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Chapter 22:

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Bella moaned and shoved backwards with her hips against the strapon plugged into her pussy. Leah gripped her hips and grinned and thrust it in deeper.

"Hey, Vicky," she said to me. "Would you get offended if I said Bella is a slut?"

I laughed throatily, stroking my entrance as I reclined on the bed with my legs open. The two of them were over by the dresser, Bella bent over and wearing nothing but black high heels and Leah fucking her from behind wearing nothing but a black strapon.

"Not at all," I told her. "By all means."

Bella continued to moan with her hair and her tits hanging, jostling her hips against the huge pole shoved into her from behind.

"Yes," she was saying. "Oh god."

Leah chuckled and ran her hands along the sides of the girl bent over in front of her and then gave her ass a spank before gripping her again. Bella yelped at the spank, her hips flinching on the strapon, and moaned.

"Oh god," she wheezed. "Yes. Keep going. Oh god."

I smirked and watched them, stroking myself lazily, letting my eyes indulge the spectacle of their slightly frenzied fucking, the moaning, the jiggling, their breasts bouncing on their chest. They made a very attractive coupling, Leah tall and athletic like a female stallion and Bella pale and bend over like a feisty mare. I could watch them all night but it seemed Bella was on the verge of orgasm. She had her eyes closed and her breath was blasting in and out of her.

"Oh god," she cried, high and breathless. "Oh god, oh god, OhhhHHH—!"

She came and gripped the dresser to avoid falling over. Her knees buckled, her back arched. A small scream of ecstasy came out of her.

It was beautiful. My little baby, coming like a complete slut. Nothing ever looked better on her than an orgasm. Leah laughed and held her hips and waited for her to calm down. Leah was breathing heavy too but only from the exertion of humping my little darling into that massive little orgasm.

"You okay?" she asked, gently withdrawing the strapon from the soaking recesses it had been inserted.

Bella nodded raggedly and leaned back against the dresser, running a clawed hand through her hair. "Yeah," she panted. "Wow. That was amazing."

Leah grinned and seemed proud of herself. As she should be. This was only the second time in her life that she had used a strapon. She had been afraid of going too deep and hurting her but it turned out that she was quite a natural with the thing. It also helped that Bella was a total slut, just like she said.

"Yes, very impressive, Leah," I said, stroking myself on the bed and gazing at her with dark and lusty eyes. "But one wonders if you could handle a real woman like me."

Leah grinned and rose to the challenge. Bella giggled and watched as the other girl climbed into the bed. She was crawling toward me and I liked the look in her dark and slanted eyes. The look that said she was gonna fuck me so bad. I opened my legs a little wider for her, smirking at her cockily, and—

She shoved it in.

It took me by surprise. I didn't think she would be brave enough to do it so roughly. But she did and the thrill was delicious. It rippled outward from that sharp stab of pleasure between my legs and I gave her a womanly gasp.

"Oh my," I said. "That was rather rough. Be careful, Leah, you might—"

She thrust again, clapping my mouth shut.

Good lord. The bolt of pleasure between my thighs caused my eyes to roll and when they came back into focus they were staring at this tough and sexy girl next door who was grinning at me cockily and quite enjoying her power over me. Landlady indeed.

"Oh my," I said again, beginning to breathe heavily. "Leah. You beast. What's got into you? I'm not usually on the bottom, but—"

Another sharp thrust.

I gave her a tiny shriek and grinned and wrapped my legs around her gleefully as I pulled her face into mine.

"This time I think I'll make an exception," I hissed into her mouth.

Then I kissed her, my eyes falling closed. Her tongue came out and oh god. She was fucking me. Oh boy. Tonguing me and thrusting the strapon into me and grunting and thrusting harder. It had been a long time since my pussy had been accosted by such an instrument and I had forgotten how good it could be. So big and hard. Completely filling my vagina and fucking it and making it wet and squeeze for more.

By now Bella had climbed onto the bed and she was watching me with a smile. I looked at her helplessly, flat on my back with my pussy impaled, and my breaths were so hard that they gusted over her face and stirred her hair. She smirked at me, completely fascinated by my helplessness, and then Leah took my chin and turned my face back to hers and tongued me again, tongued me and shoved that thing so deep inside me.

This continued for a little bit until it was too much for me to handle. I whimpered and tossed my head and bit my lip. Leah's dark-skinned face was flushed and her hair was sticking to her forehead from the sweat of exertion.

"Oh god," I moaned, clawing my hands into her back. "Oh god, keep going. Harder. Harder. Ah—!"

The orgasm arched me off the mattress and it took all my control not to crush girl with my vampire strength. My face scrunched up from the effort and I shuddered and whimpered as the throes of orgasm passed over me and slowly faded away.

When my eyes opened she was smiling at me, no idea how close she had come to a collapsed ribcage and a shattered hip. She was breathing very deeply, quite exhausted by now from hard-fucking both me and my darling partner, and I gave her a smile and a kiss.

"Wow," I breathed. "That was…"

"Amazing," Bella said for me. She was laying on her side, watching us, and she seemed half-mesmerized. She chuckled and shook her head. "I wish I could fuck her as hard as that."

Leah grinned proudly and rose up. "She just needed a real woman, is all."

I chuckled breathlessly at how she echoed my own words back at me. Real woman, eh? Well, I guess I was in no position to deny it, panting on my back with my vagina half split open from such a powerful orgasm.

Bella chuckled as well and rose up, looking at Leah with a whole new kind of admiration, and then she wrapped her arms around her neck sexily and applied a slutty tongue kiss right onto her mouth, as if Leah's display of sexual prowess had turned her on so much that she simply had to do something about it.

Leah grinned into the kiss and kissed her back with the same kind of confidence she had shown all night and Bella's hands were now scrabbling at the buckles of the strapon to get it off. Once they had it off they tossed it over the side of the bed, the floor already littered with bras and panties and discarded clothes, and then Bella took Leah and pushed her down onto the mattress, displaying her own bit of dominance, before shuffling down between Leah's legs and plastering her mouth to Leah's vagina.

Leah was very wet and horny by now from fucking us with the strapon and she moaned very deeply as Bella's tongue dragged across her juicy folds. I had recovered enough by now to join in and I gave Leah a few kisses and played with her breasts while Bella ate her out hungrily. Leah really seemed to enjoy it. She couldn't stop grinning and I suppose I couldn't blame her for being a little smug. Bella moaned from between her thighs and I fondled one of her breasts. She gazed at me with her orgasm approaching and slowly her little glow of smugness began to fade into a more lusty look. I smiled at her and pinched her nipple and gave it a suckle. Her chest was heaving and Bella was moaning and licking between her thighs and finally her spine arched off the mattress and she came.

It seemed like a pretty big orgasm and I was glad we could do her as thoroughly as she did us. She smiled and told us how awesome it was and for a while the three of us just laid there in the bed, exhausted, and chatted a little bit. Bella eventually began to go down on me, the pussy-hungry thing that she was, and Leah took the opportunity to straddle my face. I applauded her initiative and gave her a deep tonguing until we both came at almost the same time. After that Bella asked if she could come one more time too and since she asked so cutely we simply had to oblige. Leah and I had a quick discussion on what we ought to do to her and in the end we stuck a vibrator into her ass and went down on her pussy at the same time. Bella came quite strongly.

By then it was getting pretty late and Leah had work tomorrow. She didn't seem like she wanted to go but she didn't want to wear out her welcome either. Bella was quite exhausted by now and she had her head against my tits like a pillow while I laid in the bed and watched our guest get dressed.

Leah stepped into her panties and pulled them up and gave me a smile.

"Thanks again for inviting me over," she said. "Had a lot of fun."

I returned her smile from the bed, stroking Bella's hair as if she were a drowsing cat. "It was the least I could do to reward you for your timely intervention the other day," I said. "You managed to break up a very unpleasant meeting."

Leah didn't know exactly how unpleasant that meeting could've been—with dangers not limited to death and separation from Bella—but she grinned and nodded as she put on her bra.

"Glad I could help," she said.

"And, please," I added, "if you ever find yourself in the mood again, you're always welcome to come join us. No need to withhold our mail or wait for a chance meeting on the sidewalk. Just a quick phone call is more than sufficient."

She raised her eyebrows and zipped up her jeans. "Seriously?"

Bella chuckled and spoke with her eyes closed and her face in my chest. "Of course," she said. "We love when you come over."

Leah grinned and shook her head and pulled on her top. "You guys are gonna spoil me. I'll never be able to date a guy with two lesbian hotties next door who keep inviting me over."

"What about that boy you mentioned the other day?" I asked her.

"Meh. I didn't call him back."

"That's a shame."

"Yeah. Sometimes I think I need to experiment a bit more. Maybe date a chick. You guys got any friends you could hook me up with?"

By now she was fully dressed and pulling on her sneakers, hopping on one foot, and the conversation had turned interesting enough for Bella to open her eyes and sit up in the bed. I sat up as well and a rather exciting idea occurred to me.

"Actually, we might," I said. "Do you like blondes?"

Bella smirked at that, knowing exactly who I was thinking of. Leah left her sneakers untied and stuffed her socks into her pockets. She thought about how much she liked blondes for a moment and then she shrugged.

"Yeah, blondes are alright, I guess," she said. "It's not really important. I like anything that isn't stupid, stuck up, or selfish."

"You like Bella," I quipped with a grin.

Bella giggled and swatted my shoulder. Leah smiled.

"Bella isn't selfish or stuck up," she said, noticeably leaving out the word stupid.

Bella was pouting a little but she knew we were only playing. Leah gave her a wink and grabbed up her phone and keys from the dresser.

"Talk to your blonde friend for me, okay? If she's interested, let me know. I'll see you later. Thanks again for the amazing night. I'll lock up on my way out."

"Bye, Leah," Bella said sweetly.

The sweetness of her voice actually stopped Leah in her tracks and made her laugh. Bella was kneeling in the bed with her hands between her knees, her naked breasts bunched between her arms, and she honestly had no clue what an adorable slut she was.

"Fuck, you're cute," Leah said. "I feel like kissing you goodnight or something."

Bella smiled and leaned and pursed her lips. Leah went over and kissed them.

I shook my head and straightened the pillows while I waited and after a while Leah finally pulled away from Bella. She gave her another wink and then she tossed her chin at me to say goodnight and then she hurried out of the room, giggling and shaking her head.

Bella giggled as well and then she hopped off the bed and started gathering up the toys we had used.

"Were you thinking about the Denali's?" she said. "To set Leah up with?"

I nodded and watched her naked body as she bent to pick up the strapon. "Something like that. Perhaps Kate or Tanya. It could work to our advantage."

"How?"

"Like back in the old days. The fastest way to ensure a truce between enemies was to marry off a daughter."

Bella chuckled and tossed the toys into the hamper. "The Denali's aren't our enemies," she said. "And Leah isn't our daughter."

She climbed back into the bed and I wrapped my arms around her.

"True," I said, "but it's the same principle. Leah's a friend of ours and if we could set her up with one of the Denali's it would be an extra layer of diplomacy should any complications arise."

Bella smirked at me. "I think you're just a romantic and you wanna play cupid."

"Perhaps," I admitted with a grin, and then I kissed her.

The kiss was endowed with a surprising amount of romance, the two of us happy and naked and well-fucked after a fun threeway with a dear friend. I stroked her back and relished it's warmth and smoothness the same way I relished the softness of her breasts pressed into mine. Such a perfect girl. My Bella. Perhaps this was the real reason I'd been reluctant to turn her into a vampire. She was just so warm…

I went to deepen the kiss but she broke it suddenly and grinned at me.

"I'm hungry," she said.

I chuckled and for some reason I didn't think she meant for pussy. She had eaten quite a bit of that already tonight and she probably meant real food.

"Let's get you something to eat then," I said, and then I climbed off the bed and offered a hand.

She took my hand and giggled and grabbed a sheet off the bed to cover herself with.

I took her downstairs and we didn't turn on any lights. We had some chocolate puddingcups in the fridge, the kind you'd put in a child's lunchbox, and we left the fridge door open and sat on the cold floor in the warm yellow glow from the interior of the fridge. Bella had made a nest of the bed sheet and together we were wrapped up in it with Bella in my arms as she feasted on the chocolate pudding.

One of the plastic cups was already emptied and set to the side and she had begun on a second one with a steel spoon and long moaning sounds.

"Mmm," she murmured, spoon in mouth. "I've seen people on TV eat chocolate pudding after sex and I always thought it was stupid. I was so wrong."

She scooped up another spoonful and inserted it into her mouth, closing her eyes and moaning in a way that made my nipples jealous. I wish she sucked on me like that. I had my arms around her and she was reclining backward between my legs. I smiled at her and gave her a kiss on her ear.

"Perhaps you should try a cigarette," I suggested. "I hear they're very nice after sex as well."

She chuckled at that and kept eating. "Maybe I should. After I become a vampire I won't ever get another chance, right? No more chocolate pudding either."

"Nope," I said, and then I whispered in her ear. "But I'm sure we'll find something even tastier for you."

She grinned with the spoon in her mouth and then took it out. "I can't imagine what blood tastes like. To me, it's kind of gross."

I stroked her hair away from her neck and nuzzled it affectionately, breathing in her scent. "To a vampire, it's the sweetest thing on earth," I whispered. Then I kissed the gently throbbing pulse point and added: "Aside from the taste of a mate, of course."

She giggled and craned her neck a little as I kissed it some more and gave it a little lick.

"Mmm," she said, this time because of me, not the pudding. "Victoria. You've been so romantic lately. Sure you're not pregnant or anything?"

I chuckled into her neck. "I doubt it, although Leah did pump me with quite a bit of testosterone, didn't she?"

Bella giggled and went back to her pudding. "Yeah, that was hilarious. She had no idea you could've just ripped her apart if you wanted to. She thought she was some kind of bad ass."

"I thought it was cute."

"Yeah, she's great. She fucked me pretty good too. I've never taken it from behind standing up like that. It's different from doing it in bed. You should try it."

"Perhaps you'll oblige me some time."

"I'd love to. I had no idea you like to be dominated sometimes."

I chuckled and continued to hold her around her middle as she sucked the pudding off the spoon. "Well, dominate is a strong word," I said. "But sometimes I do enjoy being taken more ardently than gently."

She turned to look at me, taking the spoon out of her mouth, and smiled.

"I really wish I could do you like Leah did," she said.

I chuckled and cupped her face. She was feeling a bit insecure about how much I had enjoyed our forthright guest this evening but she needn't be. I gave her a kiss on her pudding smeared lips.

"You're perfect the way you are," I told her. "And besides, you're not as weak as you think you are. Remember that night in Port Angeles? When there was a thunderstorm and I used a strapon on you and then you used the strapon on me?"

A slow smile bloomed on her mouth at the memory. I smiled too.

"You fucked me harder than Leah ever did, didn't you? Harder than James, even. Harder than anything I had ever experienced, in fact. You quite literally blew my mind. I was headbutting the carpet from how powerfully you fucked me. Do you remember?"

She smiled shyly and she was wearing a pretty blush. "Yeah, but that was just one time. Most of the time I'm kind of just submissive."

"Well, I don't want you to be dominant all the time, for heaven's sake," I told her with a chuckle. "Just sometimes. When it's right."

"How will I know?"

"You'll know. I have a feeling it'll happen after you become a vampire. As a newborn you'll be much stronger than me and far more vicious."

A smirked curved her mouth. "I will?"

I grinned at her, her pudding almost forgotten. "Oh yes," I said. "Once you become a vampire perhaps it won't be you who belongs to me anymore. Perhaps it'll be you taking me by the hair and dragging me to bed and wrenching my legs open for you to do anything you please to me. Hm?"

She was smiling at the visual and her dark eyes were sparkling with some latent glimmer of domination. That glimmer excited me greatly and I spoke to her in a low whisper as I brushed hair aside from her gorgeous face in the light of the refrigerator.

"Perhaps it would even be fitting," I said. "Sometimes I swear this love I have for you is hardly expressed at all in the things I've inflicted on you. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to simply throw myself at your feet and worship you in a submissive rapture of slavishness. To beg you and offer myself to you and let you do anything you—"

She pressed her lips to mine.

She did it in a way that seemed to suggest she had no choice, as if she just needed to. As if my words had melted her. She murmured into her kiss, pressing her lips firmer, and then she pulled back and smiled at me and bopped the tip of my nose with her spoon.

"Now you know how I feel about you," she said teasingly.

I had to laugh at that. I suppose I did. Sometimes I marvelled at her ability to give herself to me in ways that she did—ways not limited to knives and bondage—but lately I'd began to envy her a little as well. Perhaps part of me would love to do those things for her too.

Bella pulled up the sheet a little—it had been slipping—and went back to her pudding cup.

"So when are you gonna turn me then?" she said. "I'm really excited now."

I settled my arms back around her middle and gave a soft sigh into her hair. "Well, the transformation takes five days, and we'll need to be prepared. You'll need a supply of fresh blood, either victims or blood bags, and we'll have to keep you confined from public for a while. At least until you can control yourself. To be honest, I was hoping we might be able to count on the support of the Denali's. I'm not sure if I could control you by myself. Depending how frenzied you become, you may try to kill me by accident."

She frowned the spoon in her mouth and took it out again. "Is it really that dangerous?"

I nodded but smiled as well to show there's nothing to be worried about. "Yes, but that's why we have to take precautions. I intend to discuss it with Tanya the next time I see her. I get the impression she's almost envious of our relationship and perhaps she'd like to help."

She nodded and then she sighed and scraped at the bottom of her almost empty pudding cup. "Okay," she said. "Still, though. Wish we could just do it tonight and get it over with, huh?"

I grinned and leaned to her ear. "You just want to be strong enough to dominate me, don't you?"

"Maybe a little," she admitted with a giggle.

"You could always try right now," I suggested in a whisper.

She looked at me in surprise with the spoon in her mouth. "Yeah?"

I smiled and took the spoon out of her mouth and then I took the empty pudding cup from her as well. I put the spoon into the cup and set the cup on the floor beside the other empty one and then I turned back to her, smiling, the sheet slipping from my chest and exposing my big, soft, vulnerable breasts. Her eyes flickered at them and back at me. I smirked at her.

"Go ahead," I said. "Do something."

She smiled and reached for my hair, slowly as if she thought I might be playing a prank on her. I felt her fingers weave into my wild red locks and then I felt them tighten and clench. Her eyes were sparkling in the yellow light of the refrigerator and she seemed cautious to go further, as if she was afraid of provoking me or perhaps afraid of provoking whatever was inside her that was so excited right now.

"Is this okay?" she asked hesitantly.

I nodded and my smile was surprisingly bright. It really was okay. It was nice. Her grip in my hair was grip of desire. Need. Possession. And any second now she was going to—

Wrench my head backward.

A gasp of excitement came out of me and instantly my mouth was filled with her tongue. Oh my. I moaned and let my jaw loosen for her and she responded by growing and tonguing me even more ferociously. It was more thrilling than I expected. Her hand tightened in my hair and the only thing missing was pain. I would've liked that too. To feel the sting of her desire in my scalp. But it was very nice all the same.

Finally she broke apart, laughing and gasping for breath.

"Wow," she said. "That was amazing."

I chuckled sultrily. "And that was just a taste."

"Can I do more?"

"Of course you can," I told her sultrily, feeling an honest and rather heartwarming submissiveness for her welling up inside me. "You may do anything you like to me, my love."

Bella grinned and hopped to her feet, still with a hand in my hair, and I smiled and giggled as she tugged me toward the stairs. But the tug was rather feeble and I didn't quite budge. She tried again, with both hands this time, naked and straining and pulling at my hair.

But I still didn't move and eventually she gave up and let go and panted from the exertion.

"Fuck," she wheezed. "I can't drag you. You're too heavy."

I had been chuckling but now I stopped chuckling. My eyes narrowed, my brief flutter of submission hardening over into something more menacing, and I looked up at her.

"Heavy?" I echoed.

She realized her mistake of using an unflattering adjective and grinned guiltily, still breathing hard. I rose to my feet and looked at her, the two of us standing in the refrigerator light amid the spilled bedsheet and empty pudding cups.

"I think what you meant to say is that you are too weak," I said. "Not that I'm too heavy."

She nodded quickly, trying not to smile. "Um, yeah. That's totally what I meant."

I looked at her for a moment and she was too cute to be mad at. I smiled and turned and bent over to fetch the empty pudding cups, displaying my round trim and not-at-all-heavy ass to her tauntingly, and then I put the pudding cups on the sink.

"Two pudding cups," I said over my shoulder, "and I'm the one who's heavy."

She giggled and continued to act cute. "Vampires can't gain weight so I know you're just being a bitch."

"Yes, well, it was still a poor choice of words."

"I know. Either way, I guess I'm not ready to dominate you yet, huh? Maybe you should dominate me instead. Just quickly, before bed. It's been a while since we've done it rough. Wanna do me rough, Vicky? Hm?"

I smiled at her and she returned the smile for a moment before reaching past me for the block of kitchen knives. She took the handle of one of them and withdrew it and pressed the handle into my palm like a gift.

"I had my pudding," she said. "Now you can have some blood. I bet blood goes just as nicely as pudding after sex. Just don't have too much. We wouldn't want you getting heavy, would we?"

My eyes flashed at her gall. Oh, yes. She was going to dominate me very nicely one day. But until then—

I took her head and smashed it into the refrigerator door.

The impact shut the door for me and she burst out laughing like some kind of sadistic movie villain as she bounced off and flopped to the floor.

"Oh, fuck," she gasped, struggling in the tiles. "Vicky. Vicky—"

But I grabbed her hair and proceeded to drag her toward the stairs, showing her how it's done. She screamed and laughed and bumped up the steps and I grinned like some kind of psychotic killer, the knife in one hand and a handful of her hair in the other.

I dragged her kicking and screaming and giggling all the way down the corridor into our bedroom and then I threw her onto the bed. She landed face first and tried to rise but I leaped on top of her and shoved her face into the mattress as I straddled her butt.

"Bite down hard, my love," I told her, clutching the knife like a dagger and lowering the tip to her back. "This is going to hurt."

She gasped and bit down on a mouthful of bedsheet just in time as I dragged the point of the knife across her milky white back and opened up a lovely red cut.

It had been less than a week since I had fed last—since we had fed together from the late Ms Stanley—so there was little danger of losing control. The cut was shallow but it bled freely for quite some time as I dragged my tongue across the entire length of it and lapped up the sticky red sweetness with her whimpering beneath me and the muscles in her back rippling under the attentions of my tongue. She was right. It was just as nice as pudding.

Eventually the wound stopped bleeding. She offered for me to open up another one but I had already tossed away the knife and I told her that perhaps a taste of her pussy would be better. In truth I just didn't want to cause her anymore damage. She rolled onto her back, smiling, and opened her legs for me and I lowered my mouth to her netherlips and kissed them and tongued them deeply, once again feeling that warm glow of submission steal over me. It felt so appropriate, to prostrate myself before her like this and lick her where it pleased her most. My love. My Bella. I moaned at her lovely taste and she moaned as well, her legs wrapped around my head, and after she came there was a red stain on the sheet from where her back had been writhing in ecstasy.

I took her into the bathroom and we showered and washed off the toys and the knife as well and then I sat her on the rim of the tub and disinfected the wound and applied some gauze pads. At least the damage was only on her back where it wouldn't be seen. She went and put the knife back in the kitchen while I changed the sheets on the bed and then she came back and stood in the doorway and watched me sleepily. Once everything was fresh and clean again she turned off the light and climbed into the bed with me close behind her.

Despite how tired she was she didn't sleep right away. I was cuddling her very closely, one of her legs wrapped around mine under the covers, and perhaps I was closer to sleep than she was. Vampires didn't sleep, of course, but the effect she had on me was quite similar to what I imagine it to be. Peace. Calm. Serenity with a hint of bliss. My head was throbbing softly from the beauty of her scent and there other consciousness until my entire being was consumed with nothing but her, her, her.

"Vicky?" she whispered, softly as if she thought I might be asleep.

I smiled in the dark. Evidently her own mind wasn't quite so blank. "Yes, my love?"

"I was just thinking," she said. "When you turn into a vampire, you become indestructible, right?"

"That's right."

"So what if you're already injured? Would all your injuries heal the way vampires heal?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, like…if you accidently lost control…and hurt me pretty badly…would turning me into a vampire save my life? And heal all my injuries?"

"Well. Yes. Within reason, I suppose."

She made a little thoughtful murmur and went silent. I was a little confused at what she was getting at but something in the pit of my stomach had begun to stir nevertheless.

"Bella?" I whispered.

A sleepy giggle came out of her and she snuggled closer in the dark. I had my arms around her naked body and I could feel the rough patches of gauze as I stroked her back.

"I was just thinking," she said. "Maybe we could do something special when you turn me."

"Like what?"

"Like, you know. You're always worried about bruising me or leaving cuts but you wouldn't have to worry if you were going to turn me right after. Can you imagine it? You'd be able to do anything you wanted. You could hit me. And stab me. And break my bones. And then all you'd have to do is turn me and…"

"…and what? You'll be just fine?"

"Yeah," she said, slightly confused at my tone. "Won't I?"

My eyes were open in the dark and I wasn't feeling all that serene and sleepy anymore. I wasn't sure what I felt. Her suggestion should've excited me far more than it did but it seemed to worry me more than anything else.

"Perhaps," I said thoughtfully. "But what if something goes wrong? What if you died before the venom entered your system?"

"We could be careful."

I chuckled and placed a kiss in her hair. "Then there wouldn't be much point doing it at all, would there? No. I love you too much to risk you like that. When I turn you, I intend to minimize the danger as much as possible. Not add to it. Do you have any idea how precious you are to me? Hm?"

My words had been designed to please her but they seemed to have the opposite effect.

"I just thought it would be romantic, that's all," she said, a heavy note of glumness in her voice.

I chuckled again and gave her an affectionate squeeze. "I'm sure it would be," she said. "Very romantic. But do you really think it's worth the risk?"

"Yeah," she said. "I do."

Then she rolled away from me and face the other way.

I was surprised. Part of me wanted to believe that she was merely tired and wanted to sleep but I couldn't remember the last time she had slept outside of my arms. No, I had upset her somehow. But how? Was her suggestion really that important to her? I thought we had moved past the need to prove how much we loved each other? Wouldn't it be more sensible to simply play it safe?

But none of that mattered. All that mattered was that she was upset and I needed to make her feel better. So I shuffled closer behind her and wrapped an arm around her and kissed her ear in the dark and whispered into it.

"I'll think about it, okay?" I told her. "Lord knows it does sound rather tempting. What kinds of things would you let me do to you? Hm? Would you let insert a knife into this little hole here?"

I wriggled a finger between her buttcheeks and poked at the tiny hole there teasingly. The tactic was effective because she giggled.

"Anything you want, Victoria," she said. "Anything to prove how much I belong to you."

I nodded to myself in the dark. I thought it was something like that. She wanted to prove how much she loved me but didn't she realize she had nothing to prove?

I took her shoulder and rolled her toward me and cupped her face in the dark.

"I think even just the offer honors me enough," I whispered, and then I placed a long and loving kiss onto her mouth.

She returned it for a moment, moaning, gently and then she broke apart. "But you'll think about it?"

"Yes," I said chuckling. "I'll think about it. But for now, just go to sleep. You've had a long night. Soon we'll go visit our new friends. And perhaps we'll finally arrive at an actual date on which to turn you."

"Okay. I love you, Vicky."

"I love you too, Bella."

She then rolled back on top of me and entwined a leg with mine as I wrapped my arms around her and breathed a silent sigh of relief. God, I loved her. I just loved her so much.

—

AN: This one was mostly filler/fluff, but it did contain some necessary dialogue and foreshadowing. I thought it was sweet. Leah got a bit of action and it's nice to see Bella and Victoria bantering like a normal couple – before the knife comes out, lol. But chapters like this really make me wish I could write so much faster. There's so much I have in mind that seems so far away. A reviewer said it was amazing that I had written over 200,000 words in just a handful of months, but trust me, that's not half as much as I wish I could write, lol. Anyway, hope you liked it. New chapter soon. :)