**I'm going to do this on this chapter and this chapter alone. This disclaimer will apply to any chapters in this story. I do not own the characters from House of Wax, I only own the characters that I have created, like Charlie and Max.**

Painted Ivy and Wax Hearts

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Alright guys. So this is my first ever horror like Fiction. I will admit that i haven't watched the House of Wax movie in a very, very long time, but I've been doing a lot of research so I'm hoping all the info I have in correct. As for the characters, i'm taking a lot of licence with them, so if they're not acting "How you're used to" I'm sorry but this is my version, so be kind. I would love to hear what you guys think though, so let me know and I'll see you guys next Friday!

Chapter 1

They were on their way through Louisiana, running from a bank robbery her and her boyfriend, Max, just pulled when it happened. It was a normal day, they were set to meet their partners in a few hours to divide the score evenly between them. And then Max decided he didn't want to share the money with anyone.

Which to him, meant pulling over, and trying to strangle her with his bare hands. Charlotte had kicked him off of her and ran away, right into the town of Ambrose where there was no one to help her, where all the stores were closed, which included the goddamn doors to the church, and the only thing open was a Wax museum.

With Max hot on her heels, Charlotte had sprinted into the house, locked the door and then went looking for a suitable place to hide, which she chose as the library behind the curtains of the bay window.

She listened to Max as he broke into the house by shattering the front door's window to get at the lock. Then looting the place knocking over everything to try and find her. She couldn't stay here, he'd find her if she stayed here.

She turned to try and open the window, as quietly as she could so she could escape out it, and that was when she saw what had been watching her from the bushes on the other side of the window she was trying to open.

Whatever it was, was pale, its face misshapen and… fake looking? Like it was wearing a bad mask. It had long straggly dark hair and it was staring at her. Charlotte hadn't been expecting it. She couldn't help it, she cried out. And that was how Max found her.

He grabbed her by the back of the head and dragged her out of the window kicking and screaming. He threw her to the ground winding her and then he was on top of her again. He punched her, one good sucker punch to the side of her head and all she saw was stars. She couldn't block when his hands came to her throat. And then she couldn't breathe.

She tried to grapple with him, but he was stronger than her, and she was too dizzy to fight him off. She didn't see what it was that plunged that knife into his shoulder, she didn't see what it was that grabbed Max and ripped him off of her. She barely heard the scuffle, the screams, the deafening silence over her own coughing. But even getting air back into her lungs wasn't helping her

As her vision went spotty and black she saw that grotesque paleness descend on her.

-HOW-

She came to with a scream. Bolting up in the darkness and looking around. She was in a bedroom. It was filled with grotesque clay figures and jars of formaldehyde and dead creatures. Everything smelt musty, the shadows were playing tricks on her, and the sound of the countryside at night was echoing out at her. Grasshoppers and night owls had never sounded so ominous before.

She sat there panting. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know who had saved her or if that thing with the mask was still around… or friendly.

Nothing about this felt friendly, nothing about this told her that this situation was going to end well for her.

Okay, so escaping… that was like… what she was the best at. She could do this. She could get out of here, she just had to be very, very quiet and then like… disappear into the woods.

She quickly got up, thanked god she was still fully dressed, looked for her shoes and couldn't find them. Fine. Fuck it. She'd go barefoot. Make shoes out of sticks like on Survivor Man or some bullshit.

She put her hand to the door and it suddenly opened. Yelping she threw herself back because that thing wearing the mask was in front of her. Staring at her… maybe… she couldn't quite tell where his gaze was falling.

Oh god. She was gonna get serial killed. His hands came out, she recognized the gesture. It was the kind of motion one made when they were approaching someone with caution, like he was trying to calm her down.

"Look I just want to go home!" she cried and he shook his head, he brought a finger to his lips. Be quiet? He wanted her to be quiet?

Beneath them a door slammed shut and a deep voice shouted: "VINCENT!" on what had to be the top of that's person's lungs.

Charlotte opened her mouth to scream, maybe that person could help her. But the masked man flew forward slamming into her, clasped a hands to her lips and shushed her. He was warm, his hands were soft he smelt… almost waxy? Like candles without the chemical smells.

"He's looking for you," his voice deep and raspy. Oh well that wasn't good now was it?

"Vincent!" the voice called again and he looked back to the door.

"Stay here," he said. "Stay here. Stay quiet."

He then he quickly got off of her and shut the door. Oh geeze, oh god, what had she gotten herself into?

-HOW-

Vincent stared at his brother as he raged. About how it was possible that the duo had gotten past them, that the woman had gotten away. Vincent couldn't tell Bo that the girl was up in his bedroom.

Bo would want to kill her and Vincent didn't want to kill her.

He wanted to keep her.

"I'm going to go out again, see if I can track her, okay?" Bo said. "You'll be okay while I'm gone right? I mean… I can trust you with that, right?"

Normally when his brother talked to him like he was a child who couldn't live without him, Vincent was angered and would often internalize the critiques, not that he'd ever fight his brother. That day, however, he couldn't have cared less.

Vincent nodded and then waited patiently for his brother to get back into the truck and drive off. He waited until he couldn't see the truck anymore before he went to the kitchen, pulled out the coldest item he could find and then made his way back upstairs slowly and carefully in case she was hiding near-by or had snuck out. He didn't want to startle her again.

Girls didn't like guys like him. Bo was the pretty one, they liked Bo. He… he wasn't good enough… pretty enough… normal enough. But maybe she might… think otherwise? He had saved her after all…

He opened the door and peaked in. She was still in his room, curled up in a corner. She jumped, maybe at the noise, maybe at him.

"Can I leave now?" she asked. Her voice light and musical. Vincent really, really liked her voice.

"It's not safe to leave… he's looking for you," he told her. She nodded.

"I'm… I'm Charlotte. But everyone calls me Charlie. You… you can call me Charlie if you want." She told him. He nodded coming into the room and shutting the door. "What's your name?"

"… Vincent."

"Do people call you Vince?"

He didn't have people, he had his brothers and they never gave him a nickname. "They call me Vincent."

"Oh… uh… okay…" she whispered.

He offered her the bag of peas he had taken from the freezer. "For your eye."

She took it carefully, her cool blue eyes assessing him. "Thank you," she murmured. "Can you… uh… can you take the mask off?"

He shook his head. "No… it's worse when it's off." Her eyes narrowed at him but he didn't want to explain. "I… why was he trying to kill you?"

"Max? What did happen to Max?"

"He's… gone… why was…"

"We were arguing about… things…" she said. She looked at him carefully before sighing and asked: "I mean… if I tell you… will you like… I unno call the cops?"

He shook his head. Course not. Cops couldn't come to this town. This town wasn't supposed to exist. "Okay, I mean… you look trustful… uhmm. Okay here we go. We're bank robbers. He didn't want to share, he was going to kill me and make off with the money. You… you and your brother can have it…"

"You're the bank robbers on the news? They have a state wide search going on for you," he told her. That must have been why Bo is so upset. If she got away she'd tell the cops where her boyfriend was… in their town. Which was supposed to be hidden. No one left their town alive… except for Bo… and Lester.

Her eyes widened. "Oh so they're looking for me… maybe… maybe I could stay here… until it dies down… I could… I could give you my partner's cut of the money if you'd like. Or maybe just take it's caused nothing but problems but I'm sure I can also just rob another bank if I have to. Just with different partners."

She talked a lot. Like a lot a lot. He kind of liked it because when Bo talked to him he never had anything nice to say. Speaking of Bo… "My brother won't want you to stay here…"

"He won't? Why?"

Because we kill people. No he couldn't say that. She'd want to leave. He settled with: "He doesn't like strangers."

"Okay fair… so… uh… what do we do?"

"You hide," he whispered. "Until I can calm him down… you'll stay here… I'll keep you safe until I can introduce you two…"

"Okay… thank you… did you want to know where the…"

He shook his head. He didn't care about money because for right now she had agreed to stay and that made him happier than any amount of money could have made him.