A/N: So, major luffs for my first reviewer: gibrat15 aka Genisi, as well as Sensei hitokage aka Ice and last but not least, Kumiko 1906. Dedication to you three for this second chapter, I hope this one is just as interesting, if shorter because its 3:37 AM and I am dead tired.

I was wondering what you guys thought about going every other chapter from a different scene. Like Akeno and Mareo went to lunch, do you want to see that? Do you want flashbacks to explain how Akeno and Mareo came together and in the States? Should those scenes and their back story be in a different fic?

Waiting for replies from you and I've already started work on the third chapter. Its already over 1,2000 words and I've barely started it. Depending on your views I might make chapter three into chapter four and go into more detail on Akeno and Mareo's relationship.

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I wonder how much I could get away with if I bumped the rating up to M, does anyone really understand the rating system? And be warned if you see more of Akeno and Mareo alone it will be dark and depressing and warped cause Akeno is sickeningly loyal to Mareo. Its disgusting and rather romantic in a very disturbed way.

I'll give you guys a teaser in hopes you'll give me your input. Remember, this may be chapter three if you want to get to know Mareo and Akeno better.

Words: 2044

Prompt: None I can think of, for once.

Disclaimer: If I owned Twilight, vampires would be more evil than Mareo and completely own the world. And there would be a TON of references to Anne Rice in the books cause that woman is the goddess of vampire fiction. If you haven't read her books do because they're epically amazing and far more detailed than the Twilight series.

Bella watched Akeno like a hawk through the rest of the day, looking for signs of abuse or mistreatment. She didn't see any bruises or scars on him while they were in gym, he could move like any other of the athletic boys in their class. She did notice how withdrawn and quiet he was, she'd just put that down to being shy and in a new school before Edward had told her. How were you supposed to ask someone if they were being abused? Bella barely knew Akeno and that wasn't something you could ask someone just out of the blue. She wanted Akeno to come to her with his problems, she wanted him to trust him, then she could help him. Aside from his one out-burst in English he barely spoke and didn't offer his opinions unless called upon, even then his statements were neutral and revealed very little about his own views. At the end of the day everyone was complaining about homework, wishing for the weekend, and making plans for after school. Bella saw her opening and decided to take it. "Keno," The two of them were walking towards the parking lot, Bella to Edward's car and Keno to his ride. "What are you doing later?"

Keno seemed surprised that she asked this and stopped walking, staring at Bella oddly for a few moments before recovering himself. "Ah, I'm not sure really. Mareo and I still have things to unpack and we have that English assignment and that chapter to read in History." He offered her a bashful smile, hand moving to his pocket once more as he toyed with whatever he had inside there. Bella wondered what it was, she'd never seen him take it out, but noticed he played with it when he was nervous.

"I could help you with it. I've lived in the US my entire life so, if you need help catching up on some stuff..." Bella trailed off, doe brown eyes looking at Akeno pleadingly.

Akeno looked nervous for once, he withdrew the item he was always playing with from his pocket. It was a length of chain, thick links that looked to be from a leash. His mouth mumbled words as his fingers sifted through the links, Bella realized he was counting them. "T-thanks for your offer, Bella. Maybe some other time, once we're all unpacked. The house looks like a wreck right now and its kind of embarrassing." He tried to brush her off kindly and Bella frowned.

They reached the doors, walking through to the parking lot and the over-cast sky. Bella spotted the Lexus Akeno had been dropped off in that morning, almost before Akeno himself. Instead of walking to where Edward was leaning against his car, looking like some kind of super model, Bella followed Akeno. With a bright smile on her face and a bounce in her step she watched Akeno get into the car then acted as if she forgot something and waved, running towards him. Luckily, as she started sliding on the payment the side of the car broke her face. Akeno's window rolled down and as Bella leaned against the door, catching her breath, she got a look at Akeno's abuser.

The most frightening thing about him was how normal he looked. Bella had expected his outward appearance to reflect who he was on the inside, though she should have learned better once she knew that vampires existed. The perfect human killing predator in a nice and pretty package that left every human in it's wake drooling and stumbling over themselves, like lambs to the slaughter. The man was middle-aged, younger than either of Bella's own parents with a head of umber brown hair cut close to his face, his eyes were the same shade of brown and slightly angular and very friendly looking. A Roman's nose that was slightly crooked sat above thin smiling lips, flashing perfect white teeth. He was lightly tanned - from what Bella could see - and dressed in a suit that looked like something only the Cullens could afford. "Yes?" His voice was smooth and slightly deep with no hint of an accent, unlike Akeno's.

"I-I-I," Bella sputtered, realizing that she was staring and unable to help herself. He looked like anyone on the street, she would have walked by him everyday and thought nothing of it. This was too much for her human brain to process, sure he wasn't going to have 'DANGEROUS' tattooed on his forehead in bold, neon colors, but there should have been some sign! Bella thought back to a program on A&E that Charlie had watched one night, it spoke of the most infamous and dangerous serial killers in America. Everyone always had the same thing to say: "He was such a nice boy, awfully quiet. Waved hello to me every day and offered to mow my lawn. Such a shame, are you sure he did it?"

"I," She took a deep breath before plunging ahead. "I'm Bella Swan, my dad's Charlie the town sheriff." She wondered why she felt safer telling this dangerous man that her father was the law. The police had (obviously) not helped Akeno out any.

"And?" The man arched an eyebrow at her, eyes laughing at Bella, believing that the girl thought herself to be important. Bella felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment, what was it with this man and making you feel like you were worth nothing? Did he make Akeno feel that way? Was that why the boy didn't run away? Bella's doe brown eyes glanced at her classmate. He was looking down into his lap, fingers running over the links in the chain like a devout nun over her rosary. The entire situation made Bella's mouth dry and her stomach queasy, she wanted to run away and never look back, but she had to help Akeno.

Squaring her shoulders and staring the man in the eye she continued. "Since Keno's," She watched a flicker pass over the man's eyes, too quickly for her to identify the emotion. "New in school and pretty much to America I offered to help him out after school. But then the bell rang and I kinda forgot to ask what time would be good for him," She offered a false smile, weak around the edges, Bella wasn't one to lie. "I was running off to see my boyfriend." She gestured back to Edward, who hadn't moved a muscle since Bella had approached the car, she wondered if he could hear their conversation.

The chuckle that left Mareo's lips was condescending and made Bella's skin crawl. If anyone else heard it they probably wouldn't have thought a thing about it, but Bella knew. She knew that the kind smile and warm eyes was just a mask and the man was more of a monster than any vampire she'd ever met, James included. Those disturbingly kind and warm brown eyes stared Bella over for a long silent moment before Mareo spoke again. "I don't see that as being a problem. I'm sure you know where our home is. We should be moved in completely by Saturday, so coming over around dinner time would be a good idea. Say, seven?" Bella watched Akeno through Mareo's monologue, not once did the man glance at Akeno for his opinion on having his own friend over. Akeno never spoke up, though his body did tense up at the mention of Bella going to his home.

What would she see there? Bella knew that it wouldn't look like a dungeon or a mad scientist's lair, but she couldn't keep all the fear out of her voice when she nodded her head. "Great." She didn't even try to smile this time, instead she just turned around and almost ran back to Edward's car and hid in his arms, shaking. She had stared the devil in the face and agreed to walk into Hell, alone. Bella really didn't have a survival instinct as Edward was always claiming or maybe she was just that much of a trouble magnet.

"Shh," Edward's voice was soft, his skin cold and hard as Bella clenched her fist into his shirt, uncaring that people were staring at them. None of them had any idea on how terrified she'd been. Of course Mareo had no idea that she knew about his real relationship with Akeno, but what if he did? Bella knew he would try to kill her if he did know. Bella recognized the look in his eyes. It was obsession, the same kind of look that James had given her when he caught her scent on the wind. Except it wasn't Bella on the receiving end of that look, it was Akeno. And for some reason Bella was more afraid now than when she'd had the tracker chasing her halfway across the United States.

Bella didn't realize until she was home later that night, making dinner for Charlie, that Akeno hadn't even acknowledged her presence while she'd been speaking to Mareo and Mareo had never even glanced at Akeno. She thought back to what she knew about kidnap victims and slaves and abuse victims, which wasn't too terribly much. She thought that Akeno would have gone out of his way to keep her away from Mareo or something. She finished making the chicken Alfredo and Charlie still wasn't home, so she put a plate in the microwave for him, then carried her own bowl upstairs.

Bella booted up her laptop then ate as she waited for it to connect to the internet. She really needed to talk to Charlie about getting U-verse from AT&T or just anything other than the slow as molasses in January dial-up connection she had now. Bella went to Goggle and typed in 'kidnap victim' then scrolled through the pages of news articles, looking for something more informative. She frowned at one of the links that read: Love and Stockholm Syndrome: The Mystery of Loving an Abuser in bright blue hyperlink text. "Stockholm Syndrome?" She read aloud before clicking on the link and reading the four page report by Joseph M. Carver, PhD.

A/N: The report I'm talking about is real and can be found here: http : // www . mental-health-matters . com/ index . php ?option= com _content &view =article &id =167