What does James want? Is anyone looking for Bella? And... where did Alice come from? All this and more on this week's installment of Stockholm Syndrome: Is It For You?

(spoiler: it is not)

I actually took bits of this chapter out because they were too much for me to read, even as the person who wrote them. You're welcome? I guess? Content note for violence, domestic violence, murder, and implied torture.

Thank you goldengirlschildhood for suffering through this creepy motherfucker with me. 3 We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, y'all.

FF-specific note: views are broken, so I can't tell if this is actually getting through to my followers/the world. If you read it, maybe drop me a line to let me know?


I got tired of waiting after about two hours. Dark had fallen. Charlie was probably worrying about me by now. I didn't think he would worry Renee unless he had to, so she probably didn't know. Renee fretted—fitfully and uselessly. Charlie worried, and he took steps about it.

"How do you know Alice?"

In front of me, Victoria stiffened. She had spent most of the drive with her hand on James' arm and her eyes on his face.

James patted her hand reassuringly. "Why do you ask?" he asked, laconically. I could no longer see his eyes in the dark, but I could still imagine them staring at me in the mirror.

"Call it curiosity."

He chuckled. "Clever little girl. My love, are we safe?"

Victoria turned her head. I couldn't tell if she was glaring at me or making gooey eyes at him. "I think so, darling."

"Then I think I want to stretch my legs. I'm sure Bella could use a—human break."

As soon as he mentioned it, I realized that he was right.

Victoria shifted uncomfortably. "Are you sure?" Her tone was anxious.

The car slowed to a stop. James reached over and cupped her face. "If you say it's safe, I trust you," he crooned. "But if you're worried, you can be lookout. I know you'll always have my back."

She reached up to his face. "Always," she said, timidly.

James let her linger for a moment before he climbed out of the car.

My door opened. "Go on," he said. "Wander off. You can run a little, if you want."

I resisted the urge to snarl at him as I clumsily exited. "I'm not stupid."

James stepped in close and wrapped an arm possessively around my shoulders. He raised my chin with the other hand, so I was forced to look at him. I could see his face in the soft interior light of the car. "Don't worry. Either way, we'll have fun."

He held my chin for a long moment, then lowered his face to bury it in the side of my jaw. He took a deep breath, then another, then growled.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I couldn't pull away, not with his arm around my shoulder. I shuddered.

He smiled against my neck, like my horror amused him. "If you make the right choice, I'll tell you about little Alice," he whispered against my jaw. His teeth scraped gently against my skin.

"The right choice?" I whispered back, trying to hold perfectly still. If he bit me right now

"Whether to come back or make me come get you," he purred.

Then he let go and stepped away. I almost went limp with relief.


It felt strange to head back toward the glowing headlights. Toward captivity. But there was no other option. It was pitch black in the forest. I didn't know where we were. My ankle throbbed with every step. James was faster and stronger than I was, and he could easily track me even through the darkest and densest forest. I would only tire myself out.

He was leaning against the car when I emerged from the trees. He must have heard me coming, but he put one hand over his heart and gasped. "She returns."

"Where else was I supposed to go?"

James chuckled. "Clever again. Too bad… I would have enjoyed another hunt. But since you've been so good I suppose you've earned a story."

Victoria huffed from inside the car, but James ignored her.

"In—oh, it must have been the 20s—I was traveling through the South. Just following my nose. I had to be careful, those days. The newborn wars had only been over for a few decades." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "The lords of all creation were keeping a close eye on things."

Victoria huffed again. James sighed dramatically. "It made things difficult for a while. But I kept my head down. Cleaned up after myself. Victoria was so anxious those days." It sounded like he was talking about a beloved but difficult child. "You might not believe it, but she's calmed down considerably. Dear girl."

He was just a silhouette against the car. I couldn't see his face, but I remembered the cold look in his eyes.

"One day in Mississippi, I ran across little… Mary… Alice… Brandon." He drew each word out slowly, like he was savoring it. "She was the youngest daughter of old money. They spoiled her terribly. A little—" he tapped his temple "—touched. But very pretty, and very tasty."

From the movement of his head, I could guess that he was eyeing me again. I held back a grimace.

"A real little morsel," he purred. "Almost as delectable as you, dear."

Victoria hissed.

James tapped against the glass. "No need to be jealous, darling. You know you're my favorite."

She subsided.

"And?" I prompted him. It was cold, and I wanted to get back in the car.

"She was never alone," he said regretfully, "and I didn't think it was… wise… to murder the whole family and their servants. No. I was patient. I can be very patient. Somehow she knew. She got more and more upset. Poor thing." He tsked. "Do you know, they sent her off to the nuthouse? Not a nice place back then. It took me a little while to find my way back to her. But I tracked her down… figured my way in… and then, after all that work, someone else got to her first." He spat.

Victoria's face appeared, pressed up against the glass. "There's a car coming," she snapped. "Get in."

James slapped the window. Victoria recoiled. "That's not very polite, my love. Try again."

"I'm sorry." Her voice sounded very small. "My love, there's a car coming. Should we leave?"

"Much better." James sounded like he was soothing a grumpy child. "I'm almost done. We'll leave in just a minute." He turned back to me. "Where was I?"

"Someone else got to her," I said.

"I don't think he even enjoyed it," he complained. "By the time I got there, she'd transformed and skipped along on her merry way." James shook his head. "But I got my revenge. He was a quiet old man—just lived on the grounds as a gardener and kept to himself. I carved him up."

His voice was suddenly dark. I caught myself edging away from him.

"Inch by inch. I don't like being disappointed." He sighed. "But it's no fun when they don't look like you, sweet thing."

A chill ran down my back. "You're crazy." It was the only thing I could think of to say.

James laughed. "Of course. If you please me enough, you may learn to love it."

I considered the idea. Could I bring myself to—flirt wasn't the right word. To please him? If it meant surviving? Or at least living long enough to kill him?

I didn't think so. Trying to sweet-talk Jacob into telling me secrets was one thing. This was completely different. Awful.

The car was close now. Headlights swept around a corner. I shielded my face.

I heard it pull onto the gravel behind us. My heart jumped, just for one second. Could it be—?

But no. Edward wasn't coming. Couldn't be coming. He was gone. Dead. Reality crashed over me again.

Please, please. Drive away. Don't get involved in this.

A car door opened. Footsteps crunched toward us. I was still hiding my face from the headlights, but I could make out a silhouette. His flashlight flicked on.

A police officer. But not Charlie.

James grabbed me by the back of the head and leaned his face against my cheek. "Don't get him killed, sweetheart."

I straightened up and tried to smile. James turned his grip into a loose hug.

"What seems to be the problem, officer?"

"No problem," the officer said genially. "Just checking to make sure you-all are all right. This'd be a bad place to be broken down. No cell service. You know how it is."

He swept the flashlight away from me and I could just about make out his face in the glow of our tail-lights. He sounded pleasant, but he was surveying. I had seen that look on Charlie often.

Charlie. My phone wasn't in my pocket. I must have lost it during the fight—or maybe James and Victoria had thrown it away. Did he… put out a BOLO for me? The thought was strangely warming.

"Don't worry about a thing, officer," James said. "We just needed to stretch our legs. Long drive." He chuckled, but I could tell by now that there was no humor in it.

"Anyone else with you?" the officer asked. He panned his light over the car again, but his eyes quickly came back to me.

"Just my sister. Vicky, come on out and say hi to the nice policeman."

Victoria slid out of the car. I could see tension in every line of her body. Her hands were curled into fists. "Hi," she said.

She wants to just kill him and go, I realized. But James doesn't. He likes the game. Likes controlling both of us. She won't disobey him, even if it kills her. And I have to obey him too, unless I want him to kill someone.

It made me nauseous. Maybe it showed on my face, because I suddenly found myself staring straight into the flashlight.

"Are you all right, young lady?"

James' grip on my shoulder tightened. "Yes," I answered, trying to sound like I meant it. "Just a little cold." I tried to smile.

"Can I see some identification?"

Victoria turned a pleading look on James. He nodded.

Crack. An instant later, the police officer was crumpling to his knees. Victoria had snapped his neck with one blow.

James turned me forcibly toward him. "Oops. I guess you weren't convincing enough."

You were always going to kill him, I thought. I looked back at the body on the ground. I'm sorry, I thought in his direction. I wish you hadn't gotten involved.

James frowned. "No apology?" He shook me, then slapped me, then slapped me again, this time so forcefully that my head rocked back. "I guess you'll have to try harder next time."

My eyes were watering. I held back a sniffle. "Next time?"

"There's always a next time." James shoved me toward the driver side of the car. "Until I decide there isn't."