—

Chapter 24:

—

Two nights later was a lovely Saturday evening, and as it turned out, our friends from Denali were attending an opera on that same night. Bella and I were quite eager to accept their invitation to join them.

Opera wasn't a particular passion of Bella's, of course—nor mine, to be frank—but our chief goal was simply to get to know our new friends, and of course neither of us was adverse to getting a bit dressed up. We arrived in elegant evening gowns, her in black satin, me in red velvet, and we found our companions in a similar state of splendor. Tanya was in navyblue, Kate in lavender, Irena in a soft mossgreen sheathgown that clung to her curves and made her all the more tall and statuesque, and Carmen…Carmen was not there. Pity. Tanya made some apologies for Carmen's absence but she didn't provide a reason, possibly because she was too tactful to mention that the Spanish woman loathed the very sight me and my sadomasochistic darling.

The trio had arranged a private alcove for our party and I could tell that Bella was impressed with all the pomp and elegance. The chairs were cushioned and upholstered and they had fine gold armrests and she sat down sort of nervously as if she wasn't sure if she was doing it right. The lights hadn't been turned down yet and below us the stage was curtained off with heavy red drapes while the operagoers shuffled to their seats, women in dresses, men in tuxedoes, a child or two. Our own balcony was well secluded but I wasn't sure if the privacy would lead to any kinkiness. Our blonde friends didn't seem quite as slutty as Bella and I, at least not in public.

"Have you ever seen an opera before, Bella?" Tanya asked her as everyone sat and got settled.

Bella glanced at me, as if part of her still sought my permission for everything. I was sitting beside her and I gave her a smile and a nod and she turned back to Tanya.

"Uh, no," she said. "I haven't."

Tanya crossed her legs and smiled out over the stage. "That's surprising," she said. "Edward was a particular lover of opera, I thought he would've taken you."

"Edward never did anything romantic," Bella said, her voice turning a touch bitter. "He was kind of a dweeb, to be honest."

Tanya flashed her a smirk. "But a handsome one, no?"

Kate smiled at that. Bella and Tanya were siting closest to the balustrade, side by side like guests of honor, and Kate, Irena, and I were sitting slightly behind them. I smiled as well, curious about Bella's reply, but she only shrugged awkwardly.

"Guys don't really do it for me anymore," she said. "So…"

Kate giggled and leaned toward Bella. "Don't listen to Tanya, she's always had a weird crush on him."

Tanya sighed and spoke to Kate over her shoulder. "Sit down, Kate," she said. "The show's about to start."

The lights were going down right now. Bella gave me one more glance before the dimness descended and I had to chuckle at how nervous she was. Perhaps it had something to do with the dress and the opera but I also think it had to do with the fact that it had been a long time since she had interacted with anyone but me or her old friend Jessica—whom she had stabbed through the chest. Perhaps she was a little out of practice at regular conversation.

A rustling whisper of people telling each other to be quiet went through the opera house and after a few moments the curtains began to draw back. The stage was black. Then a spotlight flicked on and illuminated a fat man in a strange costume who began to sing in a foreign language. Italian, although I wasn't sure if Bella even knew that. Her face had gone weird right away and she was already glancing around, as if to see if anyone else thought it was as stupid as she did. She had her opera glasses in her hands and the program she'd been handed earlier—a watermarked sheet of fine cardboard with gold writing likewise in a different language—and she watched the opera for a full thirty seconds before she was so bored she had to talk.

"So what's this one called again?" she asked, trying to keep her opinion out of her voice.

Tanya kept her eyes on the singing fat man but she didn't seem annoyed at the interruption. "Mefistofele," she said to Bella. "It's a Faustian opera."

Bella's face went weird again. "A what?"

Kate grinned and leaned to her. "It's the same opera Bruce Wayne saw before his parents were killed."

"Isn't that just a comic book?" Bella asked in confusion.

It was such a stupid question that our entire party was embarrassed for her. We shared glances, unsure how to proceed lest we have a mental deficient in our midst. To Bella's credit, however, she did realize her ridiculousness right away and blushed darkly even in the darkness of the opera house.

I cleared my throat and decided I ought to come to her rescue.

"Mefistofele is the devil," I explained. "He makes a bargain with god that he can corrupt a man named Faust, which he spends most of the opera trying to do. He offers money, power, even the ability to seduce women. Yet in the end, Faust realizes it's a false happiness and begs for god's forgiveness. God grants it and Mephistopheles is banished back to hell, having failed to turn Faust."

Kate chuckled. "Jeez, Vic," she said. "Call spoiler alert next time."

I raised a brow. Vic? Well. I suppose she was cute enough to get away with it.

Tanya listened to my explanation and then she smiled and leaned to Bella. "Perhaps you can take a lesson from it, Ms Swan," she said. "Corruption and depravity rarely lead to true happiness."

Bella grinned at that and looked over her shoulder at me lovingly.

"Feels pretty real to me," she said.

I smiled at her and then leaned and applied a kiss onto her lips. I sensed an eye roll or two from our companions but none of them said anything.

"Agreed," I said upon breaking the kiss. Then I turned to Tanya as Bella settled back in her chair. "In any case, Tanya, I never corrupted her. She was always like this. She was only waiting for someone to share it with."

Tanya smiled at that, thoughtfully, as if she didn't quite understand but was curious to. Irena, meanwhile, seemed to be a genuine lover of opera and she was getting a tad annoyed at all these interruptions.

"That's sweet and all," she said, "but do you think we could actually watch the opera? Thanks."

Bella bit back a giggle and gave me another glance. I wanted to kiss her again. In fact, I wanted to pull her into my lap and make out with her. But that might've been just a little inappropriate so I merely returned her smile and contented myself with the glow in my heart.

Bella tried to follow the opera but it was only a matter of time before she became bored again. Perhaps it was the foreign language or the overall extravagance of the production but either way she found it difficult to be engaged. Instead she turned her opera glasses to the guests below and when she became bored of that she turned them to Tanya who was sitting there beside her all unbeknownst of the younger girl's magnified stare. I smiled and shook my head as the glasses roamed over the other woman's sexy blue dress and the perfect profile of her face and then I smiled again as Bella turned in her chair and fixed the glasses on me.

First on my face to which I smirked. The lips beneath the opera glasses smirked as well and then the glasses lowered to neckline of my scarlet gown to examine the swell of breasts there. She giggled behind the binoculars.

"Wow, Vicky," she said. "You're tits are even more gigantic with these things."

I crossed my legs and cleared my throat awkwardly. Our companions shared a round of glances and then Kate shuffled her chair closer to Bella and pointed down at the stage where the orchestra was in full concerto and a troupe of players in demonic costumes twirled upon the boards.

"See the bat demons?" she said to Bella. "Those are what scared Bruce Wayne and made him ask his parents to leave the theatre."

Bella seemed surprised that conversation had once again turned to comic characters and she didn't seem all that interested in that either. "You sure know a lot about comic books," she observed.

Kate grinned and continued to explain. "That was the movie, actually. In the comic books, the origin story is always different. One of the more common versions is where they were watching Zorro, which ties in with the whole vigilante thing."

"I've never read any comic books," Bella mentioned with a little shrug.

"Most people haven't," Irena said, overhearing the whispered conversation. "Because they suck."

Kate shot her a glare and turned back to Bella. "Don't listen to her, comic books are awesome. You should check some out sometime. The world needs more fangirls. I could show you my collection if you want."

Bella didn't seem all that interested in comic books but she did seem interested in the perky blonde who wanted to show her some. "Uh, sure," she said. "Okay."

"Great," Kate said with a giggle. "I can show you my Catwoman cosplay too."

Bella smiled confusedly. "What's a cosplay?"

"It's where you dress up as the character. Here, I got pictures."

"Oh god, not the pictures," Irena said, lifting a palm to her forehead.

Kate was searching in her purse for her phone. I tried not to be too disapproving but it was hard. A phone in a movie theatre was annoying. A phone in an opera house is just a damned abomination. But it was nice they were getting along and I didn't want to interfere.

Tanya gave her coven sister a minor glare but Kate ignored everyone and showed Bella the pictures on her phone.

"These are from last year's comic con," she was saying. "Hot, right?"

Bella's eyebrows had shot up and I leaned for a look myself. My eyebrows rose too. The picture showed Kate in a skintight black catsuit and posed with her back to the camera and her ass deliciously wrapped in black rubber as she smiled suggestively over her shoulder at the lens.

"Wow," Bella said. "You look amazing."

Kate giggled at the compliment. "I know, right? See, it's not just for nerds."

"Attractive nerds are still nerds," Irena quipped in her dry kind of way.

Kate glared at her again as she put away her phone. Then she turned to Bella and whispered very quietly in her ear. Even with vampire hearing I couldn't really make out the words over the belting of the baritone on stage. Bella listened to the other girl and she smiled kind of shyly and then she rose from her chair.

"Um, I have to go to the bathroom," she said. "I'll be back in a minute."

I raised a brow. Bathroom?

"I'm gonna keep talking to Bella," Kate said, also rising from her chair. "You guys keep watching."

I felt a strange spasm of alarm. I didn't like the idea of Bella leaving my sight. At home, okay. As long as she was close. But not here, in public. Not with another vampire whom I didn't completely trust yet.

But I didn't want to offend any of our companions either so I kept my voice diplomatic.

"Would you like me to come with you, Bella?" I asked.

Bella grinned and gave me a little shake of her head, like a daughter who didn't want her mother to mess up a date. It set me at ease a little but I wasn't sure how much. I had even half-risen from my chair as well but Kate put a hand on my shoulder and urged me back down again.

"No, no, no, she'll be fine," she said. "Come on, Bella, I'll show you where the bathrooms are."

Bella let Kate take her arm and together they left the balcony.

I still wasn't sure how I felt about it but I didn't object. Irena sighed and shook her head at them as they left and Tanya only smiled. No one else seemed to be worried so perhaps I was overreacting. I wasn't worried about Bella cheating on me or anything. On the contrary nothing would delight me more for her to explore a little sexual independency. Our relationship went far beyond the boundaries of monogamy. No, it was the fact that these women were close friends with the man who used to call Bella a mate that worried me. Perhaps I was being paranoid but what if all this was a distraction and now Kate was to whisk Bella away somewhere?

I recrossed my legs and tried to focus on the opera. I was being silly. This is what true love will do to you. Worse than being a parent, for god's sake. All the needless worry and anxiety. But why was she taking so long? Was she alright? I turned toward the curtain behind us that closed off the balcony.

"They've been quite a while," I commented to the remainder of our party. "Bella rarely takes this long to do her business."

Irena arched a slender blonde eyebrow. "Do her business? What is she, a pet?"

"Perhaps I should go check on her?"

"Don't worry about it, Irena said nonchalantly. "They're probably just lezzing out in the bathroom or something."

It would set me greatly at ease if that were so. Tanya gave Irena a slightly disapproving glance and then she turned in her chair to smile at me.

"I'm sure they're just chatting in the lobby," she said. "Neither of them seemed particularly interested in the opera."

Something about the other woman was very reassuring. Her tone or voice or perhaps just her face. She had an air of nobility and virtue that was simply above reproach. My anxiety was dispelled in a chuckle or two and I gave the other woman a smile.

"Yes, well," I said. "One can't expect sophisticated tastes from children, I suppose."

Irena snorted. "Kate is over a thousand years old."

"Indeed? Well…"

I trailed off and Irena snorted again.

"Yeah, there's no excuse for her," she said. "Tanya and I are over a thousand years old too. We were all turned roughly the same century. Carmen joined much later, somewhere around the 1700s"

I was impressed. A thousand years was a very long bond. "And you've been together this whole time?" I asked in admiration. "How remarkable."

Tanya smiled as if she was proud of her coven and very grateful for it too. "We've been very fortunate to have each other," she said. "Speaking of which, have you and Bella discussed when you're going to turn her? I don't mean to pry, but I'm not very practiced at keeping secrets from those I care about. Edward needs to be informed of Bella's fate as soon as the two of you are settled, and my conscience demands that I expedite the eventuality as best I'm able."

I was glad she bought it up. Not only because I had been wanting to discuss it but also because it dispelled even more of my paranoia that Kate might be up to something nefarious. By now the opera was almost completely forgotten by our little trio and we had all turned our chairs slightly toward each other to confer quietly in the pale darkness of the balcony.

"I understand," I said to Tanya, "and yes, we had an depth discussion very recently. In truth, I was hoping we may be able to count on your support."

"How so?"

"That lovely estate of yours, for instance, is quite isolated from the city. Perfect place for a newborn to learn to control herself."

I made the suggestion as subtle as possible, leaving her plenty of room for polite disagreement, but she nodded thoughtfully. Irena, however, seemed to have some doubts.

"I'm not sure how Carmen would feel about that," she said. "She hasn't made a secret of how much she disapproves of whatever you two got going on. She wouldn't even go to an opera with you. I doubt she'll be very eager to help turn your little rape-slave into a vampire so you can abuse her forever."

There wasn't any accusation in her voice so I didn't take it personally. She seemed to be only relaying how her coven-sister felt. But I had a feeling about the Spanish beauty and I was positive her feisty self-righteous could be converted into something even feistier.

"Perhaps I could talk with her," I suggested, and by talk I meant seduce and fuck the morality out of her.

Irena shrugged and turned to Tanya. "Either way, I'm cool with it, and I know Kate is too. Tanya?"

"Yes, of course," Tanya said to me, smiling politely and even laying a hand over mine on my lap, a surprisingly warm gesture from a woman I hardly knew. "We'll help in any way that we can."

I returned her smile and I was actually quite touched. She was quite a woman, this Tanya. A wise leader. Strong. Broad minded yet steadfast in her convictions. It was easy to see how she had accumulated such a devoted coven. I had always been more suited to the life of a frivolous nomad but the unity of this particular coven was becoming more and more desirable.

"What about Carmen?" Irena asked Tanya.

Tanya sighed but she didn't seem too distressed. "Carmen is part of this coven and she'll simply have to reconcile herself with our collective decision," she said. "She's being unreasonable, anyway. It's not our place to judge."

I held Tanya's hand in my own and gave it an affectionate caress. "I'm very grateful, Tanya," I said. "But I'd hate to cause any friction between you, and I really think Carmen could be persuaded if only I had some time alone with her. She left so abruptly the other night that Bella and I never got to fully explain the real extent of our love for each other."

"Of course," Tanya said. "Perhaps you could come hunting with us this weekend?"

Normally the suggestion of a shared hunt with beautiful women would fill me with excitement. But I was looking into her gentle eyes—her warm golden eyes that flashed a vegetarian yellow in the darkness of the opera house—and I remembered that her diet likely wasn't as desirable as the woman herself was.

"Hunting?" I repeated in surprise. "Well, um…hunting for what, may I ask?"

"Elk," Irena said blandly. I looked at her and her face was completely deadpan as she added: "It's as tasty as it sounds."

I chuckled at her. She didn't seem to enjoy her all-animal diet very much, judging from the several quips I had heard from her, and I'm sure Kate was kinky enough to perhaps try something more adventurous than elk as well. But what about Tanya?

I looked into her eyes again briefly but I could honestly determine nothing. They seemed to be as depthless as they were beautiful. It might've been rube to refuse her gracious offer but I could at least counter with one of my own.

"Well," I said, "as much as I would love to, I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass on that particular pleasure. Instead why don't Bella and I treat all of you to a hunt? A real hunt, with prey that looks as good as they taste?"

The two of them shared a glance and I was surprised that my offer shocked them so much. My eyes were clearly red and they were well-appraised of the carnage I'd left in Forks. Why should they be surprised I hunt humans?

It was Irena who spoke and her voice had gone slightly on guard.

"Bella hunts too?" she asked.

Ah. So that's what had shocked them. Not that I hunt humans but that apparently Bella does too. Yes, I can imagine why that would disturb them. It had even disturbed me when Bella first suggested it.

"Certainly," I said with a smile. "She doesn't drink, of course, but she does enjoy to join in."

They shared another glance, even more shocked. And perhaps a little impressed as well, either at my powers of corruption or at my young mate's gigantic cojones in being able to murder innocent people for no reason beyond sadistic pleasure.

"Wait, let me get this straight," Irena said, turning to me and frowning as if trying to solve some equation. "She doesn't drink blood…she has no thirst…but she still likes to kill people?"

"Well, only one so far, but she is quite excited for more," I said with a smile.

Tanya was silent in her speculative way and Irena snorted.

"Wow," she said. "What a little psycho."

I chuckled and at that moment my little psycho returned to the balcony together with Kate. They came through the curtain, letting through a brief flicker of light from the corridor beyond, and both Tanya and Irena looked at her differently. This gentle girl, pale and willowy, clad in her beautiful black dress with her black hair cascading richly about her soft and milky shoulders. A murderer. My murderer.

"Hi," she chirped with a cute little smile. "Did I miss anything?"

"Oh, don't pretend you were following to begin with, Bella," I told her.

She giggled and moved past me to her chair. Her scent wafted over me and I was surprised to find it untainted by anything other than her perfume. Her makeup was in perfect condition as well and it seemed she had kept her panties on the entire time she was gone.

Hmm. That made me feel surprisingly nice. I would've been perfectly happy for her to slut herself out to whoever she wished but the loyalty was sweet too. I suppose my darling could do no wrong no matter what she did. Not to me, at least.

Bella had left her program and her opera glasses on her chair and now she sat down and gathered them in her lap as a female falsetto on stage wailed a note that never seem to end. Kate sat as well. Irena and Tanya were still somewhat reeling from the revelation that the sweet and innocent little Ms Swan was actually much worse than a sex gimp so I suppose it was up to me to carry the conversation.

"What took you girls so long?" I asked them both.

"Oh, Kate was showing me more of her pictures," Bella said. "And then I was telling her about Leah."

I smiled and turned to Kate. "Oh, she did?"

Kate smiled as well and nodded. "Yeah, apparently I met her when we first came to your house? That tall sexy chick in the leather jacket? She sounds really great, although I'm not sure about dating a human. It's difficult to date someone when you can't even have a meal with them."

"True, but at the same time, is there anything nicer than human warmth?"

Irena snorted at that. "An odd sentiment coming from a murderer."

"Not at all," I said pleasantly. "The warmth of the human body and the extinguishing of it are what make the whole process so pleasurable. That and the rending of soft flesh."

Kate chuckled awkwardly at that and turned to Bella. "Doesn't it creep you out when she says stuff like that? You know, as a human?"

Bella shrugged and gave me a smile. "I'm not very human anymore these days," she said. "Speaking of which, when are you going to take me on another hunt?"

Now it was Kate's turn to be shocked. "You go hunting with her?"

"Yep," Bella said with a bit of smugness. "I kill them, she drains them. It's the best way to share until I become a vampire too."

Kate's jaw dropped and she gaped at her coven mates to see what they thought. But Tanya and Irena already knew and even though it must've been another shock to hear it from Bella's own mouth, especially in the darkness of this opera house with the demonic imagery on stage and the howl of tenors ringing through the hall, they didn't have any comment.

"Actually," I said to Bella, "before you came back, I was just in the middle of inviting our new friends to join us on a hunt. So what do you say, my dear Tanya? Can I persuade you?"

Kate seemed kind of shaken at all this and Irena seemed a little offended as well. Only Tanya herself retained a smile and her usual air of serenity.

"Thank you, but we must decline," she said. "We prefer to feed strictly from animals."

"And why is that, may I ask? I'm most curious."

"It's a personal preference. The guilt became quite a bit to bare over the years. Many of the men who fell to our charms and hungers became quite dear to our hearts before the inevitable end."

I acted aghast at the word men. "Men?" I echoed in distress. "Good heavens, I'd wager they're worse than the animals. You poor things. Why, it's a wonder you've survived these thousand years at all on such poor sustenance. Surely you must be aware that there's no finer meat than girlmeat?"

A tentative smile blossomed on Kate's mouth, as if deep down she kind of agreed with that, and even Irena seemed somewhat intrigued. Bella grinned at them in the darkness and nodded.

"It's true," she said. "My meat's awesome."

I smiled at her and my heart warmed at her kinky addition. "Precisely," I said, and then I put an arm around her and turned her to Tanya. "Look at her closely, Tanya. Look at how soft and vulnerable and beautiful she is. Does her very perfection not beg to be blemished? Does her frail body not beg to be broken? Her throat to be choked? Her skin to be bitten?"

As I spoke I made erotic movements over her. Touching her throat with menacing gentleness. Leaning to lick her cheek. None of them answered. Bella sat there passively in her black dress, smiling, perfectly comfortable at being presented as food. Even flattered and excited. I gave her a smile and a kiss and then I released her from my embrace and turned back to Tanya

"Now, naturally, Bella herself is off-limits," I said, "but I'm sure we can find other girls. Either way, feeding from animals is below you, and your sisters as well. Such lovely women deserve only the finest luxuries."

Kate and Irena looked at Tanya. The opera continued in the background, approaching a climax as the orchestra crashed and surged in rhythm with the howling opera singers. Tanya's eyes had gone a shade darker, almost undiscernible in the darkness of this upperbalcony, but aside from that she seemed largely unmoved.

"Victoria," she said. "I don't judge your liftestyle. So I would appreciate if you didn't judge mine."

I put a hand over my heart as if mortified to have given offence. "Judge? Oh, my dear woman, of course I wouldn't judge. Your lifestyle is perfectly fine. I'm merely advocating for my own lifestyle. A liftestyle unsullied by guilt or emotional attachment. A liftestyle where we dine on the unthinkable and drink the blood as merely a dessert. Does that not sound intriguing?"

"You seem to have an emotional attachment to Bella," she pointed out.

I glanced at the girl beside me and smiled. "Yes, well, look at her," I said, unable to keep from beaming at her lovingly. "Clearly she's a special case. But you twist my point, Tanya. The point is that you've been misled. Opera may attempt to convince us that there is virtue in resisting corruption but in reality I think you'll find that there is nothing in the world more richly rewarded."

None of them answered. Kate and Irena did seem slightly swayed but Tanya's smile had faded somewhat, as if the offer made her sad somehow. As if reminded her that perhaps she did have something dark and dormant hidden deep inside her. Something that hadn't been fed in hundreds of years.

But before anyone could speak we all turned to Bella. She had her program in her lap and she was rubbing the edge of it against her finger.

"What are you doing?" Kate inquired, quite reasonably I thought.

"Trying to papercut my—ow!"

Bella jumped in her chair. The opera rose and wailed. The edge of the program had made a tiny slice in the pad of her index finger and already a small bead of blood had welled there.

The scent of it froze the four of us likes statues. The three of them were frozen by the sudden onslaught of thirst. I was frozen by a sudden fierce protectiveness. All three of them seemed to have complete control but I had to be ready.

Bella smiled and pinched her finger so that more blood would well. Then she lifted her eyes to Tanya.

"Victoria isn't lying," she said. "I'm not even a vampire and I know how awesome it is to feed on humans. Especially a girl like me."

Then she lifted her hand and touched the tip of her bleeding finger to Tanya's mouth.

Tanya's eyes instantly blackened at the taste of blood. But she remained in control. Her eyes were fixed on Bella's as that tiny drop of red moisture sizzled on her bottom lip and then she opened her mouth a little. Bella smiled and slipped her finger inside it. The lips closed around it and Tanya's blackened eyes slipped closed in an almost orgasmic release as she gave a little suckle and tasted human blood for the first time in centuries.

Kate and Irena were watching with their mouths open, mindless with hunger and envy. I was watching them all, smiling, and allowed myself to lower my guard. Bella knew exactly what she was doing and I couldn't have been more proud of her. After all my speeches, all it took was a papercut and a seductive smile. I perhaps never would've tempted them myself but Bella had done so in an instant. Perhaps it was her who was the true corruptress.

Bella smiled at Tanya and stirred her finger in Tanya's mouth erotically as she spoke to her.

"But you can't only feed from them," she said. "You have to hurt them too. And rape them. And make then do things to you. Humiliate them. Tie them up. Make them cry and scream. That's the funnest part. It's so fun I even liked it when Victoria was doing it to me."

Tanya's eyes opened and Bella withdrew her finger. It had stopped bleeding. Tanya's eyes were solid black by now and Kate and Irena's were very dark as well. Bella gave me a smile and I felt a swell of love for her. What a woman she was going to be.

It was Kate who recovered her senses first.

"Um, I kind of get what you're saying," she said, "but did it ever occur to you that maybe the two of you are just a couple of wackjobs? Not everyone gets off on that kind of thing, not even most vampires."

I smiled and now it was my turn again. "True, perhaps the lifestyle itself isn't for everyone. But I would be greatly flattered all the same if you would join us one evening."

They shared glances in the darkness. By now the orchestra was in its final crescendo. I watched them and gave them a smile.

"Feel free to take some time to think about it," I said. "And in the meantime, why don't I offer Bella tonight as an appetizer? It'll give you a taste of what I'm talking about and I'm sure she'd enjoy a few cuts and bruises."

Bella nodded eagerly and the blonde vampires shared another round of glances.

But before any of them could answer the wail on stage was silent in an uproar of cymbal crashes from the orchestra. The audience was instantly rising from their seats for a standing ovation and Irena did too and then Kate and finally Tanya, who gave us both long and steady looks before rising from her chair and turning to the closing curtains around the stage and providing a polite round of applause. Bella and I were still sitting and we looked at each other, unsure if our offer was accepted, before we too rose and began clapping.

In the crush to leave the theatre the offer wasn't mentioned again and I admit I was disappointed. Not only had I failed to invite them on a hunt but I had failed to even accept their own invitation for a hunt as well. Bad timing, I suppose. Perhaps the opera had a point; corruption was rarely rewarded. Not when attempted in the middle of an opera, at any rate. I do believe they were interested, though. Tanya in particular perhaps. It seemed Kate and Irena would go along with their leader and so it was Tanya who must be swayed and I was almost certain we had her. Or perhaps most of the credit belong to Bella. Her papercut stunt was pure seductive genius. It made me wet simply to witness it. Too bad the opera had to end right there or perhaps the night wouldn't have to end just yet. We could've had a lot of fun together, the four of us with my sweet Bella in the middle, experimenting on her gently with bondage and knives, sharing with our new friends the thrill of sexual violence.

The night outside the opera house was rather cold and all five of us were bundled up in coats over our dresses. We were waiting on the sidewalk under an ornate awning for our cars to be bought around, chatting idly about the opera. Bella had her arms buried inside her coat and she was bobbing up and down a little from the cold.

"So are we going home with them or not?" she whispered, as confused as I was about the status of our offer.

"I'm not sure," I whispered back.

By now a chrome silver Porsche—more expensive than three copies of our own car—was being pulled up at the curb and a man in a small red jacket got out and accepted a ticket from Tanya. Kate and Irena were climbing into the car, both of them sparing us smirks, and Tanya turned to us with her white fur coat wrapped around her. She was smiling and I suppose our offer was still on her mind as well because she seemed to decide only just now.

"So will we see you back at the mansion?" she asked. "Unless Bella is too tired for a few cuts and bruises, of course."

Bella was surprised. And delighted. I gave her a smile and nodded for her to accept the offer and she turned back to Tanya quickly.

"No, I'm good," she said. "We'll see you there."

Tanya nodded and gave her a wink. Then she turned and climbed into the Porsche.

Bella and I watched the car drive away, standing there under the awning with all the other theatregoers, and both of us were quietly stunned. After a while a chuckle came out of her and she smiled at me.

"Well," she said. "I guess the orgy's on."

I chuckled as well and took her hands to talk to her seriously for a moment. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" I asked her. "It'll be different than with Leah. With Leah you were an equal. In this situation you'll be merely a gangbanged piece of meat between vampires."

I thought at least she might've had a hint of hesitation but she only grinned excitedly.

"Exactly how I like it," she said. "Just don't let them forget it's you I belong to, okay? That's important. I belong to you and the only reason I'm doing any of it is because of you. Okay?"

I nodded and I completely understood. However deep our sexlife degenerated it was paramount that we remained connected at all times.

"As you wish," I whispered to her and then I gave her a kiss on the lips.

The kiss earned a glance or two from the formally attired theatregoers but we ignored them. I broke the kiss and smiled at her and cupped her face to gaze at her until our car arrived. I handed the man my ticket and went around to open the door for my love and close it again after she got in and then I went around the other side and got in behind the wheel. She was very excited and she giggled as I started the car and pulled away from the curb, not towards home but in the direction of a certain mansion outside of town.

The night was only just beginning.

—

AN: The seduction of the Denali's, lol. Hope it felt natural and not rushed. Next chapter ought to be a lot of fun. We'll know in a few days. See you soon. :)