I don't own anything!

Chapter 36

Coming home

Mike's building.

The hallway outside.

Bella could hear muffled grunts, the occasional cooing of some girl, bedsprings creaking.

It sounded like a bad porn movie, and she smiled despite the bitter taste in her mouth.

She'd come here because she didn't know where else to go. Dirty, tired, out of money, too ashamed and too frightened to go to Ben and Angela, she had returned to the building she had called home for the past year.

The trip hadn't taken long. A car had eventually come along, the driver slowing for the two young women standing in the cold rain.

Bella had felt bad about rewarding this kindness with death, but she was still a vampire. Still needed to feed. Tan watched in horror, but Bella could see the thirst in her eyes.

By the end of the car ride Tan, grudging and sullen, had admitted that she was beginning to believe the whole vampire thing.

They had spent the day in a motel, sleeping. Bella had packed Alice into the bathroom, blocking the cracks under the door with towels, giving the girl plenty of blankets with which to build some sort of nest.

She and Tan had taken the beds. Bella woke, weeping, at sunset. There was no Edward to wake up next to, and never would be again.

By that evening, Tan was already looking more human. Bella still felt the same. She fed on a victim in an adjacent room, and then the trio had continued toward Brooklyn, toward Mike.

Mike's voice, through the door.

"That's good, baby. That's real good, but you … gotta sound like you're … getting the best fuck of your life. Course, I know you are, right baby?"

"Anything you say, Mike." The girl turned the volume up a notch. Bella grimaced.

She'd done this. She'd been here. It was a place she never intended to be again. She stood in the same building, but not in the same place. She had strength now, power now, purpose now. Descent and rebirth.

Bella had survived this process twice already. She would survive a third. Bella kicked the door, hard, just below the lock. The frame splintered and the entire mechanism fell to the floor with a clatter.

The door swept inward on creaking hinges, ricocheted off the wall with a flat smacking sound, and came to a stop.

Mike was quick; Bella had to give him that. The door had not even finished its swing before he was rolling off of the girl, yanking a drawer in the nightstand open and pulling a gun from within.

In a moment more he was up on his feet, pointing the weapon toward the dark hallway. From his perspective, there were only vague grey shapes. Bella's eyes were much better.

Before her stood Mike, naked and still half-aroused, gun cocked and held out in front of him.

"Who the fuck are you and what do you want?" he snarled.

"Put down the gun, dumbass, before you get hurt."

"Answer the fucking question, bitch. Who is that? You one of my girls? Gonna get you some revenge; maybe put some holes in old Mike? Answer me or I start shooting."

"Something like that. I'll give you a few hints. She's short, she's cute and she's been missing for a month or two." The gun wavered for a brief moment. Mike's eyes registered vague surprise before growing icy again.

"I didn't authorize no vacation, Bella."

"I didn't fucking ask for one." Mike sneered at her, still unafraid. Bella knew that look, and it was all she could do not to charge screaming into the room, to tear her former pimp limb from limb.

It spoke of Mike's complete disdain for his girls. It was a look that carried with it all the baggage of his beatings, his orders, and his forcing addiction upon them.

Bella tried to think of Edward. Tried to remain calm.

"Put the gun down. Now." She said. Mike actually smiled at this, and shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. Here's how it's going to go: You're going to come in here, and I'm going to kick the living shit out of you. If you beg real nice, maybe I'll stop before I kill you. If that's how it goes, then you'll get back to your room, and heal up, and get your ass out where it belongs, and maybe then I might give you a ration sometime this fucking century." Bella laughed. After the blood, heroin had lost its appeal.

"Last chance, Mike. Put down the gun."

"No." Bella shrugged, and released her grip on Alice's shoulder. What happened next was better even than she could have expected.

Alice sprang into the room, howling, so quick that she seemed a blur even to Bella.

Mike's expression moved from confidence to terror in an instant. He got off one shot, wild, and the recoil from the gun caused him to drop it.

Alice leapt, and Bella was treated to the wholly satisfying view of Mike losing his bladder on his own feet.

He ducked at the last possible moment, and Alice sailed over him, into the bed. Mike scrabbled away on all fours, making noises that sounded something like words, something like screams.

There was a choking sound from the bed, and when Alice reappeared, she was drenched in crimson. She leapt down to the floor and advanced on Mike, growling low in her throat, the rumble of a jungle cat. Mike had backed himself into a corner, soiled, wet with piss and tears, and was making some sort of plea for his life.

Bella called Alice's name, and the vampire stopped, less than two feet from Mike. She raised her lip in a sneer that was oddly human, then turned, picked the gun up in her teeth, and brought it to Bella.

"Don't do that. Dogs do that. Use your hands." Bella's voice was soft, her heart not really in the scolding. She was too busy watching Mike to ensure he didn't move.

She entered the room, Tan and Alice trailing behind, and stood by Mike's desk, looking at him. He sat on the floor, glaring up, making the slow move from fear to smouldering humiliation.

"Stand up."

"Bitch, I ain't doing shit for you." Bella's expression was almost bored as she swung the gun upward and fired twice, putting a shot just to either side of Mike's head. Behind her, Tan made a small shrieking noise. Mike's eyes went wide, his face paper white.

"I don't have to miss, Mike. Trust me on that, 'kay? I'm in charge, now. Stand the fuck up." Mike did what he was told. "Put on some fucking clothes. I've seen all of that that I plan on seeing, thank you." Mike struggled into a pair of jeans, very nearly catching himself in the zipper.

Behind Bella, Tan giggled. Mike shot her a look that made it perfectly clear that being laughed at by women was not something he was used to tolerating. Bella waved the gun, drawing his attention.

"Don't even look at her. She can laugh all day, if she wants. We need money, Mike. Now. As much as you have. You're going to get it, and you're going to get us some clothes, and then you're going to leave." Mike's eyes blazed.

"I'm not taking orders from—" Bella cut him off.

"Yeah? That right? Your friend GLOCK here says you will. Even if he didn't, I think Alice's next on the chain of command." Alice was sniffing around the bed. On hearing her name she glanced at Bella, wandered over, sat on her haunches and licked blood from her arm, indifferent.

"Get us some clothes, Mike. Then come back."

"The fuck happened to you, Bella?" Mike's voice was plaintive. Confused.

"It's a long story, and you're not worth the time. You know sizes. You can guess what'll fit us. If you feel like running, go right ahead. Alice could track you anywhere, even before you smelled like piss, and as you've seen, she's a lot faster than you are. If you're not back in five minutes, I'll send her out." Mike opened his mouth to say something. Bella cut him short with a gesture.

"Next time I see your tongue, Mike, I blow it out of your fucking mouth. Clothes. Now." Bella motioned toward the door. After a moment, Mike went.

"That was amusing …" Tan was looking at the bed with distaste. A hand hung limp from under the covers. "Do you two do this often?"

"Me? No. Not when I can avoid it. Alice, maybe. I … Alice, get out of there." Alice was inspecting the closet, sniffing at garments. Bella didn't know where Mike's supply might be hidden.

It was unlikely that it would be any place so unguarded, but the last thing she needed was an overdosing vampire. Tan sat at Mike's desk and lit a cigarette from the pack that was sitting there. She dragged, coughed, dragged again.

"Three days without one of these. Thought I was going to go crazy."

"Yeah, they get their claws into you." They were quiet for a minute. Tan smoked. Bella watched. Alice sat at Bella's side, licking her arms like a cat.

"You want one?" Tan asked, stubbing hers out.

"No. Thanks. There's a shower through that door. You want the first one? I'll deal with Mike."

"Okay." Tan made her way to the bathroom. Bella sat down at the desk, looking at her watch.