Sorry we haven't updated in so long! School just started about a week ago and we've already got too much homework. High school just sucks like that. Thanks for all the good reviews we've gotten so far!
Bella's P.O.V.
I looked around at the small group of female nomads, trying to decide which of them had the best gossip. The one I was listening to now had nothing to say but how atrocious one member of her coven had looked the other day. I didn't know how she could say that. Vampires were always beautiful, no matter what we were. I had no doubt that I could walk down the street in the most hideous outfit in the world and still look like a model to every human I passed.
I wasn't big on gossip myself, but it was just something nomad's liked to do when they got together. It did keep me up to date on the current events of the vampire world, however. If not for my chance meetings with other nomads, I wouldn't have a clue what was going on, since I spent most of my time in the forests, where my food would be more readily available.
I knew that was backwards for most vampires, but I guess I wasn't like most vampires. I had started preying on animals about a two years after I'd become a vampire. At first I'd rejected the lifestyle, simply because I didn't want to be like the Cullens. Then one day I took a look in the mirror and realized what I'd become. I realized I didn't like being a monster, shamelessly killing humans whenever I needed to feed. I realized I was losing myself, something I'd always feared when I'd envisioned myself as a vampire, back when he was still around.
"What did you just say?" I asked the vampire in front of me, a short girl with ultra-curly dyed- blonde hair. I hadn't been paying very close attention to her babble, but I could've sworn she'd just mentioned the Cullens.
"I'm worried about my friend Victoria," she repeated, "She's planning on attacking the Cullens."
"Why?" I asked. I knew Edward and his brothers had killed Victoria's mate, James, but that was over ten years ago. Did she really hold a grudge that long? Or was there some other reason?
"She's got some sort of issue with Edward's mate," the girl said, "I dunno why exactly."
I was sure that if my heart still worked it would've stopped beating right then and there. Edward had a mate. He'd found someone else. He'd probably forgotten all about me, and that hurt more than him leaving. I knew it was ridiculous for me to think that he wouldn't move on. He probably thought I was dead, and besides, it'd been nearly fifteen years since I saw him last. I knew it was stupid to think I still had some kind of claim to him, but it still hurt to know I'd been replaced.
"So she's just going to try to kill this girl? Edward's mate?" I clarified.
"No, I think she's going to attack the whole coven, which is why I'm worried," the blonde said, "Do you know how many people they have?"
"A lot?" I said, making it sound like a guess. I didn't want to seem like I knew too much about the Cullens.
"Like eight. One of them doesn't really fight, but still . . ." she trailed off.
"The odds aren't good," I finished for her.
"Exactly!" the girl said, voice growing higher with anxiety. I tuned out the rest of her babbling and began to think about the Cullens, something I usually avoided at all costs. If Victoria attacked them she wouldn't stand a chance. I tried to tell myself that, but a worried voice in the back of my head kept saying that she had the advantage. They didn't know she was coming. They didn't have a defense planned. If she was half as tricky as James had been, she just might get to them.
Then came the hard part, figuring out what I would do about it. Sure Edward had left me. Sure I hated them all for abandoning me. Sure I was majorly pissed that I'd been replaced. I didn't, however, want any of them dead. As much as I hated Edward, I didn't want to see him dead, or rather, to see his ashes on a pyre with a happy Victoria standing over them. And what about little Alice? And caring, motherly Esme? And big stupid loveable Emmett? I had to protect them somehow.
My options were limited, that was for sure. I could warn them, but that involved actually seeing them, and possibly this new girl. That wasn't going to happen. I could find better ways to torture myself than by talking to the Cullens. The only other option was to take out Victoria myself, before she had the chance to get to the Cullens. I asked the blonde when Victoria was planning to attack. Her answer wasn't sure, but it was enough to work with. I said a quick good bye and then raced off to find out where the Cullens were living.
~a few days later~
I crouched in the bushes around the clearing, waiting for Victoria. I knew this was where she was planning to wait for the Cullens, who would be out hunting around this time. I could only pray that I would be able to take care of her and get out of here before they arrived. It didn't think I could handle a run-in with them, that is, if I survived the fight with Victoria. I had the upper hand with my shields, but she was the more skilled fighter.
I peered through the foliage, checking if she'd entered the clearing, but she wasn't there. Of course she would stay hidden until she saw one of the Cullens. I would have to draw her out. I stepped out of the bushes into plain sight and walked to the center of the clearing. I waited, my invisible shield around me, keeping out everything unwanted. She would know I wasn't one of them, but I hoped she'd be surprised into attacking, or at the very least revealing herself. A few moments later an all too familiar red-haired figure stepped out of the trees in front of me.
"Hello Bella, what a surprise seeing you here," Victoria said, her voice pleasant, but with a deadly undertone.
"You're here to attack the Cullens," I said. It wasn't a question.
"No, I'm here to attack you, to steal Edward's mate as he stole mine," she said, her feline form melting into a fighting stance. Her words caught me off guard. How could she think I was Edward's mate? Had she not seen him with the new girl? It didn't matter. She would be dead before the Cullens arrived to clarify.
"I'm not Edward's mate," I croaked, just for the sake of argument.
"Don't lie to me," she hissed. She lunged at me, teeth bared and a snarl ripping from her throat. She collided with my shield and fell back, stunned. She shook her head, trying to see the invisible force field that kept her from touching me. My shield was wonderful defense, but I would have to drop it to attack her.
"I see you've gotten some new abilities since the last time we met," she said, a wicked grin dancing about her lips. I gritted my teeth and said nothing. Now wasn't the time for talking. I had to finish this as quickly as possible.
I pushed my shield out so that it smacked into her and she was knocked down. Victoria growled, not liking that she was fighting something she couldn't see. She circled around me a few times, lunging at random intervals, but my shield was an impenetrable dome. I created one solid wall of shield and sent it at her, so that she was smashed up against another wall of shield. She was sandwiched between the invisible walls so that she couldn't move, and only her head was free. I approached her, dropping my own personal shield, and placed my hands on either side of her head. I was about to rip it off of her body when a voice rang out through the clearing.
"Bella?" it said, sounding incredulous. I didn't look at the source of the voice; afraid of whom I would see.
"Just a sec," I called back, still looking at Victoria. I quickly finished ripping the red-head to pieces then piled them up on the ground. I pulled out a small lighter and set them on fire.
"Bella?" the voice called again. I stared at the flames, unwilling to turn and see him, the one who had caused me so much pain.
Then another voice joined it. "Is that really you Bella?" the pixie-like voice said. I couldn't help but face them then.
"Yeah, it's me," I muttered, turning to find all seven of the Cullens standing there, along with a stranger. At least, she might've been a stranger if she didn't look exactly like me.
"Whoa," the new girl and I said simultaneously. No wonder Victoria had thought Edward and I were still together. I was distracted from my look-a-like by Edward himself, who was racing towards me. I extended my shield to a dome with walls about five feet from where I stood at the center. Edward, unsuspecting of my new powers, slammed right into it. His joyful expression turned to one of confusion and then hurt.
"Stay away from me," I growled, reinforcing my shield to make it extra thick.
"But, Bella, it's me, Edward," he said.
"I know who you are," I said coolly, "That doesn't mean I want you near me."
"I'm so sorry I left you, I'll never forgive myself for that!" he said, his velvety voice almost whining.
"But you'll just replace me no problem?" I snapped, nodding towards the look-a-like.
"What? No, that's Sam, we're not . . . she's just . . ." he stammered at a loss for what to say. I continued to glare.
"Sam is just a friend," Alice said, dancing up to stand beside Edward. She too tried to hug me, but my shield was still firmly in place.
"Whatever, I'm not in the mood for this," I said, and started to turn away.
"Wait!" Alice called, "At least explain what Victoria was doing here!"
If it had been Edward who asked I would've kept walking, but I could say no to Alice. "She was here to attack you, well, Sam I guess, because she wanted revenge for you guys killing James," I said quickly. I looked at the rest of the Cullens and the girl, Sam, who were all being strangely silent. Rosalie was glaring, big shocker there. Emmett was looking confused. Jasper looked like he was in pain, again, big shocker. With all these frantic emotions swirling around, he couldn't be feeling well. Carlisle was unreadable, and Sam just looked pissed.
"So you killed her?" Edward asked, his expression somewhere between impressed and scared.
"Pretty much," I said. No one said anything for awhile after that, and I grew more and more uncomfortable as the silence stretched on. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. "If you're done with the questions, I'm out of here," I said and once more turned to leave.
"Wait!" called a voice I didn't recognize. I looked back to see Sam stepping towards me. "Can I come with you?" she asked.
"Why?" I asked, more shocked than I'd been when I first saw her.
"These people are way too messed up," she said simply, sounding as if she didn't care whether that insulted them or not.
Surprised as I was, I had to agree with her. I felt bad for her, caught up in this drama she was never a part of. I could imagine how all this looked to an outsider like her. "Sure, come on," I said and took off into the forest. She caught up with me and we ran, never once looking back.