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Chapter 63:
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The sun was just rising over the ocean and bathing the world in a warm yellow light when we got back to the island. As the boat motored closer I could see a figure waiting on the pier and as we got closer some more I could see the figure was Tanya.
Arms crossed. Glaring at our approach. Wearing a blowsy white sundress that fluttered in the morning breeze and her golden hair in a radiance of dawn like some vengeful goddess. She didn't move as the boat settled against the pier and her eyes remained locked onto mine in a fierce glare as I stepped out of the boat with an awkward smile and my hands raised for defence.
"I can explain everything," I said.
Tanya ignored that. "Guess what was all over the news last night? An entire bathroom of women was massacred in some nightclub. You girls wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
My mouth opened and closed a couple times. I looked at Bella and Alice. They had climbed out of the boat by now and they stood there looking very guilty.
I turned back to Tanya.
Tanya scoffed and spun on a heel and stalked back up the pier.
I sighed and looked again at my pair of lusty little murderesses. Bella was still looking guilty but smiling as well and even Alice's lips had a tiny quirk to them. I had a brief impulse to scold them but we had already been through all that and so I sighed and turned and followed Tanya.
Tanya was headed up the stairs in the foyer by the time we got inside. I would've followed her but I could hear the sound of a television in a different room and a quiet murmuring of voices. I stopped at the base of the stairs with a hand on the balustrade and watched the blonde woman continue up. Unlike the other two girls, Bella and Alice, I really did feel awful. Last night had not been the best way to regain Tanya's trust. At this rate we would not only be kicked off the island but out of our coven too.
The voices were coming from a large living room in the east wing where everyone had gathered on white leather sofas to watch the wallmounted television broadcast updates on the grisly discovery of over a dozen mutilated young women found dead in the bathroom of Club Caribe. I had been keeping track of the news as well, on my phone during the boat ride, and if there was anything to be thankful for it was that the police had kept most of the details out of the media in order to preserve the investigation. Either that or the media had too much respect for the victims and their families to report the various rapings and dismemberments they had suffered but that didn't seem likely. In any case the three of us would at least be spared from trying to explain why we not only killed all these women but raped them as well.
Everyone looked up as we came in. Carlisle, Esme. Rosalie, Emmett. All of them with blank and hesitant expressions on their faces. Kate and Leah were there too, cuddled on one of the sofas, and they were grinning discreetly as if they wished they had been there too.
The television continued to drone in the background. They had identified some of the victims and they were showing photographs of the deceased women from when they were still alive. Esme looked honestly distressed but Carlisle seemed to be taking it well. He sighed and stood up from beside his wife and turned off the television with the remote.
Sudden silence. No one spoke. Bella and Alice were flanking me, both of them doing their best to look guilty, and I probably looked quite guilty as well. Carlisle set the remote down on the sidetable and turned back to us.
"Well," he said. "I assume there's some kind of explanation."
Alice immediately came forward like a brave little soldier. "It was my fault, Carlisle," she said. "Bella and Vicky invited me along, and it was an accident, and…"
She trailed off, all but incinerating with shame under the amber eyes of her coven. I gave her a small smile and my heart warmed at how she had no hesitation to take responsibility. What a noble little slut.
Esme rose from the couch as well and looked at Alice mournfully.
"Alice, how could you?" she said. "You never feed from humans."
Alice shrugged helplessly. "I know, I just…"
Again she trailed off. The poor thing obviously wasn't used to other people being disappointed in her.
Rosalie had been glaring from the couch but it wasn't Alice she was glaring at. It was Bella. And not a glare of anger or hate but rather betrayal. Hurt. As if their tentative friendship had actually been important to her. She had her arms folded, her body tense as a coiled spring, and now she stood up angrily.
"This is your fault," she said to Bella. "Nothing like this ever happened till you came into our lives. First Edward, now Alice. How much more are we going to suffer for letting you into our lives?"
Bella did her best to look sad. And perhaps she really was. She had only gotten to fuck the sexy blonde once and now it seemed she may never get to fuck her again.
Alice turned to Rosalie and rushed to Bella's defence.
"Rosalie, it was my fault," she said. "Don't blame Bella."
Rosalie turned her glare to Alice. "You never had any desire to hunt humans till she came along."
"I'm a grown woman, Rosalie. I make my own choices."
"Oh, so you chose to be a murderer?"
"Yes," Alice said firmly. "I did."
The entire room fell silent. Outside, very dimly, you could hear the sea.
No one spoke for a long moment. Leah and Kate were grinning, still cuddled together on a separate chair, and Emmett looked a little sad. Esme was distraught to hear that and Rosalie was stunned.
I was quite stunned as well. I hadn't expected her to be so forthright. Even Bella was partly shocked. When Alice had first entered the room she had been scared and hesitant but she had discovered rather quickly how she really felt and now she went on with conviction.
"I'm not making any excuses," she said. "I knew what I was getting into. And I'm not apologizing for what I did. Not that part of it, anyway. All I'm apologizing for is the accident. I slipped. Bella and Vicky were forced to react. None of this was their fault. In fact, if it wasn't for them, it could've been a lot worse."
Esme looked at her in shock. "A lot worse than thirteen innocent women dead?"
"I could've been arrested, Esme."
"Maybe you should've been," Rosalie said. "Maybe you all should've been."
Alice looked down in shame. Bella tried to look shameful as well. Rosalie was glaring at them but again there seemed to be far more hurt in her eyes than anger. Bella could see it as well and in Bella's own eyes you could already see her calculating ways to console the blonde and repair the friendship—preferably with spread legs.
Carlisle had listened to all this with growing concern and he could see how distressed Rosalie was.
"Rosalie," he said caringly.
But the blonde woman spun to him and flapped a hand. "No, Carlisle! No more. I want them off the island. As soon as possible. All of you mocked me the first time I demanded it and now look what happened. This time you better listen."
She cast one last glare about the room, furious amber eyes sweeping over all impartially, and then she stormed out of the room.
Kate and Leah watched her go by with small grins, like a couple of teenagers who thought it was all a big joke. Esme wrung her hands in worry. Emmett seemed saddened at all this, albeit reserving judgement, and he rose from the sofa with a sigh to follow his wife.
Bella hesitated a moment and then she held up a hand.
"Wait," she said. "Let me talk to her."
Emmett looked at her awkwardly. "I don't know, Bella."
"Please, Emmett?" she asked with what seemed like genuine concern. "Me and Rosalie bonded on the boat the other day. I just need to apologize properly. I never meant to…"
Emmett sighed and looked in the direction where his wife disappeared. Then he turned back to Bella.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Bella nodded and she was already on her way out.
"Thanks, Emmett," she said. "She'll be alright, trust me."
Emmett nodded and watched her go. I watched as well and I was fairly confident she could handle the situation. Probably by seducing her. Rosalie had been more hurt than angry and if there was anyone who could sweet talk an uptight blonde to forgive an act of multiple murder it was Bella.
Esme sighed sadly and looked at Alice and I. Alice stood there, guilty but unyielding. Esme didn't know what to say but her expression seemed to soften a little when she looked at me. It had only been the night before last when I had made love to her on her own kitchentable with lubricated vegetables and the event perhaps swayed her to my side, as if anyone who could make her come so hard couldn't be all that bad.
Carlisle looked at us as well and then he sighed.
"Victoria, may I speak to you?" he asked. "In private?"
I nodded and thought that probably would be best.
"Certainly," I said.
He nodded and started toward the door. I touched Alice's shoulder and gave her a smile of support before leaving her to her mother while I followed Carlisle.
Carlisle took me upstairs and into his personal study. The room was bright with sunlight that poured in through the baywindow and sparkled upon the polished darkwood desk. On the desk was a lamp and a laptop and a quartz penholder with two goldplated fountain pens. The other wall was completely covered in bookshelves, rows and rows of antique volumes of enormous size, and there was a pleasant scent of wood polish in the air.
I stood there and waited for him to sit behind the desk. He was wearing glasses and he took them off and laid them on the inkblotter. I was oddly nervous. The man moved with an aura of such authority that I felt like how a highschool girl might feel when called into the principal's office.
I waited for him to speak, not knowing exactly how to begin. He sighed, sitting there behind his desk, and looked up at me.
"Tanya told me the truth," he said. "About Edward."
I didn't move. After a while I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"I see," I said.
Carlisle sighed once more and swivelled in his officechair to look out the baywindow. The beach down there was vast and gold in the morning sunlight.
"She told me because she's concerned about you," he said. "Because she doesn't want this situation to deteriorate any further than it already has. I was hurt that she kept it from me for so long, but it seems her first allegiances are now to you."
I didn't reply. He continued looking out the window for a moment and then he turned back to me and folded his hands on the desk.
"I made a mistake inviting you to this island," he said. "My trust in Tanya blinded me. Nevertheless it was my own decision and my own mistake. I don't often make mistakes and I now find myself at a loss how to correct it."
I didn't reply but I could sympathize. It was certainly a difficult situation. The relationships between the two covens were like one of those children's games where blocks are stacked and none can be removed save for bringing down the entire structure. I myself was in a similar position.
He had looked down at his desk and I waited for him to continue.
"Edward was like a son to me," he said. "He was the first person I ever turned. And yet…"
He sighed once more and looked up again with surprising casualness.
"He was never suited to being a vampire," he said. "In all the hundred years of his extended life I don't believe he actually lived even one day. When Bella came into his life I had hope. She had sparked something in him. Something that could've changed him. But in the end it was this spark that consumed him."
I still didn't answer but I took note of his phrasing. Like Tanya he believed that Edward was dead. Neither of them knew the full details. That the boy was quite alive, only missing his penis and buried in the bottom of the ocean. But, of course, I didn't mention that.
Carlisle had been looking out the window and now he turned back to me.
"I won't insist you leave the island," he said. "At this point I doubt it would accomplish anything. Instead I'll leave it to you. If you feel you cannot contain your darker urgers, then by all means. Leave. But the damage isn't reversible. Tanya is a dear friend of mine. I don't want to send her away as an enemy."
I nodded and I was thankful for his diplomacy. A true pacifist, even willing to overlook the murder of his son for the sake of peace. I had no true affection for him or his coven, of course, but I shared his regard for Tanya and it was my feelings for Tanya that kept my response genuine.
"Thank you," I said.
He nodded and then I turned and left his little office.
Out in the corridor I bumped into Kate and Leah. They seemed to have been eavesdropping at the keyhole and only now stumbled back with giggles. I frowned at their childishness and started down the corridor and they fell into step beside me.
Kate grabbed my arm and spoke in an excited giggle.
"So, hey," she said. "How'd it go with Carlisle? Did you seduce him?"
I was taken aback. "What?"
Leah grinned and chuckled. Kate was sniffing at me for any scent of a man.
"Get off me," I said, tugging back my arm.
Kate giggled and kept following. "I thought you might seduce him. Would've been the perfect opportunity, offering him sexual favors to let you stay on the island. Would've been so hot. I can just picture you on your knees, enjoying your first taste of cock in so long, remembering how much you used to like it. Were you even tempted?"
"It didn't even occur to me," I said dismissively and with mild disgust. "Where's Tanya?"
"In her room."
Leah was grinning but she was more sober than her girlfriend. "But seriously, what happened with that Carlisle guy?" she asked. "Is he kicking us out?"
"He suggested, rather subtly, that Bella and I are welcome to leave the island," I said. "But he didn't insist."
Kate nodded at that and finally sobered as well. "Well, maybe he's right. I'm mean, we've already been here a week. Decent enough vacation. Might as well move on to London. I still have to turn Leah into a vampire too. We can't do that here."
"Yeah," Leah agreed. "I'm sick of being human. I never knew how much sex I was missing out on by sleeping every night."
They giggled and I came to a stop just outside Tanya's door.
"All I'm worried about right now is Tanya," I told them.
Then I opened the door and went in and closed the door again with Kate and Leah on the other side.
The room itself was empty but the glassdoors that led onto the balcony were open and I could see a trim figure in silhouette against the fluttering curtains. Tanya. My heart was already beginning to feel tight in my chest. Bella and I had made a huge mistake with Edward and now last night we had made another huge mistake with Alice. Shame wasn't an emotion I felt often, but now—thinking about all that Tanya had done for us and all the trouble Bella and I had caused in return—I felt hot waves of disgrace washing over me.
The balcony had a view over the beach and Tanya was standing at the balustrade, watching the calm blue waves lap at the sand. I came to her side and hesitated. I didn't know what to say right away. She was looking out there and she seemed to be deep in thought. She looked as if she didn't even register my presence. I leaned a hip on the balustrade and sighed at the view, the sparkling ocean under the bright morning sun, and then I turned back to Tanya.
"I'm sorry, Tanya," I said.
Her eyes lowered. Toward the beach.
"I don't even know if I believe that," she said softly.
"Believe it," I told her earnestly. "It's true."
Tanya sighed and finally turned to me. Her face was beautiful in the sunlight and the lack of anger in it made me feel even more guilty. She seemed only disappointed.
"What really happened, Victoria?" she asked. "Do you honestly respect me so little that you would do this deliberately? That you would just…"
She waved a hand limply, too hurt to finish the sentence. I caught the hand and held it.
"Of course not, Tanya," I said. "We never meant for any of it to happen."
She looked at me. Her blonde brows hardened into a small glare but she didn't pull away her hand. I caressed it fondly and spoke with great earnestness.
"It was honestly an accident," I said. "I was at the bar. Bella and Alice were in the bathroom with a girl they had been dancing with. I was chatting up some woman when Bella came over and told me what happened. Alice had been making out with the girl and she slipped. She was waiting in the stall with the dead body. After that…"
Tanya could picture the rest and she shook her head, finally tugging back her hand. More waves of shame rolled over me.
"But I'm not blaming Alice," I said. "We were all at fault. Me, most of all. I should've kept a better eye on them. And I'm so sorry, Tanya. I've abused your trust. Again. After I promised myself so faithfully that I wouldn't."
My eyes began to burn. I looked out toward the beach as if to hide tears but of course vampires couldn't cry. Tanya went sympathetic at the emotion in my voice but I was shaking my head. My throat was clogged with shame and my voice came out in barely a whisper.
"Perhaps you were right, Tanya," I said. "Perhaps I really am a monster. I always knew I was but I thought at least I was a civilized one. But maybe I'm not. Maybe I don't deserve to be in a coven. I certainly don't deserve to have a woman like you in my life."
Tanya touched my shoulder. "Victoria…"
I turned back to her and gave her a weak smile in the sunlight.
"I really am so sorry, Tanya," I said. "I…"
But now it was her shaking her head and her own eyes that filled with tears she could never shed. "No, Victoria," she said. "Don't apologize."
"I have to, Tanya. You must let me."
"No. I'm the one that needs to apologize.'
I blinked at her in confusion. "What for?"
She sighed and took my hand and held it. "For being angry about what happened with Edward."
"You were perfectly entitled," I told her. "I betrayed your trust."
She shook her head, still holding my hand. She was gazing down at my fingers and stroking them affectionately and her voice was hardly a whisper in the morning breeze.
"No," she said. "It was only a betrayal because I allowed it to be. But my first loyalty should've been to you. Not to Edward. Not to Carlisle."
She looked up and now she lifted one of her hands and cupped my face. I gazed at her, my heart throbbing in my chest, and she gazed back with eyes that roamed over my every feature.
"I once told you I loved you like a mate," she said. "Unconditionally. Perhaps that wasn't as true as I thought it was. But I do love you, Victoria. Very much. And I'm going to love you no matter what. So don't apologize anymore. You'll always have my support. Always."
A breath came out of me in a sigh of love and relief.
"Oh, Tanya," I said.
Tanya's lips curved into a smile, the wind stirring her perfect blonde hair, and then she leaned and covered my lips with her own.
My eyes fell closed. My hands touched her hips. A small moan came out of me. I could feel the wound of disapproval in my heart closing over as she healed them with her lips. Her tongue was coming into my mouth and I let my own tongue curl against hers affectionately. She was holding my face and pulling me toward her as the passion between us continued to grow. It had been days since I had tasted her lips and days since she had tasted mine and it had been days too long.
My hands pulled up her dress and cupped her buttocks. She moaned as I gripped them with desire and moaned again as I lifted her and set her down on the balustrade of the balcony. I continued to kiss her and she opened her legs to wrap them around me. Now it was me cupping her face, pulling her toward me with need. Her own hands had taken my breasts and she was stroking them and squeezing them through the thin material of my dress. I moaned into her mouth and explored its interior with my tongue and then I broke the kiss and gazed at her breathlessly. She was perched there on the balustrade of the balcony with the view of the ocean behind her and seagulls circling the blue and beautiful sky. I was loving her with my eyes but my eyes weren't enough. I sank to my knees, there on the balcony, and peeled aside her panties and began licking her lovely vagina, moaning at the taste and showing her exactly how grateful I was for her forgiveness.
Eventually we relocated to the bed and made love properly, discarding all our clothes and spending some time to become reacquainted with each other's bodies. We left the glassdoors of the balcony open and the drapes kept fluttering in. I was laying on my back, naked, and she was laying at my side, smiling at me and using her hand to feel out my every curve, leaving paths of electricity all over my body. The hand eventually went between my thighs and began rubbing my vagina while she dipped kisses to my mouth, my nipples. Finally she lowered that mouth to my vagina and licked me to an orgasm that was strong and lovely and long overdue.
Both of us were overjoyed to finally share a bed again and she told me in a whisper how much she missed me even though it had only been a few days. I told her I missed her as well and promised her that there would be no more accidents. She smiled at that and confessed that she was almost glad we had that accident. It had reminded her what was what important. Where her loyalties ought to lie. Right here. With me. And with that she lowered her mouth onto mine and I rolled her onto her back and reached between her legs.
For the rest of them morning and into the afternoon we remained in bed and enjoyed our renewed relationship. I teased her a little bit about Carlisle and Tanya laughed and admitted the man was rather conventional in bed but still quite adequate. I stroked her breasts and licked them and said a woman like her was entitled to the company of anybody she wanted to be with, man or woman. Tanya smiled, her fingers woven into my long red hair, and said every time she was with him all she thought about was me. I wondered aloud with a smirk if the poor man would be jealous about that but she laughed again and said it was me she had wanted to make jealous. I lifted my face from her breasts to smile at her and I told her quite earnestly that I hadn't been jealous in the least. Only devastated to have lost her. She returned the smile and cupped my face and whispered into my lips that I would never lose her.
All day we continued to make love and the sun was actually setting behind the fluttering curtains by the time we stopped and relaxed. Neither of us were too eager to face the rest of the household and we laid there for a long time in the rumpled bed, wrapped in each other's arms, legs tangled and both of us enveloped in the sweet scent of our combined arousal.
She had laid her head on my chest and I was petting her silky blonde hair, smiling, eyes closed. Enjoying the intimacy. She was enjoying it as well and after a while she heaved a satisfied sigh and spoke.
"I suppose we need to decide if we're leaving the island," she said.
I opened my eyes and smiled at the top of her head. The room was suffused in a dusky orange light and I placed a kiss in that golden hair.
"Let's at least stay for the ball," I said. "I don't want you to sever your friendship with them on our account. We'll fix this, Tanya. I promise."
"As you wish," she said. "But remember…"
Tanya rose and smiled at me. Her lips were soft pink and completely clean of lipstick from so many kisses. She cupped my face and gazed into my eyes.
"…all that matters to me is you," she said.
I laughed and looked at her breasts bashfully and then at her eyes again.
"Until you find a real mate," I said.
She chuckled at that and shook her head. "That's never going to happen."
"Oh, I think it will, Tanya," I told her teasingly. "Just be patient. Carlisle said he's inviting many friends to his little ball. Perhaps you'll meet someone there."
Tanya gave a noncommittal shrug of a naked shoulder and then she lowered her lips to one of my nipples.
It was dark by the time we finally said goodnight. A lamp was on and I slipped my dress over my head as Tanya wrapped a sexy satin kimono over her naked body. She walked me to the door and opened it and I turned to give her a kiss. I asked if she wanted to come to our room later on but Tanya shook her head and said she ought to confer with Carlisle about our plans. I asked her teasingly if they would have this discussion in bed and she laughed and said Bella and I were welcome to join them. I had to pass on that and I gave her another kiss and continued down the corridor.
Bella wasn't in our room and I conducted a brief search. It was dark downstairs but I found Claire and Irena in the courtyard outside. Claire was naked and on a leash and Irena was naked as well, the two of them enjoying a moonlit stroll among the fountains and hedges, not caring about being discreet anymore. I laughed when I saw them and Claire stopped and sat like a good girl and smiled up at me from Irena's feet. Claire wore nothing but her opal collar and Irena wore nothing but her diamond necklace. They had been absent all day, the troubles of the covens entirely too trivial for two woman so utterly sufficient unto each other, but they told me they had seen Bella on the beach.
I continued on toward the beach and I could see her in the moonlight, a lone figure strolling through the shallow surf. The fringe of her skirt was wet and mine got wet as well as approached with the waves lapping at my shins. She smiled to see me and I gave her a big kiss. I felt like I hadn't seen her all day and I realized I actually hadn't.
Bella broke the kiss and gave me another smile.
"So are we staying on the island?" she asked.
I nodded, cupping her face in the moonlight. "For now."
Bella nodded as well. "Good," she said. "Last night was just bad luck. I think we can all be friends if we try hard enough. Rosalie was very eager to forgive me. She has a weakness for lies and pussy licking."
I laughed and shook my head.
"Tanya has forgiven us as well," I said. "Although it didn't require any lies. Only truth. We have to be better coven mates, Bella. We can't be so selfish all the time."
Bella nodded and sobered a little under the stars.
"I know," she said. "And I will."
"Thank you," I said with a smile.
Bella returned the smile, standing there with the water surging around our ankles, and I looked at her for a moment and then I leaned and kissed her.
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AN: Sorry if this one was not quite up to my usual standard. I've had a pretty rough couple days and it was hard to focus. The important thing in this chapter was the swerve with Tanya. Instead of becoming even angrier, the accident caused her to remember that she's supposed to love Bella and Vicky no matter what. I think it was a sweet reversal. I also dropped a little foreshadowing about the ball. ;)
I also had to delete a scene from this chapter, right at the end. In the original, instead of finding Bella on the beach, Vicky found her in Rosalie's room with Emmett. Emmett had been watching Bella and Rosalie have sex, but of course not participating. But that was so weird and awkward that I had to get rid of it. To be honest, I'm really getting sick of these male characters. They really have no place in such hyper-sexualized femmeslash.
Okay, hope you liked it. Next chapter ought to be the ball. :)