The wonderful thing, but also the annoying thing, about teenagers is that so many experiences are new to them. First love. First loss. First step into the unknown without parental guidance.
'Granted,' Tanya thought to herself, casting a sidelong look at the young woman beside her, 'most first experiences don't include meeting vampires or faking your own death.' The girl, Bella, was staring out the window of the taxi into the fading light. What was she thinking, what was she feeling? Tanya wondered. She could certainly see why Edward had been drawn to her. Dark hair and eyes, like burnt chestnuts cascading down to frame deep wishing wells. A small mouth, delicate nose, sharp jawline. And the girl's scent: spring flowers after a hard rain. Floral and earthy and clean. She was beautiful in an unassuming way that had initially caught Tanya off guard. She didn't speak much, but watched everything. It was as if the girl was a mystery novel come to life, and Tanya was eager to turn the pages and watch the story unfold.
Bella turned towards her then, catching the vampire's stare. She was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, brows furrowed. "What are we doing here?" she asked Tanya. "Where are we going?"
Tanya let her gaze momentarily flicker to the taxi driver before looking back at Bella. She watched as Bella did the same, giving the slightest nod of her head. A small hum of satisfaction thrummed in Tanya's chest at the girl's perceptiveness.
"Well," she told Bella, her voice a practiced lilt of excitement and intrigue, "Remember how you've said for years that you've always dreamed of going on a big adventure before you started college?" Despite her playful tone, Tanya's eyes drilled into Bella's. "You know, something where you could escape from everything for a while and not have to worry about the real world?"
"Right," Bella responded, nodding her head and playing along. She could see the taxi driver alternating between watching the road and looking at them in the rearview. "But, Tanya," she started, struggling to find the right words, "with dad's health not what it used to be, I just don't know if I should be leaving him alone at a time like this." Bella raised her eyebrows meaningfully.
The vampire smiled and playfully nudged Bella's shoulder with her own. "Nonsense. You worry too much," she told her. "Besides, my sisters promised to check in on him and make sure he's fine while we're gone." Tanya watched as some of the tension in the teenager's shoulders dissipated at her words. It was one of the last things Tanya had done after procuring their passports (and herself a new cellphone). While her sisters hadn't necessarily understood why Tanya was taking a young human halfway around the world – 'Do I even fully understand?' she wondered – they had readily agreed to watch over Bella's father.
Bella sighed and gave a weak smile. "Okay," she told Tanya, shrugging her shoulders, "I'm in. What's the plan?"
"I just knew you'd agree!" Tanya gushed. "I mean, you got on the plane willingly," she teased. Her hands fanned out in front of her as she straightened her posture. "Picture this," she began, waving her hands dramatically. "Three weeks. National parks, sunset beaches, little fishing villages along the coast. You're going to love it!" she squealed enthusiastically.
Bella found it difficult to focus on the vampire's words. Maybe she was still in shock, or maybe it was the jetlag, but the flawlessness of Tanya's performance amazed her. The gestures, the inflection, the ease with which everything seemed to flow from her kidnapper's mouth… what else was there to do but admire the performance and try to keep up?
"Anyway," Tanya continued, "there's an REI store on the outskirts of Christchurch. We're heading there now. I figured we'd get ourselves some hiking gear and then check into a hotel. That way we can get some rest and head out early tomorrow."
"That sounds…" 'Crazy. Ridiculous. Stupid.' "…amazing," Bella responded, not quite able to coax her voice to match Tanya's enthusiasm. "You really thought of everything."
For Bella, reality seemed to be removing itself further and further away from her grasp. Too much had occurred in the past 48 hours for her to physically or emotionally process. A constant thrum of pain in her arm pulsed with her heartbeat. Everyone she had ever known or cared for was gone, literally half a world away, never to be seen again as far as she knew. And now she sat next to a vampire – a vampire she knew by name only – in a country she'd only ever encountered in geography lessons – a class where she had an upcoming quiz on Monday that she was never going to take – preparing for…what exactly? A jolly holiday with a deadly Mary Poppins?
Bella let her head fall back against the seat's headrest and took a deep breath, eyes closed. She counted to ten and attempted to ground herself in the moment. 'One thing at a time,' she told herself.
Opening her eyes, she turned her head to the side, letting her gaze fall upon her companion. The lights of passing cars played a staccato pattern against the vampire's face. One moment light washed over angled features, highlighting high cheekbones and delicate lips. The next moment darkness rushed to cloak the world's deadliest predator in shadows. Now beautiful. Now deadly. Now savior. Now jailor.
And from somewhere hidden, an unbidden thought pushed its way into Bella's overworked prefrontal cortex: Practically perfect in every way.
Not quite a full-blown chuckle, but a small blast of air burst from her nose, and Bella smiled.
At the sound, Tanya turned her head to look at Bella, her eyes connecting with the exhausted teenager's. Without rhyme or reason, as soon as the vampire saw the girl's upturned lips, she felt her own respond in turn.
The car drove on.
.
.
.
As soon as she cleared the entryway of the hotel room, Bella let the bag she carried on her shoulder drop to the floor with a solid 'thud.' 'I should have made the vampire carry it,' she thought ruefully. Her arm ached, her shoulders ached, her back ached. She'd gotten little sleep on the plane, and what sleep she had managed to get was cramped and fitful. Bella felt fairly confident that if she had to have carried her bag, or herself, much farther she would have swooned from fatigue.
Her companion, of course, was a different story.
Tanya was the picture of poise. She brushed past Bella, easily dropping the bags she carried (that were twice as large as Bella's) onto the chairs that were next to the king-sized bed. Her clothes were still fresh, her curls still perfectly coiffed, her demeanor perfectly relaxed.
'Practically per…' Bella clenched her jaw and looked away. She momentarily gave herself permission to hate vampires.
"Are you hungry?" Tanya asked, moving over to the television stand and grabbing the hotel pamphlets. "Room service is open until eleven, so there's plenty of time. Order whatever you'd like," she told Bella, reaching out to hand her the menu.
Begrudgingly, Bella retracted her previous permission to hate vampires. Guilt bloomed from somewhere deep inside her chest. She reached out and took the menu. "Are all vampires rich?" Bella asked, kicking her shoes off and crawling her way onto the middle of the bed. She settled in, sitting cross-legged and leaning back on her hands. She watched as Tanya began sorting through the things she'd purchased. "Is there, like, a welcome packet you get that has an introduction to being dead, some coupons for 15% off your first online order at a blood bank, and a couple million dollars?"
Tanya laughed, caught off guard by the playful tone of the human. Before now, the young woman had only been reticent and withdrawn. This was the first humorous thing she had said. A primitive part of the vampire hummed in satisfaction, genuinely pleased with the human's wit. "Sadly, the welcome basket was after my time," she responded, smiling over her shoulder at the girl. "All I got was a coffee mug." She smiled, increasingly pleased with herself when Bella laughed. "Actually, though," Tanya explained, "most vampires who've been around longer than a century are quite wealthy. It's easy to accumulate money when you have no financial needs." She reached over into a side pocket of her bag and pulled out her wallet. She tossed it over to Bella, who jolted in surprise but managed to catch it. "Seriously," she told the girl, "I've got more money than you can probably imagine." Tanya nodded at the menu in Bella's lap. "Go nuts. Order one of everything if you want."
Bella rolled her eyes, but the smile didn't leave her face. "Were you like Alice?" she asked, amazed with herself that she could name her former best friend without opening the gaping wound of abandonment that lurked inside her. "Did you play the stock market and make it big?"
Tanya snorted. "Please," she told Bella, looking over her shoulder from her place on the floor, "I've been a vampire for well over a thousand years. I read Beowulf when it was first written. I know what William of Normandy looked like. I fought in the Crusades." She watched as the human's face melted into astonishment. "My wealth is measured in pounds and counted by bars."
Vaguely, a part of Bella's memory recalled Tanya saying she was older than Carlisle. However, there had always been a cognitive dissonance that Bella struggled with when it came to truly understanding the age of the creatures she had befriended and cared for. Yes, Edward was old, but her grandparents had been alive when he was turned. His past – all of the Cullen children's pasts – were not so far removed from history that it felt overwhelming. But Tanya… Bella stared at her, her eyes drinking the vampire in in a new light. Here was an artifact of antiquity, a record, a capsule, of history and experience that went beyond human record. Tanya had witnessed things, could tell her things, that no one else in the world could fathom. Here was a being who had experienced the most significant moments in the history of human existence, and now part of that being's knowledge was of her, Bella. It was like being told your favorite coffee cup was the Holy Grail, and realizing you had touched, tasted, something holy. The thought sat heavy.
For her part, Tanya had no idea why Bella was looking at her so peculiarly. The human seemed to be staring through her. Tanya raised an eyebrow at the girl.
No response.
She turned to face the human, waving her hand slowly in front of herself.
Still no response.
Tanya slid over to the bed and leaned across the comforter. She gently placed her right hand on Bella's left knee. "Bella?" she asked, softly.
The girl's head jerked. She blinked.
"Are you okay?" Tanya laughed. "You spaced out pretty hard there for a second."
Bella shook her head, pushing herself up into a better sitting position. "Yeah, sorry," she told the vampire, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks, "I just got lost in my head for a few moments." She cleared her throat, returning her focus to the room service menu. "So, how many bars of wealth are we talking about?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant. She kept her head down, but cast a sideways glance to make eye contact with the vampire.
The left side of Tanya's mouth pulled into a half smirk. "Fort Knox could fit into the entry hall of my vault," she told Bella, not trying to keep the cockiness from her tone.
Bella nodded, flipping the menu over. "I'm definitely ordering dessert then," she muttered, trying to hide her smile.
She felt extremely pleased with herself when the vampire's laugh danced its way across the room to her.
.
.
.
Evening found Bella stretched out on the hotel bed – full, showered, arm rebandaged, propped up on her elbow, watching as the vampire on the floor finished packing for tomorrow.
"Tell me," Bella asked after watching for a few minutes, "did you get that bag because it's called the Denali?"
Tanya chuckled. "Of course, I did," she told Bella, "but it also holds over 100 liters of gear." The vampire reached over and grabbed the sleeping bag she had rolled earlier. "And this baby will keep you warm in -40 degree weather."
"Does it get that cold here?" Bella asked, looking out the window. It had felt cool this evening, but not that cool. She turned back to see the vampire hastily pushing the sleeping bag into the other pack. Was it her imagination, or did the woman in front of her appear chagrinned?
"Well, no," Tanya told her, studiously avoiding eye contact, "it doesn't get that cold here. But better to be overprepared than under." She looked up to find Bella smiling softly down at her. "Besides," she continued, feeling the need to defend her purchase, "you may decide after this you want to climb Everest."
They shared a smile, and Bella had to remind herself that this was not her vampire. The allure was instinctual, predatory, on Tanya's part. She felt no attachment to Bella other than familial obligation. Eventually, somewhere down the road, this would end and Bella would have to pick up the pieces and figure her life out. A human life, marred by the supernatural. A victim of her own stupidity.
Tanya watched Bella's features change – another mystery she couldn't puzzle out. She did not like the frown that pulled at Bella's lips, that creased the area between her brows. Barely 72 hours had passed from when she met the girl and already she felt attached.
'Invested,' Tanya corrected herself. 'She is in a volatile situation, she is important to those I care for, and she is kind. I have been too long without purpose or ambition. It is natural that I would be so taken…invested in the girl.'
Despite her thoughts, something deeper, something primitive, in Tanya was whispering in her mind: too low to recognize or make out, but there on the peripheral of understanding. She determined to be patient, to wait. It would come to her in time.
She came back to herself then, realizing the girl and her were locked in a wordless stare. She wondered what Bella was thinking. "Are you tired?" she asked, startling the teenager from her thoughts.
As if Tanya's words had summoned something inside her, Bella yawned. "Yeah," she admitted, "these past few days have wrecked my sleep schedule." She pushed herself up and crawled to the head of the bed, pulling the comforter down. She wanted to sleep, to shut out the world and her thoughts and worries.
For her part, Tanya watched the young woman maneuver her way under the covers. She let herself wonder what it must feel like for the human. To slide between cool sheets, feel the press of blankets snuggly against one's skin, the give of the down mattress as it conformed to the curves of the body. What did it feel like for the girl?
Her fingers twitched.
She got up and turned the lights off.
She moved and stood at the edge of the bed, across from Bella.
They watched each other.
The vampire opened her mouth to speak.
"Are you going to leave me in the woods?"
Her mouth closed. She looked at Bella, confused. The girl's voice was soft, small.
"Edward did. When he left."
Unexpectedly, Tanya felt herself moving. She crawled onto the bed, on top of the comforter. She lay on her side, mirroring Bella's form.
"Edward was changed when he was seventeen," she told Bella. She reached out and placed the tip of her index finger under the girl's chin, gently forcing Bella to meet her gaze. "A part of him will always be a seventeen-year-old boy, and seventeen-year-old boys can often be rash and stupid. I am not seventeen. I am not Edward. I am not going to leave you in the woods."
Bella swallowed thickly. Tanya could see the shine of tears in her eyes, smell the salt of them.
"I don't understand why you brought me here," Bella whispered.
Tanya's hand had fallen into the space between them on the bed. Gently, slowly, she moved and let her fingers brush Bella's hair behind her ear.
"I brought you here to keep you safe," she told her. "There aren't many people where we are going, which means there aren't many vampires. I can protect you until we figure out what to do."
Bella's hand came up to grab Tanya's. Her eyes searched the vampire's face.
"You won't leave me?" she asked.
It was spoken so quietly Tanya would not have heard it had she been human.
But she had, of course, heard it.
She stared into Bella's eyes.
"I won't leave you," she promised.