think of off the top of my head that seem to have older/thirties!Victoria (Luminescence, A Witch and Her Vampire, Inside the Fire, Crimson Bonds, All Red, etc.), but I wanted to try out young/teenage!Victoria. …I have made an in-story reference to her physical age and appearance in Chapter 2. I just wasn't sure everybody caught that, so I figured it was worth repeating.
Chapter 7:
She's Leaving Home/Ghosts of the Past
"Oh, come on Bella, it'll be fun!"
I looked at Alice flatly. "That's what you said last time. And then we were out for eight freaking hours! I had to remind you I needed food!"
The short vampire pouted while Emmett laughed from the other room. "Alice has her own little world she goes to when she's out shopping," he shouted.
And then she started with the eyes. I tried to look away, but there was no avoiding them.
I sighed in resignation. "Fine. Fine." Alice beamed. "But I'm not buying anything."
"Oh, that's fine. I'll get it for you."
I only managed to sputter incoherently as she dragged me bodily to her car.
That night, I dreamed.
I was sure it was a dream, simply because all the colors were washed out, even the grass at my feet in monochromatic shades of gray. Everything was obscured by a smoky haze except for a small patch where I stood at the center.
"Bella."
I turned to the right, looking for the source of the voice.
My breath caught in my chest when I saw Alice standing there, silently, as if she'd never left. Golden-amber eyes stared at my face, and I found myself unable to look away.
"Alice?"
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't want… I'm sorry."
"What?"
She took a step backwards into the haziness.
"Alice! Wait!" She paused. "Where are you going?"
The short girl shook her head. "It's not my choice, Bella. They wouldn't listen to me. I… I tried to tell them."
"B-but…"
"It's been taken out of my hands. I'm… I'm sorry," she said, sounding like she was about to break out into tears. "I'm so sorry."
A figure stepped out of the mist, and even though I couldn't recognize the distinct features, I knew it was him. Alice moved towards him, and I felt panic rising in my chest
"Wait! Please! Don't, don't leave me here!"
But his eyes were like cold glass and he turned away from me, walking away and dissolving like he'd never been there. Alice slowly followed him, but when she reached the edge, she turned to look at me one last time, her eyes full of sadness and regret, before she was swept away into the fog, disappearing like she had never been there.
I collapsed, sobbing. They had left. She'd left me behind, and I was alone again.
And then… suddenly, I wasn't.
I felt a cold hand touch my shoulder, and I looked up, twisting my head to look at the person who was kneeling next to me. Red hair framing a delicate face with red eyes that watched me with sympathy and pain that was all-too-similar. She drew me into her arms, just like she had before, holding me as I cried, sobbing, my face pressed into her cold shoulder and neck.
I heard footsteps to our right, and looked up. Jake stood there, looking down at us, his face twisting in fury and hatred as soon as he saw Victoria.
"Get away from her, Bella," he spoke lowly, holding out a hand to me. "Come on, let's go."
B-but… I looked between him and her. It was Victoria. I didn't want to leave her. Why was he asking me to do that? Why would he ever want that from me?
I shook my head slowly, turning to glance back at Victoria again. She was watching me calmly, her lips turned upwards slightly at the corners in a comfortable smile that said everything I needed to know. It made me feel warm inside, and I smiled back, knowing I was where I was supposed to be. I returned my focus to Jake, but he'd disappeared, and in his place was a russet wolf as large as Paul had been.
The wolf growled at us, and Victoria pulled me closer, protectively, and answered with a snarl of her own. The wolf's eyes shifted to me, pleading, but I couldn't return its gaze, and gripped Victoria like a lifeline. I'd made my choice, the choice I knew was the right one, and I wasn't giving that up. I wouldn't give her up.
I blinked, and the wolf was gone.
Victoria released me from her hold, smiling slightly. A hand reached out, lifting to my face and then cupping my cheek in her palm. Her thumb ran below my eyes, wiping away the remnants of my tears.
An expression of happiness and content I'd never seen from her came over features, her eyes softening as she kept looking at me.
And then slowly, laboriously, she leaned forward and kissed me.
I woke with a gasp.
My chest heaved, and I struggled to draw a complete breath.
My body felt like it was on fire. I was hyper-aware of my sheets on top of me, the way they dragged against my skin. It felt like I could feel every thread, every fiber.
My heart was pounding, and refused to slow down.
Flashes of the end of my dream came to me: Pale, cold skin. Feelings of warmth and happiness and safety. Victoria, looking at me contentedly, happily before kissing me.
A warm knot of tension settled in my lower body, and I didn't want to let it go, wanted it to keep growing, to finish. I was blind to my surroundings, unaware of anything other than myself and my rising euphoria.
And then I had the sudden, mortifying thought that Victoria was there, that she had been watching me, and I halted my activities like a bucket of ice-water had been poured over me. Looking around the room, I let out a sigh of relief when I saw no sign of her. The comforting fuzziness that had enveloped my mind was gone, washed away by the adrenaline rush, and I resigned myself to the fact that there was no way I was finishing or falling back asleep.
… I really needed a shower.
My pajamas were , and the sheets clung to my skin when I dragged myself out of bed and managed to make my way to the bathroom. I shucked my clothes, throwing my ruined underwear into the hamper along with my practically-drenched nightshirt and then turning the shower on.
Standing under the stream helped, but I couldn't get the image of Victoria, or the feelings of her lips, her hand, her skin against mine, out of my head. I could almost feel it all, even though I knew it had only been in my mind.
I felt lost. I… I didn't think about girls that way. At least, I thought I didn't. Not that there was anything wrong with it. I just knew I liked guys. I'd even had a particularly strong crush on Michael Schiller in eighth grade. But I hadn't ever fantasized about girls before now. And I'd especially never masturbated to them before.
I'd never even really thought about them like that.
Except for Rosalie, my traitorous mind whispered.
Okay. But Rosalie was objectively attractive. You'd have to be blind not to think that.
And what about Angela and Jessica? Or Lauren?
So maybe I hadn't really been able to stop thinking about them in their dresses following that trip to Port Angeles. And so what if I always noticed when Lauren changed her lip gloss, even though I didn't really like her? It didn't… It didn't mean I wanted to kiss them, right?
But thinking about it was kind of hot.
My fingers started drifting lower again.
… No! Not the time, dammit!
I turned the water colder and took a deep breath.
…It's okay. Everything's alright. There's nothing wrong with being attracted to other girls. It just means that the other 50% of the population is now possible dating material.
It's… It's not like I was suddenly different or anything. So I,I knew I was bisexual now, so what?
Liar, the voice whispered. It changes everything, and you know it.
I gritted my teeth, squeezing my eyes shut as I held my head and then shook it, water flying everywhere from my wet hair.
FUCK!
What was I going to do? What could I do? Should I tell her? How're you supposed to tell the vampire girl you're running away with that you fantasized about her?
…Except it was significantly more than that, and I knew it. It wasn't just that. I… definitely had feelings for her beyond lusting after her. I …was falling for her. Had been falling for her for who knows how long. Since that first night in the hospital when I'd realized she was just as human, as broken as I was?
You know she'll never feel the same way. Vampires mate for life, and she's already had hers. You'll always just be the human girl that she decided to take pity on.
I tasted rust in my mouth and realized I'd bitten my lip so hard I was bleeding without even noticing.
I could already imagine the look of disgust on her face if she found out. And then she'd leave me too. I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't lose her. Not Victoria. Not her.
It won't be too hard, after all, you'll only have to keep from her for all eternity. Remember what she said about how vampires are frozen emotionally? Three guesses what that means for a crush when she turns you. And the first two don't count.
I laughed. It wasn't a happy sound.
Of course. Of course I'd end up falling for the one person it was a physical impossibility to return any feelings for and then have to deal with it for the rest of my existence. It just made sense. Fate just seemed to be hell-bent on making my life as much a living hell as it possibly could.
…I, I had to stop thinking about this.
Focus on something else. Okay. Okay. I can do this. Today I was leaving Forks. For good. As in, never coming back.
Victoria (stupid, beautiful, perfect Victoria) had said she had a plan, but I still couldn't help but feel a little bad about what this was going to do to Charlie. And Reneé. And Angela.
Okay, fine, I hated it. I hated what this was going to do to them. Reneé would be inconsolable, at least until something came along and took her up her attention again. Angela… Angela would be fine. She'd move on, go about her life. I'd just be that one friend in high school who ran away, never to be seen again.
It was Charlie I really worried about. But he had his friends, and he'd survive. That was what was important.
The problem was that at this point it wasn't a matter of if I would have to leave, but when. It was going to hurt them no matter what, but with the Quileute being so antagonistic against Victoria, it suddenly became weeks at the most before we lost control on the situation. I didn't trust Billy not to try and pull something with Charlie. So it was either now, or sometime up until two weeks from now. And really, leaving sooner rather than later would give them less time to plan something against us. Even I could see that logic.
Which is why I'd packed a backpack of clothing last night, which sat in the corner of my room. It would be all I needed according to Victoria, that and my IDs and passport.
Shutting off the cold water, I stepped out of the shower, shivering as soon as the air hit me. Once I'd dried myself off, I headed back to my room, putting on the clothes I'd set aside for today. It was really early, only 5:30 in the morning. With nothing better to do, I slumped down into the chair at my desk and just sat there, looking around the room at the things that wouldn't be coming with us. My books. The old, dinosaur of a computer behind me. Clothes in the closet that didn't even fit me anymore, leftover from my childhood. And that… was really it.
I hadn't moved to Forks with much more than a suitcase of clothes, so it made sense that there wasn't much to take with me.
Sighing, I turned around to face the desk and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen, intending to do the thing I'd been putting off so far. And so, I wrote a note to Charlie. It was very stereotypical for what I'd think a runaway letter would look like. All "It's not your fault." and "I need to get out." and "I can't live here anymore because it reminds me of the Event." and "I love you." I was just writing my name at the bottom when I heard the window open and looked over to see Victoria climbing through it.
Immediately, all the thoughts I'd managed to suppress so far surged to the forefront of my mind (cold hands dancing across my skin, lips and teeth marking me), and I blushed so heavily I probably looked like a tomato.
How are you going to do this if you can't even control yourself around her?
Trying to ignore the images my subconscious was conjuring, I focused on what was more important right now, "It's time to go, isn't it?"
Victoria nodded silently, striding over to my backpack and slinging it onto her back.
I stood up, walking over to my bed and placing the note at the foot of it. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, before opening them and then looking around my room one last time. "Alright, let's do this."
Blurring over to my side, Victoria picked me up (don't think about it) and rushed out the window, managing to twist, grip the windowsill, and close the window in one motion. We dropped to the ground silently, and I wouldn't have even noticed it if my eyes weren't open. As soon as she had gotten traction, we turned around and she sprinted towards the woods behind my– Charlie's house.
It was only a short trip, ten or fifteen seconds at most, and then we came out of the woods into the rear parking lot of a strip mall. Victoria slowed down, still carrying me as she walked towards the only obvious feature in the area: a black motorcycle.
"How, where'd you…?"
She placed me on my feet, holding my shoulder until I had regained my balance. I focused on the bike as much as I could instead of staring at her while she walked towards it. All I could think was that it matched her image perfectly, the fitted red leather jacket (the color of her eyes) she was wearing today a perfect contrast when viewed next to the glossy lacquer. I noted the collar was unusually high, stopping half-way up her neck, and that she'd slipped a pair of gloves onto her hands when I wasn't looking.
Victoria grabbed two helmets that I hadn't noticed off of the handlebars, and then turned towards me with a half-quirked smile. "Did you think we would be running the whole way?" I flushed, because I hadn't even really thought about it. "It'll be easiest to avoid the wolves on the road. We shouldn't take any unnecessary risks."
Victoria walked back over to me, taking the backpack off and handing it over along with one of the helmets. I took both, putting the backpack on first and then looking warily at the helmet before twisting my hair up and shoving it on my head.
In the time it'd taken me to do that, Victoria had donned her own helmet, already climbed on the bike, and started it. I walked over, and then paused as I realized exactly what this was going to require.
Me. Behind Victoria. Holding onto her.
…Fuck my life. Everything would be so much easier if I hadn't figured out I was interested in her today of all days.
That's not how it works, cupcake.
Great. And now the voice at the back of my head was calling me pet names.
Swallowing, I swung my leg over the rear end and hesitantly wrapped my arms around her middle. It helped that she was taller than me and all I was touching was her midsection. I didn't even begin to want to think about how this would be working if she was shorter.
Yes you do.
Shut up.
As soon as I was secure, she pushed the engine and we peeled out of the parking lot. I was glad I'd decided to wear a heavier jacket, as the cool Forks weather combined with Victoria's lack of body heat made it a brisk experience.
I will say it was soothing. We weren't able to talk, but I was able to rest my head against her back. The monotony of the road combined with the purr of the engine under us and the safety I felt when with Victoria knowing she'd never let anything happen to me was more relaxing than anything else I'd ever done.
It didn't take long to get to Port Angeles and through it, following the 101 from Forks and then switching onto Highway 20 to bypass Seattle and go straight to Burlington. We stopped for gas in Oak Harbor, and I can say that one thing I'd never expected to see was Victoria using a gas pump. Doing normal human things seemed too… normal for her. I took the chance to use the restroom and then get a breakfast bagel from the little builtin café, which Victoria rolled her eyes at, instead disappearing around the side of the station while I ate. I found her leaning up against the east wall next to the motorcycle, as still as a statue, but she immediately pushed away from it and handed me the helmet I supposed was mine.
And then we were off again.
We were only about twenty miles out of Bellingham when Victoria suddenly whipped her head around, a low growl rumbling from her chest. It was only for a few seconds, but I turned and followed her line of sight, finding a darkly-tinted Mercedes two lanes over from us. Victoria took off like a shot, accelerating from sixty miles an hour to what I had to guess was at least a hundred in seconds, weaving between cars and trucks with a precision that only a vampire could exhibit, and I clung tightly to her in order to stay on.
For a few minutes nothing happened, and it seemed like we'd gotten away from the car for whatever reason Victoria had wanted to. And then against all odds, it pulled up next to us again. This time when Victoria snarled, the vibrations actually traveled through my bones and helmet and I heard it like I was right next to my ear.
I had no idea why, but I could tell she was pissed.
Victoria… wasn't normally prone to strong reactions. She was subdued. Calm. Collected. The only other time I'd seen her reacting so strongly had been in the forest, when she'd been falling to pieces in front of me. But this… this was a completely different reaction. This wasn't melancholic, fatalistic rage. This was frustrated anger. Resigned, but hating the resignation.
Twisting the handlebars sharply, she cut across the other lanes and angled towards the shoulder of the interstate and the forest at the edge of it, slowing down to a fraction of what we'd been going. Once we went off the shoulder and onto the grass, she hit the brakes and we skidded sideways until we were at a halt, her left leg supporting the entire weight of the bike.
In a single unified motion, she dismounted and propped bike up, standing in front of it casually, facing the car that had followed us off the road. I could tell that it was all an act and she was ready to either attack or flee at any moment.
Carefully, I followed her lead (albeit much less gracefully), clambering off the motorcycle so that I was standing next to her. The car slowed to a halt thirty feet away.
Victoria twisted her head towards me and pressed her helmet against mine. "I don't know what the bloody hell she wants. You're mine." A warmth exploded in my chest, my heart beating faster as I felt myself blush. (Not the time!) "They forfeited you, and I'm not giving you up." She turned back to face the car.
Forfeited me?
The door of the Mercedes opened, and the figure that stepped out made suck in a deep breath.
I'd know that face anywhere. Short-cropped hair and amber irises. A fine bone structure and shorter than even me.
Alice!
My heart almost leaped out of my chest. It was all I could do to stop myself from jumping away from Victoria's side, running over to her and hugging her.
Are you sure you aren't crushing on her too? 'Cause it sure looks like it from here.
But why was she here? It didn't make any sense. Alice… Alice had left. Left with them, the others. Why was she here now? And if she was here, where were the others? Were they nearby?
I half-waited for someone else to step out of the car, but nobody emerged. And there was nobody else around us, just the passing cars on the freeway.
It was just Alice. What was going on?
Victoria reached up and grabbed her helmet, yanking it off and glaring across the gap at the shorter vampire. "What do you want?" she growled.
"Why!?" Alice yelled, advancing, and the redhead at my side growled.
"Why what? You'll have to clarify, as I have no idea what you're on about."
"She had nothing to do with any of this! Why did you do it? Why did you kill her? WHY!?" She was practically running now, right at the edge of human, and I could tell she was actively restraining herself from going any faster.
A breeze blew from behind us and Alice skidded to a halt twenty feet away, looking shocked. She blinked and then looked from Victoria to me, as if only just realizing I was even there. "…Bella?"
I glanced over at Victoria, but she gave me no hint as to what she wanted to do. I figured I was on my own, and she would only intervene if I did something really stupid.
Carefully, I reached up and removed my own helmet. "Um. Hi, Alice. Fancy meeting you here?" I chuckled weakly.
Alice looked utterly perplexed, an emotion that was extremely out of place on her face. "Wha… But I… You…" she sputtered. "How are you not…?"
Victoria rolled her eyes. "Will you spit it out already?"
"I… I saw you die, Bella!"
I blinked. "What?"
"You… There was this forest at night. And a clearing. She was there." Alice paused, pointing at Victoria for a second, and then she went back to what I could only describe as worrying a path into the ground.
"And then you just… disappeared. I couldn't see you anymore, even when I tried to." She jerked her head around to look at me. "The only time that's happened before is when someone's died!"
Alice's eyes flicked over to Victoria. "I saw her there, before everything went black. She… she grabbed your shoulder and it looked like she was pulling you towards her! Like she was going to bite you! And then… and then when I looked for her all I saw was two people on a motorcycle…" She sounded so distraught, like she had in my dream that morning.
"I thought she killed you! I thought… I thought I was too late! And I panicked." She hugged herself. "I didn't even tell the rest of the family. Everybody's all over the place, and there wasn't enough time!"
"A bit pathetic, isn't she?" Victoria whispered at me. I shot her a sour look, and she frowned and turned away, facing Alice. "You left her behind. Why do you care what happens to her?"
Alice looked affronted. "Of course I care! Just because we left doesn't mean I suddenly stopped caring about her!" My heart soared.
God, if she's pathetic than you're ten times worse. Listen to yourself. One sentence and you're ready to throw yourself at her.
I pointedly ignored the voice.
Alice took another step forward, and an absolutely massive snarl broke from between Victoria's lips.
"Do you have any idea what she was like when I found her?" the redhead at my side hissed. "There was nothing there. Nothing! She was broken. By your coven. She didn't even care if she died! She told me to kill her!"
Both Alice and I winced, a wave of pain traveling across her face. "What? I didn't… I swear to God, Bella, I didn't know! He told me that I should just leave you alone and not try to look at your future because it would just make things harder! What did… what did he say to you to make you like that?"
I looked between Victoria and her, and felt myself inching closer to the redhead and almost huddling against her naturally. "He… he took me to the forest behind my house. And… then he said you all were leaving. And that I didn't belong with you. That I'd only been a distraction for a little while. Nothing important. That he was tired of pretending to be something he wasn't. …That you didn't want me anymore. That it would be like you never existed. And then he just… disappeared."
Alice just stared at me, for a full five seconds.
"That… that… How could he?" She started pacing, the muscles around her jaw popping out from how hard she was clenching it. "He said he was going to explain it! I always thought it was stupid in the first place, but he just left you there? Even if he can't read your mind he should have known better than that!"
I looked away from her. "I… I was in a bad place after that. I was in bed for a week. They say I was completely unresponsive. That I had a mental break and was trying to dissociate it from everything else. And then on Thursday, I just… I had to get out. So I drove and then walked to the field. The one he used to take me to. And… and then Victoria…"
"I found her," Victoria said, taking over. "I hunted her. I wanted revenge, a life for a life."
"But… you clearly didn't?" Alice pointed out, as if confused.
Victoria looked distinctly uncomfortable. "No. I decided not to."
"Why not?" The shorter vampire was looking at the cast on my left arm and had probably figured out that it had something to do with all of this.
"It doesn't concern you," Victoria spoke sharply, masking her previous discomfort. "All that matters is I didn't, and she's with me now."
Alice bit her lip and relented, allowing the subject to die. "So then why did I have a vision of you biting her last night?"
"We, um, we were meeting Sam Uley and the Quileute elders," I supplied.
She looked confused. "What? Why?"
Victoria scoffed. "That pathetic group of wolf-shifters took offense at my presence in 'their' territory. We were meeting with them for parley."
Alice's eyes grew wide and an expression of understanding graced her features. "Ugh. The wolves. Of course I can't see them." Her gaze lasered in on Victoria. "But that still doesn't explain why it looked like you were going to bite Bella."
The redhead rolled her eyes. "This is absurd. She stumbled. I was merely steadying her until she could stand properly."
Alice looked like she'd bitten a lemon. "What?" She turned to me. "Seriously? That's… that's it? That's what happened?"
I nodded.
She sighed and rubbed her temples. "What a mess." Alice looked back up at us. "Based on what I've heard from the others, I'm guessing the Quileute weren't exactly welcoming so you're moving on. And I know you said that Bella is with you but… why?"
Victoria's features hardened. "You and your family broke the law. And I am not going to risk the attention of the Volturi simply because I failed to kill or turn her."
Alice threw her hands up, appearing exasperated. "I told him! I told him he should have just let it happen! But nooo. 'It's not your decision, Alice.', 'Just let her finish high school, Alice.', 'She should get to enjoy being human as much as she can, Alice.' He can be so damn frustrating."
"Do not speak of him," Victoria spat. "He killed my mate, and I will have retribution."
The golden-eyed vampire in front of us frowned. "James was going to kill Bella. Of course we'd defend her. And if we didn't kill him, he'd have never given up."
"He would have if she'd been turned like she should have been!"
"I know, okay!" Alice ceded. "I told him that! It was the best future I could see at the time: Bella gets to be a vampire, everybody's happy. Except for Edward apparently, because he refused to even consider it! I would have done it! I bet he didn't even tell Bella, did he?" she asked, looking at me.
I shook my head. I hadn't known that. If I had, I'd have had one of the others bite me, probably Alice since she'd said she was offering. It hadn't been just him or me in danger at that point, but their whole family.
Alice sighed, and turned back to Victoria. "So you're going to turn her?"
Victoria was still scowling. "You forfeited her, and she is now under my aegis. What I do with her is no concern of yours. But yes, I plan on it."
"It wasn't like I wanted to leave! I went because Jasper agreed with Edward, and they convinced the rest of the family."
And Jasper's her mate, so she wouldn't be able to live apart from him for very long, I thought, feeling sorry for her.
"And… I was planning on checking on you in a couple months, just to make sure you were doing alright," she admitted. "No matter what the others said. I did, do care about you, Bella. You were, are my best friend. Stupid brothers and husbands being idiots isn't going to change that."
I nodded, feeling a sense of calm come over me at her assurances.
"It… doesn't look like you're being kidnapped or anything. So I'm guessing you're part of all of this?" she questioned, looking between Victoria and I.
I felt myself flush, my thoughts going right where I didn't need them right now before I wrestled them back under control. "We… She isn't… Victoria won't hurt me Alice. I… I want this." And I did. "It was my idea."
Victoria looked like she was about to say something, but held herself back.
Alice seemed unconcerned. "Alright, then. And you are a consenting adult." She grinned. "Eighteen year-old Bella. Already running away to parts unknown. So adventurous. …But to be honest, I'm surprised you aren't more uncomfortable with her diet."
I shrugged.
Too broken to care. Just another way you're screwed up, darling. Falling for the mass-murderer.
She's not human! I defended. And it's not like I go out and help her kill people!
But you wouldn't mind if you did, do you? You'd do it, and you'd even enjoy it, because it's all for her and you love her.
I… Maybe. Yes? But I knew she wouldn't ever ask me to do that, so it was a moot point.
Awww. Look at the budding sociopath.
I am not a sociopath! She's a vampire! It's completely natural for her! And soon it'll be natural for me too!
Oh, I know that. There was a low chuckle. You are so easy to rile up.
Okay. Now I knew I was going crazy. The voice at the back of my head had just laughed.
Duh. Of course you're crazy. Sorry to burst your bubble, but having conversations with yourself isn't exactly a sign of sanity, sweetheart.
Bringing myself back to reality, I noticed Alice looking at me in contemplation. "I guess I'll be getting a vision of you as one of us pretty soon, huh? …Actually…" Her eyes glazed over for a second before a smile broke out on her face. "You'll be one of us before the end of the year if everything goes as planned."
Victoria's lips ghosted into a frown before reverting almost immediately.
Alice's smile grew. "…Scratch that. End of the month."
I looked over at Victoria in surprise. That soon? That was only two weeks away.
Butterflies started in my stomach.
I'm going to be a vampire. In two weeks.
Or less.
Right. Or less.
Wow. I mean, I'd known it, but having Alice confirm it just gave a sort of… finality to it that it hadn't had before.
The pixie-like vampire in front of us looked thoughtful, and then pulled something out of her pocket, fiddling with it quickly. "Here." She tossed the object towards me and Victoria's hand shot out to catch it, holding it in front of me. I took it from her. It was a cellphone, a BlackBerry.
"It's got global reception. And all of our numbers are in it. Don't worry about taking it, I've got extras and I put my other numbers in it. Just… promise you'll keep in touch? Text me, alright?"
I swallowed thickly, nodding.
She looked sheepish. "I should probably let you guys go so you don't miss your flight. Um… can I get a hug?"
I took a step forward, prepared to run over to her, but then paused, looking at Victoria. She waved me forward, so I headed over to Alice who was almost bouncing on her heels. "Oooooh. This is going to be so much fun! We'll have to go shopping after you're done with the whole newborn thing, I haven't been to Harrod's in ages."
She hugged me tightly, and I returned it, imagining myself absorbing the seemingly unlimited amount of energy that made her Alice to hold in reserve for when I'd need it. And then she leaned in close to my ear. "Nothing's going to change if you don't say anything. You might just end up being surprised."
Is she talking about…?
The voice in my head cackled in amusement.
Alice pulled back, and I looked at her in shock. "Everyone deserves a chance to be happy, Bella. Everyone," she emphasized, looking behind me.
I followed her view and saw Victoria watching us with a strange expression, her eyes narrowed and jaw clenched, but as soon as she saw me looking, she turned away. I turned back to face Alice, who was grinning like the cat that caught the canary.
She put a single finger up to her lips as if swearing me to secrecy as she walked backwards towards her car, still smiling enigmatically. She reached the Mercedes' door and was about to climb in when she suddenly looked up. "Oh! And tell Maggie I said 'Hi'!"
I heard Victoria growl slightly behind me as Alice closed the door and started the car, putting it in reverse and then driving back up to the shoulder and then onto interstate. I turned around and walked back to the motorcycle and Victoria.
"Is she always that annoying?" the redhead asked bitterly, putting her helmet on.
I laughed, bunching up my hair so I could do the same.
"She wouldn't be Alice if she wasn't."
A/N: Deus Ex Hurricane Alice Interrupt!
What's with the weird voice? What, you didn't think that Bella was going to come out of what happened the day before without some serious scars? The limits on her shield weren't the only thing that snapped…
