Note: Hi all, a quick note before the long anticipated chapter. I have multiple works in progress for multiple fandoms and I've had many of you ask about if I'll be continuing each fic. I'd like to reassure you that I very much will continue each of my unfinished stories. I just have so many to do and I am still not in an ideal housing situation.
For those who worried I'd abandoned my fic, I am sorry it took so long but I won't abandon any of my works. Thank you so much for all your patience, love and encouragement. You are all gems.
All my love - Nell xoxo
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"What is that Zafrina? Bella whispered, keeping her voice as quiet as she could, knowing that her vampire would hear her regardless. She pointed in the direction of the nearby river where she had spotted a pink tinged fin break the surface of the murky water. She had been asking that question a lot today, she thought quietly to herself as she waited for the vampire to respond.
"That is the Amazonian River dolphin my mate, they're quite rare but easy to spot when you know where to look" Zafrina replied as she pulled Bella further into her and secured her arms around her human's waist. They were up in the tree top, Bella having let Zafrina carry her up here when the ancient had told her that her favourite part of living in the Amazon was the view from the tallest trees. The human couldn't help but agree, they had spent an unknown amount of time simply gazing at the miles upon miles of luscious greens, blue's and Amber's that made up the Amazonian forest. The bright sun glittering for miles, bouncing off the tree tops and river surfaces.
It had filled her heart with a sense of calm unlike anything she had ever seen before and Isabella knew she could quite happily stay here forever, her mates arms wrapped around her, the scent of the forest intermingling with her vampires. It was a little piece of perfection. Their very own piece of perfection she had decided.
Being wrapped so securely in her vampire's presence had also done wonders to help her forget her own mortality. She stood out on the tree branch with little regard to her own mortality. She felt unnaturally comfortable, confident that Zafrina would never let her fall. That the vampire would protect her from everything, including herself. With them the feeling had suffocated her, his constant hovering had made her feel inferior. But she felt none of that with her vampire who had already proven how much she respected Bella and her autonomy.
Zafrina had taken great pleasure in showing her the forest, pointing out all the rare and exotic creatures that had made this place home. It was gorgeous and if it weren't for her Father she knew she would have had no issues with staying here forever, not bothering to return to Forks. It would be so easy, she knew. She would be happy and nothing would come between her and her mate. Something she worried about, she knew going home would mean they would face difficulties.
The first being her mate's clear lack of understanding when it came to human concepts, she didn't know how Zafrina or her sisters would ever be able to blend in. They were very clearly different from any one she had ever met and she wasn't just talking about their beauty. The Vampires were all notoriously beautiful, the epitome of perfection to the eyes of a human.
Everything about them was designed to draw you in, he had made that clear.
It was the way her mate and her mates sisters held themselves that worried her. Each and every one of Zafrina's movements were graceful but precise and confident. She held herself with an aura of power and experience that was wholly unnatural to humans. A confidence that screamed years of experience. To Bella it made Zafrina seem downright delectable but to others?
To others she feared it would scream danger.
"What are you thinking so hard about Isabella?" Zafrina purred, soft lips ghosting across the shell of her ear, causing a shiver to crawl down the brunette's spine pleasantly.
"You, Senna, Kachiri" she replied automatically, leaning her weight backwards, pressing her back firmly against the vampire's front. If Bella had turned around in that moment she would have seen the way her mate's eyes darkened slightly at the firmer contact with her mate but she did feel and hear her mate begin to purr. A sound she wished to hear always.
"What about us?" Zafrina murmured back. Resting her chin against the humans cheek.
"It's just, I'm not sure how we are going to do this" she began, choosing honesty. She wanted this to be everything her relationship with Edward wasn't and she knew that to achieve that she probably better start opening up more. Communicating her thoughts and questions. Zafrina so far had been forthcoming in everything. She had answered Bella's every question and done nothing but encourage her to speak her mind.
"I appreciate you all being willing to come to Forks with me but how will it work? Will you be able to fit in…" she didn't get a chance to finish voicing her thoughts before a throaty chuckle cut her off. The sound was melodic in her ears as her vampire shook in silent laughter behind her.
"Oh Isabella I wouldn't worry all that much, my sister's and I will be fine" the vampire dismissed eventually once she had curbed her own amusement to an acceptable level. Bella bristled. Not at all pleased by her mate's apparent dismissal of her very legit concerns.
"What does that even mean?" She demanded. Pushing herself away from the vampire and turning around. Her actions too abrupt for her naturally clumsy nature had her losing her balance. Her stomach lurching as her feet slipped off the branch beneath her. Her heart leapt to her throat in fear.
Though she didn't get a chance to react to her mistake as she found herself back in her vampire's arms quicker than she had left them as her mate caught her about the waist. Hoisting her up and placing her back against the tree trunk on the thickest part of the branch. Zafrina stood in front of her now, an amused if somewhat frantic expression on her face.
"Do not worry Isabella, you will see. My sisters and I have been around for many a year, we will adapt just fine. Now deep breaths, your heart sounds like it is running a very long race." The vampire replied, running a hand through Bella's hair in a gesture that soothed the still slightly fearful human. Her mind still not quite at ease after her near miss of a fall.
Bella closed her eyes, subconsciously pulling her mate against her as she took a deep breath. Filling her lungs with the scent of pine, laced with a hint of vanilla and something that she could only describe as earth. Like the fresh morning dew and the forests she lived in. Her mate's scent worked wonders to calm her racing heart as she felt herself relax against the taller woman. Her head coming to rest on the vampire's chest.
"Good girl, Isabella" the vampire grinned, pleased by her mate's compliance. As she let her pheromones blanket the girl in her arms. Purring quietly as she enjoyed the quiet moment, basking in the sounds of the forest and the warmth of her mate pressed against her.
~~~~~
Sometime later Bella and Zafrina strolled hand in hand back into the campsite the coven had made their own. Zafrina looking more content than her coven had ever seen her, Bella a little sweat faced but looking much happier than she had been before Zafrina had whisked her off into the forest.
"Are you hungry?" Senna called as Bella caught sight of her. The tall brown haired vampire stood by the lit fire pit they had built for her. Stirring something in what looked like a pot. The human frowned, certain that the vampire's hadn't had anything remotely similar to proper pots just that morning. Her food usually served on over large leaves that the vampire's had acquired.
"Yeah thank you Senna" she replied, looking for Kachiri as she came to stand beside her mate's sister.
"She has gone to hunt" Senna answered in reply to Bella's unasked question.
The teen nodded, not sure how she felt about that. She didn't really want to think about there hunting preferences right now. They would have to have the discussion she was sure but she didn't think she was ready for that. Let alone thinking about it right before she ate.
"I made a stew, with vegetables. Kachiri and I went into the nearby town and got a few bits. We thought you would appreciate the change from basic meats" Senna informed her, zipping away and back. A ceramic bowl appearing in her hands. If Bella didn't have the knowledge she did about vampire's she would have guessed the older woman had simply conjured the bowl.
Taking her meal with a murmured thanks, the brunette moved over to sit below the tree she had woken up under. A small part of her had apparently claimed this spot for her own and none of the vampire's cared to object.
She was sure they were just pleased she had been making the clearing her home.
She hummed quietly when the first mouthful hit her tongue. Her tastebuds rejoicing the different but familiar flavours she had missed since she entered the forest with the nature volunteers. Though the days had passed quickly, filled with busy work and laughter.
It had been exactly what she needed to clear her mind and start the process of healing her heart. She had lost something when the Cullen's had left her. She had felt like she was drowning. Her heart felt fractured and her mind not far from the same.
Now she felt at peace. Don't get her wrong if she though of them Individually the pain was still very much present. Especially thinking of him. But she couldn't say now why she had let herself falk apart so cometely at their departure. As if she wasn't even an entity without them. It felt bizarre to think about it now. How her one and only break up, despite being with a supernatural being, had felt so shattering.
Her peers had gone through loads and still managed to function with little difficulty. Moving on and healing themselves in the usual ways a teenager was tend to do. She however had fractured and remained that way. Stagnant.
Charlie's please had felt like someone had dumped ice water on her head, making her inability to rationalise what had happened startlingly clear.
Why had it taken her seeing her father so broken for her to snap out of that darkness?
"Zafrina?" She asked, looking up at her mate who had settled not far in front of her, a book in hand. Zafrina glanced up, offering her a tender smile as she shut her book without any hesitance. Giving the brunette her undevided attention.
"You know I knew what you were before I knew you, but I don't fully understand a few things and I was wondering if you could answer some questions?" She bit the bullet, deciding that maybe there was a supernatural reason to the way she had behaved rather than it being her. She had always been a rationale person. She had been forced in to the role of adult as far back as she could remember thanks to her hairbrained mother. She had kept calm and healed from so much, except breaking up with her boyfriend.
It didn't make any sense.
"Of course, what would you like to know" Zafrina replied, her facial expression open and eager, her tone curious.
"Well the vampire's I knew, I got close to them before they left, I loved them" she admitted softly, glancing down at her lap as she grasped her fingers together. Stopping herself from picking at the skin on her finger nails. A nervous habit she was working diligently on stamping out.
"When they left, I struggled, I don't know how to explain it but I felt like I couldn't function. I felt broken, hollow. I lost friends, I stopped sleeping and eating. My grades fell and it got so bad my father broke down in front of me. Pleading for me to snap out of whatever held me in that dark place" she took a breath her eyes a little teary as she recalled just how devastated her father had looked that night as he clutched her tightly, pleading and beginning for his daughter to come back, to get better.
"I was a shell of myself but that night it was as if someone snapped their fingers and I suddenly came out of a long held trance. I couldn't understand my reaction. I still don't she finished, swiping at a lone tear as it tracked down her sun kissed cheeks.
She raised her head at the sound of her mate growling, her breath catching in her throat in alarm when she saw the jet black eyes staring back at her, fury seamingly burning through every dead nerve in the vampire's body. Zafrina's eyes pinned her to the spot she sat as the woman's growl grew in pitch.
It was loud, so loud it took her a moment to realise that Zafrina wasn't the only one growling angrily. Senna and Kachiri back from her hunt had moved closer. Twin looks of anger shinning in jet black eyes. Their growls adding to Bella's mates.
"I think it's time you told us everything Isabella"