Edward entered the room slowly, savoring the first glimpse of her. Her beauty was at times incomprehensible to him. He found it ironic that while he was constructed to be the object of every human's desire, to seduce them with his mere presence, this delicate human had captivated him with her porcelain skin, full lips, and soft, mahogany hair.

He stepped inside the room and closed the door softly behind him. The fragrant scent of her blood had already filled the air in the room, reminding him of the other way in which she tempted him. It had driven him close to madness several times over the past two weeks, but that last session had been the most dangerous.

In their first session he had initially tested his control by tasting her skin to try and savor a hint of her blood. It had been exhilarating, using his tongue to paint every inch of her body, leaving him trembling with sinful delight and hungering for more. He had left that first session invigorated, giving Gianna his thanks before departing the mansion to hunt in the nearby forest.

With each subsequent session, he'd pushed his limits, seeking other ways to find the threshold of his will. Touching and tasting, exploring every part of her, and soon the nature of his desire shifted. His lust for her body grew and quickly became entangled with his thirst for her blood.

During their last session, driven by the potent cocktail of lust and thirst, he pushed himself further than ever before.

He was laying between her legs, lazily drawing his tongue over the soft, supple flesh of her inner thigh. Her femoral artery was so close he could feel her pulse beating beneath her skin. The fragrance of her blood mixed with the heady scent of her arousal, overwhelming his senses and transforming him into a salacious beast.

Before he could stop himself he buried his face in her sex, licking and sucking hungrily while humming out his pleasure against her silky skin. His tongue slid over her in intricate patterns that seemed to ignite her flesh. Heat rose off her body, bathing his mouth in warmth that aroused him beyond reason. He dipped his tongue inside her, drawing out more of her pleasure with slow, strong strokes. The scent of her blood and sex intensified, driving him to the brink, and for the first time in decades he felt acute pain from withholding his need to drink.

His mouth filled with venom, and he felt his body move of its own volition, pulling back, readying for the strike. As the certainty that he would kill her and drink every last drop of her blood settled over his mind, she cried out. Her body tensed beneath him, hands twisting in the sheets and back arching. Pleasure coursed through her, causing her hips to buck and her feet to lift off the bed. The power of her climax was stunning; it's heady scent thick in the air around him.

He witnessed it in reverent awe, his thirst all but forgotten. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen. The power and beauty of her body in rapture, like a mysterious dance held secret from his eyes until now. He wanted to see it again, but her breathing changed and he knew she had awaken.

He was outside the door of her room a quarter of a second before she opened her eyes, standing aroused and flustered while he listened to her moving inside the room. It was silent, save for the shifting of fabric and padding of feet across the carpet. Then he heard the bathroom door shut and turned to rest his back against her door.

The secrets of her body were fascinating and addictive, but that is not what gave him pause. It was the silence of her mind that had disturbed him. In all the sessions they'd had, he had never heard her mind, a fact he had attributed to her sedated state, but now he was not so sure. He had stood and listened to her move about her room and yet he heard no thoughts, not even mundane murmurings about the temperature of the room. There was no doubt that everything about this little human, this Isabella, was spellbinding, and Edward was in very real danger of becoming lost in her mysteries.

Edward moved to sit beside her at the head of the bed, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest. He indulged himself in that small moment, gazing at the relaxed features of her face. She was breathtaking in her flawed and fragile state. So delicate, so temporary. Every tiny imperfection was like a diamond to his eyes, each freckle made her more beautiful than the one before. He longed to trace the soft, maze-like curves of her ears and tease the pale scar that cut across her plump bottom lip with his tongue. Every detail entranced him and inflamed his desire to taste her again as he had a week ago.

His thoughts drew to a halt, making him pull back for a second. He had nearly lost control on that night, so much so that he had spent two days gorging himself on animal blood in order feel like he'd regained some semblance of his former control. It took longer still for him to puzzle through every detail of the encounter and pin point where he had failed. Then more time still to devise the proper strategy for the next session, and despite his careful planing and seemingly restored self control, he had walked into this room like a love-drunk adolescent boy.

To desire his singer in a carnal manner was not unheard of, but with enough intensity to not act on his instinct to kill her in the moment he knew his will had failed, was astonishing. Even more shocking was this discovery that she could shield her thoughts from his ability to read minds. She was a dangerous conundrum that even now became more surprising as he realized a subtle difference in the patter of her breathing and the quickening of her heartbeat.

Edward watched her smooth, calm features and smiled.