Hello beautiful people! I hope the week's been treating you nicely :)

Here comes another long chapter.

I have to warn you that the first part is dark. I don't know why it came out like that, but it did. I hope you like it.

WARNING: Explicit violence!

WARNING 2: Pay attention to the end ;)

ENJOY!


THE LOCKET.


Chapter 13.

Alec prowled forward, his shadows and smoke making the scene all the more sinister. Bella observed as the smoke enveloped the men, as their senses were nullified, and they became statues, moving their hands restlessly in an attempt to fight Alec's power.

Alec had to move his hands for his shadows and smoke to move, like a puppeteer commanding the ropes of his puppets. Bella watched fascinated as her other two mates took a pocketknife each and approached the incapacitated men.

"They're all yours." Alec nodded toward the scene before them. Demetri and Felix bowed theatrically and moved closer.

Demetri took his knife and pressed it again the ringleader's arm, almost in a caress. In reality, Alec was controlling his shadows and allowing the ringleader to feel the press of the knife, the caress of the cold blade. Demetri tilted his head, almost disappointed that he couldn't make this scum scream in pain and fear, just like he'd probably done with countless innocents.

Sighing, he tilted the blade and pushed slowly into the soft skin on the stomach. It was like cutting through butter with a heated knife. He slowly retrieved his weapon and repeated the process on the thigh, then the arm just below the shoulder, and finally, he cut his dick. Poetic justice and all that. The ringleader slowly bled out on the pavement between the four vampires.

"Ouch." Felix covered his own dick and winced. As if he had not just witnessed his best friend leave a man like a colander. Demetri smiled ferally, waved his hand like a circus showman presenting the next act, and stepped aside, letting Felix take over the next bastard.

Felix took his knife and, with less theatre but equal savagery, plunged his knife into the guy's thigh, effectively severing the femoral artery. Blood spread quickly down the pants and into the pavement. Alec had his eyes on Bella, whose eyes were black with thirst.

It was actually surprising that she hadn't jumped already and drained the two bleeding men. It had taken him decades to get that level of control.

Alec roamed his eyes over Bella's body, trying to find a tell on how she was mastering such control. He found clenched fists, flaring nostrils, black eyes, and a rigid back, but other than that, she was the picture of self-control. Her eyes were following the river of blood, but she made no attempt to move. If he hadn't checked his gift on her the first time he saw her, he would have thought he had also engulfed her.

"Your turn." Felix pressed the bloodied knife into Alec's stretched hand. He closed his fist around the blade, feeling the slippery substance dripping from it. Without taking his eyes off his mate, he stepped closer to the third guy, but instead of directly plunging the knife, he took his time analyzing the best way to end him. Felix and Demetri had been thorough in their jobs but also quick. This was about showing off around their mate while delivering the earth from undeserved garbage.

Their usual hunting trips of this kind weren't so quiet or so orderly. He shrugged and followed Demetri's lead. A quick slash through the throat and a deep stab wound to the dick, and the guy's life force quickly abandoned him.

Something akin to a whimper left Bella's mouth, and her eyes no longer followed the blood trail leaving the bodies spread on the floor. Her eyes were roaming up and down Alec's body and then Demetri and Felix. A cursory air sniff let Alec know all he needed to know. His mate was turned on by this show. But she needed to feed before succumbing to the lust.

"Your turn, darling." He pointed his hand toward the coward. "Are you ready to hunt?"

She nodded, her eyes clearing a little and her face showing less lust and more focus. Alec removed the shadows slowly, letting the coward come to his senses bit by bit. The guy took in the scene before him and gasped, horrified, his eyes falling to the figure closest to him: Bella. He stumbled backward, terrified, trying to get away from Bella. Not even the vampire glamour was enough to make the coward stay.

Bella tilted her head to the side, making her look like a deranged doll. She smiled slowly, ferally, and madly and raised a hand, waving her fingers in a sarcastic greeting. "Any last words?"

Demetri snickered, and Felix elbowed him. Alec observed quietly. The coward's eyes widened, and his face paled even more. But Bella was less brutal, bloody, and animalistic than her mates. She walked calmly, corralling the coward into the wall. With equal calmness, she took his head, gently tilted it to one side, and sank her teeth into his neck, drinking avidly. Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth into her shirt since the coward struggled against her, and she struggled to maintain control of the moving body.

She let go once she finished draining the body, and the coward fell lifelessly to the floor. Felix approached her and, taking the hem of the shirt, he lifted it and cleaned the mess of blood from her mouth and chin. "You did a good job, princess. How are you feeling?"

Bella's eyes had returned to red, shining brighter than when she woke up a few hours ago. The lust had cleared completely from her expression, replaced by a soft pink on her cheeks.

"I'm good." She answered in that new voice of hers.

"Are you satisfied?" Demetri asked from his place.

"Yes. He was bigger than I am. I think I've had enough."

"I think so too. You might get thirsty again in a few days. Being a newborn means you need to feed more often than a more mature vampire." Alec chimed in.

Bella nodded. "Ok. I have a question, though."

All three men nodded. "What the hell is that pulling in my chest?"

Alec smirked. "It's the mating bond, darling."

"Is it always that intense?"

Demetri shook his head. "Not really. It worsens when there's a large distance, but otherwise, it should be manageable."

"No wonder you all went berserk whenever I disappeared." She mumbled teasingly.

Alec's surprise was noticeable on his face. It was hard not to be surprised by a newborn vampire who not only allowed three men to kill her possible prey but held back and then killed her actual prey with the grace of an experienced vampire. He needed to know how she was so controlled. Was this her gift? Was she like Renata? Two gifts wrapped in one? Shield and amazing control?

"We didn't go berserk." He said instead.

Bella snorted. "You texted every ten minutes or so for three days. He went all softy and sentimental." She added the second part pointing at Demetri. "You pretended like nothing happened, which after your million messages was weird. And he accused me of cheating on him with fucking strippers." Alec and Demetri hadn't known what had happened during that fight between Bella and Felix.

Demetri snorted derisively, and Felix rolled his eyes. "Fine." The second vampire admitted defeat. "I admit it wasn't my brightest moment."

Bella smiled cheekily; she found the humor now and was glad Felix did too. It hadn't been funny when it happened, but now that they had some perspective over it, they could laugh at how ludicrous it was that Bella would prefer stripers over her mates and that Felix, with all his years on this earth, would find stripers appealing to his mate.

"Does it get easier? The pulling?"

Demetri shrugged. "It should be. But with four of us, I don't know how it will go. It's different for every mated couple or group. Sometimes it takes weeks, sometimes months. It does get better. Perhaps if we're separated, it might feel tight and uncomfortable, but it will ease whenever we're close again. That's the theory, but as I said, in practice, everyone is different and handles it differently. We'll see how we do."

It made sense in Bella's mind that everyone would be different.

After a few hours and a second hunt – less bloody but equally sensual in Bella's point of view – they returned to the castle. Gianna was sitting in her usual spot, typing furiously into an expensive-looking Apple computer. Bella hadn't seen her beyond that brief encounter when she came half-frozen to the throne room after saving Edward from committing the worst mistake of his life. She nodded at Bella, ignored Demetri and Alex but beamed at Felix, who only acknowledged her curtly.

Bella knew she had no reason to be jealous. Giana and Felix had never been anything. Felix had never taken his flirting beyond healthy teasing while passing her on the halls. Yet, it would seem like Gianna had developed a crush on the vampire, perhaps with the expectation of one day being turned.

Yet, for all the rationalizing she did, and for all the million reasons she had not to be jealous and to tell herself to ignore Gianna, she couldn't. Every emotion was heightened, and the flicker of jealousy she would have felt as a human was now a flame. She didn't like how emotional it made her or how she'd relished the fantasy of killing Giana for fantasizing about her mate. Is this how he'd felt when he heard Jane talk about stripers? Is this how he felt, letting his imagination run wild? No wonder he'd been so upset.

"Hi, Felix." Gianna attempted to flirt. In her defense, she didn't know Bella was his mate. In her defense, she was scarily efficient in her job, and in her defense, Felix was gorgeous. She couldn't blame her. She didn't like it, though.

"Gianna. You remember Bella. She's my mate." The flame of jealousy didn't reduce one bit. But something inside Bella preened at the introduction.

Gianna blushed softly and stared at Bella openly and unashamedly. "That's good news." At least she sounded genuine. Why did she have to be so nice? Why couldn't Gianna be a bitch so Bella didn't feel guilty about the images and fantasies she'd entertained in her mind.

Bella made an effort to smile at her. "It's nice to see you again."

"Likewise." Ugh, nice women were the worst. It was impossible to hate her for liking her mate. Damn it. "Master Aro was waiting for you to arrive. He'd like to speak with you."

The four vampires nodded and walked inside the throne room.

"I hate her." She didn't, but she could dream.

Alec laughed. "Watching you two get jealous over the other is going to be a lot of fun."

"Don't think I will be this rational if I see a skunk smiling and drooling over you." Bella pointed her index finger at her black-haired vampire.

"I'd like to see that day." He winked seductively before opening the last set of doors that separated them from Aro.

Bella took her time to appreciate the details her human eyes had been too weak to process, like how clean everything was. And how ornate the thrones were. Everything else was just the same, only clearer and prettier. She expected more gloom and doom now that she had better vision, but everything seemed brighter somehow.

Aro squealed in that theatrical way of his and clapped his hands in front of him while he descended the two steps that separated the dais where the thrones were and where Bella and her mates stood. "Welcome, dear Isabella." He continued walking. Her vampires tensed slightly but made no move to impede his progress. "Immortality suits you."

"Thank you." She wanted to appear appreciative, but instead, the words came out as a question.

Aro smiled, genuinely amused. "May I touch your hand?" It was rhetorical, of course. Bella extended her hand, and Aro took it greedily in his.

She noticed in that new way she had now that her mates closed in on them further as if they wanted to pull her away from the other man. But Aro only held her hand for approximately thirty seconds before releasing her and letting out a tinkling maniac laugh. "Nothing! How extraordinary."

Extraordinary. Bella repeated mockingly in her head.

"Renata was right in suggesting your gifts might be similar. I also can't read her." Bella nodded. "She will train you on your gift starting tomorrow. I expect your mates to teach you the proper ways of combat. I don't condone my guards relying only on their gifts. Alec is proof that they can be rendered useless."

Bella nodded. "Thank you. I will start training tomorrow."

Aro beamed.

"Perhaps, tell them also to teach you how to feed properly. You are a disaster." It didn't surprise her that Caius chose to insult her. He was a dick, and she didn't care enough right now to get offended. She simply nodded and turned on her heel to walk out of the room, her mates in tow.

It didn't take long for Renata and Jane to find her, much to her mates' chagrin. Now that they knew she felt the pull equally strong as they did, all they wanted was to be with her, hold her and claim her. But the rational part of their minds conceded to the two female vampires who were dragging away the newborn and chatting excitedly.

"I think you'll have to get used to sharing her." Santiago said from his spot, watching his own mate skip sway.

Felix nodded. "I don't like it."

"You don't have to. But you'll be happier if you let her be free. Trust me. I learned that the hard way."

Alec snorted but didn't say anything else. He wasn't super close to Renata, but since she was close with his sister, he also befriended her. He knew more about her personal life than he would have known, even with their supernatural senses and all the years they'd lived in the same place.

A week had passed since Bella's transformation; she fed daily, which annoyed her greatly, especially when her mates couldn't go with her. She was also a complete mess with her feedings. She snapped the neck of her victims, but she still spilled blood on her clothes. And that was not the only thing. The damn buzzing in her mind only got worse. It didn't help that her training with Renata was bearing no fruit. The mating pull also drove her insane, but surprisingly, she had more control over that. She had a theory on how to tame it, but with the chaotic week she had had, she hadn't had the time to do it.

Aside from her lack of finesse, the buzzing, and the mating pull, she couldn't control her own strength. She had destroyed most of her clothes and shoes in the past week, along with some towels, the shower in her room, and her closet door. Alec tried to reassure her by telling her that it was normal for a newborn vampire to destroy things. It takes time to get used to the new strength and speed. It takes time to get used to all the space in their heads and every other heightened sense.

She loved the man, but she would strangle him if she heard the same speech again.

"Fuck! I hate this." She screamed, frustrated as she tore another bra. This one angered her more because it was one of her favorites. It was a deep purple lace that hugged her breasts and back in the perfect way. It pushed up her breasts in a way that made her feel sexy and powerful. Yes, underwear can do that.

"Another one?" Alec came behind her. Having just stepped out of the bathroom after his shower.

Bella had long gone forgotten what shame and embarrassment were like. Since her vampires had to help her get dressed, she had decided there were worse things to be embarrassed about than being naked in front of two men who hadn't yet claimed her.

"One of my favorites, actually." She pouted, gathering the destroyed garment in her hands.

She had to admit that despite the very evident lust in her men's eyes whenever they looked at her naked and the evidence on their pants, they never acted upon it. They respected that she hadn't initiated anything and was still too scattered to concentrate on one task for a full five minutes.

Alec kissed her bare shoulder and smiled at her through the body-length mirror. "At least you managed to put on your panties and pants on your own. That's progress." And it was. But every little progress she made was faced with another stupid challenge she couldn't conquer. "I'll buy you more underwear, darling. Don't stress about it."

"I'm not upset about the bra, Alec." She frowned.

He hadn't abandoned his position at her back. "I know, darling." Another kiss to her shoulder. Was he trying to tell her something?

"Can I ask you a question?"

He kissed the back of her neck and hummed in response. "Why did you buy all those clothes when you didn't know me or knew if I would accept this." It was something that had been burning in her mind. She was so curious to hear his point of view about it.

"I wanted you to be comfortable and to feel welcomed." He pushed her hair aside and continued his ministrations. They weren't seductive kisses, merely kisses of physical reassurance. The likes of which reminded him that she was his and here and wasn't going anywhere. "I thought if you saw you had things to call yours, it would feel less intimidating or daunting. You just had signed off your life to a bunch of strangers. I thought if you had something as simple as underwear, pajamas, shoes, and clothes, you wouldn't feel so overwhelmed by the decision you had made and what the consequences were."

She observed her mate through the mirror, but it wasn't enough. She turned around in his arms and wrapped hers around his neck. "I was confused as to where all the clothes had come from. I thought it had been Gianna or one of the girls, so I didn't ask anyone about it, and when no one mentioned it, I forgot about it. But it did make me feel more comfortable, less alone. It gave me something to put my attention on. Going through all the underwear and trying to decide which one to wear, what dress or shirt or shorts to use, as silly and frigid as it sounds, provided me with the distraction I needed not to succumb to panic." She kissed his chin.

"I'm happy I was able to help you before I had the chance to speak with you." He smiled at her.

"You were looking out for me even when you didn't know where we'd end up." He shrugged, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "It's like you were telling me you loved me in code. In a way I wouldn't find overbearing or freakishly soon."

Alec didn't know what to say. He didn't have words to express what it meant for him to buy something for his mate. To know he'd helped calm her down and distract her in a way that wouldn't make her uncomfortable.

"I, we, would do anything for you, darling." He vowed and kissed her lips. "Even buying the entire damn underwear chain just to give you a lifetime supply."

She giggled. "It would suffice if, for now, you help me with another bra and a shirt."

He left one last kiss behind one of her ears, and with a mischievous smile, he disappeared inside her closet to retrieve the garments she'd requested. She groaned, feeling the effects of his teasing. "That's playing dirty." She complained once he helped her get the top part of her clothes on without tearing them.

He pecked her lips. "You're too tempting."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because her smile disappeared from her face, replaced by a sad and guilty expression. "What's wrong?" He asked, caressing her cheek.

"You know I do want to make love to you, right?" He nodded, confused as to why she would ask that. "But everything is too overwhelming right now. The buzzing in my head worsens daily, and I can't even get dressed without your help."

Alec stopped her with a kiss on her lips. "Darling, I don't want you to explain to me why you don't want to make love right now. I understand that everything has been chaotic lately. I don't expect you to do anything but what you're comfortable doing." He smiled at her, and she nodded. "That doesn't mean I won't tease you now and then." He winked, and she giggled. "That's how I like you. Smiling and laughing."

"I love you." She kissed his chin and rested her head on his chest—one of her favorite hiding places.

He kissed the top of her head. "I love you too. Even when you're letting me walk with blue balls." She laughed and smacked his ass as a reprimand. "Let's go to your training." Bella groaned and broke away from her hiding place.

"What are you doing here?" Bella asked when she noticed the presence of her other two men, plus Jane. Something wasn't adding up in this scenario, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Since there is no progress, they volunteered as an incentive." Renata replied with a wrinkle of her nose, showing this wasn't her idea.

Bella narrowed her eyes at her three mates. "Incentive how?"

Felix grinned mischievously. "The little witch here will send some of her shocks to us. The idea is that you block them."

She knew she wouldn't like it. "No." She hadn't paid avid attention to what Jane had done to Edward, but she remembered enough to know it wasn't pleasant. She would not subject her mates to that.

"It's not up for discussion, sweetheart." Demetri crossed his arms across his chest.

"Fuck you. And it is. I won't do anything if you're going to get fried." It would be too much.

"It's not actually hurting us. It's all a mental gift." Alec explained calmly next to his sister. Jane was unusually quiet. Bella looked at her.

"It was their idea. I said no, but they're relentless."

"Why not use Alec's gift instead?" She tried negotiating.

"Because Alec can't use his gift on himself, and we thought pain was a better incentive than numbness."

And you get aroused when Alec lets his shadows loose. She added in her head.

"I thought you couldn't use your gifts on each other." She tried one last Hail Mary, but Alec's grin told her all she needed to know.

"I don't like this."

"You don't have to. It's our decision." Demetri hadn't uncrossed his arms. He was being stubborn.

"Fine." She relented. "But don't blame me when Jane fries you. I haven't made any progress with the damn shield."

She hoped she would make progress now, if only because she didn't want her men to be in pain, mental or otherwise. Although perhaps she would let one or two attempts filter through as punishment for putting her in the position to have to accept seeing them get hurt.

Renata began the day explaining once more how the shield should feel in her mind and explained how to spot any differences between what she was saying and whatever was on her mind. She then explained how she'd learned to push it out and what it looked like when it did. Bella closed her eyes and focused on her words, trying to feel the shield in her mind. This was the easy part; she could feel it; she knew how it differed from Renata's and how it buzzed with energy. But whenever she tried to push it out, it never worked.

She opened her eyes, frustrated. "It's not listening to me. It won't move an inch whenever I try to push it out."

"That's because you're pushing it all out of your mind. Your shield is there to protect you first and foremost. Try pushing only a part of it without leaving you unprotected." The woman from her transformation day was back. None of her mates or friends acknowledged her presence or her words. They were all discussing with Jane whom to shoot first.

Bella observed the woman. She was dressed in modern clothes, her black hair loose, making a beautiful contrast with her pale complexion. She saw the red eyes she hadn't paid much attention to a week ago. She looked so damn familiar, and when her brain was about to make the connection, she felt a tickling in her shield. The same tickling she felt on her first day. She looked at Alec and found him watching her with concentration.

"It was you!" She accused with amusement. "That day, on the throne room. You cast your gift on me!"

"A harmless experiment." Was all he said in his defense.

The black-haired woman tilted her head in curiosity, and something snapped inside Bella's brain.

Holy fuck!

It was Didyme.

Holy Mother of Jesus Christ.