Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Growing Up

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 25:

BPOV

“Why do you want to know if Peter has any friends In Rio De Janeiro, Mom?”

“Your father seems to be in a bit of a pickle. He is in jail.”

“Again?” I moaned. What the hell is wrong with these two?

“Oh, so I guess you knew about…”

“Tell me he didn’t kill anybody or smuggle drugs or something like that?”

“No! He would never Bella! I can’t believe you asked me that.” Take a deep breath Bella. Go ahead and have another cigarette. It will be okay.

“I’m sorry Mom. You’re right. What did he do?”

“He beat up a police officer.”

Oh. That’s much better. Peter is quietly laughing. I shot him a look. This wasn’t funny anymore.

“Why… did Dad beat up a police officer, Mom?”

“Complete misunderstanding. We were at a street party and we may have had a few boat drinks and I wanted to dance. So your father and I are dancing and this man in the crowd accidentally untied my bikini top from behind and it fell off. Then a police officer tried to be polite and hold back the crowd while I picked it up from the ground.”

“Okay. Accidents happen.”

“Then the officer may have said something complimentary about my breasts and asked if I would like to have dinner. He said it in English. In front of your father.”

“And?” I already knew.

“Well your Dad didn’t see it as the officer being friendly and hit him. Only once!”

“Okay…”

“But other cops got involved. One hit your Dad from behind and I jumped on his back and started pulling his hair. Then your Dad may have hit that guy and a few more jumped in. Next thing I know we have 6 cops surrounding us, your Dad is laughing on the ground in cuffs, I’m pretty sure he had one too many just between you and me, and he is being taken to jail. I guess since I really didn’t do any damage they left me alone. I tried to bail him out but was told that his bail couldn’t be paid… monetarily. So I was wondering if you had any thoughts?”

“Yeah. Go to your hotel. Put on clothes. Lots of clothes. Keep them on. Stay inside. Do not leave the hotel. We will have Dad delivered there. When he is there you two are going to be escorted to the airport, go through customs, put on a plane and flown to Hawaii. Stay there. Do not leave. Do not go to any nude beaches. Stay in the very nice houses you each have. Pick one and stay together if you must but do not leave. I am trying to fight a war here Mom. You two are supposed to be staying low.”

“No problem baby. I completely understand. But we wanted to make a stop…”

“No! Go home. Stay at home. Fish. Shop. Make some crystal pyramids or something. Tell Dad to play golf. Stay low!”

“No need to speak to me like that Bella. We are the adults you know. You are the child.”

“Then why are you are calling me to get you out of third world jails? Charlie was supposed to keep you calm. What the hell are you doing to him?”

“He does keep me calm. But he needed to loosen up some. He is just breaking out of his shell.”

“Put him back in it!”

I raised one parent. Now I am going to have to raise both. Unbelievable.

“No problem, Bella. So can you help out?”

“Yes. Go to the hotel and wait.” I sighed.

“I love you sweetie. I’ll call you when we get back to Hawaii.”

“Love you Mom.” I ended the call and looked at Peter who was barely holding in laughter.

“It’s not funny.” I growled.

“Yeah it kind of is. I mean I never understood it before. How you could find yourself in so many crazy situations. Now it seems it’s an inherited trait.”

“They need to grow up already. Stop acting like juvenile delinquents.” I mumbled.

“Please. You just bought forty boxes of condoms on a dare and traumatized a small town pharmacist by getting Garrett to ask him for hemorrhoid cream, Vaseline and tampons.”

“I’m only 18. I’m supposed to act like a kid. I’m not out getting arrested.” I argued. Besides I was usually pretty level headed…

“Yeah. I guess only when you buy Crack by the pound. Course with your addictive personality that may become more of a problem in the future.”

I looked out the window pouting trying to hold in a smile. It was kind of funny. I mean… I guess I am glad they are having fun. But just… wow. I mean they get arrested quite a bit. It seems they are as much of a magnet for trouble as I am…

“Peter? What if because I am not around them, Jasper can find them?”

“Jasper isn’t looking for them.” He responded immediately.

“You know this?”

“Got a feeling. Besides he would have found them while we were fucking around in the Congo. He doesn’t want us anywhere near him while he is fighting a war. He knows he couldn’t control us. He is focused on the Volturi and hoping like hell we don’t interfere. If he grabs them that brings us and he knows enough about us that simply threatening your parents’ lives would only piss us off more. After the Volturi war it may be a problem if he was still alive. But I’m not worried about that.”

“Because he won’t be alive.” I whispered with a smile.

“Damn right darlin.” He squeezed my thigh. Damn. We needed to get to a bed.

The rest of the drive was uneventful. Jenks called Peter to tell him the Stark situation was in hand, my parents had been put on a plane to Hawaii, and then asked if he needed to arrange 24 hour bodyguards/babysitters for them. We thought for a few minutes but decided against it.

The house was… in need of repair. It would give Peter and Garrett something to do while the rest of us turned into battle hardened warriors.

The guest house surprisingly was in good shape. Peter and I would be staying there. We needed alone time. For my mental and emotional stability. I was going to ride this newborn excuse as far as I could take it.

The problem was I was hungry. The landscape around here was gorgeous. Unfortunately there was not a large population base. No place to… buy Crack.

I ran through the rocky landscape looking for something to eat. Supposedly there were only two dozen cougars around here. Other than that there were a wide variety of animals, none of which seemed like they would taste worth a shit. Mexican Black Bear. Yummy.

I wanted blood. From a human neck or whatever body parts my teeth happened to clamp onto. I wanted it now. If Dad can beat up cops I can drain humans of every single drop of blood in their bodies. It’s only fair.

I reached the River looking for a fuzzy creature to sustain my thirst. I had been doing well. But I was really, really hungry right now. Very, very hungry. Then I smelt it.

Reefer.

On the river. Somebody was smoking pot. Thank you, God. Someone is breaking the law. I looked down from the cliff and saw a nice young couple floating in a raft. Don’t they know it is dangerous to float at night? All kinds of predators out. I know. I am one. I ran down silently and slipped into the water. Didn’t even make a splash. Luckily the water wasn’t deep. I could stand up and only my eyes popped above the water. With my dark hair they would never see me.

Fuck.

I had my phone in my pocket. Peter is going to kill me.

Walking through the water it was easy to stay silent. We were going with the current. I walked within a few steps of the back of the raft. The water level dropped and my nose was out of the water. I was hit with the smell of weed and the strong smell of blood. The girl. She must have scraped her knee today. I reached for the back of the raft. I would dump then in the water and hit them before they knew what had happened. It was the humane thing to do.

One more step and I would strike…

Tanya’s face just emerged between me and the raft. She was smiling. Another sound to my right. Irina. She was apparently in a good mood as well.

“Hi Bella.” Tanya whispered.

“Hey.” I responded.

“Did you hear something?” The guy in the raft asked.

“You need to lay off the weed baby. Pass that joint here.” The meal… girl… responded.

“So what are you doing on this lovely night Bella?” Tanya asked.

“Enjoying the scenery. Water looked nice. I thought it would be fun to go for a… swim. What are you and Irina doing tonight Tanya?” Just keep smiling Bella.

“Peter mentioned that you were going hunting. I know that you and Peter are committed to only feeding from the vilest humans so we figured you must be hunting our kind of prey and thought we would join you.” Bitch was still smiling.

“Huh. Yeah. I was going to grab some yummy, furry, disgusting, smelly animals here in a bit. Just the water looked nice so… yeah…”

“I am impressed by your modesty Bella. Swimming in your clothes? Very conservative.” Irina remarked.

It was at that point I realized they were very naked.

“Uh… where are your clothes?”

“On the shore. We figured with no men around and since we weren’t in a hurry there was no point in getting our wardrobes wet. Or God forbid soak a cell phone. ” Irina winked.

“Oh… yeah… I’m pretty shy. I uh… usually keep all my clothes on when I hunt… I mean swim.”

They just stood there smiling while my yummy meals floated away.

“So I don’t want to stop you. Go ahead and hunt. I think I am going to swim some more.” Please leave you veggie bitches, so I won’t feel guilty about what I am about to do.

“Of course Bella. Are you going to eat both of them?” Tanya asked.

“No… maybe…” Bitches!

“And what great crime have they committed Bella?” Irina asked.

“Uh… marijuana is illegal in Texas?” Yep. That’s it. Drug traffickers.

“Wow. They certainly deserve to die for that.” Tanya grinned.

“Uh… breaking the law is breaking the law?” I tried.

“Bella we aren’t your parents. We are just your friends. If you want to go after that young couple we certainly aren’t going to stop you. You are a big girl. You know what you want. I just thought maybe you might like to think about whether you really want to do that. To them anyway. They seem like a couple in love having a good time. But it’s up to you sweetie. We will leave you to your… swim. We are going to be on the shore getting dressed if you want to come hunt with us. If not, enjoy your swim and we will see you back at the ranch. We love you either way. Have a good night sweetie.”

Tanya was gone, leaving a wake behind her.

Irina was still smiling.

“What?” I sighed.

“Nothing. I just want to tell you I love you and I can’t wait to see Peter’s face when you tell him you drowned another phone. Bye!” She kissed me on the cheek before I could move and had gone to join Tanya.

I took a deep breath and looked down the river. I could be caught back up with dinner in three seconds. Draining the first one in four seconds.

I was really hungry. I almost had a red haze over my vision. I’m a damn vampire. I shouldn’t feel guilty about this. It’s what we do.

Right?

“ARRRGGHGHHHH!” I screamed. Coyotes howled all around.

“Tanya? Irina?” I said into the darkness.

“Yes?” Tanya answered.

“Hold up. I’m coming with you.”

---

Bella has been very crabby. She has been fighting nonstop. Not sparring. Fighting. Nobody wants to spar with her anymore. She is too damn strong. But she isn’t going crazy. She has even cut back on the cigarettes. I know because I only had to buy her three cartons when I went into Marfa to buy her another damn phone.

We were currently in the guest house laid out on top of each other on the large couch, completely naked and reading. Bella was reading a biography of Sam Houston. She was still pissed he didn’t send reinforcements to the Alamo but pretty much still blamed the whole thing on Travis and to some degree Fannin. I put the blame on Travis. If he had done what Sam told him to and burned the place to the ground and left we wouldn’t have been in that position. I suppose it all worked out like fate had planned though.

“Hey darlin, you want to check out the Marfa lights? I don’t think we ever have before.” I mentioned.

“Who gives a damn about some stupid lights?” She mumbled into my chest.

Okay.

“Still feelin a little crabby? You want to hunt?”

“Yes I am and no I don’t.” She responded.

“Okay.” Well then. Damn her body felt good.

“You want to make love darlin?”

“No.”

Damn. Okay.

“Why don’t we go hunt?”

“I don’t want to talk about hunting.”

Okay…

“Bella I wish you would tell me what’s bothering you.” Think Peter. You read this somewhere.

“But I understand if you don’t. I just want you to know that I am here if you want to express your feelings. I won’t judge you or try to fix your problems. I am just here to listen and love you.”

That should do it. I read that in Kate’s Redbook magazine. Pretty much guaranteed to get you lai…

“Have you been getting into my supply of crack again?”

Okay. Maybe I got it wrong. Gonna have to re-read that article.

So we sat in silence for the next hour. Then my Queen decided I had been good enough to speak to once more.

“Peter… I don’t think we should kill anybody anymore. Humans I mean.” She mumbled.

“Uhh… okay. You startin to feel bad about it?”

“No. I’m feeling bad about the fact that I am starting to not feel bad about it any longer. I love the taste of human blood. I mean I really, really love it. It’s like the greatest thing ever. It’s better than getting ate out while eating Ben and Jerry’s.” We did that once. It was fun.

“If I keep doing it though, I am afraid I will lose myself. I don’t want to lose myself. That scares me. I still want to be me, as much as I can.”

“Darlin you haven’t changed.”

“Yeah. I have. I don’t expect you to change. But I can’t do it anymore. A large part of me wants to drain cities, daycares and all. The part that is still me under the vampire stuff, wonders what the hell is wrong with me. Buts it hard.”

“You’ve been doin a lot better darlin.” I ran my fingers through her hair and rubbed her scalp.

“I really haven’t been. I’ve been holding off longer but my standards, I guess you could say, are slipping. I’m starting to think of the slightest excuse to drain someone. Whether they deserve it or not. I don’t want to do it anymore. I mean I don’t mind killing those against us. We have always done that. But…”

“Sounds like to me, that it is bothering you a lot darlin.” I whispered, continuing to play with her hair.

“Would you stop? I mean if I gave up humans, would you? You don’t have to, I was just…”

“Yeah Bella. I would do anything for you.” I told her honestly.

“Thank you.” She leaned up and kissed me. She then closed her eyes and placed her head back on my chest. She was so warm. She seemed more relaxed now. That was Bella. She fretted a problem to death and then once she made a decision that was it. Problem over.

She opened her eyes and hour later, kissed me and told me she was going to get dressed. She had something she needed to do in Marfa. She didn’t say what. I suppose she would let me know when she was ready.

I got dressed and walked outside as the sun was coming up. I was already annoyed by the disco lights I was putting out. Garrett however was walking around singing “I feel pretty”. Kate was outside our house sitting on the front porch. She winked at me and then walked up to Garrett.

“Garrett, there is something I want to talk to you about.” Kate told him. “Come with me to Peter’s porch. We can sit and talk.”

Garrett’s eyes immediately went to the porch of the main house where Randall raised his hands in surrender. That seemed to relax him.

“What can I do for you love?” Garrett asked, sitting next to Kate.

“I’ll leave you two alone…”

“No Peter. Please stay.” Kate smiled at me. What the fuck?

“Okay…”

“Garrett you love me right?”

“This is starting out a lot like the conversation about Randall, Kate. Peter did Bella bring anymore male vampires home?” He asked sharply.

I shrugged my shoulders. Not that I knew…

“Garrett would you change your feeding habits for me?” Kate asked. Oh this ought to be good.

“What in the world are you talking about? I am a vampire. I drink human blood. It’s what I do. Says so in the vampire manual.”

“I know that it is what you do Garrett. You know I don’t judge you. I just hate that there is something we aren’t in sync about. I think for our relationship, we should be the same. So since you won’t change I guess I will…”

Damn Kate just put on a sad face. I have seen enough fake sad faces to know one when I see one.

“You mean it Kate?” Garrett asked, excited. Stupid fucker had no idea he was being set up.

“Yes. I mean it will kill me and make me feel as if I am damning my soul for eternity. I will cry uncontrollably every time I feed. But I will do it. For you.”

“Kate you won’t cry. It will be strange at first but you will get used to it.” Garrett said softly. Here comes the hammer blow.

“I know. It’s just when I was turned a vampire killed my family and left me only bitten. I woke up to see my parent’s bodies lying there. I swore I would never do that to another human. But I will, if it means… you are happy. I would do anything for you.”

Yep. Garrett is starting to realize he is being backed into a corner. He knows something is coming but he isn’t quite sure what.

“Kate you don’t have to change. It’s okay that we are different in that respect.”

“No!” Kate yelled.” If Peter can change for Bella the least I can do is change for you. Even though it will rip my soul in two and cause me unspeakable pain, I will do it. I will do it because I love you so much. If he can do it, so can I.”

Boom.

“Change? I don’t understand. Peter are you going to be eating more humans to try to keep up with Bella?”

“No. Bella hasn’t had a human in a week. She has decided to go animals only. I agreed to feed from animals as well.”

“Why would you do something so stupid?” He asked, realization suddenly dawning on him. Realization he was being fucked.

“It was bothering her conscience. I don’t want anything bothering her conscience. She asked me to stop as well. I told her I would. Because I love her.” And I just dropped the final nail and Kate didn’t have to say a word.

“That is so great Peter. You would change something so much a part of you for your soul mate because she is all that matters. Her conscience. That’s beautiful.” Kate commented quietly.

Holy shit Kate actually worked up a few tears pooling in her eyes. This bitch was scary good.

“So we will change Garrett. I will change for you. Because I love you that…”

“Would you fucking cut it out already? I get it. No more humans!” Garrett stomped off. Too bad. I was hoping to see him squirm a while longer.

“Did you know Bella was going to ask me that, Kate?”

“No. But I knew it had been bothering her lately. Women can tell these things about each other.” She smiled.

“So you sat on our front porch to listen in and took advantage of the situation.”

“Yep. I figured Bella was near her breaking point when she stood in the river screaming like a crazed animal because her conscience wouldn’t let her kill those two young people on the raft.”

“Did your parents really get killed by a vampire?”

“No. Tanya changed me when she found me dying after I slipped off a mountain trail and fell. But that doesn’t really have the same impact does it?”

“You may not eat humans, Kate but you are evil.” I pointed out.

“Maybe a little. I make up for it in other areas. Speaking of I better go track down my man and show him some of those areas before he kills a school bus full of children prior to going on the wagon.”

Kate took off in the direction Garrett had pouted off in.

Bella walked out. Dressed in black. A black long dress that covered both her arms. A large black hat that sort of draped down. Black gloves. Dark large sunglasses.

She looked like she was going to a mob bosses’ funeral.

“Where the hell are you going?”

“Church.” She replied.

“Okay… any particular reason?”

“Yes. I am starting again. I am going to Confession.”

I laughed. I thought she was joking. I should have known better. Bella would never dress like that for a joke.

“Something to say?” She asked. I couldn’t see her eyes behind those big sunglasses but I could feel their evil glare.

“You’re serious? Isn’t Confession that thing that Mother Superior made you girls go to, where you said all the bad things you did to a guy on the other side of the wall? I thought you hated that?”

“Yes I did. But it was soothing. It helped. I never said that because you would have made fun of me.”

“Bella you aren’t Catholic.” I pointed out, trying to head this off due to images of a Priest being found drained of blood in a confessional filling my head.

“That’s funny because Isabella Locke has baptism and sacrament records that show she is very Catholic.”

“Can I come?” I had to make sure she didn’t eat anybody. Altar Boys or Nuns or something.

“I guess but you can’t listen outside.”

“Why? You aren’t going to eat… I mean why?”

“It’s private. What is said in the Confessional is between the priest and the confessor. He can tell no one. That means you can’t listen.”

“Fine. I will sit on the other side and listen to headphones. So long as I don’t hear a scream or smell blood you can have all the privacy you want.”

She didn’t respond but she waited for me while I got ready for the West Texas sunlight. I opted for long shirt, jeans and a cowboy hat. No need to go to Don Corleone’s funeral yet.

Bella did seem to be in a much better mood the closer we drive into town. We pulled up to a missionary style church. I followed her in and took a seat I the pews. Bell walked up and introduced herself to the priest who had been up at the front. Seemed like a nice guy. Hope he makes it out of this alive. Her sunglasses and completely covered form didn’t seem to freak him out. Honestly it was freakin me out. After this crap was over we were moving somewhere we could get out in the day. Maybe back to Greenland or Alaska or Canada. Let the girl get some daylight and air in a place that she doesn’t have to hide her skin. I like her skin. I would like to see more of it as much as possible.

Four hours later the sun was starting to go down. What the hell was she doing in there? I could hear him barely whispering. She was barely whispering.

Five hours later the curtain to his side opened up. He walked out, looking paler than Bella. He saw me and I winked. He made the sign of the cross, turned and damn near ran to the back of the Church. Bella slowly emerged and walked over.

“So… how did it go? Everything get absolved okay?”

“Yes.” She smiled.

“So that it? We can go?”

“No. I have to say ten Hail Mary’s before I can leave as penance.” She whispered and got to her knees.

“That’s it? You were in there for five hours and you got ten prayers?!”

“Not exactly. I also can’t kill anybody else or have sex with you until we are married. Once we are married I can pretty much have sex as much as I like and say and make you do anything, and I mean anything, I want. But for right now, no sex, no murder, take it easy on the cursing, smoke as much as I want and ten Hail Mary’s. So if you could be quiet while I pray we can get out of here. If you want you can wait outside. I don’t mind.”

“Nope. We are a team. You pray, I pray.”

So I got down on my knees and prayed. I wasn’t sure what to pray for. Forgiveness maybe? What to do next. I doubt God would want to get involved in a vampire war. Then I saw Bella preparing to rise and it hit me. I knew.

“We need to move tonight. I know where.” I told her.

“Jasper?” she whispered, excited.

“No. Almost as good.” I grinned.

“Maria.” She smiled.

“You ready to go start a little trouble darlin?”

“Lead the way Cowboy.”