A/N: I'm sick and feel like shit, but I hope everyone else is doing well and staying healthy. I actually forgot I needed to update this week. Ugh. Good news, Hoodwinked finally spoke to me again, so I'll be updating right after this.
Thanks Kim. And Melinda. And Leigh.
Black Swan
Chapter 23
I break Edward's arm. Unintentionally, of course.
This boy likes to kiss, and after sixty-eight years I've finally realized what everyone's been talking about; to lose myself in the sensation of another's lips, their mouth; their breath...
I thought after relieving him of all his pent-up sexual arousal, he'd come crashing back down and stay there for at least a day, or so. But then it's not only sleepless nights my blood is providing him with. Not thirty minutes later, those clear green eyes of his darkened with reawakened hunger.
It happened so fast, and was more instinctual than reactionary. Edward slipped his palm beneath the material of my dress and cupped it wholly around my breast, and on impulse my hand shot out and gripped his wrist, shattering his radius bone.
No one—not vampire or human alike—in my eighty-eight years of life has ever touched me like this before. I had to remind myself not be outraged; not to reach out and break his neck in a similar fashion.
"I am not Lauren Mallory—you have to warn me before you do something like that!" I practically snarled from a stance of pure defensiveness just as his expression smoothed out in pain and he almost choked on the cry he couldn't quite get past his lips. "Good god!" I snapped past patience, and biting into my wrist, I allowed my blood to pool against his stricken hand and heal him.
It takes him a moment to realize the pain has subsided and his hand is no longer crippled, but the shocked hue to his irises takes a little longer to quell. "I'm sorry, Bella," he appeals to me, genuinely regretful, but I'm already witnessing what my blood is doing to him.
I gave him too much. His senses are sharpening before my eyes, and every emotion, every urge within his body, is about to go into overdrive.
Groaning out my exasperation just barely beneath my breath, I take his newly repaired hand and bring it to my lips. Via is Median vein, I take my blood back, leaving him somewhat shell-shocked.
When I release him again and meet his eyes it's accompanied by a fair degree of ferocity. "If you ever tell me again that you've forgotten what I am, I will quite literally strangle you."
He stares at me for a moment as though contemplating the seriousness of my threat, and when he responds it's in the exact opposite. A broad, almost teasing, smile warms his entire face. "You've already quite literally strangled me."
"You will be the death of me!" I burst impatiently, and his smile only increases, of course. I'm certain he's realized he can, in fact, charm me and is taking full advantage.
"Let's dance," he suddenly proposes, his brows raised high.
"Let's not," I counter.
He pouts, over exaggerating it. "Why?"
"I don't dance."
"You can't dance?" he ventures.
"It was never something I mastered," I state truthfully.
He appears to give it weight for a moment before he shrugs. "I can't dance, either, but let's do it anyway."
"No," I insist, fighting the urge to smile as he attempts, and fails, to pull me up from the couch.
"In life Bella was not very dexterous," is how Jane announces her return.
I turn to her; she's not alone. The human girl she's been talking to the last several hours has accompanied her.
"This is Tia," she introduces, her smile broadening. "I've just acquired her."
"Acquired...?" I echo after severing my eyes from the clearly scared submissive human sitting beside her, whose eyes have remained glued to the ground. She has puncture wounds in her neck and wrist, as well as several bruises aligning her face and body.
Jane nods, and turning back to the human, she curls an arm around her waist. "It's fine, honey. Bella won't harm you."
She raises a pair of doleful eyes slowly, fearfully, and offers me a timid smile. "Hello."
I return it, unable to prevent my forehead from creasing. "Hello. What happened to you?" I ask candidly.
"Um..." her eyes flicker nervously to Jane, who only shakes her head in an effort to placate her.
"That's a story for later, I think." Then leaning closer, Jane whispers covertly in my ear in a tenor neither Edward nor her human will hear, "I want you to release your shield and get your little canary to read her mind."
"He will only get images," I remind her, but Jane's insistent.
"Still... Her story is quite unbelievable; I need clarification."
"All right. When?—now?"
"Come into the foyer," she suggests, before turning to her human and taking her hand.
They rise together, Jane the petite blonde, and her human towering over her despite Jane's stiletto heels.
This thin, gangly human girl, roughly the same age as Edward, is at least five feet eleven, and cowed in every way possible.
"Where are we going?" Edward asks when I pull him to me and follow suit.
"Jane wants you to read her human's mind," I fill him in.
He appears nonplussed by it, and only offers me a warm smile. I return it, albeit cynically.
"Okay, James Dean, tone it down."
"What?" He appears amused, but I don't answer.
We return to the entrance where Jerome remains perched on his stool at the foot of the door.
"I have acquired her, and I want her status changed," Jane informs him, eyeing him coldly, daring him to question.
He immediately obliges her, and without a word, he removes Tia's green band, and replaces it with one in neon pink.
"What about him?" he adds, tilting his head toward Edward.
"Him?" I repeat indignantly, arching an eyebrow just as he turns rigid and falls from the stool as though he's turned to stone.
"My...apol...ogies..." he strangles out as he continues to endure Jane's method torture.
"Watch your mouth, in future," she warns, and releasing him she switches her attention to her human.
"Holy shit!" Edward utters in shock as Jerome pulls himself back to his feet, his expression simmering with both resentment and humiliation.
Other vampires tend to keep a safe distance from Jane, and the moment we re-enter the foyer, it quickly becomes deserted, aside from a handful of clueless pets. This is when Jane takes Edward's hand and pulls him to the side, and despite knowing she wouldn't bring any harm to him, the possessive impulse to physically shield him very nearly overtakes me.
"I want you to get as much information as you can for me, honey," she requests of him. "Can you do that?"
Edward nods, his eyes flickering from Tia and then me before back to Jane. "I can do that."
At Jane's direction, Edward and her human sit across from us on the opposite wall of the foyer and talk. As Edward engages with her, his voice almost immediately softens and his expression turns from troubled to practically stricken. He asks her innocent, casual questions and she obliges him and answers even as her haunted, cocoa bean-brown eyes pull continuously toward Jane.
"She's like a beaten foal," I speak softly, shaking my head.
"She's been horrifically abused her entire life," Jane's voice is like acid, even as her eyes remained canvassed to her.
"What has she told you?" I ask with one ear trained on Edward's every word.
"She was sold into sex slavery from a young age by her stepfather. She thinks she was around five years old. Up until only a few months ago, she was trafficked across the country from one male's bed to the next. She escaped, and Archer"—she names the vampire she acquired her from—"found her. She's been his pet ever since. He doesn't abuse her, but he brings her here most nights and allows vampires to feed from her at will hoping one will take a liking to her."
"So, he's happy to hand her over to you," I surmise.
"Quite happy," she replies. "Though he had no choice." I turn back to her and she smirks. "He's nomadic and doesn't like dragging her around with him," she further explains.
"Sure that won't bother you?" I ask with an all-knowing smile; she nudges me teasingly with her shoulder. "Do you plan on turning her?"
"Oh, yes. Her mind has been damaged beyond repair. The humane thing to do is turn her, and then we're going to have some fun," she alludes. "Would you like to accompany us?"
By fun Jane really means revenge; something we've embarked on numerous times together in the past. She doesn't take injustice lying down; though, she's more lenient than I am. Whereas Jane makes a human's death quick, I'm a lot more sadistic.
"Tempting," It is. Very much so, "but not while Edward's human."
"Then turn him." She feigns exasperation. "He's filled to the brim with testosterone. How can you resist not bleeding him dry? It must drive you crazy."
"It does," I mutter, more for my benefit than in answer to her. "What will you tell Aro?" I switch the topic away from Edward and the potency of his hormone-infused blood.
"I take a sabbatical every half-century, or so," she says offhandedly, "and he always welcomes my children into the guard."
"They very rarely stay though," I point out delicately. Only a few have, but then spending eternity locked in the grottoes beneath Volterra isn't appealing in any sense.
"Hmm...that is true..." she murmurs more or less to herself. Jane's turned almost ten humans since I've known her. Only two have remained, and while they all stay loyal to her and return often, I know it bothers her that they've essentially scattered to the four corners of the earth.
"Is she your la tua cantante?" I break into her thoughts.
"Her blood is adrenalized, and she's AB negative, but no." She expels a heavy breath as though it troubles her.
"Bella," Edward calls to me softly from across the hall, and as my head immediately snaps in his direction, he motions to me subtly to join him.
"I guess he's done," I say, pulling myself to my feet, and passing Tia who shuffles back to Jane, I sit myself beside him. He appears almost as troubled as Jane was. "What is it?"
"Bella..." His voice falls to barely more than a whisper, and he leans closer to me, his lips practically resting against my earlobe. "She's not going to kill her, is she?"
"She can hear every word out of your mouth," I disclose with a small smile as his eyes immediately dart to Jane in panic. I follow them; Jane's pretending to be none-the-wiser, and I almost laugh. "No, she isn't going to kill her," I assure him.
He releases a very obviously breath in relief. "Bella"—he still speaks my name entirely too much—"she's been...raped and beaten her whole life." His voice loses almost all volume and it's evident he's skirting cautiously around me.
"I know," I say, grabbing his hand to put him at ease. "She told Jane, and Jane wanted you to validate it for her."
"Oh..." He mumbles, before expelling a momentous-sounding breath.
He's falls quiet for a spell as though his mind's adrift, before a discernible smirk inches on his lips and he suddenly scoffs back laughter.
"What—?" I begin puzzled, when he explains.
"Emmett's betting everyone inside to an arm wrestling match."
I immediately snap my shield back in place, and he sulks. "Let's go back inside—you want to dance, don't you?" I say dryly when his pout expands.
"You're not allowed to patronize me anymore," he reminds me as I drag him behind me.
"Coming, Jane?" I ask over my shoulder, but not before squeezing Edward's hand in retribution.
"OW!" he hollers.
"Soon," she replies, attempting not to break into laughter.
Her fangs are released and I hurry my step, but Edward, ever the perceptive human, notices.
"Wait—she's going to—" he blurts alarmed the instant we step back into the dark obscurity of the club.
"I drink your blood, don't I?"
"Yeah, but... Jane's not into her like that. I don't think..."
I turn back to him and arch a very pointed brow. "So, you think just because she's female Jane will automatically be into her?"
"Erm...yeah," he admits sheepishly, and I laugh.
"You are such a teenager."
"You're a granny," he teases close to my ear again. "And you hurt my hand—again!"
"You deserved it," I say with a smirk, stopping at the ruckus several feet before us.
Emmett's in the center of it among numerous destroyed tables, in the midst of practically tearing the hand off a vampire he's arm-wrestling. He also appears completely drunk.
"For every match he wins they have to buy him a drink," Rose stands beside me and mutters, rubbing her brow with exasperation and even tenser fingers.
"How many has he won?" Edward asks, attempting not to laugh, if only because he's become aware of when not to piss Rose off.
"All of them. Though, I haven't kept count." She sighs loudly, over dramatizing it, naturally.
"Where's Alice?" I ask, half a second before I notice her in the thick of it. By all accounts she's refereeing. "Of course..."
"We can't take you Olympic coven anywhere, it seems," Jane speaks up from behind with amusement laced through her voice.
"Apparently," I say ruefully. "We should probably leave soon anyway. Edward hasn't eaten since yesterday."
"I'm not hungry," he pipes up, resting his arm around my shoulders casually.
"You're still human, you—"
"Idiot boy," he interjects imitating me, and flashing me a cocky grin when I scowl at him.
"You're real clever, bucko," I nudge him backward even as a begrudgingly smile twitches at my lips. "And that wasn't what I was going to say."
He only arches a skeptical brow, when Jane effectively distracts me. "I'm going to stay a while longer."
"Hmm, and Em's going nowhere, right now," Rose adds.
"Let's stay, too," Edward coaxes me, attempting to sway me with that smile of his.
"It's almost morning, you realize," I point out.
"Yeah?" Sounding unconvinced he pulls his phone from his pocket and unlocks it. "Holy shit—it's almost five!"
"Honestly, Edward..."
"It feels like we've only been here for a few hours..." he utters, looking suddenly disorientated.
"Time flies..." Rose says dryly from beside me. "I'm going to get another drink."
"I'm really not hungry," Edward attempts to convince me.
"You should still eat. There's no nutritional value in my blood when it comes to humans," I insert reason, sounding wholly like Esme. I don't like it.
"Can we come back?" he asks with entirely too much hope.
"Fine." And it's not as though Eclipse is the kind of nightclub that has closing hours. It doesn't sleep—much like its patrons.
"If you're going to feed your human, I should bring mine," Jane pipes up as though she were referring to her pet gerbil. Tia stands beside her, gripping Jane as though she were protecting her.
"Feed me?" Edward mumbles to me dubiously in echo. "What would be open? McDonald's?" He doesn't sound exactly enthused by it.
"You don't like McDonald's?" I tease him.
"It's alright..." he mumbles petulantly.
"I told you, we'll come back after—good god," I mutter, and grabbing his hand, I yank him after me toward the exit.
I let Edward drive only because the sight of my car excites him more than I do. It placates him well enough, and punching in the nearest McDonald's in the GPS he reverses and pulls out of the underground carpark.
We head south and travel roughly a couple of miles into Seattle's industrial district to the nearest restaurant.
"Let's sit inside," Jane suggests from the back seat as Edward pulls up in the parking lot. I glance over my shoulder at her and smirk; she's gazing up at the golden arches in awe. "I have never been to one of these in my life," she explains.
"Okay, let's go," I oblige her as Edward sighs and cuts the engine. "What are you pouting about now?" I put to him after pulling myself from the front passenger seat beside him.
"I'm not hungry," he insists.
I take a long-winded, semi-exasperated breath. "Humor me. God knows I've had to do it for you more times than I can recall."
"Fine," he grumbles, looking entirely too handsome despite his very obvious tantrum.
I only smile to myself; he notices.
"I'm not pouting," he bends down to me and adds, his expression mirroring mine as he reaches out and opens the entrance door for me.
"What would you call it, then?"
He opens his mouth to reply, but obviously conceding he goes with another angle. "I'm just not hungry."
"You're like a five year old," I say only partially beneath my breath behind another gushing breath.
"I heard that," he says wryly.
"You were meant to," I reply, glancing up at the menu before my eyes catch the comically shocked expression of the cashier.
Oh, good god...
"It's you!" the girl behind the counter utters, her voice practically failing.
"Do I know you?" I ask, feigning ignorance, but of course, I know exactly who she is. Gwyneth; one of dearly departed Kate's more vocal minions.
"You were with Kate and Todd..." she attempts to refresh my memory, and I'm forced to play along.
"Oh, yeah. That's right," I say, noticing as Edward eyes her closely, his brow heavily bridged. He's reading her mind; I allow him to.
"Everyone thought you were dead. They were looking for your body for weeks thinking you were thrown from the car," she starts to ramble, gaining more volume to her voice with each word that passes her lips.
"Obviously not," I put her completely insincere fears to rest.
After I was finished with the basketballer and the cheerleader I released the handbrake on Todd's Camaro and pushed it into the gorge below.
Such a tragedy...
"What happened?" she pries, despite my obvious expression to the contrary.
"Todd turned out to be a grabby little bastard, so I was forced to threaten him with my nail file into stopping the car and letting me out. He dumped me in the middle of nowhere." I huff, putting forth a perfect rendition of outrage.
"She called me to pick her up," Edward cuts in. "He's lucky he rolled his car off a cliff, because if I got my hands on him first it wouldn't have been as quick."
I pause and glance up at him, and I'm fairly certain I've been rendered speechless. Notwithstanding the fact that he knows of the circumstances surrounding Kate and Todd's unfortunate accident, but because he's so quick-witted and willing to jump in and back me up without hesitation.
"But...I thought you were into him," she continues to push, because obviously Gwyneth doesn't know when to quit while she's ahead.
Or alive.
"Not really," I say with deliberate disinterest. "He messaged me to meet up"—he did posthumously when Emmett hacked his Facebook and manipulated the dates to make it appear so—"but I really only went to make bucko here"—I tilt my head in reference to Edward—"jealous."
"It worked," he mutters, and when I peek another glance at him he catches my gaze and smirks discreetly.
"But, I was sad to hear about Kate—despite what she did to poor Susan," I turn back and cut her off when she opens her mouth to resume her line of questioning.
"S-Susan?" she stammers, her eyes widening with a definite culpability. "You know about—"
"Naturally," I say dryly. "Now would you care to take our order?"
"You're right, Bella," Edward says covertly after picking up his vile-smelling meal and carrying the tray to a booth in the far corner of the room, "wrong Kate."
"Aren't you clever...? How did you know?" I gaze up at him and arch a brow.
"Googled it." He looks well-pleased with himself.
"Of course you did," I say wryly.
"Your reputation proceeds you, sweet Bella," Jane says with a grin as she takes the seat opposite me and beside her human. She's given the wretched girl her blood. All traces of being fed upon are gone from Tia's skin, as well as all bruises and blemishes, and her eyes are clear and bright, despite their residual haunted hue.
"She's pretty unforgettable," Edward adds before taking a humongous bite of his burger.
Jane's gaze immediately meets mine and her smile turns to a full, knowing smirk. "How sweet," she notes.
"He's very sweet," I say with deliberate innuendo.
"Are you going to allow me a taste?" she petitions; though, she's not serious.
I laugh dryly and turn to Edward, raising my brows in silent question.
"What?" he asks vacantly.
"Jane wants to know if you'll let her taste you," I relay, smiling subtly when his expression turns five shades paler.
"A-are you asking me?" He swallows thickly, appearing suddenly nervous.
"Obviously."
He gauges me for a moment, before he rests his uncertain gaze on Jane. "If...you really want to..." Is his rather ambiguous response, and it's very clearly derived from a sense of obligation.
"She's teasing you, Edward," I put him at ease, breaking into a subconscious smile—something he immediately brings to my attention. "Your blood is all mine," I lean closer and promise him, witnessing as that very blood rushes along his neck.
"I'm all yours," he adds in barely a whisper, his voice taking on a rustic edge.
"As I live and breathe..." Jane speaks up, clearing her throat pointedly and almost breaking into laughter.
"This is entirely Alice's fault," I turn to her and say begrudgingly.
"You don't appear too put out," she counters, her expression turning sly.
"With the way he smells, and this handsome face?" I wrap my hand over his chin, my thumb and fingers pressing lightly into his cheeks. "I could eat him."
Edward only grins to himself, his blush steadily expanding.
"I'm happy to see you're finally at peace with it," Jane acknowledges, her smile becoming warm.
"Hmm..." I mumble, turning to Edward to sever her pervading gaze. He's gorging on his food in an obvious effort to finish it as quickly as possible, but the smell, as well as the way he's eating, is nauseating. "Good god, Edward," I say, edging him away from me with my elbow.
"I'm eating as fast as I can," he says with a certain degree of apology.
"That's the entire point."
"He's male," Jane rationalizes. "Look at the way Tia eats." She motions to her human who's meticulously consuming each fry, one by one.
"He doesn't normally eat like this—slow down before you choke to death," I warn him when he shoves at least a dozen fries down his throat.
"I'm fine," he says dryly, a mouth full of food. "And it was you who insisted I eat."
"Like a human, not a bear!" I clarify.
He takes a sip of his soda and grins at me, amusement clearly behind his overly-animated eyes. Eyes that reflect too much of my blood coursing through his veins.
I can only shake my head to myself, as well as him, when he does something he often does; he offers me his drink. I only wave it away, internalizing my piqued emotions, but Jane actually balks.
"Did he just offer you...that?" she asks in repulsion when Edward pulls himself from the table to throw his rubbish in the trash.
"He forgets," I explain—again.
"You told me that, but I didn't suppose you meant literally," she replies, her forehead creasing, her expression almost dazed.
"No, quite literally." I bow my head and rub my brow, my fingers tense.
"He is one strange human," she notes bemused.
"I think that's well established," I say, taking Edward's hand when he offers it to me.
"Sorry, Bella," he bends down and petitions as we make our way to the exit.
"Why are you apologizing this time?" I ask with a small sigh.
"Did I embarrass you?" he appears uncertain.
"I don't get embarrassed by humans," I state simply. "Goodbye, Gwendolyn," I call out in farewell to the cashier who's continuing to stare at the four of us brazenly.
"Bella..." he complains in a quiet voice.
"I know her name." I wave my hand dismissively.
"It's not that..." he contradicts, and I turn in time to witness him openly frown.
"What are you pouting about now?" I enquire, scrutinizing him closely. He's upset. Again.
"You...treat me like I'm..."
"My human?" I finish for him. "Good god, Edward, this again?"
"At least you don't call me Sonny Jim anymore," he mutters to himself; something I catch, because no doubt he forgets that, as well.
I only glare at him in return, and when he glances at me, his forehead knots with confusion. "What...?"
"Do I honestly have to keep reassuring you?"
"I still don't know..." he admits, his voice quiet as his eyes fall with obvious defeat to the damp concrete of the parking lot.
"What don't you know?" I demand, my voice spilling over with impatience. "That you're my mate, that I plan on turning you to be with you for eternity, or that I would quite literally kill for you?—what?"
He looks up and I watch in exasperation as a slow smile spreads warmly across his entire face. "You really think I'm your mate?"
"Of course I do!" I snap. "God in heaven, this human!" I rant to myself, and snatching the keys from his hand, I unlock my car. "Get in!"
"Can I drive?" he asks, his smile remaining prevalent. It does absolutely nothing to curb my ire because I'm more receptive to it than I'll ever admit.
"Sweet Bella..." Jane slides up to me and wraps an arm around my shoulders. "If you do not turn this boy and put yourself—and everyone around you—out of their misery," she leans close and whispers in my ear, the amusement laced through her voice evident, "I will."
A/N: Thanks for reading :D