Bella investigates what happened to Renee, also some things from her past catch up with her. Rated M for some language and sexuality. Some creepy moments. Please review! Thanks for following!

Bella POV

"THE BLOOD! THE BLOOD! THE BLOOD!"

I woke up in a cold sweat; Preacher man's voice was getting to me. My alarm clock flashed 6:30AM, way too early for me so I closed my eyes and tried to get back to sleep. HONK! HONK! The moving truck was here. I checked my clock again, 8:30AM. How did I sleep 2 hours? I just closed my eyes a couple seconds ago, I hate when that happens.

I was scared for the movers, Renee's behaviour was so erratic yesterday I had no idea what she'd be like today. I crept downstairs quietly in my pyjamas, afraid what beast might be waiting for me at the bottom.

"Bella, your bed is here!" Renee cheered from the front door; did my wish come true, was it all just a bad dream? I saw the look on her face, so happy and bright, not pissed off and cold. I walked up to her slowly, looking up at this woman, studying her face, her eyes the same beautiful hazel blue, nothing dark or cloudy behind them. "Are you hungry?" she seemed to fret at the concerned look on my face, I probably looked like an idiot just standing there staring, "Is something wrong?"

"Are you okay?"

She smiled, "Yes. Perfectly. Why?"

"I…just had a bad dream, that's all." her smile faded as I went into the kitchen; to her, I was the one acting strange. I was starving, Renee kicked me to bed without dinner, I needed anything I could get my hands on. When Renee came back inside to check on me as the movers was unloading she caught me shoving left over cold pizza into my mouth straight from the fridge.

"That's actually not the worst idea" she said placing her hands on her hips, "But I can think of something a little more easy on the stomach." She got closer and I backed away, I didn't understand her, she was crazy last night but now she was her normal self. "Bella?"

I ran upstairs without a word and shut my door. I got dressed, I grabbed my wallet. I just couldn't be alone with her right now, I didn't feel safe. I made sure she was outside with the movers before I made my way back downstairs and out the back door.

The most shocking thing I'd seen all morning was the absence of "Hairy Balls" or "Tits" scrawled over the walls. I couldn't figure it out. Did Donny come back? This was beginning to bother me more, I needed to get into town and do some snooping. I would never walk alone especially in an unfamiliar town like this but I needed to get to the bottom of what happened.

The liquor store, no place for me. As soon as the bell above the door alerted the cashier I was nearly turned away but I asked them if Renee was there, I had a picture from last year. The grumpy cashier told me he had never seen her before and told me to get going. So she wasn't drinking? I guess I didn't smell anything on her breath thinking back now. I did remember her joking about checking out a sex shop she saw on our way in. Knowing Renee as long as I did, she wasn't joking about visiting.

I was super nervous about entering those black painted glass doors; those 3 huge X's used to spell out XXX-citement! wasn't helping either. There were a lot of things in life I just knew I wasn't ready to see and this was one of them. Now, I have nothing against pornography, I'm not really the stuck up type but I knew people had their fetishes.

I pulled on the door and went inside. Weird techno music played and a flashing strobe light blinded me, man did that hurt. I tried to open my eyes enough to see what was in front of me. Mannequins dressed in some interesting lingerie including the assess chaps Renee mentioned.

"Hi, dear, can I help you?" A woman about 50 called over from her desk.

I spoke up over the music, "Hey, I was wondering…"

"Wait, how old are you?"

I pulled out my photo of Renee, "Did you see this woman yesterday?"

She squinted her eyes and then smiled, "Yes. She was in" she laughed. "She wanted to buy those chaps over there." I laughed a little even in this stressful time, I really just want to get out of there before I saw something that would haunt me. "Is she your sugar mamma?" the woman laughed.

I didn't get it, "Huh? Oh, she's my stepmom."

"Oh" the woman laughed, "I thought maybe you two were…never mind. I was going to say, you two don't really look that much alike. So did something happen to her?"

"She was acting weird last night. At first I thought she might have been drinking but it must be something else. I'm scared, I've never seen her like this."

"Hmmm" the woman just trailed off, looking around the store, "It's back."

I had no idea if I heard her correctly, "What's back?"

"Honey, you need to get out of that house! There are some dark forces you don't want to mess with!"

"Dark forces?"

"Something's in your mom."

I slowly backed up to the door, I tried to humour her, "Ok. I'll do that, thanks!"

I was so glad to be outside. Fresh air, still the same cloudy sky but still it was great being out of that place.

"So this is how you spend your free time?" It was Jessica, Alice was with her; I really should have been more careful in my escape. I tried to shrug it off, thinking of saying I just got a little lost.

"The sign does say XXX-citemnt, I guess I wanted to see what kind they had" Alice chuckled at my sarcasm but Jessica was harder to please./

"It shouldn't surprise me that a skank like you would be in there" she put a lot of emphasis on the word 'skank'. "I know who you are Bella Swan. Or should I say Phoenix Trash Bell." She held up her cellphone, it was on that Dirty site that Alice and I were talking about. I was so fucked, they knew everything now even the stuff that wasn't true. "I knew you looked familiar!"

"I can explain" I got closer, making Jessica instinctively hold her phone close to her chest as if I was going to snatch it right out of her hand.

She read the description the liar wrote about me on that Dirty site, using a Facebook picture of me no less, "Bella Swan, the bell of the trash heap in Phenoix, Arizona. The spitting image of her deadbeat dad and dead mom." Clever? "She's a cheater. A liar and just a skanky ho who will try to get her way with any man she sees fit. She's a home wrecker just for the kicks…"

Alice butted in, "Jess, we don't even know if that's true."

"Shut the fuck up! She ruined people's lives and she's come here to ruin ours!"

I ran. I didn't have any quip or anything I just ran home. It wasn't any different from before. I talk to one guy I thought was cool who just happened to be dating someone else. It was as big a shock to me too. He made up stories with his buddies of all the stuff we did, we went one like 2 dates and nothing came out of it. His girlfriend found out and tried running me down with her car, it was nuts.

Neither Renee or the movers were at home when I got there. I sulked on the couch, my time at Dark Hollow was soon going to suck so bad, especially when school started. I would be a social pariah again. So much for starting over. I saw that piano sitting in that lonely corner. I did have fond memories at practise, whenever I played everything just seemed to fade away, every bad thought I had. As corny as it sounded I really needed that right about now.

I seated my self, lifted the cover off of the keys and played. Still rusty but I began to play some bits of Mozart I could still remember in the back of my head. Everything seemed to leave, the worrying, the guilt and shame, I didn't think about anything Jessica told me, I didn't even care who she told. Maybe Alice turned against me too or maybe she didn't, I didn't dwell on it. Nothing was going to break me from this trance.

"Beelllaaa" I looked up to see Renee, she was holding a glass with what couldn't been just apple juice.

I looked away from her, trying desperately to concentrate on the music and push Renee out of my mind. She got close, too close for comfort. She had both hands on my shoulders, she closed her eyes and swayed her head, also lost in the melody. "That's so beautiful" she tightened her grip on my shoulders. She leaned her mouth close to my ear as I slowed it down, "Keep playing. Don't stop now." I could feel my heart racing, nerves, I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to upset her again.

She started massaging my shoulders, I was getting sleepy for whatever reason. "Mom…have you been drinking?" I asked softly.

She had this drunken smile on her face. "You're so precious." I kept looking forward, imagining I wasn't there, I was back in my old house just practicing. No one else around.

Renee got close to me again, she was making these weird animal sounds, whispering nonsense into my ear. She extended her tongue into my ear, the wetness creeped me out. She started licking my ear and that was when I decided I had enough. I stood up and screamed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

She backed off and for a brief second I thought she returned to normal, "Sorry, I don't know what came over me…" she laughed sinisterly. I ran to the backyard, thinking of where else I could go, but there was nowhere, I was stuck.

"Hello over there" on the other side of the fence was that woman who had her robe opened, Alice and Jessica's mother.

"Hi…are you Esme?"

"Yes. You're Bella" she acknowledged the troubled look on my face by giving me a sympathetic nod, "Why don't you come over here. We can have tea. Hurry now."

She must have known, she must have noticed Renee too so I wasn't going completely crazy.

We sat down in the kitchen, fearful that Jessica would be home soon wondering why some skank was in her house. Esme poured me a cup of green tea, it was different not seeing her in a robe. "I've been watching you" she said with this intense look in her eye. I gulped, I had no idea what that could mean, "That house was cursed many years ago. Hauntings have turned people away."

"What about my mom?"

"She's possessed by a succubus. I know this is all hard to take in, Bella."

I choked on a laugh, "Ok. Yeah, sure. Or if you want to call hitting the bottle that then sure."

"I'm serious. Your life is in danger" she presented me with a dagger, it had a twisty blade and looked like something out of a Halloween prop shop. "You need to take this knife and stab her in the heart while she sleeps."

I couldn't believe any of this, it was insane, "You're telling me to murder my stepmom?"

"It's the only way to free her and yourself. You need to stab her and take out her heart."

I got up from the table, "I've heard enough" I was halfway to opening the door when she stopped me.

"Bella, you have to do it there is no other way."

We locked eyes for a moment, I felt like a scared 12 year old, so helpless. She had that motherly protection thing going, she probably thought of me like Alice or Jessica, not wanting me going off and doing anything stupid. "Even if it is a succubus, she's my stepmom. She's all I have. I couldn't do anything to hurt her. There has to be another way."

"Bella…" she tried to place a hand on me but I veered away. "Please, take the knife. It is the only one that can do the job."

I took the knife but knew in no means was I going to use it for that. Porno lady seemed to know what was happening, maybe she knew what I could do.

More to come. Thanks for reading!