Chapter 6

"Watch the videos like a quiet little girl.", Edward suggested as if she were three years old, "If you behave maybe I'll feed you later."

A huge part of himself felt sorry for her as he went back to his side of the basement. Maybe tomorrow she'd see he meant her no harm and would begin to listen. He hoped so. This fighting was bringing out his dark side and he knew it. The monster in him was hugely there in the last ten years, finding pleasure in being cruel to those humans he fed on. Lately, though, Edward felt himself enjoying it more and more…and now he even took a hint of delight in being in control of these innocents he had encountered recently. And that scared him. He was starting to change from what he was back when he lived with Carlisle and Esme. The monster was starting to overpower Edward. He doubted his parents would even recognize him now, even if he did go home to them. Carlisle would send him away, seeing the new evil inside his first adopted son.

Edward decided to write in his journal now, that seemed to quiet the beast inside him. He loved to make entries often of his strange afterlife, to document the change from boy to demon. Maybe someday someone could use this to their advantage.

The room was still pitch black, except for the TV light. The bottle Edward drank from was almost empty, but not quite. He felt as full as the bottled stuff would make him feel, anyway.

I hate that it made me feel good when I taped her wrists together., Edward wrote, using an old fashioned ink pen, dipping it in again to keep writing.

'Something wrong inside me wants to be closer to her', he wrote,' but I'm staying as far away from her as I can. I really don't want to hurt her anymore.'

About 30 minutes had gone by when he heard her clearing her throat. She had been perfectly silent until then and Edward was glad for the brief serenity. Was she trying to summon him over, or was she really just thirsty ? He looked up at her.

"Are you alright?", he asked without alarm, not getting up.

The tape would have to come off her mouth now, if she had a sore throat it would be dangerous to keep her mouth sealed up. He rose slowly, not wanting to alarm her again, and went to his refrigerator, taking another bottle of cold water for her.

"Don't be afraid.", Edward came closer to her, kneeling on the floor at the couch's side.

He opened the bottle of water, dripping some onto his fingers first, then moved them over her taped mouth, loosening the glue on the inside a bit. He peeled it off her mouth slowly, with supernatural ability, not even pulling a hair or hurting the skin.

It was off now, and Edward tossed it to the floor beside him. Her breath came out in a full long gush, relieved to run freely again.

She didn't scream this time, as Edward's beautiful eyes stared at hers like a panther's would, watching its prey carefully.

"Alright Samantha.", Edward looked at her seriously, "Would you like some water NOW?"

She nodded shyly, expecting him to free her hands now.

"Oh no no," Edward gave a little shake of his head, "Those hands stay as they are. If you want water, it'll be me who'll give it."

She looked a little confused as Edward took the bottle in his hand and began to bring it to her mouth, looking into her eyes and saying, "Open up."

Is he serious ?, she thought at this, feeling the glass of the bottle gently rest upon her bottom lip. She opened her mouth slightly, afraid he'd pour it in too roughly.

"Trust.", he said in a deep voice, gently lifting the bottle end up. He could read her thoughts to know when she needed air and when she had to swallow.

"Good.", he smiled a bit after the first mouthful went down successfully, then asked, "More?"

"Please.", she spoke to him now, opening her mouth a bit as he brought the bottle to her lips again.

She is very pretty, the burning voice of the vampire Edward commented in his brain. I love the way she swallows the water, as if she can hardly breathe. Her mouth is so sultry, the full pink lips. I adore a helpless young girl, bound here in our grasp.

SILENCE you fowl thing !, the boy half of Edward kicked the cage the demon was trapped in, not wanting to hear it anymore.

"MMMM", the girl's voice was pleading for air, the bottle of water still pouring it in. Edward snapped back to earth, stopping the bottle and taking it away.

Her back was arched up before he took it away, the water had run a bit down her throat, catching Edward's full attention.

"Sorry ,sorry.", he winced, wiping the water down her neck a bit as she coughed for a second or two. Desire was beating in his body, her throat glistened like it was covered with stars.

"Do you want more?", he asked, needing to move away from her, and begged in his mind, 'please say no.'

"No thank you.", she said with a little voice, timid now. Edward was sure he had scared her earlier. Good, he thought, that would keep her away and listening to his requests to keep her safe.

"Do you need anything else?", Edward asked politely.

"No.", she shivered a bit, making quick eye contact with him, then darted her eyes down into her lap.

"Well if you change your mind, let me know.", he offered, sitting on the floor a few feet away from her, pretending to watch the TV, his arms around his knees.

"Can I ask you one thing ?", she dared to speak to him again. He did scare her, but sometimes his eyes had a glint of humanity there, a niceness that she almost trusted.

"Sure.", he didn't look away from the TV.

"Are you going to sell me now?", she asked, trembling in her voice, "To someone else?"

Edward frowned and looked over at her, asking, "Where did you get that idea ?"

"Before,", she almost wept, "On the phone you said, I have another girl for you."

Edward pondered this and understood now, "Ohhh, no, you misunderstand. I was talking to a detective then. He usually takes care of the girls after I – buy them." He ended on an embarrassed note, hearing the way he sounded to her.

"You're a cop?", she squinted her green eyes, not believing it.

He's a kid, my age, she said in her mind.

"No I'm not a cop.", Edward laid his legs down on the floor in front of him, sighing, not wanting to explain what he was to her.

He didn't say anything else for a long time. He could hear her mind scrambling all over the place with a million questions.

"Can I ask you something else ?", she dared again.

"Ask.", he sounded annoyed, so much for only asking one thing.

"What are you going to do with me?", she asked softly.

"God, nothing.", he said simply, "I've told you that."

"Then why did you do this ?", she was confused and alone in this, "If you want to kill me – or something else – just please do it already! This is driving me insane, this waiting!"

Now he understood. The anticipation of something terrible coming was even worse than the event itself. What could he, a vampire hungry for human blood, say to calm her down? There was nothing.

"In time, you'll see that I mean you no harm.", Edward pretended to be bored, watching the screen, tilting his head a bit away from her.

"Where are your parents?", she blurted out before she could think about it first.

"I don't have any parents.", he half lied, his voice cold again.

"You bought this place all by yourself?", she almost challenged him.

With a huff of breath, Edward said, "Alright, I lied. I have a rich Daddy who loves me from afar, okay? So don't expect Mom and Pop to come in suddenly and save you. It's just the two of us here, for miles. You are going nowhere."

The two watched TV for a long time in silence. Edward found himself mad at her and didn't really understand why. She mentioned his parents. That was it. Edward really missed his adopted family a lot, but he knew it was over between him and them. They were vegetarians, he wasn't. He saw nothing wrong with taking some lives, and Carlisle couldn't make him believe it. The disappointment he had in his eyes when Edward left was still hurting him, ten years later.

"Don't go Edward, please.", Carlisle had said that night as his son came down the stairs, a bag in hand.

"It's not a good idea that I stay, Carlisle.", he had told his father, sadly, "I'll only endanger the rest of you if I do."

"Will you write me and let me know where you are and how you're doing?" Carlisle asked, wanting some kind of promise that they'd keep in touch.

After a long silence, Edward had answered, "I don't know."

A weird noise snapped Edward out of his memories. It came from the girl. A gurgling sound in her stomach, hunger, the vampire recognized it too well.

"Dinner time?", he asked, getting up on his feet, moving back over towards the phone near the wall.

"No, I'm not hungry.", she lied, but why Edward wasn't sure. Her stomach said differently, though.

"Don't lie to me now, Samantha.", Edward ignored her voiced words and grabbed the phone book from a shelf under the bar, "I'll make you eat broccoli for dinner." He chuckled a little at this to himself, reading in her thoughts her most hated food.

He flipped through to the yellow pages, finding the page he wanted. He didn't ask her what she wanted, though.

"I'm gonna make a call in a second.", Edward announced, looking at her from the bar, "You are not to make any noise in the background when I do. Understand?"

"Yes.", she said, looking a little deflated.

"I don't trust you.", he grinned, shaking his head, "Stubborn little-"

He bent down under the bar, then stood up holding a fresh hand towel. He twisted it up and came closer to her, the phone in his other hand.

"Open.", he demanded without softness here. She was about to speak when he firmly but carefully held her jaw in his cold fingers, and before she knew it, the cloth slid inside her mouth, going deep down until it began to gag her a bit, muffling her voice to near silence.

"Just for a minute.", he assured, holding his hand over her mouth now, keeping the cloth securely in place as she struggled.

"I sincerely hope they don't place me on hold.", he seemed amused now, dialing the plastic keys quickly, knowing this made her breathing impossible.

"Yes", Edward spoke as the other end of the line was picked up.

At this, she began trying to scream through the towel but he held it down tighter, blocking off all air and noise.

"I'd like 1 pint of shrimp with lobster sauce.", he ordered, so cool in his demeanor as if nothing were going on at all, "Two egg rolls, and a pint of Pork Lo Mein."

RRRRRRRR she tried to scream but it was useless, the cloth was starting to touch the back of her throat, she closed her eyes and bucked her body, kicking her legs against the leather sofa.

"Do you have anything to drink there?", he asked, sounding as if a smile were on his lips.

"Alright, I'll have one of those too then.", he agreed.

Samantha was listening suddenly, knowing maybe he'd have to give his name or address to the man on the phone.

"That's right.", he said, "Thank you, bye bye."

He disconnected the call by hitting the button on the phone face, then took his hand off her mouth. She felt the cloth loosen and she bent forward now, spitting it out, its warm wetness landing on her legs. Edward had gone to hang the phone on the wall.

He didn't make any moves to come back over to her. When she focused on him, he was putting the phone book back on its shelf.

"You almost suffocated me!", she found herself angry, yelling at him.

"It takes 3.5 minutes to die of suffocation.", he informed, "That was only 1 minute and 45 seconds. I thought you were on the swim team. Surely you can hold your breath for a long ,long time."

"In the water,", she yelled, "Not when a rag is stuffed down my throat and you shove it down harder!"

"That was not hard.", he said with no feeling, "When it is, you'll know."

"Why are you like this?", she was mouthing off again, her temper flaring.

"Like what?", he asked innocently, "I'm buying you dinner! A thank you wouldn't be out of place!"

"THANK YOU ?!", she raged, "THANK YOU!"

"You're welcome.", he answered, giving a little grin.

"You're not trying to keep me safe, you're just getting off on hurting me!", she spat out violently.

"Would you like to be hurt?", Edward asked, his hands on the bar. His eyes were deadly now, hauntingly beautiful but evil. "Because if I decide to hurt you, you won't even be able to complain about it. Now return to your quiet voice or I will be forced to get the tape again."

See next chapter