Sorry this chapter is a little more on the serious side. I needed to get a little more plot into it. Don't worry, though...more funny antics will ensue later.

Chapter 10: Cheesy Horror Flicks and Chesticles

BELLA

"Edward? Are you okay? You're starting to scare me a little."

He was staring at me like I was something to eat. It was like it wasn't even him. The green sparkle in his eyes was replaced by dark, soul-less obsidian orbs that didn't even resemble a human's. The atmosphere in the room had taken a major negative shift in the last thirty seconds, and I would admit that I was more than a little scared right now. I think I might have just peed a little.

I turned around to head for the door, because I could tell that something bad had just entered into the equation between Edward and me. He wasn't Edward right now. I could see it. I could feel it. What I couldn't do was help it. What was I supposed to do now? I was in way over my head. I needed Alice, and I needed her now. With that thought, I broke out into a full-on sprint out the door. I could hear Edward's heavy footsteps behind me. I was trying very hard to focus on the hallway in front of me, willing my feet to carry me to safety. Of course, that was too much to ask for. I suddenly found myself the character of one of those cheesy horror flicks, where I played the part of the retarded skeeze that couldn't seem to stay upright, while being chased by a brain-eating zombie or something equally deadly. My toe caught on the hallway runner, and I nose-planted straight into the floor. I hadn't been lying there for more than a second, when I felt Edward's hands clamp down on my shoulders and flip me around to face him. His face was dark and menacing. There was nothing left of the Edward I knew in his expression.

"Edward, I know you're in there somewhere, please, don't do whatever it is you're planning to do. You have to fight this." I looked up into his eyes, hoping to see some sort of recognition, to no avail. His eyes were empty.

"Mine! I must have you!" he snarled into my face. A little spit even came out of his mouth with the ferocity that he enunciated the "t" in must.

His hands started grabbing at my shirt. I could hear the sound of fabric tearing and nails digging into my flesh. I needed to get up or scream or something, but I couldn't. He had my hands painfully pinned to my sides in the tight vice of his thighs, and I couldn't have move if I'd wanted to. Realizing that this was going downhill fast, I mustered up the willpower to scream for help. I didn't even recognize the shrill panicked sounds that came out of my mouth once I opened it.

"NO, EDWARD, STOP! SOMEBODY HELP!"

Just as the words left my mouth, Edward's eyes closed, and he shook his head back and forth. When they opened back up, they were green again, but the sparkle was still gone. It was replaced with the dull hue of regret.

Before another word could be spoken, he was off of me and pinned against the wall.

"What the fuck is going on up here!" Jasper shouted in Edward's ear with his forearm wedged up against the back of his neck and the other arm wrapping around both of Edward's, holding them behind his back.

"Jasper, wait! He didn't know what he was doing. It wasn't him. Let him go, it's okay now." I was almost in a full-on sob, as the last words left my mouth.

Edward still hadn't spoken a word, seeing as his face was smashed against the wall. After a second of contemplation, Jasper finally let him go. Edward immediately turned and gave me a wary look, before coming back over and very gently helping me up off of the floor.

He pulled me into a fierce hug, while quietly whispering in my ear, "Bella, I'm so, so sorry. That wasn't me, I swear, I'll never hurt you...never," he kept repeating the words in a soft, endearing cadence, slowly lulling my heart back into a less-erratic rhythm. We were so lost in our own little world that I momentarily forgot we had company. I knew Jasper was there, but I didn't realize that we now had the audience of Edward's entire family.

"What's going on here?" I heard Carlisle's voice behind me.

I didn't really know what to say. I was still trying to put together what had happened. It had all gone down so fast.

"Uh...I'm not really sure what happened, but I think we need to get your family out of here until we can sort it out," I shivered slightly after the words left my mouth. I was pretty shaken up, but Edward's embrace was helping me calm down quite a bit. I didn't really want to let go of him...ever. I realized that it probably looked a little odd that we were standing in a rather loving embrace, in the middle of the hallway, with his whole family present. Probably not the best idea. I reluctantly pulled away from Edward and turned to face his family. They were all looking at me a bit apprehensively, but I realized none of them were making eye contact. All of their eyes were trained on...my chest?

"Oh shit!" I spat after looking down and realizing that Edward had not only torn my shirt down the middle, which was gaping wide open, but he had also ripped my bra completely in half. As if this situation wasn't bad enough to begin with, now I was showing off my dangling chesticles to his entire family.

I quickly wrapped my torn shirt around my nude torso, while flushing bright red from head to toe. Edward still hadn't said anything. He was just staring at the floor, with both hands knotted tightly in his hair. Jasper, Rosalie, Esme, and Carlisle were all looking at me confused, waiting for some sort of explanation. I realized they deserved to know what had happened, even if it was scary, and now seemed to be quite embarrassing as well.

I began to explain, with as little detail as possible, what had transpired. I'd omitted the obvious part of my planned taunting of the ghosts by getting my freak on with Edward. I didn't think they would have been onboard with that idea. While it wasn't one of my finer ideas, it did have some finer points to it, even if it did lead to the unfortunate situation in which I'd now found myself.

Everyone looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language or something. My words just weren't sinking in. Maybe they thought I was some sort of crazy person. I needed a little backup on aisle seven here.

"Edward, a little help here, please? Explain to your family what happened," I asked, annoyed that he was still standing there silent, not helping me explain the severity of the situation. I needed his family to understand that they might all be in danger and that we needed them out of the house until we could get Alice out here and figure out what needed to happen to make this nightmare go away for them. I still couldn't get away from the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that my hair-brained idea was the thing that had caused this situation to escalate out of control. I would never admit that out loud, though...I was not stupid.

"Mom, we need to leave. It's not safe here. I had no control over what I was doing at all." He looked at Esme, his eyes pleading for her to understand without having to explain any further. Unfortunately, moms tended to be nosy, and she wasn't going to leave it at that.

"Why would all of this start happening now? It was just doing things to us in our sleep before now. Why is it all of a sudden taking possession of my son and making him do things that could land him in jail?" Esme inquired.

Well, that was just great! She asked the one question I was dreading having to elaborate on. I needed to think of an easy way to put this without sounding like the complete whore-bag that I was. What was I supposed to say, though? 'I'm very sorry, Mrs. Cullen, but I browbeat your son into having a semi-naked groping session with me. This in turn pissed the spirit off something fierce, and now you have to leave your home, since it now has a seriously large stick up its ass because of me.' No, that wouldn't go over so well. Vague was good. Let's try that.

"I think our presence here, with the investigation and all, has caused the activity to escalate. It feels threatened now, and things are more than likely going to get worse before they get better. We need to get your family out of here for now, while we figure out a plan of attack."

Esme nodded and looked over to Carlisle. "Let's go get some things packed and go find a hotel for the night. I trust your advice, Bella, and I really appreciate everything you're doing for us, thank you," Esme's eyes began to look a little watery as she spoke.

That was just terrific! Now I felt like a complete douche nozzle. Since I couldn't seem to keep my vajayjay in check, this sweet woman was being driven from her home in the middle of the night. To make matters even worse, she was thanking me for it. I think I might need therapy after this.

I watched as everybody dispersed to go get ready to leave. I was left standing in the hall with Edward and Jasper.

"I'll go get you a shirt to wear, Bella," Edward spoke quietly with his eyes cast down to the floor. He turned around and went back into his room to get me a shirt, since mine was a little indecent at the moment. I could tell he was feeling pretty bad about what had happened. I hoped he didn't think it was his fault, though. I could tell it hadn't been him. I knew he would never hurt me.

"Just so you know, I'm not leaving you alone with him," Jasper's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"He won't hurt me, Jasper. That was not his fault. It was mine."

"It doesn't matter whose fault it was or wasn't, Bella. The fact of the matter is that he's obviously susceptible to possession, so I will not be leaving you alone with him in this house. End of story." Jasper's statement was harsh and final. Not having much fight left in me after the fuckery that had ensued this evening, I shut my pie hole and just nodded.

Edward returned a minute later with a t-shirt in hand. I took it gratefully. I stepped inside his room and closed the door to put it on, leaving Jasper and Edward standing awkwardly in the hall. When I emerged from the bedroom, there was an obvious tension between them. Edward's eyes were silently pleading with him, and Jasper looked like someone had just pissed in his Cheerios.

"Please, Jasper, just for a minute," Edward asked.

After another moment of contemplation, Jasper submitted.

"Fine, but I'll be right outside this door waiting."

Edward looked towards me with his hand outstretched.

"Come on, Bella, I need to talk to you alone for a minute. Jasper will be right outside the door, so you'll be safe. I won't hurt you, I promise."

I nodded and followed him into his room, closing the door behind me.

"Bella, I'm so sorry for what just happened. I hope you know that I'd never purposely do anything like that to you."

"Edward, stop apologizing. I know that wasn't you. I also know that it was probably my fault for taunting that damn thing in the first place. Don't you dare start blaming yourself for what just happened."

"I know it wasn't my fault. It wasn't your fault, either. Bella...I know what that thing wanted, and why it wanted it. It wanted you."

"What do you mean it wanted me?"

"It took over my body, but I could hear its thoughts, feel what it was feeling. Whatever is in this house is pure evil. It thrives on emotion, whether it be anger, sadness or even lust. It saw you as an object to own, to control and to use to help fulfill its own needs. You can't come back here. I heard what it was thinking, Bella, you can't ever come back here, for you own safety...please." Edward sounded panicked now.

"I don't understand. What was it thinking? It's just a ghost. How much harm could it do?"

"Listen to me, Bella. It wants you to be with it...forever."

"Forever? You mean it wants me dead?"

"That's exactly what it wants. I could hear it thinking of the others it's trapped in this house. It controls them. It's been making them do those things to us in our sleep, so it can watch. It feeds off of our energy, and the lust seems to make it even stronger."

"I see. So just let me paraphrase, so that I'm positive I understand what you're saying. This house has a supernatural pimp in it. He has a harem of succubae prostitutes that go out and do his bidding by getting aroused and leaving their ectoplasmic snail trails all over you and your dad, while this psycho pimp watches and collects his pay in the form of orgasmic essence?"

"You have a very colorful understanding of it, but yes, that's pretty much what I'm saying in a nutshell. I hope you can understand why I don't want you here. I know I don't know you very well, but I really care for you, and I don't want to see anything bad happen. Please, let's get you out of here," Edward caressed my cheek with his palm as he spoke. I wanted so badly to kiss him again. He leaned forward, and for a second, I thought he might, but he took a step back and dropped his hand.

"I can't kiss you here," was all he said.

"Why not?" I asked, completely bewildered after his soft touch had my hoo-ha doing calisthenics to get warmed up for what was coming.

"I told you, it feeds off of sexual energy, too. That was why it was strong enough to take over my body. We had the equivalent of an atomic bomb full of sexual energy in this room earlier. It's too easy to get swept up in the moment with you. I won't put you in danger here again. Now come on, let's get you out of here."

We turned and left the room. Jasper joined us, as we all congregated downstairs to formulate our game plans for the night.

"I'd like to go get Alice and bring her back to the house. I want to see what her impression of the situation is, so we can figure out what we want to accomplish at the séance. I'd like to do it tomorrow night," I whispered to Jasper, as we were walking down the stairs.

"I agree. I'll go get her and meet you back here in an hour," Jasper spoke in hushed tones as well. I didn't think Edward would like the fact that we were coming back after he'd left, but we had to.

We reached the bottom of the stairs, where the Cullen's were waiting with overnight bags in their hands.

"Esme, would it be alright to get a house key from you? We'd like to come back later with Alice. I think she'll be able to help," I asked politely, while averting my eyes from the displeased glare coming from Edward.

"Are you sure it'll be safe? I don't want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt, dear. You scared the poo out of me earlier. I'm not sure my heart can handle anything like that again," Esme visibly shuddered, as she remembered my psycho scream session from earlier.

"I can't guarantee anyone's safety, but we have to do something. You asked us for help, and that's what we're going to do." My response was short, but heartfelt nonetheless. I needed to help this family. I'd only known them for two days, but I felt a connection with them, and I had to make this right for them.

She handed me a key and gave me a timid smile, as she walked out the door, her family trailing behind.

Let me know what you think!