A/N: My stories are now instantly updated on P atreon, under the same name, as soon as I finish the chapter. I will continue to update chapters here, but not nearly as frequently as P atreon. I really appreciate all the support I've gotten from this site, which is why I will not stop posting here, just slowing down.
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Bella told them everything. From deciding to move from Arizona to how she met the Cullens, what happened in Port Angeles that had led to the family finally coming clean and then to them finally leaving. It wasn't easy, there were tears.
But not as many tears as she had thought there would be.
Kate had started practically petting her hair in comfort and even a low sounding type purr emanated from the vampire, only helping Bella to calm even further and to be able to get through the whole conversation. Kate made little comments here and there as she talked, helping to distract Bella from the heartache she had felt about the whole thing. Bella hadn't thought she would be able to talk about the Cullen's without completely breaking down again, but Kate helped her do it.
Irina though, her eyes had darken. They definitely weren't black, but they weren't as bright as they once were. Her face, while always serious from what Bella had seen, had grown steely. Whatever she was thinking wasn't good. And while Irina looked to be getting more and more upset, Bella never once thought she would lose control of herself like the Cullen's may have. She didn't feel like she was in danger, just embarrassed about her lack of control of her own emotions.
"Well, that wasn't what we were expecting at all." Irina said after a few brief moments of silence once Bella was done talking.
"From what we heard, we had thought they were run off or something." Kate said as she snuggled further into the human.
"What did they tell you?" Bella asked, for once ashamed of how meek she sounded, like she was afraid of the answer. What did she have to be afraid of though? A worst case scenario had already taken place; vampires had already found out that she knew about their existence. What else could happen?
"A lot of bullshit." Kate mumbled, pulling Bella into her a little tighter.
"Well, when they first left, we were told it was because Edward believed some humans were starting to catch onto their ruse." Irina explained. "But after a day or so when Edward eventually joined them, he explained his mate had decided that being with him, a vampire, was too much for her to handle and demanded they all leave."
"See?" Kate asked the younger woman as she poked her side with her finger, "That's bullshit. I don't know of any newly mated vampire, much less one with a human mate, that would willing leave their mate."
"It seems we have more problems than we thought Kate." Irina said. "We may need to call Tanya sooner than we thought."
"Well, we still have questions." Kate said, her tone back to be serious. "Nothing was really cleared up and I don't think we should bother her until we actually have as much information as we can give her."
"That's fair." Irina said, then turned her attention back to the human. "Where does Laurent come into the picture?" She asked, obviously not missing that Bella had skipped that portion. "He had mentioned that he left his two coven mates behind to deal with the Cullen's; what exactly were they dealing with?"
Bella took a few seconds to gather her thoughts, sensing that neither vampire was going to like what she had to explain, but also somehow guessing that Kate especially was going to have issues with what she was going to reveal.
"Well, the Cullen's had taken me out to play baseball with them." Bella said.
"They never invite us to play." Kate mumbled like a petulant child.
"Because you cheat." Irina quickly responed.
"Well, um, not too long after we started playing, a group of nomads heard them playing and wondered over." Bella explained, shifting in her seat because she knew the conversation was going to take a turn for the worse once she explains what happened. "One of them, James, was a tracker."
Before Bella could continue, Kate hissed in anger and turned Bella's face to look at her. Kate's face looked both furious and concerned, like she already knew how the story was going to unfold.
"Is he alive?" Kate asked, surprising Bella, but also confirming what she had thought. Clearly Kate knew vampires a lot better than what the Cullen's seemed to.
"Alice killed him." Bella quickly answered, wanting to soothe the vampire next to her.
"Why did Edward not do it?" Irina asked, confusion clear in her tone.
"If I were in his place, I would have killed him myself." Kate growled. "Where was he that he didn't do take the pleasure himself?"
Bella's hand immediately gripped her wrist that would likely always carry the double scar from that day. She as a bit self-conscious about it.
"He um, well, he was sucking the venom out of my hand." Bella answered, her words coming out in a rush.
Kate immediately had both of Bella's hands in hers, then when Bella blinked, Kate was slowly revealing the scar. Kate hissed, causing Irina to move closer to get a better look, the hiss turned into a growl.
"Calm sister." Irina said in a soothing tone.
"This never should have happened." Kate snarled and while Bella knew a snarling vampire was a dangerous vampire, she didn't feel in danger at all. Bella actually felt comforted, like she was happy that someone was angry on her behalf. Edward hadn't even been angry; Rosalie had been more upset that he had. Edward had been sad that Bella had almost been sucked into their soulless lives. "That must have been so painful," Kate said as she gently cupped Bella's scared hand with both of hers, "He should have just let it run its', course. He's causing extra unnecessary pain this way."
"What happened to the third one, the woman?" Irina asked, her eyes still trained on the wound, contemplating why her 'cousins' would not allow the transformation to go through, to continue to be on the wrong side of the law. "They killed her, yes?" Irina asked, but then looked at the human and sudden shocked understanding passed through her face. "She lives." She said just barely loud enough for Bella to hear.
"Those idiots!" Kate yelled and as aggressive and upset she looked, her hands remained incredibly gentle as she continued to trace the wound with her fingers. "A mate will not rest while their mate's killer is loose. She will want retribution before she dies to join him." Kate said, her eyes slowly darkening. "You are not safe here on your own; you cannot stay here. Our plans have changed Irina." Kate said, sparing a glance at her sister.
Bella ripped her hands away from Kate, for just a second shocked that the blonde had actually let her. "Like hell I can't stay here." Bella angrily said, her previous anger returning at the woman's words. She didn't want a stranger making decisions for her. "My dad is here, I'm not leaving him here to fend for himself."
"She wouldn't care about him; her focus will be on you." Irina quickly said, apparently going along with her sisters plan.
Bella stood from her seat, upset about what she was hearing. She couldn't leave Charlie alone. It wouldn't be safe; Charlie could get killed and Bella couldn't live knowing she was the reason behind his unsolved murder if that were to happen.
"I can't leave Charlie here by himself. That's the whole reason James got to me in the first place." Bella explained as she paced in front of the two vampires. "I can't let that happen to him."
Kate stood from her seat, clearly wanting to move towards the human, but unsure of what to do and instead just worriedly looked at the pacing human. "She will follow you, you are her target." Kate said, though it sounded like she would rather say anything else.
"I'll call Tanya, but clearly there's a lot more information that we need." Irina said before she blurred to the opposite side of the room and pulled her phone to her ear, clearly having a conversation much too quietly for Bella to hear.
"Bella, she'll see that you aren't here and if we cut all contact with Charlie, she'll realize that what she does to him won't matter. If we lay a trail of both Irina and I taking you away, she'll instantly realize two unknown vampires have her target and will be more worried about getting you back than trying to go through your boyfriend to get to you." Kate said, sneering the title she had given Charlie, clearly not liking the man even though she hadn't met him.
Bella didn't hear the sneer in Kate's tone, too focused on figuring out if what she had said was true or not. "My dad is Police Chief though, once he knows that I'm missing, Charlie won't hesitate to look for me; everywhere. That includes the woods, where he could very likely run into Victoria." Bella said, looking at Kate as if trying to mentally make her understand. She couldn't abandon Charlie after everything she had put him; how bad of a daughter could she be.
"Charlie is your dad?" Kate asked, sounding stumped.
"Who did you think he was?" Bella asked, forgetting that Kate wasn't actually from the town and therefore didn't know everyone's business like everyone else there.
"Um, your brother?" Kate asked, almost like she was confused with her answer and therefore Bella didn't believe her answer, but she also didn't really care. It didn't matter. She was more concerned about his safety than who Kate thought he was.
"I have to keep Charlie safe, it isn't fair to drag him into something that he can't defend himself against." Bella reiterated.
"Your father will more than safe; the vampire will come after you." Kate said, emphasizing the word father as if to be sure that was the mans' title. "Can we change the topic? I'm not really a fan of this one." Kate asked with a frown.
"No." Bella said, nearly yelling. "I don't think you understand-" Whatever Bella was about to say was cut off as Irina gripped her arm, effectively silencing her.
"It doesn't matter, Kate isn't lying, she'll follow us, her ire is with you and Edward, not Charlie. Plus, Tanya agrees, you're coming with us and we need to leave sooner rather than later to take the woman away from here where she can do real harm."
"What if I don't want to leave?" Bella asked, finally realizing what exactly they had been arguing about.
The last time vampires had opted to take her away from Forks in what was meant to be a protective move when James had been hunting her, nothing very good came from it. Yes, James had been killed, but there were a lot of bad things that also came from it, several things that she was still dealing with. She didn't want to be taken again, not when she had finally started to feel better and had actually been able to leave her house.
Bella was starting to regret coming to the house, everything seemed to be falling out of her control. She had come to their house to try and take back control of her life, but she was failing miserably.
"You don't have a choice anymore." Irina said as she gripped Bella's arm tighter, causing Kate to hiss and zoom over to the pair. The other blonde laid her hand on her sister's hand and took it off the human, replacing it with her own. Bella wasn't sure if that was better or worse.
"I promise nothing bad will happen to you, we just need to take you with us to our coven for your protection." Kate explained, hoping that would calm the human's heart that was starting to beat faster and faster.
"You're really just going to kidnap me?" Bella asked, understanding that she really had no choice in the matter.
Quite frankly, if the vampires wanted to take her, there was literally nothing she could do about it. As she had been constantly reminded over the last year or so, vampires were stronger, faster and apparently smarter than her. She wouldn't stand a chance if she tried to fight them off or run away. She was realistically pessimistic about her situation; at least they were being nice.
"I wouldn't call it kidnapping," Kate quickly assured her, though it wasn't as assuring as the vampire likely hoped it would be, "Think of it as a vacation. We live in Alaska, isn't that like a top vacation place for sightseeing or something? It'll be fun!" She said with a wide grin, not letting go of the human's arm.
"Can't I go home and at least pack first?" Bella aske, already wondering if she would be able to just glue herself to her dad and get away with not getting kidnaped by these vampires.
"Anything you need or want we can buy for you, promise." Kate said with a grin, "We can run to Seattle with you and while Irina rents a car, we can buy you whatever you want."
"I'll go now, you won't be able to run full speed with her the whole way and you'll have to walk sooner rather than later since there are two of you. The sooner we can leave the better." Irina said with a serious tone that let Bella know there was no talking out of her situation. "I'm afraid that Victoria may have already found that we are here; there's no way she's in the area and doesn't know."
"Stay safe, we'll leave soon." Kate said, her tone taking on a more serious tone as well. The dire situation they were in with Victoria was taking on a more serious tone and let Bella know that perhaps these women were actually safe enough to trust her safety in. At least, they were safer to trust than Victoria was.
"Would um, would now be a good time to tell you that I've already seen Victoria when I was at the beach the other day?" Bella asked, wondering if that would change their timeline at all. If they were willing to protect her against Victoria, then Bella could at least give them all the information they needed. "Or that Laurent had actually followed me to meadow and was about to kill before the wolves got to him?" Bella asked, somewhat shrinking in on herself at the looks she was getting from both vampires.
Kate gripped the humans shoulders and turned her so they were facing each other. "Laurent attacked you?" Kate asked in a very serious tone that had Bella assuming there was more to her answer, more meaning to these vampires, than she was aware of.
"Yes. He said that he was making sure that I wasn't with the Cullen's, that Victoria had planned a painful death for me, but he was going to make my death quick and that Victoria wouldn't mind in the long run as long as I was dead."
Kate's eyes darkened and both vampires hissed in anger or annoyance, Bella wasn't sure. It was clear though, that neither one of them were happy.
"That bastard." Irina hissed.
"Told you he was lying." Kate said with a sneer, "That man was an asshole that couldn't tell the truth to save his life."
"At least he's dead." Irina said with a defeated sigh. "I guess there's no living that down anytime soon." She muttered, just barely loud enough for Bella to hear. "I'll go now, you two should leave soon in case she is around here still."
Before Bella could respond, Irina was gone. If they were as concerned as they appeared to be, then the situation was a lot more dire than Bella had thought. They seemed very concerned about Victoria, even though Bella hadn't thought she was much of a threat anymore; at least not with the shifters around.
"We'll go now as well." Kate said, her tone all serious. "We need to get there sooner rather than later in case the vampire decides to attack while we're running. While I'm confident in my ability to defend you, I don't want to take any unnecessary risks." Kate explained.
"What will happen once we're in Alaska?" Bella ventured to ask. She understood they were racing against the clock, but at the same time, while she was being forcibly taken from her home, she wanted as much information as she could get.
"We'll talk more with Tanya and see what she wants to do." Kate said before she quickly lifted Bella bridal style, causing the human to blush. "But one thing for sure, we'll talk about how to kill this vampire and make sure all loose ends from the Cullen's are taken care of. Beyond that, we'll talk more when we're home."
Without giving Bella a chance to respond, Kate took off running. Kate ran incredibly fast, too fast for Bella to keep track of her surroundings, but slow enough that she didn't feel nauseas. It was very different than when she was carried by her ex. The trip was nearly relaxing and if Bella wasn't careful, she was worried she may actually fall asleep. So, to avoid sleep, Bella did her best to focus on the vampire holding her, taking in the seemingly warm, fur lined coat the woman was wearing. Hopefully the trip wouldn't be as long as it was when driving.