Welcome back and thank you to KittenAlice2, Guest, writingblondie, Shelby Duncan, Sharpeyes, Kyr, brenster100, Noee, Magda95, Ladysylphide, William Francies Reisen-Newman, myfanficaddiction for reviewing!
KittenAlice2, Fan fiction has been very glitchy lately. Many of the times I would have to check my email to even be able to read reviews, just like today. It wouldn't load any of my new reviews and I was so upset! I'm glad to read from you again!
Guest, Yes! We fed our girl. No, Edward would not compromise her privacy to the family. When I wrote that part where Rosalie gave a sympathetic look, I was worried someone would relate that! But no, Rosalie didn't like Bella in the original because she was a human that knows the vampire secret so that would be an instant death sentence to them from the Volturi. She also didn't like her because Edward was attracted to a human instead of herself… and because Bella would choose a vampire life over a human one where she could grow old and have a family. But.. Bella has her own secret to protect because she's not human. So, there really is no reason for Rosalie to disaprove of Bella besides possibly being a threat to their family because of the wolves. Bella won't necessarily starve from the treaty deal, she's just not allowed to feed in town. She's allowed to feed out of the Forks and La Push boundaries, it will just be more difficult for Bella because she still holds her humanity, and having to assess who will be her next victim will be more difficult.
wiritingblondie, Yesss Alice Cullen has made it back into the fiction and is as enthusiastic and inlove with Bella as ever! I almost cut Ruby out of this chapter to push her into the next one because I was worried the chapter would be too long, so I made transitional cuts from the previous events to keep the story rolling, which allowed me to be able to add Ruby to this chapter.
Shelby Duncan, thank you so much! I do really love writing this story. I am no real writer with any experience, so it definitely has been a challenge.
Sharpeyes, The reason Bella couldn't complete the drain was because the girl was a smoker, and the scent of the energy was compromised with the taste of tobacco and it grossed Bella out too much. The only way a Succubus turns another is by transferring some of their own energy into a human, which will overpower the energy of the human. The two energies will fight against each other, and the weaker energy will lose… which makes sense that the human energy would lose to Succubus energy when the change happens. Vilinsea had told Bella before that one day she will learn to not fully drain humans, that they can do so by taking little amounts at a time, so this was Bella's first experience with that, except it wasn't based on Bella's own self control… just really unappetizing energy.
Kyr, thank you for the story suggestions! I had read those before already, sadly. When I said I read… a lot… i read a lot haha! I appreciate it though!
Brenster100, we spoke over PM to answer his questions! Thanks for reviewing!
Noee, thank you for your kind words! I hope family life is going well, and yes. College has been stressful to me, so reading and writing does bring a hobby for myself too! Yes, that is a theory some of my reviewers have so far! Will have to see!
Magda95, making him promise to call her would have been funny! I didn't think of that! Yes, I definitely think… the moment between the two with the mind reading had brought them.. A little closer together in a way through trauma. HAHA! Yes! Edward is now an accomplice by uncertainty! Yes, I had a few comments about people disliking the wolves for what they were doing, and I really tried to express why they were being the way they were, but it's understandable to dislike them, too! We will see how she gets her fix one day. Yes, Bella is not allowed to feed in Forks or La Push. She will need to leave the territory. No, the Cullens wouldn't be happy about it, but they also don't want to starve her again.
Ladysylphide, we will find out who Mrs. Weaver is soon! Yes, men can also be succubus's! A male succubus is called an incubus!
William Francies Resien-Newman, thank you! (:
myfanficaddiction, thank you, thank you. I am now finally trying to progress them a little bit at a time! It's not the health of the person, it was more that Bella couldn't handle the taste of tobacco on her breath, so it was compromising the flavor of the energy! I am still handling future chapters as we speak, trying to figure out what new twists and turns we can take with them… sadly. It's been a little rough trying to balance that out. Yes, will see who Mrs. Weaver is this chapter.
Congratulations to Magda95 for proving the story that I was looking for! It is called Distractions by windchymes and I loved it! Now, Magda96. Just send me a DIRECT MESSAGE about the name, background story, and how Bella will take over that victim! You will be credited in the story when it is written!(:
School is now over, and my Birthday is on May 18th! So Happy 23rd Birthday to me!(: Sorry for it taking so long for the next update. I was hoping my last two chapters being within the same week would have helped out with the tension of waiting for the next one.. So here we go!
-o-
WARNING: Assault Triggers. Heavy Language.
All rights to the characters and the Twilight Saga go to Stephenie Meyer. Enjoy!(:
Chapter 13: Port Angeles
Thursday February 17th, 2005.
"Bella?" Angela said, nudging my upper arm with her finger. "You okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry," I muttered. "A little distracted." I nudged my fork against the peas on my tray as the table continued talking.
And I was distracted. Last night my thoughts had been confused, but eager for work today to get closer to Mrs. Weaver so I could ask if I had heard her correctly, which I was sure I had. If she knew I was a succubus, then there had to be a possible connection between her and another one. I had almost thought, myself, that she had been one, but she was an elder, and Vilinsea had told me that we no longer age. Her eyes had also been a giveaway that she was only just human. Why had she given me that vindictive stare that I would continue to picture in my thoughts as something pernicious, as if she had her eyes set on me with a rancorous stare that I wasn't able to compute her direction to. In practicality, she must have turned that stare towards me because she knows of my diet and had no intentions of approving it.
Understandably, I suppose. I didn't approve of it myself, but it kept others around me at school safe if I continued it.
I stared over at the Cullen table where Edward and Alice sat, and I had only just rejected my participation in sharing with today. I didn't want them to pinpoint my obvious daydreaming today and proceed to ask questions for answers that I couldn't give them either. Giving them information of what I had heard last night from Mrs. Weaver's lips would only cause more curiosity from them, and hint more towards what they already most likely suspect that I am. If they hadn't figured it out already, I'm sure they would still look into it more.
I had supposed last night in my rendezvous of thoughts that maybe telling them of what I am could only offer them more insight and knowledge of things they could possibly already have the answers to. Possibly other means of helping me. I knew they had found their own way of feeding without needing blood from humans, but I wasn't sure I had the stomach or the immoral thoughts of placing my lips onto an animal just to sustain myself. I wasn't sure if that was an option for myself anyways. Animals do show energy sources, but not the same that I need or would be satisfied with. I chilled at the thought.
"Oh my god, yes! We can make it like a group study date," Jessica said giddily. "What are you doing this weekend, Bella?" She turned her head towards me, knocking me out of my own daze once again.
I poked at more of the vegetables with my fork, stabbing into a floret of broccoli, waving it around on my fork against my lips, processing an idea for what I would be doing this weekend.
"Actually, I was looking for somewhere to pick up some new books," I nodded, chewing on the flower of the broccoli. "I work at the Forks nursing home and saw their collection was a little short."
"Have you checked out the local one? I went last week to pick up a cookbook for my mom," Angela added.
I smiled sheepishly with a shrug, "Yeah, not entirely what I was looking for," I let out a shy chuckle, "I was thinking of going to Seattle or Olympia, but my truck might not make it."
That was important if I were to head out of town. If I were to tell Charlie of my plans for leaving for Seattle, I could very well go on foot, but Charlie would ask about why my truck was sitting at the house. If he were to go fishing this weekend, I could get away with it, but he hadn't mentioned any plans for doing so.
"Hmm," Angela hummed, chewing on her bottom lip before looking back up to me. "There's one in Port Angeles. It might not be what you're looking for though. Mostly a cultural store with texts in other languages, but it's neat."
She was right, that wouldn't necessarily be something that I was looking for, but it was worth checking out. Who knows? Maybe some of the residents would not mind extending their knowledge of other cultural beliefs and traditions.
"I'll check it out," I smiled at her.
"That's really what you're going to do this weekend?" Jessica asked, raising her eyebrow with disbelief. "Why not ask Edward to hangout? He seemed friendly to you yesterday."
"Or me," Ethan spoke up. He had sat back at our table again today instead of Jenny's which only caused me to frown. I wanted him to expand his relationship with her.
Him and Mike both weren't waiting for me today like they usually would, so I had hoped it was working, but maybe he was just wanting to take things slow and not take up her lunch hour each day.
"I'm not doing anything this weekend, either," he spoke. "I could go with you to Port Angeles. I know the area a little."
"You're not going to study with Jenny this weekend?" I asked, pointedly, trying to force his thoughts in a different direction. Ethan subtly glanced over at Lauren with an eye roll and back towards me which caused me to frown with a nod. "Understood."
"Yeah," he nodded back, looking down at his food. "Besides, she has plans to go out of town with her dad for her birthday this weekend. So maybe we could go together if you like. I wouldn't mind checking it out, anyways."
"As good as any company sounds, I kind of was going to just take this trip alone." It would be nice to spend time with a friend that I didn't mind having around, and I wouldn't hate going with someone out of town, but I knew that it was a possibility that the Cullens or even the wolves would guess that I was taking him out of town for my next meal. So far, they knew of my friendship with Jacob and his friends and hadn't completely made a fuss about the last time I took them to feed the ducks with me, but now there was a treaty that was being formed in my favor. I didn't want to take the risk of causing suspicion.
"Oh," he frowned. "Maybe next time then, right? My parents' house actually has a really nice, heated pool. It's good for any weather temperature since, it's uh," he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, "heated."
"Your parents have a heated pool and I'm just now hearing about this?" Jessica gasped, slapping her hand onto the back of his palm. "Oh my god, we so have to have a party their next time your parents are out of town!"
"Jessica!" Angela whispered, scolding her apprehensively.
"No, no it's fine. I'm sure my folks wouldn't mind if there's not too many people," he said, letting out a nervous laugh. "I'll have to ask them. You'd come, too, right, Bella?"
I nodded, "Sure, yeah," I breathed out, glancing back over towards the Cullen table as I could slightly hear a gasp of excitement in Alice as if she had just been notoriously invited. The Cullens were not friends with this group of people at my table so I wasn't sure what conversation she was gushing over.
The rest of lunch consisted of a few more chats about plans for setting up a date to go to his pool. Apparently, there weren't any completely sunny days over the next few weekends, but it didn't matter since those had been rare for the winter months anyways. He also had time to mention that he had a jacuzzi attached to the end of his pool which only excited Jessica even more, adding her bewilderment that he hadn't mentioned any of these facts sooner. The bell had decided to chime to allow the next group of students to go to lunch and Mike had followed Jessica out of the cafeteria while Angela walked with me to class.
"So, you're really going to Port Angeles this weekend?" Angela asked.
"Yeah, maybe tomorrow after school," I sighed. "I don't work Friday, so might as well get it over with."
"Oh," she paused. "So, if you aren't going this weekend, do you have any other plans?"
"Not definite ones," I replied with a smile. "Why?"
She shrugged. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to hangout or not. I wasn't exactly invited to the study group," she chortled. "My mom is going to be home this weekend, so I don't have to watch the twins."
"Alright," I agreed with a nod. "What do you have in mind?"
"I thought maybe we could just hang out. Go get ice cream or something. I—I'm not really sure. I haven't had a free weekend away from the twins in a while," she laughed.
"Ice cream sounds great," I smiled, walking behind her into the classroom. Angela briefly smiled at Mr. Banner before rushing to her desk as I reciprocated the same gesture and hurried towards mine. Edward was tapping his fingers against his textbook, making sounds as if he were composing a song on the piano the way his fingers and wrists were moving up and down different sections of the hardback, humming softly to an unfamiliar tune. I heaved out a heavy sigh and quickly sat down in my chair, lifting it up slightly so it wouldn't make a loud noise as I moved it backwards.
Edward nodded towards me and continued humming, waiting for the next few minutes for class to start. I looked over at his hands again, continuing to stare at the sounds he was making with his throat and how they made a musical connection towards how he was tapping his fingers on the book. I was curious if this was some sort of talent of his, but I didn't care to press the matters as of right now.
"Hi," I whispered.
"Hello, Bella," he replied with a smile as he decreased the volume of his tapping. He straightened his shoulder and gently moved his fingers away from it, bending down to his backpack to grab his notebook out of it to place it onto his desk.
I looked away from him, leaning back into the chair and began chewing on the inside of my cheek. The thoughts of being next to a supernatural being only furthered my questions towards Mrs. Weaver and how she had recognized me. I was more thoroughly vexed as I had not been able to sleep last night over the consumption of wonder. I briefly glanced up at Edward again who was still looking over at me. I moved my stare away towards the fan in the room that was blowing towards the aisle farthest from us, watching the students shuffle their jackets on and cross their arms to shield themselves from the cold air.
"Thoughts?" he asked, pressing his arms against the desk as he leaned forward, holding the same expression on his face.
I continued chewing on the inside of my cheek, almost causing the tissue to bleed at my persistence, glancing up at him and away at him continuously.
"I—um," I spoke, expiring a shaken breath. I leaned closer towards him, tucking my chin to my chest. "Have your family ever had any experience with a human knowing your secret?"
His expression only slightly faltered as he looked shocked, but he recovered and delicately stroked the tousled hair on his forehead back.
"Not directly, no," he whispered. "If someone marginally becomes perceptive to construct close enough ideas about us, we normally move away."
"Oh," I breathed out, flexing my fingers. I didn't have the same opportunities as he had considering that I was needed to continue a normal life until I was able to graduate and put up the persona that I was moving out to go to college.
"If it eases your mind, I've heard no thoughts of uncertainties towards you," he spoke with reassurance. I flattened my lips, nodding at him and leaned away. "You don't seem too pleased with that answer. Is there someone else you are curious about?"
"No," I shook my head. I didn't think it would be wise to tell him in case he came to snoop around the nursing home to read the thoughts there.
Mr. Banner continued with the class to go further into osmolarity and how it affects cells. I couldn't concentrate on the topic as my mind continued to derail with fatigue and concerning thoughts. I laid my head down on the desk, using my binder as a pillow, looking in the other direction from Edward. Mr. Banner hadn't corrected my behavior so I gently closed my eyes, imagining the possibilities I would go through today. I knew I would have work after school so I could go ahead and debunk the concerning thoughts and meet with Mrs. Warner about what she had coldly voiced to me. Was she feeling threatened? Was she going to report what I was to the staff? Surely, they wouldn't believe her, would they?
Mike had walked me out of class towards the gym as he usually did. Gym today consisted of us just walking around the track of the outdoor field since it wasn't raining today, but the ground was still mushed from the previous day. I sighed as my sneakers were only becoming more ruined and Mike thought kicking around the mud in my direction was funny until I yelled at him to stop. He apologized but continued laughing as my legs were now covered in stripes of mud, and I ended up turning around to go to the locker room showers.
After school was let out, I quickly walked to my car in anticipation for what the rest of the day and evening would consist of. I would need to find time to talk to Mrs. Weaver and get away from my desk. I wasn't sure how I would get away, but it was prudent for me to do so. Ethan had waved at me from the parking lot, holding Jenny's textbooks for her as she walked close beside him. I offered him a quick wave as I tore out of the spot and skidded past the long line. There really was no need for my rush, but I assumed the earlier I could get there, the faster I could settle myself in my chair.
I put on my clean scrubs, placed a note for Charlie that I would be home late from work, and headed towards the nursing home, noting that the wolves indeed were no longer following me as I turned on the winded road and into the parking lot. I pulled my hair up out of my face and replaced my contacts as I jumped out of my truck and shuffled inside past the glass doors. Ellen and Paige were already ecstatic to see me as they both waved and said their hellos with friendly smiles as I sat down. We did the usual conversational topics as we waited for visiting hours to open up, but I continued to search the main lobby and eye the entrance to the hallway.
"Port Angeles? I didn't even know they had a bookstore," Ellen said.
"Yeah, me neither," I replied.
"Well, that'll please Mr. Taylor if you do. He might offer you the company card so that you can purchase the books as a write-off."
"No, really. It's my pleasure. I'm not sure I can pick up nudey magazines with that, anyways," I teased.
"Nudey magazines?" Ellen gasped.
"Oh my god, did I forget to tell you? Bella ran into Mr. Rhodes and he practically begged for them," Paige laughed, clasping her hand against her chest. "You should've seen her face, almost priceless."
Ellen nodded, "Well don't let Mr. Taylor hear about that," Ellen pushed, leaning back in her chair with pursed lips.
"Let the old man live a little bit," Paige laughed, pushing her hand against Ellen's upper arm, and causing Ellen's chair to roll away slightly. Ellen narrowed her eyes at her as she readjusted her chair back into position.
I smiled at both and leaned forward towards my computer, clicking through different files and then narrowing patient ones to the bottom left corner. I opened Mrs. Warner's once again, reading it over. The only information shown here is that she was placed into this facility in two thousand-two and her family after her family had admitted her to get better health admittance that she wasn't receiving at home after they had moved here. There wasn't much else as her medical records and medications were blurred from me not being allowed full access to them. I nodded, glancing back over towards the hallway entrance towards the rooms again.
"Checking out Mrs. Weaver, huh?" Paige asked, peaking over at my desk. I quickly closed out the file, causing Paige to giggle more. "It's fine, Bella. We all snoop sometimes."
"I wasn't snooping," I muttered, feeling the rush of warmth cascade over my cheeks.
"She was acting out of the ordinary with you, yesterday," she said with a curious tone. "What did you say to her?"
"Nothing!" I replied. "I was just sweeping in the resident lobby and I must have been in her way." I looked over at her as she smirked at me with a quizzical look. She nodded, and Ellen looked at the both of us with a confused expression, but Paige just waved her off.
Ellen had eventually left to go home, leaving just me and Paige to begin checking in visitors which weren't plentiful today. Only a few of the residents occupied the resident lobby, but Mrs. Weaver was nowhere in sight. She must not come out of her room often or enjoy the company with the residents and their friends and families. I sighed, leaning back into my chair again as I continued to watch over towards the direction.
Paige was telling me about her plans this weekend with her girlfriend and how they were going to go out of town to purchase more cat items for their new kitten and then go on a date afterwards at a restaurant. I didn't hear much of what she was explaining, but I nodded and smiled when I noticed she would end her sentences to start a new one. She didn't seem to acknowledge that I was only paying half attention as she continued on.
"So, are we able to visit the residents after we clock out?" I asked, interrupting her mid-sentence. Paige's eyes widened as she noticed my eagerness for my question, and I looked away quickly from her slightly embarrassed by my rude interjection.
"Um, not really," she said, clicking the roof of her mouth, recovering from her shock of being interrupted. I smiled apologetically. "We usually only get to interact with the residents when they are in the lobby or come over to speak to us, but that's normally it."
"Oh," I replied, feeling defeated.
"Why? Is there someone here you'd like to talk to?"
"Possibly," I sighed. "Never mind."
"She doesn't leave her room much, you know," Paige added. "She has only a few visitors who come about once a month, possibly every two months sometimes."
I stared blankly at her. "Who?"
"Mrs. Weaver," she spoke softly. "That's the resident you're interested in talking to, right?"
"Oh, yeah," I paused, mentally cursing at myself for being too noticeable with my intentions. "You said she gets visitors?"
"Only sometimes, yeah. Other than that, Mrs. Weaver either stays in her room or she'll visit the rooms of other residents, but she rarely, if ever, comes into the lobby."
"Huh," I nodded, glancing back at the entrance.
The rest of the visitors started making their way towards the front desk to be checked out as they told their loved one's goodbye. The nurses helped escort the patients back to their rooms to initiate their scheduled bedtime. I sighed, tapping my fingers against the keyboard to add the visitor check-in and checkout file to today's date, clicking save and exiting the folder. Paige pushed her legs up on the desk, and pulled out her MP3 player, placing the earbud into one of her ears.
I stood up from my desk and let Paige know that I was going to head to the bathroom, where she waved at me with a nod as she continued to softly sing the words to "This Love" by Maroon 5. I rushed over to the employee bathroom quickly down the hall and sank onto the toilet seat to relieve myself. After a few seconds, I heard wheels squeaking over the tile flooring. I glanced up, trying to peek through the cracks of the bathroom stall door, but whoever it was, was not in view. I stood up, flushing the toilet behind me and opened the stall, gasping when I noticed Mrs. Weaver sitting near the farthest sink of the bathroom.
"Hi," I spoke, staring directly at the collar of her shirt as I walked to the sink to wash my hands.
"Hmm," she hummed. Tapping her fingernails against the metal rims of her wheelchair.
I felt oddly nervous now to approach her directly about the elephant in the room as I scrubbed the hand soap underneath my fingernails tediously.
"Sorry, this is the employee bathroom. I can get a nurse to help you if you like," I said, still staring over towards her.
"I think not," Mrs. Weaver replied with a slightly refined southern accent that I hadn't noticed before. "Besides, you and I both have some explaining to do."
"I'm still on the clock," I replied quickly. "I can't be gone for too long."
"You're a succubus. I think you can manage visiting me after hours," she said, rolling her eyes.
"You called," I paused, swallowing saliva into my throat. "You called me a succubus. Why?"
"Isn't that what you are?" She raised her eyebrow at me with a smug expression. "I'm not one to be wrong about that."
"How—how did you know?" I stuttered. "I mean, how do you know what I am, or what a succubus is?"
"Just visit me after you get off your shift, sweetheart," she smiled, looking down at the floor and slightly looked disgusted at the lack of care done to keep it clean. "I'll leave my window opened tonight. I suppose you'd be able to find my room easy enough?"
I nodded, turning the tap off on the water as I continued staring at her. The slight upturn of her lips in her kind expression had altered my initial reaction towards her. It was neither odd nor hostile in the sense. She looked around the bathroom again and wheeled her way back towards the bathroom door to exit.
The later evening came as Paige was still on her MP3 player while she was sweeping the front desk area behind her. I went around the front and back exits to water the plants and in the lobby as well. Mr. Taylor came out of his office to show my time stamp card for the week and was showing me that by Monday he would have me approved on the computer for my own personal login which caused a smile to appear on my face. Mr. Taylor offered me the company card after Paige told him that I was going out of town to look for books for the shelves and I nodded to him, taking it with me. He told me there was a limit on the card for over one hundred-fifty and to make sure I bring back the receipts for my purchases.
I logged out of the computers and dumped out the nearest trash cans and followed Paige out of the front doors. Her girlfriend pulled into the parking lot to pick her up and we talked for a few minutes. Her name was Dhara and her clothing style was very much different to the way that Paige normally presented herself. Dhara held more of a grunge look while Paige always had her hair tightly curled with sweet butterfly clips to pull the strands back. The pairing appearance wise was odd, but they seemed sweet, nonetheless. Paige waved goodbye to me and gave me the address of where they live together, telling me that I should come visit them sometime. I nodded and said my goodbyes while I stood next to the door of my truck. When they peeled out of the parking lot, I checked my surroundings and turned around to head towards the back of the building in search for Mrs. Weaver's window.
It was left as she said it would be— open. I walked hesitantly to it, peering into the room that was slightly illuminated by the moonlight that was showing through the fog. I placed my hands on the edge of the open window, and swung my legs into it, standing still into a crouch as I looked in, searching for her. She was laying still in her bed as she was biting down on her lip with a pen in her hand, holding onto a sudoku booklet. I waited still.
"Hello, dear," she spoke, gesturing her hand towards the couch in her room. "Sit down if you like."
I nodded, pushing myself off the edge of the windowsill, landing onto the carpet of her room and glancing around. It was pretty plain with yellow tinted walls and brown carpeting with slight blue and red threading woven into it. Her bed was of a queen size with monitors off to the side of it, with a tasteful knitted quilt at the end of her mattress. She had paintings of ocean waves and some old pictures of her in her youthful years on her bedside desk. I paused before I made it to the couch, seeing that her bathroom light was still on.
"Would you like me to get that for you?" I asked, pointing my finger towards it.
"No, I usually leave that on, but thank you," she softly chuckled. "Please, sit. My nurse won't be here for another thirty minutes since she had already checked on my not too long ago."
I nodded, gliding onto the couch that had cushions that were overly worn in as I sank deeper in, and my knees almost tucked higher than my waist. I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around my legs, looking away from her as I continued staring around the room.
"I'm sorry for my rude behavior, dear," she spoke, pushing away one of sudoku booklets from her bed onto her desk. "I suppose I was initially frightened by you being here. I wasn't clear on your intentions." She spoke, flattening the end of her sheets between her fingers as she spoke.
She seemed as nervous as I was for the conversation, but I wasn't sure if it was nervousness that I was feeling, or eager for information.
"I suppose you took this job in hopes that you could get away more easily with your feeding habits?" She asked.
I nodded much too quickly than I should have, not realizing that I was answering her question honestly by outing my malicious intent.
"Yes," I said, holding my tongue between my teeth. "That was the initial reason, but that has changed now. I am only going to feed out of town."
She nodded, heaving out a sigh. "Are you young? I know appearance wise you would be, but I am asking as in your actual age including your time spent as a succubus."
"Yes. I was turned last year at the age of sixteen. I am seventeen now."
"And your creator?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.
"I haven't seen her since she had left me after my first couple of weeks," I responded with a shaken breath.
"Sounds about right," she wove her fingers together, settling them on her lap. "They seem to not stay long," she paused, rubbing her thumb over the side of her palm. "I'm sure you have many questions for me that I cannot completely offer you, but your main one would be why I know what you are, I presume."
I nodded, "Have you had experience?'
She chuckled, "Experience? More than enough," she looked up at me. "It was your eyes mainly. Some humans do have the rare genetics of having a purple tint in their eyes, but I can tell when someone is wearing contacts to hide over the bright violet. But then it came down to your beauty, which I would presume meant that you had fed recently," she waved her hand away to interrupt me. "I am not judging you for doing what you need to survive. What I am simply assuming is that you are still young and haven't been able to perfectly construct yourself to not kill your victims, yet."
"No, only once," I spoke under a defeated whisper. "She tasted highly of tobacco smoke, and it was unappetizing."
Mrs. Weaver nodded. "I see. Before you ask, no I am not a succubus, for succubus cannot age, and I am clearly human. But," she paused, exhaling a heavy breath. "My daughter had taken up your same fate."
I slightly gasped through my parted lips. Mrs. Weavers' eyes looked to be in understanding at my reaction.
"You see, her name is Abigail, and she was twenty-three when she was turned. It happened many years ago in 1980 when my daughter chose to go on a road trip from across the country. Georgia is where I raised my daughter. She decided that her and her friends would travel to Los Angeles, California in hopes to get into acting careers. They were on their way to audition for some low-budget movie when they decided to take a turn at alarmingly high speeds, causing the car to roll off a cliff."
A shaken breath pulled through my lips and my trembling fingers were coiling into my hand as I continued to stare at Mrs. Weaver. No tears were present in her eyes, as assumed she had come to accept what had happened.
"When the crash had happened, my daughter was in the passenger seat, and had been one of the two survivors of her five friends. Her other friend, Camille, a very lovely girl that Abigail hadn't been completely close to, hadn't suffered the same serious injuries as Abigail had. She was practically grasping on straws after the car had rolled to a stop. Camille may have needed medical attention for several bones, but only just that," she looked away from me, flattening her lips into a small smile as she swallowed. "There was a man that showed up at the bottom of the hill. My daughter described him as beautiful. His dark hair had hung low into locks, and his eyes were of bright violet, well, amethyst I presume is the right hue," she slightly chuckled. "But she could barely see him past the flowing blood that shielded her eyes," Ruby paused. "The man pulled Abigail out of the car, seeing a tree limb had struck through her chest, and metal shards embedding into the side of her neck. Very gruesome. A sight no mother should have to see. But, he had placed a kiss on my Abigail."
"The kiss of death," I spoke, adjusting my position on the couch.
"No, the kiss of alternative life," Mrs. Weaver corrected, raising her finger to silence me. "The kiss of life, as you should know by now, is the transfer of energy between a succubus and a human. A succubus energy, or incubus I must say since he was a man, is a very powerful source that courses through his body, much more powerful than that of a human. My Abigail was weak, gasping for breath, which had drained her own energy to become much weaker than it already was, almost non-existent, but it wasn't a problem, at least not for the change," she continued. "Since Abigail's energy had greatly weakened, the change had taken place much faster than those of a human's who are healthy— less damaged. Apparently, she had been turned in the matter of a few hours."
"A few hours?" I asked. "No one had come to rescue them?"
"No one saw the accident. Very late at night, and the trees that cascaded off the cliff had hidden the crash."
"Oh," I spoke softly. "Did he change Camille, as well?"
Mrs. Weaver slowly shook her head. "No," she said. "You see, the reason for changing Abigail over Camille was that Abigail wouldn't have survived long enough, but Camille would have. She would have survived those three hours while Abigail had gone through the transformation… and I assume that you know very well what it takes to complete the change," Mrs. Weaver spoke softer, looking over at me with comprehending eyes. "Camille was meant to be Abigail's first meal."
My eyes widened as I leaned against the back of the sofa.
"But that was her friend!" I quietly shouted.
"And Abigail was starving," she nodded. "They weren't very close. You know how most of those large girl groups of friendships are. Some form closer bonds than others do," she sighed. "Not that it was any less heartbreaking for her after she had completed it," she sighed, forming a frown on the edges of her lips. "The crash was covered later that day when the light started shining down and a helicopter saw a large fire and a bundle of smoke forming from it. I was notified that my daughter was not found in the accident site and must have been dropped off somewhere before the crash. They labeled her as a missing person when she wasn't heard from for over a month."
"Did she go back home to find you?"
She shook her head again, "No, not for a while. Her creator, who I still do not know the name of, traveled with her for several weeks, teaching her how to properly feed. She became ravenous in the city of Los Angeles. Many crimes were reported of fatal heart attacks that had seemed suspicious based on age groups. But she did finally return home," she nodded, digging the nail of her thumb into the side of her hand. "She looked wild. Her clothes were a tattered mess, and if it hadn't been of a mother's intuition, I might not have recognized her.
"She walked in the house, looking for me. I was in the kitchen on the phone with her younger sister asking if she had heard anything while I was preparing a bowl of yogurt. Her eyes were almost the most shocking thing about her appearance. I had dropped the phone when she walked in, in almost shock that I was hallucinating her, but Abigail quickly strided over towards me, wrapping her arms around my body in a heavy hug that caused a fracture in my humerus," she chuckled, unclasping her hands as she lightly glided her fingertips over her left upper arm with a small smile. "I never thought I would see her again, especially not like that."
"That must have been very hard," I spoke.
She nodded, "Yes, but I felt blessed all the same just to have her back."
I sucked my bottom lip in between my teeth, glancing back up at her as I nodded, processing the story.
"When did you find out what she had become?" I asked.
"She told me that same moment that she held me in her arms, leaving nothing out besides certain details of her adventures with the incubus. I didn't ask, or question anything more than she had given me. I was just happy she had come home and that she was safe," she said with a heavy sigh. "A mother will always love and care for her daughter, no matter the damage done," she glanced back up at me. "Have you told your parents?"
I shook my head, "No, I was told not to," I replied. "I came home from the hospital after my creator had turned me. I was only in the hospital for several days and my mother was notified that I tumbled down the side of the cliff that is near the grocery parking lot. It was a plausible story considering that I was generally known for my two left feet. My mother was frantic, almost erratic even, but I didn't speak a word, only confirming what my creator had told the doctors when she brought me in."
"You were told not to tell your parents?"
I nodded.
"Why not?" She asked with confusion.
"She said humans were not allowed to know about us. That it would be dangerous if humans were to find out that mythological creatures existed."
"But they are your parents and they would love you either way," she spoke. "They aren't ordinary curious humans that would tell the world; they are your parents that would want to keep you safe," she looked at me with concern in her eyes as they narrowed with a slight frown. "Sweetheart, you should tell them. They are going to find out eventually that you don't age."
I shook my head, pulling at the fabric of the scrubs on my legs. "I was planning on leaving after I graduated high school, and pretend to go to college, and only contact them through phone calls and poorly connected video calls," I looked up at her, chewing on my bottom lip with nervousness. "I didn't want to disappoint them."
"You're not going to disappoint them," she shook her head. "They would be more heartbroken that they no longer would be able to see you."
"I don't think so," I paused. "My dad is a cop— he wouldn't just look past the fact that I kill innocent people. My mom might be more accepting about it, maybe ask a lot of questions, but she still would probably go into shock if she knew."
She chuckled, "What are you killing innocent people for, honey?"
"Well, I was planning—"
"On taking out the elderly? Going after young girls who taste of tobacco?" Her laugh was becoming rougher as she was in more disbelief, clasping her hand against her chest as her head was thrown back, but she quickly leaned forward, coughing against the sleeve of her night gown.
"Can you stop laughing at me? I'm trying my best here!" I shouted at her, crossing my arms over my chest as I laid down on the rest of the cushions, kicking my legs up onto the couch.
She was in a mix between heavy coughing and laughing as she tried settling down her high into a burst of softer giggles as she cleared her throat continuously. "I'm sorry, dear. It's just a shame that you were turned so young and so innocent, too."
"Why do you say that? My mother always said I am very much ahead of my years," I huffed.
"Maybe so, but it's clear that you aren't using this gift to your advantage. Has the possibility of going around and hunting actual villains ever occurred to you?"
"Gift? You call this a gift? I am a murderer, and this isn't a superhero movie," I narrowed my eyes at her. "Besides, I wouldn't know where to even look for a bad person, or someone who is very much deserving of death," I emphasized the last word. "I just go out of town and sit at a park at night and just wait to catch someone alone."
"Sweat heavens," she shook her head back and forth. "There are bad people everywhere, even people you may know personally could be bad. Though, maybe not deserving of death," she paused. "Have you not thought of branching out farther to more populous places where crime rates are significantly higher?"
"I am putting on the persona that I am a seventeen-year-old girl who moved in with her father and is going to the local high school. I don't exactly have the time and parental leniency to scavenge across the whole country to look for bad guys. I'm not a vigilante."
"And that's why you should tell your parents. Hell, if your dad is a cop, I'm sure he wouldn't mind you taking care of several of the bad people he reads about in the papers or sees on the news," she rolled her eyes. "There are many disgusting people out there who are very deserving of death, dear."
"And how would I know if someone is?" I asked.
"Just by watching their actions. Someone who murders another on the streets, someone who preys on young innocent girls," I winced, but she continued. "Animal abusers, someone who slips intoxicants into another's drink, or even someone who sells drugs to children on the streets. That action goes on everywhere, more than you would like to know, but it happens."
"Is that what Abigail does?"
"Yes, she does," she nodded. There were noises of doors closing and opening in the hallway coming closer to us as the sound of feet continued. "And I think that's all the time I have for tonight," she sighed. "We can talk more some other time, I'm sure."
"Wait," I pushed myself off the couch. "I heard you only have a few visitors that come. Is Abigail one of them?"
She nodded. "I'm sure you will eventually meet her, and as well, it was nice meeting you, Bella," she faintly smiled. "Again, I apologize for my behavior yesterday."
The next morning had gone by and I came downstairs while Charlie was pulling his coat on to his shoulders. I told him that I would be going to Port Angeles today to pick up some books at a local store there. He asked me if I had anyone accompanying me, but I told him that I was going alone, which he did not approve of. He went into the drawers of the kitchen to pull out a can of pepper spray and advised me to keep it close by, and to not leave it in my purse but instead have it attached to my car keys for fast access to it if I ran into any trouble.
In that moment of Charlie's worry, I had contemplated what Mrs. Weaver had told me. She had believed it would be a wise idea if I told my parents about what I was so that I could properly go out of town for hours of the night without worry that Charlie would wonder where I had gone off to if he had woken up in the night to check up on me. It was an alluring contemplation, but I shrugged off the thought for now as Charlie headed out of the front door.
I pulled into the parking lot with no one there waiting for me this time as I eased into my spot. I leaned back in my seat, running my fingers over the ripples of my khaki pants and grabbed onto the strap of my backpack. Most of the students had been hanging out near the doors of the entrance to the building while others were hanging out near their cars. I took a little longer while I sat in my car, staring around the parking lot until I decided to get out and head to class when I noticed that most of my friends were already heading inside.
The morning had been normal, including lunch period where Ethan had left our table again to sit with Jenny and her friends while Jessica leaned against Mike's arm as he continued to glance up at me through his lashes. Angela was sitting closer to me asking me about what other plans I wanted to do Saturday after we get ice cream, to which I replied that we would just see where the afternoon takes us and go from there. She wasn't pleased with that answer as she seemed to continue contemplating more thoughts in her head. Forks was quiet and there wasn't that much to do. I offered her that we could start writing our paper together that's due next month just to get ahead and she smiled at me and began asking what themes that I would relate my story with.
Angela walked me to biology just as before chatting about what music she listens to while I nodded to the songs that I shared in common with her. She asked if I wanted to bring over any CDs of my own, but I offered her the option of wanting to go to my house anyways. I wasn't sure where my dad would be this weekend, but I knew he would enjoy having me home if he was.
"You seem better this morning," Edward said, breaking my gaze at the writing on the white board.
"Excuse me?" I asked, cocking my brow.
"Less anxious I mean. I apologize for being intrusive," he spoke. "Are you happy to be going to Port Angeles today?"
"Why are you listening in on my conversations?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"Not the easiest task to turn it off, Bella, I do apologize," he replied, glancing away from me. "I don't mean to offend you. I am just trying to make polite conversation."
I exhaled a heavy breath, shaking my head back and forth. Was I potentially being redundantly rude? I thought for sure he still deserved that kind of attention. An act of kindness doesn't make up for the way he had treated me before.
"I understand, just not adjusted to everything yet."
"Not adjusted?" he leaned closer. "Not adjusted to the supernatural world where you befriend a family of vampires and are in hiding from a pack of volatile wolves?" He pushed out a silent but breathy laugh.
"I wouldn't say we were friends, Edward, nor have I met the rest of your family. More so as business partners in the sense." Which was true. Carlisle's attempts of including me in the treaty had been of business, creating us as partners.
He nodded. "Very well," he leaned away. "Would you like to be involved in a business excursion to Port Angeles this evening?"
I looked up at him, widening my eyes. Had he wanted to join because he did not trust me? Had he learned of the reasoning I asked him to keep the wolves away? It was obvious he already knows of my diet, but was he wanting to keep me from doing so, now?
"I'm just getting books, nothing very exciting," I murmured. "And I don't need a babysitter."
"Hmm, no I don't think you do need a babysitter. That wasn't what I was offering," he flattened his lips.
"Then what were you offering?" I said stubbornly.
"Just a companion on the road, possibly a ride," he looked at me blankly. "Nothing more."
"My truck would do just fine, thank you." I replied. His own eyebrows raised, but then readjusted to their correct position as Mr. Banner walked into the classroom late.
The drive to Port Angeles was longer than suspected as my truck continued to accelerate and delay frequently during the drive. I kept pushing my foot down slightly more on the pedal as it backfired when I was getting closer to fifty miles per hour. It had been frustrating that I could drive faster than this on foot, but I knew that leaving my truck at home would be a sign of worry for Charlie. He wasn't the most trusting person when it came to stories of taxis such as last time, especially because he was a cop.
When I had pulled my truck into a parking spot next to a row of other cars in front of a strip of buildings, I looked around, noticing several people walking along the sidewalk. Some were hand in hand, others were children that were tugging at the pant leg of their fathers and mothers as they were tired from the amount of walking, they were having to do. I got out of my truck, pulling my purse over my shoulder, and shut the creaking door behind me, leaving others to stare at the loud crunch of the metal. I hadn't a clue where the bookstore would be so I walked around near the closest group of people until I could find a small stand of pamphlets with a map of the town.
I flipped through it, seeing that the bookstore was closer towards the end of the town, and began walking on foot near an older woman who was walking with a young boy who could be her grandchild. I smiled at the both, and the little boy tugged on the end of her skirt, looking up at me as he pointed to her with a wide smile on her face. I slightly giggled and continued my path.
It wasn't long till I got to the end of the town nearest where the bookstore was. I took longer strides than the other pedestrians, going slightly faster than human pace because I did not care to take too long here. The steps up to the building had been covered by vines with leaves growing from them the farther you ascended to the small building with bushes on either side that were also wrapped around in these peculiar vines. The sign on the door gratefully said it was still open, even though the lighting through the windows of the wooden structure seemed dimmed. I walked in, hearing the chime of the bell warning that customers were entering, and was given the side of walls lined with bookcases and leather-bound books. In the middle of the room were many different decorative items that seemed handmade, or glass blown. At the back of the room was a counter with a glass back that was a display case for more of the pricey artifacts. A reddish brown skinned older man was behind it with long black hair that flowed down into one long braid that sat over his shoulder.
He nodded to me in greeting and I lightly waved as I walked over towards the bookshelves, searching. Angela was right, that this might not be a bookstore that I would be interested in to buy books from for the nursing home, but it did have an interesting selection in languages that I didn't recognize. I noticed one that did stand out that was labeled Quileute and pulled it off the shelf, flipping through the pages and skimming over words that were in the language that I could not read. I had wondered briefly if any of this had mentions of legends of wolves and vampires in it, but I would not have been able to decipher it. I pushed it back on the shelf, looking more towards the English section.
Most of the English selection consisted of fables and myths that had been interesting. One book had mentioned "cold ones," which I had deciphered were legends of vampires. I smiled at it, thinking of getting it for Edward so he could read through it and tell me how much of the information inside of the book was correct compared to him. I placed it under my arm and went further in and found another book in English labeled "The Calls from Below," with a stamped drawing of a mermaid on it. I flipped through it, reading a particular word, 'siren.' Close in the same section was a book called "Legends of Lost Gods," which displaced horns and wings on the cover. Horns? Wings? Strange. I pulled it under my arm and skimmed down further, seeing books that told fictional stories such as Moby Dick and Scarlet Letter. I grabbed those as well along with the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and War-and-Peace and more books of literature. It had a small selection but did hold those of the more popular genres.
I walked towards the side of the store to grab one of the cloth bags to put the items in while you shop and set them inside. I continued further towards the middle of the store which consisted of the display tables of hand-crafted items. Skimming my fingers over the ivory sculptures of different figurines of swans, people, apes, horses, and elephants. Other things on the counters were herbs in wooden boxes along with large crystal balls and woven dream catchers that cascaded long feathers. It had slightly reminded me of the keychain I gave Jacob. Other figurines looked to be glass blown, which were more figurines of beautiful women, and fish jumping in water, but the last one that I had skimmed my finger over was a demonic, but beautiful mermaid which seemed to also relate to the siren photo on the book I had chosen.
I looked up at the man who seemed to be looking at me as I analyzed the items, and I held up the glass blown mermaid to him, looking in confusion.
"That is a figurine of a siren. They are mermaids who were told to be able to lure sailors from their ships towards rocky shores. They would do this using hypnotic singing that would cause the men to become delirious with desire and cause them to crash into the rocky coast of their island, meeting their watery demise," he said.
I nodded, turning the sculpture around in my hand and slightly chuckled at the connection between me and the myths of this creature. His eyebrow raised at me with the slightest turn of his head.
"Sorry, just reminded me of something," I replied, running my fingers over the details of the dorsal fin.
I walked towards the counter, placing the figurine on top of it and pulling out the many different books I had placed into the bag and separated each based on personal use and the other for the nursing home.
"You don't believe in any of this stuff, right?" I said in the most nonchalant way as I chuckled, handing him the cash first for my personal items. His eyebrow raised again as he looked me up and down, causing me to slightly become skeptical as I chose to look away from him and down at the counter.
"I believe in many legends," he replied, running his finger over the English text of the book about vampires. "Some more than others," he cleared his throat. I looked up at him again when he was looking away and could see the slightest bit of perspirant transpiring at his hairline. Interesting that he seemed nervous.
He handed me my change that I pushed lazily into my purse without organizing it into my wallet, and pulled out the company card, handing that for the rest of the items.
"Well, which ones do you believe?" I asked, eyeing his reaction. The edges of his lips tightened more, as he pushed my books towards me with the vampire book on top.
"Hard to say," he said, clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth as he scanned the books. "Not all of these books are exactly to the criteria of the legends I believe in. These books may slightly be overly exaggerated or more details added to it to give other nightmares," he paused, glancing up at me once more. "Not that they shouldn't."
I nodded. "Of course."
He pushed the items to me, and I placed them into the cloth bag. I did not want to ask any more in protection of not alerting him more than he possibly was already. Had he been skeptical of what I was? Or was he just worried for the reasons I was buying these items?
He handed me back the company card which I placed into my wallet. He cleared his throat again, telling me to have a goodnight, which I nodded and told him to do the same. I left the store, closing the door quietly behind me and descended the stairs, making sure not to trip over the overgrown vines.
I was then assaulted with the scent of sunshine, lilac, and decadent honey. I frustratedly huffed out a breath of air through my teeth as I clutched my bags tightly towards me.
"God damnit, Edward. I don't need a babysitter," I whispered. I lifted my eyes, scanning around the buildings and roads as the scent was being carried in separate directions as the wind continued to blow, but I could not pinpoint where he was. I couldn't see him, so I assumed he was hiding, possibly even chuckling that I was looking for him.
I shook my head and continued walking further down the sidewalk, seeing the light poles illuminating as the sky was darkening, and descending further into the evening. The clacking of my sneakers on the wet concrete cause splashes of water to brisk up the side of my khaki pants, causing me to become frustrated with it. I continued glancing around, wondering where he would be, but the scent of him had dissipated. He possibly had heard my frustration and decided to leave.
I sighed, now feeling a sense of loneliness that had bothered me. Did I want him to come around and keep me company? No, of course not. He infuriated me more than I cared for. Just because he had offered to add me to their treaty doesn't mean they care for me in the slightest. They only felt displeasure that they had caused me to weaken. This was Edward's act of nobility that was unnecessary.
A scream that came from deeper into the darkened streets sounded of a young woman. I looked up, trying to depict exactly where it was and found myself idly following it. When she screamed some more, I had wondered if others were able to hear her cries or whether my heightened sense of hearing was the reason for it. I looked around, seeing that the streets were becoming more vacant and tightened my arms around the bags and started striding in a faster jog towards where the screams were coming from.
I turned down an alleyway as the lights from the lamp post behind me were dimming the further I ran away from them. I turned another corner, splashing into a deep puddle of filth and sewage drainage as I continued listening for the high-pitched screams. It wasn't long until I had found my way past a farther building that looked to be slightly abandoned in the dark, where four figures were present behind it.
Three men. Two were circling a tall slender girl who had her arms wrapped around herself as her body trembled through sobs. I skidded myself to a stop, eyeing and assessing the situation that was going on before me in my head. Two of the men were filled with slight chuckling as one crooned near the girl's ear.
"Hey! Stop that!" I shouted at the two men, dropping my bags onto the ground behind me as I sprinted closer with my keys clutched in my hands.
One of the men, who had been slightly larger had his hand now wrapped around her wrist as he continued to laugh. She screamed louder as I could see tears pooling down her cheeks while he pulled her against her chest, whispering more sinful words into her ear.
"Get away from her!" I launched forward, shoving my shoulder into the man who had his grasp on the woman, causing him to let go of her as he had become startled by my force against him, and fell onto the ground.
He blinked for a second, turning his neck into my direction to get a better look at me. A small smile formed on the edge of his lips as he looked me up and down, getting a better look at me.
"Oh?" he said, rubbing his upper arm and he turned onto his back on the ground. "This one seems feisty," he chuckled. "Feeling like a heroine today, girly?"
"Run," I said to the girl whose eyes widened at me with more streams of tears escaping her lids. Her body was shaking with fright and her hair tousled wildly as it was clear she had struggled against the man. "I said run!" I shouted at her.
She stood there, still frightened as she seemed to be petrified into place. No screams were escaping in between her lips.
"Go!" I said, ripping the pepper spray off of my keys and shoving it against her chest, causing her to take a few paces back as she had to rebalance herself. I could hear the beating of her heart escalate higher as she looked back at me and the men. She clenched tightly onto the pepper spray against her chest and turned around into a sprint as she ran down the alleyway. I followed my eyes on her as she took another turn and had disappeared.
"Lonnie, we gotta get out of here man," the other male said who was slightly shorter and leaner than Lonnie. "That girl is going to just signal more people over here."
"Shit, no. We got another one right here," Lonnie said, pushing himself up off the ground, flexing his jacket to rid him of the gravel and dirt that had clung to it. "We can just take her and leave right now."
"The hell you are," I hissed, taking slight steps backwards away from the two of them. I glanced over towards the third man whose eyes were widened at both of his companions as he had placed himself against the brick building. He didn't seem to have pre-hand knowledge of what the men's intentions were as he seemed to be cowering.
I looked back at both men who held large smiles on their faces, while Lonnie had taken slow paces towards me with his hands held out on either side of him, as he flexed his fingers.
"You're a very pretty girl," Lonnie spoke with a cocked eyebrow and a sideways grin that exposed the yellowing of his teeth. "I bet you like to have lots of fun."
"You can have fun with us, sweetheart," the second man chuckled. "What's your name?" He asked, walking closer to me. Lonnie chortled slightly as he elbowed the second man's upper arm.
"Trust me, you don't want to do that," I said snakingly, and stopped my pacing as they came forward, fighting the grin forming on the right side of my mouth as I looked down at both of their feet. The second man had been wearing worn out sneakers while Lonnie's looked relatively new. The second man must do most of the running when chasing after victims to help Lonnie out as he seemed less in shape. This was an assessment.
"And why's that, beautiful?" Lonnie said, reaching out quickly, grabbing onto my wrist tightly as he pulled me closer to him so that my chest was pressed against his. My breathing slightly hitched in a small panic.
Hands. Wrists. Malicious smiles. Laughter. Gripping. Hands.
An ear-piercing roar erupted through my eardrums, causing my own to begin to ring. Through the red glaze over my eyes, I could see Lonnie's form colliding against the brick building as my leg was kicked out in front of my body. Shouting was beginning to erupt around me as I had the second man's back pulled against my chest with my arms tightened around his throat in a choke hold.
It was my own growling that I could hear.
"God damnit! Josh, get the hell up!" Lonnie said, his body sprawled out against the brick building, laying on the asphalt. His gaze was directed onto the third man, who I now knew the name of as Josh. I looked up, seeing his face that only looked more petrified, as if he could not move a muscle in his body.
I held the second man pressed against me, as his fingers were trying to claw into my skin to release the hold of my forearm around his neck. I dragged his body with me as he continued to try to push the bottom of his heels against the asphalt to stop me, but it was no use. I got closer to Josh who continued his stare at me as his lips were slightly parted, but his eyes never blinking.
"You!" I said, pointing at Josh with my free hand. I wiped my forearm over my glazed eyes, releasing the leftover strips of contacts from them as they were already melting away. My stare was lingering on the bridge of his nose until I glanced at his sunken eyes, completing the lure. His body stiffened more, but it soon became loose as he was pushing himself off the ground to begin his lunge towards me.
"Stay right there, Josh," I held my hand up to him as an order, tightening my forearm around the second man's neck, causing him to create gagging and choking sounds as he struggled to breathe.
Josh stared directly at me, nodding vigorously to my command as his body stiffened again.
"State your business here," I ordered him, exposing my teeth through my curled lips.
"I—" he gulped out the words. "I was drinking with the two of them at the pub down the street. They asked if I wanted to come out for some smokes and I followed them."
"Then how does he know your name?" I growled, edging closer over to Lonnie as I could see him trying to push himself back up. I stomped my foot against his right shoulder blade, forcing him back down onto the asphalt. His distressed grunts barely passed through my ears.
"I used to go to high school with them. We used to be friends," he replied. "I— It's been years since we all had caught up with each other." His tongue fumbling through his lips as worry and fright were succumbing him. "When we had walked up on the girl, I was going to leave, but I couldn't force myself to do it. I— I didn't know!" he shouted. "I just froze! I didn't want any part of this!"
I sucked in a breath of air, contemplating the moral dilemma of why the man hadn't tried to stop them to help the girl, but seeing him now completely, the man was the scrawniest of the two. No muscle definition, mostly bone as he looked sickly as if he had been an addict. There was nothing he could have physically done to stop the two men, especially not in a shocked state. I knew what that sense of fear felt like. The shock that takes over your body, no adrenaline pushing you to move. I pressed my eyelids together as I hissed through my clenched teeth, and reopened.
"Leave. Get the hell out of here," I pointed at a farther alleyway towards a different direction in which the girl had taken. "Tell no one what you saw."
Josh nodded, panicking again, but stumbled onto his feet as he had to rebalance himself before he completely had control over his shaken legs. He didn't look at either of the two men he was with tonight, but instead only looked at me as he ran off.
I held my foot still pressed against Lonnie's shoulder blade. I relieved my forearm around the choking man as I turned him around to face me, placing my hands firmly against his shoulder.
"What the bloody shit are you?" The second man said as his bottom lip seemed to quiver through his repetitive coughs, trying to recover air into his lungs. "You a goddamn tranny? Is that why the hell you so fucking strong?" He spit at me. "Hyped up on goddamn hormones?"
Notice: Offensive words against the trans community were only used to further demonstrate how disgusting these two men are.
"Give me your name," I ordered him, connecting my eyes to him. The man's eyes had been close to me, seeing the radiating glow of the amethyst hue of mine reflecting through his own.
"Don't tell her shit!" Lonnie raised his voice through his saliva coated teeth.
"Travis," he replied quickly, becoming more rigid in his arms as his shoulder struggled underneath my grasp as lust and desire filled his gaze.
Mandatum, parvulus. The subconscious monster spoke through my thoughts.
"Stay still," I commanded. He did as I said, and his body no longer was forcing against me.
I smirked slightly at the evidence of the commands I was able to use. I hadn't fully known the extent that it ranged, as previously I thought the orders were of simple ones. I forced my face closer to his, now grabbing onto the collar of his shirt, holding him up slightly off the ground.
"Were you planning on participating?" I shouted. "Were you planning on hurting that girl?"
"Yes," were the last words Travis would ever speak again. I pulled his face towards me, a wild smile never fully formed on his mouth before I had pressed my parted lips against his, causing muffled, groaning whimpers through his throat as I pulled in the honey scented energy from his lips that had been tainted with the taste of hard liquor. I pushed past the unappetizing taste of him and continued until the life energy coursing through his body had been diminished and drained into my own.
I threw his limp body onto the ground next to the direction of Lonnie's stare, where he looked up at Travis with widened eyes.
"What the shit did you do to him?" Lonnie shouted at me with noticeable fear. "Travis! Get the fuck up!" He cried, nuzzling his cheek against the asphalt, trying to inch his face closer to Travis's lifeless body.
"He had a heart attack," I replied nonchalantly, digging my shoe deeper into his shoulder blade against the graveled asphalt. Lonnie let out a piercing cry. "Medical attention didn't arrive fast enough for your friend." I leaned down, placing my knee next to his face as I curved my neck towards him. "Sorry I had to be the one to tell you."
"You, fucking bitch, you killed him!" He shouted. "You're a goddamn murderer!"
"Yeah," I paused, clicking my tongue to the roof of my mouth. "I suppose I am."
I lifted my foot off of his shoulder blade, grabbing him by the short locks of his hair, and lifted him from the ground as I pulled his neck backwards. I skimmed my eyes up the pulsing artery that was protruding from his throat and looked up towards his jaw. Lonnie was spewing spit from his clenched teeth as he wondered his eyes across the features of my face.
"You planned this?" I asked softly. "Was it your idea to go after that girl?"
"Screw you," he spat, with a slight edgy chuckle gauging from his throat.
I turned his face towards me, keeping my hand still grasped in his short locks. I skimmed my eyes up his rounded cheeks and placed them onto his darkened eyes.
"Was it your idea to go after that girl?" I repeated. His body had gone rigid like the others as the lure was sealing. He reached his arms out to me as his eyes widened, but I grabbed onto his wrist, snapping it backwards as I could hear the bones in it fracturing. He waled out a throated scream.
"Yes!" he shouted in pained cries. "Yes, it was me!"
"Why?" I asked him directly.
"I enjoy making a girl scream," he said, grazing his tongue across his bottom lip.
I huffed in disgust. "How often do you do this?"
"Once or twice a month if I'm lucky to find idiot and naive girls walking alone at night," he said, staring lustfully into my eyes as the edges of his lips formed into a smile. "They are the most terrified as their skin becomes almost translucent in fear."
I shook my head at his comment, wincing at the picture that formed in my mind.
"Do you have any girls under your captive?" I asked. This question was important. If he were one to take them home with him and keep them locked up for further use, I would need to know the location before he met his end.
"No," he smiled as thoughts formed in his eyes. "I took the last girl until she had gone fatally limp."
"Bastard," I heard enough. I lifted him up into the air by his scalp and raised my foot, kicking him against the wall. His body thudded as it collided into the bricks, causing stones to break from the wall and trickle down onto the asphalt beside him. He rolled over onto his side, staring back up at me with the same lust and desire in his eyes as he reached his twisted arm out towards me.
I began imagining my own way with him. Imagining the both of us in a small dark red room with each other, as he was stripped down into only a leather undergarment and a chain around his neck. His eyes widened further as he gasped with amusement on his lips. In the clip in my head, I followed pursuit towards him, walking slowly as I trailed my tongue between my lips at his crippled body. I looked down at him as he began trying to scramble back onto his feet, while I reacted by kicking his body against the wall once again.
"You're a little minx," he spat blood through his lips as his eyes narrowed seductively "Aren't you, sweetheart?"
I bent down, imagining myself in leather high heeled boots that crawl up to my mid-thigh. A black corset was strapped around my waste, covering my assets. I trailed my finger up his throat, inching it underneath his chin and lifting it up towards me. He slightly winced in pain as I trailed my fingernail slightly into his skin.
"I guess you could say that," I replied. He began pushing himself off the ground, not minding his twisted arm that seemed to be broken.
I let him climb onto his feet as he steadied himself to prepare to launch himself towards me, but instead he had begun untucking his belt, and pooling it out of the buckle, then ripping it out of the loops of his jeans and folding it together into one hand.
The image in my head had turned to him stalking closer towards me, inching me towards the bedroom of the small dimly light red room. His lips were stained red with blood, and a vein had popped in his left eye, cascading red across the white of it. He whipped the folded belt in the air near his leg as he continued closer towards me.
"I'm going to have you on all fours, kitten," he spoke eagerly to me. "I will take you and I will make you scream."
"Oh," I chuckled. "That would be fun to see you try, wouldn't it?"
I heard a low growl nearby but paid no attention to it as I kept my stare on Lonnie in front of me as his stare became dark as his eyes narrowed deeper into mine. A blooded toothy smile formed wider as he made a loud whipping noise with his belt again.
"Yeah, it would," he snarled, lunging after me.
In the image, I had grabbed him by his throat, turning my body around as I held him with my thumb pressed firmly against his bobbing Adam's apple and slammed his body against the asphalt, holding onto the image in my head of a wide mattress underneath him. He grunted as his body was slammed forcefully against the ground while I tucked my other hand behind the back of his skull to soften the blow against it. I needed him alive. His fingers had unclenched around the belt and snaked up my hips as they quickly reached into the thickened hair on the back of my head.
He sucked his bottom lip in between his teeth, not withholding his coy smile.
The scent of sexual desire had heightened from his lips far more than my other victims had. The honey was oozing from his lips with pure desire and thirst for me. It had caused my own mouth to begin watering even though I had just fed from the other man no more than five minutes ago. The burn in my throat was heightened for him as my body had been tingling with excitement and greed.
Ita, puella. Take him. It spoke again.
I no longer waited as the man groaned for my lips, wanting me to make the connection between us to complete. I placed my face closer to him, gripping tighter against his throat as his lips parted in a moan, forcing more of the mouthwatering honey to escape his lips. With no hesitation, I crashed my own onto his, pulling in the energy that caused my own self to moan in pleasure that I hadn't experienced before. His hands gripped tighter into my hair as his ankle snaked around the side of mine, and his knee placed unwelcomely in between my thighs. His moans had then turned into whimpers, with panting struggle as I pressed his face more into mine, draining his energy in slow and fast spurts.
Muffled screams started erupting through his throat as he tried forcing his knee against me to push me off him, but it was no use as his leg started to become limp, resting down against the asphalt. His fingers were now tangled in my hair as it was unclenching and getting caught in the curls of mine. I held him tighter against me, not wanting the energy to run out and it was pulsating through my lungs, but his body had already fallen into nothing.
I parted my lips from his, gasping for air as I dropped the rest of his body completely onto the ground. I collapsed my palms on the asphalt on either side of his body, leaning my head forward while I was breathing oxygen heavily into my lungs as I could feel my body practically quaking with satisfaction and envy for more. I looked down at him, seeing his eyes clenched close and his tongue slacked to the inside of his cheek. I shook my head, sniffling in the drainage from my nose and scrambled myself off him, quickly climbing back onto my feet as I dusted the gravel and dirt off of my khakis.
His body, practically broken, and already lifeless.
A rage filled across my mind at the many conflicting thoughts in my head and memories I wanted to keep locked away. I sucked in a heavy breath of air again as I tried to force the tears to not stream down my face. I placed my hand against my chest, clenching the fabric of my blouse as I was frantically trying to calm myself down.
"Fucking bastard!" I shrieked at him through a sob in my throat. I leaned over, grabbing onto his ankle he had previously snaked around mine, lifting it up, causing his body to lift off the ground with it.
"What does it take to not touch a goddamn woman!" I howled through heavy cries. I clenched my fingers tighter around his ankle as I flicked the rest of his body up into the air and hurled it against the brick wall. His skull had cracked open on the impact, causing blood to drool down the side of the brick wall and onto the asphalt as his body slopped against it.
I lifted my fingers into my hair, pulling at the strands on my scalp as I turned away from him pacing sluggishly through heavy cries until I collapsed onto my knees, crashing my forehead against the beaded asphalt. I couldn't force back the tears anymore.
It was too much.
It was too much.
Fast approaching footsteps were nearing me, but they were nearly muffled through my cries. It didn't matter anymore if I was caught by the police. It didn't matter anymore if I was to be put in jail for two counts of murder. None of it mattered anymore.
It was too much.
"Bella?" a broken voice said from above me, as a cold hand was placed lightly on the back of my shoulder.
I slightly stiffened but found that I was involuntarily crawling forward as I reached my fingers out to grab onto the long black slacks in front of me. I pulled my body into them, pushing my chest onto the thighs of the black slacks, and curled my face deep into the torso of a chilled button-down shirt, where my face was hidden behind a peacoat.
"Edward," I breathed out.
A/N
Well. I really hope that my trigger warning was seen by all of you before you had read the chapter all the way through. I am sorry for any unsettling memories that may have come up from any of your previous past assaults that many women face even today. My heart goes out to all of you who survived and to those who had not.
Magda95, you were the winner of the competition. Please read above at the end of the shout outs for information.
I would like to apologize for not getting this chapter out sooner. Last week was finals week for college. My final grades were four A's and two B's.. so that's good. I came home on Friday and immediately drove to the beach for a small vacation for my Birthday weekend. I didn't get to starting on this chapter until Monday this week, and then wrote more on Tuesday (my 23rd Birthday) where I had a lot of free time to myself during the afternoon, and I had been able to finish this chapter in the early morning of today. I hope to see at least 10 reviews on this chapter before I update again… and until next time…