Victoria adjusted her leather jacket and smoothed down the wrinkles of her blouse before she knocked on the door to Bella's house. For some reason she felt extremely nervous about seeing the girl again. She had actually changed her outfit three times before rolling her eyes at herself and settling on what she was currently wearing. She pushed the fact that she wanted to look good for Bella to the back of her mind where the rest of the strange things she wanted with the girl already resided.
Squaring her shoulders she knocked on the door only to freeze at the sight of Bella. She was dressed in blue pajama pants and a tank top that showed off surprisingly toned arms. The sound of Bella's voice broke her out of her stupor.
"Hey, you made it." Bella said.
"Um yes." Victoria swallowed the excess venom that was pooling in her mouth.
Bella stood back from the door and waved Victoria inside. "I wasn't sure what you wanted to do but I thought we could just hang out in the living room and watch tv."
"You want to watch tv with me?" Victoria asked. She wasn't sure the last time she had sat down and watched tv. Over the years she had been to the theatre and saw a few films but she couldn't remember actually watching a tv show.
Bella was now unsure of her idea of entertainment. "Is that not ok?"
"No it's perfectly fine." Victoria assured her. "I was just thinking of the last time I watched tv."
Bella led Victoria to the living room where they both took a seat on either end of the couch. "I thought this would work out best because of the rain."
"No it's fine." Victoria told her. "What have you decided to watch?"
"My friends recommended this show called Motherland Fort Salem. It's about real witches who escaped the Salem witch trials making a pack with humans to become the armies of each country." Bella explained.
"Ahh the witch trials. One of the many times humans took the truth and bent it to fit their own purposes." Victoria said.
"Are you old enough to have witnessed them?" Bella asked. She wanted to know just how old Victoria was but didn't want to be impolite and ask her outright.
Victoria chuckled. "I am far older than the witch trials. Well the famous American ones anyway."
"What do you mean they took the truth? Are witches actually real?" Bella asked
"No witches aren't real. At least I have yet to come across any." Victoria added as an afterthought.
Bella sighed in relief." Thank god. I was afraid you were going to tell me they were. It would be just my luck I would run across one and have them curse me or something."
"Yes, I can see how you would be worried about that." Victoria said. "You are quite the danger magnet."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm a walking disaster. What did they get right about the trials?" Bella asked trying to get back on subject.
"What they got right were that some people had gifts that could only be explained as supernatural." Victoria told her. "What they got wrong was it wasn't witches who had them it was vampires."
Bella tried to wrap her mind around vampires being so careless to be caught by humans." Why would a vampire expose itself to humans?"
"Stupidity mostly. We have few laws as vampires. The most important being don't expose yourself to humans. If we do we must either turn the human or kill them to contain our secret." Victoria was suddenly uncomfortable with the topic.
"What happens if they don't?" Bella asked.
Victoria turned her head away from the girl not wanting to admit to her the seriousness of her situation."Then the Volturi come to not only kill the human but to kill the vampire or vampires that exposed them to our world."
"What the fuck?" Bella exclaimed. "You mean I have a death sentence hanging over my head still? Why the hell didn't anyone tell me this? Or better yet why would they tell me about vampires in the first place if that was going to be the outcome."
"I don't know. It seems the Cullens were a rather selfish lot. Being the boy's singer." Victoria refused to say the boy's name. "Apparently made him careless. Did they ever talk about turning you?"
Bella shook her head."It was brought up once. Edward had then gone off on a rant of how they were all soulless monsters and he would not be the one who damned me to that existence."
"I would be more likely to suspect he didn't want to lose his singer." Victoria said. "Even if he abstained from drinking your blood doesn't mean he doesn't want to still have the option in the future."
"That makes a lot more sense than his want to save my soul. He was always so possessive and controlling. Every second of free time I had he was with me. I told you he used to break into my room and watch me sleep right?" Victoria nodded. "When he told me about it I think he wanted me to think it was him protecting me but the more I think about it, it was just him wanting to be around his singer. If he was actually protecting me or we were in a healthier relationship,I may have invited him to come into my room at night."
Victoria pushed away the thought of how she could go about getting an invitation herself. "I'm glad you are away from him."
"Me too. What about you? Do you have a mate out there?" Bella asked.
Victoria shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I'm sure I do. I hope so. Do you think you have a mate out there?"
Bella smiled. "I hope I do. From what I have learned about what a mate actually is and isn't,I want one in my life. Maybe it's stupid because of how Edward tricked me into thinking I was his but if I could actually experience what it meant to have a true mate then I would jump at the chance."
The thought that Bella was open to having a mate pleased Victoria greatly. The small fear she had of Bella still being in love with the Cullen boy had disappeared completely. "I'm glad a stupid boy didn't make you swear off all thoughts of future relationships."
"Yeah I'm sure the right girl is out there for me." Bella looked into Victoria's eyes getting lost in the moment. As she started to imagine what it was to kiss the red head she shook her head to clear her thoughts. Victoria was a vampire. If Bella wanted to pursue a relationship with her it would only end in heart break when Victoria eventually found her mate. Although she knew it was rare just the fact that it could happen would always plague her mind."So what do you plan to do now that you aren't going to kill me? Are you going to go after the Cullens now?"
Victoria lifted her eyebrow in question. "Would that bother you if I did?"
"No, not really." Bella thought about it further. "I mean they really are the reason James is dead. If they had followed the law and turned me, James would have never wanted to track me to begin with. From what you say they should have a while ago or at least killed me. The way I figure it either you or the Volturi will eventually come for them. So why not it be you? At least you have a personal reason to want to do it."
Victoria was stunned. She had thought the girl would have been horrified by the idea of her taking revenge against the family but here she was all but giving Victoria permission to destroy the Cullens. She had to be sure though. "You really wouldn't stop me from destroying all of them?"
"I mean they are all pretty guilty. Well except Rosalie." Bella added. "She was against me knowing at all. Then when James got involved she thought I should be killed or turned to deal with the problem. I can't say I blame her now that I know the laws, but if you could spare Rosalie that would be nice of you."
"I'll keep that in mind." Victoria said not quite sure what to think about this conversation. After finding Bella the thought of revenge kind of took a back burner to getting to know the girl better. Not that she didn't want revenge but at the moment the thought of being away from Bella caused her almost physical pain. Even though she wished to deny why that was it was getting harder to ignore.
"So what do you do for fun if you don't watch tv?" Bella asked breaking Victoria out of her musings.
"I guess I spend a lot of my time traveling around the world." Victoria told her. "I like to experience new cultures. They change enough over the years that coming back after some time it's like a completely different place. While I'm there I try to explore the area as much as I'm able."
"I bet you have seen some amazing things." Bella thought of how much the world could have changed in the many years Victoria was alive." Is it rude to ask exactly where and when you were born."
"I have actually been waiting for you to ask but no it's not rude to ask. I was born in what you now call Ireland in 1520." Victoria smiled at Bella's wide eyes. "Yes I know I don't look a day over 25."
Bella could feel herself blush. "I'm sorry it's just hard to imagine what someone who has lived so long has experienced. I meant no disrespect."
Victoria's eyes zeroed in on the blood pooling in Bella's cheeks. She was reminded of the man last night who had also blushed. The difference between the two was surprising. Where as she wanted to drain the man, she felt no blood lust while looking at Bella. All she could think of was how lovely and human Bella looked. "None taken."
"What was it like for you growing up?" Bella asked. "I know nothing about history that far back let alone Irish history."
"Well I was born into a family of metal workers. My father was a blacksmith and trained my two brothers to follow in his footsteps. My mother ran his business and made sure everything was organized and deadlines were met because although my father was a great blacksmith and people came from all over for his wares he had no head for business." Victoria told her smiling at the memory of watching her father at the smith.
"It sounds like you loved them very much." Bella said liking the way Victoria's features softened while speaking of her family.
Victoria nodded. "I did. We were very close. My mother was teaching me how to help out with the business so when my brothers took over they would have me to help them."
"Did your family not want you to marry?" Bella asked. "I mean if they wanted you to take over after your mother wouldn't a husband be a problem?"
"Oh no, my parents were not traditional in that sense. They never pressured me like the other parents in our clan did their children.Most would have been married by the age of sixteen but my parents knew in their hearts I wasn't the marrying type." At Bella's questioning look Victoria explained. "I knew I was gay even then. It wasn't talked about but my mother hinted that she knew I preferred women and promised that she would never force me into a marriage I didn't want."
"Wow." Bella tried to understand what it must have been like. "That is amazing. I imagine that wasn't the norm for parents to be so accepting during those times."
"That's an understatement. In my human life I never got the opportunity to explore those feelings. Although I have come to the conclusion that was for the best as if I had gotten caught the sentence for the crime would have been worse then death." Victoria looked at Bella's uncomfortable face."I'll spare you the details of what that punishment would have been."
Bella sighed in relief. "It's not that I don't care I just don't like imaging anything bad happening to you."
"You care about my safety?" Victoria was stunned.
"I guess I do." Bella rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.
Reaching out her hand Victoria laced her fingers with Bella's. "I have come to care for yours also."
Bella was aware of her rapidly beating heart and she knew Victoria was too. She didn't know exactly when but she found herself caring about Victoria a great deal more than she thought any friend should. Clearing her throat she asked. "If you would could you tell me how you became a vampire?"
"That's a sad story I'm afraid." Victoria smiled softly when she felt Bella's hand squeeze her own. She didn't like talking about becoming a vampire but she found herself wanting Bella to know everything about her even the bad parts." It was 1544 when the English first came to take away our land and freedom wanting us to serve a king that wasn't worthy of our loyalty. I was 24 at the time when the first intruders entered our village. I had been around arms and armor my whole life so I was very handy with a sword and shield. My village and myself fought off the initial attack but knew it was just a matter of time when others would come. We heard of a resistance army that had been formed of the many clans and sought them out. The army consisted of men, women and even children."
"That must of been hard on their parents to send their young to battle." Bella said. She felt the need to pull Victoria into her arms and hold her as she told the story but held herself back knowing it wasn't her place to do so.
"Yes it was. Even with my parents involved you could still sense their fear for their three grown children."Victoria told her. " Together with the others we fought a bloody battle trying to save our way of life. Never have the horrors of what I saw during that war come close to any of the other terrible things I have seen throughout my centuries of living. Many believe vampires are the worst creature that lives on this planet but they don't hold a candle to what humans will do to one another."
Bella shivered at the thought. "How long did the fighting go on?"
"That war went on for many years and then would start up again when new kings and queens were crowned many using religion as a way to justify their own bloodlust." Victoria took deep breath to prepare herself for the next part of her story. "It was a year after I joined the fighting that I met my sire. He had been watching the battle I was engaged in at the time using it as an easy way to find humans to feed from. He had been impressed with my skills and the way I held no remorse for those I killed. Wanting a companion to travel with for some time, he changed me that night. When I awoke three days later with the overwhelming thirst for blood he led to the enemy camp where I decimated their troops."
Bella thought about this for minute."I want to say that's horrible but they were invading your country."
"You don't thinks it's wrong that I killed so many?" Victoria asked surprised.
"Well yes? No? I mean I don't thinks so. It's not really that much different than if you were human." Bella told her. "You would have killed them if you had your sword anyway. The fact that you were able to do it easier and quicker probably saved a lot of lives."
Victoria was stunned. Shouldn't Bella be looking at her in disgust not justifying her actions? "You are a very strange human."
Bella smiled at her. "I've been called worse."
Victoria was about to reply when Bella's stomach rumbled. "It seems it's time to feed the human."
"Yeah I guess so." Bella released Victoria's hand reluctantly. "You don't have to go if you don't want. I'm just going to make a sandwich."
"I think I would like to stay longer." Victoria brightened at the big smile Bella gave her in reply.