{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the review! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone.

Anyway, thanks again for the support guys, I hope you like this story!}


Seven Devils All Around You

Tess eyed the clock on the wall. She grumbled as she caught sight of the time, realized that apparently, her workaholic mother was already starting her new job. "And of course, go off and leave me here in this shithole where I know absolutely no-one Mother. Parenting.. You're doing swell." Tess muttered snarkily as she rubbed her arms at the sudden chill in the room, sat up on the high back velvet sofa in the parlor peering around in curiousity.

"I need a drink." she mumbled as she stretched, pulled herself up from the sofa, paused the movie she'd been watching, Captain America, and peered out into the hallway because she'd just heard giggling. "Who's out there?" she called out, eyeballing the front door. "Mom if you're fucking around with me it's not funny!" she called again as she heard more giggling. Growing annoyed, she grabbed one of the heavy antique statuaries from a side table in the hallway and stepped fully into the hallway, looking up it and then down it.

"I'm completely and totally serious. I will kick your ass if someone's in here with me right now. This shit is not funny. Mom, if you're trying to make fun of what happened to me earlier, haha, real mature.. You can come out now..." she said in an attempted commanding tone, her voice wavering just a little as she finished her statement.

'Right, because that sounded so scary, Tess.' the disembodied voice came out of seemingly nowhere, further freaking her out. Her hands shook and she dropped the statuary she was holding, whirling around in the hallway as the voice continued 'You won't see me until I want you to. But I can see you.. Nice pajamas by the way.. Guessing Uncle Ben didn't know about that little rose tattoo on your hip? Or the drinking habit? But I do.. I know pretty much everything about you, actually.'

"Oh, that's fucking it. Look, bud, you might get your fucking jollies, you might get your rocks off by playing Peeping Tom, but trust me, asshole.. When I find you? And I will find you.." she said in a clipped and harsh angry tone as she smirked and raked her hands through her hair before continuing, "You won't like what happens to you. Look, I might look like some frail and weak little helpless female, but trust me, bud.. You do not wanna fuck with me."

'Actually, Tess, you're right. I don't wanna fuck with you. I kinda just wanna fuck you.I think you'd enjoy it, actually.' Tate said from behind her as he trailed his lips slowly down the back of her neck, teeth baring down in the soft flesh. He smirked as she gasped and paled, then swore, her hand going up to the spot on her neck he'd just made with his biting her. 'Oh you liked it.. Don't even try to stand there and pretend that you're not dripping wet right now.' he whispered as she swung her arms wildly, trying to connect with anything that might have bitten her.

He smirked as he stepped back, watched her continue fighting nothing but air, shook his head as he laughed and disappeared to his basement safe zone.

He'd left enough visible proof that what they had was going to happen one way or another, whether she wanted it, or she had to be coerced, which he wasn't above doing if he had to.

If his mom's new age psychic friends were right, this Twin Flame bullshit was really happening this time, and not Violet but Tess was the true Twin Flame to his own.

"At least she's got a little fight. I mean she's not Violet, she's not who I really wanted.. But we kinda need each other or something." he mused as he paced the basement hallway.

Upstairs, Tess stood in the kitchen, using an unpacked toaster to examine the bite mark on her neck, the red welps being bitten had created. "Fuck this.. This is not Twilight and I'm not fucking weak ass lame Bella. I'm gonna find out what's going on here and when I do? I'm calling a motherfucking exorcist." Tess said nervously as she caught sight of their blonde female neighbor standing in the doorway that lead into the kitchen from the backyard as she stood there looking amused, smoking a cigarette.

"What on Earth are you doin?" Constance asked as Tess walked over, pulled her long dark hair to the side, showing the woman the bite mark. "Something just fuckin bit me. Proof enough this fuckin house wants to kill us?" she asked with a smug look as Constance looked at her and then lied saying calmly, "I don't see a damn thing girl. Where's your mama? I told her I'd come by, we seemed to get along when I came over earlier." as she scanned the room for her son Tate, wondering just what he'd done to rattle the poor girl standing in front of her.

She felt sorry for her, her son had a bad habit of coming on way too strong, it'd already cost him Violet, who he'd loved dearly and still hadn't quite gotten over. But if what the psychic she'd befriended told her was true.. Then this girl was the true other half to her son's whole.

For a moment Tess glared at the woman's turned back, then she said quietly, "No, she's working. Of course. That's all she ever does is work. Sometimes I.."

"You what, hon?" Constance asked with a moment's concern for the girl. She could sense the tension between mother and daughter earlier when she'd watched them interact, she wished everyday that she had her own daughter back, and she had this feeling that when everything that needed to happen actually happened to bring Tate and Tess together, the girl's mother was going to have a really, really hard time grieving if she didn't start at least trying to spend more time with her little girl now while she had her.

"Nothing.. It's bad, I don't wanna say it, I mean I know it isn't true, it's just..." Tess said as Constance sat down, lit up a cigarette, holding the pack out to her, lighting her cigarette for her, saying with a small mischevious smile, "You slip out at night to smoke in that gazebo, I've seen you. No worry, I won't tell."

"Won't matter, I'm pretty sure she knows by now. And she can't actually say anything, Ms. Langdon, considering she smokes too." Tess pointed out as she sat down at the table, looked down at the hardwood surface, sighing as she said quietly, "She's always working.. I was going to say that sometimes I think she loves her job more than she does being my mom. And I've never actually met my father, my uncle Ben used to tell me that he was a bum and it's for the best.. Now I don't even have my uncle and aunt.."

"It was a tragedy, that family dying all within a few weeks of each other like that." Constance remarked, though she really felt no sorrow for any of the 3 having known them, having seen the ugliness underneath their little 'perfect and normal family'.

"It was. Ben.. I mean my uncle was pretty much the only father I knew as a child. And then he met and married my aunt Viv.. I was supposed to come visit them over the summer, my uncle thought having someone around might help Violet's depression, even though we kinda never really got along.. Opposites and what have you." Tess explained as Constance nodded, said quietly, " At any rate, I'm pretty sure your mama loves you.. Sometimes it's just harder for some of us to show it." as she thought about Addie, the daughter she'd lost. How she wished Addie would've become stuck in this house, then at least she'd get to see her now and then.

"Did you want something? I mean I'm sure my mom will be home in a few hours." Tess said as she felt herself calming down just a little as she stood and stretched.

"I'll stop back again around 7." Constance said as she lingered in the doorway a moment then walked out. She'd hoped that she'd catch at least a glimpse of Addie or her other children, but apparently, the spirits just weren't in a giving mood today.

She'd just stepped out of the house when Tate appeared, scowling. "She can't see me but she can hear me."

"Why in the hell did you bite that girl?" Constance asked as Tate smirked, shrugging as he said casually, "What's the matter, Mother? Jealous? I might like other women more than I like you?"

She smacked at him and he laughed, stepping back. "Get me a way in. I can't see her without some kind of invitation.. I mean I know that's for vampires, but apparently, there's something blocking me from showing myself to her. Violet came to see me, she said it's because Tess won't let me show myself. She has to want to see me."

"Bitin's not gonna help that happen." Constance remarked grimly as he glared at her and said darkly, "No kidding. Look, she's mouthy when she's scared, it pissed me off."

"I'll talk to Billie Dean and see what we can come up with. Until then, no more shenanigans like today, do you understand? You are not going to screw this up, you won't get another chance like this and if you keep scarin that girl, that family isn't going to stay, it'll be like all the other families that tried livin here and left."

"Wow.. Is this my mother the heartless bitch actually liking someone other than herself?" Tate asked as his mother leaned in and said with a calm and deliberate smirk, "The apple never falls far from the tree now does it son?" before turning on her heel, calling out over her shoulder, "Girls like romance and flowers.. It worked with Violet. What makes you think that one upstairs is any different?" before disappearing out the door leading from the basement area to the outdoors of the house. A few moments later, Tate found himself wandering aimlessly around the house, and he fell in behind Tess as she walked into the room her mother slept in and shut the door behind her, music being turned on a few seconds later.

He waited until she'd just gotten into the tub, gotten comfortable and let her guard down a little, then he slipped in to watch her while he thought about what his mother told him just now before she'd left.

Upstairs, Florence & The Machine's Seven Devils blasted from an Ipod dock in the wall of the master bathroom. The master bedroom's whirlpool bath ran, filling up with scented bubble bath and Tess slid her hand over a steamy mirror, looking at her reflection, scowling as she wrinkled her nose in distaste, studied herself intently. "Fuckin fatty." she mouthed in distaste as she stepped into the steamy and hot bath, lowering the lights, lighting the scarlet and white candles on the edges of the tub before sinking back, letting out a long slow sigh of definite discontentment. She needed to destress and unwind, maybe a long hot bath would do that for her. She hoped so at least, it'd been one hell of a weekend in this place and she was torn between being comfortable here, and hating in here, being afraid for her very life here in this house.

Her eyes popped wide open seconds later when she heard next to her ear 'You shouldn't call yourself fat.. Guys like curves. Satisfies our urges better.' as she turned to look in the mirrored panels surrounding the luxury tub, trying to find out who said that, where they were in the room. "Where the hell are you, creeper?" she asked aloud, getting her answer as the words 'Right Behind You' appeared in the steam on the mirror.

She screamed and stood in a hurry, grabbing a towel, covering herself hastily as the voice remarked 'Nice ass. Not sure why you grabbed for the towel, I mean I've already seen everything, Tess. And I like what I see.'

Her eyes shot down to the white marble vanity top next to her mother's sink and she saw a deep red rose lying there. She picked it up, looked around with a raised brow.

"This isn't cute. Stalking me isn't going to make me like you, whoever you are. Making me think I'm losing it isn't the way to my heart." Tess said as she once again saw a glimpse of the same strikingly handsome shaggy blondish brown haired male with golden brown eyes in the mirror behind her. He smirked and winked as he gave a small wave and disappeared almost.

She grabbed a pale pink silk robe and took off down the stairs, screaming at what she thought was an intruder, only to find out that nothing was there. Punching a wall, she swore in frustration and then asked aloud, "Where the hell did that guy go? And why the hell did he sneak in here?" to herself, laughing at herself bitterly when she realized that she was indeed showing signs of losing it, standing in the hallway of the new house, talking to herself.

With shaking hands, she felt around on the hallway table, found her cigarettes and silver zippo, stepped to the patio entrance of the kitchen, just as the woman with red hair and a bad eye was preparing to knock again for the second time that day.

"Your mother's not home yet?"

"No ma'am. But if you want to talk about being our housecleaner, step inside. I'll be in with you in a few seconds." Tess said solemnly, as she stepped into the laundry room, grabbed her pajamas from a Victoria's Secret bag on their dryer, slipped them on after slipping on a pair of hot pink silk and lace panties and then a matching bra and a solid black racerback tanktop.

She stepped into the kitchen and sat down, said quietly, "You most likely won't catch her at home any this week. It's the start of a new season. She works in fashion, this is a crucial time, at least that's what she's always claiming. So, the way I see it, ma'am? If you worked here for my uncle, you've got the job. I think my mother would say the same, she'd hate to cost you your job because my uncle and aunt are no longer living. I'll text her and let her know.. But what days will you be coming in?" Tess asked, all business, writing the schedule Moira spouted off as if memorized by heart onto a dry erase board on the fridge's chrome surface.

"You're here all alone?" Moira asked as Tess muttered something under her breath and then sighing spoke aloud, "Yes ma'am. But I won't get in your way.. Tomorrow, I'll most likely go to the mall or something for most of the day, maybe the beach or something. Just lock the place down when you finish." as Moira nodded, took the spare house key (which she really didn't need, but to keep up appearances she always took), and said "Goodbye." quietly, leaving as quickly as she'd come.

Tess leaned against the fridge, phone in hand to attempt texting her mother. Who texted back to ask if she wanted takeout, apparently, it was going to be another late night in a long succession of many past and many more to come.

Upstairs, Tate stood in front of her closet, nosing through the boxes the movers finally bought the day before, the clothes now hanging in his old closet as if to try and get some clue into what made the new living resident of his old bedroom tick.