"Well it's seems I've finally got you alone little mouse."A voice came through the meadow causing Bella to flinch from where she was resting on the grass reading a book."Now the only question is should I kill you slowly or make your death quick?"
Bella sighed. She knew this day would come, it was at first feared but now that it was here she was just annoyed it took so long." If wish to do it slowly can you at least have it done by the time I have to go to school tomorrow? I have to dissect a frog in biology and not only is it gross but I don't particularly like the idea of having to use a scalpel. The last time I shed blood a bunch of vampires tried to kill me and I don't feel like testing fate again."
"What?" Victoria asked stunned. She had been planning and plotting this moment for months but now that it was here she didn't know what to do with the lack of fear her presence brought. It was almost as if the girl was completely bored with the whole conversation.
Bella turned her heard to look at the red head. "I said if you do it slowly can you be done before…"
"I heard what you said." Victoria cut Bella off. "I just don't know why you said it."
"Well I am kind of accident prone and the likely hood of becoming injured using a scalpel is high. With my luck Bigfoot will smell it and decide to tear my body apart." Bella explained. "I think anything you do will be less painful."
"Bigfoot isn't real." Victoria told her still very confused.
Bella sighed in relief. "Oh thank god. Although that is kind of annoying. I left some really good beef jerky at home for fear he would catch scent of it."
"What?" Victoria felt like she was becoming a broken record. What was wrong with this girl. Bella had to know she was going to die but she didn't seem to be taking it seriously at all.
"It's really good beef jerky." Bella said defensively. "Even knowing I wouldn't have a chance I think I would actually fight Bigfoot for it."
Victoria rolled her eyes. "Bigfoot isn't real."
"I know that now." Bella sighed. "I wish I had known it sooner though. I could have been out here right now enjoying my beef jerky bringing me some joy as I did my home work. I guess it doesn't really matter though. You are here to kill me aren't you?"
"I… I …" Victoria stood up straighter. "I mean yes I am."
"Ok cool. Do you mind not getting any blood or guts on this book?" Bella asked. "I borrowed it from my friend Angela and she really likes it for some reason so it would make me feel horrible if she never got it back."
Victoria was stunned. What was going on here. The girl should be scared and begging for her life not worrying about her friend's book." Why are you not scared of me?"
"Scared of you? Why would I be scared of you?" Bella asked in a voice that confused Victoria even more. It was as if the girl could not think of a valid reason to be afraid of the blood thirsty vampire she was.
"Your little coven killed my friend. It's only fair that I kill their pet. You must have known this day was coming." Victoria was getting frustrated. "Why are you not scared?"
Bella frowned. "Your friend, I thought he was your mate?"
"What? James wasn't my mate. He was a member of my coven. Why would you think that?" Victoria asked getting side tracked from her vengeance.
Bella blushed. "Well that's what we all thought."
"Well you were wrong." Victoria didn't understand why she was explaining this to the girl. "He was a friend. I had been traveling with him for over a hundred years. He had a mate. She died."
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that." Bella felt her heart go out to James. "That must of been hard on him."
Victoria gave her a sad smile." Yes it was. That last few decades had him slipping into the madness of that loss harshly. I believe that is why he was so obsessed with you."
"Why would he be obsessed with me? I don't have a mate." Bella told her.
This was a great surprise to Victoria. "I thought you were mated to the male vampire you were standing behind at the baseball game. The one that protected you."
"That douchebag." Bella scoffed "He and I dated but it was more him having feelings for me than me having feelings for him. Do you know he claimed to be old fashion and wanted to court me properly but would sneak into my room at night to watch me sleep? I didn't know that until he told me before he left. That and he never took me on a date. Not even one in all the months we were supposedly in a relationship."
Victoria walked up to Bella and motioned to the ground next to her. Bella nodded and moved over on her blanket to make room for Victoria to sit next to her. "That does kind of make him a as you say douchebag. Why did they leave you all alone? If they thought James was my mate wouldn't they want to stay here and try to protect you from me?"
"Oh man is that a long story. Do you have time to listen?" Victoria nodded for Bella to continue." So I got along pretty well with the rest of the family. I mean they were all cool, even Rosalie who was kind of a bitch but she had valid reasons. Reasons I found out later and couldn't help be pissed about with her. So they have this grand idea to throw me a birthday party even though I didn't want one. So here I am in a situation I don't want to be in, opening presents I told them not to get me when I accidentally got a paper cut in a room of vampires."
"That seems to be a disaster situation. Especially for vampires who abstain from human blood." Victoria said.
"You could say that again. So Jasper. He's the blond one. I'm told he has vampire bites all over his body." Victoria nodded." Anyway so Jasper being the newest to the animal diet lifestyle freaks the fuck out and tries to attack me. Edward being some kind of knight in shining armor on his white fucking horse throws me into a glass coffee table and slices my arm up. That causes the rest of them to lose their shit especially him. What I found out that night was that I'm Edward's singer."
Victoria hissed. "He thought his singer was his mate? That isn't even possible."
"Yeah I kind of figured." Bella agreed. "So the doc fixes me up and Edward drives me home acting super weird. I chalk it up to him being him. The next day he says we need to talk so he leads me into the woods like some serial killer and gives me this grand speech of how his family hates me and he never wanted me, that I wasn't good enough for him. Got to say that kind of stung. He told me I was his mate and his whole family agrees with him. So I'm stuck with the mindset that he was meant by the universe to be my forever. Then he says it will be like they never existed at all. Then you know what that fucker does?"
Victoria shook her head enraptured in the story. "Not something good I'm expecting."
"He left me in the woods with no idea how the fuck to get home." Bella gave Victoria a confused look when she heard her growl. "Yeah so anyway I try finding my way home but then it gets dark and starts to rain. Knowing I was getting myself more lost I decide to stay where I am and hope someone noticed I was missing and come looking for me."
"Did someone come looking? How did you get home?" Victoria asked appalled at the idea of leaving someone who you considered your mate alone in a dangerous situation.
"Well luckily my dad notice I was missing. He's the chief of police." Bella told her. "So he set up a search grid and one of the wolves actually found me. I had to stay overnight in the hospital because I had hypothermia."
Something about that didn't make sense to Victoria. "What wolves?"
"Oh you don't know?" Bella chuckled. "That would explain why you are out here in the woods seeming to not be worried at all. The tribe on the Quillete reservation have some of it's members turn into wolves. They aren't werewolves though. They are just shape shifters. They can apparently rip apart a vampire very easy and the two are natural enemies."
"So wolves patrol these forest?" That explained Victoria's unease while she was following Bella.
Bella shrugged. "I have no clue where they patrol. I don't know any of them. I used to hang out with one when I was younger but when we met up again he had a crush that didn't seem to want to go away so I shot him down and haven't seen him since."
"Men." Victoria huffed. "When will they ever learn?"
"Beats me." Bella said. "I've decided to leave them all behind."
It was Victoria's turn to chuckle. "So you no longer are interested in men?"
"To be honest I don't think I ever was." Bella mused. "I thought I was attracted to Edward but now that I look back at it it wasn't attraction.I think I always thought something was off about him. That he wasn't a normal human being. I think my fascination in him made me confused enough that when he explained everything and told me we were mates that I went along with it because I didn't know any better."
Victoria thought it over for a few minutes enjoying the quiet companionship. Who would have thought instead of killing Bella right away she would be having a conversation getting to know the girl better. "I suppose when you are faced with having something out of fairy tales and myths thrust into your face and then told you are a part of it when you know no better that you would have gone along with it. It still surprises me he could be around his singer so closely though. He must be a masochist."
"You have no idea." Bella grumbled. "Now that I am away from the situation I can see it much more clearer. He was always so self righteous. He was the son of preacher you know. He would talk about not having a soul and how he was a killer. It was actually kind of annoying. I could do without the Bible verses though."
Victoria looked at Bella. She really was a beautiful girl. With her brown hair with natural auburn and gold highlights, her delicate features, her eyes that held such an old soul that Victoria felt like she would never get bored looking at and very kissable lips that she had trouble keeping her eyes away from. Now that she wasn't blinded with anger and the need for revenge, she felt something was pulling her towards the girl. Instead of anger now she felt contentment. Like there was nowhere in the world she would rather be. Bella's voice broke her out of her musings.
"When I finally had a clear head and was out of the situation I realized that he kept me around to make himself feel better." At Victoria's confused look Bella explained. "I was his singer, by being able to control his bloodlust around me he was able to prove how much better he was then everyone else. Even when he drank human blood he told me he only killed the worst of society. Rapist, killer, that kind of thing."
Victoria laughed. "While it is a noble idea, there is no way to know for sure unless you catch someone in the act."
"Oh you don't know." Bella chuckled. "That explains why you guys didn't give up."
"What do you mean?" Victoria asked.
"It makes so much more sense now."Bella shook her head. "Some of the Cullens have gifts. Edward is a mind reader, Jasper can control emotions, Emmett has his strength and Alice can see the future. Well she can see the future once someone makes a decision. It's how they knew every one of James movements."
"He never stood a chance." Victoria realized. "But that doesn't explain why they left you. I hadn't decided not to kill you until a little while ago. They would have known your life was in danger."
"You aren't going to kill me?" Bella asked. "That's surprising. I would have thought you still would have wanted to kill me even if we are having nice chat."
Victoria sighed. "I'm not going to kill you. I have now realized that you were merely a pawn in a game that you didn't know about and wouldn't have wanted to play."
"Can't disagree with you there." Bella agreed.
"It still doesn't explain why they didn't come back to protect you." Victoria said.
"I think they would have to actually care about me to come back and protect me. I mean they knew you were dangerous and they thought they killed your mate so they had to have thought you would come for some kind of revenge." Bella explained. "If not coming to help me out proves anything, it's that they really don't give a shit about me."
"It seem rather selfish to involve you in all this and leave you on your own to fight a battle they started by yourself."
"Well if there is one thing I have learned about the Cullens, it's that they are a rather selfish lot." Bella told her looking down at her watch. "I hate to be like this after it being so nice talking to you but since you aren't going to kill me I really need to get home to cook dinner."
Victoria was stunned by how much time had passed. The sky was starting to darken. "Yes, you should get going. Do you want me to give you a lift back?"
"If you wouldn't mind that would be great.I love this spot but I hate the walk to get here." Bella told her as she gather her things.
Victoria bent so the Bella could get on her back. "Just hold on. I've never run with a human before and don't want to get you killed now that I've decided to let you live."
Bella chuckled. "That would be a really bad joke on the part of fate."
"Yes and I've had enough of fate's shit lately." Victoria grumbled.
Bella wrapped her arms tightly around Victoria's neck knowing the vampire didn't need to actually breath. "There sounds like there is a story there."
"A story for another time." Victoria told her.
"Will there be another time?" Bella asked.
Victoria strangely hoped there would be. "Only if you want there do be."
"I think I would." Bella told her.
Victoria tried to hide the smile that came to her face at Bella's words. She really did want to see the girl again. There was something about her that made her want to be around Bella. She couldn't explain it but she was almost sad that they would have to part ways soon. With that in mind she went a little more slowly than she normally would and simply enjoyed the way Bella's body felt against her own.
