Disclaimer: Still don't own anything besides Rhiannon

Shoutouts: Thanks to sw1m4l1fe, Grace and Alessandrakatrina for their reviews on the last chapter :) And of course, to sw1m4l1fe for her awesome beta'ing/commentary!

Chapter One (Rhiannon's POV)

Damn. That was easier than I thought. Not that I had been worried. After all, even when I was still a human, I never had much trouble getting men to do whatever I wanted. But even so, I thought James would at least put up a little bit of a fight. Wait, what am I saying? Of course I didn't really believe that.

Men are so easy. All it takes is one right word: money, power, sex, revenge, and they're putty in a female's hand.

Thanks to Kachiri, I knew exactly what to say to James to make him go along with my little plan. I almost feel bad for the guy; really all he is to me is a pawn. He needs me to get past Alice; that much is true. But honestly, I'd be fine with or without him. I'm only taking him along to do my dirty work. I don't care much for tracking so he'll be a big use to me in that area. Also, it never hurts to have a backup when looking at the prospect of facing a load of heated Cullens.

Or so I've heard.

Not that we'll ever have to face the lot of them together. Thanks to my innate ability to mess with people's thoughts, they'll never see us coming and we'll be able to catch them off guard. But I heard that Edward was fast, much faster than I could ever hope to be. And that's where James comes in. He'll catch him for me, and I'll never even have to lift a finger.

Except of course, when it comes time to destroy that filho da puta. That job is all mine. Excuse my language.

There is one last reason why I wanted James to accompany me on this vendetta of mine. And I have to say, it's even more superficial than the others. Plain and simple, I hadn't been with a man I haven't killed since my transformation. Local papers even dubbed me "A Viúva Preta", "The Black Widow." Just like a female spider kills the male after mating, when I finished a meal, I always made it look as if I had killed him after sex.

I was quite the celebrity around the city and of course, they never caught me.

But eventually, it got old. I grew bored. I wanted a real partner. Someone I could have some fun with and not have to kill afterward. James was the perfect man, well, vampire, for the job. He had just lost his mate and I was willing to be his rebound. And it didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes.

Taking down Edward was my main goal; James was just an added bonus. But back to the main task at hand…

"James!" I called loudly. We had decided he would stay with me in my house until we made the trip to Washington. I figured it would be a good chance to get to know one other, learn our strengths and weaknesses. We would need that information later.

My partner in crime appeared in the threshold of the room, wearing low slung jeans and nothing else. From the looks of his smooth, taut muscles all over his body, I knew he would serve both his functions quite nicely.

"You bellowed, master?" he said jokingly, tilting his head in a mocking bow.

Master. I quite enjoyed the sound of that. I'm sure it was something I could get used to.

I settled down onto my comfortable, oversized couch. "We need to go over a plan of attack for when we arrive in Forks," I told him, casually patting the space next to me, inviting him to sit down.

He took the bait and sat down. However, he was looking at me curiously. "Plan of attack? Do you honestly think I'm the kind of guy that enjoys plans?" he asked, raising one of his practically nonexistent eyebrows inquisitively. "I don't think about things. I just…do them."

I mirrored his actions, raising one my own arched eyebrows as I stared him down. "Did you ever think that maybe that's what got you into trouble in the first place? That maybe, if you had just taken the time to, I don't know, come up with a plan, you wouldn't have been defeated?"

I struck a nerve. "What the hell do you know?" he spat, sneering at me in disgust.

"I told you before, I know lots of things. Including exactly what happened that night," I said, relaxing back against the couch, not letting him faze me.

He glared at me, his black eyes suddenly wild. "I did have a plan that night," he said, the tone in his voice letting me know he was on the defensive. "I was able to draw the human away from her protectors. If the rest of them had shown up even ten seconds later, I would have had her, and you and I wouldn't even be having this conversation."

"You and I wouldn't be having this conversation if you had had a better plan," I stated simply.

He suddenly sprang up from the couch, looking like a lion ready to pounce. "Do you want me to walk out of here? Is that what you're going for? Because I would do it without a moment's hesitation. And let me tell you, I wouldn't look back for one second either."

At this point, I honestly had to bit the inside of my lip to keep from laughing aloud. I didn't know it'd be this fun to rile him up. I wondered how far I could push him.

"Now, now, James, there's no need to get your panties in a bunch," I said, shaking my head sarcastically, causing my dark hair to sway across my shoulders. "Besides, you and I both know that your words are just veiled threats. You would never walk out on me," I said, eyeing him pointedly.

He shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet. For a split second, I thought maybe I had gone too far and he was going to attack. However, he simply turned around, stalked over to my front door, and flung it open with enough force that it almost flew off the hinges.

"Don't tempt me," he said threateningly. "I've known you for, what? Twelve hours maybe? I don't owe you anything."

"You're right," I shrugged. "You don't owe me anything."

He must have thought I was admitting defeat because he made a move to walk out the door. But I continued. "You owe it to yourself."

Hearing that made him freeze in his steps, his back still turned to me. "Admit it, James. You will never be truly satisfied until you get your revenge on the girl. And the way I see it, you take one step out that door and that never happens. But it's your decision," I told him, making sure I sounded nonchalant.

He stood there for a few moments, clearly weighing his options. However, in the end, he turned around and made his way back over to the couch, his shoulders sagging and his overall body language letting me know that I was back in control.

I smiled at him coolly. "That's a good boy. Now, are we agreed that it is in our best interest to come up with a plan?"

"Yes, master," he said again, but this time, not in a joking manner as he did before. This time there was a bite behind his bark. A shiver of excitement ran down my spine. He was proving himself to be just as headstrong as I was and there's nothing like a clash of personalities to keep things spicy.

Or maybe that's just me and my masochistic tendencies.

"Now that that's settled, have a seat, relax. We can discuss our plans more calmly, yes?" I purred, once again patting the seat next to me.

He sat back down in a huff. "Please. Let's discuss our plans," he said sardonically, rolling his black eyes.

Oh yes, definitely headstrong.

On the inside, I was grinning like an idiot. This was going to be better than I originally thought. Fighting with James may end up being just as fun as having my way with him. However, on the outside, I still remained calm and collected.

"Here's what I was thinking:" I said, shifting my body so that I moved closer toward him. "First objective: The girl. I need to spend a little bit of time with her, gain her trust. Become, dare I say it…friends. That way, when the time is right, I can take her for a quaint walk in the woods and deliver her directly into your waiting arms… and teeth," I added as an afterthought.

James let out a less-than-gentlemanly snort. "And you thought I had bad plans," he said with a short laugh. "There are two flaws to your suggestion. One: Edward would never allow Bella anywhere near you considering how badly you two get along since you're plotting your revenge against him. Two: Bella spends every waking moment with vampires. She'll be able to recognize you instantly."

I slung my arm around his shoulders and played with his blonde ponytail sardonically. "Oh, James, I know we've just met, but I would hope you knew me better than that," I said, my voice oozing with sarcasm. "You think I didn't think those things through? As for the Edward problem, you're forgetting my abilities. I'll trick the seer into thinking of something completely ludicrous, haven't quite decided on what just yet so she can't see what's going to happen to her brother. Then, I'll just 'persuade' Edward into thinking that he's suddenly ravenously thirsty. He'll leave to hunt for at least a week. That's plenty of time for me to win the girl over with my infectious personality," I said, laughing at the last thought.

He didn't say anything, just sat there stoically, not looking at me and staring straight ahead as if it were in defiance. So I continued. "And if we're lucky, he'll take some of the others with him. The less of them there are to worry about, the better."

He turned his head suddenly, his dark eyes meeting mine. "You said that they'll only think of whatever you want them to for a while. What happens when he realizes he's not actually thirsty?" he asked, looking at me victoriously, thinking he had found yet another flaw in my plan.

I hope you didn't think I was going to give him that satisfaction.

"That's not going to happen, because I'll put the thoughts in his head every day. Hourly if need be," I told him, batting my thick eyelashes, feigning innocence.

"You've really thought this through, haven't you?" he asked, looking dumbfounded. The tone of his voice had also changed. There seemed to be a tiny hint of awe in it.

"Impressed?" I asked, smirking.

"Not yet," he told me, crossing his arms across the hard muscles in his chest. "What about the second flaw?"

I scoffed. "Like the fact that I'm a vampire is going to keep her away. I'll just tell her that I'm visiting from the Amazon Coven, which is almost the truth. Anyway, she'll probably love the fact that there's a new vampire in town."

"All right, now that Bella is taken care of, how do you plan on destroying Edward?"

"That's the easiest part of it all. Once we have the girl in the woods, I'll take the mind blocks off of Edward and the seer and together, they'll figure out what's really going on. He'll come rushing to the woods to defend his beloved, but alas, it will be too late. Pity," I said, jutting my lip out in a sarcastic pout.

He pursed his lips together, thinking over all that I had just told him. But before he could say anything, I continued. "Then it's two against one and there's no question on how that'll end."

"I have a question," he said stubbornly, still trying to find some sort of loophole in my plans. "What about the rest of his family. Two against one is no problem, but what about two against seven?"

"I'm so thrilled that you're still underestimating me," I said feigning offense, looking at him through narrowed eyes. "As I take the mind blocks of Edward and his sister, I'll put them on the rest of the family saying that one of the members of the Irish Coven needs them right away. An emergency, you see. They'll speed off toward the Emerald Isle and be thousands of miles away. By the time the little seer clues them into what's going on, it'll be far too late."

I had him. My plan was flawless and he knew it. But still I had to asked, albeit sarcastically, "Any objections?"

"How could there be?" he asked, matching every bit of my sarcasm with his own. "You've thought of everything."

I let his sarcasm slide and grinned at him as I patted him on the hand. "I knew you'd realize that eventually."

"You know, you're almost too evil for your own good," he said, sounding as if he was finally impressed with me.

I sent him an evil smirk. "Silly, James. You say that as if it's a bad thing."