Hey there, mates.

So this is chapter 9, Christian's POV of the party. I hope you enjoy everything that went on when Ana was not around and whatnot. Well, I don't wanna keep you from your reading, so read away! ...and please REVIEW!

CHRISTIAN'S POV

I inhaled one last drag of my clove cigarette before throwing it in the green overgrown grass and stepping on it. I reveled in the temporary calmness it brought me, always temporary. My trusty pack of cigs were always there for me, I could always count on them to take the edge off.

It was getting pretty dark and the shadows casting from the old concrete tombstones collided with the gloomy glow coming from the sunset, still visible over the horizon. I was leaning against the back of the sign that read "Montesano Cemetery". This was my hiding place, my safe haven of sorts. I come here almost every noon after school, or when I'm having a shitty day and just need to wallow on my own sorrow. Having so much death around me, always made me feel oddly comforted, knowing there was always a way out. Nothing's permanent.

Today, however, the feel of nothingness in the air couldn't even lift my spirits. Everywhere I looked, every flash of brown hair, or the passing blur of blue eyes, reminded me of her.

It fucking pissed me off! Did I not deserve a moment of peace?

Cursing in annoyance, I began my walk to my bike. Maybe a little dose of adrenaline would do my body some good.

...

I parked outside my house and killing the engine of my Harley, I nearly mounted the thing once again when I noticed the overwhelming amount of cars all over the residence. Of course, Mia was blowing the roof again.

Rolling my eyes at her antics, I made my way towards the door. Opening the damn thing, I felt my eyes widen at the scene before me. Was my sister's latest theme, "Roman Orgy Extraordinaire"?

I saw bodies doing a pretty good job at molding together. Mia had apparently placed flashing lights all over the place since I was almost blinded by the rapid sudden movements of the dancing mass. There were pillows, different shapes, sizes and colors thrown around the floor. Some girls in nothing but two minimal strips of clothing were hitting each other with the feather distributing cushions. I rolled my eyes at my sister's lame attempt at doing a classy get-together, this things always turned rowdy one way or another.

Shoving people out of the way, I climbed a few steps up the stairs, sitting down on the cold marble and resting my head on the steel railings. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the loud ear-splitting beat of the latest annoying mainstream crap the freckled kid, they called DJ, was playing.

Suddenly, I felt long nails scraping my back and the hot air of someone's breath grazing my ear.

"Hello Christian, you're looking mighty lonely out here."

I looked over my shoulder to spot Melissa with her hands rather busy, running all over the cloth of my shirt.

"Stop that." I growled, trying to control the urge to just forcefully pry her claws away from my back.

"Shit man! What's wrong with you lately? You haven't showed up at school and Samantha said you treated her like roadkill the other day." She huffed, dropping her hands and sitting next to me.

I ran my hands through my hair. Can't everyone just leave me alone? They were just eager for their healthy those of fuck and the town's manwhore wasn't putting out.

"So now you guys plot together? All my little fluffers have a secret society now?"

I saw her eyes narrow and I could tell she was fighting the urge to tell me off, but she stayed put and instead leaned in to place her insisting palm on my crotch.

"Tell me you don't want this and I'll leave." She purred in a voice I would have found seductive maybe a week ago. Somehow, all it did now was make me want to get the hell out of her grasp.

"Leave. Now." I got out through clenched teeth.

Seeming extremely offended, she got up with a start and trotted down the stairs. Well, what do you know? The slut had at least a scrape of self-worth.

...

It was a while before she came in, all dear-caught-in-the-headlights by the party atmosphere. Looking so damn hot, she should come with a warning label. I watched, her cute little outfit giving me just the right amount of skin to make me salivate, as she stood there motionless for my eyes to appraise. All of the sudden, she seemed to shake herself out the shock and notice Katherine Kavanagh had long left her side to most likely go find my sister, wherever the hell she was.

Anastasia stumbled her way through the crowd, and it was a while before I saw her disappear through the kitchen's threshold. Not even thinking it twice, I stood up and descended the stairs to go follow her. I wasn't sure if I wanted to actually talk to her, but just watching her from afar seemed to bring me this bizarre delight I couldn't yet explain to myself.

Of course this never happened since as soon as I stepped into the suffocating multitude of mindless teenagers, a drunken Samantha bumped into me and spilled her stupid blue-colored cocktail all over my shirt.

"Fuck! Are you fucking shitting me?" I exclaimed, outraged at the dazed girl before she started spitting an endless stream of apologies my way.

"Never mind." I muttered and sprinted towards the third floor.

Entering my room, I took off the stained shirt and threw it on top of the bedside lamp. I'd probably have to get rid of it soon because laundry wasn't really my forte. I decided to skip on grabbing a clean tank, there's plenty of drunken idiots downstairs walking around with colorful drinks. Descending the stairs, I was careful this time to avoid anyone swaying with a flourescent glass on a raised hand and managed to get to the kitchen unharmed.

The first thing I noticed was the circle of people on the floor inhaling from a bong. Ignoring the cloud of stoners, I scanned the room for Anastasia. What the fuck? I saw her go through here. The bar was empty except for Sophia Anderson and her latest boy toy, who were rubbing each other all over on top of the counter, as always she was open for business. Searching the room with keen eyes, I spotted Mark, Olivia's doormat boyfriend, and reached his side in no time. I took the bong away from his hands and looked straight into his far-away gaze.

"Have you seen Anastasia?"

He scrunched his eyebrows like I had asked him the answer to an elaborate math problem. "Uh...you mean, Ana?"

"Yes dumbass, have you fucking seen her?" I was getting irritated and slightly worried at her sudden absence.

"I think I saw Jack follow her outside after..."

I didn't stay long enough to hear him finish his sentence as I bolted towards the backdoor. I didn't know much about the Hyde kid, last year he had become an official member of the group of imbeciles that followed my brother and sister around, and that was about it as far as my dirt on him went. Even though I had no solid reason to get this freaked out, I felt dread creep its way into my stomach. Something was wrong, something was very wrong.

I found my hypothesis scarily accurate when I saw the loathsome individual pucker his lips and move them towards the terrified girl with the scrunched eyes. I was so enraged at that moment, it's a wonder how in mere seconds I grabbed the vile git by his shoulder, turned him around and relished in the feel of the bones in his jaw breaking against the contact of my knuckles. I saw him immediately hit the ground with a thud and right away, I started kicking his back and stomach. When the foul little bitch started pleading for me to stop, I sat on his stomach and in a swift determined motion, my fist connected with his right eye, making sure to pour the last of my anger in that violent shot, leaving the weeping bastard writhing on his back.

The sound of heartbreaking sobs swirled with the night's breeze and broke through my murderous rage. Anastasia sat on the ground, her small frame shaking with her convulsive gasps for air. She was facing away from me and I wondered idly if she was doing it on purpose because she was afraid of me after I had beaten Hyde into a shapeless mush. I approached her hesitatingly, but after not receiving any warning signs from her, I placed my hands carefully on her upper arms and help her to her feet. As I figured, as soon as she placed any weight on her shivering legs, they nearly collapsed under her. I hurriedly placed one arm under her knees and another behind her neck, cursing at myself for not carrying her straight away.

Having her this close to me, I saw her eyes strain to focus as tears still blurred her vision, falling mercilessly down her porcelain discolored cheeks. There were goosebumps all over her visible skin and I immediately made my way inside to find her somewhere where I could keep her warm and safe.

Inside, however, the loud uproar of the upbeat techno ate away at my ears and sensing Anastasia tense up in my arms, I pressed her closer towards my skin, wanting to protect her from any further discomfort. I ascended up the stairs with her pressed tightly into me now that she seemed to have ceased crying.

When we had finally arrived at my room, I shut the door and blindly placed her on the bed. Knowing by now where everything was located, even in utter darkness, I hurried to the bedside lamp and turned it on, letting the dim light illuminate the room under my long forgotten stained shirt.

With a now clear view of the girl laying on top of my comforter, I noticed she was trembling, even though the temperature in the room was perfectly warm. I walked over to her and knelt next to her spot on the far left of the bed, securing her small shaking hand in mine, making sure to rub my thumb in small circles over her palm, hoping this was of comfort to her.

"It's okay, you're safe now, Anastasia." I murmured reassuringly.

Almost immediately, her lids opened and the girl with the startled sapphire blue eyes gasped, followed by an automatic whimper of pain.

"What's wrong? What did the fucker did to you?" I asked, trying and failing to keep the panic out of my voice.

The fearful girl pressed a hand to her throat and I watched helplessly as she struggled to get her words out.

"B-b-burrns..." She managed and without a word I left to get her something to ease her supposed burning.

Running downstairs and grabbing her something to drink that wouldn't upset her stomach, I hurried back to my room in record time. Anastasia was right where I left her. Well what do you expect, stupid? She can't just teleport somewhere. Ignoring my rude inner monologue, I proceeded to carefully move her legs to the side and sit close enough to help her sit up and hand her the juice box.

"Small sips, you don't want to throw up again." I instructed, remembering the pile of vomit to her side on the backyard.

Thinking of the violent incident of a few minutest past, I took the time to take inventory of Anastasia. Her face, neck and shoulders seemed okay, but when my gaze lowered downward to her upper arms I couldn't stop the furious growl from escaping my lips when I catched sight of the finger-shaped bruises coming to surface on her ivory skin.

"I will kill him." I said, more to myself than anything else.

"N-no... y-yo-ou c-c-ann't." Anastasia stuttered roughly.

"How the fuck did you get so hammered? You'd just fucking arrived!" I fumed, attempting to change the subject and tame the murderous thoughts in my head.

"J-Jack... gav-ve me-e shh-ot." Oh, that fucker again.

"You get shit-faced after one shot?" I raised an eyebrow and looked at her like she had grown two heads.

She just shrugged, not giving anything else as an explanation.

"Well, what the hell did he give you?"

She seemed to think it over and I waited impatiently to know what the fuck had gotten her this messed up in mere minutes.

"Um, Ever..." She started hesitantly.

"Clear? EVERCLEAR?" I shouted, hoping just this once I was proven wrong.

However when I saw Anastasia nod cautiously I could no longer contain the boiling rage accumulating inside of my being. Getting up abruptly, I was already visualizing myself ripping Hyde apart when Anastasia's voice stopped me halfway towards the door.

"W-Wait!" She called. "W-wher-re a-are you go-oing?"

"Fucking finish the bastard off! EVER-FUCKING-CLEAR? Shit! Anastasia, straight from the bottle? How are you even speaking now?" Fuck! I pulled at my hair, not even trying to hide my frustration. "It's 95% alcohol! That's worst than vodka, whiskey, brandy! That fucker... after I'm done with him, he'll be carrying his intestines to the emergency room."

Craving the sensation of being responsible for Hyde's destruction, I made my way towards the door, stopping once again when Anastasia's broken voice filled the room with its haunting pleads.

"C-Chri-s-tian, ple-eas-se." I could hear the tears in her voice and immediately turned around, resuming my previous spot next to her.

"Hey...hey! Anastasia? Hey, it's okay." I tried to sooth her, but she was having non of it. Tears were streaming down her face and I could concentrate on nothing but her trembling lower lip.

"S-s-tay..." She begged.

"Anastasia, Hyde's gotta..."

"Ple-ea-s-se." She sobbed. "C-Chri-s-tian, I-I'm s-sca-red."

I looked deep into her frightened wide-eyed gaze and felt my resolve crumbling, right before I nodded and directed her to move over, which she immediately complied, giving me her former spot and moving to the right. I laid down next to her, and she turned so our eyes met. She was about to say something but I quickly placed a finger on her lips.

"Shhh... you keep talking and your throat's gonna feel like sandpaper tomorrow. Now, get some sleep, Anastasia."

She nodded and fluttered her eyes closed. Exhausted, I followed right after, sensing a foreign feeling of serenity creep through my body and drag me to sleep.

?

Did u like?

A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I hope this one gets the same amount of positive feedback!

PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING and I'll keep posting.

I'm sorry if once a week is too slow for you guys, but it's the only schedule I can manage.

BTW: Did any of u guys go see Breaking Dawn Part 2? I've seen it three times now, and that's counting the midnight première! Did u guys like it? Any twihards out there? I LOOOOOVED IT, it was just the perfect conclusion to the series.

Anyways, thanks for all the love and support,

LATER BABES.