Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the authors. The authors are in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Twilight and all its characters belong to the genius Stephanie Meyer, thanks to one freaking amazing dream she had. Our dream is to mix things up a little.
Angel A/N- Punky darling, just to make it clear - I would NOT have been able to do this without you. You are the blood in my guts, the ax in my murderous hands, the psycho to my killer. i love you. To our awesome beta TwiReaderAbi, proof reader PrettyPeens and pre-reader Freckles Fiction for helping us make this pretty and a huge smooch to RobstenCuteness for the awesome banner! You too those of you who did review, you rock our worlds and thank you to those of you who have alerted and favorited DR.
Punk A/N- So after having a so so reaction to the first chapter I'm a little leary of this one. Hoping we get something more here. When we set out to write this we wanted something "different". Apparently we have succeeded in this. Luv to my other half writing wifey and all those she mentioned up there ^^^
CHAPTER 2
She was a whore. My mama was a whore. But I don't fault her for that. It ain't what she done, but how she done it. Long as I can remember, she'd bring men up to the house. My daddy was there too, but it didn't matter none to her. She'd make me watch.
Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer
Monday Feb 1, 2010
Bella Swan emerges from the driver side of her old beat up Chevy truck just as the sun peaks out from the overcast sky. An odd feeling of foreboding comes over her as soon as she crosses the line into the Fork's High School parking lot. She tries to brush it off but it's confirmed as she pulls into her regular parking space and looks at the sprawling grounds that surround the school.
There are numerous police cars and a few news trucks lined up along the curb in front of the school, more than this town has seen in ages. Bella seems to have trouble catching her breath as she begins to have flash backs to a year ago when the scene had been much the same. Except it hadn't been in front of her school then but it had been in front of her own home.
She shakes her head to rid herself of the memories she has longed to forget but memories that always haunt her. With a deep breath she continues up the pathway, slowly towards the school. She walks hesitantly and in a daze as she looks at everything surrounding her. Bella is trying to make sense of it all in her head when a hand on her shoulder makes her jump and spin around.
"Hey." Behind Bella, her best friend Rosalie stands with a shocked look on her face. Rose is the complete opposite of Bella in every way. While Bella is the brown eyed, brunette girl next door, Rose is the buxom blonde haired, blue eyed vixen destined to be a super model. Sometime in grade school they became friends and have been ever since.
"What the fuck, Rose?" Bella shouts, only slightly able to keep her voice just short of hysterical as she tries to catch the breath that had caught in her throat.
Rose holds her hands up in mock surrender and apologetically says, "Hey, sorry, didn't mean to scare you there."
Bella immediately feels guilty for jumping down Rose's throat. She knows it wasn't her fault that she's so jumpy. She shakes her head slightly and waves her hand around drawing attention to the scene around them. "What the hell is going on?"
As they continue along the path towards the school Rose exclaims, "Oh shit you haven't heard?"
Bella shakes her head in the negative and looks completely lost.
"Sam Uley and Emily Call were killed Saturday night."
Bella stops and gasps out loud at Rose's words. "What? Oh my god!" Bella covers her mouth in surprise.
Rose nods her head sadly before continuing, "Yeah, apparently after the party at Jessica Newton's they went out to the lake on La Push and …..yeah." The innuendo in Rose's voice tells Bella what exactly everyone assumes the two were up to before their death.
Bella is still trying to wrap her head around everything Rose is saying as they continue to walk in silence.
"Yeah and that's not even the worst part. Apparently they were, like, sliced and diced." Rose enunciates each word. "I mean, like, brutally attacked."
Bella's head swivels around to look at Rose with huge saucer eyes.
"Hey, that's just what I heard. I mean the cops are everywhere. News from Seattle is coming in to cover it. It's nuts. They say they haven't seen something this bad since last….well just, it's bad." She finishes when Bella eyes close painfully in memory.
Rose doesn't have to finish her sentence for Bella to know exactly what she was talking about. A year ago, it was Bella being interviewed by police and news cameras following her around everywhere. She knows how bad things had been all too well.
"So, I mean why are they here? Why are they at school," Bella motioned around to the various law enforcement and news vehicles surrounding the area, "if it happened out on the reservation?" Bella asks.
La Push reservation and Forks are bordering small towns. The only high school is in Forks so a lot of the kids from the reservation come across the border for school. Bella just couldn't understand why all this coverage at the high school if it had occurred out on the reservation.
"I don't know. They're asking everyone who may have known them. All the kids from the Rez and anyone else who may have seen them out there," Rose replies bouncing next to Bella like she couldn't be more excited to spread the gossip to the one person in this small town who hadn't already heard it. "Oh and another thing - Guess who found the bodies? Edward. Cullen."
"What?" The story was starting to sound more and more far-fetched as Bella heard more of it. Edward and his family had recently moved here from Chicago. Bella didn't really know too much about him. They've talked a few short times during shared classes but that was it. He keeps to himself for the most part, which in high school terms means that he gets picked on when the more outspoken guys in the school feel like it, and was otherwise ignored.
Bella didn't even get a chance to wonder about what Edward would have been doing out on a beach in La Push as her thoughts were interrupted by her tripping over something in the pathway. She was barely able to catch herself before falling flat on her face. She looked over to see who the foot across the pathway belonged to and was met with the site of the third female member of their little clique. They had been friends with Alice Brandon for the past five years. Alice was little and dainty and mostly quiet.
If Bella really ever stopped to think about it, she wasn't sure why they were even friends. Most of the time it would seem that they more or less ignored Alice. If it wasn't for the fact that Jasper was madly in love with her, Bella doubted they would even talk to her.
Just like usual, Alice sat on the little brick wall with her hands cupping her face. Her appearance was sullen and Bella could only guess the reason why - Jasper Whitlock. The man was always, hopelessly, making this girl wait for him. If he wasn't one of her best guy friends she would really give him a piece of her mind. As it was though she figured this was their battle to have out. She had more than enough of her own things to worry about. Bella looked down at their dainty friend with sympathy.
"Hey Ali," Bella says as she tilts her head to the side so she is in her friend's line of sight. "What's goin on?"
Alice blew out a breath that made her lips fluttered. "Just waitin' on Jazz."
Rose and Bella shared a knowing look that was missed by Alice.
"Late again?" Rose already knew the answer before she asked the question but she wasn't sure what else to say to their friend.
"Yeah, it's fine. He just said we would meet up before school to work on our English project but, whatev. He probably meant tomorrow or something." Alice brushes off her friends questioning. She feels defensive of Jasper and just wants to forget the whole morning even happened. She grabs her books from their perch next to her, forces a happy smile on her face and jumps down to join them.
"So, crazy right? I mean, all this stuff going on?" Alice says looking around at the hustle and bustle of cop and media cars.
Before Bella and Rose have a chance to respond a loud whoop is heard behind them. All three of them turn to see Emmett and Jasper walking their way. Even from a distance they can see Emmett's burly frame radiating excitement.
As they near, Emmett throws his arm around Rose's neck and plants a kiss on her cheek as she grins up at him. Emmett looks around at the rest of them wiggling his eyebrows. The man has a permanent grin on his face most days but today it seems amplified.
"Crazy shit right? You can just feel the electricity in the air." He fakes a shiver running through his body for emphasis. "This little town hasn't seen this much action since last-" His words are cut off as he takes notice of the look on Bella's face. Rose's hand makes contact with the back of his head in her typical slap.
"Tact asshole." She hisses in his ear.
Emmett suddenly turns contrite at the look on Bella's face. "Sorry Bells, It's just….you know?"
Bella closes her eyes and waves her hand around in a forget about it kind of motion.
Jasper takes note of the change of atmosphere and decides to throw himself to the wolves and apologise to Alice for being late once again.
"Hey Ali, honey, I'm so sorry. I know I said I would be here but I slept through my alarm this morning."
Alice doesn't seem to accept it and instead narrows her eyes at him looking quite sad. It breaks Jasper's heart every time she looks at him that way, and it seems to be happening a lot more lately.
"Again Jasper? Maybe if you didn't stay up all night playing Xbox you would be able to stay true to your word." Her words are full of venom that is not normally shown and with them out she says good bye to Bella and Rose before turning on her heels and stomping off.
Jasper groans and looks at the group. "I'll catch you guys at lunch." He bumps his fist with Emmett's and jogs off in the direction Alice left. "Ali, baby, wait up!"
The remaining members of the group all share a look at the plight of their friends. It's always the same story with them. Emmett is successful in changing the subject as he glances around the area.
"Hey Bell's where Jake? How's he doing?"
Bella's heart constricts suddenly. In all the confusion since she had arrived to school her boyfriend Jacob was the last thought. Now that she thought of him she began to panic. Jacob lived on La Push and had grown up with Sam. She figured he must know by now what had happened and now she needed to find him.
"Fuck. No I haven't talked to him since Sat." Bella yanks her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans and begins punching a text message out.
~DR~
An early 90's Ford conversion van comes to a halt a short distance away from them. Edward Cullen gets out of his van and immediately feels the eyes of the whole school on him. It was never part of the plan to have so much of a focus on him, the plan was to blend in or disappear into obscurity. Why did he have to find the bodies?
He barely makes it three steps towards the school when the gathering media notices his arrival and start descending like vultures. A group of people jostle around him throwing questions his way; pushing, pulling and prodding at him in an attempt to get his attention.
"What were you doing on the beach so early in the morning?"
"Is it true that they were drained of blood?"
"Who do you think is responsible?"
"Do you think this is an isolated event?"
"Were there any signs of satanic ritual?"
"Do you think there is a connection with the Renee Swan murder a year ago?"
Edward's head snaps up and glares at the reporters but before he's able to punch his way through the throng Seth Clearwater and a couple other police officers step in and push the reporters back.
"Give the kid some space people!"
"Thanks Seth," Edward says as he steps through the line of police officers onto the school grounds.
Edward can still feel a million eyes on him as the whole school stares at him.
"Hey Cullen, you think you a rock star now?" Tyler Crowley says as he steps up from behind and knocks the books Edward was carrying out of his hands.
"You're such a fucking freak," Mike laughs as Edward crouches down to pick up his books.
"Hey, hey, hey, guys, don't do that." From a few feet away Jacob Black frowns at Tyler and Mike as Tyler was about to push Edward over with his foot.
"What we're just having some fun with the freak here," Mike says sneering at Edward. Mike could never understand the pull of multiple facial piercing, city people must have a different idea about what is appealing.
"Yeah, whatever," Jake scoffs distracting them long enough for Edward to make his getaway.
Both Mike and Tyler turn around to notice the freak vanished before turning back to Jacob.
"What the fuck Black we were just having fun?" Mike pushes on Jacob's shoulder half-heartedly pissed at him for ruining their morning fun.
"Yeah, schools crawling with cops and news reporters. You think it's the best time to get caught fucking around with the freak, fun or not?" Jacob looks back and forth between his two friends.
Both Mike and Tyler grumble their agreement. Just like a typical teenage boy Tyler's thoughts quickly switch to sex.
"Hey man, I saw you and Swan disappeared from Jessica's party early Saturday. So? Did you close the deal?" He makes a motion of his hand coming down to his pants suggesting a sexual act. Jacob just grins at them and raises his eyebrows. He's not exactly agreeing with them but he's not saying anything to the contrary either. If these two were to find out that he had not slept with Bella Swan in the three years they had been together he would be the laughing stock of the male population at school.
Luckily, his phone buzzing in his pocket stops him from having to go any further in the conversation. He pulls it out to see a message from Bella sent a few moments ago.
Hey heard about S and E. Just checking in. You coming to school?
He raises his phone up between him and the two guys across from him and shakes it back and forth between his fingers.
"Speaking of which, boys, I must be going." They do the normal fist bump male good-bye and Jacob takes off across the campus. He heads to the normal spot in the center quad that his group is usually at. He takes a deep breath as his girlfriend comes into view and heads in their direction.
Jacob walks up to their group where Bella has her back turned to him. His arm slips around her shoulders making her jump slightly in the surprise. He kisses her hair as she looks up at him.
"Hey babe." He gives her a half smile that is completely forced. She wraps her arms around him and holds as tight as her slim body can manage.
"Hey, we heard. Why didn't you call me? How are you?"
Jacob looks around at Emmett and Rose and speaks to everyone at once.
"Things were crazy around the Rez all day yesterday. I was helping my dad with Emily's parents. They were just…..wrecked. Sorry, I was just all tied up. Have you talked to your dad?" He looks down at his beautiful girlfriends doe eyes.
"Nah, I was with Rose all day yesterday by the time I got home it was late and Charlie wasn't home. I just figured he was working. He was gone before I woke up this morning. I didn't hear till I got to school."
"Can we not talk about this right now? I mean it's just-"
"No, you're right I'm sorry."
Before they can continue on with the conversation, the loud speakers throughout the school squeak on. The principals voice comes through the scratchy speakers ordering all students to their classrooms. The group says their good-byes to one another and go their separate ways.
Bella is almost to her third period English class when the sound of heavy footsteps running towards her makes her look up. She's able to make quick eye contact with Edward Cullen just as he rushes past her. She shakes the feelings that rise in her as she steps through the class room door and takes her seat.
~DR~
Edward emerges from the front of the school to see all the news vans have left and only one police car remains stationed in front of the school. He pulls up the hood of his sweatshirt and ducks his head as he quickly makes his way to his van.
As he yanks the rusty door open and slams it behind him his head falls back against the headrest. His eyes close and he takes his first deep breath. After a moment he reaches to start the ignition just to turn on his ipod, pushing play. The first song echoes through the van hauntingly.
You will be the death of me
Yeah You will be the death of me
Bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it
Our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out
As the lyrics register in his mind Edward quickly hit's the next button.
This place inside my mind, a place I like to hide
You don't know the chances. What if I should die?
A place inside my brain, another kind of pain
You don't know the chances. I'm so blind.
Edward turns up the volume and lays his head back once again as he lets the heavy guitar riffs take him away.
~DR~
Bella makes a stop at the police station on her way home from school hoping to catch Charlie. Once she walks into the small building she's immediately engulfed in a crushing hug from her dad. She knows already what his thoughts are. Charlie is used to traffic stops and small domestic disturbance's. The normal occurrence's of small town life. Nothing like what he was sure to have seen out on that beach. Bella knows he's doing the typical "it could have been you" dad stance. Taking into account their history, in this case she doesn't want to think about how true that could have been.
"Hey dad."
"Hey. You make it through school okay?" Charlie looks at his daughter with nothing but worry in his eyes. Even his years as a hard faced cop can't negate his worry for his daughter.
"Yeah it was alright. It was just so….I don't know. Weird. Yah know? Just a bit much."
Charlie nods in agreement. He understands the strain of dealing with these new death's after everything that had happened the year before. He doesn't envy Bella for having to deal with it all on top of her high school life.
"Well I'm gonna be working here late so-"
Bella doesn't give Charlie a chance to finish. "It's alright I'll probably just end up staying at Rose's tonight if that's cool with you?"
Charlie nods to the affirmative. "Yeah, it would make me feel better if you weren't alone."
After saying good bye to her dad and Seth, Bella makes a quick call to Rose to let her know her plans and heads to her house to pack a bag.
As Bella is walking down the stairs of her house, with her packed bag slung over her shoulder, she is lost in her own thoughts. One would think she would be thinking of her boyfriend and how he is handling the death of a friend, but no. She finds herself thinking of Edward Cullen. What it must have been like for him to find those bodies on the beach.
She doesn't realise that she has come to a stop right outside the door leading down to the basement of her house. Before she can stop them other thoughts begin to invade her head.
February 2009
Bella's mother would never win mother of the year awards. She was flighty and immature and more often than not Bella would play mother to her. Bella would always be the one to reel in her over-exuberant excitement at every new hobby or passing fancy. Renee would jump from scrapbooking, to knitting to playing the guitar in a matter of weeks just because the fancy took her.
One thing Renee Swan always made sure of was to be home when Bella arrived back from school every day. They'd sit at the kitchen table, talking about the events of the day and plans for the future over grilled cheese sandwiches, before Renee would rush off to whatever had taken her fancy that day. Bella was aware of the rumours surrounding her mother infidelity but she ignored them because she loved her mom.
It was an exceptionally cold February afternoon when Bella returned from school shivering and pale. Jake was supposed to have given her a lift home but he had some family emergency to deal with and had taken off before school had even finished, resulting in Bella having to walk home.
It struck Bella as odd that the house was eerily quiet when she walked in the door. Renee always had the music blaring. Bella walked in and dropped her book bag at the back door before turning around and rubbing her hands together in an attempt to warm them.
"Mom! I'm home!" Bella called and she stood still listening for a reply. When none came Bella shrugged and thought that maybe Renee had an appointment she forgot to tell her about. It wouldn't be the first time that Renee forgot to tell Bella something. As Bella walked towards the stairs she noticed that the door leading to the basement was ajar. Maybe her mother was down there again, hiding the results of her newest hobby.
Odd sounds were filtering through the gap in the door but Bella was having some difficulty recognising what they were. As Bella stepped through the door and started descending down the stairs she could have sworn that it sounded like someone crying.
"Mom? What are you doing down here?" Bella asked as she increased her pace down the stairs. If her mom was crying, Bella needed to be there for her.
At the moment Bella's foot touched the cold damp floor of the basement the axis of her entire world turned on its side. The air was knocked out of Bella's lungs as she took in the sight in front of her. Renee's slumped body was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, her head fallen backwards unnaturally far, red covering most of her face, eyes staring, unblinking at the ceiling. Dripping red blood was falling to the ground around the chair, pools of blood increasing with each drop.
Sitting at Renee's feet was a young blond guy Bella barely knew. Riley Biers was relatively new to town, he was a loner who lived on the edge of town. Bella had only seen him a few times when he'd come over to fix things around the house for Renee. What was he doing to her mom?
"No. No. No. No," Riley kept chanting over and over pulling at a thick blood soaked rope that was twisted viciously around Renee's waist. The metallic smell of Renee's life fuel was all Bella could think of.
"Mom?" Bella stuttered making Riley look up at her for the first time.
"P-p-please help..." Riley started begging, and then lifted his hand palm up toward Bella. Balanced on his palm was a knife, the silvery blade barely visible through the thick layer of blood. "Please. Bella help...Bella."
"Bella...Earth to Bella"
Bella shakes her head almost violently bringing herself back to the present. Her hand is resting against the wood of the door leading to her painful past. She looks up to see Rose standing before her.
"You OK there?"
Bella swallows hard, trying to push the painful memory from the year before back down.
"Uh, yeah, sorry. Just a little...you know?"
Rose looks between the door and her friend. She realises what Bella must have been remembering. The death of Renee Swan only recently began fading from the memories of this small. She knows she needs to get Bella out of this house.
"Yeah, yeah, don't even sweat it. What do you say we get outa here? Em's waiting in the truck," Rose asks holding her hand out to her friend.
With one last glance at the door, Bella takes her friends offering and escapes out the front door to what hopefully is an escape from reality. As they walk to the idling vehicle, Bella can't help replaying flashes in her head. She thought they had finally put the past behind them. She can only hope that still holds true.
Little does she know how utterly wrong she is. The figure in the woods surrounding the Swan property watches as the two girl's climb into the oversized truck. A cigarette lands on the ground and a boot snuffs it out. The person stands, waits, watches. They think of all the things that have yet to come. All their plans. All the fun to be had. As the euphoria of their most recent kills still floats through their body, they think about how much it will be amplified when its Bella Swan on the receiving end of their revenge.
Punk A/N-If your still interested in this review! Let us know. The more interest we know people have the faster we wanna write!
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