A/N: Sorry for the semi-delay, crippling writers block again. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Thanks to all of you that review and put up with less than precise updates, means a lot!
I Walk Beside You
"Alice, where are we going?" Bella asked stumbling over another log, never faltering for more than a moment before a cold strong hand appeared out of the gathering mist to hold her up. Alice's jacket was too small for her but after the walking it kept her fairly warm. She could have easily been toasty warm but the vampire's icy hand in hers sent a constant chill down her spine.
"I dunno, just felt like moving. Or maybe I just wanted to get out alone." The pixie replied shifting her eyes from left to right and back again. Her face remained straight.
"Wanted to get me alone, huh? We weren't alone enough back by the stream in the middle of million square miles of forest." Bella asked shooting an accusatory glance at the vampire. The accusation faded away in short order.
"Nah, you're alone enough for whatever I wanna do to you." Alice said with a wolfish smile and the smallest hint of a wink. Letting go of the siren's hand she flitted away through the forest a few paces ahead of Bella; skipping from one rock or fallen log to another.
"And what is it you want to do to me?" The brunette called after her, but it seemed too late. The rising mist gave the vampire all the over she needed to slip out of site, leaving Bella standing alone in the middle of the forest. A sudden agonizing stab of abandonment went straight through her heart. It became tough to breath, her heart threatened to pound its way out of her chest. Her fingertips went numb and her knees threatened to crumble beneath her.
A pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist helping to steady the wobbling siren before she so much as dipped toward the ground. "I dunno." Alice whispered into her ear, without looking one hand moved up to the siren's face slowly wiping them dry. "But giving you a heart attack definitely wasn't part of it." The playfulness in her tone slowly morphed into a more sullen tone. "I'm sorry, Bella."
"I thought you left." Bella said her voice shaky. She tried to pull out of the vampire's embrace but Alice's grip stayed tightly wrapped around her.
"Bella," the raven haired vampire started, gently kissing the taller girl's neck, "I wouldn't leave you like that Bella. I promise." Another set of tears tracked down Bella's cheeks; she choked back a few heavy sobs that threatened to come out. Alice turned the younger girl towards her as gently as she could.
When their eyes met the siren couldn't hold back any longer. She broke down: tears streamed freely down her cheeks, her body was wracked with wet sobs, and she came close to losing control of her stomach. Bella buried her head deeply into the shorter girl's neck and let everything come out.
Alice didn't say anything; she was far too confused for words; she simply waited. The crying only lasted a few minutes more; Bella collapsed soundlessly into the vampire's cold arms, tucking her head in the crook of Alice's neck. "Bella, what's wrong?" Alice whispered to the motionless siren.
"I dunno," the siren replied her arms wrapped tightly around the vampire's middle. "It's just that since I got here my world has been turned completely upside down and I don't know what to do and the only person in the world who understands me and that I trust and like is right here and when you left…I guess I just thought the worst. Like everything that's happened was just a lie and I didn't like that."
"Bella, I'm so sorry, I promise, really promise, I won't leave you like that again. I mean it with all my heart and whatever is left of my soul." Alice said, kissing the top of Bella's head. She pulled the siren closer, slowly rubbing her back in soft circles.
"You promise?" The younger girl asked, her voice that of a child. She tilted her head to meet Alice's golden gaze, the pain ebbed away faster than it should have; no longer did she feel alone and pain, she felt safe.
"I promise; I just wanted to go ahead a little bit to make sure it was still there." Alice replied, picking the siren up, cradling her like a baby.
"What was still where?" Bella said wrapping her arms around the vampire's neck, moving closer to her. Before the vampire could even answer Bella's eyes were closed, her head buried again in the crook of her neck.
"One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in this forest." Alice said, moving into a light jog that made the trees of the forest fly past them.
"Then I take it they don't have mirrors in the forest." The brunette blurted without even realizing that Alice probably didn't have a reflection.
To her relief the vampire giggled, looking down at her, "nope they don't generally unless someone brings one into the forest with them. And I should have qualified it by saying that it was the most beautiful thing in the forest. And it is, unless you're her." Her arms tightened around the girl cradled in them for a moment. She didn't bother looking down to see the blush that spread throughout the younger girls cheeks.
Bella was speechless; there's no way someone as flawless as Alice would have called her beautiful. It seemed to her like a giant oxymoron, she wasn't beautiful and surely not the most beautiful thing anywhere outside of a leper colony. "If you say so."
"I did say so, and I meant it too. You just may not realize it, but you are." Alice said, slowing her pace. She set the siren down easily on the ground, helping her find her feet beneath her, "This is what I wanted to show you." Taking Bella's hand the vampire led her easily through the thick forest.
"What is this place?" Bella said, raising her voice trying to hear her own words over low roar that seemed to have sprung from nowhere. The vampire refused to answer with anything more than a shit-eating grin and a wink. The taller girl gripped the stone hand harder and followed. Soon the thick forest thinned enough that the younger girl could see what Alice was talking about.
A river threw itself over a series of large rocks each producing its own distinct sound, all of them melding together to produce a symphony of water that the young siren had never heard before. The fine mist cast off in the low light of the sunset, shrouding the rocks in an ethereal haze that looked something that couldn't be real.
"Alice," Bella said her eyes unblinking, "it's amazing."
"I thought so to," Alice said slipping free of the siren's hand, slowly wrapping her arms around the taller girl's neck. "I had to share it with you." The vampire closed her eyes, resting her head on the siren's shoulder.
The two stood there watching the water fall over the rocks until no light was left in the sky. "Alice, are you okay?" Bella asked after realizing that Alice hadn't let go of her in more than an hour.
Alice picked her head off the siren's shoulder for a moment, "I'm scared…" she said; her voice trailing off, never finishing her thought. She closed her eyes and lay her head back down on the siren's shoulder.
"Of what?" Bella asked tilting the shorter girls chin up. She wasn't lying; the fear was plainly evident in her eyes living in the deep golden pools like a shadow. Even for someone as bad at reading people as Bella, it was obvious.
Alice shut her eyes again; she couldn't bear to look the brunette in the eye as she spoke. Something about Bella's deep brown eyes forced her to tell the truth. Not a normal trait of a siren if she remembered correctly. "Of you," her voice waivered, "of me, of my family, of not being able to see anything in the future, of what you mean to me, of what I hope I mean to you. Right now of everything in the world." Her words poured out like water out of a bursting dam, but she was beyond caring. Everything else was happening fast, so why not this to?
"Alice, I had absolutely no idea, why…why didn't you ever tell me any of this?" The siren asked, gently stroking the vampire's hair.
"Because I was scared you'd freak out or something and…and I just didn't know if I could handle it. You mean a lot to me, right now, it seems like everything so forgive me for being an idiot." Alice said, lifting her head up, and cracking her eyes open enough that she clearly see the love and warmth in Bella's eyes.
Bella's eyes brimmed with tears, once again she threw her arms around Alice and pulled her as close as she possibly could. "Alice, don't apologize now, you don't need to. Besides you mean the same to me, that's why I panicked when you left earlier. I hated the thought of you leaving me like that, so suddenly. Part of me knew you'd be back, but this small voice in the back of my head started telling me that you'd left and were never coming back."
"Since we're being so open right now, may I tell you something?" Alice asked, as she shifted herself slowly so that she was in front of Bella; arms still wrapped tightly around the taller girl's neck.
"Always, you don't ever have to ask." Bella said, leaning her forehead against the other girl's.
"Bella, I think…I know I'm falling in love with you." She replied, pressing her lips to the hollow of the taller girl's throat.
Bella's jaw went slack; it took a conscious effort to close it again; a myriad of thoughts raced through her head. Was she serious; was this a game; what do I say; how do I speak; do I feel the same way; of course I do; how do I tell her; will I sound like an idiot, probably. "A – Al – Alice," she stuttered, finding the ability to speak again, "I – I –uh – um – uh – I'm – uh – falling in love with – you to." She couldn't believe what she was saying, let alone that she meant every word, and every stutter.
Alice looked up, at her with childish joy dancing in her eyes. She couldn't believe what she just heard; all the dreaming, and wishing, and hoping, and fantasizing had paid off. It wasn't a pipe dream anymore; it was reality. "Really?" she said her eyes wide with excitement.
"Yes," The siren said in a firmer voice this time, "hell, I'm not even falling; I'm already there." Bella was sure that any moment she'd wake up and they'd still be sitting against the mossy tree by the stream; there was never a kiss, never an absence, never a second meeting, a second kiss, no waterfall, and certainly no mutual declaration of love. The brunette wished, suddenly, that she knew some way to tell if something is a dream; just to make sure.
Alice smiled wide, showing all of her blinding teeth, and squealed. Keeping her arms locked firmly around Bella's neck; the vampire hopped up wrapping her legs around the siren's back, sending the slightly larger girl staggering back into the trunk of a tree. She locked her golden eyes onto the warm brown ones, holding them there for a short eternity.
Bella wasn't precisely sure what the hell was going on, but it seemed that the next move was hers. She kept her eyes focus on the feral excitement she saw in Alice's; she moved her lips forward meeting Alice's cold ones. The passion and raw exhilaration was nothing that either of them had felt ever before, the kiss deepened. Alice took the initiative again: darting her tongue into the Bella's warm mouth. A low moan of ecstasy pushed through the siren's mouth, completely muffled by the vampire's lips; sending the pixie off her perch of control. She pulled her head back, away from the brunettes; her lips turned up in a wolfish smile as she looked over the flushed and panting Bella. With a small shift of her weight she fell backwards, taking the siren with her to the forest floor.
As the two crashed to the ground Bella sought out Alice's lips again, finding only air; the vampire had other plans. The shorter girl rolled them both over pinning the siren's hands over her head. She sat on the younger girl's chest looking her over; slowly she slid her body down until she hovered just out of the reach of Bella's hungry lips. With her free hand she gently cupped the siren's face, running her thumb delicately over the other girl's cheek. She brought he lips down trailing soft kisses along the helpless girl's jaw up to her ear, nibbling lightly on her earlobe before turning her attention to Bella's long pale neck. Heedless of how much the siren squirmed beneath the vampire's hungry touch Alice continued. Alternating from feathery kisses along her neck, to slowly running her teeth across her throat; stopping at her pulse point feeling the blood racing just under her cold lips. Another soft moan, barely above a whisper, escaped Bella's lips; spurring Alice's advances.
Alice continued trailing down to the base the younger girl's neck before pushing aside her coat, kissing down her shoulders and across Bella's collarbone. She didn't stop for too long her motions had become more hurried, frantic, hungry. She worked her way to the swell of the siren's breast when she stopped, every fiber locking into place. A deep predatory growl rumbled through the vampire's chest, her face turned to Bella, "I'm sorry, Bella, I have to go." Alice said, lifting herself off the young siren, "I really am." She spared one final caress of the Bella's cheek before disappearing into the dark woods.
Bella was left alone in the middle of the forest, her face still flushed, her breathing still ragged; but in spite of the rather abrupt ending she felt satisfied. She stretched languidly along the cool earth wanting nothing more than to stay there until Alice came back to finish what she started when the sharp cry of a wolf broke through her haze. She sat upright, already tugging at the suede coat away from her shoulders. A second cry answered the first, this one much closer to the siren; she managed to get the coat off and her wings out by the time the third cry echoed from the surrounding trees.
She took to the air as fast as she could, her wings flapping in short blurred motions leading her through the trees to the night sky above her. Bella spared a glance downward at the now crowded glen below her. Four massive wolves stalked around the spot where she'd just been laying, their muzzles turned down, and then in perfect unison they tuned up sniffing the air. The siren could feel their eyes staring at her as she broke through the canopy and headed straight home.
"Was that her?" A young man asked standing in the tracks that had moments before been wolf tracks, "Was that the siren?"
"It must have been," A second answered shifting from wolf to another young man, "How many humans do you know that fly?"
"That's beside the point," A third said, larger than the other two and more heavily muscled. He picked up the discarded coat bringing it to his nose, "This smells like leech to me." He tossed it to the first who in turn sniffed it and tossed it to the second who tossed it to the fourth that had finally phased out of his wolf form. They all nodded slowly, the sickly sweet smell covered every inch of the coat.
"So which one is it?" The forth one asked, scratching his head.
"That's the million dollar question. But you're going to find out, Jacob." The third said tossing the brown suede to the first wolf to shift.