First update of 2024, hooray! I hope the new year is off to a great start for all of you.

Without giving away too much, I feel like I should put in a warning that this chapter sees our favorite succubi using their special touch, with all the questionable consent issues that go along with it.

Once they'd had their fill of teasing Bella and Edward, his siblings drifted off to attend to their own pursuits, leaving the now thoroughly embarrassed couple alone with Bo and Kenzi.

"All right," Bo said as soon as they were gone. "Ready for your first lesson?"

Bella blinked at her. "Right now?"

"No time like the present – especially when you're all fueled up," Bo added with a wink, causing Bella's face, which had just started to return to something approaching its normal complexion, to turn bright red again. "Seriously, though, using our special touch does take some energy, so it's good if you can start out with a full tank. Now all we need is someone for you to practice on…"

Unsurprisingly, Edward volunteered. Bo then took them both by the hand and led them over to a sofa, where she positioned them facing one another before placing Edward's hand in Bella's and taking a step back. "Okay, Bella… So by now you're kind of starting to understand what it's like to get in touch with your inner succubus, right? Those instincts that have been buried way down deep inside you all your life that are finally coming out?" She already knew the truth of that, she and Bella having discussed it last night, but she waited for Bella's affirmative nod before continuing. "Now I want you to pull that out again, like you're about to feed."

Bella obediently closed her eyes and tried to recall exactly how she had felt those times her fae side took over, that feeling of power, certainty, and confidence, and to summon those feelings once more. When she opened her eyes again, they were bright blue, and she could feel the more primal side of her nature stirring, eager to be let out again. Of course, that part of her only wanted one thing, but as she leaned in to claim Edward's lips, Bo put a hand on her shoulder, holding her back.

"You're not actually going to feed, though," she explained as the younger succubus scowled up at her, unhappy at being preempted before she could reach her goal. "What I want you to do is take that power you're feeling right now and focus on pushing it out through your hand, into Edward. You want him – you want to kiss him, taste him, make him yours? Make him want you that way."

Bella tried to do as she said, to focus on projecting her own desires outward, her brow knitting in concentration. For a long moment, nothing happened except sweat breaking out on her forehead; then, at last, a faint red glow materialized under her skin. Already feeling the strain but elated at the first sign of success, she redoubled her efforts, and the glow, though still faint, moved down to where her fingers clutched Edward's hand. She felt his fingers twitch when the first pulse hit him and thought she heard a tiny hitch in his breath, but all in all his reaction was nowhere near as dramatic as that of the waitress Bo had used for her demonstration.

"Well?" she asked anxiously, searching his face for any hint of enthrallment. "Do you feel anything?"

"Your hand is very warm."

"Warm? That's it?" Even though she knew she might be expecting too much from her first attempt, Bella couldn't help feeling disappointed.

"Not feeling the magic, huh?" asked Kenzi, the only other person who had stayed to watch the lesson. "Looks like we have a major succubus fail here, 'cause Bo has 'em eating out of her dainty little hands when she turns on the glow."

"Well, of course I would do anything in my power to please Bella," Edward said at once. "Then again, she doesn't need magic to make me want to do that."

"I think he's onto something," Bo mused, her head tilting slightly as she peered at him. "His aura shows that he's very attracted to you, but that's nothing new for him. Maybe trying this with someone who's already in love with you wasn't the best idea. Fae also tend to have higher resistance to other fae's influence, so maybe a human…"

Kenzi immediately jumped out of her chair and backed away, hands held up defensively. "Don't look at me," she ordered, ignoring the fact that nobody was. "It's bad enough I had to let you smooch me to test whether that chi-blocking necklace Lauren gave you to fight your mom still had its juice after all that time in storage – I am not playing guinea pig while little sis tries to master the touch of instant seduction!"

"Kenzi, I promise I have absolutely no interest in seducing you," Bella assured her with a roll of her eyes.

"Like you even could," Kenzi rejoined, seeming strangely offended for someone who had just expressed her unwillingness to be seduced. "You should be so lucky!"

Before their squabble could escalate further, Bo stepped in. "Let's go find Bella another human, then. Who's up for a field trip?"

###

Bella insisted that trying out her powers of seduction on anyone from Forks was out of the question, as she was convinced that word of it would soon get back to Charlie, so their field trip ended up taking them to Port Angeles. After some cruising around in search of an appropriate hunting ground, they settled on a bar and grill that wasn't quite as far into the wrong side of town as the industrial area where Edward had rescued Bella from a quartet of would-be rapists, but nowhere near as nice as the restaurant he'd taken her to afterward either. Upon entering, they were instantly hit with a wave of loud music and raucous laughter, while a quick look around confirmed that while the sign outside said 'bar and grill', the place was in actuality much more bar than grill.

Bo took in the atmosphere with a deep breath of pretzel-and-beer-scented air, then gave a satisfied nod. "Yup, plenty of people here with impaired judgment who aren't likely to remember much in the morning. Kenzi, you and Edward go hang out at the bar, okay? Bella, you're with me."

Taking her sister by the wrist, she steered her to one of the few booths huddled against the wall like apologetic intruders and sat her down in a corner where the surrounding seats closed them off from the open floor a little, providing some small illusion of privacy. From this vantage point, Bo gestured at the bar that took up most of the room and the people crowded around it and asked, "See anything you like?"

Bella peeked out at the throng, then turned back to Bo. "You mean, do I find any of them attractive? I don't know…"

"Look," Bo said with the faintest trace of impatience, "I know none of them holds a candle to Edward, but I'm not asking you to marry or even date anybody here. Just pick someone you won't mind chatting up for a few minutes while you work your magic."

Keeping this in mind, Bella took another look with a less critical eye, or at least tried to, but try as she might, she could barely differentiate one loud, half-drunk or quietly desperate human from another, let alone pick out any qualities that might make any particular one preferable to the others, and she was quite certain she didn't really want to converse with any of them. "I don't know," she said with a helpless shrug. "You choose."

"How about him? He's hoping to score tonight, so he should be an easy target for your first trial run."

Bella wasn't sure which guy Bo was pointing at – there was so much sexual energy floating around the place that it was hard to keep everyone's auras straight – so she just nodded in agreement.

"Great. You wait here while I bring him over, and try to relax; you look like you're about to have a panic attack. I'll be right back…but first…" She reached behind Bella's head and pulled out the elastic holding her hair in its ponytail, mussed the brunette waves a little as she arranged them over Bella's shoulders, and undid a couple of buttons on her blouse, causing the younger girl to let out a rather undignified squeak of embarrassment. "Now that's more like it…but what's with that bra? Seriously, beige? You call that succubus-wear?"

"Well, I wasn't planning on anyone seeing it when I got dressed this morning," Bella pointed out. "And for your information, it's a perfectly serviceable undergarment, and it's not that different from what I see on everyone else in the locker room when we change for gym class. This is what normal girls wear."

"Maybe so," Bo said softly while brushing her fingers over Bella's cheek, "but we're not normal girls." Then she was gone, leaving Bella once again gazing out at the bar.

Her eyes were naturally drawn to Edward, who was sitting on a barstool next to Kenzi, both of them sticking out like sore thumbs among the crowd thanks to Edward's much more polished style and devastating good looks and Kenzi being…well, Kenzi…and both watching her. When their gazes met, Kenzi flashed her a thumbs-up and Edward gave a small smile that she was sure he meant to be encouraging, yet she couldn't help noticing that he seemed tense, or that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. A sinking feeling took hold of her, and she quickly turned away, hiding behind the high back of her seat.

Of course, she could hardly expect him to be thrilled about watching her go through the motions of seduction with someone else, using her power to draw in and ensnare them, make them want her; recalling how deeply Mike Newton's attraction to her, which had developed without any conscious encouragement on her part, had once annoyed Edward, she couldn't believe she'd been so insensitive to his feelings. And Kenzi's watching too, no doubt getting ready to laugh her head off when I inevitably fall flat on my face…

By the time Bo returned with her chosen guinea pig in tow and sat him down across the table from Bella while sliding in beside him, Bella had worked herself into such a fit of nerves that Bo's leather-clad backside had barely touched the cheap vinyl seat before she blurted out, "I can't do this! Edward's watching, and Kenzi, and-"

She broke off when Bo reached over the table and grasped her hands, putting a stop to their nervous wringing. "Look at me, Bella. Forget Edward and Kenzi. This isn't about them, it's about you. You want to learn how to use your abilities and live up to your full potential, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then focus on that…and on our new friend Fred here. I've already softened him up for you just a little."

Bella had deduced as much from the way Fred had followed Bo to their booth like a devoted puppy trailing after its owner and sat there patiently while the sisters had a conversation that probably would have sounded a bit strange to anyone not in the know, but now he seemed to be coming out of it, blinking and looking around with a slightly bewildered air.

"Fred," Bo said brightly as she turned to him with her sexy smile once more firmly in place, "I'd like you to meet my sister Bella. She just loves making new friends, don't you, Bella?"

"Um," Bella stammered, flushing at the blatant insinuation in Bo's tone of exactly what kind of 'friends' she wanted to make, "sure. Hi."

"Hi." Fred gave her a quick once-over and extended his hand for her to shake, but his eyes were already straying back to Bo, who he clearly found to be a much more appealing prospect. Even as she returned the flirtatious look he gave her, however, her own eyes darted sideways to Bella, silently telling her to get on with it.

Taking the hint, Bella swallowed her nerves and tightened her grip on Fred's hand, trying desperately to recapture that feeling she'd somehow managed to generate earlier that afternoon in the Cullens' family room. It was much harder now, though, when she was in an unfamiliar place, facing a total stranger and already feeling stressed.

Fred's head started to turn toward her again, an annoyed frown forming on his face as he realized she was still clutching his hand… Then, just as his gaze landed on her, his irritation faded, and a look of surprise took its place. He blinked quizzically at Bella, staring at her like he'd never seen her before, which he was starting to think maybe he hadn't; his initial impression had been that the older sister was much hotter, but now he suddenly noticed that the younger one was just as sexy, albeit in a more understated way.

Wondering if she should take heart at his discombobulated expression, Bella glanced down at their joined hands – sure enough, there was a red glow pulsing between them, faint but definitely present. Encouraged, she concentrated harder, and the glow intensified, leaving Fred looking positively awestruck. She then looked at Bo, who beamed proudly at her. Bo's approval gave Bella her own warm, glowing feeling inside her chest, and she decided to test the waters a little more. "So, Fred, what do you do?"

"Anything you want, baby," he replied breathlessly.

Bella's eyebrows shot up, and she looked again at her sister, who was now stifling a laugh. "Too bad our influence doesn't improve people's pickup lines. See if you can get him to go outside with us."

"Okay. Hey Fred, how'd you like to take a walk with my sister and me?"

Fred's eyes practically glazed over with ecstasy, no doubt brought on by fantasies of a wild threesome. Bo was tempted to roll her eyes in response but restrained herself, instructing Bella to smile and laugh as they each took hold of one of their victim's arms and steered him to the door. When they got outside and she asked which car was his (making sure to infuse her voice with an unspoken suggestion that she and Bella actually intended to get into said car), she thought his knees might give out, but luckily he managed to stay upright.

"You know, Fred," she said as they made their way across the parking lot, now adding subtle pulses of her own power to Bella's, "I think maybe you've had a few too many. Why don't you give me your keys?"

"Okay," he mumbled dazedly. It took Fred a couple of tries to locate his pocket, but at last he produced a set of keys which unlocked a truck that was in only slightly better shape than Bella's. Bo pushed him down onto the passenger seat, then leaned in and hungrily pressed her lips to his. She fed on his chi for a minute or two while Bella watched with avid interest, only letting go when she felt the stream of energy start to thin. When she released him, he fell backward across the seat of his pickup, where he lay unmoving.

"Oops," Bo muttered. "I meant to ask if you wanted some, but I think Fred's all tapped out. Don't worry, he'll be fine once he sleeps it off."

"It's fine," Bella assured her as she pushed his legs into the cab, tossed the keys in after him, and locked the truck's door before slamming it shut so he could recover in peace, unless somebody called the cops when he failed to leave at closing time. "I'm still good from my after-school snack with Edward; actually, I feel incredible. That was… I can't believe I did that! Me, Bella Swan! Did you see that?!"

Having finished ensuring that Fred wouldn't get mugged before he woke up, Bo turned around and grinned at her little sister's incredulous delight. "I sure did. You were great – got off to kind of a rocky start, but you had him eating out of your hand at the end there. Feels good, doesn't it? Empowering?"

Her grin widening at Bella's vigorous nod, Bo asked, "Wanna go again? This time you get to choose who."

Bella hesitated – it was a school night, after all – but then, she'd already done her homework for tomorrow, and she was pretty sure she had enough energy for at least one more attempt. If not, hopefully Edward wouldn't mind giving her another hit. Pushing aside whatever doubts she felt, which receded almost instantly when she focused instead on the strange yet enticing feeling of using her burgeoning powers, of having that sort of control over people whose attention once would have intimidated or even scared her, she answered Bo's offer with another nod.

###

"Kenzi, you and Edward go hang out at the bar, okay? Bella, you're with me."

"Well, looks like we're getting the heave-ho," Kenzi remarked as Bo led Bella off to the corner booth.

Of course, Edward saw right through her show of indignation. "You don't mind. You'd rather be at the bar anyway, 'where all the delicious booze lives'."

"Dude, don't quote my thoughts out loud. It's weird, and they sound so much lamer when you say them." She did not, however, make any attempt to deny that she wanted a drink. As they sidled up to the bar, she worried for a second that he was about to get his underage butt kicked out, and her along with him, before she could procure that much-desired beer, only to be taken aback (and, she had to admit, a little impressed) when he pulled out a very convincing fake ID that said he was twenty-one and presented it to the bartender as nonchalantly as if he sneaked into bars every day.

"Aha, I knew that squeaky clean image you put on had to be a front. Somewhere under those designer clothes, fancy cars, and perfect hair, you have a deeply repressed delinquent streak just itching to get out, don't you?"

"It can sometimes be useful to appear as an adult in the human world, though I'm sure you would find my reasons for doing so disappointingly tame."

"Oh yeah, you turned vamps can't drink anything but blood, can you?"

"We can drink alcohol, but it has no effect on us."

"Which would make you drinking this a criminal waste of a good brew," Kenzi concluded with a theatrical sigh as the bartender set two foaming glasses of beer in front of them. "Guess I'll just have to drink for two, and you can enjoy it vicariously."

"Your self-sacrifice is truly inspiring," Edward replied with withering sarcasm.

Kenzi chose not to dignify that with a response, instead taking a long drink from her frothy mug, and Edward swiveled his stool in order to see what the succubi were doing – his inability to hear their thoughts really was inconvenient sometimes – just in time to see Bo leave their booth and head for the bar…presumably to follow through on her plan of finding a human for Bella to practice exerting her influence on.

Of course, he had known all along that this was the goal, yet now that it was actually happening, he felt a strange sense of unease setting in, along with the burning jealousy he'd become so familiar with during the time when he was still trying to do the right thing and stay away from her while knowing that if he continued to follow his conscience, eventually she would end up with one of those human boys who at the time had seemed like infinitely better options for her. This is ridiculous! Bo's idea of having her practice on humans is perfectly sound, and it will be good for her to master her new powers. That's all this is; it's not as if she's going to strike up an actual flirtation with anyone in this fine establishment. There is absolutely no reason why anything that happens here tonight should bother me. The words sounded convincing in his head…if only he could make the part of himself that wasn't driven by pure, cold logic believe them.

Pulling himself out of his unwelcome, disquieting thoughts, he looked up to see Bella peering around the back of the seat where Bo had left her; she was looking right at him and Kenzi, her expression mirroring the unease Edward himself felt. A pang of guilt shot through him – no doubt she was extremely nervous, and instead of being supportive, he was fretting over the extent to which some hapless human might fall under her charms even though he knew perfectly well that his jealousy was irrational.

He flashed her an encouraging smile that he hoped looked sincere, though he wasn't entirely sure it worked based on the way she hurriedly ducked back into her booth. Then Bo sauntered through his field of vision, and he took the opportunity to scope out the human she was leading by the hand – late twenties, casual outfit comprising jeans, work boots, and a flannel shirt, and a stunned expression that would have made it clear he couldn't believe his luck even if Edward hadn't been able to hear his thoughts.

Bo sat him down in the booth where she'd stationed Bella, after which the three of them were hidden from view, though Edward could still watch what followed through the human's eyes, even as his mind grew increasingly hazy thanks to the sisters' influence. Bo had already hit him with a weak pulse while persuading him to go sit in the corner with her, not that she'd needed to resort to such measures, and the lingering effects of her touch only intensified when Bella got in on the action. By the time they were finished with him, Edward was mildly amazed the man could still walk straight; in fact, he might not have managed without Bo and Bella hanging onto his arms.

Watching their little performance was hard, seeing his girlfriend helping Bo drag the human outside with what the spectators at the bar took for lustful eagerness, listening to their whispers and even more explicitly lewd thoughts as they tore their attention away from their drinks, the TV behind the bar, and their own efforts at finding someone to take home for the night to nudge each other and stare at the spectacle unfolding before them. Still, Edward consoled himself with the thought that at least it was over now – they had fulfilled their objective, so surely they could go home now – only to have those hopes dashed when the succubi came back in and headed straight for the bar, swiftly closing in on their next target.

The lucky (depending on how one defined luck) human couldn't believe his eyes when they slipped in on either side of him, looking cautiously from one to the other. "Didn't you two leave with another guy just a little while ago?"

"He gave out on us too fast," Bo replied with a mock pout, "but we're not ready to call it quits yet, are we, sis?"

"Nope," Bella answered with a rather un-Bella-like giggle. "We're just getting started."

"Damn," Kenzi muttered, sounding grudgingly impressed as she took another swig of her beer, "girl's got more succu-game than I thought."

"So it seems," Edward agreed, though he couldn't quite bring himself to act overjoyed at this new development. There was something different about Bella; her initial discomfort with the extent to which Bo had unbuttoned her blouse and the situation in general seemed to have vanished, her cheeks were slightly flushed, not with embarrassment but excitement, and there was something about the way she moved that felt very unlike her. After pondering it for a moment, he realized that something was a self-assurance he'd never seen in her before but which now seemed to be coming out more and more often since that first time she had fed on him.

That should be a good thing – he had never understood why she had such low self-esteem and thought it was a shame that she did – but as he watched her slide her hand up the arm of her and Bo's current mark, ostensibly admiring his muscles while the telltale red glow emanated from her fingertips, he couldn't help feeling that the abilities which were the source of her newfound confidence were also changing her, which in his opinion was not a good thing at all.

Sighing, Edward stared down into the glass of amber liquid in front of him and, for the first time in his immortal life, wished he could derive the same pleasure that humans did from drinking the stuff. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

###

His presentiment turned out to be right, as more than two hours passed before the succubus sisters finally decided Bella had gotten enough practice for one night. She emerged from the bar still riding the high of her success, but her elation waned during the drive home as she noticed that Edward was even quieter than usual – not the amiable silence of someone who simply couldn't get a word in edgewise amid Kenzi's drunken chatter, but a stony silence which said loud and clear that he wasn't happy.

When they got close to Bella's house, she and Edward got out of his car at the other end of the street and had Bo drive the Volvo away so as not to alert Charlie to their return just yet, while they walked the remaining distance together. They had only taken a few steps when the silence between them, which had only deepened without Kenzi providing background noise, became too much for Bella, and she blurted out, "I'm sorry, Edward. I know watching me do my thing with those humans couldn't have been fun, but you know you have nothing to be jealous of, right? You know I wasn't really interested in any of them."

Edward turned sharply to face her, stepping in front of her as he did so and bringing her to an abrupt halt. For a long moment, he stared down at her with an inscrutable expression, and a flare of anxiety bloomed in her gut as she wondered just how much trouble she was in. Then he suddenly took her face in both hands and kissed her with uncharacteristic fervor, the kind of kiss that just a short time ago would have caused him to pull away and lecture her on safety if she'd tried it with him (which she had, with frustrating results).

"Wow," she murmured when he released her. "If this is you being upset, I really need to make you mad more often. Maybe I'll try out my new skills on Mike tomorrow at school…"

"Don't you dare," Edward growled, only half-jokingly. Dropping the humor completely, he continued, "It's not that I don't trust you, Bella. I know you were only trying to gain control over this new side of yourself, and I want you to succeed. I'm proud of you, for how well you did tonight."

"Then why do I hear a 'but' in there?"

"It's just… You were like a different person in that bar. For a while there, I almost didn't recognize you."

Bella processed this in silence for a second before finally saying, "Maybe that's not such a bad thing – me being different, I mean. I felt different – I felt strong, powerful – not how I usually feel, like a socially inept klutz…and I liked it. Maybe not the part with a bunch of random drunk guys drooling over me, but the way it made me feel when I used my touch to control them… I liked it, Edward. Does that make me a terrible person?"

"Since you didn't use your control over them to rob or otherwise take advantage of them, or to feed on them to the point of causing irreparable harm, I would say no. But you don't need to become someone different, Bella. There's nothing wrong with the person you were before you found out you're fae. I've always loved you just the way you are."

"Thank you." Genuinely touched by his kind words, she went in for a hug, but she couldn't quite bring herself to agree with him – although it meant the world to her to hear him say he loved her in spite of her many deficiencies, she couldn't say the same for herself – and she was fairly certain this omission did not go unnoticed.

When he kissed her good night, that kiss too was much less restrained than what she was accustomed to, which should have thrilled her, yet there was something in the way he held her just a little too tightly, the almost desperate way his lips moved against hers, that bothered her, though she couldn't put her finger on the reason why. His next words didn't offer any clues to his state of mind either, since all he said was, "You should go; it's past one in the morning."

"Right. School tomorrow." The words came out slowly, dazedly; after the night she'd had and the kiss they had just shared, it was hard to wrap her mind around such mundane concepts as preparing for school. She turned to leave, but Edward caught her arm and pulled her back.

"I had Alice call Charlie to tell him you had gotten caught up in looking at family photos with Bo so he wouldn't send out a search party – actually, she foresaw my request and called him right before I called her – but he's still waiting up for you." When she responded with a bemused look, obviously wondering why he felt the need to tell her this, he gestured at her chest and said, "You might want to fix your shirt before he sees you."

"Fix my-? Oh!" Her face went red as she realized what he meant, and she scrambled to fasten the buttons Bo had undone, fumbling slightly in her haste. "Thanks for catching that; I don't even want to think about how much trouble I'd be in if I'd walked in like this."

"Any time," Edward replied with his trademark crooked smile. "I'll see you later."

"See you." This time, when she walked away, he made no move to stop her.

She had just made it to her front door when it suddenly dawned on her why his unexpected show of ardor had disturbed her – it wasn't just passion in his kiss but something more like desperation…like she was slipping away from him and he was trying frantically to hold on to her. This epiphany brought a troubled frown to her face, and she turned around, intending to march right back to him and say whatever it took to get it through his hard head that he had nothing to worry about, only to find herself facing a dark, empty street. Edward had already disappeared, swift and silent as a shadow.

Uh-oh, could there be trouble in paradise ahead for our favorite couple? After all, Bella's going through a lot of changes, and we all know Twilight vamps don't do change very well…