THE DARK LUST

– Chapter Five –

Tuesday
21 September 2010
14:46 Hours

Bella could hardly believe her good fortune.

After her impulsive decision to pursue this new avenue of adventure, she'd hoped that, given time, Detective Cullen might pick up her deadly breadcrumb trail and she could toy with him like a cat jumps after a feather tied to a stick. What she hadn't been expecting was for the detective to be so keen that he'd show up on her doorstep within a matter of days.

How exciting. Little games like this were what gave her eternal life meaning. It was fun, and there wasn't much Bella enjoyed more than a good bit of fun, with a side of blood and sex, of course.

Speaking of . . .

Enjoying the way the men's eyes danced all over her lithe form, Bella placed her hands on her waist and cocked one hip out to the side, focusing her glamour on Detective Newton, who seemed to be struggling as it was to maintain his composure in her presence. The young man's eyes glazed over as a wave of lust and longing hit him, his mouth going slack and a sizable bulge pushing out from the front of his pants.

"Your pardon, you said your name is Bella . . .?" Detective Cullen prodded, focused on her and unaware of how she was toying with Newton right there beside him. She turned her gaze to the bronze-haired man with a grin.

"Yes, Bella," she replied, purposely not giving him any more. "I just realized—I've seen you on the news. Edward, isn't it? It's very nice to meet you, Edward."

The detective's eyes narrowed and one corner of his mouth turned down in annoyance, much to Bella's delight. "Detective Edward Cullen," he corrected, and she nodded politely. "Can you tell us your whereabouts on the night before last?"

"Certainly, Edward." The detective's jaw twitched but he didn't correct her again. "I was here, as I told you before, housesitting for my friends."

"The Uleys . . ."

"Yes, Sam and Emily Uley," Bella repeated, recalling the names from a bill tacked to a bulletin board in the kitchen.

"And you were here all night?"

"Mmhmm."

"Did you have anyone over? Or order anything in?"

"Why yes, Edward, I did," Bella told the detective, holding his stare as he grilled her quite expertly. She was impressed by his fortitude, among other things. His striking good looks were not lost on her, his voice stern with a slight husky undertone, tall, broad, fit, along with something . . . else, that she couldn't quite put her finger on. A feeling she hadn't experienced before, neither good nor bad but there, niggling at something buried deep within her. She was intrigued by this, though, whatever it was, and Bella was determined to figure it out while she dangled her feather before him. "I ordered a pizza, just one for little old me."

"Uh huh," Detective Cullen replied, his eyes on her thoughtfully. "Can you recall the person who delivered it here? Was there anything about them that stood out or seemed odd to you?"

Bella broke her gaze from Edward's, looking upward and pretending to think, tapping a smooth finger against her chin. "Well, I don't know," she said lightly, looking back at the detective. "He was young, early twenties maybe? Quite handsome, but I'm not in the market. The meal was hot, and I tipped well . . ." She thought Edward might have noticed her smirk as she spoke the last line, but if he did, he gave no further indication.

"I see," was all he said, his eyes finally leaving her and traveling around the room.

Oops, Bella couldn't have that. He seemed to have bought her story about housesitting, but if he got too nosy and looked too close . . .

"Wait a minute," Bella said, infusing glamour into her voice to ensure she recaptured his attention. Detective Cullen looked back at her, but his eyes remained steady and alert, not at all succumbing to her powers as he should. Strange. "Does this have something to do with the murders, with this Bleeder I saw you speak about on TV?"

"What makes you think that, ma'am?" Edward replied, his sharp gaze narrowing in on her.

Bella was relieved to have his focus back on her and not on the commandeered house, but at the same time her glamour's failure to affect him left an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. She recognized it after a second of contemplation, too quick for the detective to notice her pause. It was unease, something Bella hadn't felt since she'd left her human life behind. Bella suddenly found herself quite agitated. This was not how the game was supposed to be played. She needed to get this situation back under her control, and fast.

"Well, there's all these people going missing, a new story on the news almost every day, and now you're here, asking me questions about someone I had only a moment's interaction with . . ." Bella paused, giving the detective a chance to catch onto her drift, but he only stared at her with deep-green, calculating eyes. The discomfort in Bella's gut grew.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss that," Edward said. "We—" but his words were cut short when he finally turned to look at his partner. Newton hadn't moved an inch in the few minutes they'd stood there talking, Bella's glamour working exactly as it should on the other detective. His eyes were hooded and glassy, his mouth slack and almost drooling, his hands cupping the very obvious erection straining in his pants.

"Newton!" Edward hissed, and Bella let her glamour drop. The young man blinked and looked around in confusion, his panicked eyes finally settling on Edward.

"Cullen?" he said weakly, licking his dry lips. He removed his hands from the now-softening bulge at his crotch, using one to scrub over his face instead.

"It's time to go," Edward ground out through clenched teeth, turning to Bella with an apologetic scowl. "Thank you for your time, Miss . . . Bella. If we have any further questions, how long will I be able to find you here?"

Bella's answer was interrupted by the shrill ring of a telephone. "I'll just let the machine get it," she told Edward, waving a hand toward the sound. She needed to get them out of here before anything else strange and unexpected happened.

As if on cue, the answering machine picked up and a male voice sounded. "Hi, you've reached the Uleys. Please leave a message and we'll get back to you at our earliest convenience." A loud beep filled the room before a more delicate voice began speaking.

"Emily, hun, it's your mother calling. Quil and Jared had a great time this weekend but they're wondering what time you're coming to pick them up today." Bella's eyes widened slightly, her reaction not missed by Edward. "If you could call me back and let me know—"

Bella stepped back quickly—too quickly, she feared—and pressed all the buttons on the machine that sat on the end table. The voice was cut off and Bella turned back to the men with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "I should give, uh, Emily a call and let her know her mother is expecting her soon. You'll both excuse me? If I can think of anything that might help you catch this monster, I'll be sure to stop by the station."

Detective Cullen nodded curtly, clearly aware that something was amiss, but he ushered a still-confused and embarrassed Newton out the door. Bella said goodbye and waited silently while they made their way to a black sedan parked out front, her vampire hearing straining to pick up their words through the noise of the heavy rain outside.

"What the hell was that?!" Edward demanded of his partner the second they were in the closed car. "Seriously, man. Just what the fuck?!"

Bella grinned, feeling confidence overtake her again. This was good. This was fun. She flitted to the window, seeing easily through the gauze curtains, but they would be enough to hide her from the detectives' eyes outside. Not that either one of them were paying attention to her or the house anymore, not with the effects of her glamour on Newton now front and center. The young detective hadn't said a word yet, he had only shrunk back against the passenger-side window, away from Edward's rage.

"Well?!" Detective Cullen demanded, his temper flaring red hot at Newton's silence.

"I . . . I . . . I . . . I dunno, man," Newton finally got out, his voice slightly shrill with panic. "It was so weird. I remember going into the house, and then everything else is just a blank." Not the part where he'd come to with his hands on his bulging pants, Newton remembered that part painfully well, but he kept that to himself on the very slight chance that Edward hadn't noticed. This assignment meant the world to him, getting to work alongside a great detective like Cullen, and he couldn't believe he had fucked it up this badly already, on his very first day. He swallowed hard, determined not to wreck things even more than they were now. "I'm really sorry. It won't happen again, I swear."

Edward's jaw worked hard as he gnashed his teeth together, furious at Newton for his wildly inappropriate behavior, but well aware that he'd had his own what-the-fuck moment when they'd first arrived. There was something strange about all of this, from the house to the woman to the message he'd heard just before leaving, and he couldn't take it all out on Newton, not when he barely understood what was going on here himself. He took a few deep breaths, composing himself and putting a damper on his rage. He would figure this out—he always did.

"You're damn right it won't happen again," he said not only to Newton, but also to himself, and with a deep breath of resolve, Edward threw the car into drive and peeled away down the street.

Back inside the house, Bella's grin had grown into a wicked smirk, and she turned it on Kate and Victoria, who had just come in through the back door.

"Well, that was fucking close," the red-haired vampire said, her tone dripping with undisguised annoyance. Bella's two companions been listening in on the whole thing, hidden safely in the mud room just off the kitchen. "He suspects something, you know."

"Of course he does," Bella replied evenly, popping out her blue contacts and pulverizing them between her fingers. She looked over at her sisters, her naturally-crimson eyes gleaming with dark excitement.

Kate stared back at Bella, gnawing her bottom lip uncertainly, not at all sure where Bella was taking them with this whole thing. "And that's . . . good?"

"Oh, it's very good," their leader replied, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "It'll make for more interesting sport."

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