Title: Twisted Twilight
Author: Midnight
Synopses: A different version of Twilight. What if Renee never married Phil, but John Reed, a local cop. John is actually an alcoholic, and is abusive to Bella and Renee. It's after a brutal attack, that Bella decides to go to Forks to live with her Father. As Bella's life experiences have changed, so has our beloved story. See how!
Rating: T

Chapter: Twelve
Chapter Title: Port Angeles
Warning: Includes mention of violence, and rape.
Author's Note: I apologize for the delay- the holidays have been insane this year for some reason. PLEASE BE ADVISED this chapter isn't super friendly- it's not super scary, but it's a little depressing.
Special Thanks: mikan kisses, Neko4, onyxrush707x5, jules452, Romance4ever, Koori Youkai Hime, RoryAceHayden147, ktline, Gothic Saku-chan, Stargirlrox-hearts-Avatar, A is for Angel, Crystallized Hope (lol,me2), Drama Kagome, lilangels0108, divine divinity, TheKimikoGirl, iluvSparklyVampires

Jess drove faster then Charlie, so we made it a little before four. It had been awhile since I'd had a girls' night out, and the estrogen rush was invigorating. We listened to whine rock songs while Jessica babbled on about the boys we hung out with. Jessica's dinner with Mike had gone very well, and she was hoping that by Saturday night they would have progressed to the first-kiss stage. I smiled to myself, pleased. Angela was passively happy to be going to the dance, but not really interested in Eric. Jess tried to get her to confess who her type was, but I interrupted with a questions about dresses after a bit, to spare her. Angela threw a grateful glance my way.
Port Angeles was a beautiful little tourist trap, much more polished and quainter then Forks. But Jessica and Angela knew it well, so they didn't plan to waste time on the picturesque boardwalks by the bay. Jess drove straight to the one big department store in town, which was a few streets in from the bay area's visitor-friendly face.
The dance was billed as a semi-formal, and we weren't exactly sure what that meant. Both Jess and Angela seemed surprised and almost disbelieving when I told them I'd never been to a dance in Phoenix.

"Didn't you ever go with your boyfriend or something?" Jess asked dubiously as we walked through the front doors. My stomach turned- I pretty well avoided boys there. In fact, I pretty well avoided everyone.

"Really," I tried to convince her, not wanting to really dwell on the reasons. Quite frankly, I'm not that pretty, I can't dance, and I'm skittish as hell around males in general- well, I was; that at least seemed to be lessening here- at least with Edward, any ways. "I've never had a boyfriend or anything close. I didn't go out much."

"Why not?" Jess demanded. 'Oh, because I was too busy attempting to nurse my wounds and trembling in fear?' I thought darkly to myself.

"No one asked me," I answered; it was technically true, anyway.

She looked skeptical. "People ask you out here," she reminded me, with a slightly bitter tone, "and you tell them no." We were in the juniors section now, scanning the racks for dress up clothes.

"Well, expect type," Angela amended quietly. My eye twitched- it literally twitched.

"Excuse me?" I gasped. "What did you say?"

"Tyler told everyone he's taking you to prom," Jessica informed me with suspicious eyes.

"He said what?" I sounded like I was choking. Which made me want to choke him.

"I told you it wasn't true," Angela murmured to Jessica.

I was silent for a lone minutes, still lost in shock that was quickly turning in irritation. But we had found the dress racks, and now we had work to do.

"That's why Lauren doesn't like you," Jessica giggled while we pawed through the clothes.

"Do you think if I ran him over with my truck he would stop feeling guilty about the accident? Then he might give up on trying to make amends and call it even?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Maybe," Jessica snickered. "If that's the reasons why he's going this."
The dress election wasn't large, but both of them found a few things to try on. I sat on a low chair just inside the dressing room, by the tree-way mirror, trying to control my fuming.
Jess was torn between two- one a long, strapless basic-black number, the other a knee-length electric blue with spaghetti straps. I encouraged her to go with the blue; why not play up those eyes? Angela choose a pale pink dress that draped around her tall frame nicely and brought out honey tints in her light brown hair. I complemented them both generously and helped by returning the rejects to their racks. The whole process was much shorter and easier than similar trips I'd taken with Renee at home. I guess there was something to be said for limited choices.
We headed over to the shoes and accessories. While they tried things on I merely watched and critiqued, not in the moon to shop for myself, thought I did need new shoes. The girls-night high wearing off in the wake of my annoyance at Tyler, leaving room for the gloom to move back in.
If he felt the same way I felt about him, then why didn't he just ask me out? No one else here seemed to have a problem asking me out here- much to my annoyance. Which suddenly reminded me of that book store I wanted to go to.
Angela asked my opinion of a pair of pink strappy heels- thrilled to have a date tall enough she could wear heels. I said they looked great, and Jessica returned from the jewelry counter.

"I think I'll get them- though they'll never match anything but the one dress," she mused.

"Oh, go ahead- they're on sale," I encouraged. She smiled, putting the lid back on the box that contained more practical-looking white shoes.
A moment later, Jessica returned to show us the rhinestone jewelry she'd found to match her sliver shoes.

We planned to go to dinner at a little Italian restaurant on the boardwalk, but the dress shopping hadn't taken as long as we'd expected. Jess and Angela were going to take their clothes back to the car and then walk down to the bay. I told them I would meet up with them at the restaurant in an hour- I wanted to look at this book store. Both were willing to come with me, but I encouraged them to go and have fun- they don't know how preoccupied I could get when surrounded by books; it was something I preferred to do alone. They walked off to the car chattering happily, and I pulled the address from my wallet.
The small map I'd seen seemed close enough the road, but was actually off the side, down a dark path. Had I been in Arizona, I would have never gone up their alone, but given that I was in Port Angela's, I wasn't too concerned. But just as I was approaching the door, I got chills down my spine, and a strong feeling of being watched. I hurried into the door, and closed it tight behind me.

"Good evening, young lady." An elderly native man greeted from behind the counter. "How can I be of service to you?"

The bookstore wasn't at all what I expected; it wasn't well lit, with displays of the most recent books to come out- instead, it was rather dark, and dusty looking, and had the appearance of an old library. I looked at the man at the counter, who smiled warmly at me.

"I'm looking for some books on tribe legends." I blurted out.

"Ah, interested in the old Quileute tribe? The men who come from wolves?" He asked in a sly voice. Strange; hadn't I seen Jacob as a wolf in my dream?

"Yeah." I nodded. He smiled, and walked out from around the counter.

"We'll, I've got a couple ones here..."
I spent about thirty minutes with the man, then decided on one book after a quick glance at the table of contents- The Cold One was chapter ten. The book itself only turned out to be about ten dollars, which was a surprised. As I was checking out, the elderly man looked up at me with a concerned look on his face. "It's gotten rather dark out there- you be careful young lady. Not every one in our small town has a good heart. I sense danger around you."
"I'll make sure to stay in well lit areas," I promised and smiled. The man seemed strangely familiar, yet I had no idea who he was. I put the book in purse; which was actually a large bag- and headed out the door.

The same chill ran down my spine as I walked into the now pitch black night. I almost ran down towards the street, into the light, but stopped suddenly- three men came out of no where, and were blocking my exit. I dashed right, down a small path, hoping my sense of direction wasn't completely useless. One of them was about ten feet behind me, the other two gone. The path was getting smaller, and smaller, and twisted in strange directions behind shops. I kept looking behind my back, and the man still followed. I panicked, and broke into a run.
I darted down an extremely narrow alley, back towards the road. Strangely, every other lamp seemed to be out on the edge of the street. The end-of-week traffic was starting to slow as it made it's way from the 'city' to the even smaller surrounding villages. Thankfully, I'd lost the mystery man.
I headed off in a southernly direction, attempting to make it back to down town, but realizing that since I'd taken the long twisty side route, I'd gotten myself mixed up. The little foot traffic I'd seen had all been going North, and it looked like the buildings here were mostly warehouses. I decided to turn east at the next corner, and then loop around after a few blocks and try my luck on a different street on my way back to the boardwalk.
A group of four men turned the corner I was heading for, dressed too casually to be heading home from the office, but they were too grimy to be tourists. As the approached me, I realized they weren't too many years older then I was. The message? Stay in school. They were joking loudly among themselves, laughing raucously and punching each others arms. I scooted as far to the inside of the sidewalk as I could to give them room, walking swiftly, looking past them to the next corner.
"Hey, there!" one of them called as they passed, and he had to be talking to me since no one else was around. I glanced up automatically. Two of them had paused, the other two were slowly. The closest, a heavyset, dark haired man in his early twenties, seemed to be the one who had spoken. He was wearing a flannel shirt open over a dirty t-shirt, cut-off jeans, and sandals. He took a half step towards me. I glanced over the ones who'd stopped- my heart jumped.

"Hi," I mumbled, a knee-jerk reaction. These men looked to have the same build as the ones from the alley. I hoped I was imagining it. I quickly looked away and walked faster towards the corner. I could hear them laughing at full volume behind me.

"Hey, wait!" one of them called after me again, but I kept my head down and rounded the corner with a sigh of relief. I could still hear them chortling behind me- like hell I was going to stick around.
I found myself on a sidewalk leading part the backs of several somber-colored warehouses, each with large bay doors for unloading trucks, padlocked for the night. The south side of the street had no sidewalk, only a chain link fence topped with barbed wire protecting some kind of engine parts store yard. I'd wandered far the part that I, as a guest, was supposed to see of Port Angeles. It was extremely dark in the yard- with very little light, and I realized that I'd left my jacket in Jessica's car. A single van passed me, and then the road was empty.
I looked over my shoulder, and my stomach twisted as I realized that two of the men from that disgusting group were about twenty feet behind me. There was no doubt in my mind they were from that group before, and the men from the alley way. But neither of them was the dark haired man who'd spoken to me. My mind raced and planed- they were planning something. Or I was paranoid. But I certainly wasn't sticking around long enough to find out. I turned my head to face forward at once, quickening my pace. A chill that had nothing to do with the weather made me shiver again. My purse was on a shoulder strap and I had it slung across my body, the way you're supposed to wear it so it couldn't get snatched. I knew exactly where my pepper spray was- Arizona. I didn't have much money with me, just a twenty and some ones, and I thought about 'accidently' dropping my bag and walking away. But a large part of me realized that money was not what these men were after.
I swallowed hard, and bolted down the street. I turned quickly right, where another man appeared ahead of me, causing me to slam on my breaks. Panic hadn't won yet- I flew across the street. I was running as fast as I could, but was quickly losing speed- athletics's wasn't my strong suit. I stumbled- hard, and rolled on my shoulder. Laughter echoed all around me. I pulled myself to my feet as quickly as I could, and looked over my shoulder- all three when where closing in fast, making a circle around me. I looked over my shoulder- another alley way. I took three steps back, and they all paused.
Another step. They started steeping towards me.
I opened my mouth to scream, but just as it started to come out, a large sweety hand clasped around my mouth, another arm wrapping around me. I struggled as hard as I could, but it was useless. Even if I did get away, there where four of them, one of me, and I was lost. He pulled me down the alley, squeezing my breast at the same time. I tried to kick him, but he barely flinched."Keep struggling, sugar- it makes it more fun for me." He hissed into my ear. It was the dark haired man.
A chill ran down my spine, and my body went limp.
We emerged on the other side to dark parking lot. The others filed out behind us. The strong man, ripped away my sweater, revealing the thin t-shirt I was wearing. My eyes began to burn as painful memories surface. He pushed me into the center.
They circled around me, and it felt like every part of my body went cold. Images from my past flashed before my eyes, and I completely tensed up. I should run- fight- scream- something- but I couldn't. All I could do was stand there, and attempt not to have an panic attack. One of them reached out, and touched my hair. My whole body shuttered in response. One of them touched my face. I felt like I was going to throw up. I wanted to yelled at them, and tell them to stop, but my mouth wasn't working. I was too weak, too slow, too dirty, too broken. Too much of a nothing. I was just trash; I dissevered this. That's what he'd told me my whole life.
It was creepy how much this man reminded me of John- his grip, his words, even his face. I attempted to block out the images of when I got out the shower, and found him sitting on the toilet, whacking off. I screamed, and tried to run, but he grabbed me. "Go ahead and struggle, Izzy- make's it more fun" he made me stand there, naked, until he was finished. When he laughed, I curled into a ball on the floor for an hour- half thankful he didn't just rape me- half horrified.
And now I knew he was right. He had to be. If he wasn't, then this wouldn't be happening, someone would make it stop. My eyes continued to burn, but no tears came out. Already my mind had begun to turn off; go into numb mode. A place I hadn't been in a long time. The place that made it easier to deal, and repress. I closed my eyes, and feel to my knees, with my arms around my head.
"Look up, sugar." Panicked, I obeyed. A sharp sliver knife somehow gleamed in the dark light, it reached forward, and I leaned back, moving my arms, and exposing my chest without thinking- it tore my shirt open. I arms flipped back around my chest, attempting to not let them see. I leaned into my lap, and just shock in fear.
Before I'd left, John had cut my jeans off with his hunting knife.
Screeching tires echoed inside of my head like a thousand alarm clocks. It was the biggest wake up call of my life. My eyes flew open just as headlights flew around the corner. The Volvo S60 almost hit the stocky one, forcing him to jump back towards the side walk. I kept staring at the car, in shock. The sliver car unexpectedly fish-tailed around, skidding to a stop with the drivers side door open just a few feet from me.
Edward Cullen flew out the car with impossible speed. He picked up my sweater, and ran over to me. His expression was pained- and angry- very, very angry. He placed the sweater around my shoulder, and I instinctively pulled my arms through. As he helped me to my feet, the four men seemed to regain their courage.

"Don't be a hero," the dark haired one said, "just walk away now, and neither of you need to get hurt." Edward laughed without humor.

"You couldn't hurt me if you tried." His voice was velvety, yet razor sharp. As he spoke, he helped me into the passengers side. "Beside's, she's clearly, already hurt."

"Want to bet, pretty boy? How about we bet the girl?" I watched threw the windshield as Edward grabbed his knife, and crumpled it in his hand. After seeing him crush a van, I wasn't surprised. They stared at each other for a moment. The man stared in absolutely fear, Edward stared in absolutely rage. Edward walked over to the car without a word, hoped into the drivers seat.
It was dark inside the car, no light had come on with the opening of the door, and I could barely see his face in the glow from the dashboard. The tires squealed as he spun around to face north, accelerating too quickly, swerving towards the stunned men on the street. I caught a glimpse of them diving for the sidewalk as we straightened out and sped towards the harbor.
"Put on you seat belt," he commanded, and I realized I was clutching the seat with both hands. I quickly obeyed; the snap of the belt connected was loud in the darkness. He took a sharp left, racing forward, blowing several stop signs without a pause.
Circulation seemed to start returning in my body, the warmth burning. With the burning came a different emotion- rage. Strong, loud, burning, fiery rage. This was a first- normally, after such events, I simply went colder, and fell curled into a dark depression. But this was different.
Above everything else, I was mad at myself. I had completely panicked, without even thinking about defending myself, or screaming, or anything as soon as I was surrounded. I was there, totally willing to let them- have their way. I resisted the urge to smack myself for the stupidity. But strangely, I wasn't scared.
Despite Edward's erratic driving, I felt completely safe, and for the moment, totally unconcerned about where we were going. I stared at his face in profound relief that went beyond my sudden deliverance. I studied his flawless features in the limited light, waiting for my breath to return to normal, until it occurred to me that his expression was murderously angry.

"Are you okay?" I asked, surprised at how hoarse my voice sounded.

"No," he said curtly, and his tone was livid.
I sat in silence, watching his face while his blazing eyes stared straight ahead, until the car came to a sudden stop. I glanced around, but it was too dark to see anything besides the vague outline of dark trees crowding the roadside. We weren't in town anymore.

"Bella?"

"Yes?" My voice was still rough. I tried to clear my throat quietly.

"Are you alright?" He took his time to look at me, probably due to my silence. I stared back at him, not wanting to answer until I knew for sure. Was I okay? I certainly wasn't before he showed up. I presumably wouldn't be if he left. I sighed heavily.

"I don't know," I said, as truthfully as I could. His eyebrows furrowed. "I shouldn't be okay; I should be curled into a ball being raped," My voice cracked. Edward's eyes seemed to burn at the word, as if he could feel the pure rage that when poked would fly to life in a flurry beneath my skin. A moment later, I continued, "But then you showed up, and everything changed. But how did you know where I was? Why aren't I- maybe I am- maybe I'm just halluncinating this...." My breathing began to intensify astromically.

"Bella," He sounded exsaportated. "You are not halluncinating this."I looked up at him, clearly not believing at word coming out of his mouth. Edward's hand reached up, and burshed a small tear from my face, and the electric shock of his touch flew through my veins. He flicked the tear from his finger, and placed his hand on my cheeck. My breathing slowed, but my heart raced. "Do you believe me now?"

"Thank you," I mummbled, while nodded. He reluctantly pulled his hand away from my face.

"Are you okay? Do I need to take you to the hospitail?"

"No," I blurted out, "I mean yes- yes I'm okay, no I don't need to go to the hosptail. No blood, no foul." I said, while zipping my sweater up all the way.

"You're shaking." He pointed out. I looked at my hands, which trembled. "Your paulse is iractic, you're breathing is labored, you're shaking, and your crying- I think you're going into shock."

"My breathing is fine now, my heart is calming down, I'm not crying, and I always shake- maybe not this much, but it's pretty normal." I shrugged.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm okay now." I smiled softly. He sighed in relief, then loked back out the window.

"Distract me, please," he whispered

"I'm sorry, what?"
He exhaled sharply.

"Just prattle about something unimportant until I calm down," he clarified, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose with the thumb and forefinger. I tried to think about something, but my mind kept traveling backwards. I was still too angry- I needed to keep that angry; use it for something good.
Tyler.

"I'm going to run over Tyler Crowley tomorrow before school?" I said slowly; it was still upsetting me, and this was a good chance to rant. And distract myself.
He was still squeezing his eyes closed, but the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Why?"

"He's telling everyone he's taking me to prom- either he's insane or he's till trying to make up for almost killing me last... well, you remember it, and he thinks prom is somehow the correct way to do this. So I figure if I endanger his life, then we're even, and he can't keep trying to make amends. I don't need enemies and maybe Lauren would back off if he left me alone. I might have to totally his van though. If he doesn't have a ride, he can't take anyone to prom..." I babbled on.

"I heard about that." He sounded a bit more composed. That made one of us; I was putting on a good show, I'll admit, but the anger was powerful; I held the seat to insure he couldn't see my shaking hands. But my anger didn't matter right now- Edward's did. He needed to calm down. Something told me that he was resisting the urge to kill.

"You did?" I asked in disbelief, my previous irritation flaring, mixing dangerously with the fuming anger. I'd have to watch myself if I didn't want to snap. "If he's paralyzed from the neck down, he can't go to the prom, either." I muttered, refining my plans.

Edward sighed, and finally opened his eyes. "Better?"

"Not really," he responded, sounding defeated. I waited, but he didn't speak again. He leaned his head back against the seat, staring at the ceiling of the car. His face was rigid.

"What's wrong?" I whispered, hating to see him so upset.

"Sometimes I have a problem with my temper, Bella." He was whispering, too, and as he stared out the window, his eyes narrowed into slits. "But it wouldn't be helpful for me to turn around and hunt down those..." He didn't finish his sentence, looking away, struggling for a moment to control his anger again. "At least," he continued, "that's what I'm trying to convince myself."

"Oh." I couldn't think of a better response- of course hunting them down would be the wrong thing to do, but it seemed so tempting- as long as I had Edward by my side, I felt invincible.
We sat in silence again. I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was past six-thirty.

"Jess and Angela will be worried," I muttered, "I was supposed to meet them."
He started the engine without another word. Without looking, he turned the car around smoothly, and sped back towards town. We were under the streetlights in no time at all, still going all too fast, weaving with ease through the cars slowly cruising the boardwalk. He parallel-parked against the curb in one flow swoop, in a space I would have thought much too small for the Volvo. I looked out the window to see the lights to La Bella Italia, and Jessica and Angela just leaving, pacing anxiously away from us.

"How did you know where...?" I began, but stopped. I shook my head, and turned to see him getting out the car.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm taking you to dinner." He smiled slightly, but his eyes were hard. He stepped out of the car and slammed the door. I fumbled with my seat belt, and then hurried to get out the car as well. He finished opening the door for me, and waited.

"Thanks." I mumbled, almost tripping as I got out of the car.

"Go and stop them before I have to track them down, too. I don't think I could restrain myself if I ran into your other friends again."