Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or anything associated with the series.
A/N: I don't re-read what I write after I've written it. I just use spell check and then call it a day. So there are probably lots of mistakes; I apologize in advance for them.
This is the last chapter I will post on this site for this story until it is finished; I have no idea how long that will be, more than likely more than a few months. The rest will be put on P atreon as I finish them. I already have the 3rd chapter posted there. For everyone that goes there to support me, I really appreciate it, it will allow me to be able to write a whole lot more. I'm really looking forward to being able to write so much more than I ever have before.
Bella was pulled into the house that she had been in so many times that it had started to feel like her own home. But walking, or being pulled, into it now, it felt like a strangers' house. Everything was gone; all the random nick-knacks that had been on the walls or random alcoves were all gone. The furniture was much more sparse and Bella could even see large white sheets that had apparently not so long ago been hung over the furniture to protect it from the dust; clearly the Cullen's weren't planning on coming back anytime soon.
It felt like Bella had been stabbed in the heart as she realized the Cullen's had spent more time, were more concerned about their furniture that they could very easily buy replacements for, than they were with just saying goodbye to the girl they had supposedly adopted into their family.
"Oh, don't cry." The woman said as she pushed Bella into the former living room where Bella could picture Emmett playing one of his games and Rosalie sitting behind him reading one of her magazines, "I promise we don't mean you any harm."
In the living room there was one other blonde woman that looked incredibly similar to the blonde that was still holding onto Bella's hand.
"You cannot kidnap anyone Kate." The woman said in a dull tone, like this Kate woman had attempted to kidnap people in the past. "Tanya won't be happy." The blonde woman as she looked outside the giant glass window, like she was also stuck in the past.
"Irina, look." Kate said, nearly yelling in the clear excitement. "I found this Bella woman and found my mate all at the same time; isn't this great?" She asked, causing Bella to feel another punch to in her gut was delivered.
This couldn't be happening. Bella saw her past relationship with Edward flash in her mind, all the times she had to push Edward to accept her, to tell her about him and his family. She could see all the times Edward had warned her that he wasn't good and how Bella argued that it didn't matter, that Edward truly was a good person.
Bella couldn't go through that again. Edward had already made it very clear that vampire's mate clearly didn't hold much importance, that they could come and go and could clearly pick and choose their mates at will. Edward had claimed her to be as much and he had left so easily; he had practically told her the entire time they were together that she wasn't good enough for him and that they shouldn't be together.
Bella felt her anger, anger that she had never felt since losing her supposed beloved soul mate, surge through her entire body. Bella wasn't about to let herself go through that again. This was the second vampire that was making that claim and Bella wanted nothing to do with it. She had no idea what the real plan this vampire had was, but she knew for sure she wanted nothing to do with it.
Bella angrily yanked her hand away from the blonde woman, surprised that the vampire actually let her go.
"Don't touch me." Bella said, unsure of what she should, or even could, do now that the vampire clearly had some sort of interest in her. They obviously both knew who she was and who she used to be around, but she wasn't sure what that meant for her.
"Oh um, sorry." Kate said with an apologetic smile, like she didn't realize Bella was mad at her. "I guess it is a bit odd that we know you but you don't know us." She said while scratching the back of her head.
"Or the fact that Edward had told us not too long ago that he was struggling to be around a girl named Bella as her scent called to him." Irina said, turning her focus to both of us. "By the time he left us, he had decided that she was his mate; regardless of what we told him." She said as she cocked her head to the side, as if she was judging Bella and the affect she had the vampires around her. "And then there was the nomad that was sent to us, Laurent. He was fixated on a human from Washington as well; he was trying to find access to her, for a friend. Or so he said." Irina said, her eyes darkening the more she spoke about Laurent.
That's right, Bella had forgotten, they had said the French vampire to their cousins, to them. Had they become friends and were upset that Bella had been the cause for one of them to die? Bella felt her anger leave her and she realized that she may actually be in trouble; they may be 'cousins' of the Cullen's, but that didn't necessarily mean they were as nice as the Cullen's were when it came to humans. As mad as Bella was, these vampires technically hadn't done anything to her; regardless of Kate's stupid claim.
"Oh, that's right." Kate said, like she had just remembered something important, the playfulness in her tone completely gone. Both vampires turned their gazes to Bella, causing the human to fidget with such intense stares on her. "As much as I am completely ecstatic that I've finally found you, we did come here for a reason." Kate explained, "But at least now we don't have to worry about killing you since you obviously know we're vampires." Kate said in false cheerfulness, she was talking like Bella knew the exact reasons they were.
"Kate," Irina said with an exasperated sigh, "There are a lot of missing holes right now and the last thing this human needs to hear is that we had originally planned to kill her. You probably shouldn't have told her in the first place." Irina said with a fond smile directed at her friend.
"Oh, yeah, you should definitely forget I said that since that's not going to happen ever." Kate said with a wide eyed look, like she was actually worried about Bella's reaction.
Bella though, she was used to vampires threatening her life. Her own boyfriend had done so on a near daily basis; constantly reminding her that he was just moments away from ending her life. Bella didn't even want to think about James; she was still having nightmares about that disaster. Having one more vampire threaten her life wasn't really out of the norm for her.
"Way to be sensitive Kate." Irina said with a roll of her eyes, breaking Kate's serious persona and making the other blonde give Bella a slightly panicked look, but before she could say anything, Irina kept talking. "We have some questions for you Bella and you need to answer them." Irina said with a firm tone.
Bella's eyes hardened at Irina's tone, she was beyond tired of having vampires boss her around, claiming they knew what was best for her. Although, she didn't want to admit it, it made sense that they had questions for her as she was a human that knew about their world. It only made sense that they would want to know what happened and why the Cullen's weren't there anymore.
"I'll answer only if you answer my questions." Bella retorted, not sure yet of what questions she would have but she would definitely make up some questions if they actually agreed to it.
Irina rolled her eyes, either in exasperation or annoyance, Bella couldn't tell. But it didn't matter since it was Kate that responded.
"Sure, definitely, not a problem." She said and then quickly, too fast for Bella to see, sat on one of the couches left behind and pat the spot next to her. "Come here and we can talk." She said with a wide smile.
"Smooth." Irina muttered, clearly intending Bella to hear it and therefore Bella couldn't stop the smirk if she tried.
Irina moved to stand across from Kate, probably expecting Bella to sit next to the easily excitable blonde, but I didn't want to do that. These were strangers, and I was going to do my best to not fall into the same trap I had with the Cullen's.
As Bella walked towards one of two arm chairs, both still covered in sheets, she realized that these two vampires showing up were fast-forwarding her previously believed non-existent ability to get over the Cullen's leaving her behind. Charlie would be proud.
She ripped the sheet off the chair, ignoring the fact that her arms got tangled in the sheet as she threw it to the side and she definitely ignored the snort of amusement from Irina and the chuckle from Kate.
At least the bout of clumsiness was the trick to loosen Irina up, her tone was a lot calmer and not near as threatening as from before.
"We know the Cullen's left, but we do not know why." Irina said and Bella couldn't stop the flinch from hearing the name out loud. It was one thing to think the name, but to hear it, especially in their home, it was a stark reminder that they had left her behind.
Bella had to look away at that question; she didn't think they were going to start with the big question right off the bat. She had hoped they would ask about Laurent before the Cullen's.
"Um, he said," Bella started, but felt her throat start to close from all the emotions. Apparently she wasn't as over them as she thought she was starting to become if she was about to become a bumbling, crying mess again.
Kate zoomed over to sit practically on top of Bella as soon as she noticed the humans' eyes tear up.
"Hey, you don't have to tell us anything if you don't want to." Kate said as she encircled Bella's waist with one arm and wiped at a tear that wasn't quite falling.
The shock alone from suddenly having a vampire in her lap seemed to pull Bella from her grief. Never once did she think it had anything to do with the proximity of the blonde vampire.
"Yes she does Kate." Irina said, the sterness right back in her tone. "That's the whole reason for us being here." She said with a hint of exasperation.
"Well, why don't you ask a question first Bella?" Kate asked, looking at Bella imploringly.
"Sure, as long as we still get our answers, it doesn't really matter who talks first." Irina answered, clearly wanting to move things along.
Bella nodded, clearing her throat and nervously moving around, trying to get more comfortable with a vampire that had already made herself comfortable in her lap. Bella hadn't even thought to ask the vampire to move away and back to her own seat, she just wanted to sit more comfortably. The small smile Irina was giving the couple should have sent warning bells to Bella's head, but she didn't register anything except she was now up for asking a question.
"Ask anything you want, we don't mind." Kate urged, happy that she was sitting so close to her human.
"Well, there's really only one question I have right now." Bella said after a few seconds of thinking of if she wanted to ask about what they knew about Laurent and where he was. But, the fact of the matter was, she really only had one question for these two blonde women that had dragged her into the house she found she may not be missing as much as she initially thought. "Who exactly are you?"
Kate immediately let out a loud laugh, amused that for as long as Bella had been with them, neither she nor her sister had thought to actually do any sort of introductions. Irina couldn't even help but chuckle a little at their lack of manners. Tanya would have been annoyed with them if she knew they were too caught up with Kate's new human and Irina's insistence on finding the truth. Irina took a deep breathe to completely calm herself down; she was better than her cousins and so much older, she shouldn't let her emotions control her so easily.
"Forgive our manners." Irina said with a small smile. "My name is Irina and this is Kate." Irina said, even though she was sure the human had already figured out who was who just from them talking. "We are part of the Denali coven from Alaska; as you already know, we consider the Cullen's to be our distant cousins because of our similar diets."
"And that's the only reason." Kate added under her breathe, unable to keep quiet about her distaste about the Olympic coven quiet.
"Do you not get along?" Bella immediately asked, her interest peaked.
"Nuh, uh, it's our turn." Irina said, making Kate snap her mouth shut from wanting to answer Bella right away; Irina expected Kate to want to do that, so was quick to take control of the conversation or Kate would never get their answers. "Now, why did the Cullen's left?" Irina asked, her tone letting Bella know that she expected an answer this time.
Well, she knew it was going to happen when she opened the door, she just had to get it over with as quickly as possible and hopefully not break down like she had in the past when she tried to explain to anyone that asked what had happened.