Author's Note: Okay, good news is, clearly I managed to finish another chapter of something. Bad news is, I'm still struggling to write. Hopefully I'll break out of it soon, but if I don't, just know that I'm not giving up on anything. I will eventually update everything, no matter how long that takes.

Chapter 2

Bella left early that morning, walking as far as she could to the airport, then hitching rides on various trucks by hanging on to the back of the vehicle. She already knew from experience that no taxi would willingly stop for her.

It took some time, but Bella still arrived two hours before the flight was scheduled to take off, and she was feeling nervously proud of herself, but also incredibly frazzled. She had managed to find an old ID, but she was still doubtful that she'd ever make it past security.

She tried to appear as normal as possible, flying under the radar, as Bella had exchanged her papers for a ticket at one of the self servicing machines. As she started walking towards security, to her amazement, she saw Heidi. She got to watch the gorgeous woman's eyes land on her and light up, and Heidi even bounced in excitement.

It felt weird to get that kind of reaction from another person, but it also felt good. Really, really good. To the point that Bella even started fantasizing that Heidi could be her friend.

"This way," Heidi said, grabbing Bella's hand without a thought, once again surprising the brunette. Instead of dragging her to security, Heidi dragged her to a side area where, after showing her ID to a security guard, she was let right through without so much as a simple pat down.

Heidi tried to drag Bella past along with her, but the security guard immediately glared at Bella and stopped her, a look incredibly close to hatred and disgusted look on his features.

"Back of the line, and be prepared to be searched. Thoroughly," the man grunted.

Heidi quickly came back and put a hand on the man's chest. "She's with me," she said, giving him a seductively sweet smile. With the hand that wasn't on the man's chest, Heidi reached out to grab Bella's hand and pull her through. The man only nodded, looking lust struck, and didn't once ask for Bella's ID or even glance at her.

"How did you do that?" Bella couldn't help but ask in wonder, but Heidi only laughed and started tugging on Bella's hand, convincing her to keep walking.

They found their gate quickly enough, Heidi constantly smiling and laughing at Bella's wide eyed wonder towards everything. When Heidi sat Bella next to the windows so she could watch the airplanes take off and land, it looked like Bella's eyes were about to pop out of her head.

It was only when Heidi bought Bella lunch and watched Bella devour it greedily, then thank Heidi in a very, very grateful way that Heidi started to feel guilty. Not just guilty, but like she had made a mistake to pick this girl out of all of those people in New York City, simply because of how delicious she smelled. She felt so horrible about it that she wanted to make Bella leave, to save her. Sadly, she knew not just Heidi, but Bella too would pay the price. It would be a fruitless venture.

Heidi had promised an incredibly delicious smelling human, and she couldn't go back on her word.

That being said, Heidi had no choice but to shove her feelings aside as she continued to chat with the adorably awkward brunette as they waited to be called for boarding. The call was made, with their group being called first, and Bella wouldn't stop fidgeting and looking around nervously as she followed closely behind Heidi. It was amazing to Heidi witnessing how people would stiffen and scowl at Bella without even meeting the girl's eyes, and she felt a strange desire to at the very least break the bones of those who made Bella so uncomfortable. Instead, she made sure to smile, distracting every human around so that Bella could board easier.

Once seated, with Heidi right next to Bella of course, Bella was beyond amusing. She just seemed so amazed by everything going on around her, especially since she got a window seat. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she watched the people below walk about doing their jobs, and then widened further when they took off and finally made it into the sky. It was only when Bella realized that Heidi was watching that the human looked away, slouched, and tried to compose herself.

"You don't need to do that. I think it's cute," Heidi tried to assure Bella.

However, Heidi's assurance wasn't to much affect, as Bella didn't brighten back up, only risking the occasional glance out the window. And this was only after she muttered, "I'm not cute."

They fell into a silence after that, although it still felt strangely comfortable to both Heidi and Bella. When the food cart came around, the attendant asked Heidi what she wanted to eat and drink. With a blinding smile that hid her annoyance, Heidi ordered everything on the menu to eat, as well as some coke and sprite. The attendant didn't even ask Heidi if she was sure or mention that she was only allowed one choice. Instead, everything was delivered as quickly as possible, the attendant all but tripping over herself to please the gorgeous woman.

The second the food was placed on Heidi's tray, Bella's mouth started to water, but she didn't even consider asking the attendant for any food for herself, knowing the hateful response she would receive. However, Bella was in for a nice surprise when Heidi then pushed all of the food and drinks over to her, making it clear that she expected Bella to consume it.

"Are you sure?" Bella breathed, turning from the food to Heidi, the expression in the brunette's dual-colored eyes breaking Heidi's heart.

"Positive. I get nauseous if I eat or drink anything when I fly," Heidi lied, giving Bella a reassuring smile.

Bella glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then hesitated once more with a glance at Heidi. Heidi only had to nod, and Bella dug in like she was starved. With each plate of food she finished, Heidi took it and moved it onto her own tray so people would think it was her who ate it. She didn't want Bella to get yelled at for eating, after all.

It wasn't long before Bella had finished eating and drinking everything, and then reverted to staring down at her empty tray, a dark blush on her face that usually would have tested Heidi's control had she not found herself growing attached to the brunette. After a brief silence, Bella mumbled, "Thanks."

"No, please don't," Heidi replied, her voice just as soft as Bella's. She reached out to touch Bella's hand and the girl flinched, but just as quickly held still and allowed herself to be touched. Her heartbeat sped up only for a second before calming down.

With a sick feeling in her gut, Heidi couldn't help but stroke Bella's hand in a comforting gesture. It didn't take much for the vampire to realize that it wasn't her own predatory nature that Bella was reacting to; instead, it was Bella's instinctive reaction to any touch, as all the girl had known that came with human contact was abuse.

Once again, Heidi wanted to take Bella back to America and let the girl go, let her live and hopefully find a good life, but Heidi couldn't. It wasn't just her fear of betraying her queens that scared her, but something else. Something that told Heidi that Bella couldn't live a happy life no matter where she went. Unless, perhaps, if Bella were to stay with Heidi.

The rest of the plane ride was spent in silence, but it wasn't awkward or heavy. In fact, it was a comfortable silence, as if the two had known each other for years and not days.

Eventually, Bella fell asleep, and Heidi made sure that no one disturbed her. For some strange reason, many people seemed to try to wake Bella up just to possibly ruin the girl's day a little more. It was incredibly strange, and once again, Heidi wondered what it was about the dual eyed brunette that made all the other humans hate her so much.

It wasn't long before the plane landed, and it was Heidi who woke the human up. The dazed, confused look in Bella's eyes was just plain adorable, and made Heidi want to giggle and tease her. But once again, Heidi remembered how she was going to betray the girl, and her mood instantly sobered.

"Come on, Bella. We're here," Heidi said as she stood up and held out her hand. After a second of hesitation, Bella laid her hand in Heidi's, unable to keep the nervous hopefulness from her eyes. It made Heidi want to pull the girl into her body and promise her everything was going to be alright.

But it wasn't going to be. Because of Heidi's own stupidity, she was going to lead this girl right to her death.

They soon made it off the plane, neither needing to go to the baggage claim as neither of them had brought more than a carry on. Bella saw that as a huge relief; the more time she spent around people, the worse things tended to get for her.

"Come on, Bella," Heidi said, leading her out of the airport and into the night, still gripping Bella's hand. "My car is around here somewhere. I'll drive you to the hotel."

Bella nodded silently, as if the young woman could somehow see Bella's answer without even looking her way. She also couldn't help but frown, noticing Heidi's nervous energy. It didn't take much wondering for Bella's heart to sink.

Could Heidi have already started to hate her? Perhaps she was wishing that she had never brought Bella along on the trip in the first place.

Little did Bella know how close, yet how far her thoughts were from the truth. Heidi was certainly regretting her decision of bringing Bella, but not for the reasons Bella believed. She simply didn't want to deliver the girl to her death. Heidi wanted Bella happy and alive. But Bella smelled too good; Heidi doubted that her queens would let the girl live, let alone turn her.

Heidi took a long time to find her car, stalling as much as she could as she tried to come up with a plan. What she was supposed to do was bring Bella to her "hotel" which, in other words, was the Volturi castle. There, she would be presented to the queens as a gift and basically slaughtered.

But what if Heidi were to take Bella to an actual hotel instead? Have the girl hang out away from Volterra while Heidi hunted for another amazingly smelling human to deliver instead? Heidi knew that all Sulpicia would have to do was touch Heidi to know she hadn't brought the right human, but if the human she did bring smelled good enough, perhaps the queens would simply deliver a lighter punishment to Heidi. Even better, maybe the queens would also let Bella go.

Desperate to save the girl she was already getting abnormally attached to, her plan formed in her mind. Bella was never even going to set foot in Volterra.

"Heidi?" Bella's soft, sweet voice jolted the vampire from her thoughts, and Heidi realized that while they had made it to her car, both she and Bella were standing outside of it, neither moving. In fact, Bella looked ready to bolt at any moment, like she knew she had done something wrong and was prepared to run instead of face whatever she had done head on. "You've already done enough for me. If you don't want to deal with me anymore, I can just head out on my own from here."

"What? No!" Heidi exclaimed, completely shocked. Not just by the thought that Bella would be wandering around by herself, making her a prime target for any vampire who got a whiff of Bella's sweet scent, but because she couldn't believe how easily the girl believed she could be hated. She desperately grabbed Bella's hands, gazing earnestly into Bella's eyes. "I want you to stay with me, Bella."

"But ever since we got off the plane, you've been acting weird," Bella said as she looked away, unable to hold Heidi's gaze. She couldn't help it; a part of her just expected to see pure hatred suddenly start to form in Heidi's red eyes. It had happened too many times before, and while it hurt seeing the hatred from her parents, for some reason, Bella could already tell it would hurt so much more coming from Heidi.

"No-well, yes, I guess I have been acting weird. But not for the reasons you think. It's just...there's been a change of plans." Seeing the confusion in Bella's eyes, Heidi felt the need to elaborate. "We're no longer going to Volterra."

"Oh, really?" a cold voice asked from behind Heidi. "I hadn't realized there would be a change of plans."

Heidi whirled to face the owner of the voice, and had she been human, her heart would have stopped. Horrified at being caught, she couldn't help but whisper the names of the speaker and his companion; "Jane. Demetri." Unconsciously, she shifted her body so she was protecting Bella, who had no idea what was going on but was already feeling determined to make sure that Heidi would also be safe.

For as long as Heidi wanted her around, she was going to do everything she could to protect her. Bella had already sworn that to herself.

"Heidi," Jane replied with a nearly cruel smile. "I never thought you would be one to mess up this royally." The small blonde gestured to Heidi's car as Demetri stepped forward and snatched the keys out of Heidi's hand. "Demetri will be driving. Get in." Jane's eyes slid to the brunette peeking out from around Heidi, adding, "And your...friend...will of course be joining us."

Never before had Heidi felt so cold. She knew now that whatever she tried now would be hopeless.

Bella was going to be killed after all.