AN1: Quick update this time. It's been less than a week and I think that's some sort of record for me. I was just excited to write this chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
AN2: I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed and keeps on reviewing. You guys just make writing much more fun. This one if for you :)
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Bella barely spared Edward a glance as she got in the car with him, her mind still on the confrontation she'd just had inside the house. She was supposed to be doing something different, something fun, but already it felt like everything was going wrong. Guilt ate away at her. To say that Tori hated being compelled by the collar was the understatement of the century.
In a spur of the moment decision Bella had probably just made things even worse between them. She hated to admit it but she had no idea what the hell she was doing when it came to her relationship with Victoria.
"Hi Bella. You look great," said Edward. His voice snapped her out of her reverie. Right, she was still supposed to be going out on a date with him. With effort she turned to him and gave him the best smile she could, which to her felt a little underwhelming.
"Thanks. You look pretty nice yourself," said Bella, and he did. He wore designer jeans and a button down shirt both which might as well have been tailored for him. Edward smiled at her with a look that could only be described as adoring. It was somewhat odd given that they'd only ever had a few conversations but Bella pushed her instinctive uneasiness aside. There were worse things in the world than having a good looking guy look at you that way.
Edward put the car in drive and pulled away from the house. Bella wondered what Victoria would do while she was out. She wondered if Victoria would feel the need to go out and kill someone because of how angry Bella had made her.
"Thanks for this Edward. I really needed to just get away for a few hours," she said, settling into her seat for the hour long car ride to Port Angeles.
"It's my pleasure. Almost since first meeting you I knew we would be going out together," he said sounding for all the world like he was serious. Bella had to smile in amusement.
"My, that's certainly very cocky of you Sir Cullen," Bella said cheekily "for all you knew I only went out with guys with black hair. Or people with red eyes."
Edward didn't seem too pleased by her reply, but then he smiled mysteriously at her. "Well if something's meant to be, then it's meant to be," he said.
Bella didn't know what to make of that statement or how to respond to it so she just smiled politely at him feeling a little confused. Whatever he saw in her he seemed satisfied as he then turned and focused his attention on the road.
"I've got the evening planned out for us. Nothing too fancy but I think you'll like it," he said changing topics.
"Sure. I'm game for anything," she replied.
To get her mind off a certain redhead she figured she might as well start getting to know Edward. Besides they had a long drive ahead of them. It occurred to her then that she knew very little about the Cullen seated next to her.
"So what sorts of things do you like to do in your spare time?" she began.
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Sooraya Taylor was an exotic beauty; her mother had been a native of Pakistan and her father was an Englishman. She mostly took after her mother in looks but had inherited her heterochromia from her father. Her left eye was an icy blue and her right was a startling emerald green. Sooraya's large eyes naturally drew attention to the almost alien beauty they possessed set as they were against the dark skin of her mother's people. The twenty two year old had always drawn people's eyes even before she hit puberty. Even as a child her looks had been as rare as a long winter's day.
There was also something else that was different about Sooraya. She was a witch and an extremely talented one for her age.
Her father had never taken much of an interest in her until she began to show some magical ability at age seven. He was a warlock, a wizard who had used his magic in ways that caused the Circle to place a death sentence on him. Occasionally they still sent out their mage hunters to track him down. Of course he had always managed to stay one step ahead of them.
Since she was fifteen years old when her mother had died Sooraya had been traveling with her father learning from him and assisting him in his work. He was a mercenary, someone who would do absolutely anything for a payout and didn't care what he had to do or who got hurt in the process. He was a ruthless man and tried to turn his daughter into the same.
In some ways he had largely succeeded. Inside an abandoned office building on the outskirts of Seattle she tended to her father's creations without batting an eye. It had stopped bothering her years ago that he used human remains. When she stopped caring entirely about the people he killed to acquire those remains she knew he would be proud of her. It wasn't like her own hands were completely clean of blood. They hadn't been for a long time now.
The door that led to the second floor suddenly burst open surprising the biracial beauty. Her father came in at almost a run, a predatory smile on his face that sent a wave of unease through Sooraya.
"One of the detection spells triggered. We've got that slippery little bitch now!" said her father with a greedy glint in his eye. Sooraya already knew he was thinking about the money they would collect.
Luke Taylor was a tall, dark and dangerous man of imposing bearing who was well into his middle years. His eyes were the color of grey storm clouds and could be terrifying to behold. For all of his education and magical power he had never been able to shed his poor London roots, his scarred face and knuckles evidence of his checkered early years. He was handsome in a rough kind of way and absolutely relentless in getting whatever he was after. Sooraya had often mused that being loved by her father was like being loved by a vicious and dangerous pitbull.
And the pitbull had picked up the girl's scent. It was only a matter of time now.
The exotic young woman felt a moment of pity for the unfortunate young witch but pushed the feeling aside with ease of practice. Like her father had told her about their targets so often, she was nothing but a payday. A meal ticket. If they succeeded in this job they might never have to work again. More than worth it any way you wanted to slice it.
"What city did the alarm go off on?" asked Sooraya.
"Port Angeles," he answered with a broad grin "If we load up the buses now we should be able to get there in three hours. Then after we give what's left of her to the Volturi we can take a nice long vacation in the fucking Bahamas. How does that sound?"
"Sounds pretty good father," she answered with a small smile. A vacation did sound very good.
"Hurry up and load the buses. We leave in ten minutes."
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Bella was doing her best to enjoy dinner at the nice but casual restaurant Edward had brought them to. The food was very good but the whole thing felt a little awkward especially since Edward hadn't bothered to order anything. He was just looking at her while she ate which was weirding her out just a little bit.
"Isn't it a bit, you know odd that you're not having anything to eat? People here might think you have an eating disorder," she teased between bites.
"It's really not necessary. Besides I prefer to keep my attention on you," he replied.
"Ah, right."
Bella had learned quite a bit more about Edward on the car ride over from Forks. He liked to play the piano and classical novels. Also half the things he said straddled the border between romantic and creepy and Bella found the whole attitude a little off putting. Even with her inexperience with dating she could tell that he was far more into her than she was into him at the moment. Weren't first dates just supposed to be just about getting to know someone? She remembered Alice telling her that Edward would take going on a date extremely seriously. Maybe she should have paid closer attention.
She had also discovered something else about Edward that to Bella was a nearly unforgivable sin; he didn't seem to have a sense of humor. With Victoria when she joked with her or teased her she would always give it right back with interest in a fun way if she was in a good mood. Or for their mutual amusement she would tease and flirt with somebody until they were a gibbering mess all the while giving Bella secretive looks and little smiles letting her in on the joke. Or she would randomly for an hour decide to only speak in quoted lines from a famous book or movie amusing the heck out of Bella and completely bewildering strangers.
She missed Victoria. The two of them just got each other. Idly Bella wondered what the vampire was doing as she picked at her food, wondering how much groveling and begging she would have to do before Tori even deigned to speak to her again after the stunt she pulled on the way out. The more she thought about what she had done the more it felt like she had made a big mistake.
"Is something wrong Bella? You seem distracted," came Edward's voice surprising her out of her reverie.
Right, she was out with Edward. She should be focused on him right? But he was just so serious and gloomy and boring. Alice was fun so she knew it wasn't a family thing. Was it sad that she was spending her date out with a guy thinking about her roommate?
She wasn't being very fair to him. Even if things hadn't been all fireworks so far he at least deserved her attention. Just because things had begun a little strangely didn't mean they had to remain that way the rest of the evening. Bella decided to change tactics. If joking and humor weren't his thing maybe he would respond better to interesting conversation.
"No nothing is wrong. Sorry I was just thinking. I was just wondering how you saw yourself, could you tell me a little bit about that?"
"What do you mean?" asked Edward, perhaps a little leery.
"Well the only special person I've known my entire life has been Tori. Far as I can tell she's always embraced the whole 'creature of the night' thing and I know she sees herself as being completely different from humans. Since you and your family go out of your way to blend in with everyday people I was wondering if you saw things any different."
"What we are should not be embraced," replied Edward instantly "our nature is foul and corrupt. Our instincts, our strength are all geared towards bringing death and pain to others. The only hope those like us have of being decent people is to shackle our unnatural impulses for eternity. It is truly a cursed kind of existence," he said earnestly. Bella realized she had inadvertently stepped onto a landmine with her question.
Bella swallowed. "Doesn't sound like you like being what you are much. Isn't there anything you like about your life?"
"No. There is absolutely nothing. Nothing is worth this," he replied. Bella frowned. She supposed she had been right about him being gloomy. Being a vampire certainly isn't what everyone would want but there were certainly some upsides to that kind of life. Well at least he seemed passionate about this conversation.
"Come on now. Eternal life, eternal youth and beauty, strength, enhanced senses? You can't tell me there aren't at least a few fringe benefits."
Edward shook his head. "None of that is worth it Bella."
"They don't seem so bad to me."
"You might think you want those things but you don't. Please trust me on this Bella. In the end none of them mean anything."
"Why not?"
"Because," he said starting to sound frustrated "when we are turned we lose our souls. We lose the thing that makes us children of God. Nothing we do can ever get that back." He said it with such feeling and heartbreak it was almost hard for Bella to watch.
"I don't think you're dammed," Bella said quietly.
"Well then you don't know anything," he replied and Bella could almost physically see him retreat into brooding and unhappiness. It was a sad thing to see and it made Bella want to reach out to him and ease his pain somehow.
After that things settled into an uncomfortable silence. Bella picked at her food wondering what had made Edward despise himself so much.
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The restaurant was located near the mall. The moderately sized mall was the entertainment and social center of the small city housing everything from many of their restaurants to their biggest movie theater. All of which was very convenient since Edward's idea of a perfect date was the All-American dinner and a movie.
They took a stroll through the mall as they had some time before the movie was scheduled to start. The awkwardness from the talk they had during dinner had somewhat abated but was still noticeable. Bella contented herself by window shopping as she walked next to Edward awaiting some sign from him that his mood had improved enough to want to resume a conversation.
Bella could have tried to lift him out of his mood but she didn't. She didn't think he would appreciate it and she wasn't adverse to a little silence after how badly she felt they'd failed to connect.
Eventually Edward did speak up but it was not on a topic she had even remotely been expecting.
"What do you know about vampires and their mates Bella?" asked Edward quietly.
Surprised by his question she took a minute to think about it. "The theory is that for every vampire there is another one who compliments them perfectly, who completes them in every way. Supposedly vampires can only be mated once and it lasts for all eternity… or for however long both vampires live at any rate."
Edward frowned a little at that. "Why do you say 'supposedly' and 'theory'? These are established facts. Everyone knows them."
Bella had to smile at that. "No, that is vampire lore which is very different from cold hard facts. Come on you've gone to high school how many times? I'm sure they drilled the scientific method into you enough times. It's very romantic but I'd like to see some comprehensive studies done before I'm convinced." Being a witch was in some ways a little like being a scientist. Things had to be absolutely precise and correct or things could go very wrong. Her life had left Bella with a somewhat atrophied sense of romance in favor of practicality.
"Bella, mates are an indisputable fact. I see it every day in my own family," he said talking slowly as if to a child.
Bella's brow furrowed at that disliking the condescending tone. "I'm not disputing that mates exist. Obviously they do, it's one of the very basics of being a vampire. I'm just saying has anyone done a study to see if a vampire whose mate has died can find another one sometime later? Or how do you know multiple people are not potential mates for one vampire? You never know. If your mate is vampire X who's to say it wouldn't have been vampire Y if you had met them first? That's the kind of thing I was referring to."
Edward seemed somewhat disturbed by her line of questioning. "That's not how it works Bella," he said.
"How do you know?" she challenged.
"I just do. As a vampire you feel the pull of the person you are supposed to be with. It is as impossible to argue with as gravity. I already feel the pull of my mate."
Bella's eyebrows rose in surprise at that. "Wait, so you already know who your mate is supposed to be?"
Edward smiled mysteriously at her. "I do. Circumstances just aren't right for us to be together yet."
Then what the fuck are you doing out on a date with me? She yelled indignantly in her head. If he knew who his mate was why the hell had he asked her out in the first place?
"Well, uh good luck with that. And congratulations," she hastened to add now feeling ten times as awkward about their 'date', if you could even call it that now. Bella bit back every sharp word that came to mind because she was afraid it would make things even more awkward. As it was she couldn't wait for the movie to start so it could end and he would take her home.
Seriously, what sort of game was this guy playing at here?
"Actually, part of the reason I asked you to go out with me was that I wanted to talk to you about your mate."
Edward managed to surprise her yet again. "My mate? I'm a human in case you forgot Edward. We don't have mates like vampires do."
"It's true that humans do not have mates with each other the way vampires do. However there are cases where a vampire meets their mate while their mate is still human. Even though one is a vampire and one is a human they are still very much meant to be together."
This was news to Bella. In all her vampire research she had never come across information like that. All of a sudden her irritation at Edward disappeared as her mind tackled this new bit of knowledge. "Really?" she asked, managing to sound amazed and skeptical at the same time.
Edward nodded. "It's true. Carlisle met Esme while she was still human and dying in a hospital. He was her doctor and they had many talks over a couple of months. Eventually they realized they were meant to be together and he turned her to keep her from dying. Then they lived happily ever after, at least insofar as vampires can."
"Wow," said Bella with real wonder in her voice "that is amazing. I had no idea. Esme's great she completely deserves it. Wow." Her mind was blown. Among humans she considered herself something of a vampire expert by necessity. It wasn't every day a new piece of knowledge this big fell into her lap.
"But wait," she said after a moment, taking a mental step back "you said something about my mate. What does this have to do with me?"
Edward stopped walking and she stopped with him out of reflex. He looked earnestly into her eyes. "You are one such human who has a vampire for a mate Bella. You may not fully realize it yet but part of you already knows. It knew from the very beginning but you just failed to realize it."
Bella was speechless. Her mouth was dry. "You think I have a vampire mate?" she repeated needlessly, her mind trying to grasp the enormity of Edward's claim.
"Yes I do. In fact I know you do. I'm sure of it," he said. He sounded so full of confidence it was almost enough to make Bella believe him.
"And you think… you think you know who it is?" Bella asked anxiously. She didn't believe him, not really, but the idea was enough to get her heart racing anyway.
"Yes I do," he said smiling and full of confidence "and you do too. You already know deep inside. The real reason I wanted to be alone with you was to help you realize who you are meant to be with."
Bella looked into his golden eyes which looked back at her with hope and expectation. At first she didn't know what he was getting at. Then what he was trying to say seemed to click together in her mind all at once.
"Oh my God," Bella said, bringing her hands to her mouth as if that would somehow keep the words in.
No no no he couldn't be saying that. It couldn't be true. Wasn't her life complicated enough already?
"You're saying Victoria is my mate?!" she practically shrieked.
"What? No!" he yelled in shock and indignation.
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It was well after dark when two large tourist buses parked around the corner from the mall. While the mall was nice, clean and modern it was situated in the middle of the old downtown area of Port Angeles. Less than a block from the shiny complex of shops and restaurants began a dilapidated and dirty section of the city filled with abandoned buildings and people one would do well to avoid in a dark alley. While the buses stood out against the background to the two drivers the urban decay was almost like a second home.
Sooraya linked her mind to the dozens of 'passengers' in her bus and gave them an order. Slowly they shambled out one by one and moved to stand awkwardly in the abandoned lot they had parked next to. The passengers in the other bus her father had been driving did the same. Ignoring the scores of figures she walked up to her father.
"We ready to go?" she asked.
Luke nodded. "The magical alarm she triggered was set up near the mall. As long as she doesn't leave the area the boys will be able to home in on her signature when they get close enough. What I need you to do is conceal us while I get to work."
Sooraya nodded already used to her role. While her father had his specialties she had her own. One of things she excelled at were shrouds, the ability to completely conceal them with magic even while standing in plain sight. Her father needed to go into deep meditation while he worked so he would rely on her for protection while he was under.
Of course even a specialist like him couldn't control all his creations at once; all he could do was give them general orders. Still for all its limitations the magic had never failed to get results before.
"I'll have them spread out to cover the area before sending some boys into the mall where I'm guessing she's at. She won't slip through our fingers."
"What about that vampire she's supposed to have protecting her?"
"Enough of the boys can even bring a vampire down. Besides it's not like I'm intimidated by vampires of all things," he said with a confident smirk.
Trying not to think about what they were doing Sooraya set to work. If all went well by this time next week the two of them would be filthy rich and somewhere far far away from Port Angeles.
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"You're saying Victoria is my mate?!" she practically shrieked.
"What? No!" he yelled in shock and indignation.
Bella however didn't hear a word he said. There was a whooshing sound in her ears and she leaned back against the nearest wall because her legs suddenly started to feel wobbly.
"Oh my God Edward, why are you putting these ideas in my head?" she demanded as her eyes stared widely at nothing.
"I didn't!" he protested sounding confused and upset. Once again his response didn't really register with Bella.
She felt lightheaded. There were spots in her vision. There was a whooshing sound in her ears. Bella was pretty sure she was having a panic attack.
"I need to find a bathroom," she said before stumbling off in a random direction.
She was in luck because she hadn't gone more than ten feet before she saw the sign for the restrooms. She accidentally bumped into a few people who gave her dirty looks as she hurried to her destination. Eventually Bella pushed opened the doors and let herself into the sparkling white facilities.
Bella stumbled over to the sink and leaned against the marble counter. This was absolutely crazy. Why was she flipping out? Edward didn't know, he was just making things up and irresponsibly speculating. He was. He absolutely was. Wasn't he?
She knew why she was suddenly hyperventilating and panicking. It was because of the first thing she had felt when the idea had entered her mind.
She had felt hope. Hope and happiness. A wild, heart bursting hope that the two of them were destined to be romantically involved. That they were meant to be together. That Victoria would hold her and love her and never ever leave her, never let her go.
Right then Bella felt betrayed by her emotions because they had just shown her something. They had shown her that her feelings for Victoria went beyond those of just friendship and lust.
By stars and magic, I'm not in love with her am I? I really really hope not. Because I'm sure she doesn't feel the same way.
She didn't know. Bella had no experience in that area, how was she supposed to know what to label what she was feeling? But her reaction to the idea of her and Victoria being destined to be together betrayed her. She felt for Victoria and it was deeper and more powerful than anything she had previously suspected.
With a shaking hand Bella opened the tap and splashed cold water on her face. With discipline she forced her breaths to slow down and even out. After a few minutes of deliberate breathing she could feel the edges of the panic attack begin to recede. However that still didn't make the heavy stone in her stomach go away.
She had feelings for Tori. She wanted to be with her in more than just the Biblical way. Like, a lot. Which was absolutely terrible since Bella was convinced Victoria would abandon her as soon as she could.
Knowing that she would leave her proved that the idea that Victoria was her mate was a joke. Real mates could never and would never leave each other. Edward was delusional. She'd had enough of this 'date'. Bella was going to go out there and demand he take her home right away. If he threw a hissy fit she would just find her own way back.
She took her time washing her hands and composing herself until she was more or less back together again. It was a struggle but she managed to put on a composed and unaffected face. With her head held high Bella strode out of the bathroom.
Edward was waiting for her looking anxious and concerned. As soon as he spotted her he walked up to her.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"Fine. Just fine. You just caught me by surprise is all with your… theory," she said but didn't manage to come across as unconcerned as she hoped.
"Bella," he began "you completely misunderstood me. That's not at all what I meant. Though I suppose I understand why you would make that mistake."
"What? What do you mean?" she asked sounding aggravated.
"What I mean is that I think that I…" he began but he trailed off as he noticed that Bella was no longer looking at him. Instead she was looking intently at something behind him.
"What is it?" he asked sounding annoyed.
"That man… there's something wrong with him," she said and her sudden serious tone confused him and set alarm bells off in his head.
He followed her gaze and his eyes settled on a deathly pale man wearing ill-fitting clothes. The man had his entire head covered in a hoddie and kept his head down concealing his face from view. He moved in shaking, jerky steps that looked pained and awkward.
That was when the smell hit him. The 'man', if it could be called that, smelled like a weeks old corpse. It was subtle, nothing a human would be able to pick up, but the smell of death and decay was obvious to a vampire's sense of smell. Edward tensed and stepped protectively closer to Bella.
Bella for her part instantly shed all her melancholy and emotional ruminations when faced with the prospective danger in front of her. She had a bad feeling about this. It had been a while since someone had tried to kill her but she hadn't forgotten how this dance went.
Using her magical senses she stretched them out toward the figure that was slowly making its way in their general direction. The energies she felt coming off the thing walking towards them almost made her gag with disgust. The magic that was powering it was slippery and corrupt, like an opened sewer that made you feel like you might catch some horrible disease just by standing near it. Bella had felt this foul type of magic only once before.
Necromancy she thought with an involuntary shudder. As she watched she became aware that the hooded thing wasn't alone. Seeming to melt out of the crowd three more hooded figures appeared. All of them were dressed nearly the same, their faces concealed and moving in awkward shuffling steps.
As Bella watched first one of the creatures and then all of them seemed to angle their bodies towards her. Cold dread went through Bella. She supposed it had been too much to hope for that somehow they hadn't been there for her.
One of them lifted its head to look at her. Milky white dead eyes looked at her from a face that was beginning to show signs of decay. It's face was paper white and it bared rotted teeth at her as it began to move in her direction. Him and his three friends began to move in on Bella like wolves stalking prey.
Zombies, thought Bella as fear began to rise up her belly, why did it have to be zombies?
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Bit of a change of pace coming up next chapter, trying to earn the 'Adventure' tag in this story. Hope you enjoyed this one. What did you think? As always more reviews means I'll update faster :D