Chapter Sixteen: How About No?

"You're really married to Rosalie," Victoria mentioned as she came up to me by the locker once more during school. This time she didn't dent the locker next to mine. I appreciated that.

"Yes, but it's...complicated," I told her, closing my locker. I had a few minutes until my next class so I indulged her.

"How so?"

"I just...it was an arranged marriage, to save the future of the world. Rosalie was going to go supernova and she still might if we don't fall in love. Or something like that," I explained flippantly because you know, it had lost any meaning to me. It was so absurd I didn't feel like it was real. But it was real. All of these gods were.

She ran a hand through her hair, looking stressed by this. "Look, I didn't know you were married. If I had known, I wouldn't have made a move on you. But, as it is, I won't try to seduce you anymore."

Oh, I had not expected that.

"I don't know if you and Rosalie are in love, but whatever the situation is, I respect that," she told me. "So you don't have to worry about me getting in the way."

"Thank you," I said. "That's actually really something mature coming from a goddess." Because from what I had seen so far, all of these immortal deities acted like little kids.

"What can I say. I aspire to be good because someone here told me I could be good, instead of being evil," she told me with a big grin.

"And how is being good, going for you?" I asked as we began to walk to class.

"Good," she said and we both laughed at her unoriginal pun. We talked some more before I made it to class. Before I went inside, she spoke up. "Hold up, I got you something," Victoria said, searching around in the inside of her jacket. She pulled out a knife. "No, not this," she said and tossed it aside. A glock, a brick, a saw cutter, a cartoon bomb, and an ancient greek spear followed in similar fashion before she found the thing she wanted. "Here, I hope you like it."

It was a box of chocolates. "I got you this before all the marriage reveal happened. And it would be a shame to let it go to waste because I spent good money on it. It's magical chocolate. A lot of fun. Don't eat it in school, though. But you might want to share it with Rosalie. Could help some things," she added with a wink and then left.

I held the small box in my hands. What did she mean by helping? I had been excited about the chocolates, but now, not so much. As typical, Jessica had sniffed this whole exchange out.

"Are the two of you dating?" she asked, with noddle arms flailing above her head.

Hm. "Hey, Jessica, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Does it involve the Cullens?" she asked, lighting up.

"Yes, it does," I fibbed. I held out the chocolates. "Here, take one for me." With a devious grin, I watched as she eagerly opened the lid and took one.

At lunch time I noticed that the Cullens table was starting to get really full with the horsemen and the Storm sisters all there. Tanya was holding James hand over Laurent's lap, while pressing a kiss to Laurent's cheek and having Victoria leaning her head against her shoulder. I sat down in next to Rosalie, with my school lunch. Rosalie had covered up the hickeys I had left on her neck, which made me a bit sad. I wanted to see my mark on her.

"So, are you all a thing now?" I asked, about their situation.

"Save a horse, ride me," Tanya said with an easy shrug. "Besides, my batteries were running low, I needed a charge up." She let an arch of electricity flow between her fingers.

"What, you use human batteries?" I scoffed.

"Yes, I can use them to charge up my powers. Normally I prefer other means but I don't have access to those," she told me.

"And we don't mind the power drain," James added on, kissing the knuckles on her hand. "It keeps our darker energies from overspilling. So it's a symbiotic relationship."

"Oh, Alice, I wish we had a relationship like that," Irina sighed melodramatically as she batted her lashes at Alice who scooted away from her on the bench.

"Sucking the life out of each other?" Alice grimaced.

"No, sucking each other," Irina corrected which didn't sound any better.

"It's not fair they get to be happy after trying to destroy the world," Edward said as he moped at the end of the table, arms crossed over his chest like a petulant kid.

"Everyone deserves a second chance," Emmett explained. "And a third, maybe even a hundredth, but look, old gods can learn new tricks, okay. Like I learned how to do the floss. Wanna see?"

A resounding no came from the table and Emmett frowned at them. "Y'all are haters."

"You've been flossing all night long, please, some of us like to sleep," Jasper groaned out. "I need my beauty rest so I can go on my dates looking nice."

"Speaking of dates," Rosalie broke in, putting away the nail filer she'd been using on her nails. "We have a date with the Volturi."

Everyone collectively groaned at this. Why was this bad? Who were the Volturi?

"Why? What did we do this time?" Edward asked.

"Who are the Volturi?" I asked and Edward's question was ignored in favor of mine.

"They're a council of gods that governs other gods. Make sure we don't do anything too out of wack or else we get punished," Alice drew a line over her neck. Yikes, that did not sound good.

"What did you guys do to piss them off," I asked.

"Nothing...much," Emmett filled in unhelpfully.

"It was all Jasper's, fault," Alice piped up.

Jasper scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's not my fault! He clearly did not have Volturi on his Grindr profile."

"Did he break someone's heart from the Volturi?" I said.

"Even worse, he broke their dick," Emmett said, wincing in sympathy and grabbing his own balls.

Jasper scoffed even louder. "It's not fault he couldn't take the ride! I still don't know why he had to go blabbing to the rest of the coven. Now we have to be 'under review' for questionable purposes."

"Props for breaking a god's dick," Laurent held out his fist for a fist bump that went unreturned as Jasper pulled a face of disgust at him. Everyone at the table looked at Laurent like he was stupid for saying this. "Hey, you know how strong gods are. It must have taken a lot to break one from the Volturi's-" Laurent defended, lowering his hand with a shrug to play off the hurt from being scolded with looks.

"Okay," I said loudly, cutting in. I did not want to hear more of this. "What are you going to do about it?"

"We have to show up. We can't ignore their summons," Alice explained.

"I should also mention that the Storm Sisters and the horsemen have been called too," Rosalie added.

"Why?" the three sisters vocalized while the horsemen seemed less shocked by this.

"They heard you were hanging with us and want to do a check up too," Rosalie said, putting away her nail file and picking up her apple.

"That means we'll have to pack up for a trip to Russia."

"The Volturi are in Russia? I've always wondered what that place is like. I've only seen it in movies. Everyone has thick accents and is drinking vodka," I said, affecting a fake accent that sounded more Italian than Russian. "Hello there, comrade!"

"They don't talk like that there, but you'll get to figure that out for yourself," Rosalie said.

I blinked at her. "Hold up, did you just- never mind of course you did," I quickly answered myself. I was going to Russia. To meet the Volturi. "Why the hell do they want me there. I'm not a goddess."

"And thank goodness for small miracles," Jasper said under his breath. Rude. I gave him a cutting glare.

"It's because you're married to me. They want to get to meet you."

"Can I say no?"

"It's best you go and don't question the way of the Volturi. They're considered the wisest council and if you disrespect them...well, you won't get another chance to do it," Tanya said, sliding a finger on her neck.

"It's kinda cool we're going on a trip to see them. I wonder if Aro will smoke a toke with me this time or not," Victoria spoke up.

"For the last bloody time, no he won't!" James shot back. "Quit making him ingest weed in any manner of ways or he'll actually fry our asses."

Victoria waved this off with no concern for her safety. "I just wanna see him high. I bet he'd be even funnier."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to check her bag for any contraband before we go," Laurent assured.

"You tried to make the god presiding over other gods high?" I turned to her, fascinated.

"Yea, one time I snuck it into his protein shake but James cut my fun short," the red head shot James a look as if he was the worst person in the world.

"Regardless, you three shouldn't take the trip lightly because you're no longer doing your job as horsemen and they might not be happy by this," Irina mentioned.

"Haha, comeuppance," Edward took delight in this. He rubbed his hands gleefully. We all ignored him, per usual.

"We should go and talk about this privately," James stood up. "We need to figure out how to deal with this on our own." He excused himself from lunch, Victoria and Laurent extracting themselves from Tanya and going to talk it over.

"We should probably have a discussion too," Irina stated, though it was with a frown. "Don't worry Alice, I shall be back for you my love." She made to hug Alice but the little goddess pushed away Irina's face so she could not wrap her arms around her. Irina gave up after a brief struggle, Kate and Tanya eventually snagging her by the back of her denim jacket to get her to leave for their own meeting.

This left just me and the Cullens who all began conversing on one thing or another. I left my eyes drift over to where Jessica was sat at. She seemed fine, after the chocolates. Perhaps nothing had been in them? I decided to try one for myself then. They smelled really good and looked expensive; it would be a waste not to have one. I took the box out and picked out a dark chocolate one.

"You gonna share that?" Emmett asked, noticing the box.

"Sure," I passed the box over and along the way all of the Cullens decided to take one. When the box came back it was empty and I tossed it right into the rubbish. The chocolate was really good and it melted on my tongue, filling my mouth with flavor. I had to ask Victoria where she had gotten these from. They were criminally good.

The rest of the day passed by normally. It was only when I was leaving school that I saw Jessica being dragged off by school security, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Dick! I want Edward's dick!"

This, wasn't that out of the ordinary for her so I didn't pay much attention to it. Edward shivered next to me. He did not look happy to be the center of attention.

"Man, Jessica needs to really get laid if she's lusting over Eddy boy," Emmett came out of nowhere with that comment, causing Edward to frown and put on his headphones.

"Some people just have taste," he grumbled under her breath, blasting Bach as he strode away from us.

"No offense dude but you probably taste like death," Emmett called out after him. Edward just pulled a hoodie over his head. And walked faster.

I ended up getting invited (read: forced) into going over to the Cullens house again. The place was really becoming full with all the gods and goddesses living there now. I was surprised it wasn't messier. But that might have been because Esme would incinerate anyone who so much as shed a hair on her carpet.

On the car ride to their house, using Eddy's volvo as he swerved like a madman and nearly rounded off of a cliff, I felt hot. I thought at first it was because of Edward's driving making my stomach go up and down, but as I got to the house I began to feel more and more warm. To the point that I had to excuse myself to the bathroom during dinner.

I went and splashed cold water on my face but it did nothing to help me. I even undid a button on my shirt. That too did nothing. What the heck was wrong with me?

A knock came at my door. "Occupied," I said.

"Bella, it's me, Victoria. Can I come in? I have to tell you something."

Figuring there could be no harm to this, I unlocked the door and let her in. She came in, and for some reason I could not stop staring at her. She looked amazing. Hot. Like I could just eat her up. I shook my head, trying to discreetly wipe away the drool at my mouth. What the hell was I thinking-?

"Oh boy," Victoria said with a half grin half worried look. "You took the chocolates didn't you?"

"The cho-"

"I told you there was a little something special in them."

"Special as in what? Because I fed them to the whole Cullen family."

Victoria's eyes went wide at this. "Bella, those were specifically for you and Rosalie. To help things along in the romance department. But if they've all eaten it-"

Suddenly a huge crash came from the dining room where all the immortals were sat at. Victoria and I both shared a look. That did not sound good. Victoria rushed out of the bathroom and I followed after her more carefully, only to find that the dinner had descended into chaos.

Alice was straddling Irina's lap, the goddess of thunder overjoyed that her affections were finally getting some action. Edward was in a corner, crying and jacking off to an image on his phone. Emmett was naked, running around the room and screaming 'orgy, orgy!' at the top of his lungs. Esme was running after him and trying to get him to wear clothes. Jasper had just ordered an uber full of men because the door was open and he was greeting each with a kiss as they walked in and up to his room in a single file line.

Tanya, Kate, Laurent and James were all staring in shock while Carlisle had his head in his hands. It was a mood I would share if only I wasn't feeling pretty much horny too. My eyes searched the room for Rosalie but I could not find her anywhere. Had she left? Boo, that sucked. I really wanted to be with her right now. Really wanted to feel her lips on my own. Really wanted to touch her.

Ugh. I was never eating godly chocolate ever again.

"Hey so Carlise, this might be kinda...my fault," Victoria timidly stated to the man who looked up, face tired and pale. "You know how I said I wanna make love and not war? Well...I tried and I think I might have not done a good job of it."

"You gave them a love potion?" he asked her.

"Nooooo, not a love potion. More like a...um Viagra," she said, looking so awkward saying all this. He heaved out a weary sigh. "Come with me. You need to help me make a potion. Laurent, James, please help Esme settle down my children. As for you, Tanya and Kate-"

"Got it. Get our sister so she doesn't hump Alice at the dinner table," Tanya reported, saluting him.

"Also, Bella. I would advise you to leave and lock yourself in a room, for your own safety. Things might get messy," Carlisle said diplomatically as Emmett knocked over a lamp. Esme screamed bloody murder at that.

"Yea, I think that's a good idea," I told him, feeling flushed and a bit woozy from all this. I quickly left the mess, needing to find a quiet space for myself...and deal with this. My body was aching, throbbing with my rising pulse. But as I walked down the hallway to find a spare guest room, I passed by Rosalie's room.

"Bella!" I heard her call for me and my insides got tingly. Even her voice sounded so erotic right now.

"Rosalie?" I questioned more quietly, my feet carrying me to her room even if I knew I should probably stay away from her while the chocolates made me feel like this. The door was ajar and I could hear a choked sob from the other end. I pushed the door open and entered.