A/N: This chapter has yet to be beta read. Revised chapter will be posted after Augustmoon99 and I get to it.
Chapter Six
Bella wasn't sure what Rosalie was talking about. Despite the memories that arose after meeting Emmett, she knew very little about her life before she arrived at Charlotte and Peter's doorstep. By then, she had the appearance of a human child around the age of a young toddler, already able to form speech, though unable to walk. She had been wrapped in a blanket, soaked in blood, when Peter had opened to door of their home to find her on their stoop. She remembered smiling up at him with a soft "hello". From that moment on, she had been Peter and Charlotte's daughter. She had no knowledge of this Victoria Rosalie mentioned.
"How do you know this, Rose? What did you do?" Emmett demanded, his hand reaching out for Bella's hand in order to pull her under his arm.
"Me? I didn't do anything. It's her! She came here and ruined everything. We were happy before that little… freak showed up. Is it so wrong to want her to go back to wherever the hell it is she came from? Give her back to the bitch, let her die a human death, I don't really care. I just want her gone!" Rosalie practically screamed, fingers curling into claws as she ranted.
Before Bella could so much as blink in surprise, Peter had Rosalie pinned against the far wall, his hand tight around her neck as plaster rained over them. A crack fissured up the wall and onto the ceiling as Peter pressed her harder into the wall. His growl echoed off the windows and even Bella could hear the responding snarls from the vampires upstairs. In a matter of moments, the entire Cullen family stood at the base of the staircase, watching as Peter continued to torture their sister.
"You threaten my girl again and I will set your ass on fire before findin' a whole host of humans to defecate on your ashes. Don't fuck with me, girlie. Tell me what you know. NOW!" Peter's roar shattered the nearby windows and Bella barely held back her shriek of surprise.
Emmett growled low, a soothing hand running up and down her back. Pulling her to stand in front of him, he curved his body around hers until his head rested atop hers and his arms wrapped almost completely around her torso. All it would take is some slight pressure on his part and she would crumple, effectively becoming like a turtle with Emmett acting as she shell.
Rosalie attempted to catch Peter in the stomach with her feet, but Peter easily blocked her by stepping closer. When she moved to knee him in the groin, Peter's grip tightened and he pinned his body fully against hers. Her caramel colored eyes widened in fear as cracks appeared beneath Peter's fingers.
"Start. Talking."
"Please, let go of me. I'll tell you everything. Just let go," Rosalie pleaded, her voice muffled from a restricted windpipe.
Wordlessly, Peter released her neck and took a step back. Bella could see his limbs trembling as he fought to restrain himself. Rosalie actually cowered in front of him, lowering herself to appear more submissive.
"I swear, I didn't do anything to her," Rosalie began.
"I don't really give a shit. Tell me about Victoria. Who is she?" Peter demanded.
"She's a nomadic vampire. I… I saw her the day I found Emmett. It was impossible not to smell the blood from the human, but Emmett was my first priority. He was so handsome, even with the bear mauling. I wanted him and so I picked him up. I saw Victoria, holding a baby. I didn't know what the baby was. I thought it was human since I could hear the heartbeat. I told myself I'd go back for it, to save it from her. After I dropped Emmett off with Carlisle, I returned to the spot in the woods. She was gone and there was no scent to follow, but I had only just begun searching when she appeared. She still had the baby. We talked and I tried to convince her to give the baby to me. She refused. I was prepared to fight for it, but she was too fast. She eluded me at every turn. Eventually, I had to give up, but the baby kept staring at me, frowning. I let her leave, but managed to follow at a distance. She led me to her camp where she currently lived with a few other vampires. One was obviously the leader and he took an instant dislike to the baby. He demanded Victoria get rid of it. For a few days, she kept the baby hidden, but he eventually found out and demanded she either kill the thing or he would do it for her. She was unable to kill it, having already grown attached. She thought of the infant as her own, so she took it to the closest coven she knew of: the Whitlocks. By this point, Bella had already been alive a week. I know Victoria has kept tabs on her because she kept watch over Bella while you and your mate remained in Mississippi."
"How do you know all this?" Peter asked.
Bella had to admit, she was amazed herself. How could she have forgotten the woman who raised her the first week of her life? What had happened to put the memories from her mind?
"Because I made sure to keep track of Victoria. I wanted to know where she was at all times. I didn't trust her with the baby. After she dropped it off with you and your mate, I couldn't exactly take her away. You would have fought me, but I could make sure to keep an eye on Victoria to make sure she didn't hurt it," Rosalie explained.
"You're lying. What are you hiding, Rose?" Jasper asked, moving forward to stand beside Peter. The two mimicked each other, arms crossed over their chests, scowl in place, feet shoulder width apart. It was a stance Bella was intimately familiar with as it was the same stance Peter took with her when she was being "difficult".
It was nice to know where he learned it from.
"I'm not hiding anything. That's what happened," Rosalie insisted.
"Bull shit."
Every head in the room snapped to stare at Emmett. Bella would have tilted her head to look at him, but the weight of his chin made that nearly impossible. Instead, she stroked a hand down his arm in silent question.
"Before we left the clearing for the last time, I asked you if anyone was around the day you found me. You told me no, that there hadn't been anyone. So, if you aren't lying now, why did you lie then?" Emmett asked and Bella could hear the repressed anger in his voice.
"Because I wanted you to be mine! I found you dying, I rescued you, I was there when she wasn't. It should have been me!" Rosalie shrieked.
"You knew as soon as I woke up from the change that I wasn't your mate. Why would you keep me from finding her?" Emmett asked, releasing Bella to stand slightly in front of her.
She kept hold of his arm, moving with him when he took a step towards Rosalie.
"You weren't supposed to remember. You were supposed to forget about ever seeing her. Victoria said it would work."
"What would work? What did she do to me?" Emmett practically snarled.
"It's her power. Or part of it, anyway. She can move through a crowd of vampires completely undetectable. Even if one of them did spot her, they wouldn't remember her after. She used her power to make Bella forget you and she tried to make you forget Bella, but it didn't work. You still went back to that damn spot over and over. Even after I told Carlisle we needed to move away, you still went back. Why couldn't you just accept me? What does she have that I don't?"
"It would take an eternity to lay it all out for you and I have better things to do with mine than to explain the differences to you. Now, where is this Victoria and how is it you remember her?" Emmett asked, his voice dangerously low.
"Because she wanted someone to know about her maker, just encase he ended up killing her. If it ever happened, she wanted me to protect the baby."
"Where is she?" Peter asked.
"I don't know."
"That's shit and you know it. This is the last time I'll ask. Where is Victoria?"
Rosalie looked at her then and Bella suddenly didn't want to know the answer. If Victoria was the vampire who had raised her, if she was the same vampire that delivered the venom induced semen to the front porch, Bella figured she was on their side. She didn't want to get her in trouble with her maker if she could help it.
"No."
This time, every head turned to look at Bella, but she kept watching Rosalie.
"Don't tell them. We don't need to know," Bella said.
"Bella, this Victoria could be the reason you're becomin' human," Peter said.
"I know, but it's not her fault. She's protected me all this time. She brought me to you and Char. She brought us the… venom. She shouldn't be punished for trying to help us," Bella insisted.
"And if she's behind this change? What then?" Peter pressed.
"She's not. Rosalie said, Victoria thinks of me as hers. She wouldn't want me hurt." Bella ignored Emmett's growl of possession in favor of staring down her father.
"This ain't right. We should track 'er down an' destroy 'er," Peter said, his accent thick in his distress.
"No. It's not her fault."
"Then whose is it? You are dyin', Bella, and there's not a damned thing any of us can do to stop it!" Peter shouted, hands fisted in his hair.
Giving Emmett a reassuring pat as she passed, Bella moved forward until she was pressed up against Peter's chest, her arms wrapped around his waist.
"Killing her won't save me, Peter," Bella whispered.
"Sure as hell would make me feel a lot better," Peter mumbled, his arms wrapping around her shoulders.
"I know, but we can't. She might be able to help us," Bella reasoned.
"I don't want her help, not if it means us losin' you. You know we can't do that, darlin'. Char and me would never recover. Not to mention that mate of yours might just destroy the closest city if it ever happened," Peter said, eying the way Emmett kept fisting and unfisting his hands.
Bella couldn't help it. With the stress of the day, finding out about her vampire mother, and discovering her mother's maker wanted her dead while her father wanted to kill her mother was just too much.
She laughed.
Bella wasn't sure what the problem was. She was fine. Better than fine, actually. She felt better than she had since this whole ordeal began, but for some reason, her mate was being difficult.
"Emmett, you need to calm down," Bella insisted gently.
"Let me go kill the bitch and I can," Emmett snapped, turning sharply to continue pacing.
"You know I can't let you do that."
"God damn it, Bella. Do you understand what you're forcing me to do? Do you realize the complete insanity I feel at not being able to protect my mate? It goes against everything inside me to allow that creature to continue breathing in the same world as you," Emmett snarled, turning to punch a nearby wall.
Bella watched as the wall crumbled around his fist, creating a rather large hole leading into the hallway. She was surprised when she didn't hear Esme scold him, but then figured it was due to the turmoil going on inside of him. It wasn't wise to kick a vampire when they were down.
"That bitch should be ashes by now. There is no, abso-fucking-lutely no, reason for her continued existence."
"Yes, there is," Bella said, calm and collected.
"What? What possible reason could there be to allow her to go on living?" Emmett asked, venom flying in his anger as he rounded on her.
"She has answers. And I need answers, Emmett."
He flinched at her words and Bella regretted having to hurt him, but she would not be budged. Victoria knew about her past, about her human mother, possibly about her father. Bella wanted to know anything and everything Victoria could even think of telling her.
"We don't have time to this. Every day you get weaker and weaker. Don't think I haven't noticed. God, Bells, you're fading right before my eyes and I can't do anything to stop it. I'm so fucking terrified of losing you and the one time I find a danger I can actually fight, you won't let me. I need something to fight, Bella, because if I don't have something I can defeat… I'm gonna lose you," Emmett whispered, falling to her knees beside their bed.
Tears clogging her throat, Bella crawled towards Emmett, her fingers brushing through his hair as she rubbed her cheek against his temple. His arms moved to wrap around her, his entire body trembling as she sought to comfort him.
Their mating hadn't exactly been easy. Bella knew that in most cases, the mating urge was so strong, vampires had to spend weeks, sometimes months, alone in order to completely assuage their desire to become one. The only thing that had kept her and Emmett from feeling the same urge was her imminent humanity. She was slowly moving past human frailty. Soon she would be weaker than humans and the thought frightened her, but she continued to have faith. She had to be strong for her mate and her family.
"I can't lose you, Bella. If we can't find a way to stop this… I won't be too far behind you," Emmett said softly.
"I know."
Bella comforted him as best she could. She knew she would never survive a world without Emmett. She couldn't very well expect him to live in a world without her. They could never be separated. If the venom flowing through her veins ended up killing her, she wanted Emmett with her as she moved on to the life after this one. She wanted them to be together. Any other thought was impossible to consider.
They had to stay together.
Okay, so a little shorter, I think, than most chapters, but we got a whole lot of answers. Next chapter will be posted within the week. Happy New Year!
