Chapter 6
Just a little note to say there won't be an update next week, hope you enjoy!
Everyone stood there in stunned silence at that, Alice looked intensely at my face like she was studying it for a clue.
"Bella…?" She muttered in a quiet unbelieving tone, I tried to smile as softly as I could in my form.
"Hey Shortie." She broke out into a full out smile at that even though I insulted her height.
"It really is you! Wow, this is amazing!" She said dancing around me checking out my furs at different angles.
"It is pretty sweet." I agreed, Emmett boomed out a laugh that make me jump slightly at the suddenness and clapped his hands.
"That explains everything about the human you then, Eddie here was going slightly crazy trying to figure you out." Edward looked at him embarrassed while I chuckled.
"Oh." Edward said looking at me apologetically again. "You knew what I was doing in Biology, when you walked out of the class." He said it more as a statement then a question and I simply nodded to which he hung his head again and apologised.
"Don't think anything of it, I've met a mind reader before and could tell you were one from the feel around my shield, I understood that you must have felt frustrated." My ears pricked as I heard a car approaching the house and everyone else turned their heads too with smiles on their faces, Carlisle left the room to meet his mate and probably inform her of all that has happened.
"Do you mind meeting Esme?" Alice asked kindly.
"Of course not, I'd love to meet the woman who you all seem to worship so much."
"I wouldn't exactly say worship, it's like they make it their life goal to make this poor vampire's hair turn grey." A soft, loving voice said from the doorway, I turned to the matriarch and instantly felt love project from this woman like she was the empath instead of Jasper. She had long caramel coloured hair that matched her bright eyes perfectly and a heart-shaped face, she was wearing a slight grin that showed off her cute dimples, in short she was very beautiful. "It's wonderful to meet you Bella, Alice has told me so much about you, though I must admit you being a wild cat never came into the equation." A rumble left my chest as I laughed at that.
"Nice to meet you too Esme, Alice has told me about you too, although you being a hot mom never came into the equation." Alice gasped and smacked me lightly on my side unable to hold in her grin very well while everyone else giggled and Esme looked a little flustered at my compliment.
"Now, now Bella, please stop flirting with my wife."
"Bella, please stop flirting with my mother." Alice added with faux exasperation.
"As you wish, how about you beautiful?" I asked looking at Rosalie who had been quite silent, she looked around and then her eyes widened when she saw I was talking about her.
"Sorry, I'm not into chicks, or beastiality." She said in a monotone and crossed arms, that sounded like a little joke to me, maybe she's warming up to me
"And this particular goddess is mine." Emmett said, proudly putting his arm around her waist and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Ahh a shame, guess there's no hot chicks I can flirt with around here then." I sighed dramatically before hearing someone clear their throat, I looked at Alice who had her hands on her hips and was tapping her foot with an adorable scowl on her face.
"May I help you little one?"
"You're so mean!"
"Prey tell what I have said?" I gasped at her words. She simply grumbled and looked away with a pout, I chuckled deeply and patted her on the head with my large paw.
"Awww is poor Tinkerbell angry?" As soon as I said that she took my ear and pulled it hard like a mother would do to a small child who'd been naughty. "Ouch ouch ouch ouch mother fucker okay! You're hot! You're hot!"
"Good kitty." I lifted my paw to rub my ear glaring at her innocent expression as I did so. I realised how easily I fell into playful banter with the Cullen's and I enjoyed having the interaction I have lacked for so long immensely, James never joked around, the thought of him put a damper on my mood, Alice seemed to sense this change straight away.
"Are you okay? Did I pull your ear too hard? I'm sorry I didn't me-"
"Shush Alice it wasn't you don't worry, I'm just feeling a bit drowsy from the wounds I got." I said which was half true; I was feeling like I could lie on the soft bed, which judging by the amazing smell in the room it was Alice's, and not come out for a week.
"Would you like some rest?"
"No it's okay." I said not wanting to cut this time short when I was having a good time.
"Wait, so you've known I'm a vampire this whole time? Why didn't you say anything?" She said looking faintly sad that I didn't trust her.
"I…was scared." I admitted embarrassed about showing my weakness, not so much to Alice, but to her entire coven.
"Scared? You don't have to be afraid of us; I would never hurt you Bella."
"I didn't mean I was scared of you little one, I was afraid you would tell the Volturi about me."
"Have you been hunted by the Volturi in the past?" Carlisle spoke up.
"No, well actually I don't really know seeing as I've only ever met one other of my kind, but they will destroy anything that threatens them. I am stronger then vampires, they will feel inclined to remove anything that could take away their power just like they did with the Children of the Moon so many years ago."
"Bella you can trust us, I promise, we will never report you to the Volturi, we're not particularly fond of them since they don't like that we have such a large coven with awesome powers." Alice said looking at me, her eyes made me melt all over again and I saw only truth in them.
"I trust you." I said nodding my head, I looked over at the others. "Can I trust you too?" They all nodded their heads with smiles, even Rosalie and I relaxed. "Do you mind if I shift back now? I've never talked for so long in my cat form."
"Of course Bella, let me get you some of my clothes, Alice's will be too short for you." Esme said kindly walking out of the room.
"I think they'd be too short for anyone…" I mumbled earning another smack on the side from her. Everyone else walked out of the room too to give me some privacy while shifting which I was grateful for but Alice dawdled unsure about whether to leave me.
"Are you sure your legs are okay?"
"They're fine honey I promise." I replied, the endearment coming out without my permission but Alice seemed to like it as she brightened up.
"Do you mind if I come back in when you've changed or do you want to sleep?"
"No it's okay you can come in, it's your room after all." She smiled and nodded leaving the room as Esme came in and placed her clothes on the bed and shutting the door as she left. I shifted back into my human form feeling extremely stiff from staying on four legs for such a long time, my bones clicking as I lifted my arms and stretched out and then I put on Esme's black turtle neck and jeans.
"Okay Alice." I said a little hoarsely from talking so gruffly the past few hours. She walked in, smiled and then ran to me, stopping in front of me and looking around my body, prodding my arm and right leg where the bandages were.
"What's up?" I asked worriedly.
"I just wanted to check you were okay in your human form too. Damn it feels weird to say that." I grinned and she looked curiously at my face.
"You've got a scar..." She said tracing her fingers along my face. I frowned and walked away to go to a mirror and what I saw made me gasp. There was a bright red scar where James scratched down my face, I felt immensely sad when I realised it wouldn't go away, none of the scratches he gave me while I was in human form seemed to go away.
"It's fucking ugly..." I whispered, dropping my eyes from my reflection, Alice was in front of me immediately.
"You couldn't look ugly if you tried darling." Her own endearment made me perk up a little but she grabbed my chin when I kept looking down. "You're beautiful Bella, nothing will ever change that."
I could feel my face heating up with happiness, how can this woman make me blush with such simple words?
"Thanks," I said, uncharacteristically shy suddenly.
"Your eyes are yellow?"
"Oh yeah, they're usually like this, I've been wearing green contacts to cover them up."
"They're pretty." She said running her fingers lightly just under my eyebrow, my face turned a darker shade of red, Gosh dang it woman stop being so complimentative! "You're too adorable when you blush."
"Damn vampires and their inability to blush." She giggled and took a step back, sitting down on her bed and inviting me to do the same.
"Can I ask you some questions?" She looked a little sheepish as she spoke, embarrassed about her curiosity.
"Of course you can." I answered without hesitation unable to deny my mate anything.
"Do you mind me asking if you're immortal?"
"Yes I'm immortal, I stopped aging on my 18th birthday, I've been alive for over 300 years." Her eyes widened obviously not expecting me to be so old.
"Wow, I didn't expect that."
"I look good huh?"
"You look amazing." She said quite seriously and my heartbeat quickened instantly, god how much I wanted this girl…
"Can I ask what you've been doing all this time?"
"What do you mean?"
"Before you came here, what have you been doing for 300 years?" I was dreading this moment since I found out she was my mate, the moment I tell her that I'm a murderer. I was wondering if it's too early to tell her anything, or whether I should tell her at all, but she deserves to know what she's getting herself into if she wants to be with me. When I tell her my story, she will be the one to decide if she still wants to be my friend, and I will respect her wishes no matter what.
"I have to warn you, my story isn't exactly a pleasant one, but promise me that you will listen to all of it and not interrupt me."
"I promise." She said softly, crossing her legs and turning to face me.
"I'm not exactly sure how I became what I am today since my parents were both human, but one day when I was one year old I turned into a little panther right before my mother's eyes. You can imagine her surprise, she was freaked but she told me that when she looked into my frightened eyes she saw me in them and knew she had to protect me no matter what. It must have been some maternal instinct that I don't understand. She told my father who needed a little more encouragement but he accepted it in the end. I still don't understand how they were so acceptable to the supernatural world but they were, and I love them intensely for it.
We moved into the country away from any suspicion and to allow me to hunt the animals in the forest. I need meat to be able to survive just as vampires need blood, and I found myself craving after human flesh not long after my transformation, but I have never once bitten a human, no matter the temptation and have lived off animals, just like you." I looked up into her amber eyes to see her full attention on me, her body slightly leaning towards me as she got into my story.
"When I was 10 my parents were killed by vampires." She flinched back a little at this and I saw pity in her eyes but she didn't interrupt, I looked down again to concentrate. "They found little ol' me hunting in the forest and followed me back to the house, they must have waited until I went out again before they attacked, I heard my parents screams from where I was feeding." I started shaking slightly.
"They tortured them until they were begging to end it, I arrived back to see them covered in blood and my mother looked at me with terrified eyes before they snapped both their necks. I remembered the red cloud that covered my eyes in my rage when I saw the vampires holding the white, lifeless bodies of my wonderful parents, I shifted and tore them apart before they even knew what was happening, they didn't expect me to be stronger then the two of them. I buried my parents and set the vampire parts on fire and when I realised that I had no purpose of staying I started to travel the world, while killing every vampire that I met."
Alice gasped slightly at that and I looked up with panicked eyes, she looked surprised, even sympathised with me but there was no judgement or anger and she kept quiet, wanting to hear what I have to say next, I fell in love with her even more. "I'm so sorry about what I did Alice, you have no idea how guilty I feel about the lives I took, but I was a young, angry werecat with no control, it was like something snapped inside my mind that night." I felt angry tears well up in my eyes. "I mean, what if some of them were like you? I never talked to every vampire I met, they could have been different! Not all of them would be like the ones that killed my parents. Maybe they wanted to change but had no one to help! And I just...I just..."
I started sobbing uncontrollably after my babbling, I have never once questioned my actions until I met the Cullen's and this is the first time I've let guilt overtake me. I'm no better than the vampires I claimed to be monsters, I could have killed someone's mate, someone's forever. I thought of Alice getting killed and I cried even harder, holy shit what's wrong with me, how could I have let myself get so out of control and not even realise it?
Cold arms immediately pulled me towards Alice and held me there letting out all of my long withheld emotions. When I quietened down again I wiped the tears from my cheek and Alice cupped my face, making me stare at her.
"Don't blame yourself Bella. Anyone would have been scared and angry in your shoes; you had no one there to help you with what you were going through. Most vampires are like the ones you described, I have only ever met one coven that has any respect for human life. Even the shifters have problems with their tempers and they have each other to help them with their transformation, just like Edward, Rose, Emmett and Esme had Carlisle."
"What about you? And Jasper?" I whispered, and I saw a slight downturn of her lips. "Jasper doesn't like to talk about his past, he was involved in the Vampire Wars of the South and was turned by a vampire called Maria." I blanched at that name, I was involved in that war, picking off any vampires that I could find just because I could, Maria was the one that everyone feared, including me.
"Maria…" I whispered softly forgetting that Alice heard me perfectly.
"You knew her?"
"I knew of her, I got myself involved in the war, picking off anyone I came across, mostly newborns with no control, well, so I thought." I added sadly. "Almost everyone I met was scared of her and her right hand man, the God of War."
"Jasper was her right hand man…" Alice said softly looking at the door where he left a while ago.
"Jasper was the God of War?!" I exclaimed surprised at this new information, no wonder he had all of those scars on his body, he must have battled 50 Newborns a day! I have to talk to him about his time in the war sometime, if he is willing to share of course. "I'm sorry I got off track, you haven't told me about how you became a vampire."
"I don't remember anything of my human life, the only thing I remembered as I opened my eyes was my name." This shocked me and I couldn't help but feel immense sorrow for her.
"Were you…alone?" She smiled sadly and nodded.
"Yeah I was, and I've killed too you know. During the first months I hunted humans since I didn't know any better, and then I had a vision of meeting Jasper and going with him to stay with the Cullens and I found out about their diet. Jasper has killed just as many vampires as you have during the war and we all love him." She reached forward and took my hand, not recoiling from the contact this time, letting me savour the electric feeling I felt after gym that I now understood. "We will never judge you in this house Bella, all of us excluding Carlisle and Esme have slipped and we may do so in the future. I just hope you know we don't have the same control around humans that you seem to have."
"Thank you Alice, you have no idea what still being my friend after hearing about that means to me." The worst was over, Alice was still sitting beside me, holding my hand and giving me that wondrous smile even after I told her that I had killed vampires for almost all my life.
"Did you do anything else while you were travelling?" She asked getting us back on topic.
"I'm really embarrassed to say I pretty much got drunk and went to clubs every night. After being alone for almost 100 years I got depressed and slept around," I cringed when I said the last part, thinking about being with someone else made me feel physically sick now that I'd found Alice. "I hate myself for what I was, but before I met you I didn't have anyone to be my friend, and sex was the only physical affection I ever got. I did this until I met a man called James about a year ago, and I just knew he was different, just as he knew I was.
I remembered the moment I saw his eyes in the club, it was just a normal night like any others, I saw his eyes and smelt his slightly different scent and almost instinctively we both knew what to do.
We walked out of the club to a secluded area nearby where we both shifted and sized each other up, we started to fight and gained respect for one another, although James was the stronger one and was therefore in charge of our little pride we created that night."
"I smelt something else when we found you, something that smelt similar to you, was this James the one who hurt you!?" She almost demanded the last question, like the moment I nodded my head she would get up and hunt him to the ends of the earth and even more joy rose up at her protective nature, maybe she could already feel the call of mates, but that's a conversation for another time.
"Yes." As I predicted she growled and started to stand before I grabbed her arm to stop her, she looked confused at my hand probably forgetting that I was stronger then her. "Don't even think about it Alice, James is stronger then you, it would be a fight you would have no hope of winning alone."
"Strength isn't everything in a fight you know." Alice said.
"James can block abilities, you won't be able to use your visions in a fight against him." Alice seemed to accept that going after him wouldn't be the best idea and she sank slowly back down to the bed, but she was still breathing hard to calm down her rage. "Calm down, I'm here and I'm fine." I said unable to stop myself stroking her hair, she closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't you ever apologise for trying to protect someone you care about." She opened her eyes and smiled.
"I think I went a little ahead on your story, what happened between you and James?" I realised that this was a subject that I should talk about in front of the whole family, even though they probably heard us talking the whole time, by being here I am putting the Cullen's in danger. They need to be warned that James will come after me, and will probably destroy anything that gets in his way.
"I think that's something that needs to be discussed with all of your family another time, but right now I could use a rest, do you mind giving me a lift back to mine?"
"You can sleep in my bed instead of staying alone, I don't use it after all." She said hopefully.
"That would be amazing if you don't mind."
"Of course I don't, would you like any sleep clothes?"
"Nahh that's okay, I'll go commando." I said in a serious voice, but when Alice's jaw almost dropped to the floor thinking I wasn't kidding I couldn't help but let a snort out before literally rolling on the bed with laughter. Just when I thought I'd gathered myself enough I burst out laughing again when I saw her annoyed face, it felt good after all this serious talk.
"It wasn't that funny!" Alice said crossing her arms while watching me.
"You didn't see your face." I said sitting up and wiping my eyes free from tears. "I would love some sleep clothes."
"Hmph, tease." She muttered whilst walking out to get some more clothes from Esme, which made me chuckle a little more before I suddenly got interrupted by my stomach growling very loudly and I heard Esme giggle from downstairs.
"Bella come get something to eat before you sleep." She said from the kitchen, I came down and saw she had a tower of sandwiches ready, no one else was in the house so I guessed they went to hunt.
"Come sit down." Esme said pulling out a stool and bringing the plate over, it felt nice to be waited on, I haven't had someone cook for me since my own mother was alive.
"Thank you." I said a little shyly not used to all of this affection. "You didn't have to do all this."
"I wanted to Bella, now eat up." She said kindly.
"The clothes are on the bed, we don't actually have pyjamas but there's some shorts and a shirt" Alice said as she came down and sat down opposite me watching whilst I ate obviously fascinated.
"That's fine. Have you ever eaten human food before?" I asked, curious since I had never asked that to a vampire before.
"Yeah, and it tasted like dirt." She said whilst picking up a slice, she brought it to her nose and sniffed bringing out a disgusted face.
"Go on." I said daring her. She took a bite, chewing thoughtfully before rushing to the bin and spitting it out making throwing up noises.
"Ewewewew that's disgusting!"
"It isn't that bad!" I said chuckling.
"I may as well lick the sewer floor."
"Mmmmmm." I moaned as I slowly took a bite purposely letting some sauce get on my lip so that I could lick it off, I looked at Alice to see her with the same reaction as my commando comment. "Not so disgusting now is it?" I said with a wink.
"Ughhhhh such a tease!" She said jokingly, I grinned, finished the sandwich and got up.
"Thank you for the sandwiches again Esme and letting me stay in your house."
"Don't worry about it dear, you can stay as long as you wish." She said coming up to me and giving me a hug which surprised me, I've never met such affectionate people, and these are freaking vampires. I responded quickly and hugged her back trying to put all the gratitude I felt into it, I was probably a lot older then her but I felt like she could be another mother to me, and I loved it.
"Night!" I said as I followed Alice upstairs.
"Goodnight."
Alice stayed outside while I changed, I wouldn't have minded if she was in there or not but it was nice to know she valued my privacy, I called her in again when I was in the green shorts and white T-shirt.
"Thanks for letting me use your bed."
"Anytime, you can stay whenever you want, or would you like to go home tomorrow?" I thought about this for a bit, James now knew where I lived and he was probably watching me, am I selfish enough to stay with the Cullens and bring them into it too? When I looked at Alice I shamefully realised that yes, I was that selfish, I couldn't ever imagine leaving her, but I couldn't imagine her being harmed by James either. This is so fucked up.
"I'm not too sure yet." I admitted.
"That's okay Bells, you can decide tomorrow, get some rest now." I wanted to lean forward and hug her but I have never been good at giving affection to others since my parents died. The only two times I've hugged Alice were for comfort, other than that I simply ruffled her hair like a little sister.
"Night Tinkerbell." She swatted my arm with a smile and got up.
"Night Kitten."
I know Alice has never drank from a human but for the sake of this story she hunted humans for three months before getting a vision of meeting Jasper. I hope you enjoyed, there's going to be a lot of Cullen and Bella bonding =]
Becky.