Disclaimer: We don't own it, we just make it unholy.

Chapter Fourteen

Her lips parted―her deafening scream ricocheting off the trees and piercing the night―as he lifted the blade high into the air.

.

.

.

The man's smile widened as she scrambled away from him. He took a lazy step forward and shook his head. She wasn't getting away. Not again. But that didn't mean he didn't love seeing her try.

Bella kicked her foot out, her heal connecting with his shin. The man winced and dropped the machete to his side. When she kicked again, he reached with his free hand and grabbed the hem of her jeans. He dragged her body across the ground, pulling her closer. In a move he wasn't prepared for, Bella lifted her upper body and fisted the bottom of his shirt with both hands. Caught off guard, he was unable to maintain his balance when she jerked her arms, causing him to fall on top of her.

Both grunted from the force of impact, the breath leaving their bodies in a pained exhale. Bella remained frozen for a split second longer before a laugh bubbled from her chest. Her heart thundered as she reached for his mask and yanked it off, revealing hungry green eyes and a playful smirk.

"You scared the shit out of me," she laughed breathlessly.

He tossed the machete to the side and wrapped his hands in her hair. "I know how much you like your games, baby." He scanned her face, his eyes growing darker, his expression possessive. Without warning his mouth covered hers, his kiss demanding, bruising, punishing.

Bella moaned and fisted his hair. Their teeth knocked together, their bodies rigid with tension as they tried to consume each other. Panting, Bella's eyes rolled back as his lips skimmed the column of her throat. When he sank his teeth into her skin, his name left her lips in a low hiss. "Edward."

He flexed his hips and sucked her salty skin into his mouth. Pulling back, he placed a kiss over the indentation left from his teeth, the move surprisingly gentle. "I missed you, Bella."

Her eyes glistened as she blinked back a sheen of tears. "I thought you were dead." Her hand ghosted down the back of his head to his neck.

"That mother fucker," Edward spat, his expression hardening. Sucking in a deep breath, he shook his head. He let the memory of Garrett's bloody and broken body play out in his mind. A slow smile twisted his lips as he relaxed between Bella's parted thighs. "Don't worry, baby. He paid for what he did."

"Did he now?" She smirked, malice dancing in her heated gaze.

"I did everything you told me to. Just like you planned."

"Except for this." Her fingers danced along the neck, the pressure of her touch increasing when she ghosted over his swollen tender flesh.

Edward hissed and pulled away, his eyes suddenly narrowing. "I don't recall you fucking that guy being part of the plan either."

Bella rolled her eyes and pushed him off her. Sitting up, she grabbed his face between her hands and squeezed. When their gaze met, his body stiffened. Her eyes were flat, cold, dangerous. "Do you think I'd let that pathetic asshole put his limp dick inside me? It was all an act. I don't fuck losers. I need a real man. One that would do anything for me, give me whatever my heart desired." She leaned forward and ran her tongue over his bottom lip, her eyes locked with his. When she spoke again her voice was lower, her words coated with seduction. "One that would kill for me."

A shudder ran down Edward's spine. His eyes closed and his heart took flight, pounding against his ribs and sending his blood rushing through his veins. "I killed for you."

"You did."

"I'd do it again."

"I know you would." Bella released his face and rose to her feet. Grabbing his hand, she helped Edward stand. "Let's go back to your cabin. I want to look at your neck and I want to hear every bloody, gory detail."

Edward grinned and stooped down, grabbing the machete and mask. "You sure you wouldn't rather I show you?"

Humming, Bella slipped her arm around his waist. "Tempting, but I'd rather wait until it's light out. I don't want to miss one single detail."

"You always were too curious for your own good."

"It is what killed the cat," she giggled.

"Among other things."

The smile slipped from Bella's face as her mind was flooded with memories of her childhood. And like always, one in particular was the most vivid. The catalyst that set in motion a chain of events leading to death and destruction.

"Bella, don't go too far!" Renee yelled, shaking her head.

Rolling her eyes, Bella ignored her mother's warning and set off for the woods. She pushed her legs, running as hard as she could, trying to escape the invisible force that seemed to tighten around her chest like a vice. She felt bottled up, antsy, smothered. She wanted to run until she collapsed, until her lungs burned and her legs shook. Anything to relieve the growing sense of agitation spreading through her limbs.

Gasping for air, she slowed to a stop and flattened her palm against the trunk of a tree. She bent at the waist and sucked in several deep breaths, blinking away the tears burning her eyes. That's when she saw it. A rabbit. It lay on its side, its chest rising and falling quickly as if it were panting. Her brows dipped and a small frown turned down her lips when she realized it hadn't run when she approached. Straightening her back, she edged closer, her eyes widening as she did.

"Oh," she exhaled, her pulse racing. Her eyes traveled along the forest floor, pausing when her gaze reached the jagged metal claw clamped around soft fur. Falling to her knees, she reached out and ran her finger along the rusty metal. The rabbit kicked, an inhuman screech following immediately after.

Her lips parted and her hand trembled as she touched her fingers to the warm, sticky liquid leaking from the rabbits leg. "Does it hurt?" she whispered. It was then that she noticed the ever present constraint around her chest had loosened, replaced with something else, something more. Wetting her lips, she touched the trap again. Only this time she added pressure, pushing against the metal, causing the sharp teeth to dig further into the animal's body. When it howled in pain again, she felt weightless. Free. Until that moment, only he'd ever made her feel that way.

She looked around, her eyes landing on an old weathered knife protruding from a tree, a rope dangling from the handle. Without thought, she jumped to her feet and moved quickly toward it. Tugging with all her strength, she yanked it from the bark and sap. She looked from the knife to the rabbit, a malicious smile curving her lips.

With each step, her eyes became darker, her intentions clear. She wanted to hear it scream again. She wanted to see if the sound would change. She wanted to see if a rabbit could cry. Her first incision was hesitant, the thick fur resistant to the dull blade. But she'd answered her first question, the sound did change. The tortured cry seeped into her skin and rang in her ears like music.

The next time the blade made contact, there was no hesitation. The sound of a twig snapping caused her to jerk in surprise, her head whipping to the side.

"What are you doing, Bella?"

She smiled then, the tension leaving her body in one long exhale. "Oh, it's you."

Edward moved forward, his eyes focused on the blood covering her hands. "Are you hurt?"

Bella shook her head, a wicked smile curving her lips. "No. But I can't say the same for him." She looked back at the rabbit, its intestines pushing out the long slit she'd cut into it's underbelly.

"Why did you do that?" Edward shifted nervously, but fell to his knees she she beckoned him to do so. He always did what she wanted. From the first time they met, when their parents introduced themselves by the lake, he'd been under her spell. In the three years since, even though he only saw her for a few months out of the year, he only fallen further. At the ripe age of fourteen, he'd handed himself to her on a silver platter.

"Try it," she urged, pressing the handle of the knife into his palm. When he hesitated, her eyes narrowed and her lips mashed together. "Are you scared?"

"No," he answered immediately, not wanting to disappoint her.

She shook her head, her eyes softening and her lips forming a sweet pout. "Then will you try it? For me?"

Edward swallowed and blood roared in his ears. "Anything for you." He didn't give himself the chance to chicken out, instead he plunged the knife into the rabbit's side, the small flicker of life finally fading from its eyes. He exhaled heavily, his body trembling with nervous energy.

Bella grabbed his free hand with hers and squeezed, her smile blinding. "See? Didn't that feel amazing?"

Edward didn't know how to describe what he felt at the moment, because all he cared about was the way she was looking at him. It was all he ever cared about any more. Wrapped up in their bubble, neither heard the sound of approaching footsteps until it was too late.

Renee screamed, her hand covering her mouth as she took in the scene before her. Edward, a knife clutched in his hand and Bella, bloodied and smiling from ear to ear. When her gaze landed on the mutilated animal between them, bile rose hot and thick to her throat. She gagged, the bitter acidic liquid spewing from her mouth and covering the ground below.

Panicked, Bella and Edward jumped to their feet, their hands clasped tightly together. Renee's eyes burned with unshed tears as anger and fear swelled in her chest. "Get away from her," she screamed, her furious eyes locked on Edward. "Get away from my daughter, you monster."

Edward opened his mouth to protest just as Charlie ran up behind Renee.

"Oh, my God," Charlie whispered, his eyes pained. "Bella, what have you done?"

"It's not Bella," Renee screeched, her eyes wide with panic. "It's him! He did this. Look at them, Charlie."

Charlie shook his head and looked at Edward. "Get out of here, son." When Edward didn't move, Charlie's expression darkened. "Don't make me say it again."

Tears leaked from Bella's eyes, but her face remained free of emotion. When Edward tugged his hand, she tightened her grip. "No."

"Bella, let him go. You're only making things worse." Charlie took a step forward, a shiver running up his spine when his gaze locked with his daughter's dead emotionless eyes. In that moment, she didn't even appear human.

She stared him down, defiance radiating out of every pore. It wasn't until Edward flexed his fingers and whispered her name that she loosened her grip and relinquished her hold. She turned her head in his direction, and as if snapping out of a trance, she looked like the twelve year old girl she was.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Edward stepped back, not daring to look at her parents. He didn't need to look at them to know that wasn't going to happen. Renee's sobs and Charlie's stiff posture told him they be gone before morning. Instead, he stared at the girl with deep brown eyes, masking secrets he couldn't begin to understand. All that he knew was the she had changed something inside him, and no matter what the cost, he'd do anything for her.

Bella had laid in bed that night, her eyes focused on the ceiling as her parents moved around the cabin packing their things. Hushed whispers echoed through the walls. Words she didn't fully comprehend, like psychiatric evaluation and chemical imbalance, traveled to her ears. But other words, she understood with perfect clarity. When her mother's harsh demand that they sell the cabin and never come back penetrated her skin Bella's entire body locked with rage.

They meant to keep her away from Edward. Send her to doctors for things she didn't understand. Take away the only person that soothed her, let her be herself. Resolve calcified in her veins as the night faded and the sun began to rise. She would never allow them to keep her from Edward. No one would keep her from him.

What happened later would be labeled a tragic accident. A car crash into a retaining wall caused by an attempt to miss a lone deer standing in the road. Only one survivor would be pulled from the wreckage. A fragile, sobbing, twelve year old girl, who in a matter of seconds had become an orphan.

No questions were asked, not a single suspicion found. Because the truth of that deadly accident―that it was no accident at all―was unimaginable. But it wasn't an accident. Not when Bella covered her mother's head with a plastic bag and slammed a heavy rock into skull and not when she did the same to her father as he fought to stop her. By the time he realized he'd released the steering wheel, they were already careening into a retaining wall.

Renee, who wasn't wearing her seatbelt, was thrown from the car. Her death was instant. When Charlie groaned in pain, Bella released her seat belt and climbed to the front. Semiconscious and bleeding, he put up little fight as she slipped the plastic bag over his head and suffocated the life from his body.

"Hey."

Bella jumped at the sound of Edward's voice, feeling disoriented as she was ripped from her memories to the present. "Yeah?"

"We're here."

Bella looked at the cabin and smiled. In her peripheral she saw two figures slumped against the side of the house, but she wasn't interested in that right now. She wanted to go inside and bathe herself in the warmth of the only place that had ever felt like home.

She moved around the living room with comfortable familiarity. Her finger trailed along the mantle above the fireplace, a condescending sneer twisting her lips when her eyes landed on a picture of Edward's parents. They too had tried to take Edward away from her. But their attempt at separating Edward and Bella was futile. By the time they realized something wasn't right about Bella, that something dark and sinister lived and breathed inside of her, their son was already lost. He would rather have died than be parted from her. And since Bella had no intention of living without him, their lives would be forfeit.

"They're going to send me away. They found my journal. They know what I did."

"No. I won't lose you. I can talk to them, make them understand."

"Talking won't fix this. The only thing that can make this go away is silence."

Understanding dawned on Edward's face as her implication became clear. "You're going to kill my parents."

Bella shook her head and laughed, her fingers gently stroking his cheek. "Of course not, Edward. You are."

Edward blanched. "Me? I can't kill my parents, Bella."

Tears welled in her eyes as she lowered her gaze. "I see," she whispered.

Edward tipped her chin until their eyes met. "What do you see?"

"That I love you more. When my parents tried to keep us apart, I did what was necessary to stop them."

"Bella, I love you more than my own life. I'd do anything for you."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Would you kill for me, Edward?"

He stared at her for a long moment before he dipped his chin. "Yes."

"Then show me."

Bella grabbed the picture frame and laid it face down. She wasn't interested in looking at those who weren't important. His parents had served their purpose. The brutal attack they'd suffered by a wild pack of wolves had set Edward for life. It didn't matter that they were already dead when their bodies had been dumped in the woods, the carnage that remained left no clues.

But something changed in Edward after that night, and Bella embraced it. He had a thirst, a need for the rush that accompanied draining the life from someone's eyes. It was something Bella was more than happy to help him with. When the idea came to make it a game, he was more than ready to play.

It only took a few months for Bella to charm her way into a group of friends at a college campus a hundred miles away. She played her part to a tee. And when she suggested they all go camping, no one suspected a thing. Why would they? Why would anyone think they were being herded like cattle to a slaughter?

Bella fingered the mask on the table, grinning at Edward as he walked back in the room.

"What are you grinning about?" He laughed, crossing the room and wrapping his arms around her waist.

Picking up the mask, she slipped it over her face. "I think it's your turn to go fishing."

Dropping his mouth to her neck, he kissed her softly. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. But right now, I want you to fuck me wearing this mask."

Edward groaned and slid his hands down her back and under her thighs. He picked her up, her legs wrapping around her waist as he carried her toward the bedroom.

"Whatever you want, Bella. Always."

A/N

*No bunnies were harmed during the creation of this chapter. ;)

Big thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, and pimped our little tale 'o horror. We love you guys in the most creepy way possible.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

xoxo

~The Unholy Trinity