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Chapter 64:
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The ball was scheduled for the very next day, which was actually great timing. It gave both covens the perfect excuse to ignore the recent dramas and focus on pretending everything was fine for the guests.
The guests began arriving as early as the morning. Arriving by boat or helicopter and shown to rooms by Esme or Carlisle. Many of the guests were vampires but at least half or maybe more were human, men and women flown in from all over the globe, businessmen, politicians, movie stars, even a strange little prince in a suit and ascot, all of them quite eager to be here for their mysterious billionaire friend Carlisle.
Bella and I were introduced to some of them and there was one little vampiress in particular who struck me as very fascinating. Her name was Jane. A tiny blonde, almost adolescent in appearance. Slim, pretty. Eyes huge and beautiful like the eyes of an elf and red as rubies. In that child's body was the soul of a five hundred year old woman who smiled at us and flirted in a sardonic kind of way. She had heard about the massacre on the mainland and asked if that was our work because she knew Carlisle would never do such a thing. I confessed it was and she seemed greatly envious. Her blonde elegance reminded me a lot of Tanya and I made a note to introduce her to Tanya sometime during the ball. I had a feeling she would like her very much.
By dark Bella and I retired to get dressed. Everything had been arranged and the dresses were waiting and laid out on the bed. Bella's black, mine red. Generous evening gowns that bunched our breasts in pale swells above the neckline. Bella's was long and elegant with a slit up one leg and she looked oddly adult, like a girl playing dress up. Mine was deep red, the color of blood, and the rich material clung to my hips and made me feel quite sexy indeed.
Downstairs the ball was already in full swing. Bella and I had taken our time, not all that eager to mingle with strangers. Bella had always been an antisocial girl by nature and she had a particular disinclination toward the company of men, which comprised at least half the guests. I myself had always been a nomad and I wasn't too fond of social gatherings either. Still, we were guests as well, and so we put on our best smiles and descended the marble staircase arm in arm in our evening gowns.
An orchestra was playing on a stage in the ballroom and the music floated all through the villa. It was a warm tropical night and all the doors and windows were open, lending the affair a sort of starlit casualness. Guests moved freely indoors and outdoors, women in gowns and men in suits or tuxedoes. A buffet in the courtyard under the moon, long trestle tables covered in white silk tablecloths and adorned with all manner of platters, mostly seafood, squid and shrimp and oysters and small octopi in beds of ice and parsley. Leah was already there with a small plate, loading it up with shrimp. She was wearing a sapphire dress that shimmered in the starlight. Kate was in yellow, a modest gown with bellshaped skirts, and she was warning her girlfriend not to get fat. Leah rolled her eyes and continued guzzling champagne and scoffing down the shrimp.
Bella and I spoke to them for a while and then we headed back inside. Our arms were linked and mostly we were just strolling. Maids in special uniforms—black skirts with lace pinnies—offered us champagne from the silver trays they carried but we declined politely. Alice was on the dancefloor with Jasper and she smiled at Bella as she spun in his arms. Alice's recent escapade on the mainland hadn't seemed to have affected her relationship with her husband at all and to be honest I quite admired it.
Bella and I were soon dancing as well. I lead my mate through a rudimentary waltz and she picked up the steps surprisingly easily. After that she danced with Alice while I danced with Jasper. He was tall and dashing and offered me a great deal of flattery as he squired me through the steps and I had to admit it was rather nice to have someone else take the lead for a change. Made me feel like a woman again. Bella and Alice eventually slipped off, no doubt to share a quick pussy licking, and Jasper smiled and offered to take me upstairs. I was flattered, since this was the same man who had vigorously refused both Kate and Leah at the same time, but of course I declined. He accepted the rejection with that same gallantry and gave me a bow before moving on to some other guest.
Alone now I wandered back through the foyer and spied the host himself, Carlisle, mingling with some guests by the stairs. I plucked a glass of champagne from a nearby tray, just for the sake of fitting in, and moved over to him.
He greeted me with a smile but things of course were still rather strained between us since he had found out I had basically murdered his son. I gave him a kiss on the cheek, there under the crystal chandeliers, and thanked him for the lovely ball. He had mostly thrown it for Tanya and the Denali's, of course, but I wanted to establish that Bella and I were part of the Denali's as well. He told me I was very welcome and then paused to greet some other guest, a woman who likewise kissed him on each cheek. I watched the proceedings with a smile and I laughed once we were alone again.
"I'm astounded that you've managed to maintain so many high profile relationships," I said to him. "I wouldn't have thought it possible."
He had a glass of champagne in his hand as well and he spoke conversationally. "You've lived most of your life as a nomad?"
"Yes," I said, then smiled and added: "Until recently."
He nodded and looked into his champagne. "Part of the reason I've been able to cultivate so many relationships is because I treat people with kindness and respect. I don't come into someone's home and murder their son and accuse him of being a rapist."
I smiled guiltily. I had my own champagne in both hands nervously, standing there like a scolded little girl, and I tried not to giggle.
"Point taken," I said.
He looked at me and rolled his eyes just slightly and then resumed smiling as another guest sailed forth to greet him.
This next guest was tall and slim and clad entirely in a black suit with a black shirt and he had long black hair and red eyes that were currently sparkling with delight. He was coming toward his host with his arms open for a hug and his voice boomed jovially.
"Carlisle! My old friend."
An embrace occurred between the two men, both of them patting each other's backs. I arched a brow. Carlisle laughed and released the hug.
"Nice to see you again, Aro," he said.
The man named Aro grinned at him and then turned the grin to me. "So lovely to see you as well, Esme," he said. "You look more ravishing than ever."
I arched another brow. Carlisle laughed at his friend's antics.
"This is not my wife, as you well know, Aro," he said.
Aro laughed as well. "Yes, just having a joke."
I gave a small laugh too. It seemed polite. There was a woman with this man and she was rolling a pair of red eyes in a longsuffering kind of way. She was wearing a black gown and she had long black hair and a pair of huge pale tits that all but bulged out of her dress. She was devastatingly delicious-looking.
Carlisle smiled and introduced them.
"Victoria, this is Aro and his wife Sulpicia," he said. "Two of the oldest and most powerful vampires in the world."
I smiled and gave a little curtsy, my old world instincts kicking in. Aro inclined his head and Sulpicia nodded and I prepared to leave.
"Well," I said. "I'll let you catch up with Carlisle."
Carlisle gave me a nod and I gave them another curtsy.
Back in the ballroom I found Bella along the perimeter with Alice and Kate and Leah, the three of them like teenagers at prom, giggling in their evening gowns and gossiping about guests and sex. The orchestra continued playing in the background and the dancefloor was a swirl of color and skirts. I joined their little group and laughed as Alice and Bella explained how hard it was to have sex without taking off your dress. All they had removed was their panties and they hadn't put them back on. They were naked right now under their gowns and both claimed they were still quite horny.
I rolled my eyes and handed my full champagne glass to Leah. She had finished hers. She took it gratefully and tipped a big gulp down her throat.
"Thanks," she said.
"No problem."
Leah took another sip and shook her head at the dancefloor, the classical clothes, the conventional waltzes. "You know, this would have to be the most boring party I've ever been to. I'd kill for a joint right now. Alice, you know any place we could score a little something?"
Alice shook her head. "Not on the island."
Bella sighed and looked at Leah's champagne longingly. "I'd even settle for just alcohol. I hate being around all these people."
"It's not like you to feel intimidated, my dear," I observed with a smirk.
"Not intimidated," she said with a little glare. "Annoyed."
The others giggled at her and I smiled and took her hand.
"Then come," I said. "Let us go somewhere private."
"Can we come?" Kate asked eagerly.
Alice swatted her playfully. "She said private, silly."
I smiled at them and linked my arm with Bella's and led her along the dancefloor.
Bella and I strolled through the foyer and outside again into the gardens. There were only a few guests out here, a couple or two, and Bella and I took our time to find somewhere private. We strolled with our arms linked, commenting on how beautiful the stars and the moon were. You could hear the orchestra from inside and it was a very warm night. We went around the fountain and along the hedgerows and eventually we came to a place that was rather isolated. There was a small stone bench and it was here that I told my darling to sit and together we sat, daintily in our evening gowns, and wrapped our arms around each other.
The kiss lasted a long time under the moon, slow and steady and full of moaning. I had plucked one of her breasts out of her dress and I massaged it generously, squeezing it and kneading it against her chest. Finally I lowered my mouth to it and sucked at the nipple while she wove her hands in my hair and stroked my face and whispered how much she loved me. I smiled with the nipple between my lips and sucked on it even harder, until she was moaning and desperate for more.
Finally we rose from the bench and retreated further into the gardens, hand in hand like a pair of nymphs, giggling and scampering pasts guests with our breasts hanging out of our dresses. Eventually we fled behind one of the hedges and sank down and began making out again, letting out tongues mingle in lust and love. She was pulling at my dress, trying to get it over my head, and finally it came away. I soon had her own dress removed as well and together we rolled in the warm wet grass and moaned and stroked at each other's vaginas until we orgasmed under the stars while staring into each other's eyes.
After that we just lay there in the grass and gazed up at the stars with our gowns spread underneath us. The moon was a small crescent and the stars were so bright they seemed to be piercing through the blackness itself.
We could hear the orchestra playing from inside the villa and after a while Bella sighed and rolled on top of me and snuggled there. I smiled and wrapped my arms around her.
"Everything okay, my love?" I asked her.
"Yeah," she said, her voice soft and idle. "Just thinking."
"About what?"
"Edward."
I laughed to myself. Here in the afterglow of orgasm, cuddled up with her mate, she was thinking about her ex-boyfriend. If she hadn't castrated him and cast him to the bottom of the ocean I might've been a little concerned about the context of those thoughts.
Bella laughed too, thinking the same thing perhaps, and raised up a little to look at me.
"I mean, technically he's still there at the bottom of the ocean," she said. "Don't you think we ought to do something about that?"
I was laying there in the grass, naked, and she was hovering over me with a curtain of dark hair falling to one side, the two of us safely concealed behind a hedge. I smiled and stroked the hair aside.
"Like what?" I asked her.
She shrugged a naked shoulder. "Well, I don't know. Either fish him up and put him out of his misery for real, or…"
"Restore him to his family?"
She cringed at that, as if nothing could be more humiliating, but she nodded. I smiled and continued to stroke that curtain of dark hair.
"We've really made a mess of things, haven't we?" I asked her softly.
She sighed and rolled her eyes at herself.
"Tell me about it," she said.
Then she climbed off me and reached for her dress.
It was difficult to put our dresses back on, crouched under the hedge like that, but we managed. Wiggling into them and making sure our breasts were tucked in. Rising to our feet and slipping on our heels. Dusting our hips of bits of grass that clung to our gowns. Our hair was a little dishevelled and my own dress had a few wet patches in the dark red fabric but overall we were presentable enough to return to the ball.
Arm in arm we came back through the gardens. It was getting late by now and there was a chill in the air. Many of the guests had gone inside. There were only two on the terrace, a man and a woman, and they were headed inside as well. Aside from that there was only a lone maid with a tray of champagne. At first she looked like any other maid but as we got closer we could see it was the maid named Yelena. Bella smiled and pointed her out.
"Hey, look," she said. "It's that maid."
I immediately began to warn her. "Bella, don't…"
But she giggled and let her arm slip from mine as she approached the maid.
The maid turned around as if she sensed her there. Dressed in a formal variation of her standard uniform, black with a white pinny that had lace trim. A silver tray in her hands. Bella smiled at her and acted like they were best friends.
"Yelena, hi," she said. "Wow, you look beautiful. I've always been a sucker for uniforms."
Yelena seemed taken off guard and she actually smiled. Shyly. Quickly. From the flicker in her eye I could tell there was a moment of attraction there. Perhaps that kiss they had shared the other day had stirred something in her.
Bella was grinning widely and admiring her but Yelena didn't know what to say and instead she simply dipped a curtsy and went to leave. Bella, however, quickly stopped her.
"Wait," she said. "Where are you going?"
The girl turned back. "I have to work."
"Aw, come on, take a break for a second. I want to talk to you."
Bella was taking the silver tray out of her hands. Yelena panicked as if Bella was taking her baby but she still said nothing. Bella set the tray down on one of the iron garden tables. The terrace was completely empty aside from the three of us and the girl was getting nervous. So was I. I'd feel better if I knew Bella's intentions but I had a feeling Bella simply liked the girl and wanted to seduce her a little.
Yelena stood there, wringing her hands, and Bella turned back to her a little more soberly.
"Listen," she said. "I wanted to apologize for the last time we spoke. I was only trying to be friendly. You and I have a lot in common. We both lost a man we loved. For me it was a long time ago. Back in America. Then I found Vicky."
I was standing at her side and she flashed me a smile. I returned the smile and gave her a kiss on the lips for the maid to see.
Yelena looked down. A blush was moving over her face and provided her honey-toned skin with a rosy hue. Bella smiled from the kiss and turned back to the maid.
"You'll find someone too, Yelena," she said.
Yelena nodded awkwardly. Bella tilted her head and continued smiling at her.
"A girl as pretty as you deserves to be happy," she said. "You shouldn't be out here, hiding with a champagne tray. You're too proud to be a maid. You should be inside. In a beautiful dress. Dancing. Like a princess."
Yelena was a little suspicious at all this but something about Bella's words seemed to resonate with her. As if perhaps she did long to be a princess. Perhaps that was half her attraction to Edward. To raise herself up in the world through marriage. Now it seemed to occur to her that Bella was offering the same thing.
Yet still she didn't speak and for a long moment we stood there in silence with only the dim sound of the orchestra issuing forth from the villa. Bella looked toward the ballroom. Through the open doors you could see figures dancing inside. She smiled and then turned the smile to Yelena.
"Would you like to dance, Yelena?" she asked.
Yelena panicked again, self-conscious in her uniform, and shook her head.
Bella smiled and reached for her hand.
"Come on," she said. "Just for fun."
Yelena began breathing heavy as soon as their fingers touched. Obviously this was a very traditional girl who absolutely no experience at all with lesbian attraction. She swallowed a lump in her slim throat and allowed the other girl to lead her into a dance.
I watched them both for a moment but soon decided to leave. Bella didn't need my help with this one and as pretty as the maid was she wasn't something I craved at the moment. She had placed a hand on Bella's shoulder and she was looking into Bella's eyes. They were a similar height, almost exactly the same, and there seemed to be a genuine chemistry between them. Bella smiled at her and danced with her, swaying softly to the dim music. Out here on the terrace. Under the stars and moon. Perhaps a secret fantasy of Yelena's was being fulfilled here. To be singled out by a wealthy guest at a lavish ball. She might've been more comfortable with a male guest but perhaps a female one provided its own comforts.
I smiled, trusting my mate to limit her seduction to seduction only, and turned and started toward the ballroom.
By now Irena and Claire had taken to the dancefloor as well. The tall blonde was absolutely stunning in a backless gown of emerald satin that was slit all way up her thigh and the small brunette was at her best as well in blue chiffon. Irena was leading Claire through a waltz and both women had eyes only for each other as if the rest of the ballroom didn't even exist. Claire was wearing her collar and Irena was wearing her diamond necklace and when the dance was over they came to a stop and smiled at each other while the rest of the room gave a polite round of applause to the orchestra.
Soon a new air was struck up and the dancers began to dance again. I moved along the edge of the dancefloor and I noticed Tanya by herself. She was wearing white, naturally, and the dress was loose fitting and draped over her figure with teasing flimsiness. She smiled when she saw me and I smiled as well as I went over and kissed her on each cheek and told her how beautiful she was. Everyone had been so hectic all night that I hadn't even seen her till now. She told me I looked beautiful as well and inquired after the grass stain on my behind. I laughed and brushed at it and explained that Bella and I had made a little bit of love outside. Tanya rolled her eyes at that and smiled and touched a champagne glass to her lips. She couldn't drink it, of course, but she was skilled at pretending.
Finally she lowered the glass again and sighed.
"I suppose this is the end of our little vacation," she said. "Hm?"
I nodded and I wasn't all that disappointed to be leaving the island soon. "It seems so."
Tanya smiled to herself and shook her head as she recalled the various problems we'd caused in our short time here. "If we can make it through the night without incident I think we can at least part on friendly terms," she said. "Although it'll likely be a while before Carlisle invites us to visit again."
I smirked and gave a shrug. "That's just more time we'll have together."
"True," she said with a laugh.
I laughed as well. "I only wish we could find you a mate."
"I do as well," she said. "But till then I suppose I'll simply have to…"
Tanya trailed off. She was staring at something across the dancefloor. I turned to follow her gaze with a puzzled frown but then my brows loosened and a smile spread over my mouth.
Jane.
It was that girl, Jane. I had wanted to introduce them but it seemed Tanya had noticed her first. The girl was wearing a dark blue dress. Very dark. Not navy, not sapphire. A near pitch black shade of blue that was startling against her pale skin and small body. In appearance she was hardly a teenager but in her eyes she was something else. Those eyes had drifted over and now they were looking steadily into Tanya's. Smiling. Staring.
I turned back to Tanya. Tanya was staring as well. She seemed to have lost every thought in her head. She seemed to have no function in her body at all aside from blinking. The dancers continued to waltz, back and forth, and the orchestra continued their symphony of violin and cello. Jane hadn't looked away. She continued to stare and her lips had moved into a smirk on her young girlish face. Tanya's own lips were parted slightly and all she did was blink.
I smiled at her and tilted my head.
"Tanya?" I asked her. "Everything okay?"
Tanya finally snapped out of it. "Oh, it's nothing," she said. "I just…"
She trailed off again as her eyes once again passed over the blonde girl across the dancefloor.
"Her name's Jane," I said. "I had wanted to introduce you, but…"
Jane by now had stirred into motion.
She was coming over.
"…it seems she's going to introduce herself instead," I said.
Tanya looked at me, still startled by the overwhelmingness of whatever wave of attraction had washed over her. I took the champagne glass from her and gave her a wink.
"Dance with her," I whispered.
Tanya opened her mouth but I smiled and backed away and started toward the foyer.
When I looked back the two of them were talking. Jane was hardly taller than Tanya's chest and yet she smirked with confidence and offered a hand. Tanya took it, still in something of a daze, and the two of them moved onto the dancefloor. I watched them begin a waltz and my heart was all but glowing in my chest. Clearly something special had occurred inside Tanya when she laid eyes on that girl called Jane. I only hoped it was what I thought it was.
Continuing through the foyer I went out through the front of the villa.
A cooler breeze had started up but there were lots of guests out here. Some of them of had cigarettes and many more had champagne glasses. I stood by one of the tall marble columns and looked up at the moon. Dimly I could hear the orchestra behind me. I was smiling and a strange peace was settling into my body. The vacation was over and soon we would be moving on. Bella had seen some old friends and murdered an old boyfriend. Tanya had seen her old friends as well and perhaps made a new one. I had known as soon as I had seen Jane that Tanya would like her . I wasn't sure why I had known but I did.
I heaved a sigh up at the stars and smiled and I was about to go back inside when I heard a gasp.
I turned back. It had been one of the guests. I didn't know which. Then there was another gasp. Then the sound of breaking glass as a champagne flute slipped from someone's hand in shock and shattered on the paved brick floor of the courtyard. I frowned, wondering what was going on, and then I saw it.
It seemed one final guest had arrived.
Edward.
He was coming across the courtyard and in the moonlight he looked like some shambling sea zombie, drenched with water and his shirt ripped and tattered from where seacreatures than been feeding on it, the left side of his face caved in, one of his ankles twisted the wrong way and dragging behind him as he walked. Seaweed hung from his hair and his skin was translucently pale. His eyes were blank and he moved with a swaying gait, weak and in danger of stumbling. People stared as he went by. A starfish was attached to his neck like a barnacle and he seemed not to notice. He stumbled on with vacant eyes and he seemed to not even notice me either. I was staring at him as he went by, not even five feet away, and he didn't even glance.
A maid had stopped to stare as well and I set my champagne glass on her tray. Edward had gone inside. I followed him in and heard more gasps in the foyer. Esme was there and she stopped her conversation and stared at him. Carlisle stared as well. More glasses dropped, one after the other in staccato shattering. The music stopped. Edward had paused under the chandelier and swayed there with eyes that were leached of all color and almost pure white. People were staring in silence. Bella and Yelena had heard the commotion and now they came in and stumbled to a stop when they saw him. Yelena gasped and covered her mouth. Edward looked toward them with those dead eyes but he didn't seem to register Bella. He only saw Yelena.
Then he turned and staggered into motion once more and started up the stairs.
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AN: I'm surprised this one turned out so short, but I guess I'm eager to get our girls off the island. All I need to do is resolve Edward properly. We'll see what I can come up with. ;)
Aro and Sulpicia were only cameos, lol. Nothing is going to happen with them and there's no Volturi in this story.
More important was Jane. Some of you already predicted that Tanya was going to meet someone at the ball. It's about time, huh? This chapter was only to set it up. There'll be a lot more development to come. :)
Okay, hope you liked it. New chapter soon. :)