Chapter 15

Victoria

"Please don't run!" I pleaded.

Alice has just seen a vision of a fiery redhead running through the muddy forest. We were close to Victoria's tree house by now. I could see it in the distance, which might have meant the woman could have heard a slow heartbeat coming from Bella, as well as Alice and mine rustling of the leaves on the ground.

The last thing I wanted was to play catch with a vampire who supposedly could anticipate danger. It would have been pretty much impossible to catch her if that were true.

"We come as friends. We're the Cullens, I'm sure Tanya told you about us."

"She's staying," Alice spoke quietly.

I ran closer to the tree house, Bella still clinging to me on my back. She patted me when we were right next to the makeshift house and I let her legs slip out of my hold.

The makeshift tree house…Well, it was better described as a cuckoo nest. And not in a good way. Different-sized pieces of wood piled together, straw sticking out of it all. A really small no-shape construction at the top branches of one of the bigger trees. It looked wild and unsteady. Esme used to say that a person's house resembles the way they feel. If that was the case, I might as well be losing any hope in this journey.

"Cullens?" Almost a whisper spoke. A voice that hasn't been used in a while, I assumed.

"My name is Edward, my sister Alice and my…Bella Salvatore, we're here to talk."

I could see Victoria making up her mind about meeting us less than a second before she did. No wonder she could evade danger when her decisions were so momentary.

"Tanya has spoken of your family highly." The redhead was standing in front of us now. Her eyes jumped from one to another, assessing, I guessed.

"We've heard about your talent." Alice intervened. "I don't mean to be rude, but you look like the kind of person who likes to get straight to the point."

Victoria looked wild. With her deep crimson eyes and crazy red long curly hair, the torn clothes that hung on her slim figure, she looked outright feral.

"You would be right," Victoria spoke calmly. "What about my talent?"

Bella cleared her throat. "I guess that's the part where I come in."

Victoria eyed her curiously but didn't attempt to run during Bella's explanation, which I was grateful about. The only time I saw her ever flinch was the time she broke the silence.

"Niklaus Mikaelson…" Victoria hushed and then a concerning crazy giggle slipped out of her mouth. "He wants her to wake up, doesn't he?"

"You know him?" Bella asked confused.

Flashes ran through Victoria's mind, glimpses of the past.

Klaus had longer hair, which suited his poetic ambiance better. He drank lots, smiled, and laughed. A man with black hair and a blond woman were with him, enjoying themselves as well. The little wooden tavern was just like they showed it in old movies, loud and lively. Victoria was watching through the window and when Klaus exited the doors Victoria decided he was to be her next meal, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and sped behind the tavern.

Only he fought her off, he wasn't strong enough to get her off him completely, but enough to make her stop and think. "M'lady, you lack manners." He said with a chuckle. "But I do like to be manhandled by such a feisty petite woman from time to time."

In another flash, I saw their conversation about her nature, although I noted he didn't give her much information about his. Victoria remembered the light touch of his hand on her chest as he checked that her heartbeat wasn't present, his fingertips brushing underneath her eyes. I could see his hunger for knowledge, so similar to the one I saw in Carlisle so many times before.

Another glimpse showed me a very intimate scene between the two, which I would have happily agreed to be burned out of my mind.

In the fourth one Victoria was walking with Klaus, the man with dark hair and the blond. From the conversation the group shared, I figured it was Klaus's siblings. I have heard enough about the Mikaelsons from Bella to say it must have been Elijah and Rebekah. All four were laughing, Klaus's hand was on Victoria's shoulder as they walked through the village.

There were many more glimpses, hidden looks, secret kisses, and dancing in the taverns and village squares. But the one that struck me the most was the last. It was a memory filled with so much pain and heartbreak, that it almost made me grab Bella's hand in mine right that second.

Sometimes reading someone else's mind felt empathetic. It wasn't as bad as Jasper had it, but going through all the memories of the past that flashed through someone else's life let me understand people better. The emotions connected to those memories were easy to tell, and the thoughts that went along with those events were simply clearer to me.

I saw Victoria holding Klaus's hand, begging him to give up the hunt for the doppelganger, begging him to forget about the curse and just stay with her. His eyes were no longer intrigued by her, the strong feeling he felt for her was not there anymore. He looked stoic and determined, angry and impatient. As he ripped his hand away from hers, that was the moment Victoria became who she was. A hermit living in a tree house in the forest, nevermore caring about the clothes she wore or if she had leaves and tiny tree branches stuck in her hair.

Klaus broke her and she wouldn't do anything to help him. She was one of the people Bella spoke about when telling me of all the enemies her named brother made in his long life.

"He's the first of her kind I met," Victoria spoke sharply. "So cavalier and above all he seemed. He had the passion and power, and truth be told, I always liked that. But he left. He found Tatya's doppelganger and just left me, never even said goodbye."

I would have to confirm with Bella what Victoria was talking about. I didn't know about any of it. I thought Elena was Katherine's doppelganger or whatever. There were just too many fairy tale creatures in Mystic Falls…How could one keep up with them all?

"That's when he found Katherine, wasn't it?" Bella asked quietly.

"Katerina. She enveloped his dreams." Victoria shook. "She was all he could talk about. And now you're asking me to take on a curse off another doppelganger he wants?"

"No." Bella took a step forward and slapped my hand away when I was trying to get her back to me, away from the crazy wild vampire.

"Really? You're not one of his little minions, trying to abide by his wishes?!"

"Klaus has gotten what he wanted!" Bella spilled. "He is a hybrid, and trust me when I tell you that he's miserable!"

"Go on…" Victoria stopped shaking, a small sadistic smile spread through her face.

"His family is separated, there is another curse on them. They can't be within kilometers of each other!" Bella was throwing her arms in the air. "You must know how much family means to him, he can't even be in the same city as them. The last time I saw him, he was going to China for heaven's sake. His sire line is broken, noone is scared to kill him anymore, and to be completely frank with you, I don't think he cares. He's lost everything he wanted. Yes, he's a hybrid now, his stupid ritual worked, but he's not happier because of it."

"I think this is the most fantastic update I could have hoped for." Victoria laughed. "And what about Katherine? What happened to her?"

"The bitch is dead. Elena gave her a vampire cure and my brother held her neck as the first doppelganger, Silas, drank her blood. I know my stories are hard to follow at times, many strange things happen in my small town." Bella shrugged. "Katherine aged 500 years in 5 weeks. It was excruciating and now she's dead."

Silas? I really needed to get some information about this doppelganger business.

"If I can do it…If I can take on a curse…" Victoria spoke. "Elena will wake up as a vampire, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll do it." Victoria shrugged her shoulders.

"Seriously?" Bella asked surprised.

"Anyone who's given trouble to Nik is my…well friend would be a little too much to say, but I can't seem to find the right word, so I'll go with it."

"Thank you?" Bella sounded nervous.

"So, where do we go?" Victoria started marching in our direction.

"Mystic Falls." Bella followed her movements with her eyes.

"Huh…That's my hometown." The redhead's remark clicked the puzzle together.

She was a restless immortal who shall not fall under the curse, she was able to feel the danger of the curse beforehand and she had something in common with Elena. They were from the same town…How crazy my life was!

The car ride was less than pleasant, Alice grabbed a hold of the back passenger seat and wouldn't let it go. I didn't want to damage my car by ripping the entire seat off, so she was riding with us, leaving mud on my leather seats…Victoria, well her red eyes that kept scanning all of us throughout the entire ride were downright creepy. And Bella looked concerned.

My gift wasn't very useful either.

Alice once again was shielding her thoughts, allowing me only to know that she was missing Jasper and that Rosalie was planning on getting a new car next month, having gotten bored with her BMW already.

Victoria's mind was a maze, she was thinking of multiple things at once. One trail led to escape plans in case we turned out to be lying about the curse's nature. The other trail led to cycles of the moon. The third one was still focused on Klaus and their love affair. Never have I been in a mind like hers, and I could only speculate that this eerie phenomenon was caused by her gift trying to protect her from my prying.

Bella's was just quiet, as it always has been. She looked worried though, very uneasy. Reading Bella was just like reading a book, she wore her feelings on her face, in her stance in her annoying little habit of biting the skin off her lips. They were never chapped after, vampire healing and all, but it still bothered me that she was so deep in thought that she would retort to biting her own self.

"Do you need to make any arrangements?" I turned my head towards her, unable to look at another drag of her teeth along her bottom lip.

"Sorry?"

"For the ritual."

"Yeah, I was just wondering about that actually. We'll need a witch to perform it, and I would call Bonnie, but…"

"...You're worried she'll call Damon and he'll tell Stefan, and both of your brothers will rush to Mystic Falls." I finished for her.

Victoria's thought maze took another direction and there were now three more factors she was considering about this spontaneous trip.

"Her brothers hate Klaus too," Alice spoke all of a sudden. "And as far as I know the feeling is mutual, right, Bella?"

"With all the attempts both sides took to kill each other, sure, I guess you can say that." Bella snorted, her hand flying into her wind-blown hair and tearing through the knots. I saw Victoria nodding her head slightly and turning her stare to the window.

"Is there another witch you can call?"

"Maybe, that's why I'm pondering. Bonnie would be best, she's simply gifted, especially considering her age and lack of practical experience, and she knows this curse, in a way it lies on her as well. Calling someone else would be stupid, but I really don't want to get Damon's hopes up, you know?"

I gave her a curt nod. "Do you want to discuss it or should I just wait for you to get to the decision on your own?"

"Decisions decisions," Alice murmured. "You should pick soon, the faster you do that, the faster I'll tell you what happens."

After Victoria's wondering look, Alice added. "I see the future." She giggled then. "Yes, yours as well. This trip will do you good, you shouldn't worry."

Alice's monologue continued. "I don't know you well enough to say that you will continue with this trip if I tell you."

"I told you, you shouldn't worry. Anyone would be happy to get what you will when we get to Mystic Falls. Well…not exactly when we get there, maybe five minutes after we get out of the car."

Victoria sent me an irritated look.

"She does it to me too, and I have to live under the same roof as her." I chuckled. "Trust me, she always has good reasons to hide the truth."

"Did you just…Oh, Edward, I love you at this moment."

"I still think it's unfair." I pointed out.

"You'll live. I only ever intervene in my visions if someone's about to get killed or injured."

I didn't want to spook Victoria more, so I thought of asking a question. "Why are you intervening now?"

"I have my reasons. This vision can change based on a decision of yours. I'm here to make sure you choose the right one."

"What's the right one?"

"The one for me to know and for you to find out." Alice showed me her tongue in her thoughts and I sighed.

"What's happening now?" Victoria asked curiously.

"Don't even bother. It's this strange thing they have." Bella waved her off. Alice and I laughed at that. I took Bella's hand in mine and left a soft kiss on her knuckles.

"You're finally starting to get it."

Bella shook her head but offered me the greatest smile she could. "Idiot."

We're meeting the Scooby Gang in the next chapter, and it's one of the final ones. If you like the story, please consider leaving a review!