As always, thanks to my LC – Alitriona/Eila, Allysue08, Rags88, and WhatObsession17! You guys are definitely my muses and you make my story ten times better! I LOVE YOU!

SM owns, I give them guns and pepper spray. ;)

Temptation

As Bella passed the Welcome to Seattle sign, her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. The one thing she hadn't anticipated as she left her father's house was what she was going to do with her life. Sure, she had finished her schooling and gotten her degree, but that was the end of her planning. She had planned to lay low in Forks as she perused her job opportunities via the internet. She had never planned on having to come back and care for her father until he passed away. She never thought he would be gone so soon in her life.

Pulling into the nearest hotel, Bella grabbed her purse, silently thanking her dad for taking out such a large life insurance policy years ago. Truth be told, Bella could lollygag for at least a year without the slightest bit of worry, but she didn't want to do that. She wanted to make it on her own two feet and have her savings as a back-up plan sometime in the future. After seeing what had happened to Charlie and his 'savings' over the past two years, she knew that you could never be too prepared.

Once she was situated in her room, having already ordered from room service, she powered up her laptop. The first place she decided to riff through was the Seattle Times' 'Help Wanted' section.

As the screen loaded ever so slowly – thanks to the horrible wireless internet available at the hotel – Bella started to feel sick.

MASSIVE MURDERS ROCK SEATTLE

Great… I picked the perfect place to run away to, Bella thought sarcastically.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to read the article or not. A part of her knew she should, so that she would know what to expect, but then the other part of her – the logical part – knew that if she read the article she would then be paranoid every time she left the building.

Yeah right, more like all day, every day… leave the building or not, you'd still be paranoid, Bella's snarky mind objected.

Reluctantly, she read the article.

Terror has racked downtown Seattle in an

unprecedented case of multiple murders.

The County Commission held a debriefing

today at City Hall.

Lieutenant Brown was not available for

questioning after his statement. "So far,

there have been twenty-one murders

reported in the past five weeks, and at

least fifteen people have been reported

missing. Detectives are investigating the

details of the murders. There are definite

links and similarities between each of the

crime scenes, giving evidence of a

possible serial killer. However, the actual

murders appear to involve more than one

suspect."

Lieutenant Brown would not give any more

details regarding the crime scenes, simply

stating that, "There has been no known

similarities in the victims. It appears they are

being chosen at random. Possibly out of

convenience. Men and women are both

being targeted. So far, the majority of the

murders are happening after dusk and before

dawn, but that is not always the case, so

everyone needs to constantly be aware of

their surroundings. Until we have more details,

please lock your doors – cars and homes –

and please do not travel alone. Find a

buddy to walk to the parking lot with after

work or school. Carpool if at all possible. Do

not go anywhere with strangers, and please,

do not try to be a hero."

If anyone has any information to help the Seattle PD, please call 1-800-4Seattle.

This was not something that a woman who was new to the area, with no friends or even acquaintances, wanted to hear. However, Charlie had always taught Bella to be prepared. A can of pepper spray was in every room of her apartment – when she had one – and she kept a can in her purse, in her gym bag, and in her messenger bag. Anywhere that made it easily accessible. She had taken taekwondo and learned more than was necessary about wielding a weapon. A .45 was always in a lock box under her bed, but even though she had perfected her aim in target practice, she was certain she would never be able to actually take someone's life.

It seemed that Bella was left to fend for herself when it came to her safety. Lucky for her, she had always done better solo – being that she learned quickly and responded to arising problems quickly without the distractions of another person invading her space. She didn't purposely push people away. In fact, she would have loved to have a best friend or even a boyfriend, but every time someone got close enough, they walked away. Apparently, she was a bit too neurotic for their liking. Yes, she was a bit of a perfectionist. She was never a quitter, and she was quite obsessive with things going the way she planned.

As she continued on to the classifieds section of the website, something rather distasteful occurred to her. Twenty-one people dead, another fifteen missing… that's thirty-six positions needing filled. What if the position Bella obtained just happened to belong to one of the victims?

Suddenly, the thought of being a loafer sounded incredibly delightful. Well, at least she could wait until the city was safer before she went out looking for a job. However, she wasn't sure if she wanted to spend her time in a hotel. Then again, she would be surrounded by people, and there were doormen, and clerks at the counter, so coming and going would be fairly safe. She weighed out the pros and cons of 'living' in a hotel and talked herself into it, at least for the time being.

Someone knocked on the door, causing Bella to yelp, and when the person called out, "Room service," she felt like a fool.

See? This is why reading that article was a bad idea, she berated herself.

The guy received a big tip as compensation for her screaming and probably scaring him more than he scared her. Curling up on the bed with her food, she began searching through the channels on the television, before finally finding the one where you could order movies. She began flipping through them, nothing sounding interesting at all. That is, until she saw Phantom of the Opera – her most favorite movie of all time.

Watching Gerard Butler serenade Emmy Rossum was magical. In reality, watching Gerard Butler serenading a turnip would probably be just as magical. That man was the epitome of sex on a stick.

As always, Bella sang along with every song, cried at the end, and fell asleep shortly after, only to dream that she was indeed Christine Daeé being serenaded by the Phantom.

However, this night her dreams were not filled with happiness.

Beautiful creature of darkness

What kind of life have you known?

God, give me courage to show you

You are not alone

Bella walks timidly through the calm water to where the Phantom stands waiting patiently for her. Once she reaches her destination, standing obligingly in front of this magical being, he bends down quickly, lowering his lips to capture hers in a passionate kiss. As they break the searing kiss, she looks up into his dark eyes, noticing the predatory glint emanating from them. Before she has time to process it, his hands roughly bury themselves into her thick hair, forcing her head to the side, giving him access to her fragile neck. He growls menacingly and sinks his teeth into her tender flesh. It's not a sexual bite, or a teasing bite. No, it's a malicious bite, and she can suddenly feel the life being drained from her, drop by agonizing drop.

She desperately tries to cry out, but she has no voice. Her vocal cords have been cut off. She starts feeling weak, as if all of her blood is being drained…

8o8o8o8o8o8

Ten days had gone by. Ten days of Bella being cooped up in a hotel room with no human contact. Well, with the exception of the housekeeper and room service. To be honest, she was starting to think the housekeepers were trying to avoid her. They kept coming to clean later and later in the day, and cleanup times became shorter and shorter. It's not like Bella really needed the housekeeper anyway, she just wanted someone to talk to, which seemed like the very thing the housekeepers were trying to avoid.

So Bella decided this would be the day she would venture out into the city. She made sure to have her pepper spray and yes, even her .45. Loaded, but with the safety on. It was daytime, so she was fairly sure that she would be safe, but the reports had repeatedly mentioned that there were few cases of attacks during the day.

Bella walked out of the building and smiled almost as brightly as the sun was shining. Never before had she been an outdoorsy person, but ten days inside sure made you appreciate nature. Even if it was smog-infested, dirty, man-polluted nature.

After ordering a Venti Caramel Macchiato and a tuna melt Panini from the local Starbucks, she ate rather quickly, wanting to explore more of the city while it was daylight.

Hours passed as she roamed Seattle. She did massive amounts of window shopping, not wanting to fill her arms with purchases in case she did happen to come across any danger.

About two miles from the hotel, the sky started to fill with dark rain clouds. Hoping to beat the storm, she started walking back in the direction of the hotel, but it didn't look too promising. She walked quickly, weaving in and out of passersby on the sidewalks. It started to sprinkle, so she decided to take a shortcut through a few alleys, cutting her travel time nearly in half.

Sprinting through the first alley, she had one hand on her pepper spray and the other hand on her holster. By the time she made it to the second alley, the rain was coming down briskly. She was nearing the end of the third alley when she saw a man turn abruptly around and murderously stare at her.

8o8o8o8o8o8

Try as he might, Edward could not resist the temptation to drink from humans. He had searched and searched for the fiery-haired succubus named Victoria, but he never found her. Yes, he had deemed her as a succubus, even though he had no idea what she truly was. She had seemed like a demon and she did have sexual intercourse with him – although he hadn't been sleeping. Maybe that wasn't a requirement. How was he to know?

Speaking of sleeping; that was something he could no longer do. He had no need for it; even when he was bored and wanted to sleep, it would not come to him.

Despite having lost the ability to sleep, other natural urges were still very prominent. He found himself falling further and further into this monstrous abyss of insatiable hunger. Unfortunately, the more frequently he drank from humans, the more he desired their blood. He had started to become less cautious about how he obtained his next meal. A few times he was nearly discovered. The hunger took over his thoughts, his actions, his emotions. It drove him forward, feeding against his will on the unsuspecting, the weak, the powerless.

Every time after feeding, he hated himself a little more. He was truly a monster. He felt enormous guilt, but yet, it would not stop him when the hunger took over.

Ten days had passed, and he had killed eleven men. Eleven. It disgusted him. And it wasn't from need. He had no hunger, no need, when he had walked alone, where no humans tread – because, yes, he had come to the conclusion he must no longer be regarded as a human. Besides drinking from humans, he never hungered or thirsted for food or drink. At all. Ever. But when he caught the scent – the delicious aroma – of their blood, pumping, pumping, pumping through their veins, that's when the hunger took over. He had no control over himself.

Edward had been waiting for the clouds to cover the sun. The news had forecasted a storm coming at precisely three-thirty. Although, when was a weatherman ever precise? He had been waiting because, like a fool, he had been traveling through the city when the sun had started to rise, causing him to have to duck into a condemned building until the sun would hide behind the clouds.

As he was just about to step out of the alley he was currently in, the wind shifted and a scent hit him like a ton of bricks. If blood smelled like a succulent steak, this smelled like the world's finest cut of meat, cooked to perfection, with a side of shrimp, caviar, and lobster, followed by the oldest bottle of Domaine Romanée-Conti. It was exquisite. It was heavenly. It was tantalizing.

Edward instantly turned to find the source of the flavor invading his senses.

A woman. Damn it all to hell and back.

Edward had been very careful to only kill men. Sure, men are people, too, but he felt a strange sense of inculpability from only attacking men, as if it wasn't as despicable if he didn't murder women. It was true, that he tried to listen to their thoughts and only feed from those guilty of vile transgressions, but even that was very difficult when the hunger took over.

The cards must have been stacked against him. That was the only explanation for it being a woman possessing the most scrumptious odor ever to assault his olfactories. He tried to will his body to walk away. Not a woman. Not a woman, please, he begged. But that smell put his muscles into action. His fingers curled in a claw-like gesture. His lip snarled reflexively. He leaned forward into a crouching position. The whole time, he was telling his body to turn and run away. Far, far away from this temptress in front of him.

A growl escaped from his throat and he began stalking toward her.

The woman pulled out her pepper spray and shouted, "Don't come any closer! I'm warning you! This sprays twenty feet… one, one more step and… you better stop!"

Edward continued slinking toward her, slowly – excruciatingly slowly. Thunder clapped, startling both of them for the briefest moment. The rain was coming down in sheets, but it didn't deter either of them from their intentions.

From years of practice, Bella was meticulously accurate in the distance of twenty feet, so the very second the man stepped over that invisible boundary, she unloaded the whole can into his eyes and nostrils. She unloaded the whole can, because it wasn't stopping him. He simply wiped his eyes and continued to stealthily walk toward her. Shaking, she reached for her .45. Focus, Bella. Your life depends on it. Deep breaths, she mentally chanted.

Lifting the Magnum out of its holster and simultaneously releasing the safety, she aimed at the man who had stepped another two feet in her direction.

Edward stopped momentarily, looking questioningly at the hand cannon the woman was wielding. Did she honestly think she was going to be able to shoot that monstrosity? It was a miracle that she could even hold it up; there was no way she was going to be able to actually shoot the dang thing. He would have laughed if he wasn't being pulled to her like a moth to a flame, uncontrollably, irresistibly, mesmerizingly.

As fast as humanly possible, Bella cocked her gun, hoping beyond all hope he would catch her drift and realize she was going to shoot him. But apparently he thought she couldn't handle her weapon of choice, because he smirked and continued to walk toward her.

Opting to shoot him in the knee – to be more of a humanitarian – she lowered the barrel, took aim, checked his gaze one more time for assurance that he wasn't going to back down, and she fired off one round, hitting him dead center in the kneecap.

"FUCK! You shot me!" Edward screamed, but she couldn't hear him due to the ringing in her ears from firing the Magnum. Dang, forgot about that, she grumbled to herself.

Edward looked down at his knee, expecting for his entire leg to be missing, but his limb was fully intact. His jeans, however, were not. The bullet had torn through the pants, and…

"Holy shit! Would you look at that?" The bullet had only slightly penetrated Edward's knee. He bent over to pull it out and as he did, the woman took advantage of his distraction and side kicked him right in the knee she had just shot. Edward didn't even feel it.

But Bella did. It felt as if she had just side-kicked a brick building. She stumbled briefly, having put all of her force into that kick, only to be met with an extreme amount of resistance. Not one to give up, however, she then landed an elbow strike to the back of his head.

Two things happened concurrently: Bella felt her elbow shatter, causing the most intense pain to shoot through her arm as she screamed out, and Edward took a deep breath just as the blood escaped from the gash on her elbow, causing his hunger for her to triple in intensity.

He grabbed her head and sunk his teeth into her throat so quickly that neither one of them had enough time to register what was happening.

Edward was in heaven, drinking the milk of the gods, while Bella was in hell, pain searing through her neck.

Oblivious to his surroundings as he feasted on the nectar before him, Edward hadn't even noticed that they had company.

"Don't breathe, Jasper," a small, chime-like voice warned, just before Edward felt two huge, heavy boulders collide into his side, throwing him a good fifty feet from his meal.

Before he had time to right himself, Edward lost track of the scent from his meal. Glancing around nervously, he noticed she was gone. Stolen out from under him.

He shouldn't be too upset, as he hadn't wanted to murder a woman in the first place, but nonetheless, that had been the tastiest meal he had had in his entire life. And now it was gone.

Edward could only hear bits and pieces of thoughts coming from the two guys; they were too fast to fully decipher, and his mind was still a bit preoccupied. He would be able to distinguish one or two words every so often, but it didn't make much sense.

"What do we do with him? Should we take him with us?" a booming voice sounded from behind Edward.

Slowly and quietly, the other guy spoke. "Alice said she was il suo cantante. He cannot be near her until she has fully changed. We'll come back fer him in three days' time. For now, leave this pitiful jackass to his own devices."

The big guy chuckled heftily and they began to run toward the end of the alley.

Edward heard the words Jackass... Dude… Fun… Wrestle... He was fairly certain they were coming from the big guy's mind.

Running after them, he shouted over the rain and thunder, "Wait! Stop!"

In no time, he caught up with them. He tried to grab the smaller one by the arm, but he jerked away. Completely aggravated, Edward tackled him to the ground. The big guy grappled him from behind and jerked him off the other guy. "Dude, you need to calm down," Edward heard in his ear.

"I just want to talk," Edward said with a grunt.

The guy he had knocked to the ground stood up and looked him in the eye. "We can talk. You sure you ain't gonna try nuttin' knucklehead?"

Can't trust… Rage… Down... came from the smaller guy.

Edward had a strange sense of calm come over him, and he relaxed significantly. "I promise, I just need answers," he begged.

The big guy let go of him, spun him around and shoved his hand in front of Edward for a handshake. "Name's Emmett. Nice to meet you, Edward."

Brother… Hunting…

Edward was not enjoying only getting bits and pieces of his thoughts.

Cautiously, Edward shook his hand and said, "How… how do you know my name?"

The smaller guy bumped shoulders with him and answered, "In due time, man, in due time." Then in a creepy, Poltergeist rendition, with a bit of a hillbilly undertone, he sang, "All will be revealed, all will be revealed."

Emmett chuckled. "Dude, don't scare the guy before he's even met the little freak."

The Creeper punched Emmett in the gut – to which Emmett oomph'ed – and said, "Don't be callin' mah li'l lady a freak. She won't take kindly to that, you big ole bear."

The big guy's thoughts completely took a perverted turn at the mention of the lady.

Edward just looked between the two of them, dumbfounded. "What… are you guys? What… what am I?"

Emmett busted out laughing. He literally fell to the ground, rolling back and forth laughing. Edward had never seen a grown man act so… idiotic before. It was quite entertaining.

Poor… Freak… Confused… Epic…

The other guy looked down at Emmett and slowly shook his head. "Emmett only laughs at others' misfortunes because ninety percent of the time, we are the ones laughing at him. Anyway, ignore the buffoon, he's like a toddler; if he's not getting attention, he'll quit. So, anyway, I'm Jasper, that's Emmett, you're Edward. And we are all… vampires." He shrugged his shoulders as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Holy fucking shit… Edward thought as he slumped down to his knees.

Thanks so much for reading! As usual, a teaser for a review, my lovelies!

Oh, and if you don't know about the scene in Bella's dream (minus the biting of course) then you better hop over and watch The Phantom of the Opera, right now! What are you waiting for? (If my 16 yr old son loves it, I'm sure you would, too!)

*The actual scene might be located on my profile, lol*