Chapter 29: Birds and the Bees

"We do nothing,"

Adley stared up at Marcus her hands clenching at her sides. Her stomach flipping as her building rage swirled around her. Red colouring the edge of her vision, neck craned looking at him.

"Nothing?" She questioned. "Not a single god damn thing?"

"My word is final." Marcus brushed off his jacket of invisible lint while he turned from her.

His aura of soft yellow she began poking at the line around him. How did he remain so calm? She looked to his right where Aro stood silent the whole time. He clasped his hands together while looking between the two.

"What of you, Aro? What is your opinion?"

"I do not wish to discuss this while emotions are—"

"Do not infer that I am hormonal." She snapped.

Hands clamped down on her forearms awhile she stepped forward. She wiggled against the iron grip. There was no shaking off who held her.

"As I said, I would like to approach this later. Allow myself to calm down." He held his hands up before disappearing entirely.

Adley huffed crossing her arms, "coward."

"We will not discuss this further." Marcus finalized while he held her upper arms. His fingers barely able to wrap around them any longer due to the increase of weight she had taken on.

Adley leant back glaring up at him. Merlot eyes stared down to her. her bottom lip jutted out. "Give them more time then, to plan something to hurt us. They have proven their capabilities."

"What will you do at this very moment? With your rage filling you and driving you towards action?" He questioned her, no change in his expression.

"I –I will go over there and—"

"Place yourself in harms way? The exact thing you wish to avoid?" He challenged.

"I don't want to just stay here and do nothing!" She protested.

"Yet that is exactly what you will do until you calm yourself." He ordered.

"I am calm."

"I feel your rage swirling and crashing down upon me, demanding to be listened to."

Adley looked away. She searched the hall, Ibrahim revealed himself with a familiar pop. "Am I really?"

"I do feel irritation and rage,"

Adley closed her eyes taking a deep breath. A blush running up and down her exposed skin. Marcus guided her back against his chest.

"Your rage may not be completely your own, influenced by Aro as well. I did not ever expect one's anger beyond Caius to truly scare him." Marcus mused, turning her to face him.

"I scare Aro?"

"Absolutely terrify him."

"I didn't mean to scare Aro…"

"I am sure he knows you cannot harm him however he does need a breather. Aro himself has been known to snap into action from a threat to the family. When you are vulnerable as you are, it is even more so. I merely wish to keep you safe little one,"

She tossed her hands up. "How do you win so easily?"

"It was not a ploy of wits, merely the truth, little one. Lashing out in our rage, taking to action before thinking the situation through leads to death. This is how we defeated the newborns, remember? There are many things that are not at the forefront of your mind. The accords, the human world if a war was to break out. Small decisions have consequences."

"Logical giant…"

"I am not tall. You are merely height challenged." He laughed.

"I'm five four the average female height." She rolled her eyes. "You are above six feet, thus a giant."

He pulled her to his side, a hand swatting her behind lightly. "Hey, caring precious cargo here."

*******IM*******

August was passing before Adley fully registered. It was a week until the wedding, and currently she was mulling over wedding gifts for the Bride and Groom. She prided herself on gift giving, finding she usually gave something unique that fit the person receiving it. This time was a little different. She'd been to her share of weddings in the past as a child and adult. The choice really came down to what exactly do you get a vampire couple who will not have need for household products. She really was beginning to realize a lot of her gifts revolved around food, or other mementos when it came to weddings…

She had a gift in mind, but she wanted something physical as well. She wanted to do a photo shoot of Edward and Bella, within the meadow that they spent a lot of time in. She'd gotten Marcus to take her up last weekend to get photos of the empty meadow she had sent off to be blown up and such in sizes provided by Alice. They wouldn't be done until nearly Bella's birthday. That in mind she was going to be empty handed…

She pulled on a strand of dark hair that framed her face from her half updo. She pursed her lips. She was currently in the middle of a book shop. She knew Bella had a love for books. In her spare time the girl always had one at one point. Classics were a love of Bella's. Edward though? He liked to play piano… she really didn't know the boy that well. Her anger with him had been the foremost thought she had towards him.

"Little one, has anything jumped out at you?" Marcus asked while his hands settled on her hips.

His thumbs trailing the line of her mid-rise bike shorts. Her shirt had been moved in the process as cool fingers ghosted the skin of her waist line. They settled for holding her growing bump. Adley didn't turn away from the shelves in front of her. She hadn't been focused on the shelf what so ever.

"I haven't the faintest idea." She huffed. "I've already got a photo session I want to do for her and Edward. They are being worked on currently. I just don't want to show up empty handed."

"It has been a few centuries since a wedding has occurred where I've been in attendance." He murmured. "I do not think it is custom to gift humans…"

"Yeah, slavery ended about two centuries ago in the states… if you ignore the other issues, we have here of racist policies and tendencies." She glanced up at him.

"I meant food wise, the couple is one vampire and a human at this moment. She will be turned soon."

"You haven't actually gifted humans to other vampires, have you?" Adley scrunched her nose up. "I don't mind the diet there are a lot of them. The whole idea of gifting though? Is a bit much isn't it?"

Marcus chuckled. "That would be more up Caius' alley."

Adley shuddered. "Out of mind, out sight. No, you can't kidnap some humans and call it a gift. Especially when they don't drink human blood. I was thinking a set of collectors copies of classic books."

"While I am sure Ms. Swan would appreciate collector's editions, I am not sure if that is Mr. Cullen's idea of a gift."

"You are right." She sighed leaning back into his chest. "We could always get them lube and a bunch of sex toys."

"I do not think such pieces would survive our kind." His words stiff.

She laughed. "Lube works for a lot of people. Dildos don't need vibration to have fun. Unless venom melts silicone?"

"I do not need such mental images." He warned lips at the shell of her left ear.

"I was only conversing about dildos and lube not who was using them. Dirty old man."

One hand held tightly to her waist. The other slithered down her side and around. She bit back a yelp as he pinched her butt. She went to wiggle free cheeks burning. She was stuck in his hold, however.

"Marcus."

"No one can see us right now." He assured her, hand messaging the area he had pinched.

She reached back grabbing hold of his hand. She was already feeling the heat gather between her legs. "You're not much help with decision making."

"Pardon my distraction." He murmured kissing down her jaw.

She shuddered when he got close to where his mark was on her collar and neck junction. "I'm getting you gag and collar."

"Is that a promise pet?" He questioned, a slight laugh escaping him.

"A serious note Marcus, are you open to that?" She asked meeting his dark gaze, contacts dulling the red.

"I am not opposed to seeing you on top Little one, taking your pleasure whilst there is little I can do. Your breasts bouncing whilst you pleasure yourself." He breathed.

She really didn't want to continue shopping the longer she stared into his darkened gaze. She wanted to go back to the cabin and take him with her. Away from prying eyes. She paused.

"I think a vacation voucher is wonderful for a trip somewhere. Private and exclusive what do you think?" She asked.

"We have a private island off the coast of Spain if they wished for seclusion. It encompasses seven hundred and fifty acres. The land has an area for a plane to land. There are a few houses along the coast and private areas."

"Perfect," she turned wrapping her arms around his neck reaching up to kiss him.

Her lips brushed over his, she felt his tongue swipe along her bottom lip seeking to deepen the kiss. She pulled back away cheeks burning. She stepped back shooting him a wink before turning on her heel to exit the Barnes and Noble heading further into the mall. It did not take long for Marcus to catch up and wrap an arm around her waist.

She covered her growing grin at the small growl of frustration that escaped him. She wasn't the only one effected by the words and kiss.

"Where to now?" He questioned.

Adley didn't reply only smiling as she headed straight for the shop with a single door. The front glass was frosted out so no one could see exactly what was going on in the shop. It was only decorated with a pair of large lips and a finger across it acting to hush people. She pulled the door open, a bell chiming.

The cashier waved in greeting. "Welcome, please let us know if you need any help."

"Thank you!" Adley smiled passing, Marcus not too far behind her.

Adley made her way back passed the few books and lotions. The lube selection she'd come back to. If not for personal selection. She wanted to know how much experience Marcus had with modern sex items. A smile pulling at her lips as she headed through the beaded curtain to the more, risqué displays. The more discrete vibrators and dildos were up front. She was looking for a specific kind.

She turned seeing the DVD's and VHS tapes of many pornos. She glanced over her shoulder. Marcus was paused at the front looking over a few of the titles. She saw the cover of one he picked up of an animated film, she saw an animated school girl and tentacles. She coughed. Okay maybe bringing an ancient vampire into a sex shop wasn't the best idea. Hentai wasn't a conversation she wished to have right now.

She turned quickly before she lost her courage. She followed the rounded bend in the room to the display of paddles, cuffs, collars and much more. She tapped her chin looking it over. She grabbed a simple black leather gag with the ball in the middle. It wasn't expensive by any means but made for a fun prank gift. Would anal plugs with a gem in it be over the top? She didn't want to send Bella's virgin Edwardian lover for the hills never to return. She looked over the few command hogtie and collar sets. Some even added nipple clamps.

Those would be a bit much for even Bella she was sure. She could always get them a gift card and make them enter and purchase their own… she shook her head. Nope that was not something that would ever be touched. She was sure the two virgins would leave the gift card in the bottom of a drawer somewhere if not pawn it off. She picked up a collar with nipple clamps, not for them, but a personal buy.

"If my nipples weren't so sensitive right now, I would consider these, a collar with nipple clamps. Even says fuck me in bedazzles." She looked over her shoulder to Marcus.

His jaw slightly slacked as he looked to her. She saw the growing lust and desire rolling in his aura. She batted her lashes up at him with a curl in her lips.

"Marcus?" she questioned ever so lightly.

"Yes, Little One?" He was behind her in a few steps.

"Are you alright? You seem bothered by something." The feigned ignorance in her words.

"You are a temptress with such innocence. How foolish the world is to believe it." He murmured.

She gave a toothy grin rounding on him. She grabbed a few bars and cuffs, the collar as well for good measure. She handed them to Marcus who accepted them without issue. "I never said I was innocent."

She grabbed the gag and an accompanying paddle that read 'first paddle'. These weren't for the wedding where her parents could see it being opened but for the bachelorette, she had planned with a few of Bella's friends. They were planning a party in Seattle for her, where she would not be allowed to drink but didn't mean the hotel room wasn't going to have it. Thanks to her being over twenty-one.

She slipped through the front as well to get a few party gags and supplies along with a few Lubes. She headed straight up to the cashier with Marcus not far behind.

The woman before her said nothing as she scanned them and bagged everything. A crease appearing in her brow as she tried to hide the growing blush.

"It's for a bachelorette party for my friend. Not all of it's for us."

This just made the poor cashier turn red. She even felt Marcus' own embarrassment.

******IM******

Adley was the only one sober by the time nine thirty rolled around. Angela, Jessica, Lauren, and Bella were all beginning to take to the alcohol. She had her mocktails, but the night had become a bit rowdy. Alice had booked a giant hotel room with a pool and two attaching bedrooms for them. Alice had brought in a few more risky board games for the humans as well.

She was sat on one of the couches sprawled out.

"Okay Bella, Truth or Dare?" Jess asked. Her vodka cooler in hand.

Bella's glassy gaze settled on her friend. "Truth."

"Is it true you and Edward have done it."

Bella blushed. "We have not…"

"Seriously? A man as good looking as Edward hasn't wanted to bang you?"

"He's super religious?"

"Shit I never considered he'd be religious. Are the Cullens Mormons?" Jess sat up nose scrunched up.

"They are Christians not that kind." Bella sighed. "Bit old fashioned in the marriage before sex."

"You poor girl, you need to get laid so badly. No wonder you're walking down the aisle." Lauren patted Bella's shoulder. "I've been non-stop fucking since I moved into my dorm."

"The rate she's going she'll be curing an unknown STD on herself." Jess laughed. Lauren tossed the pillow at her. "Shut up. My tests are all negative. I am clean."

"Safe sex is important." Adley chuckled.

"Safe sex indeed, you're pregnant." Jess squealed. "You need to show us photos of your twins when they are born. I bet they end up looking like you."

"They are half my DNA." Adley laughed.

"Okay since Bella is the only confirmed virgin here, she needs advice."

"I most certainly do not."

"Come on Bella, do you even know how to give head?"

"No…"

"Well then she needs to be told."

"I don't think I'll remember. I'm too drunk to remember."

"It's why I got her the Karma Sutra." Angela boasted.

The girls busted up laughing.

"Angela, I didn't think you'd be the one to buy it." Adley commented.

"It helped me." She shrugged, no ounce of regret on her face.

"Pastor's daughter of course she's kinky."

Bella leant forward grabbing another gift in front of her, she unwrapped it. The red wrapping fell to the floor, her hands nearly dropping from what she saw. "Adley!"

The sparkly paddle inscribed with first paddle fell on her lap. The gag and ball were in her hands. Her dark eyes bulged as she stared at the two items. She hadn't picked up the second package with bottles of lube in it. She'd even gotten condoms for the two. Heaven forbid if Bella get knocked before the transformation.

"Something to spice up the relation ship if the sex gets boring after a few years." She stuck her tongue out. "I didn't get like this because I'm the virgin Mary."

"I really didn't need to know."

********IM********

Adley was sat down after drinking a protein shake from Aro. The day had finally come, and the hybrid had made it to Seattle. He'd been sick with a flu when he landed not wishing to give it to Adley he isolated. Today he was cleared.

She tapped her foot waiting for Aro to return with their guest. Marcus held her hand his anxiety just as bad. She had so many questions for the hybrid. Eloy, she reminded herself. He wasn't a test subject. He was a person.

The door of the small conference room opened. Aro came in first, behind him stood a man in simple grey sweatpants and a grey t-shirt. He was sporting long brown hair that fell in waves to below his shoulders. His skin darker than Adley's, she realized he was indigenous to South America. He was from Honduras from what Aro had explained. His dark eyes were brown ask hers no signs of vampirism she could see. His aura just as human as he was. He looked to be no older than twenty five at the oldest.

"Eloy, may I introduce Adley, and Marcus. My family. Thank you again for making the journey." Aro greeted gesturing to the chair across from them.

"Of course, Aro. I was just as curious to meet the woman who was carrying twins that were like me." He turned to them. "Hello, I am Eloy."

"Hi," Adley smiled. "I'm Adley."

"Marcus,"

"Why don't we get right to it?" Aro suggested, his eyes flickering to Adley, who was leaning up on her chair.

"What would you like to know?" Eloy asked. "I am open to many questions, it is not often Dhampirs are created."

"There are official names?"

"Many, not many are quite nice about what we are." Adley watched a flash of sorrow and anger roll through him.

"The world isn't as kind or open as we wish. I hope you know, I wouldn't begin to judge you for simply existing."

"You are a kind woman, Adley. My bitterness has been coloured by a few interactions with nomadic vampires across the Americas."

"Do you mind me asking, how old you are?"

"I am nearly four hundred and two."

Adley's brows furrowed. "Honduras was just being colonized,"

"My father, Fernando, was from the Spanish inquisition." He affirmed.

"Did he come over as a vampire?"

"He had been a colonist amongst the Spanish soldiers, he was changed when he was over here. We had a few demons lurking in the jungles and forests from far north to the far south. My mother was a local woman, she died in birth."

"Death is common for women who give birth to dhampirs?" Marcus questioned.

"Experience has had that outcome. my mother, Akna, bled out when she gave birth, my father was devastated but accepted the fate. He ended up falling in love with my Aunt Colel he changed her a few years later. She was young when they met, as an older man he wished her to be older like he was. So they raised me before she was changed. They still live further within, the Amazon currently. They do change it up once every few decades. I blend into society much better than they do. I have met others like me, who have unfortunately also lost their mother. You would be a first."

"I cannot die," Adley shrugged. "A long story, but I will be around for quite some time. It is assuring my children will be practically immortal. You had been sick before this, does disease kill hybrids?"

"It does not kill us from what I have experienced. We can become ill, as do vampires with sickness if they are not careful on the human they feed. I was battling a case of overdose. I fed on an ill human, I hadn't realized. They'd taken some drugs. The blood was toxic." A blush coloured his cheeks.

"A rare occurrence amongst full vampires," Marcus murmured.

"It is becoming a bit too common for nomads across the Americas, the drug crisis was always up and down. Currently the opioids are becoming popular amongst humans. They create these synthetic opioids for easing off of poppies, at what cost? The states are notorious for over prescribing pain meds, and it becomes an addiction. It will only get worse I fear, South America is facing it now as well. The more populated cities are riddled with these drugs. There is one, that circulates that a small amount kills a human. They take too much and it has a full vampire sick. Blood vomit with venom." He sighed.

Adley pursed her lips nodding, she'd faced her own painkiller addiction the first year after the towers came down. Another reason she barely liked to remember the memories… they weren't numb to her any more. The emotions were raw, no longer dulled to her.

"The effects are devastating," She murmured. Marcus shot her a look, she waved him off. It was a story for another time.

"When did you reach maturity Eloy?" Marcus asked.

"I was roughly sixteen when I stopped growing. I noticed my body stopped filling out when I was twenty. My growth was rapid in my first five years but did begin to teeter out. I looked to be about eight by the time I was five. The others I have come across seemed to teeter out at eighteen if not a few years passed then. The growth is rapid in the first three years for most."

"How many like you, do you know?"

"Twenty? That's in South America, they tend to keep low profiles and interact with the human world on and off."

"Your diet?"

"I can survive off of blood or food. I prefer food, and blood on occasion."

"It may be best to feed the twins both as they grow in the first year of life."

"I did drink more blood as a baby than now, milk was a limited resource back then. A dead mother does not produce milk." He shrugged.

"Were you born with teeth?"

Eloy smirked, showing a full set of sharp white teeth. "I had two in the front, they were like razors."

"Do you produce venom?"

"No. I am not venomous, that seems to be a spin the wheel for each of us. Some are, and are gifted like their vampire side, others are non venomous and completely normal. We have enhanced skills but not to the extent of full vampires. DNA as it is known is not completely fifty fifty." He explained. "I'm a geneticist currently. My PhD's are in medicine and genetics."

"Really?" Adley perked up. "Are you exclusively trained in human DNA?"

"In school yes, my spare time I did mess with vampire genetics and my own. I have now been brought here as well with the opportunity to work with many beings of the supernatural world and their DNA. The Volturi has offered me the time in exchange of information of myself."

"That would make more sense as to why you were willing to share details about yourself." Adley commented. "Well thank you Eloy, for answering a few questions we had. I am looking forward to interacting over time if you don't mind. My Aunt Janet is a resident scientist here."

"Dr. Kim, yes Aro mentioned her. Do you give me permission to work with your DNA? I may be able to offer some insight on what your children may face in the future. If there are any complications we may need to be aware of."

"I do, of course. Thank you,"

"Thank you, Adley."

"Your aunt is approaching now, it seems your ultrasound is due?"

Adley looked to her watch. Aro was right.