A/N: so this chapter has a lot but i needed to get a few things out before any more connections were made. As always, please leave a review (nice or critique) and enjoy guys!
Chapter 4
Isabella felt the presence of the Denali coven around her as she stared into the red eyes of the woman who wanted to kill her. She hadn't seen the woman in over 5 years but she constantly saw her in her nightmares. Esme had stepped right in front of Bella with a low growl rumbling through her chest.
Kate had placed herself in front of Bella next to Esme. Carlisle and Eleazar took spots next to the two vampire women. Tanya and Irina placed themselves on either side of Bella, placing their hands on her shoulders. Carmen and Laurent placed themselves on either side of the two sisters. All 8 vampires crouched and ready to pounce, growls coming from deep in their chests.
"Well. It seems you managed to find another group of protectors Swan." The silken voice sneered towards the human. "Too bad daddy dearest couldn't find his own group." Bella stiffened at the mention of her father and his death. No one had heard the story of how her father died except for the pack on LaPush.
"Don't talk about my father." Bella hissed trying to step forward but being stopped by the hands of the vampires on her sides. Victoria just laughed sharply at the human and stepped towards the group.
"Your father was a delicious snack. Almost made up for not getting to you." She growled arms placed on her hips. "I see I'm not going to get very far today but I will be back." The golden eyed vampires all watched as the red head ran off back into the forest. They all then turned to face human who shied under their stares.
Kate stepped forward and took Bella's hand as her sisters let the humans shoulders go. Carmen and Eleazar glanced at the Cullen couple and the Hispanics ran off to check the perimeter. Kate turned on her heel and dragged her mate into the house. Bella hadn't said anything since the human feeder had left. She looked like she was in shock.
The human followed her mate to the couch and curled up into the vampires lap when she was pulled down. Esme and Carlisle settled on the loveseat as the other two sisters found themselves on opposite sides of the couch. She laid her head against her mates chest and closed her eyes taking in a deep breath.
No one said a word, not wanting to bring up the past for Bella, but also confused as to what Victoria had meant. Carlisle cleared his throat which brought Bella out of her thoughts to look at him. "Bella… What- what did Victoria mean?" Bella bit her lip and looked down at her lap where Kate had intertwined their fingers together.
"You don't have to answer though." His wife was quick to say after noting how the girl became uncomfortable. Carlisle pressed his lips together in a thin line and nodded leaning back against the couch. The human looked up at the two Cullen parents and back down at her lap. She slipped so she was off Kates lap and sitting beside her with her legs drapped over her mates lap.
"No its okay… I suppose you should know…" The teacher said before taking a huge deep breath. "Charlie was… well im not sure how but Victoria killed him… I came home from school one day to find the front door wide open which as we know wasn't normal for Charlie. He normally closed and locked the door behind him so I was already wary going into the house to begin with.
"I walked into the house and peeked my head into the living room. I saw the pool of blood before I even saw his body… he was lying on his back. His eyes were wide open and his mouth… but then I looked down at his body and realized…" The human stopped and covered her mouth with her hand as some bile tried to make its way up. "He had been… de-decapitated…"
Bella whipped around and ran straight for the bathroom. She barely made it there when the bile that had been caught in her throat finally came out. Her hands gripped the toilet seat as she felt the chunks fall from her mouth and heard them splash into the water. She kept her eyes closed tightly until she finally felt the last of her bile come out, she then rocked back to lean against the wall.
She barely registered when Tanya had made her way into the bathroom and had started rubbing her back with soothing circles. Her eyes fluttered open when she felt a cloth wipe her mouth. "Thanks…" Tanya just nodded and stood allowing Kate to help pull her mate up from the floor. The vampire handed Bella a toothbrush and tooth paste. The human just raised her eyebrow in question to the things.
"Helps us feel more normal." The vampire muttered shrugging as the human squeezed the paste on to the brush and began brushing her teeth. When she had finished scrubbing the bile out of her mouth and wiped her mouth clean again she felt Kate wrap her arm around her waist and guide her back into the bathroom.
The human muttered an apology to the vampires still in the living room as Kate settled on the couch, her back against the arm, and pulled Bella to sit between her legs, Bella's back against the vampires front. "Its alright darling. Are you alright?" Esme asked as she squatted beside her daughter and pushed the curls away from Bella's face.
Bella just nodded in response as her eyes started to droop. She in fact was not feeling great but didn't want to be a bother to the vampires. She had just started to drop off into sleep when Esme placed her hand against the human with a slight frown. "Shes warm. To warm." She muttered to lowly for the human to be riled. She looked over at her husband.
Carlisle made his way over and placed his hand on her forehead. He muttered his agreement. "Shes got a fever… Kate could you bring her up to your guest room and make sure she has plenty of blankets?" The blonde nodded, her face swimming with concern as she stood pulling the human into her arms bridal style. She made her way up the stairs and settled Bella down on to her own bed. The vampire pulled the duvet over the human who just snuggled down into the pillow with a small shiver.
Kate went over to the box at the foot of the bed and pulled out a fuzzy blanket. She laid it over the human and sat on the bed beside her. Bella's head automatically made its way to Kates lap and buried her head into Kates thigh. She sighed and ran her fingers through the brown curls. Carlisle came up the stairs and into Kates room placing a cold cloth against the humans forehead.
"She should be fine Kate… it seems like its just a fever however when she wakes I would like to speak with her." Kate nodded and leaned her head back against her headboard and closed her eyes. Downstairs Irina and Esme were both pacing the living room, both to anxious to sit or stand still. Esme's head snapped up when her husband came back down the stairs. She floated over to her husband who pulled her into his arms and rubbed circles on her back. "Its just a fever my love."
The vampires all decided to go off and do their own things around the house until Bella woke. It was about 7 hours later when Bella finally opened her eyes. She looked around the room she was in, confused about the décor before realizing she was still at the Denali's. She turned her head to look at Kate. "Morning…" She muttered in a deep sleepy voice that Kate all but swooned at.
"Morning darling. How are you feeling?" Kate asked pushing the curls from Bella's face who just grimaced and buried her face back into Kates thigh. Kate chuckled and nodded playing with the brown curls on her lap. "That good hmm? Well love, Carlisle wishes to speak to you."
Bella just waved her hand half heartedly. "I'm fine… just a little tired and nauseous…" The human muttered. She then groaned when she heard Kates bedroom door open and the blonde pulled Bella up so she was leaning against Kates chest curled up. "Carlisle… honest… im fine…"
Carlisle only shook his head tsking at the human. "Bella, its not normal when someone throws up suddenly then falls asleep with a high fever. I would not call that fine." He chastised Bella who just pouted, sticking her bottom lip out and crossed her arms over her chest. Kate chuckled and kissed the brunettes temple.
"Bella love, Carlisle just wants to make sure youre okay. Please allow him to give you a check up and you be honest about your answers? For me?" She looked at Bella with a slight pout which caused the humans heart to skip a beat. Bella just sighed dramatically as she sat up a little more.
"FIiiiiiiiine." Bella dragged out as Carlisle did a quick check up. Bella for her part just stared at her mate with a slight pout on her face, answering when asked a question. Carlisle finished the exam and nodded as he sat at the foot of the bed.
"Alright Bella. You seem to be alright but just keep an eye on yourself okay? How about we eat something light? Perhaps some soup? I hear Carmen and Esme in the kitchen making you some vegetable soup." Bella nodded and stretched slightly.
"Vegetable soup sounds good…" She said leaning against the head board beside Kate. "But I do need to get home before the end of the day tomorrow- wait what time is it?" She asked looking over at Kate.
Kate checked her phone and chuckled lightly. "You mean by the end of today. Its 1 am on Sunday morning." Bella just frowned and searched her pockets for her phone. When she found it in her sweater pocket she pulled it out and noticed she had missed a call from Jake. She texted him back and slipped her phone back into her pocket.
Isabella leaned over her girlfriend and swiped the remote off the nightstand table next to Kate. She leaned her head against the blondes shoulder and turned the tv on. She was still scrolling through Netflix when Esme knocked on the door and pushed it open. She carried a tray with a bowl of soup and a small dinner roll on it. Carmen came up behind her with a glass of ginger ale and a glass of water.
Bella took in a deep breath and smiled softly. "It smells amazing. Thank you." The two vampires nodded and made their way back downstairs. Bella ate her soup feeling the hot liquid sooth her burning throat. When she finally decided on a movie and finished eating, she snuggled down into Kate. Before the end of the movie Kate felt her mate fall asleep against her, she shifted to allow the sleeping human to lay more comfortably against her.
It was around 9 in the morning when Irina noticed the whimpering from upstairs, she ran into her sisters room to see Kate shaking the brunettes shoulder as the human thrashed around on the bed. Her whimpers quickly turned into screams. She woke up screaming 'no!'. Her head snapped around at hearing her name.
"Bella are you okay?!" Kate asked tucking some hair behind her mates ear. "What happened?" Bella just shook her head and buried her face into Kates shoulder as she tried to calm her breathing down.
Once she had her breath back in control she looked up and noticed Irina sitting on the other side of her. "I… I haven't had that nightmare in a while… it… i… I cant get the image of dad out of head…" She muttered pulling the covers back over her face. Irina sighed and pulled the blanket back from Bella's face.
"Bells… maybe you should talk to someone?" Irina asked glancing up at Kate who nodded and hummed in response. "You went through something pretty traumatic and knowing you, you didn't talk to anyone about it." Bella just stared up at the golden eyed vampires above her. She pursed her lips and fixed her stare on to the ceiling.
"Okay but how can I talk about something that has to do with vampires with a human? They'll think im crazy." She pointed out arching an eyebrow. Her eyes shifted over to her mates face who had a deep concentrated look on it. She laughed out loud when she saw the look of pure excitement on the face that was quickly becoming her favourite.
"Eleazar! He has a psychology degree!" Bella rolled her eyes as she pushed herself to sit upright. She shivered slightly as the blanket fell off her lap and the cold air hit her bare skin. She looked down to realize she was wearing some pj shorts and an oversized tee shirt. Kate bit her lip with a small grin. "You were wearing skinny jeans… I figured you would be more comfortable in some of my pjs."
Bella looked up quirking her eyebrow at the vampire. "Did you change me?" She let out a breath of a laugh when Kate just bit her lip and nodded her head, her eyes darkening a couple of shades. Irina snapped her fingers in front of her sisters face and Kates eyes quickly regained their normal light gold colour as she shook her head. "I will take that as a yes."
Kate grumbled when Bella and Irina started laughing at her. When Bella finally regained her composure, she leaned over and kissed her mates cheek lightly. "Well my beautiful thoughtful mate. Could I have a sweater to pull on so I can go downstairs and have some coffee?" Kate just chuckled and nodded. She grabbed her favourite hoodie from Harvard Law and handed it to Bella who just raised her eyebrows. "Really? Of course you're a lawyer…" The human muttered as she pulled the hoodie over her head.
The three made their way down the stairs and found a hand holding a cup of coffee out in front of them. Bella's face lit up when the scent of the coffee hit her nose. She grabbed the cup and took a big gulp of the bean juice. "Bella! That coffee is hot!" Carmen reprimanded the human who just shrugged as she took another sip.
"I've had hotter." Bella smirked as she sat down on the arm chair. Kate rolled her eyes and made plopped down on the ground in front of the tv. She threw a controller at Irina and the two of them settled down to start a new game.
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NO IT WASN'T."
"YES IT WAS KATE. YOU CHEATED!"
Bella rolled her eyes as the two sisters continued to fight 3 hours later. She stood from her place in the armchair and found her clothes upstairs to change. When she came back down she noticed that the sisters had started up throwing things around in their anger. Bella ducked when a picture frame went flying past her head. She was quickly pulled into the kitchen by Tanya who just smiled apologetically.
"I'll take you home before they start throwing bi-" Before she could even finish that sentence, everyone in the kitchen flinched when they heard something heavy fly through the back window, smashing it open. "-g furniture. Lets go." Bella nodded and followed the coven leader out of the house and into the car. She saw a couch go flying over the car and watched wide eyed as it landed on top of another car.
She then heard Carmen growl from outside and was very glad when Tanya pulled out and made their way towards Bellas house. "Sorry about that. Those two get pretty intense when they start arguing." Bella just nodded.
"It's okay. The pack on LaPush was the same way. Except when they get mad they turn into giant dogs." Bella chuckled as Tanya just looked over confused. "They are shape shifters. They turn into wolves and are basically alive to protect their land against vampires." Tanya nodded as she pulled into the driveway of Bella's house.
"Thanks for dropping me off T." Tanya only nodded and hummed when the human slipped out of the car and unlocked the door to her house. She turned back to wave at the vampire as she pulled out of the house. Bella turned and closed the door behind her. She locked it flipped the light on in her hallway. Her breath caught in her throat when her eyes met red ones.
She didn't really notice the vampire behind her or the other ones that had creeped up behind the red head. "Time to say goodbye Isabella." The red eyed vampire took a step forward but was quickly stopped by a blonde Texan and a bulky southern boy. She was quickly dragged out the door and into the forest where Bella couldn't see anything else happen.
Isabella whipped around to notice a blonde bombshell and a short pixie who stared at her. "Bella!" Alice was quickly on the human pulling her into her arms. "When Esme told us about Victoria we knew it wasn't safe on your own! How could the Denali's leave you alone when they know you are being hunted by a vampire?"
Bella stepped back snapping out of her trance. "What? Like you guys did?!" Alice winced and stepped back to beside Rosalie. "You guys knew Victoria was after me. You knew she wanted to kill me because she thought your idiot brother killed her mate. You left me and my father alone, defenceless! My father was killed by her. You can NOT get angry at the Denali's for taking me away from a house where furniture was being thrown around to be safe.
"You guys can NOT stand there and act innocent. My life fell to pieces because I allowed myself to be open with you guys and look what it did. I ended up depressed, suicidal and fatherless." At this point Emmett and Jasper had returned and had stepped behind their mates. Bella glared at the four Cullens in front of her. "My life fell to shit because you left me alone… he made me feel useless… unloved… not wanted… he made me feel like none of you cared…"
Bella had to stop as she felt the sobs begin to wrack through her body. When she was scooped up into two strong arms no one was surprised. Not even Bella. What did shock everyone was who had pulled her into their arms.
Jasper sat down on the ground as he cradled the human in his arms allowing Bella to curl up and cry into his shoulder. He knew forcing calming waves on her would not be health so he allowed her to cry it out. He looked up at his siblings who all look shocked but just sat there with him watching their teacher cry.
It took about 30 minutes before Bella was able to calm herself down as she looked up at the vampire that was holding her. "Jasper…?" Her voice was barely above a breath but the blonde man looked down at her and smiled slightly.
"Bella… nothing we are ever going to say will fix what we did to you. But darlin', we need you to know that we will do everything to prove to you that we care. That we love you." Jasper's smile widened a bit as Bella nodded pulling back to stare at the siblings around her. Her eyes landed on Rosalie who she used to give nothing but ice cold stares. She noticed the walls had been brought down slightly. Enough to allow Bella in and to see how much she cared.
"Bella we really do need you back in our lives… I know you've heard it before but… we're broken…" Bella nodded as she wiped the tears from her face. "When we left… he left us… but you are still so much part of our family… even though you are older than Carlisle and us physically, you will always be our sister."
Bella couldn't do anything but nod as she looked around at her siblings once more. "Is it not weird that I'm going to be your teacher?" She asked with a slight shake in her voice. Her smile grew on her face when the vampires around her started laughing.
"No but… does your mate know she will be given the sibling speech by all four of us?" Bella just groaned into Jasper as she realized that despite being the oldest, she was still going to be the baby sister. "Also," Emmett finished. "Time for Bella Bear hugs!" The bear like vampire scooped the human up and spun her around causing her to shriek in laughter.
She stood on her own two feet and placed her hands on her hips. "Well since I will be your teacher and sibling. You guys need to leave so this human can work on my class plans and sleep." The Cullen children all nodded and raised their hands in a defensive stance.
"Fine. But tomorrow after school you aren't going to be alone anymore." Alice said as they all turned and made their way out the door causing Bella to groan as she flopped down on the couch.
"Goodbye alone time…" She muttered to no one in particular.
