Chapter 11. Seducer

Muffled music from Jasper's ALICE floats through the walls of my office and fills the silence between Isabella and me. I've chosen a safe spot roughly twelve feet or so away from her to put a little distance between us for now. No need to tempt fate. Thinking back on it, sitting behind my desk might have been more comfortable, but also felt slightly too formal. So here I sit on the edge of my desk, legs dangling beneath me, hands at my sides, practically glaring at the girl in the comfy chair on the other side of the room.

As I struggle between the desire to cross the distance to take her in my arms and the need to protect her from the dangers a vampire's bite could cause, she toys with the second shot of tequila I've poured for her. Her finger plays at the ridge of her glass, and she stares at the liquid as though she's having a mindful discussion with it.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh." She sets the glass down onto the table next to her and sits up a bit straighter. "I'm just not a big tequila girl," she explains, two-thirds amused, one-third bashful. "I mean, I was, once, in college, but I don't remember much about it. From what I understand, I don't want to, so I figure I'm better off not being that girl again. Ever." She reaches over and slides the glass further away from her.

Meanwhile, I take my own drink and swallow it whole. Then I pour another and gulp that down as well. For good measure. And since I seem to be feeling the effects a bit easier this evening.

Thank Satan.

There are several layers to the emotions she brings out in me. Alcohol may be the only way to sort through them.

"Did you bring me back here to drink?" she asks. "Or…" she hesitates and then narrows her eyes. "Are you sure I didn't upset you out there, Edward? You seem…"

"Rude," I finish for her. "And I apologize for my abrupt behavior before. I'm not quite used to-"

"PDA," she says, nodding.

"I'm sorry?"

"Public displays of affection." She shrugs. "I get it. You're a private guy. It's not like I didn't know that." She appears to have had her feelings hurt. If she only knew how close she had come to ceasing to exist.

"Yes, well, we aren't very public anymore, are we?" I'm not entirely sure if I'm saying it for her sake, or my own. A reminder, perhaps, to be wary of inadvertent impulses and not to follow through on them.

Bringing her back here might not have been such a good idea.

Suddenly, Isabella decides that she's a tequila girl after all. She takes the shot and places the glass down as she holds the liquid in her mouth for a moment, which she then swallows with a painful grimace. After that, she stands carefully before making her way over to me.

"So, you're not married." Her steps are slow. Painstakingly slow.

Bad idea, Isabella.

"And you don't have a girlfriend."

I'm on high alert now, and my body tenses as she draws closer. I shake my head without a word.

"Annnd, you aren't repulsed by me."

The beginning of a smile tugs at the sides of my mouth "No."

She's close now. Too close. And yet, not close enough.

I struggle to regulate my breathing.

"You know that old saying, actions speak louder than words?" Her voice is quiet and the way she takes her bottom lip between her teeth makes me want to take actions she won't question under any circumstances.

"I know it."

"You're a walking, talking contradiction, Edward."

"I assure you, I don't mean to be."

"Then-"

"That's close enough." I sit up and raise a hand in weak defiance. The truth is, Isabella has captured me in her orbit, and I'm here to stay.

"What is it about you that makes me want to lower every wall I've built over the past few years?" She stops just in front of me and looks up into my eyes with a naive longing for me to give her all the answers she's looking for.

I shake my head again, but I haven't found the proper words just yet. It doesn't help that she has terrible listening skills.

Her hands slide to my sides and rest on my hips.

My jaw clenches with tension.

"Talk to me," she insists. But what do I say?

My eyes fall to the floor as a familiar question floats inside my mind, and I remember my reply. I am Hades. Ruler of the Underworld... deceiver of souls... don't listen to the rumors. I let out a small sigh of defeat as I meet her gaze again.

"I'd much rather kiss you again." I let the alternate honest confession pour from my lips instead of blurting out my true identity.

She smiles, and in that moment, the way she silently acquiesces my request, I believe I could tell her everything she wants to know. It does not escape me that I shouldn't be doing this. Not to her.

But I'll be in Hell again someday, anyway. And there are worse ways to go than enjoying the taste of Isabella on my lips.

You will not hurt this girl, I remind myself.

Gently, she presses forward and places her lips against mine. As our mouths meet, my eyes close.

So far, so good.

Very good, as a matter of fact.

The warm sensation of sunlight flows through me. My body softens and my hands thoughtlessly slip themselves around her, pulling her further into me out of sheer need to have her closer. Deliberately and meticulously, I stay in control of myself.

Everything about her is soft and warm - inviting, trusting, tearing at my will. And as she tells me everything I need to know about what she is thinking with just that kiss, I feel the familiar urge to sink my teeth into her begin to form.

You will not hurt her, I tell myself again.

Her mouth parts and our tongues meet. The sweet, smooth taste of tequila lingers. Her hands drift. She slides them up the side of my torso, leaving a trail of goose flesh in her wake. As they settle around my neck, she deepens our connection.

I place a hand on each side of her with the intention of putting a stop to this before we go too far, only to find myself slipping off of the desk, spinning her around, and lifting her to take my place.

My breathing quickens, and Isabella doesn't help matters much by wrapping her legs around me to keep me from running away.

Which is exactly what I should do.

Only I don't want to.

I break our kiss only to move my mouth to her jaw, then her neck.

She lets out a slight, raspy moan that sends every sense I have into overdrive.

I breathe her in. Her heartbeat thumps, louder and louder. I feel the strong urge to taste her blood on my lips and I want to resist, really, I do, but…

"Bella." I hear the name drift away from my lips in a hungry, desperate plea, only, it's wrong. It's not the name I would call her. Nor is it what she's expecting to hear. It's enough to form the smallest of cracks in the impulse I'm having to bite down.

She pulls away, only slightly, so she can look me in the eyes with the perplexity she must be experiencing right now.

I feel it too. I have to explain. I have to tell her why I have a tendency to act completely and utterly bi-polar with her.

"I'm-"

"Excuse me! Get your hands off me, dude!"

Isabella and I are both stopped short of a confession that might very well be the end of my stint here above ground when we hear a rather loud commotion outside the office. Whatever was about to be said is silenced as Isabella turns to look over at the door and a deep scowl forms.

"Rose?" she questions the door.

Before I can ask her who this Rose is, Isabella is pushing me off of her and heading for the door.

"I said get your fucking hands off me before I deck your ass right here, right now, pal."

"And I said you can't go back-"

Isabella pulls the door open, disrupting an argument between Emmett and…

"Rose!" She laughs when she sees a woman getting ready to punch my bouncer. When the woman sees Isabella, she smiles and becomes an entirely different person.

"HEY, there you are. I've been looking all over this dump for you." She wraps her arms around my date, and when she sees me, she gives me a highly judgmental nod.

"Hey."

Not that I can blame her.

My heart is still racing from the blood lust I've only just escaped. I have no words and struggle with the resentment I'm feeling toward the blonde.

"I completely let time get away from me and totally forgot you might swing by. I'm so sorry."

Isabella is always explaining herself to people. And apologizing. It's incredibly annoying.

"No problemo," the tall woman tells her, still eyeing me carefully.

"Oh." She seems to notice the tone in her friends voice and pulls away from the hug slash love fest. "Rose, this is Edward. Edward, this is Rose. She's my roommate"

"Sorry boss, I tried to stop her from wandering around the building, unsupervised." Emmett's voice gets louder as he finishes his sentence, and I cannot help but feel as though there's some sort of tension between the two of them.

"You're a fucking bully, that's what you are," Rose says and points at him, reacting to his accusatory volume.

"And you're a-"

"Okay," I interrupt him from saying something that might actually get him decked with a clap of my hands and a peace offering of sorts. "How about a drink to celebrate the coming together of new friends, then."

I push past them and head for the bar, half wanting to put some distance between Isabella and myself, half wanting to interrupt the toxicity between Emmett and Rose. Finding myself in the midst of so much drama after, literally, eons of just… nothing, is…fucking exhausting. A drink is definitely in order.

As I arrive at the bar, the bartender raises an eyebrow at my expression, but I shake my head and ask her to get me a bottle of our finest champagne.

"Four glasses," I tell her, and she pours them with a quick ease that makes me think she's been doing this for a very long time. I appreciate the fact that I am apparently very smart in my hiring decisions, and I take the glasses then pass them out to my guests.

"A toast, to…" Oh, hell. "Something." I drink and nearly choke on the liquid when I see a familiar face enter the building.

"You okay, buddy?" Emmett asks, and I duck behind a pole to avoid being seen right away.

I mean why in Hell is Poseidon here? Harassing me. Again. Has he not had enough for one day? One week for that matter?

"Persistent little shit," I mutter, and Isabella is now wondering who I'm referring to.

"What's-"

I spin her around and search for a reason to leave.

Hoping she doesn't notice the desperation in my expression, I make an attempt at a smile for her. "Why don't you and Rose go request something from Jasper."

"Okay." She happily bounces away with her friend. Luckily, it doesn't appear that my brother has noticed me yet. I cannot have him catching even a glimpse of Isabella, or worse, suspecting that I might be fond of her in any way.

"What's wrong?" Emmett asks with a look of concern.

I ignore the question. There's no explicable way to answer him at this point.

"Would you do me the honor of a favor?"

"The honor?" The overgrown guardian of this bar chuckles. "You know you're fucking weird, lately, right?"

"Emmett," I push. His face grows serious, and he clears his throat.

"Whatever you need."

"See the large" - Holy Satan. What do I say here? God? Celestial being? Dick? - "man over there in the corner by the entrance?"

Emmett peers over at where I'm nodding toward. "Yep."

"Distract him."

He grins mischievously. "Not a problem." His eagerness to have something a bit more interesting to do this evening is oddly satisfying to me.

"What seems to be the problem?" Rose asks with a sing songy sass I gather is not abnormal for her. Apparently, she left her jacket on a stool nearby and came back to retrieve it.

I open my mouth to say something but close it again when I realize I have no reply for her. Fortunately, Emmett does.

"Bar business, nothing you need to worry about," he tells the woman, slightly condescendingly, I have to admit. She, in turn, shifts to one foot, places a hand on her hip and narrows her dark brown eyes at him.

"I'm not an idiot, asshole. I saw how he" - she points to me in case it's unclear - "acted when the big guy came in. And how he immediately tried to get rid of Bella and me when it happened. So don't play shady trickster with me."

Emmett's mouth closes up tight as well. The two of us stand there, not having a clue how to deal with this new to us person in Isabella's life. She sets her jacket back on the stool when she realizes that we are just a couple of speechless baboons who haven't quite thought through how to pull one over on her.

She pushes her sleeves up and tells us matter of factly, "Screw it. If it entails protecting Bella in some way shape or form, I'm in."

It's all I need to know about her and how she must feel about the woman I've grown so very fond of. Once I see Isabella returning from Jasper's corner, I scan the room for alternate exits from where Poseidon is standing. I have no doubt in my mind that I could take him if need be. He's larger, however, I'm smarter. But that's not the point here.

"Take a ride with me?" I ask Isabella calmly, even as my blood pressure rises.

She huffs out a rather flustered laugh and hooks a thumb over her shoulder. "I just requested Prince, why-"

"I have the strangest urge for fresh air and the night sky," I tell her with only the slightest hint of urgency in my tone.

"But Rose just got here," she insists.

"I'm gonna hang with the dumbass for a little while," Rose tells her roommate, nodding toward Emmett. He appears quite offended yet suspiciously happy with the situation.

"Um," Isabella replies. She's disappointed but is willing to leave with me, nonetheless. "Okay."

I begin to guide her toward the back hallway when Emmett stops me with an easy grip on my forearm.

"Hey." He leans close to whisper. "Since when do you back down from confrontation?"

He's genuinely curious. And worried, according to his facial expression.

I don't have time to think up a reason that will make sense. It grows more and more tiresome to keep up with the facade I've created. I find myself telling him, "A conversation for another time."

And I fear he's going to hold me to it.

PSA: So... I'm trying to remain cool and calm but I am totally not. I'm beside myself. So is Hades (don't tell him I said that) - because a very good fandombestfriendwhomakesmesmilesohard has agreed to write a companion story to Hades beginning TODAY - (are you even ready for this?) Please go check out Belladonna Cullen's "Friend of the Devil" - she's in Bella's head and does it with the style and grace that only she could. It's favorited in my profile OR you can just go click on her name from my favorite authors list. But do it. You'll LOVE her side of the story.

I would also like to throw a(nother) super smiley blackened heart THANK YOU to Rita01 for the fantasmic banner she made for Hades this week. Have you seen it? You can check it out in full size on the blog if you feel the urge.

Whew, I'm feeling a little too wordy right now so I'll just end with thank you again so much for reading this guy. Thanks Sue, thanks Chrisann!

Song = Do I wanna know by Arctic Monkeys