"Hair up or hair down? Which would be better?" Bella asked her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Victoria had texted that morning that she had a surprise for Bella before they went to dinner. Four outfits, twice as many freak outs later, she was dressed in black jeans and a blue cashmere sweater she had gotten on one of her many shopping trips with Alice. She finished the outfit off with black boots, but even focusing on finding the perfect outfit didn't keep her mind from freaking out about the upcoming date. That was actually the main problem. She didn't know if it was a date. She wanted it to be but the fact Victoria had a mate out there held her back from acting on her feelings. The knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. "Hair down it is then."
Grabbing her coat she walked down the stairs and opened the door to find Victoria standing there in black slacks, heels, a red blouse and a leather jacket."Wow you look…..wow"
Victoria smiled at the compliment. She held out a single red rose." I got this for you. I was going to get you a dozen but I thought it would be cheesy and a little cliche."
"Is this a date?" Bella blurted out instantly feeling the her cheeks heat up.
Victoria chuckled. "I would like it to be a date. I mean if you wouldn't mind going out with me that is."
"No I would like it to be a date also." Bella could feel the heat creeping down her neck. To save herself from further embarrassment she turned to lock the door. She motioned to the car in her driveway."Is this your new car?"
"Yes." Victoria held the passenger side door open for Bella. When she got into the driver's seat she explained." It's an Aston Martin Valkyrie."
"I don't know what that means." Bella admitted.
"It means it's a rare car that can go very, very fast."Victoria gave her a sly smile. "Tell me Bella, do you like to go fast?"
Bella blushed but ignored the question. "Where would you even get a car like this?"
"I had to go to Las Vegas to pick it up. I was lucky they keep expensive cars there for big spenders to splurge on." Victoria told her.
"How did you manage getting to Vegas?" Bella asked. "It's always sunny there."
"Luckily everything in Vegas is open 24 hours."Victoria said."It was as simple as driving as far as I could during the day and ditching the car I was driving, then running the rest of the way to Vegas. No one saw me at all."
"That's actually kind of amazing."Bella ran her hand across the dash."I like this car. It fits you perfectly."
"Oh yeah? How so?" Victoria asked.
Feeling bold Bella reached for Victoria's hand feeling relieved when Victoria laced their fingers together. "Fast, powerful, sleek, unbelievably sexy."
Victoria arched an eyebrow at Bella. She liked the sudden confidence the girl was showing."You think I'm sexy?"
"Well I ..I mean…"Bella stuttered.
Victoria laughed. "I don't mind you finding me sexy. I find you quite sexy also."
"Well good then." Bella cleared her throat. "What are we doing tonight?"
Victoria lifted the hand she was holding to her mouth and kissed it softly. She smirked when she heard Bella's breath catch. "I planned for us to take a ride on the Seattle Great Wheel and then I booked the private dining room for us to enjoy dinner."
"I've heard about that. I always wanted to try it out." Bella told her.
Victoria was very pleased to hear that. She had worried about taking Bella on a date. She didn't normally interact with humans, so she had little knowledge of what they liked to do. She had gone through many ideas before settling on this one. It being something Bella hadn't done before made her especially happy. She wanted to experience all of Bella's firsts with her. Although her vampire side wanted to for a more possessive reason, her human side also liked the idea of making new memories with Bella. "I'm glad. I figured by having the private dinning room we wouldn't get looks if you were the only one eating."
"Good thinking but if we ever do go to a restaurant just order a salad." Bella said. "That way you can just pour dressing on it and move it around your plate so it looks like you've eaten some."
"Did you learn that from the Cullens" Victoria was overcome with the feeling of jealousy at the idea of another vampire taking Bella out to eat. Who was she kidding, she felt jealous of anyone who spent time with Bella.
"No, I learned that from my mother. She had an eating disorder at one point." Bella explained.
"What is your mother like?" Victoria asked.
"My mother is a very difficult woman to live with."Bella said,not liking this topic at all but a part of her acknowledged that she wanted Victoria to know everything about her and that included the bad parts."She is selfish and kept me from my father my whole life just to spite him,not caring at all about how not having a father figure would affect my life. Although she brought an assortment of men around none of them filled that role. Hell, they barely fit the role of boyfriend."
"What was it like growing up?" Victoria prepared herself already knowing she would not like the answer.
"Hard." Bella told her. "My mother wasn't abusive physically. I guess I was lucky in that regard. She however was neglectful. I never knew if I was going to have food to eat or if the electricity was going to be shut off. Sometimes I would come home to find an eviction notice on the door and those were the nicer landlords. Some would just change the locks and if we were lucky they would throw our stuff on the front lawn."
Victoria growled at the thought of her mate's mother. She wondered if Bella would be mad if she hunted the woman down and drained her slowly to punish her for the treatment of her daughter. "What brought you to finally live with your father?"
"Dumb luck."Bella said. "She met a halfway decent guy named Phil who actually married her. The guy is a baseball player. Not good enough to be in the majors but he is on a minor league team. My mother decided she would rather travel around with him instead of dealing with having a daughter anymore so I got sent to live with my dad."
"Do you like living with your dad?" Victoria asked.
Bella thought about how to answer." That's complicated. He's a nice guy but he never really tried to get any kind of custody of me or even get visits. He could have easily. The courts would have sided with a cop instead of an out of work woman who didn't have a stable place to live. I guess our relationship is more roommates than father daughter. He has a girlfriend now and I've heard them talk about living together once I graduate high school. He's made it clear he's just waiting for me to move out."
"Does he at least provide for you?"Victoria asked.
"Yeah, I guess." Bella shrugged. "He gives me money for groceries. I have to cook for both of us because he doesn't know how. I'm the one who keeps the house clean. I'm just glad his girlfriend washes his clothes now. I had to do that when I first moved here."
Victoria eased her grip on the steering wheel as she heard it creak under her tightened grip. This was not an appropriate situation for her mate to be in. She would have to find a way to make Bella more comfortable in her living situation. "What are your plans for after high school?"
"I don't really have any." Bella admitted. "I had basically been waiting for you to kill me so I didn't think of planning anything long term. Now that I know about the Volturi I'm kind of glad I didn't."
Victoria growled at the mention of the Volturi. "I will not allow them or anyone else to harm you."
"Thank you." Bella whispered shyly. Knowing that Victoria was so protective of her made her happy. She ignored the voice in the back of her head that kept reminding her she wasn't Victoria's mate. Bella wanted to enjoy the night together and worry about the rest tomorrow.
"I assure you it's no problem."Victoria said as she pulled into the parking lot and made her way to open Bella's door. She was delighted when Bella accepted the hand she held out. The night was already starting off great and now she felt like a teenager holding hands with her crush on their first date.
Bella looked at the Ferris wheel in awe. "It's all lit up. Now I know why you wanted to do this at night."
"On the weekend they have light shows until 10pm. I thought you would enjoy it." Victoria handed their tickets to a man who led them to an empty cart.
Bella noticed the door close."No one else is joining us?"
"No, I wanted us to have privacy." Victoria suddenly felt unsure of herself. "I hope that's ok?"
"It's fine." Bella assured her. As they started moving she pulled Victoria over to the window. "Look at the view. It's amazing."
Taking a chance Victoria released Bella's hand and put her arm around Bella's shoulder. She held her breath until she felt Bella lean into her side. "I'm glad you enjoy it."
Silence descended over them while they both enjoyed the view and the closeness of the other. Bella felt like she was on cloud nine. She discreetly sniffed Victorias shoulder trying to take in her scent. It reminded her of wood burning in a fireplace with hints of something else she couldn't describe but reminded her of chaos. It seemed fitting to Bella because that's exactly how she thought of Victoria. She was all fire and chaos but instead of being off-putting, the smell made her feel safe. It made her feel like coming home.
"Are you ready to go?" Victoria's voice broke Bella out of her musings and as she looked around she realized they had stopped.
"Yeah, lead the way." Bella smiled at Victoria when she realized she wasn't going to move her arm. Instead Victoria pulled her closer to her body.
"We have some time before our dinner reservation so I thought we could walk around the pier." Victoria said as she led Bella away from the crowd.
Bella snuggled as close as she could to Victoria without tripping. "I would like that."
"Good." Victoria cleared her through nervously."I know we didn't get the picture all the tourist get when they visit the wheel but I was wondering if it would be ok if we could still get a picture together?"
Bella thought if a vampire could blush Victoria would be right now. She found it cute that Victoria wanted a picture of the two of them. "I think it would be great idea to get a picture together."
Victoria pulled out her cell phone and pointed the camera front facing. "On three. One, two, Three."
Bella felt her eyes go wide as Victoria kissed her on the lips. It was a quick kiss but it still caused her to stumble. When she looked at Victoria the vampire seemed unsure of herself. Instead of using words to reassure her, Bella grabbed the collar of Victoria's jacket and pulled her into another one. This one filled with much more passion than the first. When Victoria pushed her tongue passed Bella's lips, Bella moaned and pulled back in embarrassment at the sound.
Victoria was beyond pleased. She wasn't sure if Bella would reciprocate a kiss but the fact that not only did Bella return the first one,she initiated the second mad her happy she took the chance. One thing that had surprised her was how good of a kisser her mate was. She quickly squashed down the jealously that flared to life at the thought of another touching her mate and instead focused on the dreamy eyed look Bella was giving her. "Was that ok?"
"That was more than ok."Bella told her. "Why don't we keep walking a little? We still have dinner to get to and if we continue kissing I won't want to go at all."
"You say that like it's a bad things." Victoria put her arm back around Bella and pulled the girl close, leading her further down the pier. She smiled when she felt Bella's arm go around her waste. She knew that Bella was her mate but in the back of her mind Victoria worried the girl wouldn't feel the mate pull at all. The idea that her mate would reject her was something she didn't want to image as the pain would be to great but as they spent more time together she felt hopeful that even if Bella didn't fell the mate pull she might possibly feel something for Victoria anyway.
"If you are going to be hanging out with a human you have to know that they need to eat regularly."Bella told her.
"What other things do I need to know about taking care of my very own human?" Victoria asked.
"We need food, water, sleep and are prone to injury and illness so medical supplies are also necessary to have near by." Bella listed.
Victoria nodded. "I think I am more than able to provide such things."
Before Bella could respond Victoria pulled away from her and growled. "What's wrong?"
"Stay behind me and do not move until I tell you to." Victoria said as she pulled Bella close to the back of her body and scanned the area. Her fight or flight instinct had alerted her that danger was near but she couldn't pinpoint exactly where. If she had been alone she could have just taken off but she was worried about Bella. She didn't need another tracker coming after her mate. It was better to know what the new threat was before she reacted.
"I see you have brought us a gift. How nice of you." A voice came from her right. It was a male vampire with black hair wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and tennis shoes. "Usually when new people enter our territory without permission they aren't so polite."
Victoria growled as two more vampires came out of the alley and joined the other man. One of them was a female with short cropped blond hair and the other was a male with a long brown beard and shaved head. The female spoke. "Looks like she doesn't want to share with us Chet."
"That's to bad. This would have been a lot easier if she was willing to hand the girl over." The man Chet said not sounding the least bit sad at how the situation was turning out. "I guess we will just have to take her."
Too many things happened at once for Bella to focus on a specific movement. Victoria crouched in front of her growling. The three vampires began to form a circle around them pushing them up to the wall of a building.Bella felt herself becoming overwhelmed with fear. As she realized they were outnumbered and she wouldn't be able to help Victoria ,Bella felt that fear turn into anger. She suddenly felt like a spike had pierced her skull and was thrust directly into her brain causing immense pain. Instead of the pain being debilitating,it just made her more angry and as the pain grew she focus on the original man who spoke. As she locked eyes with the man a bright white light clouded her vision and it felt like the anger exploded out of ever cell of her body.
Victoria froze when she saw the male vampire grab his head and scream. She wasn't sure exactly what happened and as she looked around for the cause of his pain she noticed the two other vampires trying to take advantage of her distraction and attack her. She crouched low preparing for the fight when all of a sudden both the vampires were thrown through the air as if they had hit an invisible barrier. Both groaned and when she looked closely she noticed their bodies were covered in cracks.
Not finding anymore of a threat coming she turned her focus on Bella and what she saw made her freeze. Bella's eyes were a metallic silver color that glowed in the moon light. Her body was stiff as she stood staring at the screaming man. Victoria didn't know exactly what happened but she knew she had to get Bella out of there and to do that she needed to deal with the three vampires first. She tried to make her way to them but the same thing keeping them out was keeping her in.
Walking back to Bella she raised her hands, cradled Bella's face and spoke softly trying to get her attention."Bella I need you to come back to me. You need to let down the barrier.I can't get through it. "
Instead of answering Bella's body went slack as her eyes closed. Victoria caught her easily and set her down turning to the now silent vampires. She had to be quick because Bella needed help. The problem was Victoria didn't exactly know what Bella did but she knew she couldn't leave any witnesses alive to talk about it. With that in mind she quickly ripped apart the two vampires whose bodies had been broken by the barrier. Then she turned to the man that had been screaming finding him unconscious. After she took care of him she gathered all the body parts and threw them in a dumpster. Luckily she kept a lighter on her for these exact purposes. You never knew when you would get tangled up with some vampire who didn't want to talk things out.
That done she went back to Bella and checked her pulse. It was steady and she was breathing regularly but was still passed out. She wondered if she should take Bella to the hospital but quickly decided against that. How would she even explain what happened? She decided she would just take her back to her apartment in Port Angeles and go from there. Cradling Bella tightly to her body she made her way down the dark alleyways and skirted around the large crowds to get to her car. After she secured Bella in the passenger seat she started the car and began praying to a god she stop believing in when the English first invaded her village, that Bella would be alright.