Believe Me Chapter 23

Bella woke up to hospital sounds and hospital machines beeping near her ear. She heard sounds she had long since become used to from growing up with broken bones and unlucky accidents. She was looking forward to Victoria changing her so she wouldn’t have to worry about accidently tripping and landing the wrong way and breaking another bone. Bella’s eyes were much too heavy to bother to open, likely thanks to whatever she was given to help her sleep so her wrist could be fixed. Instead of opening her eyes, she slowly turned her good arm over and opened her palm as an invitation for the vampire she knew was there. As soon as she opened her hand, a very cold one gently grasped her own and all of the aches and anxieties she felt from being attacked by a vampire and from being trapped in a hospital for the millionth time seemed to melt away.

In Bella’s mind, there was practically nothing Victoria couldn’t fix with just her presence alone.

“The doctor said once you were awake, she will check in with you and if all is well, you can be discharged.” Victoria said as she looked over her mate, only slightly concerned her human hadn’t opened her eyes yet. But she knew her mate was safe, not necessarily entirely healthy but definitely safe. The doctors wouldn’t have left Bella alone if there was anything else they could do for her; it also helped that Tanya scared the hell out of them to make them go above and beyond what they normally would have done for their patients to ensure Bella’s health.

Bella slowly opened her eyes, wanting to see her beautiful vampire, it took a few seconds of struggling but she eventually managed, “Was anyone hurt?”

She was happy to hear she would be able to leave the hospital soon but she was more concerned about the others. There were so many newborns, Bella was genuinely concerned someone was hurt. Yes, she did get hurt herself, but it was probably just a broken wrist. Even if James had shattered her wrist, she would heal. There were so many newborns there, she was very concerned someone may have been hurt in a way they wouldn’t be able to heal. Or worse.

There were so many people there that volunteered to help her, people she didn’t know and those she barely knew and she wanted to make sure no one was hurt.

Victoria snorted at the first question her mate asked after waking in the hospital. Wouldn’t she prefer to know her own injuries instead of what may or may not have happened to others? She really wished her mate wasn’t so selfless; she would need to make sure she was selfish enough for them both if her mate never grew out of it after being turned.

“Thankfully you weren’t hurt too seriously.” Victoria said with just a bit of snark, not enough to get her in trouble with her mate but enough to tell her mate that she wasn’t amused with her at the moment. “Your wrist was basically shattered and the doctor used a lot of fancy words that I don’t care to repeat, but just know your wrist will be immobile for a while to heal and your parents are beside themselves with looking up all the information they can and to make sure your healing process is as smooth as possible.” Victoria said, and then sneered when she remembered her human’s human father very much concerned about his daughter.

While Victoria placed more faith in the Denali’s claim on Bella than Bella’s human father, the fact was, the man was Bella’s dad and did hold some claim to her human. Bella still loved her dad, regardless of how little of a role he has had in her life. There was no way the Denali’s would be able to just take Bella to Alaska to live with them without any consequences. As it was, without Carlisle convincing Charlie to spend some time away to let Bella rest in peace, Victoria wouldn’t have been able to be there when her mate woke up. There was a lot that needed to be decided about the male human as soon as Bella was well enough to be home.

Bella couldn’t stop her eye roll if she tried. She knew Victoria would be annoyed she asked about others instead of herself because Victoria was all about self-survival; especially given what her gift was. But as much as Bella wanted to survive, she already knew she did. She knew the second James head was torn from his body, she wanted to make sure everyone was had still been fighting was okay.

“I appreciate you telling me that, but I already know I’ll be fine.” Bella said with a smile and then added just a bit more to play towards her ego, “With you by my side, I never questioned I would be safe.” Bella had to fight a smirk as she saw her vampire sit just a bit straighter in her seat, silly vampires, they were all so predictable. “So, I just wanted to make sure everyone else was okay because I don’t know if they are like I know I am.”

Victoria had to fight a sneer about her mate not wanting to care about herself, she would just have to make sure in the future to make sure to keep on top of her own mate’s safety if her mate wouldn’t.

“They are all fine.” Which wasn’t a lie. She just wouldn’t tell her mate that it took a few of them having some blood to be fully healed but by now, she was sure everyone was perfectly fine and no one would be able to tell they had all just fought off newborns, well, almost. “The only substantial thing that happened was Kate received a bit on her arm that has since scared over.” Before Bella could get any more concerned over something so artificial, Victoria quickly continued talking, cutting her mate off from asking any questions. “Kate has been insufferable since she got it, showing it off to everyone as one of her best battle scars she’s ever received as either a human or vampire.” She said with a roll of her eyes. She is going to have to make sure she and Bella have a lot of vacations from the Denali home because she already knew Kate would very easily get on her nerves.

Bella took in the information and while she was sad that Kate was hurt, if the blonde wasn’t bothered by it, why should she? If anything, if Kate was showing off her new bite mark, then it really wasn’t any business of Bella’s to be upset about it. Would she have rather not have anyone hurt? Definitely. But since she was the one who had the worse injury out of everyone and with how many newborns there were, Bella would just accept everyone was alright and Kate’s injury was just a new battle scar she could tell stories about in the future.

“Well, good. I’m glad everyone is safe.” Bella said after just a small hesitation. “So, all the newborns are gone?” She asked as a near after thought. The only reason the pack was willing to help in the first place was because the pack didn’t want newborns to get past the vampires and attack people on the reservation.

“Yes, with Alice and Peter, all of the newborns were tracked down and killed. None of them got close to town or the reservation so no humans were hurt in their panic to escape.” Victoria said. Thankfully the two psychics were able to easily pinpoint where the run-away newborns were while their mates killed them. They were two very effective teams. “How are you feeling?” Victoria asked with a softened face. While she was happy her mate was awake, she wanted to make sure her mate was comfortable. Her mate was safe now, she didn’t have to worry about her being attacked by her psychopath ex-coven mate. But her mate was also in pain, and that wasn’t okay.

“I’m tired.” Bella said with a small grin. She was sure she had been asleep already for a while, but whenever she woke up in a hospital, she was always tired. She was also sure she was on some strong pain killers as she couldn’t feel the pain she likely should have been feeling in her wrist. “But I don’t feel any pain, so that’s good.”

“Good, then I’ll go get your doctor so she can release you and then she’ll likely call your father to come get you to take you home.” Victoria said as she leaned towards her mate to give her a brief kiss on her forehead. “There is a lot for us to talk about, but not while there are risks of any humans hearing. I’m sure your parents will go to you as soon as Charlie isn’t there.”

Victoria left the room to do as she said and Bella was left alone to think about what was going to happen. She knew she didn’t want to lose the Denali’s. Losing Victoria wasn’t even a thought that crossed her mind. But she also knew she couldn’t just abandon Charlie, not after all he had done to try and get closer to her. Yeah, she wasn’t as close to him as she would have liked, but he was her dad and at least he’s tried more than Renee ever had. Then there was also the Cullen’s. After everything that had been revealed about them, like Leah and Esme, what was going to happen there? Especially with the cover story they have in Forks. Bella wanted to know, she really wanted to make sure she wouldn’t lose her knew, found, family. She was betting she would be in for a very long talk whenever she got home and Charlie let her be to rest.