The Taxi Ride
Chapter Twenty Five: Hard to Crack
I was still recovering from my embarrassing trip outside of the restaurant we had just been in, so it took me a while to notice a more pressing issue, and that was Jacob and Victoria tearing the shit out of each other just behind us. The sounds of vicious snarls and screams from both members sent a chill down my spine. I couldn't understand why they were fighting like this again.
"Get off of me you disgusting animal!" Victoria howled out, trying to kick Jake off of her where he had her pinned to the cold hard ground.
"You're only going to hurt her. You think I can trust you?"
"Holy shit, what's happening?" Angela asked as she gaped wide eyed along with me and Jake. Some pedestrians changed streets to avoid getting caught up in the wrestling.
"I don't know," I gasped out.
"We need to get them to stop," Mike blurted out and rushed towards them. Flashbacks of the last time I had tried to stop their fight played in my head. I had come back from the hospital twice, and I didn't want that to happen to Mike.
I snagged onto his sleeve in the last moment and he jerked back. "Don't go. Don't try to stop them."
"Why not? They're pounding the shit out of each other," he looked on at me confusedly.
"Last time I tried to stop their fight I ended up with two casts. I don't want to see that happen to you."
His mouth made an o shape. "Right. But then how do we...?" he looked on where the two where still viciously fighting.
"Jake you need to stop this!" I instead decided to plead. I hoped he could hear my voice over the loud smacks and cries of fury from Victoria as she clawed at his back. His tee was in shreds. Just how damn sharp were her nails?
"No, you need to leave first. Only then can we stop," he shot back.
"What kind of bullshit logic is that?" I demanded angrily, not having the patience for this.
"Angela and Mike-" he paused here as one of Victoria's fists found his mouth. I couldn't tell who I was more worried about right now. Him or her. "Take Bella and just go. Me and Victoria will settle this ourselves."
"The only thing I'm settling is my foot up your ass!" Victoria snarled.
Angela and Mike looked hesitant about this. "Jake, we really don't want to leave you-"
"Just do it!" he cut Angela off impatiently.
"Fine," she sighed out, guilt in her eyes. I was feeling a bit more angry. If Jake was so insistent on settling this himself than he damn well could. I was going to have a good talking with him about his actions towards Vicky. Vicky would be hearing it too. I was tired of their shenanigans.
I grabbed the two of my friends. "Let's just go back."
"You sure?" Angela raised concerned brows.
"They're adults. They don't need us baby sitting them." Then I wobbled over to my car, ignoring the sting and slow drip of blood down my knees.
By the time Victoria came back to the room it was nearly 12 at night. I had stayed up waiting for her, arms crossed over my chest, sitting on the edge of my bed. I had already talked to Jake, scolding him severely. "I don't understand why the two of you cannot behave civilly!" In vengeance I had swabbed his scratch marks with the rubbing alcohol all the more viciously. He winced in pain but didn't say anything. He had come back with scratch marks all over his back and chest, his shirt missing huge chunks of it. I had to throw it out.
A bruise was forming around his eye and his lips were split but he didn't seem apologetic in the least. "I was only doing what I thought best."
"What you thought best- are you insane?" my voice rose in pitch. "How is picking a fight with her for the best?"
"You wouldn't get it."
"Then tell me! Maybe I can help alleviate the issue between the two of you."
He shook his head sadly, striding away from me and sliding a new shirt back on. "I can't tell you."
"Fine then!" I huffed, throwing down the used swabs. "Be a stupid stubborn idiot like that." I had then left his dorm room in a fuss, striding back to my own. And there I had been waiting ever since for Vicky. Maybe she would be reasonable and tell me what was going on.
"You took long enough," I snidely said. "Were you hoping to sneak in when I was asleep?" I had purposefully kept my lights low so as to trick her.
"Kind of," she admitted shyly. "I didn't want you to see my face." There were angry scratch marks down it, silver from fading away with time. And her lip was also split but the blood on it was already dry.
"Why do you fight? I don't understand it. Jake won't tell me anything about it."
"And you're hoping I will," she guessed. Then gave me a rueful smile. "Sorry, I can't. It's between me and him."
I shook my head in disgust at this. "I'm so tired of this. Fine. Don't tell me. And next time you'll be knocking the snot out of each other, don't expect me to care."
"I wouldn't expect you to. I'll be fine. Honestly. I can take care of things myself."
"Just like you took care of it with your crazy ex?" My words are spiteful and I regret them as soon as they are out my mouth. Victoria's shoulders slump and something like fear alights in them.
"Sorry. I shouldn't have- I didn't mean to," my words falter.
"No. It's okay." Victoria steps forward and squeezes in between my legs so she can pull me into a hug. "I've been so wrapped up with you being in pain that I almost forget that he's still a threat." She mumbles this into my hair.
"Well maybe he's given up. Maybe campus security took care of him?"
She doesn't respond, instead pulling away and looking down at my knees. "Do they hurt?" she asks.
I shake my head no. "I'm fine, honestly." She doesn't seem to believe me because she lowers her head and takes me completely off guard when she presses a chaste kiss to each spot there is a bandage plastered on. The words stick in my throat and all I can say is, "Victoria," softly.
"A kiss to make the hurt go away," she smiles gently at me as she straightens up again and seized by a feeling of emboldenment I cup her face with my hands. I forget about how we were supposed to stop doing these things and instead lightly feather kisses on her hurt cheek. Her eyes flutter shut at this and I can feel the breath burst from her lips as she sinks in closer to me, her hands on my knees sliding up and under my dress and suddenly my heart is beating loudly in my chest.
"Bella," she calls my name, questioning.
"Just returning the favor," I inform her and am so close to dropping a light kiss upon her lips when the door slams open and we jump apart.
It's Lauren and she has an impressive sneer on her face. "Don't let me interrupt you and your girlfriend from whatever you were doing. It's not like I don't find it disgusting at all."
"Go suck a dick," Victoria hisses before I can manage to get some words together. "Or better yet, go choke on one."
Lauren flushes angrily at this. "You don't get to talk to me like that, in my room."
"This is Bella's room too, or do you think you own this whole fucking school and everyone in it." Victoria is on a roll and she pulls away from me, radiating menace. Lauren feels the shift in aura and shrinks back. But it seems she will not back down from a fight this time. "I'm so tired of entitled bitches like you."
"And I'm so tired of dykes like you. Spreading your nasty dyke germs around the school."
"Sounds like you're discriminatory against gays. Might have to file a bias report on you," Victoria threatens and Lauren gasps. That's a serious threat that could get her kicked out of the school.
"You wouldn't dare, you bitch!"
"Try me," Victoria leans in, all tall and intimidating and Lauren snaps out out of fear. She slaps Victoria hard but the red doesn't even flinch, just looks unwaveringly on at Lauren who lets out a scream of pain and bends over. "My hand! My fucking hand! It's fucking broken. You broke it you bitch."
This stirs something in Victoria and she looks on at me in panic, where I sit still frozen. Then she turns back to Lauren. "You're just overexaggerating. Calm the fuck down."
But Lauren doesn't stop howling and it's bringing the attention of the other girls down the halls. We're left with no choice but to call an ambulance for her to the hospital.
"I was right, you are built like a fucking brick," I say to Victoria as we watch the ambulance cart Lauren away whose still howling in pain over her broken hand. I don't know what else to say about this situation because it's just so...odd. How can a human be that strong? Something's not adding up here but I don't know what it could be.
"Yea, a brick," Victoria laughs without any humor and I wonder what must be running through her mind, because her face looks paler than usual and she's avoiding my eyes. "Or maybe Lauren needs to drink some more calcium. Her bones are weak."
I don't think that's the case, but I don't comment on it, because I sure as hell drink a lot of milk and my bones still got crushed.
"Let's go to bed," I suggest because I don't know how to comfort her when suspicions run through my head; I am too afraid to comfort her right now because for some reason I feel like she is hiding something big from me, something vitally important and this has to relate to her inhuman strength.
"Okay," she says softly and follows me back to the dorm room. The next morning when I wake up, the bed is empty and Jake is knocking at my door.
"Good morning," he greets cheerily, a duffel bag slung around his shoulder. "Guess whose sleeping over at your place now. This guy!" he jerks back a thumb at himself.
"What? What about Vicky?" I yawn, still half asleep, rubbing my mussed up hair.
"She's staying in my room. She said that because of her being here Lauren was giving you issues. So she'd figured I'd stay here in her place."
There's something he's not telling me, but I don't know what. Does he know about Vicky's crazy ex? Did she tell him about it?
"And why would I need the help? She's only been here to help me with my casts but I'm almost all healed by now." I say this casually, hoping to come off as normal and not sounding bitter because I've been kept out of some loop between them.
"Uh, yea, but you know," he flounders, clearly not expecting me to question his arrival and purpose here. "I also feel bad about the casts and I wanna help out if just for a little bit. Plus, if Lauren sees me, she'll stop making fun of you and calling you a dyke."
I roll my eyes. "I don't care if she thinks I'm a dyke. Really, Jake, your help is not needed, but I do appreciate the offer."
He shifts on his feet, frustration showing up in his eyes. "Come on, Bells," he pulls out his best pout. "Don't you wanna have a sleepover with your buddy Jake?"
I sigh. He's being stubborn about this and I don't know why. But perhaps if I let him stay then he might divulge some information to me. Because I've come to realize that both he and Victoria are hiding something from me, and I don't know what. But I'm sure as hell going to find out.
"Sure, just leave your stuff here. And if you don't mind I gotta go to the lib to do some research."
"I'll go with you."
"It's fine-"
"Nah, it's cool, I've got to do some research there too."
I'm not convinced. "On what?" I arch a brow.
"Uh, you know, science of uh, bananas and sports. Cuz you know, they give good proteins to athletes." Jake's never been a good liar so maybe that might be a plus in this situation. It'll make it easier to get info out of him.
"Fine, come along, but don't bother me. I need quiet."
He mimes zipping his lips. "Not even a peep," he promises and we head off after I get dressed properly, with him carrying my school bags.
I settle down at a computer facing away from him, and he takes the one across from me, though I catch him focusing more on me than his screen. I don't call him out on it, because then it might give away that I'm looking up questionable content. So I casually start googling stuff up.
Super strong? I type in and results of humans with 'super powers' pop up, along with some images of body builders. No, that's not helpful at all.
Body built like a brick? That too only leads to more body builders.
Indestructible people? Still nothing that can relate to Victoria's situation. How utterly frustrating.
I tap my fingers on the keyboard and let out a huff of air. What else can I put in? What else did I know about Vicky that could be a clue?
I only knew about her disorder. Maybe super strength was also a part of it? I typed in albinism but after looking through several scientific articles on it nothing was said about super strength. And neither was anything mentioned about albinism affecting diet or body temperature. Weird...
Still, I wasn't going to give up. I was sure there was something I wasn't getting.
Pale skin, red eyes, super strong. The search results for this were not what I was expecting at all.
"Vampires?" I mouthed to myself as I stared incredulously at the screen before me. Images of pale skinned men and women, with red eyes and blood dripping down their lips; all beautiful and alluring to look at, took up the first half of the web page. A link below caught my eye. I clicked on it and it lead me to a website called Eclipse, apparently a site for all vampire lore needs, as it so toted proudly in tacky gothic scroll on the top banner.
Vampires are mystical and alluring creatures so it comes as no surprise that they are often the subject of supernatural books. Authors find themselves captivated by the spellbinding beauty and the primal natures of these creatures; of the danger they evoke, yet of the desire they induce on poor human beings. As such, vampires have become a huge part of literature due to their well researched nature by those authors and adventurers brave enough to record them.
Here you will find all the information you will need on such creatures of the night.
Below the introduction was a shit ton of links to various vampire species, some with names I couldn't even pronounce.
I rubbed my brows. This was ridiculous. Victoria couldn't be a vampire. It just wasn't possible. This website acted like they were real but everyone knew they were just monsters of fiction. As were werewolves and witches and all that stuff.
Still, I found myself clicking through some of the links and reading the information given there.
Original vampire- those who have been around for thousands and thousands of centuries. No one knows how they were created only that these are the most powerful of all vampire kinds. They can use magic, psychic powers (such as mind controlling people), can control the weather, can transform into animals at will, and have super speed and strength. The downside is that they cannot go out into direct sunlight and religious items and garlic repel them. They must consume the blood of humans in order to keep their immortality. They also do not age and can sire other vampires though those will be weaker and weaker, each generation losing more of it's powers.
Nosferatu- vampires whose transformation is caused by an animal bite, almost like a zombie infection. These creatures are ugly and cursed to forever hide in the dark. They posses little power and carry a stench around them. They hunt humans for their blood and it only takes one bite for the vampire to transfer their curse onto the poor unsuspecting human.
Human vampire- a vampire with all the regular powers of super speed, strength, heightened senses, but with none of the weaknesses. They can walk out in sunlight, they are not repelled by garlic or religious icons, and they can sometimes even display some sorts of powers specific to their nature. They often blend in with other humans and prey on them when they least suspect it. Though they do look human they do share inhuman characteristics. They are cold skinned, cannot eat human food, and their eye color will vary from red to gold depending on how much human blood they have consumed over the years. Those with gold are still young and mainly feed on animal blood which is an option for these species of vampires since they have more of their human morals intact and can control their more base desires. Red is for those who have feed on thousands of human, and who have been around for longer periods of time.
I could feel my breath catch in my throat at this particular passage. Red eyes, no consumption of human food, cold skin...and super strong, this was all sounding a lot like Victoria. My head began to feel light and dizzy and I had to close my eyes briefly. But that couldn't be. Victoria couldn't be a vampire. She was kind and caring and she always took care of me. Besides, she hadn't even made a move for my blood, or anyone else's who were close to me. This was all just some bullshit coincidence. Just something dumb. Vampires were not real.
"Bella, you okay?" Jake's voice cut through my reading and I nearly jumped in my seat, having forgotten he was even still here. He peered at me in concern and I smoothed my brow which was creased up in intense worry while I gnawed on my bottom lip.
"Uh, yea. I'm fine." I hurriedly clicked out of the page and shut the computer off. Coming here had been a waste of time. I hadn't found anything of note. "I think I'm done here."
"Lunch?" Jake asked and I looked over at the clock noticing that it was now midday and that I had spent three hours here.
"Sure." But I had no appetite, my stomach churning in nerves. Despite how much I scoffed at the vampire idea, it wouldn't leave me alone.
A/N: Bella's finally realizing that Vicky and Jake might not have been truthful to her, and she's sure as hell going to find out what it's all about.