I don't own anything!

Chapter 37

Warm

Mike made it back with just less than twenty seconds to spare, and dumped the clothes unceremoniously on the desk in front of Bella.

He stood, waiting, anger like embers at the back of his eyes. Bella had her feet up. Alice was curled up at her side, but she opened one eye and growled low when Mike entered. Bella glanced at the clothes, nodded, and turned to look at him.

"So what happens now, Mike?"

"You tell me, slu—Bella. You're the one with the gun and the crazy bitch who thinks she's a dog."

"You don't want to talk about her like that. I don't think she's very fond of you, and I know that I'm not."

"Feeling's mutual."

"Money, Mike. How much have you got here? Don't lie to me."

"Three, maybe four grand in the safe."

"I want it. Then you can go … under one condition."

"What's that?"

"Get out of this business. You're smart enough to make money some other way. I don't give a shit what you do. Open a bar. Run drugs. Whatever. Just stay away from girls. You've fucked up enough of them." Mike rolled his eyes.

"Spare me. Doesn't seem to have done you too badly …" Bella closed her eyes a moment, thinking of Edward.

"No? You don't have a clue, Mike, and you're walking into bad territory. I'm giving you a break here. If revenge was everything, I should have Alice tear your prick off with her teeth so I can feed it to you. It's not, and I'm trying to be better than that. Don't talk to me about how I'm doing. Just get me my money."

Mike went to a safe at the wall, and if Bella had been human, things might have ended some other way. As it was, she could see exactly what was in the safe, was well aware of the cold glint of metal in the shadows. Mike stood by the safe, appearing to count money. He looked up at her, and there was a small smile on his face.

"You sure I have to leave? I was damn good at this." Bella rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, exploiting twelve-year-olds and beating up women. You're the greatest, Mike." Mike shrugged.

"Got to keep you in line. We had a business relationship, Bella. I gave you what you wanted, you paid for it."

"Fuck you. I never wanted that. You forced it on me."

"And you loved it. I know you stole shit from those other girls. You loved getting high. What's so wrong with that? It's good shit. What does it matter what you paid for it?"

"That's not love. That's need."

"What's the difference?" Mike shifted position. His eyelid twitched, and he glanced at her. Cagey. Bella knew what was coming.

She thought about his question. Love. Need. What was the difference? She loved Edward. She needed the blood. She loved the blood. She needed Edward.

"You can't have love without need. You can have need without love. This is going nowhere, Mike. You're done." Bella glanced down at Alice, who was looking up at her in anticipation.

Alice could feel the tension growing. Bella held out a hand, hidden from Mike's view behind the desk, telling Alice to wait.

"Suppose I said I don't want to leave?" Mike would have seemed calm to a normal person. To Bella he was a bundle of nervous tics. Tiny involuntary muscle movements around his eyes, in the muscles of his right arm.

"I'd tell you that you don't have much choice."

"Baby, I have all the choice in the world." Mike snarled and made his move, bringing his arm up, pointing the gun at Bella. As he began his move, Bella closed her hand into a fist. Alice leapt into motion.

Mike was quick, but Alice was supernatural, a creature beyond the bounds of human limitation. If the vampire girl had moved fast before, she was like lightning now, covering the distance between her and Mike so quickly that her passage made an audible rushing noise.

The gun was knocked away; Alice's teeth found his throat, her head made a ripping, rending motion, and Bella's former pimp's life ended with a gurgle that was supposed to be a scream.

"I thought you said you didn't do this often." Tan was standing at the doorway to the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, staring at the slumped form that had once been Mike.

Bella was pulling it toward the closet, where she had already deposited the corpse of the girl in the bed.

Bella glanced over at Tan, shrugged. She finished her task, closed the closet doors, walked over to the desk, and lit a cigarette.

The first drag made her cough. Made her head spin. The second went down more smoothly.

"And I thought you didn't want any of those." Tan said.

"If I can't have anything to love, I'll take something to need."

"What?"

"Never mind. Here, Mike brought us some clothes."

"Okay. Bella?"

"Yeah."

"What now?"

"Let me think about that. You don't owe me anything, Tan. There's money in the safe. Take it and run. Or stick around. I'd be happy to have someone to talk to, at least for tonight. I have to wait here for a while."

"I'll stay. Go take a shower. Am I safe with … her?" Alice was again curled up at the base of the desk, seeming to doze. Bella nodded, got up, and headed for the bathroom.

The shower was heaven. Good, hot water and lots of it. After two days on the road, and skipping a shower at the motel, she'd felt terrible. Being clean helped. Being rid of Mike helped more.

She didn't regret it, not at all. One oppressor down. She wasn't ready to think about the other.

Bella showered, dried off, brushed her hair back into a ponytail and tied it wet. The girl in the mirror looked pale and tired, but more alive than the heroin addict who had stared back at her not two months ago.

Edward had done that for her. Now he was dead. She put it out of her mind, and left the girl in the mirror behind.

"You going to try to get her in there?" Tan indicated toward Alice, who was now sprawled out on the bed, snoring in a most unladylike way, oblivious to the blood on the covers.

"Going to try. She stinks." Tan nodded again. She was counting money, pulled from the safe and spread across the desk. Bella pulled off her towel. Tan held up a hand and looked away.

"Whoa, hey, let's keep the full frontal nudity to a minimum. Alice's enough." Bella laughed.

"Sorry. I used to shower with other girls in this building all the time. You stop thinking about it." She put on some clothes. Mike had managed a good guess at both her size and Tan's.

Bella had never been a heavy girl to begin with, but now vampirism had shaped her form to its absolute peak. Clothes that would have fit the Bella that Mike had known were now a little loose.

"Alice. Hey, Alice. Wake up, lazy. You want to take a bath? Or a shower?" Alice rubbed sleep out of her eyes and looked up at Bella, puzzled. Bella indicated toward the bathroom with her hand, and Alice glanced toward it, not comprehending.

"Ah, fuck, you don't know what the hell I'm talking about. This should be interesting. Come over here, Alice." Alice followed Bella into the bathroom. After a moment, Tan entered as well.

"Gotta see you try this." Bella grinned. She turned on the water and motioned toward the bathtub. Alice looked nervous.

"Look, silly, it's like rain except its warm, and there's no mud. You'll be fine." Alice was alternating between looking at the shower, and looking at Bella. Her expression was sceptical. Bella laughed.

"You'll be fine Alice. Look, Tan and I both took showers, and we're exactly the same."

"Well, technically our hair is now 'full of body and life,' I think. According to the shampoo bottle, anyway." Bella rolled her eyes. She moved toward the shower, ducked her head under the water for a moment, and then returned to where Alice sat.

"See? It's fine, Alice."

"Bathroom's getting soaked, Bella." Tan tossed a towel on the ground.

"The superintendent's dead. I don't think he's going to bill us. Come on, Alice. We haven't got all night." Alice's expression was uncertain, but she allowed herself to be lead toward the shower.

After a moment's hesitation, she stepped in and, feeling the warm water, gave them a brilliant smile. Bella laughed. Tan held up her hands.

"Okay, I'm out of here. As much as Mike might've appreciated it, I'm not into watching you teach Alice the miracle of soap. I'll be waiting." She departed, returning to her counting.

Bella turned back to Alice and began attempting to instruct her.