Chapter 4
I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR CHARACTERS
Bella cried out. She cried out louder than anything she ever had before, with pure terror. Her hands tightened into white knuckled fists in Alice's hair as pain lanced the spot Alice had latched onto just under her jaw. She tensed every muscle in her body and mewed as the vampire dug her teeth in with a low growl and the brunette shook violently, tears watering her eyes as she grimaced.
"Alice, no!" she pleaded desperately.
But then, through the haze of pain and fear and pheromones, Bella gave a soft gasp as Alice whimpered into her neck, a quiet sound of confusion and desperation.
Though the pain was pretty harsh, it didn't actually, really…Hurt that badly?
Huh?
It didn't even feel like Alice's fangs had punctured her skin. And weren't vampire bites supposed to reduce you to writhing agony within seconds?
This felt more like, well…A human bite.
It didn't do much, but it did a little to pierce Bella's fear and she breathed raggedly, haphazardly tugging on fistfuls of Alice's hair to make her stop.
Bella blinked rapidly when Alice suddenly pulled back and her feet hit the floor with a dull thud.
The pixie like girl stared at her neck, one hand coming up as she swiped her thumb over the angry wound she'd left, making Bella grimace. She stared as if bewildered as much as Bella as to why the brunette wasn't pouring blood like her own personal gory water fountain; she was a confused, hungry, angry looking vampire.
Uh. What? Bella's brain struggled to compute at this peculiar turn of events even as her heart hammered and her body screamed for her to run. She didn't get much time to comprehend anything in the small window of Alice's inaction.
She flinched when the vampire let another low noise in the back of her throat, but she winced and yelped when Alice growled, leaned in, and once more bit the hell out of her, this time right at the side of the column of her throat.
Yet again, it hurt like a mother, but it didn't feel like Alice even pierced the skin. It felt like she didn't even have fangs.
"Ow, OW! Stop it! Alice!" Bella shrieked, braced her hands on Alice's shoulder, and shoved with all her might as if it would do any good.
And somehow, it did do some good.
Alice staggered back, just barely managing to keep her balance after Bella's forceful push. Bella's eyes flew wide as her right hand came up to her assaulted neck and clamped down on her newest bite, which throbbed as painfully as the other. Her chest heaved violently as Alice locked her legs to keep upright.
There was no venom pumping through her veins, reducing her to bone crippling agony and she wasn't screaming her head off as she leaked blood all over the floor, none of what the Cullens had told her a vampire bite should entail. And she had literally just about knocked a vampire on her butt, a vampire whom she had playfully pushed, smacked, and wrestled with before and whom she had never even managed to budge before now.
What the hell, she thought frantically. What the hell is going on!
Alice finally caught her equilibrium, of which she still seemed uncharacteristically lacking. She stood and Bella tried not to cringe or show fear when their eyes locked, even if fear was the only thing she could grasp at the moment. You were never supposed to look an animal in the eyes. It showed your fear and challenged them all at the same time. But it was all washed away in a moment of pure, unadulterated shock that outweighed everything else that had happened tonight.
"Alice?" she gasped.
Because Mary Alice Brandon's eyes were not golden (as if), or amber, or a dark brown, no, they weren't even a daunting ebony black.
They were blue.
At the sound of her name, Alice blinked once, twice, three times. She stared at Bella as if she'd just been slapped awake. She took in a heavy breath, shook her head, and then shuddered violently.
"Bella?" she finally breathed, her voice so soft and uncertain that she sounded like a small child instead of a vampire over a hundred years old.
Bella flushed and swallowed hard, unable to process anything that was happening. She shifted against the wall, too afraid to say anything else in case Alice lost it again. Her hand pressed down harder on the aching spot where Alice had bitten her the second time.
And Alice saw it, really saw her marks for the first time. Her astonishingly bright, electric blue irises flickered unmistakably to the ugly reddish purple bruises on the brunette's neck.
"Oh my god," she whimpered, a hand going to her mouth as Bella continued to cower against the wall, looking like a frightened animal, like prey backed into a corner. "Oh my god."
Bella sank further down the wall even though Alice seemed to have regained some semblance of control. She was still trying to regain a natural breathing pattern and heartbeat as Alice realized what she'd done…Or attempted to do.
Which pretty much was kill Bella and drink her dry.
"Oh my god," Alice said again. "Oh my fucking god-Bella, oh Bella, I-" Her voice cracked and she reached a pale, trembling hand forward as if to touch the brunette and Bella flinched like someone who'd been physically abused all her life.
Alice blanched at that. She reared back with a gasp that sounded like a fish out of water and took two steps back, stumbling. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, strange eyes flooding with tears, and Bella didn't know if she had it in her to be surprised anymore when they actually managed to fall down pretty porcelain cheeks.
And with that, Alice turned and ran.
Or tried to.
And Bella could only watch her go, stunned absolutely and literally stupid by this turn of events.
What the actual fuck is going on? She thought, bewildered. I should be dead, and she should be drinking my blood, and I actually shoved her off, and her eyes are blue, and-
Alice only got about three steps before she tripped and staggered, running at a pace that was nowhere near the blur Bella was accustomed to seeing. When she finally hit the window pane, it was with a jarring jolt and with an elbow catching the edge. She yelled at that, as if it actually hurt her, and Bella only had enough time to think That might actually be a bad idea, and then Alice scrambled up on to the sill and vaulted out of her window.
A split second later, there was an audible thud and a high pitched wail that jarred Bella into action.
Oh shit, Alice!
She bolted forward despite herself, brain reeling and limbs feeling like jelly as the after effects of all that adrenaline began to wear off. She braced the hand that wasn't cradling her aching neck on the window and shoved her head out, half expecting Alice to pop up in her face and snarl like a wild dog, but that didn't happen (thank God).
She looked down into the darkness and saw a squirming, groaning mass on her lawn that could only be Alice.
And even after all that had happened, a desperate worry for her friend surged up in her and she called out her name.
"Alice? Alice, are you okay?" she called, heart pounding.
In any other circumstance, it might have been funny to see Alice utterly fail the jump like that, but as it was… Bella felt a drop of sweat slide down her cheek and sting the bite under her jaw line, sending a jolt of anxiety through her even as she struggled to see if Alice was alright, though she highly doubted it.
There was no response, but Alice did seem to struggle to her feet. She did not answer, only silently clawed her way up to her feet, and before Bella could think of what to do, she began to limp towards the woods surrounding the Swan household, cradling her right arm close to her body, bent on getting out of there apparently.
There was no reason for her to be limping or holding her arm as if it were gimped. She should have been able to take a fall twice that height without flinching, but there she went, staggering away into the darkness as if she were really hurt.
Bella made a loud noise that might have been her name, but an image of Alice turning back to her and snarling with her fangs out and her eyes jet black made her swallow the cry.
Yes, she was agonized with worry for her friend.
But she was also seconds away from puking over what had just happened.
It took only a few pulses of blood in the gnarly bites on her neck to remind her that that blood had almost been consumed and she shut right the hell up. She waffled back and forth for a few seconds, but when Alice disappeared completely into the woods, she jerked back and slammed her window shut.
And promptly locked it.
Her innermost thoughts over what had occurred were an intelligent, well thought out and comprehensive summary of swearing, sobbing, and hysterical laughter that she dared not release for fear that it would mean she really was insane.
When yet another shot of pain lit up the side of her neck, she turned and ran to her bathroom. She ended up stubbing her toe on the doorjamb in her haste and spent a good minute and a half hopping up and down swearing in a manner that would have made Charlie slap her.
Speaking of, it was a good thing he was out late tonight doing police work. If he had been home, surely he would have heard the commotion, but thankfully, he wasn't.
When the pain in her big toe dulled enough for her to catch her breath, she quickly grabbed the handheld mirror on her counter and, with bated breath, held it so that she could properly see the bites Alice had left on her.
…And let out a weak sigh of what really felt like relief.
The first place Alice had bitten her looked worse. It was an angry red around the edges of a ring of deep purple teeth imprints, the skin swollen in a natural immune response. Bella searched and searched the wound, tentatively prodding it, but there was no blood and as she'd dared to hope, no puncture wounds.
None.
Bella had admired those pretty white fangs in Alice's mouth more times than she could count, always drawn in with a morbid fascination. She had occasionally wondered exactly how far the extent of their damage could be, and all of her musings led to something a whole lot worse than this. Mostly with flesh torn apart, a ripped out throat maybe, but not a simple, textbook picture of a bite without even a speck of blood. It looked like she'd barely even broken the skin, if at all.
And she knew without a doubt, when Alice had bitten down, she'd been aiming for the former results. The vampire's posture, the strength of the bite, and her subsequent frustration were proof of that.
Still, accepting that fact made Bella feel dizzy and weak.
Alice could have killed her.
Alice, her best friend, who arguably had the best control in the Cullen household next to Carlisle and Esme.
And for the life of her, Bella could not figure out why she hadn't, or rather, been unable to. Nor could she figure out why she'd managed to shove the girl off of her or why her eyes had been blue, or why'd she been able to cry, or why she seemed so badly hurt after jumping out the window.
It was almost like she was human.
None of this did a lot to soothe her creeping worries. What if she still got turned into a vampire despite how freaking weird this all was? Alice may have been acting human, but she was still a vampire, and as any person with the slightest comprehension of vampires knew, a bite from one was like a guaranteed switch.
She spent another few minutes panicking and rooting through her medicine cabinet and stupidly frantically swabbing straight rubbing alcohol onto both the bites at once in her desperation, which sent the light throbbing to a hair raising ten on the pain scale.
Bella had never sworn so much in her life, nor had she called on the heavens as much either.
"Shit sonofabitch motherofgod and everything holy!" she yelped, running everything together like one word and quickly patting it dry a second later, eyes watering.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! She thought, wincing and whimpering pitifully as she pulled the towel away from her neck and reexamined the agitated bites.
As if rubbing alcohol would disinfect a vampire bite…
Okay, well, maybe it wasn't that simple in real life. Normally she'd be comatose by now but still able to experience excruciating agony while the change either worked or killed her, as Carlisle had told her, but none of that was happening.
Yeah, the bites had hurt like a bitch during (and admittedly even worse when she put the alcohol on it), but nothing like what they were supposed to.
It seemed nothing was happening like it was supposed to tonight.
After a while of just staring at them as if waiting for the inevitable moment when she would drop to the floor and start becoming a vampire, Bella sighed and slumped against the sink counter, hands gripping it tightly.
Contemplating as to what the causes were for tonight's strange occurrences gave way to a deep sense of tragedy and self loathing.
I'm so stupid…What have I done?
She pressed her forehead to the cool mirror and tried not to cry. Fat lot of good that would do her now.
This is all my fault. All my fault. I should never have bitten her in the first place. And then I had to go and stomp all over her feelings when she came back when really I was the one to blame for it. And I'm a freaking freak who has some weird weakness to her pheromones and I'm acting like a bonafide lesbian rapist, jumping her like that. I kissed her. I freaking kissed her like some deranged creep. It's no wonder she tried to bite me. Hell, if it had worked right, I would have deserved every bit of it. I'm such an idiot!
Eventually, Bella wandered into her room and flopped down on her bed, trying to ignore the telltale throbbing in her neck because every pulse of her blood was another flashback to Alice at her throat, invoking a fear of God into her that she rightly deserved to feel after being so stupid.
She gave up trying to figure any of it out because she honestly had no idea where to even begin other than mentally kicking herself silly for her actions. She thought about calling Edward or her father, but what could she even say to either of them?
Nothing to Charlie. If she talked to her dad right now she'd revert to little girl mode and break down sobbing and begging for him to come home and hold her, which, um, no. That had not happened since Bella was like, five and scraped her knee when Charlie tried to teach her how to ride a bike and the thought of doing so embarrassed her horribly.
And no way in hell or heaven was she going to attempt to explain herself to Edward, especially when he was being a jackass lately.
So despite her desire for answers and the anxiety that had permanently rooted itself into her system, Bella curled up on her bed and stared miserably at her window, running everything through her head over and over again, trying to figure out how she could have acted better so that tonight did not play out like it did, wondering what the future would bring. Nothing good, she was sure of that.
And to think, all I cared about was keeping her as a friend. Wow, Bella, way-to-frickin' go. You did one hell of a bang up job on that, didn't you?
After hours of agonizing over every detail and mistake and worry, she fell asleep around two a.m. after hearing Charlie come in at around eleven. She promptly fell into a bout of vicious nightmares starring Alice that were blatantly sexual and violent in ways that made her wake up in a cold sweat at four.
And so she stayed that way, dog tired and crying quietly until her alarm clock went off at six and scared the crap out of her.
She didn't readily have an explanation for Charlie when he called to her from downstairs and asked her what that bang was outside, but she calmly called back that she had no idea.
He wouldn't see the pieces of her shattered alarm clock lying on the lawn on that side of the house anyway.
Bella was leaning against the counter in the kitchen when Charlie walked in and saw her.
"Jesus Bells, are you okay?" he exclaimed, eyebrows shooting up. He walked over to the coffee maker that gurgled pleasantly, indicating that the coffee was ready, but his eyes never left her.
No, no she was not okay.
Her neck was aching, her eyes were bloodshot, she'd had a total of two hours of sleep that had been plagued with nightmares that made Bella wonder how she would ever look at Alice again (if she even saw her again) and she hadn't even bothered to have a shower before coming down.
"Um," she mumbled, blinking a bit in the sunlight from the window as he yanked up the blinds, still eyeing her with concern. "I don't really feel good," she said truthfully.
She would remain truthful, too, as long as he didn't ask her why.
Then she would lie in a way that even The Band Perry would be shocked with her.
"I can see that…What the hell happened to your neck?" Charlie suddenly smacked his mug of black coffee down on the counter and she flinched at the volume of his voice. She didn't get a chance to ward him off as he moved towards her and pushed her hair off her neck.
Stupider by the second aren't ya, Bella, she thought irately.
She had, in her exhaustion, forgotten to cover up the bites.
"Uhh," she gawked, her fried brain scrambling to come up with any excuse.
"Those are bite marks! Who bit you like that? Jesus Bella," he scowled as she pushed his hands away irritably, refusing to meet his eyes.
Lying time it was then.
"They're not that bad," she defended, subconsciously covering them with her hand a second later. "Seriously dad, me and Angela just got carried away when we were play fighting the other day. You should see her, I bit her back."
"Nobody bites like that in a play fight," he groused skeptically, eyeing her with his knowing father eyes."We got carried away," Bella snapped, glaring at him as if he were personally attacking her. "You're making me feel worse. My head is already pounding."
She internally grimaced when he immediately softened. Guilting him was completely unfair and a totally low blow but she had no other choice but to go on offense to direct his attention off of the ugly bruises on her neck.
"I'm sorry…But you two need to chill out. Those look like they could easily get infected," he apologized, then hesitantly put a hand to her forehead. "You don't feel like you have a fever but…I really think you oughta stay home today, Bells. You look terrible."
Bella sighed and tried not to bask in his concern too much. She still had the strong urge to fling herself into his arms and bawl, but she couldn't do that. He'd be confused, and besides, they weren't a physically affectionate pair anyway.
"You said that already," she said, giving him a weak smile to let him know she was joking before slumping back against the counter. "And I think that sounds like a great idea…I'm so tired…"
He grunted a typical male response and began sipping his coffee again, still watching her with worry in his eyes. It made her feel bad and better all at the same time, but she opted not to meet his eyes as she hugged herself.
A moment later his walkie talkie crackled to life on his hip. Bella raised an eyebrow at the garbled chatter that came through.
"Mm, that's duty calling. I've got to get to work now, hun. You uh, you get back to bed okay? Get some rest. If you get worse, don't hesitate to call me alright?" Charlie apparently understood every word though as he leaned in and gave her a coffee scented kiss on the temple that made them both blush a little before he dropped his drained mug in the sink and moved to go.
Bella hadn't been back in Forks but for a year, but she was happy Charlie was acting more and more like a father every day. It was a great comfort even in her distress, as embarrassing and new as it was for both of them.
He popped back in a second later and said gruffly, "Love you."
He was gone before she could reply, but despite her headache and her turmoil, Bella smiled and called to his retreating form that was already halfway to the door, "Love you, too, Dad."
The sound of the door opening and closing was the only response she got, and the smile was gone just as fast as she sank further into the counter and sighed deeply.
"Thank god, I thought he would never leave."
Bella shrieked and leapt a foot in the air as a voice spoke a foot away from her.
Her heart was going to burst if one more thing scared her like that.
Crawling through the window came one of the most beautiful women Bella knew, Rosalie Lillian Hale.
A shock of white blond hair preceded the rest of her, but a moment later the vampire hopped over the counter and onto the kitchen floor like a house cat coming home and the rest of her perfection was revealed. She landed lightly on her feet and tossed her envy inducing mane over her shoulder, putting one hand on a curvy hip as she looked Bella up and down.
"You look like shit," was the first thing out of her mouth.
And Bella remembered that Rosalie was not only one of the most beautiful girls she knew, but also one of the bitchiest.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded, one hand on her heaving chest.
Life refused to give her a break, it seemed. Vampires had a way of popping into existence like they belonged there too, which didn't help.
"What do you think I'm doing here, Swan? That was cute, by the way. Daddy's little girl, huh?"
Rosalie cocked her chin out arrogantly with a sickeningly sweet smile that made Bella have to smother Mean Girls like qualities that only Rosalie was capable of bringing out in her.
Like the urge to slap a ho, maybe.
"Dude, what-"
"Don't call me dude. This generation's slang is insufferable," Rosalie interrupted her infuriatingly and Bella was pissed in five seconds flat.
She snapped her mouth shut and glared heatedly at the woman before her, who only crossed her arms and sneered. They had a stare down that Rosalie inevitably won as Bella rolled her eyes and looked away, uncomfortable with that gaze on her. The blond could melt glass with that look if she really wanted to.
"What are you doing here?" she ground out through clenched teeth, knowing she risked more mocking if she repeated the question but having no idea what else to say.
She and Rosalie had never been on the best of terms. From the moment Bella had started dating Edward and entered the Cullen world, Rosalie had been nothing short of a total bitch to her, and Bella had no idea why. Though Rosalie was a bitch to pretty much anyone, she really seemed to crank it up for the human girl.
"I'm here to kick you while you're down for one, and for two, I have also apparently been designated the official delivery girl because I've been ordered here to drag your stupid ass back home so you can own up to what you did," Rosalie snarked with all the venom of a stepped on snake.
Bella expected nothing less so it didn't sting much. But still.
God, Rosalie was a bitch.
But her words were definitely enough to make her breath catch.
So Alice had gone home last night, and undoubtedly the Cullens had been informed of her actions.
She had guessed as much would happen so she wasn't really surprised. She was almost relieved in a way that at least it was going to be dealt with, because she wouldn't last long agonizing over it by herself. She just didn't expect for the Cullens to come get her so fast or this early.
Why they sent Rosalie of all people to deal with this, though, was unfathomable, but whatever. It was what it was.
"You always kick me whether I'm down or not so that's nothing new…Why didn't Edward come?" she inquired despite knowing Rosalie's answer would probably be in the form of another insult, and also eager to avoid a discussion with Rosalie about what had happened.
Really, why didn't they? Edward was her boyfriend. Was he not the most logical choice? Wouldn't he be the most worried, the most upset? Knowing him he would have flown over here at the first sign of trouble and berated her for answers but instead, she got Rosalie.
Despite all their fighting lately, Edward's comfort sounded really great right about now. It would be nice to fall in his arms and bury her face in his chest, smell his soothing scent of earth and cedar trees with that faint hint of incense and dark chocolate.
"Oh, Eddie's around. He's preoccupied at the moment though. No time for his poor little human,"
Rosalie shrugged, her eyes sparkling maliciously. Bella had the sneaking suspicion she knew more than she was letting on. "And I'm already bored of chit chatting with you, so go throw on something that doesn't make it look like I'm walking a trash bag to the car and let's move it."
"But-"
Rosalie was gone in a blur, the aroma of pine trees and sunshine trailing behind her. As horrible as she was, Bella had to admit she was a gorgeous specimen, even for a vampire, and she smelled as good as or better than any of them. She always smelled like crisp winter air, pine trees and yet the warmth of a scent that hinted at suntan lotion and reminded the brunette of sunny days always made Bella want to breathe in whenever she was near, as did any vampire's unique scent.
And yet…Despite all that, her pheromones didn't have the effect on Bella that Alice had. She couldn't help but notice that despite how beautiful Rosalie was and how good she was bound to smell, she was still a bitch and Bella didn't like her. She had no urge to be touched by her (ugh) or to…To kiss her.
Gross.
Rosalie was still Rosalie…But then why had Alice not simply been Alice when she returned last night?
She was sure the bite had something to do with her unusual symptoms related to Alice's pheromones, but supposed it didn't really matter at this point. She could only be thankful her strange lesbian symptoms were not present around Rosalie.
God, how awkward and freaky would that be? She thought, trudging out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her bedroom. She really was dressed like crap in nothing but a mud brown hoodie and a faded pair of comfy green sweatpants that she'd stolen from her mom in Phoenix so that they were a few sizes too big on her tiny waist.
She changed into an old pair of ripped-at-the-knees jeans and a black tank top before she brushed her teeth and hair, not bothering with makeup or trying to look good. She could look like Scarlett Johansen and Rosalie would still think she was ugly, so she had no one to impress anyway.
When she walked out the front door a few minutes later, Rosalie was leaning against the hood of an idling blood red Mercedes-Benz sedan that looked like it cost more than an entire college education.
"Pick it up, grandma. I don't have all day, so quit dragging your feet," Rosalie retorted and Bella rolled her eyes, dreading this ride.
A part of her really wanted to go back inside and climb in bed like Charlie had told her to, but she couldn't just blow off the Cullens (and she didn't really want to, she wanted this settled…And she was kind of worried about Alice) and she sure as hell couldn't just blow off Rosalie. The blond would probably happily drag her the whole way there by her hair if given her choice. She couldn't be happy about this arrangement either.
"You're impatient," she uselessly pointed out as she dragged herself over to the car and yanked the door open. She climbed in and was not surprised to see Rosalie already throwing it in to reverse before she could even shut the door even though she had been standing at the front of the car a moment before.
"And you're an idiot. Guess which one's worse?" the vampire scoffed, backing out before slamming her foot to the gas pedal and tearing down the street.
Bella put a hand on the dashboard, not having had a chance to put on her seat belt.
Another thing about vampires; they liked to drive as fast as they could run.
"Easy!" she yelped, buckling in hastily when Rosalie skidded to a stop at a stop sign a few seconds later.
"Is what you are," Rosalie said sweetly, taking off again.
Bella bit the inside of her lip to stop her retort, knowing it would be a pointless, infuriating endeavor to argue with the blond.
Rosalie was being an even bigger twat than usual.
"So I can't help but be a little curious," Rosalie spoke after a long moment of tense silence while she took a curve in the road hard enough to make Bella brace against the door of the sedan and try not to be sick. "Why are you such a freaky little pervert?"
Bella jerked her head towards the blond who looked serenely out over the road.
"What the hell is your problem?" she snapped, offended and blushing like mad.
It was a sad day in Forks that Rosalie seemed to know of her problems with Alice's pheromones the night before. What else would she be asking her asinine question for?
As if she wasn't anxious enough having to ride over there and deal with this, Rosalie seemed bent on making it worse.
"My problem is the fact that you have upgraded from rodent-like nuisance to royal pain in the ass within a fortnight," Rosalie answered with heat in her voice that made Bella's stomach twist with confrontation. "Alice came home looking like a train wreck and sounding like one too because of you and your pathetic teenage hormones, and now here I am, having to drive out here and come get your ass."
"You don't even know the full story!" Bella choked out, cheeks on fire now.
Rosalie was blunter than a spoon and pulled no punches.
"Alice may be annoying but she's not a liar, so yeah, I do. And you're a creepy little pervert. What, you have some newfound bi-curious urges after she gave you a peck on the lips so you jump her? Wanted to make her your new experiment? She's a vampire, you idiot," Rosalie barked back with a condescending laugh at the edge of her voice.
Bella had a feeling Rosalie had been holding all this in from the moment she had set foot in the brunette's kitchen.
"You-dude, seriously-"
"Don't call me dude, you inarticulate fool."
Bella let out a noise of outrage and locked her jaw, shaking her head at the blond in exasperation.
Anger pulsed in her lower belly and came rushing up her throat in a volley of insults that Bella knew better than to let out if she wanted to keep her tongue. Shouting at Rosalie was a guaranteed death wish.
"What? No words now? Or maybe you're thinking about trying to kiss me too. Wouldn't that make my amazing day even better, having to deal with your newfound lesbianism."
She just would not let up!
"Not on your fucking life, you narcissistic woman! What is your deal? I know you've got that whole disease where you're a total bitch to everyone but could you please tone it down?" Bella finally exploded, one hand gripping the handle over the door so hard her knuckles bulged.
There was only so much a person could take before death started looking like a better idea than sitting in this car with this insufferable cunt of a woman!
Rosalie slammed so hard on the brakes at the red light they rolled up on that Bella felt the seat belt cutting into her chest as she jolted forward so hard that her aching neck throbbed in pain.
"You wanna run that by me again, little girl?" Rosalie turned her face to Bella's and gave her a deadly glare that made her insides twist.
No ma'am! Her subconscious answered in the voice of a recruit answering a drill sergeant.
Bella chewed the inside of her cheek, torn between letting loose another insult and cowering.
Vampires could naturally terrify any human, who were their natural prey, but Rosalie could turn it up to a whole 'nother level when she wanted to.
And right then she was doing that and Bella really kind of had to pee because of it.
Rosalie stared her down so hard and so long that the light turned green and a car honked behind them. Bella took her momentary distraction as an opportunity to unclip her seat belt and begin climbing over the console.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rosalie snapped as the car began moving forward again. "Get that flab you call an ass out of my face and put it back in the seat where it belongs, damn it!"
Bella's escape attempt was diverted as the blond grabbed a handful of the back of her tank top and unceremoniously yanked her back into the front seat.
"God damn it Rosalie, fuck you!" she shouted. "I'm not sitting up here with you anymore!"
She waited for a split second before vaulting over faster this time and Rosalie swore as her foot kicked off of the radio and sent the quiet music that had been playing faintly in the background blaring. The car swerved as an obnoxious rap song roared into the car which swerved in the chaos.
Bella and Rosalie both swore furiously as a series of honking horns blared and the blond pulled the car back into their lane while the brunette was tossed into the back seat.
Well, that had been her goal anyway.
She landed with a thump and a huff of breath, angrily muttering under her breath while Rosalie bellowed something indistinguishable at her over the rapper humming "Bands a make her dance, bands a make her dance, all these chicks popping pussy, I'm just popping bands-"
The music abruptly cut off as Rosalie twisted the volume dial to zero.
"You stupid imbecile, do you want to crash and die? Goddamn you Emmett and your stupid music!" Rosalie raged at any and everything. "Flip me off again you truck driving sonofabitch and I'll make you my lunch! And what does 'bands a make her dance' even fucking mean? What is the matter with you humans?"
Bella ignored her as she scrambled to right herself in the seat, struggling into the seat belt as Rosalie was distracted by the multitude of other things that had managed to piss her off during the brunette's bid for freedom.
She tried not to snicker but she couldn't help it. It was nice to see Rosalie experience some of the fury she caused in Bella every time she came around.
Unfortunately, Rosalie heard her.
"Yeah, keep laughing you little shit. You weren't laughing when Alice was making you cream your panties, were you?"
Bella drew in a sharp breath.
She then did what any angry but mature young teenager would do when civilly responding to a rude, vulgar person.
She kicked the shit out of the back of Rosalie's seat.
The blond swore again as she was shoved forward and the car swerved again. Another bout of horn honking went on and the sound of a police siren whooped to life behind them, coupled with a pair of alternating flashing red and blue lights.
"You brat!" Rosalie snarled as she jerked the wheel to the side and pulled over, rudely cutting off two other cars as she did so.
Needless to say, it was a long ride to the Cullen household.
When they finally pulled up, having not spoken a single word to each other after Rosalie received a ticket for reckless driving of which she vowed not to pay for despite how rich she was, claiming it was all Bella's fault, the brunette was more wound up and nervous than ever.
She was about to have to walk into that house and own up for what she'd done, have to explain why as embarrassing as it was, and hope to god they forgave her…
Especially Alice. Her best friend, who probably hated her now. Who might still be hurt, and it was all Bella's fault.
She had no idea how she was going to explain this to Edward, to any of them. With how much their relationship had been on the rocks lately, she didn't know if it would be able to stand it. And the thought of losing Alice was bad enough on its own, but to lose him, too?
The only reason she did not vomit was because Rosalie would surely have killed her if she puked in her car.
They both got out with Rosalie slamming the door violently and Bella wincing as it agitated her headache. When they made it to the front door, Rosalie storming up and Bella sulking miserably behind her, it was opened for them.
"Oh! Well hello there…"
A woman who rivaled Rosalie's beauty appeared in front of them. Bella's eyebrows shot up and she breathed in harshly as a wonderful scent fluttered into her nose. The smell of cinnamon, ice wine, and roses mixed with the smell of a burning log fire tickled her senses. God, the woman smelled like sex on legs. A fiery waterfall of red hair draped the woman's heart shaped face and she was as tall and voluptuous as the blond standing before her. Where Rosalie looked like an angel, this vampire (for undoubtedly she must be) looked like the devil's temptation personified.
Her eyes…
Her eyes were blood red.
Bella found herself suddenly swaying where she stood and breathing that scent in deeply. She was swimming in a thick haze that floated from the woman's presence…
Oh my god, this is what Alice did to me! She internally screamed, petrified instantly.
"My, my, is this her? Nobody said she would be so cute. She looks a bit worse for wear but that's to be expected after a night like that…Nothing a good cleaning up can't fix…"
The woman was talking in a voice like melted butter and she bypassed Rosalie quickly. The blond looked kind of dumbstruck herself, obviously not recognizing whoever was exiting her 's knees almost buckled when the woman pressed one cool hand to the side of her face and smirked as she cupped it, caressing her cheek gently. Her eyes flew wide and she couldn't breathe, stunned by both the woman's gall and her pheromones.
"Little minx, you're the naughty one going around causing all this trouble, hmm? You're like a mischievous kitten…Mm, you'd better behave, sweetheart, because now I've got my eye on you. I like my kittens better when they purr instead of bite, anyway," the woman smiled a feral smile, sharp fangs peeking out under her ruby red almost choked on her own spit when the gorgeous vampire ducked her head to her ear and whispered in a low, husky tone that made her belly drop, "Oh, and I do look forward to getting the chance to make you purr, honey."
And with that, the woman disappeared in a blur down the driveway and into the woods, leaving nothing behind but a hint of cinnamon and the echo of her coy giggle.
"What the fuck?" Rosalie voiced her thoughts, her head cocked to the side. "Who was she?"
For once, they were in agreement.
Bella stood there looking thunderstruck, her throat dry and her head pounding harder than before. Pheromones whispered at the back of her mind and made her spine tingle. Unfortunately, Rosalie noticed all this and –oh god- sniffed at the air, smelling her arousal easily.
"Are you serious? That slut stuff actually turned you on? Maybe you are gay," she scoffed before turning and stalking into the house, looking disgusted.
Maybe she was a closet homophobe or something.
Either way, Bella's cheeks flamed redder than the mystery woman's hair and she dissolved into a fit of confusion and angst all over again. Not knowing what else to do or what had just happened, she reluctantly followed after the spiteful blond, feeling as if she had entered the lion's den.
She followed the sound of quiet conversation and ended up in the living room, suddenly realizing that staying at home and agonizing by herself while everything remained unresolved would have been better than actually dealing with it.
When she walked in, all conversation stopped. Rosalie had walked over to Emmett, who sat in the loveseat, and draped herself across his lap like a pampered house cat. Carlisle and Esme stood next to the coffee table and looked up from what looked to be a hushed conversation when she entered.
But none of them really drew her attention.
She had eyes only for Alice.
Seeing her again so soon made her heart skip a beat, or several. She reacted to the shock and the onslaught of flashbacks in the most natural way she knew how.
"Hey, Alice," she said reflexively as she had done countless times before, despite the lingering sense of fear the girl had left her with. She did so on instinct, completely forgetting for a split second why maybe she really shouldn't do so.
Said girl was sitting next to Jasper on the couch, pressed snugly into his side as Bella had seen them so many times before, but now instead of leaping to her feet and greeting Bella with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, she only stared down at their clasped hands and did not even deign to look at her when she entered.
And that hurt. It hurt a lot.
But it was kind of expected, and more than deserved.
But what hurt worse was seeing Alice's arm cradled in a sling, and her haggard appearance. Her normally disheveled hair now actually looked disheveled instead of sexily mussed and her eyes did not twinkle with that light…
But they were still blue, a deep, vivid blue that shocked Bella silent as they had the first time. But why the hell did she need a sling? She was a freaking vampire!
It was only one of many questions swirling in her brain, but in order to cover up her embarrassment at Alice's cold shoulder and the obvious elephant dancing around the room which was last night, she turned to Carlisle and asked weakly, "Where's Edward?"
Silence.
Absolute silence met her question.
She frowned and wondered maybe if she was going to get the cold shoulder from all of them. She felt as if she were in the calm before the storm, waiting for them all to start yelling and shouting at her for how idiotic she was, tell her to get out and never come back or something equally horrifying. The embarrassment at their silence prickled at her until she squirmed as Carlisle glanced from her eyes to Esme and then back again before grimacing.
He had just opened his mouth to speak, but alas, Rosalie beat him to it, and thus the blow that was to be dealt came unsoftened and with no holding back.
"Edward's gone. He left for Denali three days ago, and he won't be back for months."