Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Growing Up

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 17:

BPOV

“We are lost.”

“We are not lost. Are we Garrett?” Peter responded.

“Of course not. I know exactly where we are.” Garrett answered, looking all around us, quite a bit like a lost person would.

“Yeah. We are lost as hell, Bella.” Kate agreed.

“We are not lost. You wanted to see other parts of the country. Here we are. Seeing other parts Bella!”

“No need to be an asshole about it Peter. Let’s just go back.”

“Yeah…”

“You two don’t know how to get us back, do you?” I rolled my eyes while Kate shook her head and looked at the ground.

“Look the batteries on the GPS unit ran out. You know that. Totally not our fault.” Garrett defended himself.

“You didn’t have to smash the GPS. Did you really think bumping it against a tree was going to make the batteries come back to life, Peter?” I asked.

“Yes okay? I really thought that it would. Would you leave me the hell alone about it? You wanted an adventure Bella. Here we are, having an adventure. Why the hell are you so grouchy?”

Well then. Somebody isn’t getting sex until I eat.

“I am a little hungry. We haven’t seen any humans or decent sized animals for a while now.”

“We saw those monkeys Bella.” Garrett pointed out when he should have been shutting the hell up and figuring out where the hell we were.

“Bella doesn’t eat monkeys, Garrett.” Kate told him.

“Why not?” Garrett just didn’t understand.

“Monkeys are too cute and look like people sort of.” I answered.

“That makes a hell of a lot of sense Bella. You don’t want to eat monkeys because they look like humans but you will eat humans.” Peter unnecessarily pointed out for the sake of being a smart ass.

“I don’t eat cute humans.” I responded.

“How do you know? You haven’t ran into any.” He countered.

“How would you know? You don’t always hunt with me.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Bullshit.”

“Whatever Peter. Can you just figure out where the hell we are?”

“How? We are just going to have to keep running in a direction until we hit civilization.”

“Use your phone. It has Google maps on it.” I suggested.

“My phone is dead Bella. The generator is back at the camp site. Three hours that way.”

“That way?” I asked pointing in the direction he was pointing.

“Yeah… I think. Right Garrett?”

“I actually thought it was more that way.” Garrett pointed in another direction.

“Kate we are mated to directionally challenged vampires.” I sighed.

We smelt him at the same time. All four of us turned and I expanded my shield to cover us.

“Really Bella? I think I can handle a vampire.” Smart ass, I mean eternal love, said. I pulled the shield out and wrapped it around Kate and I. I preferred the cautious approach.

“I didn’t say I wanted the shield off of me Bella. Let’s let Peter try his luck. Then we will see.” Garrett whined.

I rolled my eyes. I knew he wasn’t serious.

“That is an impressive, whatever that is, you have there.”

“Thanks.” He was tan for a vampire.

“Who are you?” Peter asked.

“Who am I? I am not the ones who obviously do not belong in this part of the world.” He grinned.

“Fair enough. I’m Peter. This is Garrett. The two ladies behind us are our mates.”

“Excuse me? Kate did I just hear that right?”

The boys looked at us.

“What?”

“Your mates?” Kate asked.

“You are our mates.” Garrett looked confused.

“Yeah, we are. But we have names.” I explained.

Peter just sighed. I was so spanking him when I got him alone.

“My apologies. This is my Mate…” Peter started.

Kate just cleared her throat. A neat trick for a vampire that she has taught me.

“What?” Peter nearly yelled at Kate.

“You don’t have to introduce us as your Mate. You can simply say our names and then say that Garrett and I are mates as you and Bella are mates. Stop acting like we belong to you. You can’t describe us like that.”

“Damn right. You tell him Kate.” I agreed crossing my arms.

“When the hell did you get so sensitive?” Peter asked. What the fuck? Screw this.

“Hi. You’re hot. My name is Bella and this is my bestie Kate.” I threw down my shield ran up and offered him my hand.

“What do you mean he is hot?” Peter asked.

“He is.” Kate agreed. Offering her hand as well.

“It is a pleasure to meet such beautiful and strong women. My name is Benjamin.”

“You think you could help us? Our mates have gotten us lost.” I asked.

“Lost? Where were you?”

“In the heart of the Congo.” Kate replied.

“We know where we are.” Garrett said. We ignored him.

“You are in Southern Sudan. Somalia is that way. Continue heading north into Sudan and the rain forest ends. Nothing but desert then. Egypt after that. Not a great place for a vampire to be during the day.”

“What direction would you say we needed to go to get back to our camp?” I asked.

“You cannot follow each other’s scent trails back?”

Kate and I looked at each other and then turned to the boys. “How come you guys didn’t think of that?” They both shrugged their shoulders. Peter looked off in the distance and Garrett looked at the ground.

“Thank you Benjamin. I would think we should head back now. Before the trails get old.” Kate commented.

“Yeah, thanks Benji.” Peter nearly growled.

“Glad to be of service to lost travelers. Would you mind if I come with you? I haven’t seen any vampires outside of my own coven since Edward Cullen left. I would love to get to know you all.”

Edward Cullen caught our attention. This could be good. Or not.

“I think that would be great. I just turned myself. I would love to get to know new people. Enlightened people who aren’t stuck in the times of cavemen.” I turned and glared at Peter and Garrett.

“Follow me then. I can track your scents much easier than you, since I am not as accustomed to them as much as you must be to each other.”

Benjamin took off running.

“He’s cute.” Kate commented. Peter wrapped his arms around me.

“We don’t know him. If he is friends with Cullen he may have to die.” He whispered.

That was getting old. “What is it with you and always planning on killing people? You know that is probably why we don’t have more friends. First thought in your head isn’t, wow, this guy could be interesting. No, it’s am I going to have to kill this guy? How soon can I kill this guy? Always Peter. You need to lighten up baby.”

“We made friends with Garrett. Look how that turned out.”

“Yeah. It turned out pretty fucking great and you know it.” I kissed him and smiled.

“I didn’t mean to introduce you like that, I was just…”

“It’s okay baby. I know it’s what you are used to and you were totally in defend your mate mode. Don’t worry about it. I love you. You know that right?”

“Yeah.” He smiled.

“Good. Then don’t do it again.” I winked and took off running. He may have called me a bitch but I couldn’t be sure. Soon Peter was running beside me. I grabbed his hand and he smiled. Damn I loved him.

---

I didn’t trust this guy. I wonder if I would have to kill him. He did get us back to the camp though. I mean I would have gotten us here. Eventually.

“So how long ago were you turned Bella?”

“About three months ago, Benjamin.”

“How do you like being a vampire?”

“No complaints so far.” She winked at him.

“Would any of you mind if I started a fire?”

“Sure. Knock yourself out.” I told him. It would save me the trouble if I had to kill him. Oh wait. I couldn’t have a new friend if I killed him. Women.

He gathered wood from the tree Bella’s shield had fried some months ago and…

Fire just shot out of his hand.

“Nice parlor trick.” I mentioned casually.

“Oh I am full of tricks. I can manipulate elements.” He winked at Bella and Kate and dirt rose from the ground and turned into a one foot tall tornado. Big deal. I can make fuckers heads come off.

“So you mentioned you saw Edward Cullen recently?” Garrett asked acting like he wasn’t impressed by the dirt duster circling the fire.

“Yes. Do you know him?”

“Kate and I do. Bella and Peter…”

“Don’t. I’ve never met him. Bella…”

“Never really knew him at all.” She finished.

“I see. Edward came to my coven in Egypt two months ago. Apparently his coven is being targeted by the Volturi. The Volturi want to collect Alice and Edward for themselves. Edward told us the Volturi plan to gather all the gifted vampires in the world into their control so that they may truly rule all the covens. The Cullens plan to stand up to the Volturi. They wish to join the covens in war against them.”

“Uh… Benjamin, listen. You need to know some things…”

“Like Edward Cullen is lying? Yes. I figured that out all on my own. His story made no sense. Why would the Volturi do this? They already had more than enough power. There was absolutely no reason. So what other reason would Edward have for recruiting us?”

“And what did you come up with?” I asked, impressed that someone could see through the Cullen’s bullshit.

“They want me for a war against the Volturi. If the Volturi aren’t after them that must mean they are after the Volturi.”

“So you turned him down?”

“Yes. My coven leader Amun, and coven mates Kebi, and Tia went to discuss the issue with Carlisle Cullen. I left. I have been wandering around for the past couple months. Relaxing. Staying out of fights that do not concern me. What brings you four out here?”

“I brought Bella out here for her change.” I told him.

“And?”

“The Cullens wanted Bella turned. She was courted by Edward as a human. They set her up to be turned. I found her first. I have been keeping her from them until she could be turned.”

“Why didn’t you just turn her immediately?”

“That’s what I kept asking him.” Garrett nodded his head. He stopped when I looked his way.

“Long story. Anyway we spent a year hiding from the Cullens. Jasper Whitlock is the protagonist in this tragedy. He is building an army to take on the Volturi.”

Bella turned her face to look at me.

“Yeah okay? I used big words. Just because I don’t use them often don’t mean I don’t know them. Try not to look so surprised.

“Hmmm. I suppose it is a good thing I stayed out of it. I doubt Amun will become involved either. He is averse to conflict. No sense of adventure. Not like me.”

“If you have a sense of adventure why are you staying out of it?” Bella asked propping her chin on her hands, gazing at him a bit too much for my liking. I picked her up and placed her on my lap. She giggled. Bitch. She knows how to play me.

“If I were to go to war, I would like to know that I am on the right side. I fear there is no right side in this war so I will stay out of it.”

Guy seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. Guess I wouldn’t get to kill him. Better make nice to make the missus happy.

“So you have been wandering. Are you planning on going back home?” Bella asked.

“No. Our coven home is very well known to the Volturi. I don’t imagine they will be too far behind. I am sure they will want my services as well. I think I would prefer to stay low. Of course Demetri, the Volturi’s tracker, could find me. But I will deal with that when the time comes.”

“He won’t be able to track you. No one with us can be found or seen by vampires with gifts.” Garrett told him.

“So Bella, your physical shield is also a mental shield as well?” Benjamin smiled.

“Yep. That’s me.” Bella laughed.

“Would you four mind if I stayed a while in your company?”

They all looked at me. When the fuck does anyone ever listen to me? Bella was nuzzling my neck. Shit.

“Please Peter? Can we keep him?” she was whispering in my ear. Now she bit my ear. Something I have discovered I really like since she turned.

“Well, I suppose since we are kinda partly responsible for you not having a home to go to its only right we let you hang at the jungle shack we got set up here.”

“What do you mean you are partly responsible?”

“I can take this one Peter. Let me tell you a story Benjamin…” Garrett started talking. When he did, it wasn’t often anyone could stop him. Bella leaned her head against my chest. I could feel her smile. She also started playing with my hair. I guess we were making another friend. Great…

Jasper POV

“Amun, we need your Coven. The Amazons have agreed to join us. The Romanians also.”

“The Irish, Jasper?”

“They are considering it still.”

“If Liam isn’t jumping into a revolution I assure you he has great misgivings about your cause. You know Maggie can tell truth from lies. I wonder what she found about you Jasper. Carlisle? If you are being so truthful why isn’t Liam and Siobhan here?”

“Amun, there are many forces at work here. The Volturi are coming after us first. It won’t be long until they have Benjamin. You don’t want to lose him like you lost Demetri, do you?”

“Good bye Carlisle.”

Enough of this.

“I am afraid you are correct. We have not been truthful Amun.”

“Really Jasper? Do tell.”

“I don’t actually need your coven. I need Benjamin. You Kebi and Tia are cowards. I need warriors. However since Edward failed to convince Benjamin, I am afraid we shall have to use other means. Emmett, Edward, take Tia to the basement.”

“What? You can’t do this. Carlisle!”

“Yes, I can. Emmett, tear off her legs and arms. Amun if you make a move to stop them I will leave you burning. I only need one of you alive. I am letting you and Kebi both leave. Don’t push your luck.”

“No!” Amun made a move toward me. Kebi save his life by stopping him.

“Amun stop!” Tia shouted. ” You don’t have to tear my limbs. I will stay.” she whispered. Another one smarter than Amun.

“Perfect. I was hoping you would cooperate. It would be a shame to ruin a body as lovely as yours. Amun, find Benjamin in three days. Have him here in Forks by the end of the week. If he is not here, I will ship Tia’s ashes to your home in Egypt. We understand each other?”

He looked as if he wanted to threaten me. I sent him enough fear to change his mind.

The two walked out. I looked at Tia.

“Edward, show Tia to her room.”

I walked outside and beckoned Carlisle to follow.

“That didn’t go as planned.” He stated.

“End result will be the same. Benjamin is the hero type. He won’t leave Tia here in my hands. He will do what we say.”

“And if he comes with the intent of rescuing her?”

“Let him. He is powerful but he is only one vampire. How much trouble could he possibly be? What is he going to do? Bring those two to help? A lot of good that will do him. We have twelve vampires at this house. I am not afraid of Benjamin. Now we need to approach the Wolves. Alice sees the Volturi gearing up for a large attack soon. They are bringing everyone. This will be a good opportunity to thin them out before we leave the area.”

BPOV

We sat around the campfire listening to Benjamin tell stories about his life in Egypt and watched him make animals out of the flames and smoke. Even Peter chuckled a few times.

This was fun but I was starting to get very… let’s just say if I stayed on Peter’s lap much longer and he kept rubbing my leg my scent would be a bit embarrassing around guests.

Daylight was trying to break through the canopy of trees. Usually troops were moving positions on the jungle paths at this time.

Did my stomach just growl? Yes. I believe it did. I moved to get up and Peter’s grip tightened around my waist.

“Where ya goin darlin?” he whispered in my ear sending a shiver down my spine and… other places.

“Goin for a walk?”

“Try again.”

“I didn’t eat last night. You got us lost.” I told him giving him my best sad face.

“Yeah but you ate yesterday. Maybe it’s time you started holding off. You are gonna have to get used to being around human blood and not feeding.”

“Maybe I should start working on my out of control sex drive too.” I told him. As long as we were talking about control.

“Let’s deal with one uncontrollable urge at a time Bella. We got plenty of time to work on the sex drive.” Surprise, surprise.

“I’m hungry.”

He took a deep breath. Like he needed it.

“Just one.”

“What are you? My Daddy?”

“You want me to be?” he grinned.

“Maybe. So if I kill two, you gonna spank me?”

“That might be nice.” He admitted.

“How nice is it going to be when your hand tries to hit my ass and my shield blows you back thirty feet?” I grinned.

“Not nice.” Ahhh he was pouting.

“Your right baby.” I twisted around so I was straddling him and could face him.

“I will hold off as long as I can.”

“If you want…” he started.

I kissed him. He was so good to me it almost made me forget what an asshole he was when I first met him.

Almost. I still liked to remind him every now and then. Of course he still liked to remind me what an annoying brat I was. That was okay. We weren’t perfect but we were perfect together. Always had been.

Benjamin’s phone went off. He looked tense when he saw his caller ID.

“It’s Amun. He probably wants to tell me how the meeting with Carlisle went.”

Benjamin answered his phone and immediately started speaking a language I didn’t recognize.

“Anybody know what he is saying?” I asked quietly.

“Don’t look at me.” Garrett answered. “The only word I know from another language is ‘die’ in British. I heard it enough in the war directed at me.”

Hold up.

“What was the British word for die, Garrett?” I asked.

“Surprisingly it was the same as the English word. Die. Go figure.” He had to be kidding right? Kate looked concerned.

“Garrett, were you one of the soldiers they put on the front line during the opening salvo’s of battle?” I asked him, trying to be sympathetic.

“Of course Bella. That was where the General put the greatest fighters.” He smiled. I could almost see the pride radiating off of him.

Kate was shaking her head. Peter was looking at the ground. I just felt bad for him. Poor guy must have been dropped on his head a lot as a baby. He never had a chance. It explains so much.

“What?” He asked. Kate began running her fingers through his hair.

“Nothing my big smart Patriot. You just relax.”

Benjamin just crushed his phone in his hand. He was suddenly very, very angry. I could feel Peter tense up. He tried to shove me behind him and I swatted his hand away.

“What’s wrong Benjamin?” I was concerned. He was so mellow since he had been with us. It must be bad to have him this angry.

“That was Amun. Amun of course is coming back to Egypt. The damn coward. I am to be in Forks by the end of the week to serve in Jasper’s army or he will kill Tia. He kept her. Jasper fucking kept her. There are supposedly twelve gifted vampires at the Cullen residence in Forks.”

Our group was silent. We all looked at each other. There wasn’t a decision to be made.

“What do you want to do Benjamin?” Peter asked.

“I am going to Forks and plan to kill every one of them or die trying. I am afraid I have a trip to plan. I need to leave. It has been a pleasure meeting you all and I hope we may meet again someday.”

“Whoa. Calm down there boy. You can’t go halfcocked to Forks and face down twelve vampires by yourself.” Peter told him, grabbing his arm.

“What would you have me do? Tia and I have been coven mates for over on hundred years. We were cousins during our human lives. She is my sister in every way. I will not serve the Cullens and especially Jasper Whitlock. If I go to the Volturi they will expect me to serve them. No. I do this on my own.”

“We are all going.” I told him.

He looked at the four of us. Peter, Garrett and Kate nodded.

“I thought you all wanted to stay out of this?” he asked.

“No. We don’t want to fight for either side. Looks like we got our own side. Let’s run to Sudan. We can cross the desert at night. Get your passport and then we catch a flight. We are coming with you.” Peter told him.

“Why?”

Garrett answered him.

“Because we like being big damn heroes. Nothing makes a hero happier than a damsel in distress being held by a nefarious villain. Bella used to be our damsel but she has turned into a blood thirsty bitch so we need a new one.”

“Yep. Come on Benjamin. Let’s go be heroes.” I winked and headed to the tent to change. Blood thirsty bitch. I was so kicking him in the balls for that later.

Peter walked in behind me.

“Bella, I’m concerned.”

“Do not tell me you are concerned about me fighting by your side Peter. I will not have that.” I glared. After eons of fighting by his side he thinks…

“Of course not. There is no place else I would want you. I’m concerned that you may slaughter everyone in the airport.”

“Oh.”

Yeah. Yeah I could honestly see that being a problem.

“Well… I’m going… so we will just have to wing it.” I decided.

“Wing it?”

“Yeah. I will feed right before we get to the airport. You act like I am some blood thirsty mass murderer. I will be fine.”

---

“Oh God Peter, they smell so good. They are… everywhere. Can I please just eat one?”

“No Bella. You said you would behave.”

“There are thousands of people here Peter! No one will even notice if just one goes missing.” She whispered.

I had a good grip on her arm. Garrett had her other arm. Of course one little shield explosion and that would break our grip.

“These are innocent people, Bella.”

“He doesn’t look innocent.” She said pointing at an older gentleman I admit looked a little shady.

“Please stop pointing darlin.” I whispered. Shit. She just brought her arm down incredibly fast. Way to act human, Bella. I guess we haven’t actually had to work on her acting human. This was kind of a crash course. Speaking of I hope she didn’t eat the pilots.

“He looks like a terrorist I saw on television once.” She whispered, pointing again.

“Bella, you aren’t one of those Americans who thinks everyone from the Middle East is a terrorist, are you?” Benjamin asked, smiling.

“Of course not… but some are, right? Do you know any Benjamin? Do you see any?”

Benjamin was laughing. He wasn’t trying to keep an iron grip on a newborn in a crowded airport.

“You do have to be careful. Not you of course. But Americans are targets of kidnappers very often.” Benjamin winked at her. Way to encourage her, asshole.

“Peter I… I think I need some air. Can we go outside while Garrett checks the bags?”

It was probably a good idea. We walked outside and Bella immediately scanned the parking lot.

“What are you doing?” I asked quietly, knowing what she is doing.

“Looking for kidnappers. Stand by the door. I don’t want you to scare them off.” Bella began walking into the parking lot.

“Bella come back here!”

“Shhh!” She gave me an annoyed look. She’s annoyed?

Shit.

“Bella the odds of a kidnapper trying to get you are…”

Son of a bitch.

A beige van just pulled up in front of her.

Two guys just hopped out and grabbed her. She was screaming. It was the worst fake scream I had ever heard.

Bella let them pull her into the van. A third guy jumped in the back and closed the door quickly. I looked around and no one seemed to have noticed. Those guys are good. They were at least. I turned and saw the video camera over the airport door. I smashed it quickly.

Damn it! I can’t let the van pull away. It went forward. And stopped. The guy driving just screamed and got pulled into the back. The van was rocking back and forth. More screams. The van rocked some more. This was not good. Finally the screams stopped. The van stopped moving. I looked around for more video cameras but thankfully and somewhat surprisingly I didn’t see any. The van door slid open and Bella hopped out and straightened her shirt. She wiped her hands on her jeans. She thinks I’m bad about that.

She was smiling when she walked up to me. I was not.

“You good now?”

“Yep.”

“Four?”

“Yep. And I didn’t get any blood on my clothes! Aren’t you proud of me?”

“Your cheeks are covered in blood.” I said dully.

“Oh shit. Lick it off!”

“You want me to lick blood off your face?”

“It’s not the strangest place you have licked me. Now get after it.” She had a point.

I pulled her in close so her hair would cover both of us and began cleaning her. Huh. These guys tasted pretty good.

“There. All clean. Now I got to get rid of this van. Can’t have bodies drained of blood in a van at an airport.”

“Leave them Peter. We have a plane to catch.” She walked towards the door. I suppose she would be alright for a few minutes.

I walked over to the van, opened the side door and found newspapers. I suppose to prove what day it was in the video sent to the Embassy. I lit them up and spread them out. Soon the carpet caught fire, then the seats. It would be an inferno in seconds. I walked into the airport hoping like hell that I wouldn’t have to burn that down as well.

Bella was standing next to Kate and wiping her mouth. Garrett and Benjamin walked up without bags. I guess they checked them.

“So Bella.” Garrett grinned. “Did you have a good snack?”

“God yes. I wish I could belch. It would feel so good right now.” She responded. We gotta get that blood lust under control.

“Are the passengers going to be safe, Bella?” Benjamin asked quietly chuckling.

“I suppose. What do you think the chances of our plane being hijacked are?” She asked excited.

This would be a long flight.