Chapter 13: You'll notice, they don't so much fly, as plummet.
Arbie PoV
All I can see is red. That blonde bimbo bitch has pushed me over the edge. As I feel my clothes tightening around me I know I'm about to turn into my other self. The scary one that'll send her running. Sure enough, as soon as I release her, she darts off into the woods, bare ass nude. "Arbie, stop!" I hear Jeb yell, but I cannot be stopped. Not until that tramp is a pile of ashes. I chase her up a tree where she tries to reach the highest branch, but I grab a hold of her foot and yank her out of it first. She plummets to the ground only to land in the arms of Edward.
"What are you doing, Edward?" I hiss.
"Trying to keep you from killing her," he says. Alice has arrived just after Edward and manages to get a sun-dress type thing on her naked form. Edward sets her on her feet but keeps his hands wrapped around her wrists behind her back. Tanya has a smirk on her face, but I can see the fear behind her eyes.
"Tanya, are you crazy?" Carmen yells as she approaches. "She'll kill you."
"She can't kill me," Tanya replies, smugly. I quirk my eyebrow at her.
"Don't think so?" I step towards her and press an outstretched claw against her collar bone. Pressing down ever so slightly, she screams as I scratch across her bone, her granite skin crackling beneath my claw. "Any more pressure, and I could decapitate you," I whisper into her ear. I pull my finger away and her skin heals, leaving a faint scar across her chest. "Still don't believe me?"
"What are you?" she cries.
"Way the hell better than you," I reply. "You need to get the hell out of my sight before I kill you.
"As for you," I turn to Edward. "What the hell was she doing in our tent? And how in the hell did she get in there, naked, and straddling you without you realizing it?
"I thought it was you!" He replies. I give him a glare. "I was thinking about you, arranging a new composition in my head, sufficiently distracted when she pounced on me. It wasn't until I felt a cold finger touch me that I opened my eyes and realized it was her," he tells me.
"He's not lying," Jasper says. He approaches and removes Tanya from Edward's grasp, and takes her as far from me as possible in this part of the forest.
"Before you go, Tanya," I start. "You so much as think about laying a hand on Edward again and I will rip that hand from your body and set it on fire, do you understand?"
She nods stiffly and lets Jasper take off with her back to the camp site, where I hope she'll put some clothes on and get the hell outta dodge. By now my family has caught up and sees what I am. They're all staring at me, mouths on the ground. "So yeah, I phase into whatever this is," I say, gesturing to myself. "It only has happened when I've got venom in my system and am super pissed or hunting."
The family starts asking me a million questions, most of which I have the answers to, thankfully. Carlisle is able to shed some light on the enigma of the wolves in La Push, stating that they're shape shifters and not werewolves when my aunt begins to be afraid of me.
"I can kill vampires," I state. "But that doesn't mean that's what I want to do. I mean, I am mated to one, after all. I hardly want to kill him, let alone anyone in his family or mine. But I will say when I or someone I care about is directly threatened, I will fight to the death, and I will win. Simple fact." I hope Tanya is close enough to hear those words. Something tells me she isn't finished with her antics.
As if cued by my thoughts, Alice has a vision and began a litany of curse words, with the name Tanya thrown in every few words. "That stupid bitch! What does she think she's doing?"
"What's wrong, Alice?" I ask. I turn to Edward who'd seen the vision as Alice did.
"Tanya has decided to tell the Volturi about all of you," he says. "She seems to believe that because you're not full vampires that they'll want to eradicate you. I hate to say it, but she may be right. According to Alice's vision, she'll reach the Volturi by tomorrow evening, tell them the whole story, and show Aro all she's seen. Alice can't see their decision until they make it, but I'm not going to be optimistic," he explains. His voice has taken on a monotone detached sound. Like he's trying to remove himself from the reality of the situation.
"How far is she?" I asked.
"She's almost to Rio. She'll either jump in the ocean and swim there, or hop a plane. It depends on the departure times she finds," Alice replies.
"Then we simply must beat her there," I tell them. "I'm faster than her, and I know Edward is. We'll just catch her up." And before anyone can argue, I'm off like a shot heading towards Rio, Edward hot on my heels. He expresses his worry at our ability to catch up to the tramp. Well, he didn't use the word tramp, but still. "Edward, I compelled Aro to leave us alone. So he should be on our side with this. Marcus won't care either way. Caius is the one to worry about, if we can't beat her to Rio, then we simply must get to Volterra before she does. I am going to call my uncle. He can help with slowing her down, I think." I curse myself inwardly for not thinking to call him sooner.
"Uncle Shasta?" I say once he greets me. "Where are you right now?" I ask.
"I had a feeling I needed to be in Rio de Janeiro, but I haven't figured out why yet. Why?"
"God, I love your senses," I replied. "I am on my way to Rio, and I need to stop a crazy blonde bitch of a vampire from getting on a plane to Volterra." I give him the cliff's notes version of the story, and he promises to ensure that not a single boat or plane will be getting out of Rio any time soon. "He can even mess with the currents to make it hard for her to get there fast by swimming," I tell Edward once I end the phone call. "Thank God he was in Rio."
"That's gotta be some kind of miracle," Edward agrees. His phone beeps. "It's Alice. She says that Shasta's interference with the weather will slow Tanya down enough that we just might catch her. Shasta will practically have to stir up a hurricane, but it'll work," he says, reading the text message.
I push harder, feeling the burn in my limbs from running. As I do so, I can feel my body changing again, my limbs groaning as they elongate, making my strides longer and faster. I pick up speed, Edward barely keeping up to me now as we pass by Christ the Redeemer and make a beeline for the coast. We'd picked up Tanya's scent near there, and it is fresh enough that we should have no problem following it to where she tried to jump in the water.
"Look, there she is," Edward whispers, eying the blonde standing on one of the piers that juts out into the water. The sky above is churning, rain pouring down in buckets, the water choppy and white, resembling a hot tub with the jets on full blast. "She's deciding how to go about swimming there. The current is super strong, thanks to your uncle, and she keeps getting spat back out in the bay. No matter how much strength she uses, she's no match for a vampire with that kind of gift."
Keeping downwind, we approach her as silently as possible. As we get nearer, we hear her crying. I quirk an eyebrow at Edward, but he just shakes his head in response. I gesture for him to go below, and I'll come at her from behind. That way she has no escape.
"Ahhh!" she screams as I come up behind her and tackle her to the ground. We plow through the rickety wood of the pier and crash into the water below. Edward jumps in and grabs one of Tanya's arms while I hold the other, and we pull her to shore. "What the hell? Let go of me! Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" she cries.
"You're going to Volterra," I state. "To tell them all about me and my newly found family. You think I'd just let you do that? Even if I didn't already have Aro wrapped around my little finger, I wasn't about to let you ruin my family's lives," I tell her.
"You ruined mine!" she hisses, trying to kick me off of her, but I'm far too strong.
"Please, Tanya. Get over yourself," Edward says. "You've been barking up my tree for years, and not once have I ever given you even the slightest indication that I was interested. I was a lost cause; you thought so to yourself on more than one occasion. The only one that's ruined anything is you, Tanya. You've ruined your relationship with my family. We'll still accept Kate, Irina, Carmen and Eleazer, but you are no longer considered family."
"I'm sorry, Edward," she says quietly.
"Sorry isn't enough Tanya, no matter how 'sincere' your thoughts are. You've gone too far this time. You know that Carlisle's relationship with the Volturi is tenuous at best. They worry that his 'coven' is getting too big and powerful. Now with the added dhampire-shape-shifters, their vampire and half vampire family, the wolves and your coven as such close allies, they'd be sure to see us as a threat. Why would you jeopardize all of us like that?"
"I… I wasn't thinking," she whispers.
"No, you weren't. You were acting out of anger and embarrassment, which is no excuse." If Edward wasn't such a gentleman and anti-violence, I had no doubt that he would have slapped her across the face, right then and there. I knew he needed a major release of his anger, and soon. Luckily, Emmett and Rosalie arrived on the scene, having touched down in Rio minutes before my uncle's tempest began. Alice had briefed them of the situation, and they strong-armed Tanya and carried her away from us before Edward or I could tear her apart.
"Let's get away for a couple days," I suggest. "Just you and me."
"Where?" he asks. "Wait, I know just the place. Let me just call Esme and…" his phone cut off his words. "Yes?" he answers. "Oh, of course Alice did. Thank you Esme." He smiles at me and grabs my hand. "You're a good swimmer?" he asks. I smile back and nod. We jump into the water together and head out into the ocean. I have no idea where he's leading me, but he seems to know exactly where he is going. By now the storm has died down, and with the current, it's apparently taking us exactly where we want to go.
About twenty minutes later, we slow down and follow the rise of the sea floor as it turns into a beach and subsequently, an island. I stand up out of the water and gaze at the beauty before me. Nestled into a grove of palm trees is a beautiful cottage. A beach house that almost looks like it was grown from the island itself. It fits so perfectly, one might think it had been here forever. "This is amazing. It's so beautiful, Edward! What is this place?" I ask, completely astounded.
"Isle Esme," Edward replies.
"Esme? As in your mother, Esme?"
"The same. Carlisle gave it to her for their fiftieth anniversary," Edward explains, looking a little shy for some reason. "This is where they were when they got the call about your family, so everything is still turned on. The water and lights and all. We can have some food shipped here from the mainland, for you to eat, but there's also—" I cut him off with a kiss.
"Food is the last thing on my mind," I tell him pulling him towards the door. "Bedroom." On par with my thoughts he practically drags me across the house to a bedroom that overlooks the ocean. I barely have a moment to appreciate the view before he's tearing at my clothes. I hear the fabric rip and then fly across the room, smacking into the wall with a loud, wet thud. His clothes share the same fate and soon we're all tangled limbs on the mattress. "Be rough with me, Edward," I tell him. "I know you need the release."
"Oh, god yes," he breathes as he flips me over onto my stomach, pulls me up on my knees, and slides into me in one fast stroke. He starts with a fast rhythm, pumping in and out of me at an inhuman pace. Then he amps up the force behind his thrusts, slamming into me over and over again. All that can be heard is a cacophony of grunts, growls, and moans coming from the both of us. This love making session is animalistic, carnal, and we both needed it so much. In fact, it isn't what I can call love making. This is fucking, in its purest form.
As he increases his pace even more, somehow, he fists his hand in the hair at the nape of my neck and pulls hard on it. I howl in pleasure and he keeps a firm grip. I can tell that I've unleashed the monster within Edward. He's always so polite and reserved, and while our sex is amazing, he's still so attuned to my needs, to ensuring that I am satisfied, which in turn satisfies him. But this isn't even about orgasms.
We've had a hell of a few weeks since I killed Victoria, and a lot of pent up tension since then. And while we've made love many times since, this time is just a culmination of all the emotions we've had to deal with. With each thrust, I can feel him releasing the stress caused by Victoria, then by finding out my mother is his first girlfriend, then by running into Aro, and meeting my ancestors, and finally from today with Tanya.
"I can't last much longer," he grits through his teeth.
"Let it go Edward, come for me," I beg. I haven't climaxed, but this feels damn good and I know he needs to feel his release. And it's not like he won't make up for it later. He grips my hips tightly and thrusts into my a few final times; his release spurting into me, and collapses onto my back.
"You didn't come," he says after a few minutes of silence.
"No, but that's okay. It was amazing, and it was for you," I tell him. "I could tell how much all the day's events were wearing on you, and you almost lost it with Tanya at the pier today. You needed to pound something, and I was glad to provide the opportunity for you to do so.
"Mmm, you did indeed, my love. Thank you for that. I didn't know how much of my strength your body could withstand, but you never told me to stop, so I trusted that you would tell me if I was hurting you. When you did nothing but groan and growl, I figured it was okay."
"It was more than okay, Edward. I loved it."
"There's a hot tub out back," he informs me. "What do you say I get the jets going and then I can reciprocate in the best way I know how," he suggests, leaning over to lick behind my ear. I shiver in response, telling him all he needs to know. He gets up and walks through the house, stark naked. I hear the sliding glass door open and soon I'm on my feet, ready to follow him out.
A strange pang in my abdomen brings me to my knees. I yelp in pain. In an instant, Edward is beside me, his hand on my back asking me what's wrong. As quickly as the pain was brought on, it's gone. "Must be a residual cramp from all the running and the phasing and the swimming, and of course the hot sex," I say.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asks, concern painting his features.
"Yes, I'm fine, I promise," I reply. "Let's go see about that hot tub." He helps me off the floor, his eyes still showing concern. I reassure him that I'm fine and he leads me out the back door onto the deck. We're miles away from any prying eyes, but the deck has a high railing, blocking us from anyone's view. I then figured that if we were out here during the day, we'd be sparkling up a storm, Edward more so than me, and that might attract some unwanted attention.
I step into the hot tub, the hot water immediately calming all my muscles, massaging and relaxing them to the point of jello. Edward steps in behind me and sits in the corner, pulling me to sit in front of him. He rubs my shoulders with his strong, deft fingers, massages my neck, and moves his way down my back, kneading all the knots away. "Phasing must make your muscles all crazy," he tells me. "You've got all kinds of knots." All I can do is moan in response, the feeling of his hands on me while in this hot water is out of this world.
As he finishes massaging out the last of my tensed muscles, he grabs me by the hips and flips me around, trading places with me. Only he's facing me, and apparently standing on his knees, as his face is barely above the water. "Now, about me returning that favor," he whispers seductively, and his head disappears beneath the water. I look around trying to figure out where he went, when I suddenly feel his hands on my legs, pushing them apart, and then his face attacking my sex. It was like he was a man dying of thirst and my core was the first oasis he'd seen in years. He licked and lapped at me, not bothering to come up for air, pressing his strong cool tongue against my sensitive nub and flicking it so fast, I knew a human wouldn't be able to handle it.
My fingers find their way into his hair and make sure his face stays anchored right where it is. His hands grip my legs tighter as they begin to twitch with every pass of his tongue across my clit. He continues his relentless assault on me, and I feel that familiar tightening, signaling my release is coming on fast. Just as I'm about to climax, he pulls away from me. I'm about to holler in protest, but in the next instant, he's slammed himself into me, filling me in ways I never knew he could.
My climax comes on instantly, eliciting a loud scream from me. "How's this for returning the favor?" he asks as he lifts me off of him and slams me back down. Each time, I feel him hit right against that sensitive spot with in me, making me moan louder and louder. He moves his thumb to circle my clit, applying just enough pressure to drive me wild with desire. I grip his shoulders in an attempt to keep myself in one spot as the water tends to make me want to move around too much. I ride him with fervor as his thumb continues its ministrations on me. Another climax passes through me and I can already feel the beginnings of a third.
"Jesus, Edward," I breathe. "I can't take anymore," I say after the fifth or sixth climax.
"Then hold on tight," he tells me. I wrap my arms around him as he picks up his pace and pounds into me almost as hard as before. Water is splashing all around us, but we can't find it in ourselves to care. "God, yes, Arbie, I'm going to come," he growls as he releases into me.
We lay in each other's arms draped across the back of the hot tub for an interminable amount of time. All I know is the sun was on the other side of the house when we came out here, indicating we've been in here literally all day. "Good to know I don't get all pruny," I say, examining my hands for the raisin like wrinkles that humans often complain about.
"Shall I see about ordering some groceries?" Edward asks, hearing my stomach rumble again. I nod to him and he makes his way out of the tub. Seeing the way his ass muscles contract as he steps out, it's all I can do not to drag him back in here for the next round. I groan silently and follow him out, grabbing a towel off the one table that managed not to get soaked during our sessions.
I hear him speaking flawless Portuguese on the phone as I wander about the house, exploring the rooms we hadn't the time to tour yet. There was another bedroom, this one all white, while the one we were in early this morning was all blue. I like the blue one more, I think, but I might be a bit biased. I'd have to make love to Edward in this room, too, to know for sure. I opened the closet in search of something to wear more than this towel and found a beautiful turquoise sundress. It looks to be Rosalie's as it's the closest to my size. Though where it would fall to her knees, it hits me mid thigh, making it a bit racier than intended, I imagine.
Then there is the spacious kitchen, which makes me chuckle. I get they have it for appearance's sake, but really, how many people come out here that they need a full top of the line kitchen that belongs in a cooking show rather than on this island?
I make my way out to the front room where there's a beautiful view of the beach and some cliffs off to the right that I'm determined to jump off of later. In the room, there's a white couch with seashell shaped throw pillows, a coffee table made of coral and driftwood, and a large television. The stand below it is filled with movies of every genre.
"I heard you chuckle when you were in the kitchen," Edward says as he comes in the room. "We have the kitchen because sometimes the Caretakers will bring their family here for vacations. It's part of the bonus for taking such good care of the place."
"That makes more sense," I replied. "Fancy a movie?" I ask. He nods and I select a sappy romantic comedy to watch while we wait for the caretakers to deliver a load of groceries. "How long should we stay?" I ask.
"As long as you like, my love. I know you just met your family, and you're probably anxious to get back to them, but I can't help thinking of keeping you here for the next few years, all to myself." He pulls me against his chest and nuzzles my neck with his hair. I shiver.
"As lovely as that sounds," I reply. "We probably should get back after a week or so." He agreed that a week would be nice and we settled in to watch the movie. As if on cue with the credits, we heard the approach of a motorboat, signaling the arrival of the caretakers.
I stand up to follow Edward out to meet them. Edward stops just short of where the shadows end so as not to sparkle at the approaching humans. A cute little man and woman hobble down the dock carrying baskets of fresh produce and meat. I go to help carry them in, but they shush me, not lifting their heads to make eye contact and head into the kitchen and begin putting everything away as if they own the place. Though, I guess they know their way around here better than I do.
I quirk an eyebrow at Edward, and he shrugs in response. "They suspect what I am, and think if they make eye contact with me that it'll doom their souls." I roll my eyes and follow him to the kitchen, and greet the couple. The woman drops the bell pepper in her hand and gasps as she sees my face. She runs over to me, cups my face in her and starts saying some kind of chant in her native tongue, which is clearly not Portuguese. I throw a panicked glance at Edward, but he's as clueless as I am.
"Kaure! Acalme! Sinto Muito, sinhora. Minha esposa pensa que você está grávida," the man tells me.
"She thinks I'm what?!" I yell. Edward hurries the couple out of the house, despite the protests of the still yelling woman. Edward is trying to calm them, too, explaining something about me being a vampire descendant. "Edward, what just happened?" I ask as he reenters the kitchen.
"Kaure, the woman, took one look at you and immediately 'knew' that you're with child," he explains. "I couldn't understand her words, but her thoughts were clear enough after her husband spoke to you. She began cursing me for impregnating you with a monster, a demon child. She thinks you're human, but when I explained that you were descended of vampires yourself, she started freaking out.
As soon as the words are out of his mouth, I feel that same pang in my abdomen. "Well I might not be pregnant, but something is definitely going on, Edward. I've never had this feeling before." He places his hand over my abdomen, and the same pang happens again, only this time, it quite certainly kicks Edward's hand.
"Oh my god, Arbie," he whispers. "You're pregnant!"
yeah, I went there... so sue me. Normally I stray away from the pregnancy thing in my stories, but decided to hell with it for this one...