This Is Where It Gets Complicated
AN: A little bit of a wait but here it is!
"So, this Kate is Tanya's sister then? How old is she?" Charlie asks as he sets down his cup of milk, which Bella thinks is weird that he'd have milk with dinner but to each there one.
Bella nod, leaning on the table with her elbows. "She's twenty. I think you'd like her actually. She teases me more than you do." Bella smiles as Charlie gives a deep belly laugh.
He sobers quickly enough though a grin stays on his face. "So how old is Tanya?" Bella can hear the trepidation low in his voice.
"She's not that much older than me, only twenty-three and their other sister, Irina, is twenty-one. They're really great people, dad, even if Edward is their cousin." This little tidbit was what spark Charlie's interest in the people Bella had spent her time with lately. "The first time I went over there Kate kept zapping me, you know how you rub your feet of the carpet?" Charlie nods, of course he didn't need to know that Kate was doing it all on her own with her power, but she figures that's for the best. "The most annoying thing, but it was nice in a way, almost like I was already part of their, her life."
"What about the other two, what were their names?" He inquires as he pushes his plate away, having finishes his meal.
"Eleazar and Carmen, they're Tanya's Uncle and Aunt. I guess their mother died when they were younger." Bella shrugs. "They really don't talk about that much, but I guess I can understand why."
"Well I got to be honest with you Bella, I'm still not sold on the idea of you spending so much time at your teacher's home." Charlie's mouth sets firm on his face.
"Actually, "Bella starts as she puts her plate on top of Charlie's, "today was her last day."
Charlie's eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. "Well...and you met before you started school?" He checks his facts, Bella nods, not wanting to confirm the lie out loud. "Okay then, you're eighteen so you can date who you want, but I'm keeping an eye on her, understand?"
Bella's jaw hits the floor and her eyes grow as wide as they can go. "W-What!" She sputters; her dad actually laughs at her. "We're not, there's no dating going on! We're just friends." Bella protests.
Charlie stands from the table, grabbing the plates to do the dishes, Bella did cook after all. "Okay, Bells, whatever you say."
"I do say! We're not dating!" She shouts at his back as he walks away from her. "There's no dating going on." She grumbles to herself, ignoring the low chuckle she hears over the sink turning on. "I'm going upstairs!" She tells him, already moving toward the stairs.
"Going to call your girlfriend?" He shouts back at her.
Bella gives a loud groan. "She's not my girlfriend! You're the worst father ever!" She literally stomps up the stairs, because of course she doesn't have a girlfriend, she has friends that are girls and that's the end of it.
Bella actually waits for hours, refusing to call Tanya like her father so suggested and yeah, it might come off as childish but damn it she doesn't have a girlfriend. There's absolutely no need for her to contact Tanya immediately, Charlie hadn't fallen asleep anyways. So she waits as eight ticks by into nine, and then nine as it turns into ten, that's when she hears Charlie shuffling down the hall to his room, obviously trying to be quiet as he curses the squeak of a loose floorboard. Bella laughs softly to herself from the confines of her room.
She waits another fifteen minutes before picking up her phone and typing out a text to Tanya's phone, then she waits another ten before hitting send. It seems though, Tanya has no reservation of texting Bella because her reply is instantaneous. Bella has her park down the street, though she knows her father is a heavy sleeper, she rather not chance it.
So Bella creeps down the hall and then the stairs until she's safely outside, only pausing long enough to lock the door. It's fucking cold outside and Bella gets the feeling, as she makes her way to Tanya's running car, that it'll be a long night and of course Bella has school in the morning, it'll be a long day tomorrow for an unrested Bella. However, she knows that whatever this talk is about it's important to Tanya and by extension, it must be important to Bella as well, why else would Tanya want to talk about it with Bella?
Bella can see her breath in the light of Tanya's headlights as she rounds the car to the passenger side. She slides in easily and sighs at the warmth she's met with. She rubs her hands together and puts them in front of the air vent. Tanya frowns and Bella can see it out of the corner of her eye. "I'm sorry." This time Bella frowns as she looks at a crestfallen Tanya. It's almost as though Tanya thinks it's the worst thing in the world that she has Bella out in the cold.
"It's fine. See," Bella wiggles her fingers and sits back into the seat, "no frostbite." She jokes with a warm smile. Tanya gives Bella that look, the look that Bella can never decipher or maybe she's stubbornly, purposefully not trying to decipher it. "So where are we going?" Bella inquires as she tries to change the subject.
Tanya gives off a small smile and focuses on the road ahead when she pulls the car forward. "I was thinking we could just drive around until we find a suitable place to park? I have blankets and a thermos full of coffee to keep you warm, it's in the seat behind me."
Bella watches Tanya. She sees the tightening grip on the steering wheel. She sees the hard set lips on Tanya's beautiful face and the squinting of golden eyes. Bella doesn't keep Tanya waiting for an answer long. "That sounds fine, Tanya." Bella's nerves are set at ease by the grin Tanya gives her in return.
They end up parking down a dirty and slightly icy road that has them surrounded by the woods of the Denali forest. Tanya turns the car off and quickly reaches back to ply Bella with a heap of blankets and a cup of coffee. "If it gets too cold tell me and I'll turn the car back on okay?" Tanya tells her.
Bella laughs from her nest of blankets, surrounded by the smell of Tanya and coffee. "Okay." she takes a sip from her warm mug. "So what's this thing you have to tell me?"
Tanya rests her eyes on Bella for a long moment before taking a quarter from her cup holder. Without a word, as Bella watches on with a frown, Tanya slowly bends the quarter in half and then bends that in half once more. Bella's eyes are wide with shock, her mouth open in a gape as she stares between Tanya's fingers and eyes. "I'm a vampire."
"Okay." Bella croaks out.
Tanya raises a disbelieving eyebrow. "Okay? That's all you have to say?"
Bella's eyes stay wide as she collapses back into her seat, eyes on the darkness in front of her. "What the hell am I supposed to say, Tanya? What the hell am I supposed to say? Can you tell me that please, because right now I can't think of anything else, so please, tell me how I'm supposed to react right now?" So maybe Bella can say more than just 'okay'. "Either you're fucking crazy or I am because right now I can't tell. Vampires? What the fuck is this? Jesus fucking Christ!" Bella puts her head between her hands as she starts to panic, her breath coming in shallow and quick. Tanya reaches out to her but before her hand can touch Bella's shoulder, Bella flinches away. "Don't fucking touch me! Take me home, you need to take me home. Right now."
"Bella…" Tanya pleads and it breaks Bella's heart just a little but she's too caught up in a whirlwind of turbulent emotions that she really can't bring herself to care about someone else emotions right now.
"Take me home." Bella whispers as she somewhat violently throws the blankets into the backseat and opening the door to throw out the thermos of coffee. "Now." Tanya doesn't try to reach out to her again, choosing instead to silently start her car and start the drive back to Bella's house.
She has Tanya park down the street again and after much arguing she finally agrees to Bella's request. Bella practically runs home.
Charlie finds Bella hovering over the coffee pot when he comes down dressed and ready for the work day. "What are you doing up?"
Bella manages a weak smile over the rim of her coffee cup. "Couldn't sleep." What she doesn't tell him is that she never went to bed and this is the second pot she's brewed.
By the way Charlie squints at her and folds his arms, Bella can see that he doesn't by her bullshit. "Did you and Tanya get into a fight last night?"
"What!" She squeaks and she knows that's an answer in itself.
Charlie gives her an unimpressed look. "Do you really think that I didn't hear you sneak out last night?" He points to the badge on his chest. "Cop remember, but never mind about that, what's going on with you and Tanya?"
Bella heaves a big sigh and set her cup down on the counter. She's already jittery enough from all the caffeine. "We did fight, kind of."
When she doesn't elaborate Charlie steps in. "You don't have to tell your old man what it was about, but let me give you a piece of advice. Is it something that can be fixed?" Bella takes a moment to think about it but then she shrugs because she really has no fucking clue. "Okay," Charlie chuckles, "is it something that you want to fix?"
Bella looks down to the floor. Does she want to fix this? Is it something that she can accept? How the hell is she supposed to be okay with a vampire? Then Bella remembers that this isn't just any vampire, this is Tanya. "Yeah dad, it is." She looks up to her father, confused and desperate. "I don't know what to do."
Charlie sighs and runs a hand through his short hair. "Talk to her kiddo."
"That easy?" Bella's skeptical, but maybe it is that simple.
"Yep." He grins. "Now, I got to go to work, see you after school." Charlie fills up his thermos and leaves her there in the kitchen to her thoughts. By the time Bella releases herself from her thoughts she realizes that she missed first period, so she has two choices; either she can go to school late and deal with everyone, which she doesn't want to do, or she can just take the day off, it is friday afterall. Decision made, she's not going to school, not today.
For the most part of the morning Bella busies herself with cleaning the house. After she's done she realizes that only an hour has past by. With a defeated huff Bella falls back onto the couch, one arm draped over her eyes in a moment of pure exhaustion that quickly turns back into confusion. Before she can get too caught up in her turbulent thoughts her cell phone rings from the back pocket of her jeans. 'Kate' flashes across the screen the chorus of 'kung fu fighting' blaring from the phone's speaker. Bella rolls her eyes, but a small smile sneaks onto her lips at the ridiculousness of Kate's actions. After a moment of hesitation, Bella picks it up. "What do you want Kate?" she asks not unkindly.
"I want you to come to the door." Kate promptly says before hanging up on Bella. Bella frowns as she stands and makes her way to the door, upon opening it she's met with the smiling face of Kate. "Are you going to invite me in?"
Bella frowns and crosses her arms in front of her chest. "What, you need permission to enter or something else related to your vampireness?" Bella shoots back and surprisingly Kate frowns instead of firing back at Bella with a sarcastic comment.
"No, I don't need permission to enter, technically, but it's rude not to ask." Kate offers.
Bella sighs tiredly. "What do you want Kate?" Bella asks again.
Kate shrugs, "I thought you'd be more willing to talk to me right now than Tanya." It's a whispered statement but the words carry the weight of the world. "You know, about everything she told you last night?"
Bella shakes her head but she doesn't know if it's because of the situation she's put herself in or maybe it's the position Tanya has put her into, nothing is different between the two except for who holds the blame. "I really don't want to talk about this." Bella admits freely.
Bella steps back into her doorway, ready to shut the door on Kate but the woman puts her hand up and stops it. "Bella, please?" She can't budge the door closed so Bella gives up and opens the door fully once more. Bella gestures for Kate to come in and follows her into the kitchen, sitting at the table. Kate takes the seat across from her. "Tanya-"
"No." Bella stops Kate in her tracks. "You want to talk about your big secret then fine, but I'm not about to sit here and talk about your sister, if she even is your sister."
Kate smiles. "She is my sister and so is Irina in the sense that we were changed by the same woman, Tanya's Aunt actually." If Bella wasn't already sitting down she's sure she would have fallen. "Tanya is the leader of our coven, including Eleazar and Carmen. Carlisle is the leader of the Cullen coven though, but you're right, we're not here to talk about Tanya, at least not directly. Here's the thing Bella, all vampires answer to one coven, the largest one. The Volturi are our leaders and we all must answer to them and their strongest law, not revealing ourselves to the humans."
"Tanya did that." Bella cuts in.
"She did." Kate states gravely. "However there are two exceptions to the rule, if you're going to kill that human or change them."
Bella turns an unhealthy shade of white as she takes in Kate's words. "You're going to kill me? What kind of shit is that!"
Kate laughs at her, she actually has the nerve to laugh at Bella right now. "No, Bella."
"Then you're going to change me? Like that's any better than killing me?" Bella argues, her heartbeat spiking and world tunneling so all she can see is Kate.
"Bella, just let me explain, please." That shuts Bella up and she waits for Kate to finish. "There's a reason Tanya told you, despite all the things that can go wrong, despite the punishment she might suffer...she couldn't lie to you Bella. You see, when you're a vampire as old as Tanya, well she's only a little bit older than Irina and me, but the thing is when you've lived a hundred lifetimes there is only one thing that keeps you going...our mate."
"What like a soulmate?" Bella asks.
Kate nods. "Yes, a soulmate. Every vampire has one and when we find our mate they become our whole world, Bella, they're the single most important thing to us. Some vampires find their mates in other vampires, they're the lucky ones, like Eleazar and Carmen or Alice and Jasper. Other vampires though don't have it so lucky and they find their mates in humans like Carlisle and Esme and Rosalie and Emmett."
"So when your mate is a human, you change them? Does the human even have a choice?" Bella pushes closer to the table.
"We would never force our mate to do anything, not even changing, because the human can feel a pull to the vampire, even if it is a fraction of what a vampire feels at least at the beginning, but in the end both human and vampire make the decision to change. Unless Edward is you're mate, he has some god complex and thinks we're all soulless monsters and when he does find his mate , if they're human, he'll probably never change her which is taking the choice out of his mate's hands." Kate rolls her eyes.
Bella scoffs. "Tanya is not soulless and she's not a monster either, none of your family is." She defends and it's enough for Kate to give her a teasing smile.
"He thinks you're his mate by the way, even if we all keep telling him that he's wrong." Kate teases.
"Bullshit! Is that why he's so stalkerish? I really can't stand him...should I worry about that? I don't think I can defend myself against a vampire, can I?" Bella suddenly gets nervous.
Kate shakes her head in response. "No, you can't. We're stronger, faster than humans and the only way to kill a vampire is to tear them apart and burn the pieces, if you don't burn them they can piece themselves back together. It's hard to kill something that's already dead." Kate jokes. "You don't have to worry about that though, we can handle Edward, he's young and has a lot to learn."
Bella doesn't respond. She lets a silence engulf them as Kate waits for her to start talking once more. "So what does any of this have to do with me? Why did Tanya tell me if she's not going to kill me?"
"Really Bella?" Kate scoffs and it leads into a deep laugh. "Why do you think?"
Bella thinks about it long and hard, going over every little bit of information Kate had given her. "Oh...oh shit."