Chapter Three: "I lust after no disaster can touch, touch us anymore."

--Carnival of Rust by Poets of the Fall

Previously:

I threw the door open...

Peter.

No, wait, that's impossible. Peter died a long time ago. He went into the war after Jasper, pulling my final straw of sanity and causing me to go absolutely crazy. He was beautiful...and a Venicio... His unruly red hair fell in his eyes and his murky brown eyes bore into mine. "Hi. I was just checking because a neighbor heard some noise and I guess the owners didn't say that someone moved in here. This house has some real history." Apparently he doesn't remember me, but I really remember him. My mom and his mom always used to say that we'd get married and have the most beautiful babies in the entire south.

"Oh, yeah. I just bought the place. Would you like to come in and tell me about the house?" He smiled, not the dazzling smile that Fuckward always uses, but a genuine, joyful, smile. "Sure."

"I'm still in the process of getting furniture, but you can pop a squat on the suitcases." I shrugged and sat on a trunk full of books. My southern accent that I try so hard to hide came back with a vengeance and I winced. Oh, Jesus, now you sound like a fucking hick in front of the other fucking hick that you grew up with.

"You want to know about the house?" I nodded and smiled at him. He tensed, searching my face, looking for something familiar. When he finally donned that look of recognition in his eyes, I threw myself at him. It was like running into metal. And it hurt. A lot.

"Bella?" He asked, looking down at me. I nodded, still hanging with my arms wrapped around his neck. He easily pried my arms from his shoulders and sat me gently on the floor. "No, no, no, you aren't Bella. Bella's dead. Not possible." He just stood and walked out. "Peter!" I screamed. "Don't you fucking leave me again!" I saw him freeze outside the front window. He started back in the house. This is so weird. I can't believe it. It's like I stepped into the Halloween episode of the Twilight Zone...extra creepy.

"Bells?" Before I knew it, he was standing right in front of me, a look of disbelief on his face that I'm sure mirrored that of mine. "Petey?" He really hugged me this time. It was like when Jasper found out who I really was. He shook with dry sobs and my tears were ruining his shirt.

"But...how? I...we...150 years...vampire...civil...Jasper...you...here...holy shit!" The words poured from his mouth with too much speed for me to really separate. "Long story, Pete." I patted his shoulder. My phone rang. "Where the fuck is it?!! Peter, you have the fucking sonic hearing, help find the little shit." I was digging through my pockets and purse but came up with nothing. Peter finally found it. It was under one of the trunks I had been sitting on and had a huge crack in the screen.

"What?" I snapped.

"Oh, god, Love, you're okay."

"Yes, I'm o-fucking-kay, Edward. In case you're forgetting, I'm the one that left this time."

"Please, come home. Where you're safe." My blood boiled at his stupidity. Does mentioning my safety really make him think that it will make me run back into his arms? He is on his way to pissing me off. Big. Time.

"I. Am. Safe! Just get it through your head that I'm not fucking helpless! I get the fact that you're a gazillion times stronger than me and always want to suck my goddamn blood, but that doesn't mean every fucking person wants to!"

"Bella, Love, please. Just be reasonable, you're obviously worked up over something small and-" Peter looked at me, his eyes huge.

"Be reasonable? You want me to be fuckin' reasonable? After, not only insultin' my best friends. But, you also are being so fuckin' condescending that it makes me sick and I want to barf all over the floor of my new house! I can take care of my fuckin' self, god damn it! Jesus Christ, you are such a dick!" I huffed into the phone. I heard some cheering in the background, indicating that the family heard everything.

"Isabella, you better come back here. If you don't you will regret it. You always did like to play with fire, but now, you just threw fuel on the flames."

"Oh, what the fuck, Cullen? Now ya fuckin' threaten me? You think that's going to make me come'a runnin' back to yer ass!?" Oh, fuck! I forgot how bad my accent got when I was mad. Peter started to walk towards me with a protective look in his eye. "Bella, darlin', you need me to handle anything?"

"Bella, who the fuck was that? I will rip them apart! Then I will get you. I will get you. Mark my words." The line went dead. Fucking Edward. Fuck him. Just fuck him. I turned and put all the power I had behind a punch and punched the hell out of the wall. There was a dent and my knuckles were a bit sore, but other than that, my anger was still there. I felt the slight pinch of my fangs elongating and just a need for blood. A pure, unadulterated, need for the thick rivulets of scarlet that were pumping in the jugular of some poor sap out there.

When I was thirsty, my eyes went from brown to blood red and my face was drained of all color. I lunged at the door, needing a good meal to finish off this delight of a day. Peter caught me mid-leap and sat me heavily on my feet.

"Damn it! I just want a fucking crackhead to be able to go to bed!" My phone rang the ringer for Jasper. It was "Whiskey In Mind" by Christian Kane...who I wouldn't mind taking a bite of any day.

"Emo-Boy! Are you just calling to put the icing on this shitcake that I call my life or is it for some other unknown reason?"

"I want you to stay hidden until I can find you. Edward was serious. He will find you if you don't stay out of attention. It won't be pretty. If you don't care about yourself, care about Peter and the house. You'll miss those. Alice has seen the visions. Just stay put and we'll find you. We know where you are. Edward's on the warpath and it's best of you stay out of the way." He hung up.

"Petey?" I put on my little girl voice as I sat on the trunk that I had vacated. He looked at me warily, not really knowing what to do.

"Could you get me something to eat." My bottom lip popped out and it quivered a little bit.

"Uh...sure. What do you want?"

"Peeetttter," I drug his name out in a singsong voice. "You know what I want. It's the same thing that I know your throat is burning for. The reason your eyes are turning black this very second." The huge rush of venom at that statement made his contacts disintegrate and show the dark color that was actually very striking.

"Bella, what are you?" He put his huge hands on my shoulders and looked deeply into my eyes, searching for a clue to the question he just asked.

"I'm a vampire." I grinned evilly, flashing my fangs. Talk about changing the subject! By staring into Peter's eyes, I was able to forget all about the need for the succulent, velvety substance that my being runs on. Aw, fuck, there it is again.

Peter gave me a grunt, which means I can only assume he will follow my orders, just like when we were kids, and get me something to eat. I watched in wonder as he ran from the house and down the long drive towards the steel mill. (I know that there's most likely NOT a steel mill in Stonewall, Mississippi, but just go with it.) I smelled it on the way in, that's where all the heroin junkies get their fixes because of the different buildings and hidden places all over. It was also abandoned and never searched by this hick town police department, so there's even a few moonshine stills and meth labs in there.

After picking my nails for about ten minutes, Peter came back with a healthy ruby glow to his eyes and something in his hand. It took me a second to realize what he was holding. It was pretty big and long. He brought me back a fucking leg. "I didn't know how much you drank, but this should be enough. If it's not, I can go back." He looked kind of wary of me again, like I was some kind of freak.

"Christ, Petey, take a fuckin' seat. You're making me nervous." I snatched the *shudders* leg from him and crouched over it in pure instinct. I'm more of a walk up behind somebody, kiss them for a while, snap their necks and drain them as fast as possible kind of girl. It was an almost savage feeling as I bit into the leg. The blood was sweet, but tangy from whatever drug that was in their blood stream. LSD, I think.

"You're different than I remember." He cocked his head to the side like a dog when it smells something strange.

"Yep. Excessive life will do that to a girl." I grinned, wiping my mouth with the sleeve of Edward's sweatshirt. Ha! Take that dickface! "So tell me, am I just a fucking glutton for punishment, or is it just that much of a small goddamn world?"

"What do you mean?" He raised his eyebrow.

I raised both of mine so far up that if they got any higher, they'd be in my hairline. "What I mean is, I managed to find Jasper, who played a huge part in my life as a normal teenager. Find 'the' Edward fucking Cullen, who decided I was catch of the week. And now you. Small fucking world."

"Bella, what happened to you? What the hell are you?"

"I'm a vampire. Like I said. 'Cept, I'm the real kind. Your kind was made to protect us, even though you killed us off."

"Why are you here, though?"

"Do you want the gory details version, or Cliff's Notes?"

"Gory details." He said with a boyish grin that I missed so much...looks like it's story time with Bella...

I'll get the next chapter up sometime tomorrow. I don't want to sound like a review whore, but please please please send some love!!!