When The Cat Becomes The Mouse 19

“Oh good you’re back.” Rosalie was relieved to see Bella and Victoria coming through the door followed by Carmen and an unhurt Kate. It had been somewhat tense in the living room while she, Tanya, Irina and Eleazar had waited for the group to return. After Irina had relayed her concerns to Tanya and with Rosalie just as worried Eleazar had wanted to go after them to make sure his mate was alright. It had been Tanya who stopped him reasoning that it wouldn’t make Victoria or Bella trust them if they went to check on them. Plus although most didn’t consider her a fighter Carmen was just as formidable as everyone else. Rosalie got up from the couch she was sitting on and went to Bella pulling her into a hug.

“I missed you.” Bella said as she snuggled into Rosalie’s body. Now that she had accepted her feelings for Rosalie were natural it was hard to be away from the blond.

Rosalie smiled brightly at Bella’s words. She liked that Bella wasn’t shy about showing her affections. It was a far cry from the way the human had acted with Edward and just proved to Rosalie how wrong Edward and Bella’s relationship was. Taking in a deep breath inhaling Bella’s scent Rosalie held back a purr. “I missed you too.”

“How was your hunt?” Bella pulled back and gave Rosalie a chaste kiss on the lips.

Rosalie was tempted to pull Bella back in for a proper kiss but held back because they had an audience. That didn’t mean she didn’t have plans for later when they were alone. Bella had to sleep after all and now that they were sharing a bedroom Rosalie had planned to get as much use out of the bed as possible. “My hunt was fine. I feel a lot better now. How was shopping with Kate?”

“It was fun.” Bella followed as Rosalie took her hand and led her to a couch. Sitting down Bella reached for Victoria to sit next to her.

Victoria immediately sat next to her mate. She was happy it seemed that Bella had been taking to having two mates so naturally. It didn’t matter who was there she always made sure to include both her and Rosalie never leaving either out. “It was definitely an experience.”

“What do you mean?” Rosalie asked.

“I haven’t been shopping for human food except for buying some beef jerky for Bella so it was strange being around so much food. The smell was horrible and the weird items for sale confused me somewhat. I don’t know how humans would find half the things appetizing.” Victoria told her.

“Have you been a vampire for long?” Eleazar asked. Victoria was interesting to him. He knew she had a gift but he couldn’t quite pin down what it was. It was like it was constantly shifting so he couldn’t get a proper reading. He deduced it was a defensive gift and reasoned that it was the gift’s protection of the vampire that didn’t allow him to figure out what it was. He wanted to ask her but that was somewhat impolite and he didn’t want to offend the red head.

“I was born in the 1500’s in Ireland. Food was scarce because we were at war with England at the time so we didn’t have much variety.” Victoria grimmest at the hazy memories of eating rotten meat. “It wasn’t until I went to buy Bella some beef jerky that I experienced what the state of human food was in these modern times.”

“You really like beef jerky don’t you?” Kate was going through the bags of food trying to figure out what she wanted the human to eat first. She wondered if she could make her own beef jerky for Bella. She would have to look online later to figure out how.

“Of course I do it’s part of Victoria’s and my love story.” Bella blushed when Victoria kissed her on the cheek.

“That is true. If it wasn’t for beef jerky we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.” Victoria smiled. She liked that she and Bella had a love story. She was a centuries old vampire who never thought she would find a mate so now that she had one she was happy that Bella cared about her as much as she did for the human.

“What does beef jerky have to do with your love story?” Irina asked. She like Kate was a hopeless romantic. The difference was she wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

“Well it all started when I tracked Bella to a meadow.” Rosalie snuggled next to Bella as she listened to the two retell how Victoria went from wanting to kill Bella to leaving her a wrapped box of beef jerky. She hated that she felt jealous of Victoria for having such a happy beginning with Bella. The way Bella lit up when Victoria would describe a certain part or when Bella would interrupt Victoria to tease her was like a knife to the heart. Rosalie wanted a better love story than her being kept away from Bella then finding Bella and bringing a great danger with her. It wasn’t fair. Rosalie was just about to excuse herself to get some air when she felt Bella kiss her cheek. She looked at her in confusion.

“That’s not saying Rosalie and I don’t have our own epic love story. Our’s just contains unrequited love and a war to be together.” Bella gave Rosalie a wink.

Rosalie instantly felt better. Bella was right. Although it wasn’t all flowers and romance they did have an epic love story.She wished it happened differently but if it had then Carlisle would have been Bella’s sire and they probably would have never met Victoria. It didn’t matter how they actually got here what mattered was they were here together. “You’re right. We do have an epic love story.”

“Oh my god you guys are so cute.” Irina gushed as she watched the three of them snuggled up on the couch all with happy smiles on their faces. She had never been around a triad couple before and seeing the three of them all together like this made Irina see how natural it was. After spending time with them Irina couldn’t imagine one without the other two.

“Oh look she’s blushing!! How adorable.” Kate walked into the living room holding a box. She ripped it open and handed a fruit roll up to Bella. “Here Bella try this. It says you hold the tattoo part on your tongue for 30 seconds and then it will transfer to your tongue.”

“Kate don’t force our guest to eat just because you are curious about things.” Tanya was already predicting that she was going to have to reel in Kate when it came to the human. Tanya wasn’t sure how Bella would react to an excited Kate and Tanya feared that Victoria or even Rosalie might become violent if Kate pushed too far.

“It’s ok Tanya I am hungry.” Bella took the fruit roll up from Kate and opened it. It was a little weird with everyone staring at her as she held it on her tongue. Kate was almost sitting on her lap with how close she was. After thirty seconds she stuck her tongue out to Kate.

“Holy hell it worked!!” Kate exclaimed excitedly. Bella had the blue outline of a lightning bolt on her tongue.

“Let me see.” Irina said moving Kate out of the way. “Weird. Are there other foods that do this?”

“I think there are but I don’t know what kinds.” Bella said as she closed her mouth. She could tell Kate was disappointed but she wasn’t comfortable with her tongue just hanging out. So instead she ate the rest of the fruit roll up and sat back against the couch.

“I’m going to have to research this.” Kate was already going through different things she needed to look into for the human to try. They hadn’t decided when Bella would be changed and Kate hoped it would be a while so she could experience human things with Bella. She wondered if she could get Bella to get a real tattoo.

“Bella dear I’m going to make your dinner. Are you alright with having chicken alfredo?” Carmen was excited to cook for Bella but wasn’t sure what to make. She had remembered learning how to make the dish when she was watching one of her favorite cooking shows and had wanted to see if she could make it herself. Now that Bella was here she would have a chance to make all the dishes she had wanted to. Carmen rethought that. She could make them as long as Bella liked them.

“That’s perfect Carmen thank you.” Bella liked the kind vampire. Carmen was sincere and seemed to genuinely want to take care of someone. It was different with Esme. Esme tried too hard and almost seemed fake. The woman never really talked about anything other than asking about Bella’s life and what she got up to that day. It made it hard to have a relationship with someone when they didn’t really talk to you. At times Bella felt like Esme wanted to say things but stopped herself and reverted back to just speaking about Bella. Carmen wasn’t like that though. While they were shopping Carmen had explained how she and Eleazar had met and what her human life was like. In the few hours of shopping Bella had known more about Carmen than she did about Esme after months of spending time with the vampire.

“Of course.” Carmen hurried back to the kitchen. She was happy to have Bella with them. She had always longed for a child but it never happened in her human life. While she was a vampire she had found Eleazar right away and the two joined Tanya, Kate and Irina. Them being older than her didn’t give her a real place as a parent to them. With Bella though she got a chance to dote on the human and when she was turned Carmen hoped she would get a chance to help guide the newborn. Carmen wondered what Bella’s relationship with Esme had been like. She knew that Esme had always yearned for a child as well and considered the rest of the Cullens her children. It would be almost natural for Esme to try and fill the role of mother for Bella. That thought made her frown. If Esme was a mother figure to Bella would that mean Carmen wouldn’t have a chance to bond with the girl. She would have to ask Rosalie about it later. Carmen didn’t want to bring it up with Bella incase it was a hard topic for her to talk about.

“Bella do you want to play video games until your dinner is ready?” Kate hoped Bella wouldn’t be as good at video games as the others were. She never got the chance to actually beat anyone after they figured out the game. Bella being human may give Kate an advantage.

Bella looked around the room noticing everyone looking at her expectantly. She figured agreeing to play with Kate would take some of the attention off of her.” Sure Kate. I’m not very good but I’m willing to try.”

“I’ll go easy on you I promise.” Kate went through her games trying to pick out the perfect one for beginners. She didn’t want Bella to be discouraged if Kate beat her too badly and not want to play again. Kate didn’t know how much time it would take for Carmen to make dinner but hoped that maybe afterward she could get Bella to try some more of the food she picked out. Having the human around was already turning out to be fun. Kate wanted to get some one on one time with Bella without either of her mates because she knew that Bella would be more willing to try some of the dangerous stuff Kate had planned. It wouldn’t happen if she had her two overprotective mates with her though. Finding a copy of Mario cart Kate set it up and handed Bella a controller. Watching the game load Kate thought for what seemed like the hundredth time that she hoped she and Bella were going to be great friends.