And now, at last, we have Bella's long-awaited adventure in fae territory! The chapter title is of course inspired by the Eagles' song 'Life in the Fast Lane'…which would actually kind of work as a soundtrack for this chapter, now that I think of it.
Three hours later, Bella sincerely regretted issuing such an open-ended invitation. She had thought looking like a 'real succubus' would merely entail picking up a leather jacket or two – which admittedly didn't sound so bad, since there was no denying that Bo's jackets were extremely cool – and indeed, Bo said that every succubus worth her salt needed some leather in her wardrobe, but it turned out that she had a lot more than jackets in mind.
By the time Bo was finished, Bella had acquired shiny new leather versions of almost every article of clothing imaginable (or so it seemed to her), in a variety of colors. The only concessions she was able to wring from her sister were that none of her new shoes had the kind of heels that were guaranteed to cause broken ankles and, after she pointed out that she still had to abide by a dress code while in school, persuading Bo to include several pairs of jeans and more reasonable shirts as well. Said jeans and tops were a lot more form-fitting than anything Bella had ever worn before, and some of them didn't quite meet, leaving a strip of her midsection exposed, but at least she still looked like herself, albeit a more mature, alluring version.
Right now, as she stared into the full-length mirror in a dressing room at the back of the latest store Bo had dragged her into, she wasn't sure she recognized the person gazing back at her. The girl in the mirror certainly looked like a real succubus, with her cerulean leather pants and matching blouse that would have covered her up pretty well if Bo had let her fasten all the buttons instead of leaving half of them undone, if not for the fact that it was so sheer that the bra underneath (black leather, of course) was easily visible…but she didn't look much like Bella Swan.
"I don't know, Bo," she said doubtfully, turning away from the sultry seductress who wore her face (albeit with more makeup than she had ever willingly put on before) and frowning up at her slightly taller sister. "This outfit… I'm not sure it's really me."
"Why not? It matches your eyes," Bo replied with a wink and a nudge, inviting her to laugh at the in-joke.
Bella, however, only managed a weak grin in response. "I feel like a little kid playing dress-up in her big sister's clothes."
"Trust me, nobody who sees you tonight will think you're a kid," Bo promised, taking her by the shoulders and turning her toward the mirror once more. "Look again – really look. If you met this girl in a club or bar or even just on the street, what would you think?"
Bella blinked and tried to examine her reflection with fresh eyes, to let go of her preconceptions about who she was and see herself from an outsider's perspective. Only then did she notice the lithe, willowy form (with a hint of increased muscle definition thanks to her training with Bo) which had always been hidden under her loose shirts and shapeless jeans but was now showcased to great effect by the leather and filmy material of her blouse, the clear, creamy skin, the wide brown eyes framed by impossibly thick, dark lashes, and the lustrous brunette waves spilling down her back…all the things she had admired and envied about Bo since the moment she laid eyes on her. Edward was right, she thought wonderingly. I really do look like her. If someone who'd never met me before saw me now…would they think the same things I thought when I first saw Bo?
"I'd think she's gorgeous," she said slowly, "and she probably knows it. Anyone who'd leave their house in this getup can't be lacking in self-confidence."
"That's what you want, isn't it? To be seen as a sexy badass instead of a damsel in distress?"
"Sure, I guess so. Yeah." Admittedly, Bella would happily settle for merely not being viewed as a helpless, incompetent klutz, though she supposed the 'sexy badass' part would be nice too…if only what she saw in the mirror felt more like her real self.
"I got you one more thing that I think will help," Bo continued, instantly piquing Bella's interest. Earlier in their seemingly interminable trek through the mall, Bo had left her for a while, saying she needed to make a detour to pick up something special, then returned with her purchase hidden in an inner pocket of her long coat. At the time, Bella had assumed it must be something she didn't want to carry around openly, like lingerie or a toy she intended to use with Dyson, but maybe not. "Close your eyes."
Bella obeyed, her other senses kicking into high gear to compensate for her lack of sight. She heard the rustle of an object being unwrapped and sensed Bo moving closer, dropping down to crouch beside her…then felt some sort of strap tightening around her right thigh. "Uh, Bo?" she began, trying to keep the apprehension out of her voice. "What are you doing?"
"Take a look."
She opened her eyes just in time to see Bo stand and back up a step, but her gaze immediately went to her leg – which now sported a thigh holster identical to the one Bo used to carry her favorite dagger (with backups concealed in her boots, of course). A holster with what looked like a knife's hilt sticking out of it, perfectly positioned for Bella to grab at a moment's notice. Her fingers twitched, and she glanced up at Bo, who nodded encouragingly.
"Go on, take it out."
Her hand trembled as she wrapped it around the hilt and tugged, drawing out a dagger very similar to Bo's. Unlike the rubber knives she'd used in her training, this gleaming steel blade was obviously very real, and very sharp. She weighed it in her hand, testing its balance as she'd been taught to do, then looked quizzically at Bo as if to ask, Is this really for me?
"You've been doing so well practicing with fake knives that Dyson and I agreed you're ready for the real thing," Bo said in answer to her unspoken question, smiling proudly. "What do you think?"
"It's incredible… I hope it didn't cost too much."
"Quality craftsmanship isn't cheap, but I used some of the money Trick gave me when I left Toronto – I bet there are museums that'd shell out six figures for the stuff he's got sitting around in his living room, so he's definitely not hurting for cash – so consider it a gift from our grandfather. He owes you seventeen years' worth of birthday presents."
"I hope I get to meet him soon." Bella still wasn't entirely comfortable with receiving such an expensive gift, but knowing that it hadn't come out of Bo's personal funds – which she'd inferred from some of Kenzi's remarks about their previous living situation were not exactly limitless – made it somewhat better. Besides, given what she'd heard about Bo's misadventures among the fae and the Cullens' warnings about how dangerous their world could be, she couldn't deny that it was reassuring to have something with which to defend herself.
Sensing her lingering hesitation, Bo said, "You just need one last finishing touch, and I promise you this one's long since paid for." She shrugged off her knee-length coat and draped it around Bella's shoulders, then stepped back to admire the effect. "Now you look like you're ready to take on the fae."
As she slid her arms into the sleeves of Bo's coat, finding to her delight that it fit her quite well, Bella felt an unfamiliar surge of confidence course through her veins like a shot of pure adrenaline. The garment's weight on her shoulders was like a constant hug from Bo, and she was sure her sister wouldn't have given her one of her favorite accessories if she didn't think Bella could do it justice.
"I feel ready," she agreed with more enthusiasm than she'd shown all day, the trepidation that had dogged her ever since she got into Bo's car even as she tried to psych herself up for an adventure finally melting away. "Let's do this."
###
The club wasn't what Bella had expected, at least from the outside; there was no red carpet leading up to the main entrance or line of hopeful would-be partygoers stretching around the block. Instead, the exterior was that of a deserted warehouse covered in graffiti, though Bo explained that some of those seemingly random squiggles of paint were actually fae symbols meant to identify the place to its intended clientele. "Just don't ask me what they mean, because my ancient-fae-glyphs-to-English translations are still pretty shaky."
"Maybe one of them gives directions on how to get inside," Bella suggested, "since I don't see a door anywhere."
"Don't worry, Dyson told me how to get in. He's probably here already."
Abandoning the wide, empty street, Bo swerved into a narrow, dirty, and very dark alley. A prickle of unease ran up Bella's spine, but after reminding herself that she was safe with Bo – probably safer than she would be if she stayed out here alone, on an industrial street where no honest people had any business at night – she swallowed her nerves and followed her sister into the thick shadows.
It was here, on the most inaccessible side of the building, that they finally found a door. When Bo knocked, it was opened by a man who looked very much like a stereotypical bouncer. Crossing his muscular arms over his chest, he said, "I'm gonna need to see some ID before you set foot in here."
Bella experienced a moment of dismay, thinking there was no way he would let her in once he saw that she was still underage, but he wasn't interested in their driver's licenses; Bo merely flashed her brilliant blue eyes at him, and he waved her in before turning his attention to Bella. "How about you, girly?"
"She's my sister," Bo snapped, but the bouncer was unimpressed.
"Doesn't matter, I've still gotta make sure she's one of us." He leaned closer, getting in Bella's face just as his own changed, his dark skin turning to rough gray stone. She jerked back, her eyes flaring brightly in response to the potential threat, and he reverted to his human appearance with a satisfied nod. "Okay, you're cool. Enjoy your evening, ladies."
He waved them onward to a freight elevator at the back of the room, which took them down to another plain-looking room much like the first, except that muffled strains of dance music could be heard drifting in from somewhere nearby. They followed the sound down a short hallway that led them away from the industrial-themed area with its elevator…and into another world. When Bo said she was taking me to an underground fae club, this is more what I had in mind!
Most of the cavernous space was taken up with a dance floor that looked and sounded like something straight out of a movie: flashing strobe lights, pulsing techno music, and a mass of writhing bodies dressed in outfits that made Bella feel much less self-conscious about her own ensemble. In fact, her leather pants and see-through top were downright conservative compared to what certain other people were wearing. It was the kind of scene that would have left her frozen in terror if she had stumbled into it just a few short months ago – admittedly, there was still a sizable part of her that wanted nothing more than to bolt for the exit but was too overwhelmed to move – but now… Now, she found to her own amazement that the undercurrent of sexual tension in the club made her feel invigorated, and even gave her a weird urge to join the throng on the dance floor, to take in their energy and become part of it.
Bo, on the other hand, wasn't interested in dancing. Instead, her eyes were scanning the bar that wrapped around the north and west walls, searching for Dyson – then narrowed to angry sapphire slits when she found him. He was sitting on a leather-cushioned stool at the far end of the bar, sipping whiskey and doing his best to ignore the blonde in a red sequined dress who was very persistently hitting on him, but she was obviously refusing to take a hint.
"Can you believe the nerve of her?" Bo growled. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go lay a beatdown on a would-be boyfriend stealer." She set out for the bar with a determined stride, skirting around the edge of the dance floor, and Bella trailed after her, certain that whatever was about to happen would be well worth watching.
When she reached Dyson, Bo made a big show of wrapping her arms around him, pressing herself against his back and kissing his neck as she purred in his ear, "Hey, babe. I didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?"
Dyson's stoic expression gave way to a rare smile the moment he caught her scent and felt her embrace, and it only grew when he actually turned his head to look at her. "I'd wait for you as long as I had to, but I'm glad you're here now."
"Me too." Bo kissed him again before raising her head to fix the now crestfallen blonde with an icy blue-eyed glare. "Can I help you with something?"
"Uh, no, I'm good," the other woman replied with a nervous laugh. "Sorry, I didn't know he was taken." Then she hastily retreated, almost tripping over her stilettos in her rush to get away from the incensed succubus.
"I told her at least four times that I was waiting for my girlfriend," Dyson grumbled.
"Even if you weren't, she still should've backed off when you let her know you weren't interested. Anyway, I noticed a few other people checking her out on my way over, so something tells me she won't be going home alone tonight – but enough about her." Bo reached around Dyson to snag his nearly empty glass and drained the scant remains of his whiskey in a single gulp. "Come on, let's dance."
Seizing both his and Bella's hands, she pulled them toward the dance floor, which was set a foot lower than the rest of the room, like an extremely shallow swimming pool. Some part of Bella's brain – the lone, tiny fragment that hadn't been stunned into silence by the overwhelming multisensory experience that was her first foray into the fae world – whispered that she should object, plant her feet and refuse to take another step, do something, because there was no way this would end well…but her brain seemed to have lost control of her body, which meekly followed Bo as if on autopilot.
She felt one of her feet step down onto the lowered portion of the floor, then the other, and suddenly she was part of the crowd. Their energy and the heavy vibrations of the music pulsed through her bones, sweeping her up like a tidal wave, and before she knew it she was moving with them. She didn't exactly know what she was doing, but that was okay; this wasn't the kind of dance that had precise steps, and Bo and Dyson were right there, guiding her movements as she found her footing.
Once they saw that she had picked up the rhythm, they backed off, dancing more closely with each other while giving Bella more space so that it was clear to anyone watching that they were a couple and their plus one, not a threesome. She wasn't alone for long, however; as soon as they realized she was available, a handful of fae drifted into her orbit, attracted by her natural beauty as well as the pheromones she was unconsciously releasing in response to finding herself in a succubus' equivalent to an all-you-can-eat buffet, and began subtly vying for her attention.
The brightness of their auras broadcast their interest to her as plainly as flashing neon signs, and it was a heady, almost intoxicating feeling. Edward had told her countless times that she was beautiful, desirable, that there were far too many others who wanted her for his liking, but she had never quite believed him, not because she thought he would lie to her, but because what he said was simply too much at odds with her own self-image – now, though, the proof was right in front of her. She could see how much the people dancing near her wanted her, and they weren't hapless humans who had unknowingly fallen prey to her allure, but fellow fae who probably had at least some idea of what she was, who could have resisted if they wanted to…who were full of rich, strong chi that she could feed on without worrying about hurting them.
Although she'd been trying not to think too hard about it, the fact of the matter was that, after going a whole week without the 'after school snacks' from Edward that she'd grown accustomed to, she was getting hungry. When one of the guys eventually took her hand and attempted to lead her off the dance floor, she went along willingly, following him to a side of the club that the bright lights didn't quite reach, a side that wasn't taken up with the bar, but was instead filled with small couches and loveseats positioned to give the people sitting on them some measure of privacy.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what this area was for, and sure enough, Bella's companion was all over her in less than a second once they found a seat. The feeling of his hands encircling her waist wasn't exactly horrible, but when the tiny voice in her head spoke up again, telling her that she shouldn't be okay with this, she listened to it, especially when his fingers started trying to slip underneath her shirt.
"Wait," she gasped out, placing a hand on his chest to hold him back as he tried to pull her closer. "Um, I didn't get your name."
"It's Phil," he replied with a bemused look, not understanding why she was worried about trivial details like names right now.
"I'm Bella. So, uh, do you live around here, Phil?"
"Yeah. We can go to my place later, but you're not here for small talk, are you?"
He had a point, Bella realized; this wasn't the kind of place one went to if they were seeking meaningful interpersonal connections, and she didn't particularly want to form one with him anyway, or with anyone else who would practically grope a girl without even bothering to get her name, then assume she would want to go home with him. Aside from general exploration, she had come here for one purpose, so she might as well get on with it.
"You're right," she agreed. "I'm not." Straightening her arm, she shoved him against the high armrest, then leaned in to draw out his chi as his mouth opened in surprise. His eyes glazed over with pleasure, any hint of resistance he might have offered promptly evaporating…until Bella finished feeding, at which point he tried to sit up and kiss her, only for her to push him back down. Then she got up and walked away without a backward glance, ignoring his calls for her to come back.
Phil's chi had certainly done the job of sating her hunger, yet at the same time, their encounter had left her feeling strangely cold and empty. Feeding on Phil had been straightforward, businesslike, almost clinical – a simple matter of taking what she needed, with none of the intimacy she and Edward had shared that made their feedings so much more. She supposed there might have been some physical pleasure to be had if she'd taken him up on his offer to spend the night together, but she didn't want that. If she didn't care whether she ever saw him again after the sun came up, what was the point?
If this is what it means to be a real succubus…I don't know if I can do it. Suddenly the club's atmosphere felt oppressive, all that energy and noise crashing into her like a physical force, and she found herself heading for the exit without consciously deciding to do so, fleeing down the hall and back up the freight elevator to the bare room where the bouncer waited.
"Leaving already?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her in a manner that could have been mocking or merely curious.
"Not without my sister; I just need some air. Do I need my hand stamped to get back in?"
"Nah – any time you want in, you just come see ol' Rocky. I'll let you in, no problem."
"Thanks." Stifling a grin at the irony of a fae who could turn his skin to stone being named Rocky, she stepped out into the alley. It must have rained briefly while she and Bo were inside; the pavement was wet, and the air had a cool, crisp, clean feel.
Bella inhaled deeply, taking that cool air all the way into the bottom of her lungs as if to clear them out, and pressed her back to the cold, slightly damp metal side of the building. After taking a quick look around to make sure she was really alone, she leaned her head on the wall as well and closed her eyes, letting the night's chill refresh her…until a sudden commotion shattered her peaceful solitude.
Her eyes snapped open, but she couldn't see the source of the disturbance, which seemed to be coming from the wider street beyond the alley. Cautiously following the sound of raised voices and what might have been a scuffle, she stopped just inside the mouth of the alleyway, taking care to stay hidden in the shadows as she peered out at the scene unfolding under the harsh yellow glare of a nearby streetlight.
Two guys were closing in on a girl who appeared to be around Bella's age, maybe a year or two older at most, and as she watched with a mounting sense of horror, one of them roughly grabbed the girl's arm. "I thought we told you not to come around here anymore. You got amnesia or what?"
"No," the girl snapped, putting up a show of defiance even though she was obviously scared. "I just need to find Hunter-"
"We already told you we don't know who that is," the other guy interrupted. "Quit sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, or you're gonna get hurt."
His friend punctuated that threat by shoving her to the ground, but they didn't walk away after delivering their intimidation spiel; instead they crowded in closer, looming over the girl with ugly grins that suggested they planned to do a lot worse than manhandle her.
Bella's blood boiled, even as her mind flashed back to a similar occurrence that had played out on a deserted street very much like this one in Port Angeles, except she hadn't been an outside observer then. On that night, she had been in this girl's place, outnumbered and surrounded by men who obviously harbored very bad intentions, and even though she'd been too busy trying to remember what little she knew about self-defense to truly let her fear sink in, deep down she had known it probably wasn't going to end well for her…until Edward came to her rescue.
She glanced around, hoping irrationally that he would somehow appear and do the same now, but of course Edward was miles away in Forks. There were no benevolent supernatural creatures around to save this girl…except Bella herself. The thought caught her off-guard, and she knew it was nothing short of insane – yet somehow, before she could think better of it, she found herself striding out into the light.
"Hey!" she said loudly. "Leave her alone!"
The two guys looked up at her, and the one who had first grabbed the girl hissed at her, baring a pair of snakelike fangs which went very well with his yellow, slit-pupiled eyes. "Ssstay out of thisss, girl. It'sss none of your busssinesss." Then he and his friend turned back to their victim, so confident his display would scare Bella off that they completely dismissed her.
In fact, realizing that she was dealing with a fae – probably two, though the other one hadn't given any sign of his true nature yet – did give her a second's pause, but only enough to register that she would have to proceed more carefully than she'd thought. After all, she was fae too, and with the energy she'd just taken from Phil coursing through her, her enhanced strength and reflexes were at their peak.
Closing the distance between them in a few rapid steps, she seized the back of the reptilian fae's jacket – realizing as she did that it wasn't leather, but snakeskin; How clever, she thought wryly, using his own skin as a fashion accessory – and yanked him backward. "Actually, I just made it my business." She had no idea where that line had come from except that it sounded like something Bo would say in this situation, and suddenly she wished she hadn't left the coat Bo gave her in the club, since wearing it might have made it easier to channel her sister.
Then the snake fae recovered his balance and moved to attack her, fangs out once more, and her mind went blank as the instincts honed in her many training sessions with Bo took over. She ducked to the side, dodging his attempt to bite her, then kicked him in the back of his knee, causing his leg to buckle. As he went down on one knee like a twisted parody of a marriage proposal, she snatched a handful of hair, jerked his head back, and fed. This time, unlike with Phil, she didn't stop when she felt like she'd had enough, but kept sucking until the other fae's eyes faded to a normal, human-looking gray, their pupils becoming round again just before they rolled back in his head. Only then did she release him, allowing his unconscious body to fall at her feet.
With one opponent neutralized, she immediately spun to face the second, her eyes glowing with cobalt fire as she whipped her dagger out of its sheath; thankfully, this was one gift from Bo that she'd been smart enough to keep with her. "Looks like it's just you and me now," she said with more bravado than she felt, though the excessive amount of chi she'd consumed helped to make it more convincing, having boosted her confidence as well as her physical prowess. "And your friend didn't even give me a chance to try out my new toy."
The second fae, on the other hand, wasn't feeling so confident; he was the type who found it easy to play the tough guy when he was picking on a defenseless human with his buddy backing him up, but now that he was facing a knife-wielding fae who'd already taken his friend down, leaving him on his own…well, he didn't like those odds quite as much.
"Catch you later, bitch." With that parting insult, he turned tail and ran, abandoning his unconscious companion.
As he left, Bella's adrenaline rush went with him, leaving her wondering if she had just experienced a bout of temporary insanity. Or maybe I just absorbed too much chi, and it made me high or something. Yes, that must be it, because I just don't do things like this! Now that she had, though, she couldn't just walk away from the aftermath. Willing her limbs to remain steady even though her insides felt like jelly, she went to where the human girl still lay on the pavement, gaping up at her with a look of utter disbelief, and held out her hand. "Are you okay?"
The girl stared at her outstretched hand like she'd never seen one before, too stunned to be grateful. "You- I- Who are you?"
"That doesn't matter right now. Come on, we should get out of here before that guy wakes up." Truthfully, Bella had no idea how long it would take a snake fae to recover from having his chi drained by an irate succubus, but she didn't want to wait around to find out. Luckily, her words had the desired effect on the human, who finally took her hand and allowed Bella to pull her to her feet.
As she led the girl toward a busier, safer street where Bo had left her car parked outside a twenty-four hour convenience store, Bella said, "You know, you might want to consider taking those guys' advice about not coming back to this part of town. The people who hang out here… Well, let's just say a lot of them aren't very nice."
"Yeah, that's what I tried to tell my sister," the girl scoffed. "But she met this guy, Hunter Damascus… My gut told me he was bad news the minute I saw him, and I told her to stay away from him – I told him to stay away from her or I'd call the cops, because she's only fourteen and he looked way too old for her – but nothing I said or did made any difference. Then she disappeared three days ago, and I know he's responsible, but all I've been able to find out about him is what I saw the one time I followed them here. If I'd been smarter I would've stayed on their trail until I found out where he lives, but all I could think about then was getting her away from him and dragging her home… Now that she's gone I have no clue where to look except this general area, so I can't stay away no matter how much this place creeps me out! I can't give up until I find her!"
The girl looked ready to burst into tears, and Bella suspected that she hadn't meant to unload her troubles on a total stranger, but she'd clearly been dealing with an extremely stressful situation for some time, seemingly without any help or support.
"Wait, wait, back up a minute. So your fourteen-year-old sister's missing – and you're the only one looking for her? Isn't there anyone you can go to, like the police?"
"Don't you think I've tried that?! Sure, they took my report, but they haven't followed up on anything I told them about Hunter; as far as I can tell, they haven't done shit! Sarah and I have been on our own since our parents died, and she's been out of control ever since. It's gotten so bad that the few friends she still has told me not to worry, this is just her latest crazy stunt and she'll show up sooner or later, but it's different this time, I can feel it! I know this creep took her!"
"Okay, okay, calm down! Look, maybe I can help. I have a sister too, and this is kind of what she does – helping people when no one else will, I mean." After all, if the missing girl had been abducted by a guy who hung around the fae part of town, and a couple of fae thugs were trying to warn her sister off from continuing her search, it seemed more than likely that the kidnapper himself was fae, which meant this was right up Bo's alley. "That's her car over there, the yellow Camaro – why don't you wait inside the store, and I'll go get her?"
"What, is this like a hobby for the two of you?" the girl asked skeptically. "Rescuing strangers on the streets and offering to solve their problems?"
"Uh, no. Bo's a private investigator, and I'm… I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, that's all. Besides, something like that happened to me once, and I was lucky that someone was there to save me," Bella said softly. "That's the kind of thing you're supposed to pay forward, right?"
The girl stared hard into her face for a long moment, gauging her sincerity, before surrendering with a slightly hysterical laugh. "Sure, why not? You might be dressed like a- a cosplayer," she said with the air of someone who had hurriedly amended what they were about to say, causing Bella to blush and make a fumbling attempt at fastening a few more buttons on her transparent blouse, "but you've done more for me in the last twenty minutes than anyone else has all year…and honestly, I could really use some help. I'm Marlena, by the way."
"Bella. Just wait here, Marlena, and I'll be right back with Bo. She'll know what to do." She gave Bo's prospective new client what she hoped was a reassuring smile, then started to walk away.
Before she'd taken more than five steps, Marlena called after her, "Hey, Bella? If the people who hang out where you found me aren't very nice, what were you doing there?"
Bella stopped cold but didn't turn back right away, taking a moment to consider the question before answering. Her first impulse was to say she didn't belong there, that Bo had dragged her there and she'd felt like a fish out of water the entire time…but that wasn't exactly true. Although the things she had done tonight felt wildly out of character for her, as if she'd stepped into someone else's skin, wasn't becoming someone else the whole point of this outing? Was it possible that she had succeeded beyond her highest expectations, even if the person she found herself becoming wasn't quite who she had pictured?
"Well," she said at last, glancing over her shoulder at Marlena, "maybe I'm not so nice anymore either."
###
Bella went back to the club, where Rocky did indeed readmit her without a fuss, only making an offhand comment about how she couldn't stay away for long. Bella acknowledged it with a vague smile and nod, privately thinking that it felt like a small eternity had passed since she went out for a breath of fresh air, and proceeded to the subterranean main area. This time she didn't let herself get distracted by the overstimulating atmosphere, keeping her mind sharply focused as she scanned the room for Bo. When she spied her sister still dancing with Dyson, she headed straight for the couple, cutting through the aimlessly milling throng of revelers, and tapped Bo's bare shoulder.
"I need to talk to-" Breaking off when she discovered that she couldn't shout loud enough to make herself heard over the throbbing beat of the music, she settled instead for gesturing for them to follow her. "I have to tell you something," she began again once they reached the relatively quiet refuge of the bar. "I met this woman-"
"A woman, huh?" Bo cut in, her eyebrows arching playfully. "Look at you, being all adventurous."
"What? No! It's not- I'm not going to feed on her! I kind of rescued her from a couple of fae jerks who were harassing her – she's human – and she told me she was here looking for some guy named Hunter who I'm pretty sure is also fae that she thinks kidnapped her sister and…" Realizing as Bo and Dyson stared at her with increasing bewilderment that she wasn't making much sense, Bella took a deep breath and tried again. "I think I just found us a case."
Well, we all knew it wouldn't take long for Bella to find some sort of trouble, didn't we? Like Edward always said, she's a danger magnet – which is something else she and Bo seem to have in common. Maybe it's genetic?