Chapter 4

It took just under an hour to get to Port Angeles where Kate took Bella to several stores to buy the minimum of necessary clothes and then a big enough bag for Kate to carry on her back while holding Bella as they ran. For just a brief moment, Bella had thought about going to someone to ask for help, to tell them she was being kidnapped, but there were several things that always held her back.

First, she truly didn’t think Kate would hurt her. It was the first time in a long time that she actually not only felt safe, but like she belonged. In her presence, she felt like she was okay to be what she wanted, that she was actually wanted to be there. She hadn’t felt that way with Renee and Charlie’s place always made her feel like she was an outsider looking in, no matter how much Charlie tried to include her.

But the main reason she didn’t say anything was that no matter what she did or who she went to, there was no chance of the vampires not finding her and getting her back if they wanted to. And that was only if she could find someone that believed her and took her away from Kate in the first place. Vampires were dangerous, regardless of how nice they appeared. Kate was a dangerous vampire that wanted her to go with her to Alaska, she was at her mercy.

But that didn’t mean she had to be happy about it.

Therefore, Bella did her best to glare at the vampire whenever she could and to just, in general, be short with the woman. The hurt puppy look Bella received in return let her know it was working, but by the time Kate was running them to Seattle to meet up with Irina, Bella actually felt bad about how she was treating the vampire that was kidnapping her. Could Stockholm Syndrome start that quickly? Should that be a concern for Bella?

As it was, she had a lot of time to think about as they not only ran to Seattle, but then as they drove to their home. Quite frankly, Bella was a bit perturbed about how fast Irina had driven, but both Blondes assured her they would be able to easily talk their way out of a ticket and time really was of the essence to make sure Victoria knew she was no longer in Washington.

Bella had learned that a big reason that Irina had bought a car in Seattle instead of anywhere closer was so that Kate could run with her and leave a trail of her scent for Victoria to follow and learn that Bella was no longer in Forks. And then, she was forbidden from contacting Charlie at all and was made sure that Bella had made an appearance next to Irina as she finalized her purchase. She had been told to make sure she looked happy so that when Charlie would eventually find her trail there, the humans would think Bella had run away with two blondes that had talked up going South. They were doing their best to lead the humans South and the vampire North; regardless it would leave Charlie and his town safe and it would keep everyone follow the laws the Volturi had laid down.

Bella had to admit that she admired that while they were keeping her safe, and her dad safe, they were also doing everything within the laws to keep not only themselves safe, but also making sure the Volturi didn’t get involved. Bella had heard enough stories about how sadistic they were and how much they truly didn’t care about humans.

The entire trip was spent with either Bella glaring outside the window or asking Kate frivolous questions that she wasn’t likely to remember the answers to. Really, she would have been happy spending time in quiet, but Kate was relentless in asking her questions.

Bella had assumed she would be sitting alone in the backseat, like she would have done with the Cullen’s. But Kate had surprised her when she immediately got in next to her and sit crisscross, facing her and started firing off question after question. She had a look on her face the entire time that Bella wanted to think she was actually interested in her answers, but Bella couldn’t be so sure. The Cullen’s had always appeared to be interested in her as well and look how far that got her.

It was at the less than a half hour left mark that Bella finally got tired of all the questions. She had slept for far longer than she normally would and had even taken a few naps to make the time pass faster as the only stops they made was to get gas and to let Bella get food and use the bathroom. The rest of the time Irina was driving and Kate was asking questions or answering the few questions Bella asked with a lot more detail than the teenager really wanted. But, enough was enough. How much could Kate want to know? She was as bad as her ex.

“Why do you keep asking me so many questions?” Bella asked, trying her best to keep her frustration out of her voice but failingly miserably at it. Irina snorted at her question, earning herself a quick glare from her sister before Kate answered.

“Because I want to know everything about you.” Kate answered like it was silly question for Bella to be asking. “Why would I not? I’m surprised you haven’t asked me just as many.”

“Some people aren’t as nosy as others Kate.” Irina said from the front and Bella could just barely see the other blonde rolling her eyes.

“Well, it’s Bella, why wouldn’t I be nosy?” Kate asked in a defensive tone as she crossed her arms over her chest in a petulant manner.

“He was the same way, always asking questions about what I was thinking and why I decided something.” Bella said, “It was really annoying then and it is now.” She said, mirroring Kate move with crossing her arms over her chest.

Kate gasped obnoxiously loud and held a hand over her chest in feign offense, “Don’t compare me to your child of an ex!” Kate said, nearly shouting, “I’m a much better girlfriend than he was a boyfriend.”

“You kidnapped me.” Bella said with deadpan tone, then realized exactly what it was Kate had said. “Wait, who in the world said you’re my girlfriend?”

“Well, I’m your mate.” Kate answered like it was obvious, “I’m whatever you want to call me, just know that whatever it is, I’m better than Edward.”

“Says my kidnapper.” Bella said with a snort and a roll of her eyes.

“I didn’t kidnap you.” Kate said with a wide eyes, “Irina did!” She yelled with a victorious smile. “She’s driving the get-away car and was the one that actually that went all demanding stuff when we at the house, and she’s not even the oldest! Therefore, she kidnapped you, not me.” Kate said then looked like she was thinking something other as Bella could only give her a skeptical look, “Unless of course, you’re into that type of thing, then I wouldn’t mind some roleplay kidnapping.” Kate said with an absolutely lecherous look.

Bella’s face went bright red in less than a second, she immediately had to look away from the older woman. Her face went even brighter red as her treacherous mind thought of different roles the blonde could play in such a situation. This didn’t bode well for Bella if she was thinking that way about a complete stranger that, regardless of what she said, really did help kidnap her.

“Kate!” Irina scolded from the front seat, “At least pretend you’ve learned some type of tact in your thousand years.”

“You’re that old?” Bella asked, shocked that there vampires older than Carlisle. Well, not really shocked as she assumed there were, how could there not be? But she was shocked Kate was so much older than Carlisle and acted the way she did.

“You make it sound like a bad thing.” Kate said with a pout from both being reprimanded by her sister and from Bella making it sound like her age was a put off. Then she remembered something that all teenagers should like, “But remember, that just means I have lots of experience to-”

Whatever Kate was about to say was cut off as the door on her side was flung open and the blonde was yanked out of the car and pulled away. It took Bella a moment to realize that it had been Irina yanking Kate out of the car and was chastising the woman as she was dragged into a house that Bella hadn’t seen them pull up to because she had been paying too much attention to what Kate was saying.

She felt her car door open as she stared after the two sisters and turned to see a brunette vampire smiling at her, holding a hand out to help her out of the car.

“I hope those two weren’t so unbearable during your trip.” The woman said with an apologetic smile, “I know Kate can be a bit much sometimes.”

“She’s my mate, I can never be too much!” Bella barely heard Kate yell at the top of her lungs from someplace inside the house, making Bella shake her head.

Kate had said as much several times while in Bella’s presence, and Bella wasn’t too keen on believe the blonde. Comparing what she had felt the first time she had been told she was someone’s mate to this time, it was very different. The first time she had mostly been curious about the boy, this time she just felt a need to be around the woman. But after how it went with her ex, she didn’t want to fall into the trap of supposedly being someone’s mate again; she wanted Kate to prove it like she hadn’t done to her ex. Last time she had to work to prove she was worth going out with, she wanted it the other-way around this time.

“I’m Carmen, why don’t we get you inside and we can get the business part of our meeting out of the way?” She asked with a kind smile, nearly reminding her of Esme but there was more a strength with Carmen whereas Esme seemed more passive.

Bella put her hand in Carmen’s and let herself be pulled out of the car and into the house.