Quick update. Just felt inspired to write more. Things are starting to move along!
000
"Miss Swan," Tanya said in a soothing voice that at the same time left no room for argument or disagreement, "I'm afraid you'll have to come with me. We have some serious matters to discuss."
The older one became, the more patient they tended to become, and Tanya had been around for a long, long time. She simply watched as the little Omega in front of her closed her eyes, her whole body shuddering from emotion. With visible effort the Swan girl began to force the raging storm inside her under some level of control. Tanya found herself a little bit surprised at the depth of emotion she was seeing. It seemed that Isabella had cared very deeply for her Cousins and their sudden unexpected departure had hurt her deeply.
When the girl looked at Tanya again the vampire found herself momentarily distracted by those big, pretty brown eyes. The coven leader felt a familiar stirring in her lower belly and in her blood, all her world suddenly closing in around her and focusing solely on the pretty young thing in front of her that just smelled so good. With decisive viciousness Tanya clamped down on those feelings before they could start to get out of hand. Definitely should have fed before coming here. Not doing so was unnecessarily cocky and risky of me.
"Are you quite all right Miss Swan?" Tanya asked, just a hint patronizing and amused, after a few more moments passed without the girl saying anything. Young Isabella seemed to be having a hard time finding her words and kept looking at Tanya like if she blinked, the vampire in front of her would suddenly disappear.
"Are you… are you with the Cullens?" the girl finally asked hesitantly, wrapping her arms across her own body and hugging herself unconsciously. There was hope and pain in her eyes, so raw and real it was almost uncomfortable to look at. Miss Swan seemed to be the very definition of… what was that modern phrase? Wearing her heart on her sleeve. It was… refreshingly honest. Tanya's world had long been one of a thousand and one masks. In her world seeing someone's true face was a gift, a sign of the deepest trust and respect. It was not something freely given for all the world to see.
Even after all this time humans can still sometimes surprise me. What a pretty and rare thing you are turning out to be, little Omega.
"Am I 'with' the Cullens?" Tanya said, pushing her sunglasses back up to cover her eyes. "In a manner of speaking I suppose. You can think of me as a dear family friend, or as extended family."
"Do you know where they are?" Isabella blurted in a rush, cutting off anything further that Tanya might have said. Rather rude of you Miss Swan Tanya thought with a hint of amusement and irritation.
"And what if I did?" asked Tanya, tilting her head slightly in curiosity as she peered at Isabella. "Would you hop on your truck, or the first plane perhaps, and rush off to find them? They abandoned you Miss Swan. A lady should accept a young gentleman's rejection with graciousness and dignity." Tanya added the last bit because she was almost positive that young Miss Swan had been the reason that the Cullens had left, and that Edward had been the architect of the whole debacle. Carlisle always did spoil him too much.
"Ah… I…" Isabella said, looking at Tanya like the taller woman had slapped her. That girl looked away, her voice becoming sad and bitter. "It is… about… him," Isabella said, the last word cracking in pain, "but it's about more than that. Some of the others…" the girl trailed off before swallowing uncomfortably and glancing back at Tanya. "They… at least owe me an explanation."
That sad and bitter tone of voice doesn't suit you very well pretty Omega, not at all. Tanya was surprised to see this Omega wasn't completely a without moxie. She apparently felt passionately that some of the Cullens had wronged her, and perhaps they had. Certainly it wasn't something she would put beyond Edward, petulant man-child that he could be sometimes.
"Please," said Isabella, her eyes shining and pleading, her voice desperate as she hugged herself tighter. "Just tell me what you know."
Tanya couldn't help but feel a degree of sympathy for the broken, hurting human girl in front of her. Her days of outright sadism were long behind her and these days she was actually able to sympathize with the pain of mere humans… one of the reasons she had made the choice to live off the blood of animals. However that did not mean that she was no longer able – or willing – to kill when necessary. Her priority here was protecting her cousins, not this girl's pain. She wouldn't allow herself to be moved by the plight of the – admittedly captivating – human specimen before her.
"As I said I need you to come with me Miss Swan," Tanya said, her voice smooth and strong, the trace of an Eastern accent coloring her pronunciation. There was an almost hypnotic quality to her words. "We have important matters to discuss. If you come without a fuss I'll tell you what I know about this situation and perhaps even shed some light as to why they left."
It took a few moments but Tanya spotted it when finally the girl's survival instincts seemed to kick in, at least to some small extent. Suddenly Isabella seemed to remember that she was standing across from a strange vampire, one that was demanding in not so many words that they go off together to someplace more private to talk… somewhere presumably where there wouldn't be any witnesses around. The girl's look suddenly became more wary and guarded, and she leaned her body away from Tanya as if to put a little more space between them. A subtle hint of fear reached Tanya's nose and the vampire had to stop herself from reacting to the way it seemed to enhance the girl's scent and make it even more tantalizing.
"Why do you want me to come with you?" asked Isabella in a small voice, a hint of suspicion in her tone. While it might have been better to sweet talk and charm the girl having to resist her scent was making Tanya slightly more irritable. Besides she didn't need the girl's consent. It would just be less messy – and more pleasant all around – if she didn't have to force the girl to do what she wanted her to.
"As I said," Tanya reiterated, looking Isabella in the eye over the top of her glasses and injecting just a hint of Alpha command into her voice. "We need to have a serious conversation. You will come with me Isabella Marie Swan. Then if you behave you may get the answers to some of your questions."
Tanya watched as Isabella's breath hitched and her body shuddered slightly as Tanya allowed a bit of her dominant aura to wash over the girl as she articulated her 'request'. Even though they were perfectly capable of doing so most Omegas had a hard time saying no to a strong Alpha. Their instincts were to submit, to bare their throat, to obey, to be bred.
Tanya had no doubt Isabella would be able to refuse almost any human Alpha's dominant aura if she wanted to but Tanya was far from ordinary, nor was she merely human. Even in her human life she had been an exceptionally strong Alpha in a world where female Alphas has been treated with both scorn and loathing. As a vampire, and with a thousand years of experience under her belt, there was hardly any human on Earth she could not dominate with the force of her aura and her Alpha personality alone. One little human Omega not even two decades old, no matter how unique, would never have a prayer of refusing her if Tatyana Denali decided she wanted to be obeyed.
Still, she hadn't felt the need to really force the issue in this case. Just a hint of the overwhelming aura she could produce would be enough to push the girl over the edge. After all, she was already tempted to come with her despite knowing how dangerous vampires could be. The moth will jump into the flame, even knowing it will get burned.
Sure enough, after a few moments young Miss Swan swallowed nervously and looked at Tanya in the face while carefully avoiding meeting her eyes, lest it be taken as a challenge. "Alright," she said, her voice trembling just a little, "I have to find out why… what, what happened with the Cullens. I'll come with you if you tell me what you know."
If that's how you want to justify it to yourself. Still, Tanya couldn't help but smile to herself a little. Even giving in the little Omega was still trying to be defiant and trying to set conditions. "You have my word Miss Swan. I'll tell you as much as I am able, so long as I am not revealing secrets that are not mine to tell." Tanya felt comfortable in making that promise. After all, after their conversation young Isabella Swan would never be going back to her human life… either she would become one of them, or she would be dead.
Strangely, Tanya found herself wishing for the former rather than the latter.
"All right," said Isabella, looking so nervous that she might be sick, but there was a determination in her stance and a small fire in her eyes that had been missing before. Tanya decided that being on a mission looked good on her.
Pushing off the truck and standing to her full height – she had at least four inches on the young Miss Swan – Tanya held out one of her pale hands towards the young girl expectantly.
"Keys," Tanya said.
"What?" Isabella asked in confusion.
"We're taking your truck," Tanya said in a friendly voice that at the same time left no room for argument, "and I'm driving."
Isabella looked reluctant and ready to refuse but one sharp look from Tanya stopped her cold. Once again the air filled slightly with the tart smell of the girl's fear. Isabella looked away, the girl feeling more than a bit intimidated by the obviously powerful Alpha vampire in front of her. Reluctantly young Miss Swan reached into her pocket and placed her keys into Tanya's waiting hand.
"Excellent," said Tanya in a slightly more cheerful tone before turning around and unlocking the driver's side door. After climbing halfway into the truck she turned around and looked at the still unmoving Isabella over the top of her glasses. "Are you coming?"
Huffily, and muttering something about not acting like she owned her truck, Isabella stalked over to the other side and got in through the passenger door. Tanya took her time getting in and starting the engine, feeling eyes filled with trepidation, curiosity and a desire to know trained on her the whole time.
I hope that when this is over Miss Swan, Tanya thought as she put the truck in reverse, no matter how it goes that you might someday find it in your heart to forgive me for what I'm about to do to you.
000
A/N: Another short chapter, but I think I like this daily-updates-with-short-chapters format for now. Let me know what you think!