Author's Note:
Thank you to everyone that has put this story on their alerts, favorites and especially the few that reviewed! This is a fun story to write. Next chapter perhaps I'll throw in either some Edward or Jasper POV – which one would you rather see? Let me know! (:
. ... .
Bella awoke to a splashing sound. Slowly, very slowly she became aware that the sound was coming from vomit landing in a bright red bucket. Her vomit.
She didn't remember opening her eyes but she must have, because how else would she have gotten directly over the bucket? She wanted to further explore the thought but another round of violent heaving begun and all of Bella's thoughts stopped, focused only on her misery.
After five minutes that seemed to drag on for hours and hours, Bella finally sat up, wiping her mouth with her forearm and breathing heavily. She looked down at herself in disgust. Vomit was everywhere – in her hair, the front and collar of her shirt, and lining the creases of her neck with its sticky residue. The marble floor was be speckled with fluids that had leaked out of her from before she had found the bucket, apparently.
The sight of the floors made Bella's brain come around and she quickly looked around at her surroundings. She was still in the parlor that she had been in last night.
Part of her wanted nothing more than to roll back over and hope that when she woke up again it would be in the safety of her warm bed at home. It was a larger part than it should have been. Bella had learned long ago that one couldn't just wake up to end the nightmares.
She tried to stand but her stomach revolted at the idea and she spent another ten or so minutes throwing up into the bucket. Afterwards Bella was finally able to stand on trembling legs, looking around the room. She noted that the body and the rug it had been laying upon was gone as was the couch that she had been upon when she fell asleep. Bella paused for a moment. She had fallen asleep on a couch, hadn't she? Her head pounded and she continued to look around the room until her eyes landed upon her purse, still sitting on the bar from last night.
Desperately she stumbled over to where it rested and began digging through the wide array of items inside. She knew that there were loose pills at the bottom of her purse but she had so much junk – angrily she dumped the entire thing out on the bar, sifting through the contents that way. Immediately she noticed that her cellphone, cigarettes and her keys were missing. She found three Xanax and a half-filled bottle of Ambien and she was pretty sure that she had some Advil and Percocet in one of the zipped pockets. She took one of the Xanax and chewed before she looked and saw the sink behind the bar, quickly hurrying to it and washing the vomit off of her face, neck and shirt in disgust before taking a few drinks straight from the tap.
Once done she looked around, willing panic away and resisting the urge to take another Xanax. She saw nor heard either Edward or Jasper. All the hair on her body stood on end when she thought of the pair and her hands began to tremble. Without thinking about it, she ran down the hall for the front door, all the while keeping an eye out for her captors. For some stupid reason, tears started to form in Bella's eyes when the door did not budge – seriously, what had she expected? Even knowing the futility of the situation she continued to furiously try the handle, resisting the urge to scream each time the door did not open.
Bella stood there for a moment, fingers still wrapped upon the metal in her hand as she tried to think of what to do next. She thought back to when she walked down here with Edward – like a fucking idiot, whispered a nasty voice inside of her head – all other doors had been boarded or bricked up and they were in the basement so she doubted there were any windows.
With a growing sense of doom, she resolved to look for a landline of some sort. But first she felt the need to relieve the growing sense of discomfort in her bladder, reluctantly venturing to the bathroom. She expected to run smack into Edward or Jasper several times as she walked but thankfully reached it sans running into any sociopathic murderers.
She locked the door behind her and – dancing with the sudden need to pee right now – she quickly ripped her pants down. Once done she made her way over to the sink and began to wash her hands. She caught her reflection in the mirror and cringed – she looked awful. Even if one were to forgive the vomit streaking through her long dark hair, it was impossible to overlook grey tinge that her angular face had taken the color of or the fact that her blue eyes looked watery, red and had a sunken look about them. She knew that she really didn't have the time to pick the vomit out of her hair but she did it anyway, grimacing in disgust. When she had managed to get most of it out she washed her hands again and exited the bathroom, peering around for her captors wearily.
Not seeing or hearing either man, Bella ventured out of the bathroom and started down the hallway towards the parlor with slow, tentative steps. From what Bella could see, Edward's apartment split into two different wings off of the foyer with the bathroom in the very center. So far, Bella had only seen the left wing of the house that included the parlor, a library and three closed doors at the end. Bella wanted to search in them but could not force herself to open any of the doors; Edward or Jasper might be behind one or more of them and she did not want to face them.
She chose instead to venture into the library. Once inside, Bella realized that it was massive – wall to wall were shelves of books of all kinds, though from the look of it Edward seemed to favor mostly nonfiction. There were several display cases scattered throughout the room with a wide array of items that Bella didn't have time to look at right now, as well as two leather sofas off to one corner and a work station near them. Encouraged, Bella hurried over to it, looking desperately for any sign of a computer or a tablet or phone of any kind. She came up bitterly empty handed. Bella had suspicions that all the things she was searching for had once been right where she was searching; that Edward or Jasper had removed them upon her arrival. Duh, Bella, the voice sneered again. Of course they did.
Frustrated and anxious, she slowly made her way back to the foyer.
The prospect of adventuring to the right wing was enough to make her start to physically shake – that was the direction Edward had taken Jessica and the thought of going there had Bella reaching for the second Xanax in her pocket. She chewed it as she made her way towards where she heard Jessica's screams come from the night before.
She came to a large, modern looking kitchen. Immediately it made Bella think of her mother – Renee had loved all of those home and garden channels, the ones where people who caught butterflies and sold handmade dream catchers for a living somehow had exorbitant amounts of money to turn a run-down house into their ultimate dream home. It was everything Renee had ever wanted in a kitchen; dark solid oak cabinets with chrome finishing to match the stainless steel, state of the art appliances. Granite countertops lined the walls with a decorative, aesthetically pleasing backsplash running around like a ribbon on a gift. The island in the middle was large enough to be an actual island. Christ.
A weapon. Have to find a weapon, Bella thought determinedly, frantically beginning to open drawers, which she found were mostly empty. Apparently this professional kitchen was just for show. Finally she managed to find something – a dull steak knife. She eyed it distastefully, seriously doubting its ability to injure anyone, let alone a man who had at least a hundred pounds on her. Still, it was better than nothing and she tucked it in her jeans, behind her so that she could feel it touching her skin. Next she searched for a landline, or some forgotten Hail Mary cellphone. Again she found nothing.
Bella continued to walk, coming across a dining room that seemed to be the picture of the definition of opulence. There were candelabras and decorative placemats on a large mahogany table and pieces of art that looked to cost more than her car displayed on the walls. There was a chandelier made of what appeared to be real crystal hanging from the ceiling.
For all its finery, there was no phone. Useless.
Making her way back to the kitchen, Bella's eyes landed upon a door just off to the side. It was a large door, made of solid metal like the kind one saw in apartments in big cities. The door was opened, actually, just a hand span. Bella headed for it.
After about two steps, however, Bella's feet stilled. A wave of intuition crashed over her – she did not want to look at whatever was in that room. Bad things happened in that room, she suddenly knew. It was probably where Edward had taken Jessica last night. Upon further inspection, Bella realized that the brown stain that was along the wedge of the door was not dirt, as she had thought upon seeing it. It was dried blood.
Nope, Bella thought quickly, turning on her heel to get as far away from the door as she could. She let out a small scream when she came face to face with Edward, leaning against the kitchen island and looking at her with interest.
"Making yourself at home, are you?" he taunted, arms folded against his broad chest. Fear choked her and she said nothing. Edward had changed since last night and the designer clothes highlighted his lean, muscular frame as well as his cruelly beautiful face. Enjoying her reaction to his presence, he flashed her a wide grin, showing off perfectly straight white teeth. His smile made Bella start to tremble – it was the exact smile that she remembered him wearing as he taunted Jessica before he killed her
He seemed to be observing her closely and, to Bella's terror, his expression seemed to be growing more and more frustrated. Panic swelled in her chest as she looked down at the ground. "Sorry," she managed to choke out, barely a whisper.
He let out a frustrated sound before he was suddenly right there, in front of her within arm's reach. "Look at me," he demanded. Seriously concerned about the fact that she kept dissociating, Bella slowly raised her eyes until they landed on his mouth, waiting for his next move all while feeling like a string that was being stretched too tight. She felt one of his hands grab her chin, his long fingers completely covering her lower jaw, lifting it sharply. She still could not bring herself to meet his gaze, despite the position – she looked instead smack at the space above his lip and below his nose. The thought of looking the murderer she had seen last night in the eye was enough to make her fingers itch for the final remaining Xanax in her pocket.
He gripped her jaw harder with his fingers, making her inhale sharply from pain. She watched his mouth curl into a wolfish grin as her heart started to race against her chest and she found herself wondering if he enjoyed her fear. "I said look at me, Bella. I know you can, you did just fine last night," Edward spoke, his voice a lilting sort of soft chide.
That was before I knew you were a monster, Bella thought with venom, the taste of hatred rising in the back of her throat. The anger that his words caused overrode her crippling anxiety enough to where she was finally able to lift her gaze the last few inches and meet Edward's eyes with her own.
They seemed much more striking today, somehow – a vibrant, electric green with hints of gold speckled throughout. They rested over high cheekbones and a strong, masculine jawline.
She reflected that he was the embodiment of every reason she did not trust the world; someone so evil should not also be so beautiful.
As she looked at him she imagined that the corruption that was no doubt inside his soul was physically manifesting – imagined his veins turning black and spider webbing up his face, his eyes turning into crimson slits, his skin turning patchy and dry, blossoming with boils. "Interesting," Edward murmured, brushing a stray strand of hair from her eyes. He continued staring curiously into her blue depths, ignoring the baleful way she stared at him. "Are you thinking right now?" he asked curiously.
Irritation sparked up her spine. What kind of question was that? Thinking of your flesh rotting and all of your teeth falling out, she thought pugnaciously. "Yes," she responded quietly. It was difficult to speak with his hand gripping her face so.
"Interesting," he repeated, releasing her. She abruptly stumbled back, resisting the urge to rub her jaw. She watched as he ventured back to the island, sitting at the closest of the stools resting there. "Please, sit," he directed, motioning to the other stools next to him.
Not having much choice, Bella chose the one furthest from him, enjoying the illusion that the two that rested between them offered her any kind of safety. The image of him hauling Jessica over his shoulder, paying no more attention to her struggles any more than a spider would while encasing a fly flashed through her mind. Bella's hands started to shake and she gripped them together, placing them on her lap to hide the motion.
"Are you hungry?" Edward asked, breaking the silence between them. "You were asleep for over fourteen hours," he informed.
That was a surprise. Fourteen hours? She supposed her Xanax-gin mixture combined with the shock of seeing a dead body and, you know, listening to someone being murdered, really took it out of her.
He was looking at her expectantly, and the longer she did not respond the more irritated his expression became. "No," she whispered truthfully. She probably should be hungry but she still felt queasy and if she ended up puking again she would end up losing two of her pills. No, thank you.
"Alright," he turned to face her, eyes traveling over her small frame. "Luckily for you, neither am I. I will be in a couple of days, however. Two or three at most," he told her casually. "That is where you come in," he informed her, nodding at her once as he pulled his phone from his pocket, tapping the screen lazily, an air of relaxation about him.
Bella's mind flashed again to last night, to Jasper slurping down human blood like it was the best damn mocha he had ever had. Her heart began to pound against her chest, so hard that it was almost painful. "What does that mean?" this time her voice was at a normal volume but it still sounded muted in her own ears, the pounding of her blood echoing through her ears like a drum.
Edward stayed silent for a moment and Bella found herself turning her head to actually look at him. He was watching her closely and seemed to be – was he sniffing? What the actual fuck? Oh god, was he looking at her neck? Her hand itched to reach into her pocket. It's the last one, Bella realized with a jolt. "Well," Edward began, his eyes lifting from her throat and making eye contact. "That is when I am planning to kill you, I'm afraid," he told her, speaking in the same tone he had yesterday, when discussing the condition of the records.
The words hit her like a slap and she had to look away from him as tears welled up behind her eyes. She blinked rapidly to make them stop – she would not devolve into the sobbing mess that Jessica had been. It hadn't done her any good anyway and Bella refused to give Edward any satisfaction.
"Is that so?" she found herself asking, a strange numbness falling over her. She thought of the bottle of Ambien with twelve little pills inside. Would that be enough? she wondered. She had never taken Ambien religiously as she had Xanax – she did not have as much of a tolerance. She considered it a moment, detached.
Part of her absolutely rejected the idea of ending her own life. She did not truly want to die – there were many things that she had not done that she wanted to, goals and aspirations that had not yet been achieved. But more than that, she did not want her last moments on earth to be as Jessica's were; terrified and in agony. She heard Jessica's screams echo in her ears again and shuddered. Suicide would be kinder.
"Indeed," he affirmed cheerfully. He noticed her trembling and scooted to the next stool over. Bella watched the motion from the corner of her eye, looking down to the single chair that separated them now. "I am not trying to upset you, Bella," he told her in a charming tone. "Do you understand? I am just trying to set appropriate expectations here," he told her. She said nothing, staring at the backsplash of the wall in a daze. Edward exhaled sharply, annoyed. "Look at me, Bella," he demanded.
Bella turned her head to face him, her face smooth as slate. She said nothing.
"I don't believe I had the chance to introduce you to Jessica last night. The other girl that was here. Do you remember her?" he asked.
As if she wasn't replaying the girl's death screams in her mind on repeat right now. "Yes, I remember her," she said, her voice quiet but like steel.
"Good," he nodded, "And I'm sure you remember my friend Jasper. You and he seemed pretty chummy last night," Edward sounded annoyed at the memory. "Anyway, he and I suffer from a similar...affliction, if you will," he locked eyes with her as he said the words, "You must have your theories, based on last night. And I'm also sure you can imagine that it is very difficult to find someone willing to provide me blood on a voluntary basis. Jessica was one of those people," he told her, and Bella honestly couldn't believe her ears. Jessica had volunteered to be here? It made her feel no less sorry for her death but also made her wonder what kind of person would possibly agree to such a thing. "Unfortunately, she is no longer with us. Which leaves me in an uncomfortable position, as I need to replace her," he paused for a moment, looking curiously at her blank face. He grinned, almost amused. "Do you understand everything so far?" he asked as he moved again, shifting into the empty seat that had separated them. Bella's heartbeat increased by his proximity, though she remained completely still.
"Yes," she responded shortly, irritated that Edward's default assumption was that she had air between her ears and could not comprehend a simple conversation.
"Wonderful," he responded cheerfully before continued, "There are two things that can happen the next time I get thirsty. One, I can take you to that room back there," he motioned to the metal door and Bella gave her first physical reaction since her scream upon seeing him, a small gasp escaping her. He smiled. "I swear to you, I will make it quick. Jessica and yourself are two very different situations, Bella, so relax," he told her, and to her horror he placed a hand on her lower back, right where she had tucked the steak knife under her shirt, at the top of her jeans.
Instantly, Bella stiffened and held her breath, her face snapping away from his and looking once more at the backsplash above the countertops. It was hexagonal in design, and the color scheme reminded her of the ocean. She remembered the first time she had seen the Pacific Ocean in all of its glory at the tender age of seven, a day trip with her mother. When she had seen it, she had cried.
"Bella," Edward's eyes went wide, sounding scandalized even as he laughed. Bella was snapped back into the present as he lifted up her shirt and grabbed the knife, his fingers ghosting across the skin of her back. Bella shivered at the contact – not only did him touching her make her gorge want to rise but also his fingers were ice cold. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Bella this is not okay," he chided as he placed the knife on the counter in front of them, unconcerned. "Jessica died over a knife, do you remember?" asked her a few moments later and his voice lost all humor, his green eyes going flat.
Bella's stomach dropped. Now that he mentioned it, she did remember Edward mentioning something about a knife to Jasper last night. Her entire body remained tense and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears.
"Don't worry, Bella. It is only natural to protect oneself, after all. You did not know any better, did you?" he asked, as if speaking to a child. Bella flushed, imagining picking up the knife and stabbing it into his neck. "Anyway," he continued, flashing a grin. "That is the worst case scenario. We'll call that Door Number One," he told her.
Bella waited for a moment for him to continue. When it became apparent that he was not going to, she turned her face to look at him again. Somehow she knew that that was what he was waiting for, and she found him staring at her, looking strangely delighted. "Door number one as in there is a door number two?" she prompted him, deadpan.
The corners of his lips twitched, "Door number two is rather tricky, Bella. I've gotten pretty proficient at the practice over the years, but there are still some obstacles that need to be overcome. The second option is where I can feed on you without killing you, as long as you follow the rules," he motioned to the knife on the counter. "No more of that, for starters."
Bella blinked, resisting the urge she had to look away from his face. "Would you…" she trailed off, wondering if she should even ask. "Would you let me go afterwards?" she forced out, despite the fact that she felt her throat was beginning to constrict. She tried to breathe regularly, through her nose and out her mouth. She could not have a panic attack right now.
"See, that's the problem with door number two, Bella," he told her with a smile. "Door number two is really just door number one, but with more stops along the way. This is why you really need to consider your options here, Bella," she hated the way he said her name so often. Every time he did it she imagined that he was giving her a pat on the head, like a dog. "There are no windows in here. No friends, no family," Bella's chest hurt when she realized the only thing that applied to her was the windows – she had no friends or family outside, either.
"For all intents and purposes, you are already dead. Right now, even before you make the choice. I will be the first one to admit that I'd be doing you a favor if I killed you in a couple of days," he told her, nonchalantly. "It's really not any kind of life that I would want."
Does anyone ever get the life they want? Bella wondered as she considered his words. Perhaps some people did. "Why did Jessica agree to this?" she found herself asking. "Did you tell her all of this?"
"Well, not quite as explicitly as I am speaking to you, I admit. Jessica was a different situation. She was into this whole alternative, dark lifestyle – she hoped, actually, that by offering herself to Jasper and myself, we would make her like us. I can't even explain to you how much that was never going to happen," he told her, making a face. "I'm telling you this because you don't seem to be another wannabe freak that I am so fucking sick of, you have no idea. Which is good, but also bad because it means you don't exactly want to be here."
His candor left Bella breathless. He seemed so casual about the whole situation – When he looks at me, what does he see? Bella wondered. She imagined him as a child ripping the wings off a butterfly, delighting in the destruction of everything the caterpillar had ever worked to achieve. Watching as a creature of the air died miserable and broken in the dirt of the earth.
"Jessica wasn't the only one?" she asked quietly.
"No. There have been many, over the years. Allow me to be honest here, Bella," he leaned in towards her slightly, looking at her face as if he were memorizing every line. The Xanax in her pocket seemed to be burning against her thigh. "They are all dead. Every single one of them ended up on the other side of that door," he pointed and Bella's eyes flashed to it as if against her will.
"Take a few days. I won't bother you until I am thirsty again and until then you are my guest here," he said after several moments of silence from her. "Jessica kept the pantry full and you're welcome to whatever you would like. I'm not going to sit around and make you drinks like Jasper but feel free to help yourself. All I ask is that you clean up after yourself," he explained this matter-of-factly, as if she were a roommate on her first day. Edward eyed her vomit stained clothing with obvious distaste. "Speaking of which, you should come with me," she heard his chair sound against the floor but it seemed like she did not see him move at all, despite looking right at him.
Bella scrambled off of her stool and followed him, relieved that he did not reach for her hand as he had yesterday. They walked past the Door of Death, as Bella officially named it, and her heart raced as they passed it but thankfully they continued down the hallway that led to one of the three closed doors she had been too nervous to try earlier.
"Jessica brought tons of shit when she came here – way too much, honestly," he considered her frame for a moment, making her extremely uncomfortable. "You're not quite the same size but you should be able to find a pair of fresh clothes," he told her as he opened the door. "This room has its own bathroom too, so feel free to shower."
The room before her was chaos. Drawers were thrown open, their contents thrown carelessly all over. The bed was ransacked, the mattress half off of the box spring on the ground. Other items littered the ground and as Bella looked further even the bathroom seemed to have been searched. It looked like there had been a drug raid.
"Yeah, it's kind of a mess right now. Not that it was much better before," he shrugged. "You should be set on clothes and food though. I'm actually about to leave for a while. Is there anything you need?" he asked.
Xanax, I need more Xanax, Bella thought desperately as she looked at the mess before her but she shook her head. "When will you be back?" she blurted before she could stop herself.
"I'll be back when I'm back," he said shortly, sounding annoyed.
Bella looked back to where he had been standing, but he was already gone.
