A/N: Yeah.

Chapter 2-1: Knight and Killer

Daylight was slowly approaching, and I was holed up with Jenna inside the asylum. Dust covered the floor and the bed in the room we were sitting in, the white flowers in the window constantly catching my eye. Every single room here seemed to have white flowers somewhere, regardless of the connotations. One of the rooms, its walls smeared with dried, flaking blood, had had a knife and a pair of scissors lying on the bedside table, seemingly given as a present, though it seemed more like a curse. This place wasn't healthy.

Even though we were just sitting there, not really speaking, something seemed to be trying to come into my mind. It was a faint, vaguely painful buzz that was slowly wearing down my patience. Even though trying to relax was straining at best, it was the best safe place to be, as the feeling intensified further into the building, bringing with it the sharp smells of ozone and acetone and a bitter taste in my mouth.

As the sun slowly began floating over the horizon, we went into the hallway, barely sitting down before the dawn weakened our bodies, sending us into a travesty of sleep.

Only one thing was different when I woke up again. Everything was exactly as it had been the night before, as if it had somehow soaked in the stagnancy of the place, except a girl sleeping deeply with her head in my lap. After a moment of confusion, I guessed that it had to be the girlfriend of the boy I killed last night. Again, the fact that my actions had repercussions hit me squarely in what was left of my heart.

No matter how dangerous that boy had been, he'd still been a living, breathing human. He'd even gotten himself a girlfriend in some way. And now, she'd somehow found me again. It wasn't the fact that she'd located me that shocked me, but that she'd try to find me and even trust me enough to sleep in my lap for some kind of near-human contact that felt off to me. That action was completely counterlogical, bordering on suicidal, and yet she was still here. I didn't know why, and I didn't really want to get a snapshot of her thoughts after what I'd done.

I slowly lifted her head off my legs, letting her rest for a moment on the cold floor as I took off my jacket, lifted her a bit by her shoulders and folded it below her head. At least she still needed sleep, and I couldn't get cold anyway.

Jenna stirred in a doorway a bit down the hall and rose to her feet, stretching her arms by pure force of habit. Somehow, the coat and hat she'd looted from the mercenary felt more in place on her, like taking a warrior's clothes for yourself made you more of a warrior. Of course, that could just be the case.

"Yo, Melissa. Nice scrap out there yesterday, eh?" The many things about the statement that - the way she seemed to have enjoyed it even now, the fact that she could just so casually greet me after it - were compounded by her turning her back to me to look down the hallway in a reflexive show of paranoia. From the front, her duster didn't look that bad - only a few, scattered holes with a ragged abyss torn just below the collarbone, each inked with a tiny measure of blood, but at the back, the collar was drenched in the blood that was just barely visible on the deep sienna of the coat. The fabric was torn to shreds, loosely clinging to each other, and it left Jenna's upper back open, baring a portion of the shiny black jacket she was wearing underneath.

She turned her head first and then her body, her stare darting towards the girl on the floor. "I know it's an asshole move, but fuck, she kinda deserves it for walking in here." I caught a glimpse of that familiar look in her eyes, the all-consuming obsession for acquiring some kind of life and opened my mouth to speak, but she got her word in before me. "Look, if she came in here, it means she probably wants to be like us, y'know? Or else she just wants to die. At least we can give her a second chance if that's it. You on it? Seriously, just so you know, you look like a fucking monster now, the way you pretend not to be looking at her."

She was right. Right on so many points. I needed to feed. I'd have to accept it. Yesterday had really worn me out. At least we could give the girl what she seemed to want. Jenna took one look at my face and smirked, with just a bit of sly humor. "So that's it, huh? Who's first?" Of course I wanted it to be me, but I felt I couldn't let the girl into the existence she seemed to want without an apology, and somehow, she seemed too serene to wake up.

"You can take her first. I just have to fix something, okay? You got a pen and paper?" If I couldn't wake her up, I'd just write her a note so she'd know what happened. "What, you gonna write her a formal letter of apology or shit?" Jenna's expression loosened for the blink of an eye to reveal some kind of compassion. "Well, your choice. Saw some on the bedside table in where we were before." I went into the room, not pausing for even a fragment of a second, grabbed a worn pencil and half a sheet of yellowed paper from the bedside table and began writing.

"First, I want to say sorry.

I know we shouldn't have done this, but we really had no choice in the end.

That doesn't mean I don't think I'm guilty, though.

I know that what we did is probably cause more pain than good, but again, it's out of our hands in the long run, and we want to help you in whatever way we can, no matter how screwed up it is.

I feel like such a monster writing this, but keep out of the sunlight, make sure not to go hungry for too long, and don't let it take over.

I'll always be sorry for not even asking you your name.

Isabella Cullen."

In a show of honesty, I signed the letter with my full name. If she wanted to contact me, she could find me that way, and I just couldn't lie to her. Back in the hallway, Jenna was waiting for me, the only evidence of what she'd done being a faint streak of half-wiped-away blood on her cheek. "Hey, we can lick it shut. Betcha didn't know that." No matter how useful the information, I just couldn't answer through her psychotic cheeriness.

"Also, did I moan that way too yesterday? That's fucked up." "Huh. Yes." I answered distractedly, placed the paper in the girl's coat pocket, bit my lip, willed it to bleed and bit down hard on her wrist, getting every ounce of panic out by chewing up her arm as hard as I could without snapping bone or severing tendons. I didn't even feel good again this time, wouldn't let the pleasure into me.

As the girl began to twitch on the floor, I walked further down the hallway with Jenna leading the way, eager to get as far away from all the damage I'd caused as I could.