For another week, Tanya lost several games a night to me. First she tried thinking in various languages, all of which I knew well enough to manage. The next night, she restricted her strategies to single words. While that did make it a bit more difficult for me to follow, it also seemed to inhibit her own ability to plan. On the third night, she played aggressively, but that only made her lose more quickly.
I was quite pleased. Three nights in a row I'd spent in the lair of the succubi, and I was still as chaste as before we moved here. At this rate, Tanya would realize the futility of deceiving me by the end of the week.
The fourth night, Tanya played defensively, not planning her next move until after I'd made mine. She even looked away from the chessboard while I made my move, so as to not give anything away. We spent the entire night on one game, and even though she couldn't plan without my knowing, she was a good enough player to thwart my every strategy. I barely won.
The fifth night was full of distraction. We had to move to the kitchen because Esme, with the help of Kate and Irina, was rebuilding the living room from the floorboards up.
As I watched them dismantle the room, I thought of what an unlikely trio they were. Two succubi working side-by-side with Esme, the epitome of modesty. I can't wait to see this when it's done. Alice won't mind us picking out flooring and fixtures without her, but we'll have to make sure she can come with us to buy the new furnishings. She'd be hurt if we didn't bring her along.
Irina reminded me of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Right now, that goddess was viciously ripping up carpet in misplaced aggression. Tanya's taking forever. I'd have him howling with pleasure in ten minutes, but no. Tanya has to string him along and figure out what makes him tick. He must be dying of disappointment. He gets invited over to OUR house and gets stuck playing chess all night. One way or another, Tanya's turn will be up soon and I finally have a chance to give him what he's after.
It takes a lot to nauseate a vampire, but...
Edward, your move.
I looked back to the chessboard, then twisted suddenly, catching Kate mid-leap. She grinned as I held her suspended above my head. Caught me, did you? she giggled.
She was always throwing herself at me — literally. Whenever she thought I wasn't paying attention, Kate would suddenly bound onto my lap or throw her arms around me. You're getting much harder to sneak up on, she grinned.
Esme was laughing. "Edward, are you distracting my work crew?"
"I'm trying to play chess," I grumbled, glaring at Kate.
Time's wasting. Tanya gave me a Cheshire grin.
Setting Kate back on her feet and giving her a gentle shove toward the living room, I turned back to the chessboard. Mechanically, I moved my rook to threaten Tanya's remaining knight.
Esme's laugh distracted me again. Kate was the giggliest vampire I'd ever met and it was fun to watch her and Esme together. She always brought out Esme's playful side. If Irina was Artemis, then Kate was Persephone — sweet, eternal youth incarnate. Terrifying talent notwithstanding.
By the sixth night, Tanya was eying me with something between frustration and respect. She didn't call me 'pet' anymore either.
As we started our first game on the seventh night, Tanya tried a new distraction. In her memory, she seduced human after human, her hands and lips roaming. And she kept rubbing her own neck. I REALLY need to hunt soon.
When I took her king's bishop without losing my knight, though, I realized this wasn't a ploy. She was even more distracted than I was. "What's with the throat?"
"Hmm?" She looked up from the chessboard and focused on me with difficulty.
"Why do you never kiss their lips? You seem to have an obsession with throats."
Tanya looked at me with sudden suspicion. I wasn't thinking in words.
I grinned. "That doesn't mean you weren't thinking."
Her eyes were angry. You said you HEARD the thoughts of others.
"I never said that I only hear thoughts, although that's usually the case. Most of the time, people don't think much about their surroundings. Their words are the only thing that's clear. But if there's mental effort involved — memory, imagination, close scrutiny, Alice's visions — then I can see thoughts too."
She gave me a wry grin. And here I thought I was being so sly, planning my strategies in images rather than words. You're a bigger challenge than I ever imagined.
I shrugged. "It was actually clearer than words would have been. But you didn't want any hints." I was curious now. "Why the throat, though? I should think the scent would be maddening."
It is, but that's part of the pleasure, she winked. I think vampires like you and I must have a masochistic streak or we wouldn't try to abstain from humans at all. Then she sobered. The biggest reason I shy away from lips is because it's safer. Men really have no self-control. All it takes is the lips or tongue touching my teeth, and I get a taste of him, and... she shrugged, you know.
Thankfully, she focused on the chess pieces before I got more than a hint of that particular memory. She shook her head in dismay. This game is all but lost already. I'm afraid I'm far beneath your abilities today, Edward. I'm not going to be good for anything until after I've hunted.
"So go hunt."
She eyed my neck then, and an image of us in her bed filled her mind.
"That wasn't an invitation, Tanya," I scolded.
He's going to be impossible to seduce if he can see us coming.
I felt smug despite myself. "I'm glad you finally realized that. You're just going to have to hunt outside the Cullen household, I'm afraid."
Her smile was positively wicked. "It's not the Cullen household I'm interested in." The rest of the Cullen men are quite safe. You're more entertainment than all three of them put together. And I do not speak for myself alone. I'd rather have you to myself, of course, but Irina's also interested, and if we fail, there's always Kate. You're far too delightful a challenge for any of us to simply pass up.
I clenched my jaw, and she rose to her feet, taking in my anger with amusement. You know, most men would find the attention of three such discerning women to be flattering.
"Discerning?" I spat. Loose didn't even begin to describe Tanya and her sisters.
She drifted over to my side of the table and leaned against it. You misunderstand us, Edward. We don't hunt indiscriminately. Only the strongest and most virtuous attract us. The fact that all three of us find you worthwhile is a high compliment.
"If it were just a matter of attraction, it'd be different."
Indeed? How?
I grew still, annoyed with myself. They didn't need any more ammunition than they already had. "I'm not looking to be a conquest, Tanya. This isn't attraction — it's predatory. I am the hunted."
He feels genuinely intimidated. Then she caught herself. Does Kate frighten you, Edward? She shouldn't. Her eyes were amused. I haven't resigned yet. Then she patted me amiably on the shoulder. Care to come hunting with me? Thirst, since you seem to have your hunger in check.
I cleared my throat at the pun. "No. Thank you. I was going to help Esme with some research." She wanted my opinion on the home theater system for Tanya's new living room. Besides, I wasn't so confident in myself that I'd wander alone in the wilds with a succubus.
Until next week, then.
On our way home, Esme looped her arm through mine. On the one hand I'm proud of him, but on the other hand...
I nudged her with my shoulder. "I can hear you, Esme."
She chuckled, then looked back to make sure we were out of earshot. "Alright, then. I'm worried about you, Edward. We've all found our mates, so of course it would horrid if one of the others were to yield. But you've never been in love. You've been alone longer than I've been a vampire."
I didn't need to read her mind to know what was behind this little heart-to-heart. "What are you saying I should do? Just go for it? Pounce Tanya or one of her sisters? Or all of them, since that's apparently what they want."
Don't be ridiculous. "Of course not. But you haven't so much as given them a chance. Maybe..."
"Esme."
She stopped and put her hand on my chest. "I haven't seen you enjoy chess this much in the eighty years I've known you."
I shrugged. "I like them well enough, but they annoy me more often than not."
"You like them?" She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "These are succubi, Edward! That's my whole point! A full-grown man wouldn't just like Tanya or her sisters."
"Would you prefer me to have a fling and prove my manliness?" I said, my words dripping sarcasm.
Esme gave me a wry smile. What am I going to do with you? "No. I don't want you to have a fling."
"Well that's all it would be if I yielded. None of them would be content with just me for eternity — not one of them."
She sighed, concern furrowing her brow. "I just wish you could find love, Edward."
"But I don't love any of them," I protested. "You know as well as I do that I'm not going to fall in love simply because you want me to, Esme."
She sighed. I just worry for you, Edward.
I laughed. "I know. It's what you do."
But she was determined that I take her seriously. It worries me that they don't turn your head in the slightest. What if you were too young when Carlisle changed you? What if you're INCAPABLE of love.
I put an arm around her. "I love you."
In the first few months after he changed her, Carlisle suspected Esme and I were falling in love. Little did he know we were so close because she was madly in love with Carlisle and I was a source of information. Whenever I declared my love for her, it reminded Esme of those days. She laughed despite herself. "But you don't love anyone the way I love Carlisle."
"Would it ease your mind if I said that they are all very physically attractive?"
"Marginally," she pouted. And only if you meant it.
The first night they were gone, a part of me was relieved that I wasn't going to do battle with Tanya, but a niggling part of me was a just a touch disappointed. I wasn't lying when I told Esme that Tanya annoyed me more often than not, but I did enjoy the challenge. And if I were honest, I'd admit that I also enjoyed repeatedly trouncing Tanya at her own game.
The second night, I realized my danger. If they were anything like the women in my own family, I was in trouble. They would use this week to plot against me. I bolted from Carlisle's library to Alice's room. She was sitting in front of her antiqued vanity and smiled up innocently at me in the mirror. I didn't buy it for a second. She'd been suspiciously quiet through all this. "Tanya and her sisters are conspiring against me, aren't they."
Yes. She pursed her lips in annoyance and turned around to face me. "Edward, you can't make me spy on them for you. I refuse to be your own personal crystal ball."
"Since when?"
She grinned. "Since your life has become so very interesting."
I glowered at her, but she glowered right back at me. I knew that if I asked her point-blank, she'd answer reflexively. "What have you seen?"
Chess matches.
Unfortunately, she knew the secret around my abilities — giving an answer both truthful and useless.
"Please, Alice?" I wheedled. "This is my honor at stake."
She eyed me, amused and a little annoyed. Fine. I don't see any of them making an overt move for you. But somehow, I doubt it's a future that's... stable. I don't see you losing any chess matches either. Just more of the same. But I haven't exactly been looking. I'm afraid I'm not much help.
I breathed a deep sigh of relief. "No, Alice. You're a huge help."
Tanya called me when they came home, and as usual, Esme tagged along. As we approached the house, I could tell by their pointed focus on color swatches that I was in serious trouble. Tanya opened the door with a self-satisfied grin. Welcome, Edward. "Hello, Mrs. Cullen." I believe I just might have you tonight, Edward. "Right this way."
We took our places at the kitchen table, while Esme, Kate and Irina debated the virtues of various flooring options. No help there.
Tanya looked over her pieces, and the words that went through her mind were complete gibberish to me. And no images, either. Had she picked up a new, obscure language while she was away? I could learn it too, if it came to that. Focusing intently on her thoughts, I listened for words to be repeated. But they weren't. She moved two pawns and didn't think the same word twice. Three times she touched her bishop, and three times, it was a different word.
Definitely serious trouble.
By this point, she'd devastated my pawns and taken one of my knights. For the first time in decades, I felt the beginnings of genuine fear.
There! She repeated a word that she'd used for pawn. Or maybe it was rook, since that was the piece she moved then.
Irina and Kate closed in behind me, their thoughts all a-twitter with excitement. It's working! Even if he figures it out now, there's no way he could recover the game.
Esme looked at the board. Good heavens! He's losing!
No pressure. "Thanks for pointing that out, Esme."
Her hand rested lightly on my shoulder. Sorry. I just never thought I'd see the day...
"I know," I growled.
Sorry. I'll try to let you concentrate.
I was completely blind to Tanya's strategy, and in another five moves, she had me in check. Trapped. I stared at the board, unable to breathe. For the first time ever in my vampire existence, I'd lost a game of chess. And I'd lost it to a succubus. Despair, terror, shock all ran through me. She had broken through my defenses. Tanya had beaten me.
She was all but purring. Men are always such sore losers. Do you resign, Edward?
"No." I refused to surrender, and I wasn't about to let her queen topple me. In my final act of defiance, the last white pawn moved to protect my king from her queen, but the black bishop had me.
"Check-" she savored the word, "-mate."