Her scent was overwhelming, maddening, but I no longer wanted to massacre a room full of children to get to her. I wouldn't need to do that. I had patience, patience born of nearly a century of practice. I would woo her. It would be simple. I would draw it out, inexorably. It would be like tantric sex, but with blood - lots and lots of blood. Slowly sipped, savored, yes, and if they came for me, if my family saw, if Alice was looking, well, I could gorge myself then. I would be able to hear them coming.

They couldn't stop me. They wouldn't stop me. Little Bella Swan would be a dead girl in two hours time, but it would be well worth it.

I had undoubtedly made a bad impression on her in the first moments of class, but we still had forty more minutes before I would lure her out into the woods, convince her to skip her last class with me and proceed to have my delightfully wicked way with her in and amongst the trees. I dared to breathe her scent in now because now it was all just delayed gratification. I'd made it this far, after all. I would have her.

I would.

I shook my head slightly, a dramatic gesture to help with my coming explanation. As the microscopes were passed out, I made sure my tone would be quiet and upbeat, betraying nothing. "Hey," I said. "Sorry about that earlier. I thought I had a migraine coming on, and they really freak me out. But I think I'm okay. So, yeah. Sorry." I did my best to look sheepish and adorable. As I watched Miss Swan melt in front of me, suddenly becoming all small smiles, I knew it had worked. "I'm Edward Cullen," I said, introducing myself and holding out her hand.

"Bella Swan," she said breathlessly, and I sat in rapt attention as her delicious scent began to change. It seemed Miss Swan found me attractive, and very attractive at that. She was quite the succulent morsel, herself, and even as I thought that, I realized that it was true on several levels.

I wondered if Miss Isabella Call-Me-Bella Swan would like to have sex with me before I slowly drain her of blood? I'd never done such a thing before, but the prospect was more than a little tempting. I let my smile deepen and go all the way to my eyes. Yes, new goal: seduce Bella Swan, have sex with Bella Swan, drain Bella Swan. It was about to be a very good afternoon.

"I'm so glad to meet you." I looked deep into her eyes and leaned closer in. I breathed on her. She looked dazed, which was exactly what I was hoping for. I would keep her dazed and under my thrall on and off throughout the period, and then clinch it at the end. Oh yes, she would follow me into the forest. I had no doubt. "You're so beautiful, Bella," I said, comfortable in my level of forwardness, given the fact that she was utterly dazed. I continued to breathe on her in small amounts. "I bet you're a virgin, aren't you, love?" I asked softly.

She nodded.

I adjusted the microscope that was now on our lab table and pushed my lab stool closer to her. We both leaned over the lab table, the outsides of our arms touching. I leaned into her and resisted the urge to groan at being so close. "Have you ever touched yourself, love? Have you given yourself orgasms?"

She shook her head, and I could hear her murmuring a near silent, "No."

"Hmm, that's good to know. Do you think I'm handsome, Bella? Do you like how I smell? Why don't you lean in and smell me, Bella?"

She did, and she moaned.

I prepared the slide. "Lean back a bit, love, there we go," I said. The only problem with people under thrall was that they were a little too malleable, and they had a hard time thinking for themselves in even the most basic of ways. "Look in the microscope, love, that's right."

"Cells," she said. "Mitosis."

"Yes, but that's not important. I'll do the assignment. You never answered my question. Do you think I'm handsome, Bella?"

"Oh, yes," she said quietly, but with feeling.

And then an idea came to me. Sometimes my brilliance astounded me.

"You are the most interesting, pretty, delicious thing I've ever encountered, Bella Swan. Would you go on a date with me?"

I watched as her brow furrowed, and was reminded to breathe on her again. It was still furrowed after I did so, however. This was troubling. I had asked if she was a virgin, if she masturbated, and she had answered with no problem. Now I ask her on a date and she balks? What the hell was going on in this insane girl's head?

"Don't... you don't... you don't date," she informed me.

"Oh," I said, beginning to understand, but wondering at the power of her mind. She clearly wasn't quite as muddled as I would have guessed. I wondered briefly if the two things were connected - the mental silence, and her obvious mental fortitude. Hmm. Pity; the world would never know. "I bet Jessica said that, didn't she? That's just because she was throwing herself at me, but I wasn't interested. I was waiting for you, love. Now, if you threw yourself at me," I said and unintentionally paused to purr, letting my hand drop to her thigh as I imagined her literally jumping on me, wrapping me in her arms and legs, her subtle curves and decadent scent. "I'd do whatever you wanted me to do, whenever you wanted it, for as long and as hard as you want it."

She whimpered again, and I kept breathing on her quite steadily from there on out. I couldn't afford to let her mental clarity surface, and it was clear to me that she wasn't like other humans. It wasn't that she was immune, but she wasn't quite as affected as I would have liked.

Damn inconvenient was what she was. I grinned. Delicious, sexy, and damn inconvenient, such was Bella Swan.

Sexy? Where did that come from?

It was true, though. The more I thought of it, the more I wanted her. I still wanted to swallow mouthful after mouthful of that luscious blood that called to me, make no mistake, but I was going to make sure, make damn sure that she enjoyed herself before hand. We both would. I would make sure she was still alive and cognizant during her orgasm. I'd kill her afterwards. It was all a matter of delayed gratification, anyway. I'd get it. I'd get everything I'd never known I'd ever wanted. Soon.

I started to get an erection, thinking about it. I wondered how that delightful wetness between her thighs tasted. I wondered what it would be like, mixed with a little blood. If could restrain myself, if I could do it without the frenzy taking over and ruling my actions from there on out, I was certain, certain it would be the strongest and most delicious of aphrodisiacs.

I adjusted myself, and it caught Bella's attention. Her heart rate increased. I leaned over to whisper in her ear as we were doing the lab. "That's right, love. I want you so much. I've gotten hard, just by sitting next to you, just by thinking about you. You smell so delicious. I can't wait to taste you, love. Will you let me do that?"

She whimpered, still staring at my lap. After I exhaled on her, I gently took her left hand and pulled it down between my body and the table. I pressed her open palm into my erection. To my credit, I did not groan.

"Do you feel that, love? Do you feel how hard my cock is, just for you? Only for you?" My whispers were for her ears only, and no one else in the classroom was even aware that we were talking anymore than any other lab partners, or that our subject was any different. I wrote down a few answers, but I didn't want to go too quickly. I feigned confusion and looked into the microscope a few times.

I felt her little fingers moving slightly. "That's right," I said to her softly. "You can explore if you want. We can't do much here, but if you want, we can have some privacy after class. We can go for a walk in the forest and find a nice, soft spot to lay down."

I was taken aback when she sharply inhaled and her countenance turned sour. What now? Seriously? What was this girl's problem? I needed to breathe on her even more frequently. This was getting frustrating.

"Forest. Wet. Too wet."

I blinked. She wouldn't go have sex with me in a forest because it was too wet? Well... okay. That made a certain amount of sense, I supposed. Taking either her car or mine was out - it would take too much time and draw too much notice. We couldn't go back to my house - Esme was too likely to be home. But it was the middle of the day. It was unlikely that her father would be at home. We could go back to her house. I could take her in the comfort of her bed. I would make sure to spill no blood on the sheets.

"We could go to your house," I murmured into her ear. "You could show me your bedroom, and your sweet body. I'll make you feel so good, love. I'll make you cry out in ecstasy."

She nodded, and we continued on. My seduction was all set up, and it needed no maintenance. I could have just stopped there, and then reintroduced the idea to her a few minutes before the bell rang, but I found that I rather liked the images dancing through my head, of Bella, naked and writhing in ecstasy that I was providing. I wondered what that secret flower would taste like. I wondered what it would look like with my slick thickness sliding in and out of it. I wondered what her breasts would look like, what they would feel like, pressed up against my chest, cupped in my hands. I wondered what that soft skin would feel like pressed up against my cock.

Lips. I wondered what her lips would feel like. Her lips wrapped around my cock... and tongue. Her tongue... what would that feel like? A fiery, wet, delicious heat enveloping my cock. I wanted her hot kisses along my neck, my chest. I wanted to see what she would look like with that long dark hair cascading around her shoulders as she rode me.

I tried to snap out of that fantasy, for fantasy it was. A woman in thrall wouldn't be like that. She would be quiescent, zombie-like. She could experience orgasm, but it would be involuntary, and she would only participate minimally. I realized that as much as I did want the grand finale of two quarts of her blood, I also really, really wanted her to want me. I wanted her to revel in our coupling. She wasn't simply an object to be raped, or controlled... I wanted fire. I wanted the heat of her blood. I wanted the passion of her body. I wanted whatever it was Miss Bella Swan would give me, and I wanted it right now. I was not going to get that if I kept her under thrall. Damn it. Options... options... what were my options?

There was only one other class after this one. I bet I could wait. I could work this a little differently. It was all delayed gratification, anyway. I could still have her blood, but I would focus on sex. That might put off Alice, should Alice be looking, which clearly she wasn't, or she would have stormed in here already. We could go back to her house. I could offer myself to her, without the thrall.

And now, while the thrall was still active, I would make sure to break down whatever inhibitions I could...

"Bella," I said softly. "This has all been a fantastic daydream of yours. None of this has really happened. We just had a normal biology class, and I'm going to come home with you to catch you up in the year. You're going to drive me to your house after school. And you've been daydreaming about me, having sex with me, how much you like me. You really, really like me, Bella. And when I tell you how much I like you, later, after school, at your house, it'll be okay to kiss me, then. It'll be okay to do everything you've been fantasizing about, because I want to do it all, too." I removed her hand from my erection with a sigh and put her palm back on her own leg.

I leaned back from her a bit and it only took twenty seconds of not being breathed on for her to shake her head once, then once again.

"Whoa," she said quietly. She looked at me and did a double take. I wished I knew why, exactly. "I guess I just zoned there for a minute. Um, where were we?"

"We just finished," I said with a grin as I wrote in the last answer. "And I just agreed to come over after school and make sure you're all caught up with biology. I know how difficult it is to make that kind of transition in the middle of the school year."

She blinked at me, and looked confused. "Um... yeah. It's... yeah. That's, um, really nice of you. Are you sure? I mean maybe we could meet before school, or something."

I smiled at her and met her eye, but I was too far away to be breathing on her. It was just her and me right now. "Don't you want to hang out?" Kids still used that phrase, right? Hang out? Shit, was I dating myself again? I hate when that happens.

"No, it's cool."

I think that was a yes.

"Well, then, can I walk you to your next class?"

"Yeah," she said, her non-dazed voice deep, husky, and full of desire.

I did walk her to her next class, my hand briefly touching the small of her back three separate times, and my fingers brushing against her forearm once. Each time I listened to her heart beat spike, her scent deepen.

Spanish really could not have gone by more slowly. Thankfully, I used the time to imagine how I could best seduce Bella without using the thrall. I'd need to start small. Little touches, small compliments, and then to kiss her softly and gently. The first time would be soft and gentle, just a meeting of the lips, and then again, and again. Then I would touch her, my fingertips tracing the skin of her face, the curve of her side, the bared skin at the small of her back. If she seemed nervous, I could apologize, promise to stop whenever she wanted, and then make sure that she got so many orgasms she'd never want to stop.

I tossed Emmett my keys at the end of the class, but I rushed out without a word to him, meeting Bella back at the door to the gym. We made a detour by the main office so she could drop off some paperwork, and then moved in silence side-by-side to her locker, and then out to the parking lot. We were almost home free.

I could hear our classmates talking about this new development in the social strata of Forks High School, and I wished we could walk faster. If everyone was talking about it, then Alice would be curious. Damn, damn, damn. We were in her truck and I was about to close the passenger side door when I slim white hand opened it back up again.

Oh, no you don't, Edward.

Alice slipped in beside me, forcing me to move over, my knees straddling the stick shift. Bella looked over me in astonishment.

"Hi!" my sister said brightly. "I'm Alice! I'm Edward's sister, and I am here to keep him out of trouble. You see, our Mom would get super mad if Edward didn't show up this evening for dinner, so if you two could just move your study session to our house, everything will be perfect. You guys can go have some quiet time studying bio on the third floor, and Mom won't flip a gasket because her perfect Edward hasn't come home yet. But you can call your Dad if you need too, don't worry. Come on, it'll be great, you can stay for dinner, too! Come on, let's get this show on the road! I can tell we're going to be great friends, Bella. I just know these things. It's a left out of the parking lot. Don't you have seat belts in this thing?"

Bella took this new development with far more grace than I did. Bella merely gaped at Alice. I glared. Even as Alice was speaking her opening soliliquy, she was thinking an entirely different line, to me, and in a much harsher tone.

You listen to me, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen. I know she smells good, I get it, I really do, but I've got news for you. If you go to her house, have sex with her, then kill her, we're not going to be able to cover it up well enough. The Voluturi are going to come down here, and they're not just going to kill us - they're going to kill a whole bunch of humans and all the Quileutes on the Rez. And it won't matter to you by then, because you'll be mostly catatonic with brief episodes of suicidal ideation. She's your mate, you idiot. You really want to kill your mate? This is it for you, buddy. This is your one chance at serious happiness. And if you bring her home, take her up to your room, you can still have sex with her. You can still taste her blood. And if you can't stop in time, we'll help you. And we'll set up an accident with her truck. Emmett and Jasper are driving to Port Angeles to get a suitable body from the morgue, even now. We'll set it on fire after hitting a tree. It'll look like she got into an accident on her way home from our house. No one will think anything of it. She's going to be my best friend, Edward. She's going to be your wife. Our family is finally going to be complete, if only you'll take her to our house, take your time with seducing her. We'll finish the year, then move to Denali. So stop glaring at me. This is for your own good. You'll still get to have sex, you'll still get to drink pint after pint of her blood, her lovely, lovely blood. You'll just have to leave her a little bit to make the change. Okay? Stop glaring. It's not remotely charming. Stop glaring already, turn your head, and commence the charming of your mate. Yes, your mate. Chew on that one, it may help with the bloodlust.

I adopted a neutral expression, and stopped glaring at Alice, but when Bella needed to shift into reverse, her hand brushed my leg. She murmured her apologies the first time, but only the first time.

I did my best to ignore Alice's thoughts - she was no longer directing them toward me anyway, and attempted to make small talk instead.

"So, why did you move to Forks, anyway?"

I had to coax it out of her, but her explanation was interesting. It dawned on me that she might not remember these things after the change. I wondered if there was a photo album we could get our hands on. I tried to keep my thirst in check enough to think about that.

I'll take care of it. This will leave you to the tender mercies of Rosalie, should you not be able to stop. So really, Edward, it's in your best interests to stop on your own, Alice thought. Just remember, if you kill her now, you'll only be able to be with her the one time. The good sex might be motivator enough.

I couldn't wrap my mind around any of this right now. It was all too much. A mate? Me? My mate? I'd thought I'd been turned too young. It wasn't possible. Even Esme knew it not to be possible, and Esme only ever wanted the best for me. It was all a swirl in my head. The only thing I knew was delayed gratification. I wanted Bella Swan, and I was going to have her, no matter where that was going to be - the bed in her room or the leather couch in mine.

High time you got a bed, too. I'll order one for you, later.

And then there would be blood, I thought, ignoring Alice as best I could, which was never very well. Sex and blood, sex and blood, sex and blood, sex and blood... it was my mantra. I couldn't think about the future. I couldn't deal with threats of the Volturi, or killing my mate. None of that was real, anyway. Only her scent, her sex, they were the only real things to me, and I let them overpower me. I breathed in deeply and let it wash over me. My mouth watered and my cock hardened further.

Sex and blood, sex and blood, sex and blood...

We arrived and I ushered her upstairs without meeting anyone else. Alice flitted away, but I paid her no heed. I showed Bella my room, and she remarked upon my lack of actual bed.

"I don't sleep," I said nonchalantly, clearing some books off the sofa. Bella set her bag down by the door and walked in to look at my music. She pressed play, and strains of Debussy filled the room.

"What do you mean, you don't sleep?" she asked, looking back at me over her shoulder.

"I'm not entirely human," I replied.

Bella snorted at me, and then chuckled. "Boys," she murmured underneath her breath, once she'd looked back at the CDs.

When next she turned around, I was right behind her.

"Should, um, we, uh, I guess... Biology. Right?"

Yes, I thought. And let's start with female anatomy, shall we? Reproductive physiology?

"We have plenty of time before dinner," I said. "I don't..." I paused for effect. "I hope you don't think I'm being too forward, but you're so beautiful, Bella. I just know every guy in school is going to want to get your attention."

"I... what? No," she said, blinking rapidly and making a face.

"Oh yes, Bella," I said in a lower register. "And you've already gotten my attention. I know it's stupid," I began, intentionally creating a moment of vulnerability. "But I spent most of class daydreaming about you."

"I... me, too," Bella said, her face flooding with color, which made my mouth flood with venom.

I touched the outside of her hand with my fingertips, tracing patterns from her knuckles to her wrist and back again. When her fingers flexed, I slipped mine through them. I moistened my lips with my tongue and watched her eyes dart down, watched her pupils dilate.

"May I kiss you, sweet Bella?" I whispered to her. I was so close to her now, she was so close to me.

"Yes," she breathed as she leaned closer still and tipped her head back. She closed her eyes and I pressed my lips to hers. She shivered and moaned, her lips parting ever so slightly. It was a temptation I couldn't resist. I slid the tip of my tongue between her lips and stopped there until she moaned even more and tilted her head. I found her free hand and held it too, palm to back with fingers laced As my tongue slipped further into her mouth, I groaned in pleasure. Her taste was exquisite, even better than her smell, which meant that I was probably going to really, really enjoy having my tongue buried between her thighs.

All in due time.

I drug my lips away from hers, tracing them lightly, planting small kisses across her face, tasting her skin until I was by her ear, my face buried in her hair, so thick and fragrant. I took a deep breath and shook from the intensity of it all.

"God, Bella," I whispered, my insides tangled and twisted. I didn't know what I wanted or what would happen. It started out as the seduction of a particularly fine meal, but now I didn't know what it was. I felt like I was the one seduced. "I've never done this before," I said softly, but loud enough to be heard by her. And it was true. I'd never done any of this before. I'd never nearly lost control in public. I'd never conspired so elaborately. I've never had such clear intentions to kill someone so clearly innocent. But also, I'd never felt... whatever this was. I'd never been so intrigued by someone, anyone. I'd never wanted sex so badly as I did now. And of course, I'd never actually had sex...

I felt her hands twitch and move, so I released my hold on her, but I couldn't not touch her at this point, so I held her hips gently. It was a place to start, but then I felt her hands, her fingers in my hair, her blunt nails scratching against my scalp and I groaned. Who knew that was an erogenous zone?

I went back to her mouth and when her hot, slick tongue met mine, slipping and sliding around, darting back and forth, we both swallowed the noises of each other. She pressed her slight frame against mine. She was short enough that our hips did not line up, but moments later when she started shifting against me, making whining noises in the back of her throat, I moved my left hand down the back of her thigh and guided it up and around my thigh. When her hips opened up, she sighed, and it took it as my cue to lift her so our hips did line up, and but to perfection. Her immediate reaction was to wrap both of her legs around my waist, clutch at my hair and gasp.

I liked the gasp. I wanted to make that happen again.

I purred and pushed her into the nearly flat wall of CDs behind her, chanting my mantra of sex and blood, sex and blood, sex and blood in order to get my mind of the overpowering nature of her scent.

Oh, God, her scent.

I was wrapped up in her now, my tongue in her mouth, her limbs clutching tightly around my body, and it was bar none, the most delicious and erotic torture. Before experiencing such a thing I would never have been able to imagine it. The standard imagination simply couldn't conjure such a thing.

Mate.

The word popped into my mind, and I instantly thought of Emmett and Rosalie's ten years of intense mating before they could be calm around each other and once again join the rest of civilized society. Oh God - could I really have ten years of this intensity? Would I be able to take it? Would it break me, utterly? The very thought shocked me, but it also aroused me further, because the one thing I was certain about right now, really, the only thing I was certain about was that I wanted more.

"Shirt," I mumbled against her lips, but then grinned as she misunderstood me and started to take of mine. She gasped against my lips as she unbuttoned, but I was wearing an undershirt beneath it, so her initial efforts were in vain. She wordlessly whined and I grinned against her lips. Still holding onto her, I took four steps backwards and into the middle of the room, then sunk straight down until I was sitting on my heels, with Bella still wrapped around me. I opened my eyes to see her starting wide eyed back at me, panting, our lips parted from one another. I took the opportunity to whip off my shirts, and then I watched as her eyes glazed over. I didn't think I was anything physically spectacular, but I was glad she found me acceptable. That acceptance was worth much more than I would have anticipated.

She kissed me again, and it felt like each time she did, she took a little more of me within her, just as each time she did, I took a little more of her. I felt her small, hot hands on my shoulders, then trailing down my front, up, down, around, over, up, down, around, over, and when her hands finally brushed by the hardened peaks of my nipples I hissed in pleasure.

"Sorry, sorry," she murmured against my lips before kissing me again.

"Do it again," I said instead, and with some urgency, having to break off our kiss to do so, but feeling it was worth the effort.

"Yeah?" she breathed out. Her pupils were fully dilated, and I grinned to know that she wanted my body every bit as much as I wanted hers. That was heady knowledge, indeed.

"Yeah," I said, the intensity of my voice betraying myself utterly.

Her fingertips touched, then circled. She played with me and I shivered. I could only manage to say, "yes," and, "more."

"Can... I... is it okay..."

But I didn't let her finish. "Whatever you want," I said in a rush. "You can do whatever you want. Don't have to ask."

"Lay back," she said softly, looking meek save for the smile.

I did so instantly, and then pulled my knees up, thinking I would unfold my legs, but rather liking the movement of her body over mine. Eventually I did flatten out and then Bella was on all fours over me and with the movement of her hair I was awash in her scent all over again.

I groaned. "You smell so good, Bella, I can't even think. I just want-"

But she cut me off, or her lips did, as her head lowered to my chest and the heat of her mouth wrapped around the sensitive buds on my chest. Every muscle in my body clenched as I let out a deep growl, but she did not stop. She did not stop and I did not stop and before I could blink in astonishment, I felt the deep pleasure of my first orgasm in memory. I came, gasping her name, groaning encouragements and commentary on her beauty, which I felt was already eternal. That she could do this to me... she deserved awards, metals of honor, statuary, shrines...

I gave one final exhale and relaxed, my arms thumping to the floor, the urge to laugh almost irrepressible. I did manage to squelch it, however, and was only grinning like an idiot, even as my mouth still watered.

Delayed gratification was great.

I held Bella as she snuggled up next to me. I liked the weight of her arm across my abdomen.

"What would you do," I mused softly into her hair, "if I told you that I was a mythical creature, doomed to walk this earth until it crumbles into ash, or until someone kills me?"

"I'd ask you what your superpower was," she replied with complete equanimity.

"There are several. Where shall I begin?"

"Wherever you like," she said.

"All my senses are enhanced. I am very strong, and really very fast."

"And is this hereditary, or were you the product of a science experiment gone awry?" she asked, her fingernails scratching across my stomach. I could feel my desire stirring again.

"Neither," I said, my hands coming around her and shifting her over my body until she fully straddled me. I groaned and grinned up at her. "I was on my deathbed, and I was brought into this life, instead. My maker was lonely," I explained.

Bella pushed herself up and ground into me unintentionally. She had a sharp look in her eye. "This maker, was she a girl?"

I put my hands on her hips and pulled her into me in a rocking motion. "No," I said, just before her gasp.

"Bella, Bella," I chanted, my eyes rolling back into my head. "you made me feel so, so good before. It's time for a little mutuality, don't you think? Will you let me please you, love?"

"Is that a superpower, too?" she asked distractedly, her eyes closed and her head lolling behind her as we continued to rock together.

"Not one I've ever used before," I said.

Then I could see her face clearly again, and her eyes sparkled at me. "That wasn't a no," she pointed out.

I moved my hands up from her hips, dragging her shirt with me as I went. She shucked it quickly, and I leaned up slightly to reach behind her and work on the clasp to her bra. It took me longer than I would have hoped, but not so long as a human might notice. She hissed as my hands cupped her breasts, but did not pull away. I watched as her nipples hardened and I needed to taste them. I pulled myself up to a nearly sitting position, and then her hands were in my hair, her hips grinding against my renewed erection and my lips were splayed about her nipples, licking and suckling to the soundtrack of her soft cries. I couldn't decide what to do with my hands. Her soft back, holding her hips, down her thighs, cradling the back of her head, my fingers in her hair, the softness of her side, back down to her jean-clad hips again, pulling her onto me relentlessly as her cries got louder and louder, intermixed with whines as I switched from one beautiful, luscious breast to another and back again. Fair was fair, after all, and they needed equal treatment.

She felt so good rubbing against me, but I couldn't be upset when she stopped, pausing momentarily in our ecstasy to experience a peak of her own. I glanced up from my place at her right breast to watch her throw her head back, lost in her passion and calling my name, her voice deep in her throat.

She collapsed against me, and I rolled slightly so she could lay on the thick plush carpet of my personal sanctuary. I let one hand trail down her bare skin until I could reach the fastenings of her jeans and free them moment by moment even while I peppered her face with kisses.

"Yep. Super sexy superpower," she said on a sigh. I wondered if she realized I was wiggling her out of her jeans, out of her underwear.

I reclined with her then, letting my hand make broad sweeps up and down. "Glad you think so," I murmured.

Sex and blood, sex and blood, sex and blood...

"Want some more?" I asked.

She giggled, turning toward me and hiding her face in my neck, but then she gasped. That was probably because I'd altered my latest broad sweep and now I had a finger buried in the hottest, slickest place in the world. I shuddered and shattered to think of what it would be like to bury myself in that place, but I brought myself back together, gathering the pieces like a broken jigsaw even as I brought my wet finger to my mouth. She watched, gasping, and I tasted her with a single lick before I groaned and sucked my entire finger into my mouth, closing my eyes in pleasure. I opened my eyes once I'd cleaned off my finger.

"Oh, that's good," I remarked.

I pushed her gently onto her back and buried my face immediately between her legs with no further preliminary. I caressed the outside of those beautiful, parted thighs as I lapped up the center of her, so juicy, flooding my senses. I wondered if I could do it, as I worked the tiny bundle of nerves, as I delved my tongue as far and deep into her richness as I could reach. I wondered if I could nick her, if I could mix the blood and sweetness of her natural nectar. It was a calculated risk, to be sure...

And then I did, because I couldn't help myself. Just a nick. Just a taste. Delayed gratification. There would be more. I could have more. Multiple times. More, more, more, later.

And it was so good.

I moaned into her as I lapped and sucked at her. I rubbed my own erection into the floor beneath me as I came again, hard and lusty with my face between her thighs, my tongue in a heaven of blood and lust. She held me steady, her hands clutching at the back of my head as I reached farther, sucked harder, pulled more and more inside as she screamed my name.

I dragged myself away with my mantra of sex and blood, sex and blood, sex and blood...

She was gasping and when I crawled back up to her, she kissed me manically, pushing me over and snuggling into me.

"Geez, Edward. This isn't a one time thing, is it? I don't think I could take it if it was just a one-off for you."

And there was the erection again. "No, love," I said with conviction. "Did you miss the part where I was an eternal creature of darkness? I want you to join me, of course," I said, as if this were, in fact, the most obvious of all observations.

"Oh, naturally," she responded lightly. "So long as I don't have to go to prom, no problem."

"Duly noted," I said, failing to remark that she'd be dead by then. Prom was not going to be an issue for Bella this year.

"So what are you then," she mused in a relaxed manner upon my chest. "Don't look like a zombie. Werewolf?"

"Oh please, those dogs? Have some taste, Bella, really."

She snorted and giggled at me, her hand drawing abstract patterns on my chest. "Uber pretty, elitist attitude... you must be a vampire," she said.

"Well spotted, Bella, dear."

"Edward Cullen, vampire. You're awfully high-functioning during the day to be one of the walking undead. You have a reasonable explanation for this, I hope. I have read Dracula, you know. And that tripe Anne Rice wrote."

"They got it wrong," I commented. "Everyone gets it wrong. Just as well. We don't want them to know, anyway."

"But I can know because I'm going to be your bride of darkness?" Bella asked, still giggling.

"I was thinking Mrs. Cullen, or Mrs. Masen-Cullen, as that was my original name, but you can go by Bride of Darkness if you like. Didn't peg you for one of those goth types."

"Goth in Arizona? You have to have a death-wish to wear black in the desert. Besides, I don't tan, I burn."

I made no comment about death-wishes, though it was on the tip of my tongue.

"You know what I'd love to try, while you still have the body temperature to support it?"

"Hmm?" she murmured. I played with her hair. Blood and sex, blood and sex, blood and sex. Patience, Edward, patience.

"I'd love to feel those hot little human lips around my cock."

She blushed, and I rolled her over and buried my face in her hair by her ear. "God, I love it when you blush. All that blood so close to the surface. It makes you smell even better." I groaned and ground my hips into hers, rocking steadily again. I wanted her so badly. I wanted to bury myself to the hilt, I wanted to tear into her neck, I wanted to wash my mouth in her blood, I wanted her to scream my name, I wanted, I wanted, I wanted...

"I thought... uh, Edward... Oh... I thought..."

I shifted and curled up slightly to reach her beautiful breasts again, holding one and kneading it in my hands as my lips sought out the delicious peak. When I finally surfaced, I looked into her glazed eyes and realized what a lucky fucker I was.

"Sorry. Got distracted. So, did you want to suck my cock, Bella? You don't have to, of course, but I'd be so very grateful."

She blinked and shook her head clear of cobwebs. "I've never done it before," she said as I rolled over and shimmied out of my khakis and boxer briefs. "But it can't be that hard, right?"

"Oh, it's hard," I said, cupping myself. "See?"

I watched her delightful tongue dart out and moisten her lips. Soon, soon, soon, soon...

I was patient as she explored my body, and I fantasized about bathing in her blood, of watching her come to orgasm, of my muscles shaking, tensing, of ramming home as I pulsed and spurted inside of her and then finally, finally, sinking my teeth into her neck, ripping, tearing, but not wasting a single drop of that precious, succulent, savory liquid that even now was beckoning me to taste again, to sip and suckle...

And then those superheated lips were wrapped around the head of my desire and I arched up at the pleasure of it all. Her little hands were everywhere they needed to be, wrapped, cupped, pulling, stroking, and her strong and nimble tongue was darting and circling around. I cried out, an incoherent and quick mash of words and I had a choice - I could come again, right now, in her mouth, or I could thrust deep within her and draw it out even more. If I'd been capable of clear thought, which admittedly I hadn't been since she first walked into class earlier today, I might have done it differently, but I wasn't, so I didn't.

Quicker than blinking I had her on her back and I was over her, the head of my cock poised and ready as I paused momentarily.

"What... I... How..."

But I did not wait for Bella's mind to catch up. I thrust into her deep and hard and heard her cry out. I held it there, even as I shook to remain still. Stillness usually wasn't any sort of problem for me, but right now I wanted nothing more than to rut with her, to thrust repeatedly, quickly, and with great force. But she also needed to be there with me. She had to enjoy this, and I was sure the pain would pass quickly for her if only I could remain still.

Blood and sex, blood and sex, blood and sex, patience, patience, patience, patience... Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, she'll be okay, she'll be okay, she'll be okay...

I could smell the blood... The blood of her innocence, her virginity, given to me, sacrificed to my hunger, my unabated thirst for her...

When I finally came back to myself I realized I'd been cooing to her, unconsciously. She wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye and tentatively moved her hips once, then twice, and then we both groaned as she wrapped her legs around my waist once more.

"Oh, fuck," I groaned as I pulled almost all the way out of her and then slid slowly back in again. I did it again, and again, groaning and swearing each time.

"You aren't going to...ungh... kill me... are you? I mean, when we're done?" She panted her question in my ear in between my thrusts into her body.

"That was... oh, fuck... my original, oh yes, yes... plan." Actually, it was the eighty-sixth plan I'd come up with, but I'd held it the second longest of all the plans. "Still want to gorge on your blood," I breathed out, my sigh a lover's caress.

"That's weirdly kinky," she gasped.

We were mostly silent for a while as we strained together, but true to previously discovered form, it didn't take long for either one of us to reach orgasm.

"Oh Edward, Edward, yes, yes, again... I can, I... more, more, please..."

"Forever," I growled as I thrust deeper, hitching her legs higher. I was so close. I could feel her inner muscles clench and grasp at the sensitive stem I'd wantonly planted deep within her.

She echoed my own words in a scream mingled with my name. She'd reached orgasm, and something inside me clicked. "Forever," I promised as I lunged at her neck. Her scream changed then, and I clapped my hand over her mouth. I would take it slow and savor it, but that was hard to do while orgasming. I gulped down mouthful after mouthful of her fresh, thick, lavender and freesia blood. I was purring and thrusting and sucking down her nectar. She was only whimpering now, so I moved my free hand down her body, cradling, caressing. She whimpered my name, but I did not hear. There were others, yelling, insulting, but I did not hear. I could feel her arms still holding me tightly, but then my head was yanked back sharply by the hair. I was dazed only for a moment.

"This is the sickest, most depraved and disgusting thing I've ever seen in my entire life, Edward," Rosalie said, one knee on my back, one arm around my neck, and one hand gripping the back of my head, by way of my hair.

My eyes rolled back into my head and I thrust three more times, completing my orgasm. It was the only thing I could do at that point, after all. Bella was still warm and slick, still twitching and convulsing around me. The venom had not yet taken effect. I smiled to think that once she woke up again, I would have this, we would have each other forever. I breathed in ragged pants of air through my wide open smile. I could feel an errant drop of blood drip down my chin, and mourned for the loss. My sister had me in a death grip, and I had no hope of moving until she let me. My hips twitched one more time and the pleasure of it ripped up my spine, and this time I didn't keep the laughter down. I was giddy. I was on the top of the world. I pulsed inside of her again, laughed, and did it just one more time before my erection receded.

"I take it back. What you did just now? Mate or no mate, that was a new low."