Dark Goddess (Original Version)

"You want to sleep in here? Jacob, too?" he asked. He pointed to the bed and put
his hands together under his cheek and tilted his head on them like a pillow.


She nodded, her eyes pleading. There was no way he could ever say no to that. He
glanced at Jacob, who shrugged. "Okay." He went to pull the blinds and curtains
over the window.


Bella she put her hand over the stomach and tried to say the word that they
always said when she gestured like this. "Ongree."


Edward looked to Jacob and he shrugged again. "I did it last time, so if you want
to ..."

Oh, God, he did. He sat down on the end of the bed and offered his wrist, but she
ignored it. She plunked herself down on his lap and captured his gaze. He didn't feel
the bite, but he did feel the almost immediate rush of pleasure so intense he had to
thow his arms back to brace himself or he would have fallen back. He heard himself
moan.


She released him and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to his lips. "Tankoo."


"Pretty fuckin' awesome, isn't it?" Jacob asked. He lay on one of the loveseats,
watching television, but his attention must have been on them or he wouldn't have
known when Bella was finished. "So much more intense than when she takes from
the wrist."

Edward blushed a little. "Yes, it's ... I don't have words for it."


"Bed!" Bella said cheerfully and lay down in the center and wrapped herself in the
comforter.

Jacob shook his head. "I wish I knew why the hell she did that."


"Protection from the sun, is my theory." Edward lay down beside her on the right
side, and Jacob took the left. It should have felt weird, Edward thought, to have his
best friend on the other side of Bella, but was strangely ... right. Like Jacob belonged
with Bella and himself.


"Good night," Edward said. "Rather, good morning."

Jacob chuckled. "Yeah. Sleep well."



- 109 -

Edward woke at some time during the afternoon and found Bella in his arms,
snuggled against his chest. The comforter was gone, tossed to the foot of the bed.
Jacob was snuggled up behind her, spooned against her back. And all Edward did
was turn his face back into the soft, dark hair that lay across his pillow and fade
back into sleep.




"No, Bella!" Edward screamed, but he was too late to stop her. She landed a few
feet away, on her back, silent and still. He shook her, frantic and terrified and patted
her cheeks sharply. "Please, Bella, look at me."


But she didn't move, didn't breathe. She was limp, lifeless ...


Jacob had gone to his own room to shower and dress. Edward darted out into the
hallway and pounded on his door. Jacob opened it, his brow crumpled in concern. He
was wearing only a pair of jeans and his wet hair was as wildly disordered as
Edward's. The bottom half of his face was bearded with shaving cream.

"It's Bella." That was all Edward needed to say. Jacob sprinted from his room into
Edward's, where he found Bella still lying the spot she'd fallen, white and
motionless.


"What happened?" Jacob crouched down beside her and patted her cheeks. She
didn't respond.


Edward's face was nearly as white as Bella's. "She put her key in the power outlet.
I tried to stop her, but - "

"Fuck." Jacob patted her more firmly. "Bella? Bella, come on, wake up." His eyes
lifted to Edward's. "She's not breathing."


"No, no, no," Edward whispered. He knelt down and pulled Bella's body into his
arms. Tears gathered in his eyes. "Bella, honey, please."


"I'll call Rose," Jacob said. "She'll know what to do." He dashed over to the phone
by the bed, picked up the receiver and dialed the number of Rose's room. She picked
up on the second ring.


"Rose? Bella has electrocuted herself. She's not moving, not breathing. Yes, I
know she doesn't have to breathe. What? ... She stuck her key into a electric plug on
the wall ... Stop laughing ... Stop laughing, dammit! This isn't funny!" He listened for


- 110 -

a moment and then hung up the phone.


"Rose says she'll be fine, but she's coming to check."

A tear fell Edward's eye to splash on Bella's cheek. He looked and saw his own
expression mirrored on Jacob's face, tears cutting tiny rivulets through the shaving
cream. It shocked him, because during all the years he'd known Jacob, he'd never
seen him cry.

Rosalie entered knelt down beside Bella and peered at her for a moment. "She's
fine, guys. Just knocked herself out."


"She seems ... dead." Edward's voice was unsteady.

Rose arched a brow. "She's a vampire. She is dead."


"No, I mean really dead."

Rosalie shook her head and her expression turned to one of compassion when she
saw how upset they were. "If she was really dead, she'd be nothing but a pile of ash
by now. Seriously, guys. Calm down. She'll be okay, I promise. Electrocution won't
kill a vampire. You have to decapitate them or burn them."

Edward winced.

Rosalie tilted her head. "You really care about her, don't you?" That seemed to
please her and she smiled at him.


Edward looked down at Bella's still, white face. "I do," he said softly. More than
he'd realized. He looked up at Jacob and he gave a small nod. Rosalie watched their
silent communication and the smile she'd worn faded away.


"Put her to bed," she advised. "She'll probably wake up soon, but it's possible it
won't be until tomorrow evening, and she'll probably need to feed when she wakes.
And speking of dinner, you guys need to eat, too. They're serving dinner down in the
mess hall."


Edward shook his head. "I'm not leaving her."

"Me, either," Jacob added.


Rosalie sighed. "All right, I'll bring you guys some plates, but I promise, she's fine.

- 111 -

You don't need to hover over her."


Jacob glared at her. "She just had a very scary experience, Rosalie. We should be
with her when she wakes up."

Rosalie nodded. Her face was tight and she appeared to be clenching her teeth.
"And Jacob? You need to wash that shit off your face." With that, she left.

"What's her problem?" Jacob asked, after she shut the door behind her with a
sharp bang.


Edward shook his head. "I don't know, and at this moment, I don't really care." He
picked up Bella and lay her in the center of the bed, and they took their places
beside her, where both of them felt like they belonged.



















































- 112 -

Chapter 8





.



Chapter Eight




Rosalie tapped on their door the next evening around dinner time. Jacob sat up
with a yawn.

Edward had Bella still snuggled up against his chest. They looked so peaceful
together. Edward opened his eyes as with effort. "What was that?"


"Rosalie. It's supper time. Tell you what, I'll go get something to eat and bring you
back a plate, okay?"


Edward closed his eyes again. "Mm."


Jacob chuckled as he opened the door. Rosalie eyed his t-shirt and pajama pants.
"You're not going to supper wearing that, are you?"


Jacob shrugged. "Don't see why not. I'm decent, aren't I?"

Rosalie wore a dark blue dress and looked like she'd just come from a business
meeting. She scowled a bit, but followed him to the mess hall.


Jacob filled his plate from the chafing dishes set on tables along the walls and took
a seat beside Rosalie.


She gave an impressed lift of her eyebrows. "I wouldn't have thought it was
possible to fit so much food on one plate."

"It's all in the construction," Jacob said as he ripped one of his rolls in half to
slather it with butter. "Pyramid shape, see? The chicken acts as a nice, solid
foundation for building. There's a reason why so many ancient peoples all over the
world built pyramids. It's because it's one of the most stable shapes, easy to build
once you get the hang of it."


Rose shook her head. "And here, I thought it was aliens spreading the building

- 113 -

prototype among the cultures they contacted. Don't tell me that documentary I
watched on The History Channel led me astray."


He flicked a crumb of bread at her. Should have known a smart girl like that
wouldn't need to be told about pyramids. She'd probably read more papers on the
subject of ancient architecture than he had.


"Doesn't it bother you to have your food all mixed together like that?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Not really. Grosses out Edward, though. He can't stand to have his
food even touching. Watch him next time we all have dinner together. He builds in a
demilitarized zone between each food, and he won't eat it if it's touched something
else."

"He's an odd duck," Rosalie chuckled.


Jacob's good humor vanished. "No, he's not. You don't even know him, so maybe
you shouldn't judge what you don't understand, okay?"


Rosalie blinked. "Sorry. I didn't mean ..."


Jacob shook his head. "It's okay. Sorry I snapped at you. It's just ... Since we were
kids, people have judged Edward, thought he was a freak. I overheard one of our
teachers once, telling another teacher that she thought Edward was 'retarded' and
should be in a special class instead of taking up space in hers."

"God, Jacob, that's awful! But didn't he get good grades?"


"Yeah. She thought I was helping him cheat. She moved our desks to opposite
sides of the classroom and put a lot of effort into trying to catch us in the act. She
kept calling on him in class to 'prove' that he didn't actually know the answers and it
frustrated the hell out of her that she couldn't catch him cheating on the tests. She
even made him take a few of them in the hallway after searching his pockets and
shit. Then, she stood right in front of his desk and stared at him and when he
couldn't take the test with her glaring at him like that, it was all the proof she
needed."


"How old were you?"

Jacob took a bite of his potato-smeared green beans and chewed before
answering. "About nine or ten, I think. Principal finally called her off. He thought
Edward was a freak, too, but his mother, Esme, has a lot of clout. I told her what

- 114 -

was happening and she made a phone call. The teacher was pissed and ignored
Edward for the rest of the year, which made him a lot happier, though that wasn't
her intent."

"I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but, didn't Esme ever try taking him to
... see someone about his shyness?


"Oh, hell no." Jacob shook his head. "She wouldn't ever dream of taking him to a
psychologist or anything like that. Her brilliant son is perfect. One of the school
counselors once watched him for a day and sent Esme a letter suggesting that he
might be slightly autistic and she went ballistic. Poor woman almost lost her job, but
Esme finally decided to be contented with a letter of apology."

"Is he?"


Jacob considered over a bite of chicken. "Maybe, I don't know. He's got some of
the signs, such as the no eye-contact thing, being obsessed with details, and the lack
of communication skills, but that could fit a lot of other things, too. He's just ...
Edward, you know? In the end, it doesn't really matter why. I love him just the way
he is, like my brother. More than my real brother, in fact."


"He seems to be doing well with Bella," Rosalie commented. She prodded the food
on her plate with her fork. "He makes eye contact with her."


"He feels safe with her."

"So ... where do you think that's going?"


"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. A relationship." Rosalie took a sip of her drink and eyed
him over the rim of her glass. Her eyes were dark blue, almpost purple in this light,
and it occured to him that Edward would never be able to see the warm chocolate
shade of Bella's eyes. It saddened him for a moment and he had to pull him back to
the subject at hand.


"I can't say. Does he like her? Yeah, he does. I can tell. I've never seen him like
this with any woman. But as for where it's going, that's up to him."

"She seems rather taken with him as well."


Jacob put down his fork. "What are you getting at, Rose?"

- 115 -

"How do you feel about that?"


"Fine." What a stupid question. "Why do you ask?"

"I keep getting the impression ..." She paused, as though words escaped her at the
moment and it was important to say it right.


"What?" He ground out. He was getting impatient with her at this point. He'd
never thought of Rosalie as coy.


"I didn't think you'd ever want to compete with Edward." Her voice was oddly soft.


He met her eyes squarely. "There isn't any competiton between us."



Edward was dozing lightly when Jacob came in with his plate. The sound of the
opening door woke him.

"Hello," he said, woozily.


"Hey, I brought your dinner. The chicken is great."


"That's good." Edward looked down at Bella, who slept with her head on his chest.
One of her legs was twined through his. Had she woken at some point, or had he
pulled her into his arms? He couldn't remember. However it had come about, it felt
so right to have her soft, cool body tucked against his, her dark hair draped across
him like a satin sheet. "I'll have it later."

"No, man, you need to eat it now. If we're going to be her own personal blood
bank, we need to keep ourselves well-fed."


Jacob was right. As loath as he was to disturb her, Edward gently moved Bella
aside and slid out of the bed. She didn't wake. He yawned and padded into the living
room and sat down on the love seat. Jacob handed him the plate and a set of
silverware, wrapped in a napkin.

"Careful, it's hot. I just nuked it."


"Thank you." Jacob had arranged the food carefully for him, with an inch of clean
space between each serving. He took a bite and his stomach growled in anticipation.
He hadn't realized how hungry he was.


- 116 -

"Listen, Edward, I want you to tell me if Rose gets all up in your shit about Bella,
okay?"


Edward chewed, swallowed, and patted his lips with a napkin before responding.
"What do you mean?"


"I dunno. She's just being weird about it. Asking a lot of questions. I don't know
why she's interested, but it bears watching."

"She doesn't talk to me much when you're not around."


Jacob looked startled. "Really?"

"Just that one time in the car." Edward speared some more green beans on the
tines of his fork. He changed the subject. "Did you see the elf again?"


"No, he wasn't at dinner. Rose says they don't usually eat food humans have
prepared. Strict vegans, and it has to be food that's harvested without killing the
plant, like nuts and berries."


A creature stranger than he was. How remarkable.



Bella woke at sunset the next evening and sat up, looking a little bewildered to
find herself in bed. Edward lay beside her, propped up against the headboard with
pillows behind him, scribbling equations in a notebook that Jacob had brought him
when he exhausted all of the paper in the room.

"Good evening, Bella," he said, and laid the notebook aside. "How are you?"


"Bella zzzzt," she replied, and glared at the power outlet. "Not okay."

"Yes, that wasn't a key hole." He got out of bed and took the lamp from the
bedside table and removed the shade. He set the lamp on the end table beside the
love seat and pointed to the button on the base. He pushed it and nothing happened.
Then, he showed her the plug and bent to stick it into the outlet.

"No!" Bella cried and leapt off the bed. She moved so fast that his eyes couldn't
track her. She grabbed him and pulled him away before he could insert the plug.
"No! Zzzzt!"




- 117 -

"It's okay," he told her. "Really, it is. This is its intended purpose."


She watched him with doubtful eyes, no doubt prepared to yank him away if he
started jittering from shock. He inserted the plug and turned on the lamp.

Curious, Bella poked the light bulb with her fingertip. "Zzzzt?" she asked.


He smiled at her, pleased she'd made the connection. "Yes, zzzzt makes the bulb
glow."


She pointed to the light on the ceiling. "Zzzzt?"


"Yes! That's right. Lots of things run off of it. We call it electricity."

"Eela -" She stopped and shook her head.


"Yes, that's a difficult one," he commiserated. "Call it 'power'. That works too."

"Parr."


"In some parts of the country, that's a perfectly acceptable pronunciation."
Edward grinned and Bella grinned back at him.

"Wwwwash?" she asked him.

"No, wash isn't run off of electricity. Well, the hot water is, but not the spout."


She shook her head. "Wwwash ... okay?"


"Oh, you want to wash. Sure." He led her into the tiny bathroom. "There's only a
shower here, but I think you'll like it." He turned it on and she gasped, thrusting her
hands beneath the spray.


She pulled off her clothes in the time it took him to adjust the temperature. "Oh! I
... um ..." Edward said. His face burned and he backed up a few steps. He told
himself not to look. A gentleman would not look. A gentleman would -


He looked.

Bella hopped into the shower cubicle. She laughed as the water ran over her body,
a laugh of sheer delight.



- 118 -

He should shut the door and leave her to it.


He should turn his back.

He shouldn't look. A gentleman wouldn't look.


He looked.

Bella fully clothed was beautiful, as graceful and lovely as the swan for which
Rosalie had named her on her identity papers. Bella nude, covered in rivulets and
droplets of water, her hair soaked and slicked back to her head, was a goddess.


He stood there staring, his mouth slightly agape. He swallowed, hard, and tried to
take deep breaths. But the steam seemed to intensify her spicy aroma and it only
made it worse. His heart hammered.


Bella stared back at him as the water rained down, the only sound in the still
room. She tilted her head, as though she were considering something, and before he
could blink, she had grabbed the front of his t-shirt and hauled him inside the
shower cubicle with her. She kissed him, her arms around his neck, her hands
threaded into his hair as the water beat down on them. His t-shirt, jeans and shoes
were soaked and he didn't care because he was kissing her back, kissing her like
he'd thought of doing since he'd woken, kissing her like he was afraid he'd never get
to do again when she'd been electrocuted.

She moaned softly against his lips and he tightened his embrace, fitting her form
to his and her nails dug into his back through his wet shirt. He panted softly against
her lips gasping for air between kisses, hungry mouths nipping, licking ... His
tongue discovered that her fangs had descended when it pricked on the tip of one of
the needle-sharp points. She groaned at the taste of that droplet of blood and sucked
on his tongue. He slid his hands down her back to her thighs and lifted her up so
that their faces were level, pressing her back against the tile wall. Their lips never
lost contact.

With her body pressed between his and the wall, it left his hands free to explore,
to touch, to caress. He found her soft and slick and he groaned loudly. It echoed in
the tight confines of the little bathroom.


"Okay, okay," she whispered. Her own hands traveled to the waistband of his
jeans, but she either couldn't figure out the button and zipper or was too impatient.
She ripped them apart, the wet denim and cotton below tearing as easily in her
hands as tissue paper. And then her hand was ... Oh, God, the feeling of her soft,

- 119 -

cool hand gripping him ... An involuntary cry left him and he found himself arching
into her movements, his hips suddenly acquiring a mind of their own, just as his
hand had instinctively sought to give her pleasure, apparently successful at that
mission, if her soft little moans were any indication.

As she stiffened in his arms and pulsed around his fingers, she bit down on his
throat and a tsunami of pleasure crushed all conscious thought into oblivion. It
lasted and lasted, then peaked again and then again, until he was trembling and
weak and completely mindless. He hadn't known something like that was even
possible for a guy. If this was what women felt ...


He slid down to the floor of the shower cubicle, taking her with him. Under the
warm fall of water, they snuggled silently. When sense and reason had sufficiently
returned, he kissed her softly, a kiss of gratitude for the most intense experience of
his life and something else ... a thought he was too shy to examine at the moment,
but he thought that she knew, from the gentle understanding in her eyes.

Someone hammered on the door to his room. Jacob, probably. He had gone back
to his room to do ... something. Edwad couldn't remember. Edward kissed Bella
again quickly and headed out to answer the door. His knees were still wobbly, so he
had to catch his balance on the door frame before proceeding. He opened the door
and found Jacob standing outside. Jacob's jaw dropped as he took in Edward's
appearance and Edward suddenly realized what he must look like, dripping water all
over the floor, the front of his pants ripped open and a dazed expression on his face.

"Holy fuck, dude," Jacob said. He took in Edward from head to toe and a big grin
blossomed on his face.


Edward pulled down the hem of his soaked t-shirt to cover himself. His
cheekbones burned.

"Are you okay?" Jacob asked, amused.


"Um, yeah ... I, uh ..." Edward had forgotten most of his English. He shuffled
awkwardly.


"I can tell." It seemed impossible, but Jacob's grin got even larger. "That good,
huh?"

"You have no idea," Edward said fervently. He shook his head a little, to clear it.
"What did you want, anyway?"



- 120 -

"To tell you something. Go smoke a cigarette, get dried off, and meet me in my
room."


"I think this calls for a cigar."

Jacob laughed as he headed back down the hall.




Bella wore a slightly smug expression as they headed to Jacob's room a little while
later. She held his hand and kept tossing him little grins that made him blush but
grin back at her. It had taken him longer than he expected for them to get ready
because Bella had asked him to brush her hair and he got caught up in the task,
brushing long after it was dry because he was fascinated by the silky texture and the
shine.

She wore a dress he'd bought for her on his Walmart excursion. It fit perfectly,
nipping in at the curve of her waist to flare into a full skirt that fluttered around her
thighs as she walked. Another thing he could have watched all day.

Jacob answered quickly after Edward knocked. He gave them both that wicked,
knowing grin and Edward flushed and elbowed him in the side. "Knock it off."


"Can't help it. I'm happy for you, man." Jacob clapped him on the back.

Edward waited for Bella to take a seat, but she stood beside him patiently,
obviously unaware of the rules of etiquette to which he was accustomed. He sat
down and gestured for Bella to sit beside him. Instead she perched herself on his
lap, which made Edward pause because he was not used to public displays of
affection (and he did consider in front of Jacob to be "public"; anywhere outside the
bedroom, actually) but he relaxed and put his arms around her waist. Jacob smiled
approvingly as he flopped down on the loveseat across from theirs.

"I got an e-mail from Jessica," he said. Jessica was his TA. She was a quiet,
studious girl who would make an excellent teacher some day. "I asked one of the
crew, who speaks English, and he told me our internet connection is through a
satellite and can't be tracked. So I got my mail, and found out some awesome news.
You're not going to believe it."


"What?"


Jacob grinned. "Lauren has been put on administrative leave. The university


- 121 -

started investigating her claims about me stealing the mummy. They have only her
word that she found the watch in the temple because she removed it and never told
anyone until after we'd left, and she was seen going in and out of my hut. Secondly,
there's no proof there ever was a mummy, except for the lack of dust in the
sarcophagus, and as the university says, if there had been a mummy, there would be
traces of decayed cloth, bits of dried flesh chipped off, that sort of thing, not just a
clean spot. They suspect she set the whole thing up to discredit me."

"You're kidding!"


"Serious as heart attack, my friend."


"But what about us being incommunicado?"

Jacob shrugged. "The university understands that. They wouldn't want to end up
in a Catalupan jail, either. They've asked me to appear at a hearing next month. Jess
is taking care of my classes until this matter is decided."

Edward rubbed his forehead. "She'll be destroyed. I can't help but feel bad
because she's telling the truth. We did break into the temple and we did steal the
mummy."

Jacob's grin faded. "Shit."


"Even if she is a blackmailing bitch, it doesn't feel right to destroy her career."

"What would you rather do, Edward? Admit to breaking in but insist we didn't
steal anything? No one will believe us. They'll fire both of us, and while I can take
losing my job, I don't think you could. Your research would end. You wouldn't be
able to use their facilities and equipment. And who would publish your papers?"

Edward's eyes widened and panic flitted over his features. His intelligence would
virtually guarantee him a position at another university, but it would mean working
around strangers, and they might not be as flexible in allowing him to float between
departments as Austlin. For Edward, who didn't cope well with change, this was a
serious problem. He hid his face in Bella's hair for a moment, while he pondered.


"I say we let her crash and burn," Jacob declared. "What does she contribute to
the university or add to the sum of human knowledge? Nothing. But you ... you need
to do your thing for the good of mankind and shit."


Edward cursed softly. Jacob was appealing to his selfish side, and it was working.

- 122 -

"And Bella, she needs you, too. If we get fired, it might not stop there. They're
going to want to know what we did with the shit we supposedly stole and they're
going to keep investigating, maybe get the cops involved. And if they start looking at
Bella ... Well, you remember what Rose said about her papers."

Edward cursed again and tightened his arms around Bella. It was a long moment
before he spoke. "Crash and burn."



By the time Jacob left, it was late and Edward was exhausted, despite the nap he'd
taken earlier. They had worked out a story between the two of them, one that might
just work, while Bella had watched more Sesame Street. Edward could tell that the
puppets and the over-sized, anthropomorphic animals confused her, but she learned
a couple more words. The episode focused on the letter "J", which seemed to be
more difficult for her than "W" had been, judging by the way she repeated
"Sshhump" after an image of jumping children and then smacked her hand down on
the floor in frustration when she couldn't force out the sound.

Edward went over and turned off the DVD player. "Bella, when you're getting
frustrated, sometimes it's better to take a break for a while and come back to it
later, okay?"


He knew she had no idea what he'd just said, unless she was catching the gist of it
through his tone, but she nodded and said, "Okay."


"Goodnight, guys," Jacob said as he rose from the love seat. "Hey, Edward, come
here for a sec."

Edward joined him at the door. "Yes?"


"Take these." Jacob pressed something into his hand and Edward looked down to
see that Jacob had gifted him with a long rope of condoms. "I'm going back to my
room for the day." His look was full of meaning that Edward didn't want to decipher.


"Wh- I - What makes you - I'm not going to - "

"Yeah, you probably are," Jacob said calmly. "And neither one of us knows jack
shit about vampire physiology and be damned if I'll ask Rose about this particular
subject."


"I doubt if she can get pregnant, if that's what's worrying you."


- 123 -