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AN1: This is a more sedate chapter than the last few but I'm still happy with it. Take the time to enjoy the imagery is my advice. Listen to the song it's quite good.

AN2: It seems 7k word chapters is my new norm since this is the third chapter in a row to run that long. In a way it feels more satisfying.

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"So how do you guys think it went?" asked Emmett, leaning back on the couch and putting his arm around his wife.

Esme worried her lip as she thought that her 'son' Emmett posed a very good question. It certainly had started off a bit shaky and things seemed to take a definite turn for the worse when Edward had provoked the redhead calling herself Andromeda. When Jasper had come to her and Carlisle voicing his suspicions that they were being lied to Esme's heart sank and she feared that things would turn out for the worse.

Thankfully they had agreed to let her use her power on them and she had been able to tell without a doubt that they held no ill will in their hearts against her family and had no desire to cause any problems while in the area. However that wasn't all she saw. Being able to look into the hearts and souls of others gives quite a bit more information than most would imagine, even if she can't get any insight into their minds the way Edward can. It made her feel a little guilty since they had downplayed the invasion of privacy her power caused. She would keep as much as she could to herself in order to balance telling her family what they needed to hear and respecting as much of their guests privacy as she could.

"I think it went well," said Carlisle, earning a ladylike huff of disbelief from Rosalie which he promptly ignored, "Andromeda did seem a bit prickly and distant but you can't really blame her. Anyone would have been on edge bringing a human unexpectedly into the midst of seven strange vampires. In hindsight it might have been kinder to limit the meeting to a smaller group of people."

"I liked them, especially the girl. Poor thing was trying to be so stoic wasn't she? It was sort of adorable," said Alice with a fond little smile on her face.

"She's not a puppy for us to take in. We want to befriend another human drinking vampire? I didn't think we were that desperate. But even if we do want to play nice with Andromeda a human has no business hanging around us. We should keep our distance at least until she's turned," Rosalie said with a little growl. She obviously wasn't thrilled with the idea of Marie being turned but she wasn't about to go face down Andromeda over it. That wasn't any of her business.

"It can't be that bad can it? I mean if the human drinker can manage to be around her for so long surely we can too?" said Alice, but there was a hint of doubt in her voice.

"Oh please. Andromeda's clearly a special case. What happens when the human skins her knee and there's fresh blood when she's with us? One of us could very well lose it and attack her. Do you really want Jasper to have to put up with that temptation? She smells far better than the average breather. I wouldn't put it past more than one of us losing control and then where would we be? Dead girl, vengeful vampire and us having to move again. I'm not sure who came up with this idea but it's the stupidest one we've had in a long time," said Rosalie.

Esme winced at that. While Rosalie was putting the darkest spin on things she couldn't say the blonde was completely wrong. Human blood was just as tempting to them as it was to every other vampire and some of them had attacked humans accidentally in the past with fatal results. Ironically while animal drinkers overall had better control it was actually worse if they attacked a human and tasted human blood. While an experienced human drinker could drink from a human without killing them an animal drinker would almost inevitably lose control and drain a human dry once even a drop of blood touched their lips. Despite their best intentions all animal drinkers were like severe alcoholics constantly fighting against a relapse.

Still if they were careful the girl should be safe. From what Esme had read off the girl she could use some of them in her life more than she realized.

"We should be fine as long as we're careful. It wouldn't be radically different than you going to school after all," said Esme trying to put a positive spin on things.

"So what did you read off of them Esme? I saw you go all mother-mode with Belly Bella Bear right after you read her," said Emmett.

Alice made a face halfway between disgust and amusement. "Really Emmett? Belly Bella Bear?"

He grinned up at his sister "You can't tell me it's not catchy. Don't worry I have a half dozen others lined up."

"So what did you read off them Esme?" said Rosalie trying to get the conversation back on track. She subtly leaned into her husband and gave Esme an expectant look.

"Edward should be back soon. I think we should wait to discuss what has transpired until he returns," said Carlisle thoughtfully.

An hour later Edward returned fresh from having hunted and his arm was already well on its way to full health. It was once again functional but the diamond-hard bones would be somewhat brittle for at least another one or two days. He came in with a scowl on his face and disheveled hair and clothing from the fight and subsequent hunt.

The Cullen family showed Edward looks of concern, amusement and displeasure. By the look on his face he wasn't entirely pleased with what he was reading from their minds. Rosalie gazed at Edward with an icy level look before turning to look meaningfully at Esme. The vampire matriarch took a deep breath while she gathered her thoughts.

"Well I suppose you all want to know what it was I read off our guests. First I should state clearly that there wasn't any hostile or ill intent towards us or the desire to cause any kind of trouble. We would never have agreed to let them stay otherwise," she said. There were curious and thoughtful looks all around except from Edward who looked displeased.

"So what are they doing here? I need to know if that red headed witch has some kind of agenda. Something nefarious is going on here I can practically smell it," said Edward.

"You're just mad she kicked your ass. Hey it's a new age of gender equality so I'd feel bad if I made fun of you for getting your ass kicked by a girl so I'll keep those thoughts to myself," said Emmett with a teasing smirk.

"I couldn't use my power on her! And we never did get any kind of answer as to how that works anyway," said Edward sounding increasingly irate.

"Edward, please" began Esme with a slight chiding tone, "to answer your question they both are here for the same reason. They are running from something or someone and they are scared of whatever it is, especially the girl. Poor Bella is terrified of whatever it is they are running from."

"Bella and not Marie?" asked Alice.

Esme shrugged. "Ask her next time what she prefers to be called. Though Bella does roll right off the tongue and I think she looks like a Bella."

"Wait, why are we suddenly acting like them being on the run is not a big deal? Who knows what could be following them," said Rosalie, a displeased frown on her face.

"It's more common than you might imagine," said Carlisle, "over a vampire's life they unfortunately tend to make more enemies than friends over the years. Some vampires can be especially touchy, a perceived slight against them over something trivial could earn what amounts to a blood feud. It's likely someone found out about Marie and wants to kill her to hurt Andromeda. It's certainly not the first time such a thing has happened."

Despite herself Esme sucked in a sharp breath at hearing that. It was all true and Esme couldn't help but feel protective of Bella. She just couldn't help it. Seeing into the girl had roused nearly all her of her mothering and protective instincts. The girl was far too precious to allow any harm to come to her from bickering vampires or anything else.

"That's not surprising. Obviously Marie hanging around that human drinker is too dangerous for her," said Edward. Esme was reminded of his strange rant that had led to the fight with Andromeda.

Apparently she wasn't the only one.

"Would you care to tell us what that outburst was all about Edward? I'm sure you know it was highly inappropriate," said Jasper leaning against the far wall.

Edward was silent for a few long moments before taking a deep breath. He looked at each of his family members seriously before saying, "I think Marie might be my destined mate. In fact I'm sure of it."

This caused an uproar and suddenly every member of the Cullen family was talking at once. It took a little while for the din to die down enough for one voice to be heard above the others.

"Well if that is true then congratulations son," said Carlisle with a tentative smile.

"This is bullshit. No one knows who their mate is after meeting them a couple of times and having a few conversations with them. I don't know what your sudden fixation is with this girl but she doesn't belong to you and she doesn't belong here with us," said Rosalie hotly.

Edward bristled at that and stepped towards Rosalie aggressively. "Are you trying to keep me away from my mate? How would you feel if Emmett was palling around with some human drinking harlot?"

"As usual you're completely missing the point" Rosalie replied with a withering glare.

"Alice, do you see anything about this?" asked Emmett looking concerned.

"I'll try," she said looking uncomfortable with the situation in the room. Her eyes went out of focus and she stared off into space for a few long moments before coming back. "I can't see Bella but I can see everything around her and I can see Edward's future too," she said shaking her head "it doesn't look to me like they end up together."

"That doesn't mean she's my not my mate. That just means someone is keeping her away from me," said Edward trying to sound reasonable.

"Edward honey," said Esme gently "it seems like you feel very strongly about this but even for me and Carlisle it took some time before either of us began to feel like we were meant to be together. You should at least stay open to the possibility that she might not be your mate. If it turns out that she is then everything will fall into place, you'll see. Until then just try to keep an open mind?"

Edward looked unhappy at this but nodded his agreement. "Fine. But I am right, I know it. And you'll all see that in time." With that he walked over to one of the empty chairs and sat down.

Esme resisted the urge to sigh at her son's fixated and unshakable opinions. "Well then shall we get back to business?"

"You were about to tell us what you were able to read off our guests" prompted Carlisle.

"That's right," she said gracing her husband with a smile "well I suppose I'll begin with Bella. I've rarely seen a more compassionate and beautiful soul than hers. That girl truly is a gem. She's the type of person who may lay her life down to save a total stranger. I'm glad we made this arrangement because she truly is someone worth knowing," said Esme with a fond smile.

"And she and I are going to be best friends!" said Alice bouncing up and down excitedly.

"I thought you couldn't see her" said Jasper questioningly.

"I can't, but I'm figuring out how to see things around her to sort of figure out what's going on. I also see a suspiciously Bella shaped void in my future. She's going to be my best friend, I just know it" Alice said happily.

"Well then I'm happy for you dear," said Jasper with a fond smile towards his wife.

"What else about Marie?" Edward asked wanting to know more.

One of the side benefits of Esme's gift was that it gave her mind partial protection from Edward's gift. While he could still hear her surface thoughts he couldn't dig into her mind and find out information she wasn't actively thinking about. She didn't know how it worked but she was glad it did. There were some things she had picked up from Bella that really should be kept private and that would more than likely disturb her son especially since he seemed to despise the redhead Andromeda.

Edward frowned at these thoughts and Esme quickly directed her thoughts to where she wanted them to go. "Bella is terrified of something that is hunting her, or them, I can't be sure but I suspect whatever it is is after both of them. Whatever is hunting them has hurt her very badly in the past. Her greatest desire seems to be safety, security and stability with loved ones which is something I suspect she hasn't had in quite some time."

Esme paused at that letting everyone absorb what she had just said. Before anyone could ask her any more questions about Marie/Bella she moved on. She wasn't going to infringe on the girl's privacy any more than she already had.

"Andromeda on the other hand is somewhat unique for a human drinking vampire. She has the soul of a lion to put it bluntly. She'll hunt and kill humans when she's hungry and does so ruthlessly and without remorse. On the other hand I'm pretty positive she doesn't kill for fun and she doesn't engage in any of the sadistic games humans drinkers often like to play. Andromeda hunts when she needs to and enjoys it but she won't do it unnecessarily. Like I said, soul and mindset of a lion or some other comparable predator."

"Does she actually stick to a 'scumbag diet' like she claimed?" asked Rosalie seemingly very interested in that point.

Esme nodded. "I believe she does, but that she somewhat resents it. If I had to guess I'd say she limits herself to egregious criminals because Bella makes her do it."

This made Emmett break out into loud guffaws "I guess we know now who wears the pants in that relationship. And Andy came in here looking all serious and scary too. I wouldn't have guessed that little triple B had it in her to boss a vampire like that around!"

"Wait, how could Bella make her do anything?" asked Rosalie.

Esme thought about it then shrugged. "I'm not sure. Make is not the right word maybe, more like made enough trouble that Andromeda finally gave in. Not sure what kind of trouble though. That's just the feeling I got."

"But she is a remorseless killer. You just said it yourself Esme. I don't think we should tolerate someone like that on our land and that just proves that Marie is in danger," said Edward emphatically.

Esme shook her head. "She's not a danger to her Edward. Andromeda would never seriously hurt Bella. Not on purpose."

"Is this something you 'read' off her?" said Edward sarcastically.

"Yes it is and I won't go into more detail about that. But my reading her is completely unnecessary to prove the point. Andromeda has claimed Bella as her human and her instincts are completely in line with this. We saw how she reacted to a perceived threat and after you left she instinctively scent marked Bella while still partially lost in her vampire nature. Andromeda will do her best to keep her alive and protected until she is turned."

Edward growled at that. "I will not allow her to be turned into a soulless monster like us!"

Esme fought the urge to roll her eyes. She loved her son, she really did, but he was absolutely inflexible when he made his mind up about something. It was an alarming trait that had more than once gone too far and gotten him into trouble. Esme prayed that Edward wouldn't do anything rash. Despite what he might think Edward had no right to Bella and she knew from reading the two newcomers that he wasn't wanted either.

00

The first thing she noticed was the cold.

It was cold where ever she was, cold and dark. All Bella could see were the vague shapes and outlines of indistinguishable forms seemingly looming over her and around her. Bella sensed the dark and the shadows were somehow not safe and she felt scared, knowing instinctively that she was in danger.

The shadows began to move on their own around of her, finger like extensions that looked like black against darker black came from all directions intent on grabbing her, pulling her down, ripping and tearing. Bella turned and ran, fear and a racing heart giving her extra strength and speed to run. However no matter where she ran it was all darkness against dark in every direction. Even as she ran the darkness closed in all around her reaching to grab her and pull the life from her very bones.

Bella cried out when the first tentacle of darkness wrapped itself around her ankle, causing her to fall face first onto the ground. She tried to pull her foot away but the shadow tendril held firm while slowly creeping up her body radiating a deathly chill wherever it touched. In seconds other tentacles gripped her, wrapping around her arms and head and torso. Bella whimpered and cried as the darkness and the cold leached the life from her. She felt herself growing weak and cold and distant from everything in the world.

Bella began to sob, a feeling of utter helplessness descending upon her. Her struggles grew weak and her strength left her as the cold sunk deep into her bones. She gave up, hanging limp and waiting for the end as she knew there was no possible way she could escape.

Just when she thought it was all over she felt warm arms wrap around her waist. Bella tensed in surprise as she felt the arms pull her back into a warm welcoming body. The warmth of the arms around her and the body at her back chased away the chill inside her and the darkness gradually began to recede. She felt the person behind her nuzzle her neck and she caught a whiff of the familiar scent of flowers and spice she knew so well.

Victoria thought Bella with warmth and relief, letting herself fall backwards into the taller woman's embrace.

They were all of a sudden in an elegant room done in deep reds and dark wood. Dark drapes covered the windows and the carpet under her bare feet was thick and luxurious. The lighting was low and a decadent four posted king sized bed lay directly in front of them. Bella's heart rate sped up and her breathing quickened at the sight of it. Just looking at that bed she knew what was coming next.

Victoria's hand trailed from around her waist and slipped under the hem of Bella's shirt. Her nails traced patterns against the bare skin of Bella's stomach causing the younger girl to shiver in her embrace. She felt Victoria's lips ghost over her ear gently exhaling hot air as she breathed.

"Are you ready to become mine?" she asked, silkily, seductively.

Bella felt an immediate and almost painful surge of arousal at those words. "I-I've always been yours," she replied breathily.

"Are you sure? Are you ready to give me your body?" With that Victoria took the hand still wrapped around Bella's waist and brought it to the top of her jeans. When Victoria popped the button open Bella's hips jerked forward against her will.

"How about your mind?" Victoria continued in a husky voice that dripped of naughty things between the sheets while at the same time slowly tugging down the zipper of Bella's jeans. The younger girl could feel herself getting massively wet and ready.

"How about your very soul?" she purred as her hand dipped into Bella's pants and cupped her sex over her underwear possessively. Bella let out a whimper at finally feeling the touch she'd always wanted.

"You'd like that wouldn't you? You want me to own you," Victoria said as she started using her fingertips to tease Bella over her panties. "You want me to have power over you. You want to spend eternity as my little bitch, don't you Bella?"

Bella whimpered and then cried out as Victoria found and pushed on her clit.

"Yes!" Bella cried out, slightly embarrassed but beyond caring. "P-please…"

"Please what?" asked Victoria and Bella could hear the smug satisfaction in her voice.

"Please take me. Make me yours, I've always been yours.. Victoria please," she begged while the redhead continued teasing her clit through her underwear.

Suddenly she found herself on the bed naked and on her back. Victoria was leaning over her completely nude, her legs on either side of Bella and overwhelming the girl with her sheer physical presence. Victoria smirked at her and it was hungry and victorious. Her fangs were bared and she looked literally ready to devour her. Bella shuddered feeling half scared and half excited about whatever was coming next.

However instead of taking in the goddess looming over her Bella's gaze kept getting drawn towards one tiny detail. It seemed odd to her. Without thinking about it Bella blurted out the question.

"Victoria, where's your collar?"

The vampire locked eyes with her and slowly reached one hand up to touch the skin of her bare neck. "You never took it off. I will hate you forever for that," she said and Victoria's countenance suddenly turned frosty and hard.

Suddenly Bella's danger instincts began to ping off the charts. She tried to scramble her way out from under the naked Victoria but the vampire grabbed her shoulders and roughly kept her in place. Victoria's eyes quickly turned from a cherry red to pitch black as the light suddenly went out of the room. The only thing that Bella could still see was Victoria above her pinning her to the bed.

The darkness was back and the tendrils of inky blackness began to crawl over the bed and wrap themselves around Bella. With wide panicky eyes Bella began to struggle and buck her hips but it was completely useless against the strength of Victoria. The vampire continued to regard her with that same stony look as Bella felt the life being leached out of her by the darkness only to be replaced by a gnawing icy cold.

"Victoria please don't do this. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Bella cried but Victoria made no response as the darkness began to wrap around her face and neck.

"This is where you pay the piper," said Victoria. With that the redhead struck, diving her head down and sinking her fangs deep into Bella's neck. The pain was immense and Bella somehow knew right away that Victoria intended to drain her dry. Bella buckled and fought but it was completely useless, her strength all but gone to the darkness and the icy cold. She felt Victoria not being the least big gentle, tearing at her neck and sucking her lifeblood as her heart slowed.

"I'm sorry," she muttered one last time before her vision began to fade.

"I'll hate you forever"

00

Bella woke violently, kicking the covers and sucking in deep ragged gasps. She frantically looked around in the darkness of her room, wide eyed and unseeing until she realized what had happened.

A dream. It was just a dream.

Bella sank back down onto her pillow, a sheen of sweat covering her body and making her uncomfortable. She realized with some distress that there were tears streaming down her face. Had she been crying in her sleep? Did people even do that?

Bella took deep even breaths trying to slow her heart rate down and regain some measure of calm. The dream had been so vivid and intense. She could still feel the terror and the lingering arousal along with some phantom feelings of cold. Gingerly she reached to up to touch her neck where dream Victoria had viciously torn into her. To her relief the skin felt completely unharmed.

She wrapped the covers around herself and curled up into a ball in bed feeling incredibly disturbed by the dream (nightmare?) she'd just had. It left her feeling vulnerable and scared and frankly like crap. What had that been all about? Her subconscious was seriously messed up.

Are you ready to become mine? Bella shuddered at the memory. She didn't really want that did she? Ok so she'd more or less come to terms with the fact that she had a crush of unhealthy proportions on Victoria with a large side of carnal lust. Embarrassing maybe but totally normal for a healthy teenage girl. Having a few dirty dreams about Victoria wouldn't have surprised her, in fact she would have welcomed them since it was probably the only way she could experience being with Victoria in that way. This particular dream however just opened up a lot of questions that were making Bella increasingly uncomfortable and the eroticism was drowned out by how incredibly disturbing it had been.

Bella looked over at the clock next to her bed. Five thirty in the morning, an hour before she was supposed to wake up and get ready for school. Deciding she wasn't going to get any more sleep Bella got up and went into the bathroom. A long hot shower was just what she needed to try and shake the last grips of that unsettling dream.

She stripped in the bathroom and got under the hot spray. The house might not be very big but it did have a nicely oversized hot water tank and Bella intended to make full use of it. Bella tried to forget about her dream but the disturbed and uneasy feelings just wouldn't go away.

Maybe the reason she was so disturbed is because she was afraid there was some truth to it. Bella had had a hard time falling asleep the night before. Thoughts of her conversation in the car with Victoria had kept playing over and over again in her head. Was it any wonder she'd had a dream about the stupid collar? But the dream was bothering Bella for more reasons than just that.

She'd always worried that Victoria would leave her if she could and had always wondered just how much the redhead cared about her. Bella had never before considered that Victoria might grow to hate her. Hate her for not trying to free her, hate her for making her have a pathetically short human lifespan like her own.

It wasn't fair to her vampire. Furthermore Bella knew well enough that if Victoria did start to hate her she would cave anyway and find a way to remove the collar, or at least try to find a way. She couldn't bear it if the only person she had left to care about in the world actually hated her. Was it really inevitable? Was that what she was destined to do?

She couldn't just let herself be all alone in the world though. She just couldn't. If she was going to find herself alone she was better off dead. But the alternative to that was Victoria growing more and more resentful of her as time went on.

What was she supposed to do?

00

After a sinfully long hour long shower where her fingers and toes were all pruney Bella fled to her room and took her time getting ready. She heard the shower start up minutes after she had left and hoped she had left Victoria enough hot water. Bella took almost half an hour picking out clothes, brushing her hair and even tried to read a little bit from one of her school books. Finally unable to hide in her room any longer she went outside to face Victoria who she was nervous about talking to given everything that had happened the day before.

When she opened the door she heard music drifting up the stairs from the kitchen. At hearing the song being played Bella was hit with a powerful wave of nostalgia.

Optional Listening – The Sanctuary by Darling Violetta

The song took her back to the summer when she was thirteen when she and Victoria had spent a few weeks watching Buffy and it's spin off series Angel back to back until they'd watched every single episode in the combined twelve seasons. Bella had always loved Buffy but to her surprise Victoria became a huge unrepentant fan of Angel. She'd once described it as melancholy, tragic, dark, funny, full of kitsch and awesome. The song playing downstairs was the theme song from Angel.

Bella let the sorrowful, sensual violin and vocals wash over her as she headed down the stairs. It brought back that time when the two of them had been getting along, Victoria joking and making fun of Buffy while never failing to point out all the ways in which Angel was better. That had been their relationship as far as she could remember, hot and cold, Victoria being her best friend at one point and then next week being a virtual stranger. Now that Bella was starting to realize more why that might be she couldn't help feelings of guilt start to claw at her.

When Bella reached the bottom of the stairs and came in view of the kitchen her eyes widened at what she saw.

Victoria was dressed for school in her typical punk rock girl disguise, this time in a purple skirt, boots, stockings and a black Dead can Dance t-shirt practically painted on her body. The skirt wasn't especially short but it still clung to her bottom in deliciously captivating ways. Victoria was doing something in between dancing and cooking her breakfast. Cookance? Breakdance?

She had a spatula in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other while swaying her hips with enthusiasm to the beat of the music. She was standing in front of the stove where she had eggs and bacon cooking on two different skillets. Victoria stirred the eggs and flipped the bacon before raising her hands over her head and spinning in place in time to the beat with sensuous rolls of her hips. Her hands trailed down her body as she turned back to the food, which she kept in sight while tapping both ends of the spoon against the counter in tune with the drums of the song.

It was such a surreal sight, a goddess dressed as a teenager making cooking and dancing early in the morning a thousand times more sexy than it had any right to be. Bella froze and stared numbly at the sight. Victoria noticed and caught her eye, giving her a wicked little smile before going back and making love to the music, completely uninhibited as she gave herself over to the beat and moved her body to the music wantonly without holding back. Oh yeah and occasionally stirring the eggs and turning over her bacon.

It was weird. It was unconventional. It was sexy. It was so Victoria.

Dead can Dance shirt and she's dancing early in the morning. That kind of humor is also totally Victoria.

Despite all her troubled thoughts Bella couldn't help but let a grin spread over her face. It didn't matter that she was dead, when she cut lose Victoria had more Joie de vivre in her little toe than most people did in their whole bodies. She often came across as dour or serious but that was just because she was always worried about their safety. The rare times when Victoria felt like she could let her hair down the red headed vampire was a joy to watch.

Finally the song came to an end and next on the playlist was something much more mellow. Victoria reached in a cabinet and got a plate, loaded the bacon and eggs onto it and got two pieces of toast out of the oven. She took it all and put it on the table, giving Bella a questioning raised eyebrow as if asking why she was still standing over there and not coming over to eat her especially made breakfast.

Bella coughed to cover up her embarrassment and went to sit at the table with Victoria standing close by. The look the vampire gave her was slightly apprehensive as Bella sat down. Bella cleared her throat lightly and said, "Thank you. It looks and smells lovely."

Victoria made a face at that. "It smells like shit to me, but I'm glad it smells good to you at least."

Bella picked up her fork and played with it idly. "What's the occasion?" she asked a little too casually. Victoria almost never cooked for her since she didn't like the smell.

"Peace" replied the vampire simply, shrugging casually.

Bella nodded feeling both relieved and anxious. In Victoria-speak she was saying that for whatever reason she didn't want to fight anymore so she was going to act and pretend like everything was fine between them. If Bella had to guess she suspected it was because it wouldn't be good to be seen mad at each other in front of the Cullens. The meal might also have been a bit of an apology. However Bella was under no illusions that everything was forgiven and forgotten. Whatever grievances there were between them were just being postponed until a later time.

Victoria turned away and headed back to the kitchen. "What do you want to drink?" she asked her.

"Apple juice please," replied Bella tucking into her breakfast.

It hit her then out of the blue as most revelations tended to happen to her. Eating the breakfast Victoria had made her she knew she couldn't let Victoria, her best friend, mentor, protector be tied up with that collar until she, Bella, died. It was inhumane and it was unfair. She couldn't let her own selfishness keep a person she loved trapped to her that way. It just wasn't fair.

But what would she do if Victoria left? Would Victoria go back to killing innocent people? Would Bella be responsible if that happened?

Bella wouldn't be able to remove the collar anytime soon so she decided to shelve those questions for now and deal with them later. She suddenly lost her appetite as she realized what she needed to do. She needed to set Victoria free.

00

The car ride to the school was quiet but unlike the night before the quiet was mostly comfortable. Bella still felt a tension between them but it was subdued and the girl was thankful for that. Every few minutes Bella would look over at Victoria, not sure what she was looking for but unable to help herself. Her cascading red curls and almost delicate, regal features kept drawing her eyes as her thoughts from that morning raced across her mind over and over again.

"Penny for your thoughts?" said Victoria without looking away from the road.

Bella bit her lip. Should she tell Victoria what she had decided to do just that morning? She decided she better not for now. There were too many questions and she knew it would become a huge issue as soon as she opened her mouth.

Instead she said, "I'm not exactly sure how we're supposed to deal with the Cullens. What does 'socializing' mean? Do we sit with them at lunch? Go catch a movie? Braid each other's hair and talk about our feelings? This arrangement we have with them seems kind of vague."

"I figure we'll just play it by ear. Won't be too bad and it's not as strange as you might think. The thing I'm not comfortable about is having you near so many vampires for long periods of time" Victoria said with a frown.

"But if there's a problem you'll catch it right?" asked Bella.

Victoria sucked in a breath. "I should, but as we've found out relying on my powers to keep you out of trouble doesn't always work perfectly. We'll need to minimize the risk," she said.

Bella nodded at that and fell silent lost in her own thoughts.

Before long they arrived at the school and Bella guiltily watched as Victoria's skirt rode up to flash a perfect stocking covered thigh as she got out of the car. There had been times recently when she had started to wonder if she was actually a horny teenage boy in a girl's body. Her ogling of Victoria was just getting worse as time went on and she didn't seem able to stop herself.

Bella got out of the car herself and came face to face with a serious looking Victoria in front of her. Her brown eyes bored intensely into Bella making the younger girl feel just a little off balance.

"Don't let yourself be alone with one of them. And for the sake of all that's holy don't tell them anything that can lead to them finding out more about us, you in particular. We might be friendly with them for now but that doesn't mean they're our friends. Understand?" she said in a serious and severe tone of voice.

Bella nodded. "I got it. Don't worry I know that the more details are out there the worse it is for us. I'll be fine I promise."

Victoria looked skeptical and that made Bella a little annoyed.

"Look I can handle it. Let's just get going or we're going to be late to class," she said sounding aggravated.

Victoria gave her one last searching look before turning on her heel and marching off towards the school. Bella moved to follow but didn't make an effort to pull up next to Victoria. She didn't usually like to walk behind her but that skirt… the purple cloth clung to her well-shaped rear in a way that showed or suggested every line, swell and curve. She must have been wearing a thong.

Bella decided she needed to get herself a vibrator or something. Her screaming hormones were getting ridiculous.

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Bella arrived in her first class with a few minutes to spare. Most of the students were already seated and waiting. Bella froze as she spotted Edward Cullen seated in the same seat as he had been the day before.

Crap, I forgot about him! How do I handle this?

Bella hadn't seen him since the fight he had with Victoria… the fight Victoria had fought over her she recalled feeling pleased with that fact. He had run off into the woods looking murderously angry. Provoking Victoria into a fight had not earned him any points with Bella.

And yet… he didn't seem like a bad guy. He'd gotten all huffy and in Victoria's face over her because he thought she could lose control and bite her. He had been trying to protect her, a total stranger. It was sweet and kind of chivalrous even if he had gone about it with the subtlety of a blow horn and a wrecking ball. Besides it's not like he ever actually had a chance to hurt Victoria. Bella decided to swallow her apprehension and give him a chance.

Edward spotted her and smiled at her and Bella returned the smile in kind. See? Nice. That wasn't so hard. He seemed friendly enough and not upset about what had happened the night before so Bella decided she would take the chance and take the seat in front of him.

After she sat down she turned around to face him and forced a friendly smile on her face. "Hi Edward. How are you?"

He gave her a small smile back seeming genuinely pleased that she was talking to him. "Very well thank you. How about yourself?"

"Oh you know, so-so, not too bad not too good. Just my third day in paradise," she said gesturing vaguely at the whole school.

"Is everything all right?" he said sounding strangely intense for some reason but he seemed genuine in his concern.

Bella was not going to divulge all her problems to a vampire who was a casual acquaintance at best. Still he seemed nice so she wanted to give him something genuine. "Nothing major just living with other people sometimes has its hiccups you know? You must know all about that living with six others. You think you know somebody so well but all the time you find out something new. I guess that's just how it is though."

Bella looked over when a student dropped a book so she missed the suspicious and distrustful frown on Edward's face. When she looked back at him his face was once again in a pleasant smile.

"You're right, I am always finding out something new about my family all the time. You wouldn't think so after living with them for so long but every person seems to be an endless source of mystery. It's fascinating when you start to peel the layers back."

"Yeah, well unfortunately I haven't known that many people well enough to relate. Tori's the only one really. There are so many layers to that woman I don't think I've even scratched the surface."

"She might not be as hard to figure out as you imagine," he said, thinking how all bloodthirsty murderers were the same, "what about your family? Haven't you ever explored their hidden depths?" he gently probed.

Bella realized the conversation was heading into dangerous territory for her because Edward was asking about things she couldn't really talk about. But maybe just in general terms it would be all right. "My family all died some years ago."

A sad look crossed Edward's face. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks. I'm more ok talking about it now. Still hurts but I want to make the effort you know?"

"What happened if you don't mind me asking?"

Bella winced. "Vampires," she replied without thinking.

Edward's eyes narrowed at that. How convenient that she had been picked up by a human drinking vampire after her whole family had been killed by the same type. In Edward's mind he could see how Andromeda would have arranged to have her family murdered so she could take the girl for herself.

"You're not mad about last night are you? I mean with the fight and everything that happened?" asked Bella a little nervously.

Edward stayed quiet for a few moments before answering. "I still think that I'm right, that it's too dangerous for you to be with a human drinking vampire. However I don't think I went about it the right way. I'm not planning on holding a grudge over that fight."

Bella smiled at that. "Well that's good to hear. And I appreciate your concern, I really do. It's nice that someone else out there might care about my wellbeing. But you really don't have to worry about it. I promise you I'm not in any danger from Tori whatsoever. I told you guys she's my best friend, I trust her with my life."

Edward just nodded but didn't reply. It wouldn't do much good to start arguing with Bella right then about her poor misguided ideas. After he gained her trust he would get her to see just how horrible the human drinker she hung around with really was. Bella really was just too wonderful a girl, obviously wanting to see the best in everyone, even a murderous human drinking vampire. It was up to a man who really knew the dangers of the world to keep her safe.

"So do you have any plans for this Friday?" asked Edward.

Bella shook her head. "We don't really. Unless something is going on I'll try to do my homework and maybe have a movie night or something. Why? Were you guys planning on doing something?"

"We weren't. But I was hoping to do something."

"Oh?"

"Marie, would you do me the honor of going on a date with me this Friday night?"

Oh.

Oh.

Bella's mind ground to a halt. A date? Her? Someone had asked her out on a date who wasn't a disgusting horny teenage boy? But it was with a vampire. A vampire she hardly knew. Was that a good idea? It didn't seem like a good idea. Why was he asking her in the first place? Why would he want to go out with her? It didn't make sense. What would Tori say? She would probably murder her if she accepted. But why should she care about that? She knew Tori must have at least some clue as to Bella's feelings for her and she completely ignored them. As much as Bella might want it to she didn't think anything would happen between her and Victoria anytime soon. Would going on a date really be such a bad thing?

Bella looked at Edward, took in his extremely handsome and somewhat boyish face, his hopeful smile, his pretty gold eyes. Not as sexy as red but still pretty damn amazing. He was a nice guy. Maybe a little headstrong but he'd been nothing but a complete gentleman towards her. If she was in a dating mood he wouldn't be a bad catch at all. Should she?

"I'll think about it" she said with a shy smile.

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