Harvest Wine

Disclaimer: The only thing I own is this story.

AN: For those of you who already knew what a Maenad was and those that googled it after the last chapter, I'm altering them slightly. They still have all the cool powers without using the magic stick; I also took some inspiration form a short story by Jim Butcher in the Strange Brew anthology. Anyone that gets offended by how I portray Angela Webber in this chapter and the rest of the story, I'm sorry. I like her as a character but I decided to base her actions after those of a girl I went to high school with.

Ch. 2: The Gift That Keeps Giving

EPOV (Esme)

Carlisle finally left to start his first day at the local hospital and I was able to relax for the first time since the family moved into our new home. Without his constant hovering as he watched my every move and forced me to play the part of happy wife, I had the opportunity to enjoy some much needed decorating… until she woke up. Despite the cheery façade of a loving family we showed in public, safely hidden behind the walls of our various real estate holdings we were anything but. The blame for that might've been easily placed on what happened in Forks but if I was being completely honest with myself then The Cullen Coven had been broken almost from its inception.

Edward was the first one that my husband had changed and was only older than me by a couple of years as a vampire. Unfortunately, he has always been Carlisle's confidante and favorite. The bronze haired boy was always given more consideration him than any other member of our "family," even me and I am his wife and mate. The week willed bastard claims that Edward gets more consideration because he is a mind reader but that was just a convenient excuse. When Alice and Jasper had joined us back in the 1950's, the hyper pixie became my husband's second must trusted advisor. Madam Cleo and Uri Geller used that to their advantage and manipulated Carlisle to their advantage whenever they could.

That is exactly what they did after Alice's disastrous 18th birthday party she forced us to throw for Bella. Edward had come home after dropping off his human girlfriend then demanded that the entire family move. It had lead to one of the biggest fights we had ever had and I was surprised when the tiny seer had sided with her brother. Then again, she had not been the same since the events in Phoenix and watching that demented video. Come to think of it, neither had Carlisle; it was almost like he was afraid of something. Anyway, the two golden children convinced our leader and he ordered the move without consulting anyone else or a vote being called. It was the second worst mistake my husband had ever made.

Bella Swan, in the short time she was involved with Edward, had become a daughter to me and a sister to Emmett, Jasper and even Rosalie. The only reason my blonde daughter acted like she hated the other girl was because she believed Edward never really loved her and wanted the human to not get hurt. Leaving her had forced our dysfunctional family unit to confront some issues. The end result was that Emmett and Rose had gotten divorced but remained best friends; Jasper and Alice were estranged but had not taken any steps to repair their relationship. Carlisle and I had stopped pretending all together, we were currently living on separate floors of the house and I was waiting for the right time to file divorce papers.

Edward had proven just how heartless he was, and that his love for Bella was false, soon after he joined the rest of us in Alaska. We were staying with the Denali Coven when he arrived. Without so much as a greeting or a glance at any of us, the self-proclaimed gentlemanly vampire grabbed Tanya Denali by the hand then dragged her upstairs and had his way with her. The only thing that had kept them from going at it all night was my cell phone ringing unexpectedly.

I flashed over to where I had left my purse and removed the device; the number for Forks High School was displayed on the screen. Considering that I had already picked up the children's transcripts, I wondered why they were calling me. Maybe they had forgotten to give me something, I thought as I answered the phone. Nothing could have prepared me for the news that followed.

"Mrs. Cullen, this is Mrs. Cope from Forks High. You are still listed as an emergency contact for Isabella Swan… I know she was close to your family and I thought you'd want to know that the Police found her and Chief Swan's mutilated bodies in their house this morning. Officer Marks and I have tried to get in touch with her mother but the numbers we were able to find for her were disconnected. If you want, I can let you know when Services will be held," the school secretary sobbed and my mind went blank.

"Yes, please… as soon as I hear from you, one or more of us will head back," I eventually managed to rasp out as I fought back the tearless sobs that threatened to burst out of me at any second.

The entire family returned to Forks but only Rose, Emmett and I attended the funeral. Jasper wanted to come but Alice demanded he stay with her since she refused to go. In fact, the tiny terror was not even upset at the death of her best friend, she was actually pissed that any of us considered going. I found out later that night that she had gone hunting with Carlisle not long after we left for the Service. Just before Reverend Webber started the Memorial, I noticed his daughter, Angela slip into the back of the church. It angered me that several of the people gathered were disrespectful of my daughter's memory and started to gossip about teary-eyed girl.

It seemed a great deal of scandal had fallen upon the normally sleepy town. On the same night the Swans and a bar full of people were butchered, there had been a party where a number of the high school girls were raped. Angela, apparently, had gone there with her boyfriend Ben. He convinced her to drink something but she got sick and left. While she stumbled home, the monster tried to rape her. She got away but passed out on her front porch. She told her parents what happened but they refused to believe her. In the end, it was confirmed many of the girls had been slipped the Date Rape drug but the damage was done. The reverend and his wife had thrown the poor girl out.

All but Edward returned to Denali that night. He showed up a month later with Angela in tow and claimed she was his mate and the love of his existence. I was not the only one angry with the selfish insensitive bastard, Tanya was incensed. She left but came back three days later with the damn Volturi. Aro decreed that Edward had broken the law not once but twice but since Bella was already beyond justice, the mind reader had to change the Webber girl or the two of them were going to be killed. Carlisle had managed to delay the change until after Angela graduated. The Volturi King was about to refuse the request outright but found something humorous in his memories and agreed. The last thing I heard was Aro whisper to his brothers, "The Cullen Coven will no longer be a problem."

After the Italian vampires had left, our family had outstayed its welcome so we packed up and fled Alaska. That was how we ended up here in The Gates. The Gates was a private community that catered mostly to vampires and other supernatural creatures. The magical wards that went into the construction of this place made it possible for vampires to go out in the sunlight without sparkling, which was a good thing as some humans lived here as well. It also muted the sense of smell for us and the resident shapeshifters so that we were able to coexist in peace without each others' scent setting us on edge.

Rose was curled up on the couch reading an article on the latest concept cars in one of her automotive magazine, Alice was impatiently waiting for the mall to open in order to go on one of her incessant shopping trips while Jasper and Emmett played some video game. I had been in the middle of arranging flowers into vases around the living room when my calm was shattered. Angela's breathing and heart rate picked up as she awoke in the room she shared with Edward.

"Good morning, love," he whispered in her ear.

"Good morning," she answered back then the sound of slurping reached us as she swallowed his manhood as easily as a common whore. I shuddered when she told him huskily, "I love how sweet you taste."

Angela Webber had proven to be nothing like the shy polite girl that I had heard so many good things about from my beloved departed daughter. She was extremely judgmental; in her own words, Jasper was nothing but a monster that should have been thrown out of the family or destroyed a long time ago, Rosalie was a superficial vane bitch whose sole purpose in life was tease men and more than deserved how her human life ended, Emmett was too mentally retarded to have ever been changed, while I needed to burn in the fiery pits of Hell for not keeping my child alive then attempting to commit suicide. Conversely, Carlisle needed to be venerated as a saint and Alice commended for not dwelling on the past in addition to being willing to embrace humans. She absolutely worshipped the ground Edward walked on and constantly stroked his ego. The first time Jasper pointed out how her mate spent his rebellious years; the bitch had the nerve to say that he had done the world a favor by sending so many sinners to the just reward. While the little hypocrite still had her virtue intact, her ex-boyfriend had convinced her that oral and anal sex were perfectly fine because they were not considered to be premarital sex.

Edward was not in love with her but, according to Jasper, he was in love with the control he had over the human. Angela never questioned anything but did everything he said. The pathetic child had the nerve to actually tell Rose and I that a good mate and wife was subservient to her husband. That we should be proud to be their property; she proved her point, or severe lack thereof, when she dropped to her knees and give Edward a blowjob in front of our family, the Denali's and the Volturi. After she finished with him, my "perfect son" told her to offer herself to Aro and she had happily done so. It was the most disgusting display that I had ever had the misfortune of witnessing. Not even one of the Succubus sisters was vile enough to debase themselves in that way.

I was brought out of my internal musing when the doorbell rang. Everyone was curious about who it was when I opened the door. A female vampire with long brown hair and eyes, another side effect of the magic around us was our eyes regained their human color, stood on our doorstep with a good sized wicker basket covered with a piece of checkered linen in her hands. She was dressed in elegant but comfortable clothes.

"Hello, I'm Claire Radcliff and I thought that I'd welcome you to the community," she stated in a British accent and smiled brightly.

"Of course, please come in and I will introduce you to everyone. I am Esme Cullen, by the way. Unfortunately, my husband, Carlisle had to check in at the hospital so he is not here at the moment," I replied politely then escorted her into the living room. Edward and his "Stepford Pussy", Rose's words, deigned to join us.

"Claire, these are my children; my oldest son – Emmett, my middle son – Jasper, my oldest daughter – Rosalie, my younger daughter and Jasper's mate – Alice, my younger son – Edward and his human mate, Angela," I introduced each in turn and our guest gave me a puzzled look then motioned to the human.

"You don't consider Edward's mate to be your daughter," Claire asked curiously.

"My human daughter's name was Bella. The family was forced to leave her behind and she was murdered. In spite of what some may believe, she can never and will never be replaced," I replied honestly. The mind reader and his pet stiffened but Angela wisely remained silent.

The other vampire's eyes tightened and she whispered, "I know what it is like to have loved ones murdered and I agree with your sentiment."

Jasper winced at the pain our guest was going through as we all sat down in the living room and she placed the basket on the coffee table. After a few moments for her to compose herself, I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She gave a small smile of appreciation in return.

"I am sorry to hear about your loss. If it is not too difficult for you can I ask who you lost," I felt bad for asking but she indicated that the request was not inappropriate.

"My husband and young daughter, Christian killed them just before we were scheduled to move here," she commented with only a trace of pain in her voice while the rest of us stiffened.

In the vampire world, outside of the Volturi there were three vampires that were feared among our kind. One was the Mistress of the South, Maria. She controlled all of the Southern states and Mexico. The next was the dreaded warrior – The Major, Jasper Whitlock, sired by Maria and currently my son. The last, and by far the deadliest, was Christian. He was very old and by far the most powerful of our kind. Aro once grew tired of the indiscriminate carnage that Christian left in his wake so he sent five of his dreaded Guard to deliver an ultimatum. The psychotic bastard walked into the Volturi throne room with their severed heads hanging from his belt. He politely informed them that Aro, Caius and Marcus ruled at his whim. The next time they sent anyone after him, there would not be a scorched stone left standing in Volterra and the ground for a hundred miles would be soaked with blood.

The infamous vampire held a special place of revulsion in my heart. Carlisle lied to anyone that asked about his story by saying he never knew who his Sire was. Christian had been the one that turned my husband into a vampire. I had only been a vampire for two years when I first met him. He showed up on our doorstep while my mate was at the hospital and Edward was out hunting. He groped me then demanded that I give him a proper welcome. When I refused, he beat, raped then left me crumpled naked on the floor while sat down to wait for the others to get home. Carlisle found me a couple of hours later but did nothing about it. After Christian left, he explained that his Sire was too powerful and there was nothing that could be done.

The second time the monster visited was when Rose was still a newborn. Before I had a chance to refuse to "welcome" him, he pointed to my new daughter and made sure I knew that if I did not comply then she would. He stayed for three days and the beatings and rape were more brutal than the first time. As he violated me repeatedly, he made sure I was broken. He had done this by biting the sides of my neck, both breasts, my inner thighs, three times just above my clit (one for each day) and my tail bone. He never injected any venom into the bites because the only scars he wanted to leave were on my psyche and soul.

Christian never visited again but the damage was done. I never looked at Carlisle the same way again. Between what that psychotic and my human husband had done to me, I was beyond damaged and it had taken years to heal. Even then, I rarely had sex with my mate. Whenever it was too much for him to take, Carlisle whined, cajoled and basically played on my own guilt and would let it drop. A few days later, I was on my back satisfying him because I felt an overwhelming urge to and then spent at least two more wondering why and hating myself for it.

Claire must have read my expression because she eased the tension that had flooded the room when she said, "You won't have to worry about him anymore because an old friend had been visiting when he murdered my family and destroyed the bastard with the help of her sisters."

After her admission, the atmosphere became lighter and the conversation moved on to happier topics. Eventually, she removed the linen from the top of the basket and revealed a dozen bottles of wine. Each one had a beautiful handmade label that depicted nymphs frolicking in a vineyard. A scrolling banner over the scene read Harvest Wine in elegant script. Contrary to popular belief, vampires really did drink wine… actually we were able to drink any form of alcohol.

"I have never heard of this brand before, is it local," I asked as I held one of the bottles up for inspection.

"You might say that its local, my mate, Isa, makes it. She has a bit of a green thumb," Claire commented with pride.

"Your mate is a chick," Emmett wondered tactlessly and winced when Rose smacked him on the back of the head.

Our guest smiled brightly then replied, "Yes. When I met Isa, the barren desolation that had been my heart after my family was murdered suddenly bloomed with life again. She taught me how to love again. As much as I loved my husband, we were never mates. Isa was the part of soul that I hadn't realized was missing."

The visit ended a few minutes later and Claire headed back to her house but not before she promised to take all of us girls shopping.

CPOV (Claire)

I hadn't fed in a while so being around that human girl, Angela, had set my throat on fire. If I'd stayed any longer I might have lunged for her. At a fast pace by human standards, I made my way back to the house. My breathing was heavy from keeping my inner beast chained by the time I made it inside and closed the door. The magic that kept my eyes their human color faded and they were once more a deep ruby when I spun around to face my mate as she lounged on the couch.

"It went well," she asked her voice husky with need as she lay naked holding a half full glass of wine. The scent of her arousal caused my nostrils to flare and eyes to darken with lust as I walked over to her.

"Yes, everyone but Carlisle was there when I gave them the basket. It appears Edward has a new human toy but from what I noticed this Angela girl wasn't well liked," I answered then explained everything that taken place.

"Revenge can wait. I need you to fuck me before we go deal with the child pornographer that I've got chained down in the Play Room," Bella purred then led me up to our room.