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Chapter 54:
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The next day was finally Christmas Eve.
It had snowed all night and in the bright white morning Carmen and I turned out in the gardens with snowshovels. Leah was upstairs, sleeping off a hangover of something a little more hardcore than just drugs and alcohol. Kate was worried that she might feel different when she woke up with a clear head but I didn't think so. The narcotics hadn't altered Leah last night. They had just bought the real Leah out. Kate herself was mostly unperturbed, even though she had willingly committed the actual murder, but that's just how she was. She cared far more about her girlfriend than she cared about herself.
The lanes and pathways of the gardens were packed with snow and Carmen and I shovelled for nearly an hour, wrapped in heavy jackets and woollen beanies, scarfs, gloves, but not against the cold but rather just in the spirit of winter. It had stopped snowing by now and soon we had the gardens clear. Carmen thanked me for my help brightly and turned to regard our work, smiling at the flowers, fountain, the hedgerows with a layer of white over them like icing on a cake. I was plucking off my gloves with a grin and as the other woman continued to admire our work I rolled a snowball in my hands. She was talking about how she should've strung some lights out here as well but she was cut off with a squeal as the snowball spattered on the back of her head. She spun around, utterly in shock, and then lunged for a handful of snow. I giggled and ducked behind a hedge.
A snowball fight ensued, the glistening white garden filled with shrieks, two grown women giggling and diving for cover as snowballs whizzed through the air like mortar shells to explode in bursts of white, scrambling, laughing, shouting out threats. Soon the commotion bought Bella and Kate out into the gardens as well and they quickly joined in, Bella on my side, Kate on Carmen's. Bella defended me like a knight, swatting snowballs out of the air that had been aimed at my head before retaliating with vicious throws of her own. Her newborn speed gave her an edge until Kate squealed for mercy and defected on Carmen, betraying her old friend and siding with Bella and I as the three of us peppered the older Spanish woman like a firing squad until she too squealed for mercy. Her beanie had been knocked off and her blueblack hair was filled with snow and there was snow in her eyelashes and her mouth and stuck all over her face. She wiped herself as we laughed and then she got angry and barked at us to go inside. We giggled and retreated toward the mansion but as Carmen bent to fetch a snowshovel another snowball tagged her in the back of the head.
Back inside we got a fire going in the parlour where Tanya was reciting her piano songs. No one had seen her all morning and we showered her with hugs and greetings of Merry Christmas Eve. She returned them all, politely, but it was clear her heart wasn't in it. Sometimes I wondered if it ever would be again. It made me sad but I tried not to let it affect my mood. Today was all about family and Bella. Already it had been the most joyful christmas of my existence.
Leah didn't wake till late afternoon. By then Carmen was in the kitchen, preparing dinner for Leah and Claire. She was roasting an entire turkey, for just the two of them, and Bella stood by as her kitchen helper, following orders, fetching things. Carmen sighed as she chopped some carrots and wished out loud wistfully that her two pixies, Ashely and Nikki, could've been here too. Bella apologized for killing them, quite sad and sincere, but Carmen laughed and said Bella was a better helper anyway.
I left them there in the kitchen and went to see about Leah. She had just gotten out of the shower and she was emerging into her bedroom wearing nothing but a towel. She had a hand to her forehead and a scowl on her face that wasn't very christmasy. Kate handed her a glass of water and two aspirin. Leah gestured for more pills annoyedly until she had six aspirin in her hand and then she tossed them into her mouth and swallowed down with the water. At that point she saw me standing there and said the next time she wanted to get stoned and mutilate a hooker someone please slap her out of it. Kate smiled at the joke, knowing her baby was going to be just fine, and I went over and kissed Leah on the cheek and told her Merry Christmas Eve. Leah growled me away, in no mood for festivities just yet, and then shed her towel and began getting dressed.
Not long later it was time for christmas dinner. The long oak table in the dining room had been set for a total of two people, Leah and Claire. There were candelabras lit and the hall was suffused in a warm orange glow. The table was set with china plates, gold rimmed and sparkling in the candlelight, and crystal wine glasses and tall water tumblers and silk napkins that were folded into little swans. The chairs were decorated with holly and tinsel and there were christmas trees in the corners. The entire room smelt of pine until Carmen and Bella came along with trays of turkey and roast vegetables and boats of gravy and toasted dinner rolls, all steaming softly and cooked to perfection.
Leah wasn't overly hungry but her headache had dissipated and she was much more cheerful. Claire was dressed in a green christmas sweater with a reindeer on it. It was one of the few times Leah had seen her with clothes on and she was comfortable enough in the coven to tease her about it. All of us were dressed in similar christmas regalia, even Bella and Irena. Leah and Claire were sitting opposite each other, a tall candelabra between them, and Bella and I were sitting beside Leah along with Kate while Irena sat on the other side with Claire.
Soon the table was covered with an entire banquet and Carmen was pouring the wine. She wore an apron that was smudged with gravy and cranberry sauce and her hair was pinned up to keep it out of the way. An ordinary woman would've been exhausted after labouring all day in the kitchen but Carmen was a vampire and no ordinary woman either. Her smile was beaming as everyone told her how amazing it all looked. Leah laughed skeptically, staring at the huge mound of the turkey sitting in the silver chaffing dish, and she grinned as Carmen began carving slices for their plates.
"This might be a stupid question," she said, "but um…why the hell did you make so much?"
Carmen chuckled and continued carving. "I rarely have any reason to cook and so perhaps I go a little overboard when the opportunity arises. Don't feel pressured to eat any more than you want, it's all just for fun."
Leah nodded, relieved she wasn't expected to eat an entire turkey. Carmen finished arranging their plates, making sure both Leah and Claire had large portions of turkey and vegetables, and then she smiled and pulled off her apron.
"Well, you girls enjoy," she said. "I have to go clean up and prepare dessert."
"What kind of dessert?" Leah asked. "Pudding?"
Carmen smirked and gave her a wink. "I meant dessert for us."
Leah gave a knowing grin. Claire smiled as well. Carmen chuckled once and gave a small bow, like how chefs do sometimes, and then she turned and continued out.
Once Carmen's heel clicks were gone the room was mostly silent aside from a dim serenade of piano music from Tanya's parlour. She hadn't moved from in there all day and she had declined to join us for dinner, claiming with a smile that she would only be in the way. It was disappointing but no one wanted to pressure her.
Leah and Claire were looking at their plates with daunted smiles. The banquet hardly had a dent in it and yet their plates were piled high. The rest of us were smiling at them, waiting for them to begin, and after a while Leah reached for the gravy.
"Well," she said, pouring the rich brown liquid over her potatoes. "Merry Christmas everyone."
Kate chuckled and shuffled her chair closer to her girlfriend until they were almost touching elbows. Claire smiled and shuffled her own chair forward.
"Feels weird sitting at a table again," she said. "I'm so used to eating from bowls on the floor."
She said that with a cute glance to her side at Irena. Irena smiled at her and used a hand to delicately brush a lock of hair from her face.
"I think it's time we domesticated you a little," she said. "Besides, you always made such a terrible mess when you ate on the floor."
Claire smiled at her. "It's harder than it looks."
Irena smirked and gave Claire a kiss.
Leah laughed at the exchange, already with a mouthful of turkey. "Hey, you know this is the first christmas dinner where I'm not fantasizing about jumping out of a window? I've always said friends are better than family."
"We are family, Leah," I told her with a smile.
Leah waved a fork. "You know what I mean."
Bella nodded, not eating, eyes bright and red in the candlelight. "I know what you mean," she said. "Family sucks. I used to hate christmas."
"Me too," Claire added. "Although I didn't have any family. I was just alone every holiday."
Irena was still toying with Claire's hair while she ate, tucking stray locks behind her ear, gazing at her lovingly, like how'd you pet a feeding cat. Leah grinned at her and snorted.
"Be grateful you didn't have to fuck around with family," she said. "Bunch of boring judgemental strangers who think they know you because you share some relative."
Bella smiled as she recalled a memory. "I had christmas with my dad last year. That was alright. It was just me and him and he didn't make a big deal about anything."
Leah smirked at her. "Bet he'd be proud of you now."
Bella laughed once and glanced at me. I felt a tiny flicker of guilt for that old mistake, killing her father before I knew I was in love with her, but Bella, my love, my darling, had never held a grudge. On the contrary she even had a sense of humor about it, the psychotic little thing.
"He'd probably just be happy that I'm happy," she said. "If he was still alive, that is."
Leah nodded but she didn't ask how he died. Which was probably a good thing, since it might've made for awkward dinner conversation.
Kate cleared her throat and quickly steered the conversation back to less disturbing topics.
"Well, I always loved christmas," she proclaimed. "Most of the time it was just the coven, but sometimes we'd go visit friends or they'd come visit us."
Leah sipped her wine and looked at Kate with interest. "What kind of friends? Vampires?"
"Yep," Kate said with a smile. "There was one coven in particular we were very friendly with. Bella used to date one of them back in Forks. That's how we met her. We wanted to save her from Vicky."
Kate chuckled and Bella rolled her eyes. Leah didn't quite get the joke.
"Save her?" she asked.
Kate smirked and shrugged. "Vicky had abducted her and was using her as some kind of rape slave."
Leah laughed through a mouthful of turkey and paused to swallow and then laughed again. When she could speak she coughed once and looked at Bella with a shake of her head.
"Wow," she said. "You guys are the most fucked up couple I've ever seen."
Claire cleared her throat politely and smiled. Irena was still petting her gently.
Leah grinned and added: "Well, the second most fucked up."
I smiled and took my mate's hand and held it there in her lap, interlocking our fingers. I could feel the ring she wore, the ring she had bought for herself when she had given me my own. Bella returned my smile in the warm candlelight and spoke softly.
"We had a rough start," she said. "But I couldn't resist her passionate dominance."
"And I couldn't resist her delicious body," I added with a grin.
Bella giggled and I giggled as well. We gazed at each other for a small moment, our first christmas together, both of us vampires, immortal and together forever. A warm feeling washed over me and for a second I was astounded we had come so far and so grateful as well. All the difficulties, all the dangers, all the dramas. And yet here we were.
I leaned and gave her a soft kiss.
Leah chuckled at the display of affection and turned back to Kate.
"So tell me about these vampire friends," she said. "How come they're not visiting this year?"
Kate shrugged and became a little hesitant. "Well, it's complicated," she said. "They're vegetarian vampires, so they might not approve of the recent change to our diet. Also…"
Kate's eyes drifted to Bella and I, as if to seek permission about releasing Bella's past connection to the Cullens. It wasn't something I would take any joy in, but we were all family here, and there was no reason to keep secrets.
"Bella's old boyfriend is still morbidly obsessed with her," I said to Leah. "So naturally she's not all that eager to see him again."
Leah's eyebrows rose at the word boyfriend. Her mouth was full and she had stopped chewing. Claire had paused as well, also surprised at this development. Bella gave me a little embarrassed glare, as if I had revealed she used to be fat, and then turned back to Leah with an awkward chuckle.
"It was a long time ago," she said.
Leah's mouth moved into a teasing grin. "Boyfriend, though? You had a boyfriend?"
Kate giggled, the bi-girl with the bi-girlfriend. Bella's face flickered with annoyance and she waved it away peevishly.
"I didn't realize I was gay until Vicky raped the straight out of me," she said. "Besides, it's not like I was super attracted to him or anything. I was a teenager, he was a vampire. What the fuck was I supposed to do?"
Leah smirked at her. "Did you fuck him?"
"No," Bella objected, screwing up her face. "Eww."
Leah laughed at that and went back to her food, cutting into another slice of turkey and dabbing the white meat into the pool of gravy in her plate. Kate took pity on Bella and decided to get back on topic.
"Point being," she said to Leah, "it would be awkward for him and his family to come visit over the holidays. We do have to go see them eventually, though. Edward deserves to know that Bella's moved on."
Leah chuckled with gravy on her lips. "Yeah, moved on with another girl. I'm sure that'll make him feel so much better."
Bella rolled her eyes and I smiled at Leah.
"I think Bella's orientation will be the least of the shocks," I said. "Compared to her insatiable taste for rape and murder, for instance."
"Yeah, probably," Leah agreed. "So then he's single now?"
Kate looked at her weirdly. "I guess so, why?"
Leah smirked and gave her nudge. "Me and you haven't been with a guy in a while, hint, hint," she said. "Especially some ultra-hot vampire dude. He is ultra-hot, isn't he?"
Bella made a sound of disgust and Kate laughed.
"Edward isn't that kind of guy, baby," Kate said.
Leah snorted and kept eating. "Then what kind of guy is he?"
"He's a hundred year old virgin who does nothing but sulk about what a monster he is even though he only feeds from animals," Bella said snappishly. Then she snorted and added: "Actually, maybe it makes sense that I used to like him; he's a bigger pussy than anyone at this table, that's for sure."
Claire giggled at that. She had been following the conversation even if she didn't speak, sitting there primly in her reindeer sweater, eating slowly and politely, her mistress at her side with little gestures of affection all night and quiet whispers.
Kate gave Bella chiding look for insulting her old friend and Leah laughed.
"Well, whoever he is, he's gonna freak when he sees what's happened to you," she said.
Kate sighed and nodded. "They all are. Still, we do owe them a visit. Carlisle, their leader, is a very fair and open minded man. He'll be disappointed in us but he won't judge us, and hopefully he can keep his coven in line too."
Leah nodded and sipped from her wine. "They got any chicks in their little coven?"
"A few."
"Any of them single?"
"No," Kate said with a chuckle. "They're all hooked up."
Leah pouted and put down her wine. "Bummer. My next question was going to be are any of them hot, but I guess it doesn't matter."
Kate giggled and shook her head. "You're turning into an even bigger slut than Bella."
Leah chuckled at that and nodded in agreement. Bella smiled, eager now that the conversation had turned to the topic of hot chicks, and leaned forward on the table to talk to Leah.
"Married or not, I bet we could still nail them," she said. "Especially Alice. Alice was really cute. Small, nice tits, black hair in a little pixiecut. I had a pretty huge girlcrush on her. Come to think of it, I always did like her a lot more than Edward. She had the most incredible ass."
Leah chuckled at that with a mouthful of wine. Bella took it as disbelief and went on even more eagerly.
"No, seriously, it was amazing," she insisted. "Possibly the greatest ass in existence. She wore designer jeans all the time and god, it was just…"
She trailed off with a lovey dovey sigh. I raised an eyebrow at my mate suspiciously.
"A better ass than mine?" I asked her.
Bella grinned guiltily and gave me a saucy look.
"Well, that's different," she said.
I laughed and gave her a kiss. I was actually very pleased to hear her rhapsodize about this old friend of hers. Perhaps visiting these Cullens wouldn't be so painful after all. At least Bella would be able to see this Alice girl again. And, as a newborn, she was more than capable of defending herself if Edward's depression turned violent.
Leah was almost done eating by now. All she had had left was a bit of turkey and some carrots. She had taken a dinner roll from a large platter of them and now she tore off a corner and dipped it in the gravy on her plate.
"So when you gonna go visit these people?" she asked Kate.
"Tanya says sometime after christmas," Kate said. "I'm not sure I'll be going, though."
"How come?"
"Because of you, silly," Kate said, taking her girlfriend's arm with a smile. "I was thinking maybe we could go somewhere. Just the two of us."
Leah laughed and wiped her mouth and looked at Bella.
"She's determined about this monogamy shit, isn't she?"
Bella chuckled silently and didn't reply.
Kate gave her girlfriend a glare. "Actually," she said with emphasis, "I was hoping to talk about turning you into a vampire while we were away. The transition can be difficult and I wanted to be able to take care of you."
Leah's grin dropped away as she realized she fucked up.
"Oh," she said. "Well, um…"
Kate released her arm teasingly. "Too late, you blew it."
Leah burst out laughing. "Aww, come on. I wanna be a vampire. We'll go wherever you want, okay?"
Kate remained coyly silent and I knew they'd need time to talk about it.
"Did Tanya mention an exact date when she wanted to go visit them?" I asked Kate.
Kate turned to me and shrugged. "Nope, just soon," she said. "It's a shame she didn't want to join us for dinner. I guess she's still not feeling so great. I'm worried about her. Usually just having the coven is enough for her, but this year she seems to really regret not having a special someone."
Leah nodded solemnly at that. She hardly knew Tanya but even she had noticed how dispirited Tanya was beneath her smiles. The mention of her sorrows gave me a heavy heart as well but my mate beside me only snorted.
"Maybe she should hook up with Edward," she said. "Both of them do nothing but mope."
I gave her a slight smile of censure. "Bella."
Bella rolled her eyes and didn't apologize. She had become increasingly annoyed with Tanya lately. She knew how Tanya felt about me and she knew how much I cared for Tanya. She also knew that I was her mate and I would never leave her but that didn't stop her from being annoyed.
Kate knew how Tanya felt as well by now, no secrets between the old friends, but she declined to make any comment on Bella's jab. Irena was silent, as if she agreed with Bella, and Claire continued eating quietly, glancing at us to make sure everything was alright.
I sighed and rose from the table with a smile.
"I think I'll go check on her and see if she wants to join us," I said. "Maybe all she needs is a nudge."
Bella gave another roll of her eyes, even more elaborate this time, and I gave her a wink.
"I'll be back in a minute," I said.
Bella nodded, grudgingly understanding, and I turned and continued out of the dining room.
As always the sound of piano music led me directly to Tanya. To be perfectly truthful I had become more worried about her than ever. I hadn't known her as long as her coven mates but I knew this kind of behaviour wasn't like her. It was selfish and indulgent, two adverbs I never thought would ever describe any action of such a kindsouled woman like Tanya. Whatever was occurring in her heart was changing her and not in a good way. It had to be stopped before it spread even further and there was no better time than now. Christmas Eve. The holidays. She must be made to join us and to have fun.
Tanya was seated at her piano, having not moved all day. Wearing a white dress. No color. No christmas clothes. I watched her from the doorway, the fireplace crackling, the large christmas tree in the corner ablaze with twinkle lights. Her blonde hair hung past her shoulder blades. Straight. Pale. Perfect. She was playing her original composition, a soft song, her shoulders moving as her fingers danced across the keys. She had been playing it all day, over and over, like a woman under some terrible curse, some spell that bound her to the piano and compelled her to play and play, until her fingers bled, until she crumbled to dust on the stool.
I stood there and listened to the entire song, until the last low note echoed in my chest, and then I fixed a smile on my face and went over.
"You play an awful lot of piano lately, Tanya," I said.
She smiled up at me. "One must fill the hours somehow."
"Then why don't you come fill some of them with your family?" I asked her, getting directly to the point. "You don't want to miss christmas dinner, do you?"
Tanya smiled and shook her head and turned back to the keys. "I'd only be in the way."
She began playing again, low and slow, and I frowned in concern.
"That's not true, Tanya," I said. "Everybody loves you and we want to be with you."
Tanya didn't look up. She continued playing and when she spoke her words were almost lost among the music.
"Not everyone," she whispered.
My throat tightened. My eyes prickled with phantom tears. I was so upset that I didn't know what to say. I turned and began to walk out but then I stopped.
I was looking at the christmas tree. Under the tree was a mound of gifts in a loose ring around the base and my eyes fell on the gift Bella and I had purchased for Tanya. It was a thin box, rectangular, and inside was a set of matching lingerie we had ordered from the internet. A thin flicker of hope went through my chest and I went over and fetched up the box.
Tanya continued to play as I came back over. I offered her the gift tentatively.
"Bella and I got this for you," I said. "We wanted to give it to you together, but…"
Tanya glanced once at the gift and kept playing. "I'll open it later."
I looked at her and my voice hardened a little. "Open it now, Tanya."
She stopped playing and looked up at me. At my face. At my red eyes that were almost glaring with love and concern. She sighed and took the box and began to open it.
A smile of relief came onto my mouth as I watched her unthread the bow. I hoped she would like it. She already owned many sets of lingerie, of course, but it was the sentiment of the gift that mattered. All I needed from her was a spark. Something I could fan and coax into a flame.
Once she had the paper torn away she lifted the lid of the box. Inside was a bed of red tissue paper and on the paper were some tiny pieces of white lace. Panties. Bra. Garter belt. Tanya smiled but she didn't reach for any of the articles. She looked into the box for a long time until I finally spoke.
"Do you like it?" I asked her.
"Yes," Tanya said, offering me a smile. "It's beautiful."
I nodded but my heart sank a little. Her reaction would've better suited a pair of socks. She still hadn't examined any of the garments closer and now she set the box on the piano and continued playing.
I sighed and watched her sadly.
"Bella and I were hoping you could put them on tonight and we could show you exactly how much we love and appreciate you," I said. "Because we do, Tanya."
"No," Tanya whispered, eyes down and following her hands across the keyboard. "You don't."
I stared at her. The stare slowly became a glare. I couldn't believe she said that. What did she expect from me? What did she honestly expect?
My skin was beginning to throb. In my neck and across my chest. I stood very still. My teeth were clenched behind compressed lips. My eyes had sharpened to daggers.
"This isn't fair, Tanya," I said, my voice coming out firm and cold. "Not on your coven and especially not me. Bella is my mate. I love her. I'm sorry I can't return your feelings, but it isn't fair for you to continually make me feel guilty about it when all I want is for you to be happy."
Tanya continued playing without even looking up. "I'm sorry."
"No, I don't think you are," I said, becoming even more heated. "I think you're doing this deliberately."
"I can't change how I feel, Victoria."
"Neither can I. But I do love you, Tanya. I love you very much. Isn't that enough?"
Tanya didn't answer. Her fingers moved gracefully over the keyboard. She was so serene inside, so unperturbed, so dead in her heart, that not even a note faltered in her melancholy song.
My eyes began to prickle again and I shook my head.
"What happened to you, Tanya?" I asked her. "You used to understand. When you first revealed your feelings, they were so selfless and noble. You wanted nothing but for me to be happy even though that happiness lay with Bella. You understood my position and you never once asked me to choose. But now…now it feels like you want me to leave Bella. My mate. And I can't forgive anyone who wants to break Bella's heart, so please. Don't do this."
Tanya finally stopped playing and looked up at me. On her mouth was a faint trace of her old selfless smile but inside her eyes was nothing at all.
"I don't want you to leave her, Victoria," she said. "I really don't. I love you both and I want you to be happy. That will never change."
"Then why?" I asked her, my voice almost breaking.
Tanya sighed and looked away. "Because I'm tired. And I don't have the energy to be selfless anymore. Now, please. Leave me alone with my misery. At this point it's all I have."
Tanya went back to her piano, her figures resuming exactly where they left off. I stared at her for a moment, my body trembling with emotion, and then I turned and stalked away.
But again I stopped. I stopped because this wasn't right. Tanya didn't deserve to waste away at her piano and I didn't deserve to feel guilty about it. I stood there for a moment, the notes of the song ringing in my ears and my heart, my teeth clenched, my hands balling into fists. No. This wasn't right.
I turned back and marched over and snatched a handful of Tanya's pretty blonde hair.
A gasp came out of her and her fingers stumbled across the keys as I wrenched her to her feet and twisted her around to look at me. I had never treated her like this, never once laid a forceful hand on her—not on a woman like Tanya—and the jolt of exhilaration that went through me at the sheer sacrilege was unlike anything I had ever felt. She looked at me in something like fright and I glared into her eyes passionately.
"No," I growled at her. "I'm not going to leave you with your misery."
Then I crashed my mouth onto hers.
Instantly she fell apart in my hands, sagging, her head tilted back, a broken moan emerging from her mouth and swallowed up by mine. I clenched my hand in her hair, hard enough to rip at her scalp, and I tongued her like I had never tongued her before, brutally, fiercely, and then I broke the kiss and threw her down on the floor.
"I love you, Tanya," I told her. "It may not be the way you want me too, but I love you too much to let you rot away alone."
Tanya was on the rug, gazing up at me with eyes that were wide and full of shock. Her dress had gotten torn somehow in my roughness and her legs were open a little like a woman who wanted it, needed it, craved it right now.
I snatched the box of lingerie from the piano and threw it at her. The box hit the floor and red tissue paper and white lace spilled out.
"Put them on," I told her. "Now."
Tanya didn't make any objection. Her mind seemed to be stunned and she moved mechanically and she gathered up the lace garments from the floor and stood up.
She looked at me and began to undress, not taking her eyes from mine. I watched her with a glare, firmly, unyieldingly, not willing to compromise any longer. I had waited weeks for her to come out of her shell and now I was done waiting. If she wouldn't come out of her shell willingly, I would break her out of it.
Her dress slipped down and pooled around her ankles. She had no bra underneath and the reveal of her breast filled me with a lust that only deepened my glare. By now she almost seemed to be excited. She was breathing in and out steadily, inhaling the angry pheromones in the warm air, and her eyes were sparkling in the firelight as she lowered her panties. They fell to her feet and she stepped out from the pooled cloth there and began putting on the lingerie.
I watched her intently, my whole body throbbing. I had never dominated Tanya before. Never wanted to. Such a thing had never even seemed possible. She had always been too strong. Too perfect. Too utterly in command of herself. My respect for her had precluded any violent feelings for her but that respect lately had waned until tonight it was broken. Tonight I had no respect for her. Tonight she would have to earn that respect.
Tanya was donning the stockings, the last of the outfit. She had her foot propped on the piano stool as she pulled the long white lace sleeve up her glorious leg and then clipped it to the white lace garter belt. She already had the bra and the panties on and now she picked up her shoes and put them back on as well, white leather pumps. My eyes were raking over her body. Over her long sculpted legs. Over her soft round buttocks that were coved by nothing but a strip of white lace nestled between those sumptuous cheeks. Over her slender back and then over her front as well as she turned around, now fully clad in white lace like the angel I always thought she was. The white lace bore an orange hue from the firelight and her skin seemed to glow.
My eyes softened slightly at the incredible perfection of her but I kept my face in a glare. She smiled at me and stood there, knowing what I was trying to do and content to let me do it. I stepped forward, three small steps, and once again took a grip in her hair.
A soft gasp came out of her but no resistance. She hadn't taken her eyes from mine and I had not taken mine from hers.
"You are the most amazing woman I've ever met, Tanya," I whispered to her. "You deserve far better than me. And you'll have it eventually. It may take another hundred years or maybe another thousand, but you will find her. And she will love you more than you ever could've hoped. So don't lose heart now. The longer the journey, the sweeter the destination. All you have to do is keep searching."
She listened to my words and in her eyes was a tiny flicker of hope that trembled there among the flames of the fireplace. It was enough. I pressed my mouth to hers and moaned into it.
She accepted the kiss passively, not resisting, willing to be fucked out of her funk if I proved capable. I pushed my tongue into her mouth forcefully, kissing her as I had never kissed her before, with anger, with passion, and then I broke off the kiss and pushed her onto the sofa by the fire. She landed with a bounce and settled and lounged back into the white leather plush, knees together, looking at me, wearing nothing but lace lingerie. While she was watching I took the hem of my polkadot christmas dress and pulled it over my head and tossed it aside. Underneath I wore nothing but red lace panties and in my red lace panties I climbed on top of her and took her face in my hands and once again applied my tongue into her mouth.
Roughly, disrespectfully, pulling at her hair and clutching at her throat, forcing her head back, forcing her to become horny for me. Soon she was moaning, allowing herself to drift and spiral and descend into this passion that had erupted between us that was unlike anything we had ever shared. No pretences, no pity, no pretend love making between two women who could never truly make love. This was raw and real. This was me showing her that I could never love her the way she wanted but I still loved her anyway and I wanted nothing but the best for her and I wasn't going to put up with anything less.
Soon her hands were on my body, stroking my back, my buttocks, tenderly and affectionately in stark contrast to my own roughness. I was straddling her lap and I pushed my pussy at her, telling her with my body to cut out the tender shit and just fuck me. Let go of her feelings that could never be returned and accept what she actually has. A redhaired beauty who lusted for her. Who wanted her to be happy. Tanya soon got the message and her moans became deeper. Her hands became claws. I could feel her fingers gripping into my ass. Not with love. But with need and lust. With feelings I could return and did want to. I encouraged this by grinding at her with my panties, rubbing my horny pussy into her lap, and she responded by gyrating her own body, moaning with my tongue in her mouth, until we both became so frenzied that we fell off the couch.
We hit the rug with a thud, two women in a tangle of limbs and tits and lace lingerie. Silhouetted against the fireplace like a match made in hell, a match doomed before it had begun. But so what. We were gonna fuck anyway and fuck each other we did, slamming our mouths together and ripping at each other's panties, rolling, vying for dominance. She hissed at me that she wanted me, that she needed me so bad, and I told her to fuck me. She had a hand clenched in my hair, her other hand clutching my chin, and she kissed me brutally for a moment before she released me and shifted into a sixty-nine position, sitting on my face backwards and bending across my body to eat out my pussy. Her own pussy was right there above my face, glistening and wet and dripping with deliciousness, and I lunged at it with my mouth and gripped on her hips to pull it toward me. We ate each other with low moans, the fireplace crackling in the back ground, and before long we each orgasmed at the same time in an eruption of lust that made us cry into each other's vaginas as we licked them and licked them and kept licking them.
In the aftermath of that double orgasm we were panting and breathless. Eventually she climbed off me and sat there with messy blonde hair and her legs open, wearing nothing but a white bra and white stockings. I just lay there and looked at her. She was smiling and it was the kind of smile that I hadn't seen from her in a long time. The kind that reached her eyes and reminded me why I had loved her so much in the first place. I smiled back and then I stood up and fluffed out my hair and offered a hand to help her up. She gazed at me for a long moment, thanking me with her eyes, and then placed her hand in mine and allowed me to help her up. She had missed christmas dinner but she could still catch dessert.
The pudding was just being served as Tanya and I emerged into the dining room, the two of us half naked, me wearing nothing but shoes and her in nothing but white stockings. The girls greeted us with hoots and catcalls, asking where we'd been. Bella caught my eyes for a moment and smiled in approval of what I had done to Tanya. Tanya was smiling and she greeted them all with apologies for being so distant. Everyone brushed that off but Kate and Carmen were very relieved to see this sudden change in their old friend. Bella was noting her lingerie and with a grin she rose from her chair and came over and chided me for giving Tanya the present early before sinking to her knees and eating Tanya out right there in front of everyone.
Leah laughed with a mouthful of pudding and Claire giggled. I let Bella and Tanya have their fun and asked the table if anyone else wanted to fuck. More laughter and grins blossomed through the room in the candlelight and forthwith the banquet descended into debauchery.
Carmen tried to keep order but we teased her and heckled her until she consented to climb onto the table and do a striptease for us, pulling off her housedress and stepping among the plates and glasses and platters of turkey in her high heels, turning, showing off her butt in her thong panties before bending and removing them, the rest of us clapping and cheering her on. I climbed up on the table as well, already naked, and the two of us pawed each other's hips and tongued each other while the other's watched.
Soon the floor was strewn with clothes and underwear and everyone was naked. Leah was sitting on the table with her legs open and Kate squatting on the floor to eat her out, the darkhaired woman half drunk and drinking out of a wine bottle. Irena had poured custard on her tits and Claire was lapping it up like a cat. Bella had run to fetch some strapons and soon Irena and I were at work, fucking whoever wanted to bend over the table or spread her legs, the great dining hall echoing with the shrieks of orgasm. Wine glasses were spilled and red liquid was pooled all over the table. A pair of string panties hung from the drumstick of the turkey. Leah had gotten her hands on Claire and she was indulging her latent taste for violence, slapping the submissive woman across her face and pinching her tits. Leah thought she was pretty badass, cocky and chuckling, until Irena came up from behind and bend her over the table roughly and fucked her in her ass. Leah squealed at the penetration, her balled fists beating at the tabletop and flipping over plates, and we laughed at her as Irena thrust her into an orgasm.
Kate meanwhile was spreading her legs for attention, sitting there among the remains of the banquet, and Bella crawled toward her across the table and started licking her out. I was sitting on a chair and Tanya had straddled my strapon like a cowgirl, riding me hard, letting loose with a vagina full of dildo and a heart unburdened. She orgasmed like a girl and giggled and I pushed her off and went down on her on the floor.
We were having so much fun that it was well past midnight by the time we adjourned to the parlour to open the presents. No one bothered to put any clothes on, aside from Carmen who wore a Santa hat and nothing else, handing out the gifts like a naked latina female father Christmas.
The fireplace was crackling and the carols were playing from an iPod, the piano stool empty and the keyboard covered. Tanya was with her family, clapping as certain gifts were unwrapped, smiling but still rather silent. Her broken heart would take far longer than one night to heal but she had at least been fucked to her senses.
A lot of the gifts were for Bella, Bella being the newest member of the coven, and soon she was surrounded with torn wrapping paper and a plethora of presents, stacks of underwear, blu-rays, video games, jewellery, clothes. She opened each one gushing with giggles and thank yous. At one point Carmen went to give her the special gift I acquired for her a few days ago but I requested Carmen to keep that one for last.
Claire received several boxes of chocolate, as the only human member of the coven, and she opened some of them and shared with Leah. She was wearing her real gift around her neck, the black lace collar with the black opal in the center, and soon Irena had opened the special gift Claire had gotten for her. The necklace that had cost her entire lifesavings and two lives. As soon as it was revealed the room was filled with oohs and ahhs. The necklace glittered in the firelight as Irena lifted it from its bed of tissue paper. Her lips were parted slightly in something like shock and she seemed honestly shocked. Claire was beaming and she took the necklace from her mistress and went around behind her and strung it around that regal neck and clasped it like a faithful handmaiden. Irena touched the diamonds with her fingertips, gazing down at her chest, and looked up at Claire and the rest of us watched with respectful smiles as mistress and slave shared a passionate kiss.
Leah had gotten quite a few gifts as well and she kept remarking how she felt guilty she hadn't gotten anything for anyone else. We told her not to worry about it, since she didn't exactly have the unlimited funds that we did.
Soon the ring of presents around the tree began to shrink and the floor was littered with ribbons and bows and discarded christmas paper. Each woman was surrounded by piles of clothes and shoes and bras and panties until Leah just burst out laughing.
"This must be what christmas is like in a brothel," she said. "Look at all this underwear!"
There was a black lace g-string beside her and she held it up to the firelight. Kate snatched it away from her and giggled.
"Looks like we got next year's lingerie covered," she said teasingly.
Most of us were sitting on the floor in pairs, Bella and I on the rug and Kate and Leah by the fireplace for warmth. Irena was sitting on the sofa with Claire at her feet and holding one of her legs affectionately and Tanya was on the sofa as well. Carmen was sitting on a chair by the huge sparkling tree and she was reaching for the final present.
My present for Bella.
At first I was excited but then I realized I hadn't received anything special from Bella. She hadn't forgotten about me, had she? No, she had definitely gone shopping for something. So where was it?
"Looks like this is the last present," Carmen was saying. "Victoria, would you like to give it to Bella herself?"
She handed me the large heavy box, no one could've guessed what was inside. I took it with a smile but I was a little disappointed that I seemed to have been forgotten about.
Bella might've seen my eyes because she grinned.
"Actually, there's two presents left," she announced. "I have something special for Victoria."
I heaved a sigh in relief. "Oh, thank goodness," I said. "I was rather worried for a moment. I thought you'd forgotten about me."
Leah and Kate laughed, Irena and Tanya smiled. Bella smirked at me primly.
"Not a chance," she said. "But it's a surprise. You have to close your eyes."
I raised my brows. "My eyes?"
"Yep, I have to get it ready," Bella said, standing up. "I'll tell you when to open them."
I closed my eyes with a smile. The room went black. I listened closely for any clues. I could hear the fireplace crackling. Some whispering. A little giggling.
My grin grew wider at the suspense and then I heard Leah burst out laughing at something.
"Oh god," she said.
Kate giggled as well but quickly hissed at her. "Shh!"
My grin spread even wider and the excitement was making my body hum
"Can I open them yet?" I asked eagerly.
"Just a minute," Bella said with a giggle.
I waited patiently, almost vibrating out of my skin. There was a bit more giggling and whispering and I could just barely hear. Bella was shooing people away from the couch. I wondered why but I didn't have to wonder long.
"Okay, open them," she said.
My eyes sprang open and—
I burst out giggling.
I couldn't help it. Bella was spread across the couch with her long white legs folded and she was wearing nothing but a big red ribbon around her breasts and tied in a large bow. I couldn't believe it. I would've been happy with any gift at all but she had come up with something absolutely perfect.
Herself.
The other women in the room had burst out giggling as well and they gave us a few hoots and catcalls. Bella laughed as well and waited for them to settle down.
"I tried to buy you something," she said, "but in the end I couldn't think of anything I wanted to give you more than myself. Merry Christmas, Vicky."
I smiled at her lovingly. Tanya was standing off to the side, watching with an honest smile. Irena had her arm around Claire. Kate was reclining between Leah's legs. I crawled across the rug toward my mate and plucked the bow. The ribbon fell away, revealing the perfect mounds of her plump white breasts. I leaned and gave them a kiss on each nipple and then smiled up at her.
"Thank you, baby," I said. "It's perfect."
Bella grinned, happily and bashfully, and the rest of the room gave us a round of laughter and applause. I was tempted to eat Bella out right then but I still had my own special gift to give her.
I handed her the box, still kneeling there at her feet. She took it and put it in her lap.
"And I think my special gift to you is perfect as well," I said.
She grinned and began to unwrap it. Everyone was watching, everyone grinning, everyone curious what kind of gift a woman like me would give a woman like my mate.
Bella tore the paper off and turned the box around and—
Froze.
Her smile dropped away. Her mouth fell open. Her eyes went rigid in the firelight as they raked over the picture on the box. The picture of a woman holding a machine that—
"Well?" Kate demanded with excited impatience. "What is it?"
I took the box away from my stunned mate and opened it and removed the device.
Silence in the parlour. Everybody stared. The machine was shaped like a large powerdrill and the dildo attached to it was long and thick and made from purple gel, floppy and translucent in the firelight.
Everybody shared glances, a smile blooming here and there. Kate grinned and shy approval.
"Wow," she said. "Talk about toys for christmas."
Leah chuckled, half amazed as well. "Somebody's been a good girl."
Bella still hadn't smiled. You might've thought she was displeased if not for the excited heaving of her naked chest. She was still sitting on the sofa and now she unfolded her legs and spread them widely to reveal the bald mound of her girlhood.
"Victoria," she said. "You get that thing inside me right now."
I smiled at her. "As you wish, my love."
The others laughed and I leaned forward to lick her a little first, still kneeling there, using my tongue to wetten her up and make her even more horny. She didn't object but her moans soon became pained and she hissed for me to hurry. The others egged me on as well until finally I stopped licking at her and rose to my feet with the machine.
Bella spread her legs even more, pulling them back with her hands until her feet were in the air and her wet pussy was facing the ceiling. The others began crowding around, eager to watch. I grinned and inserted the dildo into her vagina, pushing it in nice and deep. Bella groaned pleasurably and I poised my finger on the switch to turn it on.
"Merry Christmas, baby," I said.
Then I switched it on.
It was already set to its most powerful setting and instantly the dildo began to tear her up. In and out like a jackhammer. The machine was surprisingly loud but not as loud as Bella. A shriek of joy came out of her and her eyes rolled back. Kate giggled and Claire looked on with envy. Tanya laughed to herself and Carmen shook her head in amusement. I shoved the dildo deeper, maximising the penetration, and Bella was already on the verge of orgasm. Her vagina was making wet squishing sounds. The dildo pumping in and out with mechanical no mercy and when she came she came with her eyes crossed and a loud scream of ecstasy.
Afterwards she was breathing heavy and half stupid from the orgasm. Every other woman in the room was massively turned on from the display and I asked if anyone else wanted to try. Kate checked with Bella to see if it was okay to borrow and Bella nodded dazedly.
Kate went first, kneeling on the couch with her ass pointed at me. I shoved the machine into her moist vagina from behind and switched it on and soon she had moaned her little naked self to an orgasm. Leah went next, sitting on the sofa behind her spent girlfriend and opening her legs. The dildo was slick and wet and it quickly jackhammered her to a swift orgasm. Irena offered Claire next and Claire soon climaxed on the couch with the rest of the girls already exhausted there. Irena remarked that she wouldn't usually be interested in something so inelegant and then she turned around and bent over and used a hand to spread the area back there. I laughed and shoved the machine inside her and she moaned with her tits jiggling from the thrusting dildo until she orgasmed in a rare moment of sluttery for the proud sophisticated woman. Next was Carmen. She tried to demure, of course, but the other girls grabbed her and pulled her onto the sofa and wrenched open her legs. The machine fit nicely in her womanly vagina and she came with a loud moan and quite a happy smile. Tanya had been waiting patiently this whole time with a smile and fond affection for her coven. There was little room left on the sofa by now but Tanya managed to squeeze in, the entire coven all pressed together there, and I stuck the machine into her vagina with a smile.
Lastly it was my own turn. Bella snatched the machine away from me and all the other women dragged me to the floor and soon both of my nipples were engulfed in mouths while my own mouth was filled with two different tongues and then suddenly I was penetrated by the machine in my sopping wet vagina. My spine arched as the machine pumped me full of pleasure and finally I orgasmed with a great cry of ecstasy, there by the christmas tree and the crackling fireplace.
It was getting late by now and Carmen asked if she should go finish preparing Leanna. The rest of us had almost forgotten but we did manage to rouse ourselves and head upstairs.
Leah and Claire came with us to watch and we were in jovial spirits as we entered the bedroom. It was dark in the room aside from candles and in the dim orange gloom you could see a woman on the bed. Leanna. She was stark naked, no clothes at all, no lingerie, no lace, and she was lashed to all four bedposts, both wrists and both ankles, spread there in the shape of a star. We smiled at her and went over and slowly climbed into the bed with her. Her head lay in a pool of red hair and she wore a ballgag in her mouth. Her eyes were shining with tears and full of fear but she made no sound. We cooed to her and kissed her and rubbed her between her legs. She had been intended to be the focal point of the evening but instead we had been far too preoccupied with each other. Family. Even now we were all very eager to adjourn to our own private rooms with our loved ones but we couldn't possibly let the lovely young woman go to waste. She orgasmed with a little cry and now she did begin to beg. Muffled cries into her gag. I smiled at her and kissed her temple tenderly and a sound of pain came out of her as if the kiss had hurt. But it was Bella. She had bit into one of her thighs and moaned as the blood filled her mouth.
Leanna began crying and I smiled at her and watched the pain in her eyes as the other women began biting her as well. One after the other. Claire and Leah were watching with fascinate faces in the candlelight and finally I gave Leanna a kiss on her cheek and bit into her neck.
It didn't take long for the poor woman to fade away and by the time we rose up with bloodstained mouths she was just a pale corpse lashed to the bed. There were bite marks in her tits and thighs, her arms, her neck. Blood all over the bed. Leah laughed and said she couldn't wait to be a vampire. Claire looked excited as well. Carmen was climbing off the bed and she yawned and stretched and announced that her work was finally done and now she could rest. Tanya smiled and took her arm, the only two women in the room without mates of their own, and offered to take her old friend to bed. Carmen accepted the offer gratefully and they retired together, leaving the rest of us to our pairings. I smiled and I was glad they wouldn't be alone tonight.
The rest of us left the room together and Irena and Claire continued down the corridor with Irena leading Claire by the hand, both of them naked, mistress and slave, before disappearing behind a door. Kate and Leah accompanied Bella and I downstairs where we said goodnight and merry christmas under the chandelier in the foyer and exchanged kisses on each other's cheeks. They went back upstairs and Bella and I continued into the parlour.
The sex machine was laying there on the floor and Bella settled down on the rug beside it, lying flat on her tummy. I took up the machine and pushed the dildo directly between those pale and beautiful buttcheeks. The machine began drilling into her sexy white ass and her voice trembled from the vibrations as she moaned and said this was the best christmas ever.
—
AN: This one was a lot of fun to write, lol. Bit of fluff, bit of angst, and a whole lot of lemons. :)
Some reviewers were getting annoyed with Tanya, so I hope this chapter resolved that somewhat. It provided a passionate lemon and a culmination to the Vicky/Tanya angle. Victoria made it clear what her real feelings were and Tanya accepted them for what they were. I thought christmas would be the perfect opportunity to revive Tanya's spirits and get her back in the coven. :)
Leanna's death was more minor than I thought it would be, but I think it worked well. The last chapter was very gruesome, so there was no need to have two in a row, and Leanna had already been broken in a previous chapter, so there was no need to do that all over again either. In addition to all that, the chapter was rather fluffy and family-oriented, so it seemed to make sense that everyone was more eager to just be with their partners. :)
Okay, hope you liked it as much as I did. New chapter soon. :)