The Hunt.
A thief and the vampire.
One. Two. Three. Bella examined the rain on the window from the edge of her seat, watching the induvial drops gather and drop, giving up their desperate embrace with the glass. A week had passed and still Victoria refused to divulge her intentions, or the game she was playing. Despite the subtle inquiries, Victoria was also clinging to Bella's information.
The location that Bella needed wasn't going to be unleashed, and Bella knew better than to beg, so she tried to remain patient in spite of her desperation. Like the rain and the glass, Bella continued to cling to Victoria because she needed her. But as soon as the information was hers, she planned to roll away and disappear.
The more she pondered over it and watched the glass, the more Bella began to get angry. Her nails bit deep into the wood of her chair, irritating her bandaged hand and causing the angry wound to burn with her. A door slamming in the background informed Bella that Victoria, and her friend Laike was home.
Another thing that Bella assessed, and examined. Vampires were quiet, and deadly. Slamming doors were unnecessary and done for purposeful reasons. Victoria was deliberately warning her she was home, easing her into a false sense of human security and trying to subconsciously lull Bella into believing she wasn't hanging around with a supernatural being.
When so much effort went into acting normal for her sake, Bella had to question the real motives that prompted Victoria to keep her around. They were back from a hunt, another thing Victoria tried to normalize, by buying human food on her way back just for Bella, as if she had simply gone shopping. Which Bella supposed was what Victoria had done. Shopped for blood.
The pair walked in laughing loudly, more deliberate noise. Their clothes were soaked, clinging to their marble bodies and giving back no warmth to dry the fabrics. Victoria's crimson eyes sought Bella out with a smirk on blood stained lips. "Bella, how are you today?"
Bella trilled out a false laugh, watching Victoria deposit the paper brown bag of food on the counter. "Me? I'm just great, thank you; how are you today?"
"See how cocky she is?" Victoria laughed with a solid nudge to her friend.
"Fantastic. I need your help now, Bella."
Bella raised her brow. "Does this mean I'll get my location?"
Victoria rolled her eyes, unleashing her wet and messy curls. "Yes. But it'll be dangerous."
Bella frowned as she unfolded herself from her seat. "How?"
"Dangerous like death, sweetie." Victoria replied in a tone Bella had only ever heard used to a small, dense child.
While Bella stared hard at Victoria, sharing her displeasure, Victoria purposefully lounged against the counter and slipped her slim hands into her jean pockets. When she had settled in comfortably, dragging out the silence, she answered: "You're wondering how?"
Bella gave a stiff nod, more than annoyed with Victoria's parroting. Victoria simply shrugged and evaded the question. "I was wondering if you would accompany me tonight."
"Accompany you to do what?"
"Steal something important to me."
"So you're making me a thief? What is this? Some pathetic duo act: the thief and the vampire?" Bella scoffed.
Victoria waved her hand through the air, dissipating Bella's snarky comments. "It would seem so."
Without another shared word, Victoria turned her back on Bella and made her way to the front door, her friend trailing behind her like a lost puppy. "I'll be back later, when it's time."
For the rest of the day Bella tried to puzzle through the interaction, pick it apart and understand where Victoria's mind was at. The wasted hours proved futile because by time arrived, bringing the redhead back with it, Bella was no closer to understand Victoria than she was to understanding the wonders of the world.
One thing Bella was certain off, was that she was being used. Victoria didn't need her to steal something. Victoria was a vampire; powerful; invincible. But what the bigger picture? What was Bella missing? The clock on the wall continued to tick, sending Bella crazy with its countdown to whatever insane plan Victoria had concocted.
Looking cool and casual, Victoria strolled in with her red curls pinned up and dressed in simple jeans and black jumper. "Why aren't you dressed yet?"
Bella glanced down at herself. "I see a t-shirt, some jeans and some sneakers," she responded sarcastically.
Not impressed, Victoria simply blinked her long lashes at Bella, casting shadows over her own milky cheeks. Suddenly, the wind was being knocked from Bella's chest, and Victoria's hand was wrapped too tightly around her throat, leaving no room for air to work its way inside her system.
"Get dressed in the black clothes I left you," she whispered softly, digging her long nails into the supple skin at Bella's throat. "NOW."
Bella flinched but slapped her hand away, realizing that Victoria had allowed it due to how easy the detachment was. Cursing violently, Bella stormed off to the room she had been sleeping in and dressed in the black outfit laying across her bed. Fuming, Bella stormed back to Victoria. "Happy?"
Victoria smiled sweetly. "Don't you look cute."
Bella growled. "Don't ever put your hands on me again."
The redhead rolled her eyes, clearly dismissing the demand. Laike entered the room quietly, not speaking. Victoria turned to her, speaking in a coded way as she passed a roll of money over to her friend. "We might be back. Depends. You know how it is."
The two left shortly after, dressed identically and trailing along in the bitter cold. The harsh winds stung Bella's exposed skill, turning it pink in anger. The walk was silent for a long time, until Bella felt like cracking from the lack of speech. She spent all day in silence, and while Victoria wouldn't be the first person she would run to, she was the only option.
Casting for any topic, Bella finally said, "nice thing you did back there."
Victoria heard her over the howling winds and shrugged, her body breaking the winds so that they curved around her solid form. "I would have thought you would be more interested in where we were going, and not about who I give money to."
Bella scowled at her attempt to cut of conversation. She pushed on. "So where are we going?"
No reply. "Who's Abraham?" Victoria asked instead.
The question surprised Bella, throwing her off guard. "Just someone I know. Why?"
"Don't waste my breath, or yours by lying, Bella. Tell me, or I'll torture it out of you."
The threat also caught Bella off guard. Sure Victoria was rough, but Bella always excused her mentally with a multitude of reasons: her vampire thirst making her ravenous, her vampire curse making her emotions heightened, her need to prove she was the boss and the dominate one of the duo. But she had never outright promised pain.
"You think scare tactics will work with me? Would it really hurt you to just ask nicely?"
The night air was heavy with Bella's panting, and darkness stopped her from finding Victoria next to her, despite the others bright red hair. So Bella peered in the general direction that she believed the vampire to be, wondering if her words had any effect on the colder woman. Silence stretched tightly between them, making Bella's heart race. "Victoria?"
Minutes passed, until Bella stopped her walking, sure she had been left in dark. Next thing she knew, she was being pinned to a rough brick wall, the rocks digging into her the right side of her face. Panic surged momentarily until adrenaline took over and moved Bella's limbs to punch and kick.
Fighting back proved futile and soon exhausted Bella to the point of collapsing against the wall, panting for breath. An arm branded across her shoulders, hips pinned hers and a thin hand pressed her head tightly to the brick. "Let me go," Bella demanded hoarsely.
"Why would I would do that gorgeous?"
Bella's heart rate picked dramatically, hearing a man whisper into her ear. A large part of her had believed it was just Victoria, proving who run the show by throwing Bella around. But it seemed a complete stranger had a hold of her, and Victoria wasn't here. What was going on? Where was Victoria? Who was this man?
Bella threw her head back sharply, connecting her skull with the stranger's nose. He howled as he stumbled around but his hand stretched out, tangling up in her brunette curls and pulling her down to the ground. Bella whimpered as she landed on her hand, rolling away from the body next to her.
The darkness was so oppressing that Bella couldn't see her hand in front of her of her face, but she could feel the hot liquid pooling beneath her bandage where the stitches had ripped. Crashes were sounding all around her until suddenly a streetlight blazed to life, washing the surrounding area in yellow.
Victoria's face appeared in front of her, and then the red head was hauling her up. "Get up!"
"What was that?" Bella yelled unnecessarily.
"Rogue vampire," Victoria answered, releasing Bella's upper arms.
Bella squinted around in their small patch of light. They had been walking in darkness all this time, and then Victoria appeared and light followed her; hadn't Bella met her under the sudden blaze of a street light? Bella eyed Victoria who gave nothing away with her straight face. Did Victoria control lights? Or electricity?
"Did you get him?" Bella finally asked, not wanting Victoria to realize she knew her gift.
Victoria shuck her head in the negative. "Got away."
Bella massaged her throat, trying to prompt air back into her system. "What now?"
Victoria turned and continued walking, back into the darkness. "We keep going. We're almost there."
Bella struggled to catch up, and ending up jogging. "What if he comes back?"
Victoria lagged a little, allowing Bella to fall into step with her until she shrugged. "I kill him." She said it so simply, as if she wasn't taking someone's life.
"Good one, Vicky," Bella joked, trying to normalize Victoria a little with a silly nickname.
Victoria visibly scowled. "That's a horrible name."
Bella laughed. "I know. I should you fucking psycho."
This actually made Victoria laugh, the first time Bella had heard anything remotely nice come out of her mouth. Turning her attention back to their walk, Victoria's laugh died off and she pointed into the distance. "Right there."
Bella squinted, just making out a small and empty park. "There?"
"Don't let it fool you. This place is heavily guarded, and we should expect company any minute."
Victoria reached down and tightly grasped Bella's injured hand, causing Bella to scream in pain. Snarling, Victoria clapped her free hand over Bella's mouth. "Shut up!"
Bella clawed the red heads hand from her face. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're hurting me!"
"Good!" Victoria snarled, turning her bright red eyes upon Bella. "I'm preparing you. Reminding you. The man that shot you, the man that came into your room and planned to kill you. This is where they originate from. This is their base, and I need you angry and injured and ready to fight with me."
Bella scowled, her hand throbbing and making her stomach roll with pain. "I'm not ready to fight when you won't even tell what we're going in there to get!"
Victoria turned back to the deserted park. "My necklace."
Bella gaped in disbelief and ripped her hand from Victoria's, which the vampire allowed. "Are you kidding me? We're risking our lives for a fucking necklace!?"
Victoria didn't respond to her anger, simply answered with, "it was given to me by my mate."
Bella grimaced. She imagined that Victoria's mate was long dead, otherwise he or she would have been travelling with the beautiful vampire. Maybe that was why Victoria was horrible, so cold and unyielding. Bella knew what it meant to lose someone, and try to hold on to any part of them. She glanced at her bracelet and sighed.
"Are we going in then?"
Victoria glanced at her, showing no emotion but perhaps trying to understand why Bella had become so willing. Saying nothing, Bella stared ahead and waited. "Yes, we shall."
They moved towards their destination, and Bella felt a shiver roll down her spine. "It's creepy up close," she whispered.
Victoria was right. Looks were deceiving. What park was guarded with barbed wire, broken glass and rotting rubbish? Victoria tore at the barbed wire, barely even damaging her marble hands. Bella glanced around in paranoia. "Quiet! If anyone's here, they'll hear us!" She hissed under her breath.
With the gate now destroyed, they made there was through the park to very end of it, where at first glance there seemed to be a dead end. A thick foliage of bushes and tree trunks. Until Victoria pulled all the greenery and branched aside, revealing shutter doors large enough for delivery trucks to move through.
"Why would a necklace be here?" Bella whispered.
Victoria's tone was clipped and stiff. "We're not dealing with humans, Bella. They killed my mate."
Bella didn't see how that answered her question, so she tried again. "But how did they get the necklace?"
Victoria started stacking wooden crates against the doors into a rickety ladder. "They captured me as well. Now shut up and follow me. Try not to break anything." With that, she began to climb the boxes she had constructed.
Bella climbed behind her, dubious about her ability to climb things without hurting herself. Upon reaching the roof, Bella found that it was made of glass and there was a small, stone ledge that they walked carefully along. Victoria seemed to be familiar with her surroundings and only briefly stopped to tell Bella to stay low and be quiet.
Bella glanced over the edge, the large height making her head swim and eyes cross. She was so preoccupied with not falling to her death that it took her a moment to notice the two armed guards down on the floor. Neither of them spoke on their shift, and neither of them would ever speak again after Victoria decapitated them.
Bella turned her head, her stomach revolting against the last image branded on her eyeballs. Two heads rolling away from their bodies, and Victoria's black clothes splattered with red crimson that matched her hungry eyes as she licked her hands clean. Victoria turned her head up to Bella, who was still high up on the room.
"Hurry. Jump, and I'll catch you."
"I don't trust you," Bella hissed, but she jumped away.
"This way," Victoria motioned, making a quick dash towards an open door beside the decapitated bodies and poking her head inside.
Sniffing delicately, she turned to Bella and whispered, "I don't like this."
The long hallway they found themselves in was flooded with darkness, and the only slither of light was from an ajar door at the end. Bella tried to keep her eyes out for anything unusual but it was so dark, she doubted she was doing anything helpful. Victoria stopped suddenly, whispering, "that's strange."
"What is?" Bella hissed, on edge in the darkness.
"This room has blood in it. Lots of it."
Bella gulped but followed Victoria inside. Bella gagged, covering her mouth and nose with her top from the stench. Many bodies littered the floor all around her. "What happened here?" She asked through the fabric of her top.
Victoria glanced around, not covering her mouth and nose like Bella but clearly not breathing from the lack of moving chest. "I don't think I'm the only supernatural creative around today."
They picked their way through the dead bodies littering the room to another door, which connected to yet another hallway. Blood smeared the walls, and claw marks dug up the ground. Cautiously they moved closer to the door hanging from its hinges. "What was that?" Bella gasped, straining her ears.
"Growling?" Victoria asked, but seemed to only be asking herself as her hearing was better than Bella's.
Together they pushed open the door, and for the first time the thief and the vampire were united in their reaction. "Oh my god."
AN: Sorry for the delay, is Bella human?
Thanks to my beta Cheri!