Update: 22nd February, 2011
My beta-Goddess is Irritable_Grizzzly, and she is marvelous beyond words.
Vicanlp is my Mistress of Insane Sprinkles and I thank her dearly.
Disclaimer: You know what I'm going to say. Don't own Twilight. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
Enjoy.
**Warning: This chapter contains dark themes related to sex and violence**
Chapter 21 - Prey
BPOV
Being confronted with imminent death was a strangely freeing experience. Suddenly, all the mundane concerns of everyday life were meaningless. Petty. Pointless. The only thing that remained relevant was surviving the next minute. And then the next. And the next. Every breath, a gift. Every second, an eternity.
James leaned over my wrist and pressed a piece of gauze over the cut that was oozing a steady stream of blood., then wrapped his fingers around it and squeezed gently, trying to stem the flow before looking up at me with concern.
"I'm not hurting you, am I?" he asked softly. "Wouldn't want to leave a bruise. Edward would kill me."
He laughed at his own joke, because obviously it was okay to slice my arm open with a knife, but bruising it was against the rules.
"Edward's going to kill you anyway," I said bitterly with absolute conviction.
Regardless of what happened to me, Edward was going to tear him apart. I just hoped I was around to see it.
He looked at his watch and I registered that it had only been half an hour since I was locking the backdoor of the diner when I heard Jess calling to me from the parking lot. At first I'd thought I was hearing things, but when she called me again, Jake heard it too. She sounded like she was in pain, and on instinct I'd pushed the doors open before considering the consequences, anxious to see her with my own eyes, to reassure myself that she was still alive.
That was when Jacob exploded into wolf-form, snarling and growling as he shoved me back into the diner. At first I had no idea what he was doing, but when he attacked Jess and she swatted him halfway across the lot with barely any effort, I understood.
It was at that moment, while trying to comprehend my childhood friend becoming a vampire, that I felt cold arms encircle me as James whispered, "Isabella. How nice to finally meet you. Let's you and I have some fun together, hmmm?"
Jacob had tried to get to me, but Jessica dragged him back. Then there was wind and rain, and the wet slapping of undergrowth against my body as James ran, clutching me in an iron grip.
And now here I was, sitting in a chair in the middle of my old high school gymnasium, soaked to my skin and freezing, watching a supernatural serial-killer tend to my wounds as I prayed to any deity that would listen that Edward and his family would find me before it was too late.
"You're shivering," James said, frowning at me. "Are you cold? Or afraid?"
My teeth chattered and I declined to answer.
"Well, I'm sure it's a little of both," he said sympathetically. "Can't say I blame you. This gymnasium is extremely cold. Plus, you're going to die tonight, probably at the hands of the man you love, so...I understand that your anxiety isn't helping the situation."
I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw, pushing down the rising panic.
"Oh, come on now," James said, gently stroking my hair. "Surely you've fantasized about Edward biting you? Sucking your blood? Don't all humans have a bit of a vampire fetish? All the ones I've eaten certainly have. Of course, I'm pretty sure that they thought that being bitten by a vampire would be far more erotic and involve much less tearing of skin and flesh, but what can I say? I'm a messy eater."
He smiled and a deep, foreboding chill shivered through to my bones.
Edward, please. Find me. Save me. Get me away from him. Please.
Even though James gave the outward appearance of being calm and polite, I could sense his insanity crackling in the air like electricity before a storm.
"Oh dear," he said as he looked down at my injured and bloody arm, pressing his fingers gently into the gauze. "You're a bit of a mess, I'm afraid. It really won't do to have Edward see you like this. He'll think I've been a terrible host."
I watched in horror as he bent his head to my arm and started cleaning off the smeared blood with his tongue, swirling it carefully around my fingers before sucking them into his mouth and closing his eyes. I felt the faint pressure of his teeth on my knuckles and gasped.
Edward had told me about James' proclivities as a serial killer. I knew he had a thing for removing fingers. He increased the pressure a little and I tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip on my arm, the gauze bunching beneath his iron fingers.
He looked up at me as he slowly drew my fingers from his mouth and smiled, and when he let go of my hand, I snatched it back against my body, wiping his venom on my wet shirt.
"Such delicate hands," he murmured before licking his lips. "And such vibrant, delicious blood. I understand what Edward sees in you. I wonder if he'll be open to sharing."
"Fuck you," I hissed, pressing myself as far back into the chair as I could.
He chuckled and leaned forward.
"I don't need his permission to do that," he said amiably. "I could fuck you right now if I wanted to. Several times. Can you imagine how he'd react if he found you naked? Panting? Covered in my venom? My scent?"
"It'd just make him kill you faster," I said, sounding braver than I felt.
He pushed my legs apart and pulled the chair sharply, pressing his pelvis against me and grinding suggestively, making me fight the urge to vomit.
"I've seen you in action, Isabella," he said, grabbing my hips hard and making me shriek as his fingers burrowed into my flesh, definitely leaving bruises. "I think you'd actually enjoy fucking me. Edward treats you like a precious doll, terrified of just slamming into you the way you want him to, but I'd fuck you hard. And fast. I'd fuck you 'til your bones cracked and you screamed in pain and pleasure."
He grabbed my uninjured hand and pressed it against his crotch, rubbing it up and down against his growing erection.
"Do you feel that?" he groaned, using my hand to stroke himself. "If we had more time I'd show you the true joys of fucking a vampire, and believe me when I say, by the time I was finished you wouldn't even remember Edward's name."
I tried to banish the disgust from my face as he kept moving my hand, rubbing and groaning, getting harder with every stroke.
"Your dick would have to get significantly larger to make me forget about Edward," I said through gritted teeth.
He grabbed my hair and wrenched my head back, and I wondered when all my common sense actually decided to abandon me.
Good one, Bella. Insult the super-strong nut-job vampire who's currently holding you hostage. Brilliant idea.
"You should be nicer to someone who could flay your skin from your body in under thirty seconds," he said, smiling in the most creepy way imaginable. "Although I have to admit, part of me likes that you're feisty. Reminds me of my wife."
"She'd be so proud if she could see you know, wouldn't she?" I groaned as he tightened his hand in my hair. "Although, quite honestly, she was probably never proud of you, what with you being insane and all."
Jesus, Bella. Stop antagonizing him!
As payment for my stupidity, I suddenly found myself flying through the air and had no time to get my bearings before I landed heavily on my left shoulder, screaming as I felt a sickening pop. Instantly, James was kneeling beside me, pulling me up by my shirt and snarling at me.
"You don't get to talk about my wife! She was an angel! She knew I was all wrong and she loved me anyway! She tried to be enough for me, and for a while she was, but my urges wouldn't be denied! She had no idea what I did or where I went, and I didn't tell her! She knew I was broken and that there was nothing she could do to fix me!"
I groaned as my shoulder burned with sickening pain, vaguely registering what he was saying. It didn't seem to matter. Something inside him had snapped and he threw me back onto the floor as he paced frantically, tugging at his hair and muttering to himself.
"When Victoria found me it was too late. I was already monster. I needed the blood. The pain. I needed it to feel normal and stop the burning. Those girls I killed were bad girls. All of them. Groping and fucking anyone they came across. They needed to be punished. Just like she needed to be punished. The mother-monster. But she never was. She was always the one doing the punishing. Punishing me. Cutting me. Burning me. Touching me in a way no mother should touch a son."
I didn't interrupt his tirade. I just let him rant, hoping he'd get it off his chest and not take it out on me.
"It was all her fault I fell those urges...the need to inflict pain...and I wanted to make her pay. I wanted to slice her up and hear her beg the way I always begged. I wanted her to scream and cry. I wanted it to be her so badly, but it wasn't. She was gone. Threw me away like garbage. So then I had no choice but to punish them. They were all so much like her with their filthy mouths and disgusting hands."
I grunted in pain as I sat up, clutching my shoulder and squeezing my eyes shut against the agony.
Suddenly strong arms gripped me and I opened my eyes to see James staring at me, his face full of deep-seated anguish.
"But Victoria loved me. She never hurt me, and always touched me like I was something precious. I wanted her to heal me, but she couldn't. And then she gave me Max, and he was perfect and beautiful, and I swore I'd never hurt him the way my mother hurt me. But I did. I killed him. Ate him. Drank him down while he cried 'Daddy' over and over again, touching my face, so scared. And I killed my angel too. Tore out her throat and groaned in pleasure as her blood coated my face."
His face contorted and I thought that if her were able to cry, he would have.
"They were the only good things in my life and I destroyed them. I betrayed them. The two people I swore I would NEVER hurt and I FUCKING KILLED THEM! All because of your boyfriend!"
He spat the last word out so viciously a spray of venom fanned across my face.
"Edward didn't mean for any of that to happen," I said, breathing shallowly as the pain made me dizzy.
"And he's not going to mean to kill you," James said bitterly, regaining some control, "but he's going to. Sucks to be him."
"He won't hurt me," I said, close to tears but trying to have the confidence to back up what I was saying. "He loves me."
"And I loved my wife and son," he hissed, his lips pulling back from his teeth. "The monster inside us doesn't give a shit about love, Isabella. All it cares about is blood, and tonight I'm going to make damn sure Edward's monster comes out to play."
He picked me up roughly, and I screamed in pain as he dragged me across the room and threw me back into the chair.
"He's going to end you, you know," I whimpered, unable to stop the tears as the throbbing pain in my shoulder made my stomach lurch.
"Oh, I know," he said softly, looking down at me. "In fact, I'm counting on it."
I looked up at him sharply, suddenly confused.
"I'm not stupid, Isabella," he said, smiling like he didn't have a care in the world. "I know that right now I have a coven of incredibly powerful vampires and a pack of shapeshifters bearing down on me. If my calculations are correct, then I'll have just enough time to finish my plan before I face my inevitable destruction, but when that moment comes, believe me, I'm going to welcome it with open arms."
He crouched in front of me and smoothed my hair away from my face, his features relaxed, his insanity once again fading into the background.
"You see, I've lived with the guilt of killing my family for fifty-four years, Isabella. Fifty-four long years of reliving the horror and pain of their final moments at my hands. I can't cope with it anymore. I don't want to. I'm not a religious man, but I have no doubt that if hell exists, that's where I belong, for so many reasons. But I'd still rather face the possibility of endless torment in the afterlife than one more day of unbearable immortality. Edward killing me is the final stage of my plan. My reward, if you will."
He gave me a small smile, but it was completely devoid of happiness. "I wonder how many years of reliving your death it will take before Edward seeks out his own destruction."
Suddenly, he snapped around to look at the double doors across the room. A low chuckle rumbled in his chest as he yanked me to my feet, pulling me in front of him and wrapping one arm around my waist as I felt the cold blade of his knife press against my throat.
"It seems lover-boy has taken the bait," he whispered excitedly into my ear. "Time to call his monster out to play."
We both stared at the doors, long seconds ticking by, the only sound in the vast space my own tortured breathing. I tensed up when I heard heavy footfalls quickly approaching.
He's here. Oh, thank God.
I screamed in surprise as the huge doors exploded off their hinges, tumbling and scraping across the floor in a screech of broken wood and shattered glass. My heart leapt into my throat as I saw Edward in the doorway, backlit by the alien glow of the exit sign behind him, his arms tense, his fists clenched at his sides. The growl that ripped out of him was the most inhuman noise I'd ever heard.
James tightened his arm around me and I gasped as a jolt of pain shot through my shoulder.
"Hi, Edward," he said amiably. "So glad you could make it. For a moment I was concerned that Jessica had provided too effective a diversion. But here you are, and judging by the blood dripping down your chin, it looks like you've had your appetizer and are ready to move right on to the main course. Lucky for you I've kept Isabella safe and sound." He squeezed me again and I cried out. "Mostly."
"Get the fuck away from her," Edward snarled, his voice quavering and quiet.
I gasped as James sliced his knife across the base of my neck, releasing a quick trickle of blood that soaked into my already wet t-shirt.
"Make me."
Edward roared in fury, the tendons in his neck bulging and taut, his face contorted into a mask of undiluted rage. His appearance made me shudder, because as much as I wanted to believe that his love would prevent him from hurting me, I'd never seen him like this before.
Every vestige of civility was gone. His movements were sharp and inhuman. Everything about him screamed danger...violence...predator, and for the first time, I saw him as more animal than man. Even in the dim light I could see that his lips were pulled back from his teeth, his hands curled into claws, the low rumbling in his chest sending a snarling warning.
"Now, now, Edward," James said, his mouth beside my ear. "No need to get all possessive. Isabella has enough blood for both of us. For the moment, anyway. Best get over here and latch on before it all goes to waste though. I cut her a little deeper than intended, I'm afraid. It would be a shame to have to suck it out of her t-shirt instead of her delectable neck."
Edward groaned, and I could see him trembling, his shoulders hunched as he gripped his abdomen.
"I won't drink her," he ground out, his voice barely audible, and I didn't know if he was talking to James or to himself.
"Of course you will," James countered, chuckling. "You have no choice in the matter. Why pretend otherwise?"
"No!" he said vehemently, even as he took several shaky steps forward.
"Edward..." I said, unable to stop my voice from cracking in fear. "Please...don't."
I could see his stance changing, lowering, just like I'd seen it once before. When he took me hunting.
Please God, let him be hunting James and not me. Please, please, please.
"Let her go," Edward ordered, his voice rough and dark. "She's mine."
"Yes, she is," James agreed. "Absolutely yours. Your singer. The possessor of the blood that was created solely for you." I shuddered as James swept his tongue across my neck, lapping at my blood. "Still, if you don't want it, I'll be happy to make sure it doesn't go to waste."
I watched in horror as Edward's face transformed into something I barely recognized. His eyes went pitch black, not one speck of gold detectable as he threw his head back and screamed, a completely inhuman roar of a rabid, feral animal, crazed and out of control.
I felt a rush of wind and suddenly I was thrown to the floor.
I whipped around to see a blur of movement, and then frenzied snarls filled the air as Edward and James tore at each other, smashing each other into the floor and walls, their fists making loud, flinty sounds as they connected with each other's bodies.
A huge growl echoed around me as Edward hurled James into the bank of collapsible bleachers on the far wall, tearing up the padded seats and bending the metal frame. James chuckled darkly as Edward advanced on him, staggering forward to stand in front him, not moving to block Edward's fist as it collided sharply with his head.
"Is that the best you've got?" he muttered as faint cracks appeared on his face. "I mean, I've tasted your girlfriend's precious blood, dislocated her shoulder, and thought seriously about biting off her fingers. Surely that's worthy of a bit more of an effort on your part. Put some muscle into it, man, for God's sake."
Edward snarled as he punched him harder, his fists blurring as they came down again and again. Then he threw James to the other end of the gymnasium, appearing instantly in front of him as he smashed him into the cinderblock wall, cement exploding around them both as he drew him back like a ragdoll and slammed him forward again.
"That's it, Edward!" James exclaimed proudly as a large fissure cleaved his forehead. "Take me down! Otherwise, I can assure you I'm going to fuck Isabella to death before eating her sweet flesh."
Edward screamed in fury and threw James up against the wall, and I cringed as he wrapped both arms around his head and wrenched it from his body with a sickening tearing sound.
He panted loudly as he watched the decapitated corpse fall heavily to the ground, the heavy thump echoing off the walls around me for long seconds until all that was left was our breathing, fast and ragged in the near-silence.
Edward collapsed to his knees and flung the head away from him, gripping his hair and rocking back and forth as a sound of pure anguish shrieked out of his throat.
Instinctively I moved forward, wanting to comfort him, but he put out a hand, ordering me to stop.
"No," he said, his voice sounding tortured. "I can't hold on. I can't. The blood...it's too much. I tried, Isabella...I tried so hard. But it's right there...singing for me so loudly I can't think of anything else..."
I froze, my blood running cold in my veins. I heard a wet sound and looked down to see blood dripping on the floor from my sodden shirt. Reaching up to touch my neck, I swallowed hard as I felt a steady flow of blood pulsing out of the knife-wound. I pressed against it, but I could feel it oozing through my fingers, warm and slick.
"It's too painful to resist," Edward groaned and clutched his stomach again. "I need it. I can't not have it."
The prickle of fear I usually felt when he was fighting for control flared like a forest-fire all over my body, and I barely heard him when he whispered, "Run."
I backed away from him, not sure I'd heard correctly, but still my heart-pounded heavily, pushing more of my blood through my fingers clutching my neck.
Edward looked at me, profound torment etched on his face.
"I SAID 'RUN', GODDAMMIT!" he screamed as he buried his fists in the floor. "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME! NOW!"
I turned to run, but my sneakers were wet with water and blood, and I screamed in agony as I slipped and fell heavily on my dislocated shoulder. Clutching my arm, I scrambled to my feet, but the pain lanced through me, making me dizzy. I collapsed onto my knees and took a deep breath, trying desperately not to pass out.
Edward's shoulders began to shake and for a moment I thought he was crying. A strangled noise came from him and once again the flash-fire of warning crawling across my skin shrieked at me to get away. To put as much distance between us as possible.
I pushed up onto trembling legs, and stumbled backwards, keeping my eyes trained on him as the world tilted around me. His shoulders kept shaking and as I heard a familiar noise bubble out of him, I realized that he was laughing.
"And now you're too late," he said, sighing, his voice now smooth and clear. "Not that there was much likelihood of you outrunning me anyway, but I really did want you to at least have a chance."
He pulled his fists out of the floorboards and flexed them.
"You have no idea how draining it's been to keep you alive for all these long months. To be close to you and not take what was rightfully mine. To be inside you and not...just...bite. I'm so tired of it, Bella."
I froze as a sickening wave of realization washed over me.
He never called me Bella. NEVER.
This was no longer my Edward. This was the thing that lived inside him. The thing he tried for so long to protect me from, that lurked beneath his carefully cultivated humanity. The vampire: cold...unfeeling...bloodthirsty.
He laughed again as he looked up at me, and tears sprang to my eyes as I saw that all traces of the man I loved were gone. His lips were curled in an arrogant sneer and his eyes were completely emotionless. Black and dead.
I stumbled back toward the door as he stared at me and stood up, his black eyes hooded and malevolent, watching my every movement with hawk-like intensity.
"So many times I tried to warn you," he said, moving slowly forward, a panther stalking his prey. "I tried to tell you that this is what I am, but I don't think you ever truly believed me, did you?"
He crouched in front of a small dark puddle on the floor, and as he lapped at my blood, he closed his eyes, a groaning growl filling the air. Then he gazed up at me and his eyes narrowed in a purely predatory way as he licked the blood from his lips.
"Do you believe me now, Bella?"
Before I could blink he slammed against me, pushing me back until we hit the wall, all of the air rushing out of my lungs as he pressed his weight against me.
"Did you think I could change for you?" he yelled into my face, his contorted with rage and pain. "Magically become a man just because I acted like one? Because I loved you? I'm not a fucking man! I haven't been one for nearly a century! I'm a vampire and I need blood to survive! I need YOUR blood! I don't want to be a monster, but I can't be anything else! I can't! I've tried! I've been stronger for you than I ever thought possible, but it's not enough! It'll never be enough!"
I reached up and touched his face, and for a moment my Edward appeared in his eyes, shocked by the contact, calmed by it. But then the pain and bloodlust overtook him, and he squeezed his eyes shut as I stroked his cheek, trembling as I desperately tried to get him to come back to me.
"Edward...please," I said softly, unable to hold in my tears. "I love you. You don't have to change for me. Let me change for you. Now. Change me and we'll be together. Please..."
"It too late for that," he said, looking at me with such intense regret I started crying for both of us. "I don't have the control. Carlisle was going to do it. And he's not here. No one's here to save you from me."
I could see him fighting for control. Trying to push down the beast, but every time he did his nostrils flared with the scent of my blood, and suddenly he was helpless again. A slave to his biological compulsion.
His eyes flickered down to the cut on my neck and his face filled with absolute torment as he whispered, "I loved you so much. More than any man has ever loved a woman. More than any monster deserved to."
And then a dry sob escaped him as he dropped his head to my shoulder, his mouth hovering over my neck. I tensed as he lapped tentatively at my blood, pressing against the cut, running the length of it. His venom burned as it seeped into the wound and I groaned in protest.
"Please, Edward," I begged softly. "Please...don't."
He grunted and I heard a cracking noise as he curled his fingers into the wall behind me, bits of cinderblock tumbling over my shoulders and thudding onto the floor.
"I'm sorry," he groaned pushing his head deeper into my throat, "but I never dreamed there was anything that tasted like this. God...Isabella...I can...feel you inside me...pulsing in my veins..."
He swallowed and sighed, and I could barely hear him when he whispered, "How could anyone expect me to resist? It's mine. All of it. Made for me. Created to be inside me. I'm sorry."
Suddenly, he closed his lips over my wound, his tongue swirling frantically, and I wrapped my fingers in his hair and yanked, trying to pull him away. He ignored me, even when I pulled with all of my strength.
"Edward...no," I pleaded as my tears fell freely. "Stop."
But he didn't stop. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed, stilling me, and I cried out as his teeth cut into my flesh, piercing me deeply as he began sucking in earnest, long hard pulls drawing my blood out of my neck and into his mouth.
"Edward," I wheezed as he tightened his arms around me, forcing the air out of my lungs. "You can stop. You have the strength. Please...I love you. Stop."
My neck burned under his mouth, but the sensation of him draining me wasn't painful. It was surreal. Slightly hypnotizing. I wondered if all victims felt like this, or if I was the exception because I was in love with the vampire currently glutting himself on my blood.
"Edward!" I said more forcefully. "Stop! Please!"
I pushed against his chest as panic bubbled inside me, fueling my survival instinct and screaming at me to fight him and not accept this easy death. Urging me to kick and scream and rage against it.
I struggled and slapped at him, punched him hard about his face, trying to squirm out of his arms, desperate to wrench my neck away from him, even for a few seconds. It only led to him sinking his teeth deeper, and I sobbed as I realized that no matter what I did, no matter what I said, he wasn't going to stop.
He wasn't capable of it.
He was gone. Lost to the bloodlust he'd fought so long to deny.
The thin veneer of humanity that he'd struggled for so many years to perfect had slipped completely, stripping him of the ability to deny our natural roles - predator and prey. Vampire and singer. Killer and victim.
As the room echoed with quiet sucking sounds and my mind struggled to comprehend my impending death, time stretched, and each second seemed to last minutes. I groaned feebly as I recalled a story I'd heard when I was a kid, about a woman in Africa who'd adopted orphaned lions. One lion, who she'd named Zohan, was brought to her when he was only a few months old. His entire pride had been wiped out by poachers and he was found starving and badly dehydrated. The woman nursed him back to health, fed him, played with him, and loved him. She even let him sleep in her house, but as he grew up and became more aggressive, she made him sleep outside with the rest of the animals.
Still, she felt they shared a special bond, more than any other lion she had rescued.
Zohan was always placid around her, affectionate even, nuzzling her and occasionally rearing on his hind legs to hug her, and because of this she grew complacent in his company, treating him more like a pet than a dangerous beast.
But one day she was careless and didn't close his enclosure properly. He pushed open the gate with his head, and as she was walking back to her house he attacked her, sinking his teeth into her neck and practically tearing off her head before the other caretakers intervened and shot him.
People were outraged that the lion had killed her, considering that she had loved and cared for him so faithfully, but I never blamed the lion. He was a wild animal. King of the predators. Treating a human with affection was an unnatural act for him. Ripping her head off was merely him giving in to his natural instincts.
He was a killer, and he killed. Simple.
And now Edward was doing to same thing. He was merely reverting to his true form. Surrendering to his natural instincts.
I didn't blame him any more than I could blame Zohan. I was just heartbroken that killing me would shatter him. He wasn't going to recover from this. His conscience wouldn't allow it.
James had conceived the perfect revenge, and his words floated back to me: "I wonder how many years of reliving your death it will take before Edward seeks out his own destruction."
My vision started to blur and I closed my eyes, and still he drank, his lips clamped around my neck, deep anguished groans coming from him every time he swallowed, and moans of pure pleasure echoing in his chest every time his mouth filled with blood.
"I love you," I whispered as dark shadows clouded my vision. "Please don't hate yourself for this. I don't."
My head lolled back as all my strength left me and my hands fell to my sides, limp and useless. Edward emitted a low strangled noise filled with indescribable misery and torment, but he didn't stop. Instead he crushed me to him, clutching me desperately, as if he could keep me alive through pure physical force.
He couldn't.
Exhaling one final time, I think I heard my ribs crack before the creeping shadows filled up my senses and I finally succumbed to the darkness.
...
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So...yah...I'mma be over here in my bullet-proof cliffie-bunker, drinking heavily and watching romantic comedies. The thing about rom-coms? HEA. I love HEA. Gotta have a HEA. Just saying. (Don't panic.)
On a brighter and less murderous note, WindowWard won a Golden Lemon Award! He'd be proud as punch if he wasn't currently ensconced in his version of living hell. On his behalf, I grope all of you who voted. Thank you so very much.
If you have a moment, please let me know your thoughts regarding the chapter, (even if you want to beat me).
Thanks for reading,
Kiya x