Chapter Six: Stranger Danger
It's a few weeks later (Look, I might have a pen now, but I still don't have a calendar, okay. No newborn is that organized, sheesh!). Currently, I am out in the woods trying to catch dinner.
I've come pretty far though, and I still haven't seen anything other than a family of beavers and a few rodents, rabbits and birds. I'm lowkey starting to wonder if we have possibly, somehow, accidentally, been over-hunting the area. And now, the conservationist part of my brain is going into full-on panic mode.
That's when I realize, sniffing the air, that I can smell the scent of another apex predator in the area and that he is probably what has scared them all off.
It is clearly the scent of a vampire, a male vampire. But definitely not one I have ever met before.
You would think that I would do the smart thing and run home to alert the others, but I've been told a few times that I have no self-preservation instinct. Besides, I can tell from the scent that there is only one vampire. So whoever he is, he must be alone.
And so, instead, I decide to run towards the scent, as quietly as possible.
Thankfully he is standing in a clearing when I catch up to him, and his back is to me, so I can see him before he catches my scent or sees me.
And wowza! The man is totally gorgeous. I mean, he's dirty and his hair is unkempt, but he's definitely hot enough to excuse his wild state, that's for sure. Hubba-Hubba!
I realize, however, pretty quickly, that he has something lying at his feet, not moving. As he bends down to it, I realize it's probably a person!
Oh shit! That does not bode well for the treaty. I should probably find out if he's already bitten them. If not, maybe I can convince this hungry vampire to disregard his current meal choice and go find one elsewhere.
With the intention of doing exactly that, I carefully approach him. But the wind changes directions, and I can tell by his change in posture that he can smell me. Not because I stink. Trust me, I bathe regularly, unlike this guy. But he definitely has my scent because he straightens and abruptly turns to face me, crouching over his prey.
And when he looks at me, that's when I see it all so much more clearly. Looking into his eyes, I register that they are golden (Unlike mine which are still a dark orange in spite of not having slipped even once. I mean don't even get me started on how freaking frustrating that is! Ooh, guess what? I didn't swear! Yay me!).
So it would seem…apparently, Tarzan is a veggie vamp!
When I look back at his prey, which is more visible now that he isn't hunched over it, I realize that yep, that is a deer, not a person. Yay! No dead locals means no broken treaty! My family will be so happy that we don't have to move yet!
"No!" He grunts, looking very intensely at me.
"No? No what? I didn't even say anything!" I huff. He better not be responding to my thoughts. The last thing this family needs is another mind reader. Not that Tarzan is even going to join the family unless of course, he turns out to be my mate.
"No take!" He growls, shifting to gesture at the wounded animal. "Mine!"
"Oh! Relax, Jungle Man. I'm not here for your deer, I'm here for you, Dear." I laugh, stepping closer.
"No take!" He roars, stepping toward me, poised like he wants to fight.
I walk slowly with my arms out in a gesture of peace. "I have no interest in your prey. I'll go get my own, later." I slowly tell him.
And just to illustrate that I'm here for the other feral thing that vampires do, not to steal his food...I take my shirt off.
"My name is Bella. What's yours?" I ask, putting my hands over my heart and repeating, "Bella."
He seems to realize what I am doing, because next, he puts his hands over his own heart and says, "Ash".
"Oh cool! Hi Ash, nice to meet you. Would you like to have sex now, so we can find out if we are mates? I mean, you are a veggie vamp who I have never heard of before, so the odds are fairly strong that you are my mate. Otherwise, why else would the powers that be have sent you to this area, right?" I ask, stepping out of my pants.
"Sex yes. Talk no." He grunts, stepping into my arms and kissing me.
He tastes like deer blood, which drives me crazy with lust. Apparently, this wasn't his first catch in the area.
I begin frantically kissing him and am grateful that he is already buck naked so that there is less clothing to remove between us. He rips off my bra and panties and I can't bring myself to be mad. I push him down on the ground and straddle him, sliding quickly down on his throbbing erection.
"Fuck!" I hiss, gritting my teeth against the immense pleasure. (Oops, I swore again! My bad!)
"So! good!" I gasp, moving his hands up to touch my breasts. He pinches my nipples, hard and I moan, feeling so glad that as weird as it is to have come across Tarzan in the woods, at least it wasn't the Disney version. I mean, can you really picture Disney Tarzan pinching Disney Jane's nipples?
Dammit, Bella, what have I told you about the weird pillow talk? And this is the second Disney reference! If you don't get a handle on your penchant for random thought trains, people are going to start thinking you have a Disney fetish!
And I mean, sure, Ariel looks great in that seashell bikini, but she's still a fish, people!
(Side note, is it weird to call it pillow talk when we're having sex on the forest floor where there are most definitely not any pillows?)
Dammit! He's making me cum! Do you know how awkward it is to orgasm while you are on a mental tangent about seashell bikinis and cartoon princesses?
Because let me tell you! It is pretty dang awkward.
"Ash, Bella, mates now?" He asks me, after spilling his own release inside of me.
"Nope." I shake my head. "Ash, Bella, friends. With benefits," I correct since there is no way I could have been thinking about Ariel during the act if we were mates.
"Ash not want friends. Ash want find mate." He huffs.
Trust me, you and I both, Buddy.
I hop off of him and get dressed, stuffing my ripped garments into my pockets, because I am not a filthy litterbug. This is a forest, people, not my own personal landfill.
Although how cool would it be to have your own personal landfill? I feel like I've seen that somewhere as a plot before. But not here, because this is a forest and this story has no zombies in it either, sorry. And I am not a junkyard princess named after the evil witch in Narnia at that. Not to mention, this story takes place in 2005, by which time the aforementioned (or afore alluded to, I guess) fiction does not even exist yet.
(Bella! Stop breaking the fourth wall!)
Oh right, sorry! I keep forgetting there's a wall there!
Anyway, back to the present. A noise behind us startles Ash, and he runs off.
I could follow him, but the scent of the wounded deer hits me and I suddenly remember that I was originally on a hunt for food when this all started, so I decide to be rude and drink the Bambi juice box he conveniently left lying right here in front of me.
(Oh great, another damn Disney reference!)
Huh. And here I told him I wasn't gonna poach his kill. Oops, I guess I lied.
I hear Jasper coming and turn around to face him, sensing Tarzan isn't coming back anytime soon. "Hey Sexy, how's it goin'?" I ask, batting my eyelashes.
He smirks. "I could ask you the same thing, Bella. Apparently, Alice got a vision of you makin' it with some nomad she'd never seen before?"
"Yeah. His name was Ash and he was sinfully delicious for a monosyllabic Neanderthal." I shrug with a lopsided grin.
"And he was a vegetarian?" Jasper confirms.
"Yep. I accidentally stole his deer though. I feel kinda bad about it." I sigh.
"Well, if he wasn't much of a talker, he's probably not used to livin' around people. So he probably moves around a lot, which means, he might not stay in one area very long," Jasper explains, though he seems worried I might be upset about it.
"That's okay. He wasn't my mate. Which means I'm still available for the 'Southern Sex Gods', so it's actually a really good thing." I grin.
The Southern Sex Gods was what I had been calling Jasper and Emmett since I started monopolizing as much of their time as I could get away with. Because Em was originally from Tennessee and Jasper was originally from Texas.
I know no one ever thinks of Emmett as Southern in these kinds of stories, but let me tell you...that big ol' teddy bear is a good ol' Southern boy at heart!
Also, in case you want a quick geography lesson (Quick, look away now if you don't!) the Southern United States probably does not consist of the states you think it does. Unless of course, you happen to be an American, who paid attention in school.
The U.S. federal government define the region as consisting of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia, which all lie south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the Ohio River, and the 36°30′ parallel.
And while many people do not agree with this definition, it dates back to the Civil War era, when those states fought on the Confederate side (Except for Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia, which were border states, along with Missouri, as they were Union states bordering the Confederacy. Don't ask me why the census bureau lumps four of the five in with the South but not Missouri, because I have no idea.)
Also, don't ask me why Oklahoma, which was not even a state yet during the time of the Civil War, gets to be considered part of the South, but yet Arizona and New Mexico don't, even though they also weren't states yet and are literally as far South as you can go without being in Mexico, but hey, I digress!
Okay, pssst! Those of you who wanted to skip the geography lesson can come back now! Thanks for being so patient while I explained that to the folks who wanted to know ;-)
Anyway, see? I have been doing more with Jasper and Emmett than fornicating :D We even play video games!
"Well good then. I know I, for one, am glad we don't have to give you up yet." Jasper, who was staring at me while I went on ttot little tangent, just grins and throws me over his shoulder, hauling me home so we can go tell Emmett the good news.
"Jasper, I'm perfectly capable of walking." I laugh as he runs us through the forest.
"Yes, but you just fucked a caveman, and I scared him away. Which means now, I get to drag you home to my cave, Bella," he gloats.
And boy would my panties be drenched after that remark if I were wearing any!
Speaking of panties, I take them out of my pocket and stuff them in Jasper's mouth.
"Sex yes, talk no," I grunt, giggling as he hauls me home to do just that.