The quiet footsteps and a stifled yawn were the only noise that bounced against the stone walls. Bella's hand tried to muffle it to limited success. The brunette wobbled unsteadily, her body, still sluggish, had not adapted to being woken up at 4 am.
A gentle hand on her waist helped to steady her, while guiding the sleep derived woman down the hall. For heaven's sake, Bella knew that vampires didn't need to sleep, but she did.
In all honesty, Sulpicia's method of rousing her from bed wasn't the issue. It was that she was expected to leave bed after exploring hands and cold lips had pulled her from her dreamless sleep. Bella had woke to find Sulpicia's hand drifting over her hip, fingers edging just under her night shirt and across her stomach while lips travelled across her shoulder.
The brunette distinctly remembered going to bed alone, despite an open invitation for company that was gently refused by the blonde. Since their return a week ago, the trio had been increasingly occupied. While Bella still spent time with the three women, their time together was increasingly limited as the days went by.
With her neck, finally, fully healed, Bella fully expected her days to be… occupied, that had not been the case. Evidently they were working through a back log of Royal judgements that required their attention along with their 'preparation' of Bella's gift, it left them visiting Bella in shifts, with the brunette seeing Athenodora the least.
The hand tightened at her waist and pulled Swan from her thoughts.
Sulpicia looked gorgeous, like always. Her features untouched by the time of night. Every strand of blonde hair perfectly placed and delicately curled, tumbling over her shoulders in golden waves. Tonight the blonde's figure was wrapped in a pale pink, expertly crafted silk and lace spun around the immortal's body, accentuating every curve. In the weeks spent at the palace, she had not seen any of the three immortals wear the same clothes twice. Opulence seemed to be the theme of the Volturi.
Crimson eyes studied Bella in return, tracing the lines of her face, before a soft smile lit the woman's face. Swan could feel her pulse speed up. God, it was jarring to know that such a small expression could affect her. Bella was acutely aware how sensitive she was to every whim and small gesture. At no other time in her life has she ever felt so vulnerable and so wanted.
The brunette slid closer to the taller woman and was comforted when Sulpicia's arm tightened around her waist. "So why am I awake again?" Bella mumbled.
"Your participation is required."
"Participation?"
The blonde monarch nodded before she stopped in front of a large set of double doors. "The experience may be overwhelming at first. But keep an open mind, my love, I will explain everything in detail as we go along." Sulpicia pulled Bella closer and kissed her. The brunette practically melted at the touch. The older woman pulled back after a little while, a smile lighting her beautiful features before she became more serious. "One vital thing, Bella, before we go in: Do not disrupt any of the drawn lines."
Swan threw the blonde a confused look but couldn't ask for clarification before Sulpicia opened one of the doors and ushered Bella inside.
The heavy scent of smoke and incense assaulted Bella's senses. Though not entirely unpleasant, the smell was overpowering and combined with how dark the room was, it felt as if Bella was walking through a dense fragrant cloud. Once the door closed behind them, Bella felt essentially blind, her eyes unable to adjust the to the sudden lack of light. Sulpicia's hand grasped Bella's and led her deeper into the haze and darkness. As Swan's eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness, she began to make out dim flicking flames from across the room. It wasn't until they nearly upon the flames did she notice the faint outline of a sole figure.
Athenodora stood rigid with her back to Bella, her frame motionless, despite their approach. Sulpicia released Bella's hand as they got closer to the taller figure. Bella had to refrain from rushing to the taller woman and forced herself to walk.
An arm stretched out, open and inviting, as Bella came closer, though her crimson eyes never wavered from whatever she stared at. Swan wrapped her arms around the other woman's waist and gave her a tight hug.
Curious, Bella's eyes searched for whatever Athenodora was so focused on, though, through the dark and the haze, she found nothing. The platinum haired woman pulled Bella closer to her. It was then that Bella noticed the twirling object in Athenodora's other hand. Athenodora twisted something between each of her fingers at a ridiculous rate. It was only when the object paused for a brief moment in its rapid movement, that Bella saw that it was a small blade.
The three women stood together in silence, waiting for… something. Bella's eyes began to wander the darkness looking for details. At their feet, an elaborate series of lines and symbols, the brunette traced the outer line around as far as her eye could in the dim light. Was it a circle? It was.
Bella mentally traced the lines in the other direction, when in her periphery, she saw movement. Her eyes focused at the source at the center of the elaborate drawn lines. There was a figure at the center, the more Bella focused the more she could see the outline of a person on the floor.
At some hidden signal, slowly, the lines at Bella's feet began to glow, pulsing at a regular rhythm, the dim light becoming gradually brighter. With each interval, more of the figure became visible.
It was a woman. A very naked woman.
But what caught Bella's attention the most, wasn't her lack of clothes, it was her lack of clothing revealed. Black swirls of ink danced around her arms in a familiar chaotic manner that Bella had seen before, ebony against porcelain skin. It was at that moment that their eyes met. Even from this distance Bella recognized the color. A verdant green.
Without anyone telling her, Bella knew exactly who that woman was.
Rosalie.
The moment that green met brown, Rosalie began to thrash around violently. Belatedly, Bella noticed that her wrists and ankles were chained to the floor. The clinking sounds of the woman's struggles filled the room as the blonde Cullen pulled against at her restraints. Blood seeped down and around her arms from her efforts.
Bella felt her chest constrict tightly at the sight.
A sudden golden light flashed, Rosalie's arms glowed furiously in the dim room before abruptly dying out. Rosalie's back arched off the floor, her mouth open in a silent scream as she writhed on the floor.
"Rude."
Bella blinked at the sound of Jane's taunting voice. It took several moments before Swan could locate the teenager. On the opposite side of the circle, Jane stood with an almost bored expression, her crimson eyes focused on the still silently screaming woman. Next to her, Didyme stood with another short black haired woman that Bella didn't recognize. The other woman's eyes strictly focused on Rosalie, her lips silently moving.
Didyme smiled warmly at Bella before speaking quietly to the other raven haired woman.
"You said that she wasn't here." Bella whispered, her hands gripped tightly to Athenodora's shirt, her eyes returning to Rosalie's heaving form.
"And she wasn't." Sulpicia said from behind her. "We only acquired her after you came to Volterra."
"I thought you were going to kill them." Bella couldn't tear her eyes away as she watched the blonde continued to writhe against Jane's mental onslaught.
"We will, eventually." Athenodora buried her nose into Bella's hair. "We only do this for you. She serves a means to an end."
"And what end is that?" She does not enjoy watching the continued torture of the woman in front of her but some force kept her eyes locked in place, and her protests silent. Rosalie's lithe body arched, and despite the obvious pain and sweat that rippling through out her frame, Bella can't help but think that she looks beautiful. A display of perverse beauty.
Sulpicia appeared next to Bella. "That actions have consequences. Rosalie will serve as a prime example of such. One that will not be forgotten."
"What are you doing to her?" The brunette asked with quiet fascination. This should bother her more than it did. Bella expected to feel… more but was slightly disquieted by the fact that she didn't, if anything all she felt was a quiet thrum of anticipation. A curiosity as to what was going to happen.
"Rosalie will be bound to you. Your life, is her life. Your wishes, hers. A guardian. A companion." Didyme's voice echos from the other side of the room. "A shield from all threats. Yours, alone."
"I am perfectly safe without her." Bella swallowed thickly, a lump filling her throat. Everything about this was wrong, so wrong. But she felt nothing more than the building of a thrill in the pit of her stomach.
"True." Sulpicia conceded. "But this is far more entertaining, don't you think?"
The refusal is on the tip of Bella's tongue but she doesn't released it. This was their rebuttal to Edward's attempt on her life.
"Rosalie, despite her human limitations, is quite capable. The strongest and brightest magic wielder in generations. And until recently, the next leader of the Cullen family. Carlisle's heir." Sulpicia continued. "A position she has never desired."
"And will never inherit." Athendora says as she shifts and gently grasps one of Bella's hands in her. "It is time."
"Time?" The room steadily became brighter and the tempo of the pulsing light faster. Swan watches as Athenodora turns Bella's hand palm up. The small knife is brought to her palm, but pauses, a heavy frown etched across the platinum haired woman's face. The intention is clear, though the hesitation speaks of Athenodora's dislike of the act.
Sulpicia's body presses against Bella's back as arms wrapped around her waist. They tighten almost uncomfortably as Athenodora carefully dragged the blade across her skin. Bella barely even feels it, as her mind whirls. Blood immediately seeps from the cut, slowly covering her palm.
Of course this requires blood.
"Keep you hand as still as possible." Bella can hear the edge in Sulpicia's voice. "Step into the circle but don't touch any of the lines."
The brunette's eyes met Didyme's from across the room. The other woman gives her a nod and a reassuring smile. Athenodora gently guides Bella to the edge of the pulsing circle.
"Am I the only one that thinks that this a bit-?" Bella muttered pausing at the edge of the circle as she searches for a word.
"Fucked up? No." Bella's eyes go to the other raven haired woman next to Didyme. Disdain covers the young woman's face. Didyme places a hand on her shoulder, fear immediately replaced disdain. The woman cleared her throat. "Please step into the circle."
The moment Bella steps into the circle, it takes her breathe away. The air was thick and heavy, every breath, a fight to fill her lungs. But it isn't just the density of the air that pressed against Bella's skin, there was a hum of power laced with it, it danced across her skin, a whispering caress that wasn't painful but it was also not gentle.
"Walk towards the center." The woman says as she folded her hands together, raising two fingers.
Bella walks to where Rosalie lays, careful not to step on any of the swirling lines on the floor. Sulpicia keeps pace with her at the circle's edge, eyes tracking every movement. It is once she is standing next to the Rosalie that see can see elaborate markings carved into her chest. Blood blurs the lines, but she can see the elegant outline etched into the pale white skin.
It takes several moments to realize the that marking weren't etched against her skin, they were etched into it. The lines were complex and with a beautiful morbidity that Bella couldn't help but appreciate.
Exhaustion pours from the blonde. Bella could see the blood and sweat cling to the woman as well to the floor surrounding her. How long had she been like this? A week? And despite it all, the brunette couldn't help but admire the form in front of her. Rosalie's bare body spoke of intense conditioning, while the swirling tattoos across her arms and clavicles hinted at her magical aptitude. Where Edward's and Emmett's tattoos were chaotic Rorschachian blobs. Rosalie's were concise and elegant, an efficient use of the available space. A difference that, for some reason, spoke of the gap between Rosalie and her brother, one that stood out in Bella's mind.
"Spill the blood over her chest and then repeat after me." The unnamed woman said from behind the brunette.
Bella held her palm above the blonde but paused when green eyes meet her brown ones.
"Don't." Rosalie's voice is hoarse and despite her obvious exhaustion, her eyes were sharp and so very aware. "Please."
Her words pulled at Bella, a tug at her morality, at reason. Swan knows it is ultimately her choice. She could walk away, tell the Trio that she wants nothing to do with this, to draw this line in the sand, but then they would kill her. Rosalie will not survive.
"You would prefer dying?" Bella whispers, knowing full well the Trio could hear her.
"Yes." The answer is without hesitation.
That pulls at Bella in a different way, anger builds in her frame. Bella could feel the strength of the woman in front of her. Rosalie is not weak, her body and magic speak of her power, her capabilities, but in this moment, she would rather choose death. The simpler solution.
Bella can feel the sneer form across her face.
"No."
She upturns her palm, letting her blood flow, it splatters across the blonde as she curses at the brunette, struggling.
"Custodire." The stranger says and Bella repeats the word, watching in fascination as her blood begins to glow.
"Ligare." Swan can feel her body warm as she says the words, as if the words themselves are clawing at her own skin. The thrumming of magic and something else, something dark, invades the space around them.
"Amāre." The very air buzzed with intensity of the words, reacting to every syllable. Rosalie is wreathing, a desperate futile attempt to escape, bound to fail.
"In aeternum." When the last word leaves Bella's mouth, the heat becomes so intense that for a brief moment she feels like her body is on fire. And Bella feels it now, the connection snaps in place between them, a link almost intimate.
The heat and the light suddenly vanish, the room becomes dark, Bella feels herself wobble, suddenly unstable. Athenodora's frame immediately appears behind her, supporting her from behind, Sulpicia and Didyme are not far behind, both place steadying hands on her.
Not single glance is spared to the woman on the ground.
She allows her body to sag against Athenodora's taller frame, suddenly exhausted. Didyme was already wrapping Bella's cut hand with a bandage while Sulpicia cups her cheek, crimson eyes examining her closely.
It takes several moments before she trusts her feet to hold her. Even then, Athendora keeps a tight hold on her, obviously not as trusting. Bella's eyes look to Rosalie, her frame is limp against the floor, unconscious.
She looks to Didyme. The olive skinned woman gives her a silent nod and Bella now knows that… whatever they did, worked.
Sulpicia strokes her cheek once more and she can't help but lean into the caress. "Get some rest. We can discuss the details in the morning."
Despite her exhaustion, Bella can't help but roll her eyes when Athenodora picks her up and starts to carry her to the door. Over Athenodora's shoulder Bella can see Jane has already unlocked the chains that held Rosalie, she is dragging the woman across the floor, obviously uncaring.
"Hey." Bella's voice holds a ring of authority as she unfamiliar with. "Carry her."
Jane pauses, a scowl etched over features but reaches down and throws the unconscious woman over her shoulder before disappearing deeper into the room.
The walk to her room is a blur. And in moments, Athendora is already gently laying Bella in bed. She is pulling the blanket to cover her, when Bella grabbed her wrist.
"Stay with me." The words are tired but firm.
"I cannot stay long." Is the reply but she is already climbing in bed with her.
"Why?" The whine in her own voice annoys Bella but she can't hide her frustration any longer. "I have barely seen you."
"You are feeling neglected?" Cold hands thread into auburn locks. Bella can't help the content sigh that escapes her lips, she has desperately missed the cold.
Very.
Instead she just hums ambiguously into the other woman's neck. She just wants to absorb what little time she has with the platinum haired woman.
The hands pause and something tells her that Athenodora is displeased. Bella rolls onto her back and finds crimson eyes searching hers. The brunette feels foolish. She knows the role the Trio play in the world, their responsibilities are great, but selfishly, she wants more of them.
Swan places a hand against the hard planes of silver haired immortal's chest. She already knows what Athenodora will say, it is the same thing they have repeated since she arrived here.
"'Patience', right?" The resignation is obvious in her voice and so is her exhaustion. The ritual with Rosalie left her beyond drained. She has resigned herself to another night alone. Bella tilts her head up and kisses Athenodora good night. "Go, rule, delegate, I'll be here."
"You are my priority." Athenodora's frown in deep, a hand drops from her hair to the curve of her hip, gripping it tightly, a hair's breadth below painful .
Bella does not doubt it. She kisses the frown. "I know. Go, lord over some peasants, destroy a democracy. I'll be here waiting."
There is a pause in the blonde, as if she has come to some decision. Bella yelps in surprise as Athenodora rips the blanket away. Chill hands grips her waist band, and in a very similar move, her pants and panties are ripped down and away in a singular move.
Bella realizes what is about to happen a moment before Athenodora descends between her legs. A strangled cry rips from her throat as the cool mouth engulfs her. A tongue licks from her entrance to her clit and settles there before pushing.
Everything turns white. All thought, sound and reason fall away, nothing else exists except Athendora's mouth and what it is doing to Bella's body. Hips thrust up to meet every push and stroke and the blonde has no trouble keeping pace.
Embarrassingly, Bella feels her climax approaching quickly. She wants to hold off, she wants to enjoy this long awaited moment for longer but her body violently refuses. It doesn't help that the ash hair woman takes her clit and sucks on it, hard. Pain and pleasure ripple her frame as her body explodes. Bella's hands grip the ash colored locks as she rides through the waves of pleasure.
Her glasses have halfway fogged but even through the haze, she can see the immortal's eyes, they are dark, filled with lust and hunger. Athenodora shifts, the backs of Bella's knees resting on chiseled shoulders, her hips rise up above the bed. The change in position leaves her more exposed and open as the blonde descends her head again. This time her tongue explores elsewhere, deeper.
"Athenodora!" Bella is screaming. In this position, Bella has no control, she is at the mercy of the other woman, all the brunette can do is grip the sheets as she is being ravished and consumed. And the ash blonde is nothing, if not ruthless and precise.
And again, her body is already pushing towards the end. Nonsense is tumbling from her lips in droves as her body luxuriates in the feeling of the blonde being inside her. Every stroke and push is bringing her closer to the edge, until she is tumbling off, free falling.
Bella is left gasping, her limbs tingle from the after effects of her orgasms. She has no strength left as Athendora lowers her hips gently down and climbs her body. She barely has the energy to return the immortal's kiss, her own salty essence coats her tongue as the blonde deepens it.
Athenodora's expression is almost neutral, but Bella can see the hints of her smug satisfaction. Bella would be annoyed if she wasn't coming down from the best orgasms of her life.
"A taste." The platinum hair woman whispers, the smug grin grows. "Patience."
Bella receives another kiss before Athenodora gets up from the bed. Her normally immaculate hair and clothes are a mess, though it only takes the immortal seconds to rectify the evidence of their activity. She grabs the blanket from the floor before tucking it around the brunette's body. A cold hand strokes her cheek before she disappears from the room.
In the silence, Swan lets out a single resounding word.
"Fuck."
A/N:
As someone who works in healthcare, I do not condone the mixing of blood, that is just scary. As a fanfiction writer, I thought that the scene was compelling, just throwing that out there.
I was not expecting to post this chapter at this length, it was suppose to have another 3000 words, but I was starting to feel guilty about how long it was taking for me to update. I literally just told someone that I would update later in the week... sigh.
I am looking for a Beta, any volunteers?
Please review.