Hey! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update this story. I've got a week off school now so maybe I can make the updates more frequent. I hope you're enjoying this story and please read and review! Don't forget to read my new story, 'Secrets!'

When Embry woke she knew instantly that she wasn't alone. Empty space surrounded her in the bed and cold air seeped beneath the sheets as she moved, but still the shallow sound of breathing filled her ears. Each breath was too widely spaced and uneven to be her own. Carefully she sat up, her russet waves spilling down over pale shoulders and her back, looking around with wide eyes. The frantic movements of the green orbs came to rest on a figure huddled by the radiator. Straight away she knew they were awake, not only because their breath wasn't that of a sleeping person (unless perhaps they were having a nightmare) but because they were tensed up, their shoulders tight rather than relaxed. Even so, Embry felt the need to clarify.

"You awake?" Embry whispered at him, squinting through the light that fell onto her face through a gap in the curtains. Her answer came in the form of a small sigh. After the sigh came a groan, and then the bloody painter gracefully stretched his arms in front of him, catlike. Another groan came with the stretch.

"No. I'm tired. I'm sleeping. Shut up," he said. Cracking slightly from first use, his voice wavered. Embry giggled at him. Later she would pass it off as being delirious from sleep. Whatever the reason for the giggle, the bloody painter chuckled back at her, stretching his legs out too.

"Not tired enough to be remotely kind, though," she teased, rolling onto her back, kicking the sheets away from her body. A smile passed across her face when the sound of crackling paper didn't occur. "You know," she began, "I had a dream last night that your name was Helen." She giggled and turned her head to watch him. Whereas before he had been nice to watch, sleepy and grumpy and graceful, now she felt like she had to look away. He became hostile in response to her words, shoulders tensing and hands closing into tight fists.

"I forgot I told you that," he mumbled. Then with a much clearer voice he said, "that wasn't a dream, Embry." He turned his head accusingly towards her. The mask on his face was slightly askew, revealing a narrow strip of skin from his temple to his ear, and all she could take in was that he was so pale. It made her wonder how often he would actually take his mask off, then realised it probably wasn't often. When his voice came again her eyes snapped up, away from the strip of skin and to the painted on black eyes. "My name really is Helen Otis and you really were begging me to stay last night. It was quite comical." Ouch. That was rather harsh. When he had admitted his real name he seemed reluctant to speak, so maybe he had felt the need to defend himself. She wasn't sure, but it had been rude all the same.

"It didn't take much to persuade you to stay though, did it?" Embry fired back. He flinched. Obviously he didn't like taking things to a more personal level.

"My cabin doesn't have heating." Maybe that was the truth, but maybe he was just covering up the weak spot she had just discovered. A grin cracked across her face at that thought.

"Sure," she said.

Another, final groan escaped Helen's lips and he stood, trembling slightly from his sleep-stiffened joints. Carefully he raised his hand and straightened his mask. A small wave of disappointment crossed her. She knew his real name, so surely next could be his face?

It hadn't quite occurred to her how odd this situation truly was. There was a murderer in her house. It seemed as though they were becoming friends. Or at least tolerating each other. She had only just found out said murderers real name. She didn't know what he looked like. He could be anyone. It was just so strange.

"Did you sleep okay?" She asked, sitting up so she didn't feel so awkward with him now standing. With a shrug he picked up the bean bag and placed it back where it had been before. There was a small popping noise as he stretched his leg out making Embry cringe.

"It was warm," he replied curtly, turning back to her. She noticed his fists were still tight by his side and longed to reach out and uncurl his fingers, letting him relax. "Also, I hope you have a logical reason for why I'm in your house because your brother is here." Embry gasped just as the sound of the front door being unlocked sounded. They wouldn't be able to open it because she had left the deadbolt done up.

"Go," she hissed, pointing to the window. Chuckling, he moved over to the ledge and opened the window up as far as it could go. Curiosity made Embry stay to watch him as he slid his legs outside the window, dangling in the air. Then he reached over and grabbed a thick branch of the tree outside and swung, relying on his strength to hold him in the air. With a small grunt he swung, then released his hold, falling down and landing lithely on the floor. Embry wondered how many times he had had to jump from a significant height.

Someone knocked on her front door. Quickly she slammed the window shut, then, tearing herself away from Helen who had turned back and waved before sprinting off across her garden and hauling himself over the wooden fence off into the woods, she ran down the stairs. A quick peek through the glass on the door showed her that it was Mason, so she slid the deadbolt undone and hauled the door open. With a smile she stepped back and let him through, then frowned when he shut the door behind him.

"Where are the others?" She asked, allowing Mason to pull her into a hug. Like usual he smelt slightly of cinnamon and of boy, and she breathed it in, liking the familiarity. All she could remember of Helen's smell was the sharp scent of blood and salt and sweat when he had pushed her up against the wall. It wasn't a bad smell, oddly nice.

"Mom was worrying about you, so she sent me down even though you didn't want me to. She sent me on the earliest train." Mason pulled back from the hug and gave her a funny look. "You're still in your night clothes?"

"Yeah, I only just got up. I had a rough night." She winced as she thought of the nightmare, although it was more of a memory. A nightmarish memory. "When will they be back?"

"Mom and Dad were talking with the mechanics a lot, so I think whatever is wrong with the car is serious. They would have come back anyway but our Aunt offered us a place to stay. She'll phone me tonight and let me know when they will be back."

"I bet Dimana is loving it," Embry said with a giggle. Dimana was always spoilt by her relatives, not for any other reason than the fact that she could wrap everyone around her little finger. She was such a sweet little girl.

"Do you want breakfast? I haven't eaten at all so I was going to make myself some," Mason said, and Embry nodded, accepting his offer, breaking away from her small reverie. Her brother went past her into the kitchen and she followed after him, although she found they had nothing much to say. A little awkwardly he asked, "what have you been up to?"

"Nothing much. Finished that painting, and did some…. Stuff," she answered, biting her lip when she didn't know what to say. "There haven't been any more murders, just to let you know." Why did she say that? Mason turned to look at her and gave her another funny look.

"Is that why you had the deadlock done up?" Embry realised that she could pass this all off as fear and was grateful that he had given her and easy way out. She tried to contort her face into one of nerves, but stopped when she felt her eye twitch.

"Mason, there's a murderer in town. Who wouldn't have their deadlock on?" He seemed to buy it and gave a small chuckle, turning his attention back to making the food. Whilst he was cooking she laid the table, avoiding the chair where Helen had sat yesterday. Soon they ate breakfast, talking about his trip and other things, but conversation didn't come easily. In the end Mason said he was going out. A little taken aback, Embry agreed, and set about cleaning the plates. Her brother disappeared upstairs.

As she cleaned and dried the plates she wondered where Helen was, what he was doing, if he was okay. It surprised her that she was thinking about him so much. He had said he had a cabin, so was he there? Someone knocking on the front door pulled her out of her reverie, and she grabbed a dish cloth, drying her hands as she walked to the door. Without caution she opened the door and saw her brothers friend stood there.

Sam and her had always been very close. She was attracted to his sharp good looks, all plains and cheekbones and cheeky grins. He was attracted to her, for whatever reason, and was always flirting with her, as much as it annoyed Mason. As always he was dressed smart-casual and there were sunglasses balancing on the tip of his nose even though it was cold outside. She supposed the sun could be bright. As soon as she had opened the door he had grinned, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets.

"It's nice to see you," he said, teasing her slightly with his crooked grin. Usually her heart did a weird flippy-thing when he gave her that grin, but it didn't today, and her won smile faltered slightly.

"And you Sam," she replied, ushering him inside. "You here for Mason?" He turned to her.

"That was the plan, but I can change it?" He chuckled when she laughed, dodging her arm which flung out to punch him playfully.

"You're way too confident," she joked, but there was a warning behind it, letting him know she wasn't really interested in his flirting and casual touches today. She wasn't really sure why. "Mason!" She shouted up the stairs and seconds later her older brother appeared, his hair freshly styled up and wearing a new outfit.

"I'll see you later Embry," Mason said quickly, lightly touching her shoulder as he yanked open the door. Sam said nothing but as he walked past he twirled a lock of her russet hair around his finger. Then, as she went to close the door, he raised his sunglasses with one hand and very deliberately winked at her.

"I like your outfit by the way," he told her before laughing and running to catch up to Mason. Quickly Embry looked down. Warmth spread across her cheeks as she realised she was still in her very short, white cotton nightdress. Well crap.

After the boys left she turned back into the house, padding through the rooms quietly, her bare feet hitting the cold ground making her shiver. Quickly she went up the stairs, taking them two at a time. In her bedroom she threw on clothes: A black and white striped shirt, blue jean shorts, black tights, brown shoes and belt, and muted red cardigan. For some reason she felt the need to dress nicely. Maybe it was because she knew Helen noticed the little things about her.

Thinking about Helen, Embry wandered over the window, wanting to look at the tree to work out how the hell he was able to get up and down it without falling or hurting himself. As soon as she reached the window she jumped back, her hand flying to her heart.

"Jesus, Helen!" She yelled, quickly opening the window to let him through. The black eyes of his mask bore into her own, but with the black light she could see something behind the tiny holes which he looked through, a glint of icy blue… She moved her eyes off of his own and stepped back, letting him gracefully crawl through the window from where he had been balancing on a thick tree branch. "What the fuck are you still doing here? You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Well you didn't expect me to just leave, did you? I was curious," Helen answered, landing steadily on his feet. Quickly he reached behind him and shut the window. Somehow he managed to do that silently, compared to Embry who would have managed to make a loud slamming noise. With his words a small smile crossed her lips. When was Helen not curious?

"Next time you could warn me," she answered, stepping back to keep the space between them. Since the previous night things had been more comfortable between them, but the thought of the two women with the smiley faces carved into their cheeks couldn't be erased from her mind.

"If I remember right, you were the one kicking me out of the house. I didn't leave by choice so I felt I had permission to come back." Embry shook her head in disbelief. Logic like that explained a lot about the way he acted. "So who was that boy?" Helen asked, leaning against her bedroom wall and picking at his cuticles.

"My brother," Embry replied a little cautiously, worried that she was endangering Mason. That was the last thing she wanted, to let him hurt anyone else. At least for now he seemed to be distracted and hadn't killed anyone else. "He's come back to keep me company but I think he wanted to go out. Sometimes it can be a little awkward between us."

"I know who your brother is," Helen answered, moving his head quickly and she knew he was looking at her. "There are pictures of him all around the house and I'm not stupid. I meant the other boy… The one who touched your hair." Embry felt herself blush and supressed a nervous giggle. Had Helen really noticed Sam do that? He stopped moving, his eyes on her, inquisitive. "Is that boy something to you?" This time his voice wasn't as soft; there was a harder edge, almost as though he didn't want an answer. It confused her.

"No, no not at all!" She was too quick to answer and she saw Helen's mask lift along with his eyebrows. "No, there's nothing between me and Sam," she said controlling her voice this time, "we are just… friends." Just friends. It sounded strange in her own ears. "Why?"

"Just curious." He said that so much that it was starting to grate on Embry's nerves. With a small tut she turned from him slightly. Was there anything he wasn't curious about.

"Why do you do it?" She asked him suddenly. "Kill people, I mean. And don't say you were just curious about the way the human body works because I know that's a lie."

"Careful Embry," Helen cautioned her, "talking about it without warning me first isn't exactly the smartest idea." Part of her told her not to ask the questions that sprung to mind when he said that so she stayed quiet, doing as he said. Silence washed over the room and then he spoke again. "I'm going to show you my place."

Thank you for reading this chapter! Please review. It makes my day! Also, I'm considering writing a chapter of this in Helen's POV, drop a review or PM me saying if you think that's a good idea or not. Thanks again, TINT xxxxxx