Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I do, however, own my OCs, this storyline, and three swords. Be afraid. LOL
A/N: Wow! Thank you so much! That was my second most reviewed chapter ever, only behind the epilogue of ALIR by a handful! In thanks (and because I'm way behind in review and PM replies), I've added Edward's POV to the end of this chapter.
Thanks to readingtime and my peep Jill for helping me out with this chapter. You'll have to let me know when I make the list, Jill. It's become my new goal in life. Theme song is I'm Yours by Jason Mraz.
Two more of my reading selections have reached 1000+ reviews - Golden Moon and Vampire in the Basement! You guys rock! Reading selection for this update is The Fallout by OCD Indeed. I am so in love with this intriguing story. This highly intelligent, post-apocalyptic story is set after Edward left in New Moon. Edward wants to help his family one last time before committing suicide in the hopes of finding Bella on the other side. This story sucks you in and you find yourself holding your breath the entire time you're reading. It is, of course, on my favorites list.
Jasper's POV
No sooner had we got back to the house then the girls jumped into Alice's Porsche and took off to go shopping. The memory of Heidi's scent still swirled around in my brain. I couldn't understand it. It was heady, intoxicating. While she was around me, it was almost as if I could focus on nothing else. I shook my head to try and clear it and showed Felix inside.
I discovered that Felix was an interesting character. Part of me really wanted to like him; he had a great sense of humor and seemed to enjoy life so much more than your average vampire. He was almost effervescent in his joy. It was hard not to smile in his presence. Another part of me hated him, really hated him, for lusting after Bella. Of course, I got the impression that there were few women in the world that he didn't lust after, but he seemed to have taken a special liking to Bella.
"Edward's a very lucky man, is he not? Bella is by far the most enchanting human I have ever met. I believe there is a real spitfire hiding behind that shy veneer. It would be most amusing to see it come to the surface. I for one cannot wait to see what she is like as a vampire. She will be glorious!" Felix plopped himself on the couch, looking quite relaxed.
"I'm sure she will be," I replied as nonchalantly as I could muster.
"When they were in Italy, she looked a mess, clothes in disarray, sweat pouring from her, stumbling and tripping over air. But she was beautiful at the same time, and smelled so delicious that it was almost impossible not to just take her right there and then; make love to her while I drank her sweet wine. My first impression of Edward was that he did not deserve one such as she. But when I saw her stand before my masters; she was so brave, so loyal and true. Suddenly, I found myself not wanting to drink her, but wanting to protect her, at all costs. I was honestly surprised that Aro chose me for this mission. He had seen from my thoughts that I have been quite preoccupied with her for quite some time. I don't think I've had a meal since they left that wasn't brunette. I am still not sure Edward deserves her. I would be more than happy to show her what a real man could do for her. I would strip away her bashfulness as I stripped away her clothes, release the goddess within."
My anger was bubbling beneath the surface. "Leave. Bella. Alone," I growled.
Felix eyed me suspiciously, raising one eyebrow. "I see I am not the only one who feels oddly protective of Bella. Or is there more to it than that?"
"She is family. You will find we are ALL protective of Bella." The best lies are seeded in truth, after all. I withheld a sigh as I felt Felix's suspicion die off.
"Ah, yes. I can see that. Your Alice was quite protective of Bella in Italy as well. She is a feisty little sprite, that one." A slight spike in his lust confirmed my earlier assessment. He was a regular Casanova.
"Yes, she is. I would suggest you leave her alone as well," I said through gritted teeth, letting the venom flow freely in my voice this time.
"No worries, my friend," Felix chuckled, "I have no intentions of wiling your love away." Like hell you don't. You just don't know it.
The girls walked in just then, saving me from making a big mistake. I could not have taken much more of that conversation without cracking. Heidi's scent stunned me the moment she walked in the door, even stronger than before. I found myself staring at her, breathing deeply, trying to understand its draw. Perhaps this was her ability? Maybe this was how she 'fished' so successfully. I glanced at Felix and Alice, but both seemed to be unaffected. Heidi was chatting merrily with Alice about the new house they were renting and how excited she was that it was available for immediate occupancy. She certainly didn't seem to be intentionally targeting me. The scent of wildflowers pulled me a few steps closer to her, until I was standing right next to her.
Heidi turned to me then, smiled at me, then turned back to Alice. I noticed, though, that she was breathing just as deeply as I was. Alice grabbed me by the elbow, pulling me away. When she met my body's natural resistance to leaving that scent, she pinched me, getting my attention. "Jazz, I need to see you for a minute, please?"
"Yes, dear," I replied as I reluctantly followed her upstairs to her bedroom.
"Cut it out! You're going to ruin everything," she whispered low enough that even they couldn't hear.
"What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Heidi."
"What do you see, Alice? Do you know why she smells so good to me? It is as though she has me under some sort of spell. I can't focus when I'm around her. It's driving me mad."
"It's no spell, you idiot. You smell just as good to her, too. But, Jasper, you can't do anything about it. Every time I see you decide to approach her about it, everything disappears. I don't know what that means, but it doesn't seem good."
I would have asked her more questions, but we heard Felix and Heidi arguing downstairs. They were having a heated debate about hunting animals while they were here. Felix was still not thrilled with the idea, while Heidi firmly believed that it was the right decision. I tried to send them both some calming waves to diffuse the situation. Felix relaxed considerably. Heidi, on the other hand, was completely unaffected. I tried harder, well past the stage where it would have put Bella to sleep. Nothing.
Alice gasped, "Oh. My. Goodness. She's your singer!" Alice could barely contain her enthusiasm. I however, was not convinced.
I scoffed at her. "Alice, there's no way she's my singer. By definition, she would have to be human for that to be true."
"Okay, well then she would have been your singer if she were human. She smells incredibly good to you, you're inexplicably drawn to her, and your powers have no affect on her. How else would you explain it? And I'll bet if you were human, you would have been her singer, too." Alice's eyes clouded up and I could tell the wheels were spinning as she tried scenario after scenario until she got the result she was looking for. Finally she sighed, defeated.
"I can't figure it out. Every time I see you telling her what we've discovered, everything goes blank. You can't tell her. I know it will be hard to do, but she thinks we're still together, and it needs to stay that way."
"That's not a problem, Alice. It's not like I'm in love with her. I love Bella. I just like the way Heidi smells, that's all."
Alice acted as if she didn't hear a word I said. "You can be friends with her, though. I don't foresee a problem with that. She needs a friend right now, and you two have a lot in common."
I rolled my eyes at her, frustrated. "Come on, let's go downstairs. I really need to hunt." I didn't wait to see if Alice was following me as I headed back for the living room. I made a point to keep my distance from Heidi and her all-too-appealing scent.
"I'm going to go hunting. You are both more than welcome to join me if you like." I looked back and forth between them. Heidi jumped up, excited.
"I'll be right back. Just let me get changed." She grabbed one of the bags she had brought in and followed Alice upstairs so she could show her where to change.
"I think I'll sit this one out," Felix replied, wanting to avoid what he was sure would be an unpleasant experience for as long as possible. "I just fed this morning. I would rather get settled in our new home and then I have some things to do." I was certain those 'things' included spying on Edward and Bella. Oddly enough, I found I kind of liked the idea of Felix doing surveillance. It would keep them from being intimate. Our little rendezvous in the park aside, Bella was far from an exhibitionist. She was thrilled with the Hotel Edward arrangement Alice came up with because it meant that Alice and Adrian would not be able to hear us, nor would we be subjected to hearing them. Plus I had a feeling that Felix would give me a full report if he were to catch them doing something that interested him.
Heidi came down just then, although if it weren't for the overwhelming aroma of wildflowers, I might have doubted it was her. She had taken off all her makeup, pulled her mahogany hair up into a simple ponytail, and was wearing an Ohio State t-shirt, blue jeans, and tennis shoes. She was dazzling.
"I'm ready if you are!" she said enthusiastically. I looked behind her to Alice, who was standing on the stairs smirking.
"Are you coming?" I asked as Alice walked around Heidi to stand next to me.
"No, thanks, Jazz. I'm not that hungry. You enjoy!" she replied sweetly. I could take a hint. That was code for 'get the hell out of here and take them with you so I can go see Adrian.' I wrapped my arms around her and bent down to give her a quick kiss to keep up the façade. It was odd; I expected to feel something when we had to kiss again. I wasn't sure what. Familiarity maybe? A spark of what once was? But instead it just felt…strange. Like I was kissing my sister. I could tell by her emotions that she felt the same way. It wasn't like Edward and Bella, falling back so easily into the way it used to be. I looked in her eyes, my hands on her hips, her arms around my neck and realized that we were just now, in this moment, saying goodbye. I gave her a soft smile and bent down to whisper in her ear, "I love you, Alice." She hugged me in reply and I held her tight to me.
Felix cleared his throat, disrupting the moment that I was certain he interpreted as something other than what it was. He made his farewells, kissing both Heidi and Alice on each cheek before making his escape.
I opened the door and motioned for Heidi to go ahead of me. "After you, ma'am." Heidi giggled, obviously not used to Southern hospitality, as she walked through the door.
"Have fun, you two!" Alice called after us as we took off running.
When we got to the woods, I paused and let Heidi find a scent for us to follow. She wrinkled her nose a bit when she smelled a deer nearby, but went after it anyway. She crouched and attacked much like a newborn would, with little grace and making quite a mess. I took down a deer of my own, then we found a spot by a babbling brook to sit.
"So how did I do?" she asked as she sat down next to me and began tossing small stones skipping across the water.
"You did great for your first time. How do you think you did?" I couldn't really sense her emotions and it was frustrating to say the least.
"I'm proud of myself, I guess, although I'm embarrassed I made such a mess of it. Feeding on humans does not require you to flex your jaw so far open. Most of the time, it doesn't even require an attack. And the blood was bitter, not sweet like I'm used to, but it was worth it to not have to deal with the guilt that usually follows." I might not be able to feel her emotions, but I could hear her sense of accomplishment in her voice. It made me smile.
"It will take time, but you do get used to it after a while. You don't like being a fisher, do you?"
"No, I don't," she said bitterly. "I was turned against my will for my beauty, to be bait for our prey. Can you imagine how it feels to be personally responsible for the demise of thousands? Not just the ones I fed on, but all the ones the Volturi killed as well. I have held little girl's hands, dressed up like princesses in their pink costumes with banana curls and plastic tiaras in their hair because they want to be the first in line to see the castle, knowing full well that it is not Prince Charming they will meet when the enter those gates. I have seduced countless men who thought they were going to have a one night stand they would remember for the rest of their lives, only to find they were no more than cattle being led to the slaughter. I am a black widow. I am the Angel of Death. And I hate it. But it is the only life I've ever known, and I have been too much of a coward to walk away and delve into the unknown. This is the first opportunity I've had at another life, however temporary it may be, and I want to make the most of it."
Without thinking, I reached out and took her hand. "I was a soldier when I was changed against my will. I was forced to kill as well, humans and newborns alike, in a madwoman's quest for power. I believed her when she told me that there was no other way for our kind. Like you, I was too afraid to leave, believing the devil I knew was better than the devil I didn't. But eventually I found the strength. It was hard at first, but I'm happy I made the change. My life is so much better now. Yours can be, too. You are not their slave. You can choose to stay here if you wish. We would help you build a new life for yourself." I squeezed her hand encouragingly, and she smiled a sad smile before removing her hand from mine.
"If only it were that easy. They would never let me go. I had thought when they brought the human, Gianna, into our folds that perhaps she could be their fisher, but she has been there over two years now and they have not turned her yet. Every day she gets older and less suitable for the role. I fear that she may be no more than a future meal for them after all."
"Well, there's no reason to worry about that at the moment. You're here now; relax and enjoy it. It seems as though you will be with us for a while, that gives us time to come up with a solution if that is your wish."
"It is. Thank you, Jasper. Alice is a very lucky lady to have you in her life." I don't know why, but she sounded sad about that. I felt bad having to lie to her. It left a pit in my stomach that I couldn't explain.
"Well, now I'm in your life, too. If you ever need a friend, you know who to talk to." She smiled again and I smiled back. We continued our easy conversation, talking about our pasts and our dreams for the future, until we saw the sun beginning to rise. Wistfully, I hopped up and held out my hand to help her up. "Come on. It's your first day of school. I'm sure you will want to change into something a little less bloodstained before we go." Heidi looked down at herself and laughed, still sounding a little embarrassed as she took my hand and stood. We ran back to the house in peaceful silence, each of us content to have made a new friend.
Edward's POV
"Think we have time to do it again?" I asked as my hand snaked its way around to fondle her breast once more. Bella wiggled out of my grasp laughing and jumped out of the bed, making her breasts bounce in a most delightful way. She had a devilish grin on her face when she grabbed my hand and dragged me to follow her.
"Come on, I want to get a shower in peace while I still can," she said. "Care to join me?"
"God, yes," I sighed happily. She chuckled at my enthusiasm as she started the water and stepped in. If there was anything more beautiful than Bella naked, it was Bella naked…and wet. I was entranced as I watched her tilt her head back under the spray to wet her hair, the movement pushing her breasts out, begging my attention. I watched as the water droplets ran from her neck to her chest, some dripping from her nipples while others ran between them, down her abdomen, around her navel and lower. I had no idea how long I had been staring at her when she interrupted my thoughts.
"Are you just going to stand there and watch, or are you coming in?" Bella smirked at me, clearly enjoying the befuddled state she had me in. I stepped inside the shower and closed the glass door. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I wasn't prepared for the intensity of Bella's scent. It was magnified tenfold; the heat and steam from the shower made her blood sing to me stronger than ever before, stronger even then the first day of Biology. My fists clenched, my knuckles white as the bones threatened to emerge from my stony flesh. I held my breath and my entire body started shaking. Get out of here! Leave! my mind screamed, whether at myself or Bella I wasn't sure, but it didn't matter, because I didn't dare speak. I couldn't move. I was literally frozen with fear. I stared at Bella, her eyes closed and her head thrown back under the water, exposing her neck in a very tantalizing and dangerous way. Just one sip. No! After a moment, she looked at me and the shock on her face told me that it had registered in her mind what was happening to me.
Bella turned the hot water all the way down, never taking her eyes off of me, as if that would save her. She backed into the corner of the shower and waited patiently for my internal battle to wage against itself to one conclusion or the other. Blessedly, as the steam dissipated, so did the bloodlust. My senses slowly returned to me, and I held up my hands and smiled at her to show her I was okay again. She approached me slowly, cautiously. I couldn't tell you how long we had been standing there, I was certain it was the better part of an hour. Bella's body had become chilled, goosebumps covered her flesh, and her nipples were hard and puckered. Bella turned the hot water up again, just a hair, so that it was lukewarm instead of freezing, and placed her hands on my forearms, willing them to hang loosely by my sides. She pointed at the built-in bench and commanded "Sit." She seemed to know exactly what I needed. She was going to take control, take care of me. Distract me before I started the familiar self-loathing that always followed an episode of bloodlust.
I did as she instructed and she switched to the hand held shower head so she could wet my hair before pouring a handful of shampoo. She worked it into my hair with both hands, her fingertips massaging my scalp. I purred from the unbelievable pleasure I took in something so simple and pure. I caressed the outside of her thighs from her knees to her hips with just my fingertips so as not to scare her, and laid my forehead on her stomach as she rinsed the shampoo from my hair and worked in some conditioner. I breathed in the fragrance of Bella's arousal deeply, allowing my desire for her body to push out everything else.
"Stand."
I stood before her, my hands at my sides, and raked in her glorious beauty as she lathered some bodywash in her bare hands. She started at my shoulders, slowly washing and massaging each arm, right down to my fingertips before washing my chest. She put more soap on her hands before dropping to her knees to wash my legs.
"Bella…" I said hesitantly. She looked entirely too good in that position, and I felt guilty for the lascivious thoughts that ran through my mind. She ignored me entirely, continuing to clean and massage one leg, paying special attention to my foot and toes before moving on to the other leg. She was very careful to not touch between my legs until she stood up again. She locked her gaze with mine as she slowly caressed and cleaned me with her soapy smooth hand. I bit the inside of my lip as she brought me to the cusp of utopia before releasing me and rinsing me off gently.
"Turn."
I slowly turned and faced the wall with the built in bench, the silver towel rack at eye level in front of me.
"Spread your legs a little and hold onto the towel rack," Bella said softly. "Don't let go."
She took her time cleaning my shoulders and back, using more strength than I thought she possessed. My muscles twitched involuntarily as she worked her way down to my gluts, reaching between my legs to caress my testicles briefly from behind before continuing down the back of my legs. I felt the spray rinse me all over, paying special attention to the area between my legs, the force of the water sending pleasurable shivers throughout my body. When she took the water away I started to let go of the bar and turn around, but Bella stopped me.
"Not yet," she whispered as she ducked under my arm and sat down on the bench. I looked down at her, my wet hair dangling in my face and dripping onto hers as she looked up and smiled at me. "Don't let go," she repeated. My brow furrowed in question. "Trust me."
"Always, Bella. I'm yours, I trust you, but..."
Without giving me a chance to further protest, Bella leaned forward and licked a drop of water from the tip of my member before taking me into her mouth. The instant plethora of sensations besieged me. It wasn't just the heat or the moisture. It wasn't just her lips, soft and tight around me, or her fingers gripping me and moving in sync with her mouth. I could feel every single taste bud on her tongue as it licked and flicked and teased me to the precipice of insanity. I squeezed the towel rack, leaving indentations of my fingers in the soft metal as I struggled to keep still. "Ugh…baby…so good…" I pulled away from her when my erection started to twitch. "Please, baby, let me come inside of you," I panted. "I need to be inside you."
Bella stood and I wrapped my arms around her, grabbing her buttocks and lifting her up to wrap her arms and legs around me as I turned us to face the adjacent wall, pinning Bella to it before sliding inside of her. Bella lowered her head onto my shoulder as I released her with one hand. Running purely on instinct, I toyed with her nipples before reaching lower to caress her clit with my thumb. I wasn't going to last long, and I wanted it to be good for her as well.
Luckily for me, she didn't last long either, and it took only a few strokes before she climaxed just as I exploded within her. I closed my eyes and muttered an expletive I was quite ashamed of as I hugged her tight to me and rode out both our orgasms. We stayed there for the longest time. I relished the contractions and quivers around me in the aftermath of Bella's orgasm and delighted in just being joined with her this way. When Bella started to shiver from the cold, I reluctantly set her down.
"I'm going to get out so you can turn the water temperature back up and get cleaned off. When you're finished, I'll have some warm towels fresh from the dryer for you." I kissed her, just touching my lips to hers. "Next time I get to wash you, alright?" She blushed and nodded her head at me. "I love you, my Bella."
"As I do you," she replied softly. I stepped out of the shower and dried quickly, wrapping a towel around my waist before grabbing a couple of fresh towels from the linen closet and tossing them in the dryer on the highest setting.
As soon as Bella turned off the water, I hurried back with the hot towels and dried her off with one, then discarded it and wrapped her up in the second one.
"Come lay with me, please? I need to talk," I told her. Bella and I discarded our towels and cuddled under the covers on the bed before she replied.
"What's wrong, Edward?" Bella asked, concern lacing her voice.
"Nothing's wrong. I wanted to thank you for helping me with the thirst for one thing. I was so scared."
Bella put her hand on my cheek. "No worries, Edward. I should have thought of that ahead of time. I'm sorry it was difficult for you."
"Difficult, but worth it. Next time we'll just need to keep the water temperature down, or turn on the fan or open the windows or perhaps all of the above. We'll figure it out."
"Next time, huh? I take it you liked that?" Bella smiled smugly and raised an eyebrow at me.
"Is it terrible of me to admit how much I enjoyed that? It feels wrong to me somehow, that I was so turned on by…that." This was really what I wanted to discuss with her. I didn't want to demean or use her in any way.
"Edward, please don't let your 1918 sensibilities ruin an experience that was highly enjoyable for both of us. It did not belittle me in any way. I did it for no other reason than that I liked doing it, and it made me happy that it gave you so much pleasure." Sometimes it seemed as though Bella was the one with the mind reading abilities. Or maybe it's just that she can see straight through to my soul. Either way, she said the exact thing I needed to hear exactly when I needed to hear it.
"Thank you, my love. I'm glad you enjoyed it, too." I kissed the top of her head and she hummed, already drifting off to sleep. It wasn't long before I heard Felix's thoughts as he took up roost in one of the trees behind our house, lamenting about how ridiculous he thought the orders of 24 hour surveillance were and how he detested getting dirty. With Bella deep in sleep, I slid out from under her and went into the living room before speaking softly aloud.
"Felix, if you can be quiet about it, you can come in. There's no use in being perched in a tree branch all night listening to me read and Bella sleep."
"Thank the gods," he whispered back before jumping down and walking quietly through the front door. We sat and played cards quietly most of the night until Bella started to stir. Felix, respecting our need for privacy as much as possible and admitting that he considered us to be a low flight risk, excused himself before Bella woke and headed for his house to get cleaned up and changed himself. We made plans to meet at The Oval on campus in an hour.
Bella and I got ready quickly. We both wanted to get to campus as quickly as possible. If we made it to school before Felix, maybe it would prove to him that we weren't going anywhere and he didn't have to keep watch over us like some sort of animals on display at the zoo. Bella and I were walking to our usual picnic table hand-in-hand when I heard Felix's thoughts. Actually, they weren't even thoughts, more like discombobulated sentence fragments and mental growls. I jerked my head towards the direction the thoughts were coming from and panicked.
"Kelly!"
A/N: See what happens when my readers are so good to me? They get lemons! If I get another 300 reviews, I'll have to write another one in the very near future. The Cullendale show is playing to a sold out crowd in Johannesburg and then heading to Athens, Greece. Don't forget to request your VIP passes to claim your lap dance!