Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N1: Your guys support of this story has been absolutely staggering (over 170 reviews, I truly can't thank you enough!) and it has just about killed me to make you wait this long for a new chapter. I'll explain why at the end.
And please, tread softly...
Bella stepped outside and began blinking rapidly as her eyes attempt to adjust to the brightness of the streetlamp situated outside of the movie theater.
Her mom stumbled out behind her, shaking her legs, no doubt trying to get the feeling back in them. "Wasn't that great?" She grinned.
"Best four hours of my life," Bella agreed sarcastically.
Originally they had planned on going to some random 'blockbuster' of the month, but when Bella had went back to the kitchen after getting out of the shower, she had seen her mother hunched over the paper (which Bella had picked up specifically to peruse the movie listings) smiling giddily.
"What is it?" She asked, running a towel through her hair.
Her mother slid the paper across the table and pointed at the small ad in the corner. Bella bent at the waist and squinted at the small print, groaning loudly when the words swam into focus.
"Really?"
Her mother was a crazy horror fan, and while Bella had developed a healthy appreciation for them because of this, she had seen this particular cult series (three movies in total) at least a dozen times. It was her mother's go to Halloween movie set.
She looked at the ad again, frowning when she noticed the first movie didn't start until 9:00pm. That meant it wouldn't get out until at least one in the morning. And, while she was familiar with the movie theater it was playing at, it was of the dingier sort and was located on the edge of what some people considered the 'seedier' part of town. Not exactly what she had in mind when she suggested going to the movies, but looking at her mother's hopeful face, she knew what her answer would be.
Besides, at least four hours of mindless violence and twisted humor would give her a small break from the tumultuous thoughts brought on by her revelations in the shower.
She sighed. "We better stop to eat first. There's no way I'm going to last four hours with nothing but stale popcorn and watered down pop to tide me over."
"Ah," her mother sighed inhaling the slightly cool night air. "Those movies never get old."
Bella snorted. "Those movies were old twenty years ago."
"Excuse me?" Her mother replied indignantly. "What does that say about me then?"
"That like those movies, you get better with age?" Bella chuckled nervously.
Her mother stared at her for a long moment. "Nice save." She grinned.
"We should get going," Bella muttered, glancing around uneasily.
While it was great for catching older movies and small indie pics that the bigger theaters wouldn't be caught dead playing, it had the worst parking spot ever. For some strange reason, it was across the street behind a building that had long been abandoned. In fact, most of the buildings on this street were abandoned and in various states of decay. The only other businesses besides the theater, were the small pizzeria (closed at this hour) next to the theater and a convenience store that was across the street and three (and a half of one) buildings over from where they were standing. Though the lights were on, half of the neon letters were burnt out and customers were welcomed to the, WIK MA.
While she was sure it made sense when the rest of the buildings were open and the area was flourishing, the sad part was that they all shared the same parking lot. That meant if you stopped at the store that proclaimed itself 'open for 24 hours' after it got dark, you were guaranteed the most unnerving two minute walk ever. Thirty seconds if you ran. The guy who designed this whole area must have been a genius.
It wouldn't be so bad if there were other people milling around, which wasn't unusual on the weekends (despite the shabby look of the restaurant, she had heard they served the best pizza in town and the theater regularly ran 'Five Dollar Friday' promotions for movies that had just recently stopped showing at regular theaters). Through the week though, it was the equivalent of a ghost town.
There had only been 5 other people in the theater besides her and her mother. One couple had left after the first movie; the female half loudly complaining that it was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen, another pair left in a huff half way through the third after her mother shouted, "Get a room!" when they started to get a little too hot and heavy three rows down from them. The last one, a male roughly her age, was obviously the boyfriend of the poor employee that had been forced to work tonight. He had been helping her clean up behind the counter when they exited the theater.
The only sound in the still night air was the soft squeak of her sneakers and the clicking noise of her mother's low heeled boots. Bella glanced up at the buzzing noise overhead, uneasily eying the flickering streetlamp. There was a sudden cloying feeling to the air and Bella's uneasiness grew as she felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle.
Her mother didn't appear to have the same concerns, chatting idly about her favorite scenes in the movies, seemingly indifferent to the fact that Bella wasn't answering her and had picked up the pace significantly.
Bella tensed when she heard something shuffle in the darkened area located roughly at the end of the other side of the parking lot. Keeping her eyes resolutely forward, focused on her truck (which she had parked specifically under the only dim light in the whole lot). It was taken all of her will power not to break out into a swift jog. In her defense they had just gotten out of a horror movie, three at that, filled with all sorts of hideous creatures that would probably consider a place like this the perfect hunting ground. She was sure was just being paranoid.
Apparently she wasn't hiding it that well, because her mother immediately asked, "Bell, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, Mom," she forced out a strained chuckle. "It's just me being-"
There was a sudden swift rush of air and Bella felt something slam into her. Hard. She sprawled on the ground, wind knocked out of her, gasping desperately for breath.
"Bella!" Her mother screamed.
A hand clamped around her upper arm and roughly jerked her around on her back. She began squirming immediately, still struggling to pull air into her lungs, attempting to break the iron grip on her arms. She froze when the figure holding her leaned right up in her face, fear flooding through her when, despite the dim lighting, she clearly registered the strange ruby-redness of his eyes and the cruel smile that stretched his pale lips.
He inhaled loudly. "My, don't you smell delicious," he purred, blowing his pungent, coppery scented breath in her face.
She whimpered loudly as tears began streaming down her cheeks.
"Get the hell off my daughter!" There was a whistle as something sliced through the air followed by a metallic clang as it connected with the side of his head. Though it appeared to be enough to stun him into rolling off her, it seemed that it did more damage to the pipe then it did him. There was a second clang as the pipe literally broke in half and fell to the pavement.
-oo-
Renee hesitated slightly as she stared disbelievingly at the, now broken, thick metal pipe in her hand (that she had miraculously found leaning up against the building behind her) before the same fierce look of a mother protecting her daughter entered her eyes. Bella scrambled back as she threw the object aside and settled for attacking him directly, jumping on him and swinging at him in a self defense move similar to the one that Charlie had taught them both years ago. A loud snapping noise split the air and Renee screamed as she clutched her shattered hand.
"Mom!" She snapped her gaze to Bella, who was struggling to get to her feet.
"Run Bella!" She roared, jerking roughly at the man whose attention was drawn back to Bella when she screamed. She began clawing at every part of him she could, ignoring the agonizing pain of her broken hand and the blood that began to seep from her fingernails when they were torn off in the process.
Her blood appeared to be the best distraction, because as soon as the first sign of red streaked his face, a snarl split the air and he immediately flipped Renee over on her back.
Cold hands wrapped harshly around her neck, shoving her head into the pavement with a forceful thud. She sluggishly tilted her head to the side and met her daughter's horrified gaze, which was darting erratically from the man to the broken piece of pipe on the ground at her feet. "Run Goddammit!" She choked out.
-oo-
With a sob, Bella ran, not towards her truck, but back towards the theater.
"Help! Help! Help!" She shrieked as she ran, her vision blurred from the tears stinging her eyes. She stumbled around the corner, and slammed into something that once again sent her sprawling to the ground.
"Oh my god! Are you alright!" A husky male voice demanded as he kneeled beside her.
Bella's vision swam as she looked up, her mind allowing her only a brief moment of recognition before it finally started to collapse under the strain. "Mommy," she croaked and passed out.
-oo-
Golden eyes flashed as a battle began to wage within him. Bella had asked him to help her mother, but in order to do that, he would have to leave her here. Knowing he only had moments to decide, he quickly took stock of the area, noting the darkened buildings and the empty street. If anyone else was around, it was clear they either didn't hear her scream, or just didn't care if they did. In this part of town, either could be possible.
He shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her seconds before a gurgled scream pierced the night air.
She'll never forgive you if you don't at least try, his thoughts whispered harshly.
Decision made, he smoothed a hand through her tear matted hair and darted around the corner, vehemently promising to whatever God was listening, that if anything happened to Bella while he was gone, nothing would stop him from tearing the whole world apart.
-oo-
"Such a noble little human." The man chuckled, as he licked at the blood dotting Renee's cheek. "But it was all for nothing. As soon as I'm done with you, I'm gonna track her down. I doubt the little chickee has gotten far anyway, not with the knowledge that her mother is about to die weighing down her every step."
"Don't touch her," Renee slurred, struggling to stay conscious.
"Don't worry. I'll only make it hurt... a lot." He smirked.
Renee sneered weakly and managed to spit a glob of blood in his eye.
The man tutted and ran a finger through it before trailing it down to his lips. "Mmmm," he moaned as he sucked it off. "Such a tease. I hope your daughter tastes as good as you do."
"What are you?" Renee whispered.
He leaned close to her ear. "I'm the stuff nightmares are made of, honey," he murmured.
She let out a strangled scream when she felt sharp teeth viciously tear into the skin of her neck. She felt the gulping motions of his throat against her chin and blinked dully as her struggles grew sluggish and her vision began to fade.
Even after all those years of watching them, horror movies had never prepared her for something like this.
Suddenly the pressure at her throat stopped and the heavy weight on her body was removed. Unable to move her head, she could only listen to the dual snarls and the sounds of a struggle before a loud, screeching tear echoed through the empty parking lot.
A man kneeled beside her. He was very handsome; the dim light from the lone streetlamp cast a halo around the shaggy blond waves of his hair. His dark eyes pierced her, but she wasn't afraid. She recognized those eyes. She saw them every time she looked into the mirror. This man had suffered a terrible loss, perhaps even worse than her own and, even knowing that she was going to die, she pitied him.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, clasping his hand in hers. "I didn't get here in time."
She tried to speak around the blood rapidly welling in her mouth "B'la?"
"She's... fine."
"'Tect her." Somewhere, in the dim recesses of her rapidly flicking mind, she just knew it was right to ask this of him.
"I will," he swore. "I'll never let anyone hurt her ever again."
"Not even me," she thought she heard him mutter.
Gathering up the last bit of strength she had to properly form her next words, she weakly squeezed his fingers and offered him a pained smile. "Let 'er know I lo-" she coughed wetly, "-ove 'er. An' ne'er let 'er doubt that she... she was worth it."
A tear trailed down her cheek as her breathed slowly petered out and a soft smile grace her lips.
I'm coming my Charlie.
A/N2: So two reasons really, one, I had to go to a bit of a dark place to even get this chapter out of me, and two, I knew it was going to blindside a lot of you. None of you even showed a hint of suspicion for what I was going to do to Renee's character, instead complimenting me on her and Bella's relationship and how it was going to play into the Jasper/Bella one. And for that I am doubly sorry.
When I initially started this story, although I planned on a more 'functional' mother/daughter bond between the two, I never expected it would turn out like it did, especially in the last chapter. But, originally, I didn't plan for this particular twist at all. It's just was about halfway through chapter 4 I believe, when I was discussing this story with a family member, that it was suggested. And I realized, as much as it may anger some of you, it needed to happen. I'm not going to go into specifics as for the 'why' if was brought up, because, frankly, they make me sound heartless, but I'm hoping you all will at least try to understand. And don't hesitate to let me know how you feel about it.
