There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
Chapter 37: Sinners and Saints
Alice POV
It took only a few more seconds for the rest of the family to join the joyous occasion. I leaned back against the wall and let them all get their love in. Bella was extremely patient and good natured with it all, especially considering how much she avoids contact with people. Well, most people.
Once everyone felt fully satisfied with their Bella time, and Carlisle made a hundred percent sure that she was in good health, things sort of began to calm down. We were able to meander the reunion downstairs where there was more space.
It was strange to be back. In retrospect, we really hadn't been gone that long. But so much had changed since then.
Esme began to busy herself with the long task of dusting everything while the rest of us chatted lightly. Emmett kept retelling his story of the fight and had way too much fun acting out his actions. Carlisle and Edward were starting to clean up the mess Aro made in his study, and Liam and Jasper sat in the corner looking quite defeated. While Emmett was animatedly telling us exactly how he killed Felix, Rosalie came over and smacked Bella's head harshly.
"Ow! What was that for?!" She cried out in pain and shock.
"That was for leaving. And this," Rosalie smacked her again much like she did when Emmett misbehaved, "was for almost getting yourself killed you idiot."
"I think you need to hit her again." I said, jumping aboard this train as well. "She was almost killed when I found her too!" Esme gasped and ran over to wack Bella with the duster.
"TWICE? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED TWICE?" Bella had to jump up and try to dodge Esme's attacks while I laughed at the scene before me.
"Ow ow! Ok! I'm stupid alright! Will you all please stop hitting me? I just came back from the dead, damn." Esme stopped chasing after her but muttered irritably under her breath. My wife returned back to my side and sat down on the stool next to me, rubbing her sore head.
"And don't think we're not mad at you missy!" Esme yelled with a pointed finger at me. I gulped and tried to hide behind Bella.
"Alright everyone. Let's all just enjoy this moment we have back together." Carlisle returned from upstairs and washed his hands up in the sink. "Esme dear, I do believe these two need a bit of rest."
"How does it look up there?" Bella asked, happy for a subject change. "Do you need a hand with the clean up?"
"No it's doable. Edward and I should have it back in good shape again by tomorrow. But that room is off-limits to you. There's a lot of broken glass and venom up there. One nick and we're back where we were. And I'm quite sure you don't want to relive that again?"
"No!" I blurted before Bella could answer. Carlisle smiled sweetly before grabbing a few more cleaning supplies and heading up the stairs again.
"Well it looks like we might be staying here for a bit so I'm going to have to make a trip to the store." Esme said matter of factly and started to make a shopping list which included human food. Bella gave me a sideways glance and we both seemed to silently agree that now was not the best time to notify everyone that Bella was currently on a blood diet. The ordeal from yesterday had left her eyes almost pitch black.
"I'll go with you." Jasper jumped up, in need of a good distraction.
"I really hope no one recognizes us." Esme realized once she finished her list and grabbed her car keys. "That may be an issue."
"I'm pretty sure Aro knows where we are Esme. No need for low profiles at the moment." Bella chuckled at the absurdity of this situation. Nevertheless, Esme seemed to weigh her options for a moment and then left with Jasper after a quick goodbye.
"Is Jasper alright?" I asked once they were out of the house. Liam sighed and spoke to us for the first time that day.
"We had Aro within reach and he got away. Jasper had him in his fingertips, but his emotions got the better of him and he lost his tactical thought. He was too worried about you two to properly think. So naturally he's furious at himself for letting him get away."
"Liam – " Bella started what was most likely going to be a very long, and let's be honest, well deserved apology, but he stopped her.
"We can talk later Bells. You look like you need a good shower and some rest." He pointed to her ragged appearance and walked towards the backyard. "I'm going to go for a run anyways and see how the pack is doing."
"You two do look rather unkempt." Rosalie commented on the both of us. "Alice I'm disappointed. I expect this sort of thing from Bella, but you, I'm afraid I just can't call you my sister anymore." I rolled my eyes and grabbed Bella's hand so we could go clean up.
"You know we were living the nomadic life for months. Excuse us for not being runway ready."
"And what do you mean by you expect this from me?" Bella frowned at Rosalie and gave me a questioning look. "Am I really that bad?"
"No baby. Rosalie is just being a bitch because she missed you."
"Hey!" My sister yelled as we retreated to our room.
"Don't even think about running away again!" Emmett called up to us. "I'll be patrolling the yard!"
"We won't!" I shouted down before closing the door to privacy again. "We won't right?" Bella smiled wearily and shook her head.
"We won't." She sat down and removed her shoes while I got the shower supplies ready. "I'm too tired to think of another escape plan." Bella chuckled and soon joined me in the shower.
The dirt and grime took some time to scrub away, so we conversed lightly during our work.
"Esme's going to try and stuff you full of human food again you know." I poked at her abdomen for good measure and Bella feigned an injury to my prod.
"Yeah I know. I'll break the news later." Eventually we finished showering and I went exploring in my closet for a suitable outfit. Bella went over to the dresser with her clothes still neatly stored in it, and threw on some pants before looking for a good shirt. Once I was fully dressed, I went over to watch as Bella struggled with making a decision.
"What's the matter love? Need a keen fashion eye?"
"Well, Rosalie implied that I have terrible fashion sense and I'm just trying to find something that would prove her wrong. But honestly I have no idea what I'm looking for here." She scratched the top of her head helplessly and I giggled at her effort.
"Oh please, Rose just had her panties in a bunch. Besides, you should really only care about what I think of your appearance."
"And? Is it bad?"
"No silly. It's most sexy. Maybe you should just go without the shirt." I purred and Bella chortled, returning to the dresser to grab a simple t shirt. As she held the shirt in her hands, feeling the soft cotton underneath her fingertips, I couldn't help but zoom over to her bare back and press my nose onto her spine, inhaling deeply. God her scent was heavenly. Bella sighed contently when I kissed each of her shoulder blades, while my hands roamed up her arms, feeling every lean muscle fiber underneath her overheated skin.
"Alice…." The wolf warned lowly to me.
"I don't care." I growled and continued on. Bella did not make any motion to stop me, in fact she actually relaxed more into my body so my front was pressed flush with her back. After several long minutes of this, I finally turned her around to face me. She leaned down for a kiss, but I pushed her back onto the bed, eliciting a surprised yelp from her. I smiled devilishly and slowly crawled up the bed, straddling her waist.
"Um, these rooms are still soundproof right?" She asked nervously underneath me.
"To a point."
"Right. Ok." Bella nodded and bit her lip, looking up at me in anticipation. I was actually surprised at how good she was being right now. I mean, I was on top of her, in complete control, and she hadn't tried to rip any of my clothes off.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah. Just, y-you look really fucking hot right now." I giggled uncontrollably at her eloquent compliment and bent down to hover over her lips.
"Thank you." Her tongue darted out on its own accord to lick her lips. But once again I avoided those soft lips of hers, and instead nibbled on her exposed neck. Another few minutes of this passed and the scent of Bella's arousal was completely overpowering mine. It had been a long time since I had been able to do that.
"Alice." Bella whined and squirmed. I sat up to properly look at her and almost burst out laughing. She was the perfect image of sexual frustration. "I'm glad you're having fucking fun here." She ground out through clenched teeth. I ran my hands down her sides again and felt every tensed up muscle.
My unyielding wife tried to sit up and capture my lips once more, but I harshly shoved her back down and pinned her arms to her sides.
"Don't try that again." I growled darkly in her ear. The alpha underneath me let out a sexually frustrated moan, but did as she was told. I sucked hard on her pulse joint and even scraped my teeth against her neck. The predator in me was out in full force today and I had the sudden urge to sink my canines into her and claim her as my own.
In all honesty this was not an abnormal thought. It was very primal. All mated vampires would bite and claim their partners in this very barbaric way. But our situation was different. So I refrained and drew back from her neck for a cooling breath.
"Bite me." The form underneath me whispered. I was sure I didn't hear it right.
"What?"
"I know you wanted to. I know you've been wanting to."
"But the venom – "
"I have a tolerance remember? Besides, you could never hurt me."
"Bella."
"Alice." She smirked at me with nothing but trust and love in her eyes. God I wanted to. Especially since the absence of her wedding band. I wanted the world to know she was mine, but I also hated that thought process.
I gently brushed my knuckled across her jugular, feeling exactly where I would bite down.
"Do it." She whispered gruffly as I leaned down into the crook of her neck.
Her scent was at that mouthwatering stage where it was half mixed with lust and her natural aroma. I ran the tip of my tongue along her pulsating vein, scraping my teeth against it again. Bella's heart pounded harder at my actions and I couldn't stand the throbbing between my legs at this point.
"I trust you." Her last whisper finally pulled me over the edge and at last I slowly sunk my teeth into my wife's neck.
I'm pretty sure an eighth sin needed to be added to the list, because if the taste of Bella's blood was not one, it really really should be. Her blood was rich, potent, and so sinfully delicious. Her scent was enough to get me turned on in an instant, but her taste, fuck her blood was enough to make me orgasm on the spot.
Bella moaned delightfully underneath me and I could feel the vibrations of it in her throat. Her drug was powerful, and yet I never felt out of control. If anything, I felt more in control.
My blind struggle for friction was not lost on Bella, and she graciously used a free hand resting on my hip bone to pull me down further into her. Her action was an affirmation that I was allowed to get lost in her. Her other hand had moved up to tangle itself in my hair, however I knew it was also there as a safety precaution in case I couldn't stop myself.
I actually wasn't worried, despite the vulnerability of the situation. Her blood was like a rich food. It was amazing and you wanted it, but you had to limit yourself. I pulled away after only a few seconds, and hovered back over her face to make sure she was alright.
"Why'd you stop?" Bella whined pathetically, probably concerned that I didn't like it.
"I wanted to see if you were ok." I smiled down at her and checked over my work. Considering how agitated I had been before I bit her, I was surprised at how clean I made it. A little bit of blood had run down her neck and onto the sheets, but it was pretty minimal. And the bite itself already looked like it was slowly healing.
"More than ok." She mumbled distractedly, I could feel her fingers fumbling for the hem of my shirt. I smirked at the effect I could still have on her. She had gotten my shirt almost halfway up my torso before the door of my room deafeningly crashed open.
"Is Bella OK?! I was in my room and I could smell blo-" A completely horrorstruck Rosalie stood in front of us, mouth wide open and unable to finish her sentence with the scene in front of her.
It was easily my most embarrassing moment by far. My half naked wife was underneath me, hands crawling up my back, with the very room reeking of blood and sex.
"Rose get out!" I screeched, making sure my body was covering up Bella's naked upper half. Rosalie went from confused, to embarrassed, to livid in a matter of seconds.
"Did-did you BITE her?!"
"Um, h-hey Rose." Bella craned her neck backwards to speak to my raging sister. "It's all good here." Her face was easily beet red at this point, and if it wasn't so awkward at this exact moment I would be laughing my ass off.
Rose eventually seemed to pull herself together and finally made a very dramatic repulsed sound that I worried would alert the whole house. She flew out of our room just as fast as she had barged in, and we distinctly heard her screaming from downstairs.
"EMMETT WE ARE MOVING OUT RIGHT NOW!"
"Ah fuck." Bella sighed and swiftly removed herself from our position. I whined out at her abandonment.
"Why?"
"There are very few things that could turn me off when I'm with you. But your sister walking in on us is definitely one of them." She grabbed her forgotten shirt before wandering into the bathroom to clean up my bite.
"I could kill her?" I suggested as I hopped off the bed to help make sure she got the blood off the back of her neck.
"I'm afraid it's already too late for that." Bella quipped and gave me a quick peck. "Besides," she grunted while pulling the shirt over her head, "she's already told Emmett by now, which means everyone knows."
"Any escape plans?"
"None that I can think of."
"Damn." My wolf chuckled and then walked into the closet, methodically opening drawers in search for something. "What are you doing?"
"Well I figured I should probably go talk with Liam now that things have calmed down." I scoffed and Bella laughed again, still opening everything in sight. "Pardon, calmed down to a certain extent."
"So what are you looking for?" I bent down to see what she was rummaging around for in the bottom drawer of our dresser.
"I stashed a bottle of bourbon here a while back. Liam might be a little more willing to forgive if he has some liquid encouragement. I just can't remember exactly where I left – oh!" Bella exclaimed happily, finally withdrawing a quite dusty bottle of brown liquor from underneath the chest of drawers. "There you are."
"You stashed booze here? Why?" I cried out, in a well justified feeling of betrayal.
"Not like that." She frowned at my sudden outcry. "I swear!" Bella laughed at my hurt bunny look. "No it was while we were dating and I couldn't relax enough to- to have sex with you. I thought it would help. Obviously it didn't."
"You didn't tell me that." I whispered at the ground, suddenly heartbroken. "I know we tried that technique together later down the road, but you never told me that you had tried it before."
"Unsuccessfully." Bella corrected.
"B-but I was with you and you were drunk?! Am I this terrible of a mate?!"
"Woah woah no!" Bella grabbed my hands as I furiously tore at my hair. "I took a couple of sips literally once before a try, but you said my mouth tasted weird so I never did it again without you knowing. Look." She pointed to the bottle that was still pretty much full. "I promise."
"You know I think I remember that time." I finally looked up, trusting my wife's truth. "You did taste weird."
"See?" A relieved laugh reached my ears and Bella sat down on the bed to put her shoes back on.
"So why did you keep it here? And hide it?"
"I don't know." Bella shrugged and looked up after lacing up. "I guess I was worried that you'd catch me sneaking it out and question me."
"So I still am a terrible mate." I concluded during her retelling of worry of my retaliation.
"Not one bit." Warm hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me into a comforting hug. "You put up with my stupid ass every day. If that doesn't grant you sainthood, I don't know what will." I laughed quietly and laid my head against her chest, delighted when it rumbled happily at my action.
"I wouldn't say stupid. But I can't disagree with the ass part."
"Thanks." She planted a loving kiss on top of my head, and for a second we just stayed there, content in our close embrace.
"ALICE AND ISABELLA SWAN! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" The livid voice of Esme floated up to our room and we both groaned and parted ways.
"Why is she mad?" Bella asked me, confused about my mother's vocal reaction.
"Because I bit her precious baby." I replied easily, knowing exactly why I was about to be chewed out.
"Hey! I-I'm not- I'm not a baby!" She stammered defensively and I giggled at her response.
"You're her baby. Besides, we should probably give her a little bit of a break. She did think you were dead just a few hours ago."
"Oh. Yeah." Bella nodded dumbly and scratched the back of her head, most likely still embarrassed about the situation.
"NOW ALICE."
"Shit." I moaned again and began to prepare myself for what laid downstairs for me.
"Yeah, well, you have fun with that." Bella simply stated and moved towards the balcony.
"Where are you going?"
"To talk to Liam."
"You can't leave me with her!"
"She's your mother."
"Well she's yours too!"
"Not by blood." Bella grinned, still making her way out of my room.
"Oh you can't use that argument Bella Swan! You know what you married into. Get back here." My loving wife smiled and returned to my arms, cradling my face in her hands. I sighed as her thumb gently ran down my jawline and leaned into her awaiting lips.
"You're right. I don't believe you were quite honest with me about what I was getting myself into though. I'm going to have to ask you for a divorce love." And with that, she pulled away, winked briefly at me, and jumped off my balcony.
"Oh I'm just going to kill that woman."
"DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!"
"Alright I'm coming! Damn." I finally called back to Esme. I looked back once more to my open balcony door and the spot where Bella had been just seconds ago, before heading down to my doom. "Yeah. It was worth it."