AN: Thanks for reviews, as always, lol. And a quick shout out to Kat. You don't have an account, or I'd PM you, but feel better, okay? ;)

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Chapter 36:

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The next day Bella and I went hunting. Lately Bella had gotten used to doing her hunting from the comfort of a bar stool but today she was sweating away on a treadmill in the first hunting ground I had ever taken her: the gym.

It was the same gym I had taken her to the very first time I had taken her hunting. Back then she had been rather unimpressed with the selection but that had been a significant hunt which required a little specialness. A specialness we had wound up finding with her old friend Jessica. This time, however, the gym ought to suit our purposes perfectly. Most importantly, it was anonymous. No barkeeps to take note of when and who the victim disappeared with. No digital footprints left on dating sites. With so many women in the city disappearing lately we had to be more careful than ever.

Aside from that, it was still a decent selection. The men were off the table, of course. By the gallon, men did have more blood in their bodies—which would make them the more economical choice—but being less picky didn't mean we had to be completely standard-less. No reason to completely forsake preference. We could be less picky among the females but female was indeed the first requirement. The more attractive the better, although it wasn't as important as it had been in Bella's first few hunts. This time they could be a little too tall, a little too short. Large, thin, long hair, short hair, gay, straight. The particulars weren't important. All we needed was a decent piece of woman-meat.

And then we'd need about ten more before Bella could be turned.

Still, one at a time. Bella was beginning to struggle on the treadmill and she was panting heavily with sweat and hair all stuck to her forehead. I was simply standing there, watching her, checking out her ass from time to time. She was wearing skin-tight black yoga pants and her buttocks did look extremely fetching with her jogging like that. Bella wiped her forehead with a wrist and kept jogging. I bet she wished she was already a vampire and it seemed I was correct because those were her next words.

"God, I wish I was a vampire already," she said.

I smiled and turned my gaze out over the gym. It was lunchtime and there were quite a few young women getting their workouts in, bouncing around with ponytails or frowning in concentration on heavier weight machines. Among them were many less desirables, including stick-thin gym rats or male muscleheads in muscleshirts, but overall the selection was more than adequate.

"So how come we're hunting at the gym again?" Bella asked, possibly just to be difficult as had become her habit. "It didn't work too well the first time."

"Because that was your first time," I explained to her. "It had to be special. This is a lot more informal. As a newborn you'll be far too frenzied to take much pleasure in any of the victims. You certainly won't have the control or presence of mind to rape them in any methodical way. All you'll need is any reasonably attractive woman with blood in her body. No need to go to any great trouble."

She laughed at that in a ragged gasp. "No trouble? Jesus. Maybe it's no trouble to you, Vicky, but I'm about to pass out here. Do you how know fast this treadmill is? How come we don't just browse personal ads?"

I smiled and took pity on her, reaching for the treadmill control panel to switch it off for her. She slowed and stopped and stood there gasping for a little bit. I handed her a towel.

"We need perfect strangers," I said. "And besides, exercise is always beneficial. No harm sculpting your body just a little more before it's frozen in perfection for all eternity, hm?"

I leaned and looked at the back of her yoga pants. So tight and form fitting over her beautiful teenage buttocks. It put a stich in my heart, it really did. She was drying her sweaty face and now she noticed what I was looking at.

"Are you staring at my ass?"

"Indeed," I said, still staring at the gorgeous thing.

I went to touch it but she swatted my hand away playfully.

"Well, stop," she said. "Focus. Where here to hunt, remember?"

I chuckled at her reversal and looked out across the gym once more. There were plenty of decent enough women but in the end it was up to Bella. Bella had taken a bottle of water from her gym bag and now she took a drink as some woman over by the exercise bikes caught her eye.

"What about that chick over there?" she suggested with a toss of her chin. "The one with short hair. She's kind of cute in a lezzy kind of way."

I looked over at her. The woman in question had short brown hair, or maybe more medium-length, and even from a distance she did look kind of dyke-ish. No makeup, athletic frame, plain face. But cute in her clear complexion and large eyes. Just a nice good looking gay woman.

I liked her.

"She certainly is," I agreed.

"Great, she'll do then."

I glanced at her in surprise. I would've thought she'd want to shop around a little more but perhaps she was afraid of pretending to workout any more. There was a fresh sheen of sweat on her forehead, even though she had stopped over a minute ago, and now she wiped it with the towel.

"Boy," she said. "I'm exhausted. So how do we take her?"

I smiled and continued watching the woman. "Following her home would be a good start, but I suppose there's no reason we can't be a little creative. Why don't I distract her while you steal her phone? If we're lucky, she'll have an electronic address book that'll give us a head start."

Bella grinned, always game to toy with her prey. "How are you going to distract her?"

I smirked at her and then I turned and passed my hands along the seat of the black spandex tights I was wearing. The tights had a rep stripe up the side and they came to mid-calf. Bella looked at my hands as they passed over my buttocks and lifted her eyes back to mine with a similar smirk on her mouth.

"You're not the only one with a magnificent ass, my love," I told her, and then I winked and started across the gym.

I moved toward our prey at a predatory prowl. So far she hadn't noticed me yet. She had ear buds in her ears and she was facing the other direction, peddling away at an exercise bike on a platform of other bikes. Her eyes were unfocused, staring at nothing, and she appeared to be deep in thought. She was cycling quite fast and you could tell at a glance that she was fit and no stranger to a gym. I circled closer, letting my eyes roam over her damp and flushed face as I assessed her age. I would guess mid to late twenties. Perhaps single, perhaps not. Perhaps not even gay, although her haircut and the lack of color in her clothes certainly seemed to suggest it. We would find out soon enough.

Bella by now had begun circling in the other direction, keep an eye on me, the two of us like lionesses working in tandem and converging on the same prey. Bella hadn't had much practice at stealing but I'm sure she could pull off something as simple as lifting a phone from someone's bag while they weren't looking. I just hoped I could distract the woman adequately. If my ass failed, I always had my boobs. They were bundled up in a red spandex top with black stripes and the tightness of the fabric only made them appear even more huge.

The woman was virtually alone in her section of the gym, all the bikes beside her empty, and a smile came onto my mouth as various tactics of acquiring her attention occurred to me. At first I simply walked past. Nice and slowly. From the corner of my eyes I noticed her instantly perk up from her cycling monotony. The first thing she would've seen was my hair. Rich and red. Then she would noticed how incredibly hot my body was. Then, as I continued past, her eyes would no doubt lower to my ass. Here I paused and looked around, as if there was something I was supposed to find. In reality I was simply giving her time to ogle my spandex tights. Bella was smirking at me from a small distance away, observing. I had a gym bag over my shoulder and now I adjusted the strap and turned back.

The woman looked down quickly.

Yep.

She was gay alright.

Smiling, I walked back the way I came, directly in front of her, and looked around again. If she suspected I was parading myself around just for her she was completely right. I adjusted the strap of my gym bag again, trying to act a little shy, and then I turned back to the woman on the bike. Again she looked away but more discreetly this time. I looked at the empty bikes beside her, fixed a coy smile on my face, and then moved a few steps closer to the woman on the bike.

"Hi," I said.

She didn't hear but she could see I had spoken to her. The gym was filled with the clank of machinery and the music from the speakers and she was also listening to some kind of iDevice. She seemed surprised that I had spoken to her but it only took a moment before she pulled the earbuds out of her ears.

"Excuse me?" she asked, still cycling at exactly the same pace and not out of breath at all.

I broke into a smile and added a little ditziness to my demeanour. She seemed like the kind of woman who might go for it. "Sorry, I couldn't help noticing you," I said, in a bit of a babble. "Are you, um, almost done with the bike?"

The woman blinked at me. Then she looked around at the entire row of empty bikes at either side of her. It was a completely ridiculous and transparent question but that was the point.

Thankfully it seemed to work. She turned back to me with a quirky kind of smile.

"Uh, sure," she said. "Almost done."

I nodded and giggled a little girlishly. She had her earbuds in her hand but she made no move to put them back in her ears. She seemed to hope I would speak to her again and that's exactly what I did.

"Thanks," I said. "I hardly ever use a bike. It looks pretty tough. Do you always work out that intense?"

She looked down at the bike she was riding. As if she was surprised to see it there. Her thighs were pumping in a circular motion and she was wearing plain gray capris.

"Well, uh, yeah, you know," she said, with an eloquent shrug. "I like to keep fit."

I nodded as if I was interested. So far the woman hadn't impressed me with her vocabulary but up close like this her body certainly did. Like her face it had a simple sort of charm. Nothing divine like my own but just a good fit healthy human body. I gave it a quick look-over and nodded again.

"It shows," I said. "You must spend a lot of time here."

She nodded and kept cycling. "Almost every day. Don't recall seeing you here, though."

"Oh, I don't have much time for working out, although I really should," I said, and then I smiled guiltily and patted my flat perfect tummy. "I've been gaining so much weight lately. I'm getting fat, aren't I?"

The woman's eyebrows almost rose into her hairline. She couldn't believe it. A grin of disbelief came over her face.

"Seriously? You think your fat?"

I wouldn't usually fish for compliments with such blatant bait but the woman seemed to like it. I turned slightly and preened my spandex-covered ass slightly for her to see and pouted as if I were unhappy with it.

"Well, I have gained a few pounds lately," I admitted.

The woman laughed and shook her head.

Bella by now had circled around behind her, closing in on the other woman's gym bag, and she was close enough to hear all this. I gave her a discreet smile and she rolled her eyes elaborately at my very tacky tactics.

"You don't look fat to me," the woman said, her attention completely on me and my ass. "You look incredible."

I smiled and waved away her compliment as if I didn't deserve it. "Oh, you don't have to say that."

"Seriously," she went on with a grin. "I'd kill for a body like yours."

I smirked and couldn't resist saying:

"Would you die for one?"

She didn't get the joke of course. "Huh?"

"Nothing, just a joke," I said, and then I offered her a hand. "My name's Victoria."

The idea of a hand shake seemed to turn her on a little. She was seriously taking an interest in me, the poor thing. She took my hand and shook it firmly while cycling on the bike and grinned.

"I'm Claire," she said.

I smiled and repeated the name.

"Claire."

The way I said it made her blush. I was still holding her hand and I didn't let go for a moment. Bella was crouched down on the other side of the bike and she was extracting the woman's phone from her gym bag. I kept the woman's eyes locked on mine, as if I were mesmerized, and then suddenly I giggled and let go of the hand.

"Sorry, um—hey, maybe we could work out together sometime?" I suggested as if I was seriously interested in her too. And I was, really, only my interest was less romantic and more about wanting to feed her to my mate. "You could give me some pointers and help get me back into dating shape."

I said that last part as a joke. Bella had the phone by now and she flashed it to me quickly with a grin before hurriedly walking away with it. The retreat ought to have been more casual but she had done very well nevertheless.

Meanwhile the woman was laughing at how I continued to pretend to be overweight.

"Yeah, sure," she said. "Although you look in plenty shape to me. I'd date you any day."

I turned back to her and smiled and touched her hand that rested on the bike handles.

"Great," I said. "It's a date then."

I then went to walk away but she called me back.

"Don't you want the bike?" she asked with a grin.

I looked at her and let my eyes roam seductively over her plain face and short-ish brown hair. She really did look kind of cute, especially with that budding crush on her face.

"No, it's okay," I said. "I got what I was here for."

Then I winked and turned and walked away with a very deliberate roll in my hips. Halfway to the locker rooms I turned back and looked at her. She had been watching me and she still hadn't put her earbuds in her ears. Poor thing.

Bella and I met up in the locker room and she greeted me with a grin.

"Seriously, Vicky? You played the getting fat card?"

I chuckled and didn't answer. It had been effective and that's all that mattered. Bella and I sat down on the wooden bench, still fully clothed. Several naked women were stationed at their lockers, putting clothes on, drying off. Bella handed me the phone she's lifted.

"Here's her phone," she said. "Anything on it?"

"Hard to say, since I haven't even looked at it yet, you silly thing."

Bella rolled her eyes and then she glanced around covertly, as if any of these naked chicks might notice the two master thieves conferring on the bench. I was looking through the phone so that she could see as well but she got distracted by a naked woman with a wet tattoo of a snake coiled around one leg and across her back.

"Damn," she whispered, staring at her. "We should've just started hunting in here."

I chuckled and drew her attention back to the phone. "One at a time, baby. Let's focus on Claire for now."

"Claire? Is that her name?"

"Mmhm. Not much of interest on her phone, though. Texts to a sister. Apparently her mother is sick. She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow."

"That sucks."

"Indeed, although it does seem she lives alone. The address in the address book is for an apartment. And—oh yes. She's a lesbian."

I held up a photo for Bella to see. The photo was of Claire and some blonde girl in some kind of drunk liplock at a party. Bella grinned and nodded in approval.

"Nice," she said.

I was still cycling through the photos when Claire herself entered the locker room.

Bella giggled in alarm, as if we had been caught red handed, but I concealed the phone and just smiled. Claire saw me, of course, sitting on the bench with some darkhaired girl. At first there was a flicker of jealousy in her eyes but then she saw me smile and the smile seemed to reassure her that perhaps this girl beside me was just a sister or a friend. She didn't let the eye contact linger too long, though, and she quickly moved over to her locker and opened it.

Bella glanced at her and turned back to me.

"Guess she didn't notice her phone was missing," she said.

Claire was heading towards the showers now and I noticed she had left her locker unlocked. She had only closed it. At a glance it looked locked but it wasn't.

I took my own phone out of my bag and copied the data from hers quickly.

"Perhaps I can slip the phone back without her noticing," I said. "The poor woman will be dead soon, the least we can do is spare her the stress of a lost cellphone, hm?"

Bella nodded but she was more eager at the mention of killing her.

"So we're gonna do it?" she asked excitedly.

"We're going to take her. Yes."

"When?"

"Tonight. Assuming there's no complications. Ordinarily I'd prefer to stalk her for a while, learn her patterns, develop a taste for her. But this one is for you and we really do need to work fast."

Bella grinned and bobbed on the bench. I quickly rose and went over to Claire's locker. The gym bag was inside and I stashed her phone into the bag before closing the locker again exactly how she left it.

None of this area was visible from the showers. A very large woman was getting dressed nearby and Bella was watching her thoughtfully as if wondering if that body type was for her. I sat down beside her again and shortly after Claire returned from the shower.

Again she looked at me and she actually stumbled a step that I was still there. She was naked and wet and drying herself with a towel as she went. I smiled at her and looked away politely and she managed to smother both her excitement and embarrassment as she went over to her locker and started to get dressed.

Bella smiled and looked at her while the other woman's back was turned and the smile was slightly vampiric, half curved into a smirk, assessing the flesh for ripeness. The woman was slightly stocky and her legs weren't overly long in proportion to her torso but there was certainly nothing objectionable about her. Her breasts were very decent and we got a nice flash of them as she put on her bra. She already had her panties on, just plain white briefs, and now she was shimmying into a pair of jeans.

Bella nodded to herself in approval.

"Nice body," she said.

I chuckled and gave her a jab of my elbow. "Stop staring, how many times do I have to tell you? And shift away from me a little bit. Pretend to be my straight sister or something.

Bella rolled her eyes and kept staring at our prey but at least she looked away smoothly when the woman was done.

Claire must've been wondering if I was watching her and she glanced in my direction as if to check as she closed her locker. I smiled at her, not really hiding it. After all, there was little reason she wouldn't be flattered. She had no idea I was plotting her abduction and murder. I even lifted a hand and gave her a coy little wave as if to see her tomorrow. She smiled and waved back but of course I wouldn't be seeing her tomorrow. I'd be seeing her tonight.

Bella watched her leave the locker room and then she turned back to me.

"Poor chick," she said. "I feel sorry for her. She probably thinks she's the luckiest woman in the world after being hit on by you."

I laughed and rose from the bench and moved to our lockers.

"Well, not to worry," I said. "Tonight we'll see if I can't hit her literally."

Bella grinned at that and started to get undressed.

The address of her apartment gave us a very generous head start against the poor woman and we used that head start to go back to the mansion and prepare the cellar for her imprisonment. Irena had very graciously offered to take some vacation time at work and she was happy to serve as our dungeon mistress. Kate had been consulted by Tanya but Tanya had been secretive with Kate's feelings. Either way it seemed she would be okay with it as long as she wasn't involved. Irena had fitted the cellar with all kinds of bondage gear. Most of it had been used on Bella but now it would all be put to even better use for Bella's first victims as a vampire.

The first of which would be acquired that very night.

The sun had gone down and I told Bella to dress darkly. Black jeans, black hoody. I wore similar. This was more of a snatch than a stalk so I could forgive myself for not wearing heels and a sexy dress. It was more important to be functional and efficient in this case.

It was almost 10PM when we left the mansion. That afternoon we had rented a large SUV. Dark colored, spacious, tinted windows. Generic. Nothing highly noticeable, similar to the vehicle we had rented when we had grabbed Bella's friend Jessica so long ago. That had only been one victim. This time we would need ten. Claire herself, however, ought to be one of the more simple ones. We arrived outside her apartment building shortly after ten. We had no idea if she would even be home right now but that's what I was about to find out. Bella was grinning in the front seat and even though it had been so soon since our last hunt she was visibly very eager. I told her to wait there and gave her a quick kiss before getting out of the car and hurrying across the street.

It was an old building and around the side there was a rack of fire escapes that I scaled like a wraith in my black clothes and black hood, leaping from ledge to ledge in silence and darkness until I came to the floor where Clair kept her apartment. There were only two windows that looked into the apartment and both were high up enough that peeping strangers weren't a concern. But most strangers didn't have a vampire's strength and agility. There were lights on in the apartment and I looked through the first window. It looked like in a living room. Fairly basic. Couch, TV, coffee table. Radiator. A kitchen area off the side. Used frying pans and the remains of stir-fry vegetables sitting on the bench. It looked much like a single person's apartment and I nodded and moved on to the other window.

This one looked in on a bedroom and there she was. She was sitting on her bed with a bowl of icecream—perhaps fat-free considering her fitness lifestyle—and watching Netflix on a laptop with a pair of headphones. I was peering in through a corner of the window, suspended outside like a bat, and there was no way she could've noticed me. She was wearing a sweater and sweat pants and a robe over the top of it all. Cold night, tonight, and she didn't appear to have much heat in the cheap little apartment. She was smiling at whatever she was watching and she laughed once and spooned up a bit of icecream. I let my eyes take in the rest of the room. Messy. Clothes on the ground. A few dumbbells. The closet open. A vibrator on the nightstand, which wasn't the kind of thing one would leave out if they were expecting guests. No girlfriend or partner or pet anywhere to be seen. I smiled and looked at the woman one last time and slank away from the window.

Down in the streets it seemed Bella had gotten impatient. She had gotten out of the car and she was waiting around in the cold with her arms wrapped around herself. She saw me emerging from the alley and trotted across the street to meet up with me.

Inside the building we took the elevator up to the proper floor and continued down the corridor. All was silent. Bella was grinning again and shivering but not from the cold anymore. We came to the door that belonged to the unfortunate woman named Claire and paused. I leaned and touched my ear to it. No sound from inside. I took my lockpick kit from one of my pockets. Bella stood there, watching me excitedly, and I smiled and turned the moment into a bit of a lesson, showing her how to insert the tools into the lock and explaining what to listen for. After all this was done I would have to set up some sort of simulation back home for her to practice on. She nodded at my instruction, actually learning, and soon the lock clicked.

Bella smiled. I tucked the lockpick kit back into my pocket and pushed open the door gently.

We entered, as quietly as possible, and I pushed the door closed again without locking it. The floor was wooden boards with only a few scattered rugs and Bella was careful not to make a sound in her boots. She was looking around the living area, her eyes large and absorbing everything. Unfortunately all this stealth was largely pointless. Claire wasn't in her bedroom anymore like I had anticipated. She had come into the kitchen to refill her bowl of icecream and now she was staring at us from across the kitchen counters.

"What the fuck?"

Bella jumped in fright, as if perhaps it was her who was in danger. I smiled at her and turned to Claire. The woman's voice had come out surprisingly unintimidated which was perhaps not that surprising after all considering we were both slight-of-build females with no weapons.

Claire put her bowl down and came around the counters in her sweater and sweatpants.

"What the fuck is going on here?" she demanded. "Who are you?"

I smiled and pushed back my hood to reveal my wild and very familiar red hair. Her face drained and she said nothing. I liked her reaction and I turned and gave a smile to Bella.

"This is one of the perks of being a lady intruder," I said. "They rarely scream, not right away at least."

Claire regained her fury. Her brows knitted into a frown again and she was still quite unafraid.

"What the fuck are you doing here? How did you know where I live?"

I smiled and gestured with a hand flippantly as I moved toward her slowly. "Ordinarily I'd love to answer your questions and toy with you a little, but in this case I'm afraid it would be rather redundant. We're only here to kidnap you, and we'll still need at least nine more after you, so we might as well just get this over with as quickly as possible."

She didn't back down from me but at last some fear came into her eyes.

"You better get the fuck out of here right now or—"

I grabbed her throat.

I did it quickly but not really viciously. Her words were cut off and a gagged sound came out of her. My other hand had taken a grip in her hair to hold her still. Bella had gasped at the attack, almost in concern, and now she flittered forward as if she didn't know if I needed backup. Clair had grabbed my wrist with both hands but there was nothing she could do to dislodge my vampire strength. She kicked at me with her feet but she was only wearing socks.

"Shh," I whispered, pressing my thumb and fingers into each of her carotid arteries, cutting off the oxygen to her brain without crushing her windpipe. "Just relax."

She struggled a bit more but the struggles became feeble. She was completely silent aside from little hics and gags. Her eyes were wide and full of fright until finally they began to dim. Her legs sagged. Her hands dropped to her sides. Her eyes were still open, with only the smallest flickers of light inside them, and then finally they rolled up and fluttered and fell closed.

She had gone completely still but I maintained the grip for a few moments to make sure. Then I released her. She flopped to the floor lifelessly. Her sweater and sweatpants were gray but her robe was light pink and rather feminine compared to all the other clothing I had seen from her. Bella was staring in disbelief at the woman on the floor there and then she lifted her wide eyes to mine.

"Fucking hell, Vicky," she said. "I thought we were going to rape her."

I looked at her in surprise. "I never said that."

Bella was incredibly disappointed, as if her whole night was ruined. She blew out a breath. "I thought it was implied at this point," she said. "What the hell did you do to her, anyway? Is she dead?"

I smiled at her poutiness. She was going to be a very unruly young monster indeed.

"No, she's just unconscious," I told her. "It's what happens when you cut off oxygen to the brain. I'll teach you after your transformation. You don't really have the strength to do it right now."

"Fuck's sake," Bella muttered, kicking the woman limply. "I really wanted to rape her."

I laughed and wrapped an arm around her. "I'm sorry, baby, but we still have at least nine more women to acquire in addition to this one. Did you expect to rape them all?"

"Yes."

I sighed and let her go. She didn't like my airiness and she was filled with a sort of teen righteousness.

"Besides," she went on, "aren't you the one who's always saying that there's no point killing anything you're not going to rape first?"

"I'm sure there'll be ample opportunities while she's being held captive, my dear."

"That's not the point, Vicky."

"What is the point then?"

She frowned and took a moment to try and figure out her point but the poor thing was obviously just frustrated at being cockblocked or whatever the correct term was for when you're prevented from raping a young woman while kidnapping her.

I sighed and put my hands on my hips and looked down at poor passed out Claire.

"Well," I said. "I suppose you could molest her while she's unconscious if you really want."

Bella looked up and instantly she was excited again.

"Really?"

I rolled my eyes with a smile and went over to the apartment door and pushed it fully closed since it seemed we would be staying a while.

"Yes, but don't be long," I said. "We really need to be quick. And don't make this a habit, either. Prudent hunters control their urges, they don't let their urges control them. I'll go take a quick look around to make sure we're secure."

Bella nodded and quickly knelt down beside the unconscious woman.

I shook my head at her silliness and continued into the bedroom.

It was pretty much the only other room in the whole apartment aside from a small bathroom. I snooped around the bedroom for a bit. There was a faint hint of bodyspray in the room and the scent rising from the bed was rich and delicious. Perhaps my feisty mate had been right. A little bit of rape might've been quite lovely. It would've been easy enough to improvise a gag and some bondage. Use some knives from the kitchen to keep her under control. But alas we really had no idea how safe this apartment was. Perhaps her sister was due to come over any moment.

I kicked at a pile of clothes idly and opened up a dresser drawer. Panties. Nice. I closed the drawer and went back to the bed and sat down to examine the laptop. I was wearing black leather gloves so there wouldn't be any finger prints left behind. Hopefully there would be no crime scene either but with so many girls disappearing through the city it was impossible to guess how serious the police might take this woman's disappearance. On the screen of the laptop was a paused episode of Orange is the New Black. I smiled and hit play for a moment, pressing one of the headphone cups to my ear. Bella and I had been watching the show for a while. I just loved Crazy Eyes and I was so happy she finally got a girlfriend. Her arc in the latest season as a fanfiction author was interesting as well. It seemed like something I could do myself if ever I got caught and thrown in prison. I do have a way with words.

I chuckled to myself and quickly closed off Netflix before folding the laptop and getting up and putting it on the desk in the corner. I straightened up a few other things as well and pocketed her phone and purse, just to make the kidnapping less obvious so it would at least seem plausible the woman might've simply left town or something, and then I went back into the living room to see what Bella was up to.

Bella was playing with Claire's breasts.

She seemed to be having a lot of fun too. She had straddled the woman's hips on the floor and pushed up her sweater and top and bra until her breasts were revealed. They were slightly flattened on her chest but there was still enough softness there for Bella to massage them and knead them and smirk at the woman's unconscious face as if to gloat. She looked up at me as I came in and grinned.

"Wow," she said. "This is almost better than raping her."

I smiled and I knew what she meant. There were few things more attractive in a woman than helplessness and unconsciousness was a very gentle form of that. I went around to the kitchen counters to clean up the bowl of icecream and I spoke to her over my shoulder.

"Try kissing her," I suggested. "It's quite romantic when they don't resist."

Bella had been rather mesmerized by the woman's tits but now she was perked up by this new idea. She shifted slightly on the other woman's hips and leaned down to her face. She did it slowly, gazing at her, watching to see if she'd wake up. But the woman just lay there, unmoving.

Bella smiled at her, her face only inches away, and let her eyes flitter over all that passiveness. Finally her eyes settled on the slightly parted lips of her mouth. She touched them with her fingertips, feeling the softness, enjoying this unique power she had never quite felt before. Then she smiled and leaned down with her own mouth and kissed the woman with all the tenderness of a prince attempting to wake Sleeping Beauty.

But this beauty didn't wake, of course. Didn't move, didn't make a sound. I had dumped the icecream into the sink and now I was rinsing out the bowl quickly, keeping my eyes on Bella. Bella moaned and kissed at the other woman's unconscious lips. She really was enjoying it and it made me smile to see. After the violent frenzy of our last hunt perhaps this was fitting. Bella was pushing her tongue into the other woman's mouth and the other woman allowed everything with perfect equanimity and acceptance. Her jaw opened a little. Bella moaned louder and toyed at the other woman's limp tongue with her own and then finally she rose up.

I put the icecream bowl away and smiled at Bella while drying my hands with a dishtowel. Bella smiled back with her face flushed and pretty.

"Mmm," she said licking her lips. "She tastes like icecream."

I giggled and came around the counter to sit on a stool and watch. I suppose I could've joined in but like a proud mommy most of my joy these day was simply from watching Bella's joy.

Bella was dismounting the woman's hips and now she was bending to take a taste of her tits. Again the woman made no sound or resistance to this violation of her person. Her nipples were soft and Bella giggled as she suckled at them and licked them with her tongue. Her sweater and her bra were pushed up to her collar and her face was tilted aside slightly and perfectly peaceful.

Bella finally grew bored of that and grinned and slipped her hand into the woman's sweatpants, watching her face as if now she might finally move. But she didn't. Bella's fingers were probing at her womanhood, at her most private area, and she was still just perfectly quiet as if she didn't mind at all. The expression on her face was almost as if she enjoyed it. Bella continued fingering at her vagina, grinning, and then she looked up at me.

"I suppose it's impossible to make her orgasm while she's unconscious, right?"

I chuckled at her. "You suppose correctly, my dear."

She pouted and took her hand out of the woman's pants.

"I guess she'll just have to do me, then," she said.

Then she sat back on the floor and began unlacing her boots.

I smiled and shook my head and glanced toward the door. This was so unprofessional. We could've had her bundled up in the back of our SUV by now and on our way home. It wasn't likely that we would be interrupted, of course, but not impossible. In addition to which unconsciousness doesn't last forever. The woman was going to wake up eventually.

I was tempted to tell my young mate to hurry but she was having too much fun. By now she had her jeans off and her panties as well and she looked quite bizarre with her socks still on and her whole upperbody encased in a thick fleece hoody. Her thighs looked exceptionally slim and pale. She had gotten wet from all her foreplay and now she mounted over the unconscious woman's face and began to rub her vagina at it.

I sighed and smiled to myself. She had developed quite a mastery over her hips and she was rubbing very effectively at the other woman's lips and nose, covering her in moisture, moaning and hissing softly under her breath.

"Wow," she said. "This is so hot."

I shook my head and checked the time on my phone quickly. At least we had only been here a quarter of an hour or so. Hopefully we could be gone within another quarter.

Bella, thankfully, didn't take long to climax. She was looking down at the woman and clutching two handfuls of her hair and grinding at her face relentlessly. She was already out of breath from how fast she was going—further proof our visit to the gym wasn't a total waste—and she continued to grind, faster and faster, harder and harder, until finally she scrunched up and orgasmed with a low groan.

It had been a beautiful display, of course, but I checked the phone again right after. Bella was sagging and panting and now she dismounted from the woman's face and sat with her bare butt on the floorboards. The woman's face was as peaceful as ever only now it was covered in Bella's arousal. I smiled at Bella.

"Are you done?"

Bella grinned and wiped her forehead. "Yeah," she breathed. "Wow. That was great."

I shook my head and slipped off the stool and then I knelt down beside the woman and bent to her face and began licking at the wetness slathered all over it.

Bella grinned and put her jeans and her boots back on, watching me. Soon I had the poor woman's face completely cleaned up and it was time to go. I corrected her clothes as well and tucked her nice little tits back into her bra and then I threaded my arms under her and lifted her like a bride. Her arms and her hair dangled. She still hadn't stirred a muscle since passing out.

Bella rose as well and I nodded at the door.

"Go down and open the car," I said. "We need to get her out of sight quickly."

Bella nodded and now that her vagina was satisfied she was far more amenable to taking orders. She hurried out the door and proceeded about her task in a brisk manner.

I waited in the apartment for a while, to give her a head start, and then I took Claire out into the empty corridor and continued into the stairwell. The elevator would've been quicker but I wanted to stay out of sight. I took the stairs two at a time with Claire jostling and dangling in my arms and when I reached the bottom floor I set her on her feet and slung one of her arms around my shoulders so that at a casual glance it would look like I was merely giving her a hand.

Bella had not only opened the back of the SUV but she had also driven it around to the front of the building. Luckily the sidewalks were completely barren. I stashed the woman in the amble cargo space and then climbed in and pulled the hatch closed. Bella was behind the wheel like a getaway driver and I told her to start driving as I wrapped some ducktape around the woman's wrists and ankles and a strip over her mouth as well.

Bella drove us all the way back to the mansion. It was risky since she didn't have a license anymore but we reached the mansion without incident and without the woman waking.

Together we hauled her floppy form out of the SUV. We took her directly into the cellar and then we removed the duct tape and stripped her out of her clothes. Irena was waiting for us in the darkness and she approved our selection of victim as she stood by in her BDSM gear, black boots and leather corset and a whip in her hand like some medieval dungeon keeper. She was evidently inclined to have a little fun with the victim and although the victim technically belonged to my darling mate I'm sure she wouldn't object.

Soon the poor woman was chained up in the center of the cellar. Iron shackles were locked around her wrists and she was dangling from the ceiling like a doll in the candlelight. Her ankles were shackled as well and she was completely naked. Her stocky body wasn't overly appetizing but it would certainly do as newborn food. Bella and I were giving Irena instructions on how to care for a human, since it was imperative that the woman remain alive and clean until the date of her devourment, when Claire finally began to come to.

At first it was just a rattle of chains as her arms moved. Then her eyes opened. They were unfocused for a moment and then suddenly they flew open in shock and alarm as they took in the candles, the racks of wine bottles. She moved her arms again and realized they were shackled. She jerked at the chains in terror. The tape around her mouth was gone and her words came out completely hollow with horror.

"Oh my god," she said. "Where am I? What's happening?"

I giggled and went toward her. "Oops, we forgot the gag."

She panicked at my approach but of course there was little she could do but thrash her naked body in her chains. She opened her mouth and sucked in a breath to scream but before she could get it out I simply tucked the ballgag into her mouth and began buckling it.

"Sorry about this," I said to her. "Claire, I believe your name was? I'm sorry, Claire. I realize how shocking this must be to you. You've been kidnapped and I'm afraid this is going to be your new home for the foreseeable future. Irena will take care of you and she'll make sure you're properly fed and taken care of. I'm afraid we can't give you any more information than that. All you need to do is focus on being a good girl and everything will be fine. Okay?"

Her eyes filled with tears and terror and of course she wasn't capable of answering with the gag in her mouth. I smiled at her and then I leaned to the side and gave her a pat on the butt as if to cheer her up.

Bella was grinning at the woman with her eyes dead black in the candlelight as if she were already a vampire.

"God, I wish I could just eat her now," she said.

I moved back over to her with a smile. "Patience, my dear, patience."

Irena was watching the woman with a smirk on her lips and her arms folded loosely under her breasts. The corset she wore left them hiked up and exposed and by now Claire had noticed her in a mixture of horror and attraction. I placed a hand on Irena's bare shoulder.

"She's all yours, Irena," I told the tall blonde. "Just be sure to leave her alive and intact."

Irena nodded, not taking her red eyes from the chained woman, the candlelight shimmering over her shiny black leather. She unfurled the whip in her hand and the woman made a soft whimper in her throat as Irena went over and circled around behind her.

Bella and I were headed up the stairs and we giggled as a loud whip crack and a muffled scream came from the darkness behind us.

But our smiles dropped away when we reached the foyer.

Kate was there and you could tell right away something wasn't right. She was dressed to go out, even now at almost midnight, and she had a suitcase on the floor beside her. She was standing by the stairs and she seemed to have been waiting for us. A queasy feeling leaked into my stomach and from Bella's expression I could tell she felt something similar. Kate smiled when she saw us and picked up her suitcase and came wandering over.

"Hey," she said. "I guess that was the first one, huh?"

She nodded back the way we'd come from where the first victim was now chained up and being abused by one of her very own coven mates. It was the first time she had directly mentioned what we were doing and I didn't know what to say.

Bella stepped forward anxiously and looked at the suitcase Kate was carrying.

"Yeah, but what's wrong?" she asked. "Where are you going?"

Kate glanced at the suitcase and then she smiled brightly. "Actually, I'm going to move in with Leah for a while," she said. "It's gonna be hard pretending to be human twenty four seven, but I don't know. I really like her and I think I'm seriously considering telling her what I am. I just need to be sure she can handle it. And then, who knows?"

She shrugged and giggled.

I smiled as well but it was a strained smile because I knew the truth. She loved Leah and Leah of course loved her but that wasn't the only reason she was leaving. She was only saying so to spare our feelings. The real reason she was leaving was because of us.

Bella knew as well and tears sprang to her eyes.

"Kate, but—is this our fault?" she asked in a small voice.

Kate chuckled and shook her head. "No, it's not your fault," she said. "Me and Leah just wanted to move in together, that's all. It feels like the right thing to do."

I nodded as if I understood. She was making a mighty effort to do this as pleasantly and amicably as possible and I appreciated it very much. I smiled and moved to hug her.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be very happy together," I said, squeezing her tightly. "I told you you'd be perfect together, didn't I?"

Kate giggled as I released the embrace. "Yep, you were right."

Bella looked lost but she was trying not to cry. Kate smiled at her expression and perhaps there was more truth to her motivations than me or my guilt-ridden mate gave her credit for.

"I should thank you too, Bella," she said. "You're the one who set me up with Leah, remember?"

Bella nodded sadly and then Kate smiled at her and wrapped her arms around her tightly.

"Don't worry," she whispered. "We'll still see each other all the time."

Bella sniffed and fought back tears. "I hope so."

Kate released her and looked at her for a moment. A tear had rolled down Bella's face and now Kate wiped it away with her thumb before taking Bella's face in her hands and leaning to her mouth and placing upon it a firm, intimate, sisterly kiss.

Bella accepted it with her eyes crinkling in sadness but not closing. I watched them. Kate then released her and smiled and fetched up her suitcase again.

"Tell Irena goodbye for me," she said, and then she winked. "I don't want to go down there."

Bella giggled wetly at that and I smiled. Kate gave us a wave and then she turned and crossed the foyer towards the double oak doors and pushed one of them open and disappeared into the night.

Bella looked at me with her cheeks wet and wiped her eyes. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close and gave her a hug under the chandelier.

Tanya was in her parlour and she was playing the piano with her eyes closed. The melody was soft and sad and each note seemed to echo in my chest. She didn't look up as Bella and I entered. She had a candelabra sitting on the piano top and she continued to play for at least three whole minutes before she finished and opened her eyes and looked up at us.

She smiled at me and then she smiled at the sorrow in Bella's pale face.

"Kate said goodbye?" she asked.

Bella nodded sadly.

Tanya smiled and rose from her piano stool and took the candelabra from the piano. "Don't worry, we'll see her again soon enough. Be happy for her. After a thousand years she's finally found a true mate."

Bella blinked in surprise. "Mate?"

"Oh, yes," Tanya said with a womanly chuckle. "It's obvious."

Bella and I shared a glance. If Kate and Leah were mates then perhaps it was perfectly natural for them to want to live together. Perhaps it really was something to be happy about.

Tanya had taken the candelabra over to the door and now she paused in the beautiful evening dress she was wearing and smiled at us.

"Come," she said. "Let us go upstairs. I want to make love to you both. Life is too short to dwell on the things lost to us. Rather we should enjoy the things we still have."

Then she turned and left the room and took the candelabra with her.

Bella and I were left in nothing but the light from the fireplace. She smiled at me, successfully stirred by Tanya's words, and I admit I was as well. It was sad that Kate felt she had to leave but perhaps it wasn't as sad for Kate herself. She had found a woman who was quite possibly her mate. A woman she wanted to love and get to know without interference. A woman perhaps she might spend the rest of eternity with. Every end is a new beginning and yet even this was by no means an end. Kate would be back and Leah as well perhaps and meanwhile Bella and I were still here with a wonderful woman like Tanya waiting for us.

Bella and I were still smiling. I offered her my hand and she took it and together we exited the parlour and followed our lovely hostess up the stairs and into her bedchambers.

—

AN: First of all; Kate. Um…a lot of reviews from the last chapter were afraid of her leaving coven, but bear with me, okay? I tried to make it clear that she wasn't gone for good and she's certainly not. It's all planned out, trust me. It also helps develop her relationship with Leah. I just hope it wasn't too angsty. I wanted it to be poignant, but not depressing. That's why I added Tanya's little scene as well, to try and give it a positive spin.

Okay, new chapter soon. Please don't be too upset. ;)